Imagination Brings Gratitude

I am putting this on my blog so I can enjoy it myself from time to time. Hope it stays up and continues to operate on YouTube.

Here's the information with the video:
A Moving Art original short. This inspirational video was well responded at TED conferences and filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg motivates those around him as happiness is revealed. Spoken word and music montage created and composed by Gary Malkin. Narration written and spoken by Brother David Steindl-Rast.

Gratitude

Still Copycatting

Got lured back into blogging by this video that I absolutely loved. Hope you do too.

Father and Bride Shocked Their Guests With an Awesome Surprise

Amazing Grace on the Black Keys

On November 19, 2007, I included a video that quit working. Now I have discovered a way to show it.

Amazing Grace on the Black Keys

Church Music

I'm going to try to share a video with you. Only time will tell if it works.

121212

Chris Taylor just about covered it yesterday with his blog post on this subject:
How To Celebrate 121212

I found a few other things to share here on my "copy-cat" blog.

Definition of Twelve

I have not seen the Steve Martin film, "Cheaper by the Dozen." Here's a clip that gives me a pretty good idea how hilarious it is.

Cheaper By The Dozen Clip (Frog For Breakfast)

Someone put this on Facebook -- think it was IAmATexan.

Puns

About time for some more puns. This time I have Tom Freeny to thank for forwarding these on to me via email.

Cartoon Credit — Pun Fun

1. I tried to catch some Fog. I mist..
2. When chemists die, they barium..
3. Jokes about German sausage are the wurst..
4. A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran..
5. I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time..
6. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it..
7. I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Than it dawned on me..
8. This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore..
9. I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I can't put it down..
10. I did a theatrical performance about puns . It was a play on words..
11. They told me I had type A blood, but it was a Type- O..
12. A dyslexic man walks into a bra..
13. PMS jokes aren't funny, period..
14. Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations..
15. Class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz..
16. Energizer bunny arrested. Charged with battery..
17. I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me..
18. How do you make holy water? Boil the hell out of it!.
19. Did you hear about the cross eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?.
20. When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble..
21. What does a clock do when it's hungry? It goes back four seconds..
22. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!.
23. Broken pencils are pointless..
24. What do you call a dinosaur with a extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus..
25. England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.
26. I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest..
27. I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx..
28. All the toilets in New York 's police stations have been stolen. Police have nothing to go on..
29. I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough..
30. Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes..
31. Velcro - what a rip off!.
32. Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy..
33. Venison for dinner? Oh deer!.
34. Earthquake in Washington obviously government's fault..
35. I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure..
36. Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too..
37. Broken pencils are pointless...

Until another post when I get a bunch more to share.

After I saw this for the first time on Facebook today, I thought others may have missed it and managed to locate more information which I believe is correct. Journey of Faith performed a Christmas "Flash Mob" at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach on December 18, 2010, much to the delight of local shoppers.

Two years later, here it is in case you have not seen it.
Flash Mob by Journey of Faith at South Bay Galleria

Finished Reading Fannie Flagg Books

I feel good about having read all of Fannie Flagg's books. There are some recipe books that I would be foolish to read since I rarely cook.

I first read Can't Wait to Get to Heaven , published in 2006, and proceeded to read the others, which were:






Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man (1983)
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987)
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! (1998)
Standing in the Rainbow (2002)
A Redbird Christmas (2004)
I Still Dream About You (2010)


Now I need to get caught up on reading John Grisham books. I have purchased both of his recent books that are waiting in the wings for my perusal.

OFFICIAL NOTICE FROM THIS BLOGGER

Recently I have discovered that many of the videos on my blog posts no longer play. When one realizes that Blogger is a free way to blog and that frequently YouTube videos cease to work for whatever reason, let me announce that I will not likely go back and try to get them to work.

Blogging, itself, really takes too much of my time anyway. I certainly do not have the time to try to make those that no longer work viewable. Most of all of this is beyond my control anyway. :(

Nearer, My God, To Thee

I received a very beautiful PowerPoint presentation via email and enjoyed it so much with the music accompanying it that I went searching on the 'net for something to share. This is what I found.
Nearer, My God, To Thee

God’s Invitation

This song has been going through my head all morning. This choir does a really good presentation of it.

Johnny Cash Autobiography

I departed from the Fannie Flagg books to read this book that was at our house. It was pretty difficult to read through parts of it about the times in Cash's life spent in addiction of one kind or another or possibly another way to put it "addicted to all the above."

Other parts of the book were filled with the experiences of a super star.

For whatever reason, I was impressed with story of Ira Hayes who "volunteered for the U. S. Marine Corps and after fighting his way ashore on Iwo Jima in February 1945, survived to become one of the men who hoisted the flog on the peak of Mt. Suribachi in that great symbolic moment of American victory, hopes and sacrifice"* and the Cash hit of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes."

*Cash: The Autobiography copywrite 1997

MSU v. Alabama

This is the first post I've made in a long time just because I could not figure out how to do it with the new revised blogger. Perhaps I can get this up and begin understanding it.

If I can get into our other blog, I may put up something about a site I found on Monument Valley that was written in German. It pretty much made me understand that our haste to get to Grand Canyon by by-passing it was a bad decision.

Uppermost in our mind today is to cheer Mississippi State to victory over Alabama -- a really long shot.

From Rocking Chairs to Tamales

Here’s my “three point sermon” for today – a beautiful, sunshiny day in Lower Alabama.

George Jones is on his farewell tour now, and I'll bet he sings his hit during the show.
George Jones - I Don't Need Your Rocking Chair

Even though his hit says it, I'll bet he'd sure like one of Greg Harkins' chairs. Greg Harkins in Modern Masters

Here's even a sideline Greg participates in. Isn't it good to see someone doing whatever he feels like and lovin' it?
Greg Harkin’s Hot Tamales

---

I got to wondering about my referring to this as a "sermon" but it does sorta fit the definition of "three points" kinda...

Where To Turn

Hebrews 12:2 (New International Version)

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Relaxing Armchair Travel

This is Labor Day. It has not been a typical Labor Day Holiday, but it has been enjoyable.

In the past, when I see something to share that I can imagine being something I would enjoy in person, I sometimes have a strong urge to share it and play "Let's Pretend" or some version of it.

Today, our daughter, Carla, called to tell us the TV Travel Channel had a program on the Black Hills and we turned on the TV and watched it. Most of the places covered in this program were places we had visited during the summer of 2007. It was nice to see an excellent TV documentary on such places as:
Custer State Park
Grand Tetons
Mount Rushmore
Yellowstone

Then later on we received a video that I would have to say, in its on way, it is better than actual travel. Only professional nature photographers have the chance to get the scenes you will see in this video. That's what I am prompted to share with you by armchair travel.

The video description:
Video by Scott Mckinley Productions, Produced for Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for Ad campaign. Licensed music by Kenny G.. This short video won Grand Prize - Best of Show at International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula Montana! The majority was shot on location in Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and The National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.



To finish the day out, we went to a place where the tourists don't go -- Kelsey's -- where they had food served because it was a holiday.

It was a beautiful day, and that suited us just fine!

My First Fannie Flagg Book

Just finished reading this book of 365 pages, which I checked out of the Foley Library. The hard cover book looks like it's bigger than it really is, and it has eight recipes at the back included in those pages.

Since I found the first recipe on another blog, let me direct you there before I forget it. It's for Neighbor Dorothy’s Heavenly Caramel Cake.

Fannie's last book in paperback has been available to purchase at Magnolia Springs Pharmacy & Gifts, so I need to rush right over there before they are sold out.

Yes, I liked the book and recommend it. It's easy reading and quick. For a few moments, you think it's turning into a John Grisham type of novel, but, no, it's a unique book to my way of thinking. I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying it, but that's just me.

If anyone reads this, they probably know way more than I did about Fannie Flagg until I looked her up on the internet. Here's what Wikipedia had to say about her.
Fannie Flagg

Happy 4th of July

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883

Texas Is Like A Whole Other Country

Still not traveling so the Native Texan in me thought this would be good to put on the travel blog. However, it wound up on my personal blog.

After all, I was born in West Texas.


Now Mary has given me this one to share as well.


And, here's one more that is a take-off on another song.


Still another that my sis sent me.

Quiet, the book, revisited

In March, I put up a post about "Quiet," a book by Susan Cain, entitled I Enjoy My Own Company. Now that I’ve read the book, I have some thoughts to share.

I’m skipping Chapter One for later, but I wanted you to know I had never heard of Tony Robbins before I read this book. In Chapter Two, I learned all I ever want to know about him.

I believe the purpose of the book was to champion introverts as compared with extroverts. Both have their strengths and many introverts and extroverts marry, which can mean a long and happy marriage, but this book will help both understand their different approaches to life.

During my work life, I have had the opportunity to witness both types in action, and they both have their places. I have seen the extrovert win out over the thoughtful person who knows so much more and is more qualified to lead but was not chosen and in many cases was overlooked as the person who knew volumes more than the extrovert bluffing his way through life and a career. Truly, both types have their place. I have also known humble people who display their special leadership qualities in such a way as to rise to the top like cream. This is what Susan Cain conveys in her book.

You might be an introvert if you have you ever dreaded activities required of you and looked forward to their being over and done with when they were an event that was basically good. One event that popped into my mind was my high school graduation. Get this: It was such a relief to know I did not have the highest grade point average because this would have meant I would have had to give a speech. Thank you, God, for delivering me from this.

Later, I could not avoid a course in speech any longer, and learned a VERY IMPORTANT fact that made all the difference. It is revealed in the book several times (Chapter 5, page 129): “There is no one more courageous than the person who speaks with the courage of his convictions.”

Susan Cain even revealed three key steps to identifying your own core personal projects. To put it another way, some things in your life may be so important to you as to require some extroversion and bargaining to keep one’s life happy and balanced between the two extremes, but times off from this are required to keep the introvert in you from being burned out and frazzled.

The book also points out how parents can help their introverted children get by better in life by being sensitive to the difference between the two temperaments.

Here’s what I really think about the book. Individual readers will glean from the book what they prefer to take to heart and use. At my time of retirement in life, I cannot go back and look at my life and do it differently, but I did learn from different passages. The author’s statement in the first chapter is reason enough to read the book, particularly if you are an introvert.

“If there is only one insight you take away from this book, …, I hope it’s a newfound sense of entitlement to be yourself. I can vouch personally for the life-transforming effects of this outlook.”

It made me realize why I so much prefer “real people.”