What kind of year has 2015 been for you? Taking a minute to reflect, has it been fun, challenging, stressful, chaotic, rewarding, joyful, sad, or maybe all of the above. Did you accomplish your goals or score any personal victories? Are you thinking about 2016 yet, perhaps setting new goals or redoing some of the goals from 2015 that were important but that you didn’t accomplish?
As I thought about 2016, I was looking at my list of possible topics for 2015 that I did not finish. I decided I would allow myself some “do-over’s” or continuations of blog topics from my 2015 list and add some new topics. Look for my 2016 Preview soon.
As a literal segue into 2016, given that the end of the year is near, take a look at this quote below. This is from the October 2015 Reader’s Digest in the “Points to Ponder” section. I love this quote, give it some thought!
By the way, Reader’s Digest is another very good source of quotes.
On Morals and Values
“People say that these are different times requiring new rules, but I wonder if that’s true. There are new challenges, to be sure, but I view values as a stable force, not something to be swayed by politics, technology, or any modern contrivance. Rather than bend our values to fit the times, we need to fit the times to our values.”
Gretchen Carlson, journalist, in her memoir, Getting Real.
Is it an important holiday and how should we celebrate it?
I think most, if not all of us, would answer “yes” to the first part of the question. It’s the second part that I want to focus on. I’ll explain what prompted me to do this blog today. Don’t miss the important web link at the bottom.
Supertramp – Take the Long Road Home
United States of America
I was not shuffling around my house (doctor’s post-surgical instructions) but sitting in my lounger with my legs elevated and my cryo cuff with ice cold water firmly attached to my right knee joint, and I looked at my crutches that were propped up on the couch. Obviously, this being November 11, Veterans Day, I had been thinking about stuff – for example, my crutches are temporary (hopefully), but how about the vets who are permanently disabled.
Let me briefly interject a thought here. I’m hoping that my readers will be open-minded about war. Whether you are pro-war or anti-war is none of my business. All I’m asking of you in this modest, non-political piece is to respect and honor what others have done on our behalf.
How about some word pictures? A double amputee in a wheel chair rolls up the ramp and into the airport waiting area. He has a family there to greet him, which is a good thing. His young daughter bends down to give him a big hug. They both have tears in their eyes. On the same flight a young woman walks off the plane. One side of her face is disfigured. No one is there to greet her, and she is disappointed, but she manages a smile. She’s back in America and so glad to be here.
I’m a vet and proud of it. Ironically, I wasn’t always patriotic. However, I received my draft notice from the “BBQ King” (that’s what we called LBJ in those days). I’ll skip the details about how I failed my induction physical and ended up in the Navy Reserves. Those details are in another section of this blog.
It’s time to get to the point. Here’s what I would like to suggest. Make it your mission to honor a vet, any vet, not just today but often. It could be something as simple as saying hello, shaking their hand, or patting them on the back to acknowledge what they did. If you have time, buy them a cup of coffee or just spend a few minutes talking to them. Ask them about their service. If they don’t want to talk about, don’t push it. For some the memories are too painful. Remember, you’re recognizing the fact that they gave of themselves in serving this great country.
Ending Notes
I would like to end with music and a web link. The music is an old piece that brings back memories from my shipboard life in Vietnam. One of the pasttimes of the sailors on my ship was to record music (reel-to-reel tape in those days) to send back home. It was a nice diversion.
Blind Faith – Can’t Find My Way Home
Here is a link to a local charity that works with vets. I’ve done volunteer work for them and can vouch for their mission, which is to help our vets to survive (literally) and to be able to reassimilate into society after their service. Consider donating in whatever way you can to their very worthy cause.
What is serendipity? According to Merriam-Webster, it is “Luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for.”
Travel obviously is one opportunity for serendipity – discovering a new place to dive on the island of Kauai or seeing a double rainbow over the Columbia Gorge, things like that. Things that are not looked for . . . it could be financial, such as an unexpected inheritance or one of your children just announced they are going to have a baby. For me, a rufous-towhee (obviously) is always serendipity and a very good sign that things are looking up and the start of a great day.
How about this story, to be very specific about a “serendipitous event” (say that fast 10 times in a row). Over the weekend I was out doing a walk. The weather was decent (not raining), not too cold or too hot, and I was walking not too far from my home on a familiar route. Ahead I could see the big hill I was going to climb and thinking about the reward of the great view of my city at the top. But along the side of the street was “free stuff”, you know how people will put stuff out with a sign. As I passed the collection of mostly uninteresting stuff, I spied a coffee cup that caught my attention.
Heron Cup (front view)
As I’m sure you know if you read my blog, I’m a bird fancier, especially raptors, herons, and other species. Seeing a heron in real life of course is always a treat. Anyway, I grabbed the cup out of the stuff and strapped it to my fanny pack so I could continue my walk. Oh, almost forgot, here’s the back of the cup. Note what it says.
Heron Cup (back view)
You can enlarge the image if you want, but here is what’s on the back of the cup. I’ll leave the interpretation up to you. One brief comment about the fifth bullet, that one clinched it for me – I always enjoy a good pun.
Keep a keen lookout.
Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet.
Be patient.
Look below the surface.
Enjoy a good reed.
Go fish.
Links:
Great blue heron (Thanks to arkive.org and the photographers who took the great photos.)
What in the world is the Hood to Coast (HTC) Relay? If one of my runner friends or myself is asked that question, or someone gives us a blank look when we say that we’re running the relay, that person may receive a blank look in return. Kind of a “how come you never heard of it look”. It is after all the world’s biggest running relay and billed as “the mother of all relays”. I should also tell you that there is a walker’s relay from Portland to the Coast.
For the uninitiated, the HTC Relay has over 1000 running teams. Each team has 12 runners that run 3 legs each for a total of 36 legs over a distance of 198 miles. The team uses 2 vans with 6 runners in each van. The start is at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and the finish is at Seaside on the Oregon Coast. We tend to think of it as one big party that lasts 2 days.
Imagine if you will, thousands of people, runners and walkers in all shapes and sizes, some very fit, some fast, and some not as fit and not as fast. That really doesn’t matter. HTC is actually unique, kind of crazy, and fun, although requiring some physical effort, but the HTC addicts keep coming back every year.
The Team: Experience & Guile
Here is a recap of my team’s experience in the 2015 HTC relay. Experience & Guile (E&G) has been together as a team for several years, and we look forward to doing the relay every year. It’s kind of like a family reunion where people we haven’t seen since the last year get together. Sometimes because of injuries or scheduling conflicts, E&G has different people on the team from the previous year. Our “home base” at the beach is provided by one of the runners, Randy. He didn’t run this year due to an injury. His house is unique in one respect; it has a John Malkovich bathroom. I won’t explain, you’ll have to ask someone on the team.
E&G at Pig n Pancake
Day 1: On the Mountaintop
Typical scenario for my team – Van 1 meets at someone’s house, loads up the gear for the first rotation, and heads up to Mt. Hood. On the way now, we can see the mountain in the distance, always inspiring. Soon we’re on the road leading up to Timberline Lodge where the relay starts. We have to check in with our required gear, vests, and lights for running at night. With a little time to kill before our team starts, we take Arlane over to the lodge to give her the nickel tour of the great building built in the 30’s. We take a few pictures of the group and Arlane gets ready to do the first leg, the infamous HTC leg 1 with a nearly 2000-foot change in elevation over 5.4 miles. The trick is to take it easy and not push the pace; just let gravity do its work. The next 5 legs went fine. It was sunny and warm. We handed off to Van 2 in Sandy. They were raring to go. We headed over to Loraine’s house to get cleaned up, eat, and grab some sleep before it was our turn to run again.
Scott at the helm in Van 1
At the Beach
So you get the idea of how it all works – after two more rotations and 35 legs, on the 36th leg the entire team joins up with the last runner to run across the finish line. This year because of a big storm, we weren’t able to finish on the beach. No matter, now it was time to party with the whole team together at the beach house with some pizza, beer, and wine.
Wow!
A Few Take-aways
For the uninitiated, running or walking the HTC Relay might cause you to wonder about the whole thing. Even if you are a runner or walker in your everyday life, why would you want to stay up for 30 hours or more with very little sleep, eat minimal or crappy food, be all sweaty and jammed together in one vehicle (actually I like that part), and you have no chance to really stretch after each leg. Hard to explain, but maybe you should get on a team and check it out next year.
If you look at my “2015 Preview”, three bullets from the bottom of the list is the title of this post. Off we go, but first a bit of an introduction to my writing process.
Starting with a blank sheet of paper (actually it’s on-screen) and trying to figure it out is interesting. It makes you appreciate all those movies and TV episodes about a writer sitting and staring at a blank sheet of paper for hours, with nary a word on the page. What’s that called, even successful writers suffer from writer’s block.
It’s not something I fret about – it’s part of the process for me in deciding where is the best place to start and where do I want to go with this idea. OK, yes, sometimes it’s an idea that’s been rattling around in my head for a while. Doesn’t Gibb’s have a “rule” for this situation?
I decided Number 5 was the closest to what I wanted to say in this blog post. It says “You don’t waste good.”
OK, so I’m a goody two shoes, coming up with this goodness idea, it doesn’t fit in contemporary society, right! Big deal, no matter what the mainstream media would have you believe, just listen to Don Henley’s song (any Eagle’s fans out there?), you can form your own opinion. So, if you’re a naysayer, move on, you don’t have to read my blog, but I wish you would read it.
Dirty Laundry
Here’s the back-story. One of my New Year’s resolutions was “try to do at least one good deed a day”. Without hesitation I will say that I’m WAY behind on that goal. But hang on, there is a parallel concept – I need to synthesize good deeds with this whole goodness theme. In very basic terms, the concept is “goodness counts” or “goodness is important” or “goodness is unselfish”.
Real Life Good Deeds
How about some examples. Thanks to Reader’s Digest for the following cover story in their July/August 2015 edition. Be patient with this link.
There are actually 13 examples in the Reader’s Digest stories – starting with a woman in Chicago who helped to resettle teen girls from other countries to the story about a man in California who helped bring a beach back to life. Yes, those were amazing things that the 13 people did, giving of themselves to help others. Even a story (#10) about a librarian in Ferguson, Missouri. Why does Ferguson, Missouri ring a bell? Oh, isn’t that where all the riots were happening last year (and again this year)? How did the media miss covering the story about what the librarian did in Ferguson? They must have focused on other things that were happening. Oops, sorry, I couldn’t resist a dig on media bias in the good ole USA.
OK, let’s focus in on goodness from the perspective of discovering goodness in our own lives, each one of us, by NOT focusing on ourselves. There is a higher power – for me that would be God – that should drive our purpose in life. I know that runs counter to what many of us learned from day 1, that we should decide what we want to be, what to do with our lives, set goals, be ambitious, dream about our future. All of this focuses on ourselves. Obviously the 13 people in the Reader’s Digest stories were not focusing on themselves. Maybe just a bit of a digression to examine basic meanings of good and goodness.
Definitions and Examples from Merriam-Webster
The quality or state of being good such as:
The quality or state of being kind, honest, generous, helpful, etc.
I believe there is (some) goodness in everyone.
Even if you don’t agree, at least have the goodness to be polite!
She agreed to help him out of the goodness of her heart (because she is a kind and generous person).
People use I swear to goodness, I hope to goodness, or I wish to goodness to add force to a statement.
I wish to goodness that you would hurry up!
You get the idea. Goodness can take many forms and have many applications.
Bottom Line
Did I, the blogger writing this blog, do a good deed today? I’m thinking. Nope, but there’s always tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be a major act like the everyday heroes in the examples. Maybe something simple, let a person get in line in front of you at the grocery store or someone is stuck trying to break into a long line of traffic (maybe they’re late for a job interview), or whatever. There is a vast ocean of opportunities out there, give it a shot, do a good deed today!
Off the Kauai Coast
Blackbird
By the Beatles of course, short and sweet. I don’t know which Beatle wrote this tune, but I’ve always liked it.
Just something different – put on your headphones and enjoy at your leisure! I’ll throw in a few of my pictures too, just for fun. The armadillo is in Houston on Kirby Drive next to a really good BBQ place, the Goode Company.
This first entry is kind of self-explanatory since I grew up there. The photo below was taken at another roadside attraction (any Tom Robbins fans out there?) in Del Valle, Texas (don’t blink or you’ll miss it). It is mind-blowing with not only the sheer quantity, but the imagination of the amazing creations. If you’re in the neighborhood, don’t miss it.
It’s music not politics, so why would I say anything political? Just my nature I suppose, to say something political in a musical way, but I promise the rest will be just music (probably). Actually, it was Tom Johnston’s comment, not mine.
The Doobie Brothers – Listen to the Music
(Turn this one up)
Ah, the overwhelming sensation of walking into the Music Hall in Houston, Texas on a warm night in that other century when concert tickets were still affordable, and hearing that blast of sound from those huge JBL speakers on the stage. The Doobie Brothers were playing “Listen to the Music”. What a great time we had. The back up band was good too! Sorry, not sure who the back up group was, I’m thinking it was Quicksilver Messenger but might have been ZZ Top or the Allman Brothers.
Just a footnote about the song (quoted from the last.fm web site):
The band’s lead vocalist Tom Johnston told Songfacts that Listen to the Music “was all based around this somewhat Utopian view of the world. The idea was that music would lift man up to a higher plane, and that world leaders, if they were able to sit down on some big grassy knoll where the sun was shining and hear music – such as the type I was playing – would figure out that everybody had more in common than they had not in common, and it was certainly not worth getting in such a bad state of affairs about.”
Does Johnston’s quote remind anyone old enough to have experienced it of that wonderful idealism some of us felt and expressed in those days. Almost makes me want to grow my hair long again (if that were possible).
Music from Mary Poppins
OK, this second “political” entry may be a stretch for some of you. Just listen to the music closely and think about what our world might be like if everyone raised their kids with real values, values not based on their cell phones or TV or video games, but based on honesty and friendship and leadership and solid principles. Just think about it. Personally, I’m not complaining, despite all the outside influences, my kids turned out great (thanks more to my wife than me) and my grandkids too as you see.
Grandson – Fun in the Pool
Favorites
We all have our favorites, no matter how old the songs are and how many times we’ve listened to them. Sometimes it’s a romantic attachment to the music, or we just like the music and the lyrics. On my list there were so many songs it was tough to narrow it down to the ones I selected. Same thing with pictures. I’ll probably have to do another “music” blog later.
The Cars – Who’s Gonna Drive You Home
I don’t know what to say about this one short of, I’ve always loved this song, it almost always gives me the warm fuzzies.
Chicago – Three Selections
I had to do three for Chicago, one of my all time favorite groups, who by the way just did or are doing a tour (not with the original members). The first track, “25 or 6 to go”, is big and brassy – I saw them perform in Houston too, another great concert night – love that rousing finish. The second track, “Wake up Sunshine” is often my morning motivational wake-up music (not being a morning person), and the third track, “Colour My World” is a more somber, romantic piece. Enjoy all three!
25 or 6 to Go
Wake Up Sunshine
Colour My World
Cold Play
In case you were thinking all my favorite music was back in that other century, I wanted to include some more recent stuff. I’ve always liked Cold Play. Try these.
Oh, first I should explain the photo. It’s called “Gospodor Monument”, and if you are on I-5 going north from Portland, about 10 or 15 miles south of Centralia, Washington, there it is. Obviously for those of us who are curious about such things, it’s a traffic hazard. I did stop long enough to take the picture. The link will give you more details.
In my younger (single) days, I was a big James Bond fan, “shaken not stirred please”, and this is a song Cold Play released inspired by the movie music.
Favorites – Romantic Tracks
Who says romance is dead, listen to some of these tracks.
Bob James & David Sanborn with vocal Al Jarreau – Since I Fell for You
This is an excellent re-release of an old and very romantic song. In the picture I was on a long run in Centralia, Washington when I took the picture. It’s probably my favorite street name in the universe.
A Street in Centralia
Crosby, Stills, & Nash – Our House
Before Neil Young joined the group, this track, perhaps not their most popular, always tugged at my heart strings – give a listen.
Side note: “Our house” in the Montrose (in Houston) is still there, at least urban development had not swallowed it up as of November 2013. On one of my very infrequent trips to Houston, just tooling around, checking out the old neighborhood from those days when my hair was still shoulder length, I saw it and couldn’t believe it, my old house on Grant Street. Hello, time passed you by? It’s been 40 years! The big ole, tall sunflowers in the front yard were missing, but . . . deja vu to the max!
Grant Street house in the Montrose.
Favorites – Classical Tracks & Wrapping It Up
Did I say some country and western music (not all of it) was depressing. I mean, how uplifting can it be . . . some guy is sitting in a bar with a drink and smoking (or is that outlawed now, I don’t go to bars), talking about his divorce or his dog just bit the neighbor’s kid and he’s being sued. Anyway, I realized that I had not included classical selections. I could do a whole blog on classical, there are so many I like. Here are a couple.
Bach – Toccata in D
Probably one of the more famous Bach pieces, very inspiring, and used in at least one movie (Phantom of the Opera?) followed by a second Bach piece.
Bach – Jesu, Meines Herzens Freud
Man Feeding Gulls
Steely Dan – Deacon Blue
Yeah, Steely Dan is definitely a favorite.
Canned Heat – On the Road Again
A favorite group in my Vietnam days, Canned Heat was included on many a recorded tape sent back home to be enjoyed later. By the way, I’m working on a new installment in my Vietnam blog:
Obviously birds are important to me – they are one of the “themes” for my blog, and I named my blog after a bird. But this blog post is not specifically about the bird. Although the kingfisher is a very cool bird, the bird is just the idea behind this post. Also, with most bird species there are many variations (color of plumage, nesting habits, etc.), but I’ll leave out all that except for the scientific name of the kingfisher that lives in my neck of the woods, “Ceryle alcyon”. Be patient there’s a connection coming with that name if you haven’t already figured it out. I’ve provided a link to the Audubon site that has information about the Kingfisher species and the source that provided some of my information for this post, including the call and the picture.
“The Greeks had a myth that the Halcyon, a bird we think was a kingfisher, could calm a little area of sea to float its nest upon. Hence, ‘halcyon days’ are a lucky respite from the storms of life. Our real-life kingfishers raise their young on a heap of regurgitated fish bones . . .”
The quote above is from a sign next to a pond in a nature park where I run. There’s a bench where people can sit and watch the birds. And on occasion, like today it happened, I saw two kingfishers as I paused to catch my breath and see what was going on. Naturally, I was motivated to come home and do a blog post. Admittedly, I had been thinking about “halcyon days” since the first time I saw the sign.
I posed the question in my title, “are they important?”. Maybe a better question is “why are they important?”. In a couple of posts, one on “Mindfulness” and another titled “Doing Nothing” in Things to Think About, I talk about just sitting and relaxing, no tablet or cell phone, with no preoccupation with anything else, just breathing and maybe listening to bird sounds or a train in the distance.
Lord knows we all need a respite from the storms of life right. Of course, our lives are busy and involved and stressful sometimes, actually most of the time. Even if the Greek myth about the Halcyon was just a myth, it certainly makes sense to take a break.
For my faithful followers of the Rufous blog, I just want to say that procrastination is a virtue or at least it should be given that my previous blogs about my Texas trip in the fall of 2013 only disclosed details of the high school reunion in Liberty. I posted those in December 2014 if you are interested in what happened at the reunion, which was a lot of fun and needless to say nostalgic in so many ways. As I sit in my backyard composing this and listening to the thunder, which is unusual for Oregon but very common in Texas, I seek closure of that Texas chapter that started with the reunion. I had sketched out my Texas itinerary before I left Oregon, eight stops in 10 days. In this blog I’m just going to reflect on the high points of the trip.
Reflections, Impressions, and Feelings
After a breakfast at a local Mexican restaurant and saying my goodbyes to my high school friends, including the man who was the principal when we were in school, it was time to hit the road for the rest of my Texas journey. The occasion was celebratory, all of us eating Mexican food, talking, and taking pictures, but sad too to say goodbye not knowing when or if any of us would be together again. Some of our 1963 graduating class had already passed on and only the memory of them remained. Read my post “Liberty, Texas Revisited” (April 2014) for a glimpse of what it was like living there.
This quote from a Nelson Demille book pretty much describes what I was feeling on my Texas trip.
“The journey home is never a direct route – it is in fact always circuitous, and somewhere along the way we discover that the journey is more significant than the destination and that the people we meet along the way will be the traveling companions of our lives forever.”
I remember how the mood in the restaurant changed when Mr. L., our high school principal arrived. Showing a lot of of gray like many of us and dressed casually, he greeted everyone, shaking hands and smiling warmly. It was great to see him. I thought about some of those trips to the principal’s office to receive my comeuppances. The “board” of education was allowed in those days.
“OK, Bernie, you know better than to hide Mrs. B’s glasses.”
She was our English teacher, and we loved her, but it was so hard not to play tricks on her. Of course, I got blamed for a lot of stuff I didn’t really do. We hugged and said our goodbyes, it was time to go.
Casa Don Boni, Liberty, Texas
Heading on Down the Road
I got out my map (no GPS in my rental) to find my way to the cemetery in Conroe (stop 2). Driving on those two-lane roads that I had not driven in so many years, I got to the cemetery before my brother and his wife. The plan was to meet there and visit my Dad’s grave site. It was a big cemetery, but following my brother’s directions I found the site. Typical of my Dad the artwork on the headstone showed a deer (he hunted), a boat on a lake (he loved fishing), and an oil field pumping unit (from his working days). A word or two about my visiting multiple grave sites on my trip – my dad, my mom, and another one (actually unexpected) I will tell you about later. I don’t get down there very often, and I felt it was the right time to pay a visit.
Dad
After some reflective time talking about dad, the three of us headed toward Houston. I stayed over at their house north of Houston. We had a wonderful steak dinner and got caught up on what had been happening in our lives since we last spent time together. It had been an eventful day, so we all hit the sack.
On to Stop 3 the next morning, to my sister and brother-in-law’s home in Houston. I was so proud of myself (with no GPS) not getting lost on Houston freeways, in fact I remembered the correct exit (Allen Parkway, a tricky one) and drove more or less straight to their house. My brother-in-law and I went shopping for dinner fixins, and I got to see how much the neighborhood had changed since I was there the last time. Houston has grown so much in the last 30 plus years since we lived there. That night we had dinner with my nephew, his wife, and their two children. The next morning I got up and did a run, not knowing for sure where I was going to go. I had heard about a good place to run called the Buffalo Greenway, which turned out to be very impressive. The trail goes along both sides of the bayou all the way into downtown Houston. After my run, I met an old friend for lunch at a place on Westheimer where we had gotten together years earlier. We talked over beers for a long time. My friend told me about his wife’s fairly recent medical problems, a brain aneurysm I believe, that almost killed her. It was quite a trial, but, thank God she has recovered. We parted ways, and I went back to say goodbye to my sister and brother-in-law. Just a note, I know it’s awkward to not use names, but I prefer not to in my blog, although in this blog I’m using surnames. By the way, my dad and mother were married in this church in Houston.
St. Ann’s Catholic Church
Next stop was out to see another brother-in-law in northwest Houston. I had never been to his house, which has a nice pool and yard. We had lunch at Pappasitos (Did I say I love Mexican food). His wife was at work. We visited for a while, and I headed west toward Austin. I was enjoying getting to see people where they live and not just e-mails and telephone calls.
Living Out of a Suitcase, What Fun!
My younger sister lives in a little town not far from Austin, which was my next stop. She and I, her housemate, and her son who came over all had dinner. While I was in Bastrop, we went over to the state park that has buildings constructed by the CCC during the 1930’s. We walked along the Brazos River and took some pictures and were nearly accosted by a flock of the local geese out for a morning stroll. I decided to follow my sister into Austin to an art museum where she was helping out with a pottery workshop. While I was there I did a really nice run around Lady Bird Lake, part of the inner city lake system in Austin. Like Houston they have done a good job in building pedestrian bridges and trails for bikers, walkers, and runners, A lot of people were out enjoying the nice weather. I was not missing Portland’s rain.
Next stop, six I think, was out to another part of Austin to visit my nephew and his wife. On the way, my sister and I had lunch (Mexican of course) and we got take-out for my nephew and his wife’s dinner. Stayed the night and was off again the next morning to Georgetown to visit my sister and her husband. I love the countryside around Austin, hilly and dry most of the year. I think I did a run there, of course. It was so good to spend time in Texas again.
My last and final stop before heading back to Oregon was at my other sister and her husband’s place near Industry. Their place is amazing, 50 or 60 acres, a pond with ducks and geese, and an even more amazing house, multilevel and reminiscent of a converted silo. While there I picked up a book they had about the Blazek family and discovered my great grandfather was buried in the graveyard in Industry. This was the unexpected grave site I mentioned earlier. Previously I had not known where any of my relatives who had come over from Europe were buried.
I realized that my “life in the fast lane” existence since mid-March had prevented or least stimulated my ability to procrastinate doing any work on my blog – trust me, the intentions were there and the stimulating conversations with friends that gave me ample ideas for creating new blog posts, not to mention many notebooks full of handwritten drafts of potential posts on my “to do next” list. Think of this post as an indication that I’m still walking around on the planet earth and have no intentions of discontinuing my blog. By the way, as you read this, you have as much knowledge of what will follow as I do, i.e. what music you will hear or the context of that music. I just happen to like music! I’ll try to add a blurb that will explain why I choose a certain piece of music or maybe not.
I dedicate this blog to my athletically inclined friends and those who might be inspired to become athletic. Getting older is fun only if you work at staying fit – trust me, it ain’t automatic!
OK, this music selection was stimulated by a triathlon I did very recently over the weekend, a “mock tri”. It was called that because many of the participants, including yours truly, had never done a triathlon, and it was a non-timed event. Basically, you swim, you bike, and you run without a break, in that order. Not the “Iron Man”, oh no, I have no aspirations to do that particular event. I did the “Sprint”, much less ambitious – 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. Doing a tri has been on my “bucket list” for a long time. I figured, what the hell, I run, I swim, and I bike on a regular basis why not do all of them in the same event? You know what, it was a hoot! Not easy, physically, by any means. The lake water was cold (62 degrees, we wore wetsuits), the bike ride was on a level paved road out in the countryside in Vancouver, Washington. It was scenic – on one part of the course I saw a whole bunch (I guess I mean “flock”) of snowy egrets out in a field along the way. I thought, as I plodded along being passed by the serious triathletes and me probably doing maybe 15 mph, wow, that it is extremely cool to see that many birds in one place. I have to say this, as an aside, I am a competitive person (especially in running events) and having all those people race pass me on the bike course was annoying, but I got over it and enjoyed the ride!
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them . . . but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:7-8)
I first met Chris in California when I was visiting the Weaver’s in the early 70’s. I had met his sister, Sandra, my wife now, in Texas where I lived. I soon discovered that life in the fast lane was the norm amongst the Weaver clan as Sandra and I did our best to use as many of the California freeways as possible visiting her five brothers.
Here’s a favorite quote from Hunter S. Thompson that I think describes Chris Weaver’s life as well as any words can:
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: ‘Wow, what a ride’.”
Another favorite quote from Nelson Demille’s book, Up Country:
“The journey home is never a direct route – it is in fact always circuitous, and somewhere along the way we discover that the journey is more significant than the destination and that the people we meet along the way will be the traveling companions of our lives forever.”
It’s a comfort to me that Chris will always be a traveling companion in my life as well as in the lives of many others. It was a real honor knowing him.
About Chris Weaver
Chris was the middle child of 6 and spent his youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he attended Ottawa Hills High School. Joining the Air Force in 1965, he served as a military police officer and retired as Sergeant in 1969.
On June 28, 1969, he married his sweetheart Carol Ann Tengesdahl with whom he spent 48 wonderful years. They moved to Minneapolis and on October 21, 1970 welcomed their daughter Tammy into the world. In 1971 he graduated from Brown Institute majoring in Radio Communications. Later that same year Chris moved his family to California to work with his father, the legendary Eric Weaver, in the motion picture industry. On December 3, 1974 they welcomed their son Christopher Weaver II into the world.
In 1980 Chris began his career with LMI. Due to his U.S. government top secret security clearance and a Diplomatic Passport, he went on to travel the world – China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Russia, Africa, and many more amazing places.
He had a very colorful and exciting life spending months abroad installing top security rooms for governments and large industries. Chris had a way with people, he knew no stranger, and made many friends across the world, most of whom he remained in touch with until his passing.
After many years he stopped traveling and started working out of his house as a project manager. He loved being home and close to the family. He soon joined a dart league, and in usual Chris fashion, he excelled at darts and making lots of new friends, eventually playing darts with his son as a partner.
He was an amazing father, husband, and soul mate, father-in-law, uncle, brother, son, and best friend to many! Chris brought laughter and joy to those he touched. He was a force of nature and will continue to be loved beyond belief. . . .
blazinbernie
Looking for a Rufous 