“Only against death does man cry out in vain.” — Malcolm Lowry Anita seemed perplexed. Lara, Emma and I were all standing in the middle of San Gregorio Cemetery with tears streaming down our cheeks. It was all so beautiful. So sad. So poignant. We were surrounded by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Mexican families who […]
Category Archives: Tribute Bob
“It seems like all this life, was just a dream …”
As all the Steve Jobs homages blur into noise, Nate Beeler’s cartoon today hits the perfect final note.
A Capitol day
Capitol, a photo by Suffering the Benz on Flickr. Lara and I spent Saturday exploring museums. First, we hit the Gauguin exhibit that’s at the National Gallery of Art. Great stuff. We also drifted through a nice exhibit of Gabriel Metsu’s work. I wasn’t really familiar with the 17th century Dutch painter. I also spent […]
Remembering the best copy editor ever
Every day after deadline at The Albuquerque Tribune, Barb Page would start her rounds. We called it Schmooze Patrol. She’d set sail in the back of the room at the copy desk. Wade through the city desk. Drift past the features and sports departments. And moor at the front desk, loaded down with a day’s […]
2010: Ashes to ashes
When Xena died last summer, I didn’t really write about it. I couldn’t. It was one of those rare times when words fluttered away from me like a flock of frenetic finches. Tonight, as 2010 gasps its last and the Knoxville Years draw to a close, I decided to scatter the big dog’s ashes in […]
Gilligan’s Wake
“Riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.” It’s finally time. Time to hold a wake worthy of the sound and fury that was Gilligan, the black-and-tan coonhound from hell. We’re going to commemorate the noble […]
Godspeed, Mr. Gilligan
He was a good dog. Well, no. Not really. Half the time he was a good dog. A SuperDog. Worthy of Polly Purebred. But the other half, he was a whiney, headstrong itch that constantly demanded scratching. And I loved him. I’m proud that my last day with Gilligan was at Frozen Head State Park, […]
Suffering the Benz Top Posts
When I migrated from Movable Type to WordPress, I realized there’s a lot of crap on here. More than 600 posts over the past seven years. Someone beaming in from the Google Transporter would be hard pressed to figure out what’s going on here. So I’ve pulled together my favorite posts in a single category […]
Jesus got soul
Like a Hurricane …
At dawn after a fierce Friday night storm, Xena and I went down to the dock, where I nursed a go-cup of coffee and tortured worms while she pondered Zen dog thoughts. The water was muddy and strewn with leaves, branches and other detritus from the previous night’s fury. Crappie and minnows churned and swirled […]