October an abundance of birthdays

In the Archibald family, October is always a good month for the Hallmark Greeting Card company and other providers of well wishes and good cheer. My birthday is on the 2nd, my wife, Joyce's, is on the 3rd, my daughter Wynn's day is the 12, my late wife, Mary, was born on the 13, my brother, Walter, was born on the 15 and my son James was born on the 17. And this doesn't even get down to the nieces, nephews and other relatives who came into this world in the 10th month.
Two of my sons and a nephew

On the grounds at Honey Horn museum, Hilton Head

A cake for my daughter, Wynn.

Dining at Old fort Pub, Hilton Head

Joyce and flowers sent by my children.

came to visit and we had a couple of good days together. My daughter Wynn was expected but a child's sickness kept her at home. We missed her and her ill son and it took a bit of doing to resist cutting her cake I had decorated with the insignia of her company, Bee-Sharp, through which she empowers teachers and school administrators. We're sorry she and Cooper didn't make it, but we sent the cake intact. 

Complete blog here

Comment to: arch@archibald99.com

World Affairs Council - Speaker Disappoints

Part of the packed house. WAC Hilton Head

Right side of Presbyterian Church where events are held.

I thought we had an exciting speaker to open the 2014-15 World Affairs Council-Hilton Head  season but came away disappointed. Jane Harmon president and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington and former congresswoman from California for 18 years, spoke only for about 20 minutes (most speakers talk 45-50 minutes) and then went into a Q&A with the audience. Her first ten minutes was a speech she has probably given a zillion times and recounted her touch with history at the 1960 Democratic Convention which nominated John F. Kennedy. This was where the Harvard Law graduate got her inspiration for the political life, she said. The next ten minutes was a summary of news that anyone who kept up with current events by reading the papers, magazines and staying abreast of the news was familiar with.

The speaker in her Q&A time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harmon decried the lack of harmony and accomplishment in the congress over the last couple of years. She said California had adopted a non-partisan committee to draw congressional districts and this offered some hope for less partisan approach. This contentious idea, however, is in use elsewhere and is on the Supreme Court short list of issues likely to be decided during this term. The terrorist threat in the Middle East is not just one group but many off-shoots of Al Qaeda. Harmon said some nations, Saudi Arabia, for example play both sides--while they fight terrorists their rich citizens financially support them. She warned an upcoming threat will be plastic bombs which can evade metal detectors at airports.

Complete blog here.

Comment to: arch@archibald99.com

The Pickle Factory

***Pat Dolan got a job in a pickle factory outside of Shannon in Ireland. A few weeks into the job he had desires to put his penis in the pickle slicer. After a couple of months he sought help from a psychiatrist. Six months went by and the psychiatrist gave up trying to talk Pat out of his desires and told him to go do what he wanted. A few days later Pat was home in mid-day and his wife asked why. “I put my penis in the pickle slicer and got fired.” His wife turned white with shock and she undid his belt buckle and pulled down Pat’s pants.  To her amazement there was a full size, normal, healthy penis. “What happened to the pickle slicer,” she asked. “I think she got fired also,” said Pat.

Complete blog here.

Comment to: arch@archibald99.com 

(***Passed along by a friend.)

Where the tour began.

In South Carolina it is: "Bu fort," but in North Carolina it is "Bo fort," and that is where Joyce and I traveled last week to be with some friends in the Carolinas & Georgia chapter of CIRA (Central Intelligence Retirees Association.) (The group has graciously made me an honorary member.) We stayed in Atlantic Beach in the Outer Banks and a day trip to Beaufort was a pleasant outing and one of the annual reunion activities. 




The tour around the historic city was in a double decker bus imported from London. Sitting up top in the open air provided a great view of the city but required riders to duck low occasionally as we passed under large oaks with hanging branches.

A London Import

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beaufort is replete with historic homes which are well maintained and many still occupied. A courthouse, jail and apothecary have been re-located to a common site and a docent led us through all of these. Punishment 200 years ago included jail time, floggings, hanging and the stocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was not all touring, golf and socializing. Joyce and I took time to walk on the long pier behind out hotel and take in the beach, people fishing and seagulls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complete blog here.

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An anomaly

Anomaly - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anomaly

Merriam‑Webster

something that is unusual or unexpected.

An anomaly is what the government calls a failure (a hated word.) when things don't work as they should, (e.g. a multimillion dollar missile flunks a test firing.)  I had an anomaly a short while ago when my last blog about the alligator eating a boxer dog and my new look went active before it was finished.
The corrected, updated blog is available by clicking here.
Apologies for the confusion. 
BTW: Please comment on the new look to my email

Alligator ate the dog and the new family look

On Labor Day a nine foot alligator devoured a 90 pound Boxer dog and was later captured and turned over to a Department of Natural Resources trapper. The gator, estimated to weigh 500-600 pounds, was captured in the Long Cove Club gated community on, Hilton Head Island about 8 p.m. by Critter Management wrangler Joe Maffo. The dog's remains were recovered by Maffo and cremated at the family's request, according to news reports.

All of which has nothing to do with my new look. The fringe of hair on the sides of my head above my ears went on the barbershop floor today as I decided to follow my third son, Patrick, and adopt the Bruce Willis shaved head persona.

Blogger Arch - Sept. 4, 2014

Patrick Lee Archibald - August 2014

Enjoy Labor Day

Not surprisingly the U.S. Department of Labor has put together a history of Labor Day. It is an excellent synopsis of the working history of the men and women of the United States. It is well worth a look as our Nation celebrates this holiday.  From the earliest days of the industrial revolution,  the workingmen and women of the United States have helped make this country the most prosperous and powerful nation of any time in history. Whether one was management or labor the individual contributions added up. If you ever drew a paycheck you can rightfully be proud of your contribution and kick back on this day.

(More than 10 years of blogging here.)

(Comment by e-mail here.)

Cereal on bananas or Up the Down Staircase

Cereal on bananas or Up the Down Staircase

 Bel Kaufman died on July 25, 2014. She was 103. Born in Germany and raised in the Ukraine she learned English at age 12 and emigrated to the United States. She graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College and earned a master’s degree in English from Columbia University.

The New York City Board of Examiners consistently refused to give her a license to teach because of her Russian accent. She worked for years to overcome this and ultimately got her license. On the side she worked as a writer. In 1965 she published a novel that became a major film and turned her into a celebrity: Up the down Staircase, - “a portrait of a young city school teacher battling a soul-crushing bureaucracy and a blizzard of inane rules.”

Each of us likely has an up-the-down-staircase impulse that surfaces from time to time. Just something that says go against the grain. For me the impulse is to put cereal on bananas. 

The bananas on cereal rule learned as a child is not embedded in concrete.

Cereal on bananas

A little extra fruit.

Cereal on bananas - Up the Down Staircase

(Complete blog here.)

(E-mail comments)