Where There Is a Smoke Alarm, There is Battery Replacement The Chirping, of course, begins around 2 AM.  My head, commanded by strings connected to some unknown force, lifts from the pillow. I mumble, “Didja hear that?”  Polley murmurs, “Can I hear a gasoline truck exploding in a dynamite factory? What am I?  Deaf?  Yeah, what is that?”  The fog of dreams slowly evaporates from our brains.  We...

                             Twick or Tweat It is that time of year….of course every time is a specific time of year, but, in this case, I am referring to that season of orange----of orange leaves drifting down and draping the lawns, orange ovals cut into jack-o-lanterns, and orange-and-black caped mini-goblins going door-to-door on the last day of this month.  Of course, stores started...

“What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate” Captain, Cool Hand Luke On this blog I never recommend activities or medications to ease Parkinson’s.  There is a reason for this.  I am NOT a doctor----nor do I play one on tv.  ASIDE ALERT!  Growing up the only doctor I fantasized becoming was Dr. Kildare, played by Richard Chamberlain, 1961 to 1965.   Somewhere in the bowels of my vinyl record...

The Low Talker I was leading an eleventh grade class discussion (which usually involved a conversation among five people in the room---yours truly and six students.)  This was before I read the research that confirmed that most “class” discussions involved only five or six people with the teacher doing most of the talking.  I think it was B.F. Skinner, the behaviorist, who queried, “Who needs...

Driving Me Crazy Driving my automobile has changed dramatically for me.  I started driving over fifty-four years ago, so some of that change is simply because of the passing years.  Parkinson’s also has a great deal to do with it.  Let’s just say that the fun of tooling around town with no particular purpose is gone.  My shaky left foot, even though it thumps repeatedly on long trips, and my...