Category Archives: Uncategorized

March 27, 2014 There is a country café above Genehouse, on Route 3. It has just enough kitsch to make it interesting. There are signs on the walls, with jokes about coffee, and a sexy Coke poster from bygone days, depicting … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I walked at the Alton mall. I met an artist, Erick, who was preparing to sketch what will be a very large mural depicting Alton history, on the east wall, on the second floor. I introduced myself and we … Continue reading →

My friend, Richard P., a professor at Lake Forest College, used to work at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He would invite friends to previews, so I got to see a lot of theatre. And he would invite me to … Continue reading →

“From mud comes blessins.” That homily was uttered by my Grandma Olive, when I was just a tadpole. She meant fruits and vegetables and roots from her and Grandpa Floyd’s truck farm: grapes, peaches, cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, beets, sassafras … Continue reading →

March 10, 2014 It was the first day over 70 degrees. The windows of Genehouse were open and the cat pawed at insects on the screens. All birds had nesting material in their beaks. A field full of robins moved … Continue reading →

March 9, 2014  I stopped at Farmer Orville’s house on the Gene walk today. His wife Quilt Queen had a right knee replacement last week, but I’m happy to say she is fine. Except: “She has a shitty nurse,” Orville … Continue reading →

March 7, 2014 I took my first Genehouse walk of March yesterday. The sun gleamed off the motoring ice floes, the river’s belly swollen, the last of the eagle visitors working the turbulent water. A shadow passed over my head … Continue reading →

March 13, 2014 It lay below my driveway yesterday at sunset. I had stepped out of the house, heading for the garage, when I suddenly got the sensation that something was behind me and was going to be attacked. I … Continue reading →

March 2, 2014 I recently got a job as a blogger, for a hotel group in Chicago. My friend, Earl A., is the manager, out of the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel in Hyde Park. I drove up for an overnight … Continue reading →

February 20, 2014  I was watching TCM last night, the 1938 Best Picture Oscar winner, “You Can’t Take It With You.”  And there was one of my favorite showbiz people, the great movie dancer Ann Miller, playing the crazy little … Continue reading →