On a personal level there was some good news and some bad.

A dear friend had a fistful of stints put into her heart related veins.
She is not young any more and is pretty delicate.
The good news is that she came through great.
I am so glad.

The bad news is that Aunt Barbara died this week. She was the wife of my youngest uncle. He died some years ago.
She and Uncle Wayne had planned to retire here, and they bought a house.
After he died, she stayed in our area, but last year she moved to be close to her youngest son.

haiti

Haiti is in my mind right now.

I know that when there is a flood or a monsoon in Bangladesh or an earthquake in China more people are displaced, more die and maybe there is more destruction.

But Haiti is not half a world away, it is not too farm from our south corner. A good friend of mine who has been a aid worker, spent a hunk of time in Haiti during another disaster. In Haiti he even had his appendix removed while there! In a MASH hospital yet.

I read analysis of why Haiti is what it is, and all are partly right and partly wrong, I suspect. What I know is that that poor country gets hit again and again by all sorts of natural calamities.

The “natural” calamities are increased by man caused evils.

There is no end. I am saddened.

Let's see:
4 or 5000 square feet for four people, two being children.
10 acres of farm land.
Ahh, just what we all need.
No?

another day

Watching an interview with Robin Williams is always wild.

Besides being a great comedian and interpreter of life, Robin has been through enough troubles to know more of life in his 50's than he ever did earlier in life. Last summer he had bypass surgery. It changed his life.

I remember reading a prayer that began: “Lord, for some reason you have given us another day. . . “

Another day. Wow. Maybe we don't get two, but one for sure. You live for the moment as Robin says.

At this age that is easier said than done sometimes. The real pushing things in life are not pushing any longer. My real goal in life is to take care of Miriam and to out live her so I can. That makes a lot of romantic sense on one level and is pretty shallow on another.

Right now, if it were not for the books and boxes I work on regularly. I would be climbing walls. Even with all of that I am still staring at that wall. That is what happens in the winter, I remember to tell myself.

Spring is coming, eventually.

Which brings up all sorts of questions.

Jay's trike

Brother in Law Jay's trike.
Powered by a Dodge Neon engine!

brothers

I once knew two brothers who lived across the country road from each other.

It was 24 years ago when I met them, in Texas.

The brothers and their wives were in their early 80's when I knew them. I only remember the name of one of them. I do remember them kindly.

Philip (the only name I remember right now) lived in a somewhat run down house on an equally run down small farm. He was tall, thin and somewhat bent over. His wife was short and bordered on plump. Both of them smiled a lot. Philip had worked for a local greenhouse and nursery for decades. The brother was a farmer.

The brother lived in a nice brick house. His out buildings were I good repair and the machinery was well taken care of. He stood tall and was a very dignified man. His wife was also very tall and almost regal in the way she carried herself.

They smiled a lot too.

The brick house brother had lost a hand in an accident on the farm years before and had an aluminum hook on that side. Farmers, are of necessity, mechanics, but he told me that a simple reair, like putting a nut on a small bolt, that two handed people could do in a few minutes, might take him a couple of hours.

He did not complain when he said that, it was just a fact of his life.

They are all gone now. The short wife died while we were there. The tall couple moved to be closer to their children a bit after we left Texas.

And I, who can not even remember their names, still am in admiration of those two brothers and their very different and very fine wives.

It is good to remember the good people whose lives have crossed mine, even if only for a short time.