Thanks to Julie, Linda, Jessica, Brandy, Samantha, Sean, Travis and especially Leigh Anne C. at Lowe’s today.
We have a SunCast GS2500 to house our generator for the long-term, God forbid there should be another reason for an untimely power outage due to adverse weather conditions.
7:27 p.m. Central time, 1st May 2011. We have power at our house! Yes, I appreciate the small things in life – hot food, hot shower, TV, Internet, heat pump system…
A word of thanks to those who provide the backbone of civil society – safety/peace officers, firefighters, petrol/gas/power/water/sewer/phone/road/refuse utility workers, postal/delivery employees, hospital/first aid crews – and in emergencies, the many volunteers who go above and beyond their comfort zones to aid those in need.
Crises are part of everyday life and we respond the best way we can.
My wife and I saw that yesterday when we stopped at the local baseball stadium named after a former mayor, Joe Davis, where local restaurants had donated food being cooked free for the community, with donations taken up for a local charity; Gigi’s Cupcakes handed out free samples for a donation to the Red Cross; and many stores operated with a full complement of employees on-hand to provide them an income during tough economic conditions.
Speaking of which, in the George W. Bush and now the Obama presidential years, as millions of jobs have been added to the employment roster, are we in the U.S. truly seeing not only a loss of “good” jobs to low-wage countries/regions, but a dragging down of the living wage for the majority of Americans?
In other words, as an investor, if I want to maximise my profits, would it make sense for me to invest in a company employing workers who are offered no benefits other than an hourly wage?
I’m putting aside social responsibility at this point and looking solely at the benefits I derive from living with people around me who, for no one reason, are happy to find any job offered to them rather than create their own companies/legal business entities, or manage an investment portfolio that works for them.
While Obama and Trump and all the other political pundits jab each other jovially in hopes of getting the attention of potential voters in the 2012 U.S. legislative/executive election (as well as increase advertising revenue which hopefully translates into higher earnings for entertainers and the producers/agents they work for), I wonder about the truth.
What types of aircraft and from whom is India buying them?
While the rich get richer in an easy-to-make-money global economy, what value is rhetoric?
Is there such a thing as a safe investment?
If the U.S. government lives primarily off the backs of workers whose living wage is less than livable, what about those who live off the U.S. government – are we on an upward or downward spiral?
As long as other governments and NGOs rely on the U.S. as the world’s nonimperialistic police/military force, we’ll be okay?
And after it’s no longer okay, then what?
Questions, questions, questions…
My service to the community is small – while regularly paying taxes via sales, investments or income (except in cases like Amazon.com online purchases, it seems – a good reason to buy locally), and donating to charities I and/or my wife deem worthy, I recently gave platelets to the Red Cross via apheresis on Tuesday. Is it time to give whole blood again or schedule another apheresis appointment?
This is the only moment I have in which to live. How I choose to live it with you is in the guise of a regular guy – the Wandering Wonderer, the Invisible Hermit – doing my part to help us live together in relative peace and quiet…the loud 7250 watt generator in the driveway notwithstanding (thanks to City Lumber).
A final thanks to Lowe’s, Huntsville Stars baseball team organisation, Little Paul’s BBQ, Publix, Mapco and Walmart for their service during the regional power outage.
Our prayers, positive thoughts and meditation to those in need and those serving them during the emergency crisis in this part of the North American continent; also to those in wartorn regions of the world; and the woman I saw who stopped on the side of the road to help a turtle get to the other side with the chicken that didn’t know why it was there.
Labour issues go boing at buoying Boeing
Makin’ bacon ain’t for poor Maconites, anymore
Where do you go when you have nothing left to spend?
Three technology issues interrelated somehow:
RPC NEWSLETTER
A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE ROGERSVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH – ROGERSVILLE, TENNESSEE 37857
March 28, 1975
COLONIAL SERVICE PLANNED FOR APRIL 20 AS WE CONSIDER OUR HERITAGE
The churches of our nation can influence the direction of Bicentennial celebrations by bringing the power of the Christian conscience to bear upon our national heritage and destiny. On Saturday, April 19, our community will observe the kickoff date with a Street Fair and parade. On Sunday, April 20, our morning worship service will be patterned after the type of service conducted in eighteenth century colonial America.
According to Puritan customs, all fathers and sons are asked to sit on the left or west side, all mothers and daughters on the right or east side. Members are invited to wear dark clothing, typical of the period. The Directory for the Worship of God at that time specifies: “It is the duty of every person to remember the Lord’s Day; the whole day is to be kept holy to the Lord; and to be employed in the public and private exercise of religion. Let the people be careful to assemble at the appointed time; that, being all present at the beginning, they may unite, with one heart, in all parts of public worship. In time of public worship let all the people attend with gravity and reverence; forebearing to read anything, except what the minister has been reading or citing; abstaining from all whisperings; from salutation of persons present, or coming in; and from gazing about, sleeping, smiling, and all other indecent behaviour.”
The Worship Committee has approved plans for the service and Dr. Heltzel is preparing a sermon appropriate to the occasion. Join with us in “Divine worship on the Sabbath Day.”
* * * * * * * * *
A BICENTENNIAL TASK FORCE of the Presbyterian Church, US, has begun definite arrangements for participation in our nation’s bicentennial observance. Theme to be used is: “Repentance, Thanksgiving, Rededication”. At the 1975 General Assembly suggestions will be given that churches may use in community activities.
WOMEN OF THE CHURCH
WOMEN OF THE CHURCH WILL ELECT NEW SLATE OF OFFICERS AT APRIL MEETING
Tuesday, April 8, the WOC will elect officers for the 1975-76 year. The Leadership and Resources Committee is composed of: Mrs. Robert Southern, Chm. Mrs. Robert Armstrong, and Mrs. Gray Wilson.
Program Council – 10:00 A.M.
Women’s Council – 10:15
WOC – 10:45 ELECTION OF OFFICERS, BIBLE LESSON – “The Power of the New King” Matt. 8-9, led by Mrs. Robert Armstrong, Circles 1, 2, and 3, Volunteer Workshop (bring a sandwich)
CIRCLE MEETINGS
Friday, April 4, Sally McFadden Liberty Circle, at the church, at 7:30 P.M.
Tuesday, April 8, Circle 4, at the church, Miss Lou Clamon and Mrs. Rena Mae Pierce, hostesses, at 7:00 P.M.; Business Women’s Circle – 7:00 P.M.
Wednesday, April 9, Young Women’s Circle, at the church, 7:30 P.M.
* * * * * * * * *
BICENTENNIAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED
Mrs. Randall Livesay has been named Chairman of the Bicentennial Commitee, appointed to begin planning for our church’s observance of our nation’s 200th Birthday. Others named thus far include: Mrs. A. F. Gray, Mrs. T. P. Summers, and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Price. Mr. Price has begun research and will be preparing our church’s history.
The Rogersville Church has a rich heritage as it looks back over the last 175 years since it was organized in 1805. The old McMinn Academy, with its able headmasters, and the Synodical College, that operated on the site of the Elementary School, were entwined with the life of the church.
If you have material – pictures, relics, information about any of these, please talk with one of this committee.
* * * * * * * * *
June 30 – July 2 a workshop for leaders of planning committees in local churches will be offered in Montreat. Dr. T. Watson Street, pastor of First Church, Kingsville, Texas, is chairman of the Task Force, which will conduct the workshop.
* * * * * * * * *
KENNETH SHICK ACCEPTS CALL FOR SUMMER WORK
In a letter to the Session, Mr. Shick agreed to come for a thirteen week period, beginning the last of May. He will be helping with Sunday evening services, Bible Schools at Liberty and Rogersville, in work with our young people, and pastoral visiting, and will be available for counseling. he will also be preaching at the morning worship service when Dr. Heltzel has to be away.
Mr. Shick visited us March 9 and 10. He will graduate in mid-May from Union Seminary. We rejoice that his talents and leadership will be used here and that God has led him to accept this summer assignment.
* * * * * * * * *
PLANNING BEGINS FOR A CHURCH LIBRARY
In the 1975 budget $500 was set aside for shelves and other expenses in setting up a library. The Building and Grounds Committee has begun a study to selection the most suitable place in the church.
Many memorable books have been contributed over the years. These are being catalogued in a permanent card catalog. Mrs. Chambers, Mrs. Kensinger, and Mrs. Wheeler have been at work in this endeavor.
A library is a vital part of a church’s life and usefulness – a part to be used from the youngest child to the oldest adult. It may include many things other than books, i.e., filmstrips, records, cassettee tapes, slides, maps, projectors, record players, etc. Though it may take some time to complete, it will give us a useful resource, a means of centralizing materials, caring for them properly, and locating them as needed.
Please check your own bookshelves and see if you have failed to return a book belonging to the church.
* * * * * * * * *
PRESBYTERY RESOURCE CENTER BEING DEVELOPED
Mrs. Marvin Budd and Mrs. Chester Bruner have been at work assembling materials for an educational resource center to aid local churches. Teachers and leaders may check out from the Presbytery office pieces of equipment and Christian Education materials. An inventory of what is available will be listed in the Presbytery newsletter “Speaking” and will be on file in our church office.
* * * * * * * * *
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL PLANNING UNDERWAY
Mrs. Larry Boyd, assisted by Mrs. Henry Price, has been at work selecting materials and will be meeting with teachers this month. She asks that anyone who is willing to help in any capacity, notify the church office, Mrs. Price or herself. Volunteers are needed to teach, collect resources, transport children, care for a nursery, assist in craft work, play the piano, etc. The week of June 16-20 has been selected, as the questionnaire indicated this was the time preferred by most people.
* * * * * * * * *
SANCTUARY FLOWERS
Circle II, Mrs. Frank Dukes, Chairman, will be responsible for the sanctuary flowers during the month of April.
* * * * * * * * *
DR. HELTZEL TO CONTINUE AS INTERIM MINISTER
Our church has been richly blessed by the inspiring sermons of Dr. Massey Mott Heltzel. The rapt attention on the faces of the congregation each Sunday morning as he preaches, gives evidence of the depth of his messages. We are grateful for his assent to the Worship’s Committee’s request that he serve beyond his former commitment to supply pulpit through the month of April.
The Pulpit Search Committee has been at work for five months – assembling data, holding meetings, traveling to hear prospects, but do not give us any indication of their progress. We want to again assure them or our prayers for guidance as they continue to work on our behalf to carry out this awesome responsibility.
* * * * * * * * *
MRS. LAWSON TO OVERSEE NURSERY
Mrs. Nicholas (Brenda) Lawson has been employed to look after the children in the Nursery on Sunday mornings from 9:45 A.M. – 12:15 P.M. She is the mother of a five year old son. She began work in mid-March.
Mrs. Rita S. Lawson, who has regularly assisted in the Nursery, has, for the past three weeks, been with her small son at the University Hospital, Knoxville, where he is slowly recovering from serve burns when he pulled over a pan of boiling water.
* * * * * * * * *
OUR NEWEST ARRIVAL
Our congratulations to the Philip Beals and a warm welcome to little Whitney Anne, born March 22 at Morristown-Hamblen Hospital. She just missed being a birthday present for her brother Adam Spencer, who was two years old on March 18.
* * * * * * * * *
The congregation of our church has been invited to the formal opening of the Hawkins County Adult Activities Center and Sheltered Workshop by the Department of Mental Health of the State of Tennessee and the Hawkins County Association for Retarded Children and Adults. The opening is set for Sunday, April 13, at the new building on Hasson Street. Mrs. W. B. Hale served as Chairman of the Building Committee. Our Young Women’s Circle, Mrs. Karl Geiger, Chairman, adopted the class formerly housed in the Methodist Church and now moved into the new building. Our Women of the Church contribute to work with Mrs. Ella Jo Bradley’s SMR Class held in the Hawkins County Elementary School.
* * * * * * * * *
Next month the RPC News will report on the One Great Hour of Sharing Easter offering. As more news of floods, tornadoes, drought, and fleeing refugees come to us, the burden of alleviation of some of the world’s suffering becomes more anguishing.
The Rogersville congregation joined with the Church Hill Church on Maundy Thursday in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
* * * * * * * * *
WOULD YOU LIKE TO IMPROVE YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS? The church’s group subscription for “These Days”, daily devotional guide supplied by the Presbyterian Church, US, expires with the May/June issue. Those who would like to subscribe or renew their subscription are asked to notify the church office or Mrs. Gray Wilson. The cost is $1.40 per year for a minimum of five subscriptions. This little guide offers each day a verse of scripture, a short meditation, and a prayer. Those who use it (one for forty years) say they would not be without it.
* * * * * * * * *
HOLSTON PRESBYTERY 1975 SUMMER CAMP SCHEDULE
June 30 – July 5: 5th and 6th Grade Small Group, 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, Rustic Camp
July 7-12: 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, 9th-12th Grade Trail Hike
July 14-19: 5th and 6th Grade Small Group, 7th and 8th Small Group Rustic
July 21-26: 9th-12th Grade Small Group Camp
July 28 – Aug. 2: 5th and 6th Grade Small Group, 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, Rustic Camp
Aug. 4-9: 7th and 8th Grade Small Group, 9th-12th Grade Trail Hike
* * * * * * * * *
A CHRISTIAN EDUCATION WORKSHOP, sponsored by the Division on Congregational Concerns, Holston Presbytery, is being offered at Presbytery Camp, Banner Elk, N.C., April 11-12. It will focus on three key areas: how to plan for Christian Education, a review of various curricula (including non-Presbyterian), and a plan for teacher training programs. A learning center, demonstrating resources available in this Presbytery will be in continual operation. Because parallel sessions, at least two members from each church will be needed. It is strongly recommended that an elder from each church attend. Mrs. Mary Jean McFayden from GEB, Atlanta, will be the leader.
* * * * * * * * *
As a congregation, we extend our sympathy and Christian love to the family of Mrs. Nova K. Walker, who died March 23. She was the mother of Mrs. D. A. Fannon, grandmother of Tim and Gary Fannon and Norman Walker, and the sister of Mrs. John Nelson of the Rogersville Church, as well as sister of Randolph Kirkpatrick and aunt of Nell Kirkpatrick of the Liberty Church.
* * * * * * * * *
IN MEMORIAM
Mrs. J. R. Stephenson (Ernestine McDonald) has made a contribution to our Library Fund for the purchase of books to be placed in memory of her mother, Mrs. Beryl Rowan McDonald.
PILGRIMS TO THE HOLY LAND, by Kollek and Pearlman, has been placed in the library in memory of Mrs. Henry R. Nelson, by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Testerman, Jr.
The Victor Hooper family has made a contribution to the Library Fund for a book, to be selected, in memory of Mrs. Nova K. Walker.
* * * * * * * * *
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to these in our church family who have birthdays in April. Please include them in your prayers.
3 – Hannah Boyd
4 – Dr. Massey Mott Heltzel
5 – Dan M. Armstrong, Shelton Stubbs
6 – Miss Mary Mac Nelson, Guy Long
7 – Miss Sarah Mac Lawson, Evelyn Stapleton
8 – Chip Hale, Mrs. A. S. Thompson
10 – Jack Chesnutt, Patrick Street
11 – Joe T. Davis
12 – Martha Cope DeAtley, Cathie Short Reeves
13 – Larry Boyd
14 – Mrs. Gladys Kyle, C. H. Geiger, Sr.
15 – Mrs. Mary Fulkerson
16 – Mrs. W. B. Long, Mrs. Ben Cunningham, Billy Peeples, Bobby Peeples, David Testerman
18 – Mrs. Larry Boyd
19 – Gerald Street
21 – Mrs. Robert Southern
22 – Miss Margaret Walker, Jay Phillips
23 – Miss Christine Armstrong, Mrs. Beatrice Trent, Barry Chesnutt, Laura McLeod
25 – Mrs. Junius McElveen, Sr., Edward Hodges
26 – Charles Fontaine
27 – Mrs. Arthur Lyons, Mrs. Harry Fontaine
30 – Scott Myers, Joe Mayes, Jr.
* * * * * * * * *
USHERS FOR APRIL
The following Deacons will serve as Ushers for the month of April:
Joe Timberlake, Fred Berry, Frank W. Moore, John Gray
An elephant in a bull shop – that’s me.
Soliciting funds over the landline for the children’s canine teeth rehabilitation association of psychological dental health associates.
Between requests from the Committee and the MORTIE network, I barely have time to meditate on making my heart skip beats in order to vary the syncopated rhythm that body uses to record these words.
A thanks to Veronica at Hale Springs Inn’s McKinney Restaurant, James at the Acropolis Four Stars Grill and a Citgo petrol station.
I wonder about a white Ford E250 van with Georgia state/Gwinnett county tag BLU 8683 – why did its wheels/tires seem so wobbly?
Do you forward your landline phone to a mobile phone in order to track outside callers who think they can hide behind unknown/fake Caller IDs?
Time to rest my brain behind the flat screen that displays this blog to me.
My wife and I are emotionally drained, with more to go.
One of us needs to maintain a modded, modern modicum of sanity.
I’m glad you can’t see my correcting of bad typing today – otherwise, you might believe my wife is the sane one.
Of course, I know she is.
Congrats to our flower girl (25 years ago), Rachel, for her fifth child getting baptised by sprinkling yesterday, as well as the young man who did, and the young people who made their public confession of faith in my wife’s hometown church.
Hard to believe Hannah’s little brother, Daniel Boyd, has grown into a church elder leading the Sacrament, and raises a little boy of his own now.
Silence today, listening to the echoes of extinct beasts prowling nearby primordial boreal forests.
Meditation, sleep – what’s the difference?
For one example, recent dreams have been a lot more vivid than recent meditative thoughts.
To be – that is the difference.
Why is Doonesbury endorsing Donald Trump for U.S. President? After all, we know the veil of satirical reverse psychology is a hidden means of promotion. Guess we know who Trudeau will vote for in 2012.
April, we want our egg bread in two weeks. Have we known you for three years now? How is it we grow old und you stay young like Stella?
Dragonflies and leafed-out trees call my name.
G’day, mates!
Up next: the April 1975 church newsletter of Rogersville Presbyterian Church…
My sister and I can jump out of a perfectly good airplane flying thousands of feet above the ground but we can’t walk to the top of a rickety old fire tower.
Rhonda pines for the wolf that died of stress, she told us while feeding the deer, one which gored another to death, nature being what it is, even in locked pens.
Dinner at Amis Mill Eatery, served by Michelle, finished the day’s funnery.
Then back to my mother in-law’s house to spin a metal snake down the washing machine drain pipe to clear out a linty/muddy clog.
My sister almost stepped on a green snake as we hiked to the top of Bays Mountain and the radio tower trail turnaround.
A mother and daughter wore “Emory & Henry” T-shirts after they drove 30 minutes all the way from Virginia.
‘Tis fun to be ignorant touristy day hikers, chatting about life and photographing nature in spring.
Raspberry moonshine with the alcohol content “cooked” makes for safe and delicious dessert syrup, I’m told.
The planetarium show was great for kids, sparking my wife, sister and me to use iPad/Star Walk to look at the night sky in a field between the Amis Mill and my wife’s old home place.
My homemade/DIY daypack made of plastic bags and blue ribbon worked well today, reminding my sister to say there are a lot of homeless people in Asheville, NC. Heightwise, she stood on the Rock of Ages at Holston Presbytery Camp just fine this week.
As midnight approaches, I can say I’ll sleep well before rising for Easter service, sharing pews with regulars and C&E members.
G’nite, Anne Elizabeth. G’nite, Janeil Ann. Good night, John Boy. Good grief, my sore feet, which broke in a pair of Columbia hiking boots.
Thanks to everyone working at Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium, keepers of Kingsport’s precious jewel.
Thanks to David for the loan of an electric drill and Melinda for the offer of turkey, ham and dessert for lunch – sorry, my dear, but we didn’t get back until 9:30 p.m. tonight.
Time to get the clothes out of the dryer, fold/roll them and go to bed.
Today was a good day to die but glad I’m alive and well enough to talk about what happened.
Riverfront Seafood Company.
Sitting by the Holston, upriver of I-26 bridge and Netherland Inn, first dinner with mon ami, my spouse, after two weeks of my mother in-law telling me the (her) end is near and baring her soul to someone before she dies.
In my final year of secondary school, a career aptitude test said I should be either a priest or a chemical engineer.
The latter career choice didn’t work out as planned.
And now I find myself receiving confession, unable to repeat the deepest spoken thoughts of my spouse’s mother because the living should be able to keep their innocent views of their beloved friend/family member while they’re alive, even after she’s gone.
A request to hunters:
If you pursue beings that mate for life, kill the pair and spare the one from a remaining life of loneliness.
In the small world department, our server, Leif, from Detroit, met his wife who was a bartender at Rush Street restaurant (where I worked 30 years ago while dating my wife) who served Leif a pint “shot” of Jagermeister the first time they met.
Although now separated, remaining friends, they share the love of their eight-year old who can read at the eighth-grade level.
Thanks to Heather at the Colonial Heights Dollar Tree and friendly folks at the automatic/express car wash next-door; Rebecca, Cindy, Martha, Melissa, Sharon Huff, Dr. (not Gate City mayor) Mark Jenkins and beauty shop hair stylists; Kingsport Fire Dept.; City of Bristol Rescue Squad; Betty Denny and her granddaughter Ashley (hope your dog’s inner ear infection clears up); Betty’s pastor at Marvin’s Chapel Methodist Church on Boone’s Creek Road; Spotless Car Cleaners; Rev. Robert White; Joerns Easy Care 2002 bed; LG LCD TV; Prevail adult care large washcloths; Jolene at MeadowView Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Specialists for rushing the hearing aid repair; Rogersville BP petrol and full service shop; and whomever else I forgot.
Question to self: is it really the end for her, as physically healthy as she is?
Do I take her confessions to me with me to my grave?
When my wife is gone, I hope I won’t have long to live because I trust no one else alive with the totality of my spoken/written thoughts, not even you, dear blog, spread across the anonymous multilanguage word trails of the worldwide web.
Humour will go with me to my last breath, one final sarcastic sigh escaping my lips.
I like the line, “Journalism is not a profession but an art because anyone can do it,” but not everyone can do it well.
How many species understand loneliness?
I meant craft or craftiness, not art, in the quote above, didn’t I?
I did? [rofl]
If you sacrificed your dreams to have kids and you hoped your offspring fulfilled your dreams but didn’t, what else is there to look forward to but the afterlife you’ve been promised?
Judge not lest you begrudge.
Every journalist is a spy.
Every spy lies.
Therefore, does every journalist lie?
I retired in 2007 for this? I’m tired. Time to stop rambling.
Adverts we’d like to see:
“One euro of this sale goes toward saving the environment; the other 48.99 euros go toward destructing it.”
I sit in the captain’s chair from which my father ruled family mealtimes when I was a child.
I have the good fortune to continue to see my father in this chair at least once a year, usually around Christmastime, looking at his kids and grandkids eating food prepared by my mother.
Today, my childhood next-door neighbour, David Salley, and I returned to our parents’ houses for silent prayers/meditation concerning our wives’ mothers.
David’s parents have passed on to the other realm, as they say.
He and I are our fathers’ age, or older than, when we lived next door to each other.
David is a Christian minister, quite a good one, I hear, a man his father and mother would gladly call their son.
David moved out of his parents’ house in 1976 or ’77. I moved out of this house in 1980, with a short stint or two in the early ’80s.
Thirty plus years later, here we are, seeking…
What have we found?
What do we hear when we listen to the seemingly infinite, eternal voice of the universe as we know it, no matter how we see and define/anthropomorphise it?
Mr. Salley was not only a great father but also a jack-of-all-household tasks.
In addition to his open-to-use workshop/tool shed of a basement, he made elderberry and other local berry-based wines that he shared, as well as belonged to one or more civic organisations like the Masonic Lodge.
Mrs. Salley was the perfect mother next-door.
She always had a snack to share and a warm kitchen that naturally invited us starving kids playing out on the street or shooting hoops in the backyard.
I understand the attraction David has to the house.
Right now, I look at the tree on which Mr. Salley hung goldfinch seed bags.
I fully expect to see him in the yard discussing something with my dad, or my mother and Mrs. Salley talking in one or the other’s carport.
Forty year-old memories, some of them.
Time does not exist, huh?
We are just states of energy?
Churches want spiritual nuts, not religious nuts, where a person is ready to live when that person has prepared to die.
A bluejay and a grackle argue over the birdbath in the Salleys’ backyard.
My niece has a wallet a friend made out of camo duct tape.
If we’re in the habit of laying our problems and emotional issues at the feet of our parents when they are alive, what do we do when they’re gone?
The universe/deities we call our own speak to us through our family, friends and neighbours.
We don’t always listen.
I thank David for being here today to share the kind of quiet neighbourly moment in which we middle-aged men can share the emotional pain of seeing our wives and mothers in-law suffer while we’re supposed to be rocks of support without our parents to readily lean upon.
God may be in control but, without a crystal ball, it’s not always easy to wait to find out what’s going to happen next.
Cryptic sign du jour: SI-VN11.
What about Janet, who couldn’t sit for a moment waiting for a hairdo change ahead of me at Smart Cuts?
Her loss was my gain.
I sat with a cheerful young woman who scissored my follicle output down to a summer trim, serenading me about her future attempt at making a SpongeBob sheet cake for her four-year old daughter’s birthday (“I’ll use a melonball cutter to carve out the sponge holes. What colour should the holes be – darker or lighter than his body?”) and something about a dinosaur train show on the tellie.
Her ex-husband is still a good friend.
She wants to take an f…lobotomy…no, a phlebottomoose…well, a class on needles and blood in order to become an EMT. Her stylist coworker wants to finish her academic studies in nursing.
Later, observing drivers, passengers and automotive transport machines parade past while scribbling notes in a carpark between Riverside Avenue and Fairview Lane, I contemplated titling this “Road Closed to Thru Traffic- Bump Ahead” to honour road construction crews dealing with unruly, roadsign-ignoring drivers.
A nod to Sullivan County EMS – Paramedic Unit, Country Tyme Primitives, and the tie-wearing friendly employees of La Carreta #3 who will have Bohemia beer in the future for those who want what they want and don’t have to ask twice.
Thanks to Holly and Robert at Walmart, Linda H at Walgreens.
On a side note, interesting to watch my dyslexic typing, an indication that I can’t easily resubstitute family matters for central nervous system locations (including external clues) I normally use to feel the rhythm of the universe around me.
Dadgum, these here emotion-like neurochemical states of energy are a mess to deal with, sometimes.
treetrunkdings 