Social Discussions

MY FRIEND HAS A DOG that he sometimes lets off the leash to run around in an empty lot. I couldn’t help but notice that the dog, free to roam, followed his nose. He careened about the lot in a totally unpredictable fashion, like one of those metal balls in a pinball machine, and like – it suddenly occurred to me – like me when I was in college. I followed my nose too, essentially purs ...

Hi all, just wanted to say hello to everyone on this site, as a new member with lots of questions to ask and answers to give x

THERE WAS A WOMAN standing at the corner of Walk and Don’t Walk. When I got closer, I realized that it was Carrie Fisher. “I thought you were dead,” I said impolitely. “I’m just back in space, like when I was in the Star Wars movies,” she told me. I had to admit that I hadn’t seen any of the Star Wars films. She just shrugged. “No big deal,” was her comment. Her saying ...

THERE WAS A GIRL DOWN THE STREET once who interested a high school boy who was her neighbor. She had a little brother. The boy decided that a good way to ingratiate myself with the girl was to teach her brother how to play chess. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to play chess himself. So he bought a cheap chess set and commenced to teach himself the game. After he’d progressed to a ...

BELIEVE IN KINDNESS.
It makes me cringe when I perceive
some of the things people believe,
like B-S that is fed to them,
and rubbish that they should contemn.

They must be lacking common sense,
or, perhaps, they’re rather dense,
to let these things into their head
and to believe all that is said.
Some of these things I understand
have been delivered underhand,
which means, what has been g ...

ONE OF MY DAUGHTERS was playing catcher on a girls’ softball team in her mid-teens. I noticed a local lawyer who liked to throw his weight around nearby in the stands. He was cheering for his daughter, a player on the opposing team. His daughter had just hit a single that was misplayed by our left fielder, allowing the girl to advance to second base. It’s amazing how carried away parent ...

BEING KIND TO GRUMPY FOLK.
You never know what you’ll provoke
when being kind to grumpy folk,
for they have shown that they can be
miserable, hostile and grumpy.
But there are those who persevere,
and to their kindness they adhere,
no matter what reactions come,
the kind person will not succumb.
Without a bad thought in their mind,
they make the effort to be kind,
and seem to sense that ...

Heading into the darker nights i find myself more at ease and relaxed, I've always loved autumn/winter anyway but also my body seems to cope better with the mild and colder weather. And I love nothing more than sitting in the dark with a cuppa watching the night sky. All I need now is that someone to enjoy it all with.

THERE WAS ONCE A MAN who made a foolish bargain with the devil. He sold his shadow for a never-empty purse. Unfortunately for him – his name was Peter Schlemihl – he discovered that his lack of a shadow was off-putting to people and he became a pariah. If you lack sufficient substance to cast a shadow, it seems, you will be shunned by society. Yet when the devil offers to return his sh ...

BEING KIND.
I’ll share with you the things I find
with human beings being kind,
for it will come as no surprise
sometimes a tear comes to my eyes.
I love it when I feel folks care
and their fine feelings they may share,
to make me feel that they at least
would help protect me from the beast.
It only takes just one kind thing
for joy to find a place to spring ,
and happiness to find some fo ...

Why Care?

You say “You don’t know me, so why would you care?”

Because, in a sense, we ARE one
In our own ways we face the same challenges
loss, heartbreak, insecurity, loneliness, more

and at times
we feel the need for someone
to approach our darkness
at just the right moment
bringing with them the Light of Caring
and Hope
and Unhesitating Friendship
as if a gift from God

We are ...

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
Bob Dylan’s great 1965 hit ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ will live forever as an anthem of the Sixties. Four years earlier, the British rock group Rolling Stones had named themselves after the Muddy Waters classic blues song ‘Rollin’ Stone.’ Muddy Waters, in turn, had ...

Sometimes I need to write a poem
When prose just wouldn’t do;
It means I give my words a comb
And add some rhyming too.
Free verse is fine, it has its place
As it does not prohibit
Unmetered words in open space
Without a rhyme exhibit.
I’ve read my Eliot and Ferlinghetti,
Each one a righteous poet,
But just like comfort food: spaghetti,
Rhyme matters, and I know it.
While Eliot had his Pru ...

So, this morning I was on the expressway after meeting a friend for brunch, and my bag started to leak at 70 mph. As I reached into my glove box, I thought "You might be an ostomate if...you carry chuck pads in your car!". Anyone else have any ostomate signs?!

Anyone out there? Want to see Stevie Nicks at Las Vegas on October 11? Great warm-up act too. I have two good seats. My friend can’t make it and I would have to drive from San Jose. Still considering that, but dashes, Judy.