GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS

A REMEMBERAMBLE FOR February 05, 2026

Hello to you and to Thursday, we were just waiting for you to get here. The daily nonsense can begin...my nonsense, not yours. You know, I enjoy writing more than anything, and I like writing different types of writing, unlike most writers who are consistently writers of historical essays, writers of humor and satire, or soulful journeys of the mind, or spiritual devotions, as well as verse. I do them all and more. That is probably why many of those writers are famous, they made a name for themselves in a particular type of writing, rather than dilute their words with too many venues. It is like the old saw, "jack of all trades, master of none." That is where I stand as a writer. Unless you know me or know of this group, you have never heard of me and never will. That is fine with me. I am in my comfort zone right here. Living in near anonymity outside of Garfield, writing for you. Some mornings when I write these posts they are mostly about a single topic, but now and then as you know, I jump around all over the place writing of different things that grab my attention as they roll around in my noggin. I recalled a time from my youth after taking a couple of "Spanish for idiots," classes at school, I felt as if I could easily impress a Spanish speaking person with my "fluent Georgia high school Espanolisness." In fact I was hoping to run up with such a person so I could impress them with my Spanish prowess. I was at Keller's Flea Market in Savannah, and just such a person and occasion arose. I was with a couple of friends of our family as we stopped to see what a Mexican lady had for sale. I pounced on her like a fat tabby cat on an empty sardine can. I trotted out my best efforts, using my bedrock sure-fire winning Spanish words, that I was sure would make her teary-eyed for home! I was in the middle of my second full sentence when she smiled, "rared" back, and said, sweetly and too loudly, "SO, YOOOOOU ARE FROM ITALY!?" I deflated like a $19.95 recap tire from Johnny's Recaps, on a hot August day's drive across the Sonoran Desert. Look it up, dangit, and yes it is in Mexico. I barely paused before I answered in my kindest voice, "no, just practicing my Italian." My face was rojo sangre! I then vamoosed like Speedy Gonzales. Is Keller's still there? I haven't been there in forty-eight years. I heard there was a fire. It wasn't me. But, speaking of fire, the church I grew up in, the school I graduated from, and the house I grew up in, all burned. It wasn't me. Lightning struck the church and school, and our old home was an arson fire, after it was sold. The rain moved out last night before bedtime, and it was a light rain, but needed. I was reading earlier, a post by my friend Turtleman Chris Adams, about the beginning of the heirloom seed conservation effort decades ago. He and many others have and do work hard to try to identify and save as many old variety seeds as possible. Those seeds are the key that unlocks the doors to our past in a real way. To learn history is great, to hold history is greater, but to watch history grow before your eyes just as the old ones did, and to savor the scent and flavor as they did, is a shared experience that cannot be experienced in any other way. When the last seed dies inside for a lack of human compassion, it is a loss that cannot be quantified. Sadly, when the subject of old corn, beans, peas, peppers, squash, gourds, pumpkins, okree, tomatoes and more are mentioned, sadly you will here many say, "oh, yes, I wish I had some of the seed my grandfather, or grandmother kept that had been in the family for generations." But rarely will anyone say, "oh yeah, I have all of the seeds that were passed down in our family." I fact, if you see Turtleman, please do not even mention the ones that "got away," so to speak, only if you have some old seeds in a drawer that he might like, should you say anything. "Usta be," or "usta have," never has put a smile on his face. So, if you have some old seeds you want to share with him, call him and give him the good news, and you will make that ole boy smile big, real big. I am feeling very well, but I still have a foot and ankle that is stove up, as we say, but my blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen saturation which I check at home, are very good with marked improvement. My oxygen level was staying around 91-92, my pulse was sluggish at 45-60 bpm, but now my oxygen saturation is usually 97, and my pulse is 80-90. My blood pressure is generally 135/82 or thereabouts. I now have the three stents that were needed, but I still have a blockage of 6o% in one artery but it can't be stented because it is in a fork, or bifurcation that due to my anatomy is best left as is. Some such places can be stented, but Drs. Lin and Kapoor both felt it best to leave it as it is. I appreciate them both being cautious with my fragile, twisted, convoluted, arteries. They are the best and I respect them both. Okay, we love y'all.

NUMBERS 6: 24-26, KJV

we boyz three, babee conway, lil merle, & me