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Thursday, February 26, 2015

A MEMORY

A MEMORY--- 
That Will Not Go Away
   Have you ever had a song, or just a tune, or even a little saying get stuck in your mind, like a memory bank, and no matter what you do, it will not go away? Even if it does go away for a while it pops back in when you least suspect it?
   Unfortunately it usually shows up just as you are trying to go to sleep and there usually is nothing you can do to make it leave until it is good and ready.
   It may be some little “ditty” you learned in school, or in a Church meeting. Or it could be part of a child’s game that you used to play 50 or 60 years ago, but it is still there waiting to be heard again--- and it usually wants to be heard over and over and over again.
   Well my latest one showed up about three weeks ago and refuses to leave. It sneaks up when I least expect it.
   I am usually sitting at my computer or driving along in my car and of course when I am trying especially hard to get to sleep.
   Here is my latest nemesis, and if any of my friends out there would like to take it away PLEASE be my guest. You are welcome to keep it as your own but sometimes they just want to share so they may BUG us both!
   A HORSE IS A HORSE, IS A HORSE OF COURSE, UNLESS OF COURSE IT IS NOT A HORSE!

   I have no idea where it came from but someone please take it away!
Wally B.


Friday, February 20, 2015

AND IT CAME TO PASS

         AND IT CAME TO PASS














   And now I Wally, proceed to give an account of those inhabitants of the Valley of the Salt Lake who were called and were known as the cruisers of the M/V Horizon in the month of April in the year of 1992.
   They had been called upon to travel southward to the islands of the seas. When finished with their travels they would return to the city of New York in the most eastern part of the country.
   And I take this account from the many hundreds of images and pages of paper that were kept by these people during their journey and are now recorder by myself.
   And it came to pass in March of the year 1992 we were called by one experienced in travel. One who was known as Ashley, to meet with him is his abode northward of the city. He raised his hands, almost in a chant, up in the air and made it known to us the benefits of traveling at this time to the islands southward in the sea of the Caribbean.
   At first there was interest in the journey, only by myself, Wally, and my wife Donnie and my sister and her husband Merlin. We did get together and did discuss the possibility of making this journey. It came to pass, after much discussion we did decide that this was the time to make the journey, before we became old and aged.
   And it came to pass that one Sabbath, while worshipping and meeting with friends we did discuss our journey with them. They also thought they would like to venture forth with us, as some were becoming aged and some were looking for adventure.
   And we discussed the journey exceedingly and upon making our decision we called upon the one called Ashley and did make arrangements to proceed. It would take much preparation to get ready for such an extensive journey.
   Now it became time to produce funds for paying for our needs on the journey. We did count numerous coppers and silver pieces and put them in paper rolls and took them to the money changers and we did also take numerous aluminum drink containers to the traders and finally we did provide the means needed for our journey.
   And because we would be among strangers and would be wearing different apparel, we did worry about our bodies and we started eating sparingly and we did exercise mightily trying to reshape our bodies. We thought perhaps we could change, in six weeks what we had done to them over many years. 
   And our women did visit the markets and bought clothing and ointments and medications they thought would be needed during our journey.
   And it came to pass, after much preparation the day came and we were taken to our gathering place by friends and relatives. And it was exceeding dark because it was night.
   And the ones called Geri and Merlin went in haste and was at the gathering place exceedingly early, for this was a trait of theirs. They were known never to be late.
   And there was much excitement and trepidation about getting into a cylinder of metal and flying off, like an arrow in the sky, to a far country.
   And lo and behold we landed in the far city called Atlanta in the country of Georgia. The people there spoke a strange language, never the less if we were attentive we could understand it.
   And we waited in another gathering place in the city of Atlanta, to proceed on our journey to the islands. After a short time we did leave Atlanta for the city of San Juan on the island of Porto Rico. And we did hire a chariot that would hold eight people and also all of our worldly travel possessions, and we did proceed to the Inn called the Sands. It was built on the shore of the Sea on the island of Puerto Rico and we did tarry there for one night.
   The lodgings there were exceedingly fine, and the Inn had pools of water for refreshing the body. And lo while there we did search diligently for a place to partake of food. But alas there was no room at the local eateries so we returned to the Inn and proceeded to a place called Burger King where we did partake of familiar food.
   And it came to pass one afternoon as we visited by the pools we were visited by lizards that were abundant in the land.
   And the one called Chuck did find a place to purchase cards with pictures on them. He bought many and sent them home to his friends. He even sent some to himself at his address in the City of Salt. The one called Chuck looked for card sellers and the money changers in every town we visited for he collected them and he had many.
   Now before boarding the great ship we did visit many shops and the bazaars in the town and we did eat at a place called McDonald’s, for we liked familiar food.
   And lo and behold the time did come for us to show many papers and procure help to load our baggage onto the exceeding large ship. And the one called Chuck did follow one who did not know the way and he was led into the bowels of the very large ship and became lost. He was found wandering and sent to the part of the ship where he should have been.
   And quickly the time came for us to leave our port. And it was dark and the stars did shine and the waters parted as our ship did leave the city of San Juan.
   And it came to pass that while crossing the waters many things did happen that were implanted into our memories, and lo at this time I mention only a few.
   The trip was uneventful for many but for the one called Gayle, many times she did unintentionally feed the fishes as she did groan and lean over the rail of the great ship. And it did come to pass that she was ill for many days. She did lie on her bed, and stand by the rail and wish that she could be swallowed up by the sea.
  And the one called Chuck did dress in his “one of a kind hat” and his shorts and seek out the money changers and cards for posting, in all the cities we visited.
   And behold the one called Merlin thought he was a magician and could lay and worship in the sun as long as he wanted with no affects. However the first full day did turn him bright red, but it was hard to tell it because of his hairy body. He found also even people with the name of a magician had to wear a patch behind his ear.
   Now this same storm which turned the one called Gayle a greenish color also effected the sisters Carol, Eunice and Rose and at times they preferred laying in the bed, to the tossing and rolling of the ship at meal times.
   Now the two warriors (not stripling but aged), Que & Chuck went to the fantail of this great ship to shoot skeet. And the one called Que had much expertise with the shotgun. And he deftly disposed of all his skeet. But lo, no one could determine the purpose of shooting the skeet because the dead sheet could not be found because they were swallowed up by the sea. And in addition we had an abundance of food of every kind.
   Now as I said there was an abundance of food and there was no shortage of any kind. We did eat of fruits and grains, and fish and meats of all kinds and of all manner of pastries. The one called Merlin even tried eating snails, and tried to convince us all that they were a delicacy.  Because of the many kinds of food, available any time of day all of the exercise and eating sparingly when we were preparing for the trip came to naught, and we did increase in size. And there were no wine bibbers among us and the maid did bring the one called Merlin milk to drink with every meal.
   And behold on the Island of St. Martin, the one called Joy, did visit one of the famous beaches. And she kept her head down and she did not look into the faces of any of the inhabitant’s on the beach. And she did behold some unusual sights, and she did not hesitate but did leave exceedingly fast and did return to the great ship.
   And behold the master of the ship did require all to be instructed how to put on jackets so that if the sea did swallow up the large ship, the people would float on the water and not perish.
   And there were many people on the ship that did take care of our every need. Our food was brought to our table by the one called Rodo and every small need was taken care of by George. Both of these men were from Czechoslovakia.
   And there were no wine bibbers among us and the maid did visit with us and bring milk for the one called Merlin every meal. And she did have many questions about the Moormons---- and we did laugh and have an enjoyable time with her.
   And many people (especially Rodo & George) were amazed that eight people could get together and none would partake of the brown fluid called coffee. And lo the one called George was chastised by his manager for not putting the cups for the brown liquid, on our table after we had asked him not to.
   The construction of the large ship was made as to have many mirrors in the halls, and much shiny brass and chrome. And lo it became depressing to look into the many mirrors and see a body that you knew could not be yours.
   It came to pass that when we stopped on the Island called St. Croix one of the local inhabitants acted strange and started following the one called Ann. He yelled at her in a loud voice. We soon determined he was perhaps possessed by a devil, or he was a wine bibber, or he had taken defiling drugs into his body. And the one called Ann did become sore afraid and did quickly run away.
   When we arrived at St. Thomas there was much conversation by the one called Donnie and the one called Wally. And lo it was finally decided they would go down under the sea and look at all manner of fishes and other creatures of the deep. And the place was called Coral World, and the one called Donnie was sore afraid that the sea would close in upon her and swallow her up. Also at the place of Coral we did see many varieties of fowls of the air. There were parrots of all colors, flamingos and the peacocks did strut their stuff for us to see.
   And it came to pass that after many days of traveling on the sea, going from island to island and getting on and off of the great ship, we did sail for our last destination of Bermuda. 
   We had seen many strange sights and had enjoyable times together and now for two days we would stay on the ship traveling to our last port call of Bermuda. And lo to get to Bermuda we had to pass through an area of the sea that was said to be inhabited by devils. When we arrived at that point the sea did churn, the wind blew and the waves did leap up at the ship and the mighty ship did rock to and fro. And behold the water in the refreshing pools on the ship did splash out onto the deck as the mighty ship rolled about. And behold the one called Gayle did turn green and return to her room and did lie upon her bed and moan. And this area of the sea that is said to be inhabited by devils is called the Bermuda Triangle.
   Now we did find the island of Bermuda to be exceptionally clean. They even seem to wash the streets every night and there was no matter of filth anywhere. And the shops in Bermuda took much silver and gold from the cruisers in return for goods they purchased to take back with them to the city of Salt.

   Now after leaving Bermuda they did prepare to return to the country of the U.S.A. and land in the city of New York. And there was much weeping and wailing and downcast heads for none wanted the journey to end.

   And it happened that the one called Merlin did misplace the box he had used for making images during the trip. He looked high and low but it could not be found. He was extremely sad because it contained part of the history of his journey. And the images were lost forever.
   And lo the one called Donnie, because that was her name, did say in a loud voice that she did not want to return to the real world. She did not want to return to the City of Salt where she would have to return to her occupation of confining people to jail for many reasons.
   But lo it came to pass after many sad good byes to those we met on our journey, those who took care of our every need, those who were strangers before were now friends and we did converse with them mightily.
   After much sadness about departing the great ship we did prepare our papers and showed them to the officials so we could return to our own country. And we did see the famous statue in the harbor of New York. And it was a statue of a lady standing for liberty. And we saw the skyline of the might buildings which represent the city of New York. And lo we did wait patiently to depart our ship and go to the place of gathering where we once again would enter a large metal cylinder and fly through the air like a silver arrow to our homes in the desert by the lake of salt.
   And it came to pass on the return to our homes; we did discuss the possibility of another journey in the future that would be in many ways like the one we just completed.

   And I make an end to this epistle. 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

A BIG EMPTY HOUSE

                               
   A BIG EMPTY HOUSE











One of my friends (by the way, a good friend, or he would not have asked me a question like that.) asked what it was like to live in a big old empty house?

The first thought that came to my mind was, "that is a rude question." However after thinking about it for a few minutes I decided it was not rude at all and he was trying to help me "cope".

So what is it like to live in a big empty house? I don't know because I do not live in a Big nor an Empty house.

When the last of our children moved out a mysterious wall hanging showed up on our wall. It said,
"The Empty Nesters" by Helen Bush, 1995 
Although I do not know her I loved some of the things she said:
"Yes our children are all grown up; they don't live here anymore,
But we didn't just stop living, when they walked out of our door."

Then she indicated her little girls had become women (just like ours did.) and thier little boy became a man (also just like ours did.) Then she states a very profound thought, "We thought it over wisely, and we happily have found, that our nest is hardly empty- we two old birds are still around."

When my wife passed on there was again a change in our home.

Yes I felt alone. It was different than when our children left. I indeed was alone, not in a big house like my friend asked about, but it did feel a lot bigger than it did when there were two of us.

After what seemed like the longest 4 or 5 months in my life I come to the realization that our home was not empty! I started cleaning out: I threw things out, gave things away and put some aside for future evaluation (whatever that means?)

At that point things started to change. I laughed when I found a bag of M&M's in the bottom of one of Donnie's sewing bags, and I think she was right there laughing with me. Cleaning out one of her dresser drawers was an experience-- I found things that had completely left my memory bank, if it was ever there? There were Boy Scout pins, Duty to God pins that were given to Mothers, a ribbon from some school event he had won. There were refrigerator hangings and magnet to hold them, Award pins she had received at work, several watches and stuff that I would never imagine she would have saved.

NO THIS HOUSE IS NOT EMPTY-- It is full of treasures just waiting to be found.

As the months went on and I kept moving things around, laughing and giggling at times, I thought to myself, "yup, she is right there laughing with me."

Each time I move something I know for sure this old house is not empty. I move a stack of Christmas CD's and I remember how we like to listen to them. A group of stuffed animals-mostly given to Donnie by her Grand Kids. A dresser drawer full of perfume and lotions (which I don't think I will ever use, Ha Ha. Yes and every once in a while I run onto another "stash" of minature chocolate bars in the bottom of a bag, a drawer or a storage box full of stuff!

No this home is not EMPTY. My children come and visit & we talk about the good old days-- My grandchildren come and visit and I TELL them stories about the good old days. And now I have four great grandchildren (and one more next month), and Yes I hope to tell them stories about the good old days, even if they DO NOT know what I am talking about, and maybe I don't either??

This Old Family Home is not empty--- yes there is only one person living here, but the feelings and the memories will be here as long as I am--------

The picture at the top is just to show how Donnie loved to get together with friends and family for any reason she could think of!

W.R. BALDWIN -Feb 2015 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

SEEKING TREASURES

                                SEEKING TREASURES
   I walked into the room with a folding chair in one hand and a big cardboard box in the other hand. Today was to be the day to sort out the good stuff from the junk that I had been collecting for over 50 years. The room I walked into used to be my office. However two years ago I moved my office upstairs and this room has sit, pretty much untouched for two years.
   There are boxes of papers, piles of papers, on chairs, on the floor and on card tables. There is a box of “floppy discs” (do you know what a floppy disc is? No it is not what causes a sore back.) There are scrap books, photo albums piled in assorted places and even some lined up neatly on bookcases.
   “Well”, I thought to myself, this place will look a lot different when I am finished tonight. All the junk will be in the garbage can and I will finally know what and where the GOOD STUFF is.
   I knew there were genealogy records galore; I just was not sure which drawer or box they were in. I also was not sure if they had been entered into the Data Base of my computer. Of course I knew that it would take a little while to sort it all out but I also was sure if I kept at it I would soon know what was there, that was worth keeping. If I really hustled it might have it done by the end of the day?
   I had been putting this off for a long time. All the family knows I am a pack-rat but even at that I was pretty sure I knew “about” what was in each box and drawer and in the piles on the floor and chairs. I just needed to rearrange it a little.
   As I walked in the door of the room I wondered if anyone else had a room like this, or was I “one of a kind” when it came to keeping genealogy , and other papers and “junk” that I might need in the future?
   I took a big breath of air and decided to start with one of the bigger boxes, that sit off in the corner, not because I knew what was in it but because I thought starting with a little box was the easy way out. The desk with several drawers looked quite daunting and I did not want to get discouraged right off the bat. I dragged the box out to the center of the floor next to my folding chair and sit down to get started.
   I opened the top and thought of an old Christmas saying, “what to my wondering eyes should appear.” No it was not reindeer; it was some genealogy papers that a gentleman in England sent to me sometime in the 1970’s. They contained information on my family in England clear back in the 1700’s. I then recalled that there were three or four times I tried to find them in the past but could not. Of course the next question that came to mind was.” have I put all this information and the source of the information in my computer Data Base? The only way I could REALLY be sure was to go upstairs get my Lap-Top and bring it down and check it out?  Of course then my mind told me, ”If I have to check each paper this is going to take more than a day?”
   I went up and got the Lap-Top, checked the papers out and “what to my wondering eyes should appear Ha Ha.” I had all the information in my computer Data Base; however I had not listed the sources. I put them in and “miracle of miracles” I had only been at my clean out job for an hour and one half and had ALREADY sorted out ONE PAPER. Mind you I say sorted out because I could not bring myself to throw it away. I just put it on the table to start out a new pile of stuff I need to keep in case I need it in the future.
   Well I kept hard at it until noon and I had perused about one fourth of the first box. I had found some more genealogy records, some letters I had written to my Mom when I was in the US Air Force and a Merit Badge Sash with merit badges attached that I had earned as a Boy Scout—some few years ago!
   Of course I had not been looking for any of this stuff in particular, but my intent was just to sort boxes and drawers to try and determine what I had collected over the years and had I put the genealogy stuff in my Data Base?
   Well by the time 6:00 PM came around I had just finished my first big box. It had become obvious this was not going to be a couple of day’s job and probably not a couple of week’s job. I guess now I can remember why I never finished it when I started it before?
   I threw away a couple of newspaper clippings (that were duplicates). I think I did that just so I could tell myself that I had cleaned out some stuff and had thrown some away.
   At the rate I went today 1 probably got about 1/100th of the room cleaned out. It has become very, very obvious this is not going to be a short time adventure.
   Will someone PLEASE tell me I am not the only one who has a room like this. I am almost afraid to start on the scrap books and picture albums

W.R. Baldwin 9 Feb 2015

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Cantankerous Carl- Dancing with the Stars?

So why do I need something to cover my knees and legs I am not trying out for "Dancing with the stars"?

Friday, February 6, 2015

Computer Virus/Android

I got a virus in my Android the other day--but not to worry I took it to the shop and they told me this would work as well as anything. I am not to use very much at one time as it might leave moisture. I SURE HOPE IT WORKS? 

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

One More Good Read

    I just finished another book that I thought was very good. I read it in two days. If course I do not have much else to do so if I want to read all day I can do it.
    It did not hurt that it was written by a Utah native, Mike Ramsdale. If you like a little intrigue I think you will like "A Train to Potevka".
    It is based on a real life experience of Mike Ramsdale and takes place in Russia.