America The Beautiful

I believe that I am one of the fortunate people who just happened to be born in this great country, The United States of America. Because without really knowing what they were proposing our founding fathers were being guided by a spirit of love far greater than they could have imagined. Consider the fact that they really didn't believe "ALL" men were created equal since it didn't included those who didn't own land or property of any kind, it certainly didn't include women or anything else that was considered property including slaves. But those words which are inspired by a greater power than those of the brains of the founding fathers really did include everyone, men, women, children and if all had these rights then we couldn't own any other human being. The whole of humanity had these rights. And I might add along with these rights came the obligation to extend them with kindness to the animals, the environment and not just for profit but for the good of this planet.

Not only are we guided by this greater power for us but we must extend the opportunity to live these rights to all others, to be the example of love, kindness and the acceptance of the fact that we are all related somehow DNA related but even more than that, spiritually related. We didn't start out this way but we are being guided to this fact that The United States of America has to be a haven for what is right, just and good not only for us citizens but for the oppressed of the world.

The American way of life, liberty and justice for all must continue to grow until the full truth of this idea is realized and extended to all. Perhaps some day the whole earth will have this notion and there will truly be peace on earth. Until it is fully realized we must keep the spirit alive, this greater spirit who wants all men, all humans to be happy.

It's Better To Love and Leave when It's Over

Say what you will about loving and leaving it is far better to do that and have the memories than to just get up drag yourself through the day and go to bed unfulfilled.

The bottom of this blog lists a great song that says it all. AMEN!

Just One of Those Things

Cole Porter

It was just one of those things
Just one of those crazy flings
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things

It was just one of those nights
Just one of those fabulous flights
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings
Just one of those things

If we'd thought of it 'bout the end of it
When we started painting the town
We'd have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot not to cool down

So goodbye, dear, and Amen
Here's hoping we'll meet now and then
It was great fun
But it was just one of those things

Just one of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings
Just one of those things

Just Friends Lovers No More

The affair started out like gangbusters. There was everything that said these two could never be a couple but despite the differences they became one. For three years they happily shared their desires, actually two and a half years because the affair actually stared to cool around two and a half years after it stared.

Everything was fine as long as they stayed committed to each other but she started to become affected by the other people in her life that didn't want this affair to be successful. She never realized it but she became manipulated by the desires of her daughter who managed to get her to see her old lover . They had broke up because according to her she was tired of being the other woman. He was
married and kept saying he was getting a divorce but when push came to shove he stopped the proceedings and she realized she's always be the other woman. But while they were together the daughter adopted this guy as a father figure, and he was better than he actual father but she wanted her mother to stay in that relationship because it satisfied her needs. So under the guise of her meeting him she had to have her mother along.

This caused friction because the current hot affair couldn't survive when the third person in the room was a five hundred pound elephant, if you get my drift. So they argued until she finally decided she no longer loved either one of them physically. What had been a hot romance cooled completely. He, not the ex, decided that they should break up but she didn't want that. The fact of the matter she started to live in denial that there was anything ever physical between them. The fact that she kissed him first, that she wanted to rent the hot sheets room for almost three years so that they could spend three hours naked and drinking wine while they shared their innermost thoughts while holding each other while she confessed that this was the moments she felt safest no longer mattered because all she saw was she didn't want him to touch her in an intimate way ever again.

He is stuck in a relationship he doesn't want because he don't believe in living a lie based on denial. However, he can't find the words to end it all although he has tried. He wishes she would let it all go because it isn't going anywhere. They are just friends, lovers no more. He truly wants to end it all but I guess he's just a coward and will not do what he knows he should do and cut the chord. After all she is the one who has changed and doesn't want to acknowledge what was actually happened but is not going to happen again therefore changing whatever they had into something he doesn't want and she shouldn't either.  But until something unforeseen happens they shall remain stuck in neutral.

Selfish? Who? Me?

Talking to a young lady who had my interests at heart pointed out after I made the comment about someone we both knew and loved that "She is selfish.", I was reminded that we are all selfish and I responded, "Maybe, but I am a little less!", to which she chuckled. Our phone came to an end shortly thereafter as she reached her destination.

I of course felt I had lived a pretty selfish life for many reasons. but I wondered why I wasn't getting the same reasoning from people like the person I was talking to a little while ago. I fell asleep that night disappointed that the Yanks and the Jets both blew their ballgames. I woke up the next day however thinking not about the teams blowing their games but wondering if people thought I was selfish when I was certainly not.

I went to the 7 AM mass as is my custom still perplexed about what I considered a misconception about my life. This is where the story becomes a bit mysterious. But first let me set the context. At my daily mass I have conversations with Jesus, mostly what I am telling him and occasionally he talking to me though thoughts, homily's or biblical readings of the day. While I was in the middle of expressing my views about my being unselfish a thought of something that happened some 50 years ago popped into my head, truthfully I hadn't remembered this for some years but it was vividly being displayed in my imagination this day.

It was a Saturday. My father was in the last throes of his cancer. We had the last of our 7 children and they were mostly in diapers. I was getting very little sleep working two jobs and going to night college. I would get up at 3 and place my name in early place to play golf. Golf was very important to me. After Golf I would visit my father and mother and sit with them for a few hours counting his minutes left here before he entered eternity. This Saturday after signing up for an 8 tee time I returned home to find that my wife was not feeling well. The kids were already driving her crazy. I really should have stayed home but I would've missed seeing my father and what seemed like a mortal sin, I would've  missed my GOLF (Horrors), so I convinced my wife that she was really OK just dragging a bit in fact I had her do a few stretching exercises to prove she was OK.

I went and played a round and didn't do badly, for me anyway. I was at my fathers with my mom when I got a call about 4 PM from one of the neighbors, my wife gave her the number, my wife was in bed for bed rest according to the doctor who said she had bronchitis and bursitis and would I come home to take care of her and the kids. I really felt awful about this but after all I got my golf in and nobody died. I guess I forgot about this conveniently because this was a completely selfish day and I didn't want to think about me being so into myself I couldn't see the that the person I loved so much needed me and I failed her.

The mass proceeded. After communion I thanked Jesus because I knew he got to me to understand I guess we are all selfish at times and sometimes not just a little selfish, but enough to realize that there must of been more times in my life that I was even more selfish that this time, but Jesus was kind enough to let me off the hook figuring I got the lesson he was trying to teach me. So I left the church with the admonishment of not to be so quick to judge, especially when it comes to judging yourself. 

 

Memories? Actual or A Play On What Happened?

Memory plays tricks . But it isn't memory that causes this it is the Id, Ego and Super-Ego that transforms things that actually happened to what a person "wants" it to be.

I know two people who shared a sexual relationship, they kissed, hugged, rolled around together fully naked and shared very intimate moments and actions. Yet one says they never had sex while the other remembers when that person screamed in delightful ecstasy actually thanking the partner for passion and sexual delights.

This dichotomy is not only happening at the sexual level it happens at all levels.  It comes to mind that one person's parent was going through the pain of dementia which included anger, wandering, forgetting and great confusion. The caregiver knew someone who experienced all this including the confusion of figuring out finances and placement in hospitals and nursing homes.  The caregiver enlisted this person's help including listening to the fact the patient couldn't change but the healthy ones could and should just to keep everyone's sanity. Talking with the parent, accompanying the caregiver to hospitals and nursing homes until everything was settled. Help was asked and given even though the experienced one was reliving the pain of what had to be lived with the problems encountered previously. The passage of time has left different impressions of what had happened. The helper remembers the time given with love and help that was needed. The caregiver, as time passes, seems to think no one helped. Nothing malicious in this but just the way it is as time changes situations and people become distant for whatever reasons.

Humans have a way of changing events in their minds to fit the circumstances they want because maybe it is too painful to admit their childhood was lacking parental love and guidance, or perhaps a breakup of a love affair happened because they simply fell out of love and what was exciting once is no longer exciting.  Whatever the reason the memories are tainted by what the mind wants to accept.

My thought is one can never be truly happy living a lie. One has to clear the mind tricks the brain plays upon us because only by finding the truth will we be able to understand who we are and where we should be going on this highway of life.
 

Nero (Trump) Fiddled While It All Burned

The most disappointing isn't the fact that our President is a philandering crook that resembles the description of a mafia Capo with a family that fits the description of a mafia family. The most disappointing thing about it all here in the good old USA is that 35% to 40% of the voting public know it and do not care. I'm not sure why but they just don't care.

Adding to the disappointment is the fact that they know deep down in their hearts that Trump is in the hip pocket of Putin and they don't care so much so that they will decry all the proof showing this and they will decry the fact as "fake news" and the investigation of Russian interference into our election process as a "witch hunt" even though they know there is no such thing as "fake news" except that which is spewed out of the mouths on Fox News and the only "witch" that is being hunted is a true one name Trump and he should be caught.

Hopefully our 35% - 40% will wake up and realize before we are taken over by the "Evil Empire" headed by Trump reporting to Putin that there is no good in evil even if they think stacking the Supreme Court and getting tax breaks are good things. Evil Empires have come and gone in the history of the world but not before they wrecked havoc on the world that still is giving the bad effects it gave birth to.

Wake up America before your children and grandchildren pay for your mistake of accepting evil for good!

 

Christmas 1956

Long ago and far away there was Lou, PFC on leave with his love Sarita & his parents Louis & Lena. Good times! Great memories.

The Greeks Had More Than One word For It

When he was married he knew just by a touch when things were going right or wrong. They had lived so long together, so close together, so as one it seemed in many respects they were one. Not everything was right all the time. They had differences. They had fights. They had lives separate from one another. Yet they always came back to the fact while they could survive alone they couldn't live alone. They needed one another, to live, to enjoy the joys of life. They really didn't need any others although others added to their mutual living, laughing, loving.

Then she left. She didn't really choose leaving it just came upon them, over the years, until there was nothing left so she just slipped into eternity.

He went some time being alone then he found someone who while never replacing her filled the void that was there after she left. There was excitement, a feeling of mutual attraction that fed upon a touch, a kiss a sharing of intimate details of their lives.

There came a time when their relationship just wasn't enough so the urge to rekindle old friendships which might have even been relationships intruded upon their idyllic time in Eden. No longer was there sharing, touches, kissing. The relationship continued but on a cooler, less intimate level and that is the way it continued until it reached a point where he realized there was no romantic relationship at all. The fact of the matter was, as he thought about it all, they had a relationship but one that was quite different from the one they had for the first three years that they knew one another.

They definitely were in love but the Greeks knew very well that there were different kinds of love and that's why they had more than one word describing the term we have which is one word, love.

With his first love affair that lasted 50 years he experienced all the six stages the Greeks referred to. But with his love they never lost the first stage which made their relationship special and unique because what they shared was intimacies that bind each one to the other so that they become "one" as Jesus said. They shared all forms with each other and only some with others. When the time came for separation there was no regrets, only a true sense of loss on his part.

With this relationship he was in now they shared Eros but she now didn't want to remember that as if it never happened. This is a form of death he didn't like experiencing. He guessed what they share now is Philia and Pragma which wouldn't be bad if that was all they ever shared but that wasn't the case.  Her exclusion of their affair is like saying they never lived or shared that experience and of course to him that is like saying I was drunk and really would like to forget doing something I regret.

He had regrets but not the same as she. He regretted that they lost something that was like magic and could've bloomed into real magic if she wanted it but somehow how she didn't want it. He saw this as an end to an affair. She didn't! and he is in Limbo, that stage of life that is neither here nor there, just hanging suspended in air until something has to happen which causes it all to drop suddenly.

There's gotta be a better way to end a love affair! At least he thought so! 

A weeks Shoot With Linda Evangelista

Harper's Bazaar 1995 These are the only two I can find.But there was a lot more in that Magazine.

She doesn't remember me but I remember her as she was most gracious in manner, a joy to be with.

Beautifyl in allways. What a joy to work with.

Weddings & The Aftermaths

I was at a beautiful wedding recently. It took place outside on a beach and was filled with all the right words of love, fidelity and life long commitment.  The Bride and Groom are still kissing and making love I am sure. But overheard from a young man recently married but the day and time were separated by a few years responding to a comment that the words exchanged was so beautiful said, "But wait until she wants to do her thing. Then the arguments start, words fly and won't stop until she gets her way!"

This made me think, weddings are fine but marriage is like getting off drugs, the high that weddings give, and getting down to the nitty gritty of living a committed life.

At the wedding were couples that split after many years, some 25 or more, Some couples ready to split after only 5 or 10 years. The only couples holding hands, cuddling and feeling the high of professing love were those living together not married or those just getting together. A sad commentary of what happens when one starts on a long journey of togetherness.

The celebrations are fine and should be had but they should be experienced daily. Hard to do when the trials of life, be they financial or involving heath or even differing goals take the glitter and tarnish it all.

I am sure this is why so many marriages fail, the couples stop talking, stop saying "I love you!", and mean it. The couples stop working at their relationship to keep it alive, to keep it passionate to stop thing of the other person and only think of themselves.

Yes enjoy the day. Enjoy the glow like drugs give as you take part in a wedding watching twp people so much in love ready to take the jump. But keep working at your own relationship. Keep the day alive. Never go to bed angry. Never lose interest in each other sexually. Never stop loving.

It isn't easy to keep the fire alive but it takes two to do it every day starting with a kiss in the morning and a wonderful night of love before you go to sleep. Perhaps the day's events have you too tired for love making then at least a wonderful good night kiss will get you to the next morning ready to love some more. 

 

Trump Lost To Kim

Yes he did. There was a summit that North Korea's nukes brought the President of the USA to shake hands, give  him his trust, and grant concessions while Kim signed a paper that was like me signing a letter that had nothing to back it up.

Trump the Master Dealer lost his pants but won't know it until time has past and Kim just continuing to laugh at him as the softest touch what-so-ever.

The worst part of all this is perhaps everything that's happening is planned to satisfy Putin, covering whatever deal Trump and Putin may have while they cut up the worlds riches without anyone stopping them because their supporters who wield power want more power and to hell with the rest of the world.

Where is Trump's taxes? Why does Trump never have anything tough to say about Putin while Trump has no problem insulting our closest allies and disrupting Blocs that have stabilized the world for decades to Putin's dismay?

This deal is sucking in many who want peace at all cost. Sound a little like Neville Chamberlain in 1938 after meeting with Hitler just before WW II began finding the world at its weakest point because many wanted peace at all costs.

Donald Trump is the world's greatest huckster. He doesn't mind it at all this conning people, the world, so he can add to his wealth. He considers treachery the art of his deal. Hopefully, our leaders get some starch in their spines and save the world from this charlatan.

Gorden Jenkins Best! Written in 1958

This Is All I Ask by Gorden Jenkins

As I approach the prime of my life

I find I have the time of my life

Learning to enjoy at my leisure

And so I happily concede

All the simple pleasures

Walk a little slower when you walk by me**

This is all I ask, this is all I need

Beautiful girls**

Children everywhere

Lingering sunsets

Stay a little longer with the lonely sea

Take me to that strange enchanted land

When you shoot at bad men, shoot at me

Grownups seldom understand

Make my wish come true before the night has flown

Wandering rainbows

Leave a bit of colour for my heart to own

As long as there's a song to sing

Stars in the sky

And let the music play

And I will stay younger than spring

This song written so long ago has resonance for all times. It has been recorded so many times

by the great

vocalist of all times, e.g. Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett. Go to Utube plug the names in and

listen to the wonderfull

interpretations and enjoy. But while you are listening let the words sink in and take root because

the philosophy is

lovely and life inspiring, take it from one who knows.

I am way past the prime of my life but I feel younger than Spring because the flowers always bloom,

the girls are

always young be they 10, 50, or 100. And the children are always present bring back memories of

when we replayed

the Saturday serials that played with the movies every week.

Most of all the music is always playing so I can stay younger than Spring.

I hope the reader can do the same.

Donald Trump, The Paragon of Truth!

Does anyone actually believe that all the money paid to Trumps "Fixer" has been accounted for?

Does anyone believe the amounts reported as being paid to Trumps "Fixer"  has actually stayed with him, where did it find itself?

Does anyone believe that the swamp that Trump said he would drain was drained? Or was it made swampier?

Does anyone believe anything Trump says has any truth connected with it when it comes to Russia, increasing his own wealth and not having affairs or his misogynist practices?

Does anyone believe that Trumps personal "Fixer" has specific accounting knowledge that would have firms paying for because he is unique in the field?

Does anyone believe that Devin Nunes is not acting on behalf of the President's bidding  but actually is acting on the behalf of what is good for America?

Just wondering what anyone might believe about this reality show about our Presidency?

When The World Was Young

I was at a concert the other night at Westbury. Buddy Guy the old blues guitarist was the attraction and he was great in the style of BB King. But no matter how good he was it brought me back to a time my world was young because I was young.

The best thing about youth is that at any stage it was always the first time for something, the first black and white soda, the first slice of Pizza, the first time kiss, the first love, the first experience that was good or even bad like going to the dentist for the first time.

Anyway here I was at Buddy Guy's Westbury concert, he's 82, I am older. He was great but I heard great musicians before so while I enjoyed his show it was nothing like when I first saw Louis Prima at Westbury.

I was a young trumpeter because of Prima. I heard him on the radio and I fell in love with his music, his personality that was magically felt over the radio waves and most of all I fell in love with his trumpet and I wanted to be like him.

I joined Local 802 AFofM at 17 and stayed with them for 15 years.  I never became another Louis Prima but I had fun trying. But I digress. The first time I saw him was at the Paramount theater in Manhattan but he was so far away while it was great the best was the first time I saw him at Westbury. I was sitting in the last row. The performers entered from behind me but they had to go close by me down the aisle to the stage which wasn't far away, a lot closer than the Paramount's stage. The lights went down. The announcer let us know Louis Prima was about to enter. I was sitting with my love who put up with my dream to become another Louie Prima and listened to my trumpet almost every day of our marriage. Suddenly the lights went up   and Louis burst out of the door and ran down the aisle almost touched me as he went by. I was thrilled beyond words.

Full of energy he hit the stage running picked up his trumpet and played all my favorites, "Angelina (The Waitress At The Pizza)", "Robin Hood", "Just A Gigolo", all of them. He was backed by Sam Butera and  The Saints. He disbanded his big band at that time. It was the first time I had been so close to him, to hear him, to see him smile and to dream that one day we'd play a trumpet duet. Yes it was a thrill because the world, my world was still young and I was experiencing it all for the first time.

The worst part of growing old is there is very little first times left so grab on to the "now" and cherish the memories. Buddy Guy was great but he wasn't the first time in a young world.