Another Friday is here. MJ’s Birthday is tomorrow and today is the pre-Birthday celebration. Giant City Lodge for lunch today. They have a great Old Fashioned.

We look for grandeur and exquisite delight outside our normal walk while…it surrounds us daily. We all woke up this morning and the world began once again. Whatever problems we are facing seem a bit brighter today in the sunlight of nearly spring.

Little Lives are what we live. Not little in importance but little in the microcosm of our daily ‘new life’ that we face each morning. We tend to think of our life from a thirty-thousand-foot view when it is in reality a

bunch of 24-hour snapshots.

Each day is new. Each is unique. Each day we step onto the stage of life to play our role. A colleague asked me how I was able to work a career at Southern Illinois University and I responded that I did it one day at a time.

Focusing on each day removes the regrets of the past and the uncertainty of the future. We are living inside the gift while the mysteries of the universe swirl about us.

It is a bit like seeing a wonderful large brightly wrapped Christmas gift sitting next to the Christmas tree and being so excited that you can not sleep Christmas Eve. Early Christmas morning you race to the tree and begin tearing the paper off with abandon. There before you is a lovely full-length mirror with a note attached…’You are loved…Use your gift wisely…’

Well, I saw my first little yellow flowers this morning in the Woods. They made me smile and put a spring in my step. Happy thoughts are all around us if we just look.

‘Spring is in the air, ‘Billy B said with a lilt in his step.’ ‘It won’t be long until Pounds Hollow is open and we can go swimming,’ he added.

‘Memorial Day on my calendar,’ Chet responded with a wink. ‘Unless you have designs on an early visit,’ he added.

‘I will pack a picnic lunch with Oscar Mayer Weiners for Chet and hamburgers from Moo And Cackle that we will pick up on our way to the Hollow,’ she added. ‘I have a fresh batch of homemade Balloon Wine that I will bring along to make our spirits sore,’ she laughed.

‘I hope that the winter caretaker does not run us out…he reminds me of Frankenstein,’ Jane commented with a slight smile. ‘I swear he must wear a size 16 shoe,’ she said.

‘Look…there he is…Old Mephistopheles and he is wearing the clothes of a Monk from the Middle Ages, ‘Chet noted. ‘My mom says that he was the Caretaker at Pounds Hollow when she was a wee girl and that he has not changed,’ he continued.

‘We are closed until Memorial Day,’ M said as he glowered at the group. ‘Leave before I turn the dogs on you and you will no longer be able to leave,’ M said through clenched teeth.

‘Oh look at the yellow flowers,’ Jane said as she picked one and gave it to M. ‘Please allow me to place it on your lapel, she said.

‘Join us for a flagon of Balloon Wine and some Oscar Mayer Weiners,’ said Chet as he poured him a glass and retrieved a Weiner from the package.

‘I have been the caretaker here for many years and no one has ever offered me a flagon of wine or an Oscar Mayer Weiner,’ said M. ‘Usually people go the other way when they see me and many of the kids make fun of me and my unusual clothing and manner, M continued.

‘You reminded me of my brother Gene…he is a solitary sort but has a heart of gold,’ Neva J said as she refilled his glass. ‘Do you live near the creek,’ she asked?

‘Ever since my MaMa died I have lived in the woods…MaMa made me biscuits every morning when she lived and we laughed often and we were happy,’ M said with a tear in his eye. ‘She made the best biscuits that I have ever eaten…she used a little honey in the batter,’ M said with a sigh as he reached for another Weiner.

‘Have you always been the Caretaker at Pounds Hollow,’ Chet asked?

‘I was a Monk in Germany during World War II…but MaMa and I fled when Hitler began rounding up all who did not fit his physical ideal,’ M said.

‘The yellow flower brings out the marvelous color of your eyes,’ Jane told M. ‘Did you visit Wittenberg while you lived in Germany,’ she asked?

‘Martin Luther was my friend…I helped him nail his 95 thesis to the Church Door…

I saw the above statement on Facebook today. I like it. We oldsters often bemoan our aging infirmities until we realize that our slowing down and squinting at the fine print is better than the alternative.

Now aging seems to come all at once when in reality it is a second-by-second process. Have you ever commented regarding an acquaintance that they certainly were looking old? What must they be saying about you?

I heard it said the 60 is the new 40. So does that mean that 80 is the new 60? Acceptance of the inevitable does not signify defeat. I think that we are as old as feel and not what society tells us. In my church, there are vibrant 90-year-olds who are inspiring.

The United States is an aging nation. Many of the tasks that customarily were done by young people now have positions that are difficult to fill. It has been said that with age comes wisdom…but not in all cases. It is possible to be an old curmudgeon.

Speculation abounds that both Presidential candidates…especially President Biden are too old to run for another term. Never mind that former President Trump is just 3 years younger than Biden.

Methesulah lived to 969 according to the Old Testament. Good vitamins I suppose. For those inclined to take their cues for living from the Bible…age does not seem to be a factor for leadership.

Life is full of adventure and Joie de vivre. It is enjoyed by the senior citizen with a gusto and depth that many times is not afforded to the younger due to their inherent belief in their own mortality.

Laugh heartily…laugh long…

Dance on your grave…

Winter may be over? But I have asked this question in years gone by and been fooled. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant land in Little Egypt today.

Zone Of Interest is an intriguing movie. MJ and I saw it last Tuesday. Although it seemed to have little dialogue its images spoke volumes. A look at Rudolf Hoss and his wife Hedwig in their new home that is next to the German Auschwitz concentration camp. The photogenic family with Hoss takes his children out to swim and fish until human remains float by him in the water. The screams of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust can be heard just over the wall that encircles the Hoss home. The smoke of the gas chambers is easily seen. Hedwig’s mother comes to stay and is at first overwhelmed with the seeming prosperity of her daughter and family…until she sees the flames of the crematorium at night.

Hoss is recognized for creating a new crematorium and is seen toward the movie’s conclusion… wrenching…where the camera then cuts to modern-day and a group of janitors cleaning the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

The mendacity of many of our political leaders is droning on…we fish and swim…while the remnants of our friends and neighbors…float by…

‘The phrase ‘Come and see’ appears four times in the Gospel of John, and the pattern that appears is this: when we see Christ and what he has to offer, we see life, but when we see what man has to offer, we see death.’

So that is our family…the human family…we like to see what is happening if it is alleviating suffering and bringing hope. Jesus PR department was word of mouth. As time went by there were an increasing number of mouths.

I have good friends who have been adherents to Alcoholics Anonymous. They believe in their organization and its efficacy in enabling them to not drink. They talk about it. They each have a mentor who stays close to them and affords someone to talk to when the temptation gets tough.

Do not believe that we have become such a secular society that people are not looking for an answer that is beyond themselves. There are more hurting people than ever. Addictions to substances both legal and illegal are rampant…because lonely and troubled folks want someone to proclaim to them, Come And See!’

The answer to this riddle is simple…the rich and the poor must agree together that the goal is to help lonely humanity. The Bible tells us that ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.’

Amazing Grace is my favorite hymn. It illustrates God’s love for all of us irrespective of our station or financial means.

It has been said that music soothes the savage beast. Music speaks to our broken spirit. We are all seeking a song to sing with people who love and care about us and will hold us up when we stumble and fall.

This has been a cold Saturday. After having unseasonably warm weather now a dose of unseasonably cold weather. How quickly things change.

So it is the time of Carnival in Venice and Fat Tuesday in the United States…and now Lent. We as our earth are in transition. We seek to be better than we are. We hope for the forgiveness of our shortcomings. For those of us in churches that are diminishing, we say come to the Holy Spirit and revisit us…you are welcome here. We all have our masks firmly affixed…we love our masks…we are safe behind them.

We ponder our visage as we gaze into the Winter Water. We know things need repair but can not see them clearly as our Masks have become our countenance. We pause to ponder what manner of man and woman that we are…

Winter Water is cold and exhilarating. It jars us a bit and wakes us up from our pleasant slumber. We look so different without our Masks…

‘What fun we had at the V Ball the other night,’ said Jane. The decision to make it a masked Ball in the spirit of Venice’s Masked Ball, she continued.

‘I had a lady speak to me at some length regarding my deceased father…she seemed to know him well and when I asked her how she knew him she said that they had come to the V Ball together,’ Chet remarked. My father died several years ago…,’ Chet noted with some incredulity.

‘I had some lovely Punch with a Masked Gentelman who enquired as to the health of Neva J…and noted that he had known her in Mt. Vernon and Chicago and when they both lived in Eldorado,’ Billy B said.

‘The V Ball was so full of Masked participants that I felt the need to go outside for a little air,’ Jane said. ‘I suddenly was in front of the Orpheum Theatre and we were all kids…Chet Billy B and me,’ Jane said with wonder and a sense of the mysterious. ‘I saw a familiar gentleman standing outside the Theatre and I asked him if he knew the way back to the V Ball…he replied that there was a Valentine’s Day Movie being screened in the Orpheum and after the movie was over there would be Valentin’s Candy for all members of the audience,’Jane noted.

‘It is great to see you, Chet,’ the Masked man said. ‘I have missed you…how is Mom,’ he continued?

‘Who are you and how do you know my mom, Chet asked. ‘She and I have lived together for some time until she died…she was a widow…, Chet said sadly.

‘Hello, my dear…what a lovely Ball,’ the Masked woman said as she offered him an Oscar Mayer Weiner fresh out of the package on white bread…just like his mom always gave him at lunch.

It is another beautiful day in the neighborhood. But it will snow tomorrow. We are surrounded by doubt. The walk of life is a bit like spelunking as it is pitch dark with our little flashlights showing the dimly lit path. So at times, we say…what happened?

Life hands us reversals. One day we are flying high and the next we are pushing the boulder up the hill like Sisyphus. Today we see Faunie Willis’s trial and her relationship with her lead prosecutor. Watching the trial to decide if there is election interference is interesting to see transpire. It is difficult for me to ascertain how her romantic interests diminish the indictments in the case. If Ms. Wade is found to have lied due to her romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor…another prosecutor surely can take up the case.

Indeed there is a double standard between men and women! Where Ms. Willis’ romantic interests have been emblazoned as so horrendous…others have referred to the former President as…just an Alley Cat.

What happened from the Cuban Missel Crisis where we were certain that Russia was our enemy to now where many in our government laud Putin the leader of Russia?

What happened when a former President called Putin to, ‘Do whatever the hell he wants to NATO countries who he perceives have not paid their dues to NATO?

One day we are in fine fettle…the next we are ill and hoping to survive. What courage to battle illness and still work toward the betterment of others.

Jonathon and I had the lovely opportunity to visit with our dear friend at SIUC. When I see her in a lovely office and a position of responsibility I am so proud that I burst my buttons… At Southern Illinois University I notice with some consternation the unusual result of people who were originally known for their extreme gifts and value to SIUC. Then…suddenly…they became pariahs and were soon talked about in a very disparaging manner. Countless people went from a Hero to Zero without a noticeable difference in their job performance but rather they fell out of political favor with the University Administration.

So we look for guidance in darkness and hope in trouble. Often we are pushing the boulder up the hill and when it rolls down…we begin pushing again…in the hope of making our human journey better for us all…

Wet snow was in the forecast for us but the weather front moved to the south and thus we will have rain. This is life. There is always something waiting for each of us around the corner. As Tony Soprano said to his family on the last episode of The Sopranos, it was the little things like enjoying a restaurant meal together as a family that made life special. Of course, the culmination of the episode when the screen suddenly went black was the question as to whether Tony and his family were going to be assassinated…

Indeed there is always another train coming down the track…another shoe to fall…another joy and another sorrow heading our way. The joy of living is the Joy Of The Rollercoaster. Sometimes up and sometimes down and a lot of sharp curves…

We seek the Secret. What is our purpose? Where are we going? Life is chock full of love surprises and hope joined together with sadness grief and suffering… It is an exciting and demanding ride! 

I am always interested when folks say that they do not believe in God. I assumed that their experience had led them to this decision. I wonder what they do with the seeking of their souls to understand the Secret?

When you think of what we understand and what we do not the difference is larger than the universe. The vastness of Space…the meaning of Time…is there life on other planets…are all questions without solid answers. 

The popular actress Betty White said what her mother had told her before her death…when we die we will find out the Secret. So prayer is a good thing. Prayer brings faith and faith engenders hope and hope is the panic bar on the Rollercoaster Of Life that we all ride…

Another day down in 2024. They go by quickly and almost without notice until you look backward and see them piled up. The Soap Opera The Days Of Our Lives opened each day with the words, ‘Like sands through the hourglass so are the Days of our Lives.’ Or as someone observed we have long days and short years…

The smallest of things bring happiness while the big things are a bit elusive at times. ’So many people are hanging by the thinnest of threads. Treat people with kindness, you could be that thread.’

It has been said that you will pay for what you value. Look at what a person spends money on and you will find their heart. Or the one I like is that one person’s trash is another treasure…

A smile may be the light in a person’s darkness that will cause them to rethink suicide. Often little more is needed to jar a person out of the circular mindset of ending it all. There is a plethora of loneliness in our world and it is spoken of seldom. People become so disconnected from others that their conspiracy theories take over their mental and emotional persona. As the television commercial said many years ago…Reach out and touch someone…reach out and just say hi…

Mental illness is much more prevalent than we realize. A high percentage of us humans suffer mental illness at some point in our lives. 

We are lonely in a crowd. We are homesick at home. We need a kind word while we are surrounded by media 24/7. It is only funny to think about these problems until you experience one or more of them…

Depression is a silent killer. Many of the seemingly happiest people are depressed and hiding it well from the eyes of others. There are Sad Clowns. 

Replace a Criticism with a Compliment. Instead of laughing at others…love them and let them know that you do.