Because of You

If you think the world is chaotic now, check out a few of these events that occurred in the early 1970’s:

• After the invasion of Cambodia in 1970 there were massive demonstrations on college campuses, most tragically at Kent State University where members of the Ohio National Guard killed four students.
• An earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in Peru.
• Over 500,000 military personnel were fighting in the Viet Nam war. They had been fighting for many years, but the younger generation was tired of it and demanding peace. President Nixon ordered troops to be withdrawn, however it was short-lived because both sides were accused of violating the cease-fire agreement.
• 12,000 anti-war militants were arrested in Washington DC in one demonstration. Over the next several years demonstrations attracted more than 200,000 protestors in Washington, London and other European capital cities.

Maybe these events are why Carole King felt inspired to write this song:

You’ve Got a Friend

When you're down in troubles
And you need some love and care
And nothing, nothing is going right
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I'll come running to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you got to do is call
And I'll be there
Yes I will
You've got a friend

If the sky above you
Grows dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind begins to blow
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud
Soon you'll hear me knocking at your door

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I'll come running to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I'll be there
Ain't it good to know that you've got a friend

When people can be so cold
They'll hurt you and desert you
And take your soul if you let them
Oh, but don't you let them

You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I'll come running to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I'll be there
You've got a friend

One of my mother’s friends often lifts mom’s spirits by sending her cards, inspirational books as well as calling her. Today’s gift was to mail my mother’s friend a box of “Because of You” cards. Each card has a saying like:

• “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
• “May happiness touch your life today as warmly as you’ve touched the lives of others.” Rebecca Forsythe

Each card will be a reminder that because of her other people’s spirits are lifted.

In Giving,

Robin

How to be a Rock Star Astronaut

Top 10 things said by children at vacation bible school:

 

10. “I am going to rinse this off with my tongue.”

9. “Why do people use blue and yellow [paint] to make green? Why don’t they just use green paint?”

8. “If I was a shepherd I would use a sheep as a pillow.”

7. “We’re having a wedding. Sam, you can be the ring master.”

6. “Thank You, God, for polar bears. The Coca-Cola kind.”

5. “He’s my best friend. I’ve known him for years.” (5-year-old speaking)

4. “I’m going to be a rock star astronaut when I grow up!”

3. “Don’t press down the [paint] brush too hard or you’ll give it a bad hair day.”

2. Teacher: “Is it hard to get along and be kind to your brother and sisters all the time?”
Kid: “Yeah, because sometimes my brother is evil.”

1. “Dear God, thank You for all the animals that are boys, have horns, and that are dangerous! Amen.”

Reprinted from Lifeway.com

Today’s gift was a donation to the Wilderness Escape Vacation Bible School at the First Presbyterian Church in Klamath Falls. The kids will spend time pretending to live like Moses on a journey through the wilderness. They will also learn what it was like to live in an Israelite camp. Who knows maybe one of them will grow up to be a rock star astronaut.

In Giving,

Robin

No Big Hair

You may have experienced a time when you asked your stylist for the same haircut as she gave you last time, but instead ended up with a new “doo” that you didn’t expect.

That happened to me in 2001 when Tim and I were travelling the U.S. in a motorhome. I had a speech in San Antonio the following week and needed to have my hair colored. My hairdresser had given me the brand name and numbers of the color.

I called several shops and finally found a beautician who said she used the color I needed. She seemed confident . . . until she started mixing the color. I urged her to call my hair stylist to get clarification.

I had an inkling that this wasn’t going to go well. It normally takes a total of an hour and a half to cut, color, dry and style my hair. She had already taken that long and hadn’t even finished applying the color! When I saw the writing on the package, “golden blonde,” I started hyperventilating. If I told her to just stop, I’d have one half of my hair blonde and the other brown.

She kept applying color with the brush painting further and further down my forehead chasing one grey hair. I said, “Well, you could have pulled it out instead of giving me this big black streak down my face.” She laughed and said, “I guess it was a dumb blonde thing because I didn’t even think of that.”

She scrubbed my forehead with color remover, but it would not come off. I looked like Eddie Munster with a two-inch dark band around my hairline that came to a point in the middle of my forehead. You may be wondering how “golden blonde” could make my skin turn black. The actual color was more of a dirty brown with dark purple highlights. It kind of sounds like a bruise and looked like one, too.

When Tim saw me he fought the urge to say what he was thinking. I could see him searching his memory bank so he wouldn’t say something that had gotten him a chilly reception in the past. His measured and carefully chosen words were, “Remember, you told me this morning that it washes out over time.” Then he turned and ran out of the motor home. I’m not sure if he was afraid of my response or thought that I might throw something at him. Since then I have colored my own hair.

I wanted to save my sister, Terri, from suffering the same fate from a rogue stylist. Today’s gift was to send hair color, shampoo and conditioner to her. Maybe I should have warned her husband, Henry, not to laugh if Terri goes rogue and paints her forehead chasing a stray gray one.

In Giving,

Robin

Getting the Boot

Jerry Lewis made me laugh when I watched him on television shows like the Ed Sullivan Show. I never got to meet him, but my Aunt had a picture taken with him when she helped with the Muscular Dystrophy (MD) Telethon.

It all started in the early 1950’s when singer, Dean Martin, and comedian, Jerry Lewis, were the hottest act in show business. They were asked to co-host the very first four-hour MD telethon. Then in 1956 Jerry continued to host it alone.

On Labor Day weekend in 1966, the first official weekend long Jerry Lewis Telethon for muscular dystrophy took place. It raised just over one million dollars.

Over the years, Jerry Lewis's annual Labor Day telethons raised more than 2 billion dollars in donations to fight MD. The biggest single donations have come from the Firefighters Association, who have given more than $250,000.

Many of the biggest celebrities in show business have either hosted or appeared on the MD telethons over the years, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and three of the Beatles, ultra-reclusive Joe DiMaggio and even U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

But the all-time highlight in telethon history was the reunion of Jerry Lewis with his former partner Dean Martin in 1976, staged by their mutual friend Frank Sinatra. It was an incredible moment in television history, being Martin and Lewis' first public appearance together in 20 years. The two tearfully hugged, kidded around, cracked a few one-liners and sang.

Many people wonder why Lewis was so committed to the telethon until 2011. Although no one knows the exact reason, some believe that a childhood illness may have inspired him. As a two year old he developed a strange and potentially crippling disease. His grandmother, although a very strict Jew, cooked him bacon and "crammed it into his mouth" to help fight off the impending sickness. The memory of a debilitating disease may have had at an impact on his dedicated fight against muscular dystrophy.

Firemen continue the tradition of supporting MD by standing in traffic with a boot to collect money. Today’s gift was a donation to help give muscular dystrophy the boot.

In Giving,
Robin

Learning to Record Video Bloopers

Recently, I’ve learned a lot about filming video. I converted one of our bedrooms to a studio with a green screen like weather reporters use on television. I also communicate with people through the camera on my computer with web-based programs like Skype.

The online class I teach uses Webex. This program allows everyone to be on video, audio through their computer or on the telephone. It allows me to use PowerPoint slides and even monitor if the students are paying attention. If they click on another screen, for example to look at their email, it flashes a red circle to alert me. Then I can call on them by name and ask them a question. I can tell more about whether they are paying attention online than in class!

Video has made communicating more fun. When people are live on video, there is much greater potential for bloopers. Ellen DeGeneres narrowed down her top five favorite web videos of 2013:

http://www.ellentv.com/2014/01/10/ellens-top-5-web-videos-of-2013/

At the Klamath Falls Children’s Museum kids can play in a sound and multi-media exhibit. Today’s gift was a donation the Children’s Museum so they can continue to help children learn how to make their own multimedia productions. One day these kids may be lucky enough to have their video or blooper clip appear on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

In Giving,

Robin

Man Versus Smoke Alarm

“Your battery is deader than a doornail,” West Virginian’s say when there is no chance of any power remaining in a battery. The phrase originated from carpentry. If you hammer a nail through a piece of timber and flatten the end so it can’t be removed again, the nail is said to be dead. Doornails would have been given extra strength, before screws were available, by flattening the end.

Some batteries have just enough power remaining to let me know it is time to replace them. You know the ones—smoke alarms. The incessant beep that makes me act like a crazy person. Of course, it almost always happens in the wee hours of the morning.

My neighbor was suffering from seasonal allergies and having difficulty sleeping. He finally dozed off and the unmistakable, “Beep, beep, beep” woke him up. He kept trying to doze off and finally gave up, went to the garage, carried the ladder in the house and took the battery out of the smoke alarm.

He laid back down and, “Beep, beep, beep!” He got up again, stood in the hallway to pinpoint the location of the noise. He moved the ladder further down the hallway. This time he removed the entire smoke detector from the ceiling. He carried it into the garage and smashed it to smithereens with a hammer. Then, he felt better.

He lay back down and was just dozing off, “Beep, beep, beep!” He had smashed the wrong smoke alarm! He moved the ladder into the living room and when he got to the top of ladder he heard the unmistakable beep.

Who would think one little battery could cause so much angst? Thank goodness last week our smoke alarm battery started beeping before we went to bed in the evening. The next day the batteries died in my video camera microphone, CD Walkman, thermostat on the air conditioning and WII exercise board. After replacing them I had a lot of dead batteries. I didn’t want to throw them in the trash to release toxic chemicals into the landfill.

Today’s gift was to take my used batteries to the recycle facility. Man may never win the war against the beep of his smoke alarm batteries, but at least he can make a difference by not polluting the landfills with them.

In Giving,

Robin

The Dreaded Dadaw

Greeting cards seem to be a casualty of the digital online world. Instead of receiving Christmas or birthday cards, my friends are sending greetings on social media. I still like to open a piece of mail, however, with a handwritten envelope, especially when I recognize it being from a loved one.

Tim’s father almost always made sure to send a card before the holiday. We were never sure if we would get a sympathy card on our birthday or a “sorry you lost your pet” on Christmas. He would make the effort to cross through the incorrect greeting and write on it, “Happy Birthday” or “Merry Christmas.” And some times it was even a re-gifted card that someone had sent him that he reused. I think he knew that we would get a laugh out of it, so he continued the tradition. We missed that this last Christmas.

A memorable greeting card story was one year when we were vacationing with Tim’s sister and her husband. We had purchased birthday cards to be sure we got them in the mail on time for his dad’s birthday. Tim carefully crafted the note on a piece of paper that he would write inside the card. Sitting by the pool, he transcribed the heartfelt message inside the card. And then the unthinkable happened—he misspelled a word! He screamed, “Dad—aw man, I made a mistake.” From that day forward anytime we make a mistake with an ink pen it is called a “dadaw.”

I keep my favorite birthday and Christmas cards. When I clean out the closet, I save the handwritten note and put the card into the recycle bin. Until today . . .

I discovered that St. Jude’s Ranch for Children in Nevada recycles used greeting cards. The children at the ranch make the new “green” cards by removing the front and attaching a new back. The result is a beautiful new card. The recycled cards are sold to support their programs and services for abused, neglected and homeless children, young adults and families. The children at St. Jude’s Ranch receive payment for their work, learn basic job skills and the importance of recycling.

Today’s gift was to mail my greeting cards to St. Judes. So, now it doesn’t matter if I made a dadaw or not, because it can still be refurbished and reused by St. Judes.

In Giving,
Robin