John’s thoughts, rants, and crazy ideas
Have you ever taken: A 5-year-old to the playground A ten-year-old to a baseball game Any age child to Disneyland In every case, you’d have an easier time controlling the weather than containing the excitement all these kids have when provided these opportunities. That’s what it’s like taking Suzanne to a draft horse show and I had that opportunity this past week at the Illinois State Fair. There is no such thing as getting there too early; no chance for…
Last January first, the world moved into a new year, the year of A.D. 2022. The number proceeds with A.D. or Anno Domini, which is Latin for “in the year of the Lord”. Standardized under the Julian and Gregorian calendars, days and years have been calculated based on the birth of Christ (give or take a year or two) New Year’s Eve and Day are always celebrated with anticipation and hope; Anticipation of the new as we leave the old…
Bless us, Oh Lord,and these thy gifts whichwe are about to receive from thy bounty,through Christ, Our Lord.Amen. Grace was the prayer my childhood family recited every evening before supper. It’s one of the most common prayers growing up in the Catholic Church that I said. It ranked right up there with The Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary, but Grace, at my peak, I’ll bet I could have ripped through that one in about 4 seconds. . . ….
When all this started back in August of 2020, we had two big trips on the books. First, a cruise in Tahiti. A week of sun, food, and fun as we toured the islands, learned about the culture and just spent some time relaxing. Second, a two-week trip to Germany. The first week was a cruise down the Rhine River, visiting castles, elegant dining, and seeing where my dad fought during WWII. The second week was a visit with our…
Hello to everyone, you’ve been saved! In case you didn’t know it, we were hacked and you can read all about it here. To all of you who subscribed to our blog in the past and since my last post, this is to bring you up to date. We were able to recover all the subscribed email addresses prior to our hack, add them to the list, and then remove any duplicates (we hope). If by chance, you did receive…
We’re back, at least we hope so. We’ve all heard about it, a website has been hacked, your security has been breached, and your personal information has been compromised. Well, it happened to little ole me, but not to that extreme. Sometime back in May I realized that something wasn’t right about my website, little things that I couldn’t explain. Installed (too late I might add) some functionality that should have worked, but it didn’t. The next thing I knew…
It’s no secret that I like beer! In the words of Tom T Hall, “It makes me a jolly good fellow”. When anyone asks, I tell them that beer is my hobby, to which I usually get a pretty good chuckle. I have always enjoyed going to unusual restaurants and trying the dish they are famous for. Better yet, there are a number of meals I really enjoy, Shrimp & Grits, Jambolia, and Tamales. I will order these dishes any…
My Bologna has a first name, it’s O S C A RMy Bologna has a second name, it’s M E Y E RI . . . Love to eat it every dayand if you ask me why I’ll sayThat Oscar Meyer has a way with B O L O G N A I hope you’re old enough to remember and sing along with the lyrics above. I was singing this the other morning when Suzanne walked in and gave me…
Today we learned of the passing of a friend, a friend who was one of my first acquaintances when I moved to the area; a friend that lived only about three miles from us as the crow flies, a friend who ironically has been on the same journey as Suzanne during almost the same time period, a friend who’s death hits pretty close to home. My first memory of him was when I was volunteered by my father-in-law to do…
When Suzanne came downstairs this morning and walked over to greet me at my too often position in front of the computer, she shared that it was one year ago today that she last ate solid food. WOW, where has the time gone, and how did we get here? I stood up, we hugged, and then, just like anyother day, we proceeded to head to the kitchen to each prepare our own breakfasts; I had steel-cut oats with pecans &…