The Terrible Catsafterme

The title of this posting may sound like a nightmarishly tacky variety show, but I am really referring to my initiative in both Summer of 1992 and 1997 to collect autographs from celebrities who worked in friends with Robert DeNiro. Since 1991 when I first saw Goodfellas and followed it up with Cape Fear – and then began collecting DeNiro films one by one, I have been enamored with his film career. In the early 1990’s my goal was to acquire all of his movies on Laserdisc, which at the time was costing $30 (for the cheap ones) and upward. Since then, I have shifted to DVD’s and am close to completing the entire catalog. Read the rest of this entry »

If you believe those folks who said that the new millenium didn’t begin until January 1, 2001 – then we didn’t officially enter the 1980’s decade until January 1, 1981, at which time we celebrated the holiday with a traditional jaunt to Bill and Dottie’s house in New Lebanon. As usual, we killed two birds with one cake by also celebrating Grandma Range’s 68th birthday. Since it fell on December 29, she never wanted to disrupt the Christmas holiday with any kind of celebration until we had crossed over into the next year. Read the rest of this entry »

Cats have always been my household pet of choice. So much so in fact that to date I have had ten different cats who played a significant role in my life. The very first one was the least memorable…mostly because I don’t remember him/her. While no dissertation of my life would be complete without including a tribute to the very first in a long line of feline friends, this one was merely a flash in the pan with no given name. It simply became referred to as “the cat on John Glenn,” a stray that hung out with us for just a brief time in 1973. But it would pave the way for my first official cat to be given a name a year or so later.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bob and I awoke on the morning of Tuesday, April 1 (he wished me happy birthday) in Kerrville, Texas at the Whitten Inn. This was not our intended destination, but because we had taken the wrong turning in San Antonio, this is where we parked ourselves and I immediately plotted our substitute course. It started with our continental breakfast at the Whitten which included waffles shaped like the state of Texas. From there we headed to Fredericksburg… Read the rest of this entry »