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Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Wow another year.
Where does the time go?
I can’t believe the clock
I just feel like
I was 22 yesterday
How old am I today
I am not going to give my age
But it is creeping up there
You know, I’m hoping I live to be a happy, healthy centurion
But only God knows how long I will be here
I am just learning to stay in the moment
And not race ahead
But all these moments seem to be going by so fast, so quick

We live on a quiet street. Each house is surrounded by a wooded acre. Our only excitement is watching small wild animals frolic in our yards.

On the first Saturday in December all that changes. The Community Center holds “The Jingle Bell Run.” The first year of the run, about thirty people participated and they were probably the committee members.

This year hundreds participated.

On the morning of the event, everyone registers at the Community Center and gets a number and a necklace of bells.

I am drawn to where the past lingers on, like Sturbridge Village Museum in Massachusetts, where people dress up in yesteryear clothes and character. It is truly amazing how these people fit their parts so well, as if being transported back 300 years.

Seeing the farmer in a long coat shepherding a flock of sheep thru the village green.

Seeing the potter casually spinning a clay pot.

Seeing the tinker making a lantern of tin or a candleholder of pewter.

Seeing how they cook in a hearth with an open fragrant log fire.

Hello folks, I’d like to tell you a story about my granddaughter, my seven-year-old granddaughter.

I asked her, “You ever see the movie Forest Gump?”

And she said, “Yes Opa.”

And I said, “What scene do you remember and like the most in the movie?”

Hello everybody. This is something that I think everybody knows is a problem.

When you have your grandchildren come over and visit, before they really start wanting to play, or talk and say what they’ve been doing, they like to get on their devices.

Now, I have a 13 year old granddaughter. She’s a real techie. She knows a lot more than her old grandfather. We’re guilty too, so maybe we should set an example, you know, Facebook and Wikipedia and internet and emails. I mean everybody is always doing things. But you have to set that aside.

I love to hear the sound of trickling water.

I go to garden shops and stand in front of trickling fountains.

At the Beardsley Zoo, the greenhouse has Koi fish in a pond with trickling water.

We’d go to Saint Margaret’s Shrine. I was always drawn to the statues, and in particular to a large three tiered fountain with trickling water.

At our nearby park there is a small stream that cascades sparkling water over a small waterfall to a pond.

It’s a hot, sultry evening. The sun’s warm rays, basking the earth all day, has left a comfortable blanket covering the front lawn.

The moon is new, and the darkness that swept in with the outgoing sun provides a perfect background for a laser light show.

How peaceful and utterly void of light is your yard. It’s dark, and you’re enjoying the tranquility that accompanies absolute stillness.

What’s that? Hey what was that?

Out of the corner of your eye, you think you saw a flash of light.

There it is again!