AS TIME GOES BY

 Some years have past again, it is now January 1, 2023, just minutes after midnight and the end of 2022.

Once again I missed the ball drop on television because I got hooked on the computer and winding up with my blog, which I had forgotten a bout for some time.

Not much has changed in my life. I still live at the same place, which I call my paradise. Surrounded by trees and some little wildlife, like raccoons, rabbits, some birds, and other wildlife I don't normally see, such a deer crossing your my sections of the woods. 

The past Christmas was spent in Columbia, SC with son, as was the previous one.  There I made friends, of sorts, with his cats. They are very aloof, and the oldest one, who I know longest, finally would walk up to me, not to be touch so much, even though I got a quick pat on her back in, but to sniff the tips of my shoes.  This was the part of/on me that was nearest her without having to come too close to me. 

Yes it was great to be with one family member at such a time, as it is at all times.  And he lives in easy travel distance, so a visit here a couple of times a year also are possible.  However this past summer my elder son from Hawaii was able to make a trip to here, so that was an additional treat.  So for a couple of days, as we jointly visited my son in SC, I had what I have in family, together.  Those times though seem so fleeting.  

 My health is still such that I take care of myself, but I no longer desire to do outside yard work, instead have it done.  Also, the pleasure in cleaning house is no longer there, so I always ask the Lord to give me "a swift kick" so I will do it.  Do a lot of reading, besides news paper. Especially enjoy some of the lighter reading, like mysteries.  But also read bigger tombs, such as "Alaska", but it is slow reading, paperback, very small print on thin paper, about 1100 pages. So the mysteries are the fun read in between. Even my son has become enamored by them, end reads mine when I am finished.  He, too, reads heavier material, classical, science fiction, etc. as his big books.

In these past 3 years I have not had too much done at the house, as nothing was needed except little odds and ends repairs, which my son would do on one of his visits. Oh yes, both my sons gave me a larger screen TV for Christmas 2 years ago. But it is in the living room as a replacement for my old TV, which still had the big backside, and because I spend so much time in den, I have not watched it as much as my smaller TV in the den.  But it is nice to have when I do sit in living room. 

However, much has changed among the people I know, here in US and in my home country.  Many died, and most of them younger than I.  I often wonder why I am still here. But I assume the Lord has a good reason.   Maybe because I asked him years ago to let me do something for Him.  As time when on I found myself often speaking of Him on  Facebook in response to some comments regarding God, heaven, eternity, etc.  So maybe this is the way He decided I could spread His name and words. In my daily life, living secluded and having basically  no visitors, a repairman here and there, I have no chance to talk about the Lord to someone who does not know Him well.

My "partner" Tipsy is gone for three years now.  I still miss her, lying beside me on her floor mat when I sit sit on couch in the evenings. I would often talk to her, and she would look at me, as if she understood as I miss all my dogs that have been gone for some years now. Equally gone by now, but after Tipsy, is my neighbor's dog. So even he is gone as a visitor. He would at times come over by himself to the deck door looking for a handout and initially for Tipsy. Then he would wander back home. 

The raccoons and birds I no longer see either. I had to move the bird seed, which the raccoons also eat, off the deck to the ground in a flower bed. They made such a mess on the deck scattering them while eating, or rather scattering the hulls of the seeds. And also mess up the newly painted deck wood railing and seats and floor boards. 

During a motorcycle tour of some of the Alps, my son took this past summer in Europe, I followed his daily reports and pictures on the internet and felt somewhat like being there also.  It made me homesick, recognizing many of the names of places, and a couple where I had been in many years past. 

Among the people we lost this past year was also our Sheriff, Hubert Peterkin.  He was a very kind, Christian person, but also an exceptional Sheriff, well liked by his employees and the community in general.  He was born and raised here, so a real local. He was still in his life's prime, so it was really a shock to learn he had died.  I enjoyed the few times I had a chance to chat with him.  Yes, life is really fleeting. But eternity, when we know the Lord, is something to look forward to.  

I meant to watch the ball drop, but when I looked at the clock a while back, while still writing, it was already past midnight. So again I missed it this time. 

 Considering it was three  years since last blog, still not much to report.  It is good to say though, that my son who had a heart attack nearly three years ago, is doing well.  I pray that it will continue this way.

Oh yes, a granddaughter got married in Idaho in the meantime. My son and I traveled there. Had a bad experience with the flight on our return, wound up with the 12 hr. wait at the airport in Idaho, Boise, because the plane had some problem and it took that long to get another plane. It is an airline that recently had problems bringing on a flight after an overall nationwide stop of flights because of weather.

Yes and the famous Covid virus raised its ugly head  which laid off nearly everything except the most needed workers. With vaccinations available now, and many having been vaccinated, the virus has done a bit of a retreat, but it is still there and causes some death still. But people, because all restrictions are gone, feel it is safe, and act as though there were no virus, especially again attending events in great crowds. So people still get sick and die from it. Also among them one of the Il DIVO singers and he had had the shots. This is were it is convenient that I am as secluded as I am and don't have too many friends or attend any mass events.

A couple of good friends and I do go out for a cup of coffee once a month, but there is nothing crowded about the places we go. Both are Christians also, so that always makes for good conversations, because we have a great subject in common. 

And this year I will lose my direct neighbor, Mike and Diane.  They have a home now in the Tennessee mountains, where they for some time have spent any free time, and where they will move to this summer. If, as planned their granddaughter with family will move in,  I shall be happy, as I know them and know what to expect with a new neighbor.  But with her husband in the service, I am not sure when they will move here, and the house will be empty as of this summer.  So I will see. 

And now I truly am out of subjects. So this is THE END.

 

#Time has past#

It has been well over a year that I have been here.
So much has happened, and yet so little has changed. Still live in same place, but I don't have my friend with me anymore. She died
1 1/2 years ago.  Very sad.// Family member got married and I attended the wedding in Idaho.  Was impressed by the state because of its looks.  Unless where it is watered, it is a desert-like look.  The summers are as hot there as here, but the moisture is not present, which makes it a little more bearable.
The airline we took was a smaller one, and we will never try to save money, wound up with changed departure by 12 hours and had to spend those hours in airport in Denver.
Work had to be done for the house, new deck boards, new electrical box, basement fortifying against water seepage, and other minor repairs. But the worst part was that son had a heart attack.  He survived, thanks to the Lord only, and with mechanical assist now is doing alright.  It was proof that extreme stress in life, which he endured for nearly 30 years, can bring on dramatic health problems, otherwise his life style was a very healthy one.

Also suffered the death of daughter-in-law 3 yrs ago.  My health is manageable. For this I thank the Lord daily.  Without Him it would be impossible given my circumstances.

Still love ice hockey, but no longer attend games, but keep up with them via Internet and friends. The peripheral circumstances took too much time and I could not keep up with work at home.  Also, I love not having to watch dates, days, times every week.  Of course, sometimes it is hard to remember what day it is, that is where the newspaper comes in to help refresh memory.  Another Thanksgiving passed, or nearly,  within the next few minutes.  It was uneventful and very quiet. Neighbor in evening brought some food over, which helps make a meal following day.
And I got hacked, partially my fault.  It took weeks to get everything straight again. 
I will treat myself to a performance of my favorite singers, IlDivo, who finally came to our State and perform in Durham. Will drive there with a friend. Joy shared is joy doubled.

The greatest blessing always remains The Lord's presence in my home daily.  That is the best friend one can have.

11/28/2019

Biographies

  
  Erika:  She was the youngest of 7, 4 males, 3 females.  She lived with her Mother, Grandmother of mine, for all of Grandmother's life. This was mainly due to them living in the eastern part of my home country, which was after WWII occupied by Russia and under Communist dictatorship.  Life was hard and little choices existed.  They were fortunate to have their home, a 4 story apartment house, which belonged to my Grandparents.  It was old fashioned, toilets outside the apartment in the hous'es stairwells, the kitchen had running cold water, but into an oval shaped metal sink, which you would nowadays find in maybe some public outdoor bathrooms.  Water had to be heated on the gas stove or coal stove.  And dishes had to be washed in a bowl that was sunk into a cut-out of the drawer of a kitchen table. The sink was too small to put a dish-washing bowl into. But the house had a large garden in back, with some side buildings that were storage places or a little work shop for the owner to make home repairs.  The garden consisted mainly of grass area and apple and fruit trees. One small section on one of the sides of the house contained a small plot for parsley and some other herbs, and the house wall was covered with vines that had good tasting grapes on them in the summer time.  Also, there was one "dangerous" section, the dung pit. An open pit that contained garbage and rain water, which eventually would turn into fertilizer for the yard.  It usually was covered with a slimy green substance, and a child was warned not to get near it. It was deep enough for a child to drown in it.
The apartment usually smelled of apples, as Grandmother stored her apples on top of a big cupboard of the bedroom.

After WWII nothing much changed, since there's  were no materials available to do any repairs not until nearly 2 decades later. 
But it was home to Erika and Grandmother.  It was their way of life, and they were used to it.

Erika worked in a nearby factory in the office, because she was considered very well educated - only 8 years of grade school,  in the mid 19hundred-teens, and she had learned and read and studied on her own, and worked early as a young woman, learning about doing office work and book keeping. It was called an apprenticeship. 

She was a vivacious person, with an enormous sense of humor.  When I visited her as a child with my mother, my Dad, who was her brother, never made it, because he was running his newly founded machine shop in the western part of the country, I always loved the stories she told me, all made up, the dancing she did for me, and which she liked to teach me also, with both of us hopping around the kitchen or living room area. I particularly loved it when she wound up the old phonograph, and we danced to the music of those old tunes right there in the big, square, wooden board covered hallway.  Grandma would often scold us for being so silly.  

It was especially grand when I could accompany her, when I was about 6, to her work site; it was in walking distance, by their standards, not ours today, and then I would walk home alone. In the late afternoon I would walk there again to pick her up, or sometimes already meet her halfway home. 

When I was about 11/12 I visited her and Grandmother with a friend from my home town, who went to visit friends of hers in the same city. I stayed with my aunt and Grandmother, the friend lady stayed with her family.  We had gone there to avoid the air raids in our western city, while my parents and her family held the fort back there.  During that time with my aunt she took me to my first ever theater performance, a children's story, and I was so enthralled by the scenery that showed a night scene, with a big moon and stars, and some children floating in the space around those orbs.  

Erika also had a great knack for acting and would often act out imaginary scenes for her Mom and me.  We were the audience.  She had a wonderful memory and could recite poems which she incorporated into her stories she enacted.  

The time she visited my family in our home after the war, I loved it when she put me to bed, because she would always tell stories. Or if she knew I had to memorize a poem for class, she would sit on the edge of the bed and drill me into the memorization, in which she was so much better than I.  But I would remember the poem at least long enough for the next day's school and reciting.

Erika also loved to do manicure for  my Dad's work worn nails and my nails.  As  I later realized, all those talents indicated an artistic streak in her, which in a different time and world might have her even gotten into the world of theater arts.  But in her times that was not possible.

In years after the war she met her husband and  married.  She had one son, and he inherited all those wonderful traits from his mother and a lot of his father's mathematical talent.  In fact, he eventually was called to study in   a Russian University because of his intellect. But, his great loves always were the arts.  He wrote skits and short stories, some with a "Drunk". being the main character. He would go to different parts of the city where he acted out the part of the drunk, and his friend, the cinematographer,  would tape it.. Eventually he would edit it into a short movie and show it in some movie  houses.

Yes, the memories of Erika are great and I always consider her my favorite aunt, simply because she was younger than all other family, and she had the chance to be my "play mate" so often, while all other aunts and uncles were adults and married and had children of their own, some my age.  I loved them, but they were not my play mates....

Campaign

The presidential campaign ion 2016 is the ugliest ever.  Never have I heard or read of any candidate as vulgar, aggressive, twisting facts, ignorant of facts, egotistical, and power-hungry, as I have of D.T.

He reminds me in his speeches so much of Hitler who bamboozled so many with his rousing speeches, talks of greatness for Germany, without regard to reality.
 And just as Hitler, D.T. is truly a rabble-rouser, bringing  out the worst in those people who already lean toward nastiness and violence. If he is elected, it will be the first time that I will have no respect for the President and the office he holds. And if he believes that bullying other nations the way he bullies his opponents now, will work, he is in error. He might just, though, make us an enemy of many of those countries.
To make a country great via his ideas only will make it decline in reputation.  And if he means greatness in wealth and money acquisition-  even that won't work, because we need the rest of the world to trade and deal with to gain wealth.

However, D.T. does in a way represent the moral values that the US for some decades now aspired. People believe the Constitution gives them the right to be, do, speak and act as they want to, with no restraints in actions and morality.  That is not how the Constitution  was meant to be.

And at the end, any country that loses its morality will eventually decline.  History has proven this over and over again.
Yet, something no one talks about is the fact that not only each person, but also each country eventually has to face the Lord and account for its actions.  We truly should fear that.

America Today in 2015 and 2019

We have imported, to my exasperation, the trinity threats of IS,Taliban and insurgency into a great part of our Congress.

Of course, being honorable people, we do not use guns, explosives and swords to cut off heads. We use the more genteel weapon of bullying.

Schools all across this country are horrified when children suffer under bullying tactics and attempt to come up with deterrents and rules curtailing and punishing such behaviors.

Not so the Congressional members. They elevated their bullying to such levels that the “slogan” loving public adopted these tactics, chewing them up voraciously and regurgitating them without any personal thought processes. Less is even their knowledge of background or history which apply to facts. For instance – with relish the public and their congressional 'guides' talk of our President as weak. Yet, no one remembers that on the day of his initial election in 2008, before he ever set foot into the White House and did his first official job, Republicans promised they would vote against anything the President would present to Congress. It takes enormous strength for any person to persevere under such conditions for two terms. Weak – no.

Another slogan repeated by the same crowd: The foreign world has no respect for him.

Yet these same people do not even know the man on the street in other countries. They don't talk to foreigners, don't read foreign press. They don't even know that those people often are more informed about this country's politics than the American citizens. There is no lack of respect for our President, but there is for our Congress. I have been asked the question, why do we tolerate such behavior. My answer is because the people are so gullible they allow leaders to do the thinking for them.

These foreigners are as frustrated as I am about the difficulties we present toward fighting a common foe outside our borders, and at bringing about more cohesion world-wide.

Another example of our public blindness and the majority in Congress avoiding facts: Blaming our President on the present state of affairs in Iraq, Afghanistan and in part of Africa – power of the Taliban, IS, insurgencies.

These people forget that the US was the aggressor nation when we attacked Iraq and for years ignored to fight a real fight in Afghanistan, a justified war. They forgot that during that interval the Taliban had time to regroup itself and, in addition, to study and learn the value of suicide bombings, which the factions in Iraq, once they had a more 'benign' government, built up into a successful business.

And the sparsity of world history in this country did not let Americans grasp the fact that the Islamic world never has and still does not want to adopt western type rules, governments and customs. And that the individual citizen on the street has very little input, as the interpretation of their religious culture provides for their submission.

As to ending of the war and removal of our troops, Americans forget, so does Congress, that this is what the citizens wanted at the time of the President's election in 2008. They were tired of the money spent on the wars and the loss of lives. So, how can they fault the President now for doing just that.

President Obama was a man who wanted peace and diplomacy as working tools, not lashing out and slaying the dragon at first sight. Yes, peacefulness does appear as weakness, but yet it is a greater strength than warmongering. But it does take time. Also, in America's case, we are paying now for having broken our benign reputation as a peaceful and respectful country by having crossed the threshold of peace to an unprovoked war and put ourselves on the same level as those groups we now battle.

Forgotten is the history that President Obama was handed, the most rotten situation, as well as a Congress whose ego still hurt from the 2008 political trouncing, and thus became another enemy within our own borders the President had to contend with.

It is sad to see that greed for power, self-importance and money, as well as ugliness in expression, have become the idols of this country. It is no longer the land that I first saw and admired in the 1950s, the country that was a fair and honorable winner in WWII and that I respected to the utmost.

Some years have past and some administrations too.  And today, in 2019, we have a split country because of the political situation.
Our president, Donald Trump, is not the fittest person to rule a country.  Lacks much of the knowledge economically, financially, geographically, lacks  world economic understanding as to trade and needs of not only the US but other countries, and he is an isolationist, wanting the US to only look at herself and do what is advantageous for the US, regardless of world ramifications.  He is often vulgar, very outspoken, speaking the language of the people of the street, which makes him appealing to all his supporters, as he seems to be one of them.  He rules on the spur of the moment. Whatever comes into his mind he will say and often do, even though utterly inappropriate. The worst part is, he may be re-elected for a second term, because his supporters, even though slightly in the minority, but because of the US system of elections, not by popular count, he simply has to focus on those states that have the most electors, and that will bring a win. Our electorial system leaves much to be desired, since it leaves chosen electors in each state for the most part free to vote as they wish, not as the majority of the State's population wishes.  So it is not an effective popular vote for a president in the US.

This country also is usurped by murder and mayhem, having become increasingly worse year by year.  It is not the US that I knew from the early 50s.  The Book "The Ugly American" published decades ago, now not only applies to a few individuals, who present a snobbish picture of the US to the rest of the world, it has become literally a true title for the US today.  And the voices of those who want to bring about a good change, are being outshouted by "The Ugly American".

                                                            The Beauty of the land. Let us learn from it.

Gallery of Clouds and Sky

When I recently read of a gentleman who photographed a tree, standing singly in an open field, for one year each day once, I thought it such a great idea - as those pictures were absolutely captivating, with the environment (ground) changing over time so much, more than the tree itself.  However, I live in a wooded area, mainly pines, where such changes are not that noticeable daily, so I wondered what I could use. As I mused, sitting on my deck, and by habit looked at the limited amount of sky I could see in one direction due to the many tall trees all around the property, I focused on this one spot and decided to observer the sky daily to see what I could discover. I assumed there would be many changes - and there are. I photograph at about the same time each early evening, i.e. right after sunset. And the sky is a miracle of art via the clouds. No two days, even moments are the same. After I take a shot and I wait a few seconds it already looks slightly different. So a few pictures are taken on the same evening, but a minute or less apart. At this point the pictures extended over 12 days. I hope I can do this for a year until next August 2016.
I have become so captivated by the clouds and sky and different hues, that I find myself taking pictures in other spots too, and have some wonderful shots. As I drive along my rural roads I love to see all the various formations of clouds, blues sky, grey sky, sometimes a mix of all, that I wish I could photograph all of it. It is like a natural movie daily, and does not cost anything.

Following are a few shots taken on a walk from my house down the road for 2/10 of a mile.

The street scene does not show the various sky views, since the camera does not pick up (not my cheap one) the coloring in the distance unless aimed at it.  On my return way, the sky was totally clear of all the clouds and this blue.
Yes, life can be fascinating when we look at the things right near us.  We don't have to go far or travel to many places to be taken in by beauty.

These were taken on 9/22/15 @ 6:06, 6:06, 6:07 PM. The lower the sun went beyond view the wider the reddish tinge spread.  I have become so fascinated with the sky that I look at it wherever I am, and wish I could photograph it all the time. A changing wonder.

Local, state and federal institutions all in a tizzy about the horrendous shooting incidents across the country and in their home districts.  Forming panels, groups, etc., to come up with solutions, besides adding more police.  - Even (finally) call on parents to know where their kids are, what they do, who their friends are.
But it won't work, because parents are either too involved in their own lives and work, or too permissive. (Yes, there are exceptions, but the great number are not exceptions.) Yet, the solution is so easy, and costs nothing, and can be done by each individual where ever one is.

Ask Christ to come into your life (via his Spirit), and then stay with Him, by daily talk and thanks with and to Him.  He protects us from evil. And also from doing evil.  It is so simple and so peaceful a life.

If everyone did it, there would be no violence, neither on TV nor in daily life, no hate, no exploitation of our sexual being, but a simple, clean life. Even poverty would not be a problem, because we would have what we need and guided in whatever we need to do to make a living and caring for fellow man.

But neither peoples of this country, nor any other in the world will do so, because every one thinks they know what they want in their lives and they do not want God's plan for us be their guide.  So, the few of us who walk with the Lord, can only feel sad for all the masses who willingly expose themselves to evil.