Halloween approaches.   For some it means parties, including with costumes.  

They're in style and many men have grown them in many different lengths.   Fred shaves his off and grows it back several times during the year. A friend of mine wears a goatee and extends it to a full beard then shaves it back.   I've had mine for a very long time...30+ years. I can't remember not having a beard. I look at pictures of myself without one and they look weird. I've got more "blonde" hairs in my beard now...more than I ever used to have and a question pops into my head every now and then...  

I have been writing my Friday With Fred blog for nearly 10 years and it has become a regular part of my life.  At any time, a subject might strike me and I rush to write it on my iPhone.  Contrary to another regular blogger, I tend to keep mine short and to the point and today's point is that I would like suggestions as to topics you would like to read about.  So please chime in.  Thanks. 

We just installed a new phone system in our office. Even as I attended the orientation session to learn how to use the new phone, I accepted the fact that I would probably never utilize all of its features nor realize all of its potential. I would incorporate what worked for me and settle in to a nice cooperative relationship with my new phone. The same must be true for my "smartphone". I wonder how much unrealized potential there must be in my faithful companion. Isn't it true that we only use a fraction of our brain's potential?

Today is Jeannie C. Riley's Birthday.

  Have you noticed that with more and more frequency a commercial is repeated in the same program cycle? You walk out of the room to grab a drink and come back to the start of the same commercial that was ending as you left.  

It was one of those days you dread while on vacation. As our cruise ship pulled into the port of Corfu Greece, we looked outside our balcony to see drenching rainfall. Given that we were scheduled to take a bus tour of the island, I was not concerned; I did not expect the rain to affect our itinerary.  

Last week I shared plans to see the Broadway musical "Beautiful" last night for Shelly's Birthday.  Enjoyed the book and the music and how the lyrics of several songs really spoke to the things going on in the life of Carol King and first husband Gerry Goffin who passed in 2014.   Tapestry -- still have the LP -- played in iTunes for the ride home.