I stumbled on a picture of my mom yesterday and thought it would make a good flashback picture.
The picture shows my mom holding on to the only cat who ever lived in their house. I remember the cat was named Callie and it never seemed to want to be near anyone but mom.
How mom got dad to agree to get a cat, I will never know. My dad made it quite clear growing up that he disliked cats. Somehow, he welcomed the kitty into the house.
I never knew what it was like to have a cat until I had moved away from home. I don’t remember how I came to get one, but I named him Larry. When I moved back home, my brother took him to Ohio with him.
I can’t tell, but it sure looks like this is our house. It may be the front room. It is hard to tell.
A couple things stand out to me. I do not remember this sweater at all, but I love how mom looks in it. Next, the garland in the background. Mom always had garland on doorways, windows and even on the walls. Garland always makes me think of mom.
I have no idea when this was taken, but it looks like mom is healthy. I’d imagine this was taken before she got cancer.
It’s funny how I was just talking about my mom and then I stumble on this photo. I wish the photo was a bit clearer.
Here is another example of a book that I picked up because of the title – I See You’ve Called In Dead. It is also an example of a book that I found to be funny and thought provoking at the same time.
Before I get into my thoughts, here is the Goodreads synopsis:
The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your life’s story.
Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living.
As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live.
Thurber Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.
The book starts off with a good question:
“What would you write if you had to write your obituary? Today, right now. What comes to mind? What memories, days, moments? What people and experiences? I realize, at first glance, that the idea of writing one’s own obituary while still alive may sound morbid. It’s not, though. I promise you. It’s a needed reminder of who you are, of what truly matters. Because it’s your life and there’s still time to write it. Before I have to.”
When in college, I took a class on the psychology of death and dying. One of the first assignments was to write a letter to your loved ones to be read at your funeral. THAT was a difficult assignment. We were never asked to write our own obituary, but I would imagine that would be just as difficult.
I listened to the audio book on my way to and from work. I can tell you that I am going to go and purchase a copy of this book because there were so many times I wanted to highlight things I wanted to remember. For example, at one point in the book, French philosopher Michel de Montaigne is quoted:
“We do not know where death awaits us: so let us wait for it everywhere. To practice death is to practice freedom.”
It was only after reading the book, that I found what others were saying about it:
I’ve always thought that we should tell people what they mean to us or how they impacted our lives while they are still alive. What good is it to be silent until someone passes away? I can tell you that when people come up to me who used to listen to me on the radio and say, “You made me laugh every morning!” it feels so good. Why wouldn’t we want to share those things with people?
In discussing a book with the main character, someone says,
“A character in the book is asked what the greatest wonder in the world is. And he answers … He says, The greatest wonder is that every day, all around us, people die, but we act as if it couldn’t happen to us.”
I do want to say before wrapping up, that the book is not just about death, it is also about life.
“Life prevails. How strange and wondrous. In the midst of death, life prevails, calls to us, begs us, says, Come, please, don’t you dare waste this precious gift.”
It is early in the year, I know, but this is the best book I have read so far. I highly recommend it.
One of my blogger friends, Britta, is so good at finding joy in the little things in life. She often blogs about them and I love how she writes about their impact on her life. I tell you about that because all in all, this week has been uneventful for me. However, there were some little things that stood out for me.
At Least I Made The Top Ten
My wife Sam always goes through the kid’s backpacks after school. This week we had to chuckle at one of the things Ella brought home. “Ten Things That Make Me Happy.
In case you have trouble reading them,
Dolls
Barbies
TV Time
To Color
Tacos
Hats
My Nana
My Pa
My Mom
My Dad
Mom should be higher than me, I get that. What I don’t get is Hats and Tacos! They outranked every family member! In 6 months I will ask her to do this again and hope to rank just a bit higher.
Winter Walk
Andrew and I had a bit of time before we had to get Ella from school Monday. He really wanted to go for a walk with the dog, so that is what we did.
He led the way as we walked the neighborhood. He was talking nonstop for the whole walk. I hope he continues to want to do this. I miss my daily walks. I’ll just have to make sure I bring along those “poop bags” just in case.
Gimme and E! Gimme an L, L, A! Go Ella!
After watching my niece cheer at one of the football games last fall, Ella has decided that she wants to cheer. They have already had two practices and she’s loving it. This week, she hot her uniform and her pom poms.
Her coach sent us some video of the girls doing their cheers. I truly cannot wait to watch her cheer. I think this may be what she sticks with for a long time.
An Accident Waiting to Happen
Sometimes, when Andrew gets frustrated or angry, I ask if playing my video game will help. It almost always does. So while Sam was getting ready for work, he was playing my car/racing game (Forza Horizon).
I am watching him play this game, which he is really just driving around, and he’s taking out everything. He is crashing into trees, mailboxes, phone booths, trash cans, and smashing into other cars. I said to him, “Buddy, mommy is going to have to do Driver’s Ed with you, because dad cannot imagine being in the car with you.”
From the other room, Sam says, “Oh no. We have talked about this. Driver’s Ed is all you!” I began to object to this, but before I can, she says, “You’re closer to death than me!” At this point, I cannot even answer because I am doubled over in laughter. My wife sure can come up with a zinger when she needs to.
The Whole World In My Hand
On the nights when Sam and I are both home, I get to put Ella to bed. This usually consists of me reading from her chapter book, which is followed by a made up story. I will ask her what she wants the story to be about. Favorite topics are princesses and unicorns. I usually make them so silly and ridiculous and it makes her really laugh!
The other night she wanted to hear a story about a unicorn who ate healthy and a horse that ate unhealthy. Naturally, I had to put them in a grocery store and awkward situations there. We argued about whether a tomato was a fruit or vegetable, too. I love to give the characters silly names and give them wacky voices.
After the story, sometimes she will ask me to sing her songs. I will do my best and sing her Dean Martin songs, hymns, and kid songs until she falls asleep. Tucking her in is something I really miss when I have to work nights.
Anyway, this week, we were laying in bed and I was singing. She reached up and grabbed my hand and held it. She held it tight. She took her stuffed animal and held it with her other hand and smiled. It was such a special moment, I snuck my phone out of my pocket and took a picture. It was in “night mode” so it is a bit dark.
As I laid there with her hand in mine, I was reminded of something I read on social media a while back. It was basically about how fast kids grow up and how things they used to do kind of just stop. I’ll never know when I’ll be singing our song to her for the last time, so I always sing it as best I can. I’ll never know when she’ll be “too big” to want to hold my hand, so I won’t let go until she does.
I can’t believe she will be 6 in less than a month.
In 1955, Johnny Cash released the hit “Folsom Prison Blues.” Shortly after that, he became interested in recording a performance at a prison. The idea was always on his mind, but it wasn’t until some changes in personnel at his record label that the idea came to fruition.
It was on this day in 1968 that Johnny walked on stage at Folsom Prison and recorded the album that would revitalize his career.
Cash was backed by Carl Perkins, June Carter and the Tennessee Three for two shows. The record label barely promoted the album, but that didn’t matter. The album went to #1 on the country chart and reached #15 on the national album chart. The first single released was, of course, Folsom Prison Blues, which put Johnny in the Top 40 for the first time since 1964.
(From songfacts.com): Bob Johnston, famous for his work with Bob Dylan, produced the album and arranged for the prison performance. According to Johnson, he told Cash to “just go out and say who you are” when he took the stage, so Cash opened the set with what became his catch phrase: “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”These are the words he used to start every episode of his TV series The Johnny Cash Show, which ran from 1969-1971.
The most famous line in this song, “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,” Cash said he wrote while “Trying to think of the worst reason for killing another person.” He added, “It did come to mind quite easily, though.” He came up with the line after watching the 1951 movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison while serving in West Germany with the US Air Force.
Last Thursday would have been Elvis Presley’s 91st birthday. Believe it or not, that’s not why I picked today’s movie – Honeymoon in Vegas. I actually chose it because the soundtrack is loaded with some great Elvis cover songs.
Take a look at the talented folks who contributed to the album! Offering up their versions of Elvis tunes are Billy Joel, Amy Grant, Bono, Travis Tritt, John Mellencamp and today’s birthday boy Ricky Van Shelton.
I first heard Ricky when I worked at my first country station. He had plenty of hits, but many of them were cover songs. He covered Statue of a Fool, From a Jack To a King, and He’s Got You. For the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack, he covers “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck.”
The song was written by Bert Carroll and Russell Moody. It was recorded and released by Elvis in 1958 and only made it to #2 on the pop chart. Prior to this song, Elvis had a string of 10 consecutive #1 songs. Wear My Ring broke the streak.
Ricky’s version of the song was the first single release from the soundtrack. It didn’t do as well as Elvis’, but it did reach #26 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
In May 2006, he announced that he would be retiring from touring to spend more time with his family. Since then, Shelton has been sort of a recluse. He has almost disappeared from public life. He does keep busy, however, focusing on painting and writing children’s books.
I hope he is enjoying his retirement and that he has a very Happy 74th Birthday!
For 50 years now, the Lake Superior State University has published a yearly list of words (or phrases) from the past year that are “banished” for their “misuse, overuse and general uselessness.” Throughout the year, they took submissions from the US and around the world to create this year’s list. In total, they received over 1400 suggestions.
A LSSU representative said, “What began as a whimsical New Year’s Eve party idea in 1976, has grown into a global reflection on the words that wear out their welcome. The entries continue a tongue-in-cheek commentary on language, catchphrases, and corporate jargon.”
Here are some of them, along with their reason for adding it to the list:
6-7
“’There are six or seven reasons why this phrase needs to be stopped,’” says Paul E. from WI. The volume of submissions for this one could have taken up the whole list, at least slots 6-7. The top banishment this year, Scott T. from UT adds, ‘It’s time for ‘6-7′ to be 86’ed.’
Cooked
“‘Hearing it…my brain feels ‘cooked,’” groans Zac A. from VA. Parents and guardians led the charge on this one, with some feeling this isn’t enough. James C. from WA suggests a ban of ‘all forms of the word cook,’ hoping that hearing them will become rare.”
Massive
“‘Way overused! (often incorrectly),’ exclaim Don and Gail K. from MN. This word’s massive overuse has secured its place on this year’s list.”
Full stop
“’For the same reason ‘period’ was banished…redundant punctuation,’ explains Marybeth A. from OR.”
Perfect
“’There are very few instances when the word actually applies,’ notes Jo H. from CA. Often heard during customer service interactions, Char S. from OH wonders: ‘How do they know it’s perfect…what does that mean?'”
Gift/gifted (as a verb)
“’I found this on the 1994 list, but it will make me feel better to recommend that it be included once again,’ reveals James S. from OK. Another case of a noun being used as a verb.”
My Bad
“In the 1998 banishment, Elizabeth P. from MI suggested, ‘students and adults sound infantile when using this to apologize.’ The phrase hasn’t matured in credibility since then. Andrea R. from OH shared, ‘It does not convey much meaning in the way of an apology.’
Reach Out
“First banished in 1994, this saying has strayed from the positive message it once intended to deliver. ‘What started as a phrase with emotional support overtones has now become absurdly overused,’ asserts Kevin B. from the United Kingdom.”
___
I am happy to say that I have never used the phrase “6-7” in conversation and I don’t even care to know what it means. When it first started slipping into conversations, news services would have stories on the website, “What you need to know about 6-7,” “Here’s what 6-7 means and why your child should not use it,” etc… Everything I had seen about it offered up possible explanations, but never really a solid one. I’m thankful my kids haven’t come home saying this.
If I am being honest, this is one of the weaker list of banished words. There are three that have appeared on previous lists. There had to be better suggestions, I’d love to see a “runner up” list.
What do you think? What was missed? Is this accurate? Tell me in the comments.
It seems that I am reading faster than I can write recommendations. I’ve read at least four books that I want to write about, and will get to them. I know some blogger friends write about 4 or 5 books in one post, but I’d rather do them one at a time. I appreciate your patience.
The title of the book is what peaked my interest – How the Penguins Saved Veronica.
When my wife and I got married, we went to an aquarium in Tampa. They had a penguin exhibit and for a few extra bucks, we got to see them up close and personal. My wife loves penguins, so she was in heaven.
That experience is what came to mind when I saw the title of the book, so I had to read it. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
A curmudgeonly but charming old woman, her estranged grandson, and a colony of penguins proves it’s never too late to be the person you want to be in this rich, heartwarming story from the acclaimed author of Ellie and the Harpmaker.
Eighty-five-year-old Veronica McCreedy is estranged from her family and wants to find a worthwhile cause to leave her fortune to. When she sees a documentary about penguins being studied in Antarctica, she tells the scientists she’s coming to visit—and won’t take no for an answer. Shortly after arriving, she convinces the reluctant team to rescue an orphaned baby penguin. He becomes part of life at the base, and Veronica’s closed heart starts to open.
Her grandson, Patrick, comes to Antarctica to make one last attempt to get to know his grandmother. Together, Veronica, Patrick, and even the scientists learn what family, love, and connection are all about.
This was truly a heartwarming story. You really wouldn’t know by the way it starts off, but it is a book about family. It is a story of dealing with the past and how time in nature can lead to healing.
Veronica is a “set in her ways” kind of character. There is an issue in her past that she has avoided almost all of her life. Her time with the penguins brings her to the point where she trusts someone enough to talk about her past. Through this, the reader comes to understand why she is so set in her ways. The reader also comes to understand how strong she is because of her past.
The story is an uplifting one about finding family and healing personal wounds. It lived up to the praises I read about it prior to reading it.
Every now and then I read something that hits the nail on the head. That is the case with this blog from Earthly Comforts.
It seems to me that the industry forgot that a sitcom is a “situation comedy.” Do yourself a favor and watch an old episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Honeymooners, The Jack Benny Show, I Love Lucy and countless other classic shows. As you watch you will see characters in hilarious situations, caught up in funny misunderstandings, and ridiculous extremes. Oh, and you WILL laugh.
What follows in a blog from Earthly Comforts to brings out the sad truth of “sitcoms” today.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below and tell me what you think.
A reflective look at why genuinely funny televised sitcoms feel increasingly rare, exploring humour, ageing, creative fear, and what comedy seems to have lost along the way.
Yesterday marked the 100th birthday of one of my comedy heroes – Soupy Sales. My dad introduced me to Soupy and his humor when I was young. He grew up watching Soupy when he did a lunch time show in the Detroit area. I was lucky enough to be around when The New Soupy Sales Show hit TV.
I watched it all the time and laughed like crazy. Then in 1986, he had a syndicated show called “The Soupy Sales Moldie Oldies Show.” It featured oldies music, comedy bits and each week he featured a “Joke of the Day.” In honor of his centennial birthday, I thought I would once again share some of my favorite Soupy jokes:
Size 16
A stockbroker is suffering from a recurring ringing in his ears and he goes to the doctor who recommends that he have his tonsils removed. He has them removed, but it doesn’t help. He goes to a second doctor who advises him to have his teeth pulled. This too fails and the ringing continues.
He goes to a third doctor, a specialist, who says, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are suffering from a rare disease and at best, you have six months to live.”
Since the guy has no relatives to whom to leave his money, he decides to spend every cent he has. He books passage for a trip around the world. He goes to the best tailor in town and orders twenty handmaid suits. He finds a shirt maker and has twenty shirts made to order.
The shirt maker starts taking all the measurements and says, “Thirty-four sleeve. Sixteen Collar.” The stock broker says, “Excuse me, that should be fifteen.” The shirt maker responds and says, “Sixteen collar, look here at the tape measure.” The broker says, “That can’t be. I’ve always worn a fifteen collar and THAT’S what I want!”
The shirt maker replies, “Ok, but you’ll get a ringing in your ears!”
A Newlywed Joke
A young husband just married a couple of weeks comes home from a really hard day at the office. And as soon as he comes in, he falls down on the couch and he is just exhausted.
His bride comes in and looks at him very sympathetically and says, “My darling, you look so tired and so hungry. How would you like a nice steak smothered in onions, vegetables, baked potato, and some delicious pie a la mode?”
The weary new bridegroom looks up at his wife and says, “Not tonight, honey, I’m too tired to go out!”
It’s All About the Money
A guy is at a bar after office hours and he says to his friend, “Boy, I just have to have another drink before I go home. My wife is on my back from the moment I get home till I leave the next day about money. She’s always nagging me about money. Last week she wanted two hundred dollars. The day before yesterday, she wanted a hundred dollars. This morning, she asked for another hundred and fifty dollars!”
And his friend says, “Wow! That’s awful. What could she possibly do with all that money?”
And the guy says, “I don’t know, I never give her any!”
.
A Heavenly Funny
There’s a bus loaded with women and they’re returning from a church worker’s convention. There is an accident, the bus overturns and all the women are killed. Now they all go to heaven and St. Peter greets them at the pearly gates and explains that heaven is full and that he’s going to have to put them up in hell until the new subdivision is completed.
Three weeks later, the devil frantically calls up St. Peter and begs him, “PLEASE! Take these women off my hands!!”
St. Peter says, “I can’t I’m still waiting for them to finish this subdivision. I’m still having housing troubles!”
And the devils says, “Troubles?! You don’t know what trouble is!! With all of their cake bakes, bingo games, rummage sales and bazaars, these women are only forty dollars short of air conditioning this place!”
A very cool rendition of Soupy done by artist Greg Joens.
I admit that our state had high hopes for the Lions after last season. Even though the season ended without advancement to the playoffs, there is still a sense of pride in our team.
Last year, the Home Bakery in Rochester, MI created a life-size replica of Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown doing a headstand. The headstand was in celebration of his scoring a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers in November of last year. Well, this year they have done it again.
This year they unveiled a life-sized cake of Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs striking his “Spider-Man x Superman” pose, and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown hurdling over him. The St. Brown part of the cake is positioned with his arm appearing to go through the front window of the bakery. Tthe cake is modeled after the pose from Gibbs’ Oct. 20 touchdown celebration against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Talk about an amazing piece of work …
The creation of this cake took four hundred hours, 65 pounds of fondant, eight cases of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies treats and four sheet cakes! Heather Tocco, who owns the bakery, said the bakery has also done cakes for the “Barbie Movie,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Wolverine” and “Deadpool.” The consistent production of life-sized cakes makes them “pretty well-known for over-the-top window displays.”
I’ve seen some pretty amazing cakes on the show “Is It Cake?” on Netflix, but these life-sized ones “take the cake!”
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 