Blog #102

Our 13-hour drive to North Carolina last week was uneventful.  We listened to oldies and goldies on Sirius Radio, rock ‘n roll from the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Music is such an important part of our memories, leaving indelible images on our brains.  I heard one song by The Lovin’ Spoonful and instantly remembered a night when I was 19, living in Greenwich Village and was the only customer in the Night Owl Cafe when the Spoonful performed. Then another song by The Fifth Dimension reminded us of seeing them perform on our honeymoon. Songs trigger vivid memories of the times and places of our lives.  Let’s see how good your recall is.

These are three opening lines of songs that start out by telling you when:

Long long time ago

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday

Just yesterday morning

And these are some that start out by telling you where:

Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans

On a dark desert highway

On a warm summer’s eve on a train bound for nowhere

See if you can remember the songs.  You should get most of them unless you have spent the last sixty years watching Susan Lucci and Judge Judy.  You know who you are.

One day last week, I just didn’t feel like getting up.  I felt like being lazy and useless, two of my wife’s favorite nicknames for me.  But then I remembered this exhortation: Awake, arise or be forever fallen.  That’s what Satan says to his assembled minions in John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  Satan and I are this close!  So I took his advice, got myself up and pumped for the day.  I felt young and eager and full of the goodness of life.  I felt like I was holding all the cards, until I realized that the world wanted to play chess.

It all started when I pulled up to the back gate of my subdivision where I noticed a paper cup from Burger King lying on the ground.  I got out and picked it up of course.  How can people litter like that?  Do they have no sense of anything?  Do they just hate their world and their lives so much that anything they can do to defile themselves and their surroundings brings them the glory of defiance?  Disgusting! Am I over-reacting?  Good, that’s how you make a point!  M.L. King said, The time is always right to do what is right.

I do not litter, and I try not to waste resources.  Since my memory cells are old and dusty, I write myself notes.  I know you can do notes and reminders on your cell-phone, but that would be too modern for me, so I use scraps of paper which I save by tearing up sheets I would otherwise have recycled.  You should do that too.

If it’s all the same to you, please

I’d rather you use one of these

It’s just a small scrap

But wasting is crap

And paper does not grow on trees.

Well, it does actually, but you get the point.  Hi there and welcome back.  I hope you’re feeling well.  And welcome to Kitty from Mexico.  My blog has received comments from Afghanistan and Hong Kong, but those were American readers who were visiting or were stationed there.  Kitty’s is the first comment I have received from a reader living abroad.  No, Kitty, I’m not calling you a broad.  I am trying to welcome you to Limerick Oyster and to thank you for the nice note.  I hope I didn’t mess that up.

One of the reasons we drove here to North Carolina is so my daughter and son-in-law could go on a short trip while we looked after the menagerie that is her household.  The kids are easy; they’re 17, 16 and 13 and all live by the same three-word credo – Leave Me Alone.  One of the kids takes care of the three dogs, one takes care of the two cats and the smallest child tends to the thirteen chickens.  I guess that makes her a chicken tender.  It all sounds like a piece of cake, right?  Well that’s because you haven’t tried to watch the television.  There are four remotes, each with more buttons than a South American dictator’s uniform.  The simple act of watching a program has now become an exercise in engineering surpassing the Apollo 11 moon landing and certainly beyond the meager capacities of two old people.  What ever happened to Howdy Doody?  You came home from school, pulled the on-off knob on the Philco and turned the dial to Channel 5.  Back then we had knobs and dials, not buttons.  Now, well, it’s all too complicated for this humble relic.  I’ll be reading a lot of books.

And then there’s the toilet.  The original toilet was invented in the late 19^th Century by Thomas Crapper (true!) and his daughters Fulla, Pisa and Pyla.  But the gizmo my son-in-law has is an ultra-modern hi-tech monster created by Elon Flush!  When you walk in, it automatically raises its lid like some water-filled Audrey II.  Then it sprays you, warms your privates, tells potty jokes and sings Feed me Seymour all at the same time.   Plus, it has a remote with as many buttons as the TV thing.  Maybe if I used the toilet remote, I could get Netflix.  But I was afraid and I avoided it like shingles!  I like simple things that are easy for a simple man to understand.  Like the rooster.  The damn thing gets up every morning with an arrogant chip on its drumstick and lets everybody know about it.  I can deal with that.

It’s already time to give you the song answers.  I know you got them all right.

Long long time ago – American Pie – Don McLean

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday - Piano Man – Billy Joel

Just yesterday morning - Fire and Rain – James Taylor

Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans

          Johnny B Goode – Chuck Berry

On a dark desert highway - Hotel California – Eagles

On a warm summer’s eve on a train bound for nowhere

(You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em)

          The Gambler – Kenny Rogers

No?  Too much Judge Judy?  Well I certainly know when to fold ‘em, and that would be right about now.  So stay well and count your blessings but never count your money when you’re sitting at the table.  See you next week.

Michael                          Send comments to:  mfox1746@gmail.com