Why Most Dog Owners Have Strong Immune Systems

I have forgotten where I lifted this from, so I can’t give credit where it is due.

My apologies to the original blogger.

This is why most dog owners have strong immune systems.

Have a happy weekend everyone!

 

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#TBT. . . Ask . . .Tell

Here is an undated photo I found going through Mom’s thousands of pictures that I had been told were lost in two floods.

I believe that the man on the Left is my Great Uncle Charlie (1910-1993), but I would not bet my life on it. While I recognized so many people in the photos left behind, there were many that I had no idea who they were and what they were doing.  I wish I had taken more time to push my parents to tell me more of the stories of their lives.

I am hoping not to make the same mistakes with our girls, trying to make time to show them the digitized version of old 8mm films from when I was a toddler, going forward. The key is getting them all together and keeping their attention.

Ask the questions and tell the stories.

 

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It Tolls For Thee

This poem was referenced during a funeral I attended Saturday and is a sobering reminder of coming attractions for us all.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

by John Donne  and now in the public domain

***

No man is an island, entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

or of thine friends were.

Each man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.

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Tull Tuesday #19

I was reminded the other day that “To Cry You A Song” is likely the very first Jethro Tull Song I ever heard, introduced by my cousin Karen decades ago.  She called me on Sunday to say hello and to tell me that The Martin Barre Band (former, long-time guitarist for JT) was playing nearby her home in a few weeks and it’s too bad I still wasn’t living in NJ so I could go see him.

From the 1970 “Benefit” album. Performed in 1977.  (Also includes “A New Day Yesterday” from the debut, “Stand Up” album (1969).

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Memorial Day 2023

I have picked this video for several years as a reminder to those enjoying the unofficial start to Summer, that many a husband, son, wife, and daughter died in all types of weather for our freedom.

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Sunday Pipes #98

Well, it is Memorial Day weekend and I went to Cincinnati, OH for Todd Van Beck’s funeral yesterday. Most folks who knew him were never aware that he was a first-class organist in addition to having so many other admirable qualities. There was a string quartet playing J.S. Bach during the visitation and it added to the solemnity of the occasion.

In addition to my mom, Todd was responsible for my ever-growing love of the pipe organ. I recall him inviting me to a chapel at the Antheneum in Cincinnati where he had permission to play their organ. There were two pieces he shared with me that afternoon,  the famous “Tocatta & Fugue in Dm” by JS Bach and the almost as famous Passacaglia in D Minor (BuxWV 161) by Bach’s Mentor, Dieterich Buxtehude.

The lesser known of the two, performed by Leon W. Couch, III at Carroll University, Waukesha, WI in 2012.

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On Planning

“An idiot with a plan can beat a genius without a plan”

-Warren Buffett

I have also heard that “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

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On Difficulties

There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.

Phyllis Bottome (1884-1963)

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On Dragons

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

-G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

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On Character

“Character is formed, not by laws, commands, and decrees, but by quiet influence, unconscious suggestion, and personal guidance”

Marion LeRoy Burton(1874-1925)

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