Dad's mother Phyllis Filippa Luvera was born in Italy May 26, 1870 and died in Anacortes, Washington on December 20, 1946. Nonna Luvera spoke only a word or two of English and we children were not taught Italian so I only communicated with her through dad. She was a large woman – a typical Italian grandmother who always had Italian candy she offered us and who cooked great food. Nonno and Nonna lived in small house on Commercial Avenue, but…
Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th, came and went with only a passing media reference to this historical day. World War II for the United States began on that date when a Japanese war fleet with planes and submarines launched a surprise attack on Hawaii the morning of December 7, 1941. The target was our naval base and war fleet at Pearl Harbor. Almost all of us who were alive at the time can remember the precise moment when we learned…
Elizabeth (Betty) Catherine Devitt, was born December 5, 1910 in Butte,Montana and died December 20, 1995 in Puyallup. She was my mother in law. Her children included my wife, Lita, Devitt (deceased) Hollis, Barbara and Monica. She was a very remarkable woman in so many respects. She was also someone for whom I had a great deal of admiration, respect and love. Betty's parents were Merritt John Devitt and Elizabeth McCarthy Devitt. She was baptized at St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Butte. She had a brother Jack…
Included in my daily meditations is a small little publication My Daily Breadpublished by RBC Ministries http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml. It has a very short comment for each day. For December 1st it had a discussion about selecting the perfect gift. The reading suggested we should give these gifts to others: The Gift of Listening No interrupting, no planning response. Just careful listening to another. The Gift of Affection Showing a loved one we do love them and appreciate them The Gift of Laughter…
America Public media through the North Carolina National Public Radio produces a wonderful program, The Story (http://thestory.org/) in which Dick Gordon interviews people who tell extraordinary stories about their lives. One recent program was a story about a wrestler Josh Cagle and his coach Ed Kane. When Cagle wrestled as a youngster he was a scrawny kid who couldn’t win a match. In spite of consistent loses Cagle refused to give up. A wrestling coach Ed Kane was so impressed with this…
Sam Kinison was born in Yakima, Washington. His parents were Pentecostal preachers who preached in different churches around the country. Sam followed his dad’s footsteps and became a Pentecostal preacher himself after attending Bible School in New York. His sermons were the old style fire and brimstone approach. However, after he and his wife divorced he gave up the ministry and got involved in comedy starting in small clubs in Texas. His comedy style wasn’t unlike his preaching which featured…
That's the title of an article by David Carr in the New York Times Digest. He talks about her twenty five year run through day time talk TV as an huge accomplishment. After praising her wise moves that kept her on television that long he says: "…And now we can add in that she never hung on past her prime." What a great truth – not staying past your prime in anything. Her spokesman says this wasn't a business decision, "this…
You know the Pelican poem? Everybody knows one version or another and it and it goes like this: A wonderful bird is the pelican,His bill will hold more than his belican. (or belly can)He can take in his beakFood enough for a week,But I’m damned if I see how the helican. (or hell he can) The pelican is one of the more heavy birds that can fly. It has short legs and weighs up to 17 pounds with a wing…
We are enjoying perfect weather at the One and Only Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos while reading about storms and approaching storms in the Northwest. This is the right way to get weather news about Northwest storms. We took a direct flight from Seattle and were driven directly to the hotel which is close to the airport. Our room has a large balcony over the beach. The waves make loud, but wonderful, sounds as they hit the rocks and beach….
On our last day in New Orleans the weather was beautiful. Hurricane Ida had moved on to somewhere else and it turned out that we never did experience any bad weather. We had dinner at a steak house which was good, but not great. I never did get that wonderful seafood dinner I was looking forward to eating in New Orleans. On the taxi ride home I noticed a lot more people on Bourbon Street then there had been a night…
