When I was growing up in Council Bluffs in the '50s and early '60s, my family and I attended mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, at the intersection of 6th Street and Fifth Avenue. It was right across 6th Street from the elementary school I attended, which was run by the nuns and priests serving St. Francis parish.
By the time I returned to Council Bluffs, both the church and the school were long gone. Now I attend mass on Sunday mornings at St. Peter's:
"A country church in the city..."
Shu's Bed-and-Breakfast Expands Operations
Not content to provide food and (occasionally) shelter to neighborhood kitties, I decided yesterday to do something similar for the songbirds that have been hanging around on my patio every morning, serenading me. I was able to find a nice feeder and some songbird feed at PetSmart, and by Saturday afternoon the newest addition to my Wildlife B&B was open for business...
Another satisfied customer...
"Sure, THEM you feed. Me, I have to forage for myself."
So learn how to sing, or quit complaining...
Seek, and Ye Shall Find the Darnedest Things
While I was searching (unsuccessfully) for a photo of the old St. Francis Xavier church, I stumbled across a photo of Beno's Department Store, on old Broadway here in Council Bluffs. It's long gone now, of course, but back in the day I used to go there every Christmas season to buy my mom her Wind Song perfume (to this day I can still remember their TV jingle) and my dad his Royall Bay Rhum after shave. Such wonderful memories...
At Last!
I was a sophomore in college in 1973 when the awesome Secretariat won horse racing's Triple Crown, the first time the feat had been accomplished in a quarter of a century. On June 11, 1977, just a week after I had become a widower at age 24, Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes to complete the Triple Crown. And the following spring, I had just completed my first year of teaching when Affirmed became the 11th Triple Crown winner but also the third in a six-year stretch of racing.
No one, of course, expected that rash of Triple Crown winners to continue, but no one thought it would be 37 years before we could crown the 12th horse to accomplish the feat. Congratulations, American Pharoah!
"Nice to see a fellow quadruped getting so much positive press."
I'm sure it is...even though you can't read a word of it...
Until Next Time...
Today's fine-arts send-off is from yet another soundtrack, this time by the remarkable David Newman. His score for Joss Whedon's film Serenity did a marvelous job of evoking just the right emotions at just the right moments in the film. The music is unobtrusive, yet still integral to the experience. Here is a suite of themes and motifs from a truly memorable score. Enjoy...
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