On The Fly

With a Midwest twang severely off-key, I’m out the front door, earbuds plugged in, arms pumping, on my routine early morning walk. Of course, I must look ridiculous and sound even worse, echoing the chorus of - Get Rhythm  by Johnny Cash.  Thankfully, there’s no one else on the streets. Summer is upon us; officially, the summer solstice occurred in the Northern Hemisphere today at 11:54 a.m. EST. According to Ker Than in an article for National Geographic, “The solstice is the result of Earth's north-south axis being tilted 23.4 degrees relative to the ecliptic. This tilt causes different amounts of sunlight to reach different regions of the planet during Earth's year-long orbit around the sun." Translation, daylight lasts until after 8:00 p.m. in Southern California. Again, I’ve been blessed with another opportunity to re-invent myself this year. On July 1st, 2019, I accepted a position at Cenergy Power as an Energy Analyst.  Going from pounding the concrete at Ho...

Podcast - Music Magic . . .  It was the Danish author Hans Christian Anderson that said, “Where Words Fail Music Speaks.” This reminded me that music is all around us and easily accessible in this digital age we’ve stumbled into. At 63 I’m finding new ways to experience the joy of guitar. It's Magic . . .   Well, not really, its persistent effort and practiced fingers dancing daily across the fretboard. Lately, I’ve been listening to some new young artists on YouTube that is simply terrific. Josh Turner Guitar and Reina Del Cid. These artists play a wide variety of covers from Country, Rock, Folk, Pop, and Bluegrass. Not to mention they both write and produce their own original music. While listening I’ll try to play along, in-time with the video. I’ve “graduated” from just listening to YouTube guitar lessons to strumming the harmony. Frankly, I’m amazed at how much strumming the Ukulele has helped me with the guitar. It’s a lot of fun to “get in...

Los Angeles, CA. - Beth Eaton, 83, of  El Camino Village passed away at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at Kaiser Permanate Medicial Center in Harbor City.  Beth was born July 9, 1935 in San Bernardino, California. She was adopted at birth by Ernest and Marie Carver of Pomona, California. Raised in the farming tradition on the Carvers’ Hatchrite Turkey Ranch , Beth graduated from Pomona High School in June 1953. She attended Mount San Jacinto College. She studied business and later worked at Security Pacific Bank in Claremont, CA. Beth met and married Gerald Davies from Marlette, Michigan. They married in Pomona and lived in Claremont, where their daughter Lori Jo was born in 1959. The family moved to Santa Barbara and in 1962 had a son, Kenneth Andrew. Shortly after they moved to Michigan to start a business and raise the children closer to the Davies family. In 1978 the family moved back to California so Beth could be near her widowed father, settling in he...

  Have you ever owned a “lemon?” An automobile that’s just a bottomless pit of money to keep it on the road. The car I’m talking about is best remembered for it’s propensity to combust in rear end collusions. Yes, you guessed it - the Ford Pinto. We named ours The Mean Green Booger Machine .  Back in the late 1970s my best friend, Nathan, and I decided we would embark on a road trip from Cuba, Illinois to California, to photograph the country. He had a clever idea, “I’m going to take the back seats out of the car and fabricate plywood beds.When the front seats are folded forward we will be able to sleep in the car very comfortably with a backpackers pad and our sleeping bags.” Brilliant! We would save hundreds, well maybe a few bucks, on motel rooms to California and back.  So the renovation began. Seats removed, plywood measured, cut, and 2x2 wood blocks screwed into place to keep the boards from sliding around. Nathan's father owned a Skelly Gas Sta...

iPhone Xs “The new iPhone is revolutionary,” for those who virtually attended any of the late Steve Jobs (1955-2011) Apple Event products launch via the web there was always an air of exhilaration and anticipation speculating what new gadget could possibly be next! Personally – I never missed one; I would eagerly jump out of bed early the next morning to discover what innovative products Apple was to release. What better ways to stay abreast of technology innovations than watching Steve Jobs perform, the Edison of our time. I’ll admit, I was a skeptical late adopter of the iPhone. My iPod Touch did everything and more that a gadget could provide (I thought) . It was during my visit to South Africa in February 2011 that I pre-ordered my first iPhone 4, via Apples Online Store, from my hotel, with the anticipation of the Verizon release. Everyone had said, “Wait until the iPhone 5, it will do so much more.” I couldn’t wait to get home and open the box, it was like Christmas all...

In this episode  Twas the Night Before Christmas . . .  by Clement Clarke Moore Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature  was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads. And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap. When out on the roof, there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window, I flew like a flash, tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave the luster of midday to objects below, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles, ...

I’ve found the Norelco commercials for this Christmas season! Why do I even look? I’m asking myself. Well, there’s a certain comfort in cherished memories that make the Holidays special. What are your treasured memories? It was only yesterday . . . Santa cruising down the snow-filled slopes on his triple-head Norelco electric shaver. Before your time? No problem they're on YouTube - of course. Now Santa is selling you a luxury sports car (A red BMW ). Have you noticed how fast time flies as you get up in years? We’re already into December, and yes , “Christmas - is - just around the corner.” As a youngster I was convinced - just around the corner - meant Main Street; Marshall’s Hardware - Santa Land. My brothers and I would take a walk to town to see all the holiday decorations and toys we wanted Santa to bring. Day-and-Palin’s was the only Christmas tree lot that I can remember in Cuba, Illinois. Waiting for Christmas, seemed like an eternity. The toys hav...

"Don't worry, Mom, if it is your time to leave this world and join Dad in heaven, rest assured I love you; we all love you. We will be fine; you've raised your children well. I will miss you deeply." On October 30, 2018, at 2:15 p.m. Mauricette Elaine Ball (Bontemps) left this world, with her family by her side, in the comfort of her carefully crafted home, finally at rest. My mother was born in La Rochelle, France, on February 16, 1934. She grew up in a metropolitan port with a population of about 60,000 in the late 1950s. Her life dramatically changed at 23 when she met a young man, Donald Lee Ball , from Canton, Ill., while working at the lunch counter on the Army Base where he was stationed in Lagord, France. They married and moved to the rural midwestern town of Cuba, Illinois. Together they raised an upstanding family. Well . . .  Mother cherished her family deeply. There were no Dr. Spock books from the 1960s to instruct her on how to raise her c...