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!

 

#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.

 

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.”

On Difficulties

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

–Phyllis Bottome (1884-1963)

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)

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)