San Anselmo, March 31, 2004: A year ago, I began online publishing of the Adventures of Bloggard. Over 360 micro-stories have now been added to the bloggosphere, recounting people and places from my past, to create a sketchy autoblography.
Visitors here have found stories both happy and sad, serious and absurd, familiar and exotic. I use Marcel Proust’s method. From the scent of a madeline cookie, he recalled a bygone Parisian age. I do the same, except that I wake up and smell the coffee, as I have been advised to do by so many well-meaning people, and the stories themselves range over a century up till today, from Texas to California and beyond, and yes, even to Paris.
However, given this meandering method, some folks might like things more orderly, and some folks might like things brief.
For these people, and for visitors who might enjoy a review, here is a photo album with snapshots of the last year, and of a lifetime. I’m told that there will be a test at the end.
Henrietta, Texas, 1922: Tutti-Fruity
Henrietta, Texas, 1949: The Gypsies by the Slough
Henrietta, Texas, 1951: Wizard in a Cave
Henrietta, Texas, 1952: The Canyon
Henrietta, Texas, 1954: Diplomacy
Henrietta, Texas, 1955: Derley Davis and the Dew Drop Inn
Henrietta, Texas, 1958: A White Sport Coat, and Rocket Fuel
Wichita Falls, Texas, 1963: The Skydivers
Shady Shores, Texas, 1964: Band of Thieves
Denton, Texas, 1964: A Photograph of the Future
Denton, Texas, 1965: The Corduroy Coat
Dallas, 1966: The Abandoned Road
St. Louis, 1967: Carrie Street Station
Southern England, 1968: A Cottage in East Grinstead
Phnom Pen, 1969: Bravery
Hurnville, Texas, 1971: Young Fool
San Francisco, 1974: The Apartment From Hell
San Francisco, 1975: Phil Groves and Raskin-Flakkers Ice Cream Store
San Francisco, 1976: The Thumbtack Bugle
San Francisco, 1976: Network Answering Service
San Francisco, 1977: Mick Jagger’s Secret
San Francisco, 1978: The Robe
San Francisco, 1979: The Musical Idiot
San Francisco, 1980: 3304 Geary Boulevard
Newport Beach, 1985: The Christmas Present
San Francisco, 1990: The Chapman Stick
San Rafael, 1996: The Wacko
Paris, 2001: Koko Taylor in Paris
Mount Shasta, 2003: Leaving
Mount Shasta, 2004: Tulip, Gone
In a week, I’ll be 60. It makes one pause, or even stumble. One then asks, where does the time go? Perhaps these little stories hint at an answer. And thinking back on those times present and past, it makes one wonder … what will happen next?
But perhaps time is twisted. Perhaps it’s really running backwards, and we, trapped in that flowing stream, cannot see the true direction of things. Perhaps what is to come has in fact already happened.
Or, as a dear friend once said, perhaps not.
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