Thursday, February 18, 2016 – Honeyboy
Randall Edwin (Honeyboy) Duffey
August 17, 1907 – February 18, 2000
If there were more Honeyboys in the world it would be a better place.
Posted in Uncategorized
Friday, February 12, 2016 – Hearts, Flowers, Chocolates and I Love You Too!
Sunday is Valentine’s Day. Remember when we put little shoe boxes on our desks in elementary school? Classmates would come around and drop little cards with hearts and sayings like “Be Sweet” or “Be My Valentine.”
Now it is just “Gimme those chocolate covered strawberries and get out of my way!”
Here’s what I’m thinking – I thought it would really set my neighborhood on its ear if I set up a kissing booth in my front yard on Sunday morning. I could sell kisses and donate to the funds charity. Then again, I realized who lives in my neighborhood and I can’t offer handicap parking or access for my kissing booth. There is no room for scooters, walkers, wheel chairs and those who just take tiny steps.
The neighborhood association is already bent out of shape because the new neighbor at the end of the cul-de-sac painted her fence red. Perhaps I will stroll down late Saturday night and graffiti some hearts, flowers, chocolates and I Love You Too on her fence.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Now where are those chocolate covered strawberries?
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 – Ash Wednesday
What are you thinking about today?
Your assignment today is to make up something for Here’s What I’m Thinking. You can post a comment if you like or you can just keep it to yourself.
I am taking the day off. Truth – Tee time is at noon.
FYI – Yesterday marked the appearance of the Fab Four’s TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. And the rest as they say is history.
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Tuesday, February 9, 2016 – Fat Tuesday
For the Catholics, the pope less Episcopalians and all other Kneelers and the Observers of The Lentin Season.
Hello God. Of course I am listening.
What? Lent again? Didn’t we just have it? Oh that was this time last year? Ash Wednesday begins tomorrow?
Answer: Lent starts every year on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday 2016 falls on February 10, 2016, and Holy Saturday 2016 falls on March 26, 2016, the day before Easter 2016.
While Lent is a 40-day period of fasting and prayer, there are 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (inclusive).
Yes, I learned that the period of Lent is actually 46 days when I started Here’s What I’m Thinking (HWIT) two Lents ago as a spiritual journey and commitment.
When I ask You to “make me a writer,” You said, “put your butt in the chair, keep it there, write stuff and trust the process.” Thank you very much for the courage to do just that. It seems to be working out well.
Thank you for everybody who follows HWIT. Thanks to my dear AXO sister, Carol, I can officially say Here’s What I’m Thinking is read worldwide. So a big prayer up on that one, God.
Answer: You are welcome. So what is it going to be this year? What are you going to do for your Lentin commitment this season?
I am going to give up swimming.
Answer: Nice try. You and your cousins have tried that for years. Still makes me laugh. You do that every year. You don’t even swim in the summer time, let alone when it is freezing! I know “freezing” in Texas is below 40 degrees.
How about this? I commit to stay on a spiritual journey, continue with Here’s What I’m Thinking, and try to make the world a better place for everyone. And meatless Fridays too!
Answer: I like that. Remember I will guide you.
I know. Thank you.
All spiritual journeys are different, yet the desire at the end is to end up in the same place. With YOU!
Palo Duro Canyon Trip April,15, 2015 Photo by me.
Answer: Yes, very true. All spiritual journeys are personal between Me and you. No, you cannot say “Get your ash to God.” Although it is funny.
http://catholicism.about.com/od/2016-Calendar/f/When-Is-Lent-2016.htm
Friday, February 5, 2016 – Go Broncos! Stand for the Gold and White!
Peyton! Peyton! We love You! But who you gonna throw it too?
The wide receivers for the Denver Broncos, Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders as starters with Jordan Norwood, Andre Caldwell and Cody Latimer as backups are coached by
Tyke Tolbert – hometown Conroe, Texas,
Graduate – Conroe High School.
Two bits; four bits; six bits a dollar
All for the Broncos stand up and holler!
BTHO Carolina!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Conroe, Conroe High School, Denver Broncos, Peyton Manning, Texas, Tyke Tolbert
Exa Doy Faust Duffey
September 20, 1912 – January 23, 1975
Posted in Uncategorized
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 – Snarky Wednesday! – Otto Von B., Donald T., Hillary C., and all the rest.
Just when you thought it was safe to start reading Here’s What I’m Thinking. Today is for those of you who have missed The Snark. You can skip to the end for the zingers if you do not want to read the backstory.
On this day – some 365 days from now – in 2017 somebody is going to be sworn in as the POTUS and a bunch of people are just going to be swearing. Every morning after each presidential election I would write the following sentence on the chalkboard of my classroom, on the white board in my office or a stickie note on my office door. I wanted to write it early in case any of the candidates are elected and I seriously consider going to live with Miss Rolene in the islands.
God protects fools, drunks and the United States of America.
From the website: http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/there_is_a_providence_that_protects_idiots_drunkards_children_and_the_unite
“There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America” is often said to be a quotation of Otto von Bismarck (1818-1898). The quotation in the form “God always helps fools, lovers and drunkards” exists in French from at least 1708. In 1849, “the special providence over the United States and little children” was attributed to Abbé Correa.
The old French proverb was credited to Bismarck in 1907. The proverb—in its many forms—is still cited. Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) German aristocrat and statesman; Prime Minister of Prussia (1862 -1890), First Chancellor of Germany (1871 – 1890); he is nicknamed the Iron Chancellor and is noted for the laconicity of his statements. Misattributed This saying appears as early as 1849 in the form “the special providence over the United States and little children”, attributed to Abbé Correa. There is no good evidence that Bismarck ever repeated it.”
Here’s what I’m thinking – since everything that comes out of the presidential candidates’ mouths tends to be misquoted, I thought I would at least try to accurately attribute the quote.
The Iron Chancellor? Hmm? Historically it was a time of evolving social, economic and political change. It was a time that involved significant changes brought about by foreign wars – mostly started and/or caused by Bismark – to unify Germany. Immigrants were emigrating all over the place. (My peeps were already in the United States – from Ireland, England and France – just think if the Irish and the Catholics had not been allowed in the country.) The French even tried to build a wall to keep out the Germans. Historically in times such as these Chancellor has been translated as Dictator.
Question to Mr. Donald Trump. Allegedly 41% of your followers think the United States should bomb the city of Agra bah. Since that is the fictional town in the movie Aladdin, will the bombings be done from fictional airplanes and/ or with fictional missiles?
Did I mention I have a degree in history with emphasis in the rise of Bismark and the Age of Revolution? Bismark was a cause of the Age of Revolutions. Draw your own conclusions.
Posted in Education, Native Texan, Politics, Uncategorized
Tagged Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Otto von Bismark, POTUS
Tuesday, January 19, 2016 – The High Flying Times of the 1970’s – Life in the Fast Lane – The Eagles, Willie, Waylon and Me
Glenn Frey (11/6/48 – 1/18/16) The Eagles – guitar, vocals)
“It’s Your World Now”
Written by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin – From the Eagles’ Long Road Out of Eden album – http://www.eagles.com/splash
The 1970’s as sung by David Allen Coe.
I heard The Burritos out in California could fly higher than The Byrds
Roger Mcguinn had a 12 string guitar it was like nothing I’d ever heard,
And The Eagles flew in from the west coast
Like The Byrds they were trying to be free
While in Texas the talk turned to Outlaws like Willie and Waylon and me.
Like the outlaws, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, “The Eagles chronicled America in the high-flying Seventies, a time of rapidly changing social mores leading up to what they called “life in the fast lane.” Between the lines, their favorite subject matter was the pursuit and unraveling of the American dream. They began as wide-eyed country-rockers on the fertile Los Angeles music scene and evolved into purveyors of grandiose, dark-themed albums about excess and seduction. The Eagles were defined and bounded by the Seventies, forming in 1971 and parting ways in 1980. They were born again in 1994 as public demand for their music and messages persuaded them to reunite.
The statistics on the Eagles reveal their influence as a rock and roll band. The group’s first best-of collection, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, is among the best-selling albums of all time, having sold more than 26 million copies. It was the first album to be certified platinum (1 million sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America, which introduced that classification in 1976. They released four consecutive Number One albums between 1975 and 1979: One of These Nights, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, Hotel California and The Long Run. Collectively, those four albums topped Billboard’s album chart for 27 weeks. Proving they hadn’t lost their touch, the 1994 reunion album Hell Freezes Over occupied the Number One spot for two weeks. The Eagles charted five Number One hits, and five more singles made the Top 10. They sold more albums in the Seventies than any other American band. Moreover, though the band was inactive in the Eighties, their back catalog steadily sold 1.5 million copies a year.” https://rockhall.com/inductees/the-eagles/bio/
Thank you Glenn. RIP. Take it to the limit, one more time.
Monday, January 18, 2016 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Dream It. Believe It. Make It Happen.
Today in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., please think about the following two excerpts from his I Have a Dream Speech, delivered on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. C. Think about the words he said then and review them in light of the world today.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
—-
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
Now go out there and make the world a better place.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Lincoln Memorial Washington D.C. June 2013 Copyright Delia R. Duffey
Posted in Misc., Politics, Uncategorized
Wednesday, January 13, 2016 – January 13, 1949 – 12:31 AM – “I am born.”
Actually that is the opening line of Chapter One of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens novel. I liked these guys from England much better than Dickens.
On which album is the song Birthday? Here is a hint: It is one of these.
Here is me on the horse. Ask almost any Baby Boomer about getting their picture made on the horse.
Early Miss Magnolia Picture
Notice the left orthopedic shoe – I hope it is on the edge of the magnolia tree. Otherwise, the shoe is not working and did not do its job which explains a lot doesn’t Krystal?
My favorite sister playing jacks with me. My other playmate was the TV in the background.
I am off to school – second grade.
Mrs. Evelyn Shannon’s class. Also THE only second grade class at Magnolia Elementary. We would move from the sawmill that spring.
Patsy Cline with a basketball.
HB and Mama bought the house next to the school from Guinn and Lena Sanders. Yes, it was the house with the “little steps” over the fence.
50 years later I would ride this instead of a horse – not that I spent a great deal of time on a horse, but I do have some pictures as proof. The first bike was my Harley-Davidson, 883 Sportster with Van and Hines pipes for safety. Of course the additional extra loud HD sound was pretty cool too.
I like tell people for my 50th birthday I got a motorcycle and a tattoo, only one of which I still have. I swear, if you ask which one, I will unfriend you.
At The Zilker Kite Festival in Austin, Texas. Me intimidating a small child. Hey, I rode a Harley! I ain’t backing away from no little kid.
Photo by Karen Mathews
“Birthday” is a song written by John Lennon–Paul McCartney and performed by The Beatles on their 1968 double album …The Beatles …..commonly known as “The White Album.”
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