Continued from, Omaha: Landing in Flyover Country. September 10/11. 2021: Carter Lake, Iowa. I’d landed in Omaha but my airport motel was in a little enclave of Iowa called Carter Lake, just a short jet blast away from the Nebraska state line. Carter Lake, the only Iowan outpost located west of the Missouri River maintains …
A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting an autumn 2021 road trip through the Midwest. Continued from, Flying to Omaha Without Babette and Yeti. “Flyover country.” It’s the pejorative heaped on anyplace that isn’t within a day’s drive of America’s two coastlines. As someone who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, I …
A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting an autumn 2021 road trip through the Midwest. Continued From Purgatory at the OAK Bound for Omaha, baby. The gate agent announces the boarding sequence; special needs passengers, military, first class, and economy. Walking past the proletariat towards the jetway and my first class seat I …
A chapter in an occasional series of posts documenting an autumn 2021 road trip through the Midwest. September 10, 2021 I’m relaxing, if relaxation is actually possible, in the Delta Airlines boarding area at Oakland International Airport, known in airport-speak as simply, OAK. At the airport, relaxation is an earned and short lived luxury. There’s …
Banner photo. The Downtown skyline taken from The Embarcadero. If you ever have the opportunity to ramble the city sidewalks (assuming you have a city that’s handy ), look around you. No, not for muggers. Okay, yeah always keep an eye out for sketchy fellow citizens, but also keep your eyes open for the varied …
How many more lives will it take? Well that’s a damn good question. Answers? Anybody? Helloooo! To the surprise of absolutely no one, another American town has adopted the slogan “_______(fill in the town name) strong.” This time it’s Highland Park, Illinois, where, to the surprise of absolutely no one, a mass shooting occurred. In …
A few days ago my friend and fellow blogger Martin C. Fredricks IV, wrote a piece titled Declaring “Loss of Independence Day,” (click the link), in which he explains why he won’t be flying the American flag this July 4th – Independence Day. Martin writes, “We can no longer, honestly or in good conscience, celebrate …
I almost never visit a cemetery, but I can’t pass up a forsaken, decaying old graveyard or boneyard. What’s the difference you ask? Three different words that all seemingly mean the same thing. Merriam-Webster defines them all succinctly as “a burial ground.” That’s far too simple. A graveyard can be a cemetery, but a cemetery …
Banner photo. Dad having a cold one. North Africa? Italy? Hey dad. When you were a youth, did you ever wonder what kind of father you might be? You were at loose ends during most of your twenties. Did you even entertain the prospect of fatherhood? You had a lot of time to run those …
Anne Sandler hosts this week’s Lens Artists Challenge and has chosen the topic, Local Vistas. I live in Hercules, California, between a range of hills (and the rest of America) to the east and San Francisco to the west. Hercules is what you might call bland suburbia. Strip malls, tract housing and a city council’s …
The Life in My Years 