More from William Congreve:

" Grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure. "
" Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life. "
" Blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, and though a late, a sure reward succeeds. "
" I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull. "

More from Josh Billings:... a link !!!

The 25th of May would have been my Father's 73'rd birthday... he passed in September of 1999. Some favorite memories:

Trips to the beach... thousands, seemingly.
Car rides with the family, Dad driving, to no place in particular.
Hot cocoa at a restaurant early in the a.m. on the way to Dad's many golf appointments... me caddying... Shirley Temples' and Roy Rogers' for me at the 19th hole.
Shish-ka-bob's on the bar-b-cue.
Dad's "glurg" or spiced wine on the stove.
Summer vacation in Seaside, Oregon... just Mom and Dad and Jim and I in a trailer, camping out.
Just Dad and Jim and I camping out under the stars at a beach south of Half Moon Bay, CA... freezing our rears off under blankets as the fog came in, even though we had a camp fire going.
Fishing at Green Lake in Seattle, WA... just Dad and I in a row boat. We never caught anything the few times we went out to fish, anywhere.
Me absolutely disgusting and frustrating Dad when he tried to teach me how to drive his MG Midget... me laughing my head off the whole time... getting nowhere... the clutch beyond my comprehension.
Going to the boat races in Seattle, WA or visiting his friend, Dick Brunos (sp?) at his home on the lake front. Dick raced hydroplane's, or speed boats, and loved to give us boat rides on the lake where he lived next to ( Lake Washington ? ) with his family boat-cruiser, we all taking turns at water-skiing... or trying to, sometimes from off Dick's pier. Dick tragically took his own life years later.
Trying to live up to Dad's "Do as I say and not as I do" lessons of life.
... bitter-sweet regrets of latter years... what might have beens...
Love you Dad... miss you...

I've installed this awesome ( Windows only ) web dictionary ap... only 24K in size, that just happens to use the same website I normally use for word mangle-ation. When surfing the web just highlight a word... then right click the mouse and an option appears to get the definition/encyclopedia entry of the word... SUPER COOL ! I was warned ahead of time that the ap does have the 'AvenueA' tracking spyware 'bot' on it... but I block the spyware with SpywareBlaster... I think. Even still, the 'bot' is benign in nature.

Wonderful meeting at the Stake Center in Cameron Park with all the new LDS members, from the last two years, in the stake in attendance. A bit of social anxiety to the extreme when it came to my turn to introduce myself. I barely remember what I blurted out... speech not my talent, nor sought out by me. Overheard in general assembly: "Those people in Georgetown (ward) have been really  busy !"... with regard to the number of new members presented. Yes they have been... they're wonderful and special people. I wouldn't be attending, perhaps, otherwise.

" Ces Noire Nuits  " or These Black Nights... What might have been: This poem was in French originally... I give the literal English, above, that I did write out... the French version sending another confirmation to the ether, I'll try to recreate. I normally would have transcribed the poem afterwords (sic). With luck I'll be able to copy as created when the poem is posted among all the the other entries after 9 a.m. PDT on Wednesday. AMENDED: No... the poem posted on the net 40 seconds late and will show up as only more gibberish... I thought I had a few minutes leeway... but no. Therefore: no entry will show for Wednesday... and the gibberish will be entered for Thursday... another SNAFU, or SNAFU#2 in this case. And no... my French is in tatters... I merely took the 'tiles', a preponderance of French words, and arranged them as best I could and then checked the sentences in Bablefish for a coarse translation, hence my tardiness... c'est la vie... à bête noire !!!

" Autumn's Effusion "... a Haiku: Autumn exults twice: first by the trees surrounding the river, the fall colours effusing forth... and then, secondly, by reflection in the mirrored 'face' of the river water.

" Lake's Landing "... a Haiku: I hadn't intended it thus, the poem created before reminiscing about Dad and Dick Brunos (sp?), but the picture for inspiration does evoke memories of trying to ski off Dick's pier in the summer in Seattle, WA... and not letting go of the tow rope after dumping... getting lake water up my nose... what fun !!! Not to mention that I have a slight memory of almost drowning near that same pier, Dick's daughter helping me out of the water... no fuss made.