To start with our hearts go out to the people of Texas. This morning we were watching CBS and it was non stop coverage of Harvey bringing devastation to Texas. The reporters were on scene. They were also stuck and couldn't go anywhere. From the bridge they were on the highway looked like a river. To top it all off, the next few days the rain will keep coming. I can't imagine the nightmare for the people there. Their homes flooded out and everything they own is destroyed. It's heartbreaking. And we're going to see more of these storms in the future. The news didn't mention it but these severe storms are part of Global Warming. Most likely it's too late to do anything to slow it down. Our political world has turned a blind eye to it despite all the evidence and warnings.
Ok enough doom and gloom. So this afternoon we quit watching the destruction and watched the baseball game. It helped get those images out of our heads. Soon the Summer will fade away and Fall will arrive. We're looking forward to it. Maybe it will stay around and not turn into Winter this time....
I had a lot of ideas for today's post. However most of those ideas I will put on the back burner and write them in later blogs. Today's blog will be of a somber note. This week it will be a year since my cousin passed away. So this post is kinda the one I've been meaning to write but had never got to jot down. He was older than me so he was like a kind of mentor to me too. Our families spent a lot of time together when we were all kids. He and I had things in common we liked. Like comic books, art and music. When I was in high school he went with a couple of friends to California. His friends came back at some point but he stayed. He never came back here at all. In my early 20's I went to visit him with his brother and a couple of years later with my brother. We had a great time both times. So over the years we kept in touch by letters. A few phone calls back then because you remember long distance calling could be very expensive especially as long as he and I talked on the phone. We also did a lot of that before he left but that was all local calling. Even the miles apart we kept in touch and that never changed as the technology changed. We shared letters, shared tapes and later cds, books and other stuff we both liked. When I first got use of a computer, even though I didn't have one at home, we shared emails instead of letters. Electronic letters if you will. I created an email address at the library and wrote from there a couple times. Then I would use my dad's computer which from his home you could connect to the library and use their internet connection for free. There was and probably still is a time limit on that. Then of course when I got my own pc we shared from there. We always had something to say and talked about everything over the years. He was more than my cousin. He was my best friend too. This weekend I've been thinking a lot about him and how I miss our e-letters. Ironically I had just talked to him on the phone shortly before he passed. Strangely enough I remember after hanging up (I still use this line after a phone call when in reality we now hit the end button), I had forgotten to tell him something and thought I should call back. Then I said to myself, I'll tell him next time when I call. Well I didn't get that chance. The next call I got was from his brother (who lives close by to me) that he had passed. We were pretty shocked. Lastly I want to say is take that moment when you think of it. No one ever knows when it will be the last time you talk to someone you care about.
Tomorrow is the eclipse, one of those things that happen in the movement of the celestial bodies. Make it a great start to your week....
Sometimes when you're thinking of what to write, things happen. So Saturday morning I took my dog out. Saturdays at 6:15 in the morning is very quiet in the neighborhood. Just the birds a singin'. Well while we were standing there I hear what sounded like some woman singing. It was quite far away and soon I recognized that it was the Star Spangled Banner. Now I knew there was no baseball going at the time. Our city has a minor league baseball team. So what was it that was going on. I didn't figure it out until hours later when I headed over to the bank. Yes I still use cash for some things. On my way I soon discovered what it was all about. It was a local marathon run. They did that last year too and I couldn't get to the bank right away. I went down to the street I usually turn on and a police officer said I couldn't go that way because it was a part of the marathon. So I told him where I was going hoping he would offer an idea. Well he didn't have a clue where the bank was that I was going to. It was maybe a mile away in a shopping center that had been there forever. Today it would be called a strip mall I imagine but was before that term existed. Plus it was built many years before there was ever a mall in our area. So this 20 something police officer didn't know a thing about the neighborhood. Nor did he seem to know the streets and area I mentioned. You would think he would know the entire marathon route, right? So I asked when it would be over. He said around a half hour. So I headed home instead and went much later than usual.
I wonder how many people have Photobucket accounts still. I don't have many pics there and have only been using a few on the other sites I'm at for part of my page theme. A lot of people at those sites have lots of pics at Photobucket and found they were no longer working for their themes. I tried going into my account a couple weeks ago and it was a nightmare trying to do anything in Photobucket. I did get my pics to work again. So today I noticed they weren't working again. And here's why. Now you must pay to have them to work. They set a standard that your codes will only work for a large amount of stored pics. Which as I said I don't have. So much for a free account 'eh? When I logged in there today I could at least work with it. Kinda back to normal except the pay part. I didn't sign up for it either. As I looked at my pics, I got rid of a few I didn't want anymore and downloaded the ones I'm not sure I have backed up anywhere else. Here's one I took from my mom's flower garden in the corner of the backyard from years ago.....
A friend mine posted about the loss of friends when they pass on to the next journey. It was about looking to find them and the not knowing where that friend went. So it got me to thinking about a lot of things. Before the cyber world we would prepare for our next journey with a will to whatever estate we have to leave what we have to the people and family we want all of it to go to. That way the state wouldn't get a hold of it and take what you want to pass on to your heirs. Well there's more to be done with our lives now immersed in the cyber world. Make sure you prepare for a family member or someone you love and trust to take care of your cyber pages. This way your friends will know you've passed to the next great journey....
So along with that my mind wandered and some words followed to write a new poem, my first in a very long time....
The Sound I Hear
The years have passed
You drift in my mind
All the emotions come back
That I had left behind
For the memories I feel
Sing the song to me
Hidden in my heart
Of what we could be
It's the sound I hear
With reason to fear
Touching you so dear
Wishing you were near
Awake for another day
Looking at the future
The sky falls away
And I'm so unsure
Reality blurs to a mist
Question to what to do
I am here and there
Knowing I did love you
It's the sound I hear
With reason to fear
Wishing you were near
Should I reach out
To find you still
Travel on down again
To climb up that hill
Once, we chanced to love
In the darkest night
Letting ourselves go
Leaving without a fight
It's the sound I hear
With reason to fear
Wishing you were near
As I gaze the stars above
I remember once, yes love
8-5-17 by Greg
