The Job I always wanted:

Philanthropist..........

Touching Obituary

"He died in the arms of his loving wife of 52 years."

Snow Thrower Progress

There is good news regarding the snow thrower. Last week we had an additional 3-4 inches of snow and I got to use my new tool again. This time I raised the "slide plate" and practiced on adjusting the throwing angle as I moved forward and it worked great.

In fact I cleaned off my drive and three of the neighbors drives as well. I was so happy. That evening, one of the neighbors brought me a bananna bread cake she had made as a thank you gift. Aint life grand?

Snow Removal

For Christmas I received a wonderful gift, a snow blower. After reading the instructions I learned that it is actually a snow "thrower". I got it out of the box and all set up, read the operating and maintenance literature and waited for snow. The first snow of the winter covered the yard, but nothing accumulated on the driveway. The second snow was today. I would estimate one inch on the driveway. Perfect, not enough to be a burden, but enough to try out my new device.
The first pass went well the snow came right up and was blown, oops thrown, to the grass. The second pass was not so great. I realized that I was throwing the snow right where I had just cleaned off. I will have to watch my pattern. Then the wind kicked up and begin to blow the powdery snow back into my face. Wow, was that cold.
Fortunately it only took a few minutes to finish the drive but I did not stop to dry off the thrower, back into the house to warm up.
I didn't think there would be a learning curve for cleaning snow off the driveway.

Jogging Observation

I was jogging on the treadmill the other day when I noticed my shadow was bouncing up and down as I ran. I thought, "well that's odd", because I thought I was running smoothly. So then I intentionally tried to run without bouncing. No good, still the shadow was going up and down with every step. Finally I tried to offset the ups with downs and the downs with ups. I was amazed, the shadow bouncing was worse. I can only surmise that God has made a wonderful sense of balance within my head.

Lessons from my old age

1. I don’t remember becoming absent minded.
2. I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart.
3. It’s hard to make a comeback, when you haven’t been anywhere.
4. If all is not lost, where is it?
5. It is easier to get old than it is to get wiser.
6. Aging isn’t for wimps.
7. It’s not hard to meet expenses, they’re everywhere.
8. My idea of a balance diet is a cookie in each hand.
9. It has come to my attention that too much comes to my attention.

Beautiful Art

The Musee d'Orsay in Paris is a wonderful place of beauty. It is home to some of the finest pieces of art ever painted. Not being a student of art, I was personally astonished at how many of the works on display there I actually recognized. And I was a little overwhelmed that the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Paul Cezanne were all hanging in the same museum.

But the greatest personal surprise, and source of great joy, was a painting by Theo Van Rysselberghe entitled Man at the Tiller, 1892. Catching the blue and white hues and reflections of light and sea, the painting of a sea captain guiding his ship through stormy water is magnificent even when viewed from a distance. And yet when you are within a few feet of the work, you realize that the artist had painted literally thousands of tiny "dots" to compose the scene. It's hard to imagine the amount of time and effort it took to produce such a work. What amazing gifts God has given to men.