My Good Friend, Howard

My good friend Howard Barrons died peacefully the 16th and was buried today. His son Fr. Brian, co-celebrated his mass with many in attendance. Howard was 90 and I know him from St. Vincent's at Holy Cross where I learned from his active faith the spiritual road I follow. Howard would hug you and was a friend for life who I found out was an all-state fullback at Calumet High School. Only 3 other men who were active in the SVDP Society are still alive from the time I was involved during the 80's. I was gifted with the chance to have gotten hugs and kisses from Howard 2 Sundays ago at the 9:00 mass at St. Gerards, I see it as a commissioning to continue on with good works. Whenever I gave Howard communion at Holy Cross I would say his name because he always would say thank you Joe smiling Christlike. Holy Cross has been closed 1 year now and the school since 2007 and they reduced the price last week on the signs in front of them. Times, places, people change but without love all meaning is reduced and only eternal life holds us grounded to purpose in this world. We all will grow weary and older until we are called home to the heavenly reward of true peace.

School's Out For Summer

On the 17th of May we were in Indianapolis at the Indiana Roof Ballroom for Jon's swearing in to the bar. We stayed the night before and walked downtown Indianapolis and ate at the Rock Bottom Brewery. The ceremony was an hour with the supreme court and other justices presiding over the event. It was a rainy day but momentous one. Uncle Tom is home and building his strength up so that he's back at the mall, but Grampa drives him and picks him up. We now have Helen and her daughter Nancy at Tendercare West as she had a triple by-pass on Mothers Day. The warm weather came suddenly the end of May and it has been summer like to end the school year. The open houses started with Hannah's in Zeeland last Saturday. The old Malibu needed a $500 tune up but is running strong now. The Gulf oil spill is 51 days and millions of gallons of pollution that will harm the Earth for decades. Here the grass is green and growing with all the rains we've had but wildlife suffers along the southern coasts of the USA, thanks to BP. Maybe we'll blame global warming on the Gulf of Oil Mexico and stick our heads in the oily sand.

Pass the Bar

Jon passed the Indiana bar exam on the second try and Jane is very excited and proud. I proctored at Cooley Law, who now are the name on Oldsmobile Park,and read Red Pony, Upon the Head of the Goat, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich during my 6 days. I found out from Gabor Hardy,who was born in Budapest Hungary, that his grandma also hid Jews during the war. Lukas and Phillip have exams tomorrow and then are done with their term and Lukas with LCC. I've mowed the grass twice in April for the first time in years. It did rain steadily and with global warming maybe that's a factor along with the 2 trees in the yard that are now budding only on a few branches. Uncle Tom is getting around better and is using a walker and starting to eat but it still has to be mushed up. Cinco de Mayo and the Gulf of Mexico fills up with oil thanks to BP. Icelandic volcanic ash fills the skies of Europe grounding flights as nature takes its course. Humankind is not in control as it is at the whim or the order of nature which must be under God. Trust the Lord and know everything has a reason and purpose and we can only serve our purpose by believing the Lord will bring us home someday.

Pandemonium Behold the Bitter Hysteria

Now that I'm 59,sixty is my waiting decade. Spring break begins today and yesterday, a record temperature of 80 was reached as the day before that was our first day of 70 degrees. MSU has made it to the final 4, and play Butler tomorrow. Simon and April are engaged so Jane is happy that she'll finally have a daughter. 3 more cats got fixed, Little Orange, Cinnamon, and Rusty, all boys now we need to get rid of the cat farm. The Pale Ale made for a hoppy afternoon as I must make Shorts Brewpub a vacation destination, up in Bellaire. Their Uber Gubba was a real treat this winter. Easter waits the morn of glory that sets us free and raises us up with Him. No colored eggs or bunnies can save us from the pagan rites of spring that only exist because He created us and this world, let us not forget His Love. Carry on above the dust and clean out our too full closets that only weigh us down. Like Mr. Farnum, Uncle Tom's roommate, and his Resurrection after his head on motorcycle accident, the Lord will call us home when our job is done.

Electric Reindeer

   The blending of Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis and Radiohead with White Zinfandel elicits this afternoon blog.  YouTube and the computer are limiting the mixing of the multi-tasking of the different mediums, so the 89th album on RollingStones greatest albums of all time will control the direction of the days thoughts.   The last 2 weeks have seen snow and now the sun and the beginning of the winter's thaw.  Back in 1967 we had 23" of snow on January 26,27 that closed school for a week and on the 24th a record temperature of 66 degrees was recorded and it was still in the 60's the 25th.  So who would expect a record snowfall the 26th when I went to school only to be sent home at noon and to have to push my dad's car into the driveway at 5 pm.   The roads remained impassable for days and on the 27th I remember taking a sled up to the Krogers in Saginaw Plaza to get some needed groceries with my friend Tom Phillips and his dad.  We have been having earthquakes in Haiti and now In Chile as the earth is moving and possibly changing the Earth's rotation and our days length according to scientists.  Health care reform is still up in the air with Obama demanding a vote to give credibility to the work that has been put into the possibility of its fruition.  I may very well finish off this bottle of wine before this blog is done so I going down to Electric Reindeer Avenue as I see the deer tracks in the snow outback.  Jon took the bar exam for the second time last week and was here for the weekend.  The boys will be on spring break from LCC next week and have been busy with work this week.   Uncle Tom is at Tendercare West and was able to sit up and talk last night, though he was only conversing in Spanish.   March will move us toward the spring that will renew our souls with the waiting of lent and the Easter that redeems.

Are You Sleeping, Uncle Tom?

Yesterday Uncle Tom was rushed to Sparrow Hospital after cracking his skull falling on the ice. He insists on walking every day despite weather conditions and fell at the corner but would not go to the doctor and insisted he was all right. Later in the day he was found unconscious in the basement and had to have emergency surgery because of bleeding in his head. I am at Windemere View school doing Art today. I have 3 classes to teach and now have a 3 hour break until the last 2 classes. The Art teacher was here to set things up and ended up staying during the 1st class and the tutoring in the morning wasn't needed as the 2nd grade class is outside for recess now. On Monday I was at Waverly East for Spanish and had 4 classes to show the movie Over The Hedge to in Spanish with subtitles.   While I was in Mr. Guiterrez's office I found an old baby book in disrepair and started reading it.  It was for a boy named Henry Jones Jr and had pictures and writing about his development to about the age of 4 which I found when I reached the last page and read the newspaper article about his being killed at the Orchard Lake railroad crossing on August 1, 1924.  Strange how this was in storage at the school and where his story was discovered by me to be preserved as Junior from Pontiac who had visited his Aunt Pearl in Lansing on a "choo choo" ride.   It has been a pretty good week after having lots of half days since break. Jane was sick last week with a bad cold and missed 3 days of work. On Saturday we went to Betty Mccastle's retirement party at the Liederkranz Club, and we sat with the Fabianos'. The only other time I was there was for Bob Leik"s wedding reception. It was also very cold last week with wind chills near zero keeping kids in for recess but we haven't had too much snow. They are considering closing this school and Elmwood next year, I can see due to the budget the need for closing 1 but not 2 schools. This is the oldest school in Waverly now and its floor plan, on 2 levels would make it the most vulnerable to close. Just like at GM, I followed 1 plant closing to the next, unfortunately it's repeating itself in the school districts. It's funny how time slips away as we drift into the future of days that soon will be the past.

Haiti Aftershocks

Big Orange was hit by a car in early January in front of our house. Aunt Anita died January 4 and was buried the 7th, a snowy afternoon. Uncle Nate was of little help in getting things together, so Lynette and Londa made sure everything was done with the dignity it deserved. After the cemetery service we had a luncheon at DeLucas to celebrate Anita's life. Anita was an inspiration to all of us with her courage and fight against cancer. On Saturday Gabe was going with his uncle to live in Oregon much to the chagrin of Petra. Jobs have been mostly of the half day variety subbing since break, so I hope that picks up soon. Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake that we still do not know the human and monetary cost yet. So much bad news in this new year that people were looking to for changes for the better. You walk the aisles of all the stores to find them wider because they are not carrying extra stock as America continues to tighten it's belt. It cost me $107 for my dental cleaning so I think that will not be something we will be doing as we will try joining a clinic for future cleanings. We've kept the heat down to 65 this winter but the bill was over $200 for January. They say it's always darkest before the dawn so we soon should see the light. I'll keep the faith for the hopeless and keep on seeking the light flashing through dreams and reality.