‘Harvey, the storm that swept into Texas as a Category 4 hurricane over the weekend, continued its relentless devastation in Houston on Monday as catastrophic flooding forced evacuations and emergency responders asked the public to donate their boats to aid in high-water rescues.’   New York Times

Harvey, has thus far dumped rain on Houston and surrounding areas at unprecedented levels.

‘Through early Monday afternoon, parts of the southeast Texas have received more than 30 inches of rain since Thursday evening.  The top rainfall total is 39.72 inches near Dayton, Texas, which is located well northeast of Houston.’   Weather.com

Harvey has been the cause of what has been referred to as an 800 year flood.  It is forecast that over fifty inches of rain will fall before the conclusion of this terrible event.

‘Here are the latest rainfall totals through 9 a.m. CDT Monday, all in Texas unless otherwise specified:

39.72 inches near Dayton

34.90 inches near Waller

30.32 inches near South Houston

29.17 inches near Richmond

25.66 at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport

25.16 inches in Sugarland

24.47 at Houston Hobby Airport

21.88 inches in Smithville

13.92 inches in College Station

10.41 inches in Galveston

9.65 inches south-southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana

9.37 inches near Victoria

7.96 inches at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

3.82 inches near Corpus Christi’

The Weather Channel

Note: Open access photos.

Thus far, at least eight people are reported dead.

Two thousand people have been rescued and more than thirty thousand people have been displaced from their homes.

Good Samaritan rescues are at very high numbers and the Governor of Texas has called out all twelve thousand of their National Guard.

‘We have not seen an event like this , ‘William Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,

said Monday morning at a news briefing, ‘You could not draw this forecast up.  You could not dream this forecast up.’   Washington Post.com

I have a former classmate that lives in Texas.  He has been giving Facebook updates on a regular basis.  So far, he and his family are doing well…and I am so glad to hear it.

But, I wonder…as I have during many natural disasters…are we really prepared for what is coming our way?

We work for a lifetime, accumulating physical treasures and mementos of our life’s journey…that can be obliterated in a moment.

Truly the health and welfare of our fellow travelers on this bumpy road of life…is all that matters.

‘A career is an individual’s journey through learning, work, and other aspects of life.  There are a number of ways to define a career and the term is used in a variety of ways.’   Wikipedia

I was sitting in church this morning and enjoying the sermon, by a visiting minister, when suddenly I thought of the challenges of career.

I often think of those who I know, friends and family, that are in the midst of their work careers.  Many of the hurdles and snares..that they describe…ring so true with my experience when I was working.

I recall, so clearly, as if it was yesterday, my fears regarding my various positions at Southern Illinois University.  Almost from the day that I began, on October 10, 1978, I was cautioned that the administration was seriously considering ‘contracting out’ the housekeeping service at the Campus.

Outsourcing, was a serious concern to me as I had just begun the best job  that I had ever had…and saw that there was room to advance in the department.

Over the 25 years that I was a manager in Building Services I had the goal that the department would not be ‘contracted out’ on my watch!

Being a manager, especially in the beginning years, was a herculean challenge, and many nights I was awake until dawn…worrying over events and ‘traps’ that lay in front of me.

Mary Jane and I spoke with a wonderful Professor friend, this morning, after church. I was so impressed with her sunny and can do attitude and her contribution to the success of SIU.  This fine professional is so indicative of the world class Professors and Staff that the University is blessed with…and who want to be engaged by leadership…to aid in the premier pursuit of the recruitment and retention of our University’s most precious citizens…our students.

I thought of ministers this morning…during the sermon.  I have always had an affinity and been captivated by the calling of persons of the cloth.

Having worked with several ministers, in my life, I known first hand the difficulties and vagaries of serving a congregation.

The old saying, ‘you can not please all of the people all of the time,’ is correct times two…when it comes to ministers.

However, I would say that there is hope in the calm and considered pursuit of a well thought out work career.  My old friend, Joe Cash, told me once that, ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel.’

When I reflect on my work career…it fit together like a well chiseled puzzle.  What seemed trepidatious and frightening at the time…now has been revealed as a lovely plan that was difficult to see when I was in the midst of it.

Career…does not end when you retire.

Over the past, almost seven years, I have developed a second hobbyist career of photography and writing and travel.

When I call these items career choices…I am serious…as I spend considerable time each day pursuing these joyful endeavors.

Also, volunteer work continues to be part of my ‘career plan’ or ‘second chapter.’

The health and success of my beloved University…also…continues to be of my daily interest.

And, I must not forget…walking….which provides me with fresh ideas and initiatives and projects…each day.

Life….is the ultimate…Career!

Autumn is on it’s way.  Of all the seasons, autumn, has always been my favorite.

I remember moving to Eldorado, Illinois in the early 1960’s.  It was during the Fall and the leaves were falling on the ground and the smell of neighbors burning them was in the air.  The house that we moved into was directly across the street from Eldorado High School and we could see the football games from our front porch every Friday night.

My cousin, Brenda, who I was very fond of, walked me to Hillcrest School each morning.  She was in the eight grade and I was in first grade.

Dad, who was still with us, made a fire in the fireplace each chilly morning…and it felt so good.

This was Dad’s birthday. He was 57. Taken in Tennessee

I was born in the Fall.

I loved working at SIU!  Fall Semester, that began around the 20th of August was an exciting time for me…in that, the beginning of the new academic year was happening and many new students were experiencing college life, for the first time, and there was a aura of excitement and opportunity that permeated the atmosphere.

I remember the excitement that I felt the Fall Semester that Chancellor Jo Ann Argersinger began at SIU.  Her openess and welcoming spirit to all that she encountered…breathed an air of new life and expectancy into our Campus Life…from the janitor to faculty.

I am hearing similar good reports regarding new Chancellor Carlo Montemagno!

I like Halloween.  I enjoy all of the classic Monster and Horror movies that are on television.

‘Ancient Origins of Halloween.  Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).  The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now known as Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.’   History Channel

The popular entertainer and Fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association held a 21 and 1/2 hour Telethon for 1966 until 2010.  This, to me, was the beginning of Fall.  I had always enjoyed Jerry’s comedy…but his sincere and heartfelt work on the MDA Telethon…endeared me to him.

Thanksgiving is Mary Jane’s favorite Holiday of the year.  We have hosted Thanksgiving for over thirty years.  It is a supreme joy each year!

After Thanksgiving come Christmas…and the Christmas Season…starts the day after we eat the Turkey!

And, so, Fall… is ultimately Christmas to me.

On Black Friday we go to St. Charles, Missouri and rub elbows with; Scrooge, and Tiny Tim, and Santa Claus and St. Nicholas and Carolers and Chestnuts roasting by, or on, an open fire!

Each Holiday visit to St. Charles reminds me of the excitement of the Fall Season and my favorite time of the year!

The peace and settled feeling that accompanies Fall…is a tonic.  Nature, preparing to go to sleep…for awhile… and the luxurious smells and cool temperatures and the beautiful rainbow color of the leaves…and the quiet…is resplendent and similar to a down comforter on a cold winter’s morning.

Another short fiction writing.

It had been another long day.  I had already worked ten hours and there was no end in sight to the conclusion of my deadlines.

There was the Stadium to check for the 100th time in preparation for the upcoming Total Eclipse.  So many slots to fill with employees that were no longer with the University.  Each person was currently being asked to perform two people’s work…and I needed them to perform twice that much.

All available staff were excited to be a part of such an historic event.  I wondered how they were able to keep their morale so high…with so much expected of them?

It was brutally hot on Eclipse Day.

As the visitors streamed in, I could not help but notice the elderly couples that were eagerly part of the throng…in anticipation of being a part of history.

I was struck with the new University Chancellor’s accessibility and kindness and concern.  He invites all that he meets to address him by his first name.  Now that may not seem extraordinary to you…but it is of note in a hierarchal University setting.

Leading the Housekeeping staff had always been a joy and a challenge, especially during large events…that were expected to come off without a hitch.  As the years had progressed and our department had lost more and more staff due to budget reductions…I had cautioned University Leaders that the day would come that we would not be able to address emergency situations.

When it became clear that the cloud covered sky was going to obstruct the view of our many assembled guests…a homeless woman…who was unkempt and dirty and dressed in rags…asked me for a bottle of water.

At the time of her request I was addressing the concerns of several disgruntled and hot and ill people.  I wondered, what is this poor homeless woman doing here…I am sure that she did not have the money to purchase a ticket…and what else can go wrong!

The woman explained that she was thirsty and that she had traveled a very long way to observe the Eclipse and that the importance of this day, to her, was immeasurable.

I quickly walked over to a bottled water vendor and purchased her two bottles of water, at four dollars apiece, and brought them back to her.

As she drank…I asked her what her name was and she replied, Mary.  She went on to say that this day had importance…on the Great Clock of the Universe…and I just listened.

I told Mary that it seemed that many of our guests would be disappointed because it appeared that the cloud cover would obscure the Totality of the Eclipse…and she smiled.

Mary said that it would be better if the clouds would roll away.

As I looked away from Mary…the sky was suddenly…cloud free.

When I looked back…Mary was gone.

‘Let brotherly love continue.  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angles unawares.’   Hebrews 13:1   KJV

In 2009 and 2010 we journeyed to Maine.

Both years we stayed in Southwest Harbor, Maine.  This is the town that television mini-series, The Storm of the Century written by Stephen King, was filmed.

We stayed at a lovely Bed and Breakfast, Clark Point Inn, and the Breakfast, ‘were to die for’, as my buddy Ron often says!

I have had the good fortune to visit many states and several European Countries…but Maine has an allure that is unique.

We had lobster almost every day that we were there.

On our first lobster foray, Mary Jane ordered the entire lobster in it’s shell….and the waitress assured her that the lobster was easy to remove from the shell and that she would assist her.

I ordered the Lazy Man’s Lobster…all removed and ready to enjoy.

Southwest, Harbor is near both Bar Harbor, the former vacation spot for the ultra rich and famous, and Arcadia National Park.

The cool, in the Summer, climate and the lovely peaceful people were a delight!

We were astounded on our second visit to Southwest Harbor, the following year, that the owner of a small local restaurant that we had visited the year before not only remembered us but also recalled when we were there previously.

President Obama and his family vacationed in Bar Harbor, the week after we left and ate at the same restaurant that we did.

There is a slower rhythm to life in Maine…and a peaceful harmony that is seductive and compelling.

Photos from Google.

Below, is a short ficitonal story.

The darkness, and the smell of the hospital room was heavy and foreboding.  Each time the patient dozed…there was the unannounced entrance of another nurse or technician.  The beep…beep…beep of the attached machines made him so conscientious of his erratic heartbeat…that he felt it only made it worse.

The looks of sorrow on his families faces, made him sad.  He thought that he must be close to the end of his life.

There was Mom…talking to him and happy and in her right mind.  She had suffered with Alzheimer Disease for many years.  She spent almost ten years in the Nursing Home…before her death.

How could she be talking with him in his hospital room?

Suddenly, he was at work…at the University.  He was speaking with the Chancellor regarding how to increase enrollment.

Now he was back in the hospital room and the television was playing.  The Sopranos was on…and it was the episode where Tony Soprano was watching himself on a television in his kitchen, and wondering if he was dreaming, or if it was reality?

There was Dad and he was giving him a silver dollar.  He had not seen his Father since the mid 1960’s.  At that last encounter… he had given him a silver dollar.

His Dad told him that he would see him soon…and he wondered how this could be since his Father had died in the 1980’s?

The Doctor said, authoritatively, for all family to clear the room…the nurse opened his hospital gown…and he felt cold metal on his chest.

The patient saw his boys and his wife weeping…and beseeching him to stay with them!

There was a beautiful and brilliant light.  It reminded him of the eclipse that he had observed…so many years ago.

What he saw next was indescribable.  Life in it’s past and present and future…was before him and he wondered how religion…had gotten so many things wrong.

Merry Christmas Dad, his sons said to him, as he opened his presents.

‘Dad, for a moment you seemed to be daydreaming,’ his son said.

Of late…it seems that our Country is having an identity crisis.

We are debating, at times in a deadly manner, who is American and who is not, or is there a litmus test to prove who the ‘Real Americans’ are?

This argument also includes various groups of Protestant faiths…or lack thereof.  I wonder…could it really be true that the majestic God of all of the heavens and the Earth…really cares for only a slim slice of the pie that he created?  Does God only care for a small group of his created human family…and the rest are just out of luck?

When I hear a Presidential Candidate assure his listeners that he will bring religion and prayer back into the schools…does he mean my religion…or his?

A similar debate over Southern Illinois most precious institution, Southern Illinois University, has been going on for years.

Recently the passionate discussion has again arisen as to why SIU’s enrollment has fallen.  Some of the commentators laid the blame at the feet of one former Universiy leader or another.  Others said that one of our past Chancellors was terminated because he was a christian.  Others commented that liberal education was akin to perversity.

Now these type of comments…were the kind that I did not take to seriously…a few years ago.  But, since the rise of alt right politics in our nation…it is clear that beliefs that were often thought in the minority…at times are much larger than we realized.

Our wonderful University is for everyone of any religion and atheist or agnostic.  It’s doors are wide open to all political persuasions and all races and LGBT people from across our Globe.

We often are engaged in contemplating the minutae of mundane small thoughts when a stack of gold bars is in front of us.

The freedom to learn and speak and advocate and live in the manner that you feel lead to…and that illustrates who you are…is priceless!

‘The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941.  In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people ‘everywhere in the world’ ought to enjoy;

1. Freedom of speech
2. Freedoom of worship
3. Freedom from want
4. Freedom from fear’

wikipedia

I heard our new Chancellor, Carlo Montemagno, say that we must look at our beloved University as a glass that is half full…rather than a glass that is half empty.’

In our Nation and at our University…and in our lives…we often can not see the forest for the trees.

Let us appreciate and build on the gifts that we have been given.

I was, already, reminiscing about last Monday and the indescribable Eclipse!

Although I identify closely with Southern Illinois University and everything that they are involved in…I, at the last minute, decided to go the Blue Sky Vineyard for the actual event.

The spirit of fun and expectancy and adventure…was alive at the Vineyard on Eclipse Day!

There was no discussion about politics or war or major disagreements…or petty ones.  We all were united in the singular purpose of being witness to an event that was far greater than any of us.

I loved the television show, The Sopranos, and remember well Tony Soprano’s son’s comment to him during the last few minutes of the long running series.  A.J. Soprano mentioned how he was enjoying having dinner at a diner with his Mom and Dad and that his Dad, Tony, had told him to always enjoy the good times.  Tony, responded, that he guessed A.J. was right and that they were experiencing one of the good times.

I think that often the singular beauty and profound happiness of events in our lives…are lost on us…as we seek the joy and fulfillment that the media and society has told us equates the ‘Happiness Ideal.’

Is it possible to miss life…while we are living?

Yesterday, Aaron, Mary Jane, and I traveled to Blue Sky Vineyard, to watch the first total eclipse, since 1918.

I had some trepidation that we might not be able to drive there, due to so many people coming to our area and the fact that Blue Sky had the distinct honor of being the home of the longest Eclipse Totality…in the Nation.

We were so happy to drive to the Vineyard with no delays and park, in the ample fields surrounding the establishment and walk into the main building…where a kind gentleman offered us his table.

I would estimate that there was in excess of a thousand people spread throughout the beautiful grounds and buildings.

I began watching the sun about an hour and twenty minutes prior to Totality.

The majesty of being witness to, what for many will be a lifetime event, and being surrounded by people from all over the world…was inspiring!

Many cheered at the awesome beauty of the Eclipse Totality.  Many wept.  There was a profound feeling of unity…and love…and being a member of the miraculous human family…in God’s Creation…that is so much larger than we are!

‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.’  Psalm 19:1   English Standard Version

Have you ever noticed how many hours you spend in a day…a week…a year…a lifetime…waiting?

Mary Jane and I recently took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We planned and waited for months to go.  It was wonderful…now it is over.

As a young person, I could not wait to get older.  Now I am older…and dream of my youth.

Carbondale and Southern Illinois University, have waited for the coming total eclipse on Monday…and the 50 thousand or more, expected visitors, to our beautiful city and our outstanding University…we have our fingers crossed.

We Americans…have all been waiting….to have a government that is responsive to it’s people’s needs.

Those that voted for President Trump, many out of desperation, sought a President that would remember the millions of forgotten people in our Country.  Hard working middle class folks, that had been forgotten by both parties…for far to long.

Over the past few months the President’s actions and rhetoric…have been chilling to much of our nation…including many who voted for him.

Recently, the President of our University posted an observation regarding many business leaders leaving the councils and committees that the President had appointed them to…out of protest about his comments regarding the protests and deaths in Charlottesville, Virginia last week.

I commend the SIU President for his simple and straightforward comment regarding many business leaders leaving the Presidential Committees while it seems that evangelicals are still with him.

We all want to be with President Trump…he is our President…whether you voted for him or not.

But, we are waiting…for our President to delineate between Neo-Nazis or White Supremacist and those protesting their hate filled speech and subsequent death of a young woman and two Virginia State Police Officers.

Thousands of Americans fought and died to defeat Hitler and the Nazis.

There has been untold bloodshed and suffering and genocide in association with the African American Experience in our Nation.

Republican Governor Rauner, of Illinois, spoke out in the strongest of terms against the President’s comments, last Tuesday, regarding Charlottesville, Virginia.

And, so, we are waiting…for men a women of good will and heart and who believe in the bedrock tenets, that have set the United States apart…as a leader of the free world…to come forward….

Men and women of high office and low office and no office…other than the supreme office of being a member of the human family….need to speak out against hate!

‘First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Socialist.’

‘Then they came for the Trade Unionist, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Trade Unionist.’

‘Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-Because I was not a Jew.’

‘Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.’

Martin Niemoller