Musical Interlude

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My best friend of some 53 years died on February 9; circumstances were such that I didn't find out until February 22. There was no better friend in the world than Carolyn! I have a terrible void in my life now. 

The selection below accurately reflects my frame of mind right now....

Arvo Pärt's elegiac meditation Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten:

[about Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten]

Breaking Speculation!

Delivered with dramatic lead-in music and breathless voices — as if those touches will change or predict a single thing. My email inboxes reaches overflow within a few hours every single day the past few weeks. 

 I wonder how many hours I have spent deleting emails? Those hours must have added up to at least several weeks. I kid you not! Hours upon hours deleted from my remaining finite hours.

I'm so sick of all this breaking speculation with regard to the 2020 National Election. We will find out the election results when we find out. 

Days? 

Weeks? 

Months?

Meanwhile, "THE COVID" is doing what viruses do: spreading.  Hysteria does nothing to prevent the spread.

Essential Character Trait

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The polar opposite of being a fragile little snowflake:

Grit, often combined with faith, is the quality which the pioneers most needed to cross the plains and the deserts.

Moreover, nothing will ever replace grit. Nothing! Sadly, today's society as a whole fails to value and fails to cultivate grit.

Break From Politics

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One of my Facebook finds and particularly appropriate for Labor Day Weekend, which, here in the Northeast, traditionally marks the end of summer:

The Ideal Obituary?

The obituary below the fold is definitely not the usual!

In my view, it's both clever and humorous. I cannot speak to its honesty — but maybe it is.

From in the New Orleans Times-Picayune (dated Friday, August 12, 2016):

Humor Break

We need a break from all the political wrestling:

Remember When?

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New Year's Eve in days gone by:

But now...

Holiday Humor

I prefer eggnog "with" when I celebrate this auspicious moment:

Since turning 60, with each passing year, I decorate less and less. But I'm not quite as minimalist as the above graphic. Yet, that is.

What A Relief!

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The past several weeks, Mr. AOW has been having a lot of trouble with swelling of the stroke-affected foot and ankle, and the doctor was concerned that Mr. AOW might have a deep vein thrombosis (DVT).  Wednesday afternoon, it was confirmed by ultrasound that Mr. AOW does not have a DVT.

Summer 2015 has been a rough ride. We've been lurching from one home-front crisis to another! More details forthcoming when I have the energy to post that information.

It's That Time Of Year

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For teachers, that is (Click directly on the image to enlarge it):

Right now, I'm groaning under the load of grading the final sets of papers for the 2014-2015 school term: essays, tests, and exams. Following the completion of those tasks comes filling out the report cards. I'm accustomed to this cycle. I've been teaching for over forty years.

I know my limits. So...

Back soon!

Reminder About Fighting Demons

In the words of Friedrich Nietzche:

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

Today's Sunday Funny

One of my recent finds on Facebook:

Note: This post has no purpose other than to elicit a chuckle from the readers of this blog.

Always The Last Place!

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Was I ever in a state of agitation this morning! For at least thirty minutes, I was in an absolute frenzy.

I couldn't find the vouchers needed to pay the April 2014 federal estimated tax payment! I knew that our accountant had provided the papers, but they were nowhere to be found.

Thought For Today

As I have mentioned at various locations in the blogosphere, my mother-in-law is in the final stage of Alzheimer's Disease. She is a pitiful creature, and all who love her are more than ready for the Lord to call her home.

Before she was diagnosed as having Alzheimer's, she was very difficult.  The word difficult doesn't begin to convey her personality.

Thought For Today

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Please read this essay in the Washington Post: "Why being too busy makes us feel so good" (March 14, 2014).

Guilty as charged!

The status symbol mentioned in the article so often amounts to wasting our lives, and we should strive against being caught in the web of busyness.  But avoiding the status symbol of busyness won't be an easy task.

Your thoughts on this matter?

"This Woman Is My Mother"

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The words in the title of this post appear with frequency in Mira Bartók's memoir The Memory Palace, a first-person narrative about growing up with a schizophrenic mother.

Occasionally, the author varies the sentence by writing "This creature is my mother."

A sad book?

Not really — even though the author's mother, formerly a piano prodigy, deteriorates mentally over the years until she lives the last seventeen years of her life as a homeless person.

The End Of Dreams

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From the 2012 novel The Good Father by Noah Hawley:

I had always wanted to learn to surf. I had nurtured a fantasy of a middle-alged surf adventure, an escape to Mexico, a diet of fish tacos, sleeping on the beach. Now I knew it would never happen. None of these shallow balloons of idle daydreaming would ever come true. The world was a desert now, a wasteland to be survived, not enjoyed. In less that twenty-foud hours all my fantasies had been destroyed. (page 66)

See THIS INFORMATION, including reviews of the book, at Amazon.

I highly recommend this book!

Happy Valentine's Day

Enjoy this Oscar-nominated animated short, perfect for Valentine's Day (with a hat tip to FJ):


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