WISDOM KEEPERS

That's me. A wisdom keeper.  It seems to me, in my youth, I came up with a very cogent quote. I can't remember it anymore.  Age robs us of more than years. Memory goes woggly, as well. But, there are so many wonderful quotes from others I hope to share today. Then, I'll print them out and read them now and then to stay up to date.

My favorite:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ― Mark Twain 

"No Nation or state can advance faster than it's working classes."-   H. A. Rucker

"Respect existence or expect resistance"-  Martin Luther King

"Share the same garment of opportunity, for no human is illegal."-   Martin Luther King

"Our inequality materializes our upper class, vulgarizes our middle class and brutalizes our lower class.-         Matthew Arnold 

"The gulf between employers and employed is constantly widening, and classes are rapidly forming, one comprising the very rich and powerful and the other the poor who are toiling."  President Hoover

"The wealth of a country is its working people."  Theodore Herzl

Wisdom is fine, but life must have some fun. A couple of young people loved to quote this in front of any serious conversations to jar the adults away from being too dull.

"Sex is evil,  Evil is sin,  Sin is forgiven,  So, sex is in!!!"

Don't you love it when the kids are more clever than the adults?

Cha, cha, cha.

 

 

 

NO ONE FOR PRESIDENT

I'm prone to collecting expressions or statements that people make that either tickle my sense of humor or strike me s interesting, odd or unusual. Here are a few of them that have been hanging around on a scrap of paper.

I had a store in Murphys at one time and an older woman, Mrs. Fisher would visit me. She would joke about a cheap establishment from her day saying people called them:  "Hotel De Bum Bill of Fare."

And another store friend, among many who hung out at my store and the next door barbershop where they'd come to me for their drinks after having their hair cut. It was known in the neighborhood as "The 4:30 Club. Kind of the end of the day. Business slowed down.

Buster Riedel loved to say with a twinkle in his eye:

When I was young I spent my money on booze and girls.  The rest of it was wasted.

He also recited this bit:

When your heels hit hard, and your head feels queer, and your thoughts foam up like froth on a beer and you laugh like hell at some damn fool song, You're drunk, by God, You're drunk.

His wife, Rosie, didn't approve of the 4:30 Club so he would leave for home with these words:

" I gotta go home and get some hot tongue and cold shoulder." 

He was in his 90's. He once owned a grocery store in downtown Murphys and he would drive to Stockton to order his bread and other stuff. He no longer ran the store, but he made it a point to make the trip and bring the 4:30 Club members, and other friends fresh bread about once a month. Those  were fun times.

Murphys was full of interesting characters. Another was Betty Dunkle. She liked to repeat an old toast at any occasion where the wine and scotch flowed.

"Heres to you and here's to me, the best of friends we'll always be, If you have a friend both good and true, stab her in the back before she stabs you. 

Another she was fond of was: Early to rise and early to bed, makes a girl healthy but socially dead. 

I think I was the healthy one and socially dead, but I learned how to be a little bit wild with her as my friend. 

So much for Tomfoolery. Don't know who Tom was, but I'm going to look him up on the internet where someone knows all and then I'll tell you.

Ciao

 

 

DEATH AND DISEASE

The Corona Virus is a scary disease, but there have been much worse. Flu epidemics were deadly and people of the early 1920's saw fit to wear masks, not quite like those we find today. But, in 1867 Yellow Fever killed 1/3 of the population of Texas, Louisiana and the Mississippi low country. No one knew at the time that mosquitoes carried the deadly virus. 

Many areas were prone to flooding at the time. Many houses were built on stilts to keep the flood waters at bay. In fact, even garbage cans were on stilts. To empty them, they could be tipped over and dumped and then moved back to level again. 

When Jim and I traveled in Louisiana and Mississippi, we saw many houses on stilts though at the time, I didn't realized how deadly and destructive some of the weather there could be. Nor did I realize that Texas was a hot bed for flooding diseases. We take for granted that waterways are very much controlled by ditches and dams. It was not always so.

I'm astounded at how much history we forget. And, when we forget, we are destined to repeat

CHEERS # II

The popular Cheers character, Norm Peterson, was known for his one-line zingers. It was a long running popular program that I enjoyed very much. I hope you did too. More remembrances.

SAM:  Beer Norm?

NORM:  Have I gotten that predictable?  Good!

SAM:  Whatcha up to Norm?

NORM:   My ideal weight if I were eleven feet tall.

WOODY:  How's it going Mr. Peterson?

NORM:  Poor.

WOODY:  I'm sorry to hear that.

NORM:  No, I mean pour.

SAM:  How's life treating you Norm?

NORM:  Like it caught me sleeping with its wife,

 SAM:  What's going down, Normie?

NORM:  My butt cheeks on that bar stool.

WOODY:  Pour you a beer Mr. Peterson? 

NORM:  Alright, but stop me at one...make that thirty one.

WOODY:  How's it going Mr. Peterson?

NORM:  It's a dog eat dog world, Woody, and I'm wearing milk bone underwear.

SAM:  What's the story Norm?

NORM:  Boy meets beer. Boy drinks beer. Boy meets another beer.

WOODY:  Can I pour you a beer Mr. Pertson?

NORM:  A little early isn't it Woody?

WOODY:  For a beer?

NORM:  No, for stupid questions.

And, so it goes. I'm sure there are many more. 

Exit stage right.......

 

 

 

 

CHEERS POPULAR TV PROGRAM

 Norman Peterson quotes from the Cheers show are very funny. Thought I'd repeat some of them here.

    Sam:  What's new Normie?

    Norm: Terrorists Sam. They've taken over my stomach & theyre demanding beer. 

    Sam: What'll you have Normie?

    Norm: A reason to live. Give me another beer. 

    Sam:  What'll you have Normie?

    Norm: I'm in a gambling mood Sammy. I'll take whatever comes out of that tap.  

    Sam: Looks like beer Norm.

    Norm:  Call me Mr. Lucky.

    SAM:  Hey Norm, hows the world been treating you.

    Norm:  Like a baby treats a diaper.

    Woody: Hey Mr. Peterson, there's a cold one waiting for you.

    Norm:   I know, if she calls I'm not here.

More Normie quotes later.