From now on, all I want in life is for people I hire or utilize for services to do what they say they will. Oh, I expect to pay for it, of course. That’s my end of the bargain. The ongoing clock conundrum, the clock being my Dad’s “major award” in the eighties, is complete….
Author: Tim Cotton
Morning Musings and Dancing in the Dark
Snow and silence came to the backyard overnight. With my mug of coffee, I sat on the stoop, listening to it for a few minutes before I put on the music. The silence here is friendly, but I remember when silence was scary. It still can be, depending, but not lately. What about the quiet…
If You Don’t have to Carry it, Time Flies
The new tenant wanted to move in, and I’d already run through my short list of friends who might be willing to lift things and clear the place out. The carcass of the grandfather clock—currently hollow, a pile of plastic storage boxes, an ice cream table and chairs from the turn of the century when…
You Do You
There are benefits and downfalls to reading every comment. Email, that’s different. Many social media professionals advise me to avoid reading comments; I can’t do that. I also read all of my emails, which makes me one of a tiny percentage of people who don’t delete things immediately. As expected, I got a nasty message…
Better Because of It
When I drive, hundreds of ideas course through my mind. I sometimes wish I could hear them recombobulated in the voice of a posh Englishman. It would be more entertaining than silently selecting, catching, and then holding the gems because I bet I miss a lot of great ones. My best writing occurs far from…
The Dog
I receive many notes about Ellie. “Does she like the new place?’“Is Ellie comfortable?”“What does Ellie think?” I can only answer those questions like any man with a dog; I don’t know. Dogs, including Ellie, are like side dishes to life. They are not appetizers but more like potatoes or noodles—always on the table. Don’t…
Bigfoot is Real—Jim Said So!
I’ve not seen Bigfoot, but that doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally look for him/her. It’s easier not to believe Bigfoot exists, of course. But you can’t deny that it’s fun to wonder and remain somewhat hopeful that the myth or legend is more than just that. It’s about as far as I go down the…
“Soup’s On!”
“Soup’s on,” my grandfather said from time to time. The tin, saltine can, shouted out from the center of the table with the word “premium” in big blue letters. I hear the slight woosh from a minor vacuum release created when Gramps pried the top off the rectangular canister and pulled from within a wax…
General Practitioner
The furnace’s whir and thunderous whomp sometimes wake me up, but not often. That’s the burner kicking in. I don’t have quick access to a thermometer giving me outside readings, but I know when it’s cold overnight from the number of whirs and whomps per hour. Yes, I wake up a few times regardless, but…
Does it really take a “Village?”
I’m not complaining; snow is part of the deal here on the Jagged Edge of America. My friends, some already living their “best life” in The Villages, have intermittently given me polite admonitions over my few years spent in the sixties—the age, not the decade. The claim is that I seem like a guy who…