Class Reunion? “Observations”

 Class Reunion?  Maybe a template?

So in this very real world you can never go back and in some ways you can never go home….yet I must say a bunch of folks who survived high school at the same place and in the same  time as yours truly spent some hours together last weekend.  These are my(Thanks Steve) observations.

We spoke to each other of family. We spoke to each other about rich life experiences.  We spoke to each other  about physical challenges and triumphs.  We spoke to each other about work and purposes.  ….and far more important…..

We listened to each other about families.  We listened to each other about  life experiences.  We listened to each other about work/purpose.   

We’re some of the same old grouping of people  clinging together some….well some…but not horribly…. 

We’re some people missed?  Yes…. Yet the people there were really …for a few minutes “there” with each other.  How was this accomplished?  Well it was not stated anywhere, however  it seems pretty evident we all made an internal decision to find things that united us—not divided us.  We didn’t worry about who had the exact version of things or the answers to all of life’s riddles.  

You see…. As a group we have a lot of things in common….we have a lot of common values and priorities.  We have a lot of positive energy to offer each other and we can avoid putting our black paint in other people’s yellow paint.  

Maybe our nation should have a class reunion?  

Oh and I offered the song lyric poetry recital and promised I’d post these lyrics/words in a couple places… so I’ll do that.  

Roosevelt. Avenue Rosary

Jim Whalen

In the Stained glass palace

We lifted up the Challace

Hope the good Lord got a fair trade for his loss

We were just a bunch of kids

Praying that He did 

Staring up at the old cross

We prayed the Roosevelt Avenue Rosary

As we rolled our machines through the park

And the trinity still was a mystery

Like the forbidden fruit in the dark

Well they taught us some science and Algebra said we’d need that for our survival

But whenever we asked a tough question they just smiled and tossed us a bible

they preached about kind social matters

But it seemed they’d never quite trust us

As the ninja  nuns roamed the hallways

Always looking to bust us

We Prayed the Roosevelt Ave Rosary

Prayed all alone in the dark

Yet no one ever would tell us

Why the Unicorn got left off the ark 

Well we left on the wings of an angel

Some of us flew pretty far

We started out naive  and innocent

Maybe some us still are

Some of us have climbed pretty high 

On the Grace that the Good Lord once gave us

All of the rest are doing are best

And hoping the saints will still save us

Pray the Roosevelt. Ave Rosary

Over and over again

Roosevelt Ave Rosary

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Amen

(A song version is available on YouTube and the podcast (coming soon))

Peace & Joy 77

Let your freak flag fly because independence and freedom are pretty freaky sometimes

 Hey …. It’s flag day…. Now there are a lot of flags we pay attention to these days.  We have the “red flag” for warnings, the black flag for for bug spray/death…. The Jolly Roger (how jolly can you be if you have become a skull and cross bones?  In racing the white flag means screw it…. It’s time to mash the pedal and in other instances waving the white flag means other things.   

However this is not the day for any of those flags… it’s the day we here in the U S of A celebrate our stars and stripes.  

So here’s some facts…why do we celebrate today?  The flag was adopted  in it’s original form  on this day in 1777 so tht’s 245 years—wow

The flag has taken 27 different forms as the stripes have remained 13, however the stars have been added.  Our current  flag adopted in 1957 in prep for adding the “in continental” states in the late fifties….  Was designed by a high school student.   It’s a good thing we just took to adding stars and 50 stripes would mean one heck of a big flag or a small stripe.  

Now here are some other things people need to know.   

If your flag hits the ground you don’t have to burn it…. There’s no law…and as long as you get it cleaned you can run it up the pole again.   You can have your flag up at night as long as it is illuminated by some means.  

It is not illegal to burn the flag in protest in most instances except when doing so creates a fire hazard and quite frankly if you are protesting you are probably creating a hazard by burning the flag unless you are protesting all alone in your backyard.  And if you want to protest somewhere where most people aren’t paying attention twitter will work just fine for that.  

Now what does “flag Day” have to do with seeking peace and joy?

Well… displaying a flag is a way to show you stand for something.  When you show you stand for something  you tell others you stand for something. And it may be something someone you care about stands for too.   You may find out you are walking this path we call life with people you can help and can help you.  part of seeking peace and joy is becoming comfortable with saying to yourself and to others “here is who I am”. I can change (just like our flag has done 27 times) and when I change I can still stand for important things.  

So find a flag to salute today… find something  in yourself and others to salute  Finally here’s a little  flag rhyme…. 

Spirits soar but sometime sag

Sometimes we lead sometimes we lag

Sometimes Our leaders’ tongues just wag

At us complex issues nag 

Toward Liberties we zig and zag

Yet that cloth out there is not just some rag

It stands for freedoms worth a brag

Be proud Stand Tall Salut

These days?

 Well if you read this blog very often you know the subject matter comes from all over, almost anything that drifts through the Seeking Peace & Joy Universe is fair game.  So when this little screen said it was “National Do Something Outdoors Day” it was time to get this written and get out for a walk.  As the keyboard started making these letters appear on the screen, I started (not for the first time) wondering who selects these days or “invents” them.  Is there a secret committee bankrolled by Hallmark waiting for one of the thousands of these “days” to crack open a new market so that they can sell a piece of paper for five bucks?  Well…. I decided  that for the next couple weeks the Seeking Peace and Joy Universe is going to declare “days” of it’s own…..not every day because some days will be your responsibility…. Like it could be “National Tom Weeds His Garden Day” or “international Mac plays the Fiddle Day”…. Otherwise I’ve got the calendar covered.  By the way if you ever forget your days are numbered look at the calendar….see numbers are rightthere.   

So although I’m going to honor the get outside” thing today is now “National Jobs I’d Never Want Day.”  Here are five jobs that are not for me.

These are in no particular order…

Camera Operator—

What you ask is wrong with that…well let me finish…Camera Operator at the Colonoscopy Clinic.  First of all no matter how good you are you are dealing with  A- - holes all day long.  Second while your patient has done some prep work some people are still full of (you fill in the blank).  Now when you finish each procedure there is always the clean up and well that’s something I wouldn’t want to think about.  So From this point forward September 30th will be National  Coonoscopy Camera Operators” Day.

Mirror Store or Mirror Department Owner/Manager

I just couldn’t see myself in that job so I’d be let go quickly.  Also no matter what job you do there is always something that breaks or breaks down…. Who needs that much bad luck?  Every time you set up a display or one of those multi-mirror areas at a clothing stores you’d have to know you looked like that—-really?  

The Assistant who Works at Self-Check-Out

You see people who go to self check out think they are faster and more equipped than a trained cashier.  However, let’s think about this…. Is the average person off the street as quick or as efficient as someone who does something hundreds of times a day?  So then when someone who thought they were better than a trained person has a problem two things are already at play… the person has to admit they probably didn’t do something correctly and they are not going to zip right out as fast they thought.  The self-check out clerk can almost always figure out what needs to happen immediately and then you have a customer leaving that is trying to figure out how to make it the store’s fault anyway as they tried to save the minute it would have taken to go through a lane.  What you don’t want to tell that irritated customer is that they are hurrying out to their car to jump onto the busy street where the light is going to turn red and that minute they were going to save is gone anyway.  The Saturday  after Black Friday should always be National Cashier’s Day.

Election Official/ Ballot Counter (or any sort)

No matter what you do and how  many times you do it somebody and about 50 percent of somebodies isn’t going to like what you have to say when you tell them about your day or what you learned.  When I was a kid we played ball every day all summer long and one team won and won team lost….We had some judgment calls but nobody ever spent the next day or even two minutes  warning the other neighborhood kids that “the game was rigged.”  We didn’t go home and meet with our teammates to discuss how we could change the rules tonight so that we would win tomorrow.  Anyway there are other things that would stink about counting votes.   Every year there are confusing referendums that are often worded by politicians. So that they confuse voters and you don’t no for sure what voting yes or no for really means.  For example one recent ballot item was “Do you want to allow  the sale of recreational Marajuana once three medical marajuana  business are fully certified?  What does “yes mean….you want to insure full certification  for other types of venders?  What does no mean you want weed shops right now or not at all?  Now you have to count the votes and announce the results and answer reporters asking questions….good luck

Finally I never want to work as an Oragami Artist—-

Simple reason …too much paperwork

Well that’s about enough for today….

Remember always give 100% unless you’re going to the blood drive.

Now get outside.

Brainstorm? Well just barely have a nice day

 Hope these phrases offer morsels of delight

It’s just about mid day the sun is bright

The clouds are puffy innocent and white

The breeze is just too soft to fly a kite

Will showers come tomorrow well they might

If you wash your car today they’ll come tonight

For Mother Nature does these things for spite

This is all my mini musings have to write

Weather Report

Gathering Maas? Not yet!

 Well it’s D-Day (78 years ago) and there weren’t any notices about it on the local news or the “national” news that came streaming into our abode.  Someday maybe history will forget about it completely and maybe we’ll abandoned the whole concept of war as a way of settling disputes over property that we only possess temporarily anyway.  However, for now, a salute goes out to those  who had their lives forever changed by that event.   What I did hear on the news was that The Rolling Stones was opening the “Sixty” tour.  Mick and the boys (in their late seventies are cranking it up again much as they have for six decades.  It is remarkable that they are still rocking out and that the “rolling” doesn’t mean scooting up a ramp on their Hover-rounds.  While I really appreciate their dedication it really makes me wonder if “Time is really On their side” for much longer.   I also wonder if they still get the thrills of being rock stars like they did two, three, or four decades ago.  I mean if they haven’t gotten any satisfaction by now they probably can’t get no satisfaction.  Anyway sometimes in the seeking peace and joy universe you have to stand and salute those who have found a purpose and have persisted in pursuing it for a long time.  I’m not looking forward to seeing any concert footage and I’m not confident that any spectacular new music will be produced however, I hope that even if Stones fans Can’t get what they want 60 years in—-they get what they need.   

And in terms of Peace and Joy it’s always good to understand that getting what we need to persist can help us understand that we get through without Mother’s little helper until the next day when we sometimes get what we want.  Until then make sure  that when you’re waiting  on a friend you let somebody know you can be a friend and you will be there when somebody else has their 19th nervous breakdown and be kind enough not to tell folks to get off you your cloud.  

Well…. Rock on for this Monday and if you are reading this tomorrow night don’t forget to wave good-bye to “ruby” Tuesday….

How Often Do You Take a P&J Temp?

 Take My Temperature…Please?

So…this morning I realized that no one had taken my temperature for a couple weeks now.  If you don’t visit any health clinics or have medical appointments you probably aren’t getting swiped across the forehead multiple times a day anymore.  However, did we ever stop and think about the health technology that allowed us to figure out one of the suspected COVID symptoms instantly.  However, pre-COVID how often did IU have a thermometer placed under my tongue or in my ear?  Not all that often.  Does anyone wonder how it works out the same regardless of if it’s a swipe on your head, a slip under the tongue, a poke in the ear or well a poke in something that rhymes with ear and grass.  (Gross Humor Warning).  So what’s the difference between an oral and a rectal thermometer?  —according to Rodney Dangerfield—the taste). ..  Anyway… back to Peace and Joy of this….

Most of us are familiar with the Fahrenheit scale and Captain Obvious  tells us that his 98.6 for normal scale comes from his thermometer.  Now he originally designed the thermometer so that 100 would be “normal…but he didn’t get it exactly right.  His scale was crystallized in 1724 and his basic design was finalized about ten years prior.  Now others had devised thermometers.  For example Galileo (yes that Galileo ) had designed a thermometer and if he’d stuck to that he might not have argued with the Pope about the planets and well we know how that turned out.  

Well here’s the deal…. Thanks to this thermometer we have this term normal temperature.  However, we pretty much don’t care to take a our temperature  except for when we aren’t feeling well or somebody else wants to find out if we’re normal.  But what if….. we took our peace and joy temperature?   What?  I mean what if we stopped to check out our relationship statuses, our connections with relatives and friends, our basic anxiety levels and things when things were going well or just going “normally.”  Why is it that we often don’t focus attention on peace and joy things  except when there’s a problem…when we’re feeling “sick” or broken?  Where  do we have our attention when we are “happy” or satisfied?  What is our emotional temperature then?   How often are we reaching out to others on a scale of 0 to 100?  Just like  in the past couple years when we were hunting for COVID maybe we should start scanning our spiritual temperature when things are good, neutral, and not so hot.  Maybe we should develop a thermometer of our own and stick it anyplace we need  to inorder to keep learning how and when action is needed in the seeking of peace and/or joy?  

In short, a thermometer (which we see so often these days) puts our attention on something that reflects our health…. Or so they say…. Perhaps if we give our present state  some attention on a regular basis we can build a Peace and Joy thermometer to make this journey either alone or with others a healthier and wiser  experience.  Open Wide.

Walking to Eldorado? Upright?

Some days (like yesterday) my body reminds me that it’s just here to carry my spirit around and that doesn’t always mean without complaining.  One way that sometimes helps things improve is taking a walk.  By the way why do we spell sock and rock one way and talk and walk and for that  matter could we spell would and should without the “l” too?  Anyway back to putting one foot in front of the other….

So many times when I stroll I put a little music on and usually randomly shuffle things from my music library.  Well as it happened three songs that featured “walking” played  in a row when I was hitting the bricks.  That kicked my mind into two paths—-one just how many songs that have “walk or walking” in the title and second the notion of walking through life or part of life with some groups of people sharing your path for a while.  

So let’s “Walk the Line” while we’re “Walking in Memphis”and if you’re not quite sure which direction to go well “Walk this way.”  Oh and if you are wondering if you might go fast or slow just “Walk Like and Egyptian.”

Okay you get the idea.  Now for the step by step reason this entry is worth taking my foot out of my mouth to share.  You see yesterday I posted a new episode of the “Seeking Peace and Joy” podcast and made a mistake in the beginning of the cast and in the show notes (see below)…. Look, I make mistakes all the time so I usually just repair them,laugh about them, or do my best to learn the lesson from them and move on. Not his time….why?  The pod features a person who has walked through a big chunk of life with me and a handful of mutual friends.   Even more than this this person has served as a musical mentor to me.  He has encouraged me to enjoy the e never-ending arc of learning how to play the guitar.  He has assisted me in refining and sharpening a handful of song lyrics over time and maybe most importantly I have seen him take on new instruments, learn them and add to all types of music projects with persistence and joy.  Okay are we a little music “geeky?”  Well….yep…But what is the point of this?  The point is this “walk of Life” is taken down a long and winding road and you will get a few chances to journey along with a few people  for bits of it.  Sometimes you’ll get more than you give with these folks and sometimes you’ll be the coach for the walking partners.  What I’m saying is that peace and joy comes from leading, following, and walking side by side with others and I’m suggesting we all spend some time and energy doing this with some intentionality.  Oh and don’t miss the chance to thank folks when you find you are walking along with them almost by accident.  

Oh and speaking of accidents… I made the mistake of saying my friend and his cousin were part of something called the Laredo Songwriters Guild….well its “Eldorado not that sleepy Texas border town.  And here’s a link to the podcast and the music mentioned in it.  

https://m.soundcloud.com/eldorado_songwriter_guild?p=a&c=1&utm_campaign=social_sharing&utm_medium=text&utm_source=other