Saturday, April 14, 2007

Making The Most Of What You Have

This post is dedicated to Miss Vickie

I am thrilled she is feeling better and posted yesterday!


Welcome back sweetie!



Friendship is born at that moment
when one person says to another:
"What! You, too? Thought I was the only one."

~ C.S. Lewis




On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center



in New York City.



If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him.

He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches.

To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight.

He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair.

Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward.

Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.

By now, the audience is used to this ritual.

They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair.

They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs.

They wait until he is ready to play.

But this time, something went wrong.

Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke.

You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room.

There was no mistaking what that sound meant.

There was no mistaking what he had to do.

We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one.

But he didn't.

Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again.

The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off.

And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.

Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings.

I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.

You could see him modulating, changing, re-composing the piece in his head.

At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room.

And then people rose and cheered.

There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium.

We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.

He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said - not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone -

"You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

What a powerful line that is.

It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it.

And who knows?

Perhaps that is the definition of life - not just for artists but for all of us.

Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who, all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.

So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

I received this letter minus the pictures from a girlfriend in an email.(Thanks Chatter!)

The letter gave me encouragement for dealing with some hurdles I am facing at the moment.

A special thank you to Karen because I can’t express how much your support has meant to me.

Have a wonderful weekend!



Friday, April 13, 2007

Friday Feast #139


Appetizer
When you were a child, which crayon color was your favorite?

Green

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest), how likely would you be to change jobs if it required you to move?

2

Salad

Take all the numbers in your birthday and your phone number and add them up, one by one. What’s the total?

57

Main Course
Have you ever “re-gifted” anything? If so, what was it and who did you pass it on to?

Toys and VHS video tapes from eldest son to middle son.
Toys, stuffed animals, books, and video tapes from middle son to daughter.
*Discovery toys last forever!
*Wooden train track and Lego's last forever too!

Dessert
Name something you need from the store.

Wax paper

To visit the rest of the Friday Feasts
Click Here

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

Sroll Down For Thursday Thirteen Please

Raggedy's Blogaversary

I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom.
~Author Unknown

I was a lurker for a year before I started a blog of my own and began to comment.

You invited me warmly into your homes, your families, your hearts, and your thoughts. I appreciate that more than I can express in words.

I have shared with you in good times and in bad, through laughter and through tears and I want to take the time today to let you all know how much you mean to me.

You have become a special family to me.
You are my blog family and I love you all very much.

The journey has taken me to places and people that touch my life in ways that only you can understand. In sharing our lives the world does not seem like a lonely place at all. Your comments and mail let me know that I am not alone. I know that you care as much about me as I do about you. You have filled a space in my heart and I treasure you all.

I want you all to know I would not have made it this far without your support.

Thank you!

Huggles and Love,
Raggedy

Thursday Thirteen (22nd)


North Dakota:

It Really Is One Of The 50 States!



There are too many for one Thursday Thirteen.
Part 2 of 3


You might be from North Dakota:

1. If you think a grain elevator constitutes a skyline . . .

2. If the closest thing to a forest is a field with shelterbelts . . .

3. If you think the state tree is a telephone pole and the state bird is a mosquito . . .

4. If you claim to be able to stand on a beer can and see the whole state . . .

5. If the idea of snow in June doesn't surprise you . . .

6. If you keep Civil Defense candy from the 1950s in your car's winter emergency kit .

7. If you design your Halloween costumes to fit over snowmobile suits . . .

8. If you know the four seasons--Winter, Still Winter, Not Winter, and Almost Winter

9. If the only visitors you had in January were the two snowmen in the front yard . . .

10. If you don't think it's cold unless your eyelashes stick together when you blink . . .

11. If you consider the wind "calm" from 0-15 mph, "kinda breezy" from 15-30 mph, and "kinda windy" for more than 30 mph . . .

12. If you consider the temperature "OK" down to -10 F., "kinda chilly" from -10 to -20 F., "chilly" from -20 to -30 F., and "kinda cold" for more than -30 F. . .

13. If you've ridden the school bus for an hour each way.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged!


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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

The Cost of Baseball

A housewife takes a lover during the day, while her husband is at work.

Unbeknown to her, her 9 year old son was hiding
in the closet.

Her husband came home unexpectedly, so she
hid her lover in the closet. The boy now has company.



Boy: “Dark in here.”


Man; “Yes it is.”


Boy: “I have a baseball.”

Man: “That’s nice.”

Boy: “Want to buy it?”

Man: “No thanks.”

Boy: “My dad’s outside.”

Man: OK, how much?”

Boy: $250.”

In the next few weeks it happens again, that the boy and the mom’s lover are in the closet together.

Boy: “Dark in here.”

Man: “Yes it is.”


Boy: “I have a baseball glove.”

Man: “How much?”

Boy: “$750.”

Man: Fine.”

A few days later, the father says to the boy, “Grab your ball and glove. Let’s go outside and play catch.”

The boy says, “I can’t. I sold them.”

The father asks. “How much did you sell them for?”

The son says, “$1000.”

The father says, “That’s terrible to overcharge your friends like that.

That is much more than those things cost.

I’m going to take you to church and make you confess.”


They go to church, the father alerts the priest, makes the boy sit in the confessional and closes the door.



The boy says, “Dark in here.”

The priest says, “Don’t start that S**T again.”




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Monday, April 09, 2007

Monday Music Review


The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions.”
~ Paul Klee


Click me for original post
Garou, Daniel Lavoie, & Patrick Fiori



Click me for original post
Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice



Click me for original post
Jim Croce
(This video was not on original post)



Click me for original post
Randy Travis



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Easter Sunday 2007

For I remember it is Easter morn,

And life and love and peace are all new born.

~Alice Freeman Palmer

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