Meet "Ricci-Earl"...

A 6'10" Balsam fir from Crivitz (the Gateway to the North), Co Marinette, Wisconsin. Did you know Wisconsin is the 5th largest supplier of Christmas trees?

Last year I began the tradition of naming my Christmas tree in honor of a celebrity I liked who passed away that past year. In 2015 it was Maureen O'Hara.

This year it was my friend, Ricci Martin, Dean Martin's youngest son, and my other friend, Earl Hamner, creator of "The Waltons".Two wonderful men whom I miss dearly.

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"The Swimmers"

During one hot day at work last week, I heard children's voices and laughter. So I wrote this:

"The Swimmers"

by Jeffrey James Ircink

The sun beats down hard - unrelenting.

I react with a sigh of despair.

I wipe the sweat from my brow - take a cool drink,

and rue this day of days, wondering when it will

come to an end.

Who shares my plight? Who pities my condition?

Certainly not those angelic voices I hear breaking

through the dense heat of the day.

No, not the children - whose laughter suggests

their hearts beat in rhythm to a solitary

thought and motion, as they jump and frolic

and shout and swim.

Droplets bead down their faces -

faces the heat quickly dries -

only to once again plunge into their 

liquid refreshment again and again...and again.

I recall with fondness the days when I did the same -

felt the same.

I know how those children feel;

I know what they are thinking.

Do they know what I am thinking?

Do they care what I was once them?

Oh-h-h God...how I hate the swimmers.

© Copyright 2016 Jeffrey James Ircink

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Happy Birthday, Brother Jas!

It's my brother's birthday today. HAPPY DAYS, BROTHER JASON! We share much together - my world would be incomplete without him. XOXO.

Bristol Renaissance Faire

Milwaukee Film Festival

Sugaring

Bow hunting

"Reveille!" - my one act, staged play reading

Easter 1970

Kahuna Rendezvous!

Kahuna Rendezvous!

Mom & Dad's 50th - 2013

Fishing

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"maureen". a haiku.

her name was maureen.

"it's not you - it's me," i said.

i can still smell her.

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