A Cross?

2006-09-05

A cross is carved into my Grandfather’s headstone, but I have a hard time understanding why. My grandfather lived to the age of 90, and was many things in his life; he worked at the Cleveland Zoo as a teenager and tended to Balto, the sled dog of Iditarod fame; he served his country during World War II with the US Army Mine planters; he ran his own business for decades; he was a father, a grandfather, and a great grandfather. But I would not say that he was a religious man, either outwardly or inwardly.

In Memoriam

2005-12-17

The hearse carrying my Grandfather rolled to a stop under the salutes of the VFW firing party and the Army’s honor guard. I composed myself, and moved forward to the hearse to perform one last service for my Grandfather. We lined up on either side of the casket - myself and my cousins, brother-in-law Dan, and my Grandfather’s nephew Dirk. As we slowly slid the flag-draped casket from the hearse and onto the carriage, both detachments came to attention. We then placed our hands on the casket - mine over the stars upon the blue field - and walked to the enclosure where the honor guard waited.

Rest in Peace

2005-11-21

My Grandfather died yesterday morning at 10:30, surrounded by his family. My father, my two aunts, and my mother. It would have made him happy to know that mom and dad were there - no matter how he acted it was always fairly obvious to me that dad was his favorite. And mom? He loved her like a daughter. My sisters and I were in the XTerra driving up to the hospital when the calls came in from mom - the first call was that he was fading fast, and the second was that he was gone. There was a moment of brief silence, but then everyone came back to form and started joking and talking again. And if the talking was interrupted by a few tears, and if the jokes seemed a bit forced no one seemed to notice.

The Great One

2005-11-18

My grandfather is dying. His carotid arteries are blocked - 100% on one side and 90% on the other. He’s been experiencing TIA’s (micro-strokes) over the course of the last few months. He has had a stroke and is having problems moving the right side of his body. He has an inflammation of his bowel. There is really nothing that can be done - when you’re 90 years old you don’t have many options.

HP Lovecraft and the Great Pumpkin

2005-10-28

You know, there’s something to be said for someone who can take Charlie Brown and H.P. Lovecraft and weave them together. Take a look at John Aegard’s The Great Old Pumpkin over on Strange Horizons Fiction. I came across this earlier this morning when it popped up in my RSS aggregator over at bloglines in my BoingBoing feed. The tone, the use of adjectives, the descriptions (and yes, the very low amount of dialog) all make this work very….er, Lovecraftian, as the snippet below will show: