Meet Buster the nicotine-addicted wrestling chimp - and his college friends.

Marvel at shameless old men without pants - or inhibitions, apparently.

Share a song with your dad and Smokey Robinson - and some watermelon.

And feel the pain of true and endless loss.

There's no rhyme or reason in this collection of thoughts and observations from a slightly off-center, aging child of the South. Just sit back and enjoy quick trips into a different place and time that you just may recognize.

Garland West is a writer and business consultant with several decades of experience in the public policy process, most notably matters involving food security, economic development and organizational leadership. Over his career, he has applied his academic training in journalism to coverage of agricultural, environmental and trade policy in Washington and Europe, and has written articles, speeches, issue analysis and commentary on these and other matters for clients that include major corporate leaders and prominent global consulting firms. His resume includes postings in Washington, Minneapolis, London, New York, Chicago and Detroit, both as a corporate executive and president of his own company. Garland also is author of Appalachian Hymnal: Songs of Faith and Doubt, available from Palmetto Publishing. He and his wife Nancy today reside deep within in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where they maintain an animal sanctuary and savor a more contemplative and relaxed pace of life.