Archive for January, 2010
It rained today. No, that doesn’t quite explain what happened. It rained a lot today! You can file today under the category “be careful what you wish for.” For the last week, I have watched the amount of ice on the Hudson diminish with each day when the temperature climbed above freezing. Slowly, ever so slowly, the amount of ice on the river surface appeared to shrink. All we needed was a day above fifty degrees, and some rain and fog, and that ought to do the trick. We would once again be able to kayak, and all would be right with the world. Or so I thought. Well, today we had a day above fifty degrees, some fog, and buckets upon buckets of rain. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn’t distinguish among bodies of water, but instead distributes these “gifts” to all rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds… sometimes with dramatic results. The following are pictures I took of a normally placid creek that runs near my neighborhood. Folks, you could smell the dirt before you got close enough to see the stream. So much for appealing to Mother Nature. Continue reading ‘Oh, Floodge! A Flood!’ »
Pope Paul VI: “Are there memories left that are safe from the clutches of phony anniversaries?”
Oscar Wilde: “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”
Last Saturday evening, Splash and the Wild Thing hosted an indoor, post-paddle fluid replenishment session, minus the preliminary pre-paddling. It was a warm, convivial affair with a cornucopia of Malden Yacht Club Hall of fame nicknames in attendance. You couldn’t turn around without bumping into a Bullwinkle, Bad Idea Man or a recently leashed Don Juan No More. Escape to another room, and you would find the Artful Codger conversing with Madman and Mary PatPins. On the porch near the beer, Pauldo, Don’t Drive Like Danica Miss Debbie, and Mrs. Ol’ P made short work of their brews as they pretended to listen to Coop lobby to have his nickname changed to Duke (I could always make it Dupe, Coop), while by the buffet table Missesty alternated spearing the Ol‘ Philosophizer with her finger of steel and inquiring “does it hurt when I do this?” Yes sir, this was one great evening. Continue reading ‘Trumpeting The Terrible Two’s’ »
Josh Billings: “There are some people so addicted to exaggeration that they can’t tell the truth without lying.”
Bob Edwards: “Never exaggerate your faults, your friends will attend to that.”
Would be philosophers are prone to use current events to prognosticate future trends, and why not? At the time one makes his predictions, no one can tell whether or not any will come true, and should this philosopher show a Nostradamus like batting average by nailing a dozen or so out of 37,456 predictions, then he will go down in history as an all-seeing seer. For philosophical fellas like me, this is the ultimate in low risk, high reward activities, so why not give it a shot? I certainly don’t have to worry about losing my credibility … I lost that about forty-five posts ago. No sir, the way I see it, there is nothing to prevent the Ol’ Philosophizer from pandering to a predilection for the prediction biz, so brace yourselves. Here it comes! Continue reading ‘Play Maldonia’s Claim To Fame Name Game’ »