Wednesday, December 27, 2006
ATTENTION: BALL DROPPERS Between the exact day called "Christmas" and the official first day of the New Year you can experience some odd days which seem to be disorganized, out of sync as a brand new year looms ahead - one the Chinese are going to call "The Year of the Boar. We toss that bit of time information in especially for our trivia fans who are also. along with us, are awaiting the coming demands a brand new, set of hours, days, weeks,months a whole year in length. Once more, I hear, the City of New York has plans to herald the arrival of the opening moments of the New Year of 2007, as they lower a beaming ball of light from on high to ground level.They are, again, going lower the brightly beaming star-like of light to ground where few can see it! This gives me my annual opportunity to rail senselessly again at the authorities who conceived and act it all out with sober intent by dropping the ball...lowering it slowly and painfully to a point where few celebrants can see it and many can forget it ever shone on high! There is good reason ,it seems, for the Chinese to foresee a year that will be boring. New Yorkers! That ball should be an apple! That apple should be colorful, with a generous touch of gold and bright glitter! It should rise upward into the sky - as New York's finest space! Upward always! It should appear as a rising, far-seeing symbol of the city and of the dreams and plans of its citizens - America's plans and dreams, as bellwether should be vieing with the brighest of natural heavenly lights, rising into the sky as a token of promised mutual growth, advancing Hope, excitement, endearments, and heartfelt concern for all Mankind! One more thing! Don't leave the rest of us out! As the gleaming symbol of certainty rises to its highest point and holds firm, fire off a simple fireworks display behind it with the city itself as a background. Keep it simple: one bright star for each state and one for the District of Columbia - as another prime symbol of our pledge of unity. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@adelphia.net 12-27-06 [c385wds]
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
STRANGE THINGS Most of us, I'm sure, prefer to think of this holiday time of the year as a time when bright, cheerful event and happenings which make up our lives happen as a continuing process and we find ways to accommodate such intrusions and try to blend the two extremes. The announcement which told us that the former dictator of Iraq will be executed by hanging. The verdict was not unexpected by many - including the accused, I dare say, The judicial system of Iraq is quite different from ours and they added a demand that the sentence be concluded within one month. When the provision was appended some thought it to be a bit improper - even wrong - especially at this holy time of the year. The court, I feel, acted wisely in making this requirement firm because precedent urged delay and contrary factions gathered and grew stronger in between sentencing and execution. It would come to be a serious last step of sympathy for the condemned person favoring a new trial or less punishment. That individual's life may be saved; but an injustice done those whom he had killed or robbed i increased.. His actions would, in a sense be approved in total disregard of existing laws. The man had been judged and was found wanting. At the same time, we have a haunting feeling that tells us what is happening is not in keeping with the religious feeling expressed by the religious elements of brotherly love, forgiving and admission of our own shortcomings. The "within thirty days" words will best mark this event in the future. It how a change in attitude for all of us who would stand firmly against the ever-increasing dire forces of terror which sound us. Another serious problem facing all of us is the warfare in Africa where open war is finally being admitted as Ethiopia seeks to forestall the very same terrorist forces from "taking over" the legitimate government in a Lebanon-like action. Perhaps we may need more such "thirty-day clauses " to bring our intentions to reality. Take that Yule tree down within three days; put the Christmas decorations away for another year; finish returning all of those wrong sizes, wrong color, wrong choice items to the mall and get started with some thirty-day clauses of your own. There are a host of things we are going to have to do - promptly and together. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@adelphia.net 12-26-06 [c422wds]
Monday, December 25, 2006
ON THE GADGET ROAD As I recall a great many of the gadgets which have invaded our homes over the years came to be with us as part of our family habit of Christmas gift giving. Almost every year some mechanical apparatus or electronic contraption came into our living area our life - and stayed. The first such things were beneficial and largely machines made to made to lighten then workload of keeping a house in order. The Telephone was an early one and of genuine use for all of us. Ours was a ten-inch tall, black pole with a microphone built into the upper portion. On the side of that,perhaps one inch upright there was was a hook which held the listening part when it was not in use.. Other homes, primarily in rural regions, had wooden boxes which were hung on the wall, usually either too high or too low for comfort during any extended conversation. There was no set schedule but we also acquired a coffee percolator fired eclectically, a big "Easy" washing machine, an electric refrigerator and a pop-up toaster. There was a time, too ,when some people felt they had to have a player piano in their house. We got regular piano After 1925-26 when it was as discovered that more than one disc could produced with each studio session. A flood of record firms took over as radio came alive commercially and enhanced recorded music to new heights. The advent of radio was major era. It is still with us more than we may realize. As a family we were very much a part of it. It was those years which determined the occupational future of many of us and it led us into the Computer Age in an eager and ready state. We have many of the gadgets but the giver of the gift under our tree told us "It's something you may not think you need - but which you do! If it appears to be all broken, I'll be over tomorrow to fix it!" My wife Vivian and I - the two of us - are now into TIVO too. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@adelphia.net 12-25-06 [c371wds]
Sunday, December 24, 2006
AFFIRMING WRONG It is easy us to set up strict standard by which may judge the way other people - individuals and entire nations - it is not so easy to apply the same honest, sincere and complete standards to ourselves. One would, usually, exclude any concept of "hatred" but to take such a survey one must cultivation an extreme and unbreakable sense of revulsion and intense dedication to threats which ring true and clear and worthy among civilized men and women of purified mind and body. There are great shortcomings among chose whom would harm us and there are lesser ones as well. The ultimate intent of any such action is far more importance than is apparent intensity Often the individual actions themselves which makes them all the more devious and threatening. As I type this and keep thinking of Christmas eve plans for tonight heir news that tells me and American plane has been ordered to return to La Guardia Field in New York because of a "threatening note" received concerning that particular flight. The same TV news cast had spoken previously saying that our F.B.I had alerted both French and British authorities concerning a plan concocted in Pakistan which calls for a Terrorist "attack" on "The Chunnel" installations connecting the U.K. and the continent. There will be additional casualties in Iraq today, mainly local citizens even as our war leaders shift positions and mull over pending plans modifying the manner go how the war is being conducted there. Some "crow" will need to be eaten, no doubt. Neighboring Iran has been told of the sanctions she must now endure now that she has refused to accept United Nation's request that she cease her nuclear enhancement programs. We are beset by mysterious means. We must be ready to react in unconventional ways. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@adelphia.net 12-24-06 [c314wds]
Saturday, December 23, 2006
A GOOD STARTER When housing costs go up we being to rise we see more advertisements the real estate sections offering small houses tagged as a "starter home." Some and quite small and prospective buyers find the identification of the basic construction as something they were to buy now and improve later sounded a note of romance, adventure and compelling words "a starter home" often led to many young couple bow to a gambler's instinct few of them would admit having. The dotted phase passed and they owned a basic, fundamental piece of real estate to which they might add in the future. It was a wise choice for some go-getters; an unwise one for others. Some added room, wings, facilities to finish their home. Others, for various reasons let their "to be continued" plans lapse or linger endlessly. Anne McCleary, the authority concerning buildings of any kind in the Shenandoah Valley area, used to speak of an early type of construction we seldom about. She described the settlers as seeking out a hillside, perhaps near a spring or creek. There ,well above any flood plain threats, they would set about the digging of a cave. The next step was to build a slanted sort of lean-to roof of small logs over the added floor space built with the dirt and rocks excavated from the cave itself. The idea was to try to cover the added floor space and of he mouth of the cave itself. The new settlers did not rush from from ship to wooded shore and start building what we now call "log cabins". That building technique was brought over by Scandinavian immigrants who settled in scattered sections of the colonies of Delaware, New Jersey and New York. Until such times that cabin construction "know-how'' spread southward and westward the principal materials used for a larger building were stone, brick or pole type wall structures in which logs were set down into the soil forming a vertical wall on which a roof might be fashioned. The preparation of timber too time, too. The initial problem was a settler had to await a legal decision as to what sections might be his to cut and use. Once that was decided he "circled" or "ringed" those trees he wished to use and the usual plan was to let such marked trees "season" for six months, at least. During this weathering phase the tree would give up much of its liquid content and be much lighter to handle when cut as well as less subject to bending, warping, rotting and insect damage. In the early days of Tidewater and Piedmont Virginia the "hogan" had a like role of being "a starter home". We all had to start somewhere. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@adelphia.net 12-23-06 [c-474wds]
Friday, December 22, 2006
NOT JUST HERE! It has happened in every state in Union, and yet in amazes me many or our manufacturing industries have gone overseas. I can understand how a town which suddenly which finds itself gone and their jobs no longer available. To be declared excess baggage in the employment area is tantamount to an attack by a major disease. Our job loss is in an epidemic state in many parts of the nation. In truth we had adequate wanning a such a massive change was in progress when businessman Ross Perot ran for the Presidential Office. He used a rather dated professor-like displays of charts, diagrams, posters, graphs, lists and statistical art work showing large dollar signs being siphoned off to Mexico. Many of us felt his judgment was sound and precise. Perot's political adversaries, managed to curb any feelings they may have had as a result of his edifying campaign. They, by and large, related his campaign to humorous sideshow. They misuse his suction sound gimmick which described so-aptly his view of our jobs seeping off to South of the Border. Perot was right. He was also wrong. Those jobs overshot Mexico for places where goods can be made at a fraction of what it would cost make them in Mexico. My closet is stocked with shirts, pants and other such mens war. One pair of pants were made in the United States, one pair of men's shorts is tagged "Made in Mexico". Both are older items - and all of the rest, by the numbers, came from Nepal, followed by Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, India, Costa Rica, Guatemala, China, Taiwan, and one lonely pair of shorts was made in Romania. Shoes, caps, hats, scarves, heaver jackets - all from China as well a belts. Metal buckles for those belts are, however, are still stamped "Made in U.S.A". It is, day-by-day, becoming more urgent that we give some reason to our attempts to "Help Mexico!" One way to assist Mexicans is to reclaim even a portion of the vast array of jobs Ross Perot and others thought were Mexico bound. We can help Mexicans and also solve some of our illegal migration problems by encouraging re-location of our former "make it" skills back to Mexico and less to off-shore locations. Mexico is on-shore. We live or die together in more ways than we are ready to admit. Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@adelphia.net 12-21-06 [c-418wds]
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
EXPECTATIONS As the actual date of Christmas approaches in this mid-portion of December, most of us, I dare say, feel some sensation of expectation concerning a certain something we would like to have for Christmas. Such a wish can be for something great or small. It makes no difference because we all know the money to buy Christmas gifts has long-since been expended. Since we we were at that time, not expecting such gifts, let our heart run loose and say what one thing you would like go have were it possible. Whatever you might select can be great or small because you know you are not going to get it any way. We have all done such last minute wishful thinking, I'm sure. We did I when were younger and as we put on years we tend to deprive ourselves of such “foolishness” and try to face then real world. I have wondered when we did such a thing naturally. I dare say most you would expect me to say that my lowest point occurred during the hectic days of World-War II when doubts view with fears and a lack of confidence in any so-called permanent values in our patterns of living. No. War time is not such a time of such despair. Regardless of how bad news may be from the “front” of such conflict the unquenchable flame of everlasting “Hope” endures in our hearts and minds. We maintained strong Hope that good news would follow. The worst such times, I would say,occurred here in the United States during the Depression. It was time when hope, too, was lost. I also feel we deceive ourselves today when we look back and say - and believe - that he ”solved” the problem of the world-wide onus. He believed it himself at times. The very forcesd which caused the Great Depression are rampant throughout the world today and hang over us like the fabled sword of Death. I would ask the gift of an internationally-minded leader who is aware of such an impending threat to our very existence. Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@adelphia.net 12-18-06 [c-367wds]
Monday, December 18, 2006
HAS 'HUBBLE' HELPED? I was,personally, displeased to learn that our space telescope, following a plan,whereby it was to be declared as being “obsolete” was to discarded. The “Hubble” would not be either serviced nor repaired The plan, it appears, some insist politically tainted, would have had us simply for us to just ignore it; refuse to do repair and modernization work and servicing; to allow it to fade ...cease to be of normal, natural causes? . Is that a proper way by which we express gratitude to the men and women who labored hard and long to bring a worthy telescope? I do not know enough about what is most valued which is needed go advance our overall space programs, but it would seem logical and right that the photographic assistance Hubble has provided so abundantly concerning proper, probed and proven pathways in space would be of first class importance to the overall space programming.ot This eliminate “Hubble” effort was also set forth as being a great “economy” measure, as well. I cannot concur with that point either. The scary part is that something very much like it has happened before. Just a decades or so ago monster helicopters lugged long prefabbed steel girders from a railroad siding in Harrisonburg, Virginia across the Appalachian Mountain range to a town named Sugar Grove, West Virginia. It was there they were constructing what was claimed to be the world's largest radio telescope . It was well on its way. Everyone said it was going major attraction. Construction work was proceeding well, and workers from the site were justly proud of is assured future. Then, seemingly without warning we were told the entire project had been canceled! Ump-teen millions of dollars had been expended. Someone in the nation's capital had decided that all radio telescopes were no longer worth building. With the next year,or sooner, the same government was building entire fields of radio telescopes on land not far from Sugar Grove at Greenbank, West Virginia. It is functioning well. The Sugar Grove facility was modified and is now a “Listening Post” - serving as D.C's “ears” worldwide and the site is acclaimed as being at “the quietest spot in the nation.” Who is it, I wonder who hates telescopes so much? First down with the world's largest radio scope; now Hubble! Makes you wonder at times, doesn't it? Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@adelphia.net 12-18-06 [c-405wds]
Sunday, December 17, 2006
FOR SUNDAY GIVEN TIME Draw a line... a straight line. You realize, of course it isn't straight at all. Given time it will bend back upon itself and form a circle; Split it and you'll have a spiral of a sort; Add others and you'll create a sphere. Your straight line shaped itself to the curvature of the earth. So,you could have propped it up at both ends? But - off it goes into space and bends to fit magnetic stress from other whirls it passes. Living itself is like that line. Planned to be straight; it looks straight and yet it bends to fit reality of our world. It, too, must live and be. Given time, it spills back upon itself. When mended, adjusted and revised - it is violated by sheer weight of foreign bodies – pulls, tugs, adjustments. Lives, too – straight lines – become circles, spheres and spirals...given time. ( a.l.m. Feb 6, 1988 ) In that era most of us talked, dreamed and planned each step of our careers in relation to some element of “space adventure.” We seem to have replaced idea of romance in both prose and poetry. I was as hard hit by the fad as any and I must have a score or more of poems touching on some form of space conjecture. Be ye, thankful I did not choose one of my longer ones to haunt you with tonight. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-17-06 [c-251wds]
Saturday, December 16, 2006
DAY BY DAY People often ask me if I kept a diary. I can’t say that I have, at least in a continued, serious manner. I did start such a day-by-day recording events in my exciting small town life style. I remember a time when I started such a project in a blue composition book. I realized that I was pretty much a hand-written account of the ways in which the weather forecasts had worked out in area. One of my favorite writers of the time, was O. O. McIntyre who wrote a daily column in the nearby Roanoke Va “Times and World-News”. The name of his column – always on the “Editorial” page - was “New York. Day-by Day” . He wrote about anything he found to be of interest or concern him. I read him and, although I was not, of course, aware that it must have happened that way until many years later. I switch from the “Diary” format - one the called a “Journal” I have always felt most comfortable there because it allowed me room in which I could report and comment. It is a good thing for any and all of us to think back over the paths we have traveled. On in rare cases do we meet with genuine self-made men and woman. I have a score of people who have helped me along the way. I will never be about to say sufficient to express my gratitude. The proper way to repay the is to make sure your present path allows time for you to pause long enough to share the fruits of some of the blessing you have known. I never knew O.O.Macintytre; never saw him; never talked with him. He was in New, York I was here in Virginia's Appalachian area. Through his words and example caused changes he never knew about at all in happning in far-off Virginia. So - a warning! Be careful - every day- in all that you think, say or do. Somewhere...some one may be seeing you as a model of what they would hope to become. Andrew McCaskey Sr amccsr@adelphia.net 12-16-06 [c369wds] .
Friday, December 15, 2006
STUDENT TEACHERS I shall long remember what it has mean to me and I am grateful again and again for the many advantages which have come my way because of my willingness - even eagerness to teach. My logical work area was Sunday School and now that I have grown physically less active – translated that means “old”, I miss it, too. I was fortunate to have grown up where we had what was then known as “Teacher's College”. The educational concept therein was to try to teach. The very idea of doing such a thing has,I believe, unfortunately faded away today as have then school themselves. It was a gradual process as each school assumed a fancier name for itself. The one in our town changed from a rather meaningless name of:”Radford Normal School for Women” or “Girls” - in popular usage. I remember the well-known actor and the founder of the famed ”Barter Theater” - the nation's first State Theater in Abingdon, Virginia – ad-libbing his own introduction to “Our Town”. He strolled leisurely on stage, as was his usual manner of movement and told the largely student audience the actors were pleased to be asked to, perform “here at the 'Radford School for Normal Girls'”. That sort of banter became more and more noticeable,I'd say, and to the “City of Radford” residents the name became simply. The local Radford citizen was known bristle a bit when some one jokingly wondered out loud why a scattered little town with, at best with six-thousand people called itself a “city”? It was entirely legal. State Law at the time designated any community of over five-thousand to be called a “city”. So, since both the “Normal School” and the “City of...” has such identification problems the fared well together. I had student teachers in just about every class at such a secondary staff and I know I profited from such a system. I do remember, too, how some suffered greatly in such on-job training when they met with not uncommon discipline problems. I am pleased when to hear of local colleges are working closely with public schools. It causes welcome growth and understanding at both levels. Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@adelphia.net 12-15-6 [c381wds]
Thursday, December 14, 2006
WHERE DID HE GO? Tell me something, please. Not too long, I remember they were holding a courtroom trial for someone calling himself Saddam something-or-other. He, even “cleaned up”, looked like an aging hippie who found the mud but not the rainwater at some edge-of-the-Orient Woodstock celebration. I was told our soldiers actually, had to dig him up from a hole dug in the back yard of a small house which had served as his temporary residence during his flight. He made a pretty good model for an artist's “Study In Gray” sitting there in the Court Room within a square fence made of crib-like materials. Several of his associates were seated to his right and in back of him as he he began to speak in his own defense rather than to avail himself of the services of one of his trained, experienced lawyers. The man seems to have a positive genius for placing himself in suicidal situations. I am among those who wish the searchers had bulldozed all holes shut in the back yard of a certain small unoccupied house. They could have cited sanitation precautions. By choosing to be his own spokesman he has again asked for supreme modes of punishment. He is not at all realistic. He still thinks he is ruler of Iraq – it's proper “President “ fully endowed with special powers including those of life and death of those whom he rules. Then came the the “put off”...”delay”...”recess”...phase of the ”trial all, of course, expressed in impressive legalize terms. He must have followed the recommendations of his legal advisors in this delay tactic. Ramsey Clark among them, urged delay as expected and it has been established routine with them timed to coincide with accounts of the steady growth of anticipated an-ti-Bush sentiments in the United States. Any news item speaking critically of the handling of the war in Iraq lessens the nature of the punishment to be meted out to its former dictator for alleged war crimes. You may that after World War I Kaiser Bill was exiled all the way to Belgium where he chopped wood for the rest of his life. Is that the type of justice we can expect from “the greatest trial of the century”- but delayed for no good reason. Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@adelphia.net 12-14-06 [c404wds]
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
BUSH BASHING I am feeling something very much akin to shame a and disgust. It happens every time I find citizens of our nation speaking in public of our President using disparaging terms. The first citizen of whom they speak is a person set apart in a precise manner to perform the varied duties of that office to the best of his abilities combined with ours. He was named to be “our” President, not just “yours”. Not “mine”, either. He is President of all the people rather than those of petty party of people expecting special advantages to flow their way automatically. The individual elected deserves co-operation, honesty, understanding an respect in keeping with the powers we share as citizens of this nation. There is certain mania right now among certain unsteady segments of our people to “bash Bush”. This is not as new as many user seem to think. I remember it being used in days before I was old enough to vote. If anyone of us small children had any dreams of some day becoming President and moving into the White House, we would have had such plans smashed by the unbelievably harsh verbal insults. I even remember being sorry for Al Smith when he was a figure in primary elections. He took his share of being bashed, as well. All our presidents seem to have such a groups following them around. I remember such things being said – and used as basic election materials. I can remember three them of them as being roundly scorned “womanizers” at various levels of depravity. Several were reputed to be not always sober. Two others were known to use profanity on occasion and they could lapse into street language if the situation demanded it be used. One, you will remember, was said to sleep easily and anywhere and he liked jelly beans. I'm realize how silly it sounds to even wonder if we will ever grow up and eliminate this “gossip” element in our election routines. Maybe it has a value we do not really appreciate to help us through some problem areas in our future. It reminds us that Presidents are “people”, too. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-13-06 [c374wds]
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
HORSE LIFE> We happen to live about half way between one of Virginia's leading Horse Centers near Lexington,Va. and the Charles Town, West Virginia Race Tracks. It is only natural that we should see a great many fine horses being transported up and down U. S, Route #11 or Interstate 81. It is a real treat for us to see such fine horse flesh and one quickly come to appreciate the special care and attentions which the proud owners give their potentially prize-winning animals. They travel in fine horse trailers and all seem to be pleased with their lot. I wrote the poem “Horse Life" April 2, 1971 after following a rather elaborate transfer vehicle moving southward on Interstate 81.
HORSE LIFE H Horses live better than people. Oh, yes! Yes. Visit the horse country. See the plush stables, the private caravans – stalls on wheels, air conditioned. The fine menu - as horse feeds go - balanced plus good green in Spring and Summer; the finest of hays in Winter Warm blankets, if needed or fan-made breeze. But don't knock the horse's life. Theirs is no Welfare State. They work.. they run - daily and often, several times an hour they exercise, they prance, .they exercise, the prance about, they pose. They face obstacles, too, high, higher and highest. And they listen... Yes, they listen and learn to obey what they listen to - willingly. Eagerly. They strive to do better. They improve with practice. Y'know...come to think of it... that may be a reason why: “Horses live better than people!” That is - some horses and some people. Possibly. Probably. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-12-06 279wds]
Monday, December 11, 2006
HO! HO! FOR STATUS QUO! It has been obvious and fully expected that Nancy Polosi, (D. Calif) the new, incoming Whip for the House and others who are stepping into new duties when returning to Washington,D.C. to set thing up their supposed liking. It is understandable and, perhaps, even right in a party sense - right, but I wonder if she and others will not find it somewhat embarrassing to find new problems arriving daily. They feel obligated to try to clean up some of the situations which have caused the term “scandal” to be removed or disguised a bit affect person, especially those whom they want and need to bring about promised changes in the Congressional way of doing things. A widening series of such difficulty have plagued the District offices and have caused the label of “scandal” to be bandied about rather loosely. It could be a good thing to let others know who, for instance, is in charge. Who will be setting and enforcing the rules and still performing oldsters and some gullible newcomers. By this time Polosi has certainly heard that incumbent William Jefferson (D) was named by the voters of the “reviving City of New Orleans” as their upcoming house rep in Congress. He took home an unofficial fifty-seven per cent of the votes in the Run off election. His opponent was a State Representative member - Karen Carter who succeeded in one main point in her campaign – that of not revealing her age - but she even failed to gain any headway against William Jefferson by frequently mentioning he is under a cloud in with the F.B.I. They are charging him with accepting a bribe. found the ninety-thousand cash in is freezer at home. He has yet to be charged, but when he is it will cause a sizable stir. The F.B.I. found the cool cash stored in his food freezer at his home. An ordinary bribe may be circumvented, perhaps, but this is no penny-ante situation wherein some lil' ol' ladies are buying rights allowing them to play forbidden games of Bingo in the back room at their “Stitchery Shoppe”. Rep. Jefferson does things in a grander fashion. After all, he is, Louisanna's first black congressman since Reconstruction Days. He will be accused of having accepted bribes from a company or companies seeking lucrative contracts in the Nigerian telecommunication business area. Such a situation could also adversely affect the already troubled reclaiming and repair work being done in New Orleans and other delta area cities, towns and villages...already with troubles enough to vie with. His democratic opponent , Karen Carter said: “I guess the people are happy with the status quo.” Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-11-06 [c462wds]
Sunday, December 10, 2006
ANOTHER IRISH VISIT I wrote this poem in Ireland in the later months of WWII. The exact site was a place called Bangor-By-the Sea. That would be Irish Sea over which we had come by ferry boat a day or so before – destroyer escorted, too, because the Nazis had tried to sink a ferry boat crossing from Stranraer, Scotland. There was a swimming pool called “Pickie Pool” at roadside and just this past week a visitor at our house tells me the pool is still there. It's on a gentle slope leading up to a hill called a “mountain” to “Floral Hall”- a temple-like building housing the city's Horticultural Society exhibits at that time. From that vantage point we had an enviable view of the rugged, rocky coastline. With disturbing regularity, we saw wreckage of ocean going ships – mostly freighters and tankers, I would say...the cold, dark sea water beating endlessly. It was a there I wrote much of the following poem as my major piece of deja vu during the war time years. EIRE REVISITED I've had the feeling and so have you, no doubt An uncertain teasing in your mind when traveling that you've been on that very spot before, a gadabout memory from some long-past peregrination unraveling. I remember one such place and time back years ago. It hit me in County Down, Belfast Laugh,Bangor-By-the-Sea. “Floral Park , up past “Pickie Pool” atop a promontory with a row of wave-racked freighters far area ...including one that used to be but was no more, just a relic, on the rocky shore. She'd been hauling coal, I was told and a North Channel storm lifted her on the rack of rock and broke her back. The door of the after cabin was still swinging crazily, I remember...a norm of movement for the gyrating gulls. No sound, of course metal being eaten away by slow, water-fed fire and due with waves still lapping at the stricken hulk as if they knew there was plenty of time, plenty of wreaks and many more staves of rusting metal being eaten away by slow, water-fed fire and due to crumble into near-nothingness; wash away to the down most rima unmapped on the ocean's floor; yesterday's pastured Valleys; a blue beginning for tomorrow's just-discovered jewel mine – a question mark to make a person wonder at what they see and seek the reason for how it came to be. Could it be that north born knife bearers of long ago chanced upon this place or even smashed upon these rocks, their cattle lowing in distress as they urged them from the deck and through the rocky barriers to shore to be the stock of present Nordic strains?.Or, could it have been a later one of us wandered from Lewis, Skye or Harris Isles and loved this scene so deeply that that I think of it today in a style of memories that tell me I have seen this place, this very shore -as some far-distant person - I have seen all before! Except, of course, the freighter, It came along much later. That's my memory to hold for a future seeker bold Who visits Bangor, learns its lore and says: “I'm certain I have known this place before!” Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-10-06 [c563wds]
Saturday, December 09, 2006
STRANGE CREATURE In the extreme desert parts of the Earth you may expect to find one the world's strangest animals – available in two standard models - the one called Bacterium with one hump and the other - the Dromedary – with two such humps topside. Usually few people consider a camel pleasant or beautiful to have around. Body odors prevail it their midst and they are said to have a bad habits of spitting or each other and nearby humans. Many people insist that camels are best seen at a distance. They are said to have been designed by a committee; body odors are a part of their being and they spit on each other and humans when given a chance to do so. The “kamal”, also used primarily in the sandy soil sections of Earth, is a primitive type of navigational tool used by desert tribesmen roaming dessert tribes. All you need to make such a tool is a small piece of wood or heavy cardboard -perhaps the end of a cigar box; about two inches in height, four inches across and 3/ 4 of an inch thick with with fairly smoothed surfaces. You will just one other component and that would be a piece of string measuring the sane as your extended arm , plus another piece of similar string used to tie knots along the main piece. There will be fourteen such locations along the length of arm-long string on which knots will be tied. Knowing exactly where to place each of those knots is of vital concern. The stars will tell you.. Five of the knots are tight ones and four of them will be tight but with an half-inch or so of cord hanging loose. Start about four inches from the far end of the string. Run it through the board in a hole cut in the center of the control board because it will subject to pulling pressures. The first knot will be made in the series using small pieces of the extra string because they may have to be altered. Do not tie knits in the main string. There are three such tight knots to start with followed by one dangle type. They are an inch apart. Then, along two inches add one of each..then one single plus one dangle two inches further along the string. Two more inches and you tie a single; jump one inch and tie another like it – ten knots in all, thus far with five to go. From that ten-count spot move two inches and tie a dangle; then one inch more and tie a single, 2 inches more and tie a dangle following a single knot which will be tied four inches from the end of the extended string. By this time you may feel “fit to be tied” yourself, but remember once you learn how to use your own,individual kamal your are never going be a model for one of those arid figures crawling across hot desert sands seeking water. To use the kamal hold the board in one hand and extend it the edge of the night sky. Place the string between your teeth at the point the point where you tied you initial knot. Move the board along the sky rim at a level of about one inch above the horizon. As knots slip between your teeth , identify each with the star seen at that spot. That knot told the ancient Nabatean navigator how distant the star was – how many “isbas” it was above him. Then, using that knowledge he could deduce the altitude of the Pole Star, and even though he may not be able to see it, he knew where it was in the sky. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-9-06 [c630wds]
Friday, December 08, 2006
EXIBITS There are several words which have mutated severely in recent years in the popular music world. The term "concert" has been cheapened in my view. We used think of a "concert" for example, as being a performance by group of musicians who appear together in a planned program of musical selections. Individual did appear in concerts, of course, but, to accommodate such a narrow,restricted view one must ignore th fundamental meaning of the term meaning: to agree,to unify,to bring about containment. It sounds much better to say one is going to sing a few songs between sales segment at a local furniture store or radio and TV commercials segments which could also be called "concerts" in that they all agree on varied means of gain some of some of your supposed wealthiness the musician himself speaks of as "the gig I'm doin' at..." gets blown into "a concert" by some strange reasoning. Many a parent of teen-agers feel better telling friend their kids are "taking in some,big concert in own tonight. Be late gettin' home ,I imagine." I dislike it when the morning shows on TV do "concerts" from such-and-such a nearby park. Such haphazard fillers are especially networks are doing the same economy routine by sticking a microphone or two out of their studio windows, more or less, so personalities can comment in laudatory profusion rating second-grade performances in profusion before audiences who are there for anything free. This is just a minor thing I realize but such small mental dust bunnies tend to pile up and viewers are lost. I had another such fault of such great importance in mind when I began this page, but it has been forgotten by this time. On the whole I am a TV regular which is one reason I don't stand around and do nothing when I see it hurting itself. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-8-06 [c331wds]
Thursday, December 07, 2006
A DAY THAT WILL LIVE... Those words are still strong enough in the memory of all people who were living in America when the Japanese – without warning – hit Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, a principal naval base of the United States, with a devastating air raid. It was costly in terms of lives lost, persons injured, property destroyed, and a tremendous loss of sea power for our Pacific Fleet. There was loss of prestige which affected us more than any one thing and caused us to become outward, serious participants in the World War already in progress at the time, and not doing too well. It is of vital importance that we realize that there are thousands of citizens who do not remember or revere the memory of those who did that day in defense of the nation in which we live today. This is not the fault of theirs but, rather, of our own failure to provide an educational system which would pass along such essential information to new generations to provide an awareness of our national history. I made a dental appointment last year and when I thanked her for giving such an easy date to recall: “That’s good! I can remember ‘Pearl Harbor Day’.” Obviously puzzled, she looked and offered to change the date : “if you folks are taking a ocean trip!” Just this last week I was talking with a man born in 1981 We spoke of colonial Virginia travel and, at the age of twenty-five, he asked me what I meant by “Livery Stable?” The plight we are in concerning poor or inadequate study of our past will catch us some day. The event which took place yesterday at the White House commits us to a lead role in a conflict far larger than the war in which we are engaged at the moment. The prestige factor alone might prove to be rather more cost than we one would think. When Japan used just two hundred "Zeros"to cripple Pearl Harbor and our Pacific fleet many nations around the Pacific rim faced new and foreboding possibilities. We now have nations on what we might call the "Arabic Rim" who will be looking to us to right their understandable imbalance. December 7th- more or less - may well be given extended meanings for all of us soon. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-07-06 [c402wds]
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
FINE DAY! Today is a fine one. Despite all the snow and ice pushing a cold hand into the mid west and northeastern states; yet another costly forest fire on the loose in California and that industrial explosion in downtown in Milwaukee...yes, in spite of all that, and more negative news from around the world, I see today as a special one largely because of the much-awaited report of the special Study Group placed before President George Bush this morning. [ I wonder how many American citizens realize what a tremendous task it must have been to have gathered together such a group of concerned, capable and willing leaders in such confused times as we have know in recent months. It was delayed until after the turmoil of the elections. It is readily understandable that such that a group could not have been formed under election-time conditions when divisions were the mood rather creative work toward common intents. Our president and our media personnel now have, in-hand, the book setting forth the Study Groups recommendations and suggestions. They propose a total of seventy-nine plans whereby they feel the troubles in the entire Arabic community of nations might be mitigated. For the first time, we are seriously looking at the total situation rather than a small fragment of the overall problems found in Iraq. We have already heard some hasty judgments concerning how certain suggested steps might work, and President George Bush, at this morning's gathering with the Study Group said his administration would cooperate in every possible way to implement positive action in making good suggestion into realities. That which come into being because of today's report will set the pattern for our lives for generations to come. That's your life and mine. So, pay attention as the plans are set forth and discussed. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia. Net 12-06-06 [c321wds]
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
IF I WERE... If I were a stand-up comedian getting my monologue materials in some sort of usable form for the next show, I would read and re-read...tell and re-tell these stories until they were each imbued with the juice of my so-called style seem “lanky and lazy”. I learned long ago not to be in too much of a hurry. People need time to get unhooked from the bustle of living. I like to allow folks of all ages to sorta be aware of shedding serious aspects of living today so we can tease each other about that which we seem, at times,to be. “Hi. Andy.- The worry wart. Have you been trying to keep up with all the complaining lately? People actually plan nasty things. The little boy next door was praying and his father happened to overhear him: ”Dear Jesus baby, the boy intoned. Thanks for forgiving me for all the naughty things I did today and also thank you,too,for all the things I have planned to tomorrow.” The apartment in which I live gets mighty cold these nights. Every time I open the front door the light comes on! Some kids are hard to please,too. My friend ask his son:”What do you think of your new baby sister?” “O.K" he said. “She's O.K. I suppose,but there are sure a heck of a lot of things we needed worse.” And we are not always fully appreciate our kid's amazing sense of inventiveness and and analytical skills. The Security Man in a large department store saw a small girl kneeling to close to the mechanism driving an escalator. She was examining each new step as it appeared. He rushed to her side saying: “Is anything wrong?” “Not exactly, she said without looking up: “I dropped my bubble gum and I'm just waiting for it to come back!” Kids are truthful today ,too! A boy was applying for new job applying for a job and one of the questions he was asked read: “Length of residence at present address”.It stumped him for a moment,but he a moment passed and he confidently wrote down the answer: “About thirty-five feet, not counting the garage.” Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-5-06 [c-388wds]
Monday, December 04, 2006
A MINOR THING There seems to me we have a tendency to place a great deal of trust, confidence and love in trivial aspects of our lives. Things often are used to replace rather than supplement possessions. One example might be that ever-present mark of modern living - microwave cooking. I often wonder how we survived as long as we did without it. The take over is complete now, but it was a long time getting here. I am not quite old enough to remember cooking out of doors by a wood-fired fueled fire. We did that, however, on occasion when, for some strange reasons known only to the whiz-kid genius of that era knew, our electricity supplies failed to flow, cooking gas tanks sounded "bo-o-o-o-m when kicked - the sound of emptiness or close to being nothing, or our kerosene storage can had sprung a leak we didn't know about until that time. That called for wood-axe use and chopping and we were fortunate to have a supply available in the patch of woods nearby. Other folks did not have that and we often had company at meal times when the power was off. We rather enjoyed the camping out for time but were glad to move back into the kitchen where the big, black "range" ruled. It ,too, in time, gave way to electric and gas-powered stoves and I can remember one worry the homemakers of the time held to rather firmly. The new unit were too dangerous. Electricity could kill you; escaped gas could, as well. The same objection caused many people to avoid putting any "electronic" creations in their home. But, once it took over, the microwave style of cooking advanced quickly. Today many people depend on microwave cooking - even when they "eat out" - because it has taken over large sections of the commercial cooking world, too. Once people are accurately informed and come to understand why a certain thing works to their advanatage they can be quick to adapt to the new way. More cooking methods are in the labs now, to replace microwave, and we will go through the cycle of fear again before it finds favor. Be ready. Andew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-4-06 [c384wds]
Sunday, December 03, 2006
A TRIO FROM '44 When in England many American visitors feel a odd sense of affinity with man sight, sounds and sensations which they have known partially and are seeing at first hand. In September of the year 1944 rather dreary day an English person might have seen at the Bridge Westminster a bound note book in hand and stopping to write in at intervals. I was writing the following poem: COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE September Could Wordsworth see his silent city now Her sleep would seem - twice 'o'er -intense, profound. The timeless Thames still speaks his weighty sound. Beneath this span the Bank-bent depths endow The night with motion. Staunch renewing vow - This vein of England's seas doth now surround, With blood of mighty men - the captives bound - Past waves which wash not now Britannia's prow. The ships, the domes, the towers and temples, too. Open now to sea, to sky and air This night are shrouded - a sullen, silent view While fangs are bared in waiting, taut with care. O Poet! We need thy voice upraised anew To show the fighting Soul recumbent there! Andrew McCaskey, London, Sept 1944 The another time,when we were biking eastward along the road leading us toward Great Yarmouth and "David Copperfield country". It was a bright, sun-spattering day and children were at play along the roadside. That day I met with this: INCIDENT "Look! A piece of flak! " she said this little English child, as if she'd touched a common stone, and thought of other things. "Flak?" asked and took the bit of ragged metal in my hand. "It's from the planes, you know," she said and went about her play. a.l.m. Gt. Yarmouth Road, Sept 1944 NIGHT FLIGHT Yellowed fangs of flak stabbing up into the belly of the night. Big Dipper's cup abrim with thunderous Death in flight. green bits of Hell searing scab-like in the sky. And Dipper's ladle pouring molten streams of steel awry. Sept 1944 a.l.m Rackheath-Norfolk Country All wars linger on forever, in seems, in our literature and music. The memories grow and may, in time, become weighty enough to make us seek a better way to live. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-3-06 [c384wds]
Saturday, December 02, 2006
NEWSLESS DAYS I have no idea who might have been the first to say: "No news is good news!" The person who first expressed that opinion, obviously did not live through the time period encompassing November 30th through December 1st of 2006. Remember? We first heard on TV of a British Airways passenger plane having been found to be radioactive at Heathrow, London. The offending substance found in the plane was identified as "Polonum 21" Highly radioactive, the substance was not to be found outside of an authorized atomic research facility. Shortly after we were told that a second plane had been identified as having been contaminated at the same location and that related sites were "under investigation." Immediately, and almost automatically, most of us associated the announcement with the fact that the other main story in the news was telling us about a former Russian "spy" who had been poisoned with radioactive material. We had all seen numerous "before-and-after" photographs from our media showing his grotesque feature changes. In his last hours he accused the Prime Minister of his own country Valadmir Putin of having had him murdered "for political reasons." The seriousness of such a charge overshadowed even the pain-tortured death of the stricken man himself. His story and the Heathrow discoveries seemed to, quite logically, to tie together in some way. I fully expected a group of stories by various airlines attesting to the safety and inspection routines in use on their own planes as well as on-board security to prevent any such materials from entering their craft. I even considered the fact that our own security people might issue a word of caution and restraint. Would all of this be that which the Terrorists' leaders have been promising for months - another air attack on the west. To cripple world-wide air travel would a terrible blow to the UK and the U,S.A. And the fact that no news items of that nature appeared on TV was heard on radio created and then enhanced by no questioning denials or statements confusing suppose which naturally cause many viewers and listeners to consider "possibilities"- the size and nature of which only a few can imagine. That news "grey out" lasted in to the week-end and the treatment still puzzles some individal who had some pretty serious because of the lack of news we expected hear. This morning we were informed that the radioactive "Polonum 210" used is avilable - if you need a supply - on line. Some folks can laugh it all off today, but it strikes me - deep down where my serious cares are kept - that the real thing could strike us in just this crazy sort of way at any moment. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-2-06 [c-472wds]
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