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David Mitchell

Home again - finally.

Fun trip. I made it longer than need be - both ways.

Tired. Details to follow soon.

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Would split pea soup be permitted as a substitute?

Timothy Lavelle

Mike and Dave,

The secret - get a nice big ham bone for either soup...and heavy use of onion is always good. I thought you spelled that "hambone" but each time I tried that the computer decided I meant "backbone" which I know you both already have...you must have... you hung with Ganley and managed to stay off Lester Holt.    

My Seahawks would like to apologize for wasting your Monday night.

Michael McLeod

Just want to say what a lot of ground got covered when Dave popped in for an unexpected poolside philosophy sesson yesterday afternoon. Profound truths were revealed, fascinating stories recounted. Then Dave would start talking and I'd have to shut up until he finished. 

David Mitchell

I just got back last night from a journey away from some approaching weather - which never reached us after all. My next door neighbor tells me "it misted for a few hours and the breeze picked up just a bit". So gratefull I am not a resident of NC.

In my never ending quest to locate the most dangerous freeway drivers on the planet I was lured to the southrern most of our great states. And did I discover the most dangerous freeway drivers?  Oh yeah!  Especially those near the quiet little hamlet of Tampa. More than a few times did someone cut in front of me by less than half a car length while doing about 81 mph. (which is the speed at which I had set my cruuuze control most of the way).

But I was also seeking rest and companionship, and I found it in spades!

I discovered a quaint little Inn just nort of downtown Clearwater run by an extremey accomodating couple who's staff actually treat their guests like an old friend of the famiy. I could not have had a more enjoyable time if they had spent the two and a half days sprinkling me with gold dust and serving some form of nectar of the gods.  

One of the proprietors was my first "new" best friend as an "Eagle", when I first discovered that there were other kindred souls besides my OLP buddies. The other was a young lady who was planted in the seat next to me in typing class, upon her arrival from Toledo. Ironically, I was the first impediment to their "union" which did not occur until later in life. But life is good, and they found one another eventually. 

So glad!  And Tom and Tess, I had a wonderful time!

David Mitchell

Not far from that location is another small village that I decided at the last minute to swing by. I had a vague awareness of a legendary "evangelical pastor and spiritual advisor" to those seeking the a better understanding of the sacrament of the "Holy Grail of the Cafeteria Milkshake".  So I veered of course on my return, to drive past only about 80 miles and at least 4 gazillion exits for various amusement parks - Disneyworld, EPCOT, Sea World, Universal Studios, Hollywood Studios, Joe's Studios, Sam's World, Penelope and Gaylord's World, and I don't know what-all-World. Seriously!    

Anyway, I got to visit with "His holy heartedness" over a pizza (which he paid for) for a few hours and we had a great time, studying the mysteries of the Bible, as well as the meaning of life -  as we know it.

And let me tell you people, beween the two of us brilliant dudes, we know it all!

(Oh yea, we talked about all of you behind your backs. Golly that's fun!)

Thanks MIke. What fun!  Really, really glad I stopped.

(skeptic on the left - - - Holy Man on your right)

Timothy Lavelle

Dave and Mike, 

Really enjoyable reading. Great comraderie.

Jim: WOW! According to that bastion of "right thinking," The Today Show, you are the only person in Colorado, over 65, that does not smoke dope! Old people all over the place are just saying "Screw it. I'll just get stoned!"

Of course there is that short...term...loss...of...

...what were we talking about?

James Hamilton, M. D.

Tim,

Seniors on weed...probably live in the Denver-Boulder area!

I prefer to get my kicks in other ways:

This is "First Sunlight on Cripple Creek", elevation 9494 feet, that I photographed on 13 Sept 2018 from an overlook about 1000 feet above the town. The Continental Divide is in the distant background, about 50 miles away.

 Now that is a true Rocky Mountain High!

I read that there is a restaurant in Maine that now prepares their lobsters by first dosing them with cannabis so they can "more humanely" boil them in water. I assume they feel that it acts as an anesthetic on those crustaceans. You better be careful around that bean soup you boil!

Jim

Michael McLeod

Just so you know, Dave, that pizza was consecrated.

David Mitchell

Bless you, my brother.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Last Light

It was such a pleasant evening here today with some great clouds that I thought I'd drive over to Garden of the Gods and photograph a sunset over Pikes Peak. Unfortunarely, the clouds - which really make for the best sunsets - dissipated and moved to the east as I approached the Garden. Soooo.....Plan B was put into play and I positioned myself to capture the last sunlight on the west facing side of some of the red sandstone monoliths. As luck was on my side, the moon was also visible above a few of the rocks and I was able to include that in my composition. Within about 10 minutes these rocks were completely in the shade when the sun slipped below the foothills and the Front Range. I was at the right place at the right time, something that doesn't happen too often to me anymore at our age!

Jim

Janie Albright (Blank)

Jim, love the photos! You do live in a photographers paradise. 

Linda Weiner (Bennett)

It's fun reading all this good stuff. As I go along from post to post, I think I have a comment, but by the timeI get to the last page someone has beaten me it or I totally forgot what I wanted to say! (I know I'm not the only one.)

Yes the Cincinnati suspension bridge was built by John Roebling. Not sure which one was first though.

I'm sorry to hear of shootings there (or anywhere). It's quite scary for sure. Happy birthday to al the septuagenarians! Very glad that Mary Ann, Dave and families are safe. We were getting prepared for soe of it here, but false alarm for us, who are still recovering from tornados & microbursts in July.  

Tim, Would I ever love to savor some of that bean soup!

I forgot what else I was thinking few minutes ago.

David Mitchell

Any Browns fans out there - your long dark nightmare might be over!

Timothy Lavelle

No matter what your political preference, imagine the picture if one million American women stood silently outside the Senate next week. A quiet, resolved force, unwilling to see another woman browbeaten, or strongarmed, by an almost completely male bunch of gray haired old farts from either side.  Something to really throw a chill into what I believe are self-serving seat holders...

Getting down from 'da box'. 

Lawrence Foster

Disclaimer:  The following post is similiar to what Linda Weiner wrote a few posts ago along the lines of "I gotta remember to do that, too."  (Linda I am so with you on that!)  This is not meant to be a challenge to Jim Hamilton for a photographic "shootout" (with cameras) at high noon.  These were taken with my phone so Jim wins automatically.

Some of you may have seen these on my Facebook page earlier this week.   The first is a deer I saw in our neighborhood within a mile of where I live. When I came around the corner he was in the middle of the road.  He jumped the guardrail and then waited for me to take his picture.  And the next two are the sunset I saw on Monday as I was coming back from the library.  

James Hamilton, M. D.

Michael McLeod

Look closely at the photo of Dave Mitchell and me. Notice anything odd -- well, even odder than the obvious --  two goofy guys?

Look at my glasses. Notice anything odd about them?

Ok time's up.

You can see that there is no lens on one side.

That's because I am halfway through refractive catarract surgery. I can see perfectly out of my right eye because they took out the catarract in that eye and inserted what is basically a contact lens that corrects the vision from the inside out. Having the left eye done next week, hobbling along with my makeshift one-lens arrangement in the meantime.

Gotta say I am looking forward to living without glasses or contacts -- which I have endured since, as a grade school kid, I tried, unsuccessfully, to fake my way through an eye exam.

Just astonished by the technology and thrilled at the gift of 20 20 vision.

Fortunate, too, for the meds I am taking for blood pressure and cholesterol and the information about healthy eating now available that will likely give me an extra decade or so of life that my dad did not get. 

I have a friend who maintains a gratitude journal.  I'm thinking I ought to be keeping one myself. 

John Maxwell

David Mitchell

Dear God!  Speaking of needing glasses.

A few recent posts appear to be from Mike McCleod.

And all the time I was there visiting with the guy I thought it was Bob Smith, an old buddy from college. Maybe it was the reflection of the sunlight off of his pool. 

Yikes!

I take back every foul-mouthed, dirty, nasty thing I said about you Mike.           I swear!

Timothy Lavelle

Color me curious.

Now that Baker Mayfield has given Browns fans the fun of breathing again, has his stock soared in Columbus or is he still persona non grata?

David Mitchell

Tim,

Wondering the very same thing myself? 

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

Hey, what’s not to love about a guy who brings home the first victory in 635 days?  All is forgiven — at least until he throws that first pick-6!!  

Clare

David Mitchell

On that same subject - sort of - isn't it beginning to look like we are watching one of the early leaders in the race for this year's Heisman?

I mean right there at that little school where all you Arlington people "went away to school" - across the Scioto? 

Michael McLeod

More great stuff, Jack. Impressed you're doing all this manly introspection without getting a boost from peyote buttons.

Dave: If he has a good game against Penn State next week yep, Heisman talk will get serious. Best passer we've had since Troy Smith - this guy actually is much more of a pure passer than Troy. 

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

It's always nice to have someone from "back home" comes to Barcelona.  We had a great time with Carol and John yesterday who are enjoying La Mercé festivities here this week.  Come back again soon, friends!