leaning against each other like drunken brothers at a funeral
Adapted from the poem, Even Numbers by Carl Sandburg as published in The People, Yes in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg by Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1950).
1
A HOUSE like a man all lean and coughing, a man with his two hands in the air at a cry,
“Hands up“
A house like a woman shrunken and stoop-shouldered, shrunken and done with dishes and dances
These two houses I saw going uphill in Cincinnati
2
Two houses leaning against each other like drunken brothers at a funeral,
Two houses facing each other like two blind wrestlers hunting a hold on each other.
These four scrawny houses I saw on a dead level cinder patch in Scranton, Pennsylvania
3
And by the light of a white moon m Waukesha, Wisconsin, I saw a lattice work in lilac time white-mist lavender a sweet moonlit lavender
Sorry but I just couldn’t resist.
Hey Little Brother!
Still in the drivers seat!
For those who know, they know,
For those who don’t know, that’s my little brother Pete watching me handle the reigns sit in the drivers seat ( at the Dutch Village in Holland, Michigan).
I don’t have glasses yet and it looks like I still have my front teeth so this could have been the summer of 1968.
1969 was a rough year on my face.
I got glasses.
On my 9th birthday, I got hit in the face with a surf board that gashed my cheek open.
On Thanksgiving Day, running from my brother Timmy, I slipped and fell on the basement floor and chipped my left front tooth in half.
Still wear glasses.
Still have the scar.
One of grand daughters just lost her front teeth and asked her Mom if she could get a gold tooth like Pappa.
BTW, I should mention that this college basketball season, Michigan went undefeated on the road in the Big 10, something that hasn’t happened since 1976.
They tied the record of most regular season wins by a Big 10 team.
And in the process, the swept the home and away series with that team in East Lansing.
eventually weekends end reality sparks the sunday scaries
White Rainbow, Folly Beach, Hilton head Island, SC 3.7.2026
Readers of this blog will remember that on Saturday I enjoy the Guardian column, Blind Date, where the newspaper sets up a blind date between two volunteers at some posh (always wanted to use that word) dining establishment (can’t say just restaurant because the blind date might be at a pub, bistro, brasserie or just plan diner) and then the two volunteers are asked to answer questions about the blind date.
As this takes place in Britain, I enjoy the language and the menus of the dining establishment.
As for the menus, yesterdays Blind Date took place at the Cargo Cantina in Bristol.
Their website says, “CARGO Cantina is inspired by the authentic Cantinas of Mexico, traditionally forbidden to women, children and men in police or military uniform, where hombres used to drink around the bar and have some botanas (bar snacks).”
The first click on the menu, much like and online menu here in the USA, lands you on a page that says, ORDER BY GET GRUB or UBER EATS.
Again, as this is in Britain, you are invited to place your order via … Deliveroo!
Not kidding.
Deliveroo!
Is that not faboulous?
In a country where the bathroom is referred to as a loo, the online food delivery service is deliveroo.
Just gets you mind going doesn’t it.
Usually I find really goofy food choices on the menu like Singing Hinnies or Cullen Skink but this menu was straight forward Mexican with tacos, burritos and such but with a twist like Smoked Carrot Tostadas.
There was a nice note at the bottom of the menu that stated, 50p from each sale of our TORTILLA CHIPS + SALSAS are given to support Casita de Barro in Puebla. This is an educational project which creates sustainable living opportunities for communities in the local area.
There was also a warning that Cargo Cantina was a CASHLESS venue, meaning they only accept plastic which is different as we are seeing more and more restaurants here going cash only.
But enough about Casa Cantina as I DIGRESS.
Yesterdays Blind Date was with Harry, 24, an ecologist, and Freya, 24, a theatre-maker and cook.
The first question asked of the volunteers is “What were you hoping for?”
Harry responded, Some tasty food, and a nice evening with good company to block out the Sunday scaries.
The Sunday Scaries?
The Sunday Scaries?
Hadn’t heard of that one.
I have heard of “The Mondays”.
As in the movie, Office Space where Peter says “I gotta get out of here. I think I’m gonna lose it.”
And Nina, a co-worker says, “Uh oh. Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays.”
Later Peter asks his next door neighbor Lawrence (who he talks to through the paper thin walls of their side-by-side apartments, “Let me ask you something. When you come in on Monday and you’re not feeling real well, does anyone ever say to you, “Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays?”
Lawrence replies (through the wall), “No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you’d get your ass kicked sayin’ something like that, man.”
So I was thinking that somehow the Sunday Scaries could be related to having a case of the Monday’s but on the side of the Atlantic.
I open The Google and typed in Sunday Scaries and there it was …
If you’re a Monday-to-Friday worker, your two favorite days of the week probably begin with the letter S. Fun thrives on Saturday and Sundays, after all. It’s a two-day stretch with no job responsibilities.
But weekends eventually end — and as a new work week closes in, that looming reality can spark a growing dread known as the “Sunday scaries.”
As in the Cleveland Clinic about which Wikipedia states: Cleveland Clinic is an American nonprofit academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation, Cleveland Clinic was founded in 1921 by a group of faculty and alumni from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Cleveland Clinic is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States.
The Cleveland Clinic, one of the best hospitals in the United States, recognizes the Sunday Scaries as a real malady.
The Cleveland Clinic says:
“The transition from weekend relaxation to work mode can be a tough 180-degree turn,” she continues. “In that way, Sunday scaries are a normal reaction to adjusting to a different role and change.”
Plus, let’s be honest here: Work can be nerve-wracking. In fact, 83% of employees in the United States report feeling workplace stress.
“Work is one of those things people get anxious about because we don’t have control over so much of it,” adds Dr. Prewitt. “That can lead to negative thoughts and fears and worries about what’s ahead.”
And the Cleveland Clinic offers these 10 suggestions to chase away your worries about Monday.
Adopt a positive mindset: Negative thoughts can fuel the Sunday scaries. So, instead of thinking, “I don’t want to go to work tomorrow,” fill your mind with encouraging affirmations like, “I can do this” or “I’m ready to get back to it.” Keep busy: Schedule a fun activity on Sunday. Running errands or crossing tasks off your to-do list can help keep your mind off Sunday, too. Either can leave you feeling satisfied. Break a sweat: Exercise releases feel-good endorphins that can brighten your mood. Heading to a park for some hiking or the gym for a lifting session can give you the strength to take on Monday. Clear your head: Practicing mindfulness can be calming and help put you in the moment during the weekend. Try meditation, yoga or get that massage you’ve been wanting. Catch some ZZZs: Tired is no way to go into a new work week. Use the weekend to catch up on lost sleep and recharge your batteries. (Just don’t sleep too much, as that can bring its own set of problems.) Aim for a fresh start: Do your best to wrap up work tasks BEFORE you clock out on Friday. That can keep things from lingering in your head during your days off. Treat yourself: Give yourself something to look forward to on Sundays and Mondays. Maybe that means a nice dinner with friends or family to end the weekend or a coffee from your favorite café on the way back to work. Make Mondays easier: Reduce start-of-the-week worries by embracing the concept of “Bare Minimum Mondays” and easing back into job duties with simpler tasks. Plan ahead: Jotting down a to-do list for when you get back to work on Monday may help release your worries about what’s to come. (Just make sure you keep the list out of your head once it’s written!) Detach from work: If possible, try to avoid doing work over the weekend to fully separate yourself from your job. That email can wait until Monday.
There you have it.
10 tips to avoid those Sunday Scaries and help prevent a case of Mondays.
Personally, I believe you’d get your ass kicked sayin’ something like that, man.
Also, for myself, was on the beach on Hilton Head Island yesterday.
There was a lot of moisture in the air though not quite fog.
And overhead was a white rainbow.
In the Book of Genesis, The Bible tells us that:
I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.
Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.
Always a comfort to read and to see a rainbow in the sky.
Though there is the question about the rainbow being white.
Never saw that before.
Could it mean something?
Here come those Sunday Scaries.
We could be set up for a real bad case of the Mondays.
BTW: I was kidding when I said White Rainbow but according to Wikipedia I was right. Wikipedia says, A fog bow, sometimes called a white rainbow, is a phenomenon similar to a rainbow; however, as its name suggests, it appears as a bow in fog rather than rain. Because of the very small size of water droplets that cause fog—smaller than 0.05 millimeters (0.0020 in)—the fog bow has only very weak colors, with a red outer edge and bluish inner edge. The colors fade due to being smeared out by the diffraction effect of the smaller droplets.
wave lasts moments but underneath another one waiting to be born
Hilton Head Island, 3/5/2026
Adapted from the poem Waves by Jim Harrison in the collection, Saving Daylight as published in the Complete Poems of Jim Harrison (Copper Canyon Press: Port Townsend, WA 2021).
WAVES
A wave lasts only moments but underneath another one is always waiting to be born. This isn’t the Tao of people but of waves. As a student of people, waves, the Tao, I’m free to let you know that waves and people tell the same story of how blood and water were born, that our bodies are full of creeks and rivers flowing in circles, that we are kin of the waves and the nearly undetectable ocean currents, that the moon pleads innocence of its tidal power, its wayward control of our dreams, the way the moon tugs at our skulls and loins, the way the tides make their tortuous love to the land. We’re surely creatures with unknown gods.
caffeine does its best the first hit in the morning when you’re at your worst
In the health column, We Ask the Experts …, in the New York Times, writer Simar Bajaj took on the question, “Can Coffee Really Boost Your Mood?”
Mr. Bajaj writes:
“Caffeine does its best mood boosting when you’re in some sort of deficit,” said Laura Juliano, the chair of psychology at American University, whether that’s being sleep deprived, pushing through a tough work project or running behind your usual cup of coffee. “The first hit in the morning is probably the most reinforcing because that’s when you’re at your worst,” she added.
But experts say that the brain adapts to regular caffeine consumption, making you less responsive to its effects over time. So, among regular coffee drinkers, the mood lift might just be relief from withdrawal symptoms, like fatigue and headaches, Dr. Juliano said. Your daily coffee might just bring you back to normal, but moving out of a slump still feels satisfying, she added.
However, getting a bona fide mood boost is probably limited to occasional coffee drinkers, Dr. Juliano said, since they likely haven’t built up the same tolerance to caffeine.
I dislike getting up in the morning and readers of this blog know that.
I like my coffee in the morning.
I get it ready the night before.
Fill the coffee maker with water.
Spoon on the coffee.
I have to be careful as I will do this just before I go to bed and the smell of the ground coffee can be a pick-me-up just when I want a calm-me-down.
I set the alarm and the next morning wake up before the alarm goes off.
I stare at the red numbers of the clock and here the clug clug clug of the coffee maker kicking in.
It’s new day and all that means and I am at my worst.
I don’t want to get up.
I want the oblivion of sleep.
To sleep perchance to dream.
But the clock doesn’t stop moving into the day and on the days I need to drive onto the Island to work, I got to get going or be stuck in traffic on a bridge the United States Corps of Engineers refuses to certify as ‘safe to use’ (and I am not making that up).
Showered up and first cup of coffee in hand, I take that first sip.
Experts say that the brain adapts to regular caffeine consumption, making you less responsive to its effects over time. So, among regular coffee drinkers, the mood lift might just be relief from withdrawal symptoms, like fatigue and headaches.
I might not be an expert on nothing but I am a regular coffee drinker and if all I get is the mood lift that might just be relief from withdrawal symptoms, like fatigue and headaches, well SIGN ME UP.
A mood lift from the relief from fatigue and headache is no small thing.
I can heartily endorse that my daily coffee might just might bring me back to normal, and that moving out of a slump still feels satisfying.
And let me say, there are those days where the path back to normal is long and treacherous.
If I can get there through a cup of coffee, well slip me a slug from that wonderful jug
Waiter, waiter percolator, that bridge is waiting for me.
No Haiku For You 