Wednesday, June 30, 2010

KEEPING IN TOUCH

It is late.
We write from The North.

We return Downstate to another funeral, this time of a Dear Cousin –
Bomber pilot, B-17, thirty-two or a few more missions over Germany.

Hero, a real hero.
Not what often passes for such a label.

Dear Wife of Cousin died three weeks ago.
Both gone.

We return for funeral and then back North for the Fourth of July.

All the relatives I remember from my childhood are gone now. There are probably more, but none that I know of.

And the same thing is happening to my Dear Wife. The senior family members are gone or going.

As Jane Fonda said when her Dad died, we move up to the turnstile.

The Big Mysteries will be solved.

We are involved with new digs at Camp – and news has totally eluded us still.
We know really of nothing that is happening in the outside world.

So little time, so much to do.

Potluck in camp this evening – no sign up – but what a feast!!
fellowship and food - in The North -
If you are in the North, it is good enough.

Fearing we would be late, a Dear Neighbor came by in a tiny vehicle and waited to pick us up while we finished our dish to pass.

Guardian Angles are alive and well.

More later.
There is an English Bulldog to take out – and it is dark and late and cold…

Take very good care.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

REGARDING 'POSTING'

Marlyn,
Thanks for the note re 'POSTING'.

Please visit us a lot.

Our regarding the months of the summer and early fall as days of a weekend are a long and hallowed tradition in our home.

Talk to you soon.

Monday, June 28, 2010

THE END OF JUNE...AND I WONDER

The end of June is at hand.

When we were teaching, before retirement, Dear Wife and I would refer to the month of June as the Friday of the Summer, August being the Sunday of the Summer.
And then September was the Monday of the Summer.
Time to go back to work.

Now, well, when things are going well, all days can be thought of as the beginning of good things, as the Fridays of the Good Times.

Anyway, we are in The North and when things are good in The North, they are really good.
When they are not so good, well, then they could be better.

We have been preparing new accommodations for selves and family and friends, and hopes are high for enjoyment all around.

And there have been duties of home maintenance which have cried out for attention, duties which in the past have been all too easy to put aside, to put aside for another day.

At any rate, remediation and plans for such doings are now to some degree on track, and it is good to report that The Study is still, as far as we know, alive and well.

So many things have been happening.

From our Northern Study, we note that the anarchist crazies are alive and well in Toronto.

And b.o. is in attendance, urging stimulus upon the nations of the world.
What a guy!!!!

We understand with concern that summer hurricane season threatens efforts to contain the oil spill.

We look with hope and confidence to the drilling of the lateral wells which seem to offer a good chance to choke the spill once and for all.

We lament the posturing and inanity of the Federal efforts regarding the spill.

Dare I say it? IS IT NOW McChrystal clear????????? Is it now clear how line officers feel about their commander in chief????

The shame is not that the General and his staff feel the way they do.
The shame is that it has been made public, made the talk of the town, as it were.

As it has been pointed out all over the place, US general officers have often had little regard for their civilian leaders.
Their regard is of no necessary relevance to the excellence or non-excellence of their abilities.

General McChrystal is by all reports an excellent, superb officer.

An idiot allowed an idiot reporter to get near the General and his people at the wrong time – at a social event.

They spoke casually. They spoke honestly.

They were not treasonous. They were not by such doings displaying any lack of military professionalism.
They were betrayed to the danger of public relations, a fact of life which can be a good thing, in certain contexts.

This was not a good context.

We have lost the services of an excellent officer.

He is not in disgrace.

He goes out in honor.

The people he cares about know that.

b.o. did what b.o. does.

Liberals and even others say he had no choice.

A weak man often has fewer choices than a strong one.

This might be one of those times.

Perhaps you question the characterization of b.o. as being weak.
We suggest that it is one thing to be ruthless.
It is another thing to be wise and judicious in the wielding of great power.

b.o. wields great power.
He is ruthless.

He has yet to prove that he is a strong, wise, judicious, tough leader on the world stage.

But the nation has lucked out. General Peteraeus (sp?) is also a brilliant officer.

I wonder what he thinks of b.o. in private.

POSTING

A dear friend has written to say that posting on this site is proving to be difficult.
Suggestions:

1) Select 'comment' at bottom of my post.
2) Type comment in comment box.
3) Select one of the 'Choose an Identity' choices
4) If asked to type a series of letters in a box, do so..
5) Select 'Publish Your Comment.'

WE sure hope this will help.
We love Commenters.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

THE NEW MONTH HAS BEEN BUSY

The keyboard beckons.

May has become June and half a month has passed since thoughts were recorded in this place.

The new month has been busy.

We attended the funeral of a Dear Relative, wife of a Cousin.

We journeyed to Small Town USA and watched a parade; attended a 68th wedding anniversary; and a fiftieth birthday party.

We watched loving Senior Citizens treat each other lovingly.

The thought occurs that there is a major difference between the love of the newly-married and that of those married for a long time:
those just married are experiencing a love that is just beginning, that is immature, that is sweet and lovely but that is still based on that which will pass away.
And these days it often does pass away, prematurely.
The long-married have the joy of an evolved love, one that has endured and deepened and that will last until the last days, that very likely will not pass away.

The 50th birthday party was held in an airplane hanger.
The two planes were removed by the man renting the hanger – he is a pilot – and it is the custom of the Communion Group to which many of these folks belong to meet for special events in that hanger.

How delightfully different, precious is that?

It is not elegant.
It is a working hanger with some grease spots and dust and a vintage car parked over in the corner.

The frig had no ice and folks brought their own and we sat at folding tables and Dear Wife and I met the nicest group of folks you could ever hope to meet.
Many of their friendships extended back over fifty or more years.



The 68th anniversary was held in a church reception hall.
Again, dozens of friends who have known each other and loved each other for over half a century celebrated with their families and friends.

Dear Wife’s Dear Cousin made both of these events available for us.

We enjoyed a dinner at the Elks Club and a breakfast at a newly opened eatery.
Smiling wait staff; good food; and unbelievable prices.

We talked politics and religion and immigration and gardening and dogs and family and sat on the front porch and watched neighborhood kids playing.

And then it was time to head North.

The car was reloaded and Dear Wife and Dear Sophie and I were off.

And now it is late and raining and we are in Camp and we think about the last few days and about our home and family downstate and about the world we have found in the North.

The new month has been busy.