Author Archives: Sparky
My music education
Thanks largely to dating two women who love music, the past 12 months have been my most intense music education since the 60s. First and foremost is the Buckingham Blues Bar, an amazing (and amazingly inexpensive) bar/club that hosts some first-rate blues jams twice a week. Ooma introduced me to The Buck and I am … Continue reading
“The Matarese Circle” by Robert Ludlum
Copyright 1979 by Robert Ludlum. Published Bantam Books Inc, New York. I take a break from mysteries occasionally to read popular books in other genres.. This one falls into the “epic struggle of one man against a worldwide conspiracy” category. The protagonist is Brandon Scofield – also and somewhat inexplicably called “Bray”. He is an … Continue reading
Hand, Knee and Foot in my future
A few days ago I learned that Marlene plays Hand, Knee and Foot regularly. As you may recall, Jett and I played this game frequently (with frequent losses by me). I miss both Jett and the game. While Jett is gone forever, it appears that the game is not. I am looking forward to getting … Continue reading
Volunteer fail?
I started a volunteer gig when I returned from Thanksgiving in Tillamook. One day a week, for four hours in the afternoon, I drive a golf cart at the Lee Health Regional Cancer Center in Ft Myers, shuttling people from their cars to their cancer or rehab treatments and back to their cars when they … Continue reading
New Year’s Eve at the American Legion
The original plan was to attend the New Year’s Eve party here at my RV resort. But the tickets were $50 each, the band was the “house band” – a bunch of residents who jam together and are decent but not great (especially on vocals) and the food last year was just awful. Marlene found … Continue reading
2022 in review
Another year in the books. So let me review what was good and bad about 2022. Highlights: Meeting Ooma. Meeting Ooma was, at the time, not just a highlight of the year but a highlight of my life. I said at the time that I was “smitten” and that is an apt description. The first … Continue reading
“Bloodless” by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Copyright 2021 by Splendide Mendax, Inc., and Lincoln Child. Published by Grand Central Publishing, New York. This is #21 in the series of books by Preston and Child featuring Aloysius Pendergast, FBI agent extraordinaire. Probably the last one I will ever read. I have complained before about the Pendergast stories being too weird. This one … Continue reading
A not-very-Florida Christmas
The high temperature on Christmas Day in Ft Myers was 51. The low was 39. The resort groundskeeper covered the flowering plants to prevent damage. People walked dogs in winter parkas and mittens. Rusty didn’t want to go out. Definitely not your typical Florida Christmas. I didn’t have a lot of Christmas spirit, but, fortunately, … Continue reading
“Live Wire” by Harlan Coben
Copyright 2011 by Harlan Coben. Published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. This is #10 in the series of books by Coben featuring his crime-solving talent agent, Myron Bolitar, and his skull-cracking aristocrat buddy, Windsor “Win” Horne Lockwood III. I have read seven books by Coben now – three of … Continue reading
Four months and still a mess
I visited Fort Myers Beach for the first time since Hurricane Ian, on the 4-month anniversary of the storm. I didn’t expect to see a fully-recovered city, but what I saw was pretty shocking. I guess the good news is that the main drag – Estero Boulevard – is passable. But many structures are completely … Continue reading »