The Disney Chronicles: Part II
Ever been on a bus or a similar crowded situation with “wound-up” young persons when singing (and other such expressions of high spirits) breaks out and at some point, there is a raucous announcement of what is to come, namely : “Second verse! Same as the first! A little bit LOUDER and a little bit WORSE!”...? Well, here’s verse...
WWJD: Finding A Place To Park
When you’re a “nomad” traveling in a camper van finding a place to park for the night can get tricky; by “tricky” I mean difficult or down right impossible! I am currently in the Florida Keys and most businesses as well as land owners are not keen on letting people sleep on their property. Sure, there are rest stops...
The Most Important Meal?
I understand that breakfast is the most important part of the day. I agree with the theory that a healthy and productive day starts by fueling your body, which kick-starts your metabolism, giving your body the energy it needs to face the day. This idea really has merit, so I feel validated sharing it with my kids each morning....
All You Need is Love
Well, not exactly. The Beatles got a lot of things right but this sentiment is not really gonna cut it when it comes to public works…like, say, the Portage County Park District. Saturday, April 22, was the annual Portage Park District Foundation recognition benefit dinner event, giving credit where credit was due to many of the folks (not all, mind...
Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail
Most interesting Easter in a while. Got an invitation to brunch which I had to turn down because it landed smack in the middle of church, which ran long on account of technical difficulties to start with, then just because it’s Easter, involving all sorts of “pomp & circumstance” and majorly long hymns of celebration (Charles Wesley never could...
Winter Wonderland?
So… I’ve been wondering a whole bunch of stuff about this so-called winter which we have been having. It seems that there are records of all sort being broken all over the place…highest temperature on such-and-such a date…least amount of snow for whatever month…lowest temperature on some other date (Thank God every day that we do not live in...
A February Spring Is Not Worth A Thing!
So opines the Old Farmer’s Almanac (Actually the Old Farmer says it’s “not worth a pin,” but I took a few poetic liberties to improve {?} the rhyme). February has a number of putative highlights: andlemas/Groundhog Day, the Full Snow moon (Doesn’t seem to have been very consequential, at least around here), St. Valentine’s Day/ Sts. Cyril & Methodius...
May be… Maaayyybe not…
I was thinking that May would be pretty quiet, once the monumental trip to Chicago was over, things might calm down, I might be able to kick back, relax, let the mind wander (as it is wont to do), do some stuff that had fallen by the wayside, as often happens, get some things done, maybe. May be… First of...
Easy Riders?
Well, they did it again. They came. They saw. They caught a break in the weather and had a very successful Road Apple Roubaix on Saturday (March 4, 2023) in Garrettsville…and surrounding locales, as they took to the roads, out-and-about, returned to Slim & Jumbo’s and generally made a day of it. Numerous bike-friendly businesses–Eddie’s Bike Shop, Mountain Road Cycles,...
Down the Old Road…I Really Want An Antique Automobile
“I’ve been looking at, toying with, buying an old car, antique automobile, that I could take to cruise-ins, antique car shows, or just cruise around town in. They’re cool! Are they good investments? You have a couple of them. What really do they cost and how much does it take to maintain them?” This inquiry is something that I frequently...
Grrrrrrr
I am starting (again) to get cranked-out by people being utterly unaware of the fact that what they are doing–or NOT doing–is affecting other people, and not in a good way. In short, people are starting to bug me. Imagine that! Now, I am not, in any way, shape or form, implying that I never do this sort of thing...
H&G Amish Style
At the Amish Home & Garden Show, which took place just last weekend, there’s one thing you can count on finding, no matter what you came for in the first place, and that’s –FOOD. You can hit the Auction House Restaurant (which features the Farmers’ Grill) or just browse around to all of the candy shops, kettle corn, Easter candy,...
April Fooled!
So far, April has been fairly nondescript…except for the tree falling on the front porch, of course. And there’s no a whole lot going on after Easter, unless you’re into Earth Day–like the Portage County Park District, which will hold its annual Awards event on the twenty-second in Kent–or are interested in the new moon (which means that you...
DANG!! Where Did I Put My Ruby Slippers??
They’re not around here, that’s for darn sure. Maybe they’ve made it to Kansas, though it would be more likely that they’d wind up in PA, the way that wind was whooping it up from the West on Saturday. All of the wind warnings in the world can’t help you much, if the trees do not tip-toe out of...
I Scream… You Scream… We All Scream…
ICE ! No cream…just that gosh-awful ICE. On the roads, on the sidewalks, on the parking lots & driveways…By the by, I will take this opportunity to give a shout-out of appreciation–which I try to do at least yearly–to those folks around town who keep their sidewalks cleared. Not everybody is able, I do understand, and the village guys have...
The Old Road…. Special People, Special Organization
There are a lot of special people in this community, unsung heroes that seem to go far out of their way for you and me. It might be helping you out in the garden, lending their expertise as master gardeners, or just serving you consistently and delightfully in a favored restaurant. Perhaps it’s the people in period costumes at...
Democracy, Disney and other March Madness
Anybody else remember that sort of current events/comedy show from back in the Dark Ages? “That Was The Week That Was”? Well, I just had one of those that was about ten days long. What a ride…literally! Not even including the regular third Monday of the James A. Garfield Historical Society, though not including it would mean skipping over the...
Unlikely All-sorts
The Akron Beacon-Journal has had some beauts lately. One of my favorites was the New Funko Pop Collection “honoring” Dolly Parton. Now Dolly has received just about every honor that a country/pop/r&r singer is likely to be nominated for. She’s been in the movies and on TV and received national recognition for her performance and her song-writing and her...
Merrily We Roll Along…
Well, sorta… “Merrily” might be overstating just a tad, but I sure did some rolling. First off, was the trip to Kentucky–Glasgow, Kentucky, to be specific, a trip of some seven or so hours, making good time. The high-rollers on the JAG Quiz Bowl team made the trek down to the Bluegrass State at the invitation of the Jesse Brown Small...
Unseasonable?
If it’s Thursday, this must be Springtime. There was a book or movie once-upon-a-time about someone taking a European tour–one of those guided rat-races through the continent–where nobody gets a chance to do much more than spot the Eiffel Tower on their way to the London Bridge. The name of the movie (or book, whatever) was, I think, “If It’s...
HA HA ! Ha Ha! ha ha…what?
I have always thought that my sense of humor was, at least, O.K. But I’m beginning to wonder about everybody else, especially in the public prints and commercially-produced correspondence, i.e., cards of various sorts. Whole bunches of TV commercials too, fail to make it to contact my funny bone. Ditto for a lot of the programming. Too many laugh...
Messages From Mother Nature ~ White?
During the winter months in northeast Ohio, snow isn’t the only thing that is white. When the snow flies…. some animals turn white too! Say what? As we all know birds, insects, and animals have different strategies when dealing with winter in northeast Ohio. Most birds migrate south, some insects bury themselves in the ground, some reptiles and amphibians...
Final Bow
“Bow”…as in “leave the stage while acknowledging applause after an excellent performance.” Everybody knew Barry, Barry Vancura…and he knew everybody (If he did not, he’d continue talking until something or somebody clued him in as to who furnished the other side of the conversation, and went on from there--it was a gift.). Barry was the consummate retail guy. He knew...
Oddness Out There!!
Every so often something worth paying attention to pops up on my computer screen. This does NOT include the stuff in the SPAM folder from the vast number of outfits who seem to think that I am some dude named “Ivan” who can’t spell his own name; those people keep sending me info about “male enhancement”, directions to “new...
‘Tis The Season
So… Didja get your entry in for the Name a Snowplow contest with the Ohio Turnpike commission? Some of the winners from last year were in the paper recently and I have to say they were pretty clever. This year’s contest ended Sunday, so we’ll have to wait and see what takes the $100 gift card prize–eight of them,...
Right!!
That’s my response to a communication from, of all people, the Porch Kitty Fan Club. In the lovely Christmas card was a quotation–you know the one about the power of the pen– and giving notice that a donation had been made to the Portage APL in memory of Barry Vancura. He would have loved it. So would his “Princess”,...
WWJD: The Maiden Voyage
Brio would not get into his carrier and he dislikes being picked up and carried so the next step was to attach his leash and walk him to the van! He pulled a Houdini and slipped right out of it; thank goodness that did not happen someplace where the noisy world would have spooked him into doing a runner!I...
Alea jacta est
Or “Alea iacta est,”, if you are a Latin purist (I know you’re out there somewhere.). Mrs. Grissinger, my Latin teacher in 9th and 10th grades, probably wasn’t up on the latest translation/ third person singular/imperative and all that, or any other notions of what Suetonius said that Caesar said. Anyway, supposedly, this is what Julius Caesar said when...
Fa-la-la-la-la and All That
Guess what holiday is coming up. Go ahead, guess. There have been candy canes hanging around since somewhere around July Fourth, Santa Claus began flying in earnest somewhere around Labor Day and the lay-away departments must be stuffed to overflowing by now. Speaking of something similar, what’s this latest scam, “Buy now, Pay later? Like they always say, “If it...
Aaaaand we’re off !
It’s that time of year again. That time when Spring has–sorta–come but Winter makes occasional encore appearances, indoor sports are, basically, over and everybody heads outside–where the rain is, and athletic directors everywhere are living on their communication devices–scheduling, scheduling, re-scheduling, re-scheduling, contemplating cancellations. Bus drivers are stuck waiting to see whether they’re off for a trip or not or...
