THE FOOTNOTES

bird bath put away,
winter is now on its way,
time to hunker down.

2. leaves are turning bright,
beautiful hues are in sight.
soon dull shades appear.

3. swimming pools good bye,
covers are pulled tightly down,
summer is long gone.

4. indian summer,
how we relish your return,
last reprise of warmth.

5. snow falls in big flakes,
showering down from above,
what a magic flight.

6. I gaze at the sky,
and at the clouds floating by,
wishing they could stay.

7. smell the earth in spring,
see the leaves blossoming green,
now the sneezing starts.

8. hazy lazy days,
summer has finally come,
welcome bright sunshine.

9. turn the clocks behind.
october 's end is now here,
great, an extra hour.

10. line from a poem.
october's bright blue weather.
who is that poet?

Sometimes what my professors think I am getting out of a lesson is not exactly what the professor had it mind. Sometimes in considering a writing execise, I become more interested in a variation which more suited to my interests For example, in our most recent writing class, the subject was Haiku. By definition, a haiku is a poem cxomprised of three lines, and seventeen syllables divided 5-7-5. By tradition, a haiku concerns itself with a subject of nature, and more specifically a specific seasonal time and place. The subject is magnified for the purpose making the subjct clear, and offering more insights. It is a simple, plain view of the subject. Up to now, that has been ok , but I have a better, more worthy use for the haiku format. I think it would be fair to refer to the new art form as Noon-ku instead of Hai-ku. To illustrate:

"irregardless and
bron-i-cal jew- ler-y
make me feel badly"

Not to be outdone, Moe contributes the following:

"I stood up all night
I could of went down the store
bread for he and I"

This article was written 18 years ago, and memory does not tell me whether or not it was in the newsletter at the time. Your generation(s) will know more about family history than any previous generation----at least as far as I know.

I rediscovered a little book from Mickey Noonan's funeral. This book has been languishing for more that 40 years. At some point, unless parts of it are made available, such as on this blog, the book will languish forever in a town dump.
For those interested in family genealogy, this might prove usesful

“I like that shirt.” I had heard that before, but this time a young woman, a stranger standing next to me in the supermaket aisle was the speaker. This caught my attention.
“Thanks. There’s a story that goes with this shirt if you would like to hear it.” I knew she had no choice, so I told her about the young neighbor lady up the street. Let’s call her Michelle, who had an unusual tag sale. We dropped by to be neighborly.
“I like this shirt, Michelle..” “How much is it?”
“Oh, I don’t take money from neighbors. If you like it, just take it.” And I did.. How do you like that for a tag sale?
Numerous people have commented on the shirt since then. This made me wonder what life would have been like if I had been attired thusly 65 years ago.
The free shirt reflected the neighbor’s philosophy of life, I guess. From time to time, valuable objects appeared at the curb in front of her house. Free for the taking.
One afternoon, on my daily constitutional, I walked by her house and two paintings were at the curb. Being interested in the topic, I stopped and examined them. Why would anybody throw these away? I was very interested in one which appeared to be a Mediterranean fishing settlement, of some sort. I debated with myself on whether I should take it home. I didn’t want other neighbors looking upon me as a junk picker. I continued my walk and was haunted by the prospect of somebody else discovering what I considered a gem. On the way back from my walk, I was pleased to see that the paining was still there. Let the rest of the neighbors think what they would. I wanted the picture, and I took it home.
The painting was even better than I thought. I cleaned it up and mounted it on a prominent wall in the living room where it remains today.
Sometimes as I lie in my reclining chair facing that picture, I observe that changes in the light in the room result in changed highlights which illuminate different parts of the picture, much as changing times of day would be reflected in changing shadows, and highlights of any scene Sort of like Monet’s hay stacks,
If you think the painting was something, you should have seen the almost new vacuum cleaner, and huge box of assorted basketballs, soccer balls, and playground balls took their places on the curb and on the I Don’t Believe Anybody wou;d throw this out list. I took them , too.

We had a nice visit with Bob and the kids before they started their Halloween tour. They were a lot of fun, and even took Noonski's picture right before he prepared to slip into his own costume.