An Arkies Musings

It's time again For ABC Wednesday . If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday , you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is "K". K is for Kaiser. I know that one of the most burning questions being asked today is whatever happened to Kaiser automobiles. Since I am privy to just such information, I thought I would do my civic duty and give you this privileged information. The Kaiser automobile was the product of the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation. The company was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser of Kaiser Industries. The company rose from the ashes of the Graham-Paige Motor Company. DADDY'S 1938 SHARK NOSED GRAHAM In August 1944, Joseph Frazer, former president of Willys-Overland, assumed control of Graham-Paige, and announced that the company would resume automobile manufacture after the war with a completely new car. The new car was to be called "Frazer" rather...

Recently I was asked to give a speech at the local Rotary Club about Relay For Life. This was the text that I prepared. I have been asked to tell you a bit about Relay For Life. Relay For life is about people making a difference. Here is a story that shows how one person can make a difference. The idea that became Relay For Life, began in Tacoma, Washington. In the mid-1980s, Dr. Gordy Klatt, a Tacoma surgeon, wanted to enhance the income of his local American Cancer Society office and to show support for all of his patients who had battled cancer. He decided to personally raise money for the fight by doing something he enjoyed – running marathons. In May 1985, Dr. Klatt spent a grueling 24 hours circling the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. He ran for more than 83 miles. That first year, nearly 300 of Dr. Klatt's friends, family, and patients watched as he ran and walked the course. Throughout the night, friends donated $25 to run or walk with ...

The Sunday Roast is a weekly series of interviews with bloggers from around the world by David McMahon on his wonderful blog authorblog . David is a Melbourne-based journalist and internationally-published photographer. His first novel, `Vegemite Vindaloo', was published in April 2006 by Penguin Books India and was on the bestseller lists from July to December. He was born and educated in India, where he finished high school at St Joseph's College, North Point, Darjeeling and university at St Xavier's College, Calcutta. He has lived in Australia for 20 years. I am the 61st person that has appeared on The Sunday Roast . You can see it here . On The Sunday Roast, David asks six questions. Here are the answers I gave to his questions. 1. Why do you blog? I guess that the answer in it's simplest form is "because I'm addicted". The next question would be "How did I get addicted?" Sometime towards the end of August last year, My friend Laurel was v...

This March, An Arkie's Musings passed the six month mark. Blogging has become an important part of my life, and it now seems like I have been blogging for much longer than six months. In the past half a year I have made over 130 posts, but more importantly I have made many friends from all around the globe. As a fairly new blogger, the blog community never ceases to amaze me. I have met such wonderful and inspirational people. Over 4000 unique visitors have read An Arkie's Musings and they have come from 65 different countries. Computers have really made the world smaller. To mark the six month anniversary, I thought that I would repost one of the very first posts I made. It is a theme that I think is one of the most important there is. I originally titled the post "What Matters Most". AUTUMN KISSES HER NEW BABY SISTER What matters most to you? On the surface, this would seem an easy question. To some of us it is whether our favorite sports team does well...

Purple Day was started in 2008, by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26, people from around the globe are asked to wear purple and spread the word about epilepsy. Epilepsy affects over 50 million people worldwide. That's more than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson's disease combined. When I was a boy I suffered from a mild form of epilepsy. I had episodes called petit mals. A petit mal seizure is the term commonly given to a staring spell, most commonly called an "absence seizure." It is a brief (usually less than 15 seconds) disturbance of brain function due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain. I had no idea that other people did not experience them. I could feel them coming on and knew to sit down or hold on to something for a few seconds. MY SCHOOL PHOTO CIRCA 1967 The first time that my Mo...

It's time again For ABC Wednesday . If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday , you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is "J". J is for Judith. JUDITH AND I I first met Judith in the spring of 2004 when a group from my church traveled to San Pedro Belize to help build a church. Gina and I made friends with her and her family. Gina never lets me forget that I once told her that Judith was the most beautiful woman in San Pedro. JUDITH IN 2004 Every time we have visited in Belize we make sure that we get to spend some time with Judith and her kids. She has a lovely family. JUDITH AND HER CHILDREN On one trip to Belize we were able to bring Judith's son Andrew a nebulizer which he needed for his asthma. The machines are very expensive in Belize, but we were able to get one at wholesale through a friend who was the administrator of a nursing home. Another friend had 144 doses of the medicine that was needed for use in the nebulizer because...

This is my entry in a neat meme called I Heart Faces . Click on this button to check it out The theme this week is No Flash. I like natural lighting, so this week should have lots of great photos. While I was walking one morning in the San Pedrito area of Ambergris Caye in Belize I came upon this little girl playing beside her house. The area that her family lived in was very run down. The lot next to her house was used as a dump with all kinds of trash. To this little girl it was her own playground. I am always amazed by the resiliency of children. I have noticed many times that even in what we would consider terrible circumstances, children figure out a way to have fun. I really like this photo of my Daddy. One evening we had been burning a brush pile. He was watching the fire and making sure that no sparks escaped and started anything on fire. When I am watching a fire it is almost mesmerizing, and it looks like Daddy was mesmerized. I took the photo with just the light o...