The Haasienda on Shroyer…

MIAGD: make it a great day 

In ten minutes, my 2016 Summer vacation comes to its official end. 

It actually ended yesterday, but Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are my long days of 14-15 hours. 

I have three semi-major backyard projects that never got touched this past week.  The house is untidy, I’ve not swept since the week before my vacation began, my study, which I planned to organize over this break is still in slight disarray, and I’m heading into this week feeling behind in everything. 

I’ve always told my students and musical casts:

1. If you see someone without a smile share your best smile
2. If you see someone who needs a hug, share one of your best hugs
3. If you see someone without any color in their life, share your best, unbroken crayons

Sometimes, those who are hurting the most, know how to get the most, just like the boy in this video clip.  The video, while heartbreaking, is quite uplifting, and offers a better message than I ever could through a blog post. 

Young boy teaches others to smile
Make it a great day, Folks, and smile as much as you can.  

MIAGD: make it a great day

Be a sparkler!

Last Monday, while waiting for fireworks to begin, I watched the little peeps enjoying Sparkler Air Design, 101.  

There were some doing sparklers for the first time, and all they could do was hold, and stare.  Then there were the pros: writing names, ages, pictures, and one family had a contest to see who could get through the alphabet before their sparkler pooped out.  

Then I spied a couple, probably in their 80s, having just as much fun with Sparkler art as their great-grandchildren. 

The best part was that their son, grandfather to the little peeps, was not participating.  His mother called, “Tom, you’re only 58.  You’re not too old to have fun.”  

Finally, I heard the guy say, “Light up, Dad.”

I hope there is never a time when I stop sparklering.  I see so many who just seem too tired to continue with life, or participate in it.  I never want to be one of those folks.

Always be a sparkler, and always make it a great day, Folks!

MIAGD: make it a great day

I always hate when vacations end as they are always so enjoyable, fun-filled, sometimes, work-filled (which I also love), and relaxing. 

This vacation was none of the above. 

I did get to spend time with the McCutcheon and Rogers families at their gatherings, but other than that I felt it was a miserable, wasted existence.  

I wish I could do-over this break.  I don’t wish to repeat it, but redo it. 

What would I do differently?  

Hopefully, I would remain steadfast in maintaining my private time, not allowing the outside world to interfere with my piece of mind, and solitude. 

Sadly, my computers and phone have become too integrated in my business, and personal worlds.  Despite their importance, they are also disruptions, and distractions. 

I regret not making it a great day each day of this vacation.  I am usually better than this. 

Despite my poor modeling, make it a great day, Folks!

It started out with kisses for Chief

Then, Bailey got jealous and gabbed Harrigan’s collar, pulling her away from Chief

MIAGD: make it a great day

I love this meme…

We are born equipped with so many essentials, and even more additional essentials. 

Imagination is key to a child’s development.  It encourages them to seek, to learn, to question.  As we grow up, imagination is squelched on so many levels. It’s sad.  

Breathing is actually another essential whose naturalness is rerouted as we grow. 

Wind and vocal musicians require a breathing technique that is actually quite natural at birth. 

Vocalists must learn to fill up with air in their stomach, raise their upper palate, and place the tone in an area of the face where bone tissue serves as amplification, and to provide a resonant tone. 

A baby’s cry can bring down an avalanche thirty miles away. 

Why?

Because they are born with all the items vocalists/singers are required to master. 

Somewhere in the maturation process, we lose the naturalness of true breathing.  People attempt to relearn proper breathing via martial arts, yoga, or other means. 

Imagine what we could be if we aged without growing up.

Make it a great day, Folks!

First World Problems: Mayberry, 1963
Aunt Bea is doing a lead role for the town’s big show about the founding of Mayberry. She’s getting ready to leave for rehearsal when Andy begins chatting with her. Eventually, the phone rings and as Aunt Bea hurries out the door, she calls to Andy, “if that’s the director, tell him I’m on my way. I can’t believe I’m running late.”
Why in the hell would anybody run late in Mayberry?  Compared to our lives in 2016, Mayberry runs in slow motion.
Ahhh…. perhaps I love Andy Griffith, and the entire cast of Mayberry, because they remind me of a time I once knew well.

Growing up in Elwood Indiana was, in so many ways, much like Mayberry North Carolina. We had very similar townsfolk like those in the fictitious Mayberry.

Elwood was blessed with phenomenal teachers, public servants in the police and fire departments, thoughtful merchants, delightful barbers such as Zip Davis and John Rogers, and we even had colorful folks like Barney, Goober, Gomer, Helen, and Otis, Mayberry’s principal slosh. 

Even as a young child, I loved the reruns which were not even that old. Perhaps it was the fact the show often centered around the sheriff’s office, and I was all too familiar with policeman’s life due to  my grandfather being an officer.

While all the characters were typically comedic-centered, they truly represented individuals of that era.  While the black-and-white film reflects a much slower paced world, what I knew in the 1969s was somewhat slow paced, but, oh, filled with so much Technicolor!

Like Sheriff Taylor’s family, I was blessed with the most beautiful neighbors in the world. Even today, in a life that whizzes by like a flash, I still have some wonderful neighbors.

It would be nice to be able to return to Mayberry/Elwood life of the 1960s, but at least I can vouch for the wonderment of those carefree, less speedier days.

I’ve always been blessed with a Mayberry kind of life.

Two of Elwood’s own cast members, our very own Floyd The Barbers…

Zip Davis

John Rogers

Cox Arboretum, just a few miles from my home, is one of my “go to places.”

There’s just always something comforting to the body, and calming to the fatigued spirit.  Today was one of those days I needed Cox Arboretum.My at home vacation has been far from relaxing, and even in my optimistic nature, I’ve found no Little pleasure this past week.

My two hour planned escape to Cox Arboretum was cut short by about 90 minutes due to a very unwelcome rain shower.

The humidity is on the rise, and the gray clouds maintain the weather’s uncertainty.

How I would have enjoyed a much needed respite this afternoon.  

I have grown weary of the constant current event chatter. 

I was trying to watch a live interview at The National Archives on a new exposition on The Fifteenth Amendment. Since I’d arrived several minutes after the interview’s start, I scrolled through some of the comments hoping to find out information.  
Ugh…. 

The comments absolutely nothing pertinent to the interview, nor the subject matter. 

The gathered morons were arguing about politics, shootings, Emailgate, Benghazi, and everything but the topic.
One of my Facebook rules: no discussion of politics unless it is connected with previous political history. If Facebook friends began chanting negative comments, the comments were deleted. They are not welcome. Earlier this week, I just missed three Facebook friends due to their refusal to stand on their politically barbed comments.

I was a member of a group that was celebrating the history and community of the town in which I was born and raised. Sadly, there were some incessant crazies who insisted on verbally bludgeoning anyone who had differing opinions. 

Several of these individuals, also friends on Facebook, began seiging a great amount of my posts on history, and used them to serve their current political foundations, swerving way off topic only to attack current political candidates of 2008.

After fair warning, I finally unfriended these individuals. In fact, one happened to be a cousin who always felt compelled to criticize me, both publicly or privately.

I am not denying, nor ignoring the grim atmosphere gripping our nation, and our world.  I am simply taking a step back from these traumatic times to keep my own wits, and understanding. 

Folks, for the past several years, have used social media in a disgusting regard as to what it could be. For me, personally, social media is a place to stay in touch with family and friends, to learn, to share ideas, to explore, and to laugh. 

For others, social media is nothing more than a bully pulpit, and a place to attack others, and express their hate. 

My patience is often challenged by those who interfere with interesting social media moments by inserting their anger, sheer stupidity, and inability to hold a mature, sensible discussion.

Yes, there are some days when many people truly suck, and challenge my optimistic nature.

MIAGD: make it a great day

This morning, as I was preparing my coffee, and Cheerios with sliced strawberries, I remembered I had to take my fasting glucose reading.  

My first thought, “Ahhh, I have to take my blood sugar.”  

For some reason, I laid down the knife and the sacrificed strawberry, and looked outside.  I’ve been sticking my self with a needle for nearly a decade.  I’ve also had to administer self-inflicted needles into my side for additional medication to treat my diabetes. 

It occurred to me that I was extremely fortunate to stick myself with a needle, whether to test my blood sugar, or to give myself a shot. There are many folks who, for whatever reason, are not blessed with these medical luxuries/necessities.

I changed my original thought to, “I get to take my blood sugar reading.” 

I’m lucky I get to do this. 

I’m blessed I get to do this.

Instead of, “I have to do the laundry, “I need to say, “I get to do the laundry.”

Yeh, that’s a stretch. 

But, I strongly believe it is important to feed our minds with the most healthy thoughts, and to establish our attitudes with the best words to keep us focused. 

Make it a great day, Folks!

MIAGD: make it a great day 

It’s nearing the end of my stay-cation, and I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing.  Needless to say, it’s been far enjoyable or restful.  

I shouldn’t say, “I’ve accomplished nothing,” as I’ve managed to clean the kitchen, get the trash dumpster to the curb, and grocery shop. I also set up two large solar lights outside, and one in my stairwell.  

Other than that, I’ve put up with interuptions, putting out fires, and dealing with the ridiculous people. 

Yesterday was the worst, and I could not move forward.  

Normally, I can.  

Yesterday, until I spoke with Mother for a hour, folks didn’t realize how close they were treading on my good humor to the point they were written off.  No drama, and keep your damned opinions about certain things to yourselves…. folks could just not comprehend. 

You can always turn something around, transform a negative into a positive.  And, there are times you cannot. 

So be it…

This afternoon, a dear friend of mine from college, Linda Lewis, posted photographs of the newly finished library where she is librarian. 

This reminded me of the Elwood Public Library where I worked all four years of high school. It was one of the most remarkable experiences, and I loved every minute of it.

For 94 years, 1903-1997, the $30,000 Carnegie funded library stood at the Southwest corner of North A Street and 16th St., directly across from the old Elwood high school gymnasium.  It was one of 164 libraries funded by the Carnegie Foundation.

As a child, I seldom had reason to go upstairs to the imposing cavernous, columned halls of the adult library.  When I did enter the main floor, elevated a good 10 to 12 feet above the street level, it was one of the biggest moments for me.  It was as exciting as being allowed to take mail into the equally imposing post office, by myself, where my great-uncle, Dewey Smith, was one of the postal workers. 

And age 15, I had a dream job where I was surrounded by books, a tremendous wealth of Elwood and Indiana history, genealogy, and most of all, wonderful people with which to work, as well as a plethora of personalities from all throughout the community.  

One beloved patron, Mr. Hampton, a former swing band trumpetor, shuffled into the library, promptly at 9:15 AM every morning. He was a very quiet gentleman, but always full of smiles, kind words, and every now and then, provided  a glimpse into Elwood’s history.

Betty Caldwell was Elwood’s principal historian, and a wonderful, dedicated resource.  

Several times, I was fortunate to work alongside this lovely lady in the Wendell L. Willkie collection.  I remember one afternoon, after dragging some boxes down to the meeting room in the basement, Betty and I scoured the autograph books, marveling at the 300,000+ who came to witness the Republican nominee for president who returned to his  birthplace to offer his acceptance speech.  

I credit Betty for igniting my love for historical research. 

Wendell L. Willkie returns to Elwood
I still maintain contact, via social media, with several of those with whom I worked.  

Mitzi Thomas, the children’s librarian, Fancie Robertson (through her son, Mike), adult librarian, Darlene Summers, adult librarian, and fellow student librarians, Jan Eddy and Julia Summers.  There were also adult librarians Lynn Ischay, Rita McQuitty, and Margie Stiner, and student librarians Shawn Heaton, Cheryl McQuitty, and David Richards. 

Margie Stiner, adult librarian and overseer of the teens, had been best friends with my grandparents, and knew all my great-grandparents, and other family members.  I loved working Tuesday nights, so I could close with Margie, and learn more of my family’s history.  Margie also sparked my interest in genealogy. 

I also loved working with Francie Robertson who loved sharing stories about her Irish father, Fireman Kelly. Francie also had traced her lineage back to Lord Ponsonby of England.  I think it was Ponsonby.  

I primarily worked with Mitzi, the children’s librarian.  Mitzi, only a few years older than me, shared many of the same interests: history, choir/show choir, and especially, movies.  One spring night, Mitzi, her husband, Scott, and I, drove down to Indianapolis’ Emerson Street movie theater to watch GONE WITH THE WIND on the big screen. 

One summer, Mitzi was in the final stages of her pregnancy with Ian Alexander Thomas.  It was a miserably hot summer, and I don’t ever recall Mitzi displaying anything but cheerfulness and laughter.    

One year, the library was completely repainted, and though it was a chore, working around plaster dust, painter’s ladders and equipment, and constantly reshelving books… endless reshelving…. we all worked together, cheering on the progress, and gleaming beauty transformed each day.  

The now empty main floor with the peach painted walls

The Elwood Public Library was far from being a relic, and even further from being merely a building in which to store, and share books, periodicals, records and tapes, VHS tapes, etc. 

The Elwood Public Library was all about its people, the staff, and the patrons. 

Always, always support your public libraries, and use them to their fullest!

One of my favorite childhood landmaks

MIAGD: make it a great day

What is up with that dratted D and E in Wensday?

I originally woke at 6:15 AM after three hours of sleep.  However, I promptly returned to sleep, and my loving fur balls did not disturb me other than a closer snuggle, now and then. 

It’s now 9:35 AM.  The dogs are fed, pottied, and the girls are romping on the deck while Chief-Simba surveys her kingdom atop Pride Deck.  ROOM 222 is playing on my laptop, and the wind chimes dance as dark clouds approach from the southwest.  

How am I going to make it a great day?

Well, for starters, I’m not going to lift a finger in an attempt to lead a revolution to change the spellings of Tuesday or Wednesday to Tyoosday/Toosday or Wensday.  For that matter, I’ll still pronounce February as “feh-broo-ary” since I could not stand ignoring that damned “r.”

Make it a grEat day, Folks!

For the record, I did look up the origins of Wednesday’s spelling on http://www.grammarly.com.  

I just read a Facebook post with a number of erroneous facts regarding the Honor Guard for The Tombs of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery. 

Here is a great fact sheet from Society of the Honor Guard.

Despite the gloomy skies, and the ceaseless rain, it’s been a rather cheerful, and enjoyable day.
I started out the day at the McCutcheon Music Sudio in Centerville where I’ve spent at least the past 10 years photographing the Americana Parade from a second floor window.

Jim and Debbie always throw the most welcoming, warm get-together feeding the masses that traipse through their original studio/store on Franklin Street.  

Through the years, their youngest son, Jeff, one of my former students from the early-mid 1990s, now a college professor living in Connecticut, went from a young man in college to a husband, and a father of two beautiful daughters.  Many of Jeff’s friends join under the front lawn canopies for a mini-reunion.  Every year, it seems there are more little peeps added to the mix, or protruding mommy-bellies indicating more are on their way.  

It’s exciting, but also a personal reminder that time waits for no one.  

I spent an hour at the festival, wading through humidity, and humanity, and it was beginning to wear on me. 

The afternoon, following lunch, consisted of s nap with three of the most loving fur balls surrounding me.  

A watermelon has been cut, and I am waiting for the Gebeles to join me at the Moraine Air Park where I’ve spent firework shows the past 3-4 years. 

As I was driving to the air park, it occurred to me it has been forty years since one of my most favorite Fourth of Julys: the 1976 BiCentenniel. 

Forty years?  Already?

Happy Fourth of July!

Ahhh… one of my all time favorite holidays is upon us.  

Tonight, there is electricity, and noise in the air with music from the Fraze Pavillion, fireworks from around the Miami Valley, and neighbors setting off fireworks and firecrackers. 

The dogs don’t seen affected by the booms, cracks, and whistling noises.  The girls are asleep in the guest bedroom, right off the deck, and Chief is stretched out on the deck, snoring. 

Right now, a grand finale is booming in the distance, and it’s not phasing them. 

This morning, I taught three make-up lessons, chatted on the phone with Josh and Dave as they strolled some battlefields in Gettysburg, took a 45 minute nap, trimmed hedges and bushes in the front yard, chatted with my neighbor from across the street, and have been relaxing with some video biographies and documentaries. 

And, that is about it.  

Some photos from this week…

My neighbor, Gabe, got his braces off

With John at DCI in Dublin

Love from Harrigan

With Sam at LION KING

With Marian Jones at Ball State

John & Tristan at DCI

Chris Johnson at the piano

John at Ball State

John at Ball State

As a kid, I hated being asked by my grandfather to please change the channel on the television set.  At that time, it was commonplace for a child to be that human remote control; however, that was not the reason I detested changing the channel. 

It usually meant we were all being forced to watch HEE HAW or ALL IN THE FAMILY. 

I could barely tolerate site of the Bunker home, Edith’s shrill, irritating voice, and Archie was the most obnoxious person. Gloria, played by actress sally Struthers, was like a drill through the skull. 

A few years ago, a rerun of the show was on, and I was too lazy to pick up the remote control to change the channel.  For some reason, Archie, played by the phenomenal actor, Carol O’Connor, was actually quite funny.  I don’t always appreciated Jean Stapleton’s work as an actress, and suddenly, I found her role as eta to be masterful.

Apparently, I had hit an ALL IN THE FAKILY marathon.  I watched over a dozen episodes.  I was mesmerized by the talents of Carol O’Connor and Jean Stapleton.  Brilliant.

ALL IN THE FAMILY is shown daily around my lunch hour.  This afternoon, I am on my third episode of the day, and I am still reeling from the first one.

The screenwriters responsible for Archie’s lines must be some of the most incredible writers on the planet.

Thursday night, I spent a delightful three hours at The Schuster Center of the Performibg Arts enjoying THE LION KING. 

SPECTACULAR!

I’ve seen the production several times, and it only seems to become more personal.  

MIAGD: make it a great day

“Gray skies are going to clear up, put on a happy face…”

Years ago, I got to sing the above lyrics when I played the role of Albert Peterson in the delightful 1960 musical romp, BYE, BYE BIRDIE.  I actually hated singing the song, and it still ranks low on my “favorites” list. 

However, the chirpy ditty, does match my life philosophy of optimism, and always choosing to be happy.

This morning, we have heavy gray skies, and an abundance of rain.

I do prefer to start my day with blue skies, and a sunshine, but, I am keenly aware there they will follow the gray clouds and rain. 

There are too many people who prefer, probably even enjoy, gray clouds in their lives.  I can appreciate grey clouds a short spell, but, there’s a reason we should always shine.  

Don’t be a little rain cloud.

Shine, and make it a great day, Folks!

MIAGD: make it a great day

The next ten days it’s writing, gardening, dogging, and more writing.

This morning did not commence with any of the goals.  In fact, it’s been one of the laziest mornings I’ve known in a while.  

I rose at 6:30 AM, lounged on the deck, and fell promptly fell asleep.  At 7:45 AM, I rose to go make coffee, and made it as far as the guest bedroom, right off the deck, and laid down with my three smugglers. 

ANDY GRIFFITH, snuggling, and some unsuspected fatigue put me to sleep until 9:15 AM. 

The dogs were fed, and I made it back to the deck where I… I’ve done absolutely nothing but read, watch more ANDY GRIFFITH, and take photos of my three kids. 

It’s 11:00 AM, and I’ve a list of things to accomplish.  

Maybe after one more episode of life in Mayberry…

Make it a great day, Folks!



MIAGD: make it a great day 

Too often, we cringe when we think of any comfortable part of our lives experiencing a change.  It’s common.

Like so many others, I am not always up for change, but, most often, in the end, I discover a change has been necessary, and turns into something I actually like. 

I am making this a great day by embracing change. 

Ahhh…  It’s been several years since I’ve attended a DCI (Drum Corps International) contest, and last night’s trip to Dublin Coffman High School on the Northwest side of Columbus, was even more thrilling because one of my kiddies was marching.  

In 1979, the summer before my freshman year of high school, my band director, and her college friend, a nationally known choreographer, took me to Lafayette’s drum-corps show.  I could not imagine a marching band without woodwinds, only brass, percussion, and guard.  

I can still recall the increased pulse rising in my chest, the chills, and the hair lifting upward on my arms upon the first full sound of the first corps I saw that night, The Spirit of Atlanta.  

Little has changed in 37 years with my reaction. I felt it all, again, last night, especially when seeing my student, John Newcomb, in the front percussion ensemble with Legends. 

It was great seeing John living his passion!

MIAGD: make it a great day

Ahhh… The weather is absolutely gorgeous, and the gentle breeze is lacking in any substantial humidity. 

It is nearly time to teach, and just as I hated leaving the deck at 12:30 AM, I do not wish to leave it now. 

I first read Sir Edmund Hillary’s quote this weekend, and it has glued itself to my mind, and thoughts. 

We all need to approach life with this attitude. However, we must make the choice to adopt an attitude that is positive.  I don’t believe enough can be said about maintaining the attitude. 

Just do it. 

And, MAKE it a great day….

MIAGD: make it a great day  

“It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born, and was always his treasure and pride; but it stopped, short, never to go again,  when the old man died.”  from “Grandfather’s Clock”
My grandmother, Donna Mae Clary Barmes, bought me an emerald embedded clock, and a frame for my Mary Lincoln card d’visite.  

June 27, 1992, after several weeks of her final illness and battle with cancer, Grandma Donna passed away. 

When I returned to Dayton from Indianapolis, I walked into my bedroom, and the first thing I noticed was the setting sun shoving a glimmer into the room all the way from across the hall.  I’d never noticed it before.

Even more peculiar was the natural spotlight was resting on the clock and frame.  As I examined closer, I discovered the clock had stopped just short of 2:30 PM. 

Grandma Donna had passed away just before 2:30 PM. 

Every June 27th, I remember the clock, and at 2:30 PM, each year, I play “Red River Valley,” my grandmother’s favorite song. 

There was nothing too sacred that could not have an element of humor, and life was dull without pranks.  I’m so glad both Grandma Donna and GrandpaLeroy came from families that valued humor, and so much laughter.  

We might shed a tear for those we miss, but if we fail to laugh, we fail to honor their memory. 

MIAGD: make it a great day

Be the locamotive, and keep charging ahead.  

I’d never known this quote until this morning. 

I love it. 

It was a humid, event-filled Saturday, and so enjoyable!

One of my 7th grade piano/saxophone students, Ian, who hopes to one day play in the Carillon Park Band (originally the NCR Band founded by Clark Haines, and now under the direction of Mike Berning), was interested in hearing their concert at Carillon Park’s Railfest.  Instead, Ian joined me for the entire day.  

10:45 AM – Eastwood Metro Park for the Dayton Rowing Club’s event that took people out rowing on the lake.  An Olympic athlete, training in Kettering, gave an interesting, and insightful presentation about the life of an Olympic athlete in training. 

We attempted to grab the powwow at Sunwatch Indian Village, but the line was enormously long, winding through the parking lot. 

1:00 PM – Carillon Park Railfest and concert.  I love toy/miniature trains, and this was such a cool event.  

The Carillon Park Concert Band provided an enjoyable 2:00 PM concert, and it was great to visit with Ball State college friends, Linda and Dave Lewis, and their son, Chet; Lucy and Greg Kramer; Tim and Jennifer Stamper, Gwen, Zach, and Juliette, and Jennifer’s brothers and spouses; Bryan and Melissa Suddith, and Caleb. 

Students Ian & Gwen

Gwen’s aunts, Gwen, Jennifer

Caleb Suddith playing trumpet

By 4:30 PM, the humidity was uncomfortable, but manageable.  We sat beneath the shaded arbor that forms a semicircle, enjoying the ritual dances.  

We took in some fry bread, and took our leave during the dinner break. 

Since we were not too far, I showed Ian the Wright Brothers’ neighborhood off East Third: the site of their home, the cycle shop, site of Orville’s laboratory, and then to Woodland Cemetery to show him where the Wrights are buried.  

On the return home, I calculated we’d been on the go for eight hours.  Ian said, “Eight hours is just like school.  An entire school day of social studies with Darin.”

The kid is correct….