Thine aid, O Muse, I consciously beseech; I crave thy succour, ask for thine assistance
That men may cry: “Some little ode! A peach!” O Muse, grant me the strength to go the distance!*

To my readers,

I started creating these memoirs in 2003 and for over a year I kept them private. Then, as a trial, I sent a few installments to some of my children and friends.

The response was overwhelming, “Send us more! Don’t keep this private. We need to read them now.” So with this in mind I have decided to publish my writings on this website for all to see. Regularly, I am adding new installments and you are invited to add comments.

Many of these installments are written as a letter to Annie or Anna. Who is Annie? There is not an easy answer to this question. Annie could be a real person, a feeling I have in my mind, a literary device, or perhaps all three, but in any case, I have found that my writings flow better when I address them in the form of a letter to my Annie. Therefore, Annie is my muse.

At present these installments are not in any particular order, chronological or otherwise. I am just writing them as they come to me. Perhaps one day I will arrange and edit them into a final form, but in the meantime they are presented, more or less, in the order they were written.

*From “An Ode In Time of Inauguration” by Franklin P. Adams, 1913

**Image taken from http://ourgreekmuseum.wikispaces.com/Religion+of+Ancient+Greece. Polyhymnia is one of the nine muses in Greek Mythology. She patronizes poetry and sacred song. Polyhymnia gives the divine gift of poetry and the art of speaking. She is the power of speech that can inspire and soothe and yet can also hurt and cause great suffering. Her power inspires one to seek the ways of truth.