I am on the Writing Porch and it is almost dark. Our year is proceeding toward its end. Not yet my writing colleagues will point out but certainly on the road to dark and cold nights. My kind of weather. My brother Brock told me he likes cloudy and rainy days. So do I. The sweater and jacket weather is good. The last four months of the year…the Ber Months renew my spirit. I have returned home. Walking today at the Woods, I felt like I was walking through water. I will not miss that feeling.

I did not care for summer when I was a kid. I did like summer vacation. I remember I was never cool. It was hot when I awoke and hot when I went to bed. The window fan in the kitchen did little to ameliorate the agony. A bit of respite came when a storm occurred.

We had bagels this morning courtesy of Aaron. He is a good boy! Many of my adventures are local of late. However, the Maine Holiday is just around the corner. MJ reminded me of what a nice life we have. A calm and serene home. Reliable vehicles. A relative lack of fear. A Holiday in-store and the money to pay for it. It was not always so. We remember the tough times. We remember that a few cared. We asked for nothing and yet were recipients of love. Life seems like a long story. It is short and sweet. Enjoy every minute…even summer…

I carry a Walking Stick that Jonathon gave me for Father’s Day. I think about the stick every day. The movie The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston fascinated me. I was mesmerized by the story of Moses. He did not fear Pharoh. Moses had God on his side. His Staff transformed into a snake and ate the Staff of Pharoh’s Magicians, Moses placed his Staff into the water and it turned into blood. Moses held out his Staff and the Red Sea parted and the Israelites crossed over on dry land. Pharoh’s Army drowned all 666 of the chariots.

We seek answers to life’s persistent questions while the answer is within us. I have been in the Lodge at Giant City so many times that I am known. It is fun to be known. Our sense of place comes to us organically from our relationship with our community. A waitress pats me on the back while the owner calls out to me. I am part of the Tree River Wildlife community. I am the Old Man Of The Woods.

Reflect I do on my lengthy career at SIUC. Consumed I was by the machinations of the powerful elite. Study I did how to enter the unawares and incognito to the club just long enough to gain something for the people I represented.

So, September is two weeks away. September is the beginning of Meteorological Fall. It is time to place the Thinking Cap upon my gray-haired head. It is time to address the world as an Old Man sees it. It is time to help somebody…