There's not a much better time of year than March when the Madness is in full swing; for sports fans that is. I'm sure I don't have to explain it to you.
BUT, I have come upon one big thing I don't like about it. We've had some of the very best weather of the Spring this past weekend and I spent most of it in front of my TV. Thats's sad. I wish there was a way to avoid this in the future. I'm afraid I've turned into a slug.
Last Thursday, I wrote about Sunrise, Sunset. Well, there is a technical side of my brain which gets hung up on minutia and I just can't let it go. So, I'll put it down in print and then I'll be able to forget it. Sorry!
The Sun does not rise and the Sun does not set. I hope you realize that. This thought must date back to when humans thought the Earth was the center of the universe. The Sun just sits out there about 93 million miles away and it moves along in it's steady pace. The whole "sunrise, sunset" thing has to do with the Earth rotating. Don't forget that. Don't thank the Sun for returning each day; thank our planet for rotating. It rotates completely in about 24 hours, you know. Convenient time, isn't it.
Now, the language part of my brain asks this: If we call the morning Sunrise, why don't we call the evening Sunfall? It is obvious that the Sun rising is not quicker that it's departure. Who makes up these words?
All silliness aside, each can be equally as beautiful. If you are a persistant late sleeper, you're missing a real treat each day. If you have not seen the Sun melt into the Seas, you have not witnessed one of the most breathtaking sights on Earth.
Spring has sprung! God has given the Earth a new birth - new life everywhere.
I've attached an entry I made in 2020 because I love the pictures on the attachment. It looks like a place I'd like to visit.
I haven't been posting very often on Saturdays for some time. Laziness, I suppose. Most years, this is the first day of Spring - a truly wonderful time of year. The day is special to me.
I hope you have a terrific day today; full of smiles, maybe some great adventures and surely some awesome memories. It shouldn't be any other way.
I had a note on my phone that I had written some time ago and I couldn't remember if I had used it as an entry on this blog. So, I opened the blog and typed 80 in that little block up top with the magnifying glass in it. Voila! I got over 90 results. As I always do, I sat and read them for a long time - more than an hour and a half. Such great information. Of course, I'm so witty. (try it some time)
I couldn't find it, so here goes.
I'm 80. Imagine you are 80. Think about it. How do you picture yourself? How is your health? Where are you and what are you doing to keep busy?
I've always thought that one of the great attributes of successful people is the ability to see, or have a good vision of, the future. I think anyone can get better at it. Like everything else, it takes practice. Don't be afraid.
Now for the main question. What is it that the 80 year-old you would wish that the present-day you would change? What changes would the 80 year-old you wish you had stopped postponing? Okay, do it! ... for the sake of that 80 year-old.
There is a beautiful song from the play "Fiddler on the Roof" that is called "Sunrise, Sunset". It is sung by and for the father and mother at their children's wedding. Here are the lyrics. I've writen them as prose. They touch me. It is one of my daughters' birthday today but the sentiment goes for all four of my children and their spouses and their children, especially those about to marry.
Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don't remember growing older. When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall? Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?
Sunrise, Sunset. Sunrise, Sunset. Swiftly flow the days. Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers; blossoming even as we gaze.
Sunrise, Sunset. Sunrise, Sunset. Swiftly fly the years. One season following another, laiden with happiness and tears. What words of wisdom can I give them? How can I help to ease their way?
Now they must learn from one another day by day. They look so natural together. Just like two newlyweds should be. Is there a canopy* in store for me?
Sunrise, Sunset. Sunrise, Sunset. Swiftly fly the years. One season following another, laiden with happiness and tears.
* "canopy" refers to the traditional Jewish chuppah used during a wedding ceremony.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STACEY!
Don't get hung up on the peripheral do's and don'ts. Jesus told us specifically, that we must, most importantly, love God with all our hearts, all our souls and all our minds ... AND ... that we must love our neighbor as oursleves. All the laws that really matter are contained in these two things.
Lord,
teach me to love,
help me to love,
and forgive me
when I don't act with love,
when I don't speak with love,
when I fail to act when I should have.
Amen
You know you can look up any blog entry I've ever made. It's not hard. Well, I plugged Ireland into the search box and came up with a whole bunch - here are a few good ones. Enjoy the day - be safe.
Sign in the window of an Irish pub.
Today's special
7-course Irish meal
Six pints and one potato
The following is a map of Europe in 1926 - 100 years ago. Fluidity is the quality of a substance or situation that allows it to flow - to change. I've put this map here to remind everyone just how fluid the world can be - how fluid the nations are. For the past several years, we have been upset with Russia for attacking Ukraine; for wanting part of that country for themselves. How dare they not honor the border we see on our map!?
I hope you can enlarge the map below and still read the names of the countries. Number 1, you will not find Ukraine - didn't exist. Belarus didn't exist. Czechoslovakia no longer exists - it become the Czech Republic and Slovokia. Yugoslavia is gone and has become Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia - Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. These weren't the only changes, just the most obvious. So many changes - most brought about by war. Did I mention that Kiev, the Capitol city of Ukraine, was located in the Soviet Union?
My point is, "Don't be so shocked when nations battle over borders. Who is to say when the freeze takes place and no more border changes are allowed? I am old enough to have seen changes before. Much of the world that is aiding Ukraine is doing it for their own benefit - not the Ukraine people. Everyone seeks safety - most find it in the status quo. Change can be scary. I wont be surprised if that war ends with the Russians owning some ground that Ukraine thought was theirs."
PS: BEFORE 1867, 159 YEARS AGO, ALASKA WAS PART OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
I think I've mentioned before that I gave up watching news programs on TV from any network. I do turn on the local news when I first get out of bed and turn to business news to see how the stock market is doing. Other than that: nada! zilch!
So, have I mentioned how I do keep up with current events? My main source is news I recieve in my e-mail each day. I read from a source called "1440". It's a free digest. It's real easy once you get the hang of it. They have only three main stories each day, they are fairly short and as unbiased as you can find. They have connectors to other sources if you want those stories in greater depth. Then they have a list of stories in which they only give one line of explanation but again offer a connection if you are interested. I've really learned to like it.
I heard an add this week for a new news service in which they explained how the news services from which we get information shape our thinking. It's impossible to avoid it. After you follow a particular news service for any period of time, you think they way they do. Give "1440" a try. Yes, you will have to read instead of listen; but it's short. By the way, 1440 is the year the printing press started the knowledge revolution and the number of minutes in a day.
I'm back on "aging" again. I saw this on a video by a doctor. These are five tests that this doctor gives to find out if you are doing well with the aging process. Most of these have to do with the problem of falling. Falls are often the first step on a steep and final decline for the elderly.
I know you are not all elderly but this would be a good check at any time of your life to see how you stack up. These five tasks are not all easy, by any means. Test yourself. If you fall short, practice. Do them over and over until you can measure up. Good luck.
1. From a seated position on a chair, stand up with your hands crossed over your chest. Sounds easy enough but it takes some leg muscles. I didn't have much trouble with it.
2. Walk backwards straight for 10 steps. Keep your head forward. Sounds like a DUI test, doesn't it? I found it easy.
3. Stand on one foot for 30 seconds - no helping hands. This was the hardest one for me. 30 seconds is a long time. I'm going to keep practicing.
4. Touch your toes without bending your knees. There is no time in my life that I can remember being able to do this and now my belly makes it impossible. I gave myself a pass on this one but I'm going to keep trying anyway.
5. Get up from lying down on the floor without help. No using hands on other objects. This takes a little work and thought but you can do it - I did.
That's it. If you can do all these, you're not that old and you stand a good chance of avoiding falls.
There is a quote from the blessed lady, Saint Mother Teresa, that goes something like: "We do not need to do great things, just little things with great love." I think that's beautiful.
Great love is more than an emotion, it is the state in which one would do anything good that needs to be done for another person. One would put that person's well-being above their own. That is love. That is the test that proves their is love. There is no greater example of love than when one person gives up his life for another.
Let us pray:
It's almost universal in the animal world that the males of the species are more beautiful than the female. According to Darwin, it has to do with the need to be attractive to females, to ensure finding a suitable partner, to fulfill the need to produce offspring and increase the population. The ability and need to reproduce is built into every living thing.
What about the human animal? Females seem to be the ones with the need to be attractive to the males. They spend at least 10 times as much time and money on the endeavor as men. What happened to the great plan? The really strange part is they never overcome the need to make themselves more attractive even when they are beyond the age to reproduce and have preselected a suitable partner. Maybe, there is something else going on in their minds.
It must be that women do not make themselves attractive for men only but for other women. If so, what could the reason be? It could have nothing to do with reproducing. Didn't Darwin look at the human animal? It seems there is a fallacy in his theorem.
As for me: I don't know the answer. All I can say is "Vive la difference"
This quiz is based on my blog of 3/5/26, last Thursday. I mused that no one would know who spoke some of the languages included in the entry. I'm sure no one looked them up out of curiousity. Now, if you want to be the big prize winner, you must be a good guesser or a user of AI or studious enough to search.
Here are the languages with the strange names:
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