October is a wonderful month to hike. The crisp autumn air is exhilarating. There are hayrides and bonfires and bobbing for apples. So, the decision to have a Halloween Party at Billy Bump’s old barn that was in the woods…was made. Chet was so excited about the upcoming festivity and its rustic location that he he declared that this time he was not going to be costumed as the Lost In Space Robot…but as Friar Tuck from Robin Hood. Sally decided to leave her favorite costume of ‘Sally on Peanuts’ and become Maid Marian. Billy B. would be coming as Robin Hood. The evening would be a three part affair. The first event would be the hayride through the woods to the haunted barn. The second would be the candy and bobbing for apples. The third would be the Ghost Hike.

Jane and Buddy joined the Hayride. Jane reminded Billy B. of last year when they had taken a Hayride to a haunted house and she had suddenly fainted when she saw the glowing orange head that looked both like and Jack-O-Lantern…and a human… Buddy was dressed like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The carriage driver was the tallest and thinest man that Chet had ever seen…and on top of his head was a Stovepipe Hat…and his nose was so long that it touched his chin. He looked around…slowly…at Chet…and winked. The hay was soft and scratchy at the same time. Jane passed around, from the thermos that she carried, hot apple cider with, what she called, a touch of spirits…for the occasion… Suddenly the carriage toppled to one side and everyone held on for dear life. Billy B. assessed the Halloween revelers and decided that they would be able to walk the quarter of a mile to the Haunted Barn. Chet watched as the carriage driver untethered one of the coal black horses and jumped on top of his back and rode off. When Chet walked around to the front of the conveyance…there was the Stovepipe Hat on top of the head of the driver…with the long face and the extremely long nose, now bent to one side from its fall from its home on the shoulders of the peculiar chauffeur, smiling and saying…’Do not worry…he knows the way back.’

Lanny was mixing the punch that the apples were floating in when Billy B. entered the barn door. He grinned and told Billy B., ‘This Punch is my special Halloween recipe.’ Buddy, or as he preferred to be called, Hunch, was especially good at apple bobbing. Sally told Billy B. that Daryl had just came in…although she did not see him on the hayride. Daryl was dressed as the Mummy. When Chet greeted him…he simply motioned with his hand…but did not speak. For the dance Billy B.’s mom had chosen the Chubby Checker number one song, The Twist. As everyone began to ‘Twist the night away,’ Sally accidentally stood on a loose bandage on Daryl’s Mummy costume…and he began to unravel rapidly…as he twisted enthusiastically… Before those assembled…lay the Mummy’s bandages on the dirt floor…but no Daryl…

‘Lets hike quick…while we still can, said Jane. So the intrepid group of 10 year olds proceeded into a brilliantly lit full moon night. ‘You look like you need a shave…if you were old enough,’ said Billy B. to Chet. Chet responded, ‘When the moon is full…I like to howl…’

One of my primary holidays is this Sunday…my birthday. I have always enjoyed my birthday…and I do not try to hide it. I am humbled and grateful that in the Pie of Life…I have enjoyed a sweet slice. I am also pleased to be about to reach another year…in the Golden Years. My father died when he was 60. Life almost always looks bright to me…and if shadows obscure the landscape…I open more drapes and blinds and shutters and shades…to let additional sunshine in. Life is a gift and outlook is everything in the application of having an enjoyable ride on the rollercoaster of human activity.

When I was working I learned, after many years, to take my birthday off. It seemed that no matter the year…something bad or unexpected would occur on my special day. Many management problems leak over into your off hours and can cast a cloud over a celebration. MJ used to tell anyone who would listen that I had 4 or 5 birthday dinners. There was an annual dinner with friends…a dinner with mom and my step-father…and 1 or 2 with the 4 of us. This year there will be 2.

St. Louis, Missouri has been our go-to city for my birthday celebration for many years. This year there will be the traditional movie at Plaza Frontenac prior to dinner at Bartolino’s Osteria on The Hill. Bartolinos will be a new event for us as my birthday dinner is almost exclusively a Cunetto’s House of Pasta. It never hurts to try something new.

Birthdays are a wonderful time of reflection for me. Plaza Frontenac has a calming influence on me…as well as the Landmark Cinema that is in the mall. I have wiled away many hours waiting for MJ as she shopped and I sat by the Grand Piano and listened to it being expertly played. We have spent so many enjoyable times in St. Louis that it is our city. It is relatively easy to drive in and many enjoyable venues including the St. Louis Art Museum.

Steve and I are born on the same day. I received a card from him yesterday…and it made my day. He and Faye and MJ and I have enjoyed many good times together.

I was never a member of he Hippie movement…but I have wonderful friends who were former hippies. Jack Weinberg, ‘who is best known for his role in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley in 1964,’ said, ‘Don’t trust anyone over 30.’ That becomes increasingly more difficult to do…when you are nearly 64…

‘When I get older losing my hair Many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine? Birthday greetings, bottle of wine.

If I’d been out till quarter to three. Would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will your still feed me. When I’m sixty-four?

You’ll be older too. And if you say the word. I could stay with you.

I could be handy mending a fuse. When your lights have gone. You can knit a sweater by the fireside. Sunday mornings go for a ride. Doing the garden, digging the weeds. Who could ask for more.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-four.

Every summer we can rent a cottage In the Isle of Wight, it it’s not too dear. We shall scrimp and save. Grandchildren on your knee, Vera, Chuck and Dave.

Send me a postcard, drop me a line Stating point of view. Indicate precisely what you mean to say. Yours sincerely wasting away.

Give me your answer, fill in a form. Mine for evermore. Will you still need me, will you still feed me.

When I’m sixty-four.’

The Beatles

It is almost time for one of my favorite Christmas movies to return to the television screen…A Christmas Story. In fact Turner Broadcasting System plays a 24 hour marathon of the Christmas Classic from Christmas Eve Evening until the Evening of Christmas Day. Of course it is the story of Ralphie and his quest to receive a Red Ryder BB Gun for a Christmas present. The movie takes place in December 1940. ‘The Old Man’ as Ralphie’s father is entitled in the movie…receives a major award in a contest. When it arrives, shortly before Christmas, it’s carton is marked ‘FRAGILE.’ Inside is a table lamp shaped like a woman’s leg with hose on it. ‘The Old Man’ is overjoyed and subsequently places it on a table in front of a large window where it can be seen by all people passing by.

Fragile should be stamped on each of us when we enter this life. Not because we are helpless babies…but because we are helpless members of the human family. Our neighbor fell in her yard this morning. She and her husband have lived across the street from us for almost the entire 20 years we have been on Ash Wood Lane. I rushed over to see if I could offer any assistance and her husband told me that they had called the EMT’s and thanked me for my concern. I remember when they both worked in their yard all Spring and Summer and Fall. They sat out on their front porch in the evenings and were vibrant members of the over 60 Club. As I become increasingly older…I understand how they both felt with the helplessness of age catching up to them.

My friend, Bill, suddenly passed away a few days ago. I never really thought about how old Bill was…because he was always so active in our church. One of my first memories of him was when he was the Chair of the Trustees Committee. I had been a member of First Presbyterian Church of Carbondale for a few years…while he and his wife, Judy, had been members for many years. He made me feel welcome and at home on the Committee. I recall Bill mentioning that on an evening this past summer when MJ and Jonathon and I attended a dinner out with members of the church…that it was the one year anniversary of Judy’s passing. He looked lost without her. Pastor Kerry said today at Bill’s funeral that Bill was a story teller. Bill told us on the Session of the Church that he had been struck by lightning…twice…

I am a fan of the former television show, ‘Lost.’ The Rubik’s Cube Puzzle of the location of the crashed aircraft passengers…and when they where…and are they even alive…I found intriguing. I recall a scene where one of the characters was reunited with the Lost Group and she killed a threatening animal that was going to hurt some of them…and then she disappeared. I thought…that is just how quick that someone who you love or rely on or need in your life…disappears.

We are resilient and strong and courageous beyond measure…and we are weak and afraid and fragile…and seemingly eliminated by a change in the wind direction of…fate…

We are, ‘fearfully and wonderfully made,’ according to the Bible. Let us ponder and meditate on our actions and our words and our lives…before this Theatrical Production is done…and we are transported to the Performance that we have been anticipating…

Chet was dosing. Billy B. knew because he could hear him snoring. Soon he supposed that Mrs. B. would hear him too. He had been up late…for an 8 year old…planning the Halloween escapades in less than 2 weeks. He nudged him just as Mrs. Blackwell was looking annoyed in his direction. Chet suddenly sat bolt upright in his desk chair and said…don’t forget your grandmother’s cross. Everyone laughed accept Mrs. B. At recess Billy B. asked Chet what he had meant by the unusual cross statement? He responded that most people understood that vampires could not stand to look at the cross due to its religious symbolism. He asked if Billy B. had not noticed the actor, Peter Cushing, fight Dracula with either a ready made cross…or crossing 2 candle sticks…or even fashioning a wooden cross. He knew that Peter Cushing was Billy Bumps hero in the many Hammer Films of Gothic Horror. Hammer Films was a film company based in England that filmed Dracula and Frankenstein movies in vivid color. There seemed to be 1 or 2 new ones each year. When Dracula was just about to vanquish the good vampire hunter…he revealed the christian cross…and the evil vampire recoiled in fear and trepidation. So…Chet had been dreaming in class of the Halloween Play that they were going to perform before the school at Assembly…on Halloween.

Play practice was tonight…and Sally and Jane and Buddy and Daryl…along with Billy B. and Chet would be the performers. Chet was going to be Dracula and Jane and Sally were to be the innocent women that the undead was attempting to transform to vampires. Billy B. would be the Vampire Hunter and Buddy…Dracula’s assistant…who ate bugs… Play practice was at Billy B.’s house. Of course he lived in a haunted house. Sally asked if she could be ‘Sally from Peanuts’ and Billy B. said that he thought that was an innovative idea for a Vampire Halloween Play. Chet heard Sally’s request and noted that his famous Halloween character of the Lost In Space Robot…would be a nice twist on the rather tired Dracula theme. Buddy asked, ‘Where is Daryl?’ No one seemed to know. Buddy then noted that his mom had purchased some candy bugs…as he was not going to eat real ones. Billy B.’s dad had roaring fires going in the massive old house’s 5 fireplaces. The dancing flames and the prevailing warmth was a nice setting for a vampire standoff…

‘Did you bring the cross,’ Chet asked. ‘Yes I did…it was my grandmothers who lived in Romania,’ Billy B. answered. Suddenly there was Daryl floating down the stairs. He had on a black cape and he almost looked like a bat as he glided into the living room. The roaring fires were snuffed out by a cold wind… ‘I am glad that you could make it, Daryl,’ said Billy B….’would you like to see my grandmother’s cross?’ Daryl jumped back in fear and ran out of the front door into the strange beauty of the setting Sun…

Church has a good affect on my outlook on life. I have been attending worship in a faith community for over 52 years…out of a good and helpful habit. Becoming a christian and beginning my faith journey with other like-minded believers was a great booster shot for my youth. Faith as illustrated to me through church gave a lovely framework to my life. Rather than hearing simply negative or dull pronouncements regarding daily happenings…I became a part of a group of people that seemed unusually happy…in hard times. I had always enjoyed the story of Jesus…and loved reading the Bible Story Books at the doctors office and looking at the great illustrations. I also enjoyed watching the regular television shows regarding the christian faith, as a child. In those long ago and far away days the religious programs I am speaking of were not TV preachers…but rather solid family dramas with a good morale and workaday christian principles that the actors were portraying.

As the years have flown swiftly by I have noticed that church is a bit of an elixir for what ails me. If I am feeling a little at ends…church centers me. The practical principles of christianity is meant for all who want to avail themselves of its easily applied principles. The Bible says, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16. NIV. There is no separation of people in Gods love.

Church provides context to the rollercoaster of life. Church provides protection for the afraid and healing for the abused and mistreated of our land. The people are the church. There is little that can compare with a group of loving and kind people that are attracted to each other by their shared journey through the dark roads and the sunlit beaches…the terrible storms and the pristine mountain tops…of our scary and comforting…tearful and laughing…hike back to our beginnings…our home…our reason for being a part of the human family…

I was watching Saturday Night Live las night. One of the jokes on Weekend Update was that West Virginian Senator Joe Manchin has said that he will not support the Global Warming initiatives in President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Bill…as the comedian added that he was speaking on a typically 80 degree October day.

Jeff took me with him to one of his business recruiting sessions while we were staying in York, England. There was a room full of friendly people and I was impressed with their interest in the financial opportunity that my friend of 50 years was offering them. As I sat and pondered what I was going to say in my introductory remarks for Jeff…I coughed and generally felt terrible due to a cold that had taken hold of me on the last day that we were in Edinburgh. A woman sitting in the row in front of me turned around and asked if I was alright. I naturally assumed that she was inquiring regarding my several bouts off coughing. Thus I began to explain my sudden illness and yet my pleasure to be visiting with my friend at this event. I later discovered from Margo that ‘Are you alright?’ is often a greeting in England. I though what a lovely way to say hello and show concern at the same time. MJ and I have become extreme fans of both the streaming service BritBox and Acorn. As we enjoy programs on each site I notice the frequent use of the greeting/question…’Are your alright?’

Job was the centerpiece of Pastor Kerry’s sermon this morning. Kerry illustrated that Job exemplifies that life, ‘Is a wild ride!’ There are both times of extreme suffering…and extreme joy. As Kerry said, ‘It is not for the faint of heart.’ I think we become a bit unbalanced when we expect predominately bad times…or when we anticipate the majority of our lives to be a good and pleasant land…filled with milk and honey. Thomas Edison said that genius, ‘Was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. It is possible to feel the euphoria of inspiration and the strength to climb every mountain on one day…and to know the depths of the valley of the ‘Slough of Despond’ the next.

Rollercoasters are popular. As we ride at an ever increasing speed and make 90 degree hairpin turns…and then climb to the top of the rollercoaster hill…only to drop like a stone to the bottom…we laugh and scream and tears come to our eyes… Such is life. It is a mixture of wondering how you got here…why you are here…what you should do next…and being enraptured with the love…and the beauty….and the miracle of…life…

Today it is 63 degrees with a 13 mile per hour wind. It is a lovely fall day. It is Homecoming for Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. I have relished reading the happy posts on Facebook regarding returning alumni enjoying a piece of pizza from Pag’s Pizza or, this morning, a Bloody Mary at the Cellar. I saw what appeared to be nothing but smiling faces at the Chancellor’s Golf Scramble. I was reminded of the year that I was asked to attend Chancellor Argersinger’s Golf Scramble. I replied that I not only did not know how to golf but that the entrance fee was more than my pocketbook would allow.

Aaron said that he may attend the Homecoming Football game and once again I recalled taking he and Jonathon to Saluki Football games…in the 1990’s…in McAndrew Stadium. I liked watching people more than the game…although Jonathon endeavored to explain to me what was happening on the field. One football season on the last game…near Thanksgiving…it was so cold that we all agreed to leave early. Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995…while we were at a Saluki Football game. One game in the 90’s we sat in the vip seats at McAndrew Football Stadium at the invitation of the First Lady of the SIUC Campus, Shirley Beggs. I was grateful for the sincere gesture of friendship and I worked hard to try to convince then University President, Ted Sanders, to keep Chancellor Beggs beyond his 2 year contract. In those halcyon days we had around 23 thousand students at SIUC.

May 8, 2009 a Derecho devastated Carbondale and the University. A commencement ceremony was going on in Shryock Auditorium on the campus…when the inland hurricane hit. One hundred year old trees were pulled up by their roots and lain on their sides. Electrical power was off for over a week. There were thousands of parents in town for the on-going college commencements all day Saturday. Our department, Building Services, cleaned McAndrew stadium by flash light under lightning filled skies and never complained…commencement in the football stadium…under the Saturday Sunlight…was a success.

October 24 was a fun day for Billy Bump. It was his birthday…and a week before Halloween. He had a brainstorm of an idea and decided to make his birthday party a Halloween party. For this transformation he would need the help of his buddy Chet and Sally and Daryl. Now Daryl’s dad was the 3rd grade teacher at Hillcrest School and he liked to be called the Wiz. He even dressed in black and wore a cape and a pointy hat. They had moved to Eldorado from Bath, England. Daryl was just about as close to a genius as Billy B. had ever encountered. He literally seemed to know the answer to a question before you could ask it. Of course it would be a costume party and Billy B. would attend his own Birthday Monster Bash as Frankenstein. Chet continued to be dedicated to portraying the Lost in Space Robot and Sally would be “Sally from Peanuts,”…while Daryl was coming as Albert Einstein.

Orpheum Theatre, where Billy B. spent countless happy hours, was to be the venue for the celebration. Billy’s mom, Neva Jane, had rented the theatre for the evening and Lou, the owner of the movie house, had obtained the original 1931 Frankenstein movie directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff as the Monster. Billy B. had borrowed his cousin Gene’s Frankenstein mask. It looked just like the movie makeup that Karloff wore.

October the 24th arrived and Billy B. was officially 10 years old. He thought to himself that there would not be many more years of this childhood business…soon he would be out on his own and making his way through life. The birthday cake and the balloons and the kool-aid and the cheeseburgers were in the Cry Room. The Cry Room was lit by a dim red light. It was a bit difficult to ascertain which was birthday cake and which was cheeseburger. Chet gleefully announced that he had spiked the kool-aid with vodka….and that there was a bottle of Peppermint Schnapps that was under the gift table. Sally asked Chet where he had gotten the booze…and he said that Lanny his neighbor had given it to him. Lanny was older than the party revelers. Soon the party started rocking and the red light seemed so appropriate for a Birthday/Monster spooky event… Daryl told Billy B. that his dad had arranged a special surprise for him during the movie.

Ooooh, whispered Sally as the movie began. She told Billy B. that she had taken a drink of the Peppermint Schnapps…and that she felt as light as a feather… Einstein was near the silver screen with his dad…The Wiz… Everyone began to laugh at the portion of the movie where Frankenstein is enjoying a cigar….and Billy B. realized that they were watching the Bride of Frankenstein rather than the original 1931 Flick. Soon each of the partiers had fallen asleep under the gentle sway of vodka spiked kool-aid…and Schnapps. When the lights came up there was a full sized Frankenstein sitting in their midst. Sally asked where Billy B. was… Frankenstein was smoking a cigar and he said with a large smile on his face…’Smoke…Good!’

Southern Illinois is still much too warm for October 14th. Today is forecast for a high of 81 degrees. Storms are in our forecast with a cool down by the weekend. Many years, at this time, the leaves have already changed their color and are brilliant reds and yellows and gold. This year pales in comparison. One of the benefits of being retired is the enjoyment of quiet. Now don’t misunderstand me as I do enjoy excitement…in moderation. However an asset of our home in Carbondale…in the country…is quiet. When we moved here in 2001 there was only one other house on Ash Wood Lane. Over the past 20 years our neighborhood has grown by leaps and bounds…but it still remains peaceful.

Quiet has been a good practice for me over my adult years. I served on a number of committees for Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale over my 32 + year career. I found it useful and enlightening to listen to other members of the group before I offered my opinion. Quiet is a virtue when dealing with an angry person. Hot emotions and rhetoric are diffused by a calm demeanor. ‘A soft answer turneth away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.’ Proverbs 15:1. KJV

Noise and chaos are often the order of the day in the political arena and pop culture. Strident and pervasive persuaders are in our ear 24/7 telling us what we need and who can provide it. It is possible to be very content until you compare yourself to the standard of the moment…that blows away like the wheat on the threshing floor. At about the instance that you conform to the standard of your supposed peers…they change the standard.

SIUC has a quiet quality to it. Since my beginnings with the University I have heard that many students come to Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale for an escape from the hustle and bustle of Chicago. There is time for thought…perhaps deep thought…and an atmosphere that is devoid of the din of a thousand voices with a thousand agendas…vying for your attention…

Carbondale and in fact all of Southern Illinois is sought out as a retirement mecca. Many from Chicago and northern Illinois and neighboring states come to the pristine beauty of Little Egypt for their golden years. A slower pace of living is conducive to a happy sense of place.

Fall is a peaceful and quiet time…and is my favorite time of the year. It is a time of reflection…of pausing…and of considering the road ahead and what is important to take on the journey. My buddy, Ron, told me one time that I really did my own thing… It has been said that some, ‘Dance to the tune of their own drummer.’