Posted April 01, 2020in Joe's Neighborhood
“No!” It seems a simple enough word. Sure, I love my daughter and her notorious criminal accomplice, my wife, but the answer is clear. “No, never, no way will we get another flea-bitten dog!” But my adult daughter is wonderfully persistent in everything. Especially when it comes to dogs. “It
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Posted March 04, 2020in Joe's Neighborhood
They are a bit different when you’re an old man. The shovel runs smoothly along the driveway, pushing the not-too-heavy snow into the growing hill on the side. The sky brightens from dark gray to light gray. Sunrise. I pause, take a deep breath of sharp air. Suddenly, the wind
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Posted February 05, 2020in Joe's Neighborhood
Teaching was David’s thing. Music was David’s thing. And equality was David’s thing. “There were giants in the earth in those days.” Genesis 6.4. Yup, that’s what the Bible says — giants. The heroes of long ago. The great men and women of the past. Solid folks. People you could
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Posted January 01, 2020in Joe's Neighborhood
A little love here, a little push there, a little encouragement wherever it was needed. “So, you want to try the Fernet?” the bartender asked as he leaned across the bar with a small shot of dark liquid. Why not? Although, I must admit that I’ve never quite taken to
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Posted December 04, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
Am I being punished for secretly liking romance novels featuring a pirate as the main character? Pick up backpack. Shuffle one step. Set down backpack. Breathe. Turn around to see if I’m somehow miraculously closer. I’m not. Pick up backpack. Shuffle one step. Set down backpack. Breathe. Turn around. Listen,
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Posted November 27, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
“Joe, it’s not so cozy.” Really? “It’s not so cozy”? They have great fries. And I love their coffee. And look at their apple pie. “I’m sorry, but it’s not so cozy,” repeats my Dutch friend, Margreet. And that is the end of the discussion. We move on. And everybody
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Posted November 06, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
See the world from a different angle. “The Ferris wheel is going up right there,” Steve Smith says as he marks a line of white dashes that cover the entire concrete lot. And when you step back for a broader view of these fresh hopscotch marks, they actually designate the
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Posted October 02, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
I want an Italian mother. Don’t get me wrong, the wedding itself was heavenly. It flowed with a gracious ease that can be so elusive at many formal events. For starters, the handsome groom came down the aisle sober. A definite plus. Even his buddies stood by his side with
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Posted September 04, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
“Jason Statham saved a lot of guys.” Smacked broadside by a car at the top of a hill, I was 5 years old when I had my first bike accident. I was so embarrassed, I limped home and kept my bruised body and the ruined bike a secret. My first embarrassment.
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Posted July 31, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
Tell that to Sister Agnes. Fifty kids were fed lunch on Monday in a little park in Urbandale — for free. Chew on that. The small parking lot at Murphy Park fills with a half dozen cars. The green totes and the blue coolers are unloaded from the trunks and
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