Site created: 12/97. Last update: 08/12 |
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Me: Ken Mingis. Southern transplant living in New England since 1984. I'm 51 and work as the online news editor for Computerworld.com, an IDG-owned Web site that focuses on IT. Likes: Coffee, biking, my incredibly cool 17-inch MacBook Pro, other hi-tech gadgets like my plasma TV, my '08 Acura RDX, autumn and Mozart. Dislikes: summer humidity, celery and a dead Internet connection among other things. Oh, and boring people. | |
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| Mom: Also known in print as Mama. Celeste, still living in the same city in which she was born, Raleigh, N.C. A bit of a Southern belle, genteel, with an unerring ability to be helpful to friends and strangers alike. Likes to laugh, and loves her "boys" more than anything. Age: 75. Divorced. Dad: An unreconstructed man of the '50s who liked an occasional bourbon and ginger ale (Ancient, Ancient Age), and always had a fondness for cars and steaks on the grille. He was not that far from retiring as a tire salesman when, early on New Year's Eve, 1997, he had a massive stroke. He died Jan. 1, 1998. Age: 60. He had remarried. (See the essay "Daddy.") Jeff: My younger brother, who's 44 now and living outside of Dallas. Loves to hunt, watch football, fish, hunt, go boating, watch football, and fish. (Yes, I know I repeated myself there. If you knew Jeff, you'd understand.) He's also the only one of us to own three, count 'em, three vehicles, including his sporty red '81 Camaro. Loves the Washington Redskins. Grandmama Long: Thelma Long, widowed, 90, known for baking cakes, bags of biscuits and knitting Afghans for needy children. Liked to tell off color jokes and reminisce. She died Feb. 13, 2002. Want to see some her favorite southern recipes? Check out Recipes. (You may have to click on your browser's "back" button to return here.) Grandmama Dee: Delia Mingis, who lived to be 99, known for traveling the country with her brother and two sisters, usually by car, usually without a hard and fast itinerary. Every day and every place is an adventure - life, as it should be.For years, I called her every Sunday -- just as Daddy did before he passed away. She left us in April 2008. | |
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 Zach: A wonderfully sweet yellow lab who's more fox-red and white than yellow. But, boy, is he all lab! He came to Alex and me from adoptalab.org a few weeks after Bubba passed away -- and arrived with a dozen or so fellow rescue dogs who had found homes all across New England. (They were brought in from the Midwest.) It took him a few days to know he was home. But he knows it now. |
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 Alex: A buff and white beauty, with glowing amber eyes and affection to spare. This bouncing bundle of fur was looking for a home when I saw him in October 1998 at the Providence Animal Rescue League. Instead of living in a cage, Alex spent his later years sleeping quietly in a cozy bedroom, emerging whenever Scooby wasn't watching -- and sometimes even when he was. He was just 13 when he died too soon on July 5, 2011. |
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Alejandro: He's 44, the center of my little universe. A New Jersey native, Alejandro (that's Alex for short) moved to Providence in '99 (we met in 2000). Currently, he's a director at Dorcas place and working on a career in digital graphics or maybe yoga. He moved in here in May 2001. We laugh, we talk, we cry, we explore. He brings happiness to an often-troubled world, and to my life every day. I'm lucky. And I know it.
Linda: Ex-girlfriend, best friend, living nearby with Jackson the crazy dog. Loves to tell stories, many of which are true -- a quality she inherited from her mother Nancy. Linda's 59, but looks at least 10 years younger and acts it, too. See the essay 
Scooby: Also known as "Scoobers," this little guy bounded into our lives in April 2005, not long after Miller (see below) passed away. We're told he's part Pointer, part Chocolate Lab. Whatever he is, he's filled with curiosity, loves to run and play (don't all young dogs?), and carries with him a constant look of worry -- as though he's not sure he's really found a home. He has. In fact, even after the arrival of Zach, he still pretty much runs the place. Scooby was born in July 2004.
Miller: Also known as Woofies, he's a beautiful chestnut-colored lab/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, weighing 80 pounds and unable to stop himself from licking friendly people. He follows me from room to room and always shows his disappointment when I pack to go somewhere and "forget" him. I got him in early 1994, when he was 6 months old and he was my best pal until the day he died: April 13, 2005. I still miss him every day, and expect to do so for the rest of my life. Check out his own 
Bubba: Black Lab, adopted August 1997, a month after Murray died. In his youth, he liked to bounce on his rear legs and lie on top of his owners. Distinguishing characteristic: No front teeth, probably from chewing on the cage in which he lived while awaiting adoption. After 10 years with me, old age finally caught him. He was sent on his way to a place where he could again romp and play on Sept. 21, 2007. He was 14 years old, and the most noble of pals right to the end. Check out Bubba's 
Murray: A mixed-breed dog with an under bite, known for rolling in smelly things and, in her younger years, disappearing on little dog forays commonly known as "Murray's Big Adventures,'' (with proper homage paid to PeeWee). I adopted her in 1984. She died, July 8, 1997, age: 16 years. Craig and Iwere with her to the very end, and I made sure that the last thing she saw was me, and the last thing she heard was "Good dog!" See the essay, 