Feedback from Audio books!

I am going to a bit of self-back patting here...actually I am not, but I am going to tell everyone what someone else said about me...

CLICK!

I read this and nearly cried it was so nice.

I have many new blogs stewing in my head, and I will soon be posting them.

Take Care everyone.

My Tribute To Fifi

If someone asked me what person in my life I remember first outside of my parents and sisters, and other extended family members, I would say that it was Fifi - Phyllis Pederson. If we had been Catholics, the Pederson's would have been our god-parents. I spoke to FiFi recently, after I got a letter from her with a few rememberances of my mother. Fifi was undergoing chemo at the time my mom died, and was unable to participate in her memorial activities. So I called her on skype from work that night, and we had a long talk and a bit of a cry. It was wonderful to catch up with her.

Like I said before, some of my earliest memories include Fifi and her family. It was Fifi with whom I stayed when my parents flew to Phoenix for the funeral of my great-grandfather. It was Fifi with whom my sister stayed one year when she didn't go on choir tour. Incidentally, it was Fifi's son Matt with whom Ruth's only known incidence of streaking took place.

I remember one time there was a spook house in the Pederson's Basement. I don't remember much about it, but I remember someone pulling on a light cord, or a clothesline attached to a light cord (the old kind that you pulled the string to turn on the light). I think that was Marilyn. I know that the Gatewood youth group
went there often for Afterglow or Singspiration after evening service. I recall Fifi's home always being a welcoming place, full of smells of baking and cooking. It was there, thanks to Matt, that I was introduced to the joys of a Peanut Butter Milkshake. Still have one now and then. Except I add chocolate to them now and call it a Reece's Milkshake.

Fifi told me in our last conversation that she counted my mom as her best friend ever outside of her family. What an honor! And she and my mom used to do much together. They sewed clothes for their families, the taught Eager Beavers together, I think it was Phyllis who taught my mom to can the dozens of jars of blueberries that then sat in our basement for years untouched...LOL. I think the joy was well and truly in the doing of it. I am guessing here, because the advent calendar, tree skirt and stockings are older than I am, but for years I always marveled that theirs were the same style as ours, but it occurs to one that they probably made them together. Fifi told us in a letter that one year when there was a lot of snow, mom pulled Sara and Ruth to her house on a sled. Now that involved going down Holden Street Hill, across Delridge Way and back up to get to the Pederson's home on. Now that is friendship.

Now Fifi and my mom are together again. I often wonder what heaven will be like as far as our relationships on earth are concerned. It has occurred to me that once we get there, we won't remember anything about here, because remembering earth would necessarily involve sad memories. But once we get there, will we remember the people who have gone before us? Will they remember and recognize us? or will be so rapt in the person and presence of Jesus Christ that all else will fade into insignificance? I tend to think that it is more towards that than anything else. Gods' word tells us very little about heaven. What little it tells boggles the mind though.

As the years go by, more and more of the people who were influential in my life are there. It will be good to get there, and I believe that all who believe in Jesus will be caught up together soon. God haste the day.

Classical Music

I have loved Classical music for many years. When I was a small boy, my parents bought a set of records from Reader's Digest that had 10 albums in it, each one from a differnet country, highlighting major composers from each of those nations. The countries included England, Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Scandinavia, Italy and several others. This was my introduction to classical music. At this time, although I do not own an LP player, I still have that set of Records.

There are literally thousands of classical music pieces to choose from out there, and they vary in quality, listenability (?), and memorability. There are some composers that whilst I wouldn't cross the street to listen to, others find them to be the most divine music ever. An example is Mahler. My Father-in-law loves Mahler...I on the other hand am less than impressed. I like to compare classical pieces to professional athletes. (Huh?) Well, it's like this...there are say, 384 active players in the NBA and, at the moment, there are no Michael Jordans playing. There is the PGA tour, and then there is Tiger Woods (still a great player in spite of his recent trouble). There is the NHL, and there was Wayne Gretsky. You get the idea...I think. There are thousands of classical music pieces out there, and yet every now and then, I come across a movement of music that just stands out above the rest.

My list of favourite movements, in no particular order, goes something like this.

Rodrigo, Concierto Andaluz for 4 guitars, First movement.

Beethoven Symphony Number 8, second movement.

Mozart, Symphony Number 39 in E flat major Third Movement: Menuetto. Allegretto

Chopin Piano Concerto # 1 3rd Movement

Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E flat Major, Third movement

Handel Pastoral Symphony, from Messiah

Tchaikovsky Spanish Dance from Swan Lake

Grieg In the Hall of the Mountain King, from Peer Gynt

Grieg Morning Mood also from Peer Gynt

Mozart, Die Zauberflote: Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön,

and Der Vogelfangher

Mozart (Again) Le Nozze de Figaro, Sull'Aria, as heard in the movie, "The Shawshank Redemtion"


That is also one of my most goose pimply producing movie moments also....

Many people say they hate clssical music. I think it is a question of acclimatisation. Recently a woman who had lost a good deal of weight told me that her nutritionist told her to eat an apple every day. She said "But I hate apples" The nutritionist bet her her consultation fee that in 30 days, she wouldn't be able to go without an apple. The nutritionist won. I bet you, if you are a classical music hater, that if you try one small taste of something beautiful every day for a month, you will like it also.

Mom's Memorial Service

For anyone who wasn't able to attend, I have uploaded an MP3 recording of the service at Galilee Baptist Church.

I hope it is a blessing to you.

Download Sally Burchard's Memorial Service.m4a from FileFactory.com

New Audio Book Finished

Woo Hoo! I have finally, after a rather unmotivated month, finished my reading of Booth Tarkington's Seventeen: A Tale of Youth, Summer and the Baxter Family, mainly William"

It can be found for download here. It is a very funny book. With a really nice twist in the tail end.

Another Audio book

I said in an earlier post that I would post whenever I finished an audio book or when an audio book project I was involved with was finished. Well another book is done. It is entitled THE TURMOIL, by Booth Tarkington. It is a dramatic work, rather than the humorous ones I have been reading. It is volume one of the Growth Trilogy, which includes The Magnificant Ambersons, which was a movie starring Orson Welles.

To download this book, click here. I read eleven out of thirty two chapters. You can download the entire book as a .zip file by clicking on the link that says as much, right under the introductory paragraph.

Family Trees and Stuff

Just recently I became interested in doing research on my ancestry. Maybe the fact of my Mother's passing away has something to do with this, or it could be another one of those things that I pick up like a pit bull with a bone in its mouth for a few months, and then move on to something else. On my Dad's side, on his father's side, I have traced back 5 generations from me. My Great-Great Grandfather was Hezekiah Burchard. He was a Union Officer in the Civil War, born in New York, and was a farmer in Michigan. His wife was Ellen Eliza Davis Burchard, and they had 5 children. One of them was Glenn, who was the father of Harold Ward, who was my dad's dad, my grandfather. They also had a daughter named Ethylin. I have attached their photos. Something else I have discovered that I didn't know until recently. My grandfather had a brother. (I know that is not a surprise, except when you don't find it out until you are 43) So now I discovered I have a second cousin in Seattle that I have never met. It is a funny thing about families. How can the descendants of 2 brothers become strangers within 2 generations? There was no bad blood between my Grandfather and his brother. My great uncle lived in Alaska. He was, if not a World War 2 hero, very brave. He was in the Army - a Warrant Officer, and he was captain of a ship. (yes you read that correctly) The Army had its own Navy in those days. He was based in the Aleutian Islands, and was on board a launch that got its bottom blown out by a Zero, but no one on board got a scratch. The Japanese actually invaded the Aleutians at one point in the war, so the action up there was probably pretty hot. My dad told me he gave him several war souveniers, including a Japanese Grenade. This is funny. My dad took it to school for show and tell (in the 40s)at Lake City Elementary School. He lost it that day, and then in the 60s they found a grenade in the bushes at the school, and my dad thinks that was probably his. Needless to say, he didn't step up to claim it. Can you imagine someone bringing a grenade to school for show and tell in today's post Columbine High School paranoia? I just have to chuckle.

So it is interesting to check out your family tree. Go for it. You might find out something interesting about yourself.

The Pictures, in order, are Ethylin Burchard Shelton and her father Hezekiah Burchard, and his wife Ellen Eliza Davis Burchard. She looks quite severe. But Ethylin could be classed as a beauty of her day.