"Jay-Gee closes"

Today's poem, "Jay-Gee closes" is based on the following.

After 61 years in Cornwall, Joane Assaly, owner of Jay-Gee Shoes, has announced that the store will close by the end of August of this year. "Competition from stores like Wal-Mart made it impossible to continue," she said. Jay-Gee comes form her her uncle's name and her father's name: Joe and George. The two brothers owned and operated the elite shoe store for almost sixty years, until George died this past year. Joe preceded him over a decade ago. The quality of merchandise the store carried simply is not available in Wal-Mart. Cornwall has lost another local store with the character to distinguish us form the homogenizing effect of the ubiquitous giant box stores, and we will suffer for it as a tourist destination and as a place to live.

Too bad most residents are unable to see that.

About me

Here is an article our local paper ran about me. It is a 20 Question Q&A with a brief bio. There was a photo taken last summer of me with my youngest grandson, De Danann, but it is not included with the article.

So here it is. To see the article, click on the title, "About me" above.

about "reluctant clocks"

The wordcurrents poem referred to here is "reluctant clocks"

Last night, as my wife and I, both sneezing and coughing and feeling somewhat sorry for ourselves, attempted to reset our bedroom clocks to daylight saving time over a month earlier than we used to, our clocks refused to co-operate. Her bedside clock, a fairly new digital clock radio seems to have decided that the "adjust" button refers to radio frequency and not the advertised-in-the-instruction-book "time adjustment, and delivered static and new unwanted stations instead of "springing forward". My smartly styled digital travel clock, possibly still under warranty (fat chance) refused to respond to the prodding of the provided stylus, and sulkily stayed at standard time. Then my brand new wrist watch refused to so-operate, and left me with a precise chronometer running "estimated" time.

I'm back to a sun-dial. Or maybe a water clock. Or lunar observations. Or guesstimates. Or who cares?