Honor Your Father

June 21, 2015

Father’s Day

On this the day that we set aside to honor our fathers, every son and daughter needs to reach out to the man he/she calls Father and say “I Love You.  Thank you for being my dad.”  Because believe it or not, being a father, you know—the guy that woke you up in the morning, played ball with you, saw to it that you did your homework every night, grounded you when you broke the rules, stood up with you or walked by your side at your wedding, cried with you when you were in pain, went to work to earn money to support your family, and did a zillion other things that got you to where you are today—being that guy is a choice.  Just so you know, not every child gets that guy for a father.  That's why it is important to be thankful that you did. 

image courtesy of nongpimmy at freedigitalphotos.net

I know, it isn't always easy to say what's in your heart, so I'll go first.  

Dad, you are an amazing man, and I am proud to be your child.   Everything I know about respect, honor and honesty I learned by watching you.

Every morning you got up and went to work when you would have preferred to sleep in, you taught me the importance of commitment. All the years you worked two jobs to make sure we had enough to eat, you taught me the value of hard work.  Every Sunday you set the alarm and made sure we attended church services, you taught me the importance of worship.  Every time you shared your stories about your Army days, you taught me to respect the service of others. Each time you put my needs before your own, you taught me what it was to be selfless.  Those times you paid the bills rather than waste your money on things that weren’t necessary, you taught me the importance of keeping your word.  Every time you treated my mother with love and respect, you taught me how to show my spouse love and respect. 

It might not have been in your nature to say “I love you,” as often as I would have liked to hear it, but you showed me your love in a hundred different ways that I carry in my heart now and always.  I love you, and I hope that I have shown you my love in a hundred different ways that you carry in your heart now and always, so that no matter how far apart we are, our hearts will be connected.  I know you could have walked away, made the choice to not be the responsible, caring, God-fearing father you are, so thank you for choosing to stick it out and be 

my dad.

You are and always will be a man above men to me. 

Dad, circa 1947

Oddly enough, not only is this Fathers' Day, it is also National Peaches and Cream Day.  For my dad, that would be peach cobbler and homemade ice cream.  It seems that there is something to celebrate every day, if you are looking for a reason to celebrate this link will take you to the calendar.  Sorry, but you have already missed National Ice Cream Float Day and National Martini Day; however, I am sure you will want to mark your calendar for 

National Pink Day, June 23.

Sharing the honors with Father's Day and National Peaches and Cream Day, June 21st is the summer solstice.  For most of East Texas the exact time of the solstice was 11:59 am.  So happy midsummer to all!!! What exactly does the summer solstice mean?  If you are in Texas it means, get ready 'cuz it's fixing to get really hot, ya'll.

Summer is Movie Season

 June 15, 2015

Summer is upon us,

The Texas summer
 is so hot even the flowers need shades
 although for the next few days
 an umbrella might be more helpful.

and for movie aficionados, summer is movie season, and there is a whole slew of new movies coming out over the next few months.

  A few of the coming attractions are sequels to popular movies—Pirates of the Caribbean 5, the Avengers: The Age of Ultron, and Jurassic World.  But the movie that has this blogger foaming at the mouth is the Superman/Batman movie (The official title is Batman vs. Superman: The Dawn of Justice.).  It may not make it to the screen during the summer of 2015, the last report has it coming out in the spring of 2016, and that’s a shame.

Perhaps you think that this blog should concentrate on the movies that will be in the theater this summer after all the title is Sumer Is Movie Season.  But the sequels all promise to be more of the same.  That doesn't mean they aren't worth seeing, just not worthing blogging about, in this blogger's humble opinion.

But the prequel to the League of Justice (you know that what it is, right?) is a different story.  Batman v Superman might not win critical acclaim, but it will bring in the fans.  Even those fans who will spend hours and hours bashing it.  Yawn. Before you can bash it, you have to watch it. Chaching.  

Regardless of when the movie hits the silver screen, it will be a great date night flick.

 Why, you ask? 

 Simply put it’s both a chick flick and a guy movie.  The story has enough romance to make the women swoon.  Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill running around in molded body suits and Jason Momoa in a wetsuit definitely constitute eye candy for the chicks.  Add to that the whole comic book hero come to life and there is sure to be plenty of action adventure for the guys to role play.  Plus, Gal Gadot will don the Wonder Woman suit and kick some serious tail, and what guy is going to complain about that --or Amy Adams as Lois Lane?  Neither of these women fit the previous mold for their respective female comic book counterparts, but molds are meant to be broken, right?  

Despite naysayers, the Dawn of Justice should set all kinds of new box office records.  This blogger will certainly be one of the masses who shows up to see if Superman is really going to be the bad guy.  Say it ain’t so, Sam!  Never you mind, this blogger will sit through anything as long as there is plenty of popcorn.  So look around at the movies, the person with the biggest bucket of popcorn just might be the writer of this blog. LOL.

Are you going to kiss me, or not?

Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.    The wedding bells were ringing yesterday afternoon, but Millerites couldn’t hear them over the rumbling thunder.  Even so, the church was SRO (standing room only) as BND Number Uno said I do to GND #3.  The king and queen of country music (Meryl andTwanda) flew in and performed a selection of songs that could be called THE KISS ME collection.  The performance included a song from the groom to the bride.  Ahhhhh! The happy couple who are on their way to San Antonio for a hot, steamy honeymoon were predictably sappy.  It’s June.  Who goes to San Antonio in June? (Rhetorical question, no need to answer.) No rumor there, just fact.  Not a dry eye in the house when JE gave his daughter way.  Google it if you didn’t get to attend, there’s bound to be a video of it going viral as you read this.  But this blog isn’t about facts, it thrives on rumors and who do you think was seen cozying up together at the after wedding party at the Double D?  If you guessed GND #5 and BND El Segundo, give yourself a high five.  This bears watching.  And seriously, look for those Youtube videos, folks.  If you videoed it, then upload the video so the rest of us can LIKE it.

Meanwhile, summer and boats go together.  Boats and drinking do not.  Be aware when you are on the lakes, that hundreds of people drown each year due to carelessness.  Don’t become a statistic.  Follow the rule of boating—always wear a life jacket no matter how good a swimmer you are—and don’t drink while you are operating a boat.  It’s all common sense.  Nuff said.

Don't become a statistic.  Wear your life vest.

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@the Double D Series Book 3: Kiss Me Cross-eyed
Erlyne and Finnley's story

Image #1 is courtesy of scottchan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Images # 2 and 3 are courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image #4 is courtesy of kateen2528 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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The Whimsical Nature of Fame and Fortune

June 8, 2015

Last week this blogger wrote about Rameses II, one of the most well-known pharaohs in history even though his fame is mostly hype.  And we know the whole world read that blog, right?  Coincidently, on Saturday, another pharaoh came into the spotlight--American Pharaoh.  With his win at the Belmont Stakes he became the 12^th horse in history to win the Triple Crown. An awesome feat, make no mistake, but will he, like Thutmose III, fade into obscurity?  Will winning the Triple Crown make him as popular as Seabiscuit who wasn’t a Triple Crown winner?  Probably not.  That’s the whimsical nature of fame and fortune.  If Hollywood loves you, you’re in. 

Why can't I be as famous as Seabiscuit?  Life is so unfair.

Moving on, you may not be aware of it, but today is National Best Friend Day.  Yep, that’s right—Best Friend Day.  Not that you should need a special day to honor the person who shares everything with you, but there it is.  So, what are you waiting for?  Take your best friend to lunch.  Of course, if you are taking your best friend to lunch, and your best friend is taking you to lunch, isn’t that the same as Dutch treat?  Just a thought.

I'll let you win this time if you'll let me win next time.

  Also, if that wasn’t enough, it is National Name Your Poison Day.  Okay…it’s not what you thinking.  The people that came up with the idea were definitely not talking about rat poison or anything like that.  Name your poison is a phrase that begin in a bar…so you can probably figure out the poison being referred to back then.  Over the years it has come to mean making a choice between two equally bad choices (Think Robert Frost--"Two path converged in a woods one day...").  From this oddly random bit of trivia, Name Your Poison Day was born.  Now you have a day to celebrate making those tough decisions, if you don’t die as a result of your choice that is.  Downer, dude.

Finally, it is National Upsy Daisey Day.  That’s right, Upsy Daisy, just like your mother used to say when she pulled your shirt over your head.  It made you giggle instead of cry, and making you smile is the whole point of Upsy Daisy Day.  Frankly speaking, after Name Your Poison Day, we are all in need of a smile, so here is one we can share.  

I'm for sale if you need a smile!!

For those of you that are overachievers, you can honor all three national days at one go round IF you name your poison with an Upsy Daisy smile as you have lunch with your best friend.  Efficiency at it’s best.

the image of the horse courtesy of dan at freedigitalphotos.net

the image skate movement courtsey of rakratchada torsap  at freedigitalphotos.net