So far I've resisted getting too serious or political here. I guess in part that's my temperment; while I have strong convictions about faith, family and freedom, I really hate to get into arguments. And I had planned to post something fun and lighthearted - if that's the right word - today. Maybe later.
I figured I'd get around to commenting on the upcoming election soon, but I'd hoped to not "go negative" at first.
But I read this today, and couldn't pass it by.
Now, I've told a few people about my blog, and I don't know how many check it on a regular basis. But if you're reading this now, It's worth your time to read this Real Clear Politics article on Obama's acceptance speech.
Here's a few excerpts:
"...It is too bad that the whole thing was a lie, which depended on the smoothness and apparent sincerity of Senator Obama's delivery to lull the listener into a state of credulity and prevent him from asking too many questions."
"...Obama is also painting himself as someone with uncontroversial, traditional American values...
This is supposed to make us forget that Barack Obama launched his political career under the spiritual guidance of a pastor who delivered far-left tirades calling on God to damn America..."
"Worse, he wants us to stop asking questions about this sort of thing."
"In essence, Obama is declaring simultaneous loyalty to individualism and to collectivism...to free markets and to state control.
If you wonder which half of this self-contradictory agenda will win out, Obama doesn't leave you in suspense...It is the free market that he wants us to regard as "discredited."
What he wants us to forget is what was actually discredited two decades ago by the collapse of the Soviet Union. What was discredited was socialism, not capitalism."
"That is what makes this the most dangerous election in many years. It has been almost half a century since the left's ideas have had such an intelligent, charismatic, and appealing advocate. He is now preparing to lead the left's effort to reconstitute itself in the first serious way since the Fall of Communism. He must be defeated."
"But there is a way to defeat Obama. His whole campaign is a beautifully presented illusion, and the way to defeat it is to keep hammering on the difference between illusion and reality. Because the more grandiose the illusion, the more thoroughly it will be rejected when it is revealed as a lie."
Please make the time to click on the link. You really, really, need to read the whole thing.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Look at 'im go! Whee!
See, I could have covered Olympic events.
Okay, maybe not. But my family and I did watch quite a bit of the tv coverage of the games. A few things I noticed, more or less in order:
The opening ceremonies...I wonder how they coordinated turning the lights on the costumes on and off. And all the big screens around the top of the "bird's nest" stadium, above the spectators. Once I noticed it was all images of birds in flight. There's always been pagentry associated with the Olympics, but the technology keeps getting more interesting. I can just imagine what if you could go back in time several decades and pluck out one of the old timers and deposit him in the stadium in Beijing. What in the world would he make of all that?
And as the participants from each country walked in, I noticed a lot of the small countries sent only four or five people. You could tell they were proud to be there. I was impressed with their dedication, especially considering the small odds of winning a medal for most of them. My wife mentioned she'd heard commentary on that very thing, that for many of those athletes just qualifying to be there and walking in the ceremony with their flag was a big deal.
The competition...I'm no athlete, and aside from some interest in baseball, I don't follow team sports all that closely. That said, I couldn't help but be impressed by the performances (especially since I do have some interest in individual sports):
Michael Phelps, eight gold medals. Amazing.
Another technology note, it's pretty cool that they can use computers to show the green line indicating the world record time moving across the Olympic pool. I really noticed on one of the womens' events - relay, I think - one of the women on the Australian team just obliterated the world record.
Synchronized diving...that must be new. Either that or I never noticed it before.
Lots of swimming and gymnastics for the first several days. Maybe it was the way things were scheduled, but I suppose the bulk of the tv coverage was ratings driven (what to people here want to see...which events do we have a chance at). For a while I wondered when we'd see any track events. If I had a gripe it would be that I suspected that there were a lot of other events going on the first few days, and it would have been nice to see a little bit of that during prime time.
And like almost everyone else, I noticed how young the Chinese gymnasts were. That can't all be right.
Beach volleyball - a good occasion to cheer for the team. USA! USA!
The closing ceremonies...I saw most of that. Very colorful and creative. There were people flying through the air on cables beating gigantic drums. Also people riding odd illuminated big wheel unicycles, with the rider in the center of the wheel. And some kind of contrivance with another big drum...weird looking, sort of like a giant ant on wheels. It all reminded us of the opening ceremonies of the winter olympics several years ago in France. Like something out of Dr. Seuss.
I'm not sure what all of that has to do with the athletic events. But if the IOC or NBC don't offer DVD's of the ceremonies, they're missing a bet. Those would sell.
And finally, during part of the Olympics, we had family in from California. My wife made her USA flag cake for the occasion...
Okay, maybe not. But my family and I did watch quite a bit of the tv coverage of the games. A few things I noticed, more or less in order:
The opening ceremonies...I wonder how they coordinated turning the lights on the costumes on and off. And all the big screens around the top of the "bird's nest" stadium, above the spectators. Once I noticed it was all images of birds in flight. There's always been pagentry associated with the Olympics, but the technology keeps getting more interesting. I can just imagine what if you could go back in time several decades and pluck out one of the old timers and deposit him in the stadium in Beijing. What in the world would he make of all that?
And as the participants from each country walked in, I noticed a lot of the small countries sent only four or five people. You could tell they were proud to be there. I was impressed with their dedication, especially considering the small odds of winning a medal for most of them. My wife mentioned she'd heard commentary on that very thing, that for many of those athletes just qualifying to be there and walking in the ceremony with their flag was a big deal.
The competition...I'm no athlete, and aside from some interest in baseball, I don't follow team sports all that closely. That said, I couldn't help but be impressed by the performances (especially since I do have some interest in individual sports):
Michael Phelps, eight gold medals. Amazing.
Another technology note, it's pretty cool that they can use computers to show the green line indicating the world record time moving across the Olympic pool. I really noticed on one of the womens' events - relay, I think - one of the women on the Australian team just obliterated the world record.
Synchronized diving...that must be new. Either that or I never noticed it before.
Lots of swimming and gymnastics for the first several days. Maybe it was the way things were scheduled, but I suppose the bulk of the tv coverage was ratings driven (what to people here want to see...which events do we have a chance at). For a while I wondered when we'd see any track events. If I had a gripe it would be that I suspected that there were a lot of other events going on the first few days, and it would have been nice to see a little bit of that during prime time.
And like almost everyone else, I noticed how young the Chinese gymnasts were. That can't all be right.
Beach volleyball - a good occasion to cheer for the team. USA! USA!
The closing ceremonies...I saw most of that. Very colorful and creative. There were people flying through the air on cables beating gigantic drums. Also people riding odd illuminated big wheel unicycles, with the rider in the center of the wheel. And some kind of contrivance with another big drum...weird looking, sort of like a giant ant on wheels. It all reminded us of the opening ceremonies of the winter olympics several years ago in France. Like something out of Dr. Seuss.
I'm not sure what all of that has to do with the athletic events. But if the IOC or NBC don't offer DVD's of the ceremonies, they're missing a bet. Those would sell.
And finally, during part of the Olympics, we had family in from California. My wife made her USA flag cake for the occasion...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Elaborate mayonnaise
“I will tell you it was a mayonaise cake, which replaces oil and egg, I think, in the mix, only Sarah used Miracle Whip (amen) instead. And that's not much of a secret. Perhaps you could elaborate.”
Elaborate, I shall. Yes, I was asking about the mayonnaise, only I was trying to think of a clever way to put it…that, and I wasn’t totally sure that it was mayonnaise. What if I was wrong and it was something else?
Now, it may not be much of a secret in your family, but I gotta tell you, you’re the only person I can recall who’s spoken of mayonnaise cake. Or, maybe I just haven’t been paying attention. I remember we did have mayonnaise cake on one of our visits, maybe the trip we made to see you in upstate New York.
Delicious cake, anyway.
One thing reminds me of another. I remember once as a kid - maybe five years old – I ate a sandwich with mayonnaise…only to get *Very* ill an hour or so later.
You can see where this is headed. For many years, I made that connection and would have nothing to do with mayo. Years passed. Eventually I tried it again (“hey, this is tasty”), and of course, no ill effect. I guess the first time I was coincidentally on the verge of stomach flu.
“The red bow tie photo is - and you might konk your noggin V8-style when I tell you - my high school senior picture.”
I thought it might be, but then thought it could have been some other special event.
Mike, thanks for sharing the list from Dolores, that was great!
Elaborate, I shall. Yes, I was asking about the mayonnaise, only I was trying to think of a clever way to put it…that, and I wasn’t totally sure that it was mayonnaise. What if I was wrong and it was something else?
Now, it may not be much of a secret in your family, but I gotta tell you, you’re the only person I can recall who’s spoken of mayonnaise cake. Or, maybe I just haven’t been paying attention. I remember we did have mayonnaise cake on one of our visits, maybe the trip we made to see you in upstate New York.
Delicious cake, anyway.
One thing reminds me of another. I remember once as a kid - maybe five years old – I ate a sandwich with mayonnaise…only to get *Very* ill an hour or so later.
You can see where this is headed. For many years, I made that connection and would have nothing to do with mayo. Years passed. Eventually I tried it again (“hey, this is tasty”), and of course, no ill effect. I guess the first time I was coincidentally on the verge of stomach flu.
“The red bow tie photo is - and you might konk your noggin V8-style when I tell you - my high school senior picture.”
I thought it might be, but then thought it could have been some other special event.
Mike, thanks for sharing the list from Dolores, that was great!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Chocolate Cake and Red Ties
Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting . . . and
And I'm afraid I don't know what you are referring to, Bob, concerning a "secret ingredient". Sorry. I will tell you it was a mayonaise cake, which replaces oil and egg, I think, in the mix, only Sarah used Miracle Whip (amen) instead. And that's not much of a secret. Perhaps you could elaborate.
The red bow tie photo is - and you might konk your noggin V8-style when I tell you - my high school senior picture.
Well, I wanted to be sure and post this from my sister. Incidentally, it's interesting how your mind begins to work when it's working in a new way. My big sister wrote a list of other notable things that happened on August 11, 1958 and gave me the list on my birthday. When I read it, I thought it was very nice and personal, very thoughtful of her. My next thought was, "This will make good material for a blog post."
And here it is -
August 11, 2008
Dear Mike,
Here are some other notable things that happened 50 years ago today.
1. It was VERY HOT!
2. I played in the sprinkler (see #1 above)
3. Peggy Jo Hicks' guppies had babies and we had to dip them out so their mom wouldn't eat them. (Some species eat their young. We got lucky.) (Ed. The reference here is a little unclear. I need to find out who the lucky ones were - Peggy Jo, Dolores and the newborn guppies, or Dolores and her newborn brother. Hmm)
4. I painted many rocks blue. (blue for boy baby)
5. I rode Junior Hicks' tricycle to the end of the block (very fast)
6. I acheived a lifelong goal of becoming a big sister! Thanks for being born, as you can see its all about me!
Love, Dolores
And I'm afraid I don't know what you are referring to, Bob, concerning a "secret ingredient". Sorry. I will tell you it was a mayonaise cake, which replaces oil and egg, I think, in the mix, only Sarah used Miracle Whip (amen) instead. And that's not much of a secret. Perhaps you could elaborate.
The red bow tie photo is - and you might konk your noggin V8-style when I tell you - my high school senior picture.
Well, I wanted to be sure and post this from my sister. Incidentally, it's interesting how your mind begins to work when it's working in a new way. My big sister wrote a list of other notable things that happened on August 11, 1958 and gave me the list on my birthday. When I read it, I thought it was very nice and personal, very thoughtful of her. My next thought was, "This will make good material for a blog post."
And here it is -
August 11, 2008
Dear Mike,
Here are some other notable things that happened 50 years ago today.
1. It was VERY HOT!
2. I played in the sprinkler (see #1 above)
3. Peggy Jo Hicks' guppies had babies and we had to dip them out so their mom wouldn't eat them. (Some species eat their young. We got lucky.) (Ed. The reference here is a little unclear. I need to find out who the lucky ones were - Peggy Jo, Dolores and the newborn guppies, or Dolores and her newborn brother. Hmm)
4. I painted many rocks blue. (blue for boy baby)
5. I rode Junior Hicks' tricycle to the end of the block (very fast)
6. I acheived a lifelong goal of becoming a big sister! Thanks for being born, as you can see its all about me!
Love, Dolores
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Mystery solved...maybe
Mike, I was pretty sure I knew the answer to where the photo was taken, and when. This was a trip you and your family made up here for a visit, in - I think - 1961. Here's another print from the same roll, which I know was taken in my back yard. I remember the moment.
The same number is stamped on the back of both b&w prints, so they're from the same roll.
Back to the picture I included in the earlier post. I cropped quite a bit out of it; here's the whole thing.
Still kind of hard to tell for sure, things have changed a lot in 47 years. And just because it's on the same roll doesn't by itself prove it was also taken in my back yard...we could have gone to a park somewhere. Hmmm...time for a little investigating!
So I zoomed in on some small areas, scanned them at 1200 dpi (as fine as my scanner goes), bumped up the contrast a bit and tweaked the images in Photoshop LE.
Besides the branches and leaves, just to the right of Mike's ear I wonder if we're seeing roof lines and windows. It *might* be one of my neighbor's houses (Mrs. Crow's place back then).
Still not very clear at all.
So, what other details can we pick out?
What is that sticking up in the far left of the picture, below the trees in the distance? Stalks of asparagas, you say?
Yep, no kidding. When my folks bought the place in 1959, the previous owner had planted one row of asparagus, running north to south across the back lot (with a gap in the middle about four feet wide to walk through). My big sister and I (when I was old enough to be trusted with a sharp knife) would cut stalks for our mom. It would grow back every year, and the asparagus thrived through the 1960's, maybe into the early 1970's. Then, one year there were only a dozen - maybe twenty - stalks. The next year, gone entirely. Died out. Anyway, I'm pretty confident that's what we're looking at here.
One more area to check out in detail. Ignore the dark leaves in the background. If I'm right about all this, the background tree was an elm tree which over the years grew quite tall. It survived a couple of 70 mph winds and two ice storms, only to be killed by a lightning strike in 1990; and then was cut down.
When I was zoomed into these scans and looking around, the lighter colored leaves in the foreground caught my attention.
Especially the heart shaped one to the left of this line.
These sure look like eastern redbud leaves to me, and we had a redbud in front (to the east of) the aforementioned, ill fated elm tree. The redbud was just to the right and out of the field of view of the original photograph, but you can see it's shadow in the lower right corner.
I still can't swear to it in court, but now I'm more confident the photo was taken in my back yard, as it was in 1961.
Now Mike, I have a question for you. I found the color photo - with the red bow tie - in with some of my mom's papers. I don't recall seeing that before. What was the occasion?Glad to read that you had a great birthday! That memory book in particular sounds like a neat gift.
Oh, one last question. That chocolate cake with the chocolate icing now...is that the recipe with the, you know, secret ingredient?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
A Heapin' Helpin'
Who is that cute little boy?
We all wanted to know, Bob, where the picture of me in short pants was taken. The consensus is that it was the farm - is that right?
We also wanted to know what the valuables in my hands were, but I don't suppose there is any way of telling.
I had a fine day of celebrating, thank you, and it kicked off with Bob's posted greetings for which I am thankful. It is nice to be remembered.
Kathy and the kids cooked up some nice and not crazy surprises for my fiftieth. That still seems like such a large number. If anyone is interested, I posted some musings about being fifty at my blog, Central Standard.
As for the menu, Bob, I began at McDonald's where I got a sausage biscuit with a slice of cheese added. Lunch was leftover pizza. Supper was from Steak 'n Shake where I had a double Steakburger with cheese, mustard only and some fries.
Then we went down to mom's for gifts and cake and ice cream. Dolores, JR and Jimmy were there, as well as Sarah and Peter and Jacob.
There was a theme for the gifts - "My Favorite Things". So I received gift cards to Steak 'n Shake, Culver's and Panera Bread. I got baseball cards, an Albert Pujols card, a Calvin and Hobbes book, a t-shirt from one of my favorite websites, The Essential Billy Joel CD, a mug for cocoa with a moose on it, and the new ESV Study Bible was pre-ordered for me - it releases in October.
My family also made a photo album with pictures from every year of my life, only there were a couple of years with no images. They wrote captions and did some 'scrapbooking'-style pages that were very nice, very thoughtful.
My older sister gave me a list of "Other Things That Happened 50 Years Ago", which was neat. Basically, her perspective on my birth - it's very precious. She also gave me some Smokey the Bear buttons, for which there is a story but I will tell it another time.
The cake was chocolate/chocolate and my daughter made it. The ice cream was vanilla and chocolate.
And Sarah and Peter were not forgotten as it was their first wedding anniversary. We brought them a cheesecake and a few other gifts. They had five separate cakes at their wedding reception of different flavors. The one for them to cut and eat and which had the monogram M on it was a cheesecake. Kathy got the recipe from our friend who made them last year. Kathy then made Sarah and Peter a cheesecake for the anniversary.
My younger sister called from Chicago where they are visiting the University of Chicago which Samantha is interested in. Sammy's interest is drama and Chicago has a fine program from what I hear. It was very thoughtful of her to take some time to phone me greetings.
All in all a wonderful day because I have a wonderful family which tried (and succeeded!) to do wonderful things for me. I do not deserve it, but I am so glad for it!
Thanks a heap!
We all wanted to know, Bob, where the picture of me in short pants was taken. The consensus is that it was the farm - is that right?
We also wanted to know what the valuables in my hands were, but I don't suppose there is any way of telling.
I had a fine day of celebrating, thank you, and it kicked off with Bob's posted greetings for which I am thankful. It is nice to be remembered.
Kathy and the kids cooked up some nice and not crazy surprises for my fiftieth. That still seems like such a large number. If anyone is interested, I posted some musings about being fifty at my blog, Central Standard.
As for the menu, Bob, I began at McDonald's where I got a sausage biscuit with a slice of cheese added. Lunch was leftover pizza. Supper was from Steak 'n Shake where I had a double Steakburger with cheese, mustard only and some fries.
Then we went down to mom's for gifts and cake and ice cream. Dolores, JR and Jimmy were there, as well as Sarah and Peter and Jacob.
There was a theme for the gifts - "My Favorite Things". So I received gift cards to Steak 'n Shake, Culver's and Panera Bread. I got baseball cards, an Albert Pujols card, a Calvin and Hobbes book, a t-shirt from one of my favorite websites, The Essential Billy Joel CD, a mug for cocoa with a moose on it, and the new ESV Study Bible was pre-ordered for me - it releases in October.
My family also made a photo album with pictures from every year of my life, only there were a couple of years with no images. They wrote captions and did some 'scrapbooking'-style pages that were very nice, very thoughtful.
My older sister gave me a list of "Other Things That Happened 50 Years Ago", which was neat. Basically, her perspective on my birth - it's very precious. She also gave me some Smokey the Bear buttons, for which there is a story but I will tell it another time.
The cake was chocolate/chocolate and my daughter made it. The ice cream was vanilla and chocolate.
And Sarah and Peter were not forgotten as it was their first wedding anniversary. We brought them a cheesecake and a few other gifts. They had five separate cakes at their wedding reception of different flavors. The one for them to cut and eat and which had the monogram M on it was a cheesecake. Kathy got the recipe from our friend who made them last year. Kathy then made Sarah and Peter a cheesecake for the anniversary.
My younger sister called from Chicago where they are visiting the University of Chicago which Samantha is interested in. Sammy's interest is drama and Chicago has a fine program from what I hear. It was very thoughtful of her to take some time to phone me greetings.
All in all a wonderful day because I have a wonderful family which tried (and succeeded!) to do wonderful things for me. I do not deserve it, but I am so glad for it!
Thanks a heap!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Look Who's Fifty!
Happy birthday, Mike!
Mike, here's to a happy day!
.
I've seen some cute t-shirts and mugs over the years, like:
"Fifty is five perfect tens", and
"I'm not 50, I'm 49.99".
Actually, the 50th b-day can be a lot of fun. People make a fuss over you so it will be memorable. Now, 51...eh, not so much. You've been warned ahead of time.
.
I've had writer's block, or blog block, all day; I meant to write something below the pictures earlier. By now you've probably had supper, and I hope it was some of your favorite foods.
.
So, what'll it be for dessert?
The traditional chocolate cake? Used to be that was pretty much the plan, cake and ice cream.
Still a good choice.
.
Maybe it goes with growing up and noticing different tastes, or maybe our choices have actually expanded over the years; but I've become aware of other birthday options. For example, my wife prefers pie, and we took our youngest daughter to The Cheescake Factory back in July. And, in recent years Dairy Queen along with some of the fancier supermarkets have made ice cream cakes available. Tasty stuff, kind of the best of both worlds all in one.
.
Kind of a cold option in November though, so I tend not to ask for it.
I'm considering asking for peach cobbler this year.
Heh, that'll throw everybody off.
.
I digress. Anyway, you and I have had a lot of fun with the e-mails and this blog, not to mention a lot of fun visits through the years. Lots of good memories.
.
The main thing, is that the Lord has been good to both of us, and I pray he will continue to bless you and your family.
.
Speaking of which, here's hoping your family has spoiled you a bit today. Enjoy!
Monday, August 4, 2008
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