Keep your eye on the little pea.

Today's Tids Issue 3,835

For Thoughtful Courage:

A wise and respected analyst of the human confrontation observes that most of the anger comes misconstrued interpretations of what most people barely understand.

Vincent Van Gough once said, “What would life be like if we had no courage to attempt anything?” Inspiring, but then, you don’t know the rest of the story: “Now let me see, if I take this razor-sharp knife and put it behind my ear, just like this…”

The Question:

Who was Cheryl Crane?

The Headlines:

--Wall Street Wandering, Wondering; Trump Takes Aim At Dodd-Frank.

--Repubs Say Gorsuch Will Be Approved By Friday.

--Repubs Looking At Latest Smoking Gun, Reports Of Susan Rice Unmasking Incidental Repubs Caught On Surveillance.

--Syria Gas Attack Kills 68; Iraq Bombing Raids Kill Over 150 ISIS Militants.

--North Carolina Is Men’s National Basketball Champ.

--With Demise Of Caliphate, Underground Jihadist Groups Targeting Disaffected Millennials With New “Be Cool”, “Female Empowerment” Programs.

--New Accusations From Women Have Fox Ailes And O’Reilly Denying.

If I say, Let’s get on with voting Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, someone will say, but the Repubs held up Obama’s guy for a year. Someone else will say, but the Dems filibustered GB’s Alito. And so it goes, on and on and on – the kids in the schoolyard are holding their breath. Someday, maybe these children will look into the mirrors and realize that they are shaving, or turning gray in their curley locks. Maybe they will stand there and think: look at me, I’m an adult! What should I do to prove it?

If there is a flower within each raindrop that has fallen today, fields by the sea will surely be masses of yellow, red and blue in May.

It seems that there is more than a political cloud hovering over the USA today. I dislike having to resort writing about the weather. But we, all of us, in almost all corners of our country got it today and tomorrow, and for a while to come. The good news is that these clouds will part and we be seeing shadows long, in the calming evenings and brisk dawns. Not so much, however, for the political climate. I think I’ll stick to contemplating the weather. It feels better, good or bad.

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is getting great reviews as best display ever, in case you are interested. It’s nice these companies can make displays better, but, frankly I find nothing wanting in my old Galaxy display. Now, if some of the sites would bold face their type, that would be something.

Well, as a professional grumbler I’m looking forward to complaining about all of the problems with the hotter days ahead, starting with the fact that my Diet Coke or Pepsi stored in the garage doesn’t come into the house cold any longer.

On the cover of this past Sunday’s NY Times Magazine I read a series of quotes demeaning, slurring and defaming Repubs in Congress and elsewhere. I the felt heat rise up to my head, my face burning, saliva dripping from the corners of my lips.  I turned to my friend nearby saying through gritted teeth that those damn NY Times reporters are so biased so incapable of reporting real… Wait a minute. I slowed down. I looked closer. These are all Twitter quotes from the President of the United States, a republican. Maybe one of the biggest problems in this world is unfounded preconceived notions. We’ll never have civil conversations if disregard what we hear before we understand what we are hearing.

My ten-year-old grandson Harry has been hanging around the past several days. He didn’t interrupt my Tids writing like he has done in the past. But we spent many hours roaming around. He planned several military strategies and successfully attacked many colonial forts. He was doing well until a Redcoat sniper got him between the eyes. He went back to the drawing board. Then, standing there with me on a barren windswept, open expanse by the sea, he looked up at the parapets atop that seemingly impenetrable fortress Fort Adams, thought a minute, turned to me and said. “Granddad this must have been like what it was at Normandy, you know granddad, looking up at the German guns and wondering where you could go.” He paused. “It’s sad for all of those soldiers, isn’t it Granddad.” I just stood there and felt the chills run up my back. I just nodded, yup. He moved closer to me.

Later that day he said he would rather join the Navy.

The Answer:

Cheryl Crane was the 14-year-old daughter of Lana Turner who stabbed to death her mother’s lover, Mob guy Johnny Stompanato. Of interest, rumor has it that Johnny Stomp in a fit of jealousy threatened Sean Connery on a movie set. They say Connery gripped his wrist until the gun dropped and then flattened the LA Mobster with a right cross. Other rumors said that Cheryl was in love with JS, and stabbed him during her own rage at being ignored. Cheryl Crane has been living with her female lover for 40 years.

Someday I’m going to figure out what is happening. Until then, I’ll just make up incredulous theories.

Fair April, where the world once again dons pretty dresses.

Today's Tids Issue 3,834

For all the Flowers That Bloom:

What words rhyme with April; is there a poem

Of comfort, of love, of caring, of coming home.

Perhaps it’s about Easter and all the faithful;

Mourning the awful death of Jesus up on a hill,

Only to see the sun again, the indescribable thrill

Of that Sunday morning contradicting betrayal.

Flowers bloom anew, (if we get beyond the chill).

There is thought, beauty and love in April’s rhyme

Maybe the greatest of all, for all, for all our time.

Happy April everybody!

When I awoke Saturday morning and saw the headline running across my phone screen: “UConn Loses”, I thought was big national media April Fool’s Joke.

With the crosswalk entitlement, people have forgotten their responsibility (And common sense) to look right or left.

In politics, we spend too much time looking right or left, instead of seeing sensible solutions in front of us.

The Question:

Where are most all of the world’s Venus Flytraps found?

The Headlines:

--Markets Open Flat.

--Trumpster[RH1]  Says US would Go It Alone Against NK; Adds That It would be Good For China If they Joined US; Trump Says China Could Use More economic Leverage.

--Gorsuch Week Begins As Judiciary Committee Begins Vote To Advance Nomination; It’s McConnell Versus Schumer; Will Pure Politics Override The Good Of The country.

--Many Injuries From Explosion On Subway Train At St. Petersburg Station (Russia); At Least Ten Reported Dead.

--Total Deaths From Columbia Mudslide Reach At least 250.

--Admin Preps For Trump Meeting With China Prez At Florida Mansion.

Do you feel it? If you are a baseball fan like me, you are soaring.  Your heart is fluttering and your mind is racing, wondering just how good the latest version of you beloved’s will look this year. Will your favorite players start ff strong and grow better than last year?  Which teams will be early season surprises. I’m hopping one isn’t the dreaded Ya, Ya, Ya, (Well you know who I mean) that team from the Bronx New York who I have been fighting since I saw my first box score in the 1940’s. Baseball not only brings dreams of a season yet to be played, but of wonderful memories of splendid players and their magnificent feats of the past! Play ball!

I am amazed at how people walking into a room filled with magnificent music can be entirely oblivious to the beauty of what is entirely surrounds them.

Over the years, I have successfully convinced my wife that I’m incapable of fixing anything. That tends to make the aging years very relaxing.

Critics of McCarthyism define it as “an attack on people’s ability – and right -- to believe in what that want” Nice, except that of all people, communists don’t want people to believe anything not of their approval. So, really, who is right.

Is there a better feeling than when on that day you see an explosion of crocus all around you?

I have often said that it is nice to know how much you can rely on other drivers on the road being responsible. Somehow, I feel that dike of confidence is springing a leak.

Spell-Check knows that “Tids” comes with capital “T”, but still not “Trump”? What does that tell you.

BTW, if Trump Thinks that Mar-A-Lago presents a better image of the USA than The White House, he is sadly mistaken. America is not of pink and gold.

Did you ever watch a liberal politician try to get around the impossible task of defending the current popular use of the word “undocumented”? it is very funny, and the use of that word actually sabotages every other effort they take to excuse themselves for abetting an illegal act.

Maybe with new technology, we’re not just missing the music.

It is probably a good idea to rid ourselves of the two-party system. Voting for party instead of people will get us nowhere.

Texting while driving is a bigger danger to the US today than North Korea Missile launches.

If you want a special piece of great music for today, consider Grieg’s incomparable Piano Concerto in A Minor, which first enlivened the hearts of audiences 148 years ago today.

I am so provincial. When I write things like “April dons its pretty dresses,” I forget that all of you don’t live in the Northeast. I am such a Northeast hack. A Tids writer shouldn’t be allowed to be a Northeast Hack. I should travel across the Hudson River a little bit more.

Both China and I don’t want to see a preemptive strike against NK.

Hey, Golf is all about self-adherence to rules. And pro golfers are very good about that. Very good. But very occasionally they unintentionally make the smallest of errors amounting to fractions of inches that have no baring the result. They don’t see em’. Opponents don’t see em’. Caddies don’t see em’. Offcials don’t see em’. But, there is always that person at home more interested in finding fault than appreciating the courage of the player. These errors that nobody can see, like yesterday when Lexi Thompson, as an entirely honorable a person who has ever played, was penalized out of a Major Woman’s Championship by a person who spends too much time worrying about too little.

If Dems don’t allow Gorsuch, are they planning on doing the same over and over again, keeping the SC 4-4 for four years? Considering the age of Justices, it could be down to 3-2 by then! Does a majority of Americans know enough about civics to get mad about it? Are political parties more important than America? I don’t think so.

The Parking Lot will return tomorrow.

The Answer:

I always thought the Venus flytrap was found in some forbidden black pool in a back eddy off the Amazon River deep in the jungle. But almost all of these insect-eating flowers are found in swampy areas of North and South Carolina! If you can’t find your golf ball, check the flowers. You may find a woman from the local Garden club in there too.

Well, April should be better than March, right?

Carolina 63, Gonzaga 59. Just think, if the Zags beat Carolina, it will be two years in a row that a smallish catholic basketball centric school beat mighty Carolina form the vaunted ACC>

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 [RH1]