Time marches on

the clocks go back

nights get cooler

days are not so warm

beautiful sunsets are the norm

time marches on

nights are longer

stars seem brighter

cool breezes at sunrise

the air is crisp and clear

time marches on

grass stops growing

leaves turn red and gold

morning frost will soon be here

winter creeps in

time marches on

endless summer days are over

no more flip flops

get your warm clothes ready

prepare for biting cold winds

time marches on

seasons roll through

summer will return next year

be patient

embrace the changes

time marches on

celebrate the seasons

do not chase after time

do not try to get ahead of it

ride with the march of time

time marches on

step into the rhythm of the march

enjoy the changes in real time

no looking backwards

time marches on

your underwear drawer says who you are

You can tell a lot about a person from the way their underwear drawer is organized

If its totally neat and organized by brand, style and color type it says that you like to keep things perfect

You probably keep your house neat and organized too

Your car is immaculate, in showroom condition with nothing messing up the interior

Your yard is manicured without a stray leaf out of place

Your whole life will be organized and planned to the second

You are in total control of everything and when things get messy or the unexpected happens you move quickly to fix it

If its somewhat neat with your undies folded but not organized then you are somebody who goes with the flow

You have no problem with other people making decisions for you

You do not have to be in control of everything but you are connected enough to be know what’s going on around you

Your house is not untidy but it does look lived in

Your yard is well laid out but has a few weeds which you leave for the landscape guy to take care of twice a month 

Your car has a few dents but gets washed once a month

Your life is fairly well organized with few surprises

When the unexpected happens you deal with it in a structured way without panicking

If your clean underwear gets randomly thrown into the drawer with no organization then you know how to prioritize your time

Its not important to you to waste time folding and organizing a drawer full of underwear that nobody else sees

You are carefree, impulsive and wild at times

Your house is untidy with dirty dishes in the sink but you have a fabulous collection of books and records

Your yard is totally overgrown and full of wild flowers and weeds

Your car is dirty and completely banged up, the interior is full of junk and half eaten snacks

Your life is not organized at all and you are constantly putting out fires and dealing with chaos

But you are probably deliriously happy with tons of friends

Sleep Trek

 The final frontier

These are the voyages of the Sleepship Dreamerprise

Its continuing mission

To explore strange new worlds

To seek out new life and new civilizations

To boldly dream where no one has dreamt before

Cue the cheesy music

And you are off

On an eight hour voyage

That can cover light years

Powered by impulse engines

Fueled by your imagination

Traveling at warp speed factor loud snore

Scotty runs the engine room

I cannae hold it much longer Captain

He tells you in his fake Scottish accent

Mr Spock has funny pointy ears

He speaks in endless boring ruminations

On the nature of humanity

And whether we will overcome our differences

To reach the end of our dreams

Mr Sulu is at the helm

Ready to take your dream

 Wherever you command

It may be scary or wildly erotic

It will certainly be unbelievable 

McCoy is your chief medical officer

He will fix you up if you get hurt

With his blinking magic wand

Uhura is your communications officer

She can understand any alien language

She wears a ridiculously short mini skirt

Suddenly an alien dreamship appears

Its those ugly Klingons again

They pretend their ship is invisible

By throwing a cloak over it

But you know all their tricks

You beam aboard for a confrontation

To tell them you will never meet their demands

When they go for their weapons

You reach for your flip phone and yell

Beam me up Scotty

Then the bloody alarm clock wakes you up

Double bend

The river double bend

Where water churns

Forced to change course

Reluctantly turning 

Steadily eating away the bank

Eventually breaking though

To form an oxbow lake

While the river flows straight by

Sometimes life is like a river

You get carried along

Without being in control

Pushed and pulled in all directions

Often to places you do not like

Until you discover your own straight path

Have the strength and will to break away

Its so rewarding to plot your own course

The waiting room

The waiting room at the doctors office

Nobody really wants to be there

You are forced to go because you are sick

Or must attend an annual checkup

Nobody wants to make eye contact or chat

The well thumbed old magazines are probably full of germs

In contrast to the totally sterile muted daytime TV in the corner

Lets all pretend we are invisible as we pull out our cell phones

Plunging into the scary virtual world of self diagnosis

There is always somebody with a really bad cough

Everybody is holding their breath now

A nurse comes in to call a name

Its not me but now I know the name of coughing man

I will look for that name for the obituary columns tomorrow

Why did he get called so quickly

I arrived well before him

Do you get punished for arriving here on time

I wish that noisy child would shut up

The nurse appears again and calls out my name

I leap up and follow her

Not limping, shuffling or wincing in pain

To keep everybody guessing whats wrong with me

The nurse puts me in a tiny room

Takes my vitals and says the doctor will see me soon

She leaves me in solitary confinement

No TV or magazines in this lonely place

I am beginning to miss the entertainment of the big waiting room

Time passes slowly

I read all the posters on the wall

Lecturing me on the health benefits of green vegetables

I start to crave a burger with fries and a beer

I decide to surf my medical problem on the internet yet again

My symptoms cover a range of conditions

It could be nothing to worry about

Or I may die in great pain very soon

Finally the doctor comes in all smiling in a badly fitting white coat

He asks me how am I doing

As he taps on a computer screen in the corner

I wanted to say

Your waiting room sucks

Why are you so late for our appointment

I almost died waiting for you

You look far too young to be a real doctor

That stupid white coat is way too big for you

Are you just going to google my symptoms

But opted to be polite and replied

I am doing great thanks

Arterial flow during seven decades of breakfast evolutions

I grew up eating sugary cereal breakfasts

But we always had the ‘full English’ on Sundays

Eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, mushrooms, fried bread and black pudding swimming in fat

Its a wonder my arteries survived that weekly greasing

Upon flying the nest I stopped eating breakfast

It got in the way between sleeping and rushing to work

But I still had the Sunday brunch full English fry up

My arteries were attacked weekly but miraculously never clogged

I lived in France for five years in my forties

Discovering the joys of French cuisine and wine

The French cook everything in butter

I put on a lot of weight in that first year of the French adventure

I became more health conscious

I took early morning runs and ate oatmeal for breakfast

Amazingly shedding excess pounds while eating my way through France

I wonder if all that French butter kept my arteries flowing

I moved to New York in 2001 and fell in love with American cuisine

Diners were my favorite place to eat breakfast

Crispy bacon, pancakes and eggs anyway you wished resulted in more weight gain

My arteries were probably yelling STOP with a New York accent

A sensible diet combined with daily running got me back on track

Trips to the diner, and jumbo fast food meals became infrequent treats

I travelled a lot but reluctantly ate many hotel junky food breakfasts

My arteries resisted the onslaught and somehow kept flowing

In retirement my knees were too worn out for any more running

Cycling and yoga became my exercise partners

Porridge with flax filled my daily breakfast plate

Bacon cooking aromas from afar made my arteries cringe

I experimented with pre-cycling meals to fuel my muscles

Protein shakes propelled me along Eastern Shore lanes

Although every day was a weekend I never returned to Sunday fry ups

Intense endurance training increased my arterial blood flows

I decided to give up eating red meat a couple of years ago

No more fried bacon and sausage breakfast treats

Vegan protein shakes are now my daily breakfast routine

My arteries have somehow survived decades of abuse

1,456 days of social media distancing

On November 8, 2017 I decided to stop looking at FaceBook

I was disillusioned at the content and disappointed in myself for wasting so much time every day looking at mundane things which added no value to my life.

It was easy to quit, no twelve step program or going to FaceBookaholics Anonymous meetings, I just closed my account and moved on

1,456 days later I have no regrets and my true friends found other ways to keep in touch

Early in 2020, I do not recall the exact date, I made a decision to stop watching the news, both TV and internet

After a lifetime of addiction to daily news, I suddenly became aware that being constantly fed negative sensationalized stories did nothing to make me a better person

Being informed of the minute details of a distant natural disaster or terrorist attack that I could not influence just added unnecessary stress to my life

I do care about things and donate both my time and money to causes that matter to me

Abandoning the news was not as simple as deleting an App on my phone, I had to make conscious decisions not to tune into news channels

It was harder to break the habit of reading online news especially when you Google a current affairs subject because the top results are almost always news outlets

You have to dig a little deeper to find data on matters that interest you but also be skeptical about anything you read being true or factual

When I walk into a room today where TV news is being broadcast, I simply ignore it by listening to music on a headphone or engaging in conversation

So I am saying a huge thank you today to FaceBook, CNN, NBC, BBC and all the other media sources that used to take up 2 hours or more of my day

Thank you for leaving my life and gifting me that time to do other things of my choice like riding my bike, reading, writing, having interesting conversations with friends or engaging in a project to improve my home or myself

Imagine how this extra time gained daily adds up, over the next decade I will have the equivalent of 12 months news and social media free gifted time for myself

Its like having your life expectancy increased by 10% with the additional bonus of being less stressed

I am grateful for still being alive today during the Covid-19 Pandemic, and even more grateful for not having been spoon-fed the 24/7 toxic news on this subject

If important things happen out there that could effect my life, others advise me of it

Time is precious, I am determined to spend mine on things which bring me joy and fulfillment

Modern shopping

Modern shopping

Prices dropping

purchase quick

Click click

Amazon prime

Delivery time

Order tracking

Package lacking

Big surprise

Package arrives

Opening box

Opportunity knocks

Total dispair

Contains air

Online complain

Tracking again

Package arrives

Shoes inside

Heavens alive

Wrong size

Panic attack

Sending back

Internet store

Ordering more

Shopping trips

Totally eclipsed

Retail shops

Aging flops

Demand falls

Empty malls

Online browsing

More arousing

Although convenient

Sparks disagreement

Packaging waste

Bad taste

Cardboard displease

Killing trees

Modern shopping

Environmentally shocking

Consequences of online shopping
Packaging waste

Millions of unwelcome guests

water constantly shapes the landscape 

millions of miniature mystical molecules mingling and meandering

changing temperatures dictate their collective state of mind

they can either float in the sea, run on the land, sleep in a bed of ice or fly in the sky

one day the bay was frozen

the next it was all melted

surface waters could once again invite the wind to dance

together they skipped all over the bay like kids running from school

sad soggy brown grasses reemerged from the snow blanket

animals returned to forage after a frozen fast

birds flew in a snowless sky

fish jumped to taste the warm air

the bay woke slowly from its chilling slumber

its freed waters resumed their wandering with tides and winds

evaporating water molecules were trapped by warm air

millions of unwelcome molecular guests hovered over the bay to make fog

without caring, they mischievously schemed to blot out my view of the sun and sky

eventually the sun intervened in this dispute

banishing them all up into the clouds

to rain on somebody else’s distant parade

water is the paint on the landscape canvas

the artist’s brush never stops moving

his imagination is endless

I will forever be in awe thanks to his infinite supply of paint

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