Huh? What's Up With That?

  ghosts of ...                   The four George Brothers, Dave, Steve, Carl, and, Ken got together for Christmas earlier this month at Carl's home in Fishers, Indiana.  Cousins, nieces and nephews were also present.     Joe and Ruth and all the aunts and uncles are gone.  Ruth was the last of that generation and 2019 was her last Christmas.  The brothers and their cousins are now the sole aunts and uncles of the next generation.   HUH ?  What's up with that ?   Carl and Lisa are gracious hosts.  Their home was decorated beautifully and the Christmas tree was worth a couple pictures.  Needless to say, the food was outstanding.  Carl's baked Kibbee and Ken's stuffed cabbage rolls are the new George tradition.  A few of us vowed not to eat like this would be our last meal, but, the half hearted promise wouldn't have been taken seriously if it had been bound in blood.   ...

oddities, observations & ?'s...#9                                                                          Traveling Economy Class to Italy was brutal for two people who are used to moving around and can't sit still for long periods of time. I can't think of any other scenario in America in which groups of people are as blatantly categorized by class as we are when we choose to fly the friendly skies.  Clearly, a class system exists in the United States.    Economy Class  may as well be a synonym for,  The Less Fortunate.  But, I get it.  How many tickets would be sold if the airlines advertised, First Class and The Less Fortunate ?    HUH ?  What's up with that ?    What compounds the inferiority complex I suffered by being squished ...

  it is an investment...                   I hear quite often how POS (People Over Sixty) want to travel during retirement years. However, I am just as likely to be told by any one of my small sample of interviewees he or she doesn't have travel plans or harbor any desire to leave the city.     It seems there are as many different thoughts about the post retirement years and how to spend leisure time as there are people.  Sadly, I even had one man say, I just want to get to the end of it , when asked if he had a Bucket List .      Jamie Farr of MASH  television   fame told me in an interview he wanted to cook Lebanese specialties when he retired.  He said his mother taught him how to prepare his favorite dishes.    Richard Egan, an actor who appeared with Elvis Presley in the movie,  Love Me Tender,  said he was going to travel the world now in case he didn't make it...

  welcome home...                                                                                 Most American, Korean War veterans, returned to their homeland and went back to work or school without any kind of welcome or celebration.  It was not the same as previous wars.     HUH ?  What's up with that ?      Unlike WWII when almost all Americans were working toward a unified goal, there was only a small portion of the country invested in the Korean War.  People had a different mindset because they had other things going on in their lives.     According to Historychannel.com,   Korean War soldiers returned home to a population that was largely disinterested in the war effort.   When I came back from Korea, there ...

oddities, observations, & ?'s...#8             It is hard to imagine there is one single person in America who doesn't believe there have been social injustices in our country.  The notion that an individual can rewrite history to his or her specifications and then advance those thoughts as factual is (choose one) a. crazy  b.  farcical  c.  laughable  d.  a, b, and c   It would be a tough job to be a Social Studies teacher in Florida or any number of other states.   A week or so ago, I placed a merchandise order (in person) with a sales rep at my second Encore Performance. The order included Little Tree Air Fresheners.   Five days later, I received a text message on my personal phone from Amazon promoting Little Tree Air Fresheners.      HUH ?  What's up with that ?   I can’t imagine there are many Police Pursuit Vehicle Dealerships in the country, but, Salem, Indi...

  more memories...#5                             This is not the first time traveling after retirement has been mentioned in one of my posts.  In fact, unofficially, retirees wanting to see and hear the sites and sounds of far away places is the initial thought of the majority of people I interview.  At the least, it is the favorite activity most people would like to be able to afford to do.    For most of us, our travel desires during working years are restricted to predictable annual domestic vacations.  Spring Break  and Fall Break  here in Louisville, Kentucky, will usually find vacationing families headed for Destin or Pensacola, Florida.     I am reminded of a young lady during my Encore Performance .  She was a senior by the name of Avery Jackson.     She and I and another student were in my office two or three days before this par...

gotta be up to date...                                                             I have used an antiquated word, phrase or saying and realized only after it was met with a blank look or shake of the head that my uttering was from yesteryear.   There has also been a time or two when a wide open gaping stare has come my way because of a perceived verbal faux pas.   HUH ?  What's up with that ?    Teenagers can make an older person feel as though he or she is part of a vast criminal enterprise.  They will laugh if you ask how a friend is doing and you use the wrong name to identify that person.     Be careful when dredging up a shared memory because every minute detail had better be accurately reconstructed.     It is the same with words, phrases, and sayings.  If a teen ...