Middle Aged Crazy

I found this wonderful quote this morning: Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy. Between aesthetic and religious rapture there is a family alliance. Art and Religion are means to similar states of mind. Clive Bell Clive, Dude, I hear you! I’ve ... Continue reading →

I’ll mow your lawn Clean the leaves out your drain I’ll mend your roof to keep out the rain I’ll take the work that God provides I’m a Jack of all trades Honey, we’ll be alright Growing up, all we kids heard were Great Depression stories. Our Grandparents lived through ... Continue reading →

Happiness is fleeting and perhaps even a little overrated. We are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but the constitution makes no guarantees about corralling it. Happiness probably worked its way into the constitution by way of the classics. Aristotle talked about it as the highest of ... Continue reading →

Today’s battle of feelings: Lust: A passionate or overmastering desiring or craving. vs. Temperance: Moderation or self restraint in action JUST GO FOR IT!   LIVE IT UP!   LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!   One of the unintended side effects of the pop psychology, self help movement is the ... Continue reading →

For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can.  Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can. Ernest Hemingway If you ask anyone who creates, you strive to hit a zone in your work. I call it “Writing by Angels,” sometimes ... Continue reading →

Redemption stories seemed to be a theme this weekend and, as someone who will take all the redemption he can get, I was paying special attention. I have to tell you first, I built a waterfall in my back yard last week, sitting by it is my new favorite place ... Continue reading →

On Saturday, I got to just be. It was a perfect morning to be left alone to play and I had a few tons of flagstone to mess around with. I was teaching myself to lay a patio and I found myself completely  engrossed, I was in a creative trance. ... Continue reading →

Do you get the urge? You know: an obsessions, a fixation, an excitement. You can’t stop thinking bout it, day dreaming about it, planning, anticipating, an inability to think of anything else. It’s a hunger, a thirst, an itch that only one thing can scratch… You need to create something. ... Continue reading →

I don’t usually allow myself to have bad days, but Tuesday leaked into Wednesday and I was in danger of having two bad ones. There was an incident with a car dealer, they don’t bring out the best in me, problems at work and with someone who was supposed to ... Continue reading →

We’re about to begin a project here, a DIY gardening project that involves shovels, wheelbarrow, several tons of flagstone, water pumps and perhaps a turtle. Teresa and I are going to redo a corner of the yard that is tucked behind a beautiful magnolia tree, a spot so shady that ... Continue reading →

Like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, I was too busy working to get around to finishing my college degree. Now: I’m not quite half as successful as them… In my own near do well way, I have had a successful career. Finishing college has always been a huge incomplete, a ... Continue reading →