One time in the 90s I went to a publishing conference at which I
met a couple who worked at the same publisher. They went on and on about how
great their jobs were, and wasn't that what it was all about?
Bloomington IL 61701 February 23, 2020 Ambient ambiance: In the 50s and real sunny right in the virtual middle of the winter I was walking up the nearest moraine right through the nearby alley when I spotted a feller in a long coat doing something or other - smokin', I reckon - and also talkin' to someone hidden from my view behind a utility pole of some sort. The feller spotted me about the same time I spotted him, and we both narrowed our eyes in the manner of Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," or so I imagined. But only for a moment - a quick moment, or a mini-moment. Well, it was real quick, as we both realized there was no reason to get excited. Behind the utility pole sat a woman all bundled up in a long coat and scarf and whatnot and smoking a cigarette hard, but I heard her coughing before I actually saw her. She was coughin' to beat the band, like she had bronchitis, so when I saw her, I said, "Huh...
Dairy Sweet Drive-In Weeping Water, NE November 10, 1992 I stopped in to the Dairy Sweet after walking around for a while at Platte River State Park. The day was cold and damp – not the best for walking in the woods – but I wanted to get out in the country: the day would be wasted otherwise. Once in the woods, I felt much better than I’d felt in my house in Lincoln. I felt that this was where I belonged, and, as usual, I was drawn to a creek and a small falls – actually just a trickle coming through the ice. I thought of other falls and other creeks I’d encountered or courted in my life: the creek/river of my early childhood, the Vermilion River and Stink Creek of my 20s, the Prairie Creek near the New Melleray Abbey, the other Prairie Creek in Minnesota, etc & etc. Always and everywhere I am drawn to and feel best when near a body or stream of water in a wooded area. Here in Nebraska the water is just a trickle, but it is here. The Dairy Sweet is an interesting plac...
May 24, 1992 Conception Abbey, Conception, MO: Break Time Mr. and Mrs. Friendly & Niece & the Purtiest Cat You’ll Ever See This woman accosted me from the front seat of the roadster pictured here as I walked up a hill toward the Conception water tower. She had seen me taking a picture from lower on the hill, and she called out, “Hey, are you the person fixing up that new place over there?” “No,” I said, “I’m just passing through. “Well, where are ya from?” she asked. “From Lincoln, Nebraska,” I said. “You walked from there!?” she asked in astonishment. “No,” I said. “I drove down in my car.” “Come ta see the church?” she asked further. “Yep,” I said. “Stayin’ a couple of nights.” “Here comes my niece,” she said as a seven- or eight-year-old girl came walking up and plopped herself in the back seat of the car next to a stack of elementary school books. I spied a grade 6 science book, so maybe the kid was older than she looked. A pair of fuzzy white di...
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