Papa Pat Tiny Devotionals

Greeting, internet friends and neighbors, and those who are related to me by blood, and yet have found cause to examine this blog. (Probably to see if I am talking about them. Not an unreasonable thought.) (WARNING: This blog post uses more than one font. Please try not to burst into tears.) When I was a lad of approximately...10 years old (? Maybe?) I had the great good fortune to be waiting (interminably) in the car, for a parent to return from some incomprehensible adult errand. Not being particularly wicked (must have been my mother, I guess) they left me with a book (my favorite thing) and the radio playing. And then....across the airwaves...and penetrating the deep concentration/coma into which I customarily lapsed when reading (this was a book of Boy Scout stories, IIRC), came these dulcet tones: " Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its' Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight?" Lonnie Donegan He was born in Scotland. I had not been known for being able to hear a song played once...

Greetings, Internet friends and neighbors, and the occasional relative who from time-to-time drops in this way, leaving not a trace of their presence! (This is not the Appalachian Trail, guys, you ARE permitted to leave some sign behind.) Today is my first-born son's birthday. Here's what I wrote him: First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Second, some meandering pursuit of whatever interesting things pop out with consideration of ages. I was born in 1953 ; this year, I will celebrate my 66th birthday. You, my firstborn son, were born 30 years later, in 1983, and this year (this day!) you celebrate your 36th birthday. Heath Jordan, your first-born son, my first-born grandson, was born 30 years after that, in 2013 , and he has celebrated his 6th birthday. 6; 36; 66. What fun can we have with those numbers? Well, let's factor Heath's Age: ( HA )= 6 = 2 x 3. Nice and simple. The first two prime numbers. Your age, YA = 36, gives a BIT more to play with, because your age, YA =HA*HA, or HA...

Greetings, to all my Internet friends and neighbors, and howdy to the one or two kinfolk who can read. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Didn't really care for it as a kid. I was painfully shy, and was never able to tell girls that I liked them. What if they said no? I might DIE! This was long, long before I learned to read body language and interpret tone of voice, eye contact, and that sort of thing. It was terribly limiting. I no longer have that problem; so, let me take this opportunity to clear this up: Kathy Powell, wherever you are, I was madly in love with you in the 7th grade.  I taped the Valentine's Day card you gave me over where I thought my heart was, and wore it to the 7th grade skating party at Durr's Lake. Just never was brave enough to tell you about it. Probably made you nuts, but I was just too shy to let you know. There. That's one more amends taken care of! So, this morning, I got ambushed by the Middle School Brother Sister Tag Team. Now, I had spe...

Greetings, my dear Internet friends, neighbors, and the occasional family member who actually reads my stuff! Papa Pat has something special for you today! However, DO NOT BE DECEIVED!!! This book will NOT be published until FEB 14, 2019!!!     If you don't run an ad-blocker, you see the link. If you DO run an ad-blocker (as I do). you see zip, so here is this: And the reason you see THIS, is because the proceeds from the sale of  "Trace The Stars"   subsidize student admission fees to the LTUE conference. Also: If you click a link in my blog and then buy the product from Amazon, I get a referral fee. It's not much; I've made $20 over the last four years. However, whatever minuscule amount comes my way from referrals on this post, I will also donate to LTUE, and match, up to the aforementioned $20. I received a copy of this work from the editor, who requested a fair review. I was happy to oblige, as at the moment I was watching my daughter cheer for her middle sc...

Greetings, Internet Friends and Neighbors and Happy Family! And howdy to glum family as well; I recommend a nap. Nine years ago this week, I bought my gift-from-God, happily-ever-after trophy wife Vanessa, the elegant, foxy, praying black grandmother of Woodstock, GA, an engagement ring, and put it on her finger. It's a lovely memory.  Then, I was cleaning up my browser bookmarks today, and ran across this bit of history. Before you read it, I must explain: Three years after my long-time family unit disintegrated, I emerged from my cocoon, and sought counsel from my pastor about my future. Was it possible for me to begin a family at age 57? I had no idea about how that might happen; I had been married for a little over 32 years, and knew NOTHING about the contemporary dating scene. He had a few ideas, thinking about some women he knew in the church, but none of those turned out to be a match. Too soon, too young, whatever. He suggested I look into dating websites, including Ha...

If you don't have an ad blocker running, what follows will be a graphic link  to the book on Amazon:     For those who DO have an ad blocker, as I do, I do not wish that you should miss the chance to see the cover of (clickable link follows =>) MAN-KZIN WARS XV , so here it is: The Cover.  Nice, huh? Seems like decades, but it's only been six years since the last Man-Kzin Wars collection was released. SIX LONG, MISERABLE, STARVING YEARS!!!!! Maybe that's a good thing; they say "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", but that's only the pathetic solace sought by one who has been denied access to the object of affections.  And there is SO much that we can be affectionate about when it comes to the war cats. To the best of my knowledge, the Long Peace, those 300 years in which humanity was lobotomized out of studying war, produced exactly ONE story: "Safe At Any Speed." Those who are SMOFs will correct me on this matter (or rather, they would if they...