Ireland

Always remember to forget the things that made you sad. But never forget to remember the things that made you glad.



Old Irish Blessing
May God bless those who love us.
And for those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts.
And for those whose hearts cannot be turned,
May God turn their ankles
So that we may know them by their limping.


They arrived by automobile from a location unknown. The group entered a pub and had a drink. The town was small, surely the hotel was not far from their present location. John, not wanting to interrupt the wonderful time his companions were having by taking an offered lift,decided to leave the company of his friends and walk back to his hotel.

Upon exiting the pub John looked around. He realized he was not exactly sure where he was or in what direction the hotel might be. He stood perplexed for a moment. A man strolled up to him and asked if he could be of assistance. "Yes,I would like directions to reach the hotel where I am staying."replied John. The man quickly replied "Which way are you heading then?" John is stunned into silence and unable to speak. His thoughts were, well, if I knew which way to head I would not be in need of directions. Being a man who could think quickly, and considering the possibility that this gentleman may be mentally impaired or inebriated, he decided the best way to rid himself of this helpful individual is just to say right or left or perhaps north or south and seek instruction elsewhere. John replied "Right." The man proceeded to give him exact directions to where he needed to go. John headed off for the hotel and discovered the directions were dead on. The Irish are a strange lot he thought. I wonder what he would have said if I had told him left? The next day John picked up a map and realized he could have gone left or right to reach his hotel. One route may have been a tad more circuitous but he could arrive at his destination either way. The man would have given precise directions if he had decided to go left instead of right.

My Dad told me that story when he returned from his trip to Dingle. This was one of his many wonderful experiences when he was across the pond visiting Ireland.

You can reach your destination from many different directions. When I have time I prefer the scenic route.



May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in heaven a half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.

Northwood Drama Department

The most difficult character in comedy is that of a fool, and he must be no simpleton who plays the part. ~ Miguel de Cervantes

What a wonderful evening. Joe left early to get ready for his performance. Larry, Jaycee and I walked to the school a few blocks away. We attended a play about sports entitled "The Games People Play". The play was a comedy and very funny. Joe's performance on stage was excellent. I am impressed by his many talents and achievements. He brought home a medal from the regional speech meet a few weeks ago. He took seventh place competing against High School seniors and juniors. He has been on the "A" honor roll every semester this year at school. He is still playing the piano. He is playing difficult pieces beautifully. Joe is enjoying playing on the baseball team. I am a very proud Mom! What a wonderful son! I am blessed to have Joe in my life. Words cannot express the joy and pleasure he has brought to my life.

Diary

Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us. Oscar Wilde


People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates. ~Thomas Szasz


I write to preserve the memories that I may not reflect on later. I also write because it is an outlet for me. I have kept a diary off and on throughout my life. I would write every day for long periods,thoughts just poured out. Then something happened. I could not take my pen and write one word. I would stop for years! Some years only had two or three entries. This year has been rather sporadic. I will write every day for a week. I will grab my journal to make an entry and find a month has passed. Maybe this blog will keep me more on task. I find it difficult to write when my family is all home and buzzing about. My journals have been my private thoughts for me and were not meant to be read by others. I thought very hard about this. When I look around me I notice people have someone in their life they share there joy, problems and pain with. I have no trouble sharing my joy. It is the negative side wherein my troubles dwell. Others feel comfortable sharing their despair. I am a listener. I have been that person people share problems and pain with. I have been reluctant to share the negative part of my life with others. I believe this is why I wrote it down. Just putting down my thoughts or problems on paper was my relief. I am not sure when this started. I kept a diary as a child and journals as I grew older. The core of the dilemma was my inability to burden others. At the worst points in my life I talked to God. I would find and read the passages I needed to find my way back. I found peace in the words and works of God.

To: My friends across the pond

The amount of consonants in the English language is constant. If not used in one area of the United States, they turn up in another. When a man in Boston "pahks" his "cah," the lost r's migrate southwest, causing a man in Texas to "warsh" his car and invest in "erl wells."






I am posting this for my friends who speak and read more than just the English language. If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American.

If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius!

This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only for the brave. Peruse at your leisure, English lovers. These are a few of the reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1) The purpose of farming is to produce produce.

2) The bandage was wound around the wound.

3) When our dumps get full they refuse more refuse.

4) We polish our Polish furniture.

5) The lead horse was lead from his pen.

6) I was so hot I decided to desert my dessert in the desert.

7) There is no time like the present. It is time to present the present.

8) The boy was playing the bass drum when his friend caught the bass.

9) When my dog got loose the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) They were too close to the door to close it.

13) A buck does funny things when the does are present.

14) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

15) After a number of injections my jaw got number.

16) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

17) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

18) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

19) I wrote two letters to my friend too.

20) Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?

21) It is a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water. ~Franklin P. Jones

22) At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his thumb with a hammer. ~Marshall Lumsden

23) English is a funny language; that explains why we park our car on the driveway and drive our car on the parkway.


There is no egg in eggplant, no ham in hamburger, no apple or pine in pineapple. Quicksand works slowly. Boxing rings are square. A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

Writers write but fingers don't fing. Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham.

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? There is one goose and two geese but if there is one moose there are not two meese.

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique language in which your house can burn up as it burns down and in which you fill in a form by filling it out.

English was invented by people, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. You can see when the stars are out. You can’t see when the lights are out.

Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

BTW, (by the way), my spell checker did not like this particular document. My spell check is aware of the words not the different enunciations of the same words.