behold!

The Civil War: a narrative- by Shelby Foote

A set of three books each between 800 and 1,000 pages long

They have been around the house for years- started reading the first book the other night, spellbinding

I can't imagine how you can write somehing of this scope. Where/how do you start?

I get blocked trying to write this thing

Tag! You're it!

Knives, hatchets, sling shots, bb guns, pellet guns- these were some of the playthings the boys in my neighborhood were surrounded by when I was a kid. Now don't get me wrong ,I'm not about to tell you about how terrible this was , because it was great. To be a ten year old boy with a pocketknife handy is to rule the world.

Of course with great power comes great responsibility- young boys are not always the most responsible creatures , witness a game of bb gun tag. Better yet , don't witness a game of bb gun tag.

Real weapons with real consequences can teach you that it is important to focus, to pay attention. They can also teach you to be a jerk.

A neighbor from down the street was playing with a piece of wood and a hatchet. No point to the game , just the satisfying "thwack" of the blade hitting the wood. The game just gets better as the blade sinks deeper into the wood. It takes a second to pull it out now, and then "thwack". Once more and...........

Yes, it's that "once more" that makes all the difference. One second everything is fine and then things are changed.

Once more.... He had ten fingers and a second later he had nine fingers. Luckily I didn't witness this or else I would have been curled up in fetal position, whimpering, for the next five years. Now , this was way back when, so there was no wrapping the finger in ice and rushing to the" sew the hacked off finger back on surgeon" . No ,this was back when you just walked around with nine fingers.

I will admit that after the initial horror passed ,the hand became the epitome of cool. We could actually say we knew a guy who had hacked off a finger with a hatchet. Cool.

I was reminded of this incident and the whole idea of going one step too far twice this week. There was the young college student in New York who, in a drunken stupor, thought it was a good idea to climb out on the ledge (about 30 stories up) with her camera to take some pictures.

There was also the story of a Dr. who went to find her boyfriend, he wasn't home and the house was locked.One second she's locked outside and then she get's the idea that she'll climb into the house by way of the chimney, getting stuck in the process. (and dying) The horror of this almost makes me want to crawl up in fetal position and whimper.

Instead I'll just sit here and count my fingers.
Ten.

In a word.......Genius

a longtime favorite

T...dammit....T !!!!!

last week the G key on the computer was acting up.

this week the T key is sticking.

T is far more annoying than G

there's a storm a brewin'........

Earl is approaching- losing steam along he way but here he comes. Hurricane Earl that is. Hurricanes have lost a bit of their allure now that they can have male names. They sound a bit more pedestrian somehow.

I am trying to figure out just how much preperation I have to do around the house- does all the patio furniture have to be brought in to the shed? If I bring everything in, is it worth it to put everything back out after the storm? In other words, does Earl mean the end of summer? Kinda early to bring stuff in but, maybe not.

Two Hurricane memories : Gloria ('85?) knowing that this was going to be a biggie I was a busy little bee bringing everything in and then battening down the hatches ("but I did batten them down! Well Batten 'em down again, we'll teach those hatches") Then lying down on the couch in the den and sleeping thru the whole storm. The next day I rode my bike around the Campus of Lasalle Military Academy- where the destruction was jaw dropping.

Betsy (63?) sitting in the car with my dad, in the garage, listening to the radio reports- no power in the neighborhood -I'm six years old experiencing my first Hurricane. A great apocalyptic , end of the world vibe. In my overactive imaginaion anyway

Oh, I just heard. Earl is now a Tropical Storm. Hmmmm do I really have to do all that work for a Tropical Storm?

when i was a kid......blah blah blah

Way back when in blogland I bemoaned the fact that record stores had vanished overnight. Local independent stores- long gone, then "poof" the big ol' mall stores ,gone. One of my favorite wastes of time had ceased to be. I am still woozy when I go to times square and the virgin store is but a memory. That was a great place to while away a 45 minutes or so.

NOW- it was announced early this week that Barnes and Noble is closing it's Lincoln Center store. This was a bustling place always filled with people. Granted it lacked a bit in the feng shui - it wasn't always easy to navigate ,but still if you had a half hour to kill before a concert or movie, perfection.

I was in Borders the other day- not looking particularly healthy. (the store, not me)

I got a bad feeling about this