Wordless Wednesday: Frog in the Rain

 

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To Live Each Day

As part of my summer reading I've been reading a book about writing poetry.  I enjoy writing poetry and learning about different poetry forms.  This week I decided to write a an Elizabethan sonnet and a Petrarchan sonnet that both started with the same line.  

I am sharing the Elizabethan today as I think it is the better of two and will share the Petrarchan next week.

Both types of sonnets have 14 lines.  The rhyme scheme for the Elizabethan is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.  Karen is hosting Poetry Friday this week.  So I am linking it there as well.

To Live Each Day

                                                                      The time we're given is quite brief

                                                                      Our days are of finite amount

                                                                      Our object than should be in chief

                                                                      To live each day and make it count,

                                                                       Each person is a thing of beauty

                                                                       The Psalmist says wonderfully made

                                                                       I think it then should be our duty

                                                                       To live each day that work displayed

                                                                        Each day we contend with the urgent

                                                                        The important may be left behind

                                                                        We need to stay still and observant

                                                                        To live each day with peace of mind

                                                                        To live each day as we are able

                                                                        To live our lives - strong, good and stable. 

For more Poetry Friday click here.

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 1: God's Forgetful Pilgrims

I started a new blog today.  I promised myself I was done starting blogs.  However, like any good addict I've become an expert at explaining my actions.  The Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog is actually an extension of this blog. This past Sunday I started my 100 days of Summer Reading Program.  Yesterday I finished my first book during the program.  My plan is to write a post at the Summer Reading Blog after each book I finish and then publish a link to that post here.  

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 1: God's Forgetful Pilgrims:  

 At the end of the Summer I will add a page to this blog with a link to all the books I finished this Summer.

Family Camp: These "guys" should have stuck to skits.

Even though you can't tell by the weather yet, I am on my Summer break from substitute teaching.  Monday was my last day until August.  This summer besides working  a local movie theatre  and the Kane Cougars baseball team as a concessionist I will also be volunteering for a month with my family at a camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  

One of the perks of working at a movie theatre is free movies for me and my family.  Last weekend I noticed a new movies coming in called Family Camp and I recognized the people on the poster.  At the bottom of the poster it said it was a Skit Guys production.

I have seen many skit guys skits first as a volunteer at my church youth group and some of them in Sunday morning services.  Here is a good example of their work.

With the prospect of spending a month volunteering at a camp which hosts family camps and because of my familiarity with the Skit Guys and because of my ability to watch free movies at my theatre I took my daughter to watch Family Camp.

As you can tell by the title of this post, I was not a fan of the movie.  I may have walked into the film for free, but I walked out feeling like I had spent too much.

As my daughter pointed out there wasn't much of a Christian message to this film.  Yes we laughed at times but  there wasn't much to the plot and what there was to the plot was recycled from so many movies before. This was especially disappointing as the Skit Guys skits are original, humorous and imbued with a Christian message.  

 In 1979 , the summer before I started high school,  Bill Murray's first movie Meatballs came out. This was the story of a Summer camp and Murray played the head counselor.  In my opinion, it is a very funny movie but a little raunchy.  In the Summer of 1986 I worked as a counselor at a Christian Camp.  When I applied for the position I wrote about how the movie Meatballs was an inspiration to work at the camp.  I referenced the relationship between Murray and Chris Makepeace who played a camper and how Murrays character  invested time with Makepeace's character to bring out the best in him.  

The fact that there  was more of a  believable transformative narrative in Meatballs which is basically a PG Animal House in a camp rather than college setting than in a Christian film is deeply disappointing.  I think the probability of people like me enjoying Family Camp  is cloudy with no chance of Meatballs,

Let's see how you feel in 30 years.

30 years ago today Jay Leno replaced Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show.

  

 

After an applause laden reaction to his first monologue he quipped Let's see how you feel in 30 years. 

Today I'm going to take him up on that offer.   

Recently Jay  started hosting a remake of You Bet Your Life, the classic 1950's game show hosted by Groucho Marx.  I have not watched the show but if the  majority of the first page of reviews at it's imdb page are to be believed it is not his finest work.

Leno was the 4th and 6th host of the tonight show replacing Johnny Carson in 1992.  Carson took over the show from Jack Paar in 1962.  The 30 year remark was an homage to Carson's longevity.  Leno was not Carson's pick to replace him.  He wanted fellow Midwesterner David Letterman who had the time slot after him to have that honor.  Leno had been a substitute host for Carson on Tonight for over 5 years before replacing him.  

Recently Jay  started hosting a remake of You Bet Your Life, the classic 1950's game show hosted by Groucho Marx.  I have not watched the show but if the  majority of the first page of reviews at it's imdb page are to be believed it is not his finest work.

Last 5 Next 10: Summer Reading Preview Edition

 

I like to apportion 100 days of each year for summer reading.  These 100 days generally fall between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.  This year the 100 days start on Sunday May 29th, the day before Memorial Day and end on Labor Day on September 5, 2022. As I mentioned in Moby Dick: My White Whale my only real goal for these 100 days is to finish listening to Moby Dick.  I always read at least 10 books during the Summer and expect I'll get at least that many again.

LAST FIVE

First Degree - David Rosenfelt

Listened to on Hoopla

4/28/2022

Until Tuesday - Luis Carlos Montalvan

Borrowed from Library - Read

5/1/2022

The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis

Listened to Via Hoopla

5/1/22

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones

Borrowed from library. Read

5/5/22

Neal Cotts: The Lefty Who Would Not Quit - Jim Pransky

Own - Gift from boss - Read

5/20/22

NEXT TEN

 

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Michael Griffiths

The Case For Easter - Lee Strobel

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ- Michael Card

Between Heaven & Hell - Peter Kreeft

Bury The Lead - David Rosenfelt 

Little House on the Prairie  - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Inside The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Devin Brown

The Collected Short Stories of Louis Lamour - Vol I

I finished book #20 on 4/18 and finished book #25 on May 20th.  5 books in 32 days is not great but it is a pace to finish 57 books in a year.  Based on my rate since January 1st I am on pace to read 65 books this year.  I imagine with a strong effort this summer those projections will increase.