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!
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!
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
-Warren Buffett
I have also heard that “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”
There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.
–Phyllis Bottome (1884-1963)
“Character is formed, not by laws, commands, and decrees, but by quiet influence, unconscious suggestion, and personal guidance”