Good Morning All!
Autumn is fast approaching! This morning I was greeted to fog and a mist hanging in the air. It’s getting a bit colder too! What a great gift are the seasons from our Creator…each is beautiful in its own way and isn’t it terrific that we get to experience such variety in weather and surroundings? What is your favorite season & why?
I think I mentioned earlier that I have created what looks to be like a social welfare state in my backyard. Well, yesterday afternoon I noticed that there was a large congregation of sparrows perching on the backyard fence next to the bird feeders awaiting their next meal. Come to find out, both feeders were empty…it’s amazing to me how fast a group of little birds can polish off a feeder full of bird seed, sunflower seeds and cracked corn! At this rate, I’ll be spending a small fortune this year in bird seed. It was a pretty comical scene yesterday as the sparrows were lined up one right after the other awaiting the opening of “the buffet”…
I really enjoyed the meeting of our People For Effective Government (PEG) Steering Committee yesterday. What a great group of folks sharing the commitment toward bring civility back to public discourse and the world of politics. We had a rousing exchange of idea and are really looking forward to this evening’s (Sept. 19th) PEG Public Forum at Gonzaga University (Jepsen Center—Wolf Auditorium) with former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan & Iraq Ryan Crocker. It should be a great evening! If you are planning to come, the event starts at 7:00 p.m. tonight. Parking is available in the Jundt Art Museum/Center’s parking lot close to the Jepsen Center. Seating in the auditorium is limited to 200 people, so I’d suggest you come early (get there by 6:30 a.m.). Here’s to PEG! For more information, please go to pegnow.org.
My son Jake’s house in North Spokane will be getting a brand new fence today! It will really improve the look of their neighborhood. Jake & his wife, Sarah, have been making improvements to their house, inside and out, since they purchased it a couple of years ago. Wouldn’t it be grand if every homeowner (or landlord) took the time to improve the look & condition of their property? It’s amazing what a little bit of elbow grease and paint can do to improve the look of a house and a neighborhood. Think of what it can do to improve the “Positive Mental Attitude” of a community! That’s “urban renewal” at its finest!
Judy & I have been benefiting of late from the generosity of church friends and neighbors who have brought meals and other goodies to the house during Judy’s recovery from hip replacement surgery. It’s really blown us away! We have such lovely neighbors (isn’t it terrific when a neighborhood has such caring people living amongst each other?). Our church’s meals ministry has been a blessing to so many people who participate in fellowship at Christ The Redeemer (CTR) —www.christredeemer.com. A meal provided is such a gift and lifts one’s spirits significantly. It really helps people who are going through a difficult time and/or suffering from some kind of health challenge. It’s a wonderful thing, for sure! Thanks to all who have helped us out in this way.
Speaking of Judy’s recovery from hip replacement surgery, she is doing a magnificent job of getting back on her feet. She went to the physical therapist yesterday and got a good report from him. Everything has gone so amazingly well. She makes progress each and every day and won’t be long (four weeks or so) before she’ll be back on the hiking trails and running circles around those who love her. Judy has a resilient spirit and great attitude about the whole thing. She’s looking forward to resuming normal life with two strong hips! Here’s to you, Judy! You rock our world, for sure!
As we approach the Spokane Walk To End Alzheimer’s on October 5th, I was reminded of the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s Disease on families when I came across the 1969 Topps Football Card for Detroit Lions great Jim Gibbons. Jim died in 2016 of double pneumonia after he had been suffering from early stage Alzheimer’s Disease. It is thought that the disease was precipitated by his football career and taking numerous hits to his head as a tight end with the Detroit Lions during a 10 year NFL career from 1958-1968. Jim was born in 1936 in Chicago and played college football at the University of Iowa. One of his teammates was Detroit Lion great and later TV & movie actor, Alex Karras. Both Jim and Alex Karras went to the Detroit Lions in the 1958 NFL Draft. Jim was to become one of the Lions’ best offensive players during the next decade and served as the Lions’ team captain. He earned Pro Bowl honors three times during his career. He had a career year in 1964 and was name Lion MVP. As of 2018, Gibbons ranked tenth on the Lions’ all-time reception list with 287 receptions, 3,561 yards and 20 touchdowns. The career highlight for him was in 1960 when received a pass from Lions’ quarterback Earl Morrall that remains the longest pass play (65 yards) to end a game in regulation in NFL history, ahead of Aaron Rodgers’ “Hail Mary” pass to Richard Rodgers for 61 yards against the Lions in 2015. Pat Studstill, a Lions teammate, once said that Gibbons was “one that everyone loved.” After football, Jim moved to Aspen, Colorado, where he was an avid skier and owned a restaurant, “The Blue Moose.” Upon his death in 2016, a Jim Gibbons Fund was established at the Childrens’ Hospital of Michigan to benefit the hospital’s Tuberous Sclerosis Complex clinic. Jim was very close to a niece who suffered from the disease. Here’s to Jim Gibbons and the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. Let us all resolve to do everything possible to end this awful disease!
Here is the trivia question for the day:
Q: What is the world’s best-selling musical instrument?
A: The harmonica is the world’s best-selling instrument. Harmonicas originated in the early 1800s in Europe. They gained popularity in the 1920s in the U.S. and were used in blues recordings. Clock maker Matthias Hohner began crafting harmonicas in 1857 and soon owned the largest harmonica factory in the world. By 1986 the harmonica maker Hohner had produced 1 billion harmonicas.
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
“Rainy day people always seem to know when it’s time to call
Rainy day people don’t talk, they just listen till they’ve heard it all
Rainy day lovers don’t lie when they tell ‘ya they’ve been down like you
Rainy day people don’t mind if you’re cryin’ a tear or two.
If you get lonely, all you really need is that rainy day love
Rainy day people all know there’s no sorrow they can’t rise above
Rainy day lovers don’t love any others, that would not be kind
Rainy day people all know how it hangs on a piece of mind…
…Rainy day people always seem to know when you’re feeling blue
High stepping strutters who land in the gutters sometimes need one too
Take it or leave it, or try to believe it
If you’ve been down too long
Rainy day lovers don’t hide love inside…they just pass it on
Rainy day lovers don’t hide love inside…they just pass it on.”
—Gordon Lightfoot, “Rainy Day Lovers”
“I will glory in my Redeemer
Whose priceless blood has ransomed me.
Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails,
and hung Him on that judgment tree.
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who crushed the pow’r of sin and death;
My only Savior before the holy judge;
The Lamb, Who is my righteousness,
the Lamb, Who is my righteousness…”
—Keith & Kristyn Getty, “I Will Glory In My Redeemer”
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
—Isaiah, Chapter 43, verse 19
Here’s to a great Thursday and lots of love always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)