It’s Graduation Day for the Great Gatsby

It’s official. Gatsby, our great rescue cavapoo, is now an American Kennel Club-certified Canine Good Citizen. This does not give him the right to vote or drive a vehicle, but our beloved pup — now 18 months old — can enter a therapy-dog program, starting in mid-October. He has completed 18 hours’ worth of lessons under Jamie, who has been instrumental in his transformation. When Gatsby began his weekly lessons in January, he cowered under my stool, refused to walk on a leash, and was afraid of everything. His early months as a puppy-mill dog, largely imprisoned in a crate, meant he did not even...

An Ear-Splitting Concert on a Weekday Night

SHREVEPORT – We stayed up way past our bedtime Thursday night. Months ago, I bought tickets to see Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, a venerable venue just off downtown. I nearly forgot about purchasing the tickets until I heard a promo on Red River Radio a few weeks back and reminded my Beautiful Mystery Companion of our rare weeknight date. We headed east for an early dinner before the concert. Isbell, 44, is a four-time Grammy award winner whose evocative lyrics and impeccable musicianship have drawn a legion of fans, including me. I jumped at the chance...

Paying Homage to the Pascagoula Pirate

Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late The cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder I'm an over-forty victim of fate -- A Pirate Looks at Forty by Jimmy Buffett   I last saw Jimmy Buffett in concert in the mid 1990s, when I was about 40, though far from being a pirate. We both had a lot more hair back then. Buffett performed at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands, a vast planned community between Conroe and Houston. The Mitchell Pavilion is a lovely outdoor venue when it isn’t 100 degrees. It was a lovely autumn evening when we saw Buffett, a soft...

Summertime, and the Reading Was Easy

Like most folks who could afford or are able to do so, I have spent most of this summer inside, much of it reading books. Recovering from shoulder surgery provided an excellent — and legitimate — excuse to curl up with a book while listening to music through my hearing aids, which are Bluetooth enabled. This slightly annoyed my Beautiful Mystery Companion, who would be talking to me without receiving a reply, because I could not hear her. She has a hard time comprehending how I can read, or write, with music blaring in my ears. I chalk it up to my decades spent knocking out stories, columns,...

Blowing Out Candles and Butterflies

It’s been a long hot summer, not a drop of rain. -- Robert Earl Keen |———| I marked another birthday a couple of days ago. To do so, I took off from working at the library, woke up early, accepted birthday greetings from my Beautiful Mystery Companion and hopped on the zero-turn mower before the sun was high in the sky to mow the front pasture, which consists of about 3 acres. Mowing while listening to NPR through noise-canceling earbuds — wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants bucked into my Red Wing boots, topped by a wide-brimmed hat — seemed like a good way to reflect on how I have...

‘Oppenheimer’ spurs childhood memories of ducking under a desk

My Beautiful Mystery Companion and I stole away on a weekday afternoon before the semester begins and headed to the Robinson Film Center in downtown Shreveport to see Oppenheimer, the box-office hit starring Cillian Murphy of Peaky Blinders fame, Robert Downey, Jr., and Matt Damon, among others. The Robinson is a non-profit boutique theater celebrating its 15th year. Like many folks in this age of streaming, we rarely go to movies anymore. The Robinson is a comfortable venue that shows both new releases and classics. It makes for a pleasant date, especially when paired with a meal at either...

The dog days have arrived. While we endured record-breaking heat in July, at least in the early part of the month a couple of thunderstorms broke up the heat. During these dog days, clouds wander in to tease us before dissipating under a relentless sun. I am generally out the door for my three-mile walk by 7:15. An hour later, I am soaked with sweat and filled with concern for the fellows I pass at two houses being built on this one-street subdivision, across the county road from Three Geese Farm. They likely have been at it since 6 a.m., cutting and laying brick — hot, dusty work in the best...

Finally Visiting the Library Named After Monk Willis

DENTON, TEXAS — In a broiling heat that is likely our permanent summer reality, my Beautiful Mystery Companion and I wandered the campus of the University of North Texas, stopping first at the bookstore to check out the merchandise but leaving empty-handed. I really don’t need another T-shirt or hoodie, though I am tempted. After all, technically I am a student here, working on a certificate in archival management from the School of Information. I am just two courses away from finishing and hope to do so in the fall — though I am on the waitlist for a required class that might delay completing...

Recalling My Years at 4920 Colonial Dr.

I learned from a former reporter’s Facebook post that the Daily Sentinel, the Nacogdoches newspaper where I spent more than 15 years of my career, is moving, presumably to a smaller building. The building at 4920 Colonial Drive is more than twice as large as what is needed these days. Emily Taravella’s well-written (as always) post said that past employees were invited to come take mementoes that would not make the move — plaques from the wall of honor being one example. (The wall of honor is what we called the journalism award plaques hung just outside the publisher’s office.) Emily...

Our Pavlov’s Dogs And Recalcitrant Cats

I have singlehandedly created a pair of Pavlov’s dogs. Instead of a metronome, Mollie the Maltese and the Great Gatsby come scurrying to be at my side whenever they hear the scraping of the breakfast nook chair. It means I am about to sit down to eat. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, 1849-1936, was a Russian physiologist who discovered dogs have an unconditioned response, meaning it’s involuntary, to salivate when they smell or see food. He then further conditioned the dogs to begin salivating when his metronome started marking time, because they received food afterward. This meant a conditioned stimulus,...