One Last Bite

Updated to add: My dear and lovely wife Rita is gone. She passed at seven p.m. here in Germany the last day of September, after battling a series of cancers and tumors that eventually consumed her. She passed at home, in as peaceful and loving an environment as any of us could wish for ourselves or any of the loved ones we hold dear. She was truly a very special princess.  Details of memorials and services to follow. This blogpost was being proofed for release as I watched over her in her final hours.

Fast Food and Timeless Love

Those who follow my life’s travails on Facebook will have a better grip on the decidedly gloomy situation imposed upon our family by the continued degradations from my wife’s terminal illness.  There’s enough pain, sorrow and heartache to drive many a formerly sober man to whisky, without delving into the hoarier details involved in cohabiting in the apartment above my 85 year old Nazi-era mother-in-law!  Before proceeding, be advised that these missives have been prepared and released under the most dire of circumstances and incredible stresses.

On the matter of the extraneous errata of my sick mind, it’s probably as a result of the mind blowing decisions my wife and I discussed being up against, of which a brief glimpse is offerered in the love story I’m sharing with you today.

Whatever else bubbles out of my brain, today’s offering is just a ‘simple’ tale of a man and his dying wife going out on their last dinner date together in a romantic German location, on a rare balmy night in late Autumn somewhere close enough to Paris to fear guillotines pulled by donkeys headed north.

For some odd reason, the French really have issues with the past when it comes to dealing with the Germans, but there were no wagon wheels or donkey hooves pounding north on the cobblestone streets the night of our last dinner together.  It was just another of the minor blessings that have fallen our direction.

We grab blessings these days with all the vigor we can manage, because time and the degree of significance of their appearance is amplified by the deepening shadows and gathering storms we’ve ignored in order to remain in our amorous stupor for as long as is humanly possible.  You count your blessings where you find them.  That’s the philosophy Rita and I have maintained for a quarter century together and I’m not messing with success.

The Gathering Storms

If you’ve an aversion to fear, death, Nazi storm troopers, video game screen caps or humor bred of morbid fear and impending doom, stop now.  Everyone else…..
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Playing Tag

There is going to be a lot of talk about hash in this post, but before you cue up the Bob Marley playlist and pull out the hooka, or start to get yourself in a scattered, smothered, and covered mood, please note that all the “hash” involved in this post wear tags and are completely safe and legal in all jurisdictions, not to mention being totally fat free. The lowly hashtag has finally arrived. #hashtag

Hashtags Explained

Adding a # symbol before a word or phrase automatically turns it into a searchable hashtag.  It is really that simple.  #thatsimple  I try to use a unique and consistent tagging system throughout my internet wanderings.  No matter what photo service I may be using at the time, be it Instagram, Flickr, or Facebook, I always tag my photos #timages.    I sometimes use #timplates when posting food related content and #timlife for day-to-day slice of life blog posts-comments.  Combining hastag searches can refine the process even further.  Try searching #dogblogging and #timages together to return the latest pictures I have taken of my (or random) dogs.  For now, I am trying to standardize on a specific set of “#tim” related hastags; #timages, (general photos); #timplates, (food related); #timtations, (entertainment), #timtech (technology), and  #timstake for general or political opinion blogposts.  I’m starting to tag my uploaded videos #timvid.

Websites That Support Hashtags

Enjoy.