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!

Youghal Town Walls

Youghal is a very old and historic village in Co. Cork Ireland. It was a major port in the 1600's, and today is a lovely village. One of the most interesting areas of the town is the Town Walls, dating from its early history. We go there often to visit family, and it is very enjoyable. It is rural around the town, with farms in several locations with cattle and sheep being raised. Spring and summers are wonderful with the balmy and warmish weather sometimes coming in to the region, but winters can be very icy and rainy, with snow at times. When Spring comes, it will be time for us to return there for a visit.

Christmas is coming!!

Have you ever noticed that in November, stores are arranging their Christmas decorations to tempt the customer?? I noticed some this week. They do look cheery. I am a gardner. And there is one particular plant that I really enjoy raising--Christmas or Holiday Cactus. They really are not members of the cactus family, being succulents. Mine are in full bloom now in October and November. Boy are they lovely colors. An artist would have a great time painting these colors. The above photo is from one of my favorite Christmas Cactus plants. "Christmas is coming. The Christmas cactus are blooming." My Mother always had a few of the plants out in her back patio when we would drive the 160 miles every Christmas to visit her and my Dad. Her cactus always had some blossoms on them with their wonderful neon colors. How beautiful they are. Have you started your Christmas shopping for your loved ones and friends? I started today, and ordered some things. What a good feeling that is! It really stirs the Christmas feelings inside one's mind. Christmas is coming, the Christmas cactus are blooming. Get ready! It will be here soon.

Templemichael-from the past in Ireland

We had gone down a wonderfully beautiful road that day, through a forest toward the church at the end of the road. It was as though we were far away from civilization and the noise that goes with it. We found the area of Templemichael and Molana Abbey, the ruins, and walked down the lovely road through the trees, ferns, and greeen plants. What a fine place! The river was at the end of the road and one could see the monumental Ballynatray Estate across the river, standing out as though the ruler of the land should be living there. Our Grandsons ran down the hill toward the river and we followed them. What a spectacular and peaceful place.

Templemichael

What should we think,

When we see your ancient stones?

Was this the past that we so wantingly

Desire to learn something of?

Are you another chapter of this

Time eon called Life that we all

Experience?

You are truly a peaceful place in our lives.

When did monks inhabit your holy places

And carry on their dedicated lives?

What did they do, here on the banks of

The Blackwater River?

Our minds run wild as the river

In our wonder of you!

----B.Townsend, one who has been there.

Temple Michael is an ancient site, located on the banks of the River Blackwater, near where it empties into the sea at Youghal. One has a definite sense of history when you visit the beautiful site of the monastery and church. We again visited that wonderfully area of quiet and solitude in April, 2004.

Halloween Fun Time

Halloween is here, and people all over the world are doing the strange changing of their identification/looks to that of a movie character, comic book hero, dancing girl, football player and who knows--oh some are looking like Zombies!!! Good Grief, get me outta here. Now as for me and my delightful spouse, we plan on a night of television mysteries, ice cream cones with the mysteries, and a night of relaxation and mystery. Well that is what we hope for. But the doorbell will ring, and on opening the door to a chorus of "Trick Or Treat" our relaxation and the continuity of the mystery movie will be interrupted. Oh well. Life goes on!!!!! A Pastor I know once said that in his Homily during a Service!! I do faintly remember Halloween, many years ago--and I mean MANY, as I now get senior discounts at stores and some cafes!!! That will tell you I am no kid anymore, only a kid at heart. The one Halloween I remember my costume was dressing up as a pirate. Someone, probably my Mom or Dad put something like charcoal or art chalk on my cheeks to fake a beard, I had the costume and bandana, but no sword. What the heck!!?? No sword, what kind of a Pirate does not have a sword? Well my Dad found a small piece of plywood that had no sharp points and that was my sword, and it worked fine! What a Halloween, it was fun, but the memories are faint. As to the other Halloweens, no thoughts or memories flood my foggy mind. My Grandsons in Ireland are fantastic, their Mom sent their photos of them in their costumes, wow, fantastic. They looked great!! And they were going to a party too! Well anyway, Happy Halloween. And I am happy to say my remote control on my TV/VCR has a pause button for when the doorbell rings. I think I will make myself up as a senile old fellow, and when I answer the door, will say, "What is Halloween? I have never heard of that. Candy, no way that will rot your teeth.!!" On second thought, I had better play the game right, so I can get back to the movie, it may be in a critical place in the plot, I cannot miss that!!!! Happy Halloween to all out there.