PERHAPS....

We have long been told that it is not unusual to experience a “calm before a storm.”
Ok, well and good.

But what about a situation where you have a storm? What should you expect then, during and after the storm?

It seems to me on this Saturday morning, 27 March, that we Americans are in a storm of sorts, a storm in which a lot of less than good things are happening, that lots more such things are going to occur.

The negatives appear to us to be so obvious.

Those same negatives appear to mean nothing to supporters of b.o.
Or worse, those very negatives seem to be positives to those supporters.

As we approach senior citizen status, or, as Rush would say, ‘Seasoned Citizen’ status, the foolishness of b.o.’s supporters strikes us as being apparent beyond question.

And yet, it is not apparent to them. At least not yet.

Our hope and prayer is that, as Gramma used to say, the “Worm will turn.”

That is, the ‘great mob’ that supports b.o. and his Administration will see the light before some catastrophe occurs, either at home or abroad.

Perhaps the meteoric tax bites to come will open a few eyes.

Perhaps the negative effects of the changes in store for the US health care system will in some way be exposed in a meaningful way, before going into effect.

Perhaps, if a new, now likely crisis should break out in the Middle East, it will hopefully threaten just enough to expose the lunacy of our policies there and yet not burst fully into fury.

Perhaps the US economy, as rich and powerful and trusted as it is, will recover and will survive the stresses to which it is being exposed.

Perhaps the shabby treatment currently being accorded to our traditional allies will not cause irreparable diplomatic harm.

Perhaps the overtures being made to our traditional enemies will not result in long-lasting injury to our security in the world.

Or, for that matter, to the security of the world.

A lot to hope for.

THREE ON A MATCH – US…ISRAEL…IRAN

The story developing between the US, Israel, and Iran has a long history.
That story is taking a new twist.

The b.o. Administration appears to be degrading the traditional understandings between the US and Israel, aka the Big Satan and the Little Satan to the Iranian government.

Now, b.o. is playing with a different kind of problem in the Middle East than he has ever faced within the sheltered arena of domestic American politics.

Israel has long known that it could expect little help from the UN and Western Europe against threats from hostile neighbors.
What it could expect was traditional support of varying sorts and degrees from the US.

That is the ingredient that has changed in the current unfolding of Middle Eastern diplomacy.

b.o. is signaling a new relationship with Israel, a far-less ‘we are with you no matter what’, a relationship which appears to be causing Israel to reevaluate the reliance which it can place upon US guarantees of Israeli security.

Our concern is that Israel may, in the near future, decide that it cannot rely on US influence to deter Iran from aggression and will consequently decide to carry out a pre-emptive strike.

Should that occur, b.o. will have been guilty of destabilizing a region which has up to now gotten by with a relative, stress relative, low-level of violence.

A strike against Iran and the consequences thereof would likely make the violence of the last few years seem tame indeed.

b.o. is changing the US system health care system.
He is changing US diplomatic postures in the Middle East.

We have not as yet really felt any of the consequences.

As Gramma used to say, “The proof is in the pudding.”

I know, lots of Grammas used to say that.
We still do say that.

THESE ARE THE DAYS

Tuesday evening.
A bulldog is snoring by my side.

We walked today in a fish hatchery which is rapidly refilling with water after a long winter.
The geese and ducks are in residence – have not seen any herons yet – but they will come.

We walked for ca. half an hour. Sophie does not walk long or fast. But she loves the whole event.

Dear Wife continues to make new memories with Dear Cousin and her family in Florida and will be doing so for another week.

A new humidor is humidifying on the side table, a birthday present. A birthday gift from Dear Wife who sensed that the Ole Fella was thinking more and more of the days of his youth.

Funny how attitudes can change toward birthdays.

I remember well how I could not wait for the next one to roll around. It was a commonplace that I was ‘born old’ and I didn’t mind the joke at all.

Well, in the same way that John Wayne, in some early films, such as She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, had to be made to look older and later didn’t require any makeup, this Ole Fella now not only is starting to look the part – but is well on the way.

And the birth anniversaries seem to be arriving a lot more quickly.

And I am thinking a lot about how things used to be. About all the questions that lay ahead, all the unknowns.

Now I don’t have to worry about thirty year mortgages. No more saving for college for the kids.
Actually, we are putting a little away for the Grandkids, now that I think of it.

But no more thinking of another advanced degree.
Well, not as often anyway.

And other thoughts like those. Every once in a while they flood in.
As, we’re not the youngest people at the Elks anymore.
And middle aged polite men call me sir and hold the door open for me, as often as not.

And then, right when such thoughts as these are crowding the current doings of the day, the phone rings and a Dear Daughter calls up and says come on over for dinner or lets go out to the bookstore or lets take the dogs for a walk.
Or maybe a Dear Granddaughter calls up and says she will be looking for me after school to take her to piano lessons.
Or Dear Son meets me at the Elks for a hamburger and a drink and two hours of fellowship.
Or even our kids’ in-laws invite us over or out or to go wherever.

And then Dear Wife calls from Florida to ask how I am and what I’m doing and to share her day.

And then balance returns.
Perspective returns.

And then the counting of blessings can and does begin.

And then the prayer, “These are the days The Lord hast made….”

PERHAPS IT CAN BE REMADE

Sunday morning has transitioned into early Sunday evening.

Dear Daughter called up and coaxed me out of The Study for a 45 minute walk.
She said someone has to get the Ole Fella up and moving.

Anyway, we did our duty and returned home and took Dear Sophie out for her much shorter amble.

English bulldogs are not known for great stamina.

And of course we monitored the national goings on whilst baking chicken and some fixins.

b.o.’s health care is about to pass the House.
We’ll see what we’re to see.
As Patti Page sang, whatever will be will be.

Tonite I intend to print photos; keep a warm fire going in the fireplace; have a few drinks; write a few lines; read a few chapters of Ray Chandler; and keep track of the failure to derail b.o.'s plans for my doctor.

Perhaps things appear to be worse than they really are.

Churchill once said that you can count on America to do the right thing, after it has tried all the alternatives.

Let’s hope that his observation is still true.

We tried to phone our Senators last night. Their phones would not accept any message. Robot said the inbox was full.

The American electorate put the dems into the majority.

As Gramma used to say, the electorate has made the bed and now has to lie in it.

Perhaps it can be remade.

THY WILL BE DONE

'Tis Sunday morning, going on toward 11:00am.

Dear Wife is in Florida and the Dear Grandkids are at their own home.

I have skipped Church and am ensconced in The Study with Dear Sophie, monitoring lots of coffee, breakfast, and the doings of our national leaders on the Question of the Day.

If ever there was a day to utter the prayer, today is the day.

Thy will be done!!!

FESS PARKER...R.I.P.

Born on a mountain top in Tennessee
The greenest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods so's he knew ev'ry tree
Kilt him a b'ar when he was only three

Fess Parker died 18 March at his home.
Another of the Good Guys has passed on.

As the daughter of another prominent movie actor said some years ago, we all move up a little closer to the turnstyle.

Fess Parker was one of the folks I watched as a young lad and one of the ones I sang the theme song of, over and over and over again.

His passing recalls to mind such icons of a childhood as Paladin (A knight w/o armour); Johnny Yuma (The Rebel); Wyatt Earp (Buntline Special); Matt Dillon (Miss Kitty); and Rawhide (Gil Favor, Clint Eastwood).
Doubtless there are others.

Many of us could whistle and sing the entire theme songs - still can, parts of 'em.

News reports say Mr. Parker was a husband of 50 years to same Dear Wife; Dad; Grandad; and Great Grandad.
He was as well a successful winemaker and real estate developer.

He inspired a lot of Americans, young ones who would later become old.

He did well.

ANOMALIES

Life is sometimes full of anomalies.
But there are a lot of them nowadays.

b.o. says he does not care how a bill becomes a law in Congress.
He does not care??

The leaders of both houses of Congress announce that they intend to pass a bill into law and to send it on to the President w/o voting on it.

Members of Congress in favor of the health bill proclaim that they do not care that most Americans are against the bill and/or the method chosen to make it into law.

The United States appears to downgrade the US commitment to supporting Israel.

The Episcopal Church of the United States, TEC, continues to alienate itself from the Anglican Communion and from parts of its own membership.

Politics at the national level has never, in modern times, been so blatantly in conformity with the Bismarckian advisory: Those who enjoy sausages and politics should never watch either being made.

Nuclear programs continue w/o consequences to Iran.

Celebrities in several walks of life commit atrocious acts and are forgiven, entirely forgiven by a public which no longer seems to care.

Behaviors/beliefs which were considered abnormal are morphing into general acceptance as normal – a process which can and does result in behaviors/beliefs previously considered as normal being declared to be less than normal.

Life goes on.

So do the anomalies.

Give us strength.

Thy will be done.

THESE ARE DAYS THE LORD HAST MADE

We have passed the ‘fail safe’ point of March.
Winter is about done, little chance of any significant snowfall.

We have seen the first robin.

Buds are appearing on trees and although the nights are cool, daytime temps are pushing up toward the sixties.

The cycles are repeating. They would do so whether we were present or not. A sobering thought.

We have attended our second full vestry meeting at Church, the beginning of a new term after at least six years ‘out of office’.

Dear Wife’s annual two-week trip to Florida sans husband is again underway and all appears to be going well in that southern region.

Dear Sophie and I remain in residence at The Study.

St. Pat’s Day was observed twice, a few days early at a fabulous singing/dining/fellowship party in a lovely home of friends and on the Day itself at our local Elks Club with again, music, food, and fellowship.

A fabulous birthday party for this ole Dad/Grandad was lovingly prepared and delivered by Dear Wife, Dear Son, Dear Daughter, Dear Son-in-law, Dear Daughter-in-law, and Dear Granddaughters – food, fellowship, laughter, gifts – a time of renewal and reassurance.

And conversation around a backyard fire afterwards was enhanced by the stroll through of no less than six deer.

So many good things are occurring, are repeating. As well as some that could be better.
Such is the stuff of life.

We thank the Lord for His blessings and pray for the strength to properly receive that which is to come.

POLITICAL KAMIKAZES

Recollections/impressions of what I used to know (note the tense) about one Edmund Burke have been swirling about the memory banks of this writer the last few weeks/months.

I have it that he was the 18th Century English political philosopher who dealt with the question of whether members of Parliament (or, our political reps) should speak only their own minds on issues or whether they should also speak the minds of their constituents.

W/0 research, I believe that he said that there should be a bit of both, with the understanding that morality, legality, etc., would trump the wishes of the multitude if they strayed from the straight and narrow.

What would E.B. say about the current national dem kamikaze approach to nhs, wherein they are defying the will of the majority to force a gargantuan doctrinaire program on the nation?

I used to think that kamikazes were only in ancient Japan or in the last year or so of WW2. Then we learned there were variant strains in the current war on terror.

And now we see that it exists also in the national dem party.

Good grief!!

nyt on PRESIDENT BUSH...

Another NYT item on President Bush.

Think of it as more tarnish on b.o.’s political patina.
And, more proof that the NYT is not all bad.


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/do-you-miss-him-yet/?pagemode=print

THANK GOD FOR BOOKS AND GRANDKIDS

Books, where would we be w/o them?

This morning, early, maybe ca. 7:45, Dear Wife was up and doing whatever. I was in the kitchen making two coffees, on pot decaf, one pot caff.

And then the cutting and the prep of fruit and toast and whatever to support us until breakfast after church.

8:00am and all of a sudden and I asked where were the kids.

We had the Dear Grandgirls last weekend.

Dear Wife said they were still in bed.

I started the coffee machines and went to look. Thank God for coffee machines!

They were in bed alright – and they were reading the books we had bought together the day before.
The curtain over their window was slightly open and the early, early sunlight was just enough to enable them to see the pages.

They were reading!!!!!!!!
They were not watching TV.

We had done the bookstore thing the previous evening, this time with Dear Daughter. Dinner was an added delight before the book hunting.

Books-in-progress:
The High Window, Raymond Chandler. I am discovering the origins of a type of literature. Fun!

Firstlight, Sue Monk Kidd. Good stuff by a novelist and a contributor to GuidepostsBooks. Reading it for a church study group.

The Gospel of Luke, Fr. Frederick Schmidt. Another book for still another church study group.

Book-just-finished:
Citizens of London, Lynne Olsen. An account of several Americans making a difference in wartime London, WW2.

I would promise to report on impressions, etc., but I did that some months ago and never followed through.

So I won’t promise now.
But would love to exchange thoughts.

Thank God for books!

POST PAUCITY

To any and all who have noticed our lack of posting lately, thank you for the noticing.
As noted in our response to response to Cathy in the previous post, that of 15 Feb., we were experiencing computer confusion and are dealing with a family issue and have been distracted, more so than usual.
It is swell to know that there are friendly eyes and ears and faces and folks out there.

These are exciting times and we look forward to visiting our fav sites and hope to be occasionally visited by others.