the cat and mouse | past present future
me myself iArchive for June, 2006
good Judge Wapner moment
You sort of had to be there, but once on “The People’s Court,” a case came in, of two men involved in a traffic accident of sorts. One man explained that he had his car door open on a street side, and that the other man had threatened to knock the door off if the first man didn’t close it.
Well, the second guy did end up taking the door off. His defense was,
“I told him, if he didn’t close that door I was gonna take it OFF.“
(He lost the case!)
my grandparents, again
Here’s a picture, which I like very much, of my grandparents in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they met in 1928. Both were in medical school at the University of Edinburgh.
My grandfather did his first two years there and then went back to finish up at the University of Pennsylvania. My grandmother arrived and also finished two years (she was at the university with my grandfather for one year and finished her second year after he’d gone back to Pennsylvania), before moving to Pennsylvania, marrying my grandfather, and continuing her studies at Women’s Medical College.
Edinburgh, Scotland: November 2, 1928And here’s a picture of them in 1994, 66 years later. I miss them.
Lou Ann Long & Carroll Hardy Long, 1994my grandparents, again
Here’s a picture, which I like very much, of my grandparents in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they met in 1928. Both were in medical school at the University of Edinburgh.
My grandfather did his first two years there and then went back to finish up at the University of Pennsylvania. My grandmother arrived and also finished two years (she was at the university with my grandfather for one year and finished her second year after he’d gone back to Pennsylvania), before moving to Pennsylvania, marrying my grandfather, and continuing her studies at Women’s Medical College.
Edinburgh, Scotland: November 2, 1928And here’s a picture of them in 1994, 66 years later. I miss them.
Lou Ann Long & Carroll Hardy Long, 1994my grandmother’s memorial poem
around 1927
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
He kindly stopped for me -
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility -
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring -
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -
Or rather – He passed us -
The Dews drew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet – only Tulle -
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice – in the Ground -
Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity -
my grandfather’s memorial poem
My grandfather, a lifelong avid reader, missionary, surgeon, and politician, lost his sight to glaucoma and macular degeneration. Yet I never heard him complain about his “plight.”
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve there with my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask; But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies “God doth not need
Either man’s work of his own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
"Ode to a Nightingale"
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow…
- John Keats
yes, I know
- Given my recent religious rantings, you can probably tell that I am very bitter about the Catholic Church, and about organized religion in general. I think we’d all be better off if we’d been reared as spriritual (or not) Unitarians (my mother said to me once that I might as well join a book club!).
- Some of my other posts show that I struggle with things like loss, sadness, grief, fear of the future, existential quandaries, etc.
- And even more show that I’m a goof.
So please don’t take offense at things I might write: I’m just expressing my free-associating, something-to-do thoughts. I don’t talk much to people, so this is one of my conversational outlets.
"tit for tat" joke
An oldie but goodie:
“What is tat, and where can I exchange it for some tit?”
my grandmother’s memorial poem
around 1927
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
He kindly stopped for me -
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility -
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring -
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -
Or rather – He passed us -
The Dews drew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet – only Tulle -
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice – in the Ground -
Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity -
my grandfather’s memorial poem
My grandfather, a lifelong avid reader, missionary, surgeon, and politician, lost his sight to glaucoma and macular degeneration. Yet I never heard him complain about his “plight.”
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve there with my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask; But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies “God doth not need
Either man’s work of his own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
