Porno Wine

This classic work of art (1895 bicycle advertisement) is now considered "pornography" in Alabama, and the wine that uses this label is now banned.

Un-freaking-believable!

P.S. Sales of the wine haved boomed. What could be better than free advertising courtesy of Alabama law makers who have nothing better to do than to judge whether artwork is pornography

We're Pregnant

So I get excited phone from a familiar female voice.

Caller: "Hi, it's {{cell phone garble}}"

Me: "hang on a second" (I go turn off the music I have playing because I didn't quite understand who I was talking to"

Caller: "Guess what?"

Me: What?

Caller: "we're pregnant!"

My brain's internal search engine is still trying to identify the voice.

Me: "That's great, if it's good for you"
Caller: "Yeah, we're excited" (that did it, now I recognize my daughter-in-law Kelley's voice)

Grandchild number three on the way.

Mellencamp Intermezzo

just another day
watching girls walk by on street
that's alright with me



Bonus: Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)



(The last line of my previous haiku become first line of this one, its called a daisy chain, feel free to participate, inspired by Mad)

On the Eight Day

Not much to tell. My weekend "long" run was a slow three miles (don't snicker) at the popular Shakespeare park near my home. I still have problems, but they don't seem to be as bad or last as long as they did back in June. Today I did a cross-training day at the gym with weights, elliptical sprints and slow two mile jog on a treadmill (too humid today to be outside). All seems to be well (I am knocking on wood). Other than that, today turned into a nice boring Sunday, and now it is threatening to rain, I will probably for a walk in it. Don't worry, I'll be wearing my special anti-lightning hat, it's worked every time (so far).

revolving planet
mixing air and swirling clouds
just another day

Literary Canine Blogging - Sawtelles and Enzo

As soon as I read the first synopsis of Oprah's book club pick The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, I was interested. The story of the development of a fictional breed of dog, and it's effect on complex family relationships and history, started having a strange and familiar pattern as I approached the last third of the novel. It is a familiar tale retold in a new setting.

It is not light reading, and demands attention even as detailed dog training sessions make you want to skip ahead to more interesting parts. The pace of the book changes from a slow drag to rapid sprint, with much mystery and suspicion. The interactions and bonds between humans and dogs are inspiring, and not too over dramatic to be unbelievable. I have heard many complain about the ending, but the ending is more like what happens in real life than most novels present. It is a dark tragic tale, with moments of light and hope, and a meaningful ending that can be interpreted many different ways. I don't like to give spoilers, so that's all I'm going to say. Those who've already read it will know what I mean. It was a long book and took me over month to complete, as I've been I little overwhelmed with life, work and play, since the beginning of the year, and couldn't devote much attention to finishing this novel, and the sometimes slow pace of the story at times had me pushing it away frequently.

How would I rate it? I don't know, yet. I think I need to read it again before I know if I like it. Many stories I read, like The Road, are much better the second time, I think because I'm able to pick up details which were overlooked the first time.

I did finally get to this book, and I highly recommend it, even after only one reading. The character of Enzo, and the voice in his head, will stay with you long after you've finished this book. Heart-wrenching and uplifting story of family, love and loyalty, it is a well-crafted story from the point of view of a human's best friend.

“The Art of Racing in The Rain has everything: love, tragedy, redemption, danger, and--best of all--the canine narrator Enzo. This old soul of a dog has much to teach to us about being human. I loved this book.”
-- Sara Gruen, Author of Water for Elephants


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My Return

This post marks my return to blogging and my return to running after an injury.

I'm not supposed to be running yet. I have been walking two to four miles every day since my last day of running on June 23. My injury doesn't seem to be getting better, in fact it the first couple of weeks of rest, it felt worse. I have two different diagnosis from two physical therapists, two different ways to rehab. No one is certain, so I guess the next step would be an MRI, many of my friends have suggested it. I'm not going to do that. I'm tired of wasting all this time and having no better results than self treatment.

I know this is a stubborn injury, it takes long time to heal, it might be a stress fracture, so I will just deal with it. I will return to running with a smaller stride, slower pace, and quit being so frustrated with everyone's different opinion, even the experts, who poke around but still are only guessing.

Day 1: I'm out with my Saturday Morning running buddies, I intended to only walk, but the urge to run was so great that I did one mile at a very slow 10 minute pace. It felt great. I get home, it's still early, the weather is great, so I do another slow mile. Good news, the running didn't aggravate my abductor strain, I didn't feel any soreness at all. The usual tightness and soreness are still there, but it didn't make it worse.

Day 2: I wake up and I feel better than I have in a long time. I think the easy running actually helped. I go out for my morning walk and the urge to run hits me again. Don't worry, I'm taking it real easy, small steps, slow pace. I do 12 minutes and I feel the pain starting to come back, but after resting, stretching and icing the tendon, it doesn't feel as bad as it did six weeks ago, so I count my blessings. I'm also doing all the exercises the therapists recommend, and they hurt more than the run, especially the alternating one foot bridges. No more running until Tuesday.

So we'll see how it goes, and you can track my progress here.....

Off topic: Did you hear Michael Jackson has named his next concert tour after my blog, This is it? I'm so honored. I don't care the price, I'm going, it's the least I could do for this honor. However, I'm having trouble finding the dates and locations, every time I do a search I get a bunch of tabloid articles about him dying. What some journalists will do for a little attention is perverse. Can anyone help?

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