On the Road Again 2018, Hawaii Bound

On the Road Again 2018, Hawaii Bound

Dateline: July 31, Heading to Hawaii I love to tear United Airlines apart. I've been enjoying myself with that diversion, when I travel, down through the years. I think United was ready for me on this trip, however. The plane was half an hour late getting off the...

On the Road Again 2018, New Etiquette

On the Road Again 2018, New Etiquette

Dateline July 31, 4:00 AM, Chicago I am at O'Hare with nothing to do. So, I'm watching the people, many of whom look like they were in that pod science fiction movie. No expression. Sitting outside a gate and just watching. I could write the lyrics to a great country...

On The Road Again 2018, O’Hare

On The Road Again 2018, O’Hare

Dateline: O'Hare Airport, 3:30 AM Not much traffic at O'Hare, what's wrong? A guy walked up to the skycap just before me and then stopped, to let me go first. I demurred and thanked him. How nice to start the trip out that way. The skycap was totally cool and quick,...

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, The Whales are Back

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, The Whales are Back

Dateline: Oahu, Hawaii April 16, 2018 The whales are back. For two nights the coastal waters grew silent, the songs and cries of the whales went to places where humans have no clue. The great unknown under the sea remains just that, for the most part. Look up "crying...

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Bobby’s again

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Bobby’s again

Dateline: Oahu, Hawaii April 15, 2018 Bobby's Place The second box on the way back to the continental 48. What's in the box? Well, nothing I have to indicate to the post office might be dangerous. But that's it. I went to Bobby's Market nearby. You know the place. The...

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Pride of America

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Pride of America

Dateline: Oahu, Hawaii April 15, 2018 A ship in the night. The Pride of America, the big ship is called. 80 thousand tons and 921 feet long. Sailing out of Honolulu Harbor late on Saturday night. Norwegian owned, American built in Mississippi. 2100 passengers. Going...

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Whales Again

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Whales Again

Dateline: Oahu, Hawaii Aprile 12, 2018 The whales. They are dropping off the brats. I have worked out from the early morning calls and crying of the whales, between four a.m. and dawn, that the big pod of parents and relatives have some close-in pool not far from me...

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Off the Grid

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Off the Grid

Dateline Oahu, Hawaii April 12, 2018 Off the grid. The constant communications grid, that is. I have electricity, cards, gas, water and the rest, but no television and the newspaper available like some sort of grade school thing. It is night once again. Night for you...

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Eeyore

Reflections From Hawaii, 2018, Eeyore

Dateline: Ohau, Hawaii April 11, 2018 Eeyore Eeyore of the Forty Acre Woods, of Winnie the Pooh fame, has nothing on the character that has appeared across from my pool at the abode. There's a bush over there and it looks every bit like Eeyore, either that or I am...

Reflections from Hawaii, 2018, More Whales

Reflections from Hawaii, 2018, More Whales

Dateline: Oahu, Hawaii April 10, 2018 A whale.  Just one single whale spume, flying up at 6:52 am about half a mile out or a little bit less. What does that mean? That means the whole whale thing is not the figment of my imagination. So, the adventure of the whales...

Reflections from Hawaii, 2018, Nightfall

Reflections from Hawaii, 2018, Nightfall

Dateline: Oahu, Hawaii April 9, 2018 Last night I was up late.  I go to bed late and I get up early. What is that? Going all the way back to after I got home from Vietnam. Now, I'm not up looking for some enemy who can't possibly be out in the night. I'm okay with...

Reflections from Hawaii, 2018, Whales

Reflections from Hawaii, 2018, Whales

Dateline: Oahu, Hawaii April 7, 2018 Do whales cry at night, or sing, or whatever? I am a couple of miles from pods of passing whales, as they do in large numbers in this part of the world. A beaten rock shore sits right at the edge of my principal abode where I am...

IN GOD’S WAY

IN GOD’S WAY

Walking along on a street called Ke Nui in Hawaii, I found myself lost on this back road in a developed area on a small island where it’s almost impossible to get lost. But there I was. My cell would not work, and I was getting tired of walking around in shower shoes, things not meant for hiking long distances.

On the Road Again, Hawaii, February 11, 2017

On the Road Again, Hawaii, February 11, 2017

Dateline: Hawaii February 11, 2017 The coffee bar finally opened and I have a paper cup of Kona Coffee for $4.75. The cup is one of those new ones that is integrated. A to-go cup that doesn't need one of those little sleeves to protect my hand form the heat. I wonder...

On the Road Again, Hawaii, February , 2017

On the Road Again, Hawaii, February , 2017

Dateline: Honolulu, Ala Moana Center and International Market Place We arrived in Hawaii yesterday February 8th and spending first morning visiting a few of our favorite shops in these two awesome Venues, Ala Moana Center and The International Market Place The...

THE ONE WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING

THE ONE WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING

Dateline: Honolulu, Hawaii February 9, 2017 I was just standing there at the base of the clock on the second floor of the Ala Moana Shopping Center. I was passing time by leaning against the post that holds the four directional facing clocks. I had one hand up to my...

On the Road Again, FREEDOM TOWER

On the Road Again, FREEDOM TOWER

What I wanted it to be. The monument and museum of the World Trade Center. I wanted it to be quintessential American. I wanted it to be the best of what a Walt Disney might come up with or the Hollywood people who put on the Olympics that year……..

James Strauss, On the Road Again FLEEING NEW YORK

James Strauss, On the Road Again FLEEING NEW YORK

It’s overcast in New York but I am used to that. The pall that seems to hang over the city most of the time keeps the rest of the world from seeing what goes on here. At least, that’s the way my mind works upon waking and lolling about in the room…….

James Strauss On the Road Again, NEW YORK,

James Strauss On the Road Again, NEW YORK,

James Strauss on the the Road Again October 2016 New York I am enjoying the press of humanity and circulating among the core constituents of this age old war playing out right now in America's national election. Oh, not the Civil War, although that is still a huge,...

Paris, late 1990’s

Paris, late 1990’s

I hate Paris. Oh, not the restaurants, the food vendors on the streets or the Louvre. Even the Eiffel Tower and the river are pretty terrific, when it’s not raining or foggy or any of that other French stuff.  No, I hate Paris because of how shitty the airport is, how...