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TWILIGHT YEARS
©By: R.L.King – From the book Memories & Time ©2017

My life is in the latter stages, closer to dusk than dawn,
but I’ve found a special lady,,,, willing to tag along.

She’s the first I didn’t measure, never comparing her to you,
but she’s the first to really complete me,,, in all we say or do.

We know our days are numbered; time is moving really fast.
We’ve not much left to accomplish; careers are in our past.

Seldom do we party; our life is more sedate,
but we’ve handled all the things, life has heaped upon our plate.

Oh, we haven’t given up on life, we still have goals in place,
they’re just not so pressing, and we’ve kinda slowed the pace.

We’re so glad we found each other, having lost our lifelong mates.
I’d say we’re both content…. our twilight years are going great.

Life is now in the latter stages, closer to dusk than dawn,
but years ago I found a special lady,,,, willing to tag along.

*********

Gramps use’ta say
R.L.King2012 #279

About: Aging

“We all reach a point
when we know our way around……

but more ’an likely by then,
…we ain’t goin nowhere.”

********

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please consider checking out the Amazon pages of the authors of this site, by going to the addresses’ shown below.   Kindle versions of their books are available at only 99 cents.

http://www.amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/

Amazon.com: Donna Hale Chandler: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

A few years back, Sweetie and I were on a cruise.  One night, as we were in our cabin preparing to meet up with our traveling companions, I stuck my foot in my mouth.  This poem probably doesn’t need much more explaining.

CRUISIN & LOSIN
©By: R.L.King – From the book Memories & Time ©2017

They were preparing for a function, the occasion doesn’t matter,
but he got himself in trouble, tiny cabin, nowhere to scatter.

Sweetie and he were on a cruise to the Caymans and Belize
and several other places on the high and mighty seas.

She was getting dressed while he was watching a little TV
She asked him a question and he had to get up to see.

Looking in the mirror her butt prominently displayed,
to the question she had asked, his answer was delayed.

Men, we’ve all been there, conspicuously on “the spot”
likely you’d have an answer, but the correct one?  …Likely not!

“Do these shorts make my butt look big,” came at him out of the blue.
If you’ve got the perfect answer, my hat is off to you.

He’d contemplated similar questions, seemingly dozens of times.
He’d decided they only ask it, when they want to blow our minds.

Knowing her sense of humor and that there is no perfect reply,
he thought he’d make her smile, put a twinkle in her eye.

Well, it’s a no-win situation, that’s the best that we can say,
better to keep your mouth shut if you’d like to see another day.

It wouldn’t be called “no-win” were there a way you could escape,
but they were 8 decks up, without his Superman cape.

Innocence?  …He’d lost it a good many years ago,
so now he’s pleading guilty to crimes he still don’t know.

But this day he messed up, trying to give her a friendly poke,
he said, “It’s not the shorts,” but he said it as a joke.

“They were preparing for a function, the occasion doesn’t matter,
but he got himself in trouble, tiny cabin, nowhere to scatter.”

*********

Gramps use’ta say
R.L.King2012 #280

About: Aging

“Unfortunately, by the time we reach
an age where we know the score,
the game is damn near over.”

********
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please consider checking out the Amazon pages of the authors of this site, by going to the addresses’ shown below.   Kindle versions of their books are available at only 99 cents.

http://www.amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/
Amazon.com: Donna Hale Chandler: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

This excerpt is from our first and only children’s book to date, titled ADVENTURES OF GIZZY

INTRODUCTION

Gizmo was a kitty that belonged to my late son, Timothy who lived next door to me.  After my son unexpectedly passed away Christy, his daughter, took Gizmo away to a different city to live with her mom and a house full of dogs. 

Gizzy, as we most often called her, apparently wasn’t too fond of the new arrangements or of living with all those dogs.  She didn’t stay long before she came up missing.  However, about a week later she showed up back at my son’s house looking for ‘The Master.’  It took time and considerable effort but gradually we were able to convince her that we were trustworthy and she would eventually become comfortable enough to adopt us. 

This story is about her life and the experiences she might have had during her travels from a strange, far-away land back to her old neighborhood where, instead of The Master, she found a friendly Old Guy and Old Gal whom she would slowly learn to love

ADVENTURES OF GIZZY
Chapter 1 – Gizzy’s Early Years

She was born on a rainy morning several hours before the sun came up.  A tiny white and grey ball of fluff, she was the 3^rd in a litter of 5 kittens with two brothers and two sisters whom she grew to love more than anything in her world.

She loved her mom too and from the very beginning she could tell that her mom loved her.  She would never get to know her dad,  Mom never talked about him and it seemed to be the way things would always be. 

She had begun life, living under a pile of boards and junk in the backyard of The Master. 

A couple of her aunts visited from time to time, but she never really got to know them.  They weren’t very friendly anyway and in reality, she was kind of afraid of them. They were not nice to her, like her mom and her brothers and sisters always were.  She was just a kitten, but she was already beginning to form her own ideas about what she liked and didn’t like quite so much.

After a while, The Master began to call her Gizzy and sometimes she was called Gizmo.  She liked Gizzy better and decided that she really liked The Master, but especially when he rubbed her head or scratched her back.  He was very gentle with her and she was just certain that she was his favorite.

As Gizzy grew there came a day when she realized that her two brothers were no longer around.  She wondered about that, but never fully understood why.  She tried to talk to her mom about it, but Mom wasn’t certain what had happened to them.  Mom told her that things like that sometimes happen in a cat’s life, but she assured Gizzy that they had a nice new home. She  couldn’t explain it, but it was something that humans thought was best and so she guessed that would always be the way of things.

Then one day both of her sisters disappeared and it was only Gizzy, her mom and the one scary aunt whom she had learned was named Sky.  The mean and crazy old aunt had also gone missing and again Mom didn’t seem to know why or where she had gone.  Gizzy wasn’t as sad about the mean aunt being gone as she was about her brothers and sisters.  She really missed them and she missed all the fun they always had playing together.

Sometimes there was a girl who lived with The Master.  She had heard The Master call the girl Christy and heard the girl call The Master Daddy.     

Gizzy liked Christy because she had always been real nice and friendly to her.  The only problem was that Christy sounded so much like Gizzy that sometimes when The Master called out a name they both thought he was saying their name and they would both come.   Every time Christy saw Gizzy she would feed her treats and scratch her head.  Gizzy really liked having her head scratched, but she liked getting the treats even better.

Gizzy wanted to ask Christy what had happened to the rest of her family, but she had never been able to make Christy understand what she was trying to say.  It always seemed like they were each speaking a different language. 

Besides, Christy had always seemed to like the dog better than Gizzy or her family members.  She always seemed to pay much more attention to him.  She called him Chaz and she seemed to speak to him quite often.  Gizzy didn’t understand what they were saying and it didn’t seem to her that Chaz spoke the same language as Christy, but for some reason it seemed like they both understood each other better than Gizzy understood either of them.  Chaz always seemed to be friendly to everyone, including Gizzy.  He was just a real goofy, friendly guy, but sometimes other dogs would visit and Chaz wasn’t always friendly with them.  As a matter of fact, those other dogs didn’t seem to want to be friendly with anybody including Gizzy and her mom.

Whenever anyone new came to the house Chaz always acted like he knew them and always jumped up and put his front paws on them.  Gizzy just didn’t understand how a dog could possibly know everybody who came to the house when she didn’t feel like she knew any of them.   Maybe dogs are a lot smarter than cats.  She didn’t really believe that, but she made a vow to herself that one day she would find out.

EDITOR’S NOTE: There is a good deal more to this story, titled: ADVENTURES OF GIZZY. The book is available through Amazon and can be found at either one of these two sites. http://www.amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/

Amazon.com: Donna Hale Chandler: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

Gramps use’ta say
R.L.King2012 #515

About: Success
Quoting Unknown:

“Every victory comes at a cost.”

This is an article that I wrote, quite a few years ago, for my local newspaper; about people who don’t turn their headlights on when they should.  I was recently reminded of the article when I was out at dusk and encountered one car after another who were driving in the near dark without any lights.  I’m quite sure that the idiots who seem to insist upon driving stupid are not all located here in Florida. For that reason, I thought it might be beneficial to post the article on our blog as well. 

HEADLIGHTS ON PLEASE

People, who don’t turn on their headlights at dawn, or dusk, or when it starts to rain, anger me.  Of course, that’s not the exact word that I wanted to use, but I’m trying to be nice here by keeping it clean.  

Seriously though, some people just don’t seem to grasp the concept that turning on their headlights makes them easier to be seen.  This is for their own safety as well as the safety of everyone else.  Likely they can see me, but that’s not the point, what if I can’t see them? 

I live in the sunny south and especially down here in Florida, there are lots of people in my age bracket (and well beyond) still driving.  BREAKING NEWS!  WE DON’T SEE AS WELL AS WE ONCE DID!  Not only that, but OUR REFLEXES AREN’T QUITE AS QUICK AS THEY ONCE WERE.  I (and most of them) am still a very capable driver, but given the obvious benefits of headlights, why would you not want to give yourself every possible opportunity to avoid getting smacked by me, or someone like me. 

I’d just like someone to explain to me what the benefit is for not turning on their headlights.  Do they think they’re saving on their battery?  Do they think they’ll be getting better gas mileage?  Just what possible benefit do they derive from not turning them on and is it anywhere near as valuable as the lives they put in danger?  When I see some idiot driving without their lights on when we all know it’s time that they should be, rather than flash my lights off and on, which is what I’ve done for years, I now hit them with my bright lights.  You’d be surprised how often their bright lights hit me back.  I see that as, Mission Accomplished.  

And what about the idiots who turn on only their parking lights?  Please!  Someone tell me just why would they do that?  Obviously, they realized it was time for lights, but why only their parking lights?  (And by the way, they are called “PARKING LIGHTS” for a reason.)   They aren’t parking, they aren’t saving on their battery, or getting better gas mileage and if they are, it’s certainly not enough to take the chance of some old fart like me hitting them, is it?   I’m begging for somebody to please explain that one to me.  Seriously, if there is a legitimate explanation, I’d really like to hear it.  I’m old, but I’m still open minded and I’m very willing to learn something new.

People!!!!  Listen to me!!!  When it rains, or when it starts to get dark, or early in the morning when all us old farts think we absolutely have to be out there on the road during your rush to get to, or from work, please turn on your damn headlights, so we don’t run your ass down. 

Oh, and while we’re on the subject,,,,, our hearing has gotten bad too, you might just as well lay off the damn horn.  Besides, all that horn blowing is wasting your battery life too.  Save all that energy and turn your damn lights on.  PLEASE!!! 

The life you save may be mine, or someone I love.

HEADLIGHTS ON PLEASE!!!

When driving at dusk, or at dawn,
when it’s foggy, or if there’s rain,
most people turn on their headlights,
at least those of us, who have a brain.

To be licensed and allowed to drive,
we should all be tested for common sense.
We all should know to turn on our lights,
it’s a simple matter of self-defense.

I sometimes get upset by people,
who just won’t use their brain,
but writing somehow helps me vent,
which in turn, helps keep me sane.

I’d like it if people who read my article
would tell me, if they agree.
Are those people being selfish,
or is all of this, just me?

If all of us would take the initiative,
I think it could possibly save some lives,
if everyone who reads this
passed it on as a “word to the wise.”

So if you’re so inclined
I hereby grant permission
for you to pass it on to others
and help me with my mission.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please consider visiting our pages on Amazon.com at the locations shown below. We have over 20 books available at these sites and the Kindle versions are available at only 99 cents each.

http://www.amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/

Amazon.com: Donna Hale Chandler: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #500

About: Marriage

“It’s rare to hear any husband say,
‘I was wrong,’
but one thing you’ll never hear him say,
‘you were right.’ ”

A few years ago, my daughter and her husband lived in New Orleans.  His work had transferred him there and as with any move there was a lot to learn.  They had been there only a week, barely long enough to know how to get from Point A to Point B when their car was stolen.  The police were called.  A report was written but according to the officer there was not much hope of ever recovering their car.

Husband found a ride to and from work each day with a friend and life continued in this new city.  A few days later as they were crossing an overpass on their way from work, Husband glanced at the street and homes below.  Suddenly he was very excited and started giving his friend directions on where to turn and where to go because he was sure that he saw their car parked on a street below the overpass.

Now, there was nothing unusual about this car.  It was an older model grey Ford Taurus and sure enough there was one parked on the street.  Walking up to it Husband realized it really was his car.  Against all odds he found his stolen car.  A call was made to the police that the car was found and within minutes, an officer was there to look around.  There was a still carton of cigarettes in the back seat and $20.00 bill still remained above the driver’s sun visor.  Also, a man’s wallet laying on the passenger seat. Apparently, it pays to leave your car’s gas tank on empty or nearly empty be it wasn’t that far from their home and the thief had run out of gas.

One would logically be led to believe that the wallet belonged to the car thief and the police would track him down.  For Daughter and Husband, they were just happy to get their car back undamaged.  All they had to do was fill the gas tank and it was good to go.

Fast forward a few weeks, Daughter was at a gas station, filling up when a man pulled up to the gas pump next to her.  As he was taking care of his car, he addressed Daughter, “I see you have a Michigan license plate.  How are you liking New Orleans?”

Daughter, trying not to be suspicious of this stranger answered, “So far I don’t like it much.  We were barely settled when our car was stolen.  But as you can see, we got it back.”

Several seconds passed before the man asked, “Was there a wallet in the car.”

“Yes,” Daughter answered becoming leery now.  “Why would you ask that?”

Still friendly and smiling the man explained. “It was my wallet.  It had been stolen.  The police came to visit me asking why it would be in a stolen car.  Fortunately for me, I could prove that I was at work when the car disappeared so finally my wallet was returned.  But I sure was nervous there for awhile because I knew they thought I stole that car and I knew I didn’t.”

Who would believe that a car would be stolen, recovered with a wallet and then meet the person who belonged to the also stolen wallet?  Yes, it really happened.