Saturday, February 17, 2018

Show #300

Hello Friends of the Garden!

Wow, show #300! It got here quicker than I thought! Many of you friends out there have said so yourself! I've gotten comments from friends that all sound very similar, "Really? No way! It seems like you just started this not long ago! Has it really been that long?" Yes, it's true! I'm twelve weeks away from being on at KFSR for six years! 

I'm eternally grateful to my very good friend Don Priest! In so many ways he's been the big brother I never had! His patience and faith have allowed me to participate in things that were once only dreams and now they have become realities! He may not see it that way but, to have that influence in helping someone experience the kind of joy I have had since knowing him is damned significant!

I'm also so very thankful to so many of you scattered all over the globe and right here in Fresno! The unique opportunity I have to interact with my friends through the radio show has been so fun! The complements and interest show by so many of you fills me with even greater enthusiasm to do my best to provide a distinctly different type of music not generally heard on commercial radio stations! My listeners are my friends and that's so nice!

I need to acknowledge my new friend Nate Butler, the new host of "The Local Show" that follows my show. Nate graciously allowed me to have his hour to help me celebrate my 300th show. Nate you are so cool! I'm looking forward to doing some creative thing with you!

I know I have been sporadic lately with my blog posting. This is a total aside and a simple expression of my thoughts. Life will throw curves at you and priorities take precedence over fun stuff! It is fun for me so expect to see me back at it when my schedule levels out!

Thanks again and peace and love to you all!

Mike

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Show #298

Hello Friends of the Garden!

Sorry for the irregular posting of my blog of late. At the end of the first month of 2018 I find myself as distracted as I’ve ever been. January also marks a milestone in my life that always felt too distant in the future to be real and that is my retirement! I have mixed feelings about it but I’m pretty new at the whole retirement thing.

The real issue that has dominated the previous month has been the health of my father in law, Larry. Larry has been in the hospital almost all of the month of January. It has been a hope-inspiring thing to witness the way the family has rallied around Larry. This is a clear testament to the strength of family. My retirement has allowed me to be the “weekday morning” team and collect as much information as I can for the family.

Being with Larry in the hospital has been a true challenge for me. I’m terrible about being patient but I’m getting better at it. I think the hardest part of the experience has been the memories of my own father that this has dredged up again. I’m finding that I have real struggles with loss. I don’t feel like I’m alone when it comes to this. I know many people share the same feelings as I do. The thing is that the feelings we share are not something that we do openly.

Now that I’m officially retired I have plenty of time to contemplate things. I’m still busy with stuff. I have been able to ease the tension of the everyday tasks that we had to force fit into our already even busier schedules. It is a new experience to have space in the day for myself to waste or be productive with. The transition of working to retirement is like many other milestones in the course of life, filled with uncertainty, possibilities and a refreshing rest stop on the road of life!

The road to my house at the coast isn’t very far. It takes about two hours and thirty minutes to drive there. I almost always drive straight through. Not far from where James Dean died there is a rest stop. There are always cars there but I never stop there. I’m always eagerly anticipating the deeply relaxing and satisfying effect of hearing the ocean at night from my deck.

As I drive past the rest stop in Cholame, I subconsciously shake my head and think what it would take to make me want to stop and give that time away? If I just kept going I’d be there sooner. Besides, I just now finally got around those stinking slow RV’s. If I pull over now then I’ll lose those precious seconds of progress I made. Impatience is just one of many other afflictions I am beset with. I truly am working on it.

Rationalizing why those cars are at the rest stop becomes a silly endeavor. For me, stopping is just never a thought that comes to mind. I never take the time to consider that I have no idea how long those people have been driving. They could be exhausted from more than driving. There could be things weighing on their minds that make it difficult to concentrate. I don’t think about how old they are, or if they have kids. I have no inkling of where on the “road of life” those resting cars are!

In my own way, (also the title of an awesome Marshall Tucker Band song) I have taken a rest at a rest stop of my own. Funny, what comes to mind is, “The pause that refreshes!” Simply having the option of taking my time is unusual and foreign. There are still demands of my time and attention but, I can sense a relaxed feeling setting in that I’ve never experienced before. It’s odd to think that being relaxed is not something that is instantly acquired. It takes some getting used to but it’s a good thing.

Getting back on the highway will be the real test! After taking a break at the rest stop the road looks different but much the same. Taking the “road less travelled” seems like an easy, euphemism. Maybe I’ve already been on the road less travelled and I’m just too dense to realize it! While the possibilities are not limitless there are still many. Do you suppose being a professional “Corn Hole” player is out of the realm of possibilities?

Peace and love to you all!


Mike

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Show #295

Hello Friends of the Garden!

I like cooking! The roots go way back to my Grandma Mae. My parents used to palm me off on Grandma for a couple of weeks every summer until we moved and it became inconvenient. Grandma Mae lived in El Campo, Texas. El Campo is still a very small farming community with a population just under 12,000, in South central Texas.

Grandma was always nice to me. When my Grandfather passed away I was barely 10 years old. I hardly knew him. We lived far away from my grandparents when I was young. I only saw my Grandfather a couple of times that I could remember. Somewhere there is a picture of me sitting on his lap riding a tractor. My Grandfather owned a farm and raised cotton. After he passed it seemed like time just slipped by for a while.

I don’t recall or I’ve blocked it from my memory but, I can’t remember any signs of elation on my parents part when they dropped me off at Grandma’s. Fortunately, I also don’t recall Grandma being reluctant about having to entertain a busy body like me either! We watched TV in the evenings on an old black and white TV with rabbit ears and foil strategically placed to insure better reception.

The only time I ever remember Grandma Mae being upset or irritated was when we would watch wrestling or more accurately in Texas vernacular, “Rasslin”. It was like seeing her turn into the Incredible Hulk when she watched wrestling. She became unusually animated and could tell you all about the “bad guys” and who the “good guys” were. TV and cooking were the two biggest memories I have of Grandma Mae.

Grandma made the most amazing biscuits. She could make a lot of other things too but those biscuits really stood out! She saw that I ate more biscuits than I should but I could tell it made her happy to see me well fed! I never asked her about her biscuits; I simply ate them up with every kind of homemade jam and butter.

One morning she called me to the kitchen by my first and middle name. She never said anything other than that I was going to learn how to cook biscuits that day. She got out a bowl, dumped a bunch of flour in it, and dropped a big ole dollop of Crisco on top of it all. She handed me two butter knives and showed me how to cut the Crisco into the flour. When the shortening was incorporated into the flour it had a crumbled texture. She would pour a little buttermilk in to the bowl at a time and mix it until the consistency was just right.

After all the work was done it was a downhill run! Roll out the dough and cut it with a biscuit cutter. Bake it in the magic oven that made so many delicious things! I truly thought it was amazing that I could replicate the magnificent skill of my Grandma Mae! I remember that first batch of biscuits so clearly. That night we pounded out some round steaks to make Chicken Fried Steak with homemade mashed potatoes and green beans!

There were times I had wished I was spending time with my friends instead of Grandma during those summer days. I did learn a lot and some of those lessons still bubble to the surface from time to time. Eventually, I got a job as a short order cook, which led to being Sous Chef at a fancy restaurant in Dallas. Sometimes there would be a guy that was the head Chef at the Dallas Culinary Institute that would cook with me and the Chef at our restaurant. He told me I should attend the culinary institute because he thought I had real talent. Of course I didn’t listen!

I didn’t get to spend enough time with Grandma Mae. I was too dumb to know better but she taught me many things without me even knowing. She planted seeds of music that would lay long dormant until much, much later. She taught me about passion. She was never really concerned with keeping me entertained, she just did what she did every day. She never lectured me. She laughed and sometimes she shed a quiet little tear. She planted those seeds of self-confidence that didn’t mature until I was well past being mature and she was long gone!

Yes, I can cook and pretty darn good too! I can do a lot of things! I am special and Grandma Mae made me realize it without ever telling me! Although Grandma Mae never saw Star Wars she was way ahead of Yoda! She taught me that there is “no try, there is only do!” There is a piece of me that will always be linked to her and her kind, quiet, loving attitude. I wish I had paid more attention!

Peace and love to you all!


Mike