Research

Research is formalized curiosity.  It is poking and prodding with a purpose.

~ Zora Neale Hurston

- - - - - -

One time I saw that someone posted that research shows "girls with nagging moms grow up to be more successful."  I had two initial thoughts.

First, I suspect that nagging moms may have been the ones conducting the research. Second, the link for this scholarship went to Seventeen magazine.  I don't believe that is a peer-reviewed / scholarly journal.

Scary

Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.

~ Sam Watterson

- - - - -

So, I originally had the draft of this blog entitled "Scary" because Leslie looks like a mad scientist - er - mad BOTANIST in this photo. 

However, it was scary when we had to stop in the middle of North Carolina so she could get her gall bladder out. It was slightly less scary since I had already had mine out, but I still didn't enjoy that adventure nearly as much as some of our other adventures (like the one depicted above when we went to the Botanical Gardens in Clemson).

One thing that was very strange about it all though was the sound of the alarm on the little IV stands. If they got low on whatever was in the IV or if the line got twisted they sounded a three tone alarm. It was the exact same as the first three notes of "Black Coffee in Bed" by Squeeze.

Is it more strange that that's what it sounded like or that I recognized the notes as being the same?

(pause)

I guess we'll never know.

Adventures

Adventure is worthwhile.

~ Aesop

- - - - -

The other day Leslie gave me a "luncheon entertainment events" schedule her mom had gotten somewhere. It is fabulous, amazing, and perfect. (I sound like my brother in that last sentence.)

The lineup includes an Italian tenor, a magician, a bell ringer, a Sinatra impersonator, a "nominated accordionist", and an "all American salute of patriotism song revue".

This is amazing and yet it also prompts a number of questions - the main one, in my mind, is for what was the accordionist nominated?

But wait! There's more!

In addition there are some day travel trips. One to see Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline imitators. Apparently celebrity singer impersonations are a hot ticked for the "I'll have my dinner at 4 p.m." group. 

But I think my favorite part is a visit to a museum. In order to go you "Must be able to climb 2 flights of stairs." This is written in all caps on the flier (as are the details about the Johnny and Patsy show). I refrained from using all caps because I'm not trying to writeyell at you.

But that's not my favorite part. My favorite part is this line: "Transportation probably provided."

I can't wait to be an oldster so I get opportunities (and fliers) like this all the time.

Start

Start where you are.

Use what you have.

Do what you can.

~ Arthur Ashe

- - - - -

It's the beginning of a new semester. Classes begin tomorrow. Learning has already begun.

For instance, I'm learning that I should have finished my syllabus for tomorrow's class before now.

Money

Money won't create success. The freedom to make it will.

~ Nelson Mandela

- - - - -

If you had an old, antique, super-cool cash register, would you have more money or less money? You might think you would have more money because you would enjoy ringing up sales and opening the drawer and putting money in it. Or you might think the answer is that you would have less money because you would open the drawer and take money out of it. Or you might think you'd have the same amount of money because you wouldn't keep your money in a cash register because that's the first place the burglars would look for your money.

The correct answer is: you would have less money because those old cash registers cost a lot.

Economics

If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.

~ David Ogilvy

- - - - -

I have an idea for a new economic system. It is driven exclusively by environmentalism and engaging with the outdoors. It is built on some of the same tenets of capitalism. For example: 

Private Property - the new system's definition of private is focused on groups. Private = belonging to a one person or one group of people. For this system, all natural areas belong ONLY to people who respect nature and the outdoors.

Self Interest - the new system focuses on the benefits to the self being connected to the larger world. So taking care of the world = taking care of the self.

Competition - competition is measured not in dollars or property ownership (certainly not in terms of STUFF ownership), but a competition to be the best steward of natural resources.

Market-Based - this is actually going to be re-named "Farmer's Market Based" 

Economic Freedom - freedom from economic constraints

Consumer Sovereignty - consumers will use their resources to drive the business sector to produce earth-friendly products and outdoor supplies - boots, kayaks, tents, biodegradable everything, etc.

Laissez Faire, Laissez Aller, Laissez Passer - Let do, let go, let pass. Sounds good to me.

Because of the focus on getting back to and respecting nature, I have decided to name my new system "campitalism." 

Nails

If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

~ Abraham Maslow

- - - - -

When I was a kid I used to help my dad build stuff. Actually, I remember mostly having two jobs: one was pulling nails out of old pieces of wood so the wood could be used for something else, the other was sanding things. I was good at both of those things. 

Somewhere in the world there is a picture of my brother Erik and I working with Dad while he was refinishing our basement. We each had on little white hardhats. We were probably six and four or seven and five or something. Maybe five and three.

My point is we were two years apart in age.

Boots

My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.

~ Henry Rollins

- - - - -
I love it when little kids wear boots. I wondered once why grownups can't do that. Then young women started doing that (or I moved somewhere where they do that, or I noticed they started doing that). Then I wondered why guys can't do that. 

Then I saw this.

I wonder about fewer things now than I used to.

Visiting

Visitors are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not visit, would do nothing.

~ William Cowper

- - - - -

This is a lightning rod. I think it's on top of Carl Sandburg's house.

That reminds me of my friend Barb. She said when she was a kid she and her siblings? cousins? friends? I forget. Anyway, she and some other kids used to say, "This one time at Fats Domino's house..." or "Let's go over to Fats Domino's house..."

(pause)

I love kids.

And I love my friend Barb.

And - truth be told - I'm pretty fond of Fats Domino, too. Though I never got to visit his house. Ain't that a shame?

Banjo

The banjo is truly an American instrument and it captures something about our past.

~ Steve Martin

- - - - -

I really wanted my dad's banjo. I have it now. I am going to teach myself to play it.

That said, I think I freaked Leslie out when I picked it up and immediately played the first nine notes of "Dueling Banjos."

I like doing that kind of thing to people.

Obvitivity

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things.

~ Steve Jobs

- - - - -

I call this photo, "E.T. sitting in Smurf bowl sitting on Smurf plate."

Any questions?

Art?

Trash has given us an appetite for art.

~ Pauline Kael

- - - - -

So my vision for my blog is this: I have a few friends who read it now. Then about 60 or 70 years from now when I die my work gets "discovered." Then people think I'm all philosophical and insightful and creative. They read things into my work that I never intended - some good, some bad. But I never have to explain it and it can become what all creative work (in my opinion) should be - meaningful in the eye of the beholder.

And then they start making refrigerator magnets and repurposed beer can frames with quotes from me in them. And someone who matters to me who isn't dead yet gets to make a billion dollars off of all that stuff as well as the "tell-all" book about how I was such a genius and unbearable to be around.

Someone could write that book now, but then I'd have to make up stuff about them and then they'd have to make up more stuff about me and, well... I have some other stuff I was intending to do instead.

Home

When a nation goes down, or a society perishes one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.

~ Carl Sandburg

- - - - -

We now plunge into the full campaign season (which started about three years ago). My grandfather never voted. It is said that he chose not to vote so he could complain about whoever was elected and say, "Well, I didn't vote for him" (and I'm sure it was pretty much always a "him" he would have been referencing).

We have a lot of people with access to a lot of information. We also have a lot of it is misinformation. What we don't have is a lot of people thinking.

Just like in research, whenever possible, go to the original source. Don't trust the media to tell you what is happening. Don't trust Facebook. Don't trust your friends' "retweets". Do your fact-checking.

And if you don't like what you discover to be true, go out and change the world yourself.

And if you do like what you discover to be true, go out and change the world for yourself.

Get my point? Go change the world. 

Not that I'm the boss of you. Though I do make a pretty good boss. Not in a "bossy" way. In a leadership way.

Together

Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean or as high as the sky.

~ Sonia Gandhi

- - - - -
Leslie got me a kayak for my birthday. I think she did it so she could also get herself a kayak for my birthday. I like that. I like that she got them for us so we can do something together. I also like that she did shopping for herself when she shopped for me. 

Do I like it because she rarely buys things for herself? Nope, though that is true.

Is it because she really wanted to invest in ways for us to enjoy the outdoors together? Nope, though that is also true.

Is it because I do that every time I buy stuff for someone else - get something I would also like? Yep. That's it. That way if they say, "I don't want that," then I can have it. Unfortunately, I'm very good at choosing gifts for people so they don't often say, "I don't want that."

Debatable

Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.

~ John Kenneth Galbraith

- - - - -

So the conventions are over. Now we enter into the debate season. Well, the debate season after the other debate season. The conventions were about fear and hope. The debates will be about the same topics. 

I just have to remind myself that no matter how angry or disheartened I get, that this is how our system works. We don't always get the options we want - but sometimes we do. And sometimes we don't get what we thought we wanted, but we realize later what we got was what we needed - though sometimes we don't because we didn't. And no matter what leaders are people and they are fallible and they make mistakes - even if they don't always acknowledge those mistakes in the ways that we want.

And we have to be the best of America, not the lowest common denominator. And this is still a pretty good place to live. And we still have the chance and responsibility to vote. And we get to share our opinions (most of the time). And with freedom comes responsibility and our freedoms aren't absolute. 

We have to pay attention. We have to comment. We have to make sure our voices are heard in order to create transformative change. And by "we" I mean my brother Kirk and I.

Surprise!

Art must take reality by surprise.

~ Françoise Sagan

- - - - -

This is Hugo - man of a thousand faces. He is actually a puppet. He came with a wig and mustaches and glasses and eyebrows and a bunch of stuff. And a weird-smelling glue stick. I don't think you could actually make a THOUSAND faces with him, but you could make quite a few.

Erik didn't like Hugo that much. I used to hide Hugo in Erik's room or I'd set him in the bathroom when I knew Erik was going to go in there and turn on the light. 

Come to think of it, Erik was a pretty jumpy kid. I wonder why.

Sayings

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.

~ Arthur Helps

- - - - -

So there are a lot of sayings out there. More than you can shake a stick at, you might say. I have found, however, that we often only refer to the first part of a saying and forget the rest of it. So I have taken some time to complete a few of these for you. You are very welcome.


Birds of a feather flock together
And birds of different feathers do not attend the same get-togethers


Don't count your chickens before they hatch
And don't count your hatchets in front of your chickens


Don't put the cart before the horse
And don't put the horse at the very beginning of the parade


The bee's knees
And the mosquito's ankles


You can't teach an old dog new tricks
And you can't teach a cat any tricks

History

History is not a burden on the memory, but an illumination of the soul.

~ Lord Acton

- - - - -

We are in the middle of history right now. I hope people are paying attention. I hope a few decades from now when people's grandchildren ask, "What were you doing the night the first woman got nominated by a major party for president of the United States?" that the answer those grandchildren get isn't, "I was out playing Pokemon Go."

Walking

Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.

~ Rumi

- - - - -

I know this one guy who wouldn't find walking there hazardous...

Golf

It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.

~ Hank Aaron

- - - - -

I don't play plain golf, but I play disc golf. I do sometimes watch plain golf on TV. I do that because the weather is usually pretty nice wherever they are golfing. I know a lot of people think that watching golf on TV is boring. Know what is more boring than that? Listening to your neighbors in the hotel watching golf on TV.

And I suppose some other things are more boring, as well.

Help

It's not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.

~ Epicurus

- - - - -

Me: Help me write a blog.

Leslie: What's your topic.

Me: I don't have one - thus the problem.

Leslie: Don't boo. Vote.

(pause)

No matter where you stand on the issues, I guess that advice bears repeating.

Prepared

Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be larger than out to-do list.

~ Patti Digh

- - - - -

This is the inside of the lid of my mother's picnic basket. As you can see, she is very organized. Also, I can only imagine the drama when she realized she had forgotten the butcher (or carving) knife and the twistems.

(pause)

I'm glad it also doesn't include things like: bone saw, bleach, heavy duty garbage bags, rubber gloves, and hazmat suit.

(pause)

Dang it. I really wish I had replaced this list with that other list I just made up. I hate it when I have great ideas two weeks too late. You'd be surprised, but that happens a lot to me.

Golf

Golf is a good walk spoiled.

~ Mark Twain

- - - - -

This sign says, "Next tee."

In my case what it ought to say is, "Next bunch of TREES you are going to hit with your disc. Also, water hazard for your disc. Also, you're not very good at disc golf, but your persistence is something to be respected."

Apparently, I think disc golf signs should read like fortune cookie fortunes.

Sign

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.

Michel de Montaigne

- - - - -

A few things on this sign...

First of all, Leslie is the one who made sure I took a photo of it. She's good at noticing and encouraging and supporting my random photo initiatives.

Second of all, there aren't a lot of warning signs that include exclamation points. It really does make it a much bossier sign.

Finally, what are those kids doing?? Why is the one on the left flailing arms about? That seems dangerous. And what are they chasing? A ball? Doesn't this sign sort of say, "Share the road with kids who will chase the ball into the road and not look for traffic"?  I think that is poor education for kids who should not play ball or chase their ball into the road. 

Or maybe it isn't a ball. Maybe they are on an egg hunt. If so, they shouldn't hide eggs in the road. Or it could be a rolling quarter. If it's an old-timey quarter worth a lot of money, I get the enthusiastic flailing a little bit more than if that's not it. If it's a regular quarter then, sheesh. C'mon kids, it's just a quarter.

This sign is more confusing than it is helpful.

Music

Funny how such a beautiful song could tell such a sad story.

~ Sarah Dessen

- - - - -

So the other day Leslie and I were exploring and we drove past the Shady Lady Saloon + Private Club. I really liked the name. I also like that there was a fireworks stand right next to the place and that someone named "Dot" hosts the karaoke on Fridays.

Later that night Leslie spontaneously broke into song. She started singing, "Shady Lady Private Club..." to the tune of "Rubber Duckie."

I don't know why that tune went with those lyrics for her, but it did make me laugh really hard.

Also, I think Dot should add it to the playlist on Friday.

Bird

If I could come back as anything - I'd be a bird, first, but definitely the command key is my second choice.

~ Nikki Giovanni

- - - - -

I don't think that "giving someone the bird" is all that threatening a threat. And I don't even mean the hand gesture. I mean if you actually gave someone a bird. I mean, if you put a chicken in my yard, I might be annoyed. Or maybe I would get eggs.

If you put a duck in my garage, I could be enraged. Or I might get eggs.

If you put a falcon in the welder's mask I'm wearing... 

Wait.

THAT is a threatening threat.

Slogans

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant, or the scared.

~ Colin Powell

- - - - -

I think "Enjoy Coca-Cola" is a good slogan. I'm glad it caught on instead of the alternate one that was proposed back in the day. You know the one: "Loathe Pepsi."

(pause)

Now that I think of it there might some politicians out there who could learn from this.  Bwaa ha ha ha ha! I said "could." No. I don't think they could. I meant "should."

Lights

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.

~ Og Mandino

- - - - -

Lights are more than symbolic when it comes to knowledge. It's not just that a lightbulb represents an idea. A light BULB. Think about it. A bulb is something you plant to grow something beautiful. Like a tulip. Or wisdom.

A light GLOBE is more than the thing that covers a lightbulb. It helps disperse light around the room - like knowledge dispersed around the globe, around the world.

A candle STICK. Because if you think about it a candlestick is very much shaped like a stick.

Lights

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.

~ Og Mandino

- - - - -

Lights are more than symbolic when it comes to knowledge. It's not just that a lightbulb represents an idea. A light BULB. Think about it. A bulb is something you plant to grow something beautiful. Like a tulip. Or wisdom.

A light GLOBE is more than the thing that covers a lightbulb. It helps disperse light around the room - like knowledge dispersed around the globe, around the world.

A candle STICK. Because if you think about it a candlestick is very much shaped like a stick.

Courage

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.

~ Marcus Garvey

- - - - -

Don't forget that part of courage is rage. You have to be brave enough to get angry enough to create change or face your fears or lift up others.

Also you can rearrange the letters to make "e-cougar" which would be a pretty ferocious e-animal. Way more ferocious than the e-sheep, for example

Courage

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.

~ Marcus Garvey

- - - - -

Don't forget that part of courage is rage. You have to be brave enough to get angry enough to create change or face your fears or lift up others.

Also you can rearrange the letters to make "e-cougar" which would be a pretty ferocious e-animal. Way more ferocious than the e-sheep, for example.

Sun

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

~ Buddha

- - - - -

Why do I see more sunsets than sunrises?
Because I'm already up at sunset.

And if I saw neither - if I was inside and locked away from the day beginning or end, would I be sad? Would I miss the light? Would I grow to loathe the darkness?

Maybe. But I would also be a vampire. One that could fly. And hopefully one who had really good night vision so I wouldn't run into telephone poles.

Driving

Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic.

~ Dan Rather

- - - - -

I take a lot of photos while riding in the car. Some are good. Some are blurry. Lots are blurry, but even some of the blurry ones are good.

Lots of times I think, "I should come back and take more pictures here." Then I think, "I should pay more attention while I'm driving." Then I think, "That officer got mad when I took her photo." Then I think, "I wish I had just gone for a walk instead."

Mistakes

Man is broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.

~ Eugene O'Neill

- - - - -

I wish someone who has royally messed up would write a memoir called, I Really Messed Up, But I'm Trying to Get it Back Together. Or Glue: Memoir of a Screwup or Oh, That Was Really Bad. Even something simple like, Oops. Or Sorry About That.

I think that we are at a point culturally that we realize our leaders (social, cultural, political, religious, etc.) are not perfect. I think we just want them to admit when they mess up. Am I wrong?

(pause)

Nope.  I am not wrong.

Food

One thing you can't do with babies. You can't give them steak.

~ Flavor Flav

- - - - -

It bothers me that the words marinate and urinate are so similar.

Also, if the above quote is the first thing that comes to Mr. Flav's mind about babies, maybe you want to not hire him for a babysitter. Not that I'm the boss of you. Or him. Or anyone except me.

Also, mmmmm. Steak!

Fish

If all politicians fished instead of spoke publicly, we would be at peace with the world.

~ Will Rogers

- - - - -

I haven't been fishing in a couple of years. Well, I've fished for things in a bag or a pocket or the part of the car between the seat and the middle console thing.

That's not what I mean.

And that kind of fishing isn't relaxing.

Fishing for fish is relaxing to me. Probably less for the fish.

Community

For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism 
over common community.

~ Joe Biden

- - - - -

When we come together to work on things - problems, art, projects, barn-raisings - we come up with better solutions than when we face these things alone. We are more creative. We are able to see the larger picture.

That said, there is a limit to how many seats there can be at the table. But I don't think there is a limit to how many tables there can be. Also, it shouldn't always be the same people at the same tables. That limits us as a community.

Also, I think there should be a kids table. In case they spill.

Questions

The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.

~ Susan Sontag

- - - - -

Wow. That is a powerful quote. I think that maybe the opposite is also true.

For example, when I stopped to take a photo of this mailbox at the house around the corner from where I used to live, a woman from the house came outside. She asked, "What are you doing?" I responded that I hadn't ever seen someone paint part of their address on the mail flag before, so I thought it was interesting.

I thought that was the end of it. She asked a question. I responded. My answer in no way destroyed her question.

Then she asked me another question, "Want a cat?"

I didn't know how to respond, so I said, "No."

Perhaps the only interesting questions are those that the destroy the answers before you even get a chance to respond.

Also, why was she giving away cats?

Poetry

Not knowing when the dawn will come

I open every door.

~ Emily Dickinson

- - - - -

Knowing that the palmetto bugs and mosquitoes will come
I close every door.

Sometimes practicality does not lend itself to poetry.

Butterfly

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.*

~ Muhammad Ali

- - - - -

How come it's called a butterfly? We don't call a wasp a "stingerfly." We don't call a bee a "buzzerfly." We don't call a lady bug a "round spotted fly." We don't call a witch a "cacklefly."

(pause)

I'm going to start calling witches "cackleflies." Who's with me? 



* Perhaps should be "Float like a butterfly, sting like a buzzerfly."

Chair

When fortune calls, offer her a chair.

~ Yiddish Proverb

- - - - -

If it is a short-term fortune, I suppose you offer her a high chair.

If it is a leisure-related fortune, a recliner.

A fortune old and wise, the rocking chair.

And bad fortune - the most uncomfortable chair in the house. Or a beanbag chair (which is likely the same thing). That way she won't stay so long.

Bottle

Life is like a little message in a bottle to be carried by the winds and by the tides.

~ Gene Tierney

- - - - -

I saw this in an antique store with Leslie. I thought about buying it for my brother, Kirk. Instead I decided to rewrite the theme song to the Golden Girls as if it were a commercial (a LONG commercial) for this soda. You're welcome, Kirk. You're welcome, everyone.

Thank you for being a drink

To toast with my friend clink, clink, clink

Your taste is true you're a very yummy refreshment

I'm not ashamed to say

I hope you always will stay this way

Your cap is off,

I'm excited I get to drink you now

And if I threw a party

Invited everyone I knew

You would see, you're the beverage for me

And the crowd would cheer along and say,

Thank you for being a drink

Thank you for being a drink

Thank you for being a drink

(pause)

I think maybe I should have just gotten he bottle for Kirk.

Recipe

A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe.

~ Thomas Keller

- - - - -

Recipe 1: Bowl of Chips

Directions: Put chips in a bowl. Eat chips out of the bowl.

Recipe 2: Chips and Dip

Directions: Put chips in a bowl. Set out some dip. Dip chips in dip. Eat chips dipped in dip.

Recipe 3: Chips and Ham

Directions: Eat chips with some ham.

This would be better if the photo read "Simile Recipes with Chips."

Recipe 1: Nachos

Take chips as salty as the sea and light like a butterfly's halo. Top them with cheese as cheesy as cheese, jalapeños hot like habaneros, ground beef as ground as the meat from that book The Jungle, sour cream white like snow that no dogs have peed on, and tomatoes as red and juicy as the reddest and juiciest tomato ever.

(pause)

Note to self: Write book of recipes.

Eyes

One eye sees, the other feels.

~ Paul Klee

- - - - -

One night I was talking with Leslie and she said something that made me laugh. At the same time I had a sharp pain in my eye. I tried to describe it to her. She said, "Maybe someone has a voodoo doll of you."

While I the comment didn't make me feel better - in fact it made me feel much worse - it did make me forget about my eye hurting.

Friends

I wanted to buy a candle holder, but the store didn't have one, so I bought a cake.

~ Mitch Hedberg

- - - - -

Maybe instead of me expecting "birthday cards" and "birthday gifts" from people, I should send out cards and gifts to people who make me glad that I was born.

(pause)

I'll definitely do that next year. (or the year after).

M

If I want sarcasm, Mr. Tanner, I'll talk to my children thank you very much.

~ Judi Dench as M

- - - - -

Why is M the best letter of the alphabet? Because ME starts with M. So does MELLOW. So does MICHELLE. So does MOON. So does MEADOW.  So does MICHELLE. So does MAGNIFICENT. So does MOTIVATE. So does MORNING. So does MICHELLE.

So MANY nice words start with M.

Freedom

We must be free not because we claim freedom, 

but because we practice it.

~ William Faulkner

- - - - -

Last Fourth of July it was Leslie and Granny and me.  I had been wanting to try out a rib recipe and so I did.  Originally, I thought David and Michael would be there too, but they had to go get some of David and Natalie's stuff from North Carolina.

Anyway, I posted this photo on Facebook and tagged the two of them and said basically that Granny was going to eat all the ribs and there wouldn't be any left.  They were good ribs.  Since they took about two days to prepare, they should have been good.  And we had Leslie's deviled eggs, baked beans, watermelon margaritas, potato chips and I think Granny had a bowl of watermelon.

That evening we went to see fireworks.  It took us a while to find a good parking place to see them, but eventually we did.  Then Granny fell asleep during the fireworks.  In her defense, it was about the time she usually falls asleep in front of her TV at home.

On the drive back to the house, Granny said, "This is what the Fourth of July is all about.  Fireworks and picnics with good food."  

I said, "I thought it was about freedom."

She paused, then said, "Freedom first.  Then ribs."

Fireworks

There should be fireworks at last, when a dream dies.

~ Kirby Larson

- - - - -

I'm thinking of writing a story about an old guy who sells fireworks. His name is Sparky Ashton and his family has been selling fireworks for generations. Each of the people ahead of him in the family line has died a gruesome and fire-related death. Maybe Uncle Earle was burned up fighting a fire as a volunteer firefighter. Aunt Selma's apron caught on fire when she was frying chicken.

And Sparky - whose nickname is a joke: his actual name is Vigil (because they forgot to put the R in his name on his birth certificate, so he wasn't named after his great uncle Virgil after all) - Sparky one day spontaneously combusts and the entire fireworks store goes up in flames.

(pause)

I'm pretty sure it would be a good story.

Impossible

I love those who yearn for the impossible.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Remember the secret to impossible is hidden in part of the word itself. If someone tells you something is impossible, simply say, "Ble. I didn't want to do that anyway."

History

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has freedom.

~ Malcolm X

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Celebrating the founding of the United States is a complex issue.  We celebrate different ways. Some people do not celebrate it at all.  I think it's important to think about our history on this date.  And I always think it's important to think not just about the good parts of our history, but the very bad parts of our history.  All of those pieces make up where we are today.

Here is an exchange I had with my brother a while ago (a couple of years ago) about how to celebrate July 4th.

Me:  Kirk, I just made "Mom's Banana Split Dessert" for 4th of July.  Jealous?  Also, why were we so poor with the creativity in food-naming at our house?  Consider the following in addition to "Mom's Banana Split Dessert."

* "Chip Cookies" (not chocolate chip cookies, but the cookies that look like chips)

* "The Hot Dish that Chelle and Erik Like"

* "Those Brownies that Grandma Makes"

The most creative food name we have is "Fruit Salad" which is what we call a bowl of grapes.  And I think Jared came up with that.

Kirk:  I started reading this and totally thought you were wrong or exaggerating...  And then as I read, I knew exactly what each of those was and could not come up with another name for any of them...  BTW, I love "Those Brownies that Grandma Makes."

As you can tell, not only in the history of nations complex, but the history of persons who make up nations is also complex.