While I'm at Scrabble Night at the Giant, the Tornado in South Jersey is wreaking havoc w my family

  My sister Ellen emailed me that my niece Nikki was trapped in the car between two trees with the baby - her grandson David - and Tyler, the baby's father,  picked her up.  Cell phones and phones aren't working. They have no power and lots of trees are down.

My sister Donna called my mom from her new house in Clarksboro, NJ.  Spoke to Mom, who said she thought they might come stay with her tomro.

It's like they're being punished, said Mom.

I gave her a lil argument about that. 

A Light in the Kitchen is a short story I wrote about a year ago. It was rejected many times but was accepted many months ago by O-Dark-Thirty. Read it here.

The story went into a queue to take its place in the online lit mag.

I haven't had the nerve to read it back. If any of my readers wish to do so, please lemme know if it's any good.

     It's about a young Catholic kid coming home from the war. He had part of his foot blown off. He's healing himself before he goes home to his family.

When I worked for the Intell, there was a guy there, a former Marine - Lou Sessinger - whose foot was blown off in Vietnam.

My newest art project, Artifical Intelligence, is below.

It's made with the b'ful Yuegling Beer carton, gathering dust in a corner of my kitchen, and egg cartons - both plastic and cardboard.

The beer carton was left over from Scott's b'day party last December.

Scott helped me stick the egg cartons thru slashes in the box.

I used spray paint to decorate the aqua panel on the front of the box.

I thought the whole thing looked like Sputnick, so I named it AI. William Hurt discussed AI on the Tavis Smiley Show, promoting his new TV series.

     He was a tad boring in the Smiley interview, but when they switched to his new TV series, called "Humans," I think, he turned into a totally different person.... the great actor that he is.

Spent a couple hours completing this LOI this morning and mailed it off online.

Genuardi's has rejected us three times.

What's Einstein's definitiion of insanity?

Jackie and Ed were already there when I got to the Coffeeshop.

Kathy had given our table some doughnuts when she closed up.

Yum!!!

 I walked thru the Coffee Shop offering a couple of tables the doughnuts and finally found a family who was very grateful to have them.

Here's Ed Quinn pondering the board.

His Scrabble dictionary - Y is four points - has nice big letters.

Anil is a shrub.

 Jackie is a new learner and doing quite well under the tutelage (9 points) of Eduardo. 

Ed has a collection of Scrabble boards. This one, with little red nubs, would be good if you're on a bus or train or playing in the car.

I was gonna take a Senior Bus Tour - 14 days - to Yellowstone Park and points north (Mount Rushmore) but when I called to make rez, they were all sold out.

I was relieved.


Otherwise I may have ended up like Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest.

And that villain, James Mason



As we were packing up to go home, I checked my blood sugar.

66

Not terribly low - below 80 is low - but I needed to get some food in me. Deciding against my candy bars, I decided to buy my pretzels.

 Vat's dis?

It's Giant's new scan-it-yourself. Nicole showed me how to do it.

First, tho, I broke into the bag of pretzels and crushed a whole one in my mouth.

As you can see, I also bought popcorn, which is why my fingers are greasy and the floor a mess.

I'll go on my bike and read my J F Powers book of short stories, which I adore.

Had lunch at the Giant today - salad bar - and then sat over by the hearth and finished

  This is Haruf's last book. He died last December, 2014, at age 71.



It's up to you and me, Dear Reader, to Rejoice Alway in the Lord and Again I Say Rejoice.


Let's all stand up and cheer the late Alfred Deller and Son. 

Sing along if you wish.