Seems like some of those old-timers really knew a thing or two. Here's a dinner-table of people recalling some of the good old-timers and their good old ways. Kerosene, anyone?

(I'm Still Here by John Hartford.)

Kathy & Fred go walking on Halloween night and realize there's nothing to be scared of. Even zombies are just ordinary folks trying to get by.

(Music from Zombie Dance by The Cramps.)

Jean Parker is an independent radio journalist who lives in India. She told this great story about visiting Libya while sitting in our kitchen this summer.

File this one under "It's a big, strange world," I guess.

Okay, the title is a little misleading. This is really just some musing about the kinds of people I like to think I'm not really one of, and some thoughts to steady myself for the upcoming election, whatever the outcome.

(Music by The 747s.)

A kitchen table chat between childhood friends--Listen to realize how very very very lucky young people are when their adults regard them as real people and have real expectations of them.

Ahh, technology. Is there anything it can't improve?

Here we have some madness as our pal Rachel adds pal Jack to her list of cell phone contacts using the miracle that is "voice recognition." It turns the process of dialing someone who is sitting in the same room into something like an international incident. It also shows that New Yorkers don't back down from a fight!

My sister Nance and I got the chance to take a weekend trip together recently. During the middle of it, we were thrown back in time to another, far more fateful, trip we'd taken long ago. To this day, the mention of Rolla, Missouri sends an icy chill up our spines--for reasons you will see!

Another drum extravaganza caught live. Dude, this guy is awesome!! And the crowd is crazy!!

This is from the song Air Dry, No Heat, available only in our laundry room.

You can flop down on a sofa in a department store and wait it out, or you can go the the street and get out among 'em! Here's a clip from Chicago's Michigan Avenue.

The Going Process is a universal constant and is expressed like this: Whether you are going out for the afternoon to run errands...

or going away for one night...

or going on a week-long trip...

it's a process.

Riffin' out on the street at the bus stop. Some people are just in the flow, you know? When you're lucky enough to run into one of them, play along....

 

(With some Life courtesy of Sly Stone)

We had the pleasure to sit with this gentleman, Mr. Roberts, on a flight last spring. He is a WWII veteran who had been visiting old friends and, like us, was flying home.

 

[Musical interlude by Yes]

Taken from a recorded call with Gene Gollogly, this conversation is about the kind of practice that can help cultivate a connection with the Earth and with the part we play here. As you will hear, Gene has a warm and inviting way about him. He is president and CEO of SteinerBooks, which offers an enormous number of titles covering spirituality, education, arts, nature, health, psychology, and practically everything else. (www.steinerbooks.org) What a job!

 

In which our lovable heroes un-wholesomely wish for a global military crisis, in order to restore a bit of quiet to their personal airspace.

Destined to be this summer's first blockbuster hit, it's the hair-rinsing, spine-chingling sequel to last year's Toilet Repair Trilogy! Introducing rising star Aaron McGurk as the young youth who learns the hard way that it's not all glamour at the handle end of a toilet plunger, and that snake handling is no business for nice guys....

This conversation with Japa Buckner continues my wrestling match with the concept of monism--the idea that all of reality is of the same nature, rather than split up into the dual realms of matter and mind. It's easy enough to say, but it's practically wired into us to think of a "Creator" who watches over its "creation," and then I'm off track.

The person we're discussing at the beginning is Rudolf Steiner, and the book is The Philosophy of... read more

In search of auditory adventure, we stalked the exotic fauna of Lakeland, FL and captured many specimens. From the sweet trill of songbirds to the uncouth eruptions of swans, with a dog, some tractors, and another very unusual species thrown in.

Talking to myself again.

This time it's about an interesting 'aha!' experience I had while reading Philosophy of Freedom. It has a lot to do with the belief--or fact, I think--that acts of genuine love and sympathy are worth far more than acts of compulsion or earnest political activism.

We're not too adept at dealing with ice 'round these parts. Thanks to all this skidding, spinning & spewing, our backyard now has a good start on that pond I always wanted, or at least a mud pit for wrestling in.

From a recent First Friday Open House--bridging the generations with an anime YouTube video of "Butterfly" and our friend Kyle accompanying on the banjo. Nothing strange about that, at least not around our house!

Here's some kitchen madness involving Kathy, Fred, Ma and Pa, and assorted vegetables. We didn't quite manage to set off the smoke alarm, but several other kinds of mayhem can be heard. We hope you don't get too disorientaled and wok out on us.

And let us know your thoughts on the topic, "Kissin' don't last, good cookin' do!"

Hi Everyone (and Everyone Else),

We would sure like to hear your thoughts about our podcasts! It's nice to hear what people do and don't enjoy listening to.

Libsyn tries to keep records on the numbers of listeners per episode, but their "stats engine" is always giving them grief. So--if you'll click on the "Comments" spot next to a post from time to time and leave us your praise or scorn or anything in between, we'd appreciate the contact! It... read more

Here's a fellow at work who is middle-aged, personable, and to all appearances unexceptional--oh, except that he has a comprehensive new mythology of our world and maybe several others in his head. It gets put on paper, sentence by sentence, day by day, at break times. You never really know what's inside people, do you?

 

(Music from the Moody Blues)

Bjoern's Clock Repair in Bardstown, KY is a neat shop, and Bjoern is a neat guy. Here's the clock-talk part of our conversation (we also talked about Indians in Kentucky and historic reenactments, but those are for another time).

Word to the wise: Don't try to get your cuckoo clock repaired in Louisville. There just ain't a good place to get it done.

Two tall tales tenderly told within the family, showing why it's probably just as well Fred isn't bringing up children of his own....

 

(With a slight "Oliver" twist.)

We have a simply marvelous, darling, hotel and museum downtown called the 21C. On my way to visit there for the first time, I ran into a friend who gave me a preview and some tips on what to look for. To quote her late husband, "Wow, man, what a trip."

A friend's dad passed away after an illness. About all you can do is to visit and listen. As usual at these times, the conversation swings from thoughtful to absurd, then back, in a heartbeat.

At the end Mike reads a poem for his dad.

Here are some tales of deer hunting in a northern state. The tellers will go unnamed, but you may be able to detect from their accents that they're not from Kentucky!

I'm not a hunter, but I find the matter-of-fact lore of stalking a deer, shooting, and dressing it for food (strange term, "dressing"!) to be admirable.

These are thoughts about the Lord's Prayer that came out as I sat alone at the breakfast table one day. I've edited out the longer pauses and stumbles.

The thing I enjoy and admire about Rudolf Steiner's writings is that he doesn't give you facts or doctrines to memorize, but simply points toward things you can look into for yourself. Usually they are hard, obscure, or even bizarre, but it is never about adopting his view. It... read more