Magazine Posts

Words pour out of this old head.
Many current, others from language dead.
Word flow is slow tonight.
Some days words appear rapidly.
I try to capture them, but hands
cramp when trying to write
in my notebook.
Words come without reason or
rhyme, which I prefer.
My mind is like a broken plow,
stuck in an old furrow, unable to
change direction. Inflexible?
or pre-occupied with other matters?
Who is to say? Writer's block?
Perhaps or just a mental staleness
that comes from existing in an
environment, not what I expected,
but which I chose to support my wife.

At dinner,
she sits across
from me.
I marvel at the
smoothness of her face.
All these years together
and I see her youthful
look. I know she has
aged, but so have I.
She is still the girl,
I married. She can no
longer care for herself
and resides in a Memory
Care Facility, since January 3rd,
of this year. I moved in to be
with her for support and
to provide closure on the
fear, she goes through every
day. If I am out of sight,
she will worry. She doesn't
need such issues as she
proceeds slowly toward,
full Alzheimer's.

"Americans see value in higher education ...... Most say a college degree is important, if not essential, in helping a young person succeed in the world......  While fewer than half of today’s young adults are enrolled in a two-year or four-year college, the share has risen steadily over the past several decades....... Even so, there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction – even suspicion – among the public about the role colleges play in society, .... And these views are increasingly linked to partisanship....Read the full article 

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 74 (also known as NGC 628) lies some 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces. An island universe of about 100 billion stars with two prominent spiral arms, M74 has long been admired by astronomers as a perfect example of a grand-design spiral galaxy. M74's central region is brought into a stunning, sharp focus in this recently processed image using publicly available data from the James Webb Space Telescope. The colorized combination of image data sets is from two of Webb's instruments NIRcam and MIRI, operating at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. It reveals cooler stars and dusty structures in the grand-design spiral galaxy only hinted at in previous space-based views.

Photo by Robert Eder

"Techno Tom was morosely stirring half a pint of sugar into his coffee, no doubt figuring the sugar blast would quadruple the jolt from the Diner’s caffeine.  Freddie Fairlane, one table over with the other Flatheads, the vintage car guyz, watched for awhile then moseyed over to sit at Tom’s table.  “You seem a little down in the mouth, amigo,” he said.  “Lose your best friend?” .... Read more

The origin of this classic and delicious New Orleans picnic sandwich is debatable but it is believed to have originated in Sicily and immigrated with the Sicilians when they arrived via the Port of New Orleans between the late 1800's and early 1900's. This sandwich is ideal for a make-ahead dinner or a picnic.... See the recipe

When pain and sorrow,
attacks the heart.
When the emotions,
play a new part,
long live the joy,
you've felt today,
when taken in bits
it takes sorrow away.

Clearly the day
had gone awry.
Abusive language,
now came into play.
Not funny,
in the typical sense.
Words being said,
not making sense.
Tempers flare
as annoyance begins,
in a small argument,
no one wins.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Imaged on July 15 2022, comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) had a Messier moment, sharing this wide telescopic field of view with globular star cluster Messier 10. Of course M10 was cataloged by 18th century comet hunter Charles Messier as the 10th object on his list of things that were definitely not comets. While M10 is about 14 thousand light-years distant, this comet PanSTARRS was about 15 light-seconds from our fair planet following its its July 14 closest approach. Its greenish coma and dust tail entertaining 21st century comet watchers, C/2017 K2 is expected to remain a fine telescopic comet in northern summer skies. On a maiden voyage from our Solar System's remote Oort Cloud this comet PanSTARRS was discovered in May 2017 when it was beyond the orbit of Saturn. At the time that made it the most distant active inbound comet known. Its closest approach the Sun will be within 1.8 astronomical units on December 19, beyond the orbital distance of Mars.

Photo by German Penelas Perez

Up in the morning,
long before Dawn.
Words forming rhymes
inside my head.
Prose to write, in
the book I keep,
lest I forget all
the words from my sleep.

A mess of two lives,
a diagnosis of one,
effects the other,
life is no longer fun.
The joy of the moment,
now gone away.
Will it return?
Who is to say?