Sunday Pipes #141

A new organ  comes to  St. Mary Church in Mokena,IL.

While not a “pipe organ” it is still a mighty, versatile instrument.

 

Saturday Thoughts

It has now been a year and a half that I have been living/working in Nashville and being able to spend very little time back home in SC, where most of my family is.  A few days a month, but not as much as was planned/expected with this position. The biggest challenge is finding folks that can and want to do what we need them to. Until then, I have to fill in the blanks.

Living alone, with very little social interaction outside of work, has changed me.

On the positive side, I am eating smarter and less. I’ve all but given up alcohol, but I don’t know why.  The result is that I’ve lost weight and I am now at 6 ft -3, I’m  just below 200 lbs for the first time in as long as I can remember, maybe since college?  (It was probable around 15 years ago that I was pushing 265, so it has been a gradual loss)  The loss of the weight is much easier on my arthritic ankles and I’m glad I saved most of the clothes that I couldn’t fit in years ago.

Of course, I am sure that the high stress and long hours at work has nothing to do with it . . . hopefully.

I have a workout routine that I complete in my apartment each evening, using some free weights and that has helped my strength and flexibility.

My iPad has become my best friend and I cannot imagine this lifestyle without it. News, emails, reading articles for business, music, blogs, informational videos and rarely, Direct TV.

I’ve become selfish as I have no one here to be considerate of and it is difficult to turn that off when I do go home.

I miss my wife, children, grandchildren, dog (soon to have two added) and the connections I had in SC. I regret that I am not present to be able to help around the house and also to help with extended family matters.

I miss being able to drive 5 minutes to  go for a walk on the beach as the sun rose and just relax a bit.

I’ve become a victim of routine. Get up, eat, go to work, eat, Facetime with the grandkids, talk to Alicia on the phone, read, and go to bed.  Cleaning the apartment and doing laundry on the weekends, after putting a day in at the office,  and occasional blogging, which I am hoping to get back to on a regular schedule.

Evaluating options, some very interesting and others mundane.

So, that’s my story.

Happy Mother’s Day to the moms out there and if your mom is alive, regardless of the relationship status, love and hug on her because one day you will not be able to and you will miss her. Trust me.

 

 

 

Progress?

In 100 years we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching remedial English in college.

-Joseph Sobran

The Problem With Johnny

“The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling” 

– Dr. Thomas Sowell

Sunday Pipes #140

It is that time of the year and parts of this piece of music will be played thousands of times across the country as families assemble to see their graduates move on to the next phase of their lives.

Pomp and Circumstance

Composed by Edward Elgar and performed by Michael T.C. Hey at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City, NY.

Music & Memories

It has been said that the music you enjoy throughout your adult life is generally the music you were exposed to during your late teens/early 20s. (High school/college years). I am not an exception to that thought.

I am  from the generation of 8-tracks, allowing us to play “albums” in our cars. It was a love-hate relationship due to the limitations of the media, but I digress.

An 8-track that I still have memories of is .38 Special’s 3rd studio album, Rockin’ Into The Night.  Released in 1979, there isn’t a weak song on it.

I have seen .38 Special a half dozen times or so and they always played this song.

 

Monday Wisdom

Technically speaking, all the money you have spent on food has been flushed down the toilet.

-Unknown Philosopher

Sunday Pipes #139

XAVER VARNUS PLAYS VIVALDI’S “SPRING” ON THE DEBRECEN PRESBYTERIAN CATHEDRAL ORGAN

One of, if not the best version of this timeless piece of music.

The video is outstanding also!

I’m  finally figuring out how to blog on my iPad, which has taken a while.

Urban Gardening

Last Spring I purchased a Meyer Lemon Bush  for my “balcony garden.”  While there were many fragrant blossoms earlier this year (I kept it inside during the Winter months),  I believe that finally I might have a lemon on the way.

Life’s simple pleasures.

In other urban garden news, the two Mourning Dove eggs mentioned here, appear to have been abandoned and I fear they are no longer viable.

Life and death just inches away from one another.

 

 

On Sacred Idleness

Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.

-George MacDonald

Neglected indeed.