I enjoy witty and insightful quotations. Here are a few without any attempt to put them in some logical order but simply represent quotations I liked. 20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover. (Mark Twain) your attitude is like a box of crayons…
As the political candidates for president continue their propaganda trying to identify with the ideas of voters we hear more conservative agenda's. They try to win over the voting conservatives by supporting their viewpoints. Around the world, extremists continue to kill innocent children, women and people all in order to please God. Wars, motivated by religious beliefs, are raging in many parts of the world as well. Crimes against humanity are so common place we read them with the same reaction we have to the reports of traffic accidents or…
My sister Phyllis Ennes died on January 7, 2013. She was the oldest of the three children with Anita Mayer in the middle and I as the youngest. For my previous post about Phyllis see https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2013/01/phyllis-luvera-ennes-1928-2013.htm Born to Paul and Mary Luvera in Anacortes she graduated from Anacortes High School in 1946 with honors and attended the University of Washington where hs obtained a degree in English. In 1953, the year I graduated from high school, she earned a teaching certicate from Western…
This is the time for making New Year's resolutions, so I have given it some thought and offer the following as a minimum of a large number of worthy resolutions I should adopt. They are adopted from these sources: "Prayers of an Aging Jesuit –http://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/Prayers-for-Aging.cfm, the writings of Roger Rosenblatt, Rules for Aging http://englishwithhemi.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/3/6/13368575/rules_for_aging.pdf and the writings of Dale Carnegie.http://www.csus.edu/indiv/l/luenemannu/pdf/communicationprinciples.pdf With full acknowledgment to these sources here are my minimum list of resolutions for 2016. 1. I will daily appreciate the fact Lita…
Religion is always a controversial subject. The traditional advice of "never discuss politics or religion" is based upon sound historical experience. However, with religious terrorism so much in the news and being carried out around the world, it is difficult to avoid the subject. ISIS and their war to create a world of their Islamic beliefs is a classic example of the belief that one's own religious ideas represent the only true religion which all people must agree to follow. The major religions of…
Betty Barnett was my wife Lita's mother who died December 20, 1985. I've written about this remarkable woman many times. See https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2013/12/my-mother-in-law-elizabeth-barnett-1910-1995.html It was my privilege to have known her. She was extraordinary in so many ways. She was very intelligent, wise and a great judge of people. I loved her like my own mother for her many qualities and her understanding. This is a woman who attended Holy Names in Spokane where she was taught proper table settings, good maners and social skills. She met…
My friend Nick J. Petrish died in Anacortes on December 19, 2011. We had a long friendship. We went from grade school through high school together. We worked together from 1977 until his illness in 2011. He was a friend and a good man. I've written about him previously: https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2012/12/nicholas-petrish-dec-19-2011.html.html I think about him during this Christmas season. May he rest in peace.
My grandmother, dad's mother, died December 20, 1946 in Anacortes. She was born in Italy and followed her husband Nicola with dad and the other children after he immigrated to America. She was a classic looking Italian grandmother who looked and sounded like what an Italian grandmother should. she spoke virtually no English but she was a a wonderful cook who was always feeding us children something whenever we visited. I've written about her before: https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2013/12/phyllis-flippa-luvera-1870-1946.html.htm In the photo is Nonna, my sisters Phyllis, Anita, me and my grandfather Nicola Luvera….
I had published about my deceased father in law, Hollis Barnett who had many wonderful qualities including a large volume of memorized poems. One of them my wife Lita recalled was "Sugar Tooth Dick." I tried to find the words and never could locate it until someone sent me the poem and I published it at https://paulluverajournalonline.com/weblog/2011/12/sugar-toothed-dick.html See the poem I was sent below. Now Julie has emailed about the poem. She says: "My Dad remembered part of it that…
If you're like me, it's really hard to understand the extreme evil that religious terrorists inflict on innocent people, convinced it's what God wants. Here's my attempt to give a simplistic explanation. THE SHORT EXPLANATION The "short" explanation for their actions is that groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS believe in a "holy war" to establish a Islamic state encompassing not only the Middle East but in fact the entire world. The situation is made more dangerous by the fact that there is a…
