Importance of a Name

As I watched it once more, this time I paid attention to the monikers. Dude.  Colorado.  Feathers.  Stumpy.  Life had to be interesting if those were one names.

Ricky Nelson’s character ‘Colorado’ had no life skills.  Not really good with a gun, he was ‘the kid’ who wanted to be bigger than life, as ‘Sheriff John T. Chance’ was huge.   He chose the name ‘Colorado’. 

 

This set me to wonder what name I would chose given the fact that I am a 60+yr. old retired school teacher with some extra pounds.

How about these name choices.

 

Des Moines           Boise          Newark            Dubuque     or instead of cities,

Sourdough            Limburger   Cola or, how about,

Lancet                   Boil             Incontinent    Salivate

Silly, I know.  But, what made me think is that the character’s names established my perception of them.  Angie wouldn’t have come across well if her name was ‘Stumpy’, and Walter Brennan became ‘Dude’.  The character’s name is all important. 

Something to keep in mind in the crafting of a character in my writing.

Good quotes from a patriot

Pilgrim Soul

 

...loved the Pilgrim soul in you.

WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

 

 

My Redeemer Lives

 

I know that my Redeemer lives;

He lives, who once was dead;

To me in grief

He comfort gives;

With peace

He crowns my head.

He lives triumphant

O’er the grave,

At God’s right hand on high,

My ransomed soul

To keep and save,

To bless and glorify.

He lives, that I may also live,

And now His grace proclaim;

He lives that I may honor give

To His most holy name.

Let strains of heav’nly music rise,

While all their anthem sing

To Christ, my precious Sacrifice,

And ever living King.

George Handel

Charles Wesley

 

I know my Redeemer lives

 

Wesley and Newton 

These two men changed American History. Religious persecution does that.

Decisions Made in Battle

 

east coast of Ireland

Is this really all there is?  Gunter had asked that question many times these past raids.  The roar of the assault still echoing around him, Gunter stretched tired muscles down upon the lush green.

Rape?  Gunter found the screams of frightened women and children appalling.  What is rewarding about destroying a woman’s hopes and dreams?  With her children cowering in a corner and watching their mother die?

Pillage?  At first the thrill of wealth exulted satisfaction within him.  Now, when that wealth is covered with the blood of its dying owners, pillage was repugnant.  Gunter reached inside his tunic, retrieving a torn parchment. 

An elderly monk had thrust this page into Gunter’s hands just days ago.  With his last gasping breath, the monk whispered, “Take this…”

But, why?  Why did he give this to me?

Viking age in Ireland

The Vikings were a brutal group, no questions about that. They traveled and spread their mind set to all places in Europe. But, would Gunter find the answer he was seeking? And what led this Viking to follow a different path?

I wrote  this in 2013 for that year's A-to-Z Challenge. Apparently, my DNA gave me 18% Viking blood. It makes total sense. I am and have always been a feisty person.

Eagles in the Sky

 No band can swing and nail a song like The Eagles. I had listened to them for years, without knowing who these amazing musicians were.

You know them, but you don't think you do. There is one song that all music lovers have to know. "Hotel California". 

What to say about these?The following is a quote from the site below. I will let Wikipedia take it on.:

The rich lyrics – both introspective and allegorical – had fans pondering their true meaning for decades to come. These are kinda strange, but definitely gives insight to the lyrics.

The following quotes song facts.are from com/facts/eagles/hotel-california. 

It's actually the 'warm smell of colitis', an unpleasant bowel disease caused by eating too many refried beans. John Lennon referred to a similar ailment in Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds: "The girl with colitis goes by".

The line, "They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast" is a reference to Steely Dan. The bands shared the same manager (Irving Azoff) and had a friendly rivalry. 

The inspiration for the name of the song, however, was not a real-life hotel, Eagles lead singer Don Henley once told Rolling Stone. (Sorry, Hotel del Coronado, but you're not it.) "We were all middle-class kids from the Midwest. 'Hotel California' was our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles,” Henley said.Jan 19, 2018

  Given all the above, listen to the lyrics, above under the above video. They surprised me.

      Don Henley and Bernie Leadon in "Witchy Woman" performed this tremendous song.

Everything I might say has already been said.  Enjoy the music.

By the way, St. Louis is down the Mississippi.

Tickets may be purchased below. St. Louis is a site nearest to my home town. 

EAGLES - Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, with Vince Gill – extend the “Hotel California” 2022 Tour in the U.S. with November shows beginning Tuesday, November 15th in St. Louis, MO. 

Along Witch Creek

Sun lies behind the hill

Gray and pink...

Wisp to Wild

Grasping, consuming.

Swirl upward--

A gift to fires

of all fires.

Witch Creek,

Poinsettia,

Paradise 

Cedar,

San Marcos,

Elfin Forest, 

Mount Palomar...

Coco..

Other battles without names.

Burn to the ocean

or Stop at the crest?

Fiery tongues lick cold

Impassive walls.

Left empty and deserted,

Waiting for the end.

Homes and trees

To rest, layer upon layer.

White and Gray.

Green life, now absent,

Arizona

 

Becomes moonscape

in moments, in hours.

All for 

A Sunburnt Sun,

Fire at its witching hour.

I will read ashes for you, if you ask me,

I will look on the fire and tell you from 

       the gray lashes

And out of the red and black tongues and stripes

I will tell how fire comes and how fire runs 

        as far as the sea.

Carl Sandburg Fire Pages

Over the thirty years of living here, we have seen and experienced wildfire. Photos cannot do justice to the horror fire spreads. No one can know the fire, until facing it down from one's front door.

Just a few hours ago, smoke rose over the acres north west of us. We smelled the fire before we saw the fire.

Donations to the American Red Cross can be made at: Red Cross Donations

I'm good,- living life just like I should

    School can never be this fun. Sixth grader

   Dance when your heart

Cries out for the joy

 

Dance, dance
Let the music flow!

I always wonder what the children are thinking.

Soldiers on the March

Band of Welsh Guards in the British Army

And the men are marching,

Marching,

Faces to the grandstand,

On a windy day.

Marching, marching as 

Shining Brass Bands

Officiate.

The humble and brave

Pass

  

Blazing music, pompous and proud

 Eyes straight ahead
.

Marching into

  A soup of History.

 

From YouTube.  Marching in Palm Hwy, up in Mojave Desert.

We lived near here for seven years.

Awesome.

 This is a re-post April 18, 2013.  Italicized words were part of the Wednesday Words.

Jim Nabors, Impossible Dream

 

This was back in the 1960s, when no one knew what Jim Nabors could do with his hick Mulberry voice.

 

Jim Nabors: passing at age 87 

He passed in 2017, lived in Hawaii with his husband.

 

How far did Gomer/JIm Nabors go? 

Final episode

So, this voice was silenced  in 2017, at age 87. I just felt the need to see and hear a man whose character and voice coated me with faith and joy. An artist like Jim Nabors changed lives, with Impossible Dream, sung during the time of Vietnam. 

I was vacuuming and looked up, and there was this glorious voice singing a glorious song. It was a recognition of a time of history, Vietnam. My cousin died, a neighbor, two young men about 20 miles away, and some boys I did not know.

Music and music was so much.

What to do while waiting for the doctor

                                          

 

You are waiting in a Dr.'s consulting room, surrounded by posters of body parts. There are interesting brochures about diabetes, prostrate exams, and flu shots. Generic muted watercolor paintings hang somewhere.  Candy Crush is delightful. Time will pass.

Oh, but find yourself in a specialist's room. 

My last appointment with my neurologist showed me a huge difference..  Gray-ish walls in a barren room, with no visual stimulation at all, suffocation drops heavily.  No cell phone usage, either.  Too many electronic machines, absolutely important machines.  No clock, time will seize up.

There is an implicit message: Do Not Touch. Interesting canisters, holding interesting stuff, cabinets are locked: Do not touch.
 

These are activities I have used:  

 

Tap dancing, sit on that plastic chair and make your feet fly.  Fix a song in your head and have at it.  Tusk from the album, Tusk by Fleetwood Mac is a favorite. Be original. Go with  it.

Make sure to not touch any paper covered space on that rolling cart, staff gets ready pissy about that. Instead, roll that cart (which is holding a few instruments) around the room.  Slowly, of course, but you could make several passes in five minutes. Don't touch the paper.

That rolling stool?  That thing is fast, amazingly fast. It swivels rapidly, so you have to be careful with that one.  Be sure to lift your feet up, so you don’t get tangled up with the rollers. Don't touch any paper, even casually .

Pretend to use that grey and hard table to play an imaginary drum.  Avoid the paper.  This is good for arm muscles.  Be sure to drum with convincing force.

Search for studs in the wall.  Odd, but trying to hang pictures in plaster board often leaves a row of nail holes. Stud finding is an art. There is no danger of paper-touching.

I can’t think of anything else, as the doctor entered gray prison room when I was still checking for studs.  I had found one possible stud, but lacking a hammer and nail, this could not be confirmed.

Good luck. Let those wheels tear up the linoleum.

comes in three colors

Two Old Women

  

The Gwich’in tribe had decided, and once a resolute decision is made, there would be no change.

Leader Ti’kto’ma approached the old woman with tribal leaders behind him.  The old woman huddled close to the fire, but continued to chew seal leather, softening it.

”Old grandmother!  It is time to leave you in this camp for you to take your final journey!”  Ti’kto’ma shouted down at the elderly woman, where her youngest granddaughter wrapped her arms around the woman.

Old Woman, whose worth now was less than bark on a tree, nodded in submission.  The young girl begged for Grandmother’s life, her bruised deformed face twisted in tears.  Ti’kto’ma kicked her away from the fire.  “The fire is wasted on you!  Return to your mother…she must have some use for you, Mongrel Child.”

Old Woman gazed as the tribe walked off in the distance, clutching her bag and fur scarf tightly. In a day where dusk came as soon as the sun disappeared, she was left in the abandoned camp. She settled her elderly bones onto icy snow, waiting for the cold to take her.

As night crept in and cold settled over her, sounds grew louder in the forest.  Old Woman reached out, finding her grand-daughter.

“Let us both float off in the final journey together,” Mongrel Child whispered.  Old Woman wrapped her shawl and scarf around the girl, and they settled into a final night's sleep.

Elephant’s Child has provided the bold underlined words as a challenge for bloggers to stir the pot and produce any genre using those words.  This week there are six and another six words to play with as you choose. These are not the current words (got lazy)  Pop on over to her site, by clicking on her moniker above.

Have you heard of a book Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal and Survival" written by Velma Wallis? The tribe name is true and this ancient custom is accurate.  The story has truth in it as well.  After discovering "two old women" left behind, the tribe finds them well, healthy, and with a huge collection of dried foods.  The Gwich'in discontinued this tradition. This book is a worthy read, simplistic yet moving.

More on this history and legends

Simplicity In St. Catherine's

 

A gentle breeze seemed simple to the town of Cork. There was a coming storm on its way, but it was nothing new to the church of St. Catherine. As such, the Ladies’ Auxiliary gathered baskets of clothing, linens, and canned food for the needy.

St. Catherine was an ordinary town, where St. Catherine’s had a reputation to maintain, one of gentility and generosity. The Ladies Auxiliary had been watching the stormy skies and setting up the tea tables for the coming rain. 

Voluntary spinsters swept the sanctuary and dusted benches. After all the work, the storm hit with a vicious vengeance. The Ladies raced about the sanctuary, gathering prayer cards, and locking the office windows.

“Well, ladies. It seems weather has taken our joy of worship. Let’s set and enjoy our worship with the cards.” Nuns do not scurry, as a rule. But some raced to the office, opening the cash box, and cards were dealt.

Money and heavy rains did not matter, as long as there was good strong English tea.

Wednesday Words have been part of bloggers' lives over a decade or more.  The words are to share  for any blogger who wants to mess around with words. 

Use the underlined words, any genre, and give them a whirl.Please post on the justmystory@gmail.com.  river-driftingthroughlife.blogspot.com  travelswithbirds.blogspot.com  

 

If you post here, please let the other sites know you are here.

 

Life in the Great Outdoors

 

Legends of America

A country type blog I follow has the oddest stuff posted, odd and great. See what you think.  

 FDR's outhouse, used by George Washington

Clara’s Auntie May had come down to stay with Clara and her husband for a few days.

“Where’s your loo?” she inquired after she had downed three cups of tea.

“Thur ‘tis,” Clara told her, “down the garden.” Off went Auntie May, and when she came back she looked quite worried.

“Well, that is a dreadful place,” she cried, “and you got no lock on the door neither.”

“We don’t need no lock on thur,” Clara’s husband said, “we bin livin’ yer fer this thirty years and we ent never had a bucket of s*** stolen yet.”

Told by a neighbor to my aunt, and then to me.

Many stories could be told about outhouses. We think of them as purely a rural convenience. But that is not true, outhouses were the only facility available for use. Even the rich and famous were out there. Heck, the walkways along the street had interesting outhouses. Men were the usual occupants.

 

So, there you have it. The world can claim their own type and style of outhouses. It all depends on money, time, and hard digging. Only then can it become elegant or at least stand up in a strong wind and storm.

 

 Tomas Jefferson's design

We are so lucky.

Our own bit of heaven was not a piece of joy.