A Digital Camera

I love photography! What a medium-the PRESENT becomes the PAST, and you can view your photos for many years. My wife and I have been doing more genealogy, and we can view photos of our distant ancestors that we have obtained from different sources. What excitement that can generate. Once I sent my long lost cousin in Michigan a photo of myself, and she said that "you look like the men in the family for sure." How interesting that is as throughout my life, people always said I looked like my Dad. Even at Dad's funeral, one of the pall bearers sidled up to me and said, " Bob, now that you have gained some weight, you sure look like your Dad!" Wow, huh, WHO has gained weight?? Me, NO WAY! But what a  nice thing to say I looked like Dad all those years. I love it. He truly was a handsome and neat looking fellow. Knowing my Grandfather George, I could look at his face and see glints of my Dad's caricature. I am very fortunate to have known both of them.

Gosh, have I gotten off the track! Last night, we happened to be out with some of our extended family at a restaurant. I had my iPhone along with the cam built in and took some photos of the group. I always believe when it comes to photography, take it, take it, take it!! How many times I have waited and the hummingbird or hawk flew away!!! Sad, but true. Digital photography has played havoc with the film industry. I mean the kind of film you might put in your old "point and shoot" cam. It is practically gone. The clarity of the photos is far superior to the old film cameras. 

When I take photos I love to just take them. My Wife and Daughters will testify to the speed of my finger on the shutter when they are in the room and I take the photos! But I have those photos held tight in history to view again and again. How great is that! I have virtually thousands of photos of flowers. Wow! that is a lot of flowers.

When I traveled in Europe as a young man(doesn't everyone these days do that?) Well, they sure didn't then. I had to borrow the money for the trip from a bank. The President of the Bank was the one I talked to in our small town with 2 banks, and he approved the modest loan, and his comment to me was, "You are doing something I wish I had done many years ago." Loved the trip! And no digital camera-my Dad loaned me his old(today it is) Argus C3-35mm cam, which of course took film. I took lots of film rolls with me and mailed them home in special mailers for development. Worked great! See photo of the camera below:

But, I love the convenience of digital. I will never use anything else. It is the only way to go for me. Oh, I have one of my Dad's first Kodak Reflex Brownie cameras. Yes, film! It is neat to study and look at and tell stories about, but not to use for me. Dad loved photography too and was an excellent photographer.

And can you imagine that a phone can now have a camera built in?? Take a look at a couple of my past blogs here. You will see from whence I come, and I will tell you it is a long time ago. That was the time of the non-dial phone where you spoke to a live operator. Wow, most kids would say today, "You are kidding us-a live operator, no way."

My Grandsons do photography with their iPods. And their Mom is also into digital photography! They do well too. How great is that!! Taking after the Grandfather! I love it!!

Gotta go take a digital photo of the wife. She is in the kitchen cutting up the stew meat for her delicious home-made stew. How interesting is that!!!!!????  8-)))))

Enjoy the day!

A Teacher Looks At The Past

I used to be in what I call the school business. I taught for many years. Why am I writing about this? Today when I went in for a Doctor's appointment, I was escorted, as per usual, back to the exam room by a technician at the Dr's office. Somewhere deep in this ancient mind, I thought she looked familiar. And she was!! She recognized me immediately and called me by name. Mr._______, did you teach at ______ School? Yes, I answered and told her she looked familiar and lo and behold she did attend that school, and was in the classroom next to mine. In fact, one of her best friends was in my classroom and she promised to say hello to her for me. Wow! This really gets one who has taught that long! You remember all the kids as they were in your classroom at age 10 or 11. And when you see them as adults, you must ask them things like, "Tell me your name." "Whose class were you in?" and so on. This has happened before, and always did to my Dad in our hometown when I was young and would go downtown with him on errands. We would see his former students and they fondly greeted him and remembered him.
It really makes you think of the past, present and the future when you see and talk with your former students. What a pleasure to know they are doing well. I like that. The Technician had lots of nice things to say about me as a teacher and I appreciated the comments. Sometimes it brings a tear to ones eye! And it did!

"A teacher affects eternity, he/she can never tell where his/her influence stops."

A Technological Revolution

What Technological Revolution?........................

 OR

Is a Smart Phone only for a Smart Person??

The phone rang as I was sitting relaxing on the couch last night. It was not the standard ring one might expect. It sounded like "Duh-Duh-Duh-Duh............ if you can imagine. For you see I had just installed the theme from the old TV series, Twilight Zone! It was a rather late evening call, and as I picked it up and answered, I wondered who would be calling so late at night. Well, it was my wife and she was sitting 10 feet away from me in her recliner, with her Smart Phone in her hand. She was testing my newly downloaded Twilight Zone ringtone. Where are we? What year is it? My confused mind flows through the idea of having any other ring on a phone except the old "Ring-Ring" from many years ago in our small house in the small town where I was born and grew up. 

You see, if you look at the picture of the phone above that is exactly the kind of phone we had in that little house. Except there was no dial. When you wanted to call you picked up the receiver hanging there like a ripe banana, and waited for the Operator to say, "Number Please" and you gave her the number you were calling. My friend's Mom was named Thelma and she was the operator most of the time at the phone company down in the small town center. We would say, "Hi Thelma, what time is it?" or something like that and Thelma would tell us. We were on a party line--no you party animals!! That is not where the party is!!! 8-))) That meant that one or more households shared that line with you and your ring tone was a different number of "ring-rings"! And if you picked up the phone and there were voices talking, that meant that one of the other parties was using the phone and you were to hang up and wait. As you can see, I come from the old, very OLD days. How old? I never can tell anyone, but I do remember seeing soldiers marching down our narrow street during World War 2 to bivouac down at the local high school. So there, that should give you an idea.

Yes, we have newish Smart Phones and boy are they something!! We were at the Mall yesterday, and I called my wife to check on her for lunch time. Well, with the Smart Phone, since she didn't answer I left a message on her Voice Mail. Can you see that we are building a completely new set of vocabulary words with these Smart Phones?? "Voice Mail, text message, contacts, smart phone" and the like.

Back to the earlier story, as I sat on the couch, my Wife announced that she had downloaded a new Ring Tone for her Smart Phone! And she asked, from 10 feet away in her recliner if I could call her and see if it worked. It was the Downton Abbey Theme from the recent TV series, so I did. The phones worked perfectly, and my mind swam through the convenience of our Smart Phones, and I thought, Is a Smart Phone only for a Smart Person??? Well don't ask me if I am smart? Maybe 8-)))) By golly, now that I think about it maybe I should have downloaded the theme song from the Film Rocky, Sly Stallone's series done several years ago.

It took me several months/years to get used to people walking around the Super Market and Malls and the Streets of our City talking out loud with earphones of some type on their Smart Phones. I saw one this a.m. at the Super Market, and I still wanted to say, "Excuse me were you talking to me??" I suppose I will never get used to that, but maybe I will. I do have some earphones and a Smart Phone.

Hmmmmm..............in thinking about it, I say: Smart Phones Rule! I wonder if they have them in the Artic?"

Oh excuse me, the Twilight Zone is ringing on my Smart Phone. I know who it is: It is my Sweet Wife calling from the garage, the washer drain must be stopped up again!!!!!!!!

One Of Those Weeks!!

DOES THIS MEAN...................

Well, it all started with that bowl of granola cereal the other day! I have been eating that cereal for many years now, and I decided to try a globule, or whatever you would call it, of the cereal before I put enough milk on it to soften the gritty stuff! Snap! A big hunk of my molar, tooth # 30, broke off!!! Yikes!!! My good wife has all the tooth numbers memorized and I asked her----TOOTH # 30!!!!!! What fun it is!!Well I went to my longtime dentist and it took an hour and several minutes to put a temporary new portion of a tooth(they call it a crown--does that mean I am Royal??) I won't divulge how much it will cost by the time I get the permanent GOLD crown installed but it is substantial. Is this like getting a new tire for the car???

This was an old tooth, with an old filling in it that they had marked on my file to WATCH!!! Does this mean I am getting OLD???? I think I will title this essay: DOES THIS MEAN?????

The Dental Assistant was very talkative and informed me several times she was so hungry as she did not eat breakfast. You see, she said, the on-duty assistant texted her early in the a.m. that she was ill and could my Dental Assistant come in and take her place. She did. Then being hungry she wanted to talk about fast food, and the taco joint down the street. I told her about my previous meals at that food chain in rather glowing terms, and she finally said, "I think I will go there for lunch!" That being done, the dentist walked in. He did an outstanding job on #30 and I was outta there in a hour and 20 minutes. The receptionist informed she had a new computer from Apple which she really likes as I was on the way out. 

Yep, it was one of those adventuresome days for me. I later met my wife and daughter for a lunch out, my face barely hanging together from the anesthetic. But I was able to coax "some of the food" into my mouth staying away from the "danger area"---TOOTH 30!!! I didn't want my wife and daughter to think they were lunching with an infant. You know what I mean if you have ever fed an infant at the hi-chair. The food is ALL OVER THEIR FACE!!!!!!

Well, that is it!!! I came home with a slight headache, which got worse. Took a couple of tylenol and sat down with the TV. 

Another Adventure from Retirement!!!

Happy Days!!!

(I wonder when the next molar will go!!??)

My teeth are ancient.

If found by a paleontologist, they would be identified from the era of the Tyranosaurus!!!

8-)))))))))))))))

Wonder what adventure TOMORROW will bring??

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well here we are at the end of 2011. Has it been a good year for you? I  hope so. It sure has for my Wife and me. We enjoy life and just move along with our lives. Before you ask, the flowers above are from Ireland. Here is a bit of Hemingway-esque about them:

We had gone that day up the road in the Mercedes with Jack asleep in the back seat with his Grandma Ann. It was a lovely day, and the countryside was as green as emeralds on a sunny day. We came into the village of Cloyne and immediately saw the enormous Round Tower there by the side of the road. What a surprise to see thousands (it seemed like thousands) of beautiful Bluebells blooming at the foot of the tower. How pleasant it was, bringing the beauty of the colors into our presence. Wonderful. Here is a quotation to consider: 

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."

       ---- Bill Vaughan

Which are you, an optimist or a pessimist? Well I will confess I am an optimist and look at each passing year as time gone by, now ready for the new experiences and adventures which 2012 holds. And it will be a wonderful year. See, that is what I mean being an optimist. It will be wonderful.

Do be an optimist and grab those adventures and experiences that you have coming before you. It makes life a magnificent experience!! Happy New Year all you optimists out there. 

Let's all have "A Grand Time Living," a title of a book by Don Blanding. Read it -- it is fantastic. Later from the Computer room. d

    

    

Christmas Lights

Ah, Christmas lights!! They are so beautiful in the night. On our street several houses are adorned with beautiful Christmas lights to welcome in the Holiday season 2011. For this photo, I used the cam on my iPhone with an app that one of my Daughter's told me about. It really works well.

We just returned from a brief shopping trip to the Mall, downtown. And I mean brief!! There seemed to be millions of shoppers all coming in cars and seeking a parking place. Seemingly endless lines of cars waited for the proverbial parking place. Is that man going out? How about that couple over there in the Lexus? Nope, appears they are just recovering from the drive to the Mall and are resting before getting out of their car and going into a store to get those kind of 'last minute gifts', that we all seem to have to get during the week before Christmas. Ah, but I have a secret. It is too early in this writing to tell you my secret, but will do before I finish this "Hemingway-esque" bit of literary nonsense on this December afternoon.

My Dad, bless him, always wanted a target pistol. Of course, we could never afford it with his and Mom's salaries in the 1950's and later. So my Mom bought him a beautiful ring with a red stone for Christmas and wrapped it in a shoe-box size box, with a hammer to weigh it down so it might appear to be something else. My Dad had lifted that box before Christmas, I don't know how many times, to kind of gauge the weight of the item inside. Well to make a long story short, was my Dad ever disappointed!! But he got over it, and all worked out fine and he liked the ring very much. The lesson here: Don't try to fool your loved ones with those kind of tricks, but I must confess--OH-OH, I have done a similar thing this Christmas in one of the packages for one of my beloved family members. I wonder if they have done that to one of my packages??8-))

I think back to Christmases spent on the ranch in Arizona with one of my Grandpas. What an interesting way of life: horses, cattle, the cowboys, hearing the generator going on out back when someone got up in the night, seeing the jerky out on the clothes line drying out. How delicious it was. And knowing that Grandpa Jay would send a shoebox full every year to us to enjoy! How great is that!!

So at this time of year, I find the tender and meaningful moments in my life are in my memories. I shall never forget them. Such things as the old house we lived in for many years in that small citrus producing town where I was a newspaper boy, shoeshine boy, and worked in grocery stores. I remember old C.J. the owner of one of the markets where my Mom worked and I did too later in life. You knew everyone in the small town, even by name. There was a J. C. Penney store and a Western Auto, where I bought one of my bicycles when I had earned enough money to do so. When Aunt Winna would be over visiting us, she would walk downtown with my Sister and me and buy us some clothes at Penney's. How kind it was of her in those days.

So Christmas is made of memories for us. The past is always interesting but so is the present, and as this Christmas comes to us, that old prayer that I once heard from a Pastor at a church is reigning in my mind:

"Lord, I do give thee thanks for the abundance that is mine."

----a Pastor

The Secret

"Christmas--that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance--a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved."

--Augusta E. Rundel

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!! Wow, time flows along thru this life very quickly. Memories flood my mind at this time of year, it seems. I remember when I was a boy, I wanted an electric train so bad! My family was a hard working family and really watched their finances. An expensive Lionel electric train like some of my friends had was far beyond our expense budget. I remember, laying in my bed at bedtime and hearing the adults playing with what I thought was an electric train, and it was. It had been passed down from a family who we were acquainted with, as their boys were young adults at that time, and it was one of the best presents I have ever had in my life. It mattered not that it was a used train. It was wonderful!!!

We decorated our tree the other day, after selecting it and bringing it home. Now at my age a 5-6 foot tall tree is difficult to bring or carry into the house. I used my hand truck, took it around to our patio back door and into the house. That was a good way to do it. Every year we talk about maybe down sizing the tree to a smaller one. We would probably need a table to place it on, and maybe we will.

How blessed we are with Christmas coming this year! We count our blessings everyday it seems. We will try to attend church on Christmas Eve, if we can, just recovering from flu, the both of us. Gosh what a debilitating illness.

I send out to our loved ones a special Christmas wish for the best in their lives: our Daughters, my Wife, our Grandchildren, and our Daughters' Husband and Boyfriend. I repeat, we count our blessings everyday and they are among our blessings.

I love quotations as some of you know. I want to close this issue of Blog with some of my favorite Christmas quotations. They follow:

"Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas."

~ Dale Evans

"I will honor Christmas in my heart,

and try to keep it all the year."

~Charles Dickens.

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

--Norman Vincent Peale

"So remember while December Brings the only Christmas day, In the year let there be Christmas In the things you do and say."

-- Anonymous

"But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round...as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely."--Charles Dickens

"Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone."

~ Charles Schulz

Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more."

~ Dr. Seuss

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! ENJOY!