Ovaltine Days

As long as folks like me end up with everything they've ever wanted, it's hard to buy into that old "be careful what you wish for" saw, isn't it? 

Here on the Isle of Portland, paradise has no interest in being "discovered." I've lost count of the places that I've been where the locals tell me, "Oh, you should have seen this place before it was discovered." Key West, San Francisco, Havana.

Living on a great rock, poking up out of the English Channel, where the wind gusts regularly at 70 mph and isn't even considered a storm, the living is easy. Yeah, a local juvenile delinquent pushed a shopping cart from the grocery store into town the other night, but it's generally pretty quiet around here. 

I hope that some day, everyone will have a life as fine as mine.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

 

 

Soul Secrets

There are always going to be things that I just can't talk about. The only way to categorise the things as a subject is to say Old Shep.

There was a time when I was nine or ten years old that I would listen to Elvis' version of the old Red Foley song almost daily. Now I can do it about once a decade, If anyone else is in the room, I don't generally make it to the end.

 

Blink Once

Maybe if we could all re-set our minds to the factory settings, we would all be living in some Garden of Eden. I seem to have stumbled into just such a scenario. Of course I know when I'm naked and I don't disregard mortality. Nevertheless, I've found paradise in Portland.

Just make sure that you've got the right guide and interpreter before you strike out.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

 

All The Ghosts At The Table

When you're young, you're afraid of ghosts. If you're lucky and you live long enough, most of your best friends are ghosts. Does that mean I believe in some spirit world that goes on after this life? Well, now, if the vibrations in my mind can conjure up memories that appear to me and speak to me, who am I to doubt their existence?

Ghosts, to me, are like love or joy. Their very existence depends on you believing.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

 

They're Coming For Your Bagpipes

We're all worried about something. I suppose that's why they sell so much alcohol, why so many Americans have medical cannabis cards. I've tried to train myself to let it go. I paid Maharishi Mahesh Yogi thirty five bucks on the student special deal for my own secret mantra and I've ingested every substance recommended by every fashionable guru to come down the path. 

Of course, I would like to think that none of it has done me any harm, but then again, who knows what I might have accomplished with some cleaner living.

My plan for the future is to keep my mind in the gutter and off world events over which I have no control. Vote Bonobo!

 

Grinning Advice

 

One of the things that seems more obvious as I grow older is just how sure of himself the fool is. I've grown cynical of anyone asserting wisdom.

I suppose, at this point, I value kindness above all. Fortunately, I seem to have moved into a hotbed of it. Folks smile here. That lovely British "Sorry," is overheard on every sidewalk, in every grocery aisle.

I'm gonna wok on being gentle and gracious. I'm nothing if not fashionable. 

Nothing Left To Dream

It's a bit greyer than I imagined. Calls have dropped off and the e-mail has dwindled to next-to-nothing. I bid on trinkets on eBay, hoping that someone else will grab them. Somehow, I always imagined that there would be something that I needed. You know, that one car. That one of a kind guitar; that once in a lifetime girl.

I don't mean to brag...well, maybe I do- I have succeeded. I have it all. 

Oh, sure, I dream of world peace and I worry about the stray dogs. I'm aware of every school shooting and I cry for the lonely. I just lost another friend this week who just wasn't strong enough to survive the hard part. For the first time, though, I'm almost able to celebrate what she was on the good days. Few of my favourites were designed for this world, these times.

There's an end to every story. It's way too late for mine to be a short story, even though short stories have always been my favourite. I suppose my last worry was that I had used up all my good luck. Of course it just kept coming. 

By the way, I got the once in a lifetime girl. She came with the one of a kind guitar and the best would-be stray. I told you I have it all.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.

 

Have I Told You This?

Maybe I should have told the tales of my parade of consciousness while there was some small degree of relevance. I suppose I did, in fact, but I don't believe anyone was listening.

New stories are always better.

I'm not likely to shake another king's hand at this point, but three should be plenty, and I've blundered into the cosmic path of the royal personage of Roy, Elvis and Big Daddy.

My favourite stories are all about laughing. I plan to do a lot more before all's said and done.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.