quote of the day

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope...and, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Robert F. Kennedy

quote of the day

“The great Easter truth is not that we are to live newly after death- that is not the greatest thing- but that we are to be new here and now by the power of the Resurrection; not so much that we are to live forever, as that we are to live nobly now because we are to live forever."
-Phillips Brooks

Easter Sunday family portrait.  

Marley has the ball

fast action soccer 

quote of the day

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--ALWAYS.
--Gandhi

food for thought

Here's a little something to make you pause and reflect.

basic training (part 3)

When I was drafted I was 20 years old. I still lived at home with my parents. I worked in the kitchen of the Queen of the Valley hospital in West Covina, Calif. for about $50.00 a week. That kept Dorothy and I in enough cash to go the movies every week. I watched the Steve Allen show every night, then read books until 2:00 am and got up at noon (on my days off). Then it all changed.

During Basic the lights came on every morning at 5:00 and went off every night at 9:00, and it was not stop activity, harrassment, verbal abuse, and physical exertion in between.That was the longest eight weeks of my life. Before I entered the military I expected the army to be like a John Wayne movie, but it was more like a Beetle Bailey cartoon.

basic grunt 

quote of the day

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

quote of the day

The world belongs to the energetic.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The tulips are blooming 

and so are the daffodils 

quote of the day

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
-- Sidney J. Harris

This was taken in one of those 25 cent photo booths at the Dallas Airport on my way home from basic training. Feb 1966 

quote of the day

To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question.
--Edward Abbey

what I'm reading now

In this age of governmental "double speak", I'm revisiting this classic to mine some insights into where we're heading as a society. 

quote of the day

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

basic training (part 2)

We were rudely awakened the next morning before sun up, dressed and took our place in line outside the mess hall while it was still dark. I wasn't used to eating breakfast at night. I expected to be issued uniforms and shipped over to the training facility that day, but we hung around the barracks for several days before trading our civilian clothes for the Army's olive drab. I was beginning to understand the "hurry up and wait" phenomenon, of which my uncle Bob Zielke (a Korean War veteran) warned me.

It seems the Army was drafting so many boys (40,000 the month I was drafted) that there was a bottle neck in the flow of bodies into the training area. So we laid around the barracks, went to the movies, the px, etc. for days before anything happened. Finally it was announced that we couldn't start basic training there; it was just too crowded. We were divided into three groups. One group was flown to Ft. Lewis, Washington, another to Ft. Polk, Louisiana, and the group I fell into went to Ft. Hood, Texas. After a short bus ride to the Monterey Airport we boarded a small propeller driven craft from Neptune Airlines, and after an engine coughed, sputtered, and caught on fire, we were finally airborne for a turbulent flight to the Lone Star State. Once again, we arrived in the middle of the night and went through the same procedure as at Ft. Ord.

I was drafted on Dec. 1, 1965 and by the time I arrived at Ft. Hood it was just before Christmas. The Army, the efficient organization they are, decided to let us go home for Christmas and gave us a week of leave. So, onto the Greyhound bus we go, spending two and a half days on the road to Los Angeles, two days home for Christmas, then back to Texas arriving, you guessed it, around midnight. The next morning at 5:00 am we started basic training in earnest.

quote of the day

Not all who wander are lost.
--seen on a bumper sticker

Marley Kate in the park 

quote of the day

We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands upon himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself.
-- Jose Ortega y Gasset

basic training

I must be getting old. I see things; I hear things; then memories are evoked and scenes from my past are replayed in my mind for days. The other day I was reading an article in Harper's that reminded me of my military days.
I received my draft noticed directing me to report to the induction station in Los Angeles on Dec 1, 1965. I arrived at 8:00am, kissed Dorothy good-bye and walked across the street to 1100 S. Broadway and began the first of many experiences of military bureaucracy. We signed papers, then waited. Signed more papers, then waited some more. And although just a few weeks earlier we had undergone an extensive physical exam, we went through another abbreviated version of the same exam. Late in the afternoon I and about 120 other draftees boarded three buses and headed toward Fort Ord, Monterey, California. We arrived late at night.
The buses had no sooner ground to a halt at the Ft. Ord reception center when a big black sergeant stepped aboard, formidable in his starched fatigues, spit shined boots, and polished helmet. He started shouting orders which we didn't understand in our nervous fear, but we stumbled off the bus and were herded to a place outside a storage facility where we were issued a mattress, sheets, two blankets, shaving gear, and a small New Testament. We carried all that stuff to old wooden fire trap barracks, made our beds, fell into them and tried to sleep, but were kept awake by the sound of machine gun fire heard in the distance -basic training in progress for a group that arrived before us-- and our own worry and fear of the unknown. As I look back on those times I realize that the worst part of any ordeal we find ourselves in, takes place inside our heads. I wish I had known that then. I lay awake that night listening to the gunfire, homesick, and fearing Vietnam. (to be continued)

quote of the day

Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
Mark Twain -- 1835-1910

Dorothy's birthday

Dorothy, Sami, Hunter, and Marley Kate 

Marley and Hunter took it upon themselves to put the candles on Grandma's birthday cake. 96 should be enough. (note the candles on the side) 

What a blaze! 

Marley Kate's class program

Marley's class sings a song. Marley is 3rd from left. 

Marley and class prepare to sing a song. What's up with that kid to the right of Marley? 

quote of the day

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis.
Margaret Bonnano

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

walking away from conspicuous consumption

Are you working harder each year to buy more and more , yet receive no satisfaction from all the stuff you own? Do you suspect that a simpler life may may be of higher quality? Then read this.

Our son-in-law Burk blows out his candles with a little assistance from Marley Kate and Hunter.