Spanky's Clubhouse

No blogging since December 2007-wow-a lot has happened since that time. Another winter, another spring, another half year birthday. Now we have a new grandson, Noah Wilson Rogers, who was born on Thursday, February 26th at 8:39 a.m. in Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, IL. I found out that my Grandpa Olson died on that same day exactly 50 years ago and it was a Thursday. How bizarre is that! What a wonderful thing to be a grandparent! We traveled to Mexico last summer with Noah's parents, Joel and Beth. Lori, our daughter went to Australia for three weeks last July. Lori has been doing wonderful work with Catholic youth and retreats at LaSalle Manor near Plano, IL. Mark, our son, has published some books on exercise and fitness and now has one on Amazon.com. His book is called Trim, Tighten and Tone. My mom fell and then had to go to a nursing home where she is adjusting and likes it as well as she can. She has Alzheimers Disease and has forgotten where her house is or if she has a house. Thank goodness she still knows who we are. She doesn't understand why she has to be in a nursing home. What a sad disease but there are worse. She can still carry on a conversation and take care of her needs to an extent. We have a new president, the first African-American to hold that office-Barack Obama from Illinois. He was born in Hawaii-his mother was white, his father black. Now there is swine flue in Mexico and a few cases in the United States. The media is going crazy already and there are only twenty cases in the United States. Whoooooooooa! We are now on Facebook along with millions of others and people are twittering - what a crazzzzzzzzzzzzy world. Our Shannon Cafe closed suddenly over a month ago and our little town is missing its gathering place. In a short time, Fast Eddie's, a new restaurant is suppose to open here in Shannon. I am going to be out of high school 40 years next month-time does not slow down and if you think it does you are crazzzzzzzzzzzzzy. We still have to enjoy the time we have no matter how much time that is. We are in the beautiful Easter season-so many people think it is only for one day but we celebrate for fifty days-how great to celebrate for that long -but most people don't do that. The economy is not good - big companies going bankrupt because of greed. Gas prices went to $4.19 last summer. Who would have thought that!

First came the snow which was just a slight covering and then came the sleet which covered all of the trees and the wires. Thank goodness we did not lose our electricity. We take everything so for granted but especially electricity and water. The lights did blink a few times but never went off. Everyone was reminded to check the batteries in their flashlights in case the electricity did go off. The weather people make such an extremely big deal of every little storm any more-this is just normal weather for winter in the northern part of Illinois. People need to respect the weather and not go places unless it is absolutely necessary. Several serious and fatal accidents around the area. Interstate 80 closed near the quad cities as a semi-truck overturned with hazardous materials in it. A fatal accident near Rockford. All the basketball games were cancelled, a Christmas Gathering at Bethel Church was cancelled, and many church services cancelled for tomorrow. Eleven years ago today we had a very slushy snow that came down in the early morning and we received the shocking news that my brother-in-law died in his sleep. He was only 56 years old. We were all reminded of the readings today that say to be prepared as we never know the hour or the day when the Lord will call us home. Joel was confirmed at St. Mary's in Freeport on this day eleven years ago and the Bishop also reminded the young people to be alert and be right with God as we do not know what another day will bring.

Today is May Day and I always celebrated by giving May baskets to people. I filled them with popcorn and lots of good candy treats. I continued to do that with my children as they grew up. Lori, our daughter, loved making them and we would deliver them to our older friends and neighbors and they really enjoyed them and looked forward to them. Lori and I kept this tradition going until she was out of high school. This is also the day that we celebrate St. Joseph, the worker, and all who work. We are all called to be laborors in the vineyard of the Lord. Joseph is an example for all of us to take care of others as he did with Mary and Jesus. We can all find someone who needs care. Our work is to have faith in the Lord. Whatever we do for work we do it for the Lord rather than for men. Because our work is an act of faith it is thanksgiving and worship. Joseph also taught Jesus his work of being a carpenter and a builder. St. Joseph pray for us who labor. Find joy in your work. We pray for all those who are unemployed and are looking for work that they might find work to support their families and give dignity to themselves. St. Joseph is also the patron saint of fathers. Oh the wonderful month of May when we pay special tribute to Mary, the mother of Jesus our helper and our example of kindness and compassion. Mary pray for us.

I just passed my half year birthday a couple of days ago on the 24th but I didn't do much celebrating. A friend of mine that I grew up with always reminded me of the day in April when we were another half a year older. She was one day older than I was so we would celebrate our birthdays in October together by staying all night with each other and sometimes baking a cake at midnight. Some people celebrate with a half of a cake for their half year birthday. The local card store sends a special discount for your half year birthday. Of course, when we were younger we loved being another half year older especially if it was the year that you were closer to getting your drivers license or turning twenty-one when you officially were an adult. Now, I appreciate another half year older as I am grateful for each day and try to really cherish each day, each hour, and each minute. I have read that you should celebrate each day as they are all new gifts from God. Gifts to share God's love with others, to share our talents and our time as well as cherish each one we meet. We can always learn something from another person as well as just enjoy their company. Think of your half year birthday and enjoy it and celebrate it. The last week in April is TV-Turnoff Week. Why not celebrate by turning off the tube and reading a book? What a great idea. Visit your local library to see what new books they have on their shelves. In 1731, Ben Franklin founded the first circulating library in North America. The Library of Congress was established on this day in 1800. Libraries are wonderful and I still visit the local library at least once a month. I love to read most anything I can get my hands on. I have enough books of my own to start a library which has always been a dream of mine since our village doesn't have a library. Once Ben Franklin attended a dinner party at which the topic of discussion was "What condition of man most deserves pity?" Ben suggested this: "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know how to read." Can you imagine people sitting around a dinner party thinking at all today. Maybe if we did turn off the TV more and read more books we would have more interesting things to talk about.

Oh how beautiful the spring will be when it finally starts to warm up as it is starting to do. Everything is ready to burst the buds on the trees and the tulips in the ground that were just covered with snow last week.. What a glorious time of year and then we hear of the sadness of the shootings of VaTech! These young people, the middle aged and the older one too, were just ready to take their next step into the world whatever that was going to be. Now we have lost thirty-three lives including the shooter who might have had something to give to change the world but now we will never know or benefit from their gifts and talents. As the Governor of Virginia said today, "We must be like Job and continue on our path no matter what happens and how terrible it is, we can not lose our faith." Hopefully once again our country will turn back to its creator and give thanks for the blessings we have been given. No one seems to be so concerned that every day there are many lives snuffed out by abortion saying that women have the right to do this, to kill the unborn, even though our country is suppose to guarantee the right to life but we have turned our backs on the innocent unborn who can't even speak for themselves. Our society truly is a culture of death. Then why are we so surprised when something like this happens and we wonder why. Our government says it is O.K. to kill the unborn and not allow prayer or anything to do with God to be said in public places.

October is almost over and the leaves have been falling and we have been raking. Finally some beautiful weather outside here in the midwest. The leaves are letting go for their purpose is now over. We too, must learn to let go and release things that are no longer useful. This is the time when we must surrender ourselves as Joyce Rupp says in some of her books. Look forward in our life and see what lies ahead as we continue on our journey. Another year is passing as I just realized another birthday yesterday and so I am thankful for another year and must let go again as time marches forward never backward. Oh, the beauty of fall with all of the colors of the trees, the crispness of the air is so refreshing and relief from the heat of summer, different things for different seasons. My daughter is in Texas and she misses the changing of the colors of the trees. Oh the things we miss when we don't have them but when we are right here in the midst of the beautiful trees we hardly notice them. The colors aren't so brilliant this year and I don't know why that is - some years vivid colors and other years more dull. The squirrels are scurrying to put away food for the winter. Are they hiding their nuts in the trees or in the ground? Some say you can predict the harshness of the winter by where the squirrels hid their food. In the tree means a harsh, snowy winter, in the ground a mild winter. I guess that makes sense as the squirrels don't have shovels to dig through the snow to find their nuts.