little white

 

A long hike brought on an urge,

so I headed into a nearby porta-potty.

Stepped into the hot green space,

tried to pull a locking thingy closed.

Trying not to smell the environs,

I unzip and let a steaming stream loose;

Standing there pissing, spy a white spot

against the green plastic lit up by the sun.

Squinting closer, I see a little white spider.

Gives me a thing to watch as I unload,

sound reverberating, attention riveted

on that tiny white creature lowering itself.

It moves a bit, then turns around, tries to climb,

lowers itself more, hangs in space and rotates...

What kind of universe does it perceive?

Its milky way is this large green KYBO;

Don’t know and don’t care, because

I’m done pissing and zip it up again.

Leave its universe with a push of the door,

perhaps wish it luck making a web or whatever.

My universe contains a beautiful spring day in May,

and I’m going to enjoy it. Good luck,

little white spider suspended in stinky space.

You’ll need it.

Fit Impressions

 

Repetitive droning of treadmill motors

walking or trotting seeing flashing display

Time elapsed and time remaining synchronous

keeping time with my legs and breath.

Glace up at the bodies of all ages,

young and solid, older and bulky,

or plain old and frail,

all pumping their blood,

keeping healthy or chasing health.

Those young bodies that can take or do anything

amaze one that has spanned six decades.

“Did I ever look like that?”

But they are indifferent, flexing and flicking,

their minds on many different things.

Some are like me, just numb to the need to

repeat, repeat, repeat the workout,

persist and stay at it,

fighting caloric accumulations,

hoping to look a little bit better,

to live to chase another day.

Remembrance Roads

 

Another one of those

“On this day when” remembrances

pop up on a social media news feed.

I browse through pictures of some past road trip.

Making my way down dusty state roads,

rural areas unfolding with their soft scenery;

Chartreuse chicken coops next to rambling old farmhouses,

bits of old cloth hanging from a nail for a door handle.

I slow my car, to snap a few pics, then bite into one of the

last doughnuts on the front seat, vague fears of rotten teeth

swirl, while I remind myself to go to the dentist one of these days.

But I just taste acrid memories, as remembrance

of things done sift in and out of my thoughts.

“What would my life have been had I come from one of

these rural areas, with nothing but hard work and growing things around?”

I sniff, then sneeze – some dust of the past, perhaps.

Think and muse as I drive.

At one time, some of these farmsteads had families,

children running around between the barns,

their laughter echoing in and out,

startling the laying hens and hogs nearby.

But those days are long gone, memories like dust hanging in the air.

Time to drive on, drive on, always driving on.

Mixed Bag

 

     Ah, the summer travel season approaches. And since I took a long drive this spring, can share some impressions after navigating around 3,000 miles of the Interstates. First – if you don’t need to take a long drive, maybe you just shouldn’t this year. There are many construction areas, as state crews try to keep the roads maintained the best they can. In some places, there are potholes, or sudden holes that look like something hit the concrete surface at high velocity, leaving a jagged hole with some debris. A tire hitting one of these really makes a jarring impact. Luckily, we didn’t have a flat.

Then there is the traffic itself. People are always in a hurry. Especially large SUV’s and trucks that roar by, ignoring speed limits. Semi-tractor trailers try to pass each other, and often end up blocking the passing lane. Or they swerve on and off the rumble strips, doing who knows what inside the cab while their vehicles wobble all over the road. And yes, to be fair, sometimes cars whip in and out dangerously close to the Semi’s. It is a free-for-all wild west atmosphere at times on the Interstates – it can be a real test of nerves, and lead to a lot of cursing and unpleasant emotions. Long distance drives are not always easy. The glory or romance of just getting away from it all on the open road is appealing, for sure. But the reality can be much less pleasant.

This is not to say that traveling is all bad. There are many amazing things to see out there, especially here in the USA. And when you get to a destination, it can be delightful, to check into a nice hotel and be greeted warmly, and get a great room. Or to see an amazing national park for the first time. Great memories. It is worth it to see new destinations. Just be sure and pack a lot of patience with you, and try to be somewhat courteous on the highways. Pay some courtesy forward on the roads – you may get some back in return. Traveling can be a mixed bag! It is worth it. But it sure feels good to get back home too. Happy journeys – and may they be safe too. (be attentive on the road – watch out for what is up ahead). Thanks for reading.

Hobby Heaven

 

For some people it’s trains…

To paint them, or ride them around, or have

a big model railroad layout in the basement.

Makes their life complete – and happier.

Others may collect cast-iron car models,

larger or smaller or matchbox size.

They line shelves and collect dust,

but look racy like they want to go fast.

Some buy a lot of glass sculptures,

then shelving to display their finds.

If the sun hits them just right they gleam,

but also attract dust that obscures the shine.

Others like life-sized cars or statues,

or whatever they take a fancy to.

Collecting things is addictive and fun,

but lightens the bank accounts too.

The shrewd ones collect money itself,

buying stocks, bonds, or precious metals.

Money as a collectible takes many forms…

And can yield some great returns, as well as

disappointing results at times.

Sometimes it is more fun to have ‘things’

of indeterminate, fluctuating values.

Things you can touch, hold in your hand,

enjoy heft and girth, rather than estimated worth.

And when the markets crash,

as they often, inevitably do,

you still have your pieces,

something solid to hang on to.

No doubt the weather changes

 

One day we get 80 degrees and high winds,

the next it’s 35 degrees and snowflakes are swirling.

The Iowa weather roller-coaster is really moving!

Another reason to have a good HVAC system.

Once upon some distant time, I thought things were

more, well, static, or frozen in stability.

It was cold in the winter, hot in the summer,

and moderate in the fall and spring.

Then as I grew, developed or paid more attention,

began to notice these wild swings in weather.

Warm or hot early springs, tulips popping up,

then sudden blizzards snap us back to winter.

Summer weather with its nasty severe surprises,

tornadoes and derechos and 8-inch downpours.

Would find myself asking, “It never used to be like this,

did it?” I cannot remember weather being so wild.

We seemed to get long stretches of warm or hot days

in summertime, moderate ones in the fall,

cold and snowy ones in the winter.

Actual temperatures? I never knew or kept track.

Maybe we just didn’t have as much information,

which today we get bombarded with, inundated.

In 1973, the entire state of Iowa got buried from a

freak snowstorm, up to two feet of snow.

The whole state was paralyzed. Snowmobiles became

ambulances. Everything else shut down.

A week later, it had all melted off, and life resumed.

Freaky weather has always been there,

whether anyone realized it or not.

Let’s see, only 10,500 more years until the next ice age.

Hotels

 

They can be a source of real joy, or of frustrations.

You get parked after a long day of traveling. Maybe you drove on interstates or state highways, and endured detours or slow traffic. Maybe you overpaid for gas, or endured smelly rest areas, with sketchy characters lurking. Or maybe you flew, and had to lay over at expensive, crowded airports, with confusing gate locations. But whatever the case, you walk into a hotel with some sense of relief. You are finally here.

In a good place, they only need a few pieces of information, maybe an ID. You may write down your car license plate, and check the boxes that say you agree not to destroy the room, etc, etc. Then they hand you the card-key, and give you relevant details, like wifi passwords. And off you go to the elevator or stairway, card in hand, anticipation building.

You get to your floor, and then seek out your room number. Assuming you can see the room numbers on a wall somewhere, and get to your room, you present the card to the door reader, and hope the door opens. Most of the time it does, with that satisfying green light and a click. You open the door, and enter.

Most often when I get to this point, I like what I see. There is a large king-sized bed (or two queens if I’m going with a friend). There are three or four pillows lined up atr the headboard, sheet and blanket tightly made, and appealing furniture around. A chair and lamp in a corner past the bed, by the window. In some rooms this is a pretty simple chair, in others a larger, more commodious one. The desk along the wall facing the bed varies. The ones I really like have a lamp or two on the desk, with rocker switches at the base to turn them on. They also have some kind of base or strip to plug in USB cables, and hopefully a couple of three-way plugs for laptops. The TV usually rests on a separate area of the desk, or on a chest of drawers. A remote should be sitting right by the TV, so the guest doesn’t have to hunt for it.

The better rooms will have a simpler remote, and a large selection of channels. In some hotels, many of these are blanked out. But most rooms now have a decent-sized flatscreen in them, at least 32-40 inches wide. In one area of the desk, or on a separate table, will be a small coffeemaker and some packets of coffee and tea. This is often a welcoming sight – I’ll be able to get up, and get my cup of java in me before I head out. Some have Keurig coffeemakers. Nice, as long as they work. Most of the time they do work.

When I look into the bathroom facilities, I see varied sights. More and more have bottles mounted on the walls, for hand soap, shampoo, even lotion. One I stayed at recently had a small note on the sink basin mirror, that said “if you would like separate bottles of lotion and soap, you can request these at the front desk.” I didn’t, and I doubt most people would. But it’s a sign of the times. To lessen environmental impact, and perhaps save a bit too, more and more hotels will just mount bottles on the wall of the shower, and the sink area. If they do offer the individual bottles this gives me a better impression, like the place isn’t cheap-ifying everything.

One of the last hotels that I stayed in had a room that was palatial, by older hotel standards. It even had a couch – was more like a suite. Hotel rooms seem to be getting larger, with more amenities included, like the fridge and microwave that seem to be almost ubiquitous. No wonder costs are going up. Enjoy your stay, everyone.

Compassion Rules

 

So thankful for those compassionate human beings;

Their kind manner and positive regard make my heart sing.

They uplift my spirits and give me confidence in the future.

So glad that compassionate people are around,

to make life bearable, to smooth the path forward.

Their kindness makes a bleak day tolerable, and a

sunny day so much more brilliant.

They are a gift from the universe (to the universe).

Antidote to darkness and despair.

They are the key to progress in many ways.

They forgive mistakes and push people forward.

A heartfelt message of gratitude for those

patient and willing to overlook blunders,

compassionate enough to give a hand to a straggler.

Your kind acts will not be forgotten, rather appreciated

for as long as there is memory in this human being.

Thank you!