F is for Fisher

Aileen Fisher

Years lived before 1921: Fifteen

Years Lived after 1921: Eighty-one

I never try out my ideas on children, except on the child that I used to know...and that -- was me! Fortunately, I remember pretty well what I used to like to read, think about, and do. I find, even today, that if I write something I like children are apt to like it too.  I guess what it amounts too is I never grew up.  Over the years I  have discovered you really don't have to grow up. - Aileen Fisher

Aileen Fisher is one of my daughter's favorite poets and she quickly became mine.   There are many excellent posts dedicated to Aileen in the blogosphere.  One of the best is from the blog Poetry for Children on the occasion of what would have been her hundredth birthday.

Not only was Miss Fisher a great poet she also wrote non fiction and fiction for children. In 1978, she was the 2nd recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.  

Here are two poems of hers with the illustrations to give an idea of a bit of her style.

 

A To Z Easter Eggs

 A to Z Archives: Poems at Alice's Bunny Blog. Alice is my oldest daughter's build-a-bear (full disclosure she's a bunny) Alice was quite the blogger back in the day and she wrote this nifty post about 2 of her favorite poems both about bunnies with one being the best poem I think Aileen Fisher ever did write.  Check it out!

 Inaugural Holiday Poetry Reading at Dave Out Loud. This past Christmas I read several of my own poems and then ended with Aileen Fisher's Do Rabbits Have Christmas. 

After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and  continue exploring.

E is for Eric

 

                                                     Eric Liddell

                                                    Years lived before 1921: Nineteen

                                                    Years lived after 1921: Twenty-four

 Eric Liddell was an Olympic champion, and  a Christian Missionary who died in a Japanese internment camp. He is one of the two main characters of the 1981 film, Chariots of Fire.

Eric was born in and died in China.  In between he went to boarding school in London and college in Scotland.  He was a gifted athlete a 2 sport star (Rugby and Track) and played on Scotland's national Rugby team.  He made the 1924 Olympic team in track and field and was supposed to run in the 100m 200 m and 400m for the U.K.

It is some times hard to look at the past through the lens of the present and get the full meaning of the time period.  This is certainly the case for Liddell, who refused to run in the heats for the 100m (his strongest event) in Paris as they were on S said of hisunday.  Christians play sports on the Sabbath with regularity 97 years after Liddell's stand.  This in no way demeans his achievement or integrity.  He ended up winning the gold in 00m and the bronze in the 200m neither of which had heats scheduled on Sundays.  

When asked what his success was attributed to Liddell he responded ...

"The secret of my success over the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can. Then for the second 200m, with God's help I run faster."

This quote is actually very descriptive of how he lived his life.  After the Olympics he returned to China as a missionary, met and married a Canadian missionary and began raising his family and continued doing the work of a missionary.  The work of a missionary became more and more dangerous in China in the 1940's and Eric was sent to a Japanese internment camp.  He was able to send his wife pregnant with their third child and his first 2 daughters to Canada before that occurred.  His youngest daughter never met her father.

Though his life was short it was exemplary. Throughout his life people took notice of his moral excellence.  The headmaster of his boarding school described him as "entirely witout vanity". In the internment camp he was described by one internee  as "the finest Christian gentleman I ever had the pleasure to meet." and another went into long detail of how Liddell poured himself ito the lives of the young people at the camp to make their time less difficult.  Considering that Liddell died in the camp from a brain tumor and  that his life there was even more difficult because of his medical condition underscores his selfless behavior even more.

Liddell has been a role model and hero for me most of my life. I have been a runner and a missionary an educator and a father just like him.  In a pivotal scene in Chariots of Fire, Liddell falls down in a 400m race gets back up and ends up winning the race.  The biggest way I try to emulate Eric Liddell is that when I fall, I get back on my feet and with God's help I get right back in the race. 

A To Z Easter Eggs

 A to Z Archives: My Top 10 Favorite Movies of All Time.  at HSD. Not surprisingly Chariots of Fire is on this list.  

After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring.

D is for Doctor

In the original version of  You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, in between production numbers they would run a series of vignettes that were generally taken directly from Peanut's cartoons.  In one such vignette Linus and Charlie Brown are discussing an information form they had to fill out for school.  Linus says to Charlie Brown when they asked for family physician I wasn't sure, so I just wrote down Dr. Seuss.

The bit speaks for multiple generations of children that Theodore  Seuss Geisel delivered the best medicine to through his auspicious career as a children's author and illustrator. 

Who does the Dr. look like?

That's what I thought.

That's more like it.

Years lived before 1921: Seventeen

Years lived after 1921: Seventy

"It's fun to have fun you just have to know how" - The Cat in the Hat. 

Using a combination of poetry, linguistic calisthenics, an out of this world imagination and the artistic talent to match Dr. Seuss knew how to have fun and share it with the world. Geisel  shared this fun with his readers writing over 60  books over 50 years while employing various pseudonyms.  His work lent itself quite nicely to the television as well as the movies. Everyone seems to have a favorite Dr. Seuss story.  For me. it's Green Eggs and Ham.  I loved reading it as a kid and that joy was only surpassed by the joy I had of reading it to my own kids.  

When I think of Dr. Seuss I think of Beginner Books which has the slogan "I can read it all by myself". So I think it is very appropriate to show a video of a child doing just that with the book In a People house. 

A To Z Easter Eggs

 A to Z Archives: Dr, Seuss and More at HSD. Written in March of 2011 for Dr Seuss' birthday, this post is more about people with common ties with Geissel, such as the nickname Ted, the title Dr. being born on March 2nd or in 1904. 

Born on March 2nd and 10 Songs at Random Acts of Roller.  When I wrote Born on March 2nd, I did not realize I had done pretty much the same thing 10 years ago in one of the sections pf Dr. Seuss and more. 10 songs contains a song featuring  Allen Sherman voicing the Cat in the Hat in the original television special. 

 After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring.

1921 A Tale of 13 Presidents

 Happy Easter!

Sundays are traditionally days off for the A to Z challenge and while this Sunday is no exception, I have decided to include an A to Z Easter egg today by listing all the presidents of the U.S. who were alive in 1921 either before, during or after their presidency. I have the two presidents who were in office in 1921 in bold.  

1921 President Chart

#. President (date of birth-date of death)	Time in office	Years lived prior to 1921	Years lived after 1921
26. William Howard Taft (9/15/1857-3/18/1930)	1909-1913	64	9
27. Woodrow Wilson (12/28/1856-2/3/1924)	1913-1921	65	3
28. Warren G. Harding (11/2/1865-8/2/1923	1921-1923	56	2
29 Calvin Coolidge (7/4/1873 - 9/5/1933	1923-1929	48	12
30. Herbert Hoover (8/10/1874-10/20/1964)	1929-1933	47	43
31. Franklin Roosevelt (1/30/1882 - 4/12/1945)	1933-1945	39	24
32. Harry S Truman (5/8/1884 -12/6/1972)	1945-1953	37	51
33. Dwight D. Eisenhower  (10/14/1890 -3/28/1969)	1953-1961	31	48
34. John F. Kennedy (5/29/1917 -11/22/1963)	1961-1963	4	42
35. Lyndon B Johnson (8/27/1908 -1/22/1973)	1963-1969	13	52
36. Richard M. Nixon (1/9/1913 -4/22/1994)	1969-1974	8	73
37. Gerald R. Ford (7/14/1913 -12/26/2006)	1974=1977	8	85
39. Ronald Reagan (2/6/1911 - 6/5/2004)	1981-1989	10	83

The A to Z challenge will resume on Monday with the letter D.  Before I go, speaking of Monday, Easter Eggs and the U.S. Presidency, traditionally the Monday after Easter is the Egg Roll on the lawn of the Whitehouse.  It has been cancelled this year but the White House Historic Association is hosting virtual online egg roll activities including this Easter Egg Roll Bingo sheet.

Enjoy your Easter Sunday. Remember that it was a stone not an Easter Egg that was rolled away That Jesus was risen, He was risen in deed,

C is for C.S.

 

                                            C.S. Lewis

                                            Years lived before 1921: Twenty-three

                                            Years lived after 1921: Forty-Two

 

Clive Staples(C.S.) Lewis was a professor, author, apologist and theologian.  Lewis was born in 1898 in Ireland, but he is best known as being from Oxford, England where he essentially lived from 1917 to his death in 1963.

The two most influential women in Lewis's life was his mother who died when he was 9 and his wife Joy Davidman Gresham who came to faith in Christ through reading Lewis's books. Both women died of cancer.

Lewis, who is certainly my favorite author, who may be best known for his children book series , The Chronicles of Narnia was a gifted author of many genre's running the gamut from poetry and science fiction to literary criticism and Christian apologetics.  

Lewis passed away on November 22, 1963.  If that day seems somewhat familiar to you it is because that is the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Also dying on the same day along with  Kennedy and Lewis was Brave New World author Aldous Huxley.  

This coincidence prompted author and professor  Peter Kreeft to write the book Between Heaven and Hell which is a fictionalized conversation between Lewis, Kennedy and Huxley that took place immediately after their death. Kreeft uses the conversation as an opportunity to examine both the claims of Christ and the theistic, humanistic and pantheistic world views that the 3 people represented.  It is a quick and thought provoking read.

     

    

                                                             
                                                                                                  

John Fitzgerald Kennedy                                                        Aldous Huxley

35th Presdient of the U.S.                                            

Years Lived before 1921: Four                                                Years lived before 1921: Twenty-eight

Years lived after 1921: Forty-two                                            Years lived after 1921: Forty-two

A To Z Easter Eggs

 A to Z Archives: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis at Random Acts of Roller. A review of the aforementioned last book in the Chronicles of Narnia. 

Voyage of the Dawn Treader and An Open Letter to My Narnia Classes at HSD.  The first post is a review I wrote of the film adaptation of Dawn Treader.  The 2nd are reflections on some Narnia books from a class I taught at a home school co-op 10 years ago.

After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. 

B is for Billy (Graham and Sunday)

One thing I discovered quickly in my preparation for this years A to Z challenge is that there were more than 26 people I wanted to write about it.  Of course quite a few of them I had to discard, but where I could I have tried to put a few in the same post if I feel they are some what connected.

For the letter B I found 2 men with not only the same first name but also the same occupation.

                                                    William Ashley (Billy) Sunday

                                                    Years Lived Before 1921: Fifty-nine

                                                    Years Lived After 1921: Fourteen

Billy Sunday  was a famous evangelist and prior to that he was a baseball player.  He was born in Iowa in 1862.  His father died in the Civil War a few weeks after his birth.  He was raised in an Orphan's homeHall o. He loved baseball and was discovered by future hall of famer Cap Anson and signed with the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs).  He played for  Chicago from 1883 to 1887 and played

After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. He played for the Pittsburgh Allegheny's (The Allegheny's changed their name to Pirates at the end of the 180 campaign.)  from 1888 to 1890 before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies midseason.

While Playing for Chicago Sunday was converted to Christianity after attending meetings at the Pacific garden Mission.  In 1886 He met Helen "Nell" Thompson who he married in 1888.  In 1891 he quit baseball and began work at the YMCA.  After the YMCA he began  preaching at revival meetings first with J. Wilbur Chapman in 1893 and then on his own in 1896.  

Sunday would often incorporate baseball into his crusades.  Sometimes forming teams to play and playing for both sides.  He believed in the authority and inerrancy of scripture and unlike some 

preachers of his day addressed social issues.  He denounced child labor, supported the vote for women and did not segregate his revivals even in the deep south.  He was a strong proponent of World War I and and even stronger advocate of prohibition.

"Nowadays we think we are too smart to believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus and too well educated to believe in the Resurrection. That's why people are going to the devil in multitudes." - Billy Sunday

Before Sunday's death in 1935 it is estimated that 100.000.000 people attended his revivals and 1,000,000 professed Christ as a result of his preaching.   

                                                            William Franklin (Billy) Graham Jr.

                                                            Years Lived Before 1921: Three

                                                            Years Lived after 1921: Ninety-seven

 

Billy Graham grew up in North Carolina where his childhood dream was to be a baseball player. He addressed this in a book  he wrote in his 90's:

Since there were few things in life that I loved more than baseball, as a young man I dedicated myself to the sport and hoped that my passion for the game would lead me straight to the major leagues.

My goal was simple: stand at home plate, with bat in hand, immersed in an important game. I often pictured myself hitting a big-league grand slam into the stadium seats and hearing the crowd roar with thunder as I ran the bases—nearing home.

He then followed it up with this ...

I never would have guessed what lay in store. After giving my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ—repenting of my sin and putting my entire life into His hands—I laid down my dreams, along with my bat, and fully embraced God’s plan by faith, trusting that He would lead me all the way. He did, He is, and He will.

As I look back, I see how God’s hand guided me. I sense His Spirit with me today, and most comforting is the knowledge that He will not forsake me during this last stretch as I am nearing home. If that doesn’t give me a sense of hope, nothing else will.

Billy Graham came to faith in Christ through a revival  meeting that came to his town.  This was the beginning of the end of his baseball dreams but also the beginning of his own career as an evangelist.  Unlike Sunday Graham was well educated getting degrees in 1940 from Florida Bible Institutes and in 1943 from Wheaton College.  It was at Wheaton where he met and married Ruth Bell. Like Sunday some of his first forays into ministry were with young people.  While Sunday worked for the YMCA Graham worked for an organization called Youth For Christ.  I first heard the Gospel through Youth for Christ and volunteered as a youth leader my first 3 years after high school so I feel like I can relate to Billy Graham on that level.

From 1947 to 2005 Graham conducted 417 crusades in over 180 countries and territories on 6 continents.  

Graham successfully utilized radio, newspapers, magazines and television in his ministry.  He was able to be a very public Christian figure and avoid any major scandals in his ministry.  While he certainly had critics, his style of clearly communicating the gospel on a global scale for more than a half a century is definitely the greatest evangelical achievement of the 20th century.

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Meaningful (and civilized) dialogue between adherents of different worldviews at Dave Out Loud. In 1969 Woody Allen and Billy Graham appeared together on a T.V. special.  I uploaded the video from you tube onto my vlog last year to show how civil disagreements can be.

The Politics of Christianity at Random Acts of Roller. I use the legacy of Billy Graham as a counter example to how politically one sided I thought American evangelicalism was growing.

A To  Z Extra

 Sunday Mond ay  atCrazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog. How 2 Chicago Cubs outfielders named after days of the week are better known for their stands rather than their stats.

That's all I have as Day 2 of the challenge comes to an end.   After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to The A to Z challenge and  continue exploring. .  

 

A is for Allen and Al

r

April 1 2021 A to Z Challenge commences.

Hello to anyone visiting from the challenge.

 This year my theme is Alive in 1921.

Each day I will write about one or more person who was alive 100 years ago in 1921.My criteria for selection was to write about only people who I knew about before compiling the list.  I will give some biographical information, but I will also try to focus on my connection with the person.  

We are starting with Steve Allen, who was the first host of The Tonight Show in 1954.Allen was born the day after Christmas in 1921 so he was born in the last week of eligibility for t

his list.  

                                                        Years Lived Before 1921: Zero

                                                        Years Lived After 1921:   Seventy Nine

I know it is April 1st but when it came to hosting a late night show, Allen was no fool.  Many of the innovations he pioneered for his ground breaking progam are still in use today. Like this duet with himself

Steve Allen made a lot of appearances on talk shows and game shows in my youth.  What I remember him for most was his dead pan sense of humor.  In the 1980's a show by the name of Solid Gold ran on television. It did not run on broadcast or cable network it was syndicated and I watched a few episodes in it's first season.  On one of those episode Mr. Allen gave a "dramatic" reading.  I put dramatic in quotes as the reading was the lyrics of Donna Summer's Hot Stuff which topped billboard hot 100 chart in 1979. 40 years later the mere thought of the chorus lyrics below being read by Mr. Allen send me into a fit of hysteria.  I was unable to find a clip of this otherwise I would be posting it on my vlog.  

Steve is not the only Allen we are celebrating today. The other one spells it Allan and goes by Al.  His name is Al Jaffee.  Al Jaffee was an artist for Mad magazine.  Like Steve Allen, Jaffee was born in 1921 but unlike Allen who died in 2000, Jaffee is still alive, just celebrating his 100th birthday last month.  

                                             Years lived before 1921: Zero     

                                             Years lived after 1921:One Hundred (so far)

This is a good time to mention how I am incorporating my other blogs into the a to z challenge this year.  I have links to additional content on some of the people I will be featuring this month.  I am calling these A to Z Easter Eggs and there are 2 kinds.  A to Z extra are content I created specifically for the challenge and that I publish simultaneously with that day's letter. A to Z archives are previous posts which have previously appeared in the blog-o-sphere.  Today, I have none of the former, and 2 of the latter.  

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Happy Birthday to Chris and Al at Random Acts of Roller. Mr. Jaffee's birthday coincides with my younger brother's, so I wrote them a fitting tribute which contains a little more biographical information as well as how I connect with the Mad artist.  

The Tonight Show: A History of Hosts at Dave Out Loud.    Steve Allen was the first of 6 hosts of the Tonight Show. I have some footage of each host. 

This should end my first installment of the A to Z challenge.  After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. .         

 

A to Z Challenge 2021 Theme Reveal

It is almost time once again for the A to Z Challenge to come out of it's den and cast it's shadow to the

blogging community.  It is now time for participants to reveal their 2021 theme to the world.

I had several ideas for this years a to z challenge, some more ambitious and some less ambitious.  I think this one is just right and hopefully, like Goldilocks you'll eat it all up.

My A to Z challenge is to write about people who were living 100 years ago in 1921.  For example 13 men who had been , were , or would become U.S. presidents were alive in 1921. These presidents lived between 1856 and 2006.  All 4 of my grandparents were living in 1921.  They ranged in ages from 9 to 19 at that time.  The 9 year old eventually married the 19 year old but that was some years later.  

In the past I have participated in the challenge from multiple  blogs.  This year I come back to HSD after doing the last challenges from Random Acts of Roller.  I currently have 4 active blogs and have found  a way to involve each blog into the extravaganza.  The way is by A to Z Easter Eggs

What are A to Z Easter eggs you ask.  It is my way of adding additional related content my from my  other blogs to my a to z posts.  I will do this in 2 different ways one if I create additional content on one of my blogs and then post it concurrently with the a to z post, I will call that an to A to Z extra.  If I have already created that content and posted it previous to this years challenge I will call it A to Z archive. 

 For today's post I only have one kind of Easter eggs but I have plenty of that kind.. Last week at my vlog, Dave Out Loud on my feature called Quick Random Takes the topic I picked out of my hat just happened to be A to Z challenge.  I put that topic idea last May, so it's interesting it would pop up a week before the topic reveal.   In addition,  all 4 of my blogs including this one have A to Z archives which are links to my previous A to Z Challenges.  

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives: 

 Quick Random Takes: A to Z Challenge at Dave Out Loud

Index for A to Z Challenge 2020: Capitals at Random Acts of Roller

Index for A to Z Challenge 2019: Music of the Sherman Brothers at Random Acts of Roller

Index for A to Z challenge 2016: Y is for YouTube at Dave Out Loud

Index for A to Z Challenge 2016 Cubs Home Run Hitters Aramis to Zimmerman at Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog 

Index for A to Z Challenge 2015 Nouns at Home School Dad

Index for A to Z Challenge 2015 White Sox Home Runs Hitters AJ to Zeke at Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog

Index for A to Z Challenge 2012 at Home School Dad

The challenge starts on Thursday April 1st and continues  every day but Sundays for the rest of the month. Click here to be redirected to the A to Z challenge.

Quick Random Takes - A to Z Challenge

Head to A to Z challenge for more information on this years challenge.

Head to my blog HSD to follow me in the month of April. 

OPV: What's In The Bible: Judges

I have shared this video here before. It was back in April 2016 when I was doing Y is for You Tube as my theme for the A to Z Challenge.

Instead of rehashing my intro from then here, I will just add this.  

My older daughter hates this song.  Because a) many family members use to sing the song excessively and b) many of the same family members sang it even more regularly upon receiving that information.  My part in that fiasco can not be elaborated on any greater than that due to a plea-bargaining agreement.  However, I am not breaking my parole, by sharing it here.  

I just realized that that particular clip cuts the song off after one chorus and leaves out many of my favorite parts.  Since I believe this song is best when listened to multiple times.  I am including the full video here.  But be careful, multiple listening is part of what led to my legal problems.  Can you and your family handle it? You be the judge!

State of the Blogs

The past few months I have been tweaking my 4 existing blogs with the intent of keeping them filled with content and not laying dormant in the basement of the alamo of the internet.  My 4 active blogs at this time are in oldest to youngest  Home School Dad which I have shortened to the initials HSD, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog, Dave Out Loud, and Random Acts of Roller.

I have decided to make HSD the flagship of the four blogs.  That is why directly under this post you can see links to the latest posts of the other 3 blogs.  To that end, periodically I will make a post of whats coming next in all of these blogs.  Consider this one of thos posts?

What Am I Working On?

HSD: Aside from this post I am not working on any posts on this blog at this time.  This week I hope to participate in Wordless Wednesday.  I have a couple of ideas for the feuture Muzak Lessons I started last week and may start working on one of those soon.

Random Acts: I am currently working on a piece that combines politics and Christianity.  Instead of trying to write it all at one time, I usyally only work at it for 15 to 30 minutes at a time.  part of this is because of my schedule at work, the other reason is that I am trying to be much more deliberate about my writing at this time.  I think taking my time to get my thoughts together and working without a deadline may aid that.

Crazy Uncle Daves: I just posted ther for the first time in over a year.  This blog has never been a real time sports blog and I'd really like it to be.  Unfortunately there are no real time sports at this surreal time .  So until then I'll be trying to find a pace and contentent  for posting that matches my time and inclinations.

Dave Out Loud.  I am working on my first "live" segment of Dave out Loud in some time.  I'll be taking the random takes idea I mentioned in my last post and running with it.

What Am I Thinking About?

I have been thinking about a podcast.  I'm not sure if I'll ever pull the trigger on such a thing.  However  do expect a piece in Random Acts in the near future of 10 people I'd love to interview on a podcast.

Two weeks ago I participated in Wordless Wednesday for the first time in years.  Last week I participated from 2 of my blogs.  I am thinking about participating from all 4 on the same week sometime.  I want to get a few more posts at Crazy Uncle and Dave Out Loud before I attempt such a feat.

What am I Planning?

I participated in the A to Z challenge this year at Random Acts.  I need to work on an index page of my involvement and gave myself the month of May off from doing that.  Here is my index page from my  a to z challened last year.  In June I plan to put up this year's index page.

I also  have big plans for the a to z challenge for next year.  There will need to be quite a  bit of behind the scenes planning for it.  I shall begin that work in earnest come June.

That's just a snippet of what to expect over the next few weeks and months.

The nounsense is over

My A to Z Challenge  theme was nouns.

A noun is a person, place or thing.

My people were:

Allen Levi
Dave Ramsey
Frank Thomas
Hank Aaron
King Tut
Minnie Minoso
Nobody
Paul  Konerko
Jimmy Stewart
Bob Wallace

My Places were

Comiskey Park
Debt
Elgin
Illinois
Nowhere
Turkey
Uzbekistan
Virginia
Zoos

My Things were
Bibimbap
Discussions
Giraffe Poop
Jack & Diane
Library
Nothing
Oreos
Quinjet
Ragamuffin
Xanthosis
Yoyo

I enjoyed my time doing a to z blogging.

Here are three things I learned.

1) It is a lot easier to do a to z blogging as a full time home school dad than it is working outside the home.

2) I tried to do two blogs at the same time and had to give up on my  baseball one at U.

3)  Blogging here everyday for a month has gotten me more psyched for blogging than I have been in 2.5 years.  I am actually planning on participating next year in 3 blogs but have already picked my themes and hope to be much more prepared then I was this year.

I am sorry it took me a few weeks to post my thoughts.  But i went to Florida for 1 week right after this ended and it's taken me about a week to get back in the swing of things.

Speaking of road trips I am participating in the a to z road trip .  For more info click here.

Z is for Zoo (Place)

3 years ago when I last participated in a to z blogging.  I ended with this video my wife took when the kids were younger.  It feels like cheating to do it again.  But. it's eithe that or not finish.







For more A to Z blogging click here.

Y is for YoYo (thing)

i

When I think of the yoyo I think of the Duncan Couagempany and the yo-yo fad that started in the 1920's and the subsequent fads since then.  

Did you know that the yoyo is a Tagalog word?  Tagalog is a language of the Philippines.  The yoyo was used for 400 years in the Philippines as a weapon for hunting and fighting,  In Tagalog yoyo means come back.  The yoyo goes back much farther than 400 years and dates back to 500 years before  the time of Christ it was used as a toy in ancient Greece.  It was also used in China, before moving to Europe in the 1800's.  the toy came to the us in the 1860's with the British name bandalore.  In 1920 A Filipino immigrant by the name of Pedro Flores brought the name yoyo to the US and started producing the toy his shop on California.  His taught caught the attentiogin of Donald Duncan who brought the rights. to it.

A to Z blogging like the yoyo has had it's ups and downs for me.  But with one day left we are definitely ending on an up.

X is for Xanthosis (thing)

According to Merriam Webster, Xanthosis is ...

1

:  yellow discoloration of the skin from abnormal causes

2

:  a virus disease of the strawberry plant characterized by crinkling and curling, yellowing and dwarfing of the leaves, and stunting of the entire plant

Why did I choose such a noun? Because of the movie Akeelah and the Bee.  Before the scene we are about to watch, Akeelah and Dylan are talking about the word xanthosis and it is clear in the movie by the time of the spelling bee finals when they are the last 2 contestants, that they both know how to spell that word.  Akeelah has been observing throughout the movie that Dylan's dad is a tyrannical spelling bee Dad and only the championship trophy will be enough for Dylan to achieve.

Let's see what happens next .

If you have not seen this fine 2006 movie I strongly recommend that you do.  For more A to Z challenge click here.

W is for Wallace (Person)

Today's noun was going to be a place.  It was going to be Walt Disney World aka The Magic Kingdom.  On Saturday, 4/25 Robert Wallace passed away. "Mr. Bob" as he was known at Lake Zurich Community Church and the Lake Zurich Harvest, to generation after generation of AWANA kids was one of the kindest and Godliest men I ever had the pleasure of meeting,  He and his wife Lucille made every day living a ministry.  His life was spent investing in God's eternal kingdom, not a magical one.  He is there now, enjoying God's presence forever.

As this Father's day video shows,   Life does goes fast!  Bob is the last father featured.

V is for Virginia (Place)

V is for Virginia and it also stands for vacation it also is the roman numeral for 5.

5 years ago our family went on vacation in Virginia and 5 years ago we went into Washington DC and flew kites.

 

 

Flying a kite on the mall in D.C.
Posted by David Roller on Sunday, April 25, 2010

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U is for Uzbekistan

For  Friday Fragments I thought I would go back in time  and look at 3  increments of 5 years starting in 1993 and telling you what  late April of those years may have looked like.


Fragment 1 :  22 years ago  in Tash Kent
Family Status: Single as they come
Employment Status: Southern Baptist Missionary


In  April 1993 I spent a week In Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  This was right after it had become it's own country after the breakdown of the U.S.S.R.  I was living in Russia at time as a Baptist missionary/English teacher and was spending a week in Tashkent to observe how ministry with Korean Russian youth was going since the team leadership aspect of the ministry in  Tashkent would matc hopefully to what we planned to do in my city of Khabarovsk.

I don't remember a lot about my time there.  I helped with English classes, church services, and also spent time enjoying the city.  I had a caricature of myself drawn at a sidewalk cafe which I gave to my folks upon my return.  My time in Tashkent was as close to a business trip as I've ever been on.

Fragment 2: 17 years ago in Hickory Hills
Family Status: Newlywed
Employed at Dovenmuehle Mortgage

In  April 1998, we had just moved into our apartment after getting home from honeymoon in TN.  We were very busy with our church, work, and being madly in love.  I was working in the phone center at the mortgage company and had only been there since December of 1997.

We ate out a lot, but also spent a lot of time with friends and family.  We started a tradition of visiting our living grandparents about once a month.  Those newlywed times will always be precious to me.  Every day was an adventure and I am glad to say that it still is.

Fragment 3: 12 years ago in Carpentersville, IL

Family Status: Married 5 years and had 3.5 year old girl and 1.5-year-old boy
Employed at Dovenmuehle Mortgage

By April 2003 life was getting back to normal after an eventful 2001 and 2002.  I was working in the research department at my job mostly handling presidential correspondence.  We were attending church in Crystal Lake

For more Friday fragments

T is for Turkey (place)

I went to Turkey for two weeks in 199 for a short term missions trip.  We took a team of 6 adults  and our baby daughter. I'm going to give you some brief observations from my memories of our time there.

• We spent a majority of our time in Istanbul, which is a city on two continents (Asia and Europe)
• People  on the streets of Instanbul would take our baby daughter out of our hands hold her for awhile and give her back.  We were warned about this in advance so it would not freak us out.
• In 1998 cell phones while common in the U.S. had not yet exploded to their current popularity. In Istanbul, everybody had a cell phone and were constantly on them.  Again, this seems commonplace in the US now but it wasn't at the time.
• Istanbul has a rich heritage and was the capitol of the Byzantine Empire when the city was known as Constantinople.
• Turkey is the home of some ancient biblical places like Ephesus.

Let me show you 3 visual highpoints of Istanbul, The Blue Mosque, The Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar. All places that we visited.  

The Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world.  It marks it's beginnings from 1445.

 M o

The Hagia Sophia was built under the direction of the emperor Justinian in the 6yh century.  It was an  Eastern Orthodox cathedral from 537 to 1453.  In the 15th century when Constantinople was invaded by the Ottoman Turks the cathedral was turned into a mosque.  It remained a mosque from 1453 until 1931 when it was converted into a museum.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosques known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles on the inner walls of the mosque ws built 500 years ago.

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S is for Stewart (Person)

I am something of a Jimmy Stewart fanatic.  I have seen many of his movies.  It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite film of all time.  Mr.  Smith goes to Washington is also in my top 10. He was in so many great films.  So when I decided to watch 12 movies  this year that I had never seen before it didn't surprise me that a Stewart film would make the list.  What did surprise me is that it would be a Stewart film I had never heard of before.

Magic Town (1947) is just that. I had a month free trial of  Amazon prime and was looking for a Jimmy Stewart film I had not seen before and when I found Greatest Show on Earth,  which I had heard of previously but never seen,  When I found it was not available I went with Magic Town.
I did a little researching and found that It's A wonderful life (1946 pictured above) and Magic Town  were back to back box office failures for Stewart.

The main difference between the two is that Magic Town is well deserving of it's failure.  It's A Frank Capra like film , which is  not surprising as it was written and directed by long time Capra collaborator Robert Riskin.  The end result of the reteaming of Riskin and Stewart without Capra is expressed quite well in an IMDB review by Mario Gauci ...

"... while the plot is typically original and engaging, somehow it lacks Capra's cinematic expertise in putting over Riskin's ideas: the tone is too often syrupy and sentimental while the  hero isn't made to face formidable villains such as one finds in Capra's work."

Stewart is not at his best in the movie.  His portrayal of a pollster trying to put a magic formula to work, lacks the multilayered nuanced performances he so often achieved. Jimmy Stewart was in many great movies prior to 1947. If you are looking for better Stewart movies from the 40's, you might want to try The Shop Around the Corner or Rope instead of this slightly above average comedy drama.

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