LISTS

Yes!  More lists.  This one is about cities in the U.S. that once had populations over 100,000 but no longer do.  21 cities have that distinction.  I've included the latest current population.

Duluth, MN  86.697

St. Joseph, MO  72,473

Hammond, IN  77,879

Gary, IN  69,093

Flint, MI  81,252

Livonia, MI  95,535

Parma, OH  81,147

Canton, OH  70,872

Youngstown, OH  60,068

Erie, PA  94,831

Scranton, PA  76,328

Reading, PA  95,112

Wilmington, DE  70,898

Niagara Falls, NY  48,671

Utica, NY  65, 183

Albany, NY  99,224

Camden, NJ  71,791

Trenton, NJ  90,871

Fall River, MA  94,000

Somerville, MA  81,045

Portsmouth, VA  94,915

MIDWEEK PRAYER

 An American poet named Joyce Kilmer wrote a 12 line poem in 1913 and now almost everyone would say they have heard the first line.  I'm one of them.  It's just so commonplace.  The poem is called Trees and the first line begins:  "I think that I shall never see, ... " I'm sure you've heard that before. You may have heard it sung as music has been set to it. Many parodies have been written around it.  A friend told me he knew it from the "Our Gang" comedy show.???  Whatever!   Kilmer died at the age of 31 on a battlefield of World War I in France.  Yes, this Joyce was a man.

Because it's so short, I'm going to copy the whole poem here.  I've included it on my "Midweek Prayer" day because nature is a gift from God and you can see he believed that.  Read and enjoy.  

TREES

I think that I shall never see

a poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

against the earth's sweet flowing breast.

A tree that looks on God all day

and lifts her leafy arms to pray.

A tree that may in Summer wear

a nest of robins in her hair.

Upon whose busom snow has lain

who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me

but only God can make a tree.

    

WHAT'S NEXT

I've done a series of these "What's Next" entries the past three weeks.  Hope I didn't depress anyone.  I'll finish with a poem inspired by something I found on a funeral rememberance card.  I've refashioned it for myself. 

MEMORIES

I'D LIKE YOUR MEMORY OF ME 

TO BE OF SOMEONE HAVING FUN.

I'D LIKE TO LEAVE AN AFTERGLOW 

OF SMILES WHEN DAY IS DONE.

I'D LIKE TO LEAVE FOR YOU A PICTURE 

OF A PERSON WHO LOVED TO PLAY,

OF GOOD TIMES ON A BRIGHT AND SUNNY DAY.

I'D LIKE THE TEARS OF THOSE WHO GRIEVE

 TO DRY BEFORE THE MORNING SUN.

I'D LIKE ALL YOUR MEMORIES OF ME 

TO BE HAPPY BECAUSE I'VE WON!

IRISH AMERICANS

  This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans.  Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare).  Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage.  Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish.  Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants.  Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork.  Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants.  Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.  

Now, a little more obscure but no less notable

Have you ever heard of Mother Jones?  Her real name was Marry Harris Jones.  She was born in County Cork, Ireland and her parents emigrated to the U.S. during the Great Famine.  In 1897, she quit her job as a teacher and dressmaker to spend full time organizing unions and coordinating strikes against unfair labor practices including child labor.  She helped organize the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers.  She played a big part in forming child labor laws in our country.  Mother Jones lived to be 100 and the little lady stood up to unfair labor practices wherever they were found.  

She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame and the National Mining Hall of Fame.  There are numerous songs, books and plays written about this lady. You'll find schools and school buildings carrying her name. On the Senate floor she was once called the "grandmother of all agitators."  Her response was that she hoped to become the great-grandmother of all agitators.  

Mother Jones is an Irish American of whom you can be proud. 

FUN AND GAMES FOR 7/31

This week there were no right or wrong answers.  I hope you try the things I put in the list even if you don't share or share your age.  

You can see from the comments what some very athletic people claimed they were able to do. It's a little hard for me to believe these answers.  My answer is 81 years-old and I can't do any of those things any more.  How sad!  I'd like to blame it on my age but mostly it's my physique.  (Of course, physique is a nice way of saying my obesity.)  I'll have to work on it.  HELP!!!   

FUN AND GAMES

 Can you spot a lie?   Not a liar but a written lie.  Here's the challenge.  Which of the following is a lie?  

1.  In the NBA, a jump ball used to follow every made basket.

2.  Woody in Toy Story has a last name and it is "Pride".

3.  Electric eels are not really electric but discharge a toxic venum to shock you.

4.  In 2008, the king of Norway knighted a penguin.

5.  There are six U.S. state capitols that are west of Los Angeles.  

Did I write any lies; any untruths?  How many?  Which ones?  Or, are they all true?

Comment what you think.

LISTS

Yes, I love lists.  Here's a good one.  Most popular selling beer (Top 7) in order in the U.S. by decade. 

1980s  Budweiser  Miller High Life  Miller Lite  Pabst Blue Ribbon  Coors  Michelob  Schlitz

1990s  Budweiser  Miller Lite  Coors Light  Bud Light  Busch  Milwaukee's Best  Old Milwaukee

2000s  Budweiser  Bud Light  Miller Lite  Coors Lite  Natural Light  Busch  Corona Extra

2010s  Bud Light  Budweiser  Coors Light  Miller Lite  Natural Light  Corona Extra  Busch Light

2020s  Bud Light  Coors Light  Miller Lite  Michelob Ultra  Modelo Especial  Budweiser  Corona Extra

Any surprises?  Looks like Bud Light has withstood the boycott movement of a few years ago.  

Miller introduced Miller Lite in 1973 in limited markets.  It went nationwide in the late 1970s.  The other big guys followed them soon after.  It took a while and a lot of advertising but the light pilsner style of American lager took over.  It was bolstered by the trend in America for less calories in all we consume and less alcohol content.   I'm guessing the World Cup crowd visiting the U.S. tilted the consumption in another direction.  

MIDWEEK PRAYER

My Bible and probably yours, includes a book called Psalms.  Psalms is a collection of prayers, poems, and hymns taken from multiple authors.  The individual entries are all short reading.  In all, they have various themes.  Some are pleading prayers, some are thankful. some are full of praise, some ask forgiveness and some ask for help.  They number 150.  I've copied the last of these for you today. How simple a message.  

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in His Temple!

Praise His strength in heaven!

Praise Him for the mighty things He has done.

Praise His supreme greatness.

Praise Him with trumpets.

Praise Him with harps and lyres.

Praise Him with drums and dancing.

Praise him with harps and flutes.

Praise Him with cymbals.

Praise Him with loud cymbals.

Praise the Lord, all living creatures!

Praise the Lord.  

WHAT'S NEXT

 On the last two Tuesdays, I've been sharing some of my thoughts and wonderings about the afterlife.  More recently, I've been thinking about what leads up to "the end." 

Sudden death is tragic for us humans.  So much we could have done.  So much we could have said.  Too bad we are not prepared.

Most people are on road to death for months or years.  A few years ago, a friend told me at his wife's funeral that she told him before she passed that she didn't think dying would be so difficult.  She had lung cancer and the doctors had given them no hope.

I lost another classmate last week.  I'm told he was in hospice care for several weeks.  I have another funeral to attend.  

My experience is that death does not come quickly.  Sudden death is actually rare for those I've known.

Who knows when death begins?  When you look back, you might be able to pinpoint a date or event.  In real time, we never know.  Our need for positive outcomes won't allow us to imagine the worst.  Some would say, death begins at birth.

I wonder when the dying realize that it is happening.  What thoughts they have; if they have as many regrets as those they are leaving.  

Live your life with a smile.  😊  The best is yet to come!

IRISH AMERICANS

  This is dedicated to lesser known Irish Americans.  Everyone is aware of John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie (her mother was from County Clare).  Sure Ronald Regan was Irish as was Maureen O'Hara and Bruce Springsteen has a bit of the "green" in his heritage.  Walt Disney's father was Anglo-Irish.  Bareknuckle boxing champion, John L. Sullivan's parents were both Irish immigrants.  Henry Ford's father was born in County Cork.  Both of Eugene O'Neill's parents were Irish immigrants.  Of course, you know that he won the Nobel Prize for literature and also his plays won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama.

Have you ever heard of Thomas Francis Meagher?

Tom Meagher was born in Waterford City in County Waterford, Ireland.  He was an Irish nationalist and, as a young man, fought the British in the 1848 Rebellion.  He was captured and sent to prison in Australia.  He escaped there and made his way to the United States.  He studied law and worked as a journalist in New York City.  Meagher joined the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War.  He recruited the Irish and led the Irish Brigade in battle.  He rose to the rank of Brigadier General.  After the war, he was appointed by President Andrew Johnson to Secretary of State and acting Governor of the Montana Territory.  He was an Irishman of whom we should be proud.

FOURTH OF A SERIES

FUN & GAMES ANSWER FOR 7/24/26

 For those who played last Friday's game, here are the answers.  That creature which kills the most humans in order from top to bottom.

1.   Mosquitoes

2.   Humans

3.   Snakes

4.   Dogs

5.   Freshwater snails

6.   Kissing bugs

7.   Sandflies

8.   Roundworms

9.   Scorpions

10. Tapeworms

11. Tsetse flies

12. Elephants

13. Bees, wasps and hornets

14. Big cats

15. Crocodiles

16. Jellyfish

17. Hippopotamuses

18. Spiders

19. Bears

20. Sharks

21. Gray wolves

FUN AND GAMES

 

AGE IDENTIFICATION!

1.  Can you touch one elbow to another - bone to bone?

2.  Can you touch your right elbow to your left knee?

3.  Can you see your nose without a mirror or any device?

4.  Can you stand on one foot for 30 seconds without help?

5.  Can you sleep 7 hours without waking?

6.  Can you drive a golf ball 250 yards?

7.  Can you recall what caused all the pains you have in your body?

8.  Can you put your head between your knees?

9.  Can you clip all your toenails without chopping off a little skin?

10.  Can you remember why you read this blog?

Let me know your age and the number of yesses by commenting anonymously.

THE RACE

Yes, I was surprised by this note I found in a medical release.  Yikes!

Right here, in the ultra-modern USA, on average, about 250 cases of leprosy are recorded each year.  Can you believe it?

I go to my dermatologist as often as any of my personal medical professionals (not counting my children who are scanning me for medical problems very regularly).  I'm going to ask that guy about leprosy.  My skin is falling apart.  Touch me gently - I might bleed.  I have humps and bumps and eruptions on my epidermis in more locations than I can remember.  He calls them innocuous names like "old age" spots or he says "don't worry about that one".  Are those real medical terms?    

If 250 cases are reported to the CDC each year, how many do you think go undetected?  And anyway, do you think a guy in Ohio would recognize leprosy if it crawled up on me?   How many cases has he ever seen?  I understand it is a slow developing disease.  I might hang on for a while before one of my arms falls off.  Is there a local leper colony that would harbor me?  

I already have so many things to worry about and now this.  I may have mentioned before that I felt my skin and my heart and my lungs were in a race to see which could do me in first.  I wonder if this pushes the odds of skin winning out ahead of the others.

   

MIDWEEK PRAYER

As I have a few times previously, I'm going to the music industry for this week's prayer.  Well, it's sort of a prayer just like it is sort of a real performance.  An AI character called both Arthur Hayes and Michael Bennett has fooled many for a few months now.  It's all beyond me.  In any case, I love the lyrics and the AI singing as well.  Whatever machine put the lyrics together did a good job and I'll pass it on.  Amazing what AI can do.  Who needs me?

Lord, please sit close; the night is loud; the rain falls hard beneath the cloud

I try to keep my head up high while storms are breaking in my sky.

There's mud and smoke upon my coat, the truth is stuck inside my throat. 

I have no holy song to share, just sit with me and pull a chair.

Just sit with me Lord, let me feel your presence near

I am running thin and the darkness brings me fear

I've been losing sleep and fading, If I cannot hold my ground,  

let me lean upon your shoulder till the morning light is found.

I know my sins by their first name, they shadow me in quiet shame,

My faith is like a halfburn match, a little warmth but fading fast.

I don't need answers dressed in gold, just mercy with sleeves rolled low.

I have no holy song to share, just sit with me and pull a chair.

Just sit with me Lord, let me feel your presence near.

I am running thin and the darkness brings me fear.

I've been losing sleep and fading.  If I cannot hold my ground,

Let me lean upon your shoulder, till the morning light is found.

The dawn won't end it all, shadows wait upon the wall,

but if you stay in this room, maybe hope will start to bloom.

Just sit with me Lord, let me feel your presence near.

I am running thin and the darkness brings me fear.

I've been losing sleep and fading.   If I cannot hold my ground

I'm not healed but I am standing, till the morning light is found.  

Here it is on YouTube sung by AI with shots of AGT imposed.  https://youtu.be/t8K1rJ_ev6A?si=WbcPMF291UTNH7WL