Fun Monday - Brand Names

Today, our hostess is Mariposa. She wants to know about brand names that make our life easier.

25 years ago, I got married.

25 years ago, I bought my husband a brand new Harley Davidson FLHTC as a wedding gift.

24 years ago, while on his way home to be there for my cancer surgery, he totalled the bike.

24 years ago, with the insurance money, I bought him a used Harley Davidson FLHTC.

5 years ago, I used his bike as collateral on a personal loan. It is worth almost twice as much now as when I bought it.

Last month, we got the bike out of the shop and my husband is bound for Sturgis this week.

Sometimes, brand names are worth the extra money.

Motorcycle in 1986 - $5400

Price of repairs in 2010 - $1100

Husband's happiness - priceless

Wade McNutt's Piano Meditation

I have a friend, Elaine McNutt, who has a son, Wade. Elaine is very active in our LifeTeen ministry at church. She was always looking for soft, contemplative, instrumental music to use as a soundtrack for the kids' meditations.

Enter her son. My husband was kind enough to go to Wade's launch party today and pick up Wade's first CD. Although only one song on it is Wade's original composition, his talent and God's love shine through all.

As previously stated, the CD is instrumentals. The only clip I could find, though, is this. Enjoy.

And then go, please, to Wade's website and order some for yourself. Of course, if you are a close friend of mine, you can just wait till you get it for Christmas!

Thank you, Mr. Formby

I would like to use this space to remember what has been, and will no longer be, an important part of my day. From October 1955, when I was 1 year and 7 months old, until the day before his death on July 31, 2010, Clint Formby was a friendly voice over the airwaves. I only had the pleasure of listening to him for the last 20 years or so.

I am blessed to live in a town with it's own radio station, KPAN radio. When I am out tooling around running errands and such, this is the station to which I listen. They cover the local news and the local sports. They cover the local churches and the local schools. They feature the "Good neighbor of the day" and are everything that I think a small town station should be.

One of their radio features was the "Day-by-Day Philosopher". This program was initiated in October of 1955 by Clint Formby and continued 6 days every week until July 30,2010 for a total of 17,160 consecutive broadcasts. Mr. Formby even broadcast from his hospital room when he was ill. It was broadcast at 7:45 a.m. and thus became an important part of my morning, as well as that of my grandson.

When Moose was little, he stayed with us. I am not much for clocks and tend to run my time by what's on the TV and/or the radio. To this day, I get ready to leave the house after the Top Ten is over on my favorite (or at least less irritating) nighttime show.

Moose and I would leave the house in the morning after our local ABC news affiliate finished with their mid-hour update. This made it 7:24a.m. Moose ate better in the car so I would hand him some food, grab his backpack and off we would go. We would stop and get coffee and a paper and would drive to the school parking lot where we would break fast and visit a bit before school started. In the background, always, was the "Day-by-Day Philosopher". More often than not, something he said would catch either my ear or the Moose's. We discussed a variety of subjects that I probably would not have thought to bring up.

It was a great comfort to me to know, without a doubt, that my grandson would not be hearing anything that needed explaining. Mr. Formby's broadcast was always, at the outside, PG-13 but most often G rated. It was never mean-spirited or spiteful but inspiring, friendly, and gracious.

Some of my best morning memories involve my grandson, a cup of coffee, the paper, a semi-deserted parking lot and the congenial voice of a very philosophical man. Thank you, Mr. Formby.

Fun Monday - Shoes Redux

Mariposa, bless her heart, is resurrecting Fun Monday. Her topic this week is shoes. I went back to the files and found this entry from when Pensieve (great minds think alike) had the same idea. Since I am at work and have on ugly work shoes, I present my previous effort.

I have no pictures of my baby shoes. I can tell you that I spent the first 8 years of school in the lovely white oxfords that went with the also lovely maroon and grey plaid uniform. Ah yes, nothing quite like the smell of wet wool in the wintertime. I will say, though, that the clamp on roller skates worked really well with these shoes.

Then I progressed to these beautiful navy and white saddle shoes to go with the navy plaid uniform for the next 4 years. I also progressed from the smelly wool sweater to the lovely polyester blazer with crest and padded shoulders. Wow.

I got married right out of high school - who really needed that 4 year scholarship, right? Anyway, shoe of choice back in the day was this beauty. Oh so practical for a young wife and mother pushing a baby stroller, don't you know.

I was widowed and had to go to work. My first job was at a police department as a Community Service Officer. These are the heels that I wore to work then.

There followed a succession of poor choices - in men and in shoes. Here are some of the shoes:

I now wear snow boots in the winter and sneaks the rest of the year. I do have one drop-dead gorgeous pair of red heels that I wear on special occasions. But my favorite pair of shoes now are these: