The title of one of Hubby's books that I removed and then replaced on his shelves is "Beer is the Answer:  I Don't Remember the Question."  I probably bought it for him, but never read it until recently.  Its bartender jokes reflect the sexism of bars, and there's just one that I want to share with you.  That is because it is from the unelected president who occupied the White House after Richard Nixon threw his vice president, Spiro Agnew, to the wolves, and Gerald Ford replaced Agnew.  When Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment, Ford, a Republican, became president.  He narrowly lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976. Read More 

This is in remembrance of Thalia Lunsford Potter, who died recently at age 96.  She moved to Florida's east coast at age 90 to be near her only surviving child, but for eight decades, she was a child of Tampa.  Her father was a prominent attorney, and the family lived on then-fashionable Nebraska Avenue in a house called "Belvedere."  Their parents considered rural life desirable for children, though, and they moved to a Valrico farm, where the last of eight children was born.  But when the Roaring Twenties plunged Florida into the Great Depression earlier than most of the nation, they lost the farm and moved back to Tampa, living in Ballast Point. Read More 

I remember talking with the late and great Congressman Sam Gibbons soon after the Vietnam War ended.  We were hopeful that the huge amount of public funds spent on that futile adventure now could be used domestically.  Sam – who had parachuted into Nazi-occupied Normandy during World War II -- was a true patriot and a true promoter of education.  He was not only the father of our now prestigious University of South Florida, he also was the nationwide father of Head Start --- a project that worked and that needs investment again. Read More 

This will be an unusual column.  I've had some minor catastrophes in the last few days, and so I'm tired and not in a mood to think creatively.  Also, as it happens, a few days before misfortune struck, I came upon notecards from nearly fifty years ago.  Yes, I am trying to clean out files, but at a snail's pace.  It's a dreadful job, rewinding bits and pieces of your life.  Read More 

I'm glad I lived to the internet age, as it provides so many topics to ponder that I would not know about without it.  Yes, I still read the New York Times and the Tampa Bay Times (most days and always when it is in print), but I nonetheless see things online that are worth sharing.  You can read some below, but first I want to tell you about an opposite experience. Read More