Daily writing prompt

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

View all responses

Eat healthy most of the time, and take the meds that our doctor has prescribed. I am very conscious of avoiding sitting for very long, though I still sit too much. I avoid the noise of political commentary whenever possible, other than Colbert and Kimmel and a couple others. I read, I count as exercise the days I work with our son at his landscaping business. Other days I try to get to the Y. I play the piano on occasion, and recently dusted off the guitar a friend gave me years ago. These are pleasant diversions. And a good visit with the grandkids usually tires me out but lifts my spirits.

Daily writing prompt

What are your future travel plans?

View all responses

Near term, a family get-together in upstate NY, a trip to southern New England in September, and not much after that. We haven’t been up to Maine for a while. Maybe we’ll look into that.

Nothing exotic or out of the ordinary, though a long weekend in Iceland sounds interesting.

Daily writing prompt

What would you change about modern society?

View all responses

To borrow a phrase from Bush 41, I’d like to see kinder, gentler nations. We are slaves to ideologies and the bottom line, slaves to some ideal, preferred lifestyle; we pay lip service to nurturing strong communities but live as though it’s all about ‘me.’

Let’s take a holiday from social media, reconstruct some semblance of an attention span, and acknowledge that accelerated climate change is happening in real time.

And we elect surprisingly horrible leaders. Though, in the case of the U.S., not surprising at all. How could people not know what they were gonna get? Many need a heart transplant, and a better handle on discernment. Or maybe they need to take a longer, deeper look at the Bible, which they say means so much to them.

Daily writing prompt

What do you listen to while you work?

View all responses

Work mostly happens outdoors anymore, when I’m working with my son or in our yard. I have never had a desire to listen to music or anything else while engaged in these things, especially in the summer heat– I don’t need a set of headphones on, or anything in my ears while I work. The same goes for exercising at the Y– I just exercise, and have never found a need for any additional stimulation or distraction. I just tune into the rhythms of the day– birds, traffic, and so on.

Daily writing prompt

What’s your go-to comfort food?

View all responses

Assuming comfort food is code for food that’s very palatable but not necessarily good for me, I have to go with a big plate and seconds of spaghetti and meatballs, or pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, or sausage gravy and biscuits with a couple of fried eggs, topped off with a decent sized piece of apple or pumpkin pie and a chunk of dark chocolate.

Daily writing prompt

What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?

View all responses

Probably Solitaire. I can just take out my phone and play a game. It’s on my iPad, too. Dominos are fun, and so are Cribbage and Pitch/Setback. The grandkids are getting old enough to enjoy some of the classic board games, like Trouble and Sorry, even Blokus. I don’t have the time for or interest in committing to Monopoly, or anything like that. I like games that involve some strategy, but are moreso just fun to play with a few other people.

Daily writing prompt

What foods would you like to make?

View all responses

I’d like to learn how to make bread. I’ve watched my wife do it many times, but have never tried it myself. It’s an art, of sorts, and a commitment.

Falafal would be on the To Do list. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a general familiarity with the Mediterranean diet and various spice palates, be able to whip up a tasty meal at a moment’s notice, but I’ve never felt inclined to invest the time.

I think I could live on stews and soups.

Daily writing prompt

Dogs or cats?

View all responses

Dogs, though cats are less labor intensive and lead a more autonomous existence. As I was once reminded, they’ve been domesticated for about half as long as dogs, and it shows sometimes. And, at least in this neck of the woods, we don’t have to worry about feral dogs.

Daily writing prompt

Which activities make you lose track of time?

View all responses

Writing, listening to music, watching a good TV show or movie, reading, sometimes working outside. Quite a while ago, I once sat at the piano for three hours and remember marveling over having been there playing away for all that time.

Daily writing prompt

What bothers you and why?

View all responses

Water in our basement is bothering me. Water doesn’t belong in basements. We had over 4 inches of rain in about 3 hours yesterday, and the saturated ground revealed some shortcomings in our foundation’s capacity for repelling water. In the larger scheme of things, it’s a mere flesh wound compared with what’s been happening in other places around the country and world, but it’s still a pain to deal with.

And of course the ongoing follies and painful reality of the current presidential administration is an ongoing dark cloud. Washington hasn’t seen such crass ineptitude and evil intent since, well, the first go ’round five-plus years ago.