Most Recent Posts
- Thoughts on Patsy
Just shy of two months ago, i noted in a brief post , that my sister-in-law, Patsy Boggs, passed away on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. She was 83 years old. This Saturday, July 18, we will have a modest celebration of her life with family and friends. i think she will like that.
Patsy remains a champion in my mind. Sammy Davis, Junior and Frank Sinatra singing “My Way,” were singing about themselves on a completely different level, not of Patsy and other folks like her. Patsy did it her way.
i will not attempt to catalogue her history because her brother, Danny; her two boys, Bill and Mike; and her sister Maureen who happens to be my wife; and her cousin, Tim Cook have more accurate and longer memories of Ray and Pat Boggs’ oldest child. i will attempt to give you my impression of the kind of person Patsy was.
Patsy was an intelligent, talented woman who loved people. She was also stubborn and determined to do it her way.
Patsy was a looker, strikingly beautiful, and chased by the boys through high school. She attended San Diego State for a while, a year i think, and decided it wasn’t what she wanted to do.
So, she quit and struck out on her own.
As many women did in those days of the early 1960s, she took one of the few jobs available for the female gender with a high school degree.
Patsy became a waitress. It was not a temporary job. It was, for about fifty years, her career. And she was very, very good at it. If you think about all of the television series and movies about waitresses, you can imagine Patsy: efficient, friendly, professional, knowledgable, a fount of knowledge about human nature.
She married young, birthed two boys, and headed back to the Southwest Corner (she liked it when i called it that) when the marriage crumbled in Detroit. She had a rough life, but she made it work. It was not the way most go about it, but she earned her pay, and made it work. She loved those two boys unconditionally right up to the day she passed, always more concerned about them than herself.
Patsy loved her family as well without any limitations. She was intensely close to her mother Pat before Pat died way too early, and then cared for her father. The whole family loved to dance. i wish everyone could have seen her dance with her brother Dan and father: graceful moves. She and her sister Maureen were as close as two sisters could be.
i should mention she was one of my best supporters. Every time i wrote a post, she would be among the first to complement me. She also was not shy in telling me when she thought i made an error or was being to silly. i appreciated her for that. She also became good pals with many folks from my past in Facebook posts.
As i pointed out earlier, she was stubborn. She made it work.
She did it her way.
Rest in peace, my dear sister. i am sure you, Pat, and Ray are dancing in the stars.
- Independence Day
Tomorrow, our country will celebrate its 250th year of Independence, or at least independence for some of us.
Those folks from every part of the thirteen colonies near the Atlantic Ocean were Caucasian men who were wealthy, well-educated, community and political leaders, a mix of professions including lawyers, merchants, and plantation owners who signed a document that didn’t set them apart from all of the others who were not so privileged .
There are people today and throughout our 250 years of being here that believe they know or knew what the founding fathers really meant. i’m pretty sure they don’t really know. i do know i don’t know. Goodness gracious, it was two and half centuries ago. Everybody had a different experience. The cultures were rift with bondage, royalty was supreme, the indigent, the workers, suffered. Soldiers and sailors went to battle and died, not for freedom, but because of edicts from kings or queens or czars or emirs. How can we assume we know what they were thinking?
We can’t, regardless of how smart we think we are.
So, what counts are the words these patriots vowed to uphold:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
And for those who wish to quibble with political correctness, i grew up understanding and still believe today that “man” in this context is inclusive of both genders.
For those of you who don’t believe in our Constitution, i served a goodly portion of my life defending it, and part of that defense included your right to express your opinion. It’s called Freedom of Speech, even while you are attempting to restrict others’ Freedom of Speech.
That makes me sad. i enter the Fourth of July, the day to celebrate our Independence with a mix of sadness, celebration, and hope. i hope everyone who is a United States citizen stops during the wide and diverse celebrations tomorrow and takes a moment to contemplate those words signed by our founders.
That is what we should be celebrating.
May you have a blessed Independence Day.
- A Short Note on a Typical Evening in the Southwest Corner Summer
i remain incredibly lucky in so many ways even for an old man. i recorded that in my mind once again this evening.
After Maureen served another incredible meal, this one with her recipe for pork chops, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and fresh tomatoes, i cleaned the dishes and retreated to the chiminea seating area in the southeast corner of our backyard.
It was one of places for being thankful, a retreat where in the cool evenings, i light off the chiminea, put on some soothing music, and let the Southwest Corner take me where it wishes. Sometimes, i write. Sometimes, i read. Sometimes, i just sit back and listen to my music, not, mind you, the music Apple and all of those other electronic wizards think i want to hear, but mine, scratches in the grooves and all.
Tonight, it was a bit warm early for a fire in the chiminea. As it became cooler, i opted against a fire and found a throw to keep me comfortable. A chiminea fire would require me to be here until the fire burned down to embers. You see, this is high desert; it is dry, and i am a disciple of Smokey Bear. i do not wish to even remotely be the cause of a wildfire, however unlikely.
i sat down with my bluetooth soothing me with the intention of working on a piece of fiction. i think it will eventually be a novella, not long enough to be a novel, but we will see.
But the reason, i’m writing this was caused by my several walks to and from the house. i was barefoot. i chose to walk around the flagstone walk to the chiminea. Instead, i walked through the grass.
The walk took me back to… oh, about 75 years ago. Back then from late May until September, i wore, except for church and Sunday school, of course, underwear and shorts. Period. Now, you shall not catch me in that get-up. But walking barefoot in the grass tonight took me back. After supper, we would go out into our yard, chase lightning bugs, run, laugh, and be free, unencumbered by the weights we have on us today. It was freedom. That very brief walk tonight took me back to serenity.
You know when you are my age, memories, precious connections to my worth, are an essential part of what remains.
May you, too, take a walk in the grass in the cool of the evening and remember.
- A Good Night
If you have read several of my posts, they probably revealed my loyalties in sports. i follow Vanderbilt sports of any genre, San Diego State’s football and basketball, and the San Diego Padres. To a lesser degree, i root for Middle Tennessee, Texas A&M, and the Chattanooga Mocs (but oh, how i wish they had not cut it short and still were known as the “Moccasins”).
Last night, a bunch of those came together in a beautiful way. Of all those teams listed above, i have followed the Padres most frequently. We had full season and then half season tickets shares with friends for over a dozen years, and i retained 20-game season tickets for a couple of years until they priced me out. Maureen and i still watch almost every game they play. As previously noted, Maureen has become a knowledgeable fan.
Then there is Vanderbilt. i didn’t graduate, but i attended for two years back in the early 1960s. i graduated from MTSU in 1967 and am glad as i received an education and a learning experiencek that remains a highlight of my academic record. i am fortunate that Vandy considers me an alumnus. i am a huge Commodore fan.
The reason: i have become friends with Candice Lee and Andrew Maraniss, the Vice Chancellor for Athletics, i.e. Athletic Director, and the resident writer (an an excellent one) in the sports department. i have seen them operate and know without a doubt, they are “doing it the right way, the Vandy way.”
That quote was coined by David Williams, the former head of the athletic department who unfortunately passed away shortly after his retirement. What he meant and what Candice still believes as do all of her head coaches is Vanderbilt wants to excel while ensuring every athlete is truly a “student-athlete” and receives one of the finest degrees in this country along with well-rounded experiences that prepare them, as much as possible, to be successful and contributors to the good for society.
Other universities may seek to do the same. i don’t know. i suspect that many drop the “student” from that equation and seek athletes, period.
i am delighted with the Commodores recent successes in many sports, but my fandom is based on them working to make sure success is achieved in the right way…the Vandy way.
Now, back to last night: Walker Buehler was the Padres starting pitcher last night. He was a star at Vanderbilt, 2013-2015, with a 20-7 won lost record including being part of the Vandy Boys that won their first College World Series championship in 2014. He was a great starter for the Dodgers before suffering injuries and ended up in the Southwest corner this year. He is the first Vanderbilt player on the Padres since Joey Cora was a Padre, 1985-87 (Jonathan Vastine, Vandy 2022-25, is in the Padre minor league system.
Finally, one of my favorite Padres is Ty France. Ty played for San Diego State under Tony Gwynn, and has returned home this season after winning a gold glove last year.
The stage was set. The Dodgers seem to think they own the Padres and their record against San Diego indicates it’s close to accurate.
But not last night. Walker Buehler pitched three-hit ball over 5 1/3 innings, allowing only a home run by Mookie Betts. The Padres won, 7-1. Ty France was a major contributor with a 3-run homer and superb defensive play.
And fans, it doesn’t get much better than that.
- Abenezer Fouts
Abenezer Fouts was,
as they called it,
of an advanced age;
he watched the days pass
like chaff on the wind;
he walked through the chaff
doing what needed to be done
or
what really did not need
to be done
as if it was the most important thing
on earth to do it right;
Abenezer scoffed
at all of the changes in his world
that was good perhaps
but
replaced what was better
like living your own life,
like dealing with people personally,
and
the world kept right along a’changing;
so, Abenezer died
leaving many things undone
he meant to do:
you know: chaff on the wind;
they say
if you walk by the graveyard
on the south side of the village
in the deep dark of the night,
you can hear a laugh
near Abenezer’s grave
and
feel the chaff on the wind
touching your face.