"Baron's Ten Best...continued"

..... I received a complaint from JR that Letterman's top ten always begins with #10 so as to create "suspense" as to what #1 might turn out to be. And he is correct. I didn't really explain my list properly; I didn't mean to put the list of my top ten experiences in any particular order, even though it appeared that I was starting with my #1. No, I am saving my most awesome and exciting and passionate experience for last; and all those that come before it are not in "size places". But you can put them there for yourself if you have known them.

…..5)the Night Watch--(See above) Night Watch or The Night Watch or The Shooting Company of Franz Banning Cocq (Dutch: De Nachtwacht) is the common name of one of the most famous works by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It is on prominent display in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, being the most famous painting in their collection. The painting is renowned for three elements: its colossal size (363 x 437 cm ~ 11ft 10in x 14ft 4in), the effective use of light and shadow, and the perception of motion in what would have been, traditionally, a static military portrait.This painting was completed in 1642, at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age. It depicts the military company moving out, led by Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch. One has to visit the Museum in Amsterdam to see the Rembrandts that are on display to really appreciate the incredible genius of this painter and his art. I’d say if you wanted to hire him to paint your house, you would be in serious financial trouble. No one could possibly afford to buy this masterpiece, with the exception, perhaps of Le Bron James.

…..6)the Eiffel Tower--The Eiffel Tower (French: La Tour Eiffel, [tuʁ ɛfɛl], nickname La dame de fer, the iron lady) is an 1889 iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tallest building in Paris, it is the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named for its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

.....The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by stairs or lift, to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is accessible only by elevator. Both the first and second levels feature restaurants. (Descriptions courtesy Wikipedia) I recall vividly how I first saw the tower while flying over Paris in 1944; and how I first saw it first hand after we landed in Paris in 1945. It was a most awesome and memorable experience--as was the Baron's experiences with the best ladies of the night that Paris had to offer. Oui.

The Ten Most Awesome Sights of the Baron's Life

…..On Dave Letterman’s show each night, he offers a list of the “10 Best” of different things in the news or elsewhere. Well, I also have a 10 Best list I’d like to share with you, and that is ten of the most awesome things in nature or man-made that the Baron has experienced in his wide travels—years ago. I haven’t said that I have a list of things that I’ve “seen”—I said, “experienced”. And behind those experiences is a passion that has not left my soul. They were experiences inspiring awe and wonder. (The descriptions are provided by Wikepedia) First on my list is:

….. 1)the Taj Mahal. --"the Taj" is a mausoleum located in Agra, India. It is one of the most recognizable structures in the world. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is widely considered as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and stands as the symbol of eternal love. When I first saw this structure it seemed as though it were floating on air. No photo could ever give it justice.

…..2)the Sistine Chapel.--The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, at the commission of Pope Julius II, is one of the most renowned artworks of the High Renaissance. The ceiling is that of the large Papal Chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV after whom it is named the Sistine Chapel. The chapel is the location for Papal Conclaves and many important services. After hearing and reading about this amazing ceiling and seeing a movie about it with Charlton Heston, I looked at "the hand of God" in silent passion.

…..3)Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius.-- Pompeii is a partly buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the commune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1599. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. This ruined city and the sight of Vesuvius was beyond amazing; the image of the exploding volcano flooding ash through the city joggled around in my mind, and I still can't deplete it.

…..4)the York Minster.--the York Minster is a cathedral in the City of York in northern England that has the most awe inspiring stained glass windows that I’ve ever experienced in this wide world. York as a whole and particularly the Minster have a long tradition of creating beautiful stained glass. Some of the stained glass in York Minster dates back to the twelfth century. The 76-foot (23 m) tall Great East Window, created by John Thornton in the early fifteenth century, is the largest example of medieval stained glass in the world. Other spectacular windows in the Minster include an ornate rose window and the 50-foot (15 m) tall five sisters window. If you are ever in England, don’t miss it! I am certain that not too many of my friends and acquaintances have experienced the wonders of this cathedral; but if you are ever in England--don't miss it!

.....I do have six more of these wonders, and they will be forthcoming. Are you at least, curious? Then stay tuned.

"Education commences on the mother's knee.." (Anonymous"

.....I have received a comment from "Emrys" for publishing on the post "It's a Tale Told by an Idiot" a few days ago on 9/24. I think it will probably reach more readers than it would below that posting so, after some editing, I will print the comment here:

Emrys has left a new comment on your post ""It's a tale told by an idiot." (Macbeth)":

.....As enjoyable as the idealism being expressed is, my experience is that parents don't really want good education. They want high marks so that their children can get into "good schools." In our modern school systems, a good teacher who is demanding and who holds students accountable for their work and who understand that there has to be consequences for poor work will only be appreciated only by a small few.

..... Teachers in Washington are giving up tenure in exchange for large raises. Here's a prediction -- in five to ten years the private money for Charters will be gone. The raises based on that money will be rescinded. Tenure -- and its protections that are so important -- will never return. A truism that one learns as a young, idealistic negotiator is that a benefit, once given up, NEVER comes back.

.....This morning, MSNBC's Morning Joe program devoted it's entire time to what is an attack on teachers and unions. The new movie, "Waiting for Superman," is little else. So we have a great lie that has come to be "revealed wisdom" in our world now. Tenure and teacher unions are the enemies of good education. But all of the failed education policies were brought in by administrators and boards of education and, may the Goddess help us, CONSULTANTS. Those of us who broke our backs and our hearts, day to day, working to make eduction work were never deemed competent to make decisions.

.....Teachers are being held responsible for the failure of American education. We didn't make the decisions that have caused the collapse, though. They were made by the same people who are now scapegoating the real educators. If you want to see REAL educational thinking, check New Jersey where community college teachers, many with PhDs and all with at least one masters degree, are evaluated in part by how the teacher is written up in "Rate My Professor." I'm proud to say that my teacher son- in- law got a Chile Pepper.

"THE BARD"

.....Don't run away--I have a few words I'd like to say about William Shakespeare that won't be harmful to you. They may even liven up your conversation with your circle of friends at the next "early bird". Perhaps you are unaware of how this man from the little town of Stratford, England became a universal genius. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, and by the end of the 19th Century he was speaking virtually all the languages of the world. The major European languages came early--Shakespeare could be had in German, French, Spanish and Italian in the 18th Century; and then he became universally available--"Hamlet" was translated into Welsh in 1865, "Othello" could be read in Hebrew in 1874,(which I would love to read to a congregation in a synagogue as a sermon--if I were a rabbi), "Julius Caesar" was available in Japanese, and fourteen of Shakespeare's plays were translated into Hindi between 1880 and 1900. (The translation of "Hamlet" into Klingon took a little longer, appearing in 1996.)

.....In Germany, their most beloved writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote in one of his essays, "The first page I read of him made me his own for the rest of my life, and as I finished the first play I stood like one who has been blind from birth being given the gift of sight by a miraculous hand." In the run-up to WWII, all English cultural products were frowned upon by authorities, and all plays written in enemy nations were banned--except for Shakespeare, who was officially considered a German author!! Well, we all know that's no longer true; we won the war. My studious, intelligent, patient readers may well ask how I know all this about Shakespeare. The fact of the matter is that I know a whole lot more. Do you think I would throw away all of my college notes? And I've taught Shakespeare with great joy for many years to the point even now when I can recite whole scenes from "Hamlet" from memory. When I say "recite", I mean that Shakespeare was never written to be read; the plays must be performed. So, if you ever decide to pick up a book with a play in it--read it aloud; except if you are at a movie.

"O Lord, what fools these mortals be." (Midsummer Night's Dream)

.....I always wanted to be famous, like most people I assume, but as yet I have not achieved that goal. I can't say that I haven't tried. My very first attempt at fame was to kill as many Germans as I could in WWII to avenge the injuries suffered by my father in WWI. It was my goal to win the Congressional Medal of Honor, but somehow it alluded me, and I had to be satisfied with two DFCs. Not that winning the Medal of Honor would have made me famous for all time, because who can remember the names of even a couple of Medal of Honor winners? At least, one can perhaps remember the first two fliers to win DFCs awarded to civilians, by FDR, Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. I don't mind being in their company--although Lindbergh was a noted anti-Semite. But they are truly famous. Lindbergh even has a restaurant named for him here in Delray Beach called "Lindbergher's". They specialize in serving 50 different hamburgers, one at a time, of course.

.....My next attempt at achieving lasting fame was to be the greatest teacher of all time, surpassing even Socrates and Plato. But it was not to be. Although I have my share of appreciative students, I have not found my name in any history book that I have poured over in our library. So, my next attempt was to break the world record in the marathon run by such renowned runners such as Alberto Salazar, Haile Gebrselassie, and Emil Zatopek; but most of all by Pheidippides who 2500 years ago brought the good news to Athens that the Greeks had defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. Pheidippides did not stop for a breath or water for 26.2 miles, the distance from the battle to Athens, and for his heroic effort, died on the spot. For this attempt at fame, for several years, I popped aspirin and ran from five to ten miles a day, and finally I entered the NY Marathon in 1982, hoping not to drop dead, but I finished--alive--four and a half hours behind Alberto Salazar who had already eaten lunch, showered, and napped for an hour before I got to the tape. Perhaps if I had taken steroids, I might have succeeded, but now we shall never know.

.....But, I was adamant in my quest for the Golden Helmet of Mambrino, and so after moving to Florida and finding the secrets of computer acuity, I was able to write my Memoirs, hoping that it would become known on Oprah and forever as the Great American Autobiography. It is still available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders, but thus far I have only received $12.50 in royalties, and so my book has gone down in flames; and so, too, my effort to achieve fame in the literary world, along with such books as Tom Sawyer and the Bible.

.....Still not discouraged, I auditioned for several Off Broadway Broadway musicals here in our Theatre of the Performing Arts, and I was fortunate enough to play lead roles in many of them. I had the opportunity of achieving lasting fame as the greatest living and dead actor of all time, and perhaps even the subject of articles in People Magazine, but although I searched for my name in the local entertainment sections of the local newspapers, it was not forthcoming.

....."Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise...

To scorn delights and live laborious days." ('Lycidas', John Milton)

"It's a tale told by an idiot." (Macbeth)

.....There were a couple of items in today's paper that pickled my funny bone; i.e. they weren't funny in the least. One item--front page--celebrated the fact that the teachers in West Palm Beach were awarded $500 in lieu of a pay raise, ostensibly owing to the claim of the Board that the budget could not survive a raise this year. (Perhaps next year and the year beyond as well--with the same excuse.) The county teachers voted to accept the $500 that the Union President called "pitiful" but better than nothing. Personally? I would have voted "no". Actually, this bonus was for last year--negotiations have yet to begin on salary terms for this year. Each teacher, regardless of pay level will receive, not $500, but $337 after federal taxes, Social Security and Medicare deductions. Thankfully, for them, there is no state tax in Florida when, perhaps, there ought to be.

.....Then there is the letter to the editor by a lady who writes, "The teachers (whom she labels 'a grasping group') don't seem to realize that the higher earners in our society have pursued careers that demand a more vigorous university course of study...teachers appear to want more than their attained level of education warrants." What an antediluvian piece of garbage is that now? From a person with an obvious Neanderthal brain? Perhaps she ought to seriously consider going back to school for her GED degree. How is one person's MA Degree better than another's? MA #1 chose to become a teacher; MA #2 chose to pursue a better paying job in another field--whatever that might be. Doesn't matter; most careers pay better than a teacher's career, anyway. But a community that does not tax itself to create a budget that allows for teachers' salaries that would attract more able teachers, then they ought not to complain about the teachers they pay poorly.

....The truth is that instead of my becoming a teacher with a Ph.D, I could have become an M.D, except for the fact that I am not too fond of the sight of blood. I could have become a mathematician, except for the fact that I have several calculators both at home and on the internet. I could have become a nuclear scientist, except for the fact that I was born gifted verbally and so I fatefully majored in English when I was told by many that this major would not get me a ride on the subway. Once I actually tested that theory when I went down to the turnstiles by the subway and told the toll taker that I was an English major and I needed a seat on the IRT. I never got to my destination.

"Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player.." (Macbeth)

".....In my next life I want to start out backwards.
You start out dead and get that out of the way.

Then you wake up in an old people's home
Feeling better every day.

You get kicked out for being too healthy,
go collect your pension, and then when
you start work, you get a gold watch
And a party on your first day.

You work for 40 years until you're young
enough to enjoy your retirement.

You party, drink alcohol and are
generally promiscuous, then are
ready for high school.

You then go to primary school
you become a kid, you play.
You have no responsibilities,
you become a baby until you
are born. And then you spend
your last 9 months floating in
luxurious spa like conditions with
central heating and room service
on tap, larger quarters every day,
and then Voila!
You finish off as an orgasm."

.....and then Woody Allen says, "I rest my case."

,,,,,Baron believes that this is a unique idea, and very philosophical, although a bit unscientific. I like the part where you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. I don't mind missing the party as long as gold is worth $1275 an ounce.

The idea that you must work for 40 years kind of turns me off. I presume, though, that at the end of 40 years you are 40 years younger; then you could really enjoy your retirement. The promiscuous part is also not too shabby. I do wonder why Woody had nothing to say about marriage. Ah well, I enjoyed every one of Woody Allen's movies and I wouldn't mind seeing them over again.

.....Now that the holiday is over, the next auspicious event we have to look forward to is Allyson's Bat Mitzvah in November. I told RH+ several months ago that I did not want to fly another minute. If we had to go to Virginia, or New York, or California that we would drive. Now driving is out of the question for several reasons that I won't dwell upon. And so we will be flying to New York in November. It's going to be a "black tie" event and I'll have to wear my tuxedo.

I tried it on yesterday. The shirts and vest and jacket fit fine, but the pants need to be let out about an inch. They are too snug for dancing. Oh, I forgot; I can't dance either.

"To sin in secret is not to sin at all." (Moliere)

.....Tonite is "erev" Yom Kippur" or Day of Atonement the last of the High Holy Days which began at sundown Sept. 8 with Rosh Hashana--or the new year--fifty-seven something. I can't keep track. These days are a time to examine one's life, repent of shortcomings and resolve to correct them. The service this evening features the Kol Nidre, a prayer set to medieval music. The prayer asks for release from "all vows" to God that have not been kept. That means the sins that you have indulged yourselves in all year. Then tomorrow, one must fast and attend synagogue services. The last service of the day is "Neilah" signaling the closing of heaven's gates and the sealing of ones fate for the coming year.

.....Rhoda has placed eight candle-glasses, on a tray, to be lighted this evening in memory of our departed ones: my mother and father, my step-father, Mike Kallman, her mother and father, Richard Higgins, Sabrina Ross, and a candle for all those in the world who have no one to light a candle for them (her idea!). And then Rho is off to temple, and I have to fend for dinner myself--because I don't have a ticket. You need a ticket to pray (not to "ride" as per Beatles). Actually, I didn't wish for a ticket--and that, perhaps, is my first sin of the new year; I can't handle the boredom--it's the same one every year, and I can't get up and sit down every few minutes as the service requires. Oh, well, why make excuses--which may qualify as my second sin of the year; I'm just not very religiously minded.

.....If one needs to look back on the past year and the major events in our lives, I suppose the one that is most memorable is the time I had to spend in the Whitehall rehab facility for five weeks after breaking my hip on a cruise ship late in December, 2009. My most vivid memory was being placed in a room with a very obnoxious "roommate". My daughter, Robin, who had come down to help Rhoda and me mercifully garnered me a private room. If RH+ is my angel, then Robin is my guardian angel. A couple of other significant events were Rho turning a year older and I reaching 86. 86! O my God! (I forget now and then that I'm not "religiously minded"). My God? Well, perhaps it's Zeus. Why not? I keep thinking of Wordsworth who wrote in one of his poems that the world was "too much with us, getting and spending" and wasting our powers, and that he would rather be a pagen "suckled in a creed outworn" so he might have sight of "Proteus rising from the sea or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn."

L'Shanah Tovah--Happy New Year.

God Bless America

FROM A ROMANIAN NEWSPAPER
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:03:54 -0700

.....We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about the USA Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper. The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title 'C'ntarea Americii, meaning 'Ode ToAmerica ') in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei 'The Daily Event' or 'News of the Day'.~An Ode to America ~

.....Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs.On 9/ll, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the Army, or the Secret Service that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about. Instead the Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.

.....After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a government official or the president was passing. On every occasion, they started singing: 'God Bless America !' I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.

.....How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put into collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy. What on earth unites the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace, I thought things over, I reached but only one conclusion... Only freedom can work such miracles.

Cornel Nistorescu GOD BLESS AMERICA !!!

"This disease is beyond my practice." (Macbeth)

.....I've plumb lost things to write about, so this post will be about nothing. During the two days of Rosh Hashanah Rh+ and I went out to dinner on both nights. On night number one we went with a group of 13 to TooJays. I had the London Broil with a potato pancake. The highlight of the night was seeing Gov. Crist who came over to our table to say hello. He's running for Senator in November against the Republican, Scott and the Democrat, Cink. Crist is running as an Independent and is leading in all the polls. The second night we went to dinner at Snappers, a sea food emporium with two other couples. We had a round table and thus easy to converse with everyone. The place was half empty. So that's out of the way and I can continue to write about nothing.

.....Yesterday in the Sun-Sentinel we found an article about my niece, Shayne, who has written, directed, and is starring in a movie called "The Incubus"--another horror film. It is playing in ten theaters here in South Florida and I don't know how many more around the country. Shayne is my sister's granddaughter who has red hair and also writing and acting talent. It seems, then, that she has a gene or two of mine--or is it from my father? Talent appears to run in the family, which is not a bad thing. We don't know if we are going to see that movie because we are not too fond of horror movies. Well, let's tell the truth; we hate them. We may have to be happy just watching the previews on the UTube.

.....Continuing with the theme of nothing on this blog involves our trip to our doctor yesterday. RH+ is a little RH- these days. She has a lingering cough left over from a bout with bronchitis and her energy and appetite are non-existent. We are both depressed. Her appointment was for 2:30pm. At 3:00pm she was called in by a nurse who took her weight and blood pressure. I joined her in a room and was told that the doctor would be in "shortly". At 3:30 we were still waiting for him to show up. If it were I, I would have been long gone, but Rho did need to see the doctor badly. To make a long story short, the doctor told her to use the nebulizer twice a day, and he gave her a puffer that she needed to use twice a day also. We are hoping that this treatment will help her to get well.

"If I lose my honor, I lose myself." (Antony and Cleopatra)

.....Yesterday, Dwyer, a high school football team from Florida rated in the top ten in the country ventured to Ohio to play Glenville, another highly ranked team. It was the season opener for both of them. It was also televised nationally on ESPN. A very big day for every boy.

.....It was a hotly contested game worthy of both of these fine teams, and the final score was Glenville 26, Dwyer 22. But that doesn't tell the story. With a minute and a half left in the game a Dwyer receiver caught a ball in the end zone which would have won the game for Dwyer. However, the referee declared that the ball was caught out-of-bounds while everybody in Ohio could see that the kid caught the ball legally, and ESPN's replay confirmed it. But then Dwyer was down on the one yard line with about 10 seconds to play and the quarterback ran it in for the winning touchdown--a second time. However, the referee declared that the boy did not get into the end zone! ESPN's replay showed clearly that he succeeded in crossing the goal line, which would make the final score 28-26 in Dwyer's favor. Apparently, the refs did not cotton to having a high school team from South Florida winning a game from a high school in Ohio.

.....Now, Dwyer, by all accounts won this game twice--except for awful calls by the official. If I were the coach of Glenville, I would be embarrassed at having to be declared the winner of a game like that. I would absolutely have forfeited the game to make Dwyer the rightful winner. I don't want to hear (but probably will) that the "rules are rules". I didn't coach American "football"; I coached every other country's "football"; called soccer here. If an opposing team scored a legitimate goal that would have won the game for them, but was disallowed by a referee, (which never happened to me), I would definitely forfeit the game.

.....Honor to me is of greater importance than winning a game. We didn't win the game; it was handed to us as a gift. I wouldn't want to accept a gift like that. The boys on my team might not be happy about my decision, but I would try to make them understand what fair play in sports was all about. Recently, in a golf tournament, a player who would have been tied for the lead with a chance to win declared a two stroke penalty on himself for grounding his club in a sand trap which is against the rules of the game. This caused him to lose his opportunity to win a bagful of money. My dictionary defines honor thusly: "honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions." What is clearer than that?

.....These events prompted me to remember the lines spoken by the King in "Henry V"; "If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive."

I'm grateful that I never had to forfeit a game because it was the honorable thing to do. For someone who loves winning as much as I do, it would have been gut wrenching! So goes the glory of this world. "Sic transit gloria mundi".

At Least my Pencil Never Crashes....

.....Well, it never ceases to amaze me how much the computer can contribute to our lives. I, for one, am grateful for having lived long enough to take advantage of this wonderful "machine". I don't know what else to call it--"instrument"?? Whatever. For example, my daughter Robin sent me photos of my grandfather's WWI registration! Now, how can you beat that for something to put on the family tree--or album? I have no idea how Robin could have found such a document that ought to have been lost ages ago. I learned that my grandfather, Jake, was born on June 15, 1874 and he registered for the Army on Sept. 12, 1918 which would make him 44. I have no idea why the Army would want anyone that age.

.....The registration form requires that you check off whether you are white, Negro, or Indian. Indian?? Apparently, he was not a U.S. citizen because he checked off the Alien column as a Russian immigrant. It's kind of a weird co-incidence that I was married to my ex-wife, Thelma, on the same date that Jake was born--June 15--only 73 years later. There is no doubt that this was Robin's great grandfather, because the address, 60 Madison Ave. was where I lived until my father's death. All this information came about because of the computer. Oh, I suppose there must be another way to get a copy of Jake's WWI registration, but I'm sure there would be a lot of red tape involved. But home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog. And I wish life had an undo function--like the computer.

.....Another result of having a computer is the fact that I have been able to publish my memoirs, two books of poetry, and so far, seven books of this blog dating from August 2007. And now I am working on the eighth book! I think these writings provide interesting reading, particularly for any stranger to the family who happens to buy any of the volumes by mistake. I don't think anyone has thus far. The original purposes for writing this journal of my life in retirement was two-fold: 1) As a record of my life for my grandchildren--and great grandchildren, and beyond--after my demise, and 2) As an outlet to write--because I'm a writer, and I can vent my joy and my anger and anything in between. (And I suppose I can consider myself an "author" now. I like the sound of that). Insofar as great grandchildren are concerned, I don't think that will happen in my lifetime. All four of my grandchildren are approaching 30, and none of them is married as yet. I don't believe any of them is even dating at this point. What's the problem with this generation???? Whatever happened to love? "Where both deliberate, the love is slight; whoever loved who loved not at first sight?"

.....Another wonder of the computer is that you can get almost any information you desire. It's a window on the world for news, politics, economics, sports, entertainment, games and a host of other uses. Now, I haven't tried iPods, Blackberries, or Kindles as yet, and I don't think I will at this point in my life. Those devices would simply complicate everything while I'm trying to simplify. I'm not fond of Facebook and I avoid twitting. In God we trust, all others we virus scan. What other wonders am I facing in the future? Perhaps space travel? Imagine what can happen to your luggage. If it's lost, it could go into orbit!