Today, kind ladies and gents, we open with a photograph of Fram the First, Fram Actual and Fram Impersonator. We leave it to you to decide which among which is which. The photo was taken at the semi-weekly bagpipe and bugle corps competition held at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lots of folks up there enjoy hearing the pipes, and especially appreciate seeing real men take to the field during the summer months before the wimp Packers arrive for the football season.Paradise Lost ....
Part II -- The Search Resumes:
After reading Part I, do you blame me for occasionally being a bit bitter and, at times, occasionally slipping into a melancholy mood? It is not that I have it bad; it is that I do not have what I require to prosper, which is no one's fault but my own, and the process to remedy my situation is under way.
Now, moving right along, I do have a little more whining up my sleeve. I am certain anyone who actually reads me knows that I lean toward the conservative end of the spectrum. I like to think 60-40. I am certain a true liberal would change those numbers. I am much more of an issue guy and a vote-for-the-best-candidate type of guy than I am a political partisan. Which is one reason I am so disgusted with both political parties, and the general dynamics of society in America today.
Before any of you knew me, about a year ago at this time, I went on record as saying I would leave the State of Minnesota if Al Franken were to be elected state senator. Seriously. I do not want to live in a state where a majority of the voters would elect a third-rate comedian, extreme-left-wing nut with absolutely no qualifications or credentials appropriate to the position, to represent them in a body of 100, whose members are among the most powerful people on earth. On the plus side, I have gained an understanding of why so many people live and breathe Paris Hilton: Celebrity trumps intelligence, talent, knowledge, experience, common sense -- absolutely everything else.
For those who have no clue what I am talking about, Franken was the candidate of the Democrat Party for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Norm Coleman. The vote last November was so close that a recount was required. The recount process and ensuing court action still continue but, right now, it appears Franken will be declared the winner by the margin of a few hundred votes.
It looks like it is going to happen, that Franken will be going to the Senate to represent Minnesotans. I am both embarrassed and ashamed about living in a state where such idiocy could occur. I will get over that, of course, but not while I am living in Minnesota.
Which returns us to my summer plans. This election gives me another excuse to move on. How is that for rationalization? Admit it, true genius behind the madness. I can find an excuse for almost anything.
Thomas Wolfe was right: "You Can't Go Home Again." Well, it has been a negative experience in my life, anyway. Always move forward, never backward, until you get it right –- or run out of time –- whichever happens first.
We are approaching May, and my plans remain on schedule, which are to travel in Greece sometime in July or August, with an anticipated stay of three or four weeks, then move over to southern France for at least another week to decide whether I might want to try living there for a year or so.
I think such an extended stay is unlikely now. Instead, it is more probable I will return here and do something similar to what I did a few years ago. At that time, I sold Sanctuary/Refuge. I quit my job and, in May, left on a driving tour that ranged from Canada into Mexico and lasted until October. That was my "battlefield tour." This would be my "find-a-place-to-hang-out-for-a-while tour."
In the meanwhile, there are travelers here among us. Know of any "neat" locations? Not too far north; not too far south. Any suggestions where I might find another woodland hilltop very near, if not on, water? I am not looking for much, only for the Garden of Eden and for the Holy Grail. Is that being selfish of me?
Music Note: Listening to Minneapolis' Soul Asylum ....
Specifically, "Grave Diggers Union" ....
Some lines from "Runaway Train:"
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mystery seems so faded
I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just a-drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train
Everything is cut and dried
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it
