As I walked through the woods today I felt the nearly 90-degree heat. I have my new L.L. Bean fall clothes but so far it is too hot for Maine outerwear. Fall is here and fall weather is coming…perhaps later this week. We have enjoyed and endured an unusually hot summer both in temperature and in political rhetoric. I wonder if our political leaders do not realize that we know when they are lying to us? Politics has always been a rough and tumble sport but over the past few years, it has morphed into a slugfest. The reality of our three equal branches of government is that they are based on compromise. They do not function with nihilistic and narcissistic personalities.

Media has taken over our political system. Theatre and drama now rule the day. Who gets the biggest sound bite on the news. Who can tell us bare-faced lies with a straight face? Who can tear down the House of Representatives… and as far as we are in their hearts and on their radar…we can be damned. A basic principle of civic discourse is to not denigrate and malign anyone who you disagree with. When the former President is questioned or someone falls out of his favor…his caustic words cause danger and harm to anyone who would dare speak out against him. A day or two ago the Democrats saved the CR which enabled the government to remain open and ensured that thousands of government staff and our military could continue to receive their paychecks. I saw the Speaker of the House of Representatives in a new light as he appeared to be showing courage…until he blamed the almost shut-down on the democrats who had just saved his Bacon. Government shutdown never helps…it always hurts.

It has been asked what would you think if President Biden’s son is found guilty? He should be prosecuted like anyone else. The law is for the powerful and powerless. If the impeachment inquiry finds Biden guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors…let the process proceed to its logical conclusion. I do not think that I have been enamored with any man that has held the office of President… except for JFK…and I was a wee lad when he was cut down by assassination. Personalities are not the requirements for elected office…fidelity to our Constitution is.

Life is a bit musical. It has been said that music calms the savage beast. Perhaps music is what we need for our politician’s deliberations. I have observed that I feel much better when listening to some of my favorite music. My two favorites are Classical and Jazz. It is hard to disagree with your opponent when you are immersed in jazz. Jazz is innovation and hearing your inner tune and then displaying it for all to enjoy. Jazz is being yourself. Symphony relies completely on the cooperation of each musician. There is no room for a star in the show…each performer comprises the star which is the orchestra. Within these two musical art forms is the story of humankind. We are all unique individuals who must not only represent ourselves but be appreciated for our place on the stage of life while at the same time, we must come together and compromise to produce a heavenly sound…

Maine has music all of its own. That is why we keep going back. The melody is magical and mysterious. Sailing on the vast ocean reminds me of the unfathomability of our existence. The screech of the bald eagle was God calling out…Good Morning Friends… The lighthouses were the eyes of heaven upon us and lighting our way. On one of our last Maine Dinners at the Taste Of Maine…a man and what appeared to be his sons serenaded us while we enjoyed the delicious fresh seafood. The cool breeze wafted over us as we enjoyed our seats on the deck next to the ocean. The sun was setting. The sea birds were flying about preparing for bed…and all was right with the world…a lullaby of Maine…

I have had two months on my radar since youth: October and December. October because of my birthday and December because of Christmas. Things seem to go well for me in these months. I recall trying to remember my birth year when I was a child and it seemed difficult to fasten on either 1957 or 1958…they both seemed to be in another world as I lived in the ’60s. I read where one of my classmates was referring to her boys and how they were always there for her and her husband including through hospitalizations and I considered that I had reached the senior section of the life library. We were out for brunch at Fork And Vine courtesy of MJ… and Jonathon and I enjoyed speaking with Kathy and Pat with whom we attend church. What lovely people and fun to talk with.

My old friend Steve and I celebrated our birthdays together many years ago since they fell on the same day. We would find a restaurant and enjoy being with each other as we commiserated about the past and the future.

Birthdays are historical markers for me. I look back to where I have been and forward to where I am going. I have my tattoos from 60 and 65 and now the journey to 70. The Golden Years are funny times. Physically they are years of diminishment. Spiritually they are years of wonder. The salad makes the difference! MJ and I are eating a big salad almost every day. I have lost 15 pounds. I am astounded that in my senior years, I like salad! I have noticed over a bit of time that most seniors do not eat a lot of food. Now I have discovered that Intermittent Fasting is all of the rage! I grew up with the concrete motto to eat three square meals per day. I always found it somewhat difficult with round plates. In any case, I am never hungry when I first arise and often not before supper. Now I am one of the cool kids…

I kicked around the idea of doing something different for my birthday this year…but have returned to the traditional favorite of a movie in St. Louis and dinner on The Hill. The enrichment of life and the fun and happiness that we all seek is inherent in the eyes of the ones we love. I recall my birthdays past when I was in my 30s 40s or 50s and how much I relished that I had made it to those ripe old ages. Now I see that life is like a fine wine…it is meant to be savored and sipped slowly and thought about.

Night has fallen on the Writing Porch. Soon it will be October and the mystery will increase. It is inky black this evening. The fog is thick in the air and malice is hovering over the pubs and cobblestone streets.

Annie bemoaned her chosen employment. All she had ever seen of the brighter side of life was the Christmas Pudding on Christmas Day and a bit of baked Goose if she was lucky. She and her husband had three children and one died at the age of 12 while another was disabled. Liquor had become the comfort for her and her husband and soon they were no more a couple. Annie had not wanted to be a woman of the night but all of her visible means of support had dried up.

He was dressed to the nines…he carried himself with the air of importance and professionalism that his station in life afforded. He was more at home on the dark and damp streets than in his brightly lit office.

Catherine and John were together sometimes and at other times they were not. At this time she had to pay the rent. She was glad for the warmth of the jail cell…until she was put back out on the street at 1:00 A:M:.

He had the smile of a winner. His calm and friendly demeanor won the hearts of those he met.

Mary Ann whose friend called Polly. Her ex-husband and she split and he ceased to pay his five shillings child support. William was angry when he heard that Mary Ann was forced to seek additional money on the cold cruel streets of London.

‘Good evening Governor…my you are looking in fine fiddle this evening…,’ said the Bobby. ‘Good evening officer I am out for a stroll and a bit of fresh air,’ said he.

Mary Jane had dark hair. She enjoyed a drink and often more than one. She was asleep when she saw someone standing over her bed.

He loved to whistle. He whistled while he worked.

The haunting sound of a whistle is still heard on the streets of London where the poor live…

Today I met Marquez. Jonathon has been telling me about him for some time. He is an artist and a part of his art is jewelry making. I have heard of positive thinking and positive speaking people and on most occasions, I try to be one, but Marquez has a vision for his jewelry and when he tells you what it is…it is powerful. He assigns a positive word to each of the bracelets that he hand makes. Mine is Balance. When Marqueze speaks of his love of creating…you simply want to go out and create… Marquez and his wife Cree operate their own business Project Human X. He told me that he is having an art show at the Sharp Museum on the campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. Now I have on my wrist a bracelet from each of my sons.

I had a lovely telephone conversation with my lifelong friend Jeff yesterday. He had just sent me a photo of my long-lost twin that I did not know I had. The photo had an uncanny likeness to me and I had to study it awhile before I could be certain that it was not me. Jeff is one of the most positive-thinking people that I know. He even told me that the famous author Norman Vincent Peale’s recordings on YouTube remind him of me at times. Jeff’s mission is to help people and inspire others to strive for success. He and I have been friends for over 50 years. Jeff is a Horatio Algier story…Rags To Riches…and thus has caused countless others to achieve in their lives what he achieved in his.

Marquez told me when I left him earlier today that he hoped that Jonathon and I and he could connect again and create together… I hope so as well…

‘The Days grow short when you reach September,’ Frank Sinatra told us. Oh my, how prophetic he was! The leaves are changing, the cool breeze is blowing, and my thoughts turn to October delights and the Old Man’s Birthday. Indeed I have become the Old Man in the poem. I love the Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame’s novel in 1908. It is then the story of Mole and Ratty and Badger’s constant efforts to help Mr. Toad.

I recall my joy in watching an adaption of The Wind In The Willows on the Disney Channel prior to our attending church on Sunday. I think that I enjoyed it more than Aaron and Jonathon.

Our Maine sailing excursion caused me to consider how I would enjoy life on the sea. The vast peaceful ocean would cause me to not worry about the concerns of the land lovers. Of course, there would be the whales and sharks for excitement…and the storms…

My Birthday approaches on October 24. I have become the Old Man Of The Sea. My life-long friend Jeff found my twin in Italy.

I noticed on our recent trip to Maine that the reason that I like it so well…is rest. Contentment in the little towns and hamlets of Down East Maine is the norm of the day. If you have ever wondered why a person would want to live on a sailboat you would have needed to go no further than our Schooner Captain and his explanation of the joys of sailing. Even one drunken loudmouth on the two-hour tour. I have always been amazed that some decide to get inebriated and control the experience of others with no thought except to their profound brilliance.

Our abode was fascinating and filled with art and books and the house could almost talk and perhaps did. We searched for lighthouses and saw four which is a record for us.

I entered my favorite store in Wiscasset and the nice lady at the counter immediately recognized me and mentioned that I had purchased the Goat Man last year. This year it was two little Deer… Last year Jonathon bought me a leather pencil from Germany. Just down from the little shop is Red’s Eats and Aaron, Brock Marcy and Jonathon stood in line for close to 2 hours for the privilege of consuming a Lobster Roll from Red’s. It was delicious…was it worth a 2-hour wait…probably not.

Graywoods had a magnificent bell that when I rang it let out a sound like I have not heard a bell make in years. The sound of a Bald Eagle screeching is like nothing that I have heard. The BW has a commanding presence!

The Flagship store for L.L. Bean at Freeport made it on our list of stops not once but twice. I always find something that I want at L.L. Bean since the days that Berl and Fernie bought me L.L. Bean Houseshoes for Christmas.

Our favorite restaurant at Camden is a special joy each year that we visit. Called Dockside and sitting just adjacent to the bay and the boats moving through the area is nirvana. They also have wonderful Dirty Martinis.

Marcy and Brock made this trip the best of our six times being in Maine. We laughed about Puddin and Big Girl and Temu…as well as the disembodied voice saying, ‘Hi…Hello…Are you settling in?’ Emily came and brightened our day! MJ and my shower truly ran hot and cold…without warning… Watching my brother I now plan on purchasing some White Claw. Aaron did the driving which adds immeasurably to my holiday!

Jonathon and Emily saw 2 whales on a Whale Tour that yielded no Whale last year so they received a return engagement for free. We had a truly memorable breakfast in Bath. Brock and I now have another matching tattoo of a lighthouse. I got my first tattoo when I was 60 and the lighthouse at 65…looking forward to 70!

MJ just told me that the voice that we both heard in Maine in the house that was built before the Civil War said, ‘Hi…Hello…Getting Settled.’ I only heard, ‘Hello…Hello.’ So, the plot thickens… I have been reminiscing and the occurrence in Maine is one of the few times in my life that I have experienced an unexplainable phenomenon. There was a bit of a feeling about the old house that felt like someone more was with us and yet remained in the shadows. The feeling was palpably eerie on Wednesday night when we arrived at the historic dwelling. It was very hot and yet when I turned the thermostats on to air conditioning and the little cool icon came up…nothing happened. When I called the property manager and told him of my concern that one of the thermostats was not responding…he noted that none of the thermostats was going to produce AC and there was none in the house except perhaps the Green Room.

A spiritual quest has been my life. I have regularly sought to understand and know God better. Through the years of searching, I have found that two elements are key to understanding our Creator. A primary prerequisite is to love your fellow human as yourself. Jesus told his disciples that within this truth lay all of the law and the prophets. The second requirement is to have an open mind to there being a reality that we can not see.

‘I think a Halloween Party is in order,’ said Jane with a winsome smile.

‘Why not have it in the Orpheum Theatre…John the owner said that he would screen Frankenstein for us and that he would provide all of the popcorn and Coca-Cola and candy bars that our hearts desire, Chet added.

‘I will slip in some Jack Daniels Whisky for the Coke,’ Neva J. said with a devilish grin.

‘I hear that the Orpheum is haunted and that the ghosts come out once it is closed for the evening,’ Billy B. said with a wink.

The Theatre was full of the invitees to the Halloween Party. There was Buddy dressed as the Wizard Of Oz and Daryl as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and The Wiz as his natural garments and inclination would indicate…The Wizard. The Wiz had something up his billowing sleeves. As Frankenstein played on the silver screen…down the theatre aisle came Renfield to say a few words. ‘I thought that you were in the Bram Stoker book Dracula and now you are appearing in our Frankenstein Halloween Party,’ Chet asked?

‘Yes you are correct Chet but there is a labor shortage in the Horror World…I have come to tell you that tonight you will hear disembodied voices and feel etheral presence…and when you leave the Orpheum you will never be the same again,’ Renfield said with a hideous gravelike laugh…

‘Hello…Hello…Getting Settled,’ said the voice as Billy B. walked home.

‘I like Maine…,’ Billy B. thought…as he unpacked his luggage.

I watched an interesting movie titled No One Will Save You. It had one sentence of dialogue that was intelligible. The movie focuses on a young woman, Bryn, and her isolation in her late parent’s home. She dances and lives her fabricated reality…until the aliens come. Then the aliens chase her and take over the world…and almost her as well.
She runs from them and eludes them all over their town where it is painfully obvious that she is not welcome with a woman in the bank spitting in her face. The film reminded me of the old movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers as the aliens crawled in through the mouths of their human prey. Although many were inside the defeated humans many more were outside and looked much like the Greys that those who claim to have been abducted by aliens say that they looked. The movie concluded by revealing why Bryn was shunned by the towns folk and after she had been abducted by one of the flying saucers and an alien discovered why she was isolated they ended the movie by showing her in a dance number with many humans who had been taken over by aliens earlier and her joy in finally having a community that she was a part of.

At times we are a bit like Bryn. We isolate or are isolated by others and long for community. The community comes looking for us and we accept joyfully only to later find that it is a cult controlled by a

Puppetmaster.

Our alien observers look on from their sky perch…as we dance for them…

As the cool breeze of Autumn blows through the Writing Room I am reminded of today being the first day of the rest of my life. What does that mean in reality and not in the abstract? Each morning we are new. The shackles of habit and darkness of thoughts that hold us back from what we seek to achieve are no longer in control of us. When you reach a fork in the road…do not stop for dinner but rather take the path that yields the most positive destination for you.

Billy B. was a sad little boy. He had lived through his mom and dad getting divorced and witnessed the extreme emotional suffering of his beloved mom. Billy B. had gone from his favorite beverage of whole milk to powdered milk which made him nauseous. He had felt the stinging stairs of not having nice clothes to wear and his pants legs being too short and thus being nicknamed ‘High Waters.’ When the entire rest of his first-grade class was eating lunch in the lunch room that cost a measly 20 cents per day he ate his lunch in the classroom out of a paper bag due to the penury of his mom and he. Billy B. stood with Neva J. in the Commodity Line and saw the men throw the food on the ground from the back of semi-trucks where the careless or perhaps not caring men pitched it to the hungry throng. Billy B.’s outlook on life during this dire period was a bit bleak. During this overcast time, Billy B. realized Neva J. was counting on him to be the man of the house and that his attitude affected her feelings. Billy B. decided to change and look on the bright side of life…

Most habits that seem to have a stranglehold on our lives are really only wearing their Dime Store Halloween Costumes. When Frankenstein removes his mask he is a grinning and happy lad from Eldorado…