Passing of another classmate and some ruminating about that blooming thing...

 Those of you who frequent my blog, for which I thank you!, have likely stopped reading the very top because I never seem to get around to changing it.  For a long time I had an announcement that Mickey Marietta (Michael F. Marietta) had suffered a stroke and listed his contact information in case anyone wanted to reach out to him.  I was in contact with the nursing home, in Cuba, MO, for some time but as time went on I failed to follow up.  My apologies to you all and especially to Mickey because my good friend, who always has my back, Jim Day, advises that Mick died from effects of that long ago stroke on 22 Feb 2018.  I should have checked a long time ago, but like you all, I don't often read the top part because I just don't.  Guess I need to !!!  I need to update it period!!!  I have just now tried finding an obituary for Mick but no luck so far.  But I did do some looking around and find him in our KHS yearbooks online, called Francis M; Mickie, Michael and even Francis M., Jr.  According to the Kirkwood School District records he was Michael F. Marietta, born July, 1947.  I am sorry I don't remember when I posted that he'd suffered the stroke, but for now, we know he is gone too early and let us hope resting in peace after his struggle at the end of his life.

 And speaking of our fellow KHS65 classmates, I have some interesting insight into the coincidence that J D shared with me the other day.  First of all Jim's bride, Linda Girard, and I started out together in 2nd grade.  I think she was in my Brownie troop too.  They now live on the same street where she did growing up, not far from my earliest Kirkwood home.  They have been married for ages, I forget how long, and have a wonderful family, I think one of the boys lives right down the street from them, lucky folks all 'round if you ask me!  Anyway, Jim and Linda have a family farm in Owensville.  Their great next door farm neighbors are a family named Jahnson.  Mrs. Jahnson, Dottie, is the aunt of our late classmate Mary Jane Fuchs Walters.  Dottie has another niece, the wife, Pat, of the recently deceased Dale Andrews!  So we have Linda, Jim, Dale and Mary Jane, four KHS65 classmates, half a century or so later connected by geography, family ties and childhood.  As Jim asks, "...what are the chances that four KHS65 classmates would end up in the country as 'almost neighbors'?." 

 We have some other fun stories like that, what rich lives those of us have who have "bloomed where we are planted" as a famous St. Louis writer, illustrator and personality, Mary Engelbreit, says.AND I ADD a DAY LATER:  I heard from classmate Joy Bortle on Facebook that Mickey's sister Betsy is a neighbor of hers in Defiance!  They belong to the same book club, and of course Betsy is also a KHS graduate...the coincidences keep piling up! 

 I harp on this "blooming" subject often because I personally feel so privileged to have done that and learned, after some years of doubting the wisdom of it, that staying in one place all of one's life is a gift, not a burden!  I have so many life-long friends, so many memories that are constantly reinforced because I go to or near the places of my life often enough to remember them, and lately more and more how they USED to be!  My life is very rich for having those connections and memories.  While I wish I had been able to figure a way to spend some of my life in the east, it is fine that I'm still here.  I have been privileged to travel quite a bit, and still always love to come home.  I will be spending eternity in Massachusetts though, so in the end I'll get to be where I want with relatives and hopefully close enough to my daughter and grandson that she'll actually visit my grave sometimes, and my St. Louisan son will meet her there once in awhile!  So blooming where I was planted has been just the right thing for me, and someday, but not soon, I'm too busy to die just now, I'll be able to be with ancestors who have shaped my life in so many ways, even though we never met.

Let's all rejoice in our connections and wonderful life stories and be in touch with our good friends.  And we should also rejoice in the memories of our friends who have left us - all way too early, we are young yet!  Well, relatively anyway!  We all share so much - a subject we have discussed in letters, notes in reunion books, emails, and in person oh so many times over the last 56 years since that sweltering day in our robes on the football field!!  We have a rich heritage and are all the children of privilege for having been able to live where we have, even if only in childhood, and shared so much.  Come home to Kirkwood when you can folks, it's changing so very fast, come see it before it disappears and swallows up some of your precious memories. 

 

Another classmate gone way too soon, Dale Andrews

 Please go here to see the obituary and newspaper article about our classmate Dale Andrews.  

https://www.stlfuneral.com/obituaries/Norman-Andrews-Jr/

So sad that we have lost yet another member of our class; a loving family man and another good person.  I continue to not understand why the bad guys aren't dying so young!  The obituary has all the donation and funeral information.  May he rest in eternal peace and love.  Thank you to Linda Girard Day for alerting me to his passing.  She and Jim are in tune to so many of our classmates.  That's what happens when two people who grown up together marry and stay 'home' to live out their lives!  It's called blooming where we are planted.... I find doing that reaps wonderful, meaningful rewards.   I am reminded that Dale was a Veteran, having served in the First Cavalry Division, Viet Nam, 1967-68. 

BONUS BLUE MOON TODAY -- who knew?????

 

MASSACHUSETTS — Sky gazers, take note: This weekend brings more than a brief respite from the stresses of the workweek. It also brings a chance to catch a glimpse of a rare seasonal blue moon over Massachusetts.

The blue moon will adorn the night sky on Sunday. The last seasonal blue moon occurred on Halloween in 2020.

There are two instances in which we experience a "blue" moon. Many of us are familiar with the first instance: A blue moon happens when there are two full moons in a calendar month. The second is usually also simply called a blue moon, according to The Farmers' Almanac.

Turns out, that definition is more folklore than truth, The Farmers' Almanac says:

The modern custom of naming the second full moon of any month a "blue moon" was actually based on a misinterpretation in an article written by James Hugh Pruett in the March 1946 issue of "Sky & Telescope" magazine. Titled "Once in a Blue Moon," Pruett incorrectly summarized what he read in the Maine Farmers' Almanac.

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The second instance — the accurate definition of a blue moon and the type we'll see Sunday — actually has to do with the number of full moons in a single season. Typically, there are 12 full moons each year, or three per season. If four full moons occur during a single season, the third is referred to as a "blue moon." [I think this means the 4th not 3rd but maybe I'm wrong - but today IS the 4th Sunday]

If you miss this weekend's blue moon, you'll have a chance to catch the next one in just three short years. The next seasonal blue moon will grace the skies on Aug. 19, 2024, followed by May 20, 2027.

So, is a blue moon actually blue? Not usually, according to EarthSky,org.

If you see a photo of a blue moon, chances are it was taken using a camera with a blue lens filter. On rare occasions, usually after vast forest fires or major volcanic eruptions, the moon has reportedly taken on a bluish or lavender hue, according to The Farmers' Almanac. Soot and ash particles propelled into the Earth's atmosphere can sometimes make the moon appear blue.[Northern CA might really see a blue moon tonight!]

The blue moon is also a sure sign that autumn is on its way, according to EarthSky.org. Since Sunday's blue moon happens considerably closer to the fall equinox than the summer, the moon shares similar characteristics to September's harvest moon. By definition, the harvest moon is the closest full moon to the autumn equinox. The true harvest moon will come on Sept. 20.

A FAVORITE KHS65 TEACHER DIES AT 87

 I know many of our classmates had Mr. Hetherington for typing and likely other classes.  I didn't, I missed that class!  I took typing but not with a fun good-lookin' jock type guy!  Here is his obituary from Kirkwood Webster Times:

https://www.timesnewspapers.com/webster-kirkwoodtimes/donald-e-hetherington/article_aa462f5c-e57e-11eb-aef5-df66e762fba3.html

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KHS65 - MUSINGS ON OUR PAST

   HOTEL JEFFERSON, ST. LOUIS, MO

CHECK the Wikipedia entry about the Hotel Jefferson, site of our Senior Party this night in 1965.

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Jefferson_(St._Louis,_Missouri)

Where have those 56 years gone?  That is the most frequent question I receive from our classmates.  We are so fortunate that so many of us can make lengthy lists of our answers...kids, grands, travel - the biggest one we have in common in my experience, careers, military service - many successes in that arena, education - huge successes there, social activism - no surprise there given the time-frame in which we were coming of age, and yes sadnesses - loss of classmates way too soon, parents who lived such long lives and those who left us way too soon, but perhaps the most valuable as we continue to age is two-fold, good health for oh so many of us, and the lasting friendships.  Just look at Facebook - how many of us are still in touch, and regularly at that, with those whom we have been friends nearly our total life spans.  On the bulletin board above my desk there lives a framed photo from our 40th reunion's Robinson School group.  There were 12 of us, 5 of whom I've chatted with in one form or another in the last week, 3 of whom are no longer with us and all of whom I have corresponded with in the past year.  We were in grade school a LONG time ago...think about who you still communicate with; who you could still find if you wanted to chat; think about who you'd like to locate...  in today's world there are so many ways to connect and reconnect - we are blessed by technology, likely far more than we are cursed by it, but some days in my world that is a toss-up!  

WHODDA EVER THUNK 56 YEARS LATER I'D BE SITTING COMFORTABLY AT MY DESK, BIRDS CHIRPING LOUDLY OUT MY WINDOW, TV TELLING ME THE WORLD'S NEWS AND WRITING TO SO MANY OF MY LIFE-LONG FRIENDS OF ONE DEGREE OR ANOTHER?  We are truly blessed.....

Yellow roses are the international flower of friendship and our class flower.  May you have bouquets of yellow roses in your lives each and every day.

 

AS THEY SAY, GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE - CHECK IT OUT!

 As I was posting Alan's recent poem about Miles Davis, he was writing to send me a new one, a love poem for us oldsters, not the first poem he has written to his lovely wife Jerra.  We girls should be so lucky to have men writing poems to us!  Alan just rocks!  My own hands aren't yet translucent, but I've seen it plenty often; however I do sport the brown age spots and consider them badges of honor of sorts, they remind me of the warm sun on my hands as I've had them curled around a steering wheel in those thousands of miles I've enjoyed driving over the decades, and the years of mowing my lawn on warm/hot sunny days, before I realized I really really needed to wear gloves!  More kudos to Alan!

THE  SKIN, ON  THE  BACK  OF  OUR  HANDS

           “A  Love Poem, For Older People.”  “Also, For Jerra,  For Over Twenty Years Together.”

 

 there is something you can tell

          about older people

 the skin on the top of their hands

          is almost translucent

 like you could read

          several messages in there

 you can almost

          see down into it

 the skin has grown

on our hands

 looking older

          with all the lines

 like the hands have shown

life’s wear

 over so much time

          and yes

 also sometimes

shown with so much pleasure

   for sure they have

          each grown much older

 and yet the aging brings closeness

          more tighter

 to both of us

made by us just so shared together

 Postscript:  Jerra once said, “We have both saved

the best of our lives: meeting, until our last years,

for the best lasting love.”  Alan "The Count" Yount

 Published by:  WestWard Quarterly, Spring Issue, 2021.

POETRY OF OUR TIMES

 I am home working at my desk today, gifted with some hours to do that by an appointment cancellation.  I have been remiss in posting on this blog, and especially some more works by my favorite poet Alan Yount.  I received an email from www.jerryjazzmusician.com that there was some news so I clicked and by golly there is a new poem from KHS65 Poet Laureate Alan.  I am NOT a poetry fan, my own attempts have either been pretty lame or just plain awful, and I don't enjoy reading it.  Having used a paperback edition of "How Does a Poem Mean" as a target on my dart board in my college days, I probably need say no more.  But Alan's actually hits home with me, and I love his Archie & Mehitable -like style!  [Crisis-I just looked for my copy of A & M and it's missing from the bookcase where I've kept it for years, another chore to do today, FIND IT!] Here is a new jazz-related poem I hope you will enjoy.  Thank you again Alan for always making KHS65 look so poetic!  If you don't know about Alan's life and career, read my prior posts or search here for his name, there are quite a few entries about him, his music and poetry. (I post this assuming you all know who Miles referred to here is...)

Miles’ Mouthpiece Pouch

miles attached the pouch
after the bend
where the trumpet bell started
widening out.

the pouch was close
to his lips and face.
maybe he also liked the smell
of new leather. I would have.

it’s good to have
a couple of
different mouthpieces
close at hand.

like if you
needed them
to play some notes
styling them, all so different.

having those extra mouthpieces
was to comfort you
just in case
to keep your sound

… just with so many
special notes
exactly in
your only miles style!

.Postscript: There is a great picture of Miles, holding his
trumpet, with the mouthpiece pouch. It is on the cover of
the book, Miles, The Autobiography. .

by Alan Yount

Check out this tribute on the Jerry Jazz Musician newsletter where this poem was recently published:  "Few artists inspire creativity like Miles Davis. This collection of poetry by 50 poets from all over the world is further evidence of that." 

Photograph of Miles Davis by Francis Wolff/courtesy Mosaic Images

  Read the Poetry Collection