Love

Last night I was flipping through the channels on the TV when I came to the end of a Charlie Daniel's Band concert. I only got the last two songs, the first I don't remember, but the last was "the Devil Went Down To Georgia" on of my favorites. When I was in Germany the last time I worked for a few months as a DJ at the NCO Clubs in Nue Ulm a couple times a week. I was "Kountry Karl" and started all my gigs with "The Devil Went Down To Georgia".

Anyway, I got curious and Googled Charlie Daniels and found he had a blog, so I checked it out. One of  his latest post was about love and quoted 1 Corinthians 13 4-7.

"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking , it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always portents, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres."

Those versus got me thinking about how I live, and more importantly how I react to things going on around me. Needless to say I fall very short of living my life with love. But God always gives us slack and points us in the right direction. So I will keep these word in my heart and in front of me as a constant reminder of how He wants me to live.

6 / 26 / 2016 Poem of the Day: Love BY TINA CHANG I am haunted by how much our mothers do not know. How a republic falls because of its backhanded deals, stairwell secrets. My mother does not know I am lying with a man who is darker than me, that we do not have names for how we truly treat our bodies. What we do with them. The other possesses me. Without him the perception of me fails to exist. My mother now is taking her sheers and cutting through live shrimp. When I was a child she peeled each flushed grape until only the pale fleshy bead remained. She placed them onto a plate in one shining mound, deseeded, in front of me. How I sucked and bled the fruit of all their juice, hypnotized in front of the buzz of television in each version of my childhood. I am her daughter. This is certain. I am lying down with a man who is darker than me and maybe this poem is my real republic, my face is my face, or is it stolen from my mother and hung over mine? If I were a dream you could say my countenance was a string of flickering lights made of teeth or an expression unraveling like a carpet into a narrow river of another life. Does truth matter when it's floating face up or face down? The answer to this makes all the difference. Tina Chang, "Love" from Of Gods & Strangers. Copyright © 2011 by Tina Chang.  Reprinted by permission of Four Way Books. Source: Of Gods & Strangers(Four Way Books, 2011) TINA CHANG Biography More poems by this author We strive to preserve the text formatting of poems over e-mail, but certain e-mail programs may distort how characters, fonts, indents, and line wraps appear.  View the poem on our site. Forward to a friend Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Discover more poetry Find poems by subject, occasion, or holiday. Sign up Receive the latest poems and news from the Poetry Foundation and Poetry magazine. Copyright © 2016 Poetry Foundation   |   61 West Superior Street, Chicago, IL 60654

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It has been a while since I've updated this blog, maybe too long, or maybe not long enough, but here goes.

This years has sen us deal with some health changes, family changes, and animal changes, along with a trip to the desert of Southern California for Teddy Jones' high school graduation. I enjoyed the trip, Jean not so much. Because no one in the Jones or Clark families smoke she was forced to go outside when she wanted a cigarette. Also the car we rented was nonsmoking so going for drives did not give her any relief.

The day we arrived she had to use a wheelchair when we deplaned which started the visit off on a bad note. But overall she was happy to see the kids and grandkids, and happy to leave the heat and get back home the the Chins.

On the plane coming home.

The flight home was good. The skies were clear most of the way so we could make out landmarks and keep track of where we were. 

Crater Lake

The arrival home was great. The dogs greeted us with joy, and it is always nice to get back to your own bed and routine.

The strawberries on the deck are ripening though there are not many and they are small.

Sound (Hound) to Narrows

John, Willy, and I participated in the first annual Hound to Narrows 5k walk. It is part of the annual Sound to Narrows held in Tacoma. We had fun and Willy got a lot of looks and smiles because of his tongue.

Angie bought me a Seahawks shirt for Father's Day.

I got attacked by a wild English Toy Spaniel at the Puyallup Dog Show. It was surprising and painful, though partially my fault for trying to keep him from jumping out of my lap into the show ring before his turn. I ended up with four stitches in my ear which weren't half as bad as having to explain to the doctors what happened (3xs) and that the dog wasn't rabid or ill. Next time I think I'll let go.

Decided today that I will stop having my paper delivered and start walking up to the corner store each day to buy it. That way I can get the paper to read with my breakfast since the carrier can't get it here until late, and get my exercise in at the same time.

As Donald Trump dominates, establishment is bewildered as to what went wrong

As Donald Trump dominates, establishment is bewildered as to what went wrong: This political season, almost as remarkable a storyline as Donald Trump’s ascension in GOP politics, is the Republican establishment and anti-Trump forces’ inability to coalesce around a viable alternative.

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https://connect.garmin.com/page/profile/minprofile.faces?displayName=KarlJH

Home From Virginia

We have been home from Virginia for a week now and are starting to get back into our routine, if you can ever get back to a routine after a great event. Visiting Virginia and the surrounding area was a great event to me. Other than getting to spend time with my daughter and son-in-law and seeing the growth in my grandchildren after almost two years, getting to see D.C., Gettysburg, and Washington and Lee University was fabulous!

It was so exciting to see places I have read about for almost 60 years. Getting to walk battlefields that Lee, Jackson, Stuart, and Custer walked was amazing. Walking on the streets that Lincoln, Jefferson, and Madison walked was moving beyond compare. And to see the great monuments we have built to honor them was exciting. And to do it with my grandchildren can not be topped.

We were also lucky enough to be guided around the campus of Washington and Lee University by our beautiful granddaughter.

All in all a good trip.

Enough By Katie Peterson

Poem of the Day: Enough BY KATIE PETERSON So many forget-me-nots, with their white centers, scattered, you'd say, if there weren't so many everywhere, as many as the stars last night in between the branches above the porch, behind the house. Was it an argument or were there just things they had to say? I could have faith in so many creatures— the old setter from the neighbor yard who follows me around the corner and no longer, the chick with its new beak just past breakable whose lighter top feathers have a bit of flight, any mother bear— you say things and the next day it's like they don't matter, we want our faces to alter though we don't want to get older, neither do we want to get younger, repetition with less knowledge is ridiculous, just ask the Greeks, you get to keep being a tree but without the branch that showed the sky your starlike shape? I don't think so. Steadiness can be useful, but my loyalty loves a form that will follow me through changes. At a diagonal the dark woods on the back slope have enough space to walk between, not enough to hide. He looks into them and writes notes to his mother, she looks into them and finds alignment, or looks for what she wants. She has a human skeleton on her desk. He has a protractor. I had wishes for both of them yesterday but the weather has become so kindly, so temperate, I forget what blessings they don't think they have. Katie Peterson, "Enough" from The Accounts. Copyright © 2013 by Katie Peterson.  Reprinted by permission of The University of Chicago Press. Source: The Accounts (University of Chicago Press, 2013)