Signpost

      I keep trying to avoid the inevitable reflection in the mirror but it is to persistent!  It is aided by the annual reminder of my birth and those of the ones I love.  Just yesterday was my wife's birthday. I don't think she realizes that every year she gets older - I get older!  Then there are grand kids.  Constantly calling to show love and respect, who does that?  We have no great grandchildren as yet but we do have a "grand cat" named *Cruz. (go figure) 

Coming up this month is my 65th anniversary of my high school graduation!  (when I was in high school I thought 65 was O L D!!!  (funny, I can remember the taking of our graduation picture but I can't remember the graduation itself)  The picture was one of those panoramic ones where you could get your face in at the beginning of the shot and if you ran fast enough, you could be in at the end.  We were so many that we filled  a third of the auditorium with grads and now we can have our reunion in the dining room of the local country club.

My mom died when she was 83, my dad, when he was 61. Both, heavy smokers.  My family members don't seem to have a particular "event horizon" when it comes to time of death, some die early, some seem to go on forever.  So, what does growing old really mean?  I think it is more what you want to be about.  Hobbies, travel, education, relationships.... these things have nothing to do with years.  I thing for me it is more about joint pain, grey hair, gain/loss of weight and having to wear glasses to read.  I guess it is, what it is.  My best advice is: get going living!  What happens tomrrow depends greatly on what you plan for.  My favorite saying that I always gave to my students was: "A Goal Without A Plan Is Just A Wish".

                                                            *  Cruz (the GrandCat)

Dad's Birthday

Yesterday would have been my dads birthday.  We did not have a party or big celebration, as a matter of fact I doubt that anyone outside of my wife and I even mentioned it.  We did have some flowers placed on the altar of our church in his name but that was it.  He would not have wanted more than that but I know he would have been pleased.                                                          

 

A Time for Hugs or Humbugs

Well I am feeling the Spirit.  The Holiday Spirit is everywhere.  It is a little harder to feel it when we live in California or Florida but it is there if you look for it.  One of my favorite Christmas stories is "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.  I love the gradual change that takes place in the heart of Scrooge but more than that, I love the indictment of society that he represents.  

His reaction to those men who come to him for a donation to the poor is to say "are there no workhouses?"  and "let them die and decrease the excess population".  I see that attitude everywhere and it strikes at the heart of why we have such a divided country and world and why most people live lives of quiet desperation.  

I hope that you can look around and see the generosity and human kindness that is also in the world.  It may be a challenge, but I have faith that it is there.  Be of good cheer and be the one who brings cheer to others. 

 Remember Tiny Tim who says, "God bless us, everyone."

Jack Caselles

 November 8, 2022

Well, here I am again.  

The truth is that I don't believe that anyone is reading these little messages, but I feel that I need to put down my thoughts on occasion, if for no-one else to read but me.  I have been reading a diary I wrote back in August of 1983, while on a solo vagabond trip to France and Spain.  It speaks to a sense of freedom that I had to go anywhere and the feeling of self worth that it brings.  It also speaks of the longing I had to be with my sweet Vera and our children.  To paraphrase a line from a book, how sweet were my memories then.  

Since my last entry, we have sold our old house and our wonderful RV.  We tried to adapt to SeniorLiving and now rent a home a mere block away from our old home.  The plan was always to buyahouse in a nice community, fix it up, raise our children, wait for the value of the home to rise to a point determined to provide us with comfortable retirement.  The plan worked.  The children gone, the price where we wanted it to be and so we put it up and away we went in our 33' Winnebago.  If you are waiting for the other shoe to drop, it didn't.  Thanks to my dad for teaching me the skills to put together

a plan to take care of my family.  

Today is election day.  This is the day that our overwhelming government has to provide its citizen the right to "voice".  But this is not just a voice to complain or spread ridiculous ideologies, it is a duty and pleasure to take part in our Democracy.  We live in a country and maybe a world that is self indulgent to the point that we think we can determine what is or is not the truth.  A fact is a fact no matter how many people say the contrary!  The world is not flat!  Nearly half of the population of these United States, believe that a man who defies all social and moral principals is qualified to determine what is truth, moral, ethical or medical.  

I am saddened to see so many of my friends die.  Ever since the early days of my youth my friends have died.  George Pierner, Barbara Pope, Arnie Page, Marc Trummel, Jim Wyatt just to name a few.  Friends who are gone, not because of age but of a wealth of other reasons.  I thank God for long life, I can do nothing to be worthy of His gifts.  I just hope that He can use me and that I can stay the course and run the good race.  

It has been 11 years!

   It has been eleven years since I started talking to myself on this "blog".  Somehow it is satisfying to be able to speak what's on my my and have only the dog to respond to it.  Yet, I don't really speak my mind because there is the chance that someone that I care about might be hurt to read it.  We all have pain and disappointment that is caused by friends and family that hurts deeply but that we cannot speak about because they still are important and mean so much to us.  I like to give the impression that I am a tough guy and that I am OK with letting people go when they hurt me, but that is really not how it is.  John Wayne said, "Forgive you enemy, but remember the bastards name."   That is true but at the same time you try not to loose a person only because they broke your heart.   

  I have been trying to keep busy during the pandemic by making little things out of clay.  It is pleasing to see something nice come from the labor (passion) of your hands.                            

     

                                                                                            

(see Instagram:   10 Saguaro )

Another Year (looking back - looking forward)

                                                Happy Birthday 

    

Grateful! The first word that comes to my mind on this day is Grateful!  Grateful for the gift of life. None it is said are given to know the day or hour of our death, and so just to have lived this long and to have seen the fabulous technical, medical, and intellectual progress this world has made in my lifetime, gives me a feeling of joy in our collective accomplishments.  Grateful to have been given enough time to realize that courage, loyalty, generosity, and love, are the real important things in life.

  I watched my Dad die at the age of 61, my uncles in their 60s and 70s. Almost ALL of my "friends" are dead of Agent Orange or Cancer or just stupid behavior.  I often wondered how old I would get and asked God to give me long life so that I could finally get my life together!  In my late 20s I met my sweet Vera, and it was as if God had said, "Now I set you on the right path".  

  Today I become an octogenarian!  Hah!  I don't even know what that is supposed to mean.  I feel the same as I did in my 20s.  Crazy as it sounds I feel as though I could still play football and ski my pants off.  Of course my body tells me differently, especially when I have to get down on the ground and then get up.  OOF!   I am grateful for Aqua Aerobics and walking to keep me moving.  I am grateful for my hobby/passion, Ceramics.  Making things out of dirt has open the doors to friendships, travel, mental growth, and a general direction for life.  I have my own studio in my home, including a slab roller, a new kiln, and a fine new potters wheel.  I teach seniors how to make pretty things and watch many of them grow with their interests.  

  The future is bright with our children and grandchildren leading the way.  It is wonderful to think how we can be of help to them in the future.  If I was asked to give advice at this time it would be, "If you want to be a leader, get moving" and, "Never slow down, something may just catch up with you", and finally, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got".

A New President - A New Peace?

  Fear, anger hate are all hard wired and sit inside us like ticking time bombs. So why don't we all go running through the streets with flaming torches and pitchforks?  The fuel that feeds these emotions comes from what I call the " empowered leader".  This leader given voice by extreme radio broadcasters and some evangelical preachers, is free to feed the "big lie" to simple needy people who will follow forever if their fears, anger and hate are not addressed.  

I wrote these words before the tragic and disgraceful attempt to overthrow a legally cast and counted election, and the peaceful transfer of power as outlined in the Constitution, and that is so sacred to this country.  Those who were fed lies by their champion and empowered leader sought to take over Congress by violent and life threatening means, including kidnapping and murder.  Some carrying bombs, nooses, and clubs.  

Some of those misled people have been apprehended but those that led and planned the atrocity in Washington, have not and probably will never be held accountable.  Soon we will turn the page that closed one chapter and begins a new one.  What a great opportunity we have for change!

We are not there yet, but some day, the people of this country will begin to remember that We are better than we were.  We must begin to listen to the voices of those to whom we disagree.  We must avoid the flames of discord, we need to  give VOICE to those who feel they have none, and then we must LISTEN.

This is the challenge we must all take up.