August Disgust 80+

The heat of this summer continued into this week with less than a handful of days below 80 degrees. It has been in the 70's the last 2 days and the low went under 50 last night. We had our week in Grand Haven with no rain until after midnight Saturday. Lukas was with us the whole week, with the other boys coming for a couple of days. Proctoring at Cooley I read Silas Marner by George Eliot and worked 3 days. The end of August is bringing shorter days a glowing sunshine and the return of school routine mentality. Grampa has been having problems with dizziness and balance but no diagnosis yet of why. Blues on the Grand concluded with me missing only 1 show and one cancelled because of weather. Sonny Moorman put on the best show and I still prefer the Square venue though the sound improve over the first night. We have been fighting the flea infestation and Wiley had a ear infection, so added costs. Kittens, cats fill the back porch as I painted the garage and the dormer. My knee snapped one night while sleeping on vacation and is loose and feeling better than it has since winter. Time waits for no one and we must wait for time to take it's time.

Heat Wave

June was very hot and July is continuing a world wide heat wave. We've been in the 80's consistently here in Michigan, but middle and eastern states have been in the 90's and 100's. For those who didn't get enough summer last year a good old fashioned one like 1967 is here now. Blues on the Grand has replaced the Square with a venue I find less friendly and acoustically challenged. The 2 performances I've been to had good acts but the sound and stage set up, leaves you in the sun of the old City Market. I've talked to Jan Fielder from WPCA there and caught up on what's going on. One night we went to The Harrison Roadhouse before the concert for a Shorts Brewing sampling, which I really enjoyed. We spent the 4th at Duck Lake and I talked to Mark Neering and life in Sterling Heights. I found out he met his wife there at Duck Lake as they had neighboring cottages. She is Diana Townes and her family now has the cottage next to the Beckers but they used to be down in the corner from there. Lisa had Wyatt at Sparrow and he ended up with complications from birth and being premature, spending weeks in ICU before coming home and doing very well now. The old Malibu is trying to break me with sensors, brake lines and tune ups, keeping business with Tuffy. I pray it can now run without problems for another year at least. Well, we all have now been to Midwestern Dental and so far it has worked for all 4 of us even though the initial appointments made us wonder if they knew how to schedule them. The 26th Alvarado reunion was yesterday, as the first was at Potters Park July 28, 1984. The next one was there and then one at Delta Mills, a few at Francis Park, and August 3, 1991 to it's location at South Lake Lansing Park. That shows the importance of family, history and tradition that needs to be preserved. Some events are unknown and they pass with no one except those who observed them to carry their existence on. You can't always get what you want but sometimes you get what you need for reasons unknown at he time.

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.