Moving On

—The Obscure Penguin— Before the internet happened I had a different state of mind.  My father was in the Air Force.  As an Air Force brat, I was the perpetual new kid.  I went to eleven different schools growing up.  There were a lot of kids like me, but as a general rule, unless our […]

Pie a la Mode

—The Obscure Penguin— In the eighties Peggy and Rodney Collier came to visit my wife and me in England.  For those who have followed The Obscure Penguin, you know that Rodney and I hitchhiked to the Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic in 1976 as our celebration for graduating from Amarillo College.  If you remember […]

The Hong Kong Incident

—The Obscure Penguin— Long ago, on the other side of the world I faced off against a Panamanian freighter and lived to tell about it.  When I was in the Air Force, stationed in the Philippines, I took a week-long vacation in Hong Kong.  It was one of those Clark Air Base tourist excursions to […]

Cirencester (My First Pub)

— The Obscure Penguin — In 1984 when many people were worried about Big Brother I landed on the shores of Avalon.  I’d been desperate to go to England since I’d read Lord of the Rings and listened to Yes.  Fire hydrants reminded me of hobbits and I didn’t know what the hell a roundabout […]