30 November 2014: Sunday ... wissen vs. kennen (both words meaning "to know" in German) ...

http://www.livinglanguage.com/blog/2012/07/02/wissen-vs-kennen-to-know-in-german/

The difference between Wissen (to know) and Kennen (to know) is one chapter in German grammar where a lot of students have a hard time grasping the use.

Both of the verbs mean “to know” but when do you use “wissen” and when do use “kennen”?

Wednesday, 26 November 2014: Lindsay ... visit ... Thanksgiving ... Feby's ... snow/sleet/rain ... tripping roof sounds ...

It seems as though it has passed too quickly, Lindsay's visit to her father and grandmother this pre-Thanksgiving, and as the rain, early snow/sleet falls outside on this chilly, miserable day, the busiest of the year for traffic and travel, we get ready to drive to Philly Airport, a good 3 hours before my daughter's departure time for her Delta flight to Atlanta, 7:20 p.m.  

7 November 2014: First Friday ... Oneisha & Hughroy, children of Skeesha ...

TONIGHT! SSQ concert University of Delaware's Gore Recital Hall at 8pm. Works by Mozart, Janacek and Schumann.


UD’s quartet-in-residence, the Serafin String Quartet, presents their fall concert, featuring works by Mozart,String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421; Leoš Janáček, String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters”; and Robert Schumann, Piano Quintet in Eb Major, Op. 44, with Faculty Artist Julie Nishimura, piano.

Tickets are $15 adults, $10 UD faculty/staff/alumni & seniors; $5 students, and are available at the door. Cash or check only.

4 November 2014: Election Day ...

4 October 2014: Saturday ... Inaugural International Gala at Church benefit ...

1 October 2014: Wednesday ... limb and branches chipped, carted away ...

Rich (on his shirt) or Richie, What Stew, his supervisor, called him runs branches into the chipper, a Vermeer, and has years of tree trimming experience. Suggested the maple could be saved. Need to take care of the carpenter ants with Sevin dust around the trunk and call Stump A Way and a Mr. Moore, I think. Both of the DelDOT employees suggested his work as excellent. 

30 September 2014: Tuesday ... maple limb down ... life support for two ...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/let-go-families-patients-life-support-face-painful-choice/

When to let go? Families of patients on life support face painful choice

One of the most moving pieces on the NewsHour focused on a man caring for his wife, on life support after a motorcycle injury when she was thrown from the bike he was operating. She has little hope of recovery but squeezes his hand on occasion. At the conclusion, he said, with so much feeling that he'd change places with her in a heartbeat and wishes that it had been him and not her, tears forming in his eyes.

29 September 2014: Monday ... John & Kathe Webers ... Robin & Herb @ McGlynn's ... Associates at Brian's

John & Kathe Webers, in town for the funeral of Goose's father, came for a wonderful visit and mom walked the hallway and showed off her artwork.


Caught in the act.


Portrait at the conclusion of their visit.


Dancer luvin' attention from Kathe.

30 September 2014: Tuesday ... huge maple limb down on Nicholby ...

It was Jim's send stop on his route and he brushed and caught this precarious limb on our aged maple and came crashing down and blocked Nicholby Drive completely. He called his supervisor and asked that I speak to him. It was dark and it was an accident and NC County Police came out and the transportation department sent a crew to chain saw the huge piece into movable sections which now reside on either side of the roadway waiting for pickup. When that will occur is a matter of speculation.

The severe wound in our decades-old maple that has stood at our corner.


Nicholby Drive was totally blocked by the downed limb. 

27 September 2014: Saturday ... 40th HS reunion ... Peach March in Wilmington ... Stomberg musical gathering at home

25 September 2014: Wednesday ... early AM epiphany/morphine ... mom's painting return ...

At a few minutes after 3 a.m. this morning I was awakened by mom's moaning and I went to her bedside and got her an extra dose of morphine, sublingually, .7 ml, and then returned to Barber's Adagio for Strings and then on WHYY, a piece that included of all things, our UU spiritual anthem, Spirit of Life.  Have never heard that on the radio before.

                  

Why have I not been to A. C. Moore sooner to restock mom's artist supplies? She provided the impetus today and I purchased paints, an easel, pencils, two types of palettes, plastic sheets to mix colors and brushes. She took an old drawing of hers ... an Asian mother holding her baby and dressed in a sari and painted over it in browns and greens and some blue and she is so pleased. Had some difficulty with the camera and photo display on the iPhone but got it working and posted three (my most to date) photos of her enterprise this rainy, Thursday morning.

       

Large Hadron Collider started up on September 10, 2008 when
this Google Doodle appeared on the Internet search engine's web site. 

24 September 2014: Wednesday ... 4 x 20 Blackbirds ... yardwork (driveway and sidewalk clearing) ... walk around neighborhood ...

Did some yardwork (actually driveway work) as I used the Toro to lift and grind leaves and  limbs and then cut away the plant blockage of the sidewalk by our neighbor to the Limestone Road side of our property. It was extensive and filled the two cans with yard waste. Spoke with Chris. Parents (step-mother Lana and father Bob) are loving it in Ocala. Bob plays a lot of golf but is a handyman down there and doing a lot of home fix-ups for the close-knit community. Lana is much happier in Florida.

Skeesha came early and left before 11 a.m. Mom a little groggy today but did OK with her and she's eaten well today. Banana and Honey Nut Cheerios, tea, and prune juice for breakfast followed by a new favorite, cottage cheese with pineapple/mango cup, a cheese stick and tea for lunch. Afterward, as I left she began to sing the childhood nursery rhyme ... "Four & Twenty Blackbirds" from Sing a Song of Sixpence:

Nice walk with Peg tonight and Dancer around the neighborhood tonight. Glad she came over. We all got some exercise on a crisp evening in early Fall. 

After the walk, we had Dancer up with mom for her treats. 

The beginning of the universe was an infinitesimal Black hole where time did not exist. God didn't have the TIME to create our world. 

23 September 2014: Tuesday ... 20 days since ... Why? ... watching Netflix movies ... caring for mom ... stuck in house ... Dr. Maged today ... First Day of Fall 2014

A gorgeous, chill, sunlit day today as Mom just yelled to me this midday, as she does on occasion and I'm watching Netflix with my earphones on, and initially, I am perturbed, but she told me that a nurse was arriving soon to see her. Did not get her name but the door is open on this crystalline-blue first day of fall in Delaware in the home, that is not mine, and where I feel imprisoned because that is my decision.

  

        Silver Linings Playbook with Jennifer                   Brad Pitt, starred in the zombie flick,
Lawrence, who won Oscar for role, and Bradley           World War Z, quite a decent film with superb 
Cooper in 2012, in a painting renderings of the end       special effects.
of the film where their love is expressed.                          

Leslie, a new nurse, young, petite and married, is here at this time (1:01 p.m .) checking mom. As all the other personnel from Delaware Hospice, she is thorough and professional and engaging. They were laughing a few moments before I typed these words. It feels good to be at least making an attempt to record feelings and events in my life. About 2 hours from leaving for my appointment with Dr. Maged, who is my named provider through Delaware Care. (I have it mentioned with the numbers for the service on my phone.)

The visit to Dr. Maged was so worthwhile. He's a listener and he provided me options and feedback that made me feel whole when I left. I'll have blood levels taken (after a 12-hour fast) in the morning and I've already secured medication for my mood swings from Pathmark this afternoon, which after presenting my Delaware insurance card, cost me a total of $1, after Divya reconfigured the amount.

My relationship, the physical one by necessity, with mom reached a new level today when I did what she did to me when I was a baby. I wiped her bottom with a washcloth and you just have to get over it and deal with it and not be embarrassed by it. There are needs and one just has to get on with it. I did and she did and we moved on.

I phoned my new and developing girlfriend (for wont of a better term), Peg, today about my appointment and I had a welcome ear. She listens, much like my doctor, and she is responsive to the needs of others and she provides solace and answers to life's challenges. She is a remarkable person who I am very fortunate to have got to know, whether through her guiles to mom-sit or not, it has been in that word often forsaken by UUs, a "godsend" in my life at present. Thank you Peg for being there for me and my mother. You have the heart of gold and a steel determination and wealth of knowledge and experience. I am lucky to be able to share in its bounty. 

3 September 2014: Wednesday ... Meet Bob at Hollywood Cafe in Fairfax ... called RTA about replacement O2 tanks ... Doug comin' up on Oct. 2nd ...

31 July 2014: Thursday ... last day of July ... chia seeds ... Sue (hybrid bike from Henry's next to McGlynn's w/Matt as proprietor), Carolyn, Susan, Veronica (Ronnie), Pamela, Dragana ... two workouts ... leg soreness ... Damaris (from Kenya), Hospice RN, visit late morning ...

15 August 2014: Friday ... Mom's birthday ... a rejuvenation ... a walk nearing sunset

My first picture of  Dancer on a too infrequent walk using the iPhone in weeks. Is is a rejuvenation on the birthday of my former mother-in-law, a woman who I love and consider my second mother and who is loved by my mother and who we called on her birth day this day and she answered and returned a phone call as promised? A person with integral and unchallenged integrity and fortitude. I don't believe so because change comes dripping slow and I ache or at least pretend to as I waste each day, one after another.  

29 July 2014: Tuesday ... Mom's 83rd birthday ... Christine's lesson of patience in yoga ... Nick's call ... NV's call ... Uncle Nick's call ... flowers from Acme ... a herd of deer by JDHS

The array of flowers and cards for Mom's birthday.


Mom poses behind orchids sent by Doug. 

It is so easy to break out of a routine and settle back into lethargy and renew that sense of incompetence. Yet, to learn patience -- represented so aptly by breathing in yoga and the focus of Christine's class this morning -- is to be able to take the time, each day, to do a little of a variety of activities that activate the mind and spirit, much like this writing, just a few minutes, after a much needed walk around JDHS and a circle of the quarter mile on the track with Dancer outside of the fence and not inside the track and the football field, where we marched over 40 years ago and sat in the stands playing our fight songs for the team. 

18 July 2014: Friday ... Birthday of Nelson Mandela (7/18/1918) ... Bob breakfast ... care dog matches Dancer on TV ... mom & bob share their doppelganger pets ...

Bob came to visit today and take me out to breakfast at a busy Crossroads. We posed this picture after the real moment was missed earlier. Bob have plastic grins but there is true connection, regardless. 

13 Sunday 2014: Sunday ... the artist and the need to express ... Catherine at UUSMC ...

12 July 2014: Saturday ... diffluence, liquefaction, dissolution ...

the act of flowing off or away ... this is a lost day and I am doing the former and I have to find a way out of it ... as I write this note on Monday and the skies have erupted and it pours outside and I am watching TV, too much, again, and now I watch another depressing piece about a young boy with a fascination with death from an early age and who did commit suicide at age 15.

11 July 2014: Friday ... McKie the letter writer ... Wahoo t-shirt, accent, Afrikaans (11 state languages in S. Africa) ... Lindsay & Alex on the General ... Roller Derby at Delcastle ...

View from the General Jackson Riverboat and the Nashville skyline on a full moon Friday with Lindsay and Alex aboard. 

The first Friday of each month, this summer at least, you'll find more than several roller derby enthusiasts at Delcastle Recreation Area. Members of teams all over the area, men and women, played under lights and a full moon. — at Delcastle Recreational Park.

10 July 2014: Thursday ... HIIT with Pamela ... Body Vive ... meet Kim, preschool teacher ... Wanda shows me knee exercises ...

9 July 2014: Wednesday ... Mom's cut & styling (Skeesha observes) ... Delcastle Golf, Softball, Mill Creek walk of 3+ miles ... 3 interactions ...

Mom called Stacy and set up the time for our wonderful neighbor to come over and cut/style mom's hair. She did well getting downstairs and put up a little fuss when I encouraged her to walk outside with the oxygenator closeby. She objected but went through with it when Stacy and Skeesha both told her she could do it. "You never liked being outside," commented Stacy. Mom concurred. She was never fond of the beach but she put up with it. Maybe I can change her (NOT likely) in her early 80s. 

"Very impressive moniker trio, Monsieur Isle de l'Homme. If you added an "e" to Graham, you'd have three names of seven-letter length. Now that's notable, not that you're not notable enoughe. :-)" ... my Facebook comment after seeing Graham Michael Skinner's new three-word name on his Facebook account. 

Dancer in the field at the end of our over three-mile walk that began
at the Girls' Softball Field and golf center (I circled the field and actually
came upon Fred's home in the rear) and then walked across the roadway
and traveled down the quiet path, Dancer off leash, to the Mill Creek and
a dip for my girl. This was the conclusion of the walk and the sunset
was beautiful but I could not align pet and sky/sun together for a photo. 

8 July 2014: Tuesday ... Mom's does Crossword ... download weather feature to desktop ... rain-sodden walker (politely declines umbrella) ...

7 July 2014: Monday ... beagle club at Carousel ...

The dogs needed to meet and we talked about our canines as I walked Dancer at Carousel. She had her 10-year-old male Beagle, which she got, in her Delaware accent, in lower Delaware and I had to tell her about the beagle races that I'd seen and she was interested in finding out about such an activity. I mentioned the barking of course and I suggested she search for "beagle club". It was a nice, short conversation. And we bade each other a good evening ... dusk was about an hour off and the park was well populated with softball players and soccer enthusiasts and young families, mostly Hispanic, the sounds of Spanish being shared with loved ones.

Sometimes light erupts in a clearing and the need to record an image blazes its need. Here, in a wooded opening off the asphalt pathway at Delcastle Recreation Park, I caught Dancer with a single, hand-thrust-low grab shot. It worked, I felt, and saved the pic.— with Dancer at Delcastle Recreational Park.

It means something to share knowledge and it leads to more sharing and by listening you can help the process of healing and understanding. I did that tonight with a simple text and then receipt of a phone call and a sharing and profession of friendship. That's what it means ... you need to express with one another and you need to love, like the disable man in the POV video on PBS tonight who talked about its necessity and the meaningless of life without it. Yes, we need love and we need people to listen and to care.

Good news about mom. We were without meds in the morning, that is, the opiates and the metoprolol and furosemide, so when FedEx delivered the drugs in the package inside the old office door, there was relief. But she did well today and I got her the heart meds and lasix this afternoon and we'll start on the regular doses again in the morning (at the suggestion of a helpful call from a nurse for Delaware Hospice calling from Dover). Well, when I said good night (mom was watching the same documentary on PBS), she felt good and the rash is healing and the nosebleed has stopped and she loves watching Antiques Roadshow.

We are all disabled in some way or another. Each of us plays at being normal, said the thalidomide-affected filmmaker of the POV film on PBS tonight, a work focusing on special needs athletes and their passion, focus and utmost abilities. It is a statement that does ring with more than a grain of truth, for yes, we all do mask something in ourselves and the politics of work and life can provide for dissent and misunderstanding. Why can we not resolve to be good to one another. 

6 July 2014: Sunday ... Federer/Djokovic Wimbledon final ... mom's passion ... "Wildness" by Thoreau ... barn swallows dart at UUSMC ... sweeping the back steep ... agony of imprisonment ... reaching out ...

5 July 2014: Saturday ... Hoyt Goodson remembered ... Ruth Berry's bday ... landline, modem & WIFI back & better ... perfect weather ... mom's Dutch amazing ... Nick phone call ...

"An encounter at the gas station today reminded me of Hoyt Goodson. Man drove up to the pump beside me today. Asked for money because he had been at the hospital, all his money and ID was stolen and he had been driving for 1 1/2 hours. This wasn't the first time I've been approached in this way with various story lines. I always say no since I'm basically a skeptic and I never have cash on me. Then I remembered Hoyt. He once told me that he would rather give $5 and it turn out to be a scam than take a chance on not helping someone in need. Hoyt was a much better UU than I- that first Principle is hard for me.

Unlike

• You, Lyn Hammond Dennison, Vicki Gaither Proefrock, Stacy Hunnicutt Heath and 18 others like this.
• 

  Rudy Nyhoff Thank you Jan for reminding me of Hoyt, a true man of spirit and kindness. He would bury skepticism in favor of trust and be the winner no matter. (Oh, and by the way, you're a mentor when it comes to living UU.) 

  23 hours ago · Edited · Like · 3
• 

  Andy Reese Hoyt was a model for many of us, not only for his quiet good deeds, but also for his humorous, but pointed, letters to the editor."
  
  
  
  We have a landline back and a faster modem set up thanks to a Comcast visit from a young man named Will, I think, 27 years of age and having worked for the cable giant for 7 years and liking it. Good at his work he made some changes and got the modem hooked up, which contains a WIFI built-in, and got it connected to the tabletop, the iPad and my iPhone by reciting the lengthy password written on the bottom of the modem. 
  He also replaced the wiring in the back and it made it less prone to a power outage by reconfiguring the connects and redoing the ground. He was terrific and he got the job thanks to his younger brother. Previously, he'd studied carpentry at Hodson and was working construction. He likes this job a lot as it offers variety and challenge. Great to now have the landline up again and have a faster modem and WIFI. 
  
  

4 July 2014: Friday ... Independence Day ... Wimbledon semis for men ... World Cup quarters ... a lightning-bug lit ascent at Carousel ...

I should always attempt to write something, even if I'm unwilling, as I seem always to be at the end of the day and all I want to do is dull my senses in front of the tube, because something will come of it (the writing that is) and discipline has never been my forte, in fact, my debilitating and calamitous weakness throughout my working and academic life. When will I learn?

Today was overcast, initially, part of the remnants of Hurricane Arthur, which apparently showed its mettle on the NC coast and elsewhere to some degree (i.e., winds reached 100 mph, et al.) but here, no rainfall and mild winds, and by close of day and my early evening/dusk walk with Dancer, the sky was clear and a hemi-moon stood in the early night sky. 

Bryan Wilson, owner of Miller’s Waterfront restaurant, braves floodwaters to check the damage to his property as wind from the Hurricane Arthur pushes water to his parking lot in Nags Head on Friday, July 4, 2014. Arthur struck North Carolina as a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph late Thursday, taking about five hours to move across the far eastern part of the state. HYUNSOO LEO KIM — THE (NORFOLK, VA.) VIRGINIAN-PILOT VIA AP

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/07/04/3984271/fast-moving-hurricane-arthur-pummeling.html#storylink=cpy

We watched tennis and I actually enjoyed a semi, where one of the old guard, the #1 seed Novak Djokovic, who I like but am tired of in the finals, all the time, played a great match with the unseasoned but up-and-coming Bulgarian with a name starting with "D" and 8 letters (No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov) like the famous Serb. But alas, it was not to be. Experience on centre court won out and Novak took two tie-breakers from the young upstart, but he will be heard from. The era of Big 4 is being challenged. And Federer, closing in on 33 and now with two sets of twins (his boys just born two months ago) will be the other finalist, the 35th time that Novak and Roger have met in tournament play.

On the World Cup soccer front, let's see if I can recall. Germany slid past France, 1-nil; and the match of the tournament, Brazil-Colombia, was a nailbiter with the host hanging on at the end after a penalty kick made it a one-goal lead. Unfortunately, Neymar, Brazil's soccer star is out with a serious injury -- he fractured a vertebrae on a hit, that I must admit and apologetically so, I thought he was faking. They always dramatize their falls and this looked similar but he is out of the tournament and hopefully he will be able to recover to play again. Thoughts of healing to the young, vibrant Brazilian futbol star.

Well, it will be Germany-Brazil in one semi on Tuesday and the other semifinalists are being decided today, Saturday.

3 July 2014: Thursday ... HIIT this AM w/Pamela ... toddler & a basketball ... storm clouds & the 9th ... pharmacy rescue ...

Ever get surprised by tumultuous weather? The clouds and the wind blew into Limestone Gardens and a large, dead limb, that needs pruning, worried me like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. Later, in the car to run a vital trip to the pharmacy, I played the vocal conclusion to Beethoven's 9th, his aptly named Choral Symphony. With the weather astir, it seemed oddly fitting. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4N5-OALObk

• Marykay Mills, Harriet C. Brantley, Regina DePace and 8 others like this.
• 

  Tina Slendak Sir, you weave words like a tapestry.

  11 hrs · Unlike · 4
• 

  
  Carol Seay Witzell I like the stillness that is a harbinger of worst weather to come! But it could be worse...it could be snow! 

  7 hrs · Unlike · 1
• 

  Gordon Roth Joy.

  7 hrs · Unlike · 1
• 

  Karen Shields Perfect show.

  5 hrs · Unlike · 1

2 July 2014: Wednesday ... Brahms' 2nd on WDAV is ALL Major Scales ... Landline back up through modem ... Body Pump w/Amy ... Body Combat w/Jennifer ... thunderstorm ... glowing light

Listened to the Brahms' 2nd Symphony this early morning on WDAV from about 4:00 a.m. on, an historic recording with George Szell leading the Cleveland Orchestra in 1967. I could have sworn with its moodiness that it was in a minor key. Wrong! All the movements are in major keys:

      

1. Allegro non troppo (D major)
2. Adagio non troppo (B major)
3. Allegretto grazioso (quasi andantino) (G major)
4. Allegro con spirito (D major)
   
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-qMtWVf0NA&feature=kp

Brahms - Symphony No. 2 - Wiener Philharmoniker - Leonard Bernstein - 1982

Tough and vibrant Body Combat workout with Jennifer this morning, a fill-in for Renee. She is a tough and in shape and encouraged us to do our best. I flounder, most of the time when it comes to kicks but do alright with the punches, but overall, it's a workout that stresses my middle-aged muscles and bones. Later, I had a nice conversation with Jennifer as she brought up some exercise equipment to the WR near the entrance of the Y. She is an engaging and delightful person.

Earlier, Amy got my grey-colored blood-donation shirt sweat-stained with a vigorous Body Pump. Kristi asked about my concert on Friday. She now has her Delaware license and she's waiting on a used Honda Civic, just 10,000 miles to replace her aging vehicle. A workout fiend, she does three group classes this morning, finishing with Body Combat. Later, I got to see Dragana, who vacationed in Montreal last week and always wears a perpetual smile. I mentioned my interaction with a Bulgarian woman, waving to her chorister husband at the Mann Center performance of the Beethoven 9th and how I used the world "dobro" with her. She recognized it. "Yes," she said. "The languages are very similar. I have friends from Bulgaria and I can understand and speak to them fine."

Called Comcast from Pathmark and the tech suggested I connect the phone jack into the modem ... it worked but the other phone jacks do not, so have scheduled a repair visit this Saturday from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. to check it out. In the meantime, I have the phone hooked into the modem and operating in the TV room, on the floor (to avoid tripping on the line) and have actually taken two phone calls since it became working again. Glad that I did not have to replace it (got a great suggestion from the people at Best Buy who did not pressure me into replacing these phones, they working fine).

A thunderstorm brought sweeping swaths of rain for a short time period on this day when the temp approached 100 degrees. Skeesha brought Dancer in from outside and she did not mind being indoors, although she looked fine outside with a fresh bowl of water. We did walk, later than usual, around the neighborhood, the long block and I took it wider to Mealey Funeral Home and along Limestone Road for a total of about 2.5 miles (I stopped my DigiFit app on the steps going to the second floor a little after 9 p.m. and got a "Woo-hoo" from the computer voice).

A final note, there was eerie, luminous light suffusing the air as I started the walk with Dancer and I debated walking over to Stacy and her son, who were out by her car. The light glowed and invigorated as the rain had knocked down the heat and humidity of the day down some.