The Old Man

 

YouTube, Celtic Thunder  

The tears have all been shed now,

We've said our last good-byes
His soul's been blessed and he's laid to rest
And it's now I feel alone

He was more than just a father
A teacher my best friend
He can still be heard in the tunes we shared
When we play them on our own

I never will forget him for he made me what I am
Though he may be gone memory lingers on
And I miss him ... The old man

As a boy he'd take me walkin'
By mountain field and stream
And he showed me things not known to kings
And secret between him and me

Like the colors of the pheasant
As he rises in the dawn
And how to fish and make a wish
Beside the holly tree

I never will forget him for he made me what I am
Though he may be gone memory lingers on
And I miss him ... My Old Man
I thought he'd live forever
He seemed so big and strong
But the minutes fly and the years roll by
For a father and his son

And suddenly when it happened
There was so much left unsaid
No second chance to tell him thanks
For everything he's done

I never will forget him for he made me what I am
Though he may be gone memory lingers on

And I miss him ... The Old Man
Happy Father's Day to all.

Executing Ideas

On March 5th, Russians gathered at Stalin's tomb. He died on this date, heart attack it is thought.  Were they grieving?  Were they honoring him? Take a guess...

Stalin Meme

Source

March 5, 2017

source

Newer generations of Russians are starting to revere Stalin as he saved them from the Nazis and protected them from Allied nations. Apparently  memories of gulags and mass executions have faded from modern history.

Mind boggling.

Source

Humor me for a few minutes. I need someone to listen to me.

My grandmother's award for graduating high school in 1906.  I have seen these in many antique stores for $10. My offspring do not want this to part of their inheritance.  What to do with this?

Humor me for a few minutes.

Take a look around your blogging spot.  Then walk around your kitchen and bathrooms.  Walk through all the other rooms.  Then think: What do I really need from these rooms?  What could be ditched without a thought?

This is a surprising and eye-opening activity.  At least, it was for me.  Why did we buy that?  Why are we keeping a hand imprint of our 40 year old daughter? A clock that stopped working last year? A plate from Mexico? 

Stuff. That's all it all is. Stuff from a trip we scarcely remember and stuff placed there because we had no other spot--why are we holding onto it all?

Strange how 27 years ago we moved to this house when our youngest daughter was eight, middle child Johnny was eleven, and older daughter was changing into a confused fourteen year old.  They grew up, stepped into careers, and moved away. The pool grew silent along with the house.

This leads us to look at communities for us semi-old folks and move.

First we will go to Home Depot for quality boxes, load up bags of stuff for Good Will, and call for a pick-up from Disabled Veterans. Second, we...we..really, I don't know how to take the next step. 

Thanks for humoring me.  I appreciate that.

We have looked at this boulder for 27 years.  My dad called it the "boar's tooth".  

Our orange tree was already 20 years old when we moved here.

Our fireplace, with grandson's toys

Of course, I realize there will be another fireplace, another place 

for the Christmas tree. Oranges can't be replaced, and the 

Boar's Tooth must stay.  There will be photos and sweet

memories.

The sunset we see from over the ocean.

Our Christmas tree 2014

Songs that Were Sung...

...and must be sung again!  

I grew up during the big ballad years.  If you can hum along with "...a green alligator and a..." then you remember the ballad years.  The movie, "A Mighty Wind" was a parody on those groups that had their moment in the musical sun.

But there were also the immortal balladeers like The Chieftains, the Clancy Brothers (later with Tommy Makem), and Burl Ives, along with names I cannot pull out of my morning brain.  The ballads covered every range from traditional ballads to humorous folk songs to Civil War songs--ballads were telling a story, making people remember, seeing something from the past or maybe the future.



A new series of books just published, English and Scottish Popular Ballads by James Frances Childs, promises to keep those ballads remembered.  Too often, these words and events fade into history, and someone says, "What were the words...oh, my mother used to sing that song to me..."



Now, at least these words will stand, be read and enjoyed.
English and Scottish Popular Ballads is the site for these newly released books.

Many Thanks! to Tony Benson for high-lighting this series.