Category Archives: Home Life

2016: A Year To Forget

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I am returning to blogging after taking a long break for Christmas. I had nothing to write about, and we muddled through the holiday with the mother-in-law in her dark, depressing house in the run-down borough adjacent to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

What we just endured for Christmas culminated how I felt about the year 2016 — a year I would rather forget. But I worry that 2017 will be far worse. (However, remaining consistent with my self-promise, I will not post anything about politics on this blog any more.)

So for 2016, this was my life in boots, leather, and life….
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No Man Is A Failure Who…

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My posts vary from sharing my experience and knowledge about boots to continuing to deal with this downer funk I am in since the disaster of November 8 and the incoming destruction of my beloved country and its world standing. But there is nothing I can do about that (except cry about MATW*…)

Family and friends have been trying to buoy my spirits. This past weekend, those who love and depend on me reminded me of my favorite Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and share in words the lesson from it, that…
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Life…

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I am back to my 2016 bah-humbug self. The shot of Christmas Spirit from visiting with my friends last Saturday night and going Christmas caroling for the 44th year in a row has withered.

Some readers are not aware that I live in the news market for Washington, DC. As such, national news is local news. I’m surrounded all the time with “news” about the incoming tragedy to be effective January 20, 2017.

This “news” is unavoidable in my area. It’s in the ozone and the air (which for now is breathable, but not for long once the destructionists and deniers become federal government agency heads). It evokes great sadness…
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44 Years of Tradition

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While I still do not have much Christmas spirit this year, I enjoyed gathering with friends I have known since junior high school once again last night for our traditional Christmas caroling gathering. (Yep, I wore leather jeans, a red shirt, and instead of high-heeled cowboy boots (shown in this old photo), I wore Chippewa firefighter boots which are much more comfortable on my feet when I have to stand for a long time and walk a lot.)

Way back in Junior High…
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Skipping Christmas, Not

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I have to be honest, with the disaster that occurred in the United States on November 8, I have been rather down and have not had any holiday spirit. But our plans for our “no senior is alone on Thanksgiving” Feastival for November 24 were already in full swing, so we continued with it. I enjoyed the warmth and love from my friends and family, but missed having my spouse with me. He sat alone in a neighbor’s house because he just could not muster the energy to deal with the noise and confusion.

Immediately after Thanksgiving, my spouse usually begins to decorate the house and we decide when we will put up the Christmas tree and decorate it. But as my spouse and I were snuggling this past Sunday morning before rising to start the day, we talked about Christmas and what we were going to do. We decided…
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Scaled-Back Thanksgiving

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TurkeyToday is our U.S. Thanksgiving, a holiday to celebrate the season’s harvest with family and friends.

Each year since my spouse and I moved into the house that I built in 1998, we have hosted a Thanksgiving dinner. This even has morphed into a large gathering of family and senior pals who share a dish and join us for a pot-luck “Feastival.”

I have described this event for many years on this blog. This post was most descriptive a few years ago.

This year, however…
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Amused While in Full Leather

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fall2016bThe weather where I live has been changing rapidly. Friday and Saturday morning, it was unusually warm (70F, 21C). I wore denim jeans with Lucchese hornback caiman cowboy boots to work on Friday, as well as to a doctor’s office when I drove my spouse for yet another work-up. (The young doc admired the boots.)

Saturday morning, Timberlands were on my feet when I took care of the remnants of the leaves and mowed the lawn one last time — and took the photo shown here of me and Spouse.

But what most amusing is after lunch on Saturday, as the temperatures were dropping in advance of a strong cold front, I geared up in full leather from Muir Cap to leather shirt, leather jeans, tall Dehner boots, and also my Langlitz Crescent Jacket and…
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