01 Monday Feb 2016
Tags
a not started, not finished, bedside read…
For quite some years now, I have had a goal of reading sixty books a year, which averages, you know to five books a month. As you would expect there are years that I read a bit more, a bit less, just right. However, this year, January will come and go without my having read nary a one. The flabbergasting thing is that I cannot put my finger on any particular reason why, other than perhaps a general sense of ennui, a word I absolutely love.
11 Monday Jan 2016
Posted in Living, Totem Hall
Tags
found, glasses, iphone, keys, lost, money clip, resolutions, this new year
This…
my clip…
This too…
my phone…
These…
my glasses…
These too…
my keys…
So, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hereby resolve not to lose any of them, not a one, not for a moment, not this year!
And, well, right, my dear reader may notice the obvious differences in time and backgrounds, which, of course, there is a perfectly good reason for…
19 Wednesday Aug 2015
Posted in Gentleman Farming, Living, Seasons, Time, Totem Hall
I’ve been spending time on the back of a tractor, contemplating all the mysteries…
23 Monday Mar 2015
Posted in Family, Living, Passages, Relationships, Seasons, Time, Totem Hall, Vacation
Tags
beach, boarding school, children, classes, college, empty nesters, life, savannah college of art and design, spring break, tides, woodberry forest school
that last sunset…
Perhaps, I should say, spring sprunged. My youngest returns back to his boarding school later today, and in Savannah my oldest returns back to the college grind today, which all means that today at Totem Hall we return to life as empty nesters today, not a bad life mind you, but a life nevertheless…
18 Wednesday Mar 2015
Tags
beaches, children, friends, high schoolers, reunions, spring break, sunsets, tides, wants, wishes
that first sunset…
I could blame my youngest because this is what he wanted, but why bother…
11 Wednesday Mar 2015
Posted in Business, Gardening, Gentleman Farming, Living, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall
Tags
apple blossoms, apple computer, macbook, motherboard, spring, technology, technophobe, troglodyte, video card
new boss meets the old boss…
In case you were wondering where I might have been all these days, well, did you know that on older MacBooks the video card attaches to the motherboard and that when the video card goes bad, the motherboard though still good is now worthless? Yep, I did not know that either, though I have since found out about this and much other arcane trivia regarding both my now old and now new computers.
meet the new boss…
same as the old boss…
To be honest, the Gentleman Farmer does few things well and computers are not one of them. Slowly, but surely, while my face basks in the glow of computer light, I am making friends with the newest addition and expense to Totem Hall.
Somewhere, someone promises improved productivity and instant enlightenment, right?
I just noticed the blurry image of my old and now very defunct computer, which is somewhat apropos, no?
just because it’s spring and I love apple blossoms…
01 Saturday Nov 2014
Posted in Living, Nature, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall
Tags
crowns, daydreaming, doorways, entries, etruscans, fieldwork, greeks, harvest, old, olympics, owls, power, romans, tractor, wealth, wikipedia, wise, wreaths
harvest wreath…
I came back from the Woodberry Parents Weekend to find the front door of Totem Hall all decked out with a brand new wreath, courtesy of my mother in law, celebrating the best of fall.
one view up close…
Later on my tractor, working a field, I started thinking about wreaths, the whole who, what, when, and where.
another view up close…
So I turned to Wikipedia; I mean, after all, who doesn’t? Did you know that wreaths appeared during the Etruscan era, worn as crowns? After that, the Greeks and Romans appropriated the wreath concept, wearing them to celebrate, for instance, Olympic achievement, or to designate wealth and power.
wise old owl up close…
Of course, wreaths on the head are all good and wonderful, but how does one get from the dome to the door? Well, by way of Wikipedia, one again turns to the ancient Greeks. It turns out the Greeks enjoyed hanging a harvest wreath by their door, just like mine.
one more look…
before you come on in…
And there you go…
29 Friday Aug 2014
Tags
bulldogs, college football, dawgs, dreams, georgia bullogs, hedges, heritage, sanford stadium, season opener, southern boys, tradition, uga 1
For me, the high holy season of college football begins this Saturday when my school, my team takes to the field.
me and uga one…
It is an acquired taste, not for everyone, though very important in my part of the world.
We start young, us southern boys, playing and dreaming as long and as far as our playing and dreaming will take us.
Throw in the generations of family men who played and dreamed before and will play and dream to come.
Mix in the atmosphere, the pageantry, the tastes, smells, drinks, sights and sounds.
Add the excitement, the energy, the contact, controlled violence.
Then you can see why it is in the blood. Then you can see why it is who we are.
26 Tuesday Aug 2014
Tags
back pain, bed making, bloglovin, books, contemplation, iphone, reading
As in, flat on my back, as in back pain, as in immobile, as in how the heck does this happen when making a bed, for God’s sake…
view from a bed, flat on my back…
another view from a bed, flat on my back…
a final view from a bed, flat on my back…
Oh well, at least I have an iPhone and a good book, or two, or three.
12 Tuesday Aug 2014
Posted in Family, Living, Passages, Relationships, Time, Totem Hall
Tags
dodge, lexus, memory, moms, moves, moving, nissan, packing, pathfinder, poodles, ram 2500, roommates, rx400h, scad, sons, u-haul
Our oldest made his return to college Saturday. This was not our first fond farewell, having over the years sent him off to summer camps, boarding school, and the first year of college, but somehow yesterday was different, he was moving into his own home, well, own home with four other roommates.
folding sheets for the first and last time…
boxed up and ready to go…
The whole process was most entertaining and it brought back a flood of memories.
i’ll just stuff this in…
it doesn’t take me long to pack…
To begin with, all our carefully thought out plans fell by the wayside. The big Dodge 2500 is still in the shop. She was going to be the workhorse of the move. So, you say, no problem, I am sure you have a Plan B. Well good old Plan B did not work out either. Since my son’s Pathfinder did not have wiring for the trailer lights, there was no U-Haul for us, not rentable. Surely, we can use one of the open-air trailers here at Totem Hall, right? Ooh, too bad, the Lexus, choice three, with tow package and harness, is no good, faulty wiring.
The end result: ah, stuff it in the back of the Nissan.
packed in the back…
packed on the side…
packed on the other side…
and packed in the front…
He is definitely my son.
How crazy time is, really. We move through it, try our best to hold on to it, swimming upstream, you know.
bye moms, bye poodle…
Was it just the other day that I was making my own moves, possessions stuffed into a trash bag, or two? Or how about renting the first moving truck, enlisting a couple of friends with offers of beer and lunch, forgetting to tie down everything in back.
bye totem hall…
Then came children, just the births alone seem long ago, though, in the grandness of time, not too far away, remembered, just not able to be captured again, the first words, the first walk, off to school, off to university.
bye son, fare thee well…
Life is such a funny game…
