What Would Jimmy Do?

Today is a special day — not only is it exactly six months until Christmas, it’s also two of my kids birthdays. Both David and Chassie were born on the same day (one year apart.)
Happy Birthday – hope you both have a great day and an even better year ahead.
Love you both!!!!!
— 30 —

My neighbor just became a new grandfather and we were talking about how much fun grandkids are — I’ve ofter heard it said, that if we’d known how much fun grandkids were, we would have had them first.

Anyhow, I’m to sure why, but an old joke came to mind — I always thought it was funny…. and still do.
A Sunday school teacher asked her class, “What was Jesus’ mother’s name?” A little boy answered “Mary.”
The teacher then asked, “Who knows what Jesus’ father’s name was?” A little girl said, “Verge.” Confused, the teacher asked, “Where did you get that?” The girl said,”Well, you know they’re always talking about Verge and Mary.”
— 30 —

Hey Menoi,
Here it is your birthday again — the second time I’ve had to celebrate it without you. Life hasn’t gotten any easier — I still miss you just as much every single day. I miss everything about you. As I was tossing around in bed last night, I got to thinking about all the things I miss about you and it occurred to me that one thing I miss is how others used to say your name. Most people don’t mention your name — I need to have you mentioned like you were before. I don’t know why that’s important to me, but it is — I wish people understood. 

But today’s your birthday and just know I’ll be celebrating — I have your favorite wine to share. I know what you think of my poetry, but I’ll try just one more time…. I know you’ll roll your eyes, but I know you’ll also smile — that’s enough for me. 
So here’s my feeble attempt….

Gee, I wish you were here today — for even just a little while
We could celebrate your birthday together and I could see your loving smile.
We shared a great life together — I thought it’d be forever, you see
I didn’t take it for granted and never thought I’d lose you and all you meant to me.

No gift for you, but great ones for me — memories of you left behind.
When I think of you, I remember the joy and happiness you left in my heart and mind.
I look at your pictures and think of you with love
And I know you’re doing fine in Heaven up above.

I’ll spend your birthday wishing that you were here
I wish you could join me in this toast to you and help me wipe away my every  tear.
I hope you’re having a party and the Angels are singing you a happy song
I’ll be thinking of you and sending my love — today, and all year long.

Happy Birthday — love you bunches forever.
— 30 —

A couple of years ago, a friend gave me a T-shirt from the Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing, China. I wore that shirt a few days ago and someone asked me if I’d been to China. If you know me, or follow this blog somewhat, you know that I did make what turned out to be a rather historic trip to China — more than 50 years ago. I’ve mention that trip several times over the years in this blog — if you’re interested, you can check the archives.

But, as often happens, I got off track. While discussing the shirt I mentioned that when I was in China, there not only was no Hard Rock Cafe, Beijing was called Peking. The person I was conversing with didn’t seem that young, but he claimed he never knew that the capital city of China was previously Peking. 

Well, that got me to thinking — and — my extensive research juices flowing. I think most of my life I had been taught, and believed, that the capital city of China was Peking. But Peking only became Beijing after 1979 when the Pinyin method of conveying Mandarin in the Roman alphabet was adopted.

There are (at least) three different methods used to romanize (translate into the Latin alphabet) Chinese words — especially Mandarin: Wade-Giles System, Chinese Postal Mat Romanization, and Pinyin.
Just so you know that I really did do a little research, here’s how the systems compare.
Wade-Giles System:
Developed by Thomas Wade in the mid-19th century and revised by Herbert Giles
It was widely used in the West until the late 20th century
It was primarily used in academic and scholarly work

Chinese Postal Map Romanization:
Developed by the Chinese Imperial Post Office in the early 20th century
It was used between 1906 and the 1950s
It was designed to standardize place names on postal maps, often combining dialects and regional pronunciations 
It was a mishmash of systems — sometimes reflecting “non-Mandarin dialects (e.g., Cantonese, Wu.)
It lacked uniform spelling rues and was more “practical” than “academic.”

Pinyin:
Developed by Zhou Youguang and a PRC government committee in the 1950s
It was official in China since 1958, but is now standard internationally
Its purpose was to teach pronunciation, simplify literacy, and standardize romanization
It’s now the official system in mainland China, the UN, and most international publications.

If you’ve got some spare time and are truly bored sometime, you might want to look up the inventor of the Wade-Giles System — Thomas Francis Wade. From what I can tell, he was one of those all-round British Empire good guys — or a “good egg” as they say. He lived for a while on the Lonian Islands, fought in the Opium Wars in china, and still found time to learn Mandarin. And then figured out how to write down these funny symbols in letters that people could understand — or as Thomas might have said, in “proper” letters.
Anyhow, I can tell people that I have T-shirt written in Pinyin…..
— 30 —

If you’ve read this blog over the years, you know that I’ve often written about the moon. There’s at least a couple of reasons for that — one of my brothers-in-law absolutely believes that the moon influences every aspect of one’s life. So I think that made me a little more aware of the moon, but I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by it.

Anyhow, in a couple of days this month’s full moon will appear. I’m sure you already know that each month’s full moon has a “name.” Most likely, more than one — depending on your ancestral roots or where you live, or what your parents told you, etc. 

The traditional name for the full moon in June is the Strawberry Moon. I know that lately, almost every full moon get some amount of press for being “special” for some reason or other. But the upcoming fully moon on June 11, 2025 really is kind of unique.
It’ll be the lowest full moon of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere.) The moon will rise, and stay, very low in the sky, making its lowest arc for the year. This happens because the full moon in June is opposite the sun, and the sun is at its highest point, so the moon, being opposite, is at its lowest point. The result will be that the moon will appear to hover low over the horizon all night and will create low moon shadows. It will also have a golden color. Because the moon stays low in the sky, it will appear larger than usual — that’s call a moon illusion.

As I said, the June moon is called the Strawberry Moon — the name comes from Native American tribes, particularly the Algonquin. They used it as a mark in time for harvesting strawberries.
In some places this month’s moon is called the Rose Moon and sometimes the Honey Moon — that name possibly comes from it being connected to June weddings. 

So the upcoming moon is special because it’s a low-hanging, golden colored Strawberry Moon. 
But I think the moon is always special…. even when it’s unseen, we trust it’s still there — just like hope in difficult times.
— 30 —

Seems like recent lunches with friends have become more serious lately. Maybe that’s because it’s getting harder to laugh at most of what goes on anymore. Generally speaking, the news is depressing — not only the US news, but the world news, too.

Yesterday, my friend, that I was having lunch with, said that he thought the US had become a rogue country, and maybe the entire world had become a rogue world. Even though that statement seemed a little harsh, I kind of tended to agree with him. 

Anyhow, last night over a a glass or two, or three, of wine I gave the subject some serious thought. It certainly seems like the world has become more unpredictable, lawless, and more defiant of norms or rules. I didn’t do much extensive research, but I’m pretty sure that many countries are more and more ignoring norms or conventions or institutions. If you think about it, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a clear break from post-World War II rules against aggressive war. Even though global sanctions are in place, North Korea continues missile tests and nuclear development. 

So it appears that there has been a noticeable decline in respect for international agreements and alliances. Trade wars and treaty withdrawals have certainly changed complexion of global cooperation.
Countries like Turkey, Hungary and some others have moved toward more authoritarian styles of government, and our leaders are consolidating power, stifling opposition, and ignoring democratic checks and balances.

On a social level, there’s a growing distrust of institutions, experts, and traditional authorities. Social medial has empowered individual voices — maybe sometimes for good, but often promoting extremism. 

I’m old enough to realize that history has always had its share of chaos — world wars, colonial exploitation, cold war brinkmanship, and so on. But the difference today might be the speed and visibility of these actions and events — probably thanks to digital media. There’s a sense that global order is unraveling faster than ever before.

So — I think my friend is right. The world does feel, and behave, more “rogue” in many ways. It seems more fractured, less rule-bound, and more unstable. But maybe our perception is just intensified by modern technology and global interconnectedness.
I think I may have to start doubling up on lunchtime wine……
— 30 —

Someone asked me this past weekend if I was going to celebrate Claire’s birthday in a couple of weeks. My initial reaction was, of course — why wouldn’t I? But then I got o thinking, that It was a legitimate question. As I thought about it, I guess many people’s thoughts about birthdays are that they are a mark that someone’s grown a year older. When someone has a birthday, most people, besides offering congratulations or something like that, often ask how old the person celebrating their birthday is. It’s like birthdays are celebrated because on that exact day that a person was born, they’ve made it another year.

So — if birthdays are about years lived, does that mean they should end after a person dies? My answer is no — their birthday is always their birthday. In part to keep my extensive research skills up, I looked up the definition of birthday. It’s interesting that none of the dictionaries I checked, made much mention of the passage of time or the accumulation of years. Most just defined a birthday as the day of a person’s birth, or the anniversary of their birth. Those continue to exist after a person dies. 

Back to the original question — although she’s not here physically, she’s still a big part of me and it’s still her birthday. So when June 13th rolls around, I’m going to celebrate!
— 30 —

I realize I’ve written about his before, but it came up again over the weekend. Two people in a small group I was talking with said they didn’t know what “woke” meant — at least not the way it is usually used in today’s news. 

The word “woke” has been around a long time, but only fairly recently did it become popular — and — political.
From what I’ve read, “woke” originally came fromAfrican American slang and it meant someone who is awake or aware, especially about racism and social injustice. I remember during all the racial unrest in the 1960’s it was used to encourage people to stay “woke” — to stay aware of the fight for equal rights. 

Of course, social media made it popular once again in the 2010’s — it was used to describe people who were aware of things like, racism, sexism, inequality and LGBTQ rights. It was a positive word, used by people who wanted to show they cared abut fairness and justice. 

But — before too long, politicians and some media started using “woke” in a negative way, saying it meant being too sensitive, trying to force certain beliefs, or being overly politically correct.

It’s worth remembering that the term originally meant being aware of unfair treatment, especially toward people because of their race, gender, or background. It was all about paying attention to how others were treated and caring about making things more fair.
Unfortunately, today, it can mean different things, depending on who says it and how they say it.
— 30 —

Today is Memorial Day — we always did something on Memorial Day weekend. Even if it wasn’t much, we did something together and that made it special… being together. I was just trying to remember our last Memorial Day together and nothing specific comes to mind — I think it was just one of those quite holidays for us and we just spent time together. Of course those were the best times — our time together. 

When I came downstairs this morning, I remembered that she was usually downstairs first and when I came into the kitchen, she’d always give me the biggest smile. I know I’m biased, but I think she had the most contagious smile I’ve ever seen. I asked  her once how she could always be so happy. 
I remember her saying that she wasn’t happy — she was cheerful. And she explained the difference. Being happy meant that she didn’t have a care in the world, but being cheerful meant that she had worries and issues, but had learned to deal with them. I always wished I could be more like that.
She also said that a smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you’re home — she was always home…..
Happy Memorial Day!!
— 30 —

Those of you who know me and some of the ones that read this blog, know that I haven’t had the best of times the past couple of years. I’ve learned a lot in that time — one of the things being who my friends really are. 

Last week, things didn’t get any better when some close friends moved away. I’m happy for them because I think for all the right reasons, the move was absolutely the best thing for them both.
But somehow, it just feels a little empty around here without them…..
We all have people come into our lives and quickly move on — and then some people become our friends and stick around for a while and create a special place in our hearts. And when they leave, we are never quite the same because we became such good friends.
Good luck Norm and Cathy — enjoy “retirement” in Florida…..
— 30 —