Growing Bolder Community

Here’s another mixed bag of what I call musings-lite. None are worthy of a full musing. You even might think of this as coming from a junk drawer in my brain where I store strange things that go through my mind. ### Scientists have determined that our universe is made up of 5% normal matter (stuff we can see and measure), 24% dark matter (stuff that neither absorbs or emits...

The younger ones today think we seniors lived in the dark ages when it comes to communicating. I’m sure they think we communicated with drums or sent mail via horse and rider. Well, I can tell them that we had our phone systems where they have their cell phones. Back in the 1940s (I know - that was centuries ago) we had phones. My parents had a home phone; the number was 94-J. It...

Several decades ago I took ballroom dancing lessons. It was not with Author Murray or any other lessons group, but rather with husband and wife dancing instructors who worked with me and my dancing partner. That attempt to lean the steps of the cha cha cha, the rhumba, the foxtrot, the quickstep and the waltz was a futile effort. To say I didn’t do well would be to paint too rosy a...

I was going to suggest what I believe is the saddest C&W song, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it simply is the saddest song ever written. I mention this because the artist singing the song was George Jones. Sadly too is the fact that George Jones died today. He was 81. During his career he recorded 160 songs. One of those songs and the saddest song was his hit “He...

A while back my son accused me of acting just like my mother. Unfortunately he was not talking about one of her better traits but one of her traits nevertheless. Performing an out-of-body experience I managed to step back and objectively view my behavior in question. Looking down at myself I had to admit that I was acting just like my mother though I managed not to concede that fact to...

I was discussing, via email, a video of our home town with a classmate of mine (Class of 1954). I have to admit I didn't recognize anything or any place but then I rarely get back so you'd have to scrub 60 years off the video to help me recall. Also, this video tour probably isn't the same one I'd take if I were making it. Then again, it doesn't make much difference; the Fairmont of...

If there is one thing there is more than enough of in this world, it is advice. It seems you can't escape it. If you don't get it in emails, you hear it on talk shows - from Oprah to Dr. Phil to Dr. Ruth to the legions of others. Ann Landers and her sister Abby dispensed it for years and others follow in their footsteps. And were that no enough, there are books that will tell you how to lead...

Since man first looked into the heavens and concluded we were a special occurrence, the assumption has been that we are the sole living creatures in this vast universe of ours. As man learned about the other planets in our solar system, their finding seemed to confirm their belief that we are alone. Mars, mercury, Jupiter and the other planets are not hospitable places. We were the one unique...

As 2012 was ending, the pundits and experts were publishing there Top Ten, Best Ten, Worst Ten of everything. I would think they either are experts in their areas of interest or maintained an ongoing list of things they intended to use at the end of the year. Since I am neither a pundit nor an expert, I has no list worthy of a musing. But as the year ended, I decided I could do some...

I was driving the interstate the other day, and I found myself checking the mile markers. I was interested in how far I had traveled, and although I wasn't sure the exact mile marker number when I would exit, I still had a sense of how far I had yet to go. That led me to think of the holiday right around the corner - New Year's Day. Huh - you ask? Hello, John. Why in the world would mile...