Friday nights, alright

    I abandoned this blog over a year ago and only recently picked up on it again.  At one time I'd inserted a number of nice touches such as a photo slideshow.  But that is a thing of the past, the Host programs have since moved on.
     Neverthless..... one needs to soldier on.

    So Lisa has left me to batch for a few weeks while she makes her annual pilgramidge.  She's currently in Boise.  She's always done this, but it used to be called different names.  National Lampoon Vacation comes to mind.  It's probably good for both of us.  I could see her visibly restless for quite some time.  She needs family time, Sister time, most importantly Grandbaby time.   So, like men all over the world, I probably should watch myself a little more closely.   Funny but true.  Guys with too much time on their hands tend to get a little funny like that.

      My Uncle Carl, my Mother's last sibling died.  I'm still processing that.  So's my Mom. She's Heartbroken.  So's Loris, married since 1961.  We've spent alot of time these last five years in Austin.  What we expected back then was a brief tour of Texas, a brief stopover at relatives and then on to Florida, our original objective.  Yeah, that was over five years ago.  We have yet to go South of Corpus Christi.

       Carl was a Man's Man.  Owned his first Airplane at 16.  Surreptitiosly, well likely not, took me up in one when I couldn't have been more than four.  How do I know that? Well before I ever took my first real airplane ride I retained a fuzzy memory, including a Red Airplane, which happened to be one of Carl's.  If it honestly did not happen, please don't tell me.  It's such a great memory.

      At the Funeral, we told Loris we'd be back in a few months.  She joked that she must still be in the family.  Duh.  I know in many cases this is a real fear.  My Dad automatically assumed he was out after my folks split in 1992.  Which was a shame.  He enjoyed spending time in Blackfoot.   So when Carl and Kenny showed up on his doorstep for a visit he was surprised as anyone.  His exile was self imposed and its a shame because everybody is now gone.  We'll be swinging by Austin for quite some time.  But we'll miss Carl.  I'm not even going to go over the litany of his accomplishments.  That was well covered during the Funeral.  But to the last, even though he'd look at you and you knew in your heart he had no idea who you were, he held on to that sweet personality that I remembered when I visited Carl and Loris with Grandma in Sacramento, California nearly fifty years ago.

      I maintained contact with my Ex's family for many years.  On her death, my main concern was my son.  I've been disassociated I suppose from them because I rejected a plan that I don't think was in anyway in his best interests at the time.   But I ensured he followed through with the proper handling of her remains.  That he got the certificates ordered,  collected the things of importance which he might hand down to his children, if he ever has any.  Collected up her Cat which he has to this day, and has had since she was a kitten.  When he got back to Twin Falls, Danny set up a memorial that I video'd.  They have little to complain about.  

      An Ex who dies is more mourned for the pain it causes the children you both had.  It's too bad things worked out that way, but it is what it is.

      The thing is, Funerals tend to be awesome family get together's.  Carl's was no different. I suspect he'd be fine with that. And it's been an exceptional pleasure meeting relatives that I haven't seen for generations.

     Housekeeping.  Watching an old Concert of Highwaymen, "Willie and Waylon and the boys".  I wathed the harp player as if he were under a microscope.  And each note he played, (I have no idea how good he was, only the pieces he was playing.)  And I'd have no difficulty replicating each and every one of them.. What that guy has that I don't?  Music is hardwired from an early age.  Myself at 63 trying to rewire my brain is a bit pathetic.  But damn it is one of the funnest things I've done for awhile.  As well as enjoying the old stuff, Big Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Terry,  Charlie Musselwhite.  It's a new world

     Speaking of, they say one of the things a man should do in his life is build a house, write a book, do things like keep Bees etc. Does making your own Beer count? Anyway, I'm on the cusp of actually finishing one.  I've been working on it two years.  Damn, it's fiction, it's weird and dystopian but every time I get away from it, go back and review, I amaze myself.  I'm a rotten writer, but damn I'm proud of this.  Anyway I suspect I'll get it on Amazon in a week or two. Whoever said write a thousand words a day is full of crap. You'll just wind up going back and dumping most of it.  It's a process. 

      And that's all that is on my mind this lonely Friday night, 15th day of March, 2018. 
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