November 11th, 2021
“Mba’eichapa nde ko’ê?”, or “Good Morning!” in Guaraní, a Tupí-Guaraní language spoken mainly in Paraguay, and also in Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina.
Today is Veterans Day. Today is the day we set aside to show appreciation for those men and women who served our country faithfully. They took an oath to follow orders. Even if those orders put them in harms way. Most are just young men or women finding their way in the world. Some are following a family tradition of service. Some are hoping to make a career in the military. There are those who joined in reaction to some inspirational event such as Pearl Harbor or 9/11. For others, their entry into the military was a lesser evil they chose. All of them said the same words raising their hand to God and promising to protect us. And for over 245 years they kept those promises made to strangers. We can never repay them for their gift but we can honor them this day. If you see someone who is actively serving or has served, take a moment to thank them for that service.
This week I learned some stuff:
• The Heartline Study is helpful to me. It keeps me moving, breathing, being more mindful of health. I achieved the goals set for me last Monday and am looking forward to this weeks goals. I suspect they will be more challenging.
• If you love old cars, check out the Crime Story series on the Roku channel. It was filled in the 1980s but its like they bought every vintage car in Cuba to film the 1963 Chicago period for the show.
• November 11th is the 315th day of 2021. Just 43 days till Christmas! Today in 1620 the Mayflower Compact is signed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod; On this day in 1675, Gottfried Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x); In 1921, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery; NASA launches Gemini 12 on this day in 1966; Today in 1993, a sculpture honoring women who served in the Vietnam War is dedicated at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.; Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and philosopher was born today in 1821; Gig Young, American actor, was born on this day in 1913; George S. Patton, American general, was born today in 1885; Today in 1916, William Proxmire, American soldier, journalist, and politician, was born; Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist, was born today in 1922; Born today in 1925, Jonathan Winters, American actor and screenwriter; Demi Moore, American actress, director, and producer, was born today in 1962; Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii passed away in 1917; Berry Oakley, American bass player for the Allman Brothers band passed away today in 1972. He had a motorcycle accident three blocks and1 year away from where Duane died in his accident; And finally, the original Man From UNCLE, Robert Vaughn, American actor, passed away on this day in 2016.
Website Update:
This week:
• Last week for our new Vocabulary Quiz
• A New Musical Trivia Quiz!! WooHoo!!
• I have a number of new recipe for you this week – Dried Beef Gravy Over New Potatoes (comfortable food!);Slow Roasted Sunday Pork Shoulder; Lobster & Shrimp Scampi; and finally, Escargot in Mushroom Caps. Enjoy!
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• The Home Page quote comes from another of my favorite authors and thinkers, Albert Einstein, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
Writing, Ceramics, Stained Glass and Painting Update:
• No change on the painting or stained glass front this week.
• Grandpa Stories is once again making progress towards being republished. I had a hiccup with my new tool but its ok now. Most of the way past Part 2.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• Our local pot dispensary has happy hours. How weird is that???
• Since joining the Heartline Study I am waking Georgie around our neighborhood. I have observed some interesting doggy behaviors. Anyone who has ever walked a dog or been on the planet with a dog present will know that their noses are communications devices. They go from spot to spot learning who had passed by before and probably a whole bunch more information but the point is they follow their noses. We follow Georgies nose from tree to bush to tuft of grass all around our neighborhood. We pass by 2 fire hydrants on our circuit and I observed that none of the doggy visitors visit our hydrants. It was then that I realized that unlike the traditional red fire hydrants that I have history with, all the hydrants in our area are yellow. I wonder if some enterprising fire hydrant designer notices the complete lack of canine interest in yellow?
Music Update:
Once again, yours truly takes you on another meander through the dusty cobwebs of my music library.
This week’s UJT Radio Program:
• The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – If You Want to Get to Heaven – A song that I heard on the radio with a lot of fondness. Back when there were so many great records and so little funding. But through the magic of iTunes ..Weehaa! We get to hear it again! It comes to us from their debut album, “The Ozark Mountain Daredevils” released in 1973.
• Jefferson Airplane — White Rabbit — This is huge single from their 1967 release, “Surrealistic Pillow”. Grace Slick celebrated her 82nd birthday the day before halloween! Happy Birthday Gracie!!
• Kris Kristofferson — Jesus Was a Capricorn (Owed to John Prine) — From the Vinyl!!!! This was perhaps the first thing I ever heard written by KK. I still am not sure what the “Owed to John Prine” in the title means. JP being a clever lyricist may have been the originator of the Capricorn angle. I was just blown away with the lyrics and the delivery. This is a song about trying to bridge a gap between the old school Christian establishment and the newly “enlightened” and slightly stoned hippies. This is the title cut from his great album released in 1972.
• John Mayer — Who Says — This is from John’s space case period as I call it. He was struggling with figuring out how to live with all the goods and bads of being a very successful rock star. But its still a cool, well written and played song from his “Battle Studies” album released in 2009. There is a silly video of it available as well.
• Stevie Nicks – Stand Back — From her, “Wild Heart” album this was a great song. She wrote the song on the day of her wedding to Kim Anderson while listening to Prince’s, “Little Red Corvette”. She recorded the first cut in the honeymoon suite and did another recording when she got back to the studio. She called Prince to tell him about the song and how it came about. He came over and played the synthesizers on the recording. She said when they finished, “He just got up and left like it was a dream”. He is uncredited on the album.
• Louis Armstrong — What a Wonderful World — When this song was recorded as a single in 1967, the president of ABC – Paramount Records would not let it be released in the US. It was released in Britain and became a number one hit. Most American’s didn’t get to hear this song until “Good Morning Viet Nam” came out. I really fell in love with it from the first time I heard it in the movie. HBO has a Special, “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind”. I was reminded of the song again. DVR the special it was really incredible. For me this is one of the most hopeful songs I know. Adrian Cronaur was a real DJ in Vietnam, but was almost nothing like the heroic part Robin portrayed. It was a great musical director named Alex North who gave this great song its world wide audience. Thanks Adrian, Alex and Robin!
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!