"...youth's a stuff will not endure." (Shakespeare 'Twelfth Night'

.....There used to be two locations where I could get a couple of hot dogs and fries from Nathan's--one in Boca Raton and one in Boynton Beach and then the one in Boca closed down.  Oh, yes, and there was a Nathan's venue in the Lake Worth plaza on the Florida Tpke., but it closed down also. Sadly, then the one in Boynton Beach closed down, and I was devastated and had severe withdrawal symptoms for lack of a Nathan's hot dog and fries. This lack went on for a whole year and was severely exacerbated when I also broke my hip back in March and both of these events led to a depression unalleviated and painful. Yes, having to endure a Hebrew National hot dog did not help either the pain or the depression. However, I became my old cheerful self once again when I discovered a Nathan's venue very recently inside of a K-Mart store just east of I-95 and Palmetto Park Rd.!  It was rather strange to be eating Nathan's hot dogs inside of a department store, but that did not affect the delicious experience.

.....I was reminded of the zeitgeist days that I used to go to Coney Island when I was a kid and ate at the ORIGINAL Nathan's.  Hot dogs were a nickel back then, but the high price did not matter to me.  Along with the hot dog, I also used to opt for a chow mein sandwich which Nathan's offered at the time.  Coney Island was a long way from the Bronx on the el, so I had to make the most of it as far as having fun was concerned.  Of course, I was always with a girlfriend and we went on the Cyclone roller coaster, of which there was no equal in the world.  Then what was called The Steeplechase, where you sat on a horse--not a real one, but almost-- for the ride was on rails and you rode that horse as though it was Seabiscuit; although it was way before that horse was born. Then there was the Spooky House which led you on a scary ride, mostly in the dark.  That gave the girlfriend an opportunity to scream and grab me around my neck; and gave me the opportunity for other things a guy might do in the dark, driven by raging hormones--and also a bit scary, depending on how well you knew the girl.  

.....After the rides, it was wonderful just to walk on the boardwalk and smell the ocean and watch the seagulls. We would stop and get some salt water taffy or some cotton candy or some chocolate fudge and then stop for awhile to play some miniature golf.  Sadly, it was dusk by this time and I had to get the girl back home before it got really dark. The experience cost me about $1.35--almost all of my weekly allowance, but I had to admit it was worth it; especially Nathan's and the darkness of the Spooky House.  There is no fun like that anymore; not anywhere. Not even close. Why is it that by the time you get your head straight, you're too tired or too ill or too immobile to do anything about it. I have no regrets about youth being wasted on the young; I guess I wasted my youth having fun and eating hot dogs, but who cares?

THANKSGIVING DAY

.....Today is "Turkey Day", although I suspect that not everyone is going to eat the traditional food.  Those who are financially secure may be grilling steaks in the back yard, or simply chicken, or hot dogs and hamburgers...or even, perhaps, lobsters.  But there are millions of people in this country now who are living in poverty.  I believe the latest figure are those whose income is below $22,000 a year.  Now, this doesn't merely apply to families who are living in run-down, crime filled urban areas; it also applies to people who live in well-to-do suburban areas of big cities who have lost their jobs, and perhaps their homes, and who have to change their lifestyle with food stamps in order to feed their families.  It is truly tragic that people have to suffer this way...and Republican congressmen oppose any tax on the wealthy 1% of this country.  The fact is that many of them are wealthy themselves. There is one way, and one way only, I believe to escape a life of poverty--and that is education.  There is no reason that I can think of that funds to improve run down schools, and funds to attract good teachers, and funds to send poor kids to college cannot be legislated.  FDR sent thousands of veterans to colleges under the GI Bill--and I am one of them.  Why not the same type of program for the children of poverty stricken families?  Oh, well, I'll get off my soapbox now.  I may not know what I'm talking about, but what I am thinking is a whole different matter.

.....In yesterday's posting, I included a stanza from a lengthy poem by Swinburne called "The Garden of Proserpine" which seemed to inspire a few readers. It was a stanza which stood out for me when I first read it.  But it was not the only inspirational stanza that I read when I was in the process of being educated.  There are couple by George Gordon, Lord Byron that stand out in my mind.  Like this one which touches upon Nature, something in life that we should be thankful for.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.-

.....To mingle with the universe!  Man, how lofty is that?  Try mingling today, Thanksgiving Day; believe me it is "cleansing," cathartic--and if it works for me, it can surely work for you.  I've written some poetry myself, but it is all put to shame by such lines as "There is rapture on the lonely shore."  Rapture, indeed.  And today, one must give thanks for all that nature provides, and Byron manages to tell us what it is.

"Heap high the board with plenteous cheer, and gather to the feast."

.....Finally, I decided to write a novel; it will become known as "the great American novel" depending on whether or not I finish it.  No fair comparing it to anyone under the age of 80 who has written a novel--like F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway, or Mark Twain, et cetera.  Now, you might be curious as to the subject of this novel; well it's a novel subject which at the moment I am not able to divulge.  I have a few pages already, and I have no idea where this thing is going, but I'm going to plod along until I have as many pages as "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." (Is that a novel? I never read it.) Or perhaps as many pages as Tolstoy has written in his novel...I don't think he was over 80.  I did read somewhere that his wife copied his edited versions of "War and Peace" 13 times!  She had to have had writer's cramp.  And she never had the use of Paper Mate Ink Joy 300 RT Retractable pens.  If I ever finish this novel...and it might be when I hit 90...I will probably send it to Oprah, if she still has a show.  Otherwise I will give it to an agent to publicize and sell a million copies like Sarah Palin. You never know.

.....I will write this book in spite of the fact that I have had a sore toe for almost nine months, and I still have to go to the wound care center.  And in spite of the fact that my hip surgery has not healed to the point where I can ditch the scooter and the walker and get by with a cane that Bobby bought for me; and in spite of the fact that I have had stitches in my cheek from Moh's surgery for a couple of weeks now.  The doctor does not have to remove the stitches because they will dissolve themselves and most likely  will leave a scar on my face so as to spoil my looks.  I will write this book in spite of the fact that I have watched RH+ unhappy about her weight loss; and in spite of the fact that she has had some serious medical issues herself, and I don't like to have things like that happen to her.  If these medical problems continue, then these are not the "golden years"; more like the tin years.  The novel may have to wait until I'm 95, and by then I'll only be able to write about five words at a time before I need to take a nap.

.....Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, and I suppose we ought to remember all those things we ought to be thankful for.  I am thankful that I am still living and have all my "marbles"; I am thankful that in these times, my house is free of debt; I am thankful for the full life I have lived and I believe none can match; I am thankful for the amazing four children that I have brought up; I am thankful for the amazing woman that is my wife; I am thankful for the books I have published; I am thankful for the health that I have in spite of my misfortunes; I am thankful for my good friends, and when the need for thanks comes around I am reminded of a poem written by Swinburne:

From too much love of living,

   From hope and fear set free

We thank with brief thanksgiving

   Whatever gods may be, 

That no life lives forever, 

 That dead men rise up never;

That even the weariest river

   Winds somewhere safe to sea.