"A NUMBER OF THINGS"

(I'm told that Elaine may be coming home this weekend.  I can't wait!)

Robert Louis Stevenson in his Child's Garden of Verses wrote:

"The world is so full of a number of things,

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."

And Patrick Dennis quoted Auntie Mame:

"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death."

L'CHIAM!

In my Toastmasters life I gave many toasts, especially at weddings.  I ordered couples to enjoy this great life together.  I wonder how many took me up on that and are still married?

1.  Noontime Musings

I ate my ham salad lunch at our kitchen window and watched the outdoor thermometer rise from 40 degrees to 60 degrees.  Strange weather.

The violent storms that we were supposed to experience didn't show up. Or else they may have occurred Camelot-like in the night.

As I ate, I listened to another musical selection provided me by the BBC.

2.  Soothing Music

My musical selection was by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869).  L'enfance du Christ (Christ's Infancy) was written in three parts in 1854. I listened to Part 1 and 2 this noon.

Even if you are not a Christian it can be enjoyed, especially the section in Part 2 La fuite en Egypte (The Flight into Egypt) that is called L'adieu des bergers (The Shepherds' Farewell.)

This section is only 4 minutes long but is some of the most beautiful music ever composed. (IMHO)

I'm sure you have heard it many times. 

The BBC writes:  "If ever Berlioz can be said to have achieved glowing perfection in his music, then it is surely contained here in this one priceless miniature,"

3.  The Con is On

Lately I've been watching TV on Elaine's set. One of the shows is a NETFLIX production called Inventing Anna. It is a series and so far the protagonist has conned a fashion designer, a boy friend, a very rich lady and her rich friends.  But - they still like or love her.

Who is this Anna?  Is she Russian? German? American?  Brit?  Is she a millionaire? A pauper? Does she have a billionaire father?  Is she an orphan?  Is she really 25 years old? Does she really speak 7 languages? Is her accent affected?  Or -- does she come from Ohio?

Lots of fun to watch.

4.  Uncle Gets His Due

Albert Einstein: "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the Income Tax."

My wonderful daughter, Diane finished my tax returns, and (as I've said before) because of Trump's Tax Relief for Billionaires efforts, I owe a bundle again. I'm having to use money I saved for retirement to cover the debt, and of course, I will have to pay taxes on those amounts again.  

But I hope that my money will help in some way the suffering people in The Ukraine.

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