Reflections Along The Way to Fifty Two

Funny how the years have ambled along life's path.   One tends to forget it is all a matter of perception.  Back when I was is grammar school - that's what elementary school was called in those days - the subject of the year 2000 was often discussed, as I recall.  We all thought it was light years away.  More than one of the gang used to say " I'll be 42 when the next century comes around."  Now I'm about to turn 52 and it seems like the last ten years took about 37 minutes on my clock.

Time can play tricks on you.  But where you are in life plays a big part in your perception of time.  A child's perception a time is vastly different than an  adult's.  Anyone who has been a parent can relate.    As adults most of us are controlled by time to some degree.  We have to be at work at a certain time, be at this activity at a certain time, be at this place, and on and on.

Jimmy Buffett has a song he wrote about Hurricane Katrina, called Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.  the song starts out with these lines;
I bought a cheap watch from the crazy man
Floating down Canal
It doesn't use numbers or moving hands
It always just says now
Now you may be thinking that I was had
But this watch is never wrong
And if I have trouble the warranty said
Beathre in breathe out move on.

Maybe the man wasn't so crazy after all he did seem to me to have a pretty good handle on time.  Another interesting look at time is the classic Twilight Zone Episode " Time Enough at Last" take a look if you don't remember it.

Make the most of time and try not become a slave to it.
   

Old Friends

Old Friends,
Old Friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends.
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
On the high shoes
Of the old friends.

Old friends,
Winter companions,
The old men
Lost in their overcoats,
Waiting for the sunset.
The sounds of the city,
sifting through the trees,
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends.

Can you imagine us
Years from today,
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy.

Old friends,
Memory brushes the same years.
Silently sharing the same fear...

by Paul Simon

Well not quite 70 but still terribly strange to be turning 52 next month.

On New Years Day I wrote I wanted to slow down and make more time for friends. It is still a work in progress but still a worthy goal.

Facebook has been a good tool to use to catch up with some old friends. About 30 people from what seems like another lifetime got together one Sunday in August. It was great fun to see old friends from childhood and high school days. One of the highlight of the day was getting to see and speak with Mr. Tony Marino, who is the father of 4 of my childhood friends. Tony was and remains a vibrant person, well worth the time to stop and visit with. Pull up a chair.

Let's all take more time to pull up a chair and sit a spell with friends.

Bookends Theme
Time it was,
And what a time it was,
It was...
A time of innocence,
A time of confidences.
Long ago ... it must be...
I have a photograph.
Preserve your memories;
They're all that's left you.

By
Paul Simon

Baseball and Derby Day

To continue my theme of my last entry baseball is in full swing both Little and Major Leagues. Noah's team has played two games for a record of 1-1. This is his first year playing organized baseball and he is having fun playing. I was able to get to his second game and took a few photos.

It is interesting to see how the Little League has changed over the years since I played back in the late 1960's.

Most of the runs that were scored in Noah's game came as a result of a wild pitch or passed ball. I dug out my old newspaper clippings to read about home runs, doubles and the like. Today's kids have so many other things to grab their attention, back in the day we played ball all the time. Even if no one was around to play with I remember throwing the ball at the front stoop of the house as a backstop and practicing that way. I also remember getting yelled at when the ball hit the metal screen door.

Noah's team pushed 7 runs across in one inning and that ended the inning. Can not let any one team beat the other team to badly now. Back in the day there was no mercy. You played to three outs. I don't like that rule. If you get whooped on the diamond you need to practice harder to improve your team. But we can not hurt anyone's feelings these days.

Sports can be a wonderful tool to teach kids life lessons. There is no shame in losing if you try your best.

Theodore Roosevelt put it like this, ""The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name." "It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

One change that is positive is that ever kid get to hit even those not playing in the field. Also every kid get to play in the field for part of the game.

Little League baseball is a great thing for kids to be involved in.

On to Kentucky. The Derby was run yesterday and the second longest shot in the history of the race won and no I did not have him. There's always next year.

Spring is peeking around the corner

Spring is starting to get a foot hold finally. As we turn the calendar to April we can say a hearty farewell to March. In my little corner of the world the temperature range for the month was a mere 60 degrees, from a low of 1 to a high of 61.

For me the signs of spring are my son's birthday on March 30th. Here's a shot from his birthday party.

Another sure sign of spring for me is the trail to the Kentucky Derby really start to heat up with the final prep races happening the end of March and the beginning of April. There is something about the renewal every year in the Run for the Roses on the first Saturday in May. Every year about 30,000 thoroughbred horses are registered with the Jockey Club. Every owner who sends those papers on every one of those new foals is thinking could this be one that takes me to Louisville in 3 years. Only 20 out of 30,000 can get there. Only one can win. But when those foals first hit the ground everyone has the same dream.

But even for the average person there is something about the Derby. It a tradition that ties generations together. As a kid I remember watching with my parents. We watched the race in my mother's hospital room one year when she was ill with cancer. The race is a constant. Only the supporting cast changes.

Baseball like the Kentucky Derby is a welcome sign of spring. Much as been written about baseball being timeless. It is another thing that can tie generations together. From playing little league all the way to the big leagues it is the same game, with minor changes. If Abner Doubleday could comes back he would know he was watching a baseball game with the first pitch.

Grandparents can tell story after story about the games and players of the past to youngsters and rekindle there own childhood.

Not a bad thing these days to have some constants in one life.

Concert at the Cathedral

I spent Saturday afternoon at the Show Your Heart Charity Concert at the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, in Springfield, MA. To refresh your memory Noah is a member of the Cathedral Choir of Boys and Adults.

The concert was a fund raiser for The Open Pantry, which helps to feed folks in need. I'm still employed in the lumber industry, so I consider myself pretty lucky. Parting with $10 for a concert and a good cause was a no brainer.

Five Chorale groups performed today. Noah's, which the emcee joking referred to as the house band. A group of students from the UMass Chorale, the Greater Westfield Choral Association. A group called Schola Nova. Last but not least a rocking gospel group Tehillah from St. John Congregational Church in Springfield.

Each group had a different style but the message was the same. Music can bring people together. It was great fun to sit and enjoy all the music. The music ranged from pieces composed in the early 1700's to modern composers.

There are some very talented people out there doing things for love and pure enjoyment. Maybe if we all did something for those reasons, whatever it is, we would all enjoy our trip around the sun even more.

Winter Not Quite Into Spring

I hope George Winston doesn't mind me paraphrasing on one of his record titles, but I'm guessing the groundhog was correct this year. I was in Vermont with friends this weekend. Twenty years ago I would have been on the slopes of Killington but my skiing days are behind me. So it was a more relaxed weekend of food, movies and friends by the fireplace.

The covered bridge is in the town of Quechee, Vermont. It spans the Ottauquechee River. I took this photo at the Simon Pearce Glass and Pottery store looking down stream. If you click on the link I believe I was standing under the brick arch in the center of the photo.

We watched The Court Jester which has one of the funniest bits ever filmed.

It is beautiful in Vermont in any season. But I'm ready for spring.

Presidents and such

So with all the hoopla and hype we have experienced another peaceful exchange of power in Washington. I defer all comments on both 43th and 44th Presidents to present and future historians. What I relish in is that the system with all its' faults still works.

Sure there any lots of problems out there. I work in the lumber industry so you don't have to remind me there are problems.

I like to read about leaders of the past and draw on their experience to hopefully guide me in the future. I came across a quote by Margaret Thatcher tonight. "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." I like that. I know a little about Thatcher but haven't read a book about her. So I did a little research and looked up some titles.

I'm reading a customer's review on Amazon on a Thatcher biography which starts out, " Not every British Prime Minister is a Thatcher or Churchill. Not every American President is a Lincoln, Kennedy, or Clinton." I have no clue what the rest of this review says. These two sentences stopped me dead in my tracks.

Thatcher and Churchill may be a good comparison, I know they are both highly regarded. I know more about Churchill and if I could have dinner with 8 people living or dead he would be one of them.

But putting Lincoln, Kennedy and Clinton in the same group!!!!!!!!!! As Phil Rizzuto put it "Holy Cow"

Let see Lincoln gets put on the ranking of President by historians oh first or second, right up there with Washington and FDR. Kennedy on average is in the mid-teens in the ranking. He didn't get a full term, so we will always wonder what if. Two things they have in common is they are both on coins and both caught a bullet in the head. Something neither one planned on, but links them forever in history. Now Clinton he is right around an average of 20 on the rankings.

Lincoln is remembered for freeing the slaves and guiding the country in the war between the states, preserving the Union. Clinton is best remembered for dropping his pants in the west wing and somehow preserving his Presidency.

Will Rogers put it best. "If we ever pass out as a great nation we ought to put on our tombstone, 'America died from a delusion that she has moral leadership."

2009 and beyond

It's a new year and my main goal for 2009 is to slow down and enjoy every day. Putting all the craziness of 2008 behind me I plan on staying in better touch with friends. I 'm off to a good start. Today I came across my next door neighbor from growing up days via Facebook. It was good to make contact after about 30 years. Here is a link to his web site. Check it out and throw him some work you won't be disappointed.

Nineteen days to the coronation, after that the media will be only reporting good news. I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy already.