THE FINAL FLIGHT OF THE BARON

[From a family representative]

We are very sorry to announce that the Baron has taken his final flight. We hope that his readers have enjoyed his musings and insights over the past few years as much as he enjoyed posting his thoughts to his followers and fans. 

Although some of you might want to leave a few of your own thoughts, it is not certain that comments can be reviewed or posted in the future. 

Please enjoy the Baron's past postings, which we hope will continue online for as long as cyberspace allows.

Farewell to the Baron, as he fades into the clouds above.....

SAIL ON NAVY

.....Well, here I am again...and not too well to say the truth.  I have not been very well to speak of.  I am beginning to really hate it here in Huntington Lakes and I am exhibiting (to myself) symptoms of "PTSD" which derive from WWII experiences--all of which I have never  discussed--going back as far as 1942.  Yes, give the issue a fancy name which is in fancy letters which no one understands, let alone the condition.  Anyway, I just got out of hospital where I was told that I had PNEUNOMIA because I had trouble breathing . My left leg was leaking water. 

......Right now, something "bad" seems to be happening every day and I'm getting tired of it. In addition, I can't write, I can't read, I can't perform,  I have no friends and few acquaintances. Everyone I once valued has passed away. Not my fault.  And terrorists are in the news every day. Perhaps even Don Trump could be considered a terrorists by effusive right wingers. You think?  I once enjoyed myself here back in the 80s and 90s. But no more. No more poker, no more golf, no more performing, no more writing, no more teaching Shakespeare plays. No more cruising--or running.  And I'm getting BORED. Getting old-er sucks. It's an experience I have never had to deal with. Any way my son and daughter-in-law are coming shortly. I will enjoy their visit immensely!

.......Now even RH+ is suffering from the getting-older disease. Short-term memory problems.  So then--both of us have longings. Now what?
At 3pm I have a doctor's appointment. Will have Nathan's hot dog for lunch, cotton candy, ice cream, and have my vitals checked. OH BOY!

"AGAINST STUPIDITY THE VERY GODS CONTEND IN VAIN" (Schiller)

.....After a few deliberations RH+ left for NY this morning.  At first she didn't want to go. Then she felt she needed to see Ally graduate from H.S. Then she said she would not go if there was not to be someone in the house to care for me. I told her that I didn't think that was necessary since I was perfectly able to care for myself. I'm not your ordinary nonagenarian. At any rate I emailed you guys to see if anyone wants that job; son Bobby said that he would come. So Rho decided that she would go. I proceeded to get her a ticket to JFK. After I got the ticket, she was very upset because she really didn't want to go to NY because it would be too much for her. I offered to cancel her flight and to tell Bobby to do the same, but now she said she would go again. She accused me of buying the ticket without her approval--but this was not the case. By this time I needed a Xanax--maybe two.  At any rate she did take off this morning and  hopefully she enjoyed the business class seat I got for her.   

.....Now, I don't know how many readers I had who enjoyed reading the nonsense I wrote, not how many continued reading the blog as a way of flogging themselves for the sins they may have committed--and we all may have stored away a few. At any rate, I simply cannot refrain from getting back to creating a post or two, even though it's become very difficult to do so. 

June 30

 

.....Well Bobby came and now he's back home in D.C.  But he was a delight when he was here. As far as taking care of me, he put on my shoes and socks and rubbed my arms and legs with lotion. My skin is like paper. I woke each morning with blood on the sheets and when Rho came home, she had to wash and change the sheets each morning until now.  All the bandages are off and where I had them they are now "scabby".  One day Bobby and I drove to the Florida Lottery Office in Okeechobee to cash in my $1000 winning scratch off ticket.  However, the agent there rejected my IDs. I showed her my VA ID which was not good enough for Florida. Then I showed her my DOD ID card (Dep't of Defense) which she would not accept. She insisted on a Florida ID card which I got along without for 30 years. So I transferred the ticket to Bobby. She accepted his driver's license from D.C.!! Smoke came out of my ears. She accepted an ID from D.C. but rejected a VA card and a U.S Gov't card from the Department of Defense!! Bobby took the $1000 check and endorsed it over to me, and I deposited it in my checking account.  Stupidity did not win out.

 

.....Hi Ruthie--Sorry I haven't been able to use my computer because I just haven't been well enough to get on it to write anything to anybody. Now, I feel OK so I want to thank you again if I haven't already for the lovely card.  Well, I suppose you have heard about the 41 people who were shot to death in the Pulse Club for gays, and the horror in Turkey. Where is God? Napping, I suppose.  No matter, I worship Zeus. I've been reading about Britain and Brexit. Or is it Brisket? Rhoda makes a pretty good Brisket if Mr. Cameron wishes to indulge himself on it.  Personally, I don't understand why the UK held a vote involving Brisket? I suppose you have your own Trumps. 

 

..... and as Mr. Pope might say, "and so good night".

 

 

WORDS, WORDS, MERE WORDS (WS)

.....Our revered elective system is all f---ed up. The Republicans have been glued toTrump and Hillary had to be concerned with Ernie, bless their hearts. On the one hand, with millions of votes, and besides that, a Carnival Clown. On the other party--the Democrats--a female and a Jew. Now I have nothing to do with either of them, although I get entertained by a clown, and I love women; especially my treasure of a wife!

THURSDAY, JUNE 16

.....Whoever said, "You're in the Golden Age" ought to be shot, hung, drawn and quartered. I am not in the Golden Age. Neither are you who use a walker or a wheel chair, the icons of the afore mentioned period. Perhaps, the Golden Age may be known much better as the Bronze or even the Iron ages. Darwin was right; man develops from apes {or even--if I may ad,--Dinosaurs). Witness the gorillas of Isis, or the animal of a "man" who murdered 49 people etc.

 

.....As for me being a Darwinian "person", I may not yet be there. But I believe that I am close. (Ruthie may agree). I hope so. The problem is that I am short of models; I also have several illnesses that Imped my progress. Friends

 are all deceased.

 

.....The strangest event occurred while I scratched off  my $2 scratchoffs. I most always scratched off a winner the first one, of a batch. At least it seemed so--over time. I always worked with these interesting tickets on our kitchen table. So Usually you get a winning ticket of $1 or $2.  This time, however, I was stunned to scratch off  prize of  a winning prize of $200, not $2!! I kept scratching off a winner of $200 again.

$200 a fifth time. I realized I had won a $1000 on my $2 ticket!!! I was breathless, but I recovered slowly. Darwin was right; he wrote "If you are human, someday in life you will win $1000.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IF YOU CANNOT CONVINCE THEM CONFUSE THEM

....Once more do I question the use of "African American" or "Asian American." and other racist ID's. These Americans have never been to Africa or Asia. Why not refer to our citizens simply as Americans? Because they are Americans. If not, why not monikers such as "Eskimo Americans" or India Americans or one day "Transgender Americans"? Then of course during primaries it would not be out of the question to wear a button called "Hillary American".  Using these terms to identify a person or a group I consider racist. They tend to keep Americans apart rather than united. Our country has a great colorful diversity of groups. We need to unite.

On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 6:50 PM, Dr.N wrote

​

 

Before signing anything at all, I have a bad habit of wanting to

​know ​

a few facts or the reasons for some action.

​ ​

Nothing too bad about this. 

   

1. Releasing tax returns is not a requirement or a law or a rule. It is not in the Constitution.  Presidential candidates do not have to if they choose not to.       

What is the reason for releasing something as personal as tax returns for the media and everyone else in the whole world to pour over ? As well as meat for the media.

​

  I don't show anyone in my family my returns, and my business dealings are my business.  I fail to see what tax returns have to do with being President. 

 

---

From: "Magda Garshol";magdagarshol@gmail.com>

Subject: I just signed this petition to hold Donald Trump accountable -- will you?

I just signed a petition calling on Donald Trump to release his tax returns. That's something that every presidential candidate has had to do for the past 40 years, but Trump has refused to do so far. Americans need to get the truth about his business dealings, claims of extreme wealth, how he truly makes his money, what tax loopholes he is using to dodge taxes, the tax rate he actually pays, and how his tax plan would benefit him personally.

 

   

.INCOMING FIRE HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY

.....pheww! I finally got done what had to be done...and; that was a lot. Now I can use my second amendment rights. So who was the nut who told the folks in Syria to put a white flag on their roofs. Didn't he know that the ISIS guys could also put a white flag on all the roofs & let the houses in the town be obliterated in the battle to come white flags or no. And as Mr. Trump says in his speeches we shall (that's us) obliterate ISIS.  I shall not be there.  Not because I'm fearful, I would go, except that my uniform doesn't fit and I am Jewish. And in the exit polls, I'm in the old category.

.....I've been watching CNN and MSNBC and I keep hearing "African American" whenever the discussion turns to Don Trump and others. That's a fearful way to indicate that someone is "black".  Otherwise we might as well begin to use the words American White, or Israeli American.  Or perhaps Italian American or German American, etc. A "Black" is black. The Black may not ever have been in Africa. And be wary of how someone with Indian heritage in our country is described. I suppose you can call them Native Americans. Redskins just won't do!

.....Something weird happened today. The local Floral store called and asked if it was OK if they delivered some flowers. We knew nothing about this request. I knew I didn't order flowers and we could not think of anyone we knew who would send flowers for no reason. Nevertheless we told the store owner  it would be OK to deliver them whether we knew who sent them or not.  But when they came it was the most beautiful arrangement we had ever seen, and was surely at least $75! It came with a note: "Mr. Ross, our conversation truly touched me. We cannot thank you enough for your service to our country." I then recalled my call to my Master Card company to complain about an interest charge of $8.36. The guy I spoke to said he would remove the charge. Somehow we must have gotten into my wartime experience. We tried to find out his name, but Cap One could not recover it.  Therefore we gave it up. But in a restaurant the checkout girl said someone paid for our lunch but we didn't know who. Then in another restaurant some gentlemen paid our check for $60. So I made about $108.36 something for fighting a war. No wonder we're losing guys to ISIS. It pays better.

 

.....

 

 

NEVER PUT OFF TILL TOMORROW WHAT YOU CAN AVOID ALLTOGETHER.

.....Same old, same old. The GOP establishment has decided that they have all the qualities that Mr. Trump doesn't have in order to lead the nation. Again they have apparently also decided that the American people are incompetent voters because they have made The Donald presumptive nominee for President. And here I thought that the GOP elite have, in the past, decided that they know what the American people need, and thus they are now the whiners that The Trumpet was accused of being.  So, therefor the millions of Americans who voted for Senor Primer Donald didn't know what they were doing. So screw the people "We know Best".  The GOP leaders have decided not to vote for Trump or to be his Vice President since  he is interfering with their desire to override American democracy, and consequently maintaining their Plutocracy vis- a'- vis Oligarchy, which Mr. Ryan, the House Speaker, and the epitome of Conservatism, is trying to unify. Good luck.

 

.....Next week my girls are coming from California for a brief, but welcome visit.  Since they have been here before, they know which restaurants and which food they have enjoyed. If they have  choices they wish for most, it can be arranged with no problem.  They will again see the 55' TV they and their male siblings gifted me for Veterans' Day.  That TV is a godsend for I can now see and hear what is up there on the screen.  And soon it will be Memorial Day--and there is so much to remember and to honor by making the world a better place to live.  I have two Great Grandchildren, Huston & Brooks. Perhaps they will do the same for me one day. I have never seen Brooks who is almost a year old, I believe. And I've only seen Huston briefly.  He's about two or three--I'm not sure. I'm very bad about names and ages. They make my son, Bobby, a grandparent.

 

.....I have for my legacy another minor accomplishment.  I have lost about 50 lbs., more or less. This has come about because of the Norman Push-a-way diet.  That means that to lose weight you must eat only half of your meal and push away the other half. I don't know how to advertise this for commercial and financial reasons. Perhaps my son, Adam or his wife Tucky, knows what must be done & how to do it.  I could become a billionaire like Trump, one day.

 

.....In my 92+ years I have learned to apply ruthless personal standards of excellence--and good things will happen.  Just do it!

What will be will be. (Ross)

.....Just don't complain about the VA. I've been going there 30 years for medication & stuff, and never had to wait longer than 15 minutes for my appointment.  Lucky us--instead of needing to drive 40 miles to the VA in WPB (Did you have anything to do with this, Robin?), a VA clinic opened here a couple of years ago. They offer everything that the hospital offers with the exception of dental work.  And today I had an appointment with a doctor (you don't want to know) whose only job, it seemed was to check up on the medication I was taking. But the doc was in WPB & I was here! She was on a television doohickey & I was here. Yes! She was in WPB. Weird, no?

 

.....I have upwards of 45 emails from various companies, and I don't know how they all got there. As Boehner would say, they're a pain in the ass and I haven't the foggiest notion how to set up a different email address. I'll just have to poke around for one & hope to find out how to go somewhere else. But I don't want to lose the emails I'm saving. Oh! there are many I'm saving. Any ideas? Well my girls will be here in a couple of weeks & I'm sure they know how.

 

 .....I've been glued to the tv when I find the time, and I found that the entertaining episodes of Tromp & Friends are without par.... and the other channel with Hillary and Bernie is also hoping to become president.  My head is dizzy because when I was younger I always knew whom was going to vote for, but now it's a conundrum. I know that Trump is the presumptive President and if he manages to become president we will have the most gorgeous first lady in history. Hillary doesn't qualify. 

.....A couple were sitting at a table in a restaurant when the young lady spied her gynecologist sitting at a table opposite them. "Why don't you go over there and say 'hello' to him?" said the young man. "Oh, it would be a waste of time", she said. "He wouldn't recognize me anyway."
 

THE TIME IS OUT OF JOINT (Hamlet)

.....First of all Trump didn't mean that women should be punished for having an abortion; that would be too bizarre even for him. He said that the person or doctor should be punished who performed the abortion. Personally I believe that women ought to be in charge of their own bodies, so I guess I'm a prochoicer.  However I don't believe in abortions as such; so I guess I'm somewhat of a prolifer.  I mean that the child might someday become a genius in some field. Just think if Einstein was aborted, or Sinatra, or Trump perhaps. The Bard? Perish the thought! But women should have a choice...like when they're shoping. 

.....Shakespeare, in Hamlet wrote that the time is out of joint. Of course, the kids in the Greatest Generation realized that Shakespeare left out the "s" in "joint" and  that The Bard, himself, was out of "joints".  But we realized that no one could produce a great play like Hamlet unless they were under the influence of the weed. I have thought long and hard about the Bard's literary genius while he was "high".  Or, what I have concluded-- that the hidden meaning of "joint" without the "s" is a Trumpism.

 

.....I started to write a book some moons ago, but since I was in hospital then, I had to stop at page 75. I just had some other priorities when I got out. The good thing is this: I did not like the hospital food so I ate nothing for the three days I was there. After I got home, I continued to eat the meals I liked, but I dropped about 50 pounds since. By accident I invented the "Baron's Pushaway Diet". You eat half of your meal and Push the other half away.  

 
Please forgive me if you find any errors in syntax here. I haven't the time to fix them.

"...THE MOVING FINGER WRITES AND HAVING WRIT MOVES ON". (Khahyyam)

.....I don't know if I can continue with this blog. I am spending too much time (hours!) on it trying to find my home page, this blog, my sign in to Comcast or Microsoft or Google or Bing. This because Google , Baron's boss, has changed every thing that I have become use to since I started "computing".  I don't know when to download stuff that pops up, and then everything gets even more complicated.  Microsoft wants my password that I never had.  Yesterday, Ally Bank would not accept the password I have used and I had to call them. PNC locked my out for some reason. And into this holocaust of technology, I've gotten a fat cursor which I never had and I don't know how to get back to the skinny one so that I can read the letters I'm typing.  I'm too far along in life to be happy with this state of techno affairs. So, I'm going back to my quill & ink (it I can). Bear with me.

 

.....I can't figure out why my cursor became the fat one?? Oh, well, that's the least of my problems. I have a few more to deal with that carry more weight than a fat cursor.  For example: Who is going to be my final President. He (or she) won't be around until November and will probably last until 2020 at which witching hour I may not ever see him (or her), unless perhaps there is such an icon as a benevolent Lord--witch (sic) time I will have chosen Zeus and company whom no one expects him (her?) to be benevolent.      

.....Lately I've be stuck in front of the TV trying to decide which channel offers the most entertainment re: the question or the conundrum about who will get the reward for the best "insulter" of the Republican and Democratic nominees for president. I can't wait for the circus of the conventions. I am going to Publix and get a bag of popcorn and a bottle of Heineken.   

 

 

 

 

WHO TURNED ON THE HUBRIS? (Ross)

.....I went to a seder at Gary's house and after all was read and sung we received the food I'd been waiting for. It came, It could have been food that I was familiar with.

All through the pamphlet that had the required reading was prayer extolling a benevolent god. Well I thought long and hard to accept the violence in the world due either to a non existent god or a malevolent god.  I settled on the former. This world is not the world in which I raised my children.
 

.....This country suffered the horror of 9/11. Paris lost many people in a terror attack as did Belgium . In Nigeria two year's ago 200 girls were kidnapped and they have not been returned to their mothers. Very little has been done to free these girls. The war in Syria seems to have gone on forever and thousands have been killed there. And I'm sure my readers have heard about "Isis" in the Middle East which spawned an ocean of refugees. And here in America hundreds of men, women , and children have been murdered and nothing has been done about guns in this country. What? Is God sleeping? "I'd rather be a pagan, suckled in a creed outworn"  so might I  avoid having to read the news every day..... Thank you Mr. Wordsworth for giving me an idea.  

.....A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election.

.....If you wish to be entertained, just turn on your TV to CNN and hear palaver from and about for Whining Trump, Lying Cruz, and the other guy all trying to get the nomination to be President. Besides the entertainment provided free of charge by CNN about the dash for delegates, just wait until November and tune in to the conventions! In all my 92 years, I have never seen anything like the candidates' political pugilism, and I hope I never see it again. What a country!

.....Friends and not so friends, I am giving up computerism. I have sat in front of this damn thing for hours trying to get here because this computer is extremely balky and frustrating. Also, I have made many mistakes in typing this post and so I have to hit the back button much too often now. Geeze, I typed 65 words a minute in h.s.!

KEEP THAT SENSE OF HUMOR--IT'S CRITICAL!

.....My good friend, Mike (not his birth name--neither is mine, it's Red Baron") well-- to get along I checked my email yesterday and found one of interest--from an atheist...Mike. It seems that a new neighbor moved in near Mike and he got to know this woman quite well. She seems to make the world a better place...for her and for him.  But you seem to make the world a scary place-- (if, indeed you exist, and I have my own doubts about that). Mike lost his wife to cancer last year, and this woman appears to have enchanted my friend, and is filling a chasm in his life. Unfortunately, Mike's friend has recently been diagnosed with cancer. This has fortified Mike's belief that there is no such entity as a benevolent God. And who can blame him?

.....Assuming that there is a God (who doesn't believe in Mike) he offered God a "deal". Cure his new friend of this malignancy and he would then become a "believer."  Just like those folks who go to Church, or Synagogue, or Mosque. Or wherever.
.....Mike claims that the Bible offers scant proof that you exist--so presuming so, said to God "whanna make a deal? Make that contemptible malignancy sapping her life, disappear completely. And in trade, I will believe in you. I will await your response.  

.....If there is such a deity as a benevolent God he would come to my house like Santa & fix my computer. It took forever before I was able to find this blog. I can't believe that I took that much time to find and fix the problem when I could be watching Trump on every news channel. And I could have remembered that we have no chimney, so Mr. Clause won't stop here. So, I'll eat the Oreo cookies myself. Would that be referred to as a "selfie"? 

Where did everybody go???







 

AGE IS A VERY HIGH PRICE TO PAY FOR MATURITY.

.....What's been going on with the attempt to get somewhere in arriving at the nominee for president is mindful of the attempts to acquire a leader in a third world country.  To think that Donald Trump could have become the Republican nominee if he were a bit less of an entertainer. Trump in running his campaign has gobbled up the media. CNN has been having a helluva time in following this TV personality, it seems, every minute of every hour. And to think that the election is seven months away, and that we would like some news on the news channels! 

.....And that Bible Thumper who is stalking Mr. Trump is quoted at saying "...the staff of Trump is just a bunch of union boss thugs!" Something to that effect. And I've been a member of the AFT--teachers' union, and in 30 years I never met a union thug.

And if I'm not mistaken, one of Sen. Cruz's staff referred to women of the Democratic Party as "whores. Well one woman anyway. So let's get on with it. I can barely swallow my food.

.....A couple of months ago, in Nigeria, the Boca Raton thugs kidnapped some 200 schoolgirls. (Maybe I got the "Raton" down quite cavalierly) and these imbeciles have kept the girls from their mothers to this day.  Darwin was right! The world is saturated with bodies whose brains have not yet developed that would allow these wretches to become human beings. I saw a video of the girls on TV today, and they looked very, very sad. If I took a selfie of me, I would look very, very sad as well.

.....I find that I can no longer write a post to this blog as I was won't to do. When I was 90--no problem. But now that I'm 92, retirement is over and I am in what I call "post retirement. My calendar is filled with MD appointments among other things. For example--tax return. I wonder what  the IRS could do to me if I did not file a return. After all, I have no wages!

The unexamined life is not worth living. (Socrates)

.....Well, hello again. A little wisdom is welcome when you're 92, and hopefully it'll give me some insight about who, what, where, and when I am. That should cover it, though all of it may not apply to me.  Anyway Plato had it, Aristotle had it, Maimonides had it, though wisdom and self examination apparently didn't do them much good. Who said "the unexamined life is not worth living"?  So, if I accept that concept, and wish to make sure that I live a little longer, I have to do some self-examination immediately: I am humorous but can't smile, a little insecure, impatient, out of control at times and hard to handle. But if you can't abide me at my worst, you sure as hell dont deserve me at my best. And though I did not get to some other stuff about me, I will refuse to drink the hemlock--I prefer diet coke.

.....It's amazing how fast time passes by. Eight years ago I was writing and speaking about Obama and Mitt Romney (sp?) Or was it Hillary? Anyway I got into trouble with some of my friends, who in our political debates, felt more comfortable forgetting the second amendment. It was wise of our forefathers to put in lots of amendments to the Constitution so we could, with convenience forget a few when the occasion called for it. (Oh, it was Socrates who said that thing about examining. But forget about the  amendments--he had to drink hemlock!).  So, I recommend walking away from any political discussions. Or claim that you are voting for Ross Perot (sp?)

.....Well my taxes are all paid, and the IRS has to send me money according to TurboTax who will do your tax return for nothing. What a country! Doing my tax return online was a lot of fun--but also a headache. You will have to get all your 1099s together in addition to a lot of other stuff about which you have to go. I'm fortunate that I happen to have all the medication to help me through the  ordeal...But remember that things are only impossible until they're not.

TAX TIME IS TAXING! (ME)+---------

.....hI ONCE AGAIN...it took me a good part of my days to do my tax return. I decided to let Turbo Tax help me. They did a good job and submitted my return electronically. Shortly after that, my return was accepted by the IRS. They had an easy time of it. I'm not Donald Trump. It seems like only yesterday that I was blogging about Hillary and Obama.  ( Attributed the title of this posting to me because JR likes attribution.) He's right. Except when a quote is allowed due to poets' license--and I'm a poet!

.....Now, since you are all eligible for Social Security--or soon will be--I read somewhere, perhaps Time Mag., that you get the most money when you are 70.  Me? I took it right away.  Thus I will not advise you one way or the other. If you decide to wait, join AARP and read the articles as though you were waiting for a bus.  So far I've learned that the older you get, the more doctors you will need for any part of your body--and they will get the money that you should have gotten if you take your Soch early.  Speaking of Social Security, I have heard Bernie make a few speeches and if he's 78 if a day, he gets so excited that he may drop dead before he's done with his Socialist Shpeel. Then who will take his place?

.....I can't believe that I was posting on this blog ever since Hillary and Obama were duking it out.  But this time keeping track of the delegate numbers each of the current candidates carries and prepares to have a heart attack if they are not chosen to run for President is much more fun. (Is that a complete sentence?) OK, so maybe it's not complete, but I myself am close to complete so who cares about sentences. And to think that I was a student of comparative linguistics at Columbia. I suspect that my 

British cousin will chew me out for such carelessness. But which of my readers can run a debate about morphemes and phonemes, huh? Anyway Trump is my man! (though I don't plan to vote for him) I'm a Democrat. and why doesn't Bernie get the hell out of the way. A Jewish president? And 78 to boot.  

.....

Where have all my students gone?

.....First I have to address Joel who said I did not attribute the poem "When the Sea waits..etc". Perhaps I failed to do so. If I did, it was only because I did not remember to attribute it. I do so for other poems. I did attribute "Dulce et Decorum est" a few posts back. I apologize for not remembering to use quotations. Remind me to get to it on a comment. Besides, I could claim "Poet's license! Symons is dead.

 

.....A couple of weeks ago I sent a gift to Phil and Hindy of grapefruit and (or) oranges. Today we received a beautiful basket (a real basket) of all kinds of goodies including a package of dark chocolates, which I'm told is very healthy for you.  I guess that's the reason I reached 92.

 

.....Second, and about Senor Trump.  He came out of nowhere to make the Republic presidential candidates.  I don't plan to vote for him. But perhaps when I listen to the speeches at their convention, I will.  Who knows? The Confederates always claimed to be the saviors of the American people. They claim that they know what Americans want. If that's so? Since Donald has drawn many more people to his side then to any other Republican, isn't that what the American people want? A screwball for President?

 

.....Thirdly,my two daughters  &  Bonny's   husband, Don came from California to celebrate my birthday. In addition to them Magda came here from Sweden and stayed at our place for two days. Magda is a professional vocalist who came to North Shore High School from Brasil and though spoke only Portuguese at first. She was one of my best students. 

Stupid is as Stupid Does

.....The apocalypse has arrived! My computer has stopped using Explorer as my browser & I have to gravitate to Chrome--which I am using now. I prefer Explorer. I have files there & I don't know if they are alive.  I am of the opinion of one that the problem is the modem.  But we shall see.'Right now I am going to try to get to my email.  I just hope that I will be able to come back here.  Bye.

.....Well, here I am.  Back again. I was able to activate my email for a few moments, but that didn't help me to get back here. It was Chrome that helped me. Anyway I am angerly furiously at the political nature of our Congress. The least opportunity that occurs causes Republicans & Democrats to slash each others' throats & suck the blood out with the claim that its tea from the Tea Party. Just you wait and see & hear what will happen when Obama designates a candyate to replace Judge Scalia. (Now if they could get judge Thomson out of there.) 

.......Just so I will have something to do, I decided to run as a director in our condo, Section I. Today was Meet the Candydates. Everyone had to speak a little blurb about themselves.  See?  I too joined the Party of the Stupid! Just remember folk, my opinion may have changed, but not the fact that I'm right.. 

Lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas! (Ben Franklin)

     Well, I fell again from the chair in front of this post. I say "fell again" because I fell from the chair in the living room three days ago. I didn't mean that I fell from the chair in front of this monitor again. I'm a falling fool! The irony is that we are paying for the device you wear around your neck so that when you fall you just have to press a button on the thing and it calls 911--except that I forgot to put it on! So I had to lie on the floor yesterday for a f....gin hour until Rho got home from bowling. (Isn't that the word that Frump used on TV the other day?) 

     Another day has passed, and no, I didn't fall.  However, I still have been remiss about keeping in touch with my readers. I figure that a lot of them have dropped out because there's nothing to read. They don't know what they're missing.  Neither do I know what is missing, so don't blame me for not knowing what they're missing. What I do know is that we both have had MD appointments as well as having bills to pay, birthday cards to send, taxes to make out, and as the King of Siam would say, "etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

     We loved your letters. We're blessed with a family that is glued together.  Of course we are not around when you are bonding with one sibling or another so you may not be bonding on those occasions. At any rate, thanks for the offers to help us out. Of course, RH+ being 78 and I, ...whatever, it's time for us to be thinking about moving into an assisted living facility. Since I am...whatever it's about time I was there already with the HD 55inch TV having been carried there on my back.  Perhaps that's the reason my back hurts? I can't just hang around the house doing nothing so I thought of suing the BOARD for using my copyrighted musical script in a paid performance.  $10,000 ought to do it! 

It is definitely not so sweet to die for your country. However, It depends on how you die. (Ross)

.....DULCE et DECORUM EST (Wilfred Owen)

....."If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
behind the wagon that we flung him in,
and watch the white eyes rising in his face,...
if you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs,
obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
...my friend, you would not tell with such high zest
to children ardent for some desperate glory,
the old LIE: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"

                                          (How sweet it is to die for your country.)

.....As I noted in my previous post, what I write here is primarily for the curiosity of my great grandchildren, ad infinitum. If I have any kind of legacy at all to satisfy their understanding of a grandfather they've never known, then it is written here.  Whatever will happen to my books--well who knows? Hopefully they will be preserved somewhere, some day.  For now, I will be copying letters I have received from friends that I have known. These are letters that deal with my relationships with former students and friends that I have lost over time. Here I copy parts of a letter I received from "Sharon" who was a principal of an elementary school in Baldwin. I met her just before I left for a global trip. A snippet of her letter to me before I left on my sabbatical, follows:

.....you are unique. Knowing a person such as you are has been one of the most marvelous experiences I've ever had. I hope it will be an ongoing experience even through the mail for the time being.
.....You are truly the most sensitive, understanding, kind, gentle, generous, loving ,
intelligent, liberal human being I have ever met, as well as being a perfect dynamite lover!!
.....I hope you miss me as much as I miss you.  Love, hugs, kisses, etc.

She said that I was "unique". As long as Wilfred Owen used Latin, I would rather she had said that I was "Sui Generis". 
 
                                                                            Sharon

TIME...Put to good use is solely part of the heart's desire... until it's too late.

Wanderer’s Song...

I have had enough of women, and enough of love,
But the land waits, and the sea waits, and day and night is enough;
Give me a long white road, and the grey wide path of the sea.
And the wind's will and the bird's will, and the heart-ache still in me.

Why should I seek out sorrow, and give gold for Strife?
I have loved much and wept much, but tears and love are not life;
The grass calls to my heart, and the foam to my blood cries up,
And the sun shines and the road shines, and the wine's in the cup.

I have had enough of wisdom, and enough of mirth,
For the way's one and the end's one, and it's soon to the ends of the earth;
And it's then good-night and to bed, and if heels or heart ache,
Well, it's sound sleep and long sleep, and sleep too deep to wake.

Well, as you can tell, I am not in the good, better, best of moods. In fact, I am about ready to pack it all in.  Every day is becoming more difficult to decipher...meaning...what kind of life do I have to look forward to when I awake in the morning.  All the friends and enemies in my life used to give living a meaning and/or an incentive to fill up my days and ways. And now I have only a few days or months to do something meaningful. Perhaps years? So, what is my legacy...assuming I have one. So, since this blog is basically for my future DNA, I write so that it reaches my great, great grandchildren. I can't have much hope that it will go beyond them. So be it. Therefore, I will hope some of what follows reaches them, even though by that time, they will not be Jewish and never know what a bagel with a "schmear" has to do with anything--or any one.

                                                                                       May, 1968

Dear Dr. Ross,  Quite by accident, I discovered an old issue of the "Viking View" (which school paper you established & named!), while poking through some magazines in the living room--I'm so glad it just happened to turn up, for its appearance has finally given me the incentive to sit down and drop you a note after much too long a time.
.....The issue to which I'm referring was one that included an interview with a very perceptive man, who said that a teacher "...has to inspire; he is a catalyst".  Naturally, these words meant more to me than they might have meant to most, for they were your words, and they redefined for me the role your teaching has played in the careers of many of your students--and the influence (having been exposed to your guidance and direction) that your teaching has had on my own life.---
.....As unbelievable as it may seem, it is now the tenth anniversary of the graduation of North Shore High's first senior class--the one you saw all the way through four years! I think you should know that, each time I run into an old classmate, yours is the name that seems to stand out above all others in discussions, and yours seems to be the influence that is still most keenly (and deeply) felt!!
.....I know that in my own life during the past ten years, your teaching has provided "inspiration", and the lessons of integrity and dedication learned in your classes have provided a "catalyst"--and will certainly continue to do so.  Thank you for giving us something meaningful to remember and for teaching us lessons that extend far beyond the classroom.  Your influence is appreciated and is ever-present---and you are still my "favorite teacher"...
                                                                With love, Betsy Krumrine

So there.  Read it and weep!  That's legacy enough.