Football...

Football is exciting. I have never considered myself a "fan". I do watch a game most weekends and began to watch some college games after my sons went to college. I wouldn't use the term, "follow" but if I am free and a game is on I'll watch.

I was born and grew up in Texas and was only a Dallas "fan" by default. Eventually, I spent a good portion of my adult life in Pittsburgh and again by default became a "fan".  Now a few years removed from Pittsburgh I have developed in to a "fan". No, I don't own anything intentionally black and gold, or even have a bumper sticker. I do watch every game through the season now, and with enthusiasm. Occasionally I even read a story online the next day after a game. 

Last night Pittsburgh beat the Jets to play Green Bay in the Superbowl. Great stuff!  Things like this make it easier to be a real "fan".  The confirmation is that I am planning for Superbowl Sunday. Chips, dip, and even some beer!

I think I can drop the quotation marks, I may actually be a fan now. 

Sailboat Living, Just More Comfortable

There hasn't been a time in my life I didn't dream of living aboard a boat. Preferably, a sailboat. Owning a large spacious yacht never was the idea though. Years later, I have yet to live aboard, but have spent time sailing and around many types of boats, large and small, sail and power. The dream is still alive mixed with the reality of how I appreciate comfort and convenience. Boats miss the mark quite a bit.

I own a boat (small by any ones standards) and enjoy a long weekend or occasional overnight, but no desire to spend a cold winter or hot summer living aboard full time.

The appeal in youth was the adventure much as it is now in my life. Today, there is the added idea of downsizing to essentials for living. A few pair of jeans and shorts, t-shirts, maybe one outfit to look presentable if the need arises, and enough to stay dry in bad weather. These few things in a place with what is needed to cook modest meals, hygiene of course, and a comfortable place to read and write.

I thought of building myself a Shanty Boat. These were very inexpensive boat, cheap, common after the Civil War through the Depression. Many people lived and worked on the big rivers of the United States. Many simply drifted with the currents and weather. In looking in to these boats I discovered Small Homes or Tiny House. Not trailers, nor cabins. Just efficient little houses. There are great sites and blogs and my newest favorite is Deek and Relax Shack. I like to Shack-ness of his ideas.

It's cold now and if I were on my sailboat baking Chocolate Chip Cookies (yes, capitalized) would be out of the question. In a tiny house, no problem. So, I'll bake some cookies now and dream of a shack that has all the adventure of living aboard a boat with all the comforts thrown in.

Other Lives..

One of my enjoyments is history. Not political, economic, etc... but the history of life. Unfortunately, so very little is ever written concerning life. How did people cook, earn a living, what was travel like, how did they stay dry? We do a million things each day with out notice or thought. Much of my curiosity comes from camping and travel when resources are far more limited. Our materials are limited to what is carried in a bag, suitcase, or backpack. In those instances there is no home full of stuff to access, making do with what is on hand is the only option. Camping takes it further. No kitchen, sink, toilet, food.

For all of history, until these past two hundred years, the world has been very different. No restaurants, no anything we are accustomed to. In spite of how advanced we are in our world today I doubt we would find much daily comfort living as people in the past. Not that I am sadistic, longing for simpler times, I'm curious as to how the heck did they get by. To that end I find I satisfy my curiosity in the study of books, letters, documents of past centuries. "How did some one leave civilized London in the 1600's and build a home in the wilderness of North America?" There was nothing slightly familiar here in comparison.

I have discovered a book The Sot-Weed Factor (fiction, but well researched) regarding life in England during the 1600's and the subsequent migration to the New World. It's reading between the lines that tells so much.

Winter All Around...

                       It's cold...  

...please, warmer...

...this is more like it!

 

Talk, Talk, Talk...

Talk is what the past few days have been. The news is full of the shootings in Arizona with words flowing with so little said. It would appear none of the news or commentary media people watch their own work or others in their business. My hope would be a realization of the meaningless, insensitive, and painful editorializing they produce.  It is as though they can't help themselves from just talking. When no news is forthcoming they simply speculate and imagine additional situations or conclusions to their own questions.

People were wounded and some died, boys in Afghanistan and Iraq were wounded and died, somewhere else a family lost a mother, father, brother, or sister to disease or accident. The ones we should listen to are those who lost one they love.

Dick Winters died this weekend. He was proclaimed a hero for his service in World War II. He spent his life, according to him, peacefully away from war. The way he wanted it. With all the talk and horrible news coverage, he passed away with his family out of the glare of the war and spotlight. I'm happy for him.

Wasted Weekend

For the first time this winter the days and nights of the weekend seemed so dark and gloomy to me. I spent my time inside trying to stay warm. Most everyone I know dreads the longer nights and shorter days that envelope us through the fall and seemingly through the winter. My idea is, and has been, to focus on December 21st or 22nd and the winter solstice. The days become longer and the nights shorter. The problem is it just doesn't happen quick enough and certainly doesn't feel that way.

So, the cold really sets in and things feel completely grey and dark. The grass is completely brown and even the leaves have blown away that laid on the ground. I'm ready to warm up and feel some sunshine, but it's a long way off.

To torture my mood I looked at a calendar with the months in a line. There before me was a bit of a surprise. Thanksgiving, at least to me just passed, and that was six weeks ago! Now six week from today it will be the end of February and spring will be at the door. It doesn't warm me up very much, but if the days pass as quickly as they have since Thanksgiving, I may survive.

First Good Wine In A While

Never have I been a connoisseur of wines, nor do I want to be. New Year's Eve, though, I wandered into a wine merchant in Annapolis, Maryland, BIN 201. Rarely would I venture in to such a quality wine merchant for my selection. The grocery is where I find myself buying my wine. "Selecting" wine is giving me far too much credit, more likely my choice is based on price, red or white, and a label I recognize. With luck I'll like the wine - if not let's hope I will remember the name (i.e the picture on the label) and not buy it next time.

In searching for my "favorites" I found a wide range of prices and a great variety to select from. There were wines in my price range, just not my "favorites." So it was to be another trip to my neighborhood grocer.

Upon making my turn towards the door a revelation occurred to me, "If this store has ANY wine at ANY price it would be far better than any uninformed selection I could have hoped to make in the grocery aisle. I picked a label I liked, 14 Hands 2008 Merlot and headed  for the cashier. The colorful horses on the label were more in line with my palate, color palette anyway. My  revelation that the store proprietor possesses the skills to choose wine better than I lead me to spring for an extra $2.00 in price and buy what I'd chosen.

New Year's Eve and the weekend came and went and the wine went unopened. Last night I opened the wine and found the proprietor was far and above a  much better source in choosing wines. Cheers!

Firsts

Firsts make me look at the world new. Nothing today or tomorrow has ever happened before. Yes, everyday we repeat activities we have done before but if you look close they are new and different. The office or the store where you go to work is the same building. That's all, just the structure. The papers are different, the people's moods have changed (good or bad), everything isn't the same like we think.

Maybe that's it, we think it's the same. So much advise says, change your attitude and you will see the world differently. I think that is true, but I have a bad attitude and it's not easy to change. What I can do, and try to do is quit thinking and open my eyes. Not metaphorically, but stop my brain from thinking about what is happening around me and look at what is happening around me.  

Even the smallest things are new and different and exciting. Maybe that's why kids have so much fun.

Another First

Today was my first trip in to Washington, D.C., the first time this year anyway. One of my New Years wishes is to be more positive in my comments about people and things in life. Going in to DC makes it difficult to keep that wish. Many years ago on my "First" visit to DC I was so proud. The strength and power and pride we as a nation express there was exciting. Over the years I have been there many times and lived there for a brief period. My oldest son was born there and has coincidentally moved there himself.  Now unfortunately, in a tough economy and tough times for people it is hard to think that DC appreciates the way most people live and work in our country. It just seems like a lot of money and energy are going in to the government and its trappings. All this while people work harder and harder, if they are working at all to pay for so much there.

On my drive home I started to feel resentful and well, be negative. I held off and my karma turned good. Today is the story of Ted Williams. The homeless guy with the golden voice. What a  positive good thing. Instead, I am happy and thrill for such an excellent thing that has happened for him. He had a good attitude, great voice, and was hanging in there. I wish him the very best. For all the ugly, greedy, and self importance in this world, today one guy got a break and a second chance.

First time I've felt this good in a while.

First Book Of The Year

Last night I finished a book given to me as a Christmas gift by my son, "Operation Mincemeat" by Ben Macintyre. He read an article in the "New Yorker" and knew I would enjoy the story.  It's about two intelligence men and their staff working for England in World War II. The story has been around, well, since it's been around. Details have been twisted, classified, and distorted and now the truth is told.

Essentially, the Brits get a dead body, dress it as an officer, attach secret memos, and drop it in the water off Spain. The Germans via the Spanish manage to extract the false data in the memos and fall for a ruse that saves lives in an invasion and the Third Reich begins its fall.

In all seriousness, the story is great. What I found amazing was the demonstration of the spy appeartus and its workings. Information about spies in WWII I never heard about, or maybe didn't consider. Either way it was facinating. Today rather than work, I will spend my day searching for other publications describing the spy networks and how they operate.

First Day At The Beach

Everything starts somewhere, or so we imagine. Maybe it has been going on continually and we just finally have that opportunity to step aboard. Whichever, it's the start for each of us.

This is another New Year and like many others there is a hope for a good year ahead of us. Or maybe the thought it will eventually turn out like the others of our life. Ok, but nothing spectacular.

During the summer if we are lucky enough to get away to a beach it is so exciting, those first moments in seeing the water, the noise, the feel. We the   whole week in front of us and much we can do.

There is so much to do this year, it's our choice.