‘Can I dress as Bozo The Clown this Halloween,’ Billy B. asked Neva J.? ‘Yes I bought you a Bozo Costume when we went to see Lady And The Tramp with Steve Susie and Ivy,’ Neva J. answered. ‘I am excited about my plastic pumpkin collecting receptacle for all of the candy that I will be receiving…I have not seen one so nice with any of my friends,’ Billy B. exclaimed! ‘Ivy told me that Susy is going as Lady and Steve has a coutume of Tramp,’ Neva J. laughed. ‘Are you still going as Jackie Kennedy,’ Billy B. asked with a wide smile…as he understood how much Neva J. admired the First Lady. ‘Who will be JFK,’ asked Billy B.? ‘Why Ivy has taken the assignment…and she has purchased a suit and cut her hair short and actually she looks quite a bit like the President,’ Neva J. exulted.

‘There are a lot of ghosts and goblins out tonight…as well as bad clowns,’ said Billy B. ‘Do you mean the costumes are bad,’ asked Chet who was portraying Robbie the Robot. ‘No…I mean that they are a bit scary…they are from a different branch of the clown family than Bozo,’ bemoaned Billy B. ‘You know that Rosemary’s Baby will be screened later in the 60s,’ Chet said with a wink. It is taken from the Ira Levin bestseller,’ Chet continued. ‘I swear Chet how do you know the future so well,’ Neva J. or Jackie Kennedy if you prefer…asked? ‘May I have this dance,’ President Kennedy asked Jackie?

‘You are meaner than the devil,’ a faceless voice said to Billy B. in the dark of his bedroom in Sauk Village…and he awoke from his Halloween Dream…

There are not many better occurences in life than good news. The word ‘Fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.’ We go about our days with little change in our routine until good news comes. Then we rejoice in the sweet mystery of life and all of the beauty that it brings. The climate this week has been just to my liking. Rain has been the order of the day and cooler temperatures. MJ and I thought about new windows for 12 years and now we have them installed. At times we ponder things a bit. Maine is on our horizon and we will be with Brock and Marcy. Brock and Marcy have been a profound blessing to my life as well as MJ and Aaron and Jonathon!

Aaliyah has come into Jonathon’s life and we could not be more pleased. So far we have only seen her picture…she is beautiful! We are set to have pizza on Sunday and watch a Stephen King movie…Needful Things.

I never thought about my health…until I did. Every time I receive a good report I feel that I have a new lease on life. What a Wonderful Life it is!

‘The most dreaded words of summer…Back To School Sale,’ bemoaned Billy B. ‘It is only July 19th…I swear that the summer gets shorter and shorter each year,’ Jane said. ‘The first day of classes is less than a month from now,’ Neva J. agreed. ‘We have yet to ride our bicycles from Eldorado to Harrisburg by way of the backroads,’ Chet advised. ‘I have heard that the backroads have mysterious things along their trail that most folks have never seen,’ Daryl said with a wink. ‘Mom told me that there is a deserted church and a cemetery that has broken gravestones along the road,’ Jane said with a look of expectancy.

‘We will want to take plenty of sweet ice tea to drink and some Merlot and…a picnic basket full of Oscar Mayer Weiners,’ said Chet. ‘How are we going to carry all of that on our bicycles,’ Jane asked? ‘I am riding with Neva J. in the 57′ and we will follow the bicycle caravan,’ Chet noted with a laugh! ‘Be careful because Neva J. is going to let me drive…while she enjoys a bit of Red,’ Chet smiled. ‘We will picnic at the old church and cemetery,’ said Neva J.

‘I see the steeple, Jane exclaimed! ‘The front door is standing open… let us enter,’ Neva J. laughed the laugh of a school girl. ‘Chet and I were right behind you guys when you suddenly disappeared…then when we drove into the cemetery lot you were all at the old church…what hidden back road did you take,’ Neva J. asked? ‘We saw a dirt path covered by trees and rode down it for just a short way where we saw the church on our right,’ Billy B. said. ‘We drove the 57′ about 5 miles,’ Chet said. ‘We rode our bikes less than a mile and we were here,’ Jane said. ‘Now that is a shortcut,’ Daryl proclaimed!

‘Welcome,’ said Parson Bump. ‘You folks are from Eldorado…I presume,’ PB continued. ‘Many members of our congregation are Eldoradoians,’ PB noted. ‘We thought that your church was deserted,’ Neva J. said with a surprised look on her face. ‘You and I have the same last name,’ Billy B. said with a curious look in his eyes. ‘I am you Billy B…we are the same…

The Heavens opened last night and early this morning. Our pond is higher than it has been in some time. Mylo slept the sleep of the innocent…but the storm awakened me. The weather app on my iPhone is extraordinary compared to the weather prognostication of my youth. I almost feel like a weatherman.

Our weather has become like an episode of Stranger Things. The rules no longer apply. I recall hearing how aerosols were damaging the ozone in the 1980s. Also, gasoline engines were contributing to global warming. In those days it seemed so far away…now it is here to stay…it causes me to long for yesterday.

Tomorrow we say…things will be better tomorrow. We will fill our barns to their rooftops and we will eat and drink and be merry…why work says the grasshopper to the ant…I much prefer fiddling…and the iPhone says lightning has struck a mile from you…

As a lad, I watched with some amazement and wonder the cartoon called The Jetsons. After all, they had flying cars! This was during the 60s and the vision of the future was inspiring and a bit unbelievable. I felt the same way when I saw the Comic Detective Dick Tracy talk to his team on his wristwatch. These popular cartoons were about the progression of and upward mobility of society. After all, we were the victors in World War II and had moved to the suburbs, and the Baby Boom Generation was born…of which I am a card-carrying member. With the advent of color television and soon to be the opening of Disney World in Florida where they even had animatronics of the presidents that arose from their seats and spoke to the audience…nothing could stop us. But…there was the Vietnam War the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement and the marginalization of women. Our President was assassinated and then Dr. Martin Luther King…and Bobby…

Gay folks were persecuted in the times of The Jetsons and often had to hide their love for each other. ‘We Came A Long Way, Baby,’ Virginia Slims Cigarettes commercials assured us in the years to come. Yet now our Supreme Court looks back to the happy times of the insular and privileged youth. A time of bigotry and hate and the supposed ‘Separate but Equal,’

Freedom of religion does not mean freedom of your religion…it means freedom of all religions. There have always been haters…but they must not rule our laws and government. How can people with inordinate power make the decisions for the people that they represent through their narrow prism of right and wrong and good and evil and influenced by their misogynist bastardization of the faith called Christian…

We still do not have flying cars…and the same struggles for human rights continue…

So today was to be a lovely day at Giant City that was immersed in thoughts of new windows on Wednesday and Maine around the corner. But the shelf in the master closet had other ideas. I looked at it askance the other morning and thought it was leaning just a bit. Then I thought better of my first thought and went joyfully about my day without worry or care. In the middle of the other night, I awoke to wonder…was the shelf winking at me or my imagination. Today I understood that my sin had found me. Too many heavy clothes on a burdened friend. It had been groaning under the weight and asking…’ Don’t you see me…or don’t you care?’ A new shirt in May and then four in June and thoughts of one or two more L.L. Bean articles in September when we are in Maine. My shelf said…’No More!’ MJ told me that she had been thinking that there was a project or three that we needed to focus on this summer…I guess the overburdened shelf was one that emerged from the stress it had been experiencing…

Now and again life brings us a collapse from our own pursuit of happiness. In the midst of our revelries and as we search for another lion to hunt on our safari of life…our closet collapses. Then comes the paring back of our accumulated wealth of possessions. No more corduroy pants that have not been worn in years…but might be someday. No more Brooks Brothers Sweater that has wooden buttons but an entire sleeve blown out at the elbow and has been patched three times. No more L.L. Bean quilted shirt that has a collar frayed beyond repair. No more small sizes that I believe will fit me perfectly once again when I am older…

MJ says we need to start downsizing…but I am just in the thrill of acquiring… It has been said that we enter this world naked and that we exit it in the same manner…but can I at least take my Waffle Shirt and Khaki Pants…

Well…Maine is getting closer and my poor walking shoes are showing the wear of daily hikes at Giant City Woods. It was time to go to the shoe store. After much searching found the right pair and happily paid for the Columbia shoes and spritely left the store to proceed on my Sunday adventure. I considered that I had never owned a pair of Columbia shoes before but that I had some Columbia shirts and jackets. I love them. Such is the life of an old man who gets excited about new shoes…

Unknown horizons stir my spirit. I enjoy what I am doing now and anticipate what the future holds. We all need New Shoes to carry us through life which is a kaleidoscope of changing shapes and vistas.

‘It is time for us to go to P.N. Hirsch to buy some new school clothes for the beginning of classes in August,’ Neva J. said. ‘I wish I had some Time Travel Shoes,’ Billy B. said. ‘I think that those can be found in aisle 5,’ Chet added with a grin. ‘I wonder what 6th Grade will be like…I am excited about being in Junior High,’ Jane said with glee.

‘Those shoes are Boss,’ Chet said to Billy B. ‘Where did you find such colorful sneakers,’ Jane asked? ‘I noticed that when you were playing basketball this afternoon you were able to jump really high and dunk the ball with ease,’ Daryl mentioned with a quizzical look in his eyes. ‘Yes…and come to think of it I have never seen you play basketball before,’ Chet said with a look of being in on the secret. ‘It is 1967 and the only sneakers that I know of are Converse…what gives with the Sheik Footwear,’ Jane asked? ‘One day you will hear all about them…they are called Air Jordans,’ Billy B. said…

We live in the middle of a profound mystery. The movie was already presented on the silver screen when we found ourselves a character. Quickly we learned that we have a role to play and thus set on our job of discovering what it was to be. Others told us what our part should be…but we were unconvinced. Some of us wanted to be the good gal or the good guy and ride a white horse and save the day. Many found the role of Snidely Whiplash to be their calling as they tied Nell Trueheart to the railroad tracks. Dudely Do Right is a more satisfying performance…however, we are captivated by Snidely Whiplash. How often have we rooted for the Bad Guy With a Heart? Tony Soprano comes to mind. If there is good news to report it is buried toward the back of the newspaper…while bad news is the emblazoned headline…

George Costanza of Seinfeld was attempting to flirt with one of Elaine’s colleagues and Elaine grabbed the young woman away from the conversation and told her that George was a bad seed. Where the young woman had before been uninterested…now her curiosity was perked. George began to play the role of bad boy and then Elaine called and told her that George was a good seed…a very good seed…to George’s vehement protestations.

Life presents us with the quandary of how much we want to do to help others while still being a bit of a Badass… We all have a little mischief in us and that is what gives us our character and zeal to accomplish. Indeed we are a unique mixture of good and bad and we find ourselves in the ‘IN BETWEEN’. Full of ‘Piss and Vinegar’ as Neva J. used to say and yet with a heart of gold. Some of the most compassionate people that I have ever met are those who society has marginalized and forgotten. Often they understand Jesus’ admonition…Love one another as I have loved you…’