Music of the Day: Paul Brown, Hello Again

Dear Old Mom now has a new HD-capable flat-screen TeeVee on which she now gets about 700 channels. The old TeeVee, which had a cabinet the size of a small aircraft carrier, now resides in her garage—on my next visit I’ll have to hire four or five weightlifters to move the damned thing to the nearby Goodwill store.

It’s August 11—but there’s an NFL football game on my TeeVee, with Green Bay playing Cincinnati. That’s way too early for football.

MLB made a batch of killer chili for dinner; it went perfectly with the football game and a cold beer, but it’s still to early for football. Or chili.

Dear Old Mom now watches The View on her HD-capable flat-screen TeeVee. The View, I think, is that program that features four women who talk simultaneously about how evil Republicans and conservatives are—Mom will be jacked up with new bilious HD-material during my next visit.

I am thoroughly skeptical about any new-age “medicine,” or “cures,” or other similar mumbo-jumbo, but my right arm was killing me earlier this year from too much tennis, a painful tendonitis from either (1) new racquets with cheap string (2) me trying to spin the ball too much, or (3) bad technique on my part. I was desperate, so I bought a bracelet that has two small magnets in it—it’s called a Trion-Z and its supposed to do something or other with positive ions. It sounded pretty sketchy, and a little bogus, but for $20 I figured, “what the hell, why not.” My arm feels better. I have new string in my racquets, I’m trying to straighten out my swing, and I’m not swinging for the fences on every ball, but maybe it’s the bracelet. Next thing you know, I’ll be staying home from work to watch The View on TeeVee.

My son had knee surgery a couple of months ago and he’s walking better now and his leg looks better, and healthier, than it has for a while. We hiked on Sunday and got caught in a minor rain and hail-storm, but it was a nice afternoon together. He is the most forgiving and easy-going member of our family. When he finishes his degree, he’ll have some debt for student loans, but I have no doubt that he’ll pay them off—he works his tail off and he’s a damned good chef.

My daughter is getting married next year, the first of our four kids to tie the knot. This is a very good thing and it sends a powerful message about their positive outlook for the future. Neither she nor her husband-to-be are ignorant of life’s challenges or difficulties, but they remain confident and positive. That’s one of the things that a marriage indicates.

MLB’s two wonderful sons are engaged in their own challenges and opportunities, one in the United States Navy, the other as a senior in college (and budding film star). They express confidence and their positive outlooks in their own ways, working to secure their own futures and to extend artistic expression. One doesn’t have to be married to be confident and positive.

We had another spectacular sunset here this evening and the sky was a riot of colors and shades. It’s a blessing to still be able to see the wonder in nature—even a hail-storm is kinda’ wonderful.

If MLB has her way, Saturday morning will feature a seven mile hike, uphill, for a good cause; I think my formerly broken right leg might now permit me to make the entire hike this year. We’ll see. . . .

My plan for tomorrow morning will include searching for something to make me laugh out loud while having my coffee—this will help me avoid focusing on people like John Edwards or the Chinese government or the crazy men who are, again, running Russia. Humor—I’ll be on the search for humor!

And then I’ll go back to reading Solzhenitsyn.

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.