It’s 4:28 a.m., actually 0428, isn’t it. Every morning about this time -- earlier really, I’ve been up an hour with the first cup of coffee from my magic brewer, which I think I’ll take to it’s already-designated place in the condo today, that’ll help me feel “adjusting” and at home -- I start thinking “what shall I contemplate or remember to blog about?” Though readers may think I write to be read, truthfully, it’s a mental drill not unlike the crossword puzzles that Linda works. Something I read yesterday said working crossword puzzles helps ward off Alzheimer’s, keeping, writing and posting a weblog is my crossword, makes no matter to me whobody reads it. What’s up, then? The Kaiser-Frazer dealership building has been pulled down, a pile of rubble and something else will go there. Demolition was high time, long overdue, but it happening painted a black spot over memories that stirred every time I rode past there for the past sixty-seven years.  The 4th Street Bridge acr...

47F outside, 69F inside, why does it feel chilly in here even with this heavy blanket over my feet, legs, lap and up to my chin. Sniffles, I hope that doesn’t signify. White cotton blanket, actually a twin bedspread, but folded double for new duty as we no longer have any twin beds in the house. Clearing out, we're down to two kings and one queen. In fact, we're down on everything but chairs, some rooms are totally empty and some rooms even echo. There was a time years ago when this house sat long vacant and empty, the owners living far away. My father would drive by and, seeing the back door standing open, stop and pull it shut. My father never lost his love for this house. Neither will I.    Okay, now we’ll see a Heisman matchup on New Years Day with Jameis and Mariota. Was Jameis ever this humble and appealing? The new job for Muschamp makes me an Auburn fan. Army Navy signs check it out http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/12/espn-college-gameday-signs-army-navy Advent Th...

We remember his death, We proclaim his resurrection, We await his coming in glory. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 Always rejoice, unceasingly pray, in everything give thanks; this indeed is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. The spirit do not quench, prophecies do not despise, however test all things, to the good hold fast, from every form of evil abstain. Moreover, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and entirely, may your spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is the one calling you, who also will perform it This is our Second Reading (we used to call it “the Epistle”) for tomorrow, the Third Sunday of Advent, which season remember is not about baking chocolate chip cookies and pouring a glass of milk as we watch and wait for Santa Claus, but about “he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” In the reading, which as usual is unfortunately...

Lord have mercy, I can’t stand it. Every time a Fiat 500  commercial runs on TV I do a second take thinking the Crosley is back, and the word that hits me is “death trap.” That’s wrong, it’s a safe enough little car,  http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/fiat/500/2014 safe enough for some people, but I’d better not see my grandchild riding in one.  Car safety measurements are mostly about being in a collision with another car of the same size and weight. There aren’t enough Fiat 500s on the American road to be hunting each other down to crash into, and what I visualize is a crumpled fistful of aluminum foil after mating with a friendly 18-wheeler.   Crosley cars were manufactured from 1939 to 1952 (except during WW2)  and were interesting little bug-size vehicles advertised “cheaper than an eight-year old used car.”  They were odd enough looking and about the last model effected a little propellor o...

Set phasers to stun. I’ve lived into the future. Installed and being evaluated in a warship in the Persian Gulf, U. S. Navy has a laser weapon that can be adjusted from warning to sting to obliterate. Next, and why haven’t we been there for decades, a satellite laser that from orbit can stun, blind or crisp a man, sear a tank into molten steel, burn a line of combatants to shadows in the sand, incinerate a metropolis. The problem will be HAL. Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL? Affirmative, Dave, I read you. Open the pod bay doors, HAL. I’m afraid I can’t do that, Dave. Navy acronyms their laser weapons system LaWS. I got away without a red underline because spellchecker thinks I used “acronyms” as a plural noun, though I made it a verb. Language lives and computers can be outsmarted. But not HAL, who not only reads lips, but knows the hearts of men. Torture and the CIA. “When I was a boy” -- the baseline of our humanity and common decency as a nation -- we knew that Nazis an...

Early to be writing about it but never early to be remembering, my first Christmas Eve service, that I’ve written about other years on this blog. I was thirteen, it was 1948, just me and my father. Whether he had gone alone other Christmases I don’t know, or whether our church even had a Christmas Eve service, only that this was my earliest awareness of such. Roman Catholic friends had “Midnight Mass” but I had no idea it was part of Episcopal tradition as well until that magic night.  I went to bed early for a nap, my mother woke me a half-hour or so beforehand with a cup of hot chocolate, or maybe it was coffee, my first cup of coffee, with cream and sugar, I remembered the last time I wrote about it, now I’ve forgotten whether it was coffee or cocoa. I do remember how I was dressed, the blue tweed sportcoat that got wet in that 4th of July rainshower at the fireworks on the Mall in Washington, D.C. summer 1947, when I watched Fleet Admiral Bull Halsey and Fleet Admiral Cheste...

Out of control We are a strange pair, as the weather last night was to be calm and clear and the temperature not to drop below about 43F we slept with the porch door open. Christmas trees lighted inside and out, what a great season.  Walking around Lowe's listening to "sleigh bells ring, are you listening?" the Season came present for me, how odd, but I just let it be.  McElwain with offensive coaching background, including at Alabama, that Florida can use, and not new to SEC. MGoBlue? Harbaugh? We’ll see. He played for Bo, is that as important as “he played for Bear” once was? Maybe to Michigan fans from the Schembechler era. Remember the HarBowl 2013, John and Jim head coaches against each other. Every new head coach arrives with all horns tooting and great expectations, beyond sad when they go out with a pink slip as Muschamp and Hoke. With 49ers 2014 season 7-6 is Harbaugh likely to be back in SF at any event? Even if he were to come to Michigan, he's ...