"....O Brave new world That hath such people in't!" (The Tempest)

....If anyone is interested, this is Post #403 of this blog in the Home of the Red Baron. That translates to my having written a post every day on this blog for one year, plus some more. Of course, I haven't done that. Actually, the first time Red Baron began this blog was on August 8, 2007. It was called "Tale of a Tail Gunner". I had just had my first book published, "Memoirs of a Tail Gunner," which I believed to be the final "big" goal of my life. After all, when you've passed 80 how many goals can you have the time or the right to achieve? Little did I realize that all of these almost daily "essays" would eventually be contained in five volumes called "Pater Noster (our father) in Condoland" .

.....For the benefit of my future descendants (should I have any) who may one day wish to attempt the same goals of their great, great grandfather, these goals were to read all of Shakespeare, to earn a Doctorate degree, to run in two 26+ mile marathons, to take a year to travel around the world, and to write and publish a book. Of course, it took a while to do all of this, and now I'm paying the penalty--I'm exhausted.

.....Speaking of Shakespeare there was a story in today's USA TODAY with the headline, "What would Shakespeare tweet?" The article also sported a large picture of the Bard. Now, I'm not a tweeter myself. I belong to Facebook, and My Space, and Plaxo, and I'm not really interested in those things and I have no desire to tweet on Twitter. The article's point was that there's an art to writing on Facebook or Twitter, and no one cares that you're "eating a sandwich." Not so long ago, people used to keep diaries to record their quotidian doings, says the author, Maria Puente. Of course diaries are supposed to be private, as my blog attempted to be before it morphed into a journal--which I guess is not so private. Now, people update their status daily, hourly, even minute-by-minute, and almost nothing is private. In addition, most status updates are not always compelling reading: Feeding the cat, Watching TV, Eating a tuna sandwich. Even Samuel Pepys in the 17th Century could only close his diary with "And so to bed." Of course, writing is an art form, and in order to write good blogs, a writer has to know how to involve his or her audience, how to be imaginative, how to engage humor, how to write a complete and grammatical English sentence--and more.

.....I'm not convinced that I've been able to do all that. At times, I get discouraged that the point I've attempted to make is miserably misunderstood and then I get comments or e-mails taking me to task. It is extremely difficult to make your side of a discussion understood in the written word; orally and face to face, it's much simpler...intonation plays an important part, as well as an occasional smile. Since my blog has gotten me into more trouble than I can handle, more often than I would like, I have decided to conclude it. I can always take up needlepoint. (But then I would hear complaints that I missed a stitch.)

"Age cannot wither Her, nor custom stale her infinite variety." (Antony & Cleopatra)

.....This post is going to be about caregiving. I have one of the greatest, most helpful, most sensitive, most loving, and most adorable caregiver. She is really not supposed to act in this capacity at her age, but she was a little careless about checkinng out the Baron's age when she married. And now the time has arrived when caregiving is a necessity. After all, she has to keep track of my cane; she has to know how to take apart and put together my scooter; she has to put on my socks and take them off; she has to fill the pill boxes every week with the proper prescribed medications; she has to bandaid me when I draw blood; she has to see that all the doctor bills are paid, and she has to take care of the responsibilities she has as President of the City of Hope chapter here. My children should heave a sigh of relief that they are not responsible for my caregiving.

.....RH+ is a graduate of American University and, I don't know how she does it, but besides all the other things she does because she is capable of doing them, she reads a ton of books. She is never without a book in her hand. Never. Now she has to read books with large print. She has no vision in her left eye, the result of a botched cataract surgery. And I never hear her complain. You would never think a bookworm could cook, but Rho can cook anything. Her specialty, brisket, comes around once a year at Passover. Of course, Rho is retired also and she doesn't cook every day. Sometimes, when I ask her what's for dinner, she replies, "Reservations" !

.....We have been married 26 years and we have never had a fight--a spat or two--but never anything serious. The night I met her--New Year's Eve, 1978, I was smitten by her smile. She has a smile that lights up a whole room. Before the wedding I implored the Rabbi to put that smile into the Katuba. Aside from her smile, RH+ is feisty; when she gets her dander up, it's bye, bye, blackbird. I don't know what that means; I just made it up, but there is no other way to describe Rho when someone or something makes her angry. Right now, the major source of her anger is her lap top when it doesn't listen to what she'd like to do.

.....She loves the theatre, especially ballet. She can knit. She is mesmerized by "Jewel Quest" on the lap top. She loves her new car, the Chevvy Malibu. She becomes Sherlock Holmes when I misplace my hearing aids, my glasses, my wallet, my keys--or anything else I can't find. She is adept at opening my fortune cookies in Chinese restaurants--I can't. RH+ is an amazing woman, and I know I hit the jackpot when I found her at a time when I needed her. God has been guiding me ever since I survived WWII. And besides being thankful for four wonderful children, I am especially thankful for the woman who shares my bed. May God bless her as He has me.

....

"As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely." (Mm. de Stael)

.....RH+ and I were going to drive to Biloxi at the end of this rainy, hot month (and I don't believe it's Summer as yet), but an important surgery needs to be done, and so--unfortunately we have had to cancel that vacation. The same sort of thing happened last year--our 25th Anniversary; we had a trip scheduled to the lands of the Vikings--Netherland, Sweden, Norway, etc.--and that had to be canceled because of illness. This time it involves surgery on a melanoma that occupies an area down by my left ankle. That's strange because that's just where Achille's mom, Thetis grabbed him when she dipped him in the River Styx to make him immortal, and he was invincible in battle except for the spot on which Thetis held him. But in the Trojan War he received an arrow in his "Achille's heel" and that was the end of him. The United States, fortunately, was not involved in the Trojan War. .....Anyway, if anyone is interested, the surgery on the melanoma (nice name for a Latin dance song) will occur on Monday, June 15.

.....In the meantime, nothing much else is going on here. Got a call from daughter Bonny last night. She and Don are celebrating Blaze's first birthday--it's an Italian Greyhound--a really skinny dog. I don't know if she/he has the ability to blow out the candle on her/his cake, but I'm certain she/he can eat it--the cake, that is, not the candle. Come to think of it, perhaps he--or she--can eat the candle as well. After all, he/she is a dog and they'll eat almost anything except if it's on fire. Haven't heard too much from any of Bonny's siblings or from any of their children. Did hear from Hannah recently who claims she sent us 75 emails. I really don't know how anyone can count emails that they have sent out. But if she says 75, it must be true. After all, she graduated from NYU and is now 24 years old and, obviously, wise beyond her years. One thing I can say about Hannah is that her photos for fashion magazines are highly professional if I'm any judge. Haven't heard much from the California surfer, Sean, or the sailor, Katrina in Hawaii, nor from Adam, the Virginian. But I understand these people in my family are very busy pursuing their careers and saving for their retirement; I hope, not carousing. However, if you're under 30 I guess it's OK to carouse. I'm sure to be remembered on Fathers' Day--by most, if not all and on that day I may even opt to carouse myself, but not without my cane.

....Today I read in my newspaper a column by Mary Sanchez of the KC Star. One sentence really set me off. One of the symptoms of PTSD is occasional rage. She says, "I am opposed to abortion. I believe it is the taking of a human life, unjustifiable under any circumstances except for saving the life of the mother." Now, I wonder if Ms. Sanchez would raise, with motherly love and care, the baby of the man who raped her?? This is the kind of thinking that motivated, perhaps, the man who killed Dr. Tiller. I, myself, am loath about abortion--but I believe in the right of a woman to make a thoughtful and considered choice about her own destiny, and her own life. A living woman is not a baby machine.

.....It won't be long now before I have enough postings on my blog to publish Volume V of "Pater Noster in Condoland." The first posting of this volume was composed on February 7th. After the next few postings, and the book publishing, I don't know if I really care to produce another volume. After dedicating Vol.V to my grandchildren, I've run out of people for my dedications. Such a horrid vacuum!

"Oh God of battles! Steel my soldiers' hearts." (Henry V)

.....Today marks the 65th Anniversary of D-Day when the greatest land and sea invasion in history was launched. Military historian Martin Morgan leads a tour to the Normandy battle site each year. "The death rate of vets is like the loss of 1100 national treasures each day," he says. And what is the price you can put on each of those "treasures"? And what will happen when the last of these treasures (of which I plan to be that one--at least in America) is gone? Will that conflict and its victorious soldiers, sailors, and airmen fade from the consciousness and memories of the I-Pod generation? Who can recall Verdun? (Look it up).

.....Now, in spite of Morgan's claim, I never considered myself a national treasure--but if anyone approves of that nomenclature and assessment of me, who am I to object? What kind of treasure are we talking about, anyway? No doubt, eyewitness accounts of that horrendous war. Books about WWII abound in number, as well as films and TV accounts--but they cannot achieve or re-create the emotional and historical views of someone who has been there and experienced those historical years up close. Without that, the only thing left are treasured stories, sadly, and eventually, to gather dust in libraries around the world. But of now, on Memorial Day, there still remain many who honor the memories of those who died in the Civil War, WWI, Vietnam, WWII, and Iraq. The testaments are the flags placed on the graves of the veterans of those wars.

.....It has always been true that the forces of Evil are subject to the power and will of a united and a free people. And I consider it a duty and an honor to re-create in my blog the words of an American patriot, Thomas Paine, whose love and thoughts of freedom thunder and echo down the centuries to inspire us even now:

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."

"There is no death; the stars go down to rise upon some fairer shore." ((McCreery)

.....After all this time; after about 400 postings in this blog, I just happened to notice that something is missing on the picture of the DFC medal and the combat aircrew wings just to the right of the blog; namely, gold stars. There should be a gold star on the ribbon of the medal to signify that two DFCs were awarded and there should be three gold stars in the small holes above the wings--one gold star for each 20 combat missions. Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to get them in there, so they will have to be left that way. I also have reminded myself that I have requested a copy of my naval service record to see if the awards I received 60 years late have been added to the record. I've been trying for two years now to get that copy, but without success. Typical bureaucratic incompetence. Somebody should fix it.

.....Speaking of incompetence, perhaps those of you out of the state have not heard about the two sixth grade girls who died from carbon monoxide poisoning because the mother left the car motor running in a closed garage. Apparently the fumes went all through the house because the girls were found dead in their beds, and the mother--still alive had to be taken to the hospital. How can anyone be so idiotic as to leave a car running in a closed garage. What a tragic story. And, let's not forget the airliner that disappeared over the Atlantic with over 200 lives aboard. Supposedly, the pilot got caught in a violent thunderstorm and the plane was hit by lightning. No one knows. But I doubt that lightning was the cause. Airliners these days are fully protected from lightning strikes; so, if the black box can be retrieved, they will have the answer to the mystery. The black box sends out signals even if it is deep in the ocean. However, these signals stop when the battery goes out after several days. The technique of signals from the submerged box was also in use in our plane during WWII to track German submarines.

.....Well, on a more pleasant note, I lost money to the Seminoles; their casino gobbled up my stash. Rhoda, however, was a winner--she won $175 on a 2 cent machine. (I just looked for the cent sign on the "typewriter" but it was nowhere to be found.) Ah, well, it's just the way of the world. I'm prepared now for most anything. Lucky me.

"He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man." (Proverbs XXI)

.....It seems that I have a lot of friends who want to make certain that I get to download some of the interesting, beautiful, awesome, don'tmissthis, wonderful, marvelous, fantastic, (did I say "awesome"?) sites with videos that others have e-mailed to them. For example, that Boyle woman singing an aria from "Les Miz"; the lengthy painting of famous people, most of whom I know; the three tenors---teenage boys belting out a great tune; a slide of beautiful Israel; and I don't remember some of the others. It's just that I don't only get these videos one time; I get them five or six times. I suppose that's just the way it is with concerned friends and computer science. It motivates friends to entertain you with videos of awesome quantities of qualities. Even I get into this game once in a while by passing on an awesome video or two to Rhoda--and perhaps to one other person I'm hoping hasn't seen anything as awesome for some time. It's OK though--I delete or save most of them and continue to write this awesome blog.

.....With nothing much to do yesterday and with Rhoda not having a meeting, or a luncheon or bowling, or a canasta game we went to do a movie which now and then we actually get to do. We saw "Up", a film with the shortest title I can ever remember. It's about this old guy who attaches about a 1000 balloons to his house and goes soaring to the Amazon or Africa or some exotic land. He's not alone; a boy scout and a dog trail along. The boy scout, or cub scout or whatever, has to earn a badge by helping some elderly person. And the dog? It talks. Being it was a Sunday and school was out, the theatre was teeming with thousands of little people. It was quite a shocking change from encountering canes, walkers, and wheelchairs almost every day and everywhere. I can't decide which I dislike the most. There's something bad can be said about each of these annoying tribes, but please notice that I have not deigned to do that. Besides, the movie was four stars and worth the price of admission. I advise all little people and elderly people to go see this film. However, don't buy any popcorn or pretzels or beverages at the theatre. Rhoda bought me a pretzel and a coke and she bought herself some popcorn; the bill for this fare came to $12.50 if you can believe that. My pretzel was too hard for my partial to cope with and the soda was flat. I dumped them. When we left the theatre, we had to retrieve my car from the valet parking guys...$5 and a tip. No wonder everyone seems to be going bankrupt. Then we went to TooJays and dined on shrimp salad in a pita cone.

.....Tomorrow we are going on a tour to the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. This trip has been arranged by the Men's Club and I imagine there will be a full busload. Rhoda has informed me that there will be at least three scooters also going along--including mine. That should be fun. I will be able to get around to at least twice as many slots as anyone else. This casino is run by the Seminole Indian tribe from whom our forefathers wrested the whole state of Florida. It seems only fair then that the Seminoles should seek vengeance by using machines to swallow our wampum.