San (Saint) ROCCO

This is the church of Saint Rocco in Venice Italy. This Catholic saint is known by several names including Roc, Roch, Rok, and in English...Rock, all dependent upon what country you are in. You are probably wondering why I am writing about this man who lived 1400 years ago. I was born Catholic and was baptized and confirmed. Confirmation is a rip-off of the Jewish ceremony called the Bar Mitzvah which occurs at age 13. When I was confirmed, I had to pick a confirmation name to add to my other names (First-Middle-Confirmation-Last) and let the nun who was leading the ceremony know of my choice. She was aghast at my choice of Rock(y) and I was reprimanded to chose something else or she would do it for me. The Bishop who was officiating stepped in at this time and said something like "Sister, you have to spend some more time studying Church history, if you did you would know that this young man has selected one of my favorite Saints." I was confirmed as Rocco and its variations.

Neither the Kitty nor I like the idea of being called Grandma, Grandpa, pop-pop, Papi (Spanish) or anything similar. So when the grand-babies were born we kind of liked Rocky and Kitty. Kitty was easy for them to say and it still is. Rocky was not so easy and became Yockey. So even now, when the twins are 4 and speak English fluently, I am still Yockey. Too bad I can't go back to 13 years old and ask the Bishop if there is a Saint Yock.

HOLY iPHONE?

Whoever has an iPhone as I do, when you use it, the first screen you see has the time and date boldly displayed. The numbers (time) can be "interesting." Sometimes it's 9:11, or 11:11 or something numerologically significant. This one caught my eye and I copied the screen (easy to do on this smart phone) to post on this blog. For those of you who are NOT familiar with the Bible, this is a verse, one of the most important, from the Gospel according to John. Chapter 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. You also see it on bumper stickers of the faithful. Seldom on Prius hybrid cars. Their stickers usually say Obama 2012, because HE is their God.

GRASSHOPPER WISDOM

Master Po and Kwai Chang Kaine together in the Shaolin Temple where Kaine got his nickname "Grasshopper."

Master Po: [after easily defeating the boy in combat] Ha, ha, never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Master Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Young Caine: No.
Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Young Caine: [looking down and seeing the insect] Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Master Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

LICENSE PLATE VANITY

I saw this license plate on a car in the doctor's parking lot. Presumably he is a plastic surgeon specializing in breast augmentation.

DAFFY and DAISY, retired

They are a bit far away for the iPhone photo but here they are, back again without the kids.

DEPARTMENT of NO ENERGY

Started in 1977 and now with an operating budget of $26 BILLION per year, we still have NO energy policy to liberate our dependence on foreign oil. When the folks out there pay almost $6 per gallon for gas they will have no money to spend on other things and in stead of gas it will be the economy that will go into the tank.

AS YE SOW....

After a man (or woman) reaches Medicare age and has plowed the field and sowed the seed of economic success for decades, is it not time to reap the benefits of this labor and leave the pulling of the cart to others? Sometimes the dominant inclination is to move the finish line and try to hold on to youth by more of those things that defined that age...building a business, generating earned income, competing with others in the marketplace. As if there were nothing else.

It may be among the most socially responsible things we do to transfer work to those in the next generation so that they can experience the joys of achievement and the benefits of success. Our social structure of Social Security, and Medicare supports that concept. We could take a lesson from biology. Every animal reaches a point in his/her life when procreation and survival of the species is no longer the prime directive. Menopause comes to mind. Even the ducks sitting at the side of my pool, who had litters of 10 ducklings in years past, now sit side by side in the sun, jumping into the water from time to time to preen and get a drink of fresh water. There are no more duckings, yet these adults come back every year.

Now is the time to play with grandchildren, take long walks, sit in the sun at the side of the pool, and share a little wisdom when asked.