I’m not sure what is wrong with me! This morning I didn’t wake up until 8:45 and didn’t get out of bed until 9:30!  That’s so unlike me. I have always been a morning person. Decades of conditioning made my usual wake time, without an alarm, between five and five-thirty. Then, not being able to get back to sleep, I would get up and start my day. I would do this even on non-work days.  I loved watching the sunrise and seeing the world wake up.

I do know what is wrong with me. Absolutely nothing! I am suffering the effects of semi-retirement. The earliest I have to get up is on the two days a week I still work. On those days I set my alarm for eight.  I think one of the reasons I now sleep in is that, being semi-retired, I have huge amounts of time to get things done.  There is no need to rush into the day.

Do I miss the sunrise? Sure.  But, my bed is sooo comfortable. It’s a queen size mattress and I sleep alone. Sleeping alone has its positives… and its negatives! My sheets have that hint of fabric softener smell. They are worn and soft. My pillows are made of bamboo and it is easy to adjust them to just the way you want them. Ahhhhh. My room darkening curtains leave me in total darkness. My essential oils diffuser leaves a lingering fragrance  of peppermint or orange or lavender! Except to pee, who would want to get up early and leave all that?

I like that paragraph. It makes me want to nap!

I am ending this post with some lyrics. Of course it’s a Beatles song, I’m Only Sleeping. “Please don’t shake me, no don’t wake me, leave me where I am, I’m only sleeping.”

 

I’ve been in the counseling field for the last twenty years. It is the last career of my life. It is very rewarding and usually pays well.  But, as an independent contractor, it only pays well when people show up for their scheduled session.  I am writing this during a four hour break caused by cancellations and a no show!

But I had a few careers before this one, including an eight year stint in Human Resources. It was an amazing whirlwind! My sense of HR before getting into it is that it was the conscience of the company. HR made sure the employees were treated fairly.  When I got my first job in HR that was still the case. By the end of my eight year stint, we were not supposed to talk to the everyday employees. We were supposed to be coaches for the managers.  That was disappointing. Of course, because  everything goes in cycles, things in HR may be like they used to be.

As a Democratic Socialist, the new HR was probably not a good fit for me. The focus was less on keeping employees happy and more looking at the bottom line. I get it. That’s how things work in a capitalistic society. And that’s okay. It just didn’t set well with me.  This conflict was one of the reasons I pursued the career change.

I mentioned it being a whirlwind.  The company I worked for was building small chemical plants on the sites of paper mills. When I started with them we had five. When I left we had over fifty. When I started we were only in the United Sates. When I left, we were all over the world. I was traveling somewhere, usually every other week.  It was exhausting and exciting.

I got to see places I never would have had the chance to see on my own.  Usually, but not always, the paper mills were in pretty rural areas. I’ve been in International Falls, Minnesota, and made the isolating two hour drive north to Dryden , Ontario, seeing moose along the way. How cool is that?! I’ve been to the Ruffed Grouse Capital of the World in Park Falls, Wisconsin. I drove over the Edmund Pettis Bridge, famous from civil rights protests. It was near our plant in Selma, Alabama. I was in Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. There I learned about the UPers and their strong sense of pride in place. The Upper Peninsula was very close to being out 51st state, called Superior after the lake.  Travelling all over the country gave me a better understanding of the diversity of our population and the commonalities as well.

Internationally, I learned that other countries have benefits that are way better than ours! That made my Democratic Socialist heart beat faster! Haha. I have been to Tha Toom, Thailand and Aanekoski, Finland (my favorite place). I got to visit Brazil and France and Portugal. I even got to go to Netanya,  Israel where they had the best hummus I ever tasted.  Traveling internationally I got an appreciation of the varied cultures and interests in different parts of the globe. We tend, here, to think that everyone wants to be like the USA. That is far from the truth.

For the most part, my travelling days are long over. No more whirlwinds for me.   I am content to explore Pennsylvania for now.  Did you know that there is a place in Pennsylvania that was prepared to accept Royals during the French Revolution! It’s less than two hours away.

Back to work for me now. Hopefully tonight I can make some money!

 

 

1970. That’s the year I graduated from high school. What a wonderful time to be an adolescent! The last half of the sixties. I guess every generation probably says the same thing about their generation. I know my siblings were teens in the 50s and that generation sure had its pluses. Remember the movie American Graffiti? That was the fifties.

My adolescent years were filled with wonderful music. The music then seemed so much more varied and creative then the music of today. May be it was the drugs. Emma, who usually gets to choose the music when we drive, often asks me if I like the song that’s playing. Sometimes I do. But often I think that sounds just like the last one!

My teen years had some interesting fashion choices too. Bell bottoms, of course! But paisleys and madras plaids. It was definitely more casual and more colorful than what came  before. Matching didn’t seem to matter much either.

Probably the best thing about those times is the whole change in attitude. The optimism. The thought that even at our age we could change things for the better.  And we did! Teens and college students helped push forward the civil rights movement and the women’s’ rights movements. We helped end a war! Teens were active in the political discourse of the times. We realized that politics, in spite of what everyone thinks about it, affects our daily life.  Protest was a daily activity on many levels.

Why am I nostalgic today? Last night I watched the Martin Scorsese film ” George Harrison: Living in a Material World”.  It was wonderful. Long, at 3 and a half hours, but wonderful nonetheless.  I have a better appreciation of George today. I always liked him , but he was the quiet Beatle, usually taking a back seat to John and Paul. But, wow!, what a life he lived. He enjoyed all aspects of living in a material world, but knew it all meant nothing compared to his spirituality and his Hindu beliefs.  He died of cancer, way too early, but left behind so many friends and admirers. His wife said that, at the moment of death, there was an aura of light in the room.

I plan on finding a good biography on George today.  I can see modeling the rest of my  life after his. If I can accomplish even part of that I would be happy. Here’s a nice lyric from George to end this post: Give me love, give me love, give me peace on Earth.

 

 

 

 

Deer! They are everywhere!

Last night I left work in Bethlehem about 9 pm. I was getting on 22 West from Schoenersville Road. On the entrance ramp, I round a curve and there standing right in the middle of my lane is a beautiful deer. We stared at each other and I thought  to myself what an odd place for a deer. But that seems to be the norm anymore. Deer are everywhere! The deer jumped over the guardrail and I continued on my way. I head up 309 toward my home in Schnecksville. In the passing lane, I have to quickly change lanes to avoid driving over a dead deer lying across the road.  They are everywhere!

I read that Pennsylvania has, by far, the most deer/car collisions. Close to 130,000 last year alone.  The article went on to explain about the amount of photoreceptors in a deer’s eye and how they literally freeze in the headlights.  The worst months for deer/car collisions are December, January, and February. I have been lucky, in my fifty years of driving, to have never hit a deer. I know, I probably shouldn’t have said that!

Deer are beautiful creatures. There is no doubt about that. But they do create havoc. They destroy farmers crops. They eat up back yard gardens. They love ornamental plants. A novel I read recently described them as beautiful vermin!

A few weeks ago I decided to try to count the deer I see in fields on my way home from dropping off Emma at her mom’s place. From Target on Cedar Crest to the end of Cedar Crest in Ironton, about 7 miles, I counted over 50 deer!

Maybe it’s just that I  now live in a more rural area, but it seems like the deer population is getting out of control. Maybe it’s because fewer people hunt. Hunting is a dying sport, like bowling and golf. Maybe they are just more concentrated in certain areas because of the increase in housing developments.  Maybe the beautiful  Lehigh Valley nights are making male deer much more amorous!!

Whatever the reason is, be careful out there!

 

Did you ever visit the site of a building that has been demolished and taken away?  The space that it took up as a building was massive, but the same site without the building looks so small. I guess it is some sort of optical illusion or factor of perception. I have never been to the 9/11 Memorial in New York, but I am guessing that same thing applies to that site.

I am thinking of my former Junior High School building on Main Street in Slatington. Originally it was built as a high school but by the time I arrived there, it was our Junior High School.  It was a beautiful building. An orangish brick. Wider than deep but still taking up an entire block. Stairs in the front leading up to two entrances. the entrances have words carved above them: Girls, Boys.  High up, near the top of the building, were carved quotations. The only one I can remember is With All Thy Getting Get Wisdom.  Interestingly, when they tore the building down, they saved the carved quotations. I hope they get put to some good use. Last time I saw them they were lying in the dirt behind the Borough Maintenance Building along the Slatington Rail Trail.

Inside the building was beautiful, though worn, as well. A beautiful auditorium was the centerpiece, complete with balcony. Cafeteria in the basement, the site of junior high dances. A lab in the basement below the basement. How cool is that? The place was also filled with memories.

I am not sure when the building was torn down, but the citizens of Slatington did a wonderful thing with the site.  It is now a beautiful little park, right on Main Street.  I drove by the park the other day and thought to myself that my junior high could not have possibly fit in that space! But it did.

I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere about peoples’ perceptions, or about the importance of buildings in our lives, or even about treasuring things while they still exist.

But all I can do when I drive down Main Street, and see the little park, is shake my head and say “No way”!

My daughter and I love to go camping. But we haven’t gone for the past two summers. That’s because the last time we tried, it became the camping trip cut short. Let me explain.

I can’t speak for Emma, but one of the things I like about camping is the quiet. We had reservations at French Creek State Park. I like camping in the state parks because of the distance between campsites and that the general acceptance among campers is that camping is for quiet and solitude.  I think you can see where this is going.

It’s a very hot and humid July Saturday and we arrive at our campsite, get the tent set up and the campsite arranged. It is beautiful and the campground doesn’t appear to be very busy. Another plus! We decide to go to the pool for a couple hours.

After the pool we drive back toward the campsite. Not even there yet and we can hear music blasting. At our campsite we can tell that the music is coming  from a van parked at a campsite in the next loop. So, it’s maybe forty feet away with some trees in between us. It’s so loud that Emma and I can’t even talk to each other without yelling. I, who does not like confrontation, have to go ask them to turn the music down.

I go to the loud campsite and ask them to turn down the music. The guy was real nice, apologized and turned it down.  This next part may make me seem prejudiced, but I hope that it was just a recognition of the differences between cultures.  While there I noticed that along with that campsite there were four other campsites of Latino campers. They were all together. I am thinking that quiet may not be on the agenda for tonight.

It wasn’t. Emma and I were trying to get to sleep in my brand new, 2 person LL Bean tent. We can’t sleep! Our neighbors are loud. It is very hot and sticky  humid. My new tent is more of a one-person tent. We are lying there looking up at the stars, frustrated, and hot. I turn to Emma and ask her if she’d like to sleep in a motel instead. Yes, Dad!!!

It’s about 11 pm and we are in the middle of nowhere. We leave everything there and hop in the car in search of a motel.  Desperate, we stumble upon The Rainbow Motel on Route 422. I go in and am greeted by an older man with long gray hair, suspenders, no shirt, and a big pot belly.  He tells me he has a vacancy and I get my credit card out to pay. He tells me that he only accepts cash! He had a sense of humor, because when I told him I thought it might be that kind of place, he just laughed and said that it is but there is a Comfort Inn about four miles down the road.

Emma and I spent a quiet night in our air conditioned, paid for by credit card, well appointed room.  We went back to the campsite about 9 am. We gathered our things and went home.  We were disappointed that we didn’t have a full camping trip, but we sure did have an adventure! I used the adventure as a teachable moment explaining that different cultures have different customs and practices. Another lesson I learned is that if LL Bean says it is a 2 person tent, check the dimensions!

Finally there is this age old lesson, passed down through generations, culminating in this old adage:  When the weather’s hot and sticky…..that’s no time to….go camping! What did you think I was going to say? Hahaha. Have a great Sunday!

Most of you who know me know how I feel about dogs. I don’t like them.  I know that that is an unpopular stance, but there it is. Why don’t I like them. Let me count the ways! They smell bad. They drool and slobber. They bark too much. Their hair gets all over the place. They bite people. They sometimes chase you when you run in Lehigh Parkway. They poop in surprising places. But, most importantly, they do not know the meaning of the word boundary!

Don’t get me wrong. I know there are wonderful dogs out there. I even have a dog as a Facebook friend. RIP Murry McLaughlin. I know some that are cute and lovable and loyal. I just don’t necessarily want them on my lap or in my face. I was walking in Kolapechka Park the other day and here comes a woman with two medium size dogs. At least they were on a leash (it’s the law, people!). Before you know it their muddy paws were all over my shorts and they are pushing their noses into my hands.  Of course, their owner remarked on their friendliness.  Yeah, great.

Here is where my dog animus comes from. It is not genetic, though my sister had similar feelings.  It’s not because I am a cranky negative person, in spite of my political rants on FB. It’s because I was severely attacked by a German Shepherd at the age of 12.

Here’s a short version of that story. It was a hot July afternoon. My friend Ronnie Minnich and I were shooting off little firecrackers in an alley in Slatington. It was between First and Second and Church and Franklin (for you Slatington readers).  The firecrackers were the kind that you threw hard against the blacktop and they made some kind of minor pop. We were having a good time when all of a sudden a big white German Shepherd comes bolting out of a back door and heads immediately for us. Hair on end, teeth bared, barking and growling. My friend Ronnie, the better athlete, was able to get up into a tree.  I was reaching for a branch and I felt the dog’s teeth sink right into my lower back. Ow!!  Only his owner calling him back ended the attack and maybe saved my life!  Many stitches later, I survived.

But what didn’t survive is my good feelings toward dogs. Especially German Shepherds!

So that’s where my dislike of dogs started. I know many of my complaints about them are really about their owners.  And, I guess, I shouldn’t have been playing with firecrackers in a Slatington alley.  But, if I see you out on the streets and you are with your dog, please don’t expect me to go all gaga over your Fido, Rover, or Spot.

Rainy day in Schnecksville. A good day for all dogs to stay inside. 🙂

 

Three days, including today, left in July. August starts Wednesday. Target has its back to school section ready and filled. Old Navy has had its first Fleece Sale.  Pumpkin patches and fall festivals are already advertising their starting dates.  Autumn can’t be far behind.

Two more signals of fall’s imminent return are Musikfest and the Allentown Fair. Both are only days or weeks away.  This summer, like most summers, is flying by. Actually, most seasons, months, weeks, and days are flying by as well.  SLOW DOWN TIME. PLEASE.

Summer is my favorite season.  I like the heat and humidity (as long as I can easily get out of it).  I like the idea of shorts, t-shirts, and no socks. I love the long hours of sunlight, the 5am sunrise and the 9pm sunset.  The summer vibe is chill. The summer colors are yellow and green.  I also like the fact that slippery roads are almost non-existent.

For a lot of people, fall is their favorite. I get it. It does have its charm.  The cooler temperatures prevail. The colors of orange, red,  and yellow dominate. There is a certain musty, but good, smell in the fall air. Football is in full swing! Halloween, Thanksgiving, and pumpkin spice.  Better, meaning more thought provoking and less action packed, movies start to appear.

I’m skipping winter and putting in a third place vote for spring. Spring is a lot of people’s favorite because it means the end of winter.  Yes!  But it is also the most colorful season…pinks, yellows, purples, blues.  The time change to Daylight Saving Time occurs in spring, as does April showers bringing us May flowers.  May babies are born in spring. May babies are the best!  Spring makes you want to start things. You may not finish them, but starting is at least something.  In the Lehigh Valley, spring seems to be a disappearing season. Every year lately it seems we go from winter to summer.

Finally, earning my last place vote, is winter.  Cold, dark, and isolating.  Slippery roads. Go to work in the dark, come home in the dark. Blah.  Like John Denver sang: “It’s cold and it’s getting colder, gray and white and winter all around, and oh, I must be getting older, all this snow is starting to get me down.”  Some of you are going to say about winter…but Christmas! Once your kids no longer believe in Santa, it loses some of its charm. The charm that is left is not enough to move winter from the bottom of my list!

So, there is my take on the seasons. You may all have a different order of favorites.  The best thing is that we are still around to experience all four. Or if you live in Florida, three of them.  My wish is to see many, many more season changes. So, time…..please slow down!

 

I’m single…so I can pretty much sleep with whomever I want (as long as they want to as well!).  However, this single guy goes to bed every night with a published author. This is my version of sleeping with someone these days. I read until I am sleepy, then I put the book under the other pillow, and drift off to dreamland.  Not a bad life! A friend texted me the other night and asked what I was doing. I told her I was in bed with Fredrik Backman. After a joke about switching teams, she asked me how the book was going.

The book was going wonderfully. “Us Against You” is an amazing book that will give you an amusement park ride of emotions. You will love the characters and all their flaws. You will cheer for them and miss them when it’s over.  But this post isn’t a book review. It’s just that having recently finished that book and how I refer to my sleep time routines made me think again about how important books are in my life.

Some brief memories of books and reading from my life show that books have always been there. I can’t ever remember laughing harder than reading the short story “Home on the Range” in Homer Moyer’s junior high reading class. I was trying to read it out loud to the class but couldn’t because I was laughing too hard as was the whole class.  Good times!

Reading a book, as a teen, called “Wild Venture” . It probably is the book that really drew me into being a serious reader.  Do you have a book like that in your life?

Once I was on a business trip and was reading an exciting book on the plane. I was two chapters away from the ending. We landed at an airport for a stopover but were getting back on the same plane. I left the book in the seat pocket and went to grab a hot dog. I got back on the plane. They had cleaned it and tossed my book!  I couldn’t remember the title. I will never know if they got that kid out of the well.  I’m guessing they did!

I took a class in college called The English Novel. That class introduced me to my favorite classics author, Thomas Hardy, and to his book “Jude the Obscure”, my favorite book of all time.  Hardy’s body is buried in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey. But his heart was removed and is buried in his beloved English countryside.  How cool is that?!

A book has even been an important part of my spiritual side. “The Tibetan Book of Living  and Dying” confirmed my belief system and gave me the courage to say the words “Yes, I’m a Buddhist”.

Not every book memory is a good one. I read “Fifty Shades of Gray”. While it did retain my interest, the writing itself was terrible.  I recently tried to read “Tom Sawyer” and hated it. Why is this considered a classic?  I will never know.

I hope that , if not reading, you at least have some constant in your life, that will be there through good times and bad.  For some it is working on cars and for others gardening. For some it is woodworking and for others it is cooking. Find a passion!

Exciting day for me today. After a much needed haircut, I am off to the Friends of Parkland Library Book Sale! Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Yes, Neil Diamond.  While always a fan favorite, good old Neil was never a favorite of the critics. That used to bother him and fill him with self doubt.  At a certain point in his life he said, “I’ve forgiven myself for not being Beethoven!”.  Neil Diamond hit the nail right on the head. At some point in our lives we just have to accept who we are and go with it. “I am…I said”.

I think I am at that point now.  I wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.  Wait, I got distracted for a moment. I wake up in the morning feeling content with my life.  I wish there was a better word to use but I can’t think of one.

I am not Beethoven. Nor did I ever want to be.  But at various points in my life I wanted to be an astronaut, a journalist, a bookstore owner, a writer, and a teacher. None of those things happened but I have had a very nice and varied working life.  I have had fantastic work experiences and met a lot of great people. I even got to travel the world for a job. Unforgettable!

I am not rich, by any stretch of the imagination. Do I wish I had more money? Of course, don’t we all? But I have enough to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach.  A lot of people on this earth cannot even say that! I am content. There is that word again.

I  haven’t done a lot of things I had planned to do in my life. Most, if not all of them are now, at 66, out of reach. I always wanted to own  a house on a lake. I always wanted to own a bookstore. I always wanted to climb to Machu Picchu. But you know what? I can drive to a lake. I can spend all the time I want in bookstores. The internet can bring me close to Machu Picchu in a different way. And…that’s okay.

I am not the physical specimen I would have liked to be at 66. But, I am basically healthy. I can still hike and kayak and run.  Several of my high school classmates have already passed way.  My 50th class reunion is in two years. I expect to attend and am thankful for the opportunity to be there.

I hope all of you can find the contentment that I have found.  Choose your battles. Remember what is really important. Realize that what you have is so much more than ninety percent of the people on this planet. Be thankful every single day, even on the days where things may not be the best.

I am going to end this post with another quote. Not Neil Diamond’s words, but Socrates himself.

“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature”.

To all my Lehigh Valley readers, be safe out there. These storms are amazing!