“…the Universe, presupposed to limitation and thinking that the Universe remained in a state of stasis, Astronomers were astounded to discover, that inexplicably, with a smidgen of disbelief, space as we had known it to be, was in fact, in vicissitude…”
Phil’s head now lay in the arm of the chair next to him, that of a voluptuous female Physics major. His snore reverberated off the walls of the huge and completely packed lecture hall. Silence reigned as Phil awoke with a small embarrassed giggle, wiping the drool from his cheek, “I’m in the wrong lecture hall. So sorry…”
He ran through the doors, throwing his Advanced Physics textbook into the nearest garbage can. Even though the book was worth $300 used, changing his major to Social Sciences seemed a better choice.
Vicissitudestruck me as a good choice. I wanted to find a word of interest, combing through a dictionary, putting a finger on a word, which ended up being this word. Randomly choosing a word like this makes me happy.
Golly, writing is lots of fun. Computer battle is over, I won. This computer is brand new and not all apps were set up. But, oh boy, it knows who is boss.
Different music artists in my formative years float about in my memory, as I wrote in one recent post. But these songs are in the teenage zone, and my recollection of the lyrics is pretty much lame. Anyway, Bobby Vee... I always loved Go Away Little Girl. My brother bought a radio, and we listened to that song over and over. Sigh. Bobby Vee made many teenage girls sigh, myself included.
Bobby Vee died in 2017 at age 73 years, from Alzheimer's.
The Beatles had their own song, Run for Your Life, Little Girl. I never listened to the lyrics until recently. Creepy. Seriously, this is stalker level. I'd be scared for my life if I was this girl. Here is just one bit. The others threaten to take her head, watch her back.
"Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead"
Run fast, Little Girl.
Del Shannon was famous with My Little Runaway. The organ riff was famous at the time. He seemed confused, but then again, aren't all men? My brother and I listened to this song many times over.
Where did this Runaway Girl go? Why?
So, there you have it:
Bobby Vee wanted a girl to go away before he begged her to stay.
Beatles were stalkers, promised to behead the girl if she left.
Del Shannon wondered why his girl ran away.
These narcissistic men viewed these girls as objects, didn't they understand that?
Obviously, all females need to watch themselves and ask serious questions about any guy who is controlling and possessive.
Perhaps they should consider cross-country training.
Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles. Raise a signal flag on a bare hilltop. Call up an army against Babylon. Wave your hand to encourage them as they march into the palaces of the high and mighty.
The Book of Isaiah was always one of the books in the Bible that I would frequently start, get in a few chapters, and then close it up. Isaiah was daunting, my understanding that part of the Jewish history was too scant. So much happened throughout those centuries.
Surprisingly, reading the Book of Isaiah on a Kindle somehow changed my perspective entirely. Maybe it was the way the screen isolated section by section that gave me thinking time. Prophet Isaiah, I need to learn more about him.
This time of day was just about the only part of life that James Marshall enjoyed: Seeing the West reflected into the East, changing the sky into a sky of molten gold.
James chuckled bitterly…molten gold… His own gold, now long gone, was only brass in his mind. His mind was filled with what-ifs about the past, when he found gold flakes which had ruined his life, ruined his life but good.
If only John Sutter had been just a smidgen parsimonious. Sutter spent money he did not have, borrowed money he could not repay, and lost his own fortune. Damn fool. Marshall spit tobacco onto what had once been a mecca for gold diggers.
Marshall clenched his misshapen hands when he thought about Sutter. All the work Marshall had done, breaking bones in his hands, and for nothing. No blessings showered on me then. Or now.
With all that could have been, Marshall could not gain any traction in keeping his sawmill running. His workers had dropped their tools and picked up pans, running to the American River. Penniless again.
He pleaded with the California State Legislature and they awarded him with a two-year pension. What he really desired was some investigative search into the theft of his future.
Re-creation of James Marshall's homesteader cabin at the end of his life-- While on a field trip of middle-schoolers, I saw this. Pretty sparse.
So here he sat, gazing at the dusky sky disappear, before he arose and went into his homestead shack. If only, if only…
Gold was discovered on January 24, 1848
The underlined words are from March 2015 Wednesday Words, donated by fellow blogger Delores, and has since been continued by other bloggers. These awesome writers, Elephant's Child, Mark Koopman, River can provide these interesting words. When I was teaching middle school, we took 5th-8th students to Sacramento for two overnights. Visiting this site was part of our trip; I do not know if the students understood the impact of this part of history or not.
Depending on what day it is, some musicians make my head sing. Lately, I have been in the music of my past, ones from childhood like "Purple People Eater" and then "Blowin' in the Wind". Pretty random and no devotion to any one artist, I have hummed and sung along with them all. Today, the one that has glued itself into my mind and memories is Charlie Daniels and "Devil went down to Georgia".
Why? I don't know. I am guessing because I enjoy the talent he shows in a different media than is standard. No matter how old I get, this song makes me smile. Who else is hidden in my mind? I am thinking that it is Johnny Cash and "One Piece at a Time". That will be for another day, another post.
I read Our Daily Bread from my gmail nearly every day with every single post speaking to my heart. This one written by Lisa M. Samra was especially strong. Please read it!
Egged on by my children to prove I’d endured years mastering the basics of piano, I sat down and started playing the C Major scale. Having played very little piano in nearly two decades, I was surprised I remembered! Feeling brave, I proceeded to play seven different scales by heart one right after the other. I was shocked! Years of practicing had imprinted the notes and technique so deeply in my fingers’ “memory” that they instantly knew what to do.
There are some things that can never be forgotten. But God’s love for His children is far more deeply imprinted than any of our fading memories—in fact, God can’t forget them. This is what the Israelites needed to hear when the exile left them feeling abandoned by Him (Isaiah 49:14). His response through Isaiah was unequivocal: “I will not forget you!” (v. 15). God’s promise to care for His people was more certain than a mother’s love for her child.
To assure them of His unchanging love, He gave them a picture of His commitment: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (v. 16). It’s a beautiful image of God’s constant awareness of His children; their names and faces always before Him.
Still today, we can easily feel overlooked and forgotten. How comforting to remember that we’re “etched” on God’s hands—always remembered, cared for, and loved by our Father.
The Hardy Tree London St. Pancras Tree Literature of the Victorian era was strange. It was both romantic and humorous; it also dealt with serious social issues. I do not pretend to be an expert at all. What interests me, though, is the literature that I did not read until I was in college. This author is Thomas Hardy.
Thomas Hardy strayed from the acceptable to eyebrow raising literature. During this era, women were chattel and sexuality was whispered about in closed rooms or closets. Hardy's work was exciting, just the ticket for a suppressed/oppressed/depressed society. His most known work is Tess d'Urbervilles, a book about a fallen woman. The real scandalous book Jude the Obscure was sold in brown paper bags.
One would think that this comprised the entirety of Thomas Hardy's talent. But, no. Thomas Hardy studied to be an architect, did so well that he won major prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects. His success captured lots of attention and his work still is admired today. Here is the most amazing bit of his history: He was commissioned to excavate part of the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church before its destruction to make room for the Midland Railway terminus. By golly, Hardy was creative to the point that he will be remembered by many just for this by many generations.
Removing centuries of decayed bodies was deemed impossible, Hardy designed a way to honor them by collecting headstones and displaying them around an ash tree. The tree has since started growing into the headstones. The bodies were carefully and respectively removed. Now, St. Pancras Old Church is a music venue in this 4th Century Church, which is just behind King's Cross station.
My favorite: Captain Kangaroo, who was an affable fellow who did very little except talk to us---the kids watching the show. He read books to us, showing pages as he read. Ingenious!
The book I best remember is Millions of Cats, written and illustrated by Wanda Gág in 1928 and the oldest American picture book still in print. The text was hand-lettered by her brother. This book won the Newberry Honor award in 1929, one of the very few picture books achieving this honor.
Enough. The story is about an elderly couple who discover they are lonely and think having a cat would help. The husband heads out to find the most beautiful cat possible for his wife.
He travels far from home, until he comes upon a hill covered with in cats. “Cats here, cats there, Cats and kittens everywhere. Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats. Millions and billions and trillions of cats…” This phrase repeats all through the book.
NOTE: The man cannot decide, so he walks back home with all the cats trailing after him. His wife is upset with him, since he doesn't seem to realize how impossible it would be to feed and care for all these cats. Wouldn't we all?? Wise wife told the cats that they could decide which one should stay by asking “Which one of you is the prettiest?”
All hell breaks loose as the cats erupt in an incredible cat fight. The couple lock themselves up in the house. When there is silence outside, they emerge to see no cats. They had apparently eaten each other up in their jealous fury!
They find a skinny scraggly cat hiding in tall grass—safe because it didn’t think it was pretty. They took the cat home and all were happy.
Now, isn't that this the most amazing story to read to a four or five year old youngster sitting in front of the television? Then, no child would think or question the blood and guts that would be lying around. But still, I have never forgotten it.
Serious business, bushfires. These sites are asking for donations to the Australia Red Cross. If you can and want to, this is the site to visit: https://www.redcross.org.au/donation Watching the fire raging toward a place one loves is indescribable.
Recently, The Armchair Squid honored me by selecting me as one of bloggers to receive The Sunshine Blogger Award. I love her blog. She is never boring, and just her drink recipes are enough to make me feel a bit light headed. She shares her interest in Star Trek, which is also mine. These are her questions:
If you could live one year of your life over again, which year would you choose and why?
If you could learn to be an expert at something without putting in the work, what would it be?
If you could learn a new language instantly, which would you choose and why?
If you could give $1 million to any charity, which would you choose?
When was your Robert Frost moment a la "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..."? The poem (read it here) says you can't go back and that is true. "Way leads on to way" and so forth. But if you could, would you? What is the difference you think it would have made?
Time travel: where would you go and when? Why? Who would you want on your fictional character bowling team? You get to pick four.
What would you want for your last meal?
What's your favorite song?
Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
If you came over to my home and I offered you a drink, what would you want me to serve you?
This really
made me think and ponder what I should answer. What would you answer?
#1 One year,
couldn’t I have two?
The year when I was
7 is my choice. We had just moved to the farm where our buildings was built in late 1800s. We
kids didn’t know that we were living rough and it was exciting. Playing in the
hayloft, stomping through snow drift, eating snow ice cream, the smell of Mom’s
beef stew cooking slowly on our old coal heater in the kitchen (there were two
heat sources: kitchen and living room, nothing upstairs)…these a strong
memories that pop up and make me smile.
#2 I would love to become an excellent
pianist. Their hands and fingers fly
across the keyboard and I envy their skills.
#3 A new language? Gaelic. We lived in Ireland a few years; Gaelic
was taught in school where our two younger kids (4 and 6) learned to speak it,
being young. Our 10 year old was excused from learning as she was considered to
be too old.
#4 $1M? I
would donate it to the American Red Cross, no question. They respond quickly to
disasters and needs.
#5 Robert Frost (one of the most gifted and
meaningful American poets) I would not go back in time or forward either. It
would be tempting to do something that would change the course of the future. Knowing
history would tempt me to do something like kill infant Hitler, prevent Lincoln’s
assassination. Those actions would have unknown consequences.
#6 Time travel? Dang. Hard to think, but I guess it would be observing
the founding fathers and the development of the Constitution, signing. Seeing
how these brave men took a chance on the development of a unique country gives me goosebumps. They
showed integrity and honesty.
#7 Fictional
character bowling team? Members of the
Avengers, no question. Just pick 4, except Aquaman. Yes, he is majorly hot, but
his talents are in the ocean and probably other places. 😉
#8 My last meal?
I know this sounds strange, but I would love pinto beans and ham with
cornbread. Real butter and honey. Rhubarb pie with homemade (hand churned) vanilla
ice cream. And, don't forget a glass of Pinot Grigio.
#9 Favorite song? "Hallelujah"** written by Leonard Cohen. This version is being performed by an acapella group named "Pentatonix"Everytime I hear it, I stop and sing along.
#10 So very
extrovert! Oh yes, yes I am.
#11 Something
Bailey’s Irish Cream, a lot of it. Maybe with some coffee.
These were awesome questions, very thoughtful ones. Normally, I request that I do not get any awards. I can't deal with the work required to pass them on. It is not actually the work, but it is the combing through my mind and pulling out sincere answers. Please do not give me any awards, altho I appreciate them. :)
Pentatonix singing "Hallelujah" . No instruments, just this is a group of gifted musicians. I've decided that I will hold onto this wonderful award as mine and not pass it on. But I encourage other bloggers to take these questions and make them your own.
