The Secret Life of Blogs

"If you sit very still, you'll see the stars looking back at you," Grandma said. "And if you sit very quietly," she continued, "you'll hear the very air moving around you."    She was magical to me.  She showed me the magic of the universe. So I sat, as still and quiet as a 9-year-old  Buddha, next to my grandmother under the tree on the hill.  I sat with my legs crossed and hands folded, the cool night air settling around us on our thick Mexican blanket. I closed my eyes and counted to a magical  three .  “What do you see?” she whispered. I opened my eyes and the everywhere-lights astounded me. I felt surrounded by them, enveloped by them. I saw them near us on the ground, and I saw them in between the softly fluttering leaves of the tree.  “I see some stars blinking at me,” I said. I see others glowing gently, and others shining hard, like they want me to notice them.”  “What else?” she nudged. “I see…..  Hm...

The mountains are calling and I must go. (John Muir) So reads my bumper-sticker So go I must   Walk the talk Clear the cluttered air Get fresh thoughts The trail will lead me on To new vistas Fresh perspective Dive into strong, bold nature Departure from strong, bold cops Too quick with their batons Too brash with their tear gas A soak in a mountain lake is what I need A curtain of trees surrounding me Shields shoved in reporters’ faces  Their backs beaten with clubs Maybe I’ll spy a bear cub Or a bald eagle           Flying over the peace-keepers Helicopters relay the news Send the command: Push forward! Push them back! Blistered backs Beaten heads and bloody hands Scraped and smashed fingers  Swollen and blistered feet from hours in shoes Proud scars from scrambling up trails The ecstasy of pain...

Cool water cascaded onto his throbbing head.  He leaned back into the steady flow and released a long slow exhale. He squeezed his puffy eyes shut, but that seemed to intensify the throbbing, so he opened them, allowing the water to stream directly in, not caring that he couldn’t see. It felt good, relieved some of the lingering burn, even. He’d never been hit with pepper spray before. Never been clubbed on the head with a police baton before, either.  First time for everything, he almost chuckled, but didn’t. Lifting his fingers into the water, he tried to clean the dark reddish-brown stains from the edges of his nails. Then he massaged his temples for a full, slow minute.  Gradually, he moved his fingers to the back of his head and gingerly touched around the swollen wound. The pain pulsated under his touch. Nope, he thought, not going to touch that for a while.   He wondered how he’d be able to sleep. It felt like the entire back of his head was an open...

SCUBA DIVING MEMORIES Again, more memories from my cousin Matt.  And like his car memories,  I have edited his text only slightly and added my own comments in italics.  We frequently dove on the wreck of the Niagara .  Pat Delaney (a friend of our dads’) was the one who originally found the wreck of the Niagara ( 1856 ), and he recovered the ship’s safe.   He would never say what it contained.  Since the ship was bringing settlers to what was then Fort Dearborn (Chicago had not been named yet) we suspected it was a lot of gold and silver money.  Here is a video of the wreck made in recent times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1WaknBT8rg I remember one trip we took to a dive wreck in the summer of 1970 or so in mid-summer.  We would launch boats at Port Washington, Wisconsin. Then we would travel about 7 miles north.  This particular day was warm and sunny, and the lake was very calm, with smooth water, but there wa...

The following is a large selection of memories from my other cousin, Matt—Margie’s older brother.   He is the oldest of the 5 of us first cousins, and I am the youngest.   Funny enough, our birthdays are only 1 day apart:   July 13 th for me and July 14 th for him: France’s Bastille Day.   I have divided Matt’s memories into 2 parts:   Cars and SCUBA diving. I have attacked them in 2 sittings because they’re fairly lengthy. His memories have links to photos and videos, which give a much more tangible feel to my dad’s years.   I have edited his text only slightly and added my own comments in italics.  Enjoy! CAR MEMORIES I remember as one of my strongest memories the fact that Dave always liked cars, read things like Hot Rod magazine, and always had an interest in going fast, having unique cars.  The earliest car of his that I remember was a 1953 or so MG TD, similar to the one in this clip, red with a tan convertible top. ...

E-mailed to me by my cousin in October of 2019 Karen’s Dad was my one & only Uncle. He was my Dad’s younger brother. I really just remember a few stories about him. He was always known to be a bit of a daredevil, crazy driver. One day he drove my brother & I, in his old Corvair, down “Slope Hill”, as fast as he could go! It was a very steep hill in my hometown and needless to say, we left our stomachs at the top of the hill! There was a railroad track at the top of the hill and I remember flying over that and   just stopping by the skin of our teeth, at the very bottom of the hill, where there was a stop sign and oncoming traffic! What a thrill ride it was! Another driving episode I recall was when he took my cousins and my brother and I on a drive to a   Frank Lloyd Wright house tour in Wisconsin. I remember him driving off the side of the road into the gravel a few times. But most of all, I remember stopping to buy some “squeaky cheese”, which I had never e...