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I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.
~Benjamin Harrison
Happy Memorial Day – yesterday Tim and I had the chance to walk through the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in D.C. It was a steady stream of people walking through. What amazed me however was the great and intense quiet in the walkway, compared with the bustle of the crowds all around it.
It was awe inspiring to see the quiet respect shown to the memories of the military men and women who gave their life so we could have the opportunity to enjoy the freedoms that we so take for granted.
On this day, where so many of us mark the beginning of summer by celebrating with families and friends, take pause to remember those who aren’t here to enjoy that same opportunity, and those families who will be celebrating without someone…. just so we could.
Happy Memorial Day.
On the eve of competition, some people get a little touchy and cranky, mostly from nerves I would like to assume. Everyone here, especially the adults who can easily get wrapped up in the “serious” nature of the competition, need to remember, it’s really all about the fun.
Good Luck Mill River !!! Win, lose or draw, today’s the day and then…. bring on the fun!
We are at Odyssey World Finals. This year, Tim’s team has buddied up with a team from South Korea.
Here is their first meal together — lunch today. Not everyone was here yet from our team.
When the girls arrived, the team set to work using the only air conditioned space in the dorm floor to work on their props.
A vase full of flowers is always nice. It adds a pick-me-up to the indoors and makes me smile. Especially when the flowers it holds are lilacs and the vase holding them was made by your son.
Yesterday was a day. Hopefully today will be a better one. One kid has what appears to be a bad infection in both his big toes, when I went to wake the boys yesterday I noticed his toe. Boys being boys, it didn’t hurt, so no big deal. No big deal, almost started my day off
with a heart attack. We’re off to the podiatrist today for that. Then seems that a flashlight vibrated off the top of the dryer and hit the hot water lever on the utility sink in the laundry room. Good thing we work from home, since after about an hour there was a huge flood in the laundry room, I don’t even want to think what it might have looked like after a whole day of running water. We’re still drying it out and all the damp weather we’ve been having certainly doesn’t help.
The dog, had to get in on the act and for some completely unknown reason decided it was
a good idea to completely dig up the tomato plants that I had so carefully planted the day before.
I think that she is being possessed by the spirit of the White Dog. Seriously. What else could have gotten into her?
Even with all the rain that we’ve been getting, there is some sunshine. You just have to know where to look.
With all the rain and no real dry days in order to mow, the lawn has become its own sunshine, filled with dandelion flowers.
This is from the Jeff Bridges website. I heard about this when it hit the news, but as many other people at the train station that day, didn’t pay much attention. Given some recent circumstances in and around my life, I thought it was worth posting.
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children.. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly..
45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.
The questions raised:
*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*Do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.
How many other things are we missing?
As I was driving up the hill today, I came across this little bird literally waddling its way across the street.
I had no idea what it was, but it seems to either be a woodcock or a snipe. Input is welcome from anyone who actually knows.
Amazing what you might find waddling, walking or crawling across these dirt roads. Never ceases to amaze me.
I came across this and thought I’d share. The original post, I was advised by a friend, was truncated. This is from Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott.
Ten Rules for Being Human
1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full time informal school called “life”.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work”.
4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6. “There” is no better place than “here”. When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here”.
7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all of this.
Our church, a small community here in Wallingford, was kind enough to decide to celebrate the confirmation of its five young members. Through a lot of hard work on many people’s part, on Sunday the newly confirmed enjoyed a special mass in which they participated, the May crowning where TJ was given the honor to crown Mary (maybe he was just the tall one) followed by a delicious brunch for everyone in the parish hall. It was a delightful morning despite the rain and many thanks to all those who thought enough to celebrate the newest adult members of the parish.
The young gentlemen in the picture was a First Communion recipient and wonderfully included in the celebration!
Thanks to everyone who came out on a very rainy Sunday to help support the Mill River Odyssey of the Mind Team during our Silent Auction and Dessert Party. It was exhausting to prepare for it and yesterday was set up and dessert baking, today was more dessert baking and running the event. Together, the entire team and their families put in countless ( and I do mean countless) hours of time, energy and effort into putting together what we were counting on to be our largest fundraiser.
While people trickled in and out during the two hour event, we weren’t feeling very optimistic. There weren’t a lot of people, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of bidding, despite the really great items we were able to secure (Disney Park Hopper passes, Aerogarden, Keurig Coffee Makers, etc.)
If anyone out there is interested, we have a pair of ski passes to Wachusett Mountain and Saddleback Mountain that remained unbid upon. The Odyssey Team would love to see them go to a good home in exchange for some support for the team (in the way of good old fashioned cash).
When it was all said and done, and we were exhausted, it seemed to all work itself out. Magically, somehow, we wound up making enough money to cover the majority of the team’s expenses and that makes up for all the hard, hard work everyone put in.
Good job ladies (and gentlemen). Did we decide on when we’re doing that night out celebrating?
Happenings on the Hill 