Human Beings and Thoughts About Talent

 

Writing always makes me drift away into some great place that has intrigued my mind. Writing fiction can be captivating and fun. The places one can travel in your own mind are and incredible journey and a gift. I guess it takes some effort for most of us to put down on paper what we truly think about. I often wonder about the author of Fifty Shades of Gray, E.L. James and what goes on in her mind or even the great Steven King and all of his collection of stories. I guess those of us who write just have some crazy thoughts.

I like thinking about abstract worlds and the characters that live or visit these places. I love to have people fall into large bottomless pits but yet still manage to survive the incident somehow and unscathed. The creative mind at its finest shows us what humans can do to entertain ourselves. Have you ever wondered why we do all these things, the creative things I mean? It is all just entertainment.

 

 

Humans get bored. As a child I often found myself saying I am bored only to be told to go and find something to do. Something to entertain myself. Often I found myself playing imaginary games in imaginary worlds doing incredible feats of super power magic. I would be Super Girl or Wonder Woman and it was let the games begin. For hours Barbie would be a dear companion and her host of many friends would stop by for parties and for other sorted activities. So I was entertained.

We do all of these things to keep ourselves busy. We have jobs to pay for these opportunities of entertainment. I find it odd how we have created a society based on the desire for entertainment. Now entertainment for some is different than for others but we still must be entertained somehow. For some people it is the making of money that drives them and it can be found as entertaining. For others entertainment is not the accusation of an asset but just the opposite, the spending of the accusation. I am not sure where this puts me other than directly in the middle as I love to make money to spend money so that I am entertained. Although if we go back to the beginning of this essay it looks like I can entertain myself pretty well in my own head and then shared it.

 

 

As we grow as a society we have learned that we have something unique about us. Whether it is a musical talent, writing, cooking, animal whisperer, mechanic, financial advisor, CEO and on and on, we see things that we do not so much as jobs or careers but as a talent. Look at the great of this world, Mozart for a big example, very talented musically, now today we can say that Warren Buffet is talented for his money skills. See what I am getting at?

 

It is about following your heart and desires in life. I wish we had more of a Star Trek society where money was gone and we focused on talent, but that will not be any time soon in our near future. For now, we must earn a living and work on our talents. Do not forget to bush up those post-apocalyptic skills that most of our younger generation do not have…sewing, cooking, knitting, whittling and so on. Those disappearing talents that not so long ago kept people alive. Those things that we all learned to survive.

So what goes on in the creative mind of the human race? Drift away in your own thoughts and let the talents shine through.

 

 

1.

My Retort to the Slaying of My Opinion on FB

 

As I sit here trying to think of today’s topic for discussion I drift back to a comment I made on a Facebook post. I made this statement in my usual open ended way and then was attacked from all sides. I believe that we are all individuals with the rights to choose and that includes our children. I also believe that we need to look at both sides to understand and the following is something I feel has left out more than a great deal from the other side.

 

 

I never speak about religion on this blog. Why? Well I just do not want to cause that much controversy. But I suppose I have opened the door and this one time I will speak to defend my position. On Saturday just past I was scrolling Facebook and came across a post from The Witch’s Voice, a page that posts about usually up beat and rather positive pagan information including articles about alternative religion. The post about Satanic Clubs greared towards children and that the USA maybe allowing these types of clubs to open for after school care. I just about shit my pants. As the headline read “An After School Satanic Club Could Be Coming to Your Kid’s Elementary School” my comment read “This is not okay…..”. This opened the door for a lot of BS from some very vocal folks defending this poor choice. To the average individual who truly understands religion and that there is both the good and the ugly taught and that we work with both sides it seems a no brainer. But there are some of us out there that think this is a good idea. I am not saying that the people that choose to believe in such a one-sided portion of a religion do not love their children and want only the best for them I am saying however that this approach to teaching a negative and destructive lifestyle that can be consuming as a cult and delivers such a dark message should be at best left to the choices of an adult to join or not to join.

 

 

No I just stated my opinion on the FB post and was name called for having an opinion. By-the-way I did read the article and not only did I read it once but read it several time to make sure I have the information correct. I am not saying to take away anyone’s rights I am saying that it is not okay in this day and age when we are trying to open the doors of love and respect to preach from such a one-sided opinion and that the opinion of the Christian Devil. Remember the angel Lucifer was abolished from Heaven for only loving God and not loving any of God’s children etc. Well that is how I view this branch cult of the Christian religion. This is my opinion and everyone is allowed to have one!!! So when I say something in my opinion is not right than it is just my right to voice what I feel and think. I did not trash anyone for their poor response or the fat that I was name called and I am not going to that but I do feel that people with these types of thoughts should delve deeper, ask the questions as to why I would think this way, open a discussion. The mind should be open and allow for an opportunity to give thoughts and feelings to other’s and to listen to those of others. Not to be trashed and put down because you have miss understood what I was trying to do and what my thoughts and feelings were about this issue.

I believe in freedom of choice and that includes the education of religion. Children needs to be given the opportunity to choose what they believe and be allowed to follow their own paths to the place where their thoughts and feelings meet and make sense. It is not about shoving religion into their lives and forcing them to go to an after school program based solely on a negative culture that supports a selfish behaviour. I know, I know here comes the back lash. It is about the freedom of choice and yes parents are there to make choices for their children until the child is old enough to make their own decisions but for the sake of all that is alive in this world be real and open up the mind and see….inappropriate….

 

Here is the link to the page The Witches' Voice, Inc. shared a link.

I have stopped following them.

To the FB posters....

It is not making a joke of anything.

I am not anti-anything that is an appropriate choice for the greater good of all.

I am not like any generalized visions you have and you are very mistaken.

It is you who have be greatly mistaken and jumped to the wrong conclusions. Good luck and Blessed Be.

 

 

   

1.

Being More than Perfect

 

 

I am the world’s worst grammar and spelling Nazi. I often post blogs with spelling and grammatical errors and then never go back and fix them. I hunt down errors in other’s work and point them out for correction but rarely ever do this for myself. I am not sure if it is because I am finding it in the work of other and I do not find the time for my own work or that I just do not care that much. I think I care far too much and for that I pay a price.

I know that when you correct someone on the internet it is not always well received. It is hard to infer inflections in voice tone through a comment on a post so sometimes I am miss understood and feel that I have upset someone. This is not the best method of communication for this purpose sometimes. I have been ignored and shouted at via comment on several occasions over a simple correction. I have been abused through words from other and as never my intention to insult has apparently been miss read. I only ever meant to help. I often wish someone would kindly help me if I make a mistake and did not notice.

 

So what is this focus on perfection? I mean there is good and there is awful and there is downright wrong but what is the focus on perfection. And what is perfection? I wrote an article a while ago about the over use of the word perfect and spoke of how people were saying it in context to something that cannot ever be perfect, specifically people or and action. So I get it when we want spelling and grammar to be perfect and I try to attain that but I often see in my life and in daily interactions with other that there is no such thing and perfect and that this idealization of the perfection in magazines and other forms of media is unattainable and absolutely viscous. I certainly could never cook that meal the way it looks on the cover of Chatalene as it has been done by a food dresser, yes a food dresser, so it looks perfect in fact often the food is raw when photographed and just made to look great to sell. Oh there I said it to sell. Yes, that is right sex sell. So I guess even food can be sexy…..what about spelling and grammar? Can that be sexy too? I want to sell good grammar and spelling to the world so that I can communicate better and understand more. I do not think I need it to be sexy to sell to me but maybe the world needs it that way?

 

 

So why is it that we do not care if we make mistake? I get the feeling that some of us out there are in the “That is good enough” category and just give up on trying and amassing that go nowhere attitude of “who cares”. Well I am here to tell you I care. I care about this world and what we leave behind as our legacy. I am appalled at many, many, many things that go on in the world but for some small reason I care. It makes me feel good to care although frustration is involved sometimes I still care. I just wish more people would care. It is such a crying shame that this has become a world of self-righteous individuals who believe they are entitled and that what they do to another person means nothing. It is no wonder our jails are over flowing (oh I better not go there, that is another subject all together). I mean there are people out there that think their actions have absolutely no repercussions on the rest of the world or ever the small corner they stand in.

So how do we stand to use a statement of “perfect” when we cannot even pick up our own trash? We are flawed in almost every way possible we make mistakes and we are able to learn from most of them on an individual basis but why not on a human basis? I find it sad that we cannot be less industrious and just a little kinder to our planet that supports us. I see we treat our most precious resource, the earth, with as little respect as we have for our own spelling and grammar.

 

I hope there were not too many mistakes in this piece as I feel I might just ignore them...

 

 

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Illness and It's Cures or Are They?

I love to write and complain sometimes but today is different. The world seems a little different itself. How I have not put my finger on but it is different. The grass is green and the dandelions have died back for a couple of weeks and the vegetable garden is planted and we are having a heat wave. It could be the weather but something is different.

 

I have had the awful cold for the last week and it has knocked me down and taken a toll for the worse and maybe today I just feel a little better or maybe just this moment I am not sure. But since I am on the topic of health here is a thought…just how many of us have been sick during this hot weather? It was unheard of to be sick in the heat when I was a child. It seems we did not get cold enough over the winter just past to help control the viruses or is that just a myth too?

There are so many myths surrounding health it is hard to know what is the truth and what is fiction. I personally like the one about tying onions to the feet of a person with a cold and it will draw out the infection and virus. Yes….I said it out loud tie an onion slice to the feet of an ill person the bottom of thee feet by the way. I can tell you one thing about onions they do seem to draw dirt and germs to them for some reason or another but to cure a cold seems just too far-fetched for me.

 

Here is a gross and very dangerous one. Feeding Tape Worms to someone to lose weight and clean the intestine. Obviously the worms grow in the intestines and absorb the food nutrients. How gross is that??? This is something I would never do or even recommend…..yuck!!!

So to cure a nose bleed it was suggested to drink whey and eat raisins. I am not sure what the logic behind this as it was not explained but it sounds kind of hokey to me. What does a raisin have to do with our noses???

Here is a personal favorite, to cure gout in the hand put a raw lean beef steak on it and change it every twelve hours until cured. Wow that is an expensive cure too bad the meat is not eatable afterwards!!!

How about bloodletting to drain an illness from the body. Just makes one weak and more ill as far as I am concerned. Good thing these practices are archaic and not used any more. We have come a long way with medical treatments and knowledge. Thank goodness….

I am sure the list goes on and on over crazy cures for illness. We had a neighbour who believed himself a healer of some sort and often practiced crazy folk lore medicine in his home. Nothing ever worked and they always wound up at the doctor’s office sicker than sick. Personal choice of course but to what end? We have such great medical knowledge now a days that we have no excuse for being silly. I mean come on onions on the feet….I cannot stop laughing!!!

That brings me to my thought on prevention of illness. We must remember that not everything is preventable and not everything is curable either. We are humans and we are fallible so why is it that we are still not immunizing our children??? I have read articles and listened to media reports and heard the schools talk about it too and how important it is to do this for the health of our children. And for the health of others that have medical reasons to not have immunizations because they may be life threatening. If you have not heard there is new research that has come out claiming that it is not the immunizations that are causing Autism it could be the over use of folic acid and B12 supplements that are having an adverse effect on the developing fetus. That is yet to be determined and studied in depth of course. http://www.ibtimes.com/what-causes-autism-new-study-links-folic-acid-mysterious-syndrome-affecting-child-2367590

But never mind my side ways rant, today is still a good day and tomorrow will be a good day too. The grass is still green and although I feel like hell the world still looks pretty good from where I am standing.

 

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Plastic and the Human Race.....Oil No Longer Black Gold But Toxic Disatster

 

Oh hum…..I could say I am bored but that would be incorrect. I could say I am frustrated and that would be closer to the truth. Or I could just say that I have once again had it with the human race and think we are all horrible nasty creatures that no longer deserve the beautiful planet that we have been given. How is that for an opener????

Lately I have been feeling tragic and not quite myself. I look around and see the problem of obesity and other illness and it make me angry at the human race. I listen to the news and hear that the war in the middle east had taken the life of another child, mother or group of you people and it makes me want to scream. I look at my neighbours and see the misunderstanding of the simplest things in life and then I hear the news a gain and see an oil spill and wonder when mankind is going to wake up and know what they are doing???

 

Our planet is alive and we are just an organism that is part of a greater life. But when you look at what we have done to what sustains human life you can call us the cancer of the planet Earth. From just a few decades ago, even thinking back to when I was a child, we have ravaged and destroyed our planet and for what???? Money???? Something man invented and holds more dear than life itself. How sad this makes me to know that it matters not at all to some people that our planet is being murdered. And the sickest thing of all….it is being murdered by them….

Now I am sure you are saying by this point what the hell and who does she think she is??? Well I do not think I am anybody as for a matter of fact I am less than anybody as no one knows my name and no takes me seriously so I am okay with that but what I am not okay with is the justification of destruction by the human race. We cannot ever get along with ourselves and we now have people specially trained to train others to be human at heart. I guess these people have forgotten to teach to be human at heart is to care about everything not just others. Everything includes animals, plants, the oceans and lakes not just ourselves in a toxic cess pool that we have created for ourselves and our children to live in and grow in as functional humans. Ever thought that we are dysfunctional for a reason??? How about this remove the humans and let the planet live. It did so very well for millions of years without the likes of us so what would change? We would simply vanish and any signs of us would grow over with greenery and flowers and the animals would live in the harmony they once had and the planet would survive.

Maybe this is all a really bad experiment gone wrong. I would hate to be the child with that science mark.

 

Clean it up people and stop buying plastic. Find other resources such as glass, waxed paper, or wooden products. We have exceeded our planet’s ability to renew the natural resources that we extract from it every year. What if someone did that to you??? How would you react??? What if you could not defend yourself???

 

1.

Being Stared At

 

The birds and the bees come out to play and so do the stares from people. I was in the bank today, yes I still go into the bank to do the odd transaction, think of me what you will I like to see a face when I am banking it is more personal. Anyways, I am being stared down by a woman twice my size and about four inches taller than I am. If you do not know me I am not very tall. This was intimidating and all I could do was to think in my head “what do you want?”

 

So I finfish my duties in the bank and leave the woman is at the teller and I still feel her eyes on me. So I turned and in my darkened aviators stared her down as I walked backwards out of the bank’s door. My final coop-de-gras was to salute her and smile, turn and walk to my truck. This entire scene, in my eyes, was completely uncalled for behaviour. Why would this person feel they needed to stare so long I became uncomfortable and then cocky?

I suppose it is human nature and I suppose we all at some time or another do things to make others uncomfortable. I mean I am sure I have had my fair share of foot in mouth disease from time-to-time. But I try to watch what I say and do. Although I have been known to be John Lennon type and dance down the street with my daughters in tow laughing our faces off and creating a scene that way. That is the most awesome thing ever. People have no idea how to react to people having clean, appropriate fun. I can’t wait to do that again with them. I cannot wait to see the reactions.

Dramatic or not behaviour is important and it is something most of us are taught to control. We have laws that govern our behaviour and consequences for breaking those laws and expectations that we follow as well. So why in all do we still stare at others??? Who knows it could be anything from the beautiful to the downright grotesque or even the odd or maimed. We stare for so many reasons to try and understand what we are seeing. I suppose it takes some of us longer to process the beauty or the ugly or the private and personal that we keep looking even to the point of rudeness. And that is the way I felt in the bank today that the woman was being rude. Who really knows as I did not have any desire to start a conversation with her and find out why she was doing what she was doing. This is where I may have become rude and said something I may have regretted. But I also have a big mouth at time and that is why you read this blog because I say things that some of us think and do not want to say.

I remember growing up and being taught not to stare at people and to keep my eyes on my own business. Sometimes I wonder if that message might get misconstrued somehow and instead of the little meaning it may have, about politeness, it gets blown into something big, like turn a blind eye when you witness a crime, do not get involved when you see something that maybe injurious to another or even turn a blind eye when someone may need help such as opening a door, reaching a product on a shelf, or carrying groceries in for an elderly neighbour. So is this a good think or a wrong thing? I am not so very sure in either direction. What I do know is that I was uncomfortable today by being stared at and let her know with my body language on the way out the door. But staring can be okay if it helps someone and you can do something about the situation. If not leave it alone there is probably nothing wrong to begin with.

By the way, I get stared at all the time!!!!! LOL!!!!!

 

Images as always courtesy of Google Images.

1.

Eyesore Properties

 

 

As I sit at my desk and look out the window at the burgeoning spring around me I think to myself that the grass could be greener somewhere else…..and then I look at my neighbours yard. My heart drops and my smile fades as I see the mess and disaster of the back yard with toys spread everywhere and unkempt garden that produces prolific weeds that travel into our gardens, grass that already needs cutting and dog matter everywhere. My thought turn to black and I am discussed.

 

Now please, not the we are the cleanest people in the world but there is a standard of house proud we like to maintain and respect for our neighbours by keeping the property neat and tidy. So I find it astounding how lazy or incapable some people are when it comes to taking care of the property they own. I know you are saying in your head she is generalizing and not everyone can take care because of illness or physical limitations. I am not including folks with ability issues or other striking life components that stop them from being physically active. I am talking about the generally healthy individual who is just down right lazy. There I said it…that is right some people are down-right lazy!!!

My husband and I work very hard to be in care of our property and the home that we have bought. We are proud of our accomplishments and wish for that to be the best it can be and not deteriorate. We clean the gardens in the spring, the leaves in the fall, the snow in the winter, the bird droppings in the summer. You get the idea, but what we are is house proud and yes at time somewhat fanatical. That usually plays in when the veggies start to grow and I do not want little hands pulling things out of the garden or balls being thrown without thought of direction or loss thereof and collision with the tender growth and the ensuing breakage. But yes still w2e are thoughtful of how our house looks to others.

I have yet to understand why some people have not pride. Usually it is a reflection of the entire personality. From the clothing, to the unkempt appearance to the look of the home and I can only imagine what the inside looks like. Now this is not so true I have known people in my past that cannot keep a house or home and live with clothing and filth all around them inside and out but when it comes time to go out in public they show no signs of being this incredibly disorganized and sloppy. I suppose it is each to his or her own but yuck!!!

So back to the neighbours. It has been a running comment between other neighbours that one evening it was overheard that the father said “the two of you do nothing to take care of this house.” I will not quote that directly as I was not present and did not hear this being said but obviously that is true as I sit writing and occasionally check the sunshine only to have it disturbed by some else’s mess and filth I dream of having the neighbours back that were living there when we first moved in. They had a gardener to help and they were house proud, clean and neat. I get it we cannot all afford a gardener. We certainly cannot. When can I start hoping for new neighbours that clean up after themselves??? Well maybe I should not be so contemptive the last house we lived in there was a garbage hoarder on the street, you could smell the disgusting smells from down the street and over if the wind was right. Just like the local landfill site. They even had their share of Seagulls that hung around the back yard.

Maybe it is me and I just do not get it but if you are going to put money into the largest investment of your life, you home, are you not willing to put in the work to do the up keep. If you cannot do the up keep maybe you need to look at alternative choices for living. If you cannot do the work yourself maybe one should look to hiring help and if that is not affordable before you buy the house check your finances and make sure you can manage your purchase not only your financial responsibility but your responsibility to the neighbourhood and the responsibility to your financial self. If you ruin a house you will not get the money back you put into it and you will lose out on repairs in the long run.

I think today I feel I am just preaching to the choir…..does this always fall on deaf human ears??? Maybe to some of us anyways.

 

Photos are courtesy of Google Images

1.

Goodbye to a Mentor

Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote about the world losing seven great and wonderful artists. Since then we have lost two more. The founder of Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kartner and the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Joe Alasky. That makes nine in total of the great artists that my generation grew up with gone. But that is not why I am writing today, it is because of someone far less well known but someone just as powerful and someone whom I will always remember.

I am going to keep this person anonymous but those of you who know me will understand, those of you who do not know me will appreciate the story.

I started school late in life. I had no idea what I wanted to be and it turned out that what I was studying was not it either, but that is another story. It was spring of 2001 and I had just entered the ECE course at Humber College. Everything was going fine until May 24^th weekend. My father died suddenly of a heart attack. It was Sunday and the world had just fallen apart. I was in school and had a project due that Tuesday morning in a course called Teaching the Young Child. Most of the assignment was done but I did not know what to do. I called my professor and left a voice message for her. Apparently she picked up her messages sometime that day and she called me at home later that evening. She guided me through to the people I needed to talk to and then wished me her deepest condolences. From her end she began the process of paper work for me and took over any of the on campus requirements that kept me from losing credits and money. Her help was immeasurable. Her kindness to a virtual stranger held my faith in humanity and gave me hope that in time things would return to a new normal.

 

 

I returned to campus the following September and resumed the course all over again. At some point during the first week of school I needed to attend the ECE offices and in the hallway met my professor. She greeted me with a huge hug and a smile that put it all at ease for me. My nerves had been firing all week long as I had be slotted into a different time table than she was teaching. I wanted to change to her schedule but she would not allow me to do that. She knew I could succeed without her as my teacher and that I would be fine. Of course I was reassured and went forward knowing she would always be there if I needed her. I graduated with honours. She was right, I could do it on my own. She had taught me a lesson I did not even think I needed to learn.

Years later and after I closed my daycare and retired my RECE I was told that this incredible lady had been diagnosed with cancer. My heart raced and I began to secretly panic. A cruel twist by life had encroach upon the wrong person, all I could think was no not her. Outwardly I was as stoic as possible, inwardly I was losing a supporter and mentor. I cried at first then told myself she was strong and would fight. She did for several years her struggle was kept out of my mind as I did not dare to face the reality of losing another person in my life. I packed it away and turned my back on the child care industry, leaving behind everything about it.

 

 

I spent this January grieving for people I never even knew. Now when I say grieving I do not mean I wept for them, I felt saddened that they had died and that the world had lost something, someone, somehow. And as the death toll rose over the month and now into February I know that I have come to a time in my life when the people I looked up to will die. Whether that person be a world renowned artist or a professor from Etobicoke. We will slowly loose them all. I will remain one of the last of the standing wishing I had been one of the first and to not have watched them all go before me. These great people, grandparents, parents, mentors, and the artist who has entertained and taught without knowing, gone. But the people that we grieve the most are those that have touched our souls. Whether that be from afar or from up close there are people that leave an indelible mark upon us and change us forever. In my case that was done with grace and I thank you for your precious gift to me, and what it has given me today is the ability to follow my own path with strength and confidence.

 

Your candle maybe extinguished, but your flame still burns bright within our hearts.

Rest in Peace Carol.

1.

The Loss of Eight Great Artists

Somehow I will remember January of 2016 as the month we lost seven great members of the arts culture. From music to stage acting to t.v. and movies to management the arts have been touched by these losses as never before in my lifetime. The month is not over but I pray the loss is done.

In life we all try our damnedest to accept death as part of the process. We know that it is a part of life. We know it is the end of our corporeal state, the end of living as we know it and the end of our person existence. We fight it, we hate it, we live with it, we learn to live without people in our lives, we suffer it’s effects on ourselves and others, and we believe that we will be punished after it or cleansed of our nasty behaviour and will live is glory or in dire. Some of us are touched by the deaths of people we have never met and some of us move on easily and our own lives carry on without too much disruption.

In early January we heard of the death of David Bowie one of the world’s most prolific rock artists. Many of us listened to his music. There was almost a cult following, you were a Bowie fan and you knew how to pronounce his name, you dressed the part of Ziggy Stardust at Halloween, to the dismay of many of the adults, but Bowie fan. His music rang out loud for a generation breaking as many boundaries as possible.

 

William Needles

Brian Bedford

But it is not just Bowie we lost, it is two great stage actors from Stratford. William Needles and Brian Bedford both died this month as well. I remember seeing both perform in The Taming of the Shrew when we attended in high school. If you do not know who these t men are or were look up their names and find a photo you more than likely will recognize them from other works they have done. I remember them both from interviews and from other t.v. shows. Now the count is three.

As the number keeps climbing the next on the list was Glen Fry from the Eagles. A talent silenced far too early. Like Bowie, unmatched as a musician the legacy of Fry will live long after the generation has passed. My daughters are already a fans, a new generation listening to the twisted story of Hotel California. May it continue to haunt well into the future and his legacy remain alive.

 

Glen Fry

 

Next to leave was another of music’s great people and a Canadian. Rene Angelil, husband to Celine Dion and manager died just last week. To top off Celine’s pain her brother had died as well. I can only imagine the break in her heart and hope that she comes through this time to sing again. Rene was not only a manager and producer but also an a stout singer in his own right. His legacy lives on in the career he built for his wife.

Rene Angelil

Then one morning I wake up and check in on the news only to hear of the death of Abe Vigoda. One of my childhood memories has died, but at a ripe old age. Living into longevity and passing with grace. It will forever be the voice she used as that character that will ring in my ears and make me laugh. I have plenty to say about Abe Vigoda and how he made me laugh as well. His portrayal of Fish in Barney Miller was one of my favorite characters on t.v. as a child. His career was just as powerful as all that I have mentioned today and stands alone in his own right as one of the many greats who have come and gone in this world.

Abe Vigoda

John Alaskey, his name may not be familiar but his voice would be. He was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird and Sylvester. Saturday mornings will never be the same again to know that this comical genius has been silenced. The banter between characters and the ability to make us laugh as both children and adults was his true gift. If you listen closly to some of the tracks you find some truly adult messages hiding in the slurp of Sylvester or the lisp of a Tweety Bird. Have fun with that one. Now the count is seven.

John Alaskey

 

We moved into the month of February and the first few days were calm, but I wake again to the news that another of the great artists had left us. Maurice White from Earth, Wind and Fire has died too. The soulful sounds of his voice are again for me precious childhood memories and I will always enjoy dancing to the music he was a part of creating.

Maurice White

 

But all-in-all I know we come and we go but I will remember the beginning of 2016 as the year we lost eight beautiful artists. I suppose as an artist I am hit with the loss in a way that I can relate or maybe not. But my heart feels heavy and my eyes are saddened with tears, may you all rest in peace and live long in your legacies.

I believe this blog post is not over yet. I am very sorry to say…

 

 

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