Pass the meatballs...and other tidbits

Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, a basketball legend with Baltimore and New York in the 60s ad 70s, insisted on eating spaghetti and meatballs before every game after he had such a dish "and then had sex before going to a game" in which he scored 56 points. "I wanted to duplicate that." Apparently, the sex had nothing to do with the 56 points.

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal we learn the average three-hour major league baseball game has 17 minutes and 58 seconds of action, i.e. pitches, balls in play, running and throwing. Sounds like my son's' football coach was right: "Baseball is just a bunch of guys standing around."

The net flow of Mexicans to the United States has been slowing down since 2003. The number returning to Mexico from the United States is likely to top those coming over the border later this year, so says Rana Foroohar in TIME, July 22.






(Complete blog here.)

(Opt out: e-mail to arch@archibald99.com)

Lookout Mountain - A Return Visit

I hardly remember my first visit to Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tenn., some forty or fifty years ago, but I was amazed by what I saw there last week.  The area has developed a hundred fold, interstate highways take you practically there. Organized tours are available or you can get around on your own, but the area is flat-out big business seven days a week. The place was overrun with families on the summer holiday and my wife and I jumped in to enjoy it right along with them.

En route, we stopped in Aiken, SC, for a night and visited the historical and railroad museums in that city.  The historical museum is located in an old home built in the early 1900s by Yankees with railroad, oil and banking money who loved to winter in Aiken. They lived a good life.

At Lookout Mountain visitors have the opportunity to see Ruby Falls by descending on an elevator into a cave and walking about a mile underground to the falls. This was more of a challenge than we wanted so we bought a video to savor the experience and drove on to one of the mountain lookouts.

It is possible to reach this point by riding an incline car but we elected to take the drive around winding roads and experience more than could be seen on a straight ride up the mountain inside a closed cable car. We were not disappointed. The drive is suspenseful and challenging, especially when you come up behind bikers in your lane and meet an on-coming vehicle in the opposite lane.

When we came off the mountain we visited the Tennessee Aquarium in nearby Chattanooga and it was well worth the time. Again, the locale was crowded with families, not only out-of-area tourists but locals taking advantage of the weekend. One of the more interesting features was the butterfly house with hundreds of beautiful butterflies. Their colors were gorgeous.  It is not easy to capture a picture of a butterfly

 as adults and children keep passing through and disturbing them, to say nothing about a couple of beautiful macaws, who loudly entertained sightseers, young and old. 

It is a great part of the United States to visit - and re-visit if you haven't been there since your own children grew up and moved out on their own. 

(Click to visit complete blog.)

(To opt out e-mail: arch@archibald99.com)

The River Jordan

A friend sent along some pictures taken of a baptismal site on the River Jordan on the border between Jordan and Israel. The pictures were taken on the Jordan side and the baptisms are taking place in Israel.  (Click on the link above.)
This is the same river (not the actual spot obviously) where Jesus was baptized by John.

Baptism of Christ by John.

(Complete blog here.)

(To comment or opt out send e-mail to: arch@archibald99.com)

The Duke said it well... 237 years old!

"America - Why I Love Her" - John Wayne
John Wayne's "America, Why I Love Her" ^ | July, 1964 | John Mitchum 

Posted on Saturday, September 15, 2001 7:35:41 PM by StoneColdGOP

The following is a favorite poem of the Duke's, which he delivered before the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California.

Why I Love Her

You ask me Why I Lover Her? Well, give me time and I'll explain.
Have you see a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched a cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?

Have you heard a bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines,
Or heard the bellow of a diesel at the Appalachia mines?

Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at her Massachusetts shore,
Where men who braved a hard new world first stepped on Plymouth's rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a New York City dock?

Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies, way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?

Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea,
Or bow your head at Gettysburg at our struggle to be free?

Have you seen the mighty Tetons? Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you see the Mississippi roll along Missouri's shore?

Have you felt a chill at Michigan when on a winter's day
Her waters rage along the shore in thunderous display?

Does the word "Aloha" make you warm? Do you stare in disbelief
When you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea Reef?

From Alaska's cold to the Everglades, from the Rio Grande to Maine,
My heart cries out, my pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.

You ask me Why I Love Her? I've a million reasons why:
My Beautiful America, beneath God's wide, wide sky.

John Wayne

How fortunate we are who live in this great country. 

Celebrate her 237th birthday today.

(Complete blog here. 

(To opt out send "Delete" to arch@archibald99.com)