The End of Summer

Strange Days

I got up at 4:30 this morning, tossed Lil Andy in bed with Michele to continue his pseudo sleep, and jumped into the shower.

Then it was off to the airport.

I was carrying enough computer hardware to automate a small factory, and I was somewhat concerned about how I was going to get this though the good TSA folks. Seems that they know me by sight now ( a good indication that you are traveling too much) and I went through relatively hassle free.

My 8AM flight gets me into Washington DC by 10:30AM and I walk to the Metro and take it down to the Navy Yard Station. I wander down M Street with my suitcase full of hardware until I am finally able to flag down a shuttle to the office. I am meeting up with a number of my colleagues from Milwaukee, WI and Gaithersburg, MD to prep for a meeting we are having next week.

I proceed to spend the rest of the afternoon piecing back together a complicated hardware and software demo we are installing in the office for an important meeting. The afternoon was hectic and rushed because of failing hardware, corrupted software modules, and wrinkles thrown at us by the new office and IT environment.

Between 4 and 5 I am a driven animal trying to get some software changes debugged and cleaned up before I have to dash to get a taxis back to the Reagan National for my 6:55PM flight home.

My taxis is very late and I get to the airport with 30 mins before my departure time. Security is a drag, and I get to the gate and walk right into the airplane. As I fly home, I continue to work on the software changes I was not able to finish in the office. The only solace is that I can now do so with a glass of wine and some chocolate chips cookies.

I am on the ground by 7:50PM, walk out to the parking deck, jump into the car, and beat it for home. I stop on the way to grab a quick bite to eat on the way home. I walk into my house and it is 9PM.

My commute to work today took me from Milwaukee WI to Washington DC and back. The strange thing is that this feels like a normal day for me. But, I believe, in comparison to most people, this is would be a very abnormal and stressful existence ...

Andy Sailor
Wasting away in Sussex, WI
October, 2006

Sweet Dreams and the Mystery of Life

The house is finally quiet. Michele and the boys are asleep. The rain softly falls outside in a steady constant soaking. I have the lights down low, a few candles glow softly and I pour myself a drink.

The house is a cocoon and my mind is fuzzy with the effects of a long hetic day at work and the alcohol.

"Some day you will find everything you are looking for ...." *

My sister Jo is going through some tough times in her life. Growing older is a tough row to hoe. She is dealing with a double dose of life with having to packing up a home to move, a husband away working in another city, and her oldest daughter with health problems and going off to college. She just wants to hide. I feel like I just want to hold her and make it all go away, but I am stuck behind a telephone so far away.

"Outside the jail cell window, a crow flew across the sky ...." *

Tomorrow I will go out and dig weeds from my front garden bed and transplant my vegetables from my starter kit to larger pots. May is always an interesting month in WI. You never know what mother nature will throw at you. So, I am alway conservative with my spring plantings. This year I will take the extra step of transplanting to larger pots. If only to buy me an extra week or so before I have to put them into the ground to fend for themselves.

It is 11PM, do you know where your children are?

Good Night and Good Luck.

* ramdom lyrics from the movie "Greendale" by Neil Young playing in the background.

A Cold and Blowy Night

It was a wild and blowy day today in Wisconsin. A Low came roaring up from the south and the North Wind blew cold and rainy all day long. I ran in to work this morning. Trying my best to keep my books and papers dry, I stuffed them underneath my raincoat. As I made it through the door, the rain drops were rolling off my bald head and my glasses were fogged up and wet.

I would look out the window periodically through out the day, watching the trees dance and the rain slowly puddling. The wind added a spark of electricity to the air and I wondered what change it was going to blow in.

Alive inside of you

Tell me of your dreams
of the ones broken, scattered, lost,
and of the ones shimmering
and alive inside of you.

December lies upon me like a blanket

December lies upon me like a blanket
covering the brown and broken
remains of the past year.

Twilight rose red against the
white of the snow and the grey
of the trees in my back yard.

Midnight comes with me awake and restless.
The evening snow storm spits needles at the window
and the yellow arc of the street light
illuminates the promise of the accumulation to come.

I crawl into my bed with the covers
still un-made from the night before.
I pull them over my head and wait for
the shivering to stop and for sleep
to finally take me.

December lies on me like a blanket.

The gesture of your eyes

Midnight in a foreign city
Intoxication blows through the crisp night air
Strange voices shout, beckon, and laugh
Your words blend into the background, meaningless,
but I know the meaning of your touch
And the gesture of your eyes

3-30-00 Copenhagen

I know why they shine

My life is turning to autumn.
I enjoy the rich color and the harvest.
The smoke from burning leaves,
The brisk night air,
and the full moon rising.
The remembrance of the spring and the summer past
makes my autumn days more delightful.
It gives clarity to the reds, yellows, browns, and purples.
I know why they shine.

Sussex, WI
2000

The sounds of you grow silent

The sounds of you grow silent
the more time passes by.
Traces of the magic, and
memories grow faint and fade
to the whisper of sweet nothings
in my ear.

I sleep now in the armchair of familiarity.
Made drowsy by the commonplace
and idle contentment.
Upon waking, I cannot recall
my dreams.

Today I sat circling the ground
on the riding mower
cutting patterns in the grass.
Then, silently sweeping the
clipping clean from the driveway,
I pause to smoke a cigarette and
wonder where my voice has gone.
And why you with it.

Sussex, WI
06-2000