Yes, I Am Indeed A . . .

. . . and I love every minute of my retired life! This fabulous graphic was made by blogging buddy Lissa of Postcards from the Bookstore and I won it in her recent 4th Blogoversary giveaway! Thanks, Lissa!

Lissa writes witty and thoughtful posts about blogging, books, reading, and writing. She accompanies them with beautiful custom graphics and images which she also creates. Here's a few examples of her fab work --

Lissa always finds a great topic for the April A-Z Challenge every year too. Plus she occasionally posts her short fiction for us to enjoy as well!

Be sure to heck out her blog here!

"Assault With A Deli Weapon"

Do NOT Listen to HRH's Propaganda

Let's end on another beautiful musical note --

a harpist serenading his dog with

Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

(some nice special effects too!)

The Joy of Language (and Punctuation)

Water Buffalo Sandals

Hey, did any of you Boomers have a pair of these during your hippy-dippy-doo days in the 1960s/70s? I know blogging buddy Mitchell of Moving with Mitchell did because he recently confessed all in a blog post comment.

Not too long ago at Poetry Club, we were given the prompt "feet." Here's the poem I dashed off about my days of wearing these sandals. It's not a particularly good poem, but it brought back a lot of memories!

buffalo sandals --

cheap, sturdy brown leather

from India or somewhere

water buffalo hide, I think

tanned and oiled, perfectly flat,

a special loop for your big toe

you had to soak them in hot water

walk around wearing them

til they dried and took on

the shape of your feet

only one step up from walking barefoot

I wore them incessantly every summer

in my university days

now I walk comfortably

only with expensive custom orthotics

worn in sensible shoes

good arch and heel support a must

to prevent plantar fasciitis flareups

looking back to my buffalo sandal days

I can't help but think:

who WAS that lunatic?

[Poem © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

Postscript:

Apparently you can still buy these sandals at an online site called HippieShop but the price is absolutely exorbitant these days -- $45! Even the sale price -- $29.99! Mitchell recalls never paying more than $1.99 US for his and I certainly never paid more than $5 Cdn for mine. But sheesh, I guess those current prices reflect 50 years worth of inflation.

Trash Panda MADNESS!

And Now, A Musical Interlude