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THE 'LONDON TELEGRAPH' - OBITS

Obituaries: the lives and deaths, careers, foibles and crimes of the good, the bad and the simply famous.


The personalities discussed in The Telegraph are generally as interesting as the heading above suggests.

Check the obits out at    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/.

You might get a kick out of them.

NOT ALONE...LENTEN MEDITATION

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Matthew 6:27
And be assured, I am with you always, even to the end of time.
Matthew 28:20

The first quarter of a new year is a busy time for us, a time of reflection and rededication, of list making and determining what has been accomplished and what needs to be accomplished in the coming months. It can be a delicate time.

The 40 days of Lent stand between us and the joys of Easter. Advent and the Christmas Season are long gone and we look forward to weeks of a late midwinter, that season Christina Rossetti called bleak and hard as iron.

Bills and taxes a wait our attention. Another year has slipped by and not every goal has been achieved.

We’re another year older and, as Tennessee Ernie used to intone, possibly deeper in debt. What should we give up? What should we take on? How can we make our lives most beneficial for ourselves and for others?

We can choose to look to the future positively, confident that challenges will be met, that all will be done that needs to be done. Or, wrongfully feeling overwhelmed and alone, mindful that some problems resist our choice of solution, we can expect defeat and failure.

A popular song lyric says it well: Some days are diamonds, Some days are coal.

When my coal days hit, I recall prayers from two very different men, men who faced trials and tribulations every bit as serious as any I am likely to face.
And they faced those trials with full confidence and faith that they were by no means alone and that they had every reason to expect success.

The first prayer is that of Sir Jacob Astley, a Royalist Officer in the English Civil War:
O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day.
If I forget Thee, do not forget me.

The second is that fabulous prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next. Amen.

Lent truly is a time of reflection and dedication for all of us. We are not alone.
Easter is at hand. Be of good cheer.
Thanks be to God.

W/O COMMENT

'Tis late already...

We of The Study went off in two directions today.

Dear Wife in early morn was off to East Lansing, MSU, soccer clinic, with Dear Daughter and Dear Granddaughters.

I was off to Church in AM and then home and then to Romeo with Dear Sophie for an imoportant four week review on how her arthritis is coming along after a series of injections.
And then home after dark for cocktails and catchup with Dear Wife who leaves for Fla Tuesday.

Two weeks in Fla.

I remain at The Study,  holding the fort.

National and international affairs continue on w/o our comments.

SUCH WILL MAKE GOOD FODDER

Visited a superb Faberge exhibit which came to town. Four hours was not too long to spend viewing and attending lecture.

Read a journal [with pictures] documenting hiking along Hadrian’s Wall in the north high country of England.
Came across a collection of pictures of 1930’s foggy London.
Awoke this morning to a winter day of thick fog and rain.

Wrote the above a few weeks ago...disappointments over recent events in our world and country loomed large...
A month and some more have passed....
Some accommodation is in order. 
Time sometimes does diminish passionate feelings.
Perhaps such as the above and not the futilities happening in diplomacy and national politics should occupy a few lines now and then.

ACROSS TWO TABLES

Dear Wife is spending a day at the spa.
Dear Sophie and I have The Study to ourselves.
And yes, the house is quiet.

Since the last election, some home improvement decisions and actions have been made and taken and the TV has been removed from the dining/kitchen area. Radio remains, but its voice is muted.
The talking heads  intrude less forcefully, less often, less disturbingly.

TVs remain in library and family room….but my goodness, distractions are minimized.
We think less of the disappointments of the day.

And so, at this moment I occupy a work room newly brought from disorder into some degree of order and find it desirable, even important to report a thought or two on this Dear Site, after over two months of expressing thoughts and such to people across occupied tables.

Go figure.

In the last few days a number of influences have come to bear, simultaneously:

Visited a superb Faberge exhibit which came to town. Four hours was not too long to spend viewing and attending lecture.
Read a journal [with pictures] documenting hiking along Hadrian’s Wall in the north high country of England.
Came across a collection of pictures of 1930’s foggy London.
Awoke this morning to a winter day of thick fog and rain.

Now, could any four developments be more closely related?

Any one of them could occupy pleasant discussions across an occupied table or fill a page on an empty table.

Right now ‘tis fun writing about their confluence here prior to speaking about them tonight.
Perhaps that is the important thing…to be able to do both.

Finally, I am recalling that fifty years ago this at the time young grad student found that researching threats against Queen Elizabeth I was a relief from worrying about WW III and missile crises.

It is occurring to me more forcefully these days that such distractions as the four listed above might be a similar way to reduce the depression of the problems facing our people and the world in 2013.

Such will make good fodder for discussion tonight at the pub.

Perhaps more here as well in a day or two.

ACROSS AN EMPTY TABLE

We’re retired, not expired…and there is no deadline to produce for this site….and so we talk with friends and family; read; watch; debate with neighbors; put up yard signs; attend church and do various modest outreach projects….and do not turn to this site to share a thought or two…with probably no one.


We have a note somewhere in our work room that we write for writing’s sake…that it does not matter if there is no interrelation…interaction….dare I say….intercourse [sorry]….platonic, of course…..

But it does matter after a while. It is more fun…easier…to debate…present…argue…when someone sits across the smoke-filled room and the ice cubes clink merrily in the rocks glasses.
And deadlines do help.  God knows.

Too bad, but there it is.

I sit for a moment at this site now because I am between tasks and there is a moment of opportunity….

It is still early in the cocktail hour and thoughts have not become foggy….

So, as the pace of life quickens at The Study….and as no dialogue is possible at this site…….it does not really deserve an audience….so little is being lodged here….we at The Study will ,I guess,  carry on our modest harangues over the fence as it were….with living, breathing people…..not writing to the ether [?].

I have found it a real impediment to have no deadline and no one to talk to on these pages…..

If I can get past this/these impediments…..more posts will appear…..maybe.

In the meantime, know that our President is a liar, big time. The Congress is disfunctional. Our national security is increasingly being challenged and threatened.
And half the country thinks he is just the greatest leader of all time.

A country gets what it deserves.  An ignorant citizenry is getting a very second-rate leader.  Third rate.

Vote very carefully this November.

Watch the debates….think about the big picture..

As Churchill once said, the United States eventually does the right thing, after it has done all the wrong things.

The nation's future requires a thinking electorate.

TOPLESS

If England was what England seems,
'N not the England of our dreams;
But only putty, brass 'n paint,
'Ow quick we'd drop 'er.
But she ain't.

'Nuff said.

The future queen should never have been in such a condition on the verandah.

The mag should not have been taking the pictures.

It should not publish them.

The public should not buy the mag.

Public taste has come quite a long way.

And England's not ...only putty, brass 'n paint....

Be more careful, Dear Future Queen.

The low brows are at the gates.

FOR A YOUNGER READER

The Picoult book purchase mentioned in 16 August post was less than appropriate.
Dear Wife gave it away to a younger reader.

But she appreciated the effort.

SEPTEMBER IN MICHIGAN 2012.

Perfect weather…

Repair and construction projects are proceeding.

No travel plans at present as above are pursued.

The building of an herb garden and other garden projects provide physical exercise.

And there is time to observe and consider what is going on in the greater world.

As Dear Wife would say, one has to prioritize.
We take time this Sunday morn for a few comments.

Regarding msm:

Generally the most reliable – not totally – but generally - Fox News.
Generally the next most reliable – again, less generally but relatively - CNN.
Generally the least reliable, with very few exceptions - MSNBC.

The only recent change in the above relativities is the improvement of CNN.

MSNBC is generally without merit. Even the panel guests are frequently disgusting, even in appearance.



The Study does not generally monitor ABC or NBC or CBS on their non-cable outlets.

Sadly, news coverage on the cable outlets and non-cable news outlets leans heavily, as any reasonable persons knows, to advocacy rather than reporting.
We know this is not any great revelation.
Just felt like saying it.

The best exceptions to this are generally  FOX and to a limited extent CNN.

The violence against the US of recent days is clear evidence of a weakened US presence in the world, directly attributable to the policies of the US Administration.

This is the only possible conclusion for any thinking lay person outside of any inner loop.

Presidential spokespeople deny this.
So much for their reliability.
They appear unbelievably foolish.

One can only hope for a resurgence of respect, not love, in the world for the US.

If a nation cannot be loved, it had better be respected.

If neither is the case, woe betide that nation’s interests.

BLACK DIRT AND CANASTA

And today we shopped for black dirt mixed for gardens and paving to build up new herb garden…8 inches or so high.


And then on to replenish larder….
How sweet it is!

And in grocery store found a new Picoult novel….Between the Lines….
Just finished large swaths of the Oxford History of Christian Worship….

Something light is now in order.

Maybe.

Found  book in the grocery book section…right near the restrooms…..

Ok, I recommended it to Dear Wife…and then thought the jacket summary sounded fun.

We’ll see.

Need to order the yard stuff…perhaps tomorrow…retaining blocks first, then dirt.
I must say, a cigar would definitely taste good.

Have to make a tobacco run.
But now it is late….and there is a canasta game to resurrect and practice before inviting friends over….friends who do not require an electronic game.

Canasta takes this Old Fella back to the ‘50’s…..

Gotta go….

More later…

47th ANNIVERSARY

47 years on 14 August.
How time flies!

Nearly half a century gone by o so quickly in hindsight.

On Sunday we worshipped in the church where we were married.
The Sanctuary had been redone seven years ago…but our wedding chapel was unchanged.

All these years, it has been so close by…and only now have we revisited.

And yesterday, 14 August, the Anniversary day, we took a day trip to a city with a 100+ year old restaurant from our past; a store we needed/wanted to visit; and as a bonus found another selling Egyptian papyrus and hand-made paper from Katmandu, to name but two fascinating joys.

We drove and talked and laughed and reminisced and prayed….

Today we’ll call Texas and reconnect with our Best Man and Maid of Honor….

Bless their hearts….
A year ago we visited….

A prayer once again comes to mind:

This is the day the Lord has made
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Amen.

NOT EVERY POLITICAL ENDOREMENT IS WELCOME

Candidate Romney is now well into his pre-election foreign tour and we have been told that not all has been smooth sailing.
We have watched respected analysts express dismay at the reactions of various foreign leaders and foreign media outlets to some Romney expressions of opinion.
And we too wondered at how unfortunate for our candidate.

And then a different thought occurred.

We remembered that maybe, just maybe, a negative reaction to our national candidate might not be all that bad.
We recalled that many foreign governments and media fairly salivated over b.o.
Some did not.

We at The Study did not and now our reservations have been confirmed by experience of nearly four years.
We were right and the salivators were wrong.

Fact.

And the foreigners who had reservations about b.o. just might be the allies with the clearest vision.

And so we suggest that maybe it is a good thing that the foreign admirers of b.o. do not care for the honesty of our hoped-for-next President.

Perhaps it is ok if those who adore the present President do not similarly adore his political opponent.

Not every political endorsement is worth having.

LESSONS REGARDING THE SIMPLE FIX

The Study is quiet.
Sophie is asleep nearby and Herself is visiting cousins on the west side of the state.

‘Tis a cloudy and blessedly cool Wednesday morning.

Piles of newspapers have been read. Online news sources have been studied. Radio programs have been monitored.
I am reminded of a news column title…I think it was I see by the papers….or some words to that effect.

Anyway, we have been busy, as have many, and now it is nice to put a few thoughts to, I was about to say to paper, but rather to hard drive, to this journal.

We have had an opportunity to take note of a few happenings we have seen by the papers.

One encouraging observation is that the at least for awhile, the idea that there are simple fixes for terrible tragedies is at least muted in our msm.

Few prominent voices are calling for new gun control laws in the aftermath of the incident in Colorado.
The ignorant blame propaganda by gun lobbies.
The knowing credit the common sense of the American electorate.

Not all libs are complete fools.

The above is prompted by a news report that the leading cause of death of kids less than four years of age is drowning in swimming pools. “…90 children younger than 15 have drowned in U.S. swimming pools since Memorial Day.”

And NO ONE is calling for the abolition of swimming pools.

We hope and believe that there is an understanding  amongst the people that more is going on here to cause, to allow, to make possible the horrors of shooting deaths and child drowning than the existence of guns and swimming pools.

A no brainer idea???

You bet!

And once one starts down this track, it occurs that sex ed will not cure problems of illicit sex.
Full employment will not solve the problem of out-of-control violence and crime in our cities and spillovers to the suburbs.
Quiet time in the corner will not curb misbehavior at home and at school.
Praising low achievement in school and work will not ensure successful individuals.
Government-run health care will not solve all health care problems.
Higher taxes will not secure our economic future.
Soft power will not solve the problems of the world.

You get the idea.

I wonder how many such statements I/we could list if I/we really tried.