Leap Year

I feel sorry for anyone born on February 29 - losing out on all those birthdays. The reason that extra day is added every four years has to do with the earth's circling the sun in slightly excess of 365 days so if Julius Caesar hadn't proposed adding that extra day, we would lose six hours every year and after 100 years we would be 24 days behind - and never catch up. But I keep coming back to the issue of birthday deprivation coupled with the fact that when you are twenty you will look and feel like eighty. Yikes!
tjs
Next - The March of Time

All about whistling

 At a very young age someone taught me how to whistle. He said to pucker up and exhale. But when you are losing your baby teeth it can affect the "pitch".

Then there was the following childhood refrain: I bought a wooden whistle and it would-en whistle - then I bought a steel whistle and steel it would-en whistle. Later an iron whistle and I-OR-Nobody could make it whistle. Now I have a tin whistle and I "tin" whistle.

Who can forget the "come on" line from "To HAVE AND TO HAVE NOT" when Bacall says to Bogart -"You know how to whistle, dontcha?"

You could set your watch by the factory whistle that pierced the air at Noon and five PM but that was a
long time ago when this country was studded with factories.

The latest buzz word by political pundits is "dog-whistle" - apparently it represents a coded message meant for just a certain segment of the population - played on a tin whistle. Shades of Orphan Annie!

We recently moved from Florida where we lived in a gated community on a quiet cul de sac and occasionally - if the wind was blowing from the west - we might hear the forlorn sound of the Florida East Coast train whistle in the distance. Now we are living in the city - on a main thorofare - with the Amtrak trains passing just beyond our parking area. There is something about a train whistle late at night. A woman of the world - not Dorothy Parker - was once quoted as saying "A train whistle is like a wolf whistle - you like to hear it even though you're not going anywhere."
tjs
Next - Leap Year

The Man who came to dinner.

No, not Monty Woolley. Mitt Romney's recent reference to Seinfeld brought to mind the following. We have recently moved from Florida to the Philadelphia area to be near family and friends. The downside to such a move is that we will be near family and friends. Within three days of our arrival in the midst of unpacking there came a knock on the door. It was a member of our extended family offering to help. As it was a Friday we were getting ready to kick back when our visitor commandeered the TV remote to check in on the PBS News Hour after which a stimulating half-hour of Jeopardy. With no further movement we invited our guest to stay for potluck dinner. Now, flash back to a Seinfeld episode where George Costanza, after escorting his date back to her apartment, always tried to leave behind a personal item as an excuse to return to see her again. When I awoke Saturday morning I found that our guest had left his briefcase behind a chair so I then planned to re-stock the larder anticipating his return. Quick, hide the remote!
tjs
Next - All about whistling.

The Race is on

Perhaps a bit of Friday humor to offset the pangs of Lenten abstinence.......

This older fellow owned a vintage Model T Ford with antique license plates and every Sunday he took it out for a spin on the back roads. One day the engine died and he pulled off the road and raised the black hood for a look-see when a Mercedes stopped to offer assistance. The old gent suggested the Mercedes tow him a mile down the road to a gas station but please don't go over 20 mph. As they were moving slowly they were passed by a BMW doing 70mph which infuriated the Mercedes driver who, forgetting he had a tow, took off after the Bimmy with the Ford driver honking his  "oogooga" horn for attention. Soon they whizzed past the intended gas station whose attendant marvelled at the scene before him and phoned his friend down the road to "run out and see this amazing sight - a BMW doing 70 mph followed by a Mercedes going 70 followed by an old "tin lizzie" also doing 70 and the Model T driver is blowing his horn  - he wants to pass!"
tjs
Next - The Man who came to dinner.

Moving on.

The movers are coming tomorrow. We are leaving northeast Florida to return to our roots in southeast Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia with all its brotherly love awaiting. What will I miss? Probably the climate (except July/August), competent medical professionals, civility - no horn blowing, friendly shop keepers where "everybody knows your name", the slower pace of life, friendly neighbors and former co-workers, and the sound of the honkers overhead heralding the dawn. What am I looking forward to?  The change of seasons, a soft silent snowfall, competent medical professionals, academie, a good Jewish deli, Philly cheese steak, Philadelphia scrapple (don't ask the ingredients), closeness to family and nearness to the Jersey Shore - and last but not least proximity to my burial plot.  Another leg in life's journey.
tjs