Month: September 2013

There’s an old photograph of you and me at the yard. I was maybe 14, my first time at the ballpark of my dreams. There, it’s always 72 degrees and sunny. Santo’s and William’s flags on the foul polls. I remember when Ron said having his number retired by the club was better than being … Continue reading Singin’ in the Rain-out

  The origin of the name of the family dog has changed over time for my family. In my experience, I have encountered some dogs with terrific names. Wrigley, a yellow lab with a Chicago Cubs collar, was a regular in The Hotel. Clyde Frazier (I swear that was the dog’s name) came in every … Continue reading The Family Dog: What’s in a Name? (Or The Laundry Incident)

The Family Dog In the past year, I’ve read about 30 or so books about dogs. Some of them were behavioral, some anecdotal. I’ve read the Truth About Dogs and One Nation Under Dog, A Dog Year and The Dogs of Bedlam Farm, Dog Walks Man and Dogs Never Lie About Love (Okay, full disclosure, … Continue reading The Family Dog

  I always had a difficult time reconciling two completely different aspects of my personality. I used to define myself as an atheist. Upon further deliberation and with help from my personal theologian (my father, the staunch Catholic), I discovered I was actually agnostic. Now, in order to properly define this term, one need only … Continue reading Not Karma, Exactly

For Tom Hightower, Jon Pruitt, Tim White and the men of the 1212 House "If we are mark'd to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not … Continue reading St. Crispian’s Day

Mother and Child Part 2     One of my goals for the summer was to start running again. I had been running off and on for about 5 years before that, beginning in my freshman year in college and I soon discovered that I loved it. I loved it because even having been a … Continue reading Mother and Child Part 2

Mother and child Part 1 When I spent a summer in Seward, Alaska, I wasn’t exactly prepared. My first night there, me and some friends slept at a campground at the beachfront area. Now, at this point in my life, my experience with camping of any kind was minimal at best. Yes, I had gone … Continue reading Mother and Child, Part 1

Sometime late in this trip early in this journey A group of friends met down on the Farm With Donkeys, and sheep And a behemoth name Elvis There was Flo and Simon Lulu and Fanny And dogs, oh, were there dogs! Izzy and Lenore and Pearl and Orson Red and all the others whose bodies … Continue reading In the Open (or Solitude by Duke Ellington)

It’s called your Hot Seat. You sit down with a jury of your peers and your counselor hands you a list of Assets and Liabilities for staying sober once you’ve left the comfortable womb of Valley Hope and ventured into the Outside World. The entire patient group has written down on a piece of paper, … Continue reading The Stripper and Fur Elise Part 3