We are downstate again.
Two quick trips North have seen the Camp opened and the Kayla Elise once again restored to her element.
She sails the narrow waters again in all appropriate splendor.
Our Northern Neighbors have largely reestablished themselves and the Community is restored – as in our version of Brigadoon, if you will.
It is late on this Memorial Day, 2010, and it has been a busy day.
The ole mind is not as clear as it should be as I take keyboard in hand. We marched today in the Memorial Day Parade – temp in the upper 80’s in our part of the neighborhood.
Thousands of people in attendance.
What a thrill to participate – the staging of the parade; the parade walk; the ceremonies at the cemetery; and the afterglow.
All marchers were invited to the VFW for free, that is free hotdogs, pop, and chips.
Small town!!!!!!!!!!!
How sweet it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And then it was off to Dear Son-in-Law’s birthday party.
Wonderful fellowship ensued, as did adult beverages and cooling off in AC after a really strenuous morning and early afternoon.
But what a splendid time.
Today we honored those who have died in the Armed Forces of the United States of America and the birthday of our Son-in-Law.
And we think of the dangers facing our military in the world beyond.
We think of the apparent incompetence of our national leadership and the brilliance of our Armed Forces.
We trust the Good Lord to preserve and safeguard the legitimate interests of the United States. And those who labor in behalf of those interests.
You note that our current national leadership never uses such language.
We lament the catastrophe of the oil spill and the failure to stop it.
We are alarmed by the positions taken by the b.o. administration regarding Israel; Iran; the UK; the EU; Afghanistan; Iraq; Arizona; Gitmo; the War on Terror; and on and on and on.
We take heart in a major Republican Lincoln Day Dinner event we were privileged to attend.
We were privileged to attend an evening of politicking with the keynote speaker being no less a personage than Karl Rove.
We were invited by a fellow high school classmate.
A first for us, and we mingled for a few moments with political powers-that-be.
Fun! Inspiring!
Hope, faith springs eternal.
Anyway, now it is late.
I must shut down for the night.
I hope this Memorial Day was fruitful and constructive for all.
It is one of our holidays which should not be allowed to degenerate into merely a time to grill burgers and ogle bikinis.
Not that it is not superb fun to do both.
But all things in moderation.
Pray for our Military and for our First Responders.
They are our Thin Blue and Thin Red Lines and we need them these days more than ever.
More later.
God bless!!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
THE GOOD DOCTOR SAYS IT LIKE IT IS
Sir Winston Churchill said it decades ago - actually, ca. seventy years ago, in words to this effect:
He or they had the choice of peace or war. He or they chose peace. He or they got war.
The Good Doctor speaks and writes well.
History can repeat itself.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/20/AR2010052003885.html
He or they had the choice of peace or war. He or they chose peace. He or they got war.
The Good Doctor speaks and writes well.
History can repeat itself.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/20/AR2010052003885.html
THESE ARE THE DAYS THE LORD HATH MADE...REJOICE AND BE GLAD
Spring is upon us.
Flats of flowers have begun to appear from various sources: from elementary school, from church, and from Dear Daughter on Mother’s Day.
Both lawns are in full growth mode. And we don’t put down fertilizer.
A fence needs repairing.
Interior walls have been painted and exterior ones could use similar attentions.
The North beckons. The Lake calls. The towns and villages we love so much await.
Dear Sophie Matilda can walk again around the ponds at the Nature Center.
The umbrella is up on the deck and the flags can be unfurled.
The cycles turn, life goes on.
There are songs to sing and beautiful things to do and see.
And then there is the awareness that all of these are but forshadowings of things to come.
Perhaps this realization is the most important of all realities.
C.S. Lewis reminds us:
The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things – the beauty, the memory of our own past – are good images of what we really desire…; they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
Flats of flowers have begun to appear from various sources: from elementary school, from church, and from Dear Daughter on Mother’s Day.
Both lawns are in full growth mode. And we don’t put down fertilizer.
A fence needs repairing.
Interior walls have been painted and exterior ones could use similar attentions.
The North beckons. The Lake calls. The towns and villages we love so much await.
Dear Sophie Matilda can walk again around the ponds at the Nature Center.
The umbrella is up on the deck and the flags can be unfurled.
The cycles turn, life goes on.
There are songs to sing and beautiful things to do and see.
And then there is the awareness that all of these are but forshadowings of things to come.
Perhaps this realization is the most important of all realities.
C.S. Lewis reminds us:
The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things – the beauty, the memory of our own past – are good images of what we really desire…; they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
Friday, May 14, 2010
WHAT WAS THAT??
Did we really hear what we think we heard?
Did press person gibbs actually say the Government would keep a boot on the throat of BP?
Is the implication that BP really does not mind causing such catastrophes?
Are some states really starting to serve dinners as well as breakfasts and lunches to school children??
Is the restorative recipe for financially embarrassed Greece and possibly Europe to cut back on the public sectors of the economy and welfare and to privatize?
Is the b.o. Administration delaying the mirandizing of captured terrorist barbarians?
Is Gitmo still open?
In some states, is it legal to be illegal?
Has outspoken eric holder really not read the Arizona immigration law?
Has b.o.?
Does the President of Afghanistan, touring Arlington, really care about how many Americans have died fighting in his country?
Is ‘profiling’ by law enforcement simply a pejorative term by liberals for being on the alert for clues?
How disconnected from anything beyond their everyday world are the liberal voters of the United States of America?
Did press person gibbs actually say the Government would keep a boot on the throat of BP?
Is the implication that BP really does not mind causing such catastrophes?
Are some states really starting to serve dinners as well as breakfasts and lunches to school children??
Is the restorative recipe for financially embarrassed Greece and possibly Europe to cut back on the public sectors of the economy and welfare and to privatize?
Is the b.o. Administration delaying the mirandizing of captured terrorist barbarians?
Is Gitmo still open?
In some states, is it legal to be illegal?
Has outspoken eric holder really not read the Arizona immigration law?
Has b.o.?
Does the President of Afghanistan, touring Arlington, really care about how many Americans have died fighting in his country?
Is ‘profiling’ by law enforcement simply a pejorative term by liberals for being on the alert for clues?
How disconnected from anything beyond their everyday world are the liberal voters of the United States of America?
Saturday, May 8, 2010
THIS AND THAT
Inches of snow will fall tonight in Michigan’s UP.
‘Tis a cold, hard environment.
‘Tis a land easy to love.
The BP ‘dome’ so far has not worked.
One mile down and fifty miles out.
Easier to fix on land.
40+ mph winds here this morning with rain – very large branch, 30 feet long, eight inches wide, fell on wires.
Winds blew it off.
Wires ok.
UDT, Seals, cleared of abuse charges.
You Go, Guys!!
Economic turmoil in Greece.
Perhaps the tip of a continental iceberg.
Perhaps a harbinger of things to come in a socialized democracy.
Mother’s day starts the second week of May.
God bless wives and mothers.
They civilize the world.
We attend a bulldog puppy show Sunday.
It is a Mother’s Day function, complete with baby bulldogs and lots of bulldog Moms and owners.
And a superb luncheon buffet.
We work the souvenir table, as we have done for a number of years.
Small town.
Speaking of small town, never have we at The Study been more impressed with the virtues of our small town.
Breathless Expectation, a favorite site, reminded us of this the other day.
The local grocery; Church; Elks Club; eateries; movies; library; stores that know you; the local school; health club; hardware; and on and on and on.
So much could be written.
We are believers.
This retired teacher used to wear a sweater to school, for years and years.
And every morning I would place my brief case and tote bag on my desk and then hang up my coat and sweater in the closet.
If a student was within earshot, I would sing a few lines of... I want to be your neighbor….
Sometimes the more knowledgeable of the young folk got the joke.
I loved it.
Our Brigadoon in the North is coming to life. Emails are informing us that our neighbors are beginning to reassemble.
The cycles are repeating.
Thank God we can be a part of them.
‘Tis a cold, hard environment.
‘Tis a land easy to love.
The BP ‘dome’ so far has not worked.
One mile down and fifty miles out.
Easier to fix on land.
40+ mph winds here this morning with rain – very large branch, 30 feet long, eight inches wide, fell on wires.
Winds blew it off.
Wires ok.
UDT, Seals, cleared of abuse charges.
You Go, Guys!!
Economic turmoil in Greece.
Perhaps the tip of a continental iceberg.
Perhaps a harbinger of things to come in a socialized democracy.
Mother’s day starts the second week of May.
God bless wives and mothers.
They civilize the world.
We attend a bulldog puppy show Sunday.
It is a Mother’s Day function, complete with baby bulldogs and lots of bulldog Moms and owners.
And a superb luncheon buffet.
We work the souvenir table, as we have done for a number of years.
Small town.
Speaking of small town, never have we at The Study been more impressed with the virtues of our small town.
Breathless Expectation, a favorite site, reminded us of this the other day.
The local grocery; Church; Elks Club; eateries; movies; library; stores that know you; the local school; health club; hardware; and on and on and on.
So much could be written.
We are believers.
This retired teacher used to wear a sweater to school, for years and years.
And every morning I would place my brief case and tote bag on my desk and then hang up my coat and sweater in the closet.
If a student was within earshot, I would sing a few lines of... I want to be your neighbor….
Sometimes the more knowledgeable of the young folk got the joke.
I loved it.
Our Brigadoon in the North is coming to life. Emails are informing us that our neighbors are beginning to reassemble.
The cycles are repeating.
Thank God we can be a part of them.
ERNIE HARWELL, 1918-2010 ...R.I.P.
Ernie Harwell, 1918-2010.
Mr. Harwell was Mr. Baseball in Detroit, Michigan.
We are not sports fans.
But we are interested in current events, in how people near and far get along with each other and thrive and work and play.
Mr. Harwell apparently was one of the very good guys.
We at The Study salute him for the excellent example he apparently set for all who were touched by his personality and by his professional excellence.
Losing a good guy is never a good thing.
Especially these days.
Mr. Harwell was Mr. Baseball in Detroit, Michigan.
We are not sports fans.
But we are interested in current events, in how people near and far get along with each other and thrive and work and play.
Mr. Harwell apparently was one of the very good guys.
We at The Study salute him for the excellent example he apparently set for all who were touched by his personality and by his professional excellence.
Losing a good guy is never a good thing.
Especially these days.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
RANDOM THOUGHTS LATE ON A RAINY NIGHT
May!
Funny, the older and slower we become, the faster life seems to hasten by.
Already more than a week since last entry.
And so much is going on, within and without The Study.
Significant rain started very early this morning.
And then it stopped until late afternoon, perfect timing for going to Church and for Dear Granddaughters’ soccer game.
And then delightful showers began again as darkness settled in.
We used to call this Camelot Weather - perfect days and rainy nights – the best of both worlds.
And so we sit down to express a thought or two.
In Michigan, the smoking ban has taken effect.
There are those who see it as an infringement on their freedom to assault others with their noxious habit.
And there are others who see it as an enhancement of the nonsmokers’ right to be free from such assault.
A no brainer.
No argument.
As the old saw has it, your freedom of expression ends at the tip of my nose.
And the oil disaster continues.
We expect the media to make much of the reasons why it will be difficult to contain the spill and much of the failure of BP to handle things optimally.
Contrast such observations with the condemnations of the Bush Administration to deal with such a simple problem as Katrina.
Little enough said of the uniqueness of that weather event.
But it says much of the liberal bias against corporate America and non-liberals.
Facts: ca. 1/3 of US oil comes from offshore wells.
Offshore drilling has to go on.
The damaged well was fifty miles out because it is illegal to drill closer – closer is easier to maintain.
Alaskan fields cannot be developed – land drill sites which would be mickey mouse to maintain.
The US Senate is pillorying Financial America, the economic engine of the world.
The politicos are using the public's ignorance of the ins-and-outs of the world of high finance to convince voters that the real enemy of American prosperity, their prosperity, is Wall Street.
Fact: the complexity of rarified financial dealings is an unknown art to many of us common folk in our everyday world – unless we make it our business to discover it.
Most of us have not seen fit to make it our business.
Don’t believe the Senators who are grandstanding.
As Mark Twain and Will Rogers were fond of saying, in so many words, “Congress is in recess. The country has a chance.”
All the negative press devoted to the Arizona Immigration Law has now been shown to be bull sh.t.
Police cannot stop folks and ask for papers, the clever allusion to nazi practice.
Good grief!!
And then there is the question of the legality of illegality.
A commission to study whether or not it is illegal to be illegal???
And how grande it is to see the mobs taking to the streets to legislate the Arizona Law.
As someone said, THERE OTTA BE A LAW!!!
The US debt trajectory is apparently unsustainable in the medium run.
And the new programs were not supposed to cost an extra dime – stopping waste and graft would fix everything.
Nobody’s taxes would increase.
Did someone lie?
DID SOMEONE LIE??????????
Go b.o.
Funny, the older and slower we become, the faster life seems to hasten by.
Already more than a week since last entry.
And so much is going on, within and without The Study.
Significant rain started very early this morning.
And then it stopped until late afternoon, perfect timing for going to Church and for Dear Granddaughters’ soccer game.
And then delightful showers began again as darkness settled in.
We used to call this Camelot Weather - perfect days and rainy nights – the best of both worlds.
And so we sit down to express a thought or two.
In Michigan, the smoking ban has taken effect.
There are those who see it as an infringement on their freedom to assault others with their noxious habit.
And there are others who see it as an enhancement of the nonsmokers’ right to be free from such assault.
A no brainer.
No argument.
As the old saw has it, your freedom of expression ends at the tip of my nose.
And the oil disaster continues.
We expect the media to make much of the reasons why it will be difficult to contain the spill and much of the failure of BP to handle things optimally.
Contrast such observations with the condemnations of the Bush Administration to deal with such a simple problem as Katrina.
Little enough said of the uniqueness of that weather event.
But it says much of the liberal bias against corporate America and non-liberals.
Facts: ca. 1/3 of US oil comes from offshore wells.
Offshore drilling has to go on.
The damaged well was fifty miles out because it is illegal to drill closer – closer is easier to maintain.
Alaskan fields cannot be developed – land drill sites which would be mickey mouse to maintain.
The US Senate is pillorying Financial America, the economic engine of the world.
The politicos are using the public's ignorance of the ins-and-outs of the world of high finance to convince voters that the real enemy of American prosperity, their prosperity, is Wall Street.
Fact: the complexity of rarified financial dealings is an unknown art to many of us common folk in our everyday world – unless we make it our business to discover it.
Most of us have not seen fit to make it our business.
Don’t believe the Senators who are grandstanding.
As Mark Twain and Will Rogers were fond of saying, in so many words, “Congress is in recess. The country has a chance.”
All the negative press devoted to the Arizona Immigration Law has now been shown to be bull sh.t.
Police cannot stop folks and ask for papers, the clever allusion to nazi practice.
Good grief!!
And then there is the question of the legality of illegality.
A commission to study whether or not it is illegal to be illegal???
And how grande it is to see the mobs taking to the streets to legislate the Arizona Law.
As someone said, THERE OTTA BE A LAW!!!
The US debt trajectory is apparently unsustainable in the medium run.
And the new programs were not supposed to cost an extra dime – stopping waste and graft would fix everything.
Nobody’s taxes would increase.
Did someone lie?
DID SOMEONE LIE??????????
Go b.o.
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