Author Archives: Sparky
Florida vacation – Day 5, the long trip back to MA
The final day was a long travel day. Lili and I said goodbye to Tony and departed Ocala at 11:30am. We got to Ft Myers just after 3pm. I gave Lili a 15-minute tour of downtown Ft Myers (which is about how long it takes to see downtown Ft Myers) then stopped for some fast … Continue reading
Florida vacation – Day 4, Universal Studios, Orlando FL
This was the main event of this trip – a day at Universal Studios. It went well. Very hot with an afternoon shower, but many of the attractions are indoors so the shower didn’t really affect us. First let me say that a day at Universal is not cheap. The tickets – even with the … Continue reading
Florida vacation – Days 2 and 3, Ocala FL
On the evening of Day 1, my son and I went around and around about how to best spend Days 2 and 3. He was in favor of going to Busch Gardens in Tampa; I thought that would be too tiring and expensive – I preferred Homasassa Springs Wildlife State Park which I thought would … Continue reading
Florida vacation – Day 1, Orange MA to Ocala FL
My older son, Anthony, has been begging me for years to bring his daughter, Liliani, to Florida to visit him (she lives in MA with her mother). But timing, finances and the pandemic have made that difficult. As an added problem, Liliani, who is 15 now, had never flown before and was not comfortable with … Continue reading
First pilgrimage and a blowout
I used my last full day in Massachusetts to make a pilgrimage to Jett’s grave in Rockport MA. I wanted to see how her engraved headstone looked (pretty good, I think) and to say all the things that, in retrospect, I should have said while she was alive. Like “thank you for a wonderful life … Continue reading
“Damaged” by Lisa Scottoline
Copyright 2016 by Smart Blond, LLC. Published by St Martin’s Press, New York. I think I have criticized Scottoline before as being too “girly” – spending a lot of time and verbiage on feminine things. That may be a feature for some, but not for a macho man like me. In this book, in which … Continue reading
Breaking the golf fast
Partly due to Jett’s illness and partly due to the pandemic, I had not golfed since the summer of 2019 – 2 years! That golf fast came to an end a couple of days ago with a round that I played with college friend Roger, his wife Nancy and their son Rigel. I was terrible, … Continue reading
“Black Dragon” by David Benjamin
Copyright 2019 by David Benjamin. Published by Last Kid Books, Madison WI. Those of you who have been paying attention know that David Benjamin is a high-school-buddy-cum-author who has mentioned me by name or included me as a character in several of his books. That flatters me, of course, but doesn’t shade my critical eye. … Continue reading
Seventh trip south (TS7) plan
If you have been paying attention, you already know that I am cutting my summer in New England short by a month and am using those 30 days to travel to Wisconsin, south along the Mississippi River (more or less), then east and south to Ft Myers. I still plan to arrive in Ft Myers … Continue reading
21 and counting
Yesterday was our first day all month without rain. Almost. The day was completely dry until 11pm when the skies opened up and rain fell in torrents. And, of course, the rain continued into the night. So we now have 21 straight days with measurable rain in the first 21 days of July. Flooding everywhere. … Continue reading »