Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All & Happy Wednesday!

A great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend P.J. Christo, Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias advocate & professional extraordinaire, who is celebrating her 68th birthday today and to my friend Rod Wieber, food bank coordinator extraordinaire, who celebrates his birthday today too!  Here’s to both of you!  Have fun on your special day of celebration!  And Happy Birthday wishes also go to musician/singer/composer extraordinaire, Stevie Wonder, who is 70 today; to late night talk show host & comedian Stephen Colbert, who is 56 today; and to former Ohio governor and political figure, John Kasich, who turns 68 today!  Here’s to all of you too!

Continued prayers are lifted up for little Jones, the newborn son of Paul & Joanna in Chicago.  He is making progress and we pray that all goes smoothly for him and the blood clot in his brain disappears and he is restored to good health as he starts his life in this world or ours.  Here’s to Jones and his precious family (Paul, Joanna & sister Thea Louise)!

I had fun running the beautiful “Centennial Trail” along the Spokane River with my friend Kevin yesterday morning.  There are some might fine houses that have been recently built on the other side of the river as we ran east toward Pines Rd. from Argonne Rd. in the Spokane Valley.  They all had commanding views of the river and featured some great outside decks.  Mighty impressive!  We topped off our time together with a Starbuck’s blueberry scone and a cup of coffee at Kevin’s office.  A great way to start the day, for sure!  Kevin is quite a triathlete and I had to “hasten to catch up with him” along the trail.  He was very gracious and ran at my pace, more or less (thankfully!).  Here’s to you Kevin…financial planner, triathlete and runner extraordinaire!

Amongst the personal correspondence I found in the basement the other day is a letter I wrote to Judy praising the work of my high school orchestra director, C. Irvin Wright.  Olympia High School had an excellent music department when I attended there and Dr. Wright was an exceptional orchestra director and also served as the music director for the Tacoma Youth Symphony, which was recognized at the time as one of the best youth orchestras in the United States.  Dr. Wright was born in 1927 in LaGrande, Oregon.  He devoted his career to music education and orchestra directing.  The C. Irvin Wright Scholarship Fund for aspiring young orchestra members was established in his honor.  He died on March 14, 2010 in Olympia.  Here’s to Dr. Wright and the Olympia High School music department!  Lots of great memories of high school revolve around the music program!

Speaking of great human beings, here’s to Jeff Blackshear, former Seattle Seahawk and Baltimore Raven right guard!  I came across his football card the other day.  He was born in 1969.  He played college football for the University of Louisana-Monroe and was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks.  His football card said that “This powerful guard should continue to improve over time” and improve he did!  He went on to play for the Baltimore Ravens and helped them to a Super Bowl.  The Ravens’ team owner at the time, Art Modell, said that Jeff was a “gentle giant off the field as well as a fierce competitor and tremendous teammate who played the game with passion.”  Modell also referred to Jeff as a “great football player and a great man…he’s a team leader and an important part of our offense.”  Jeff anchored the Raven’s line for four seasons.  He went three consecutive years without ever missing a practice.  Unfortunately Jeff had to have 24 tumors removed in January of 2014 and, in June, 2014, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer and died soon afterward, leaving behind a wife and three small children.  Here’s to Jeff Blackshear and his contributions as a football player, a man and as a person devoted to family.  The Seahawks and the Ravens were definitely better football teams because of Jeff Blackshear’s dedication and passion.

Here’s the trivia question for the day:

Q:  Which animated character is voiced by a woman….Papa Smurf…Bugs Bunny…George Jetson…or Bart Simpson???

A:  Nancy Cartwright is known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series “The Simpsons.”  During the first season of “The Simpsons,” Fox ordered Cartwright not to give interviews, because they did not want to publicize the fact that Hart was voiced by a woman.  She also provides the voices for multiple characters on “The Simpson,” including Ralph Wiggum, Nelson Muntz, and Todd Flanders.  Fox pays Cartwright $300,000 for every episode of “The Simpsons.”  Cartwright has a net worth of some $80 million.  How about that???

 

Here is the word definition for the day:

Sagacious (sah-jay-shus):  An early 17th century Latin word meaning “Having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgement…”Wise or shrewd.”  We all wish we could be more sagacious, wouldn’t you agree?

 

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.”

“What I’m not confused about is the world needing much more love, no hate, no prejudice, no bigotry and more unity, peace and understanding.  Period.”

—Stevie Wonder, American musician & composer (born May 13, 1950)

 

Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love and good wishes always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)