Monday, April 4, 2011

High Flight


Lt. Edward Rody Ryan
September 21, 1921 ~ April 5, 1944
My Dad



High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth. 
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; 
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth. 
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things 
You have not dreamed of 
- wheeled and soared and swung. 
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, 
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air ....

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue. 
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. 
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew — 
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod. 
The high untrespassed sanctity of space, 
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. 

by John Gillespie Maggee, Jr.
American Volunteer RCAF
KIA, December 11, 1941





Soldier, rest!  Thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.
~Sir Walter Scott~
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"When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun."

What hopeful words!  The day will come when time will no longer exist, and I will finally meet my Savior and my Heavenly Father.  But I also look forward to meeting this father for the first time!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Lightening the Load

Let's see, do I have anything of any value to say today?  Quite honestly, no but that has never stopped me before.  I did read something very enlightening this morning.  An article said fat cells shrink with aging!  So chalk another benefit up to senior hood!  (Let's just ignore the other statement that muscle cells shrink too.  And I'm not even going to look into what happens to brain cells.)


I am making some headway on clearing the clutter.  Got the sandbags out of my pickup yesterday and hauled a large bag of unwanted clothing to a donation bin.  Plans for this weekend include taking an old mattress to the landfill and more unwanted items to a charity thrift shop.  Clutter and "stuff" can be such a burden.  Springtime is just such a good time to lighten the load!  


Next week we will be leaving for my sister's house and then travelling with them to Branson, MO for a week.  So after some more de-cluttering comes packing for the trip.  I'm famous for over packing, but I'm going to try hard to avoid that this time.  (Seems like I've said that before?)  The older I get, the less I want to carry though, so that helps.


Well, time to get on with the day.  Can't just sit here waiting for my fat cells to shrink.  You don't suppose that's just and April Fool's joke do you?