October 17th, 2019
“Mangwanani” or “Good Morning!!!” in Shona, a Bantu language spoken mainly in Zimbabwe.
We had a visitor at our house for the past two weeks. This lady has gotten through some tough times over the past few years but still finds the strength and character to reach out to others to help in the best way she can. I have known her almost her whole life and during that time she has always had an open mind, heart and hand to help anyone who needed. Her latest targets are stray cats, wayward relatives and her babysitting charges. She brightened up our lives and helped us look at some things in new ways. She lent some of her famous strength and forgave us when we needed it. Thank you!
This week I learned some stuff:
• I learned that there are consequences to failing to maintain my bamboo. For the past 20 years, I have blissfully enjoyed my towering green and yellow stalks that hid my little patch from my neighbors. However, it now bullying our mutual fences. Twenty years on, I did the research on how to maintain bamboo. It seems I need to cut it all down at ground level and cut a trench around it. When the trench is completely encircling the clumps of bamboo and make sure the trenches are cleared every 6 months or so. I have gotten two of the three estimates and none of them are pretty.
• Thank you for the many encouraging words sent to me to regain my walking habit. I really have no excuse except that apparently I don’t want to do that right now. I will keep trying and I am going to the gym at least once before the next UJT comes out!
• October 17th the 290th day of the year (only 69 days till Christmas!). On this day in 1061 a T8/F4 strength tornado hit the heart of London, England(who knew London had tornadoes!); In 1777, British General Cornwallis surrender’s to the Continental Army at Saratoga, NY; On this day in 1814 eight people lost their lives in the when a huge vat of beer collapsed …known as the London Beer Flood; in 1888, Thomas Edison files a patent for the first movie (Optical Phonograph); In 1931, Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion;In 1979, Mother Theresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; In 2018, the recreational use of Cannabis is legalized in Canada; In 1918 Rita Hayworth, American actress and singer was born; On this day in 1938, Evel Knievel was born; Jim Seals of Seals and Croft was born on October 17th, 1941; 1991 Tennessee Ernie Ford passed away; and we lost Joey Bishop in 2007.
Website Update:
• Week 2 for our “New” Vocabulary Quiz!
• A“New” Music Trivia Quiz !! Yeah!!!
• This week I didn’t add any new recipes.
Writing, Ceramics and Painting Update:
• Slowly trying to get used to my new Mission Gold Watercolor set. These pigments are so vivid that they seem harder to control the way I did my other paints.
• Grandpa Stories is still not re-published.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• Painting cows in black and white stripes like Zebra’s attracts fewer flies that solid black or brown cows experience. Striped cows are bitten 50% less than solid black animals! Betcha didn’t know that !?
• Maybe some people think that President Trumps move to cut the Kurds loose after all the years they have been supporting America’s “War on Terrorism” is a good idea. I don’t know any one who says that out loud but I think Stephen King captured my feelings on the matter in his usual succinct manner recently on Twitter, “Trump foreign policy will be known in the future as the Asshole Doctrine.” Sho Nuff!
Music Update:
This week, I have created another very nice collection of song samples that I think celebrate life in a grand way!
Go to this week’s UJT Radio program.
• Dave Mason – We Just Disagree — This comes from Dave’s “Let It Flow” album,”released in 1977. Seeing Dave last week was such a great treat!
• Poco — A Good Feeling to Know — We also got to see Richie Furay who wrote the this song that was the title track from their 1972 release. I think every person in the audience sang along. Most in tune!
• Stevie Wonder — Superstition — This amazing song comes from his “Talking Book” album released in 1972. It is number 74 on Rolling Stones’ Top 500 Songs of All Time.
• M.C. Hammer – You Can’t Touch This – This was a huge shot in the arm for music. Like most “white folks” I just didn’t get it when it came out in 1990 on his “Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em” album. Now, every time it comes up in the mix, I just smile.
• Gordon Lightfoot — If You Could Read My Mind — From his 1970 release, “Sit Down Young Stranger”. this song really put this Canadian folk singer on the map.
• The Rollings Stones — You Can’t Always Get What You Want — I always thought that his song was the Stones response to Hey Jude. They could be pretty competitive. In any case, the Stones 1969 release of their “Let it Bleed” album.
• The Doors — Riders on the Storm — From their “LA Woman” album released in 1971. LA Woman was released in April and Jim Morrison was dead by July. This song was only performed live 3 times with the the last time being in New Orleans in June.
That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; And always remember … The best is yet to come! As always, thank you for being my friend!