Pa Rock's Ramble

Welcome to my cocktail of old writing scraps, special memories, and current personal opinion. Please feel free to comment, criticize, or remark in any way that makes you feel better. This effort is lovingly dedicated to my grandchildren - Boone, Sebastian, Judah, Willow, Olive, and Sullivan - golden portals to the future. May they all have a place at the table in a fair and just society. -- Pa Rock (Rocky Macy)

Friday, January 1, 2010

Family Tragedy

by Pa Rock Gail is my only sibling. She has four kids and I have three, and as my father often observed, "There isn't a bad apple ...

Thursday, December 31, 2009

The End of the Oughts

by Pa Rock Timekeeper The first decade of the twenty-first century will officially pass into the history books tonight. Ten years ago tonig...

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Torch is Passed

by Pa Rock Member of the Older Generation My father was laid to rest this morning. The service was wonderful. The minister had never met D...

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Hispanic Community

by Pa Rock All of Gail's kids and mine are in Noel tonight, and this evening I met Judah, my newest grandson! He is such a sweet baby! ...

Monday, December 28, 2009

Monday's Poetry: "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep"

by Pa Rock Poetry Appreciator The following piece has a clouded history, but is usually credited to Mary Elizabeth Frye. I first came acros...

A Daunting Day or Two

by Pa Rock Gail and I have spent the day digging through Dad's financial records, going to banks, his stock broker, and the funeral home...

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Obituary for Garland Macy

by Pa Rock The following will run in area newspapers on Tuesday. It was written by Gail and I, with love. Garland Eugene Macy Garland Macy ...

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Heading Home

by Pa Rock Weary Traveler Here I sit at Sky Harbor Airport, my home away from home, getting ready to board a flight to Memphis, the first le...

Friday, December 25, 2009

Garland Eugene Macy (October 19, 1924 - December 25, 2009)

by Pa Rock Proud Son My sister, Gail, called a couple of hours ago to let me know that our father, Garland Macy, passed away very early on C...

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Apple Rocks!

by Pa Rock Conspicuous Consumer I swore off of Wal-Mart and shopping malls years ago, so why did I find myself pushing a path through Arrow...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Every Word Is True

by Pa Rock I’ve put off telling this tale for several weeks now, not because it’s weird, though it certainly is, but because I don’t want to...

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas Eve in Sweden: "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"

by Pa Rock Cultural Observer This quacks me up! The Swedes celebrate the Christmas holiday on December 24th, Christmas Eve. Since 1959, a b...

Monday, December 21, 2009

Monday's Poetry: "Twas the Night Before Christmas" or "The Visit of St. Nicholas"

by Pa Rock Poetry Appreciator This poem, the Christmas classic that has been a staple of the holiday season for nearly two centuries, has my...

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Really Bad Cruise Poetry

by Pa Rock Rhyme Meister The Mighty Ocean by Rocky Macy The mighty ocean - smells and swells ceaseless motion rolling, restless...

Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Long Road Home

by Pa Rock Airport Fixture I am sitting in the Atlanta airport. It is dark outside and feels later than it actually is. My plane will leav...

The Big Ship Dump

by Pa Rock Weary Road Warrior The party is over. The rats have all left the ship and are headed home - all except for the rats from the nor...

Friday, December 18, 2009

Ship of Secrets

by Pa Rock Citizen Journalist I am learning so much on this trip, and not all of it was listed on the itinerary! For instance, I now know, f...

Thursday, December 17, 2009

by Pa Rock Proud Papa My daughter, Molly Miranda Macy Files, is thirty-three-years-old today. She lives in far away Salem, Oregon, and I am ...

Statehood for DC and Other Issues

by Pa Rock Ancient Mariner I attended three presentations today and learned a variety of things. The first was a panel discussion on the eco...

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Overheard on St. John

by Pa Rock Citizen Journalist A tourist walks up to a man who is sweeping out his open-air cafe. The tourist asks if there is a bathroom. Th...

Gotta Love Island Time...Unless Your Boat is About to Float!

by Pa Rock Island Hopper For those of you who have been to the Caribbean, the concept of island time is not hard to master. None of the loc...

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Puerto Rico by Coach

by Pa Rock Adventurer We docked at San Juan Harbor early this morning. My first stop was at a souvenir shop where I bought a couple of thro...

Monday, December 14, 2009

Monday's Poetry: Obama Rising

by Pa Rock Poetry Appreciator I am sitting at the same keyboard where Calvin Trillin was parked and typing yesterday. To honor the significa...

Celebrity Encounters

by Pa Rock Tourist I am making these posts from the Internet Cafe on the top level of the Eurodam . The computers are maddeningly slow at se...

Grand Turk by Cab

by Pa Rock Experienced Road Warrior (This posting is dedicated to Tanya, a happy cabbie who provided an interesting tour of Grand Turk, and ...

Ahoy Grand Turk!

by Pa Rock Cruise Rat Our ship, the Eurodam , is slowly making its way into port at Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I am not cer...

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Rocking and Rolling!

by Pa Rock Pea Green Sailor The sea has been restless, more big waves and movement than I have ever experienced before. I'm fine, but on...

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Katrina Vanden Heuvel Told Me Where to Go!

by Pa Rock Sea-Going Fool! It's dark out, we are having a soft Florida rain, and the big boat has started to move. I have managed to ge...

Ahoy, Maties! Aargh!

by Pa Rock Sailing Fool It is almost 1:00 p.m. in Florida, just about the time that the Eurodam was supposed to begin boarding. Being the ...

Friday, December 11, 2009

Welcome to Ft. Lauderdale!

by Pa Rock Traveler It has been a long day...a very long day! I got on a plane at Sky Harbor last night at 12:45 a.m. after being parked in ...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

A Night Flight to Florida

by Pa Rock Happy Traveler I'm off later tonight for a much needed winter vacation. I will be in the air most of the time between midnig...

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Brits Bite Back Bank Bonuses

by Pa Rock Citizen Journalist It's that time of year again, the time when America's working poor - a group that includes just about ...

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Don't Leave Home Without It!

by Pa Rock Citizen Journalist Sneaking across the border from Mexico to the United States can be a deadly endeavor. A recent report by the ...

Monday, December 7, 2009

Monday's Poetry: "Freedom's Plow"

by Pa Rock Poetry Appreciator Langston Hughes and I were born a mere twenty-five miles apart, but with the differences in our life circumsta...

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Die Hard with a Walker

by Pa Rock Citizen Film Critic I spent three hours tonight, three hours that I will never get back, watching Live Free or Die Hard , the fou...

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About Me

Pa Rock: West Plains, Missouri, United States; I'm just me - a solitary wanderer who trekked across much of the world and recently retired to a small farm in the Ozarks. My checkered past includes time spent as an Army officer, high school teacher and principal, real estate broker, child protection worker and administrator, and social worker with the U.S. military. Over the years I have resided in a variety of places including Missouri, Virginia, Okinawa, Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona. I have also traveled to Germany, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, Belize, Guatemala, Taiwan, Guam, South Korea, Vietnam, and numerous islands in the Caribbean - including Cuba. I have ridden in a Russian ambulance, hitch-hiked across Moscow late at night, fought an ostrich, celebrated New Year's at a street party in Hanoi, and bicycled across the Caribbean. My travels have taken me to Ground Zero in Hiroshima, the Bolshoi Ballet, China Beach, and the White House kitchen. The nine things in life that I am most proud of are my children: Nick, Molly, and Tim, and my grandchildren: Boone, Sebastian, Judah, Olive, Willow, and Sullivan. Life has been very good to me indeed!

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