This is coming to you late because I guess I had a reaction to the minor surgery I had on Tuesday that put me down all of Wednesday and Thursday and still lingers today (an ER Visit is next). Anyway, i am sorry this was late this week.
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April 27th, 2023
“ Dobroho ranku”, or “Good Morning!” in Ukrainian, an Eastern Slavic language spoken mainly in Ukraine. I have decided that the UJT will remain focused on Ukraine until we can all rejoice in the end of hostilities. It has been 420 days since Russia invaded Ukraine.
My youngest child celebrates her birthday today. She is so good to her folks, kids, brother, niece, and nephew, it’s hard to know what to do to celebrate. We have a tradition in our family, where we go to dinner together at the restaurant of the birthday person’s choosing. Everyone can get whatever they like. Jess has chosen Sushi so tonight we will all be eating bait (except her mom). Happy Birthday Jessica!!!
This week I learned some stuff:
- My productivity has increased measurably this week. I began to work through the long list of cancer-delayed projects this week in earnest. I began cleaning out my closet (7 bags and 2boxes to Goodwill so far). I restarted another large Stained Glass project. Cleaning the grill is still no fun but 3-4 Youtube videos, I think part of my problem was a tools issue.
- My oldest younger sister is a Jigsaw Puzzle Maven (girl jedi) it seems. I got her 5 no fooling tough 500 pc adult puzzles this week for her birthday and she had 2 done by Monday! Some of the puzzles we have started have been known to remain unfinished for months!
- I can hear !!! I got my new hearing aids this week. I suspect it will tae a bit of time to get my skills up (it has its own app!) but I can hear the difference already.
- April 27th is the 117th day of 2023. Just 250 days till Christmas. On this day in 1667, blind and impoverished, John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for £10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers’ Register; On that same day, in 1981, Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse; the city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster today in 1986; Today in 1992, the Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; Today in 2018, the Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict; Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code was born today in 1791; Today in 1822, Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States was born; Walter Lantz, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor was born today in 1899; Today in 1923, Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Seminole chief was born; Today in 1933 Casey Kasem, American disc jockey, music historian, radio celebrity, and voice actor, co-created American Top 40 was born; Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist from Badfinger, was born today in 1947; Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese sailor and explorer died today in 1521; And lastly, Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author passed away today in 1998.
This week’s Website Update:
- Last week for our Vocabulary Quiz
- A New Musical Trivia Quiz !!!!
- This week I added a couple of new recipes for you – Mississippi Mud Roast and Curried Chicken Salad. The mud roast was a new and wonderful surprise. I had had the chicken in Germany and enjoyed it .. but never made it before.
- The Home Page quote for this week is from, Benjamin Franklin, “ Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”
Writing, Ceramics, Bonsai Trees, Stained Glass, and Painting Update:
- I dug out my ceramics tools and refreshed my watercolor stuff. Hope to start doing more of both this week. My cardiologist has an opening to do a cardiac catheterization on me which resulted in a brand-new Stent in my heart and an unexpected night in the hospital.
- I am continuing my streak of slacking off on the paper edits of Grandpa Stories. I just haven’t carved out any time for more chapters.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
- I had a relatively minor surgical procedure this week. Cardio Catheritization is a low-risk procedure designed to 1) determine if you have any blood vessel blockages in or near your heart that could make routine surgery high risk; 2) If such blockages are found, deal with them one way or another much like when you get a colonoscopy, they deal with any abnormalities while doing the inspection. Having said that, I am a 70-year-old cancer patient with pulmonary issues so any procedure requiring anesthesia can have unexpected outcomes. I said all of that to say this. If you do not have an Advance Directive signed in and in effect do that today. Choose your agent wisely. It’s not so important that they know everything about health and treatments, that can all be explained. But they must be clear on what you wish to happen as they will be the voice when you cannot speak. In my case, I have spent some time with my daughter, explaining my wishes during treatment, during, and after significant outcomes. If you don’t do this, you maybe giving a lot of heartache and anguish to the people you love the most. They need to know what you want. Of course, this is also a good time to make sure your will, trust documents, etc. are up to date and in a place where your loved ones can find them without your help if needed. Don’t forget to share the password for your personal computing devices. Should something happen there is probably information that could be helpful to them on your phone or home computer.
Music Update:
Another week of joy and music to share. Enjoy.
This week’s UJT Radio Program:
- Mountain — Mississippi Queen — This is a blast from my past. I got to see them doing it once in concert. This one always got my skinny ass to shaking! This comes from their 1970 release, ”Climbing”.
- Natalie Merchant — Carnival — I was first hypnotized by this lady back when she was just one of the 10, 000 Maniacs. This is her first big single from her debut solo album, “Tigerlily”, released in 1995. A woman by the name of Jennifer Turner plays the heavenly guitar leads and provides haunting backup vocals on this song about discovering the wonders of NYC. Just a great song!
- Natasha Bendingfield – Unwritten — This lady knocked it out of the park commercially with this, her first single which is a title cut for her 2nd album. This song is just so well-written and thoughtful. I hope you like it enough to check out some of the other songs by this very interesting woman.
- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats — Hey Mama — This is another tip from my brother that I really liked. I had never heard of these guys. This is from their 2018 release. “Tearing at the Seams (Deluxe Edition)”.
- • Neil Young — Harvest — This is the title cut from my favorite Neil Young record. There are a lot of good songs but this title waltz has a special place in my heart. I think this may be my favorite waltz! This was Neil’s fourth album and was released in 1972.
- Jerry Garcia — Sugaree — From the Vinyl!!!! We lost Jerr almost 3o years ago. But he was a timeless old soul who lives a lifetime with every moment you spend in his splendid presence. This one of my favorites from his first solo effort, “Garcia” released in 1972.
That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; Always remember… The best is yet to come! As always, thank you for being my friend!