A wordless Wednesday Worth Going Ape Over

 

A favorite gymnast and a favorite library

What do you think of when you think of Summer? Do you think of Summer Bartholomew the 1975 Miss America who was the hostess of the game show Sale of the Century?

Or do you think of Summer Glau who played  River Tam om Firefly?

Initially when I think of Summer, I don't think of people whose names begins with Summer as much as I think of events that happen in the Summer.

I think of Summer Reading programs and Summer Olympics.  Olympics are one of my favorite things.  I especially enjoy the team sports, swimming, diving, cycling, track and gymnastics. I love gymnastics.  My favorite current gymnast is  Simone Biles.  

I love few things as much as I love the Summer Olympics. Libraries may well be one of them. Not only because  they have the aforementioned Summer Reading Programs.  I am here right now at my local library using their computer for this post.  7 years ago my family moved from one town to a neighboring town. We were very familiar with the Gail Borden Library at the time of our move and were glad that we would now be walking distance from it.

Today at the library I was delighted to be  directed to my libraries facebook page and see two of my summer loves combined in 1 place. 
 

 Total disclosure, I have not read any James Patterson books so my total jump height is currently greater than stacking up all his books that I've read.  This will probably no longer be true if I ever read even just  of his books.  

Thanks GBPL (Gymnasast Biles Patterson Library Gail Borden Public Library)

How Bad are the 2024 White Sox?

 The Chicago White Sox are on a 10 game losing streak that dates back to July 10th because of the All Star Break.  This is their 2nd double digit losing streak this season.  The satirical news service the onion reported on them earlier this month.    

To give you an idea how bad they are you don't need to look  much further than their current record  (27-77) after their loss to the Rangers yesterday.  But here are a few more ...

• 50 games below .500 less than 2/3rd through the season
• According to the team Website Andrew Vaughn is leading the team in hitting with a ,236 Batting Average*
• The 2nd worst team in MLB, the Florida Marlins has a winning percentage of .363 that is 42 points better than the White Sox best monthly average of .321 (May and June).
• Most experts expect White Sox to be massive sellers before the Trade Deadline of July 30th which means their on-field product will probably, although incredibly hard to believe, much worse.

The White Sox are celebrating their 125th year in baseball in 2025 and have already begun promoting seasons tickets.  The  below video uses the White Sox past to promote the White Sox future because the White Sox present is absent of any hope.  

All 27 outs of Mark Buehrle's perfect game

15 years ago today, on July 24th 2009. Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox.  to commemorate the anniversary enjoy this look at all 27 outs back when White Sox victories were not few and far  between.

 

The Last Haircut of My 50's?

 Yesterday I got my hair cut.  It's been very hot in Illinois and my hair has seen better days. So I got my hair cut.

                                                                        Before Haircut

                                                                          After Haircut

                                                      Day After Haircut / After Shaving

I got a two all over which is perfect for the hot weather and swimming.  When I get my hair this short it literally dries while I'm waiting in line for the diving board. My hair grows back rather quickly, but I hope that as short as I got it cut that I won't need another hair cut until late September making this my last haircut of my fifties.  I will probably need one more when school starts but just in case I made this post for posterity.  

Side Walk Chalk At Night (Wordless Wednesday)

 

Wordless Wednesday is held at Comedy Plus.  Check it out here.

Wordless Wednesday- Which of these signs is dumber?

 

For More Wordless Wednesdays Click  here to get to Comedy Plus.

100 Days of Summer Reading 2024

Summer is right around the corner and it is time for me to endeavor once again to get into one of my favorite past times: Summer Reading.  My Summer reading season generally goes from Memorial Day (tomorrow) to Labor Day (which is September 2nd this year).  By starting today and ending Labor Day, the season is 100 days long.  

I want to read at least 10 books during this period.  That is an absolute minimum goal.  I think I would actually be disappointed if I only read 10 books this Summer.  That is basically only one  book every week and a half.  I really have my eyes set on twenty, Which is 1 book every five days for a fortnight of weeks.  

Now when I say read, I really mean consume.  I may listen to some, and read some on a device, but the majority will be physical books which I will read from the printed page.  There are some books that I am in the middle of reading, if and when I finish them this Summer I will count them.  There are some reading programs that do not allow this,  but mine is not one of them.  To keep myself honest each year, I don't start reading any books the week prior to Memorial Day.  I've been so busy lately, that I don't think I've read any books for the last two weeks,  

My lack of recent reading could become problematic as I am out of habit.  Over the next few days I hope to remedy that by jumping back into the waters of reading.

Here is a list of 10 books that may be some of the first I finish this Summer.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

This is probably a good time to stipulate that some of the books I plan  to read this Summer, I actually will be re-reading.  Earlier this month, in my A to Z Reflection, I wrote about my plan of reading all the Narnia books again this year, and then doing the 2025 A to Z challenge on the series.  I wouldn't be at all surprised, If I finished all 7 prior to Labor Day

Walking With Sam by Andrew McCarthy

Many of the books I read during this program are books that I own.  I picked this one up last year at a meet the author event.  My wife has already read this story of McCarthy's walking trip with his son on the Camino de Santiago.  I read some of it last year but will be starting anew as I'm not sure where I left off.

Luke: The Gospel of Amazement - Michael Card

Michael Card is one of my favorite singers, but I also enjoy his writings.  This was going to another one that I started over from the beginning. I just page through it and I remember most of the introductory material from reading it earlier this Spring.  I'm going to start again on page 32 which is a chapter about Luke chapter 1.

Eugene Onegin byAlexander Pushkin

Years ago I lived on Pushkin Street in Khabarovsk, Russia,  This Summer I will again be attempting to read Pushkin's verse novel, Eugene Onegin,  I have been very off again Onegin (pun very much intended) with this one.  For the past few months I have been  consistently practicing Russian for the first time in decades.  If I can wade through the English translation, maybe next year I'll attempt it in Russian.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien 

At the beginning of this year, I wrote a post about my plan to read FOTR (I have never finished it) by September 2nd, which is the 53rd anniversary of his death.  I am about 1/2 way finished and if I only read 1 book this Summer it needs to be this one.  If I'm not done by 4th of July I will start listening to it as well as reading it.

1984 by George Orwell

Speaking of books that I've  never finished.  2024 should be the year I finally finish 1984.  I've had to return a copy to the library twice this year, but I'll order one today from them and should be finishing it very soon.

Concise Theology by J.I. Packer

The 3rd book so far with initialized authors.  I have read this book multiple times over the years.  This year has been a little different as I've been reading one chapter at a time and highlighting that chapter as I read. There are 94 chapters and I have completed 24.  It is very possible I will not get through all 94 by Labor Day.

The Cooperstown Casebook by Jay Jaffe

  In my sports blog, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog, (which has now been incorporated into this blog), I write a lot about Baseball's Hall of Fame.  Jaffe writes in this book about who he thinks are Hall of Fame worth candidates.  I am looking forward to finishing it soon.  

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

As of yesterday, all my children are officially finished with their secondary education.  Which of course means they are all finished with their primary or elementary education as well.  I, on the other hand, will probably never be finished with  children's literature.  To that end, I'm dusting off a favorite tome from our home school days and planning to enjoy it anew this Summer.  

 Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Now that school is over, I am looking forward to re-reading Allen Levi's fiction debut.  I believe I gave my copy away.  So, I may need to wait until I get a summer job and a summer paycheck before I get to this one.  

Don't be  too surprised if I finish other books before or instead of some of these  these 10.   I will try to post a review of each book as I finish them.  I'm not always successful when it comes to that part of the program, but we shall see.  3 short weeks after Labor Day I will turn 60, so this is my last Summer Reading Challenge of my 50's.  I think that will make it that much more enjoyable.  

Light Bulb Poem

Today was the last day of school and the only thing sadder than saying goodbye to my students for the Summer is saying the same thing to my computer.  Substitute teachers in my district need to borrow a computer each time they teach and return it at the end of the day,  Classroom teachers are able to keep their computers year round as long as they are employed by the district.  As a building sub, I am able to borrow a computer at the beginning of the year and not return it until the last day of the year. So today I had to say goodbye to my dear friend and I am back to borrowing computers from friends and libraries until the 24/25 school year gets under way. 

Before I returned the computer to the media center, I cleaned out any files I may have had put on there during the course of the year.  I came across a poem, I had written but forgotten all about.  I don't remember what my inspiration was. I think it may have stemmed (no pun intended) from one of the science classes I was subbing in.  Or it may have been am ELA assignment or maybe just a prompt form my poetry group.  In any case it was in a Microsoft document in a borrowed computer and is now a submission to Poetry Friday which is being hosted this week by Michelle Kogan.

 Growth Mindset

or

Standing on Our Failures

In cartoons,  when an unsolvable problem is about to need a new adjective, a light bulb goes on over the thinker’s head.   

 

When Thomas Alva Edison 

Or T. Alva Ed 

Was inventing the light bulb 

What went on over his head?

Idea after idea after idea 

More than 10,00 all told 

Which he did not view as failures 

But as steps to the goal. 

With each setback I think 

I would have felt like a jerk 

But Tom discovered 

ways that his bulb wouldn’t work 

Inspiration is a light 

Perspiration is when we fight 

To perfect our ideas 

Until we GET THEM RIGHT. 

Now when I have a bright idea. 

And the light bulb shines 

I stand on other's failures 

And a whole lot of mine.

To get back to Poetry Friday click here.

How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Luis Von Ahn | TED

Henry Cate of Why Homeschool Why Homeschool shared this great Ted Talk by the co-founder of Duo Lingo. His original post is here.

 

How Non Cubers Think You Solve A Rubik’s Cube

Wordless Wednesday: I Went to get a Snack From my Refrigerator and This Happened

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here to stop by at Comedy-Plus.

 

Dave Out Loud Comedy Set @roldaver

The White Sox are still very bad. But at this present moment they are not the worst.

 My beloved White Sox are really bad this year.  24 games into the season they had won 3 games and lost 24 for a paltry winning percentage of .125.  They have improved somewhat in the past two weeks.  Since the they snapped their season high 7 game losing streak and have had 2 3 game winning streaks  and 1 2 game winning streak for an 8-7 record.  This has more than doubled their winning pct. to a still very meager .282.  This is bad enough still for dead last in the American league 3.5 games behind the Astros and the Angels.  However, over in the senior circuit, (just one of many colorful monikers for the National League) both the Rockies and the Marlins have so far under performed the underperforming Southsiders.  

The Rockies own the worst winning percentage in the majors at .243 and while the Marlins are slightly better percentage wise at .250 they are still a 1/2 game behind Colorado in the standings by virtue of having played 3 more games than the Rockies at this point,

As it stands at 11:00 p.m. central time on May 10th, The White Sox are 1.5 games ahead of the Marlins and 1 game ahead of Colorado.  This is a tight margin, and but by the end of play Sunday, the White Sox could again hold the worst record in all of baseball.

One thing the Sox have not been able to do this year about a quarter way through the season is win a game when on a 1 game losing streak.  The Sox are 0-6 when on a 1 game losing streak, 1-5 after losing 2 in a row, 0-5 when on a 3 game slide, and just 2-3 the game after losing 4 in a row.  If the Sox even want to battle for mediocre they need to eschew losing streaks of more than 3 games.  So far the Sox have lost 4 or more in a row on 5 different occasions. 

I am not very hopeful that the White Sox can turn things around this year.  But for a team that started the season 2-13, an 8-7 run like the one they are on now is definitely a step in the right direction.

Poetry Alive 2024

In late December 2022, my daughter told me about  a poetry group that  met the first Monday of the month.  She and I went in January both enjoyed it so we have been attending ever since.  The group meets both in person ad remotely.  Emma and I have only attended in person so far.

The structure of the group is that the poets share any poems they are working on the the moderator leads us through the theme of the week and then gives us a prompt to work on.  After the group is finished composing, they share the work they just completed.  n

In 2023 several poets shared one poem about Elgin, the city I live in, o Valentines Day. Our group was asked to participate in that.  In April of last year we all participated in a event called Poetry Alive where we all read several of our poems at a  public meeting.  My daughter chose not to participate last year i the event but went with the rest of our family to see me read.

Many of the poems I have submitted for Poetry Friday have bee written during or shared at our monthly poetry meetings .  For today's Poetry Friday I would like to present the You Tube video of the 2024 Poetry Alive presentation.  This year Emma participated as well.  We are the 2nd and 3rd poets.  There were 4 rounds of recitations.  Poetry Alive 2024 took place on the night of my 26th wedding anniversary, so in honor of the occasion, I adapted a song I wrote for her into a poem and recited it in the third round.Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise. 

A to Z 2024 Holiday Reflection

 This is my 2nd of two reflections for the A to Z 2024 challenge,  This will include some thoughts feelings and concerns in no particular order from my foray into all things Holidays.  If you would like to see my first reflection which focused on the playlist I amassed from my songs of the day during the challenge click here. 

My Theme for the 2023 A to Z challenge was Holidays.  The idea behind it started to germinate  when I worked at Chase in their Business Fraud department.  Each day we my manager would start a chat for all of us working on that day.  Each day she would title the chat with a different holiday that was taking place that day.  She would choose the Holiday from a list she would find on the internet for that day.  I don't remember exactly which one she queued them from, but it was similar to what you would find on National Day Calendar.

Instead of making an alphabetized list of such holidays, I wanted to actually choose holidays occurring on the day the letter was posting. From the start this proved to be problematic.  National Autism Awareness Day is April 2nd and autism starts with an A. but April 2nd we featured the 2nd letter of the Alphabet, which is a B.  Some worked out just fine, like April 4th was the first day of the United Kingdom's Discover National Parks Fortnight.  May need just a little tweaking.  Wednesday, April 3rd which is National Film Score Day matched with the letter C, by being described as Cinematic Compositions. 

When I get a idea for a theme , I often add to it a few wrinkles.  One wrinkle I added was immediately confusing. I decided to not only write about actual made-up holidays, but to also make up 5 of my own.  I chose 5 because there are that many vowels in my native tongue.  I say immediately confusing because A, the first letter of the alphabet is a vowel, so I made up a holiday, Adult Children Appreciation Day, on the first day of the challenge. It wasn't until the next day that I started chronicling actual holidays like Children's Picture Book Day which I introduced as B is for Books for Children.  

Even though I explained the entire concept each day with the same exact disclaimer:

 For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate.  Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day.  I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. 

I still think that doing something different with the vowels was confusing and I don't think I'll attempt that again.  I did, however like making up holidays.  For Adult Children Appreciation Day I wrote each of my 3 children aged 18 to 24, a letter appreciating, encouraging, and advising them. I plan to do the same the next time Adult Children Appreciation Day Rolls around which will be on April 21st , 2025 (As you know, Adult Children Appreciation Day is always the Monday after Easter). Besides Adult Children Appreciation Day, I also created 4 other Holidays

E was for Wedding Planner Black Friday

I was for Indicted Illinois Governors Day

O was for One More Time and You get a Parade Day

U was for Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day

Speaking of Undecided, Undeclared & Uncertain Day,  I tried to mix up my presentations here and there this challenge.  This blog used to be 4 different blogs, 2 general interest blogs, 1 vlog, and 1 sports blog.  During the challenge I tried to bring in features from some of these blogs to my daily posts.  The U post was presented in vlog fashion as a You Tube video of me presenting the day in question.  On my M day I posted about National Micro-volunteering Day, but I did so in Frequently Asked Question Format which  is a format I have used multiple times before in my blogs. I even had two holidays regarding sports for S and T.  

I  completed the challenge this year.  What I try to do is predate my entry so it drops at the time that reflects that day's date.  For example my A post dropped at 4:01 A.M. on April 1st.  Some days I had to manually post later that day.  On one occasion I posted minutes before midnight.  I was never late and I was never early each post dropped on the correct day.  

I didn't drop in on every blog but I did visit quite a few,  I received 90 comments on my blog in April and I feel like I may have left that may comments myself.  Next year I'll try to keep track. I discovered 3 new blogs during the challenge that I have been following, they are Hot Dogs and Marmalade, The Versesmith,  and Backsies is What There is not. I am giving them all a try out on one of my blogrolls along with the The Curry Apple Orchard, which was my favorite blog to follow during the challenge.  Now that the challenge is over I hope to pore through every reflection and discover some more blogs worth following,

Before I put this reflection to bed, and me with it, I have a couple of final thoughts.

• The end of the school year is fast upon us, and the middle school where I am a building sub, is basing their end of the year countdown with theme days from the holiday of that day.  What a fantastic idea, I wish I had done something like that for the challenge.  Oh wait, I did!
• In my Theme Reveal this year, I mentioned how my theme for 2024 was supposed to be Chronicles of Narnia related.  My plan is to reread all the books this year, as I do most every year but did not do in 2023, and have that be my 2025 A to Z theme.  

The next stop for me is to register for the A to Z Road Trip,  I also am going to make an index page at the top of this blog for the 2024 challenge.  Until then I'll try ti go back to my 6 to 10  times monthly blogging pattern.  For more A to Z Reflections click here.  

Wordless Wednesday: Tourist Selfies Taken At My School

 

Okay This won't be totally Wordless.  Monday was a theme day at our school.  Dress Like Your on Vacation,  So I did  You know what you do when your on Vacation?  You Take selfies!!!

For More Wordless Wednesday Stop By at Comedy Plus. 

Dave Out Loud: Name That Movie

A to Z 2024:Reflections - The Music

I am doing my A to Z Reflections in 2 parts this year.  The traditional reflection with the index and the pontification will follow.  This year I paid homage to John "1 Hand Typing" Holton  by having a "song of the day" for each letter of the alphabet at the end of my post. I would post a You Tube video of the song in question and then daily add that song to my Spotify A to Z playlist.   

I am adding a bonus song of the day for the reflection called appropriately enough, Reflecting on My Reflection by Allen Levi.

The Leap of Dave A to Z Playlist ia now ready with all 26 songs from the challenge.  

I will be back later this week with my traditional reflection.  Foe more reflections click here.

Z is for the Zenith of the American Revolution

 

For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in an A to Z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.

April 30th 2024 is the 235th anniversary of George Washington being inaugurated the first President of the United States.

George Washington

By Gilbert Stuart, Public Domain, Link

On April 30th 1789 George Washington was innaugurated the first President of the United States of America in Federal Hall in New York City.  Here is the transcript of his address ...

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: 

 Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years--a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrust-ful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated. 

Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow- citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence. 

By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. 

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted. 

To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require. 

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

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The song of the day is Zion by Aaron Shust

The A to Z Challenge is complete!  The Spotify Leap of Dave A to Z playlist is complete.  They both have been a lot of fun.  I will be back soon with my A to Z reflections.

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To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!