My Eyes

To see what I could see. 

 



As I get older I feel the darkness closing in, the shadows growing longer, the light fading, fading, fading....

Just kidding!

However, I can't see as well as I used to. When I was younger I had fantastic eyes, and used to impress everyone by how well I could see the buses approaching at our bus stop in Pine Point by the old wall on Boston Road.

Long before anyone else, I could see whether the approaching bus was the one we wanted - State Boston Road which stopped directly in front of The High School of Commerce - or some other school bus. Now my eyes have weakened until I can hardly read without glasses on. Which brings me to a recent bit of misfortune.

It went down like this: I was sitting on the couch and reading the Springfield Republican when the phone rang. In a hurry to answer, I carelessly put down my reading glasses and went to the phone. After talking for several minutes, I returned to the couch and sat down. That's when I heard a sickening crunching sound. I jumped up and looked where I had sat and this was the condition of my glasses.

Oh shit! I sat on my glasses and knocked the lens out! Try as I might to stick it back in, the lens simply wouldn't stay in place. As an unemployed former drug addict on welfare, how could I get some new glasses?

Taxpayers to the rescue!

I found an eye doctor in downtown Northampton who takes MassHealth. I headed straight down there to 78 Main Street on the second floor.

Right next door, where NBO Tickets is now, was once a smoke shop called Lizottes. They had the best selection of rolling papers in Hamp.

78 Main is a grand old building with an interesting floor of hardwood and glass.

Anyway, the story had a happy ending as I will soon have my brand new glasses. Actually the pair I broke were cheapos I'd picked up at Walmart. My new ones will be prescription glasses made to meet the exact specifications of my individual eyes.

America has been very good to me.

Speaking of freebies, this is where I got today's free lunch at UMass. 

You could also get free pot - a planting pot that is - provided you were willing to paint it.

 



Here I am in Packard's in Hamp, posing by a painting by the famous local artist Greg Stone. That's Stony himself on the right. 

 



I'll be attending a blogger's summit (or whatever) next Monday night at Packard's which I'm sure I'll tell you about.

Here's a painting I came upon outside a student partyhouse in Amherst. Think it has any sexual connotations?

I wonder if this message on a dorm window in the Southwest section of UMass also has sexual overtones?

Or maybe I just don't get it. Drivers however are getting it good.