Froggie

What better way to say goodbye to the longest shortest month of the year than with a song? And a song that links the name of one of my youngest daughter’s favorite book characters with the hard blues / rock stylings of one of my favorite bands from the mid-90s * ? Hmm?

A cautionary warning of the excesses of fame and fortune, told via a delighftul amphibian with a substance abuse problem who goes down to the netherworld, all in a hip-shaking three-minute rockabilly anthem …

Fun for the whole family!






* The Presidents of the United States of America

Best. Name. Ever.

Romulus M. Saunders.


Patch, Little One: you’re so lucky you were born girls!


[Note: Mr. Saunders (1791-1867) was a career politician in the majestic halls of old who ran for, and penned up laws banning, this and that …]

Summer Reading

Last summer I immersed myself in a half-dozen books on WW2. Not sure why, except that one day I realized that I knew very little about the “greatest war.” As a wee little one I read a slim paperback I found at my grandparent’s house on the general history of the war, and in fourth grade I read the book The Man Who Never Was, about an Allied attempt to deceived the Germans prior to D-Day by creating a fictitious intelligence operative. Everything else I knew was through pop culture osmosis.

That phase lasted from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and I enjoyed the dual pleasure of reading and discovery.

In three months, I’d like to repeat that process.

Problem is, I’m not sure what I want to devote the summer to. My down-time is increasingly shrinking (there’s an oxymoron), what with Patchie communicating, gearing up for kindergarten next year, and Little One with all her after-school activities – soccer, girl scouts, basketball – and weekend playdates and sleepovers. I’m trying to work out with regularity and commence the writing of another book. Me and the Mrs. like a handful of teevee shows we watch together during the week.

So, all things considered, I probably have about 30-45 minutes a day “me” time, which I like to fill with reading.

Some subject matters I’ve been toying with:



The Revolutionary War

The Vietnam War

Modern Physics

Higher math / mathematics I have not studied in school

Early history of Catholicism (Fathers of the Church, etc)

Some “weirdity” or “history’s mystery” type thing



They all appeal to me, but nothing has definitively jumped out at me, the way WW2 did last summer.

Probably won’t know until May 24 or so.

But then I’ll let you know!