Attended a folk concert at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Small, intimate venue, with no seat farther than fifty feet away from the stage. Lots of restaurants nearby. Perfect place for a date with your significant other.
Several of our trees have started dropping their leaves, and others are starting to show brown, red, and yellow colors. My favorite season has arrived.
Spring brought us the croaks of frogs, late summer the sounds of cicadas. Tonight, I hear chirps of countless crickets. Nature’s language is spoken all around us if we dare to turn off our electronic devices and listen.
These days, I collect books more than I read them. Seventeen books sit on the table beside the recliner. Polly said to me, “Please stop.” I replied, “I can’t, Im an addict.”
I spent time today teaching several of my granddaughters about the symbiotic relationship humans have with other animals; that every species and animal is important to the survival of our biological world. That’s why we don’t unnecessarily kill other animals, even if they bother us.
I am currently in physical therapy, hoping to lessen the pain and debility in my hips, lower back, and legs. I continue to weekly see a psychologist. Over the next two weeks, I have appointments with a hematologist, oncologist, and neurosurgeon. The pessimist in me thinks this will be a waste of time, but if I can get some helps around the edges of my life, I’ll be happy.
I am happy to report that cannabis helps reduce my pain and nausea — edibles, in particular. YMMV.
The Cincinnati Reds are still in the hunt for a wild card playoff berth. The Reds has the easiest remaining schedule in baseball. If the Reds fail to reach the playoffs, 2023 will still have been a good year. All the Reds need in 2024 is better pitching.
As of today, the Reds sold 400,000 more tickets this year than last year. Winning is contagious. Polly and I attended five games this year — all wins. Recent game against the Cubs had a playoff feel. It’s been a long times since the Reds were relevant past the All Star break.
Polly is retiring in 60-90 days. A new chapter in our life together begins. As always, the two things that concern us the most are money and medical insurance. I suggested we become bank robbers.
Bonus: My nine year old granddaughter excitedly told me all about Coach Prime (Deion Sanders). I refrained from telling her what I really think of Sanders. Definitely not a fan of how Sanders handled the men who were already at Colorado when he arrived on the scene. No loyalty or commitment from Sanders — kicking the entire team to the curb.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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This was such a nice post to read today. Autumn is indeed a wonderful time of year. I find the cicaidas and crickets all day long to be soothing and calming. Glad to hear you are finding some relief with cannabis, it makes such a difference in quality of life. Hope the doctors can provide some more.
Congratulations Polly on your upcoming retirement!!! Just in time for winter so you don’t have to drive to work in the snow. 🙂
Cheers to you and your family until next time!
I’m glad cannabis edibles provide you some relief. It certainly does for me. It’s easily and legally available here in CA. it’s bizarre that a benign substance never known to cause a fatality is treated the same as the most dangerous known drugs. You probably are aware of the political character Harry Anslinger. He is primarily responsible for cannabis being classified as a hard drug. The current administration has hinted at possibly legalizing cannabis or at least reclassifying it. Tylenol has killed more people than cannabis which begs the question what it’s classification as a dangerous drug was really about.
Re Ann Arbor–Wow, you get around. It’s a great college town. I saw it on TV today, watching Michigan play UNLV :-).
Re leaves–you’re a bit ahead of us, I think, but I too love all seasons. You must miss photography this time of year.
Re crickets–the one thing I hate about the soundproof windows I have because I live in an apartment downtown is that I can’t hear nature sounds, birds, rain, crickets, frogs, cicadas. That is a really rich part of life. I’m glad you have it.
Re books. I’d love to hear what you’re reading. I’m reading by and about Thoreau and Emerson these days, also nature books (limnology, geology, ornithology) and AI books, e.g., ChatGPT for Dummies and Scary Smart (Mo Gawdat).
Re symbiosis. Great to teach them about such things. As I walk in the woods, I marvel at how each flower seems to have its own pollinators. Of course, bees are greatly endangered now; monarch butterflies nearly gone. Very sad. We treat nature poorly.
Re the litany of therapies. Oncologist? That doesn’t sound good. I can’t remember if you’ve mentioned this.
Re cannabis. My late mother tried it and found it didn’t help her, so mileage does seem to vary. She was on an opioid but was terrified that she might get addicted, so she expressed her fears to her doctor, who gave her a greatly reduced dose. When she found the pain excruciating, he refused to return her dose to what it had been. Disgusting. I was reminded of this in your posts about dealing with pain meds. She tried cannabis to help the pain a little, but it didn’t help her.
Re the Reds. The Brewers will likely win the division, but you guys will clearly get revenge in the NFL season–clearly the Bengals aren’t in the Pack’s division, but you will make the playoffs and likely go farther. It’s all about talent (see below). I think it’s going to be a tough year for the Pack.
Re Polly retiring. I retired 3 years ago and absolutely love my life. We retirees all live in fear of catastrophe–my fixed income is being eaten alive by rapacious rent increases and grocery costs. And I guess my 2010 corolla is just going to have to last forever.
Re Coach Prime. I’m not a fan, either. My sense of sports is that it’s all about talent. Coach Prime knows that. I vaguely remember a story in which John Wooden was asked, prior to a final, if he was worried that his young UCLA team was going up against a much older team in the finals. He said: Experience is no substitute for talent. That pretty much sums up college and pro sports for me. Look at the teams that are perennially in the World Series, best teams money can buy. Smaller market teams can get lucky, e.g., the Bucks, who won with Kareem and Giannis, ie, with incredible talent. Cleveland. By the way, I think you’d love Kareem’s substack if you don’t follow it already. He’s brilliant.
Thanks, Bruce, for continuing to write. I love your posts. I like these hot takes, such a cute idea.
Glad you found a little bit relief from your pain. Fall is indeed coming. A sign of it in Colorado is when the green chilies are roasted. Saw a big roaster in a Walmart parking lot a couple of days ago.
Congratulations to Polly on her retirement 👏 I hope the two of you have the time of your lives in this new chapter 🥂
Congratulations to Polly (and you) on her retirement! I have no doubt her employer will miss her.
I am so bummed your Reds picked up Harrison Bader – he was one of my favorite Yankees players. But the Yankees are an example that even high salaried teams don’t always deliver.
That’s sh!tty that Sanders got rid of the entire team – I didn’t know that – a good coach would be able to honor the school’s commitments to existing players while recruiting new ones to build the program.
I don’t see why cannabis isn’t legal in all states. Just tax and regulate it like we do with alcohol and tobacco.
Congratulations to Polly on her retirement. I hope you and she enjoy a blissful, peaceful life together. Speaking of which: I hope that seeing the oncologist is a pre-emptive measure and nothing more. I’m glad the cannabis is easing your pain.
There’s nothing like a small folk concert. And there’s no season like Fall for photography.
Is Deion trying to be the Donald Trump of college football?
A friend of mine posted the following meme on their Facebook page:
Buys ten books
Reads three of them
Finds eight more awesome books I haven’t read yet
Repeat until house explodes
Hurrah for Polly!
(Editing to add more words as my comment was rejected. There’s a comment limit! I never knew! I can say too little! My husband begs to differ.)
I too collect more books than I read. ‘Tis a vice. But there are far worser vices than having too many books.
Yo, Bruce, I read The Wager by Grann and I highly recommend it.
Yes, don’t collect books… I suppose I’m a bit of a hypocrite, while I trimmed my book collection, I still have more than I’ll read. For example, why do I still have “End the Fed” by Ron Paul? I know I made your collection worse by mailing you another book, “Not the Bible”… I still think you should read it. Can’t hurt to read your Torahscope.
Congrats to Polly as well.
Lovely to read all your Nature Notes Bruce. It’s so good to move on and flee the bondage we were held in. Don’t I know it ? Diana
Ah books. Nature’s opium. Err…
I don’t suppose you read sci-fi Bruce?
Bruce, I’m interested in who you saw at the Ark. I’m from northern Michigan and have travelled to the Ark many times. It is indeed a great place for music.
I hate the Cubs and really think The Brewers are going to take the division and go deep into October. I do think the Reds have had a far better season than last year so wish you luck.