About

This blog is dedicated to my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Tina Banks of Burke School Elementary, who gave me the gift of literature.

 

This blog is about reading and writing. It was initially about my quest to read the 100 Greatest Novels of all time – a quest I completed in June 2018. Now it is about my continuing reading experience with a bit of my poetry, prose, or nonsense thrown in.

 

The blog name is derived from poems by John Newton and J.R.R. Tolkien. Like Newton, I once was lost but now am found, but as Tolkien puts it, not all those who wander are lost. Though no longer lost, I still like to wander: through the secret places of Middle Earth, or the courts of Imperial Russia, over grand plantations of the antebellum South, or the inner sanctum of a mad scientist’s laboratory, through deepest seas, farthest planets, and the occasional insane asylum.

The image in the Title/Banner is original artwork, created by my son. You can see more of his work at Jonathan F did an art on Facebook.

 

About me: I am happily married; my beautiful wife and I have three wonderful children (son, son, daughter), two marvelous daughters-in-law, four adorable grandsons, and two beautiful granddaughters. It's not hyperbole; they are beautiful, wonderful, marvelous, adorable, and again beautiful.

 

Me? I'm humble and lovable...which is an allusion to Shoe Shine Boy, Underdog's humble and lovable undercover identity.  I see myself a little like Linus of peanuts as well. Two cartoon references ought to tell you something.

 

I share a birthday with Millard Fillmore. Though, we don't really share. It's all mine now. He's finished with it.

 

I have a job...a career even. I like what I do, and I'm good at it. That's a blessing.  I'm on my second career. I haven't been unemployed a single day for nearly 40 years. I tend to take having a job for granted, so let me acknowledge what a blessing that is and thank the Good Lord for steady employment. I'm a writer of sorts professionally, though it's boring day-job stuff and not accessible to the public. I hope to write the great American novel someday. If that proves too difficult, I may slow my roll and shoot for the reasonably decent Hoboken novel, giving myself a better statistical probability of success.

 

I've eaten over 30,000 pieces of toast. I love toast. I've heard you should write about what you know about, so my novel will probably be about toast.

 

I was born in Michigan, where I spent the first 20+ years of my life. I graduated from the University of Maryland – Fear the Turtle - though I have never lived in Maryland. I currently live and work in Northern Virginia. I have also lived in Japan, Nebraska, Hawaii, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, and Texas. I've traveled to South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, and the U.K. Don't get me started on states. Not all of em. Most of em. Including the two tough ones.

 

I am told I have a quirky sense of humor. I prefer the word aloof.

 

I'm not a cat person, though I've had a cat for most of my adult life. This is because I am a wife and daughter person. 

 

I am a cat video person, however. After an extensive personal inventory questionnaire that we both took, this was found to be the only thing I had in common with Ozzie Osbourne. His answers were unintelligible, but we just figured cuz...who doesn't like cat videos?

 

I once met Bobby Kennedy...sort of. He was right there; I coulda touched him, but he was sort of scary, so I didn't. My brother touched him, shook his hand, and I was touching my brother...so yeah, me and Bobby were tight. May he rest in peace.

 

I love words. I'm a logophile or word nerd. I love to know the origin, subtle meanings, common misuses, etc. I'm a bit fussy about words. I'm interested in names because names are words. My name is Joseph; it is Hebrew, for he shall add. Not as in math, but as in he shall be of benefit.

 

I collect quotations. One of my favorites, by the only President from the Great State of Michigan: 

 

Things are the way they are now, more than they ever have been before. ~ Gerald R. Ford

 

By the way, it's a quotation, not a quote. Quote is a verb; quotation is a noun. What I did (verb) was quote President Ford. The actual saying (noun) itself is a quotation. Fussy remember?

 

I enjoy reading, writing, eating toast, golfing, poking things with sticks, fishing, avoiding political discussions, confusing people, thinking deep thoughts, collecting quotations, and handicapping horse races.

 

Thanks for reading my blog. I love to see new page views. I love comments even more.

 

Live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God!

 

The Wanderer

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