Gratitude for Latitude

My friend James Kent publishes an online newsletter for his family & friends. It's called Ohana News. Each year he asks for contributions for his Thanksgiving Issue.

Gratitude for Latitude

4 November 2011

This year I’m grateful to get a pension

Meaning no alarm clock (That I savor.)

Which greatly reduces my tension

And contributes to each day’s flavor.

I’m glad of the serendipitous discovery

That chocolate, blueberries and walnuts

Improved my short-term memory

And boosted my brain out of its ruts.

I’m thankful to be in San Diego County

For the weather, Balboa Park, beach,

And mountains; meaning so much bounty.

I appreciate having friends within reach,

To socialize with gay men who

Think along the same lines as me,

Enjoy the same activities as I do

And add to my felicity.

Walnuts

In an earlier post, I commented that each day has its own flavor. Today's flavor is walnut. To clear space in the freezer I took out some walnuts that had been in there for a couple of years. The walnuts came from a tree in my twin's backyard. When he first moved into that house, we could leapfrog over a broken branch in the grass. Now it's a tree twice as tall as the house and drops walnuts each autumn. Anyway, a couple of years ago I harvested some walnuts. The walnuts with hulls I just put in the garage. The walnuts without hulls I put in the freezer. Yes, Virginia, walnuts have hulls and shells. They're doubly protected. When I got around to them, the nuts in the garage had withered and were worthless. The nuts in the freezer were still good when I shelled them today. Today's imponderable: "If the walnuts have never been cracked open, how does the mold get inside?"
Today I also posted a video on YouTube talking about walnuts and brain function: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_huqszlUlzs

Three Events

Just before I fall asleep, I review what I want to do the next day, what I think my schedule will be. Some time ago I realized that each day has it's own flavor. Today proved that the future is unpredictable.

Early on men came with machines and jackhammered out the sidewalk half-way across my driveway. The backstory is a previous owner (I've been in this house for six years) planted a ficus tree in the parkway. That's what the city calls the space between the sidewalk and the gutter. Anyway, the ficus tree was starting to raise the concrete of the sidewalk creating a tripping hazard. Also it was big enough to block a speed limit sign creating a traffic hazard. And it was growing into the power line creating an electrical hazard. A couple of months ago, I went out one day and the tree was gone; cut down by the city. They spray painted colored arrows on the sidewalk. Bruce put a notice on the fridge yesterday so I had parked on the cul-de-sac side of the house and was able to get out and about. 

Bruce collects Pulsar watches. The were the first digital watches sold to the public. As with any product, some breakdown and don't work any more. Bruce had been exchanging emails with a guy from Germany about the electronic modules inside the watches. Today that dude from Germany came by the house with his girlfriend. They were here for quite a while and wanting to be hospitable, I went out and picked up rolled tacos for lunch. Bruce trotted out the best watches of his collection including one with Florentine engraving and the "crown jewels" by Grima.

The third surprise of the day was the arrival of my book order. I now have copies of both of my poetry books. If anyone one wants an autographed copy, just send me $12. They're also available online: Uncle Al's Rhymes for Our Times and Uncle Al's Perverse, Gay and Kink Verse.