6:35 |
Early Morning Buffleheads |
Taking Out the Trash
I remember as a child
watching my father take out the trash
at the frozen crack of dawn, cursing
as he dragged the stinking cans to the curb,
and thinking, that's not something
I'm ever going to do.
In other ways I was a model son,
standing at the mirror as he shaved,
dabbing the warm cream on my cheek,
dreaming of a razor
and whiskers of my very own.
Watching him light up
as he read the Sunday paper,
one eye squinted against smoke
and bad news, had me reading the funnies
before I could even read, my eye
squinted against nothing.
And the deft, one-handed way
he straightened his fedora's brim,
while at the same time
adjusting the coordinates
of rake and tilt,
makes me regret that the hat,
like my father, has vanished,
along with the strop and razor,
and lathery bowl of curds.
Even smoking, and the Sunday paper
are on their way out.
These are the losses I'm mourning
this morning as I drag the stinking
trash cans to the curb.
watching my father take out the trash
at the frozen crack of dawn, cursing
as he dragged the stinking cans to the curb,
and thinking, that's not something
I'm ever going to do.
In other ways I was a model son,
standing at the mirror as he shaved,
dabbing the warm cream on my cheek,
dreaming of a razor
and whiskers of my very own.
Watching him light up
as he read the Sunday paper,
one eye squinted against smoke
and bad news, had me reading the funnies
before I could even read, my eye
squinted against nothing.
And the deft, one-handed way
he straightened his fedora's brim,
while at the same time
adjusting the coordinates
of rake and tilt,
makes me regret that the hat,
like my father, has vanished,
along with the strop and razor,
and lathery bowl of curds.
Even smoking, and the Sunday paper
are on their way out.
These are the losses I'm mourning
this morning as I drag the stinking
trash cans to the curb.
For lunch I had the leftover curry, and watched another episode of True Detective. It's getting good though there are only two episodes left. After lunch, we drove to Jamestown, for another doctor's appointment, then stopped at a local meat market we like, Fresh Cut Meats and More, on Newland with freshly cut meats, obviously. It's not in a very nice neighborhood, but it looks like it does quite well. We were home by 3:00 to relax, though it was not nice enough to go for a paddle on the lake.
Go Figure? It's Spring Time At the Lake |
We are not crazy about the ambiance at the Viking's Dining room, more like a high school lunch room, so we drove back to Bemus, to the good old Seezurh House, packed with diners, so that we had to sit at the bar. After about ten minutes and couple sat down next to us, and the guy mentioned he thought he recognized me, wondering if I was an architect from Cleveland. We eventually realized we were neighbors, had met a couple of times at their lake house on Victoria Road. Their names are Roman and Marie, from Chardon, Ohio, and they have had a cottage for fourteen years, visit mostly on weekends, though they want to eventually retire here full time. Roman is an avid pilot, the current President of the Local Soaring Club, and he invited me to go soaring sometime. As were were talking with them, another guy sat down, took over the conversation when our neighbor's dinner came. We learned a lot about him as well, his name, Dan Vogan. He's lived in the area most of his life, went to Kiski Prep in Pennsylvania, lives on the lake, on Arnold Bay, just beyond Shore Acres Boat yard. He was a talker, so we did not have much more conversation with Roman and Marie.d He's also a musician, plays the banjo and sings in a country music duo called Deuble and Vogan, that perform in the area. And another guy, overhearing our conversation about summer jobs, jumped in, mentioned he was a lifeguard in early 1970's at Long Point State Park during his college summers, a time when they had ten life guards because there were so many bathers. How different from now. Quite an interesting group of people. By the way, I ordered the fish fry, average, and Evie, the chicken sandwich platter, always good. We left, vowing to get together with Roman and his wife some time. They seemed really nice. We were home by 9:00, in time to watch Stewart and Colbert before 'hitting the rack' or 'copping some z's' as we used to say in college. How cool we were then!
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