Group Hug
One of the best parts of retirement and my slow mental and physical decline is the men’s group I joined after moving to Asheville. Men don’t group together and talk very much (school sports teams don’t count.) We’re too busy competing and improving the species. Women share and communicate often. Men not so much.
I’m aware that other old guys do get together regularly for social occasions and enjoy swapping stories and giving organ recitals (complaints about our many ailments.) Not the same. So thank you Chuck Fink for organizing, nurturing and inspiring our groups. And thanks also to Buck Bragg for serving as our gentle leader. Both of these gents are modest and avoid any testimonials of gratitude. Don’t worry guys, no one reads these postings…
Gallimaufry.
Getting somewhere?
A talented artist can say a lot in a short time. Steve Cutts (gifted UK artist and animator) produced a video called “Happiness” that can be seen from this link. https://vimeo.com/244405542 A masterpiece IMO.
Songs/poetry, dance, sculpture and graphic arts – painting to cartoons – tell stories quickly and memorably. Stories with humor can lubricate the great lessons of life – artistic olive oil.
And, I love a big satisfying biography. They’re like blankets of the past to warm and teach us. Yarns of Peoples lives cross each other to form pieces of cloth that are formed into big quilts. I know, there are holes and patches of imagination, but life stories from generous authors tell me more than summaries of nations, wars and economics.
Mr Franklin is the person I would most like to meet, when time travel is perfected and economical.
Holiday season in the western world. Nostalgia can be heavy and sometimes sad at this time of year. Best advice is to make someone else happy – bake a cake, send a note, shovel a walk.
Hey, whats coming next? We barely understand our past and don’t pay enough attention to the present. Still, we can’t wait for tomorrow.
“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” (William Gibson) So is the past (still with us) IMO.