Your Two Chums ran some errands together yesterday, which resulted in a good amount of car time and opportunity just to talk and catch up on so many, many things going on. We started fairly early and then in the afternoon stopped to have lunch, and covered in conversation an array of other topics which covered subjects like our current projects, the holidays, our children and grand children, as well as things as broad as the concerns of the state of our world. There wasn’t much we didn’t touch on in our lengthy conversation. But what stuck out and what all of it boiled down to, what we kept coming back to again and again was the need to just be more loving in everything we do. We agreed it was a message we all need to hear and hoped we would be reminded of often.
As the Christmas song reminds us “This is the happiest time of the year.” And in general that is so very true for most people, even those who don’t celebrate Christmas. There is a spirit of joy that is present and can be felt by even the most sour Scrooge.
As we are in the midst of this holiday season we have come by some very wise and encouraging words from Israeli poet and songwriter, Natan Yonaton, we wanted to share with you today.
Oh yes, this glorious week of Thanksgiving! What a very blessed time it is for all of us. Everyone celebrates it and we can all join together in gratitude!
As we head into Thanksgiving it is always good to be reminded of those things we can give thanks for in our lives. We have a universal one to share today.
We all want our children and grandchildren to do well in school. But they may need some encouragement when they don’t. If they don’t do well on their next math test, we may need to take a second to understand that math may not be their strong suit in life or their interest, and remember what it is they are really interested in and what they may be really good at doing when they grow up.
If you’ve been alive for more than, say a couple of years, you’ve no doubt experienced some pain, sadness, and disappointment. Those things are unavoidable in this life. They are not, as they say, optional. Painful circumstances are never our choice. But what we do with them is.
As a woman, isn’t being thought of as beautiful something we all long for at one time or another? But what sort of beauty are we hoping to achieve? The physical kind? Yes. But what about a deeper more lasting and permanent kind of beauty?
As we’ve noted before there are a lot of angry, unkind things being said on social media and the news media alike from people who have strong and definite opinions on any numbers of current issues. We can all get carried away sometimes when discussing things we feel passionate about, with someone who sees things differently than we do. We recently came across a quote, from attorney, writer and philanthropist Bob Goff, that is such a good reminder for us all we wanted to share it with you, our chums.
As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg.
So many stories that pop up on social media sites are about bad news or of a controversial nature so when we see one that is a truly positive story, one that is about good news, we want to pass it on. This one is about a truly kind, good guy.
Babe Ruth about to swipe at a huge ball in 1927. Photo: Getty Images
The son of a saloon owner in a seedy section of Baltimore, as we mentioned yesterday, Ruth was sent to the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys at age 7 to keep him out of trouble.
He developed his formidable baseball skills at St. Mary’s, playing upwards of 200 games per year between classes, but the no-nonsense Catholic monks in charge required each boarder to learn a useful vocation. And we bet you cannot guess what Babe’s “useful vocation” was!
If you are a baseball fan or live in a house with one, you know that this time of year is really important in the baseball world and you also know that Babe Ruth is a household name!
Mary had a little lamb Little lamb, little lamb Mary had a little lamb Its fleece was white as snow
Poet Sarah Josepha Hale first published a version of this poem in 1830. Around 50 years later, an elderly woman named Mary Sawyer stepped forward as the real Mary.
Your Two Chums tend to love history and, for this reason, we are sharing this recounting of Elizabeth I, the child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.
It is a rather long recounting but well worth the read!
If you are a regular here at Two Chums, you will recognize that this week’s posts have been about pushing on, not giving up, or as in the case of yesterday’s post, tuning a blind eye to be able to continue when proverbial wisdom would say to quit. Today’s post is another word of encouragement along those same lines.
Twenty years ago Saturday, on September 11th, 2001 this man changed the course of history. With his act of courage and bravery he lost his own life in the process of saving countless others.
We could not let this day go by without acknowledging and honoring those 13, who in service to their country and their follow man, yesterday gave their last full measure of devotion…they gave their very lives.
To them and to their grieving families we say a very insufficient “Thank you for your service”. We honor you. Rest well. You are not forgotten.
When you look up into the sky, you may see one or two stars, maybe no stars. But you KNOW they are there so you keep looking and the more you look, the more you see.
Have you ever stopped to realize that there are so many things all around us that we so easily take for granted? But even the ordinary, the everyday things, can be extraordinary. It’s in the details.
Its nearly the weekend. We thought maybe you could use a good chuckle. Here’s what can happen when someone takes your instructions a little too literally!
We all face challenges. No one who has ever walked on this earth has escaped them. Challenges aren’t a question, they are a certainty. We came across a wonderful reminder regarding those life challenges we wanted to share with our chums to start your week.
At midday on July 10, 1040, Lady Godiva famously rode on a horse naked to protest the crushing taxes levied by her husband on the peasants of Coventry, England.
We came across some wise words that are good to remember whether you are celebrating the legal holiday for Independence Day or just see today as Monday. This message is good all day every day.
The popular image of Josephine Baker is of a daring entertainer, one who often shocked audiences by defying all the conventions of the day. But behind the tabloid fodder of her dramatic stage performances and glamorous lifestyle — including a pet cheetah — there was a complex woman who many of her fans never saw.
On this day in 1953,Queen Elizabeth II was formally crowned monarch of the United Kingdom in a lavish ceremony steeped in traditions that date back a millennium.
The freedoms large and small we all sometimes so casually enjoy, were bought with a price…the highest price of all. Remember those who paid it and honor them by being the best citizen and neighbor you can be. That is the least we can do to show our gratitude for their sacrifice.
On this day back in 1907, Marion Michael Morrison, an actor who came to epitomize the American West, was born in Winterset, Iowa. But this was not the name we know him by.
Tomorrow will mark one year since the dreadful death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the protests that followed that involved rioting, looting, destruction, and ultimately even more deaths. Add to that the growing tension over what the right way to express pain and outrage should be. We have all witnessed arguments that have sprung up in communities, between neighbors and within families over whether to say “Black Lives Matter”, “Blue Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter”. So when we came across this message at a middle school in a racial mixed neighborhood, it had a very stunning effect.
Yes, Today IS Cinco de Mayo but we are feeling that there is not too much that we could write that you, our readers, do not already know. Suffice to say that we wish you a happy Cinco de Mayo and hope that you celebrate well!
This photo was reprinted in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar. It was originally seen in the April 1964 issue of Bazaar, along with some wonderful info about the fashionable Audrey Hepburn.
Today happens to be the 95th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Somehow saying “Happy Birthday” to someone, who has, only days ago, lost her husband of 73 years, just doesn’t seem quite correct.
Since his passing last Friday, there has been an outpouring of expressions of respect and admiration for Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. One might expect as much for someone who, for so many, many years, has been in the public eye. During his years of service he took on more than 22,000 solo engagements, 637 official overseas trips, gave approximately 5,493 speeches and worked as patron to some 800 organizations. That is action.
But amongst those who gave the expected tributes, there were many that truly spoke to the character and heart of the man, and not just his accomplishments.
An old chum posted this info about the 23rd Psalm on social media and we found it so interesting and enlightening that we simply had to share it with you 🙂
At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, walked through the park in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll.
“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.”
“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”
Max Eastman
“Dogs laugh, but they laugh with their tails.”
Richard Pryor
“There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at.”
Anthony Burgess
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.”
Jay Leno
“You cannot be mad at somebody who makes you laugh – it’s as simple as that.”
Doesn’t matter who you are, it is always important to be able to laugh at yourself when you accidentally do something funny or if someone catches you in an unintended funny pose while taking a photo. This photo is an example of that. We have another one to share as well. It too is a doozy!