SEWING NEEDLE?

I went to Google and looked at 200 pictures of sewing needles.  I was told that Google had found 7,300,000 results for my "sewing needle" search in .035 of a second.  All the results were a variation of this.  Now, let your mind run free for a moment and see if you can generate 7,300,000 variations on the theme that you see on the right.  Ha!  Good luck.

Actually I wasn't looking for that at all.  I wanted to give you an idea of what I and my friends called a "sewing needle" as we were growing up.  We thought that they were dangeous and that they could sew our ears back to our head.  Some kids even said that they could sew your lips shut if you sassed your parents.  That didn't worry me because I did not sass my parents.  If I had, I would not be alive to tell you that I did not do it.  Also, I know that the people I played with did not do that.  I didn't meet any young boy who did have that kind of personality until I was about 15.  I witnessed it on the baseball field.  I was sure that we would have blood all over the field, but the father of the boy just walked away.  WOW!  Was I ever shocked.  When I got home and told the story to my parents, all they said was that someday I would be glad that I did not hang around with people like that on a regular basis.  As usual, they were right.  But, back to the sewing needles.

Oh, look!  Here's one

You knew that this is what you were going to see.  If you are of a certain age and you grew up in a more or less suburban area with some open space, you grew if with these.  If you did any amount of pond or lake fishing, you would see many of them hovering just over the surface of the water not too far from the shore.  If you ever called them "sewing needles", you probably haven't given it too much thought these days.  You have no doubt graduated to the more sophisticated indentifier, "dragonfly."  The one pictured above is scientifically called Libellula vulgatissima. 

This is Latin for "Very popular little book."  Where did they get that one?

Anyway, you got a little peep into some of my boyhood fantasies and fairie tales.  You also get the message that though I have grown older, I really haven't grown up.  I like it that way.  I can have fun any time I want to just by remembering.  Try it some time, you'll like it.  Remember that I suggested it.  It will make you so happy that you will not be tempted to cry at my funeral.  
  .

WINTER FUN AT NIGHT

I WISH THIS WERE THE REAL VIEW THAT WE HAD
FROM OUR BEDROOM WINDOW

The picture is but a poor approximation of the view that we had from our bedroom window during snowstorms.  Needless to say, we had no digital cameras then and no television and at the time when we had the greatest fun peering out the window into the snowy world was before we were permitted to have a radio in our bedroom.  So of course, Winter was our greatest opportunity for free entertainment.
Let me say that we were not artists appreciating the wintry beauty as created by God Himself.  We were looking down at the slippery T intersection.  We spent many hours waiting and actively anticipating the slipping and sliding of automobiles that hit the right turn too fast and would skid and fish-tail their way down the intended road rather than to run into our house.  Oh, the times we had leaning on the window sills, quietly staring and whispering in a conspiratorial way about what our wager was that the next vehicle would do.  Sometimes, it would begin to snow after we had gone to bed.  If we noticed it, we would wake one another to spend time by the window.  It was the best way to enjoy the view and to enjoy one another quietly without drawing the wrath of our parents. I don't know about my brother, but I think of this a lot.  
I especially think about it when I get email PowerPoint shows with the ten commandments of how to grow old gracefully, how to protect yourself from Alzheimer's, how to keep your blood pressure low and a myriad of others that simply cause me to hit the "delete" button and start the day dream about our night "show" and the warm personal companionship in which we enjoyed it.  Those were simple times.  Those were innocent times.  Those were times that, believe it or not, formed our relationship for the rest of our lives.  I think, even more than the times after we were permitted to have a radio.  They were good times especially when we were awaiting Christmas.  If if began to snow and we could play our little game, we wouldn't wear ourselves out emotionally about what Christmas would bring.
I am not wishing for the gold old times.  I am enjoying the 21st century too much.  I must say that our present situation does have its negative aspects.  But then again, so did the past.  Those of us who were there can attest to that. 
The most important thing that these moments gave is the work of the grace of God, filling us with mutual fraternal love, then and now and forever.