the wonderment of life

I loss a great and understanding brother-in-law this past week. I am not sure why, but his death trouble me. It prick my inter-being. Mortality or immortaltiy? When young we cut our finger, or scrape our knees, tear a nail and yet the body heals itself. Wonderment of life! Can you remember every single injure to one's flesh? I would think that none of us, unless you wrote everyone down, are not capable of this feat. And yet our bag of bones-which is what we are, with the building block of dust- eventually wears out. Our entire consciousness our bones, our blood, our mind, it all shuts down.
All of the little cells, perfect little factories, in our body, always rejuvenating themselves. These unit living organism, constantly rebuilding our very existence. Even when we abuse, pollute, exhaust our very flesh, they continue to worked double time. But what happens to all of those laboring cell? Why do they stop breathing new life in this frame? What causes the DNA, our genetic engineering, our very essence to go on strike? Why? Why! Oh why? One might logically think 'I ate right, exercise and took good care of my physique. I do not want to die. I want to live longer or even live forever?' No matter how sad one gets, how old one gets or how sick one is, ultimately we want to live. We fight to live, we savor life, we relish each second, we what every moment to count.
Generations come and go. Life waxes and wanes. Populations die and populations give brith. Watching my great nieces Amber, Abby and Violet reminds why I love life. They infuse me with fresh air, laughter and vitality
So until the next time, HeWal

I had a wonderful visit with an anut/uncle in their nineties the other day.
I am not really the best driver, well the main problem is that my eyes wander to much. Like, 'Oh look there is a hawk', or 'look at that flower in the ditch', 'I wonder what is that person doing on the highway at this moment?'. You get the picture. So the point of this is, that Ellen drives me everywhere.
I called Uncle Butch and Anut Justine to see if they were home and if we could come over? Yes, they were home and yes we could come over. I forget, what a wealth of knowledge, that the two of them have. It is a rare privilege to have family in their nineties. We talked of past family, the trouble with war, the changes that have occurred over these past decades, plus more.
We as a society, have a tendency to shrug off this storehouse of wisdom from older ones. We might think that older ones don't understand the new lingo, smart phones, popular diseases. We take for granted that if I need a new TV, I go and buy one. If I have a headache pop a pill. If I have a problem go see a shrink. Instead we talked of the, value of working hard to earn that TV. If one gets a headache, work through it, not to swallow a pill. If you have an issue, talked to the individual, not a stranger.
What has happened to days of calm? What happened to mornings of wonderment? What of the day of hard work with a full night of sleep? It seems that we are caught in a vortex in which our lives are spinning, spinning and spinning!
This one small visit, helped me to understand the importance of listening. Listening to experiences of a seasoned, mature veteran. Not the ramblings of an old man, but of a man who values life's sophisticated worldliness.
Uncle Butch reminds me of the following experiences found in Elbert Hubbard's Scrapbook:
Do you fear the force of the wind,
the slash of the rain?
Go face them and fight them,
Be savage again.
Go hungry and cold like the wolf,
go wade like the crane;
The palms of your hand will thicken
The skin of your cheek will tan,
You'll grow ragged and weary and swarthy,
But you'll walk like a man!

Until the next time - HeWal

You would think, being retired and fighting a disease, that days would drag by. Instead they fly by as if every moment is packed. I am reading, a second book, dealing about the universe. I have come to realize, the more I read, the less I know. I often wonder, how did I manage in school? What I did was, while in school, study what I needed, to receive that passing grade and then promptly forgot. So now, when I read, no matter what it might be, it is fresh, interesting and exciting.
How nice it would be, if each day becomes fresh and new. I once read and I quote:
"If we have the courage to lift our eyes above the agony of the moment, we may see a world in which the forces of applied science and the diffusion of knowledge offer to all men and nations a plane of living, a freedom and richness of spiritual, culture, and economic attainment that can scarcely be imagined at the present moment."

What do you think? HeWal

The sun is glorious today! Before we know it the cooler fall season will soon be here. Crickets, katydids, and other insects are singing their songs of courtship. The Fireflies will soon be gone as are the Japenese Bettles. The next time when we will see then, it means another summer is here.
Tomatoes are riping on the vine and the basil keeps on leafing onward. It is the time now for us to be soaking up the rays of summer. With winter on the way, it will be soon enough to stay in from the great outdoors.
It was once written:I know how vain it is to gild a grief with words, and yet I wish to take from every grave it's fear. Here in this world, where life and death are equal kings, all should be brave enough to meet what all the dead have met. The future hass been filled with fear, stained and polluted by the heartless past. From the wonderous tree of life the buds and blossoms fall with ripened fruit and in the common bed of earth all will sleep side by side.

My wife Ellen I, lost a dear friend who has fought cancer for a few years now.
I will try to remember that the true way to mourn the dead is to take care of the living who belong to them.
Until another time,HJ

Greetings,

This day, as this whole week has been, wonderful beautiful days. When so much of the country is suffering I feel very fortunate. With this weather I feel a little better. When the weather is half way decent I do feel just a tad better. Of course that is the case with many who face adversity of health. When ever the weather changes so does our body.

I love sitting outside reading the day away and studying the great outdoors. I only have a postage stamp of a yard, yet it yields great diversity. The number of butterflies, birds and other smaller mammals. Of course, I cannot forget the toad family! I have a number of water shelters for all of the creatures that may show up. The catbirds and gold finches share one. If a robin tries to approach, they chase it away. However the robin has it's own water bath and will chase those unwanted in his territory .

It is these little dramas, unfolding in small unassuming ways, that entertain us the most. These little dramas, even in a small way, help us in dealing with the dramas going on in our body's

That is all for now and thanks

I receive my second b-12 shot yesterday. I am not sure if it I the shot or something else that makes me feel just lousy, especially as the day wears on. No appetite. I eat cereal augmented with toast, ice cream, something salty and pastries. Both of my doctors(local MD & Cleveland Clinic) state I need to always eat more salt. As a child, I salted all of my food. When I got married, Ellen would state " you did not taste the food so how can you salt" I would state that I did not to since I already know that it will need that salt. So here I am given free reign.
My garden is getting ahead of me. I hope it cools down soon so I can get out there. I know I should worry about it, so maybe tomorrow I will start! I just finished a book dealing with the history of cowboys and their some of their custom. I learned a little bit about the word loco. I never realize that it is a plant and that livestock could become addicted.
I think all of the proverbs and catchy little saying out there do help, so
When you mourn, you cannot sing;when you sing you cannot mourn.

Until the next time-Herb

Another day into retirement. I was not ready to retire, however the opportune time arrived. I cannot seem to shake this fatigue that has been plaguing me for the last three weeks or so. Couple of weeks ago I finally call the doctor to see what is up with my body. Some test, a fasting and then blood taken. I was very low in the B-12 thus receiving a shot of B- 12 for the next ten weeks. Has anybody out there taken B-12 shots? As with everything else you take it has the potential of having mild to moderate or even serious side affects.

Since my battle with Poly, my little nickname, some of the medication has presented itself with the side affects. Such as some damage to the liver, kidneys, moles that have developed prompting the doc to remove. Some of the worst side affects have been:no longer eating spicy/hot foods. My two sons and friends we love to see who can stand the super hot/spicy foods. I love dark red and dry wine or that part any drinks with gin, out the window they go, well most of it out the window. My wife, Ellen, is one of the best cooks out there, I no longer enjoy the wonderfull meals she would cook up. I basically eat toast/jam/coffee for breakfast. Lunch is maybe some nuts, yogurt, some fruit, not much of anything. For supper/evening a bowl of cereal and a bowl of ice cream my truly only food group I love.

There is so much to learn from nature like the needle of the pine tree. They are sharp and harsh to the skin, however they provide a coolness with their shade, provide nourishing tea, the scent which relaxes and the way a breeze gently ever so softly sings it song.

Until the next time, HJ

This is where my day begins

The days fly by, even with the heat & humidity. I have been busy even though I have been feeling pretty rough. I am afraid to say when I get a new pain, spasm, ichy all over for fear of the doctor wanting to take a new test, draw more blood, more money going out. Most of the time it just was a pain, cough or spasm without getting all upset for nothing. I forget that it might be just part of growing older. But then what is normal? Think back when we youngster and you felt of all the growing pains. So maybe we also have olding pains!

One of my passions is gardening. With this heat I usually feel very sore, like a bad flu bug or I have exercise to much and your muscles are screaming at you. I figure if no matter what I do I am still going to feel bad. But with this weather my beds will just have to wait. There is always another year or maybe fall will be here before we all now.

I learned that the cowboys of old had their own Pidgin-English:Kaupee for coffee, muckamuck chuck to drink water or muckamuck for food or hiyu muckamuck plenty to eat so may we all meet up at the heehee house soon.

Good Afternoon,

The last couple of weeks have been very difficult, due to the heat and humidity. What was to be a rather busy time period (county fair, camping, conventions, ever increasing yard work with the heat & rain) turned in to a doing nothing couple of weeks. I so enjoy being active to prevent my brain from saying "I am sick". For the last twenty-five years or so I taken my two sons camping in a primitive site at Mohican State Park. We go with, over the years, five - fifteen other dads, sons and those who are fatherless. With the heat/humidity/thunderstorms, I knew I would never last, so I stayed home. One of the dads had all of the camping group over for cards and story telling.

It is a time to hike, canoe, play corn hole, ball, cards (a time to-teach poker, (however something the mothers should never know)and whatever else comes along. A time to reconnect with our progeny, our friends sitting around the fire, the telling of stories "the Ifs and when". A time period that our grandfather and our dads use to experience.

We all live in a time of 'hurry up' such as driving in one line then switch to another lane to what gain maybe another 03 seconds? Why is it that we as grown men race about? Do we not have enough stress, tension and headaches in our lives to add more? Living with a disease is disquieting enough!

I do know that when everything is coming your way you are in the wrong lane!

Until the next time