Three Sisters

The three sisters I have known most of their and my life is brought to mind with this funny story. They are starting to slow down a little but the will of the three combined make up for any problems brought on by the advancing years.

Three sisters, ages 92, 94, and 96, lived together in a large, rambling house in Asheville, North Carolina. One night, the 96-year-old was drawing a bath. She put her foot in and paused. She shouted to her two sisters, "Was I getting in or out of the bath?"

The 94-year-old yelled back, "I don't know. I'll come up and see."

She started up the stairs and paused. "Was I going up the stairs or down?"

The 92-year-old was sitting at the kitchen table, having tea and listening to her sisters. She shook her head and said, "I sure hope I never get that forgetful, knock on wood..." She then shouted, "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."

Luther, grim fare.

Watched LUTHER on the BBCA network last night. The review warned that it was a dark episode. Indeed it was. We watched Luther last season and liked it a lot. It arrives in our area at ten o'clock just before we are thinking of giving it up for the evening and heading to bed. Bad decision on our part. Luther was especially dark last night as we were pre-warned and it is not advisable for pre-bed fare. We did and I am afraid we decided to swear off of Luther. For those of you who like dark, grim, realism tune in. For me I must bid fond adieu to Luther and his band of chilling psycho's. At my age I prefer a little happier TV that would perhaps send me smiling and in a better frame of mind as I fall asleep.

Crossword

Oh yes I agree that crosswords are one definition of a moveable feast. We often have a large puzzle attached to a clipboard for a week at a time. It is a mechanism that exercises the brain. It is strange how I can look at a word in that puzzle and not have a clue after long staring and manipulation of letters what the word is. Then after abandoning it as a lost cause return the next day and like magic the answer is clear and you wonder and say to yourself, of course how did I not get it before. Sometimes of course the answer is just beyond solving and you refer to the answer page. Sometimes even after getting the answer it looks like the russian alphabet. All in all it keeps the brain exercised and that's what I'm looking for.

A fall sunday morning

All bloggers, required reading.

If you haven't seen today's Garfield, you must. At least all bloggers should. Bloggers who pontificate at length on subjects we know next to nothing about or my God about our blankety blank politicians who are determined to run the country into places we don't want to go..See there I go running my mouth about something I would have no more idea than Garfield would how to fix. Take the strip for what it is..funny; and bloggers for what they are, whatever that is.

Music from our pasts

Each Sunday on the Time goes by blog there is a column from Peter Tibbles featuring music from his past and ours. Music such as rock, folk, classical, popular, in other words, music we grew up with. Here is his archive thus far, take a look, or more correctly, a listen. It's just enough each week to tweek your memories into high gear.

The damage reports just keep coming in

A Budding Writer

My son sent this to me as the proud father that he is. This little vignette written while on vacation with his family, and intended for a class taught by Mrs. Tidwell at his school, shows extraordinary promise. That he will produce much more in the future I can only hope. I want to be able to brag I knew him when..

Evan Kittelberger

Mrs. Tidwell

Period 5

As I sat in the old building, I was tired and bored. As my parents tasted different wines, my younger brother and I sat on an ancient bench. We spoke the whole time, but I'm sure it was nothing of value since I don't remember a single word of the conversation. I was tired of just sitting around, doing nothing, so I stepped outside.

The air and temperatures were at a perfect quality. A scent of fresh grapes ready to be picked and created into an expensive wine wafted through the air. A soft breeze flew through my hair. Beyond me were stretches of grapes for as far as the eye could see, and being surrounded by my loving family just added to the equation of a perfect vacation. As I look at the photo it reminds me of the insatiable feeling of having not an ounce of stress or pressure in me. I could be myself and not care what anyone thinks about me. Not half an hour later I was walking through an antiques shop awestruck.

What hidden marvels there were, forgotten by others long ago. I could feel myself slip back into time as my eyes pondered these classics of Americana. Who used this record player that I am now admiring? The possibilities are endless thinking about what this piece of art has been through. Were there kids lying around it listening their favorite record, or was it an old woman that used it to forget her painful past? I'll never know, as much as I may want to. I could spend hours in the stuffy shop and love every moment. Not until now can I fully appreciate what I had the pleasure to find. Will people of future times look back and admire technology that we consider modern, and get the feeling that I did?

It's a good thought that someone could love something of mine, long after I'm gone, just like I did at that moment.

Looking back on that day, I now wish I could relive that feeling of love and respect for the technology of our ancestors. It was really the first time I have ever had this feeling, being my first time in an antique shop.

Ravel's Bolero

Today on television there is a 'mob flash' commercial where one of the dancers is too early. I know you have seen it. This one in Copenhagan Denmark features Ravel's Bolero.

Pete Rose

Who says life is fair, even for jerks like Pete Rose? But fair is fair. Election to the hall in Cooperstown is not the same as election to the throne in Rome. The quote below is probably a measure that he is not a mental genius but a clue to his thought processes.

I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.
Pete Rose

Malcolm Stephens Parcell (1896 – 1987)

EVENTIDE (THE CHURCHYARD)

Glen Campbell

Glen Campbell has Alzheimer's. I picked this off of YouTube to show what a great guitar player he is. Appeared on the Smothers Brothers show followed by his own show The Goodtime Hour.

Subject: Reading

THE SUBJECT IS READING.

I enjoy reading and get my books from several sources. I get most from my fabulous local library; they also provide me with video and music. I always have a book going on my Kindle E book which I think is fantastic. I can take it to bed with me and it is the ideal night time companion. When my eyes droop and all energy has given up I don't have to worry about falling asleep dropping my book and losing my place. It will shut itself off and when I turn it on in the morning it will have bookmarked itself. Great bedtime reader. My other source which I enjoy is buying used books from vendors through Amazon. Other than having to pay postage which is three dollars and some cents you can buy many of the books for one penny. My library accepts used books and if they're in pretty good shape will sell them for a pittance of their value, which goes back into the libraries coffers. Well whatever method you enjoy, reading is one of life's pleasures. Fellow blogist and good writer Bill Crider I apologize for not buying your books at Barnes and Nobel off the shelf each time. If economics were not involved I certainly would.

A Psalm of Life

Out of a clear blue my wife Hazel decided to recite this poem. She says it is the only one she knows by heart. She learned it in the eighth grade which would calculate out to make her age at about fourteen years, about fifty nine years ago. Pretty good.

A Psalm of Life
Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, - act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Water Damage

The picture is a bit of an exaggeration, but the feeling of desolation is probably close to the same. Water can be a destroyer.


Water outside of rivers, lakes oceans, and reservoirs can be a most destructive element. Does this sound like an introduction to a true life adventure? Well yes it is.

Hazel who has a hearing ability matched by few was awakened yesterday by an out of place sound. It was the sound of water being expelled full force from a broken feeder hose that when it is whole is connected to a toilet. In the time it took her to acclimate herself to what was going on, waking me and turning off the water valve the damage was done. All of the former might have taken five minutes but the damage was unbelievable. Water maybe half an inch deep had left the bathroom and had moved into two other rooms. It had found its way through the floor it was situated on and was cascading its way through the main floor at places where only water finds and was well on its way to accumulating there also.

It was five o'clock in the morning and I thought it was only proper that we should invite the plumber to the party and I did.

It is now the next day and after a full day of trying to correct the damage done that we could correct, but not the damage that will need to be corrected with replacement and check writing we are happy it ended up no worse than it did. Water within its natural barriers such as riverbanks or man made circuits, pipes and such is a needed resource, but water running amok is something that is best avoided if possible.

Chesapeake Bay and Skipjacks

Chesapeake Bay is certainly one of the most picturesque locations in America. I am quickly coming to the end of James Michener's Chesapeake novel. He labels his chapters voyages. The voyage I am ending now depicts the early, (late 1800's) to the early 1900's commercialism of the bounty of the bay. The craft of choice of the watermen were the skipjacks. When Hazel and I lived in Alexandria we ate occasionally at a restaurant on the Mount Vernon parkway and one of the favorites on their menu for us was Seafood platter Norfolk style, Oh yummy.

Watch the full episode. See more MPT Specials.

Birds

We have a small pond in our backyard in which we have species of many sizes and colors visiting daily. It is one of the best free shows around. Watching the posturing between the big birds and the smaller ones is a hoot. As I drink my coffee on my screened in back porch where I am seemingly unseen by the birds as they cavort is a true pleasure. Click on the picture to enlarge.

Flight

Sunset Departure :- By Mark Greaves

I find this a very evocative shot that seems to be begging a story or a poem to accompany it.



epilogue: The young pilot who wrote this poem was killed three months later.

Internet browsing

Browsing the internet is guaranteed to uncover some nugget of information that you did not know, such as this.....the koala bear, which has been known to travel a mere few hundred yards in the course of its life, working its way through the leaves of a eucalyptus grove.

If you see a person with a bag over their head, it's a politician.

That we hold our congress in such a negative view is not really news, is it?

Polls conducted after the debt ceiling deal have showed that Americans hold an increasingly negative view of Congress. A New York Times/CBS News polllast week showed Congress' approval rating falling to 14 percent, with a record 82 percent of Americans disapproving of the way Congress is handling its job -- the most since the Times first began asking the question in 1977.

A CNN poll this week showed, for the first time in its history, that most Americans think their own representatives do not deserve reelection.