And Now, The Weekend

Where the Wild Things Are
American author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak was born on this day in 1928 (d. 2012)

I won’t be going off to where the wild things are this weekend. Well, unless you count the amusement park.

I don’t get weekends these days. The reasons, and the choices, are my own.

What initially began as a weekend job to get ahead and plan for retirement has, thanks to the current economy, become a weekend job to help maintain. And the retirement date keeps getting pushed back on the calendar.

While I do know who to blame for the current situation, I’m not really complaining…well, not too much…I’m more fortunate than most. While there’s less disposable income, the needs are being met.

Instead of spending my Saturdays reclaiming the yard, I’m spreading that out to about thirty minutes a day, and working 9-10 hour shifts at the amusement park.

Fortunately, the park is a place that I love.

But a seven-day work schedule means that I have to sort out the other priorities. When I’m writing, or surfing the Interwebz, or doing the day job, I’m also making notes about ideas and projects and things I need, or want, to do.

Once or twice a week, I’ll sort through that list and determine what is priority and what can wait.

The Write Side Shop

There’s nothing special about this. I’m not unique.

For all of us, life is a bit of “if I do this, I can’t do that.”

Okay, so maybe I’m a little different in the fact that I’m almost sixty-four and I still want to have it all.

Or is it that I’m almost sixty-four and I realize that there’s far more time behind me than in front of me?

That’s way more serious than I want to be on a Friday morning.

I’ll make a note to think about it later.

It’s the weekend. Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em.

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”

American actress and singer, Judy Garland, was born on this day in 1922. (d. 1969)


ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1688 – James Francis Edward Stuart, claimant to the English and Scottish throne (d. 1766)
1895 – Hattie McDaniel, American actress (d. 1952)
1901 – Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (d. 1988)
1941 – Shirley Owens, American singer
1971 – Bobby Jindal, American journalist and politician, 55th Governor of Louisiana

THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

NOTE: Yes, I know that I recently said these links were going to be less political, but daggone it, these are strange and perilous times. Some of y’all need to pay more attention. Read and think for yourself, but read.

‘I owe her my life’: Hero dog who saved owner from mountain lion attack has died
Blaze Media
Erin Wilson was hiking in Trinity County last month with her 2 1/2-year-old Belgian Malinois named Eva. The pair encountered a mountain lion during their hike. Read More.

What Matthew McConaughey Gets Wrong on Guns | Opinion
Dana Loesch in Newsweek
The solutions typically proposed only address the aftermath of the underlying problem that is left unchecked. Read More.

Jimmy Kimmel and media excuses can’t save Biden from himself
The Washington Times
For the first 17 months of the Biden administration, the corporate media were there to pick up the pieces of each Biden catastrophe — the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the ongoing crisis at the southern border, failure to corral COVID-19 as promised, daily record highs for gas prices, rampant inflation, embarrassing misstatements on the world stage, a baby formula shortage — and either recast them as successes or pin the blame on others. Read More.

Poll: Nearly Half Of ‘Younger Democratic Men’ Think Assassinating A Politician Is Okay
Daily Caller
Forty-four percent of the “younger Democratic men” surveyed in the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) poll approved of “assassinating a politician who is harming the country or our democracy.” That was the highest rate of any gender, party and age combination. Read More.

And, one more. An old, but important, reminder considering the current clown show.

Estimates: George Floyd Riots To Cost 66 Times More Than Capitol Damage
The Federalist
The Capitol architect told lawmakers the price tag for the January riots stood around $30 million. The George Floyd riots cost an estimated $2 billion. Read More.

BENEDICTION

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:15-17

Has It Always Been This Crazy?

“In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. Now, Heaven knows, anything goes. The world has gone mad today, and good’s bad today, and black’s white today, and day’s night today….”

Anything Goes

American composer and songwriter, Cole Porter was born on this day in 1891 (d. 1964)

I have twice had the privilege of being in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. Once way back in 1975 when I was a junior in high school and appeared with the chorus in what was my first stage production. Then a few years back I took on the role of the Captain with The Theatre Company at Ft. Lee.

Cole Porter wrote those words in 1934.

The country was in the middle of the Great Depression. In less than ten years, we’d be drawn into World War II.

So, this morning, while struggling to find the inspiration for today’s post, I’m wondering if things just feel

Anything Goes, Giles Little Theatre, 1975

more crazy because we’re bombarded with it on social media.

I mean, are things crazier now than WWII? Or WWI? Or the Civil War? Or the plagues…

You get the idea.

And let’s not even think about what Twitter would have done to Noah.

Still, we’re bombarded on a daily basis with news, with fake news, with propaganda.

Anything Goes, The Theatre Company at Ft. Lee, 2019

Yeah, it’s easy to get a little weary.

I’m weary this morning because yesterday my son and I drove to Chesapeake (about a two-hour drive each way) to pick up some furniture friends very graciously gave us. Furniture that will help with my wife’s upcoming (to be scheduled) knee surgery.

The problem, one of them, is that, as I’ve mentioned in recent months, I’m not fully recovered from Last Summer’s Great Unpleasantness™.

I mean, on the one hand, the cancer is behind me. So to speak. I’ve just not fully regained my strength or stamina. Lifting furniture is a challenge, if not impossible.

I’ll also admit that the food choices for a road trip weren’t the greatest.

The Write Side Shop

Not to mention that I Instagrammed my fuel purchase of $100.

One. Hundred. Dollars.

That set off some pre-Independence Day fireworks on my Facebook feed.

So, this morning I’m a little weary. A little achy.

But while I’m also tired of the news I’m thinking that it’s always been this way and always will be this way.

I mean, I lived through the fuel wars of the Carter years.

I remember a college friend saying to me as we prepared to graduate in 1980…surely the Lord will come back before we reach the yeas 2000.

Well Shirley, we were wrong.

I’m tired this morning. You probably are as well.

While thinking that it’s always been this way puts it in perspective, it doesn’t get my yard mowed this afternoon.

Still, there’s hope.

Jesus said:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

That may not take care of the yardwork, but it will get me through the day.


BORN ON THIS DAY

1672 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (d. 1725)
1900 – Fred Waring, American singer, bandleader, and television host (d. 1984)
1915 – Les Paul, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2009)
1931 – Jackie Mason, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2021)
1963 – Johnny Depp, American actor

THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

Harvard has human remains of 7,000 Native Americans, leaked report says
New York Post
Harvard University is in possession of the remains of nearly 7,000 Native Americans — despite a 1990 federal law that requires the remains and cultural items of Indigenous people to be returned, according to a leaked report. Read More.

The Writing Project That Took a Quarter of a Century to Complete
Authors Publish
What I didn’t realize then was that the rejection I received was positive. The publisher had taken the time to send me a note of encouragement. I didn’t see that of course. I only saw the rejection. Read More.

The 54 Best Quotes on Courage
The Art of Manliness
While few of us are called to charge into battle these days, we all still need an ample arsenal of courage to stand up for those we love, defend unpopular beliefs, take professional and creative risks, and continue to choose the good, true, and honorable in a world where it can be hard to keep carrying the fire. Read More.

BENEDICTION

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:15-17