Eileen and Larry Somers

With the news of the earthquake that hit Morocco last Friday (Sept. 8, 2023), I was reminded of a conversation I had with my mom many years ago. We were talking about things that scared us. She said she was most frightened of earthquakes. That surprised me, but as we talked she shared about her time living in California in the 1950s.  She said it was a terrible feeling to be going about her day and have things suddenly start shaking and rattling. She told me she never wanted to live in an earthquake zone again. I asked her if it was more frightening than tornadoes and she said absolutely. We talked about how we'd never experienced hurricanes or volcanoes. It was an interesting conversation that I just recently remembered. Actually, I think she may have been on the gulf coast during a hurricane after that conversation . . . but I wasn't there. That's a Louise story to tell!

I've often said that I didn't grow up with much singing . . . but that's not entirely true. Recently, I started singing Alouette ( Canadian version ). It got me thinking about why that song was in my brain and what triggered me to start singing it out of the blue.   I remembered back to when we were singing it in French class (8th grade?) and I was very familiar with the tune. I had not known, however, that it was about plucking a bird's feathers! And further, the verses have us plucking feathers from the different body parts INCLUDING THE BEAK! If you're curious but don't speak French, here are the lyrics in English. It was fun to learn about this song my dad had sung to me.   Besides Alouette , we grew up singing Frère Jacques . I guess my dad was more into singing (and playing piano) than my mom was. I wish I had recorded him singing when I had the opportunity.  I could probably add more to this entry (and perhaps I will later), but I need to work on more pr...

For some reason, the song "Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me . . . " came into my head yesterday. My mom really liked that song and Joan of Arc often had it in their rotation.   The lyrics: Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me Let There Be Peace on Earth The peace that was meant to be   With God as our Father Brothers all are we Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony.   Let peace begin with me Let this be the moment now. With ev'ry step I take Let this be my solemn vow   To take each moment and live Each moment in peace eternally Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me My mom was a pacifist and a person who cared deeply about humanity's need to be kinder to one another. I love when I have memories like this. Criticism and fault-finding were a huge part of my upbringing . . . but there was plenty of positivity and joy as well! Wikipedia has this info that I didn't know (highlight is mine): " Let There Be...