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Thursday, March 13, 2025

Capping Off Poetry Friday


 I am an old school blogger and as such I still list many blogs on multiple blogrolls at my site.  There are many different types of blogs, sports blogs, music blogs, poetry blogs just to name a few.  tonight as I was looking over some of the recent posts on my blog roll I noticed one that said 30 poems.  So I assumed it was a poetry blog this being just a few hours from Poetry Friday.  Boy was I wrong it was a blog called Fan Graphs which is a very insightful baseball blog that I understand only about a third of.  

Well I clicked and there were 30 poems all right, but they were poems about baseball caps and not just any baseball caps but 30 poems dedicated to a new line of caps called overlap caps by the company New Era. 

Davy Andrews wrote a poem for each of the 30 MLB teams caps.  They are called overlap caps because each cap overlaps two of the baseball teams names or designs.  Since I am a Chicago baseball fan I am including a picture of both Chicago teams caps  and the first few lines of the poem to demonstrate the effect.



 

                    Chicago White Sox

Pay close attention, kids. 
This is the danger of the limited color palette. 
Life’s not black and white. 

Or rather, it’s not all black and white. 
 
There’s still right and wrong. 
There’s right, and then there’s wrong. 
So much wrong we’re drowning in it,


                        Chicago Cubs 

 “Nothing to see here,” said the huge, rotund C 
 That swallowed its skinny sibling whole. 
 “Nothing to see. Hop aboard the El.” 
 It looks like it’s about to throw the skinny C back up.

To see the pictures of the rest of the caps and read these poems in their entirety along with other teams of your choosing click here

Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Janet at Salt City Verse.  You can click here to see what she has going on. I have not been writing much poetry lately which is one of the reasons why I have not been participating in Poetry Fridays for a while, but as my old school blog role indicates I am still actively pursuing poetry in my blog reading.


F O G .... E L Berg

 My Daughter Lucy formerly known on this blog as both Puppy and Wolfina  is now a  19 year old adult in her first year at college at the University of Illinois.  She is a double major in Creative Writing and English.  She continues to sing in a choir and is rehearsing for her 3rd and 4th plays of the school year.  Same old busy dynamo.  Lucy is one of those students who seem to excel in everything she does.  When she was applying at colleges this made it difficult for her to choose a major on her applications.  I think she had a different major chosen for each  school got applied at.   At  heart though she's a theatre/music/writer/artist type of person.  

I'm sorry, this post is not supposed to be about Lucy, but about Dan Fogelberg.  Earlier this week a new  Fogelberg song was released posthumously.  Fogelberg died at the age of 56 in 1997.  The song, I know a Thief, was released on streaming services like Spotify as part of the celebration surrounding the 50th anniversary reissuing of Souvenirs.


   

So, what does that have to do with Lucy you ask, Is she a thief?  Well she did steal my heart, but that's not quite what the connection is.  Fogelberg matriculaed at the University of Illinois and while there studied Theatre and Art as well as writing, performing and beginning to record  his future hits.  


I visited Lucy quite a bit during her first semester at school.  I went so often mainly to watch football games but we hung out as well.  (Mostly kidding I hope.). Speaking of football games, If you didn't understand the title of this  post, (and let's face it who did?),  it is an allusion to the cheer they make at home football games for every first down, touch down , field goal and extra point U of I makes. The announcer says ILL and The crowd responds INI.  Still don't get it? Now you know how my family feels.

On my way around campus especially on game days I've passed by a place called the Red Herring Cafe.  I've always been interested to know a little of it's history.  Well that turns out to be precisely where Dan Fogelberg performed and recorded many of his early works. 


Dan Fogelberg  at The Red Herring 2003
From Dan Fogelberg Facebook page

Red Herring Coffee House Poster 1972



Folk Festival @ Red Herring 1969
Both Posters from Smile Politely Article

My two favorite all time songs frim Fogelberg are Same Auld Lang Syne and Leader of the Band. The latter was also my only attempt at solo karaoke.  I found out today through an article in the Champaign Urbana News Gazette written shortly after Fogelberg's death that both songs have U of I roots, The meeting of the old girlfriend on New Years Eve in Same Old Lang Syne was a Champaign girl friend, the grocery store was on the corner of Green and Neil in Champaign, and at the end of the song when he talks about  feeling like he was back at school he was referring to being on campus.  

Fogelberg did not graduate from the U of I, he ended up dropping out to pursue his music. His Dad reluctantly agreed saying "to take a year of and see how it went".  That is where the line "Thank you for the freedom  when it came my time to go" in Leader of the Band comes from,  which precede the lines I bawled at during my karaoke rendition -

"I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough 
And papa, I don't think I said I love you near enough"

That about it does it for my midweek music break talking about Peoria Native Dan Fogelberg, his posthumous release, and his time at the University of Illinois at the Red Herring.

Speaking of red herrings, people stopping by from my link at Weekly Writer's Workshop must feel like I attached the wrong link.  The truth is, I have had such fun researching and writing this post I absolutely wanted to force it into the workshop and so I have. 




 This weeks prompt's were




  1. Write a post based on the word positivity. 
  2. Write a post in exactly 9 lines (sentences). 
  3. Got any big plans for spring (Easter) vacation? Tell us about them! 
  4. Tell us about the most disastrous date you’ve ever been on.
  5.  List some (1-5) podcasts you listen to.
  6.  Daylight Saving Time — love it or hate it?
There are several  I could do and I may come back and do a few more but today, I will focus on #4 as their is a Champaign/Urbana U of I connection.

Tell us about the most disastrous date you've ever been on?

It was November 1st 1985.   I was in a long distance relationship with a girl who lived near Springfield IL.  We at met at a college conference in 1984 when I was in a long term relationship with my high school sweet heart,  The girl from the conference and I maintained a correspondence and talked on the phone occasionally.  After a mutual break up with my high school girlfriend that lasted 2 years after graduation, we went on a few dates together,  This girl was way out of my league but she did not know it.  We bonded over our love for CCM Contemporary Christian Music and humor.  I was working my first full time job and taking some time off college that year, I was still living at home so the full time job gave me funds for travelling back and forth between Chicago and Springfield.  

As I recall, I was kind of playing the field for the first and only time in my life that summer  and had gone out on dates with 2 or three other girls since the spring.  Those dates  were mainly platonic and similar to what we would have done as friends.  Somewhere along the line things were getting more serious with the girl from Springfield, at least for me, and I stopped going on other dates. 

She and I were both huge Amy Grant fans and we decided to go to Champaign and see Amy play at what was then called Alumni Hall on the U of I Campus. The concert was on a Friday and I think I spent Halloween visiting  with friends at Eastern Illinois University. 

 I think we spent most of Friday together and at some point she told me she just wanted to be friends again.  Most of our relationship  before and during our dating period was via correspondence.  She had decided that I was not the guy for her.  I was at the point where I was thinking maybe I was.  She seemed to think that we could just enjoy the concert as friends because of course I had 4-8 hours to process it.  When I was a young man going to a concert with a girlfriend was all about holding hands during the love songs, and Amy Grant  is all about the love songs. 

 The opening act was Bob Bennett who did a great set.  He wasn't then but he now is one of my five favorite musical artists.  His brand of   adult contemporary  kind of Fogelbergesque  CCM does not give you too much to worry about on the love song angle.  Amy Grant was her Unguarded self. She brought the dancing, the cuteness, and the love songs.  We supplied the awkward. What was supposed to be a night to remember was quickly becoming one to forget.  

  

Amy Grant 1985, Champaign Illinois, Assembly Hall
This is a ticket from the concert I went to but not my ticket.
This is what big named Christian Concerts cost back in the 80's.

   After the concert, we went our separate ways  (although later we did resume our friendship by correspondence).  I drove back to EIU and some of the awkward continued, because one of the girls I had gone on a few dates with earlier that year was the ex-girlfriend of the friend I was staying with. He seemed to think that I did it behind his back, which I don't know which way his back was pointed when we went out, but I never told him about it.  He had found out that summer, and this was the first time we had spent any time together since.  So it was kind of a bad night all around.  

For a short time Champaign and Assembly Hall and even Amy Grant were all reminders of that horrible date.  Long before Lucy got accepted there the place  came to mean much more than failed romance.

I went to two mission conferences  at U of I  in 1987 and 1990.  Both of these conferences were pivotal on the road God was leading me to missions work in my first few years after college.  At the 2nd of those mission conferences I went with a group form my college and in that group was a young woman who was quickly becoming my best friend and rather slowly (7 1/2) years becoming my wife.  Her name is Amy and I try to take her for Granted.  (Sorry had to work it in, I'm contractually obligated to make a certain number of groaner puns). Also at that 2nd conference Amy and I and the other 20,000 delegates were treated to a conference ending year ending concert at Assembly Hall by another one of my top 5 performers of all time Randy Stonehill.  (Yes, it would be a better ending to my post  if it was Dan Fogelberg singing Same  Auld Lang syne at the Assembly hall as he did twice in his career, especially singing it on New Years Eve.) Even the date of the Amy Grant concert, if it ever lived in infamy, has been redeemed as one of our 3 precious children was born on Nov 1st.


Thus ends my story about the influences of Champaign. I'll try to do one more midweek music break before the A to Z challenge begins next month, To at long last get back to The Weekly Writer's Workshop hosted by John Holton at the Sound of One Hand Clapping click here.  






Breakfast Serials Marty Television Program (1953) Part II

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Team Saturdazzle: The One With The Return of Bisquick Man

Welcome to Saturdazzle. Today we have Some Superheroes that begin with B, baseball for the blind, and The best selling movies of February.



   
This video has been sitting in my draft status for some time now.  I thought with baseball being in spring training, this would be a great time to show it.


Team Saturdazzle At The Movie
Powered by Box Office Mojo

Top 10 Films  
 top 10 Films of 2025 as of 2/28/2005

10. Den of Thieves: Pantera Down 3 from January
9.  Wicked Down 4 from January
8.  A Complete Unknown  Down 2 from January
7  One of These Days Up1 from January
6. Nosferatu down 2 from January
5  Moana 2 Down 3 from January
4. Dog Man up 8 from January
3. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 down 1 from January
2. Mufasa The Lion King Down 1 from January
1. Captain America: Brave New World 

Top 10 Films of February 2025

10. Love Hurts
9.   Companion up 9 from January
8.   Ne Zha 2
7.   One of Them Days up 1 from January
6.   The Monkey
5.   Mufasa: The Lion King down 4 from January
4.   Paddington In Peru
3.   Heart Eyes
2.   Dogman up 10 from January
1.   Captain America: Brave New World

Friday, March 7, 2025

A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal: The ABC's of ME

#AtoZChallenge 2025
April Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2025 SIGN-UP March 24-April 5 a-to-zchallenge.com

Leap of Dave 

2025 A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

Sponsored By No-One

No-One is a proud sponsor of the Leap of Dave 2025 A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal.  No one has  practically been reading this blog for many years and was glad to answer the call when I asked no one to sponsor it.  Now back to the theme reveal.


The Theme for my 2025 A to Z challenge is The ABC's of Me. 

I had many different ideas for the challenge theme this year and I chose this one because at the beginning of the year I placed an alphabetical list of things that described me on my home page.

As of March 7th 2025 this list reads as follows:

Amateur Parodist, 
Blogger, 
Christian, 
Daring do-gooder, 
Evangelical sans Trump Kool-Aid, 
Father of 3 adult children, 
Giraffe lover, 
Husband of one amazing wife, 
Illinois resident, 
Jester, 
Kindred spirit, 
Library lover 
Middle School teacher 
Nincompoop 
Original Poet
Quintessential worker 
RITA (Republican in theory, anyways.) 
Sixty something 
Teller of jokes 
U of I Parent - ILL
Voracious reader, 
Willy Wonka Wannabe, 
Xenophile 
Yankovic enthusiast 
Zoo attender

Each day of the challenge I will write a post about the alphabetical aspect of me that matches that day's letter.  It is very possible that I may change some of the topics before the challenge.  If I do that, they will also be changed on my blog's sidebar.  As I am not a fan of revisionist history, I will not change them on this post.  

This is now usually the time in a Theme Reveal where the blogger lists his previous A to Z Challenge theme's.  So let's get to it shall we. The first time I participated in the A to Z Challenge was 2012 it was here at this blog back when it was still called Home School Dad. and it was the only year I had no theme. In 2015 I returned to the Challenge and actually participated in the challenge on2 of my blogs.  The complete list is below. 


 
                                                   
Year    Blog      Theme                                   Sample Post                              

2012  HSD      No Theme                              B is for Boring
2015  HSD      Nouns                                    A is for Allen
2015   CUSP   White Sox Home Runs         F is for Frank
2016  YBD      Comic Book Characters      B is for Beast 
2016   DOL     Y is for You Tube                  Theme Reveal
2016   CUSP   Cubs Home Runs                 R is for Ronny
2019   RAN     Sherman Brothers Songs    Z is for Zuckerman 
2020   RAN     State Capitals                       W is for Washington 
2021   HSD     Alive in 1921                         W is for Waltons
2022   LOD     Multiple *                             Quit Quentin Quest
2023   LOD     A Month at the Movies         Ordinary People
2024    LOD    Holidays                                J is for Just Married
                                                                                          

* The themes for 2022 were Wordles, Limericks and Home Runs

Key to BLOGS: 
HSD Home School Dad *
CUSP Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Page
YBD Your Basic Dave
DOL Dave Out Loud 
RAN Random Acts of  Dave 
LOD Leap of Dave*

* Leap of Dave is the same blog as Home School Dad.  


I am very excited about participating this year.  Since I am kind of the theme I'm looking forward to putting myself out there.  

Here is a quote from the movie that inspired the title of my theme.

The Theme Reveal Sponsor, No One is offering a prize for anyone who can answer these questions from the above referenced quote:

1. The Name of the film
2. The name of the character speaking.
3. The name of the actor portraying the character.  

Leave your answer in the comments and No One will  be very happy that you participated. 

To  see the theme reveal post as the A-Z challenge website click here.  To  submit your theme reveal post click here. To see the Theme Reveal Spreadsheet click here.

 

Coming April First: Amateur Parodist at your Service. 






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A Quote to Start Things Off

If we ever think well it should be when we think of God. - A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

Snow Kidding!

Snow Kidding!
These "kids" now range from 19 to 25