Egad - he's wearing plaid

In less than 24 hours, I'll be headed back to St. Louis where I've maintained a residence since 1982. When I moved to the area that was later to become Wildwood, Missouri, these two fine gentlemen were already firmly entrenched on the land. They became the "Mayor's Kitchen Cabinet" and we'd meet at various restaurants around town to drink coffee and swap stories.

That's Jerry on the left and Jim on the right, and me in the middle - that hat dates back to a business trip I took in 1980-81 out west, where I thought it would be neat to come back with boots and a Stetson. At the time, I was living in Iowa, and upon landing at the Des Moines airport, my wife and son greeted me. J.B. was perhaps all of three and a half years old and I still remember his words.........."silly Daddy, he's wearing a cowboy hat". I think the boots have gone to Goodwill, but the hat awaits me in the closet up north, along with the blue jeans, several plaid shirts, and a few denim shirts. With a little luck, I'll be seeing my buddies before the weekend is over, although in moving to sunny Florida full time this coming September, I have to wonder if wool shirts and blue jeans will have a place in my closet. Oh, none of my shirts are Pendelton wool - I bought them at the local farm supply store.I do have my thrifty (cheap) image to uphold, after all.

Several months ago, I wrote a blog entry about the R.O.M.E.O.'s, the Retired Old Men Eating Out. The daily breakfasts with the guys will be a nice change, and a good start of each day. My summer will be spent helping my daughter move into her new house (where possibly I'll have closet space for my northern duds), then getting our condo readied for sale. And, for the next two months at least, I'll again have a chance to be a little bit country while still thinking of myself as a little bit rock and roll.