The Thursday Ramble: I Talk To Strangers

Much to the dismay of others, I talk to strangers. When I sit on a plane, I always ask my seatmates if they are headed home or headed out. Sometimes there is no response, other times it leads to a conversation. I have a few dozen stories that start with a sat next to a guy on a plane one time. 

On the recent trip, there was the tall-thin kid from Georgia who had just completed Air Force boot camp and was headed to some remote base in Texas to study munitions.  Going to boot camps was his first time away from home, his first time flying on a plane. 

A few years ago I sat next to a guy who worked for HP. He was on the road selling print on demand book publishing. If you order a self published book on Amazon, odds are it is printed on the machines he was selling. He said it was the future of book publishing, and he was right. 

I sat next to a guy on time, who was returning home from a job interview. He worked for a company that made control systems for cars. They were developing autonomous driving controls. He said, I need to move on. He went onto explain that he had spent most of the month before in a conference room full of engineers and ethicists trying to write computer code to decide if faced with running over the baby buggy or the wheelchair, which should the car run over. He said "I just can't be the guy who wrote that piece of computer code." 

I sat next to a guy one time who described himself as a corporate executioner. His specialty was firing senior executives in corporate America. He was an outside independent contractor. He said about 80% of the time the reaction is relief, thankful that the ordeal is over. The other 20% of the time, he is paid well to hear all kinds of rude things said. 

There was the morning that I slept with Gabriel Iglesias's road manager. It was an early morning flight out of Detroit, going to Phoenix.  I had been in Detroit for a memorial party the day before, and checked into the hotel in the airport the night before, as I recall the flight left at like 7:00 AM. He had finished up a series of shows in Detroit was flying home. He had been up late the night before at an aftershow party. We were in the first row of first class, and slept most of the way to Phoenix, before talking about what had taken us to Detroit. All we did was sleep, and then talk for a last few minutes of the flight. Nice guy headed home for a few days of rest. 

My World of Wonders: February 25, 2026

What was the first thing I thought of when I saw the above? Dump Trump. It was nice to read the Supreme Court ruling that he can't just decide that there is an emergency and levy tariffs. 

Where have I been this week? Out for a haircut, and shopping at Target. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to hear the National Symphony Orchestra. The community center to hang and open a new gallery show.  The latest gallery show opening. The gym. Into the city, and the African and Asian Art museums, and the National Portrait Gallery. It was great fun to ride the metro and walk in the city. 

What made me very sad this week? Attendance at the NSO last Thursday evening. The hall was half empty. There are ten seats in the section we were in, and the two of us where the only people in that section, it is usually full.   

Who have I talked with this week? My Sweet Bear, Linda, Jon, Amy, Kevin, Ruth, Warren, the usher at the Kennedy Center, Amy, Linda, Anna, Susan, Joan, Mary, David, it was a socially busy week with the gallery show opening. 

What do I have in the new show?  

What have I been up to in the kitchen?  Fried chicken and smashed potatoes for butter and chives. A quick ravioli with butter, cheese, and ham. Steaks, safarin rice, and glazed carrots. Roast pork with potatoes and carrots. 

What travel plans did we make this week?  I have a board meeting in Chicago in late July early August, I booked the hotel and we made airline reservations. It is fun to have plans. 

What is keeping me busy these days? We have a month long adventure coming up in a couple of months, and I am writing and scheduling blog posts for while we are on the road. I have about 2/3rds of the posts finished. There will be a digital detox on this trip. 

What else have I been writing? I submitted an article on housing options, I am editing one on keeping the bills paid and the lights on, and I have started one on older lawyers in the ABA. It keeps me active and thinking.

What made me laugh this week? The man who said, "money can't buy happiness, must have bought a Tesla, instead of a Porsche." 

What did I read that I wanted to quote? "Vae, puto deus fio" translated to mean, "Dear me, I think I am becoming a god." 

Travel Tuesday: All That Glitters at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum

 

Monday Mood: I Waited Too Long - Don't Put It Off

I waited too long, and now something on my travel wish list will never happen. Don't let his happen to you, take a few minutes this week to think about what you really-really want to see or do while you can, and sit down, make the plans, book the travel, spend the money. In the end you can't take the money with you, and sooner or later something will make your dream - impossible.  I know, I have let this happen. I coulda, shoulda added three days to last springs trip and checked this one off of my list. But I didn't.  I can't use the excuse that we didn't have the money, our earning days are behind us, there is more than enough in the accounts to have made the trip. I can't say we didn't have the time, we are both retired, our time is our own. We were gone for a month last spring, another three days wouldn't have made a big difference. And we changed planes in Iceland, on Icelandair that famously offers a stopover in Iceland for the same airfare as changing planes there. But I blew it, and now sadly it will never happen. Things happen, things change, things that are unexpected, and beyond our control. Go and do it now, or regret it later. 

So what happened? I have wanted to visit the black sand beach with the basalt stone cliff at Vik in Iceland for years. The basalt cliff was formed by lava flowing into the sea thousands of years ago, forming geometric blocks, stacked high into the sky, trapping a narrow volcanic sand beach between the cliff and roaring ocean surf, often with ice washing up on each wave. People traveled from around the world to see this beach, but no more. A couple of weeks ago, the cliff collapsed in a landslide onto the beach. The rocks are being cleared off of the beach, but the basalt cliff is gone, replaced by a muddy hillside. This very rare geological formation is no more. I waited too long, and I really have no valid reason for waiting. 

We did try to go there back in 2021. We were driving from Geysir* to Vik, and drove into a blizzard, heavy snow and 40 mile per hour winds, it was so bad that trucks were getting stuck in the roundabouts. We turned around when we could find a safe place to do so, and followed a local driving a tiny Toyota back toward Reykjavik, driving out of the storm in about 40 miles.  The hotel in Vik was kind enough to allow a last minute cancellation, the roads were so bad that people couldn't leave Vik, or get in. 

But that was five years ago, two years of which I have been retired, and we even changed planes in Iceland last spring, a perfect time to have made the trip. I blew it. 

What is on your wishlist? Stop making excuses, make plans and go now, while you can, before something makes it impossible. 

* Go stay at the Hotel Geysir, it is amazing. I am so glad we did that. 
 

The Sunday Five: Chickens

1: Have you ever kept raised or kept chickens? 

2: Should your neighbors be able to keep chickens in their back garden? 

3: Other than chicken, what kind of eggs can you buy in your local neighborhood, and do you? 

4: Have you ever been chased by a chicken? 

5: Do you eat chicken? 

My answers: 

1: Have you ever kept raised or kept chickens? I have not, my father didn't want anything on the farm that required daily care. 

2: Should your neighbors be able to keep chickens in their back garden? This has become a hot topic in many American cities, I think they should, they don't make anymore noise than many dogs, and produce eggs. 

3: Other than chicken, what kind of eggs can you buy in your local neighborhood, and do you?  I can buy quail eggs almost all of the time, if I go to the fancy market or the asian market they often have duck eggs, Whole Foods has stopped carrying Emu eggs. Quail eggs are cute, but fussy to cook, Duck eggs are wonderful, I wish they were easier to get (we lost the Egg Man at the farmers market during COVID, he often has Duck eggs.) 

4: Have you ever been chased by a chicken? As a child, but then I ran from almost everything until I was in my 30's. 

5: Do you eat chicken? Yes, often. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Use All Of The Tools You Have To Create

I sincerely hope that someone looks at this self-portrait and thinks - shouts - "I could do better than that." You probably can and you will only ever know if you try. 

Come paint with me. I will show you how I did this one. 

It started as an attempt to print out a selfie I had taken with my phone. Everything went wrong, it printed on plain paper instead of photo paper, and a couple of ink cartridges had dried up or gone empty, so the print was washed out, more of an outline than a photo. The essential elements of shape. 

I have never taken the time, to develop what little drawing skill I have. I am likely to say, I can't draw, but I also have never worked at developing what skill I might have. 

With this print, I had a start. Lingering on the floor behind my desk chair is a light-box, it was used as a slide sorter back in the day of 35mm slides. I just couldn't bring myself to toss it when we stopped using slides. I plugged it in, put the attempted print on it, put a piece of paper on top, took a dark fine point marker and created a sketch, an outline of my face. 

My original thought was that this would be a good linocut image. And I have started to explore linocut for the first time in about 45 years, but the image was complex and the wrong size. Hmm what to do? 

I painted a base color on a 12 by 12 canvas. Used tracing paper, basically carbon paper (who knew they still sell that?) and traced over the line drawing transferring the outline onto the canvas. I filled in a few lines here and there, then started painting. 

A few days later my Sweetie Bear looked at it and said, "it's you!" 

Can you do better, probably, a few of you I know for sure that you can. But it is me, trying. Using all of the tools I can to create something I don't know how to do. I am happy with it, it is in the community Arts Show of Portraits and Self-Portraits that opened today. 

Funky Friday: When I Wore A Younger Man's Shoes

I went out last Friday to run errands and take a walk. It was just above freezing, so I wanted to walk indoors as much as possible.  I went to the art supply store, then walking through a dozen local shops, to get my daily hour of walking in, while spending as little time outside as possible.  

One of the shops was a massive shoe store, Designer Shoe Warehouse or DSW, my readers in the USA will likely recognize the brand. 

Strolling the aisles, I was reminded of my early 20's, I was working full time, and I had a steady if very modest income, and I discovered the joy of shopping for shoes. Not just one or two pairs of shoes, the necessities, but being able to buy shoes for style, sometimes shoes for special occasions. There was a discount shoe store on the south side of Colonial Drive just west of Semoran Boulevard in Orlando that had great prices and often unique styles.  At first it was boat shoes, this was the early 1980's and leather boat shoes were the peak of Yuppy Fashion. Then it was nice dress shoes. I have fond memories of a pair of crocodile slip ons that I bought at an outlet mall out near Wet and Wild for about $100. I loved Cole Haan Driving Mocs, at one time I had at least 6 pairs of them in different colors and finishes. 

And starting in my late 20's running shoes. For a long time almost always Nike's top of the line running shoes. Avia gym shoes. Later Asics running shoes - I have probably half a dozen pairs of them in the closet today. 

Then in my 40's my feet started hurting.  I picked up some weight, I had spent a decade running a lot. I had a couple of jobs where I spent a lot of time on my feet. My days of stylish shoes were over by my early 50's. Shoes need to be comfortable, provide plenty of support and cushioning. 

Today I wear mostly running shoes. I have a couple of pairs that are all black, that I wear with suits. Have a couple of pairs of nearly waterproof hiking shoes or boots. And a few pairs of fancy dress shoes that I only wear when needed, and then limit the amount of time I am on my feet. But mostly it is one of the many pairs of running shoes in the closet that I wear each day. 

In DSW last week, there was this pair of sparkly black velvet formal shoes, I looked at them, picken them up, coveted them, and remembered the days, when I wore a younger man's shoes, and I could / would have bought the lovelies. Maybe I miss those days.