tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-173008382024-03-07T12:21:44.481-08:00Creative BroodingWelcome to my blog. My name is Pat O'Connor and I wanted to create one little spot where I could share feelings, thoughts, even ramble if I want to. Perhaps too, reveal a side of me very few know about. If there are two words I would use to describe myself, those two would be iconoclastic and eclectic.Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-69210862733512670732013-05-04T07:22:00.000-07:002013-05-04T07:24:24.982-07:00Cool Caelin <br />
<span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Let me Introduce - Cool Caelin</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/936706_10151643156801882_1676009610_n.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-38637668744860037292013-04-27T09:08:00.000-07:002013-04-27T09:08:24.478-07:00The New Corporate Image<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b> The New corporate image </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hvwfqp1G736IFsAqyIsPr7_FjFhEhTHYi2fxEiwMkZAMdxfszS4SkGRfZ-JAlAUSAGDKtniiLKLr3JN4NwLeEbuWPsu_Um7FaleHveNuVd-MBxOrGUd_UB58F5IlgzArFI36ig/s1600/caelan+in+a+tie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hvwfqp1G736IFsAqyIsPr7_FjFhEhTHYi2fxEiwMkZAMdxfszS4SkGRfZ-JAlAUSAGDKtniiLKLr3JN4NwLeEbuWPsu_Um7FaleHveNuVd-MBxOrGUd_UB58F5IlgzArFI36ig/s400/caelan+in+a+tie.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Movers and shakers, watch out </b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04s3H3UwJYjNsECX9dX9nE8Lrn-1-UHcnWvBpKkkFlJTFa9tYv-VJ-3sBRfX9dBVDPLCMUJWsmoblhdEtsPRlcNjT-IW2crd_Jjbjit8lq3g_fVc2e2dUOUeBAhJDPS1gvVSpeg/s1600/smiley+face+with+$.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04s3H3UwJYjNsECX9dX9nE8Lrn-1-UHcnWvBpKkkFlJTFa9tYv-VJ-3sBRfX9dBVDPLCMUJWsmoblhdEtsPRlcNjT-IW2crd_Jjbjit8lq3g_fVc2e2dUOUeBAhJDPS1gvVSpeg/s1600/smiley+face+with+$.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-44599847942388284022013-03-31T07:40:00.004-07:002013-03-31T07:40:55.877-07:00He is not here for He has risen<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>He is not here for He has risen</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMm0kTy3v0N7ZSk6NiuGH6i2cld5m9Xxt9PiuxUqvh_MoG951GgZ4Yrc_GR0wyOjlaS5ABHFshqCerQ4YVTLtCgen7v6YTSoVUB3t8qltxsbSzNyNl9gPBV60x4mXUei3rGlJofw/s1600/He+has+risen+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMm0kTy3v0N7ZSk6NiuGH6i2cld5m9Xxt9PiuxUqvh_MoG951GgZ4Yrc_GR0wyOjlaS5ABHFshqCerQ4YVTLtCgen7v6YTSoVUB3t8qltxsbSzNyNl9gPBV60x4mXUei3rGlJofw/s1600/He+has+risen+1.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZz-glbjoLbsgs7i6SxnK1h-1ESLqhSthRyU93NffBj6KXH4SfV4n-_E3yJMooErz0MMBy0xdFIbaCpz33lRZEiZo7bKfyhS5MomBe79i3y_cPbOhrCrlV-Znzu5E8D2SKg9XBQ/s1600/He+has+risen+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZz-glbjoLbsgs7i6SxnK1h-1ESLqhSthRyU93NffBj6KXH4SfV4n-_E3yJMooErz0MMBy0xdFIbaCpz33lRZEiZo7bKfyhS5MomBe79i3y_cPbOhrCrlV-Znzu5E8D2SKg9XBQ/s400/He+has+risen+2.jpg" width="353" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFwSlU8FP8mN7xjr7sLOrhML-oPpo0kg08bvtR-oPx6QzhEQSpLGTp_mG9tHCrMb04KK5V1RYiXqDVgMpC3dFSjDF5BM-6fWeFFBUdTtCZ9g00k8jieIp3ISB_bdaChMYX4kg1w/s1600/He+has+risen+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFwSlU8FP8mN7xjr7sLOrhML-oPpo0kg08bvtR-oPx6QzhEQSpLGTp_mG9tHCrMb04KK5V1RYiXqDVgMpC3dFSjDF5BM-6fWeFFBUdTtCZ9g00k8jieIp3ISB_bdaChMYX4kg1w/s400/He+has+risen+3.jpg" width="361" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTerdsNOD-hjbgu0vP_4b9RgfdpTZpKra1AkRUdvdAGABbm4z0r0Mj52ACqndXgiE4lbqFZxzJVwnY4pbuHkFFEkUyNxNVR4BGYGZXZcMgzbTx-B4jUyL1A5GYzjcVElf9HOfPA/s1600/He+has+risen+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTerdsNOD-hjbgu0vP_4b9RgfdpTZpKra1AkRUdvdAGABbm4z0r0Mj52ACqndXgiE4lbqFZxzJVwnY4pbuHkFFEkUyNxNVR4BGYGZXZcMgzbTx-B4jUyL1A5GYzjcVElf9HOfPA/s640/He+has+risen+4.jpg" width="444" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-39189748569581489632013-03-17T12:02:00.003-07:002013-03-17T12:02:53.308-07:00The Real St. Patrick<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>My hope and prayers is for us to remember the real St. Patrick, his faith and his enduring love for God.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTH_90WFBUFCsP4To-nBMydj_JbMHubGG3szkXEsRxNcSw3FJfFZ4xDHKu5qP4zbpBVb8AMEvEhdRBmtlf5qY720a0LpKkYD5hm2c_zXLCOiQnFHnpiCuzpZyJRZqpqbBp6vz6sg/s1600/saint_patrick+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTH_90WFBUFCsP4To-nBMydj_JbMHubGG3szkXEsRxNcSw3FJfFZ4xDHKu5qP4zbpBVb8AMEvEhdRBmtlf5qY720a0LpKkYD5hm2c_zXLCOiQnFHnpiCuzpZyJRZqpqbBp6vz6sg/s320/saint_patrick+1.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqapeRKzxjvvoqCqjG0w9cjbMbVAtgmfPni6vAVleyCWixKUUrwZOsbfVwIN3EJMgW4HrmZIINa2YpS2aqdj5Qw2W-fBoUzu80iryqOmumFsSJPkbP3JriKWjZPtH3JH2FC3Rzg/s1600/happy-st-patricks-day-banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqapeRKzxjvvoqCqjG0w9cjbMbVAtgmfPni6vAVleyCWixKUUrwZOsbfVwIN3EJMgW4HrmZIINa2YpS2aqdj5Qw2W-fBoUzu80iryqOmumFsSJPkbP3JriKWjZPtH3JH2FC3Rzg/s320/happy-st-patricks-day-banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPDFfJmB1QqGIdmbVkNf5Izoln5WXHFrDMNWxjH5cBHPtf8x7EDGqZQTBASmsmITAoJ4GsoCklYFu5DOLfrr45klcgUbqgbDfPnOTRS8WExpBl1g0VmlSTUS2HsHIXm8WP6gxMw/s1600/irish+church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPDFfJmB1QqGIdmbVkNf5Izoln5WXHFrDMNWxjH5cBHPtf8x7EDGqZQTBASmsmITAoJ4GsoCklYFu5DOLfrr45klcgUbqgbDfPnOTRS8WExpBl1g0VmlSTUS2HsHIXm8WP6gxMw/s400/irish+church.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-34191455958965292962013-03-17T11:56:00.001-07:002013-03-17T11:56:07.309-07:00An Irish Blessing<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>An Irish Blessing on St. Patrick's Day</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglLdoX2fo32apddXRmbcRiu9qtGFXQtQPEG3cQpQ6xn0pR56yJhynjZ4chfY5VMkt4MyfrYEnLJrKHBJw5qLKzqMi2_8lCZk1yG3Da4zFzJnAdBiHkjBBHkjBhE1Ltv9DD6ME5ew/s1600/irishblessing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglLdoX2fo32apddXRmbcRiu9qtGFXQtQPEG3cQpQ6xn0pR56yJhynjZ4chfY5VMkt4MyfrYEnLJrKHBJw5qLKzqMi2_8lCZk1yG3Da4zFzJnAdBiHkjBBHkjBhE1Ltv9DD6ME5ew/s320/irishblessing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQFU4IkreRB1ZlXumWx8qLAkj32UO7NJu3u89J54Ubv-CJyThaiPh-3DaoIaPrgLho9TroVf6bpFUGmFsXhqBLOmKtS4iSHN8OWrPRWTGvMSh4Grj2a9wmWYjQ_49dKI8AE-lXtA/s1600/Shamrockcluster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQFU4IkreRB1ZlXumWx8qLAkj32UO7NJu3u89J54Ubv-CJyThaiPh-3DaoIaPrgLho9TroVf6bpFUGmFsXhqBLOmKtS4iSHN8OWrPRWTGvMSh4Grj2a9wmWYjQ_49dKI8AE-lXtA/s1600/Shamrockcluster.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-18863598198218980862013-03-15T10:53:00.000-07:002013-03-15T10:56:13.708-07:00The Best to You and Yours<br />
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7V4weS5ngqgODsOHNksRCVNwtWhqssYnM8x70W2bKbtZdXzUhAB0SCIQuSvU-0wV47Vn1CFRRLkVwJug1D0RiBe7OK4BtfsA49IzcAyXnlAMUQ_w09QwA8nWOFv5HH-G8PXdpA/s1600/Shamrockcluster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7V4weS5ngqgODsOHNksRCVNwtWhqssYnM8x70W2bKbtZdXzUhAB0SCIQuSvU-0wV47Vn1CFRRLkVwJug1D0RiBe7OK4BtfsA49IzcAyXnlAMUQ_w09QwA8nWOFv5HH-G8PXdpA/s1600/Shamrockcluster.jpg" /></a></div>
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>May love and laughter</b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>light your days, </b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>and warm your heart and home. </b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>May good and faithful friends be yours, </b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>wherever you may roam. </b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>May peace and plenty bless your world </b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>with joy that long endures. </b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>May all life's passing seasons </b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>bring the best to you and yours!</b></span></i><br />
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwNV9y7-QdSo3nZe4QVHJpMCcfvPT_7zvAu7LUs8llsVZ7jzE_imyifZ3peljImZTcFHi3c3IG5WXdP4lBODIivVkaYdxSLvqN6kwm2zdAThyphenhyphen8wVRoUAHbtz62qAvoVaSpv8Zpg/s1600/sunriseoverhill.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwNV9y7-QdSo3nZe4QVHJpMCcfvPT_7zvAu7LUs8llsVZ7jzE_imyifZ3peljImZTcFHi3c3IG5WXdP4lBODIivVkaYdxSLvqN6kwm2zdAThyphenhyphen8wVRoUAHbtz62qAvoVaSpv8Zpg/s1600/sunriseoverhill.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgecepzFSfXSLaR6tXPqRzNT_Di3WvtM84KlC8GhhhBBFR_ZXDBtOjM1xTw4MEdmBYfUgls2v8CaZlOW8p9SilwxHp6ziSOLrRV1PBCYnAx40eY9G4DoVs0dwIWXwohuc_ONPQIeQ/s1600/shamrockline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgecepzFSfXSLaR6tXPqRzNT_Di3WvtM84KlC8GhhhBBFR_ZXDBtOjM1xTw4MEdmBYfUgls2v8CaZlOW8p9SilwxHp6ziSOLrRV1PBCYnAx40eY9G4DoVs0dwIWXwohuc_ONPQIeQ/s320/shamrockline.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></i></div>
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-85263825674402860982013-03-15T10:46:00.002-07:002013-03-15T10:47:02.773-07:00Whenever there is sunshine, there is happiness<br />
<div style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Whenever there is happiness </b></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Hope you'll be there too, </b></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Wherever there are friendly smiles </b></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Hope they'll smile on you, </b></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Whenever there is sunshine, </b></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Hope it shines especially for you </b></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>to make each day for you </b></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>as bright as it can be.</b></span></i></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwaD9Ig7iZCsci2BzwJho5y2rXHfqJwQuvKxyhhd3hkwYlTWHy9dP4lt_99vSGF16hzIbb_SFuQwWRb_XnzlBR668xWDEOA63C5atncy0-KrPEBEl7GbPeRalb-zDB-KsjxPzQA/s1600/sunsetcoast1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwaD9Ig7iZCsci2BzwJho5y2rXHfqJwQuvKxyhhd3hkwYlTWHy9dP4lt_99vSGF16hzIbb_SFuQwWRb_XnzlBR668xWDEOA63C5atncy0-KrPEBEl7GbPeRalb-zDB-KsjxPzQA/s320/sunsetcoast1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></i></div>
</div>
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-22954189417837442632013-03-05T07:24:00.000-08:002013-03-05T07:28:29.650-08:00Caelen March 2013<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Caelen March 2013</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/601277_10151537532941882_729611927_n.jpg" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/21808_10151500114111882_1714486238_n.jpg" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPLl__heOAkk6bnjsYdVC1FZSn52Ai_XNsZisfdTBEMnq5bvxfa_UrNWnJMMyPJstcVIagQR0Zogr_lSjIlzDFpo1S65vHWfY_SMBFTqQ1AiKCSDI7R90i8_cJKMe93TPiENebA/s1600/Caelan030March02013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPLl__heOAkk6bnjsYdVC1FZSn52Ai_XNsZisfdTBEMnq5bvxfa_UrNWnJMMyPJstcVIagQR0Zogr_lSjIlzDFpo1S65vHWfY_SMBFTqQ1AiKCSDI7R90i8_cJKMe93TPiENebA/s640/Caelan030March02013.jpg" width="481" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/601277_10151537532941882_729611927_n.jpg" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-70643995168189354722013-02-26T12:15:00.000-08:002013-02-26T12:15:20.744-08:00Goodbye to an Angel<span style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Goodbye to an Angel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizcE7dx7_3ujh9hFzr1zgv0czoS9xzImpfB7xbWTE8etj31SEpFUmE1hC11Sgp5Vz__bELF0grb4SACAWBBaKjbYGeUe0QNjMFAejomt-0nSHvRbb4rVL_ICvAO9RoJo-D_bDsEg/s1600/angel+african+american.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizcE7dx7_3ujh9hFzr1zgv0czoS9xzImpfB7xbWTE8etj31SEpFUmE1hC11Sgp5Vz__bELF0grb4SACAWBBaKjbYGeUe0QNjMFAejomt-0nSHvRbb4rVL_ICvAO9RoJo-D_bDsEg/s1600/angel+african+american.jpg" /></b></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>In the ugly bleak and often cruel world of assisted living, once in a very very great while you will actually come across an angel.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>They are a caretaker that cares for the residents, not because it is her "job" that she is paid to do, but simply because if the care and love in her heart.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Such is one named Pat in this p<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 12.800000190734863px;">enitentiary </span>I reside at, in the small city of Loganville.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>She was a ray of light in what is usually a depressing, lonely life of the residents.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>She was treated like garbage by her employers, called n***** by some of the residents and worked to beyond capacity for what I can only say was a dismal salary for the responsibilities she carried and the job she did.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Despite being so badly treated, despite the names, despite the utter exhaustion she carried on with a smile. She carried on with a smile, not just on her face, but in her eyes as well.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>But, she would also stand firm on things she thought were wrong here and it finally caught up with her. I have never been able to understand how the owners of this place could be so blind or how they could be so downright mean to the one person that made this place liveable, who made it continue to function.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I found out this morning, she has been terminated.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6T_972Hn5DXfr4XHGv8VRs-rByH-__bVP8q6Lsf7EwvuFHS60uL66Yd9wZlszNO3csa6fLJ4kneQScpFqCjiCiFqNRbu36_s-rAQn7VumTfPhwPs2qw2x67IUx0ohXQv5wo2YsA/s1600/angel+crying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6T_972Hn5DXfr4XHGv8VRs-rByH-__bVP8q6Lsf7EwvuFHS60uL66Yd9wZlszNO3csa6fLJ4kneQScpFqCjiCiFqNRbu36_s-rAQn7VumTfPhwPs2qw2x67IUx0ohXQv5wo2YsA/s320/angel+crying.jpg" width="320" /></b></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I felt so heartbroken, and even crushed to see one who has given so much, thrown away like you would a crumpled piece of paper.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Just remember, whatever path you now embark on dear Pat, you go with our love, admiration and respect. I pray special blessings flood your coffers and that you continue to draw close to the God you worshiped and served. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">And I now look to and beseech that God for justice. </span> </b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqv6qisO_Lflaoq4QJwGQH5SSbPPYRn9td1ZOHW2as1t57ZdUT49_DvaeOOKgnQtXIwOk8lzxxY575dBWOJoZL-Z8KDwgUDgzD-Q2NiYW7_9F-h2GtMs7mbTaA-o0sG-XFzurqg/s1600/justice+blind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqv6qisO_Lflaoq4QJwGQH5SSbPPYRn9td1ZOHW2as1t57ZdUT49_DvaeOOKgnQtXIwOk8lzxxY575dBWOJoZL-Z8KDwgUDgzD-Q2NiYW7_9F-h2GtMs7mbTaA-o0sG-XFzurqg/s1600/justice+blind.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-11010043263321800262013-02-07T06:51:00.002-08:002013-02-09T16:35:51.571-08:00How do you spell Relief?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIICy2ZL9hZKx2pj6CaEkvJvPmt6QrvBqLlW8RMRXl_7nCq8vCj_10ruDYAzEhTqyTKji02Ltw7wzYVcrjXniugM2EwKH32eKHA1Dy3KOLWU-_jm_pwR6gDMtfJ8XSoHOXR_xZ7Q/s1600/question+mark+red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIICy2ZL9hZKx2pj6CaEkvJvPmt6QrvBqLlW8RMRXl_7nCq8vCj_10ruDYAzEhTqyTKji02Ltw7wzYVcrjXniugM2EwKH32eKHA1Dy3KOLWU-_jm_pwR6gDMtfJ8XSoHOXR_xZ7Q/s1600/question+mark+red.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>How do you spell Relief? </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDWn8KWCAPeeHC4D6dSnbTdOwqT7_F1MuN0tTfX9e-qqpC6HuMTj2oJryidQXOtwJAUKcOXN1DcVjpiGv5fldplyUBg4hMhtGi-Dgxl_FvzpOCngUpLAwAFZ5StBlngVDMT7tqA/s1600/open+mouth.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDWn8KWCAPeeHC4D6dSnbTdOwqT7_F1MuN0tTfX9e-qqpC6HuMTj2oJryidQXOtwJAUKcOXN1DcVjpiGv5fldplyUBg4hMhtGi-Dgxl_FvzpOCngUpLAwAFZ5StBlngVDMT7tqA/s320/open+mouth.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Euthenasia</span><span style="color: orange;">!!!!!!!!!!!!</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBnRRoZq4CiL13YuJeiPwFG8G-hqQgRpI23g-5Blp6-AIR3evduvG_nJSuwYEj7MyOcSinA_tHRLYiR__j7lzIc7vxHJxh5KPW0zWKaH6B-0TuJaVEi9ppjhHROmdhYJ5F1BrPw/s1600/giant+happy+face1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBnRRoZq4CiL13YuJeiPwFG8G-hqQgRpI23g-5Blp6-AIR3evduvG_nJSuwYEj7MyOcSinA_tHRLYiR__j7lzIc7vxHJxh5KPW0zWKaH6B-0TuJaVEi9ppjhHROmdhYJ5F1BrPw/s400/giant+happy+face1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCzlQ7ImY_l54Rquy64Tyv9Ao_l8n203atU4RMz_-sAaRMosYnhFHwxHxXcIvTEJfqqtBhppYTREpYXx7kUZMSFjOvvtRJzRPjVaZgzGdp4qjBN796LXanrsHhMTGvn30mZ84XQ/s1600/grimreaper01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCzlQ7ImY_l54Rquy64Tyv9Ao_l8n203atU4RMz_-sAaRMosYnhFHwxHxXcIvTEJfqqtBhppYTREpYXx7kUZMSFjOvvtRJzRPjVaZgzGdp4qjBN796LXanrsHhMTGvn30mZ84XQ/s320/grimreaper01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></b></span>Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-9017674242362633712013-02-06T06:06:00.003-08:002013-02-06T06:07:29.260-08:00Can I go home yet?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltbfaaBmnIq9xkp1zI5coN7oZG8IYYPB1EmQBT9-atwnLfzQv8sR8mrEanMwxsqChF8QmFYbI5zU2aYYWkjncVzZMUyKUU-32Fb6pLISfU19YdsB6aucYgC50QNX75z8bRgqHMw/s1600/euthenasia-cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltbfaaBmnIq9xkp1zI5coN7oZG8IYYPB1EmQBT9-atwnLfzQv8sR8mrEanMwxsqChF8QmFYbI5zU2aYYWkjncVzZMUyKUU-32Fb6pLISfU19YdsB6aucYgC50QNX75z8bRgqHMw/s320/euthenasia-cover.png" width="261" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>CAN I GO HOME YET?</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5HG_7ffgdSg_-HlS_iTIcouOR7UzX_KQGOXS5XRSHNjjtWThxlv6QzoUDFeUiNtKRYMEifygznqgjm2qtTptftTa9HvQxt4YpkM4BgGyqUAyPnGM6biQJnT-BrgrzJmixCjeoQ/s1600/euthenasia-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5HG_7ffgdSg_-HlS_iTIcouOR7UzX_KQGOXS5XRSHNjjtWThxlv6QzoUDFeUiNtKRYMEifygznqgjm2qtTptftTa9HvQxt4YpkM4BgGyqUAyPnGM6biQJnT-BrgrzJmixCjeoQ/s400/euthenasia-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">NO?</span> <span style="color: red;">WHY NOT?</span></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOSITtgZruuWXIKtkpP5iwCWeuc0KPCoaBO3e6_6kNKC0VSoODXSfhEIGef8hyphenhyphenHf6PEDK1QH7Fu00-3yWf0u6P9CW8iHDSDumejCdjVS0cCiiwAkuS0np4mOVYvpTaF7nv46IhA/s1600/DEATH1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOSITtgZruuWXIKtkpP5iwCWeuc0KPCoaBO3e6_6kNKC0VSoODXSfhEIGef8hyphenhyphenHf6PEDK1QH7Fu00-3yWf0u6P9CW8iHDSDumejCdjVS0cCiiwAkuS0np4mOVYvpTaF7nv46IhA/s400/DEATH1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-71069194469096441172013-01-26T11:35:00.001-08:002013-02-06T06:07:50.117-08:00The latest and greatest CaelenThe latest and greatest Caelen<br />
<br />
<img height="400" src="https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/309936_10151437780931882_612612953_n.jpg" width="300" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<img height="400" src="https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/552526_10151437780196882_1356251359_n.jpg" width="300" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-43234906414298347832013-01-25T07:58:00.000-08:002013-01-25T07:59:38.489-08:00The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit...<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><img height="281" src="http://iamgracie2009.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/broken-spirit-and-contrite-heart.jpg" width="400" /></span></span><br />
<br />
<h3 style="background-color: white;">
<span class="text Rom-12-3" id="en-NIV-28249"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Humble Service in the Body of Christ - Putting God and others before you in selflessness, without even the expectation of recognition or a thank you.</i></span></span></h3>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span class="text Rom-12-3"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><sup class="versenum" style="vertical-align: top;">3 </sup>For by the grace given me<sup class="crossreference" style="vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28249A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup> I say to every one of you: <i>Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought</i>, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.</b></span></span><br />
<span class="text Rom-12-3"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span class="text Rom-12-3"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></span></div>
<h3 style="color: #0b5394; margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Romans 12:3</b></span></h3>
<div class="txt-sm" style="color: #0b5394;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>New International Version (NIV)</b></span></div>
<div class="txt-sm" style="color: #0b5394;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="txt-sm" style="color: #0b5394;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><b></b></b></span></div>
<div class="txt-sm" style="display: inline !important;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><b><img height="296" src="http://barrywallace.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/humble.jpg?w=529" width="400" /></b></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="txt-sm" style="color: #0b5394;">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="line-height: 27.600000381469727px;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><i><br /></i></span></span></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="line-height: 27.600000381469727px;"><span style="color: #e69138;"><i>“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” James 4:6.</i></span></span></b></div>
<div class="txt-sm" style="color: #0b5394;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 27.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="txt-sm">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 27.600000381469727px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Humble yourself before God - with no regard to being exalted later. Humble yourself because He is God, the Creator of all things, Giver of all Life, The judge of all sin, Through Christ the only redemption from sin. </span></span></b></span></div>
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-15898907189555480202013-01-24T06:45:00.003-08:002013-01-24T06:45:55.808-08:00By his stripes we are healed<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. </span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<img height="226" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRfVVNbPj_wXwZ4GT_iAm3FgvoR_LvLguUwJx-1lmYlm92OYdX8DQ" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Geneva, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 32px; margin: 20px 0px -10px;">
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Isaiah 53:4-5</span></h1>
<div>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<img height="280" src="http://tolivenotexist.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/christ_passion_movie_cross.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<br />
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-14137985308422940102013-01-22T17:40:00.003-08:002013-01-23T06:44:08.758-08:00The Dawn Comes No Matter How long the Night<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<img height="299" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnJHgTacD9R1XRKf4o7zx-sg7WvnLe3s32PDRBEF2FKXcT7WZV" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The Dawn Comes No Matter How Dark the Night</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<img height="301" src="http://www.scenicreflections.com/files/MOON_OVER_OCEAN_Wallpaper__yvt2.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>No Matter How Lonely the Night</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<img height="267" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJaBT-vwj2MaFrlvsPkM1TtW2rf2OMwprd6gScSA4mabC5cHs34g" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-45696915451268657182013-01-21T20:36:00.003-08:002013-01-23T08:17:00.902-08:00Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect . . <span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21.993749618530273px;"><span style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect . . .</b></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; font-style: italic; line-height: 21.993749618530273px;">—</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=31&search=Philippians+3%3A12" style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; font-style: italic; line-height: 21.993749618530273px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Philippians 3:12</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWC9FROOWsXQcw63WOP8VA7WkjBJJQZ5WMvYYwPHzRPTbYK8YMjGnnV5eLMGoY9nG-9ADK68cNomQ28USIcXr2ePr5s5R0mRkCyGHQXXo11CkDMbXZ2y98HVGYMy2r19NHVnFSg/s1600/sunraysthroughclouds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWC9FROOWsXQcw63WOP8VA7WkjBJJQZ5WMvYYwPHzRPTbYK8YMjGnnV5eLMGoY9nG-9ADK68cNomQ28USIcXr2ePr5s5R0mRkCyGHQXXo11CkDMbXZ2y98HVGYMy2r19NHVnFSg/s400/sunraysthroughclouds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we say, “It could never be God’s will for me to be sick”? If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son</span><span style="color: #333333;"> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+53:10" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: initial;">Isaiah 53:10</a>)</span><span style="color: #0b5394;">, why shouldn’t He bruise you? What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_NM9iomfrWPKFErIYB7XSg6o2SWRhEh1npCkjsJn7KxT1MeQPp_EPQbzvZKCcWkR51p03GQXtzkHIgl3HipNwMjJpM8llRKwNpglil6_M02Lcr2K91pdjfrwofitfnK5nACeVA/s1600/KneelingAtCross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_NM9iomfrWPKFErIYB7XSg6o2SWRhEh1npCkjsJn7KxT1MeQPp_EPQbzvZKCcWkR51p03GQXtzkHIgl3HipNwMjJpM8llRKwNpglil6_M02Lcr2K91pdjfrwofitfnK5nACeVA/s400/KneelingAtCross.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives.</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gFT4ZklJoXifXXBIvpsVQHI5sg_bMCkaGDKGM740fMLcj6oVraa00TwWEGKuO22hxkN-nWwkcGEY9fBw7Yz-8FsMkM1Fyh0MOsE0BLrNqrQFTXSCictOI9JFPmWa8Mkc0wgTog/s1600/rejoiceintheLord.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0gFT4ZklJoXifXXBIvpsVQHI5sg_bMCkaGDKGM740fMLcj6oVraa00TwWEGKuO22hxkN-nWwkcGEY9fBw7Yz-8FsMkM1Fyh0MOsE0BLrNqrQFTXSCictOI9JFPmWa8Mkc0wgTog/s400/rejoiceintheLord.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://utmost.org/christian-perfection/">My Utmost for His Highest</a></span></div>
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-82397131472018111442013-01-20T11:00:00.000-08:002013-01-21T08:56:12.810-08:00Thinking of You on a Winter's Day<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Thinking of You on a Winter's Day</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Looking through my files and I ran across a song, "I Wanna Grow Old With You"</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">My heart turned at once to you and I am wondering how you are in the so distant land that I can not yet wander through. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">I see you splashing in the surf, the sand squeaking through your toes as your spirit laughs with such joy. The joy from knowing no pain, no disease, no more sorrow, nor loneliness. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://bronbretag.tripod.com/imagelib/sitebuilder/pictures/photos/ocean.jpg" /> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">I wonder of the beauty you see and the peace the envelops your beautiful soul.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">You have been gone so long and still the sorrow is there as it if were but yesterday....as if the sun just set the evening before.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">I wander so aimlessly through life now, watching the days go by in a monotonous rhythm.</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Look far away behind you, and I am coming. </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><img height="224" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4RSDy7FD5W99vErQ6KFmb0fGcO4dQJA09mBPYq9emNLYmuywU" width="400" /></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Like a wave, longing for the embrace of the shore....but I seem to lost, so distant.... so unable to be with you....</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">always longing for that embrace, but always staying just beyond....staying just beyond that joy and rest......just beyond touching constantly</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><img src="http://www.tishholland.com/Sea%20Dreams/small/art-Ocean%20Surf-oct%2008small.jpg" /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">thrown about in a raging sea.....gasping for air...reaching out in a futile attempt to touch you......forever struggling....always in pain....always wondering how long....</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>
<img height="299" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT0kqF0nXHgj3t78-FSS_i4yq-oV3GxYGN4_ANSysyms1xN3Veq5QSr_9xi" width="400" /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">I need the light to guide me home....to guide me to that shore to be with </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">you....</span><span style="color: #0b5394;">.to splash</span><img height="222" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTAWwdjBSJF5De1VqLMxdN5Ef5krft_Ze2sVxqZ_BTwHFlMbVd8" width="400" /><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">in the surf with you as we are together again.....</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>
<img height="240" src="http://wordartz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Light-House.jpg" width="400" /></b></span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I long to look back and see our footprints together.....</span></b><br />
<br />
<img height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqeYKLCVmlgzyxmYEDCBDIJ0XUFAyWwqCNVaark9Qfd3A3FG2-BCoHI52lKAqu21RmLAxl8M_Ef4pDAHD-p0njc8oY359vaHEs3jKgoEY_6h-VarkMPQ7er8RFoR0ScKRLq3xrA/s400/Footprints_on_the_Beach.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>for all the days and tomorrows to come</b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="297" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRIkj-C6TDaTQKzKeVEYU5z_NgWFCVF4TRv7QqD37jO-r4T804oDw" width="400" />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-57115345575833297542013-01-20T09:07:00.003-08:002013-01-20T09:08:51.672-08:00My Brother and Sisters - 1960's<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Wow, I ran across this pic in an email folder I forgot I even had.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />This is a pic of my sister Marion (in front of horse), my brother Steve on horse) and my two younger sisters Susan and Diana (left, right) taken in the early 60's. Not sure exact year.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The horse is Star. We all loved that horse. Sweetest ole horse you ever saw. I used to love brushing him and feeding him apples when I visited Aunt Paula.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJwQRuOuDRmEQGZPL4UWrbatJCP7xNv8BfVzL_N3MPr_gZmOeyNyuOSkD2TyB-R5ESJokgrJNtovTSJBg84QFHhMprk9k5NJiXV6vo7W_9QXf70M8AHCSN_iRZGPjVtQS4qCfMw/s1600/steve+on+horse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRJwQRuOuDRmEQGZPL4UWrbatJCP7xNv8BfVzL_N3MPr_gZmOeyNyuOSkD2TyB-R5ESJokgrJNtovTSJBg84QFHhMprk9k5NJiXV6vo7W_9QXf70M8AHCSN_iRZGPjVtQS4qCfMw/s400/steve+on+horse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-20771689752414455302013-01-19T08:32:00.002-08:002013-01-19T08:41:11.269-08:00A Hurricane and a New School<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large; line-height: 52.80000305175781px;"><span style="color: orange;">A Hurricane and a New School</span></strong><br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: orange; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><strong> Pat O'Connor</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
</div>
<br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;" />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong><i>Hurrricane Donna Pays a Visit</i></strong></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:brezwW9UcSTABM:http://www.birds-n-garden.com/free_graphics/800_butterfly_zinnias.jpg" /><strong style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><i>**Oringinally posted in Google**</i></span></strong><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">So now, with my brother and sister gone to faraway Oregon, I was the last O'Connor left in Florida. I would miss them very deeply, yet to this day</span></strong><br />
<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">I have never regretted my decision to remain at Aunt Gladys and Uncle Austin's</span></strong><br />
<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">School was about to start and once again I would</span></strong><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:il17kWOyCRqYZM:http://members.fortunecity.com/cnetter/gardens/images/zinnia_fly.jpg" /><br />
<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">be starting a new school. There were many of us in our neighborhood who had been attending Central Elementary, which was in downtown Auburndale.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<span style="border-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0b5394; display: inline !important; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:VZWVZ6onbm4HuM:http://www.polk-fl.net/lenavista/images/lv_school.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: left; display: inline !important; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:VZWVZ6onbm4HuM:http://www.polk-fl.net/lenavista/images/lv_school.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></a></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">But, there was a newer school just blocks from our house and the school policy changed meaning we would now be attending Lena Vista Elementary. </span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">I was now in second grade and my new teacher was Mrs. Dial. She was an interesting person. I remember her being very hefty and everyday she would take home scraps of lunchroom food for her dog.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:9bQr1k4crVk-JM:http://www.pcsb.k12.fl.us/school-list/READABOOK-sm.gif" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:9bQr1k4crVk-JM:http://www.pcsb.k12.fl.us/school-list/READABOOK-sm.gif" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">I had the same teacher for third and sixth grade, a Mrs McCarty. In fourth grade my teacher was Mrs Mitchell.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">In fifth grade my teach was Miss Harrison. We all loved her and she was very unique in several ways.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:YbdWtv7qdeK_CM:http://anthro.fullerton.edu/orangecocuration/about_2.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:YbdWtv7qdeK_CM:http://anthro.fullerton.edu/orangecocuration/about_2.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">First, she was an "old maid" having never been married. She was very wealthy as she owned hundreds of acres of prime citrus groves, yet she drove this ancient old car from the early fifties. I want to say, it was a 1951 Chevy. Her classroom was special also as it was the only room in the school with a television and air conditioner.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Finally, she was also a vegetarian, the first one I can remember ever knowing.</span></strong></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">It wasn't such a bad transition though, as at least I would know a lot of the kids and actually it was a much nicer facility. I have many good memories of Lena Vista, even when I fractured my right arm in fourth grade and broke my left one in sixth grade. Hey, you can't live life on the sidelines.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Life was also about to get very interesting as a result of a monster storm roaring across Florida.</span></strong><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:CFcCSyGIjAykmM:http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/photos/hurricane-luis-dmsp.gif" style="background-color: transparent;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Hurrican Donna was a category four (some say </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">five) hurricane with at one time sustained winds of 160mph, and peak winds of 175mph. It roamed around the Carribean and the Atlantic from August 29, 1960 until September 14, 1960.</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:2fWtjfCft10wuM:http://web.naplesnews.com/03/10/graphics/20neap-map-big.JPG" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:2fWtjfCft10wuM:http://web.naplesnews.com/03/10/graphics/20neap-map-big.JPG" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">It was one of this countries deadliest hurricanes aslo, due to the path it took after smashing through Florida. It made landfall in the Everglades, came straight up Florida and then cut accross the state at Tampa. After leaving Florida, it hugged the US Atlanta coastline all the way up through New England.</span></strong><img src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQe1AQBkVD1VRTxl0loJ2U99nN7KXhimveXsmuu15sAOiWulY3pdA" style="background-color: transparent;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:bzT2H3eCGyT2jM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Hurricane_Donna.jpg/250px-Hurricane_Donna.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:bzT2H3eCGyT2jM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Hurricane_Donna.jpg/250px-Hurricane_Donna.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">It also held together extremely well and even when it crossed Long Island it had a 100 mile wide eye. When it made it's way to Rhode Island, it still had wind gusts up to 130 mph. These states were simply not prepared for such a storm as this. The illustration to the left is an actual radar image of Donna.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">All in all 364 people lost their </span></strong><img height="143" src="http://keyshistory.org/UMK-OlneyInn-Donna.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" width="200" /></span><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">lives and billions of dollars of destruction ranged for hundreds of miles along the Atlantic seab</span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">oard.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
</div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">I was surprised too at my reaction to Donna. After the hurricane/tornado incident in Tennessee several years before, I had been terrified of bad storms. But, this time I was unusually calm and actually slept a little bit. Our house was an incredibly solid masonary and block home well capable of surviving an even worse storm.</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">The only damage we had was a shingle blew off a neighbor's house and went through a dining room window.</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">The eye of hurricane Donna passed directly over our town and you know, we couldn't resist going outside in the middle of it. It was one of the eariest scenes I can remember. Nothing moved, not even bugs, and there was absolutely no noise. It was a scene of total and complete stillness.</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">After the storm passed, there was of course no electricity and the store close to our house had to get rid of all its perishables before they went bad. So, I took my little red wagon </span></strong><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:fJAlNsXQ1H9LCM:http://www.afb.org/images/activity_kidsizedwagon.jpg" /><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">and brought home a load of ice cream.</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Most of the houses of that time were also built about three feet off the ground so as to avoid being flooded during </span></strong><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:XJhvVdH8JfzEzM:http://time.er.usgs.gov/photogallery/unspecified/wildlife/photos/snake1i.jpg" /><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">storms or even the heavy monsoon type rain we had. While our house was safe, the yard was covered with about a foot of red yucky water, with leeches floating around by the seeming thousands and with occasional snakes swimming around. It would be days before the water finally subsided.</span></strong><img src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRXrv9_xZaKLM3DWvmIPmln9HwhSItO3rfSMcPq3Ch3FqRTfrwHMg" /></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">The rest of the year, thank goodness passed without much fanfare, storms or other memorable events.</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<img src="http://ak7.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/717409/preview/stock-footage-palm-trees-swaying-in-the-wind-with-sun-animated-hd-background.jpg" /></div>
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-50211234845393589672013-01-19T06:34:00.000-08:002013-01-19T06:35:58.445-08:00The Summer of 1960 "A time of fun and change"<span style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Summer of 1960 "A time of fun and change"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>
</span><br />
<h3 style="background-color: white; border: medium none; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em;">
<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pat O'Connor</span></h3>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;" /></span></b>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>My Perceptions of Reality</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #660000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">What does a discontented soul do when nothing makes sense anyway?</span><span style="color: #ff6600;"> </span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #ff6600; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
</div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Christmas tree repaired, the year ended with in a happy note. Infact, it was the first real family Christmas I had ever had.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong>Aunt Gladys quickly became the mom I had always wanted. Uncle Austin, however was much more distant, even seemingly cold at times. Yet, what can you say about these two who opened their door and were willing to take a child that not even his mother wanted.</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong>There were three families of the Hammock children living in Central Florida at the time. Aunt Vivian and Uncle Kenny in Rockledge, Aunt Gladys<br /></strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>We only lived a hour and a half away from each other, so we were always spending weekends, visiting and doing thing together. It really created a sense of belonging and family that I had not known before.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong>Winter, what there is of it in central Florida, quickly turned into Spring as soon it was time for school to be out</strong>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div style="border: medium none;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:kHaVV55RziRWVM:http://www.christmasspiritshop.com/itemimages/FTU-126-2c.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:kHaVV55RziRWVM:http://www.christmasspiritshop.com/itemimages/FTU-126-2c.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Gerald, my aunt and uncle's oldest son had been living in Elba, Alabama and was getting married to one of the local girls. So we were off for a wedding.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>I, also, didn't realize that Aunt Gladys had talked to Uncle Jake about me spending the summer with him and Aunt Louise. So when they told me, I was bouncing off the wall.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:5WLPoUJnlQr-rM:http://www.denyerec.co.uk/images/1066752118DSCF0030_p.jpg" /> <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">After the wedding I left with Uncles Jakes and Aunt Louise for the farm. It was to be a grand summer!!!!</span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></strong>
</span><br />
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Now every farm boy needs his own little project </span></strong><strong style="line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">to handle, so, the first week I was there Uncle Jake bought me a hundred little baby chicks</span></strong><img height="140" src="http://www.owlsland.com/chicks.jpg" width="200" /><strong style="color: #990000; line-height: 30px;"> </strong><strong style="line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">that I was going to raise..what happened when they were grown..now, that comes later.</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong style="line-height: 30px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
</div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>They had also completely remodled their home, including installing air conditioning and had bought a color tv. This wa going to be a rough time, I could tell.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Morning started early ands while Aunt Louise would be making those hot delectible buttermilk biscuits, I would go out and gather eggs.</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong>Then I would be off following Uncle Jake as he went out to his old Jersey milkcow. </strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:bJK1T1oAKAqo1M:http://www.guy-sports.com/fun_pictures/cats_milk_cow.jpg" /></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
</div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>We also had an entourage of cats waiting for that special squirt of warm fresh butter-rich milk. </strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong> </strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>After breakfast, we were off to do some work. During the summer the was hay to cut, corn to harvest, cotton to pick and peanuts to gather.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>To help with all this, Uncle Jake had a number of hired hands, but also had the very latest in farm machinary and combines.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Now after lunch, we had a siesta, sometimes went fishing, sometimes went off to get supplies, shop and the like. I was Uncle Jake's shadow and everywhere he went, I went as did his loveable old beagle Joah.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:wrX_qAtBaV5cAM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/e/e3/20050630195844!Beagle.jpg" /></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
</div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>The Summer of 1960 was also a serious turning point in my lymphedema. For this first time I had an attack of an infection called cellulitis. This is one of the many complications of lymphedema.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>I had gone off to Bible school and within the short time that I was there, a left inguinal lymph node swelled to the size of a golfball and was incredibly painful. Aunt Louise came to pick me up and I went straight to bed when we got home. I don't remember a single thing for more then a week.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Once recovered though I was again unstoppable. It was back to chores, feeding the chickens,fishing, swimming, scaring the cows and other assorted tasks like devouring home made deep dish blackberry cobbler.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Uncle Jake had this antique corn shucker/grinder that his dad once used on his farm. I loved to shove ears of corn down that shucker, turn the handle and watch the grains of corn come flowing out the end.</strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span></strong><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:e1GGf9-MHe48TM:http://riroads.com/images/ri_red_chicken.jpg" /><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">By the way, remember those one hundred baby chicks? </span></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well.....yep.....when they were tender pullet size, we had the grandest cookout that county had seen thus far that summer. All grain fed, tender and very moist!!! Uncle Jake lopped off their heads, then we threw them in pots of boiling water and Aunt Louise and I would pluck the feathers.</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:rWEeCNIeHT9_SM:http://www.popnsonsbbq.com/images/chicken.jpg" /></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none;">
</div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>But Summer by now was quickly drawing to a close and soon it would be time to return to Auburndale and start second grade.</strong></span></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, while I was having the time of my life up in Cottondale, down in central Florida, there were some big changes occurring.</span></strong></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve, my brother had left Florida and returned to mother. Marion was tricked into returning when mother told her I would also be coming after I </span></strong></span></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><strong>returned from Uncle </strong><strong>Jake's. </strong></span><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:AcAN1KLidDTZwM:http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/b707_1.jpg" /></span></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, Aunt Gladys and Uncle Austin left that decision totally up to me. Even as a seven year old, I knew what I wanted and it wasn't to return to that kind of life.</span></strong></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like the Autumn wind ushering in a new season, there were other significant changes as well.</span></strong></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Next time: a monster hurricane visits and I start at yet another new school.</span></strong><span style="color: #990000;"></span> </span></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div style="clear: both;">
<strong style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: #b45f06;">Life is meant to be a celebration of the things we can do, not a requiem for this things we can not do. The great Native American chief Tecumseh once said, "When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lives in yourself"</span></i></strong></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-60007328519240010482013-01-15T17:22:00.001-08:002013-01-15T17:22:29.838-08:00Throwaway Children<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>To really understand this post, one needs to go back and read the one in the link below</b></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://creativebrooding.blogspot.com/search?q=throwaway">Throwaway</a><br />
<a href="http://blessedcause.org/PressRelease/weepin2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blessedcause.org/PressRelease/weepin2.jpg" /></a><br />
<b><span style="color: #0b5394;">This page is a continuation of Throwaway, and was posted initially in another blog back in very early 2007.</span></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #000099; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><strong> It has been said, that we are all given our crosses to bear in our lives. Certainly, lymphedema with all the complications including lymphoma was one of mine. My second one was the abuse and rejection I experienced as a small child.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial;">It is true, that we have no choice in the cross that we were born with. But we do have a choice in how we respond to and carry that cross, especially as an adult.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial;">It also amazes me how many generations and descendants of a person’s family are affected by the actions of the parents. Mom and dad, whatever you do to your child, your are also doing to your grandchildren, great grand children and perhaps even beyond.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000099;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">But, I digress, so back to our story.</span></span></b><img src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1165000/images/_1165768_abused300.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">When my mother and John were married, we lived in Jacksonville, Florida. We stayed there long enough for mother to give him two daughters of his own. Susan, the oldest was born in 1954 and Diana in 1956. After that he was transferred to Tennessee and then subsequently to southern California. I am assuming it was Camp Pendleton as that was the largest Marine Corps facility in the state.</span></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000099;"> </span></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><strong><span style="color: #000099;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">Immediately after my mother and dad’s divorce, our dad disappeared forever from our lives. The story that I am told is that mom had caused him to be fired from every position he had and that the final straw was the last time he came to see us. He had brought Marion (my older sister) a dress. Mother ripped it up and John threatened to have his marine “buddies” take care of him if he ever showed up again. How true it is, perhaps we will never know, but the story comes from several sources.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">Alcohol was also a central problem with both mother and John. They are the type of people whose entire personality changes with drinking. When you add alcohol to unstable mean spirited people, they become even more cruel and violent.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">My earliest memories of childhood are filled with recollections of this violence and brutality. One of John’s disciplinary tactics was to pull you around by the hair and throw you down on the floor.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">When I was about four years old, our dog peed on the floor. John of course accused me of doing it so he put the leather belt all over me and rubbed my face in the dog pee.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">There was also a park nearby that Steve (my older brother), Marion and I would go to. I remember how upset Steve and Marion would get because I would refuse to join them in begging people at the park for food.</span></span></b><img src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQwjfVqzzyyXxwlYWodnyHOpmEwIYXbUMvCUxTrHMf5naJOHm9" /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">While living in that same house, my sister Marion ate poison as a result of digging food from a neighbor’s garbage can.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">From Jacksonville, John was briefly transferred to a base in Tennessee. With one glaring exception, I don’t have too many memories from there. </span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">While mother and John were out at the bar, a severe storm passed through our area and a tornado took of the top of our two story house. It was incredibly frightening for five children, ages 8 through 3 and home alone.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">Shortly after that, John was transferred to southern California as I mentioned above. We were not there long as events unfolding in Oregon were soon to have a profound effect on us.</span> </span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">In the late forties, mother's oldest sister, Paula had sold all her beauty colleges, schools and shops throughout Southern California and decided to be a rancher in Oregon.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">She bought an 1800 spread, called Fall Creek, just outside a tiny town named Glide, Oregon. Her financial stature increased even more when she married a very well to do rancher Lossie. Together, they had properties all over the state of Oregon and beyond.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">You can find a little about Lossie in this article </span><a href="http://www.nps.gov/archive/joda/adhi/adhi2-5.htm" rel="nofollow" style="color: rgb(140, 38, 255) !important;">John Day Fossil Beds</a>.</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">Mother decided she wanted to stake a claim on this wealth and get as much as she could from Paula. So, leaving John behind in Camp Pendelton, she packed we five children up and moved to Oregon.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">We settled into a 1600 acres ranch, owned of course, by Uncle Lossie outside another small town named Yoncalla.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">John only came up for visits and even those rare events were</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">full of the usual violence and abuse. I remember the first time it snowed. I had never played in snow before, so I thought it would be a grand idea to go out and build a snowman.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">Apparently, it was a very wrong decision, and John kept beating me hard enough and long enough that the leather belt he used actually broke.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">In the meantime, something had changed in me and I fought back against the abuse. This is not such a good idea when you are a five year old against a grown woman and a marine sargeant.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">When I fought back, mother would hold my head under the water faucet until I could no longer breathe and lapsed into compliance.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">Another favorite punishment would be to have me stand in the corner until I came close to passing out.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">We were not in Yoncalla very long before John had one of those "forced" honorable resignations from the Marine Corps (thanks naturally to mother's actions). At that point they made a decision that it was time to be rid of the O'Connor children and we were to be carted back off to Florida and dumped on relatives.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">Ironically, their decision based in evil was the best possible course of action for me. It provided me with years of somewhat of a normal childhood, gave me a person who became (and still is) my mother in my heart and enabled me to get medical care for the worsening lymphedema.</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #000099;">By the time we left Yoncalla, I was such a wreck from the abuse that I would wake up in the middle of the night after having vomited all over my bed....and yes, there was punishment for that as well.</span></span></b><img src="http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:yuqRilqzrZOvQM:http://www.vampires.nu/images/members/574/crying%2520man_big.jpg" /></div>
<br />
<br />
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-31064875948784190102013-01-15T17:10:00.000-08:002013-01-17T08:58:38.329-08:00A Home for a Little Boy<br />
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img height="299" src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:A82ffiVeysRwKM:http://www.thiswaytothe.net/tides/images/sunset.jpg" width="400" /></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">A Home for a Little Boy -</span> <span style="color: orange;"><i>Originally written and posted elsewhere January 2007 - transferred here Jan 15, 2013</i></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;"><i><br /></i></span></span></b>
<br />
<strong style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 30px;">"Finding our way back to Florida"</strong><br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; clear: both; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So our time in Yoncalla was drawing to a close. In planning to take the O’Connor children to Florida, there was this small problem of what to do with a couple little girls of 4 ½ years and 2 ½ years. However, if you are my mother, the solution is actually quite simple.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>You put them into a tiny little white clapboard house and put the fear of Satan in them if they open the shades, answer the phone, answer the door or go outside. Looking back, it truly is a miracle that nothing happened to Susan and Diana while mother was away.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>With that little problem resolved, we packed the ole wagon, </strong><strong>hopped in and were cruising the highwaysagain.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Since Aunt Paula was with us, mother had to be at her best behavior so the trip was actually fun and I remember having a good time. There were four things in particular that really stuck with me though.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Since it was still Winter, the snow wa still thick and covered the land, trees and roads going through the Dunsmuir pass in the Mt. Stasta, Calfornia area.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mt. Shasta was spectacular and majestic against a deep blue sky. When the wind whipped around the mountain, it would scoop up the powder snows and the mountain was surrounded by shimmering halo. </span></strong><img src="http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MGP/CM-003-175~Mt-Shasta-with-Winter-Snow-Cap-and-a-Church-at-Sundown-CA-Posters.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" /><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong> </strong><strong>When we went through the Southwest, you had to keep a sharp eye out for those gila monsters. We were told they would sneak into your hotel room at night, and gobble you up while you slept. Now that made for sweet dreams.</strong><strong> </strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; clear: both; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:CVW3X_8A152VlM:http://faqinfosite.com/snakesvipersdeadliestdeadlydangerousvenom/images/gilamonster.jpg"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:CVW3X_8A152VlM:http://faqinfosite.com/snakesvipersdeadliestdeadlydangerousvenom/images/gilamonster.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong> </strong><strong>Then of course going through Arizona and New Mexico we kept a keen look out too for the giant jackalopes. These huge critters were a cross breed between a jack rabbit and an antelope. Some were so huge, we were told, they could actually kick over a building. We sure didn’t want them jumping onto the highway and kicking us off the road. </strong></span><img src="http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/FIP/SW-00023-C~Man-Herding-Cattle-from-Giant-Jack-Rabbit-Posters.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>I was also fascinated by the seemingly mile after mile of those oilrigs along the Texas and Louisiana coast. They seemed to go on and on and sang in unison with their rhythmic ka-thunka, ka-thunka as they sucked the precious oil from mother earth.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<img src="http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:SSRlYPu3gjNWwM:http://www.bygonebyways.com/80-TX-Penwell-Oil_Rigs-Blue.jpg" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>The trip was a whirlwind event, and was over almost a quickly as it had begun.</strong></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a few days of driving long hours, we arrived back in Florida. Our first home there, was to be with Uncle Jake and Aunt Louise who owned a huge farm outside a sleepy little Southern town called Cottondale. </span></strong><img src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSBBdqLhOh-QhOH45P7qE0TSV0HDZvkVxqO0HbiRiim7XaqpDHlOQ" /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>The farm was beautiful with lush woodlands and deep green pastures set in gentle rolling hills. There was also a small river that ran through the farm that we children loved. One end was ideal for fishing and the opposite end was perfect for swimming.</strong></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>It was also large enough so that Uncle Jake had a number of families that worked for him, with some actually living in houses on the property. He raised corn, cotton, peanuts, hay and a sundry of other cash crops plus hundreds of beautiful prize Black Angus cattle. </strong></span><img src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQFH0TUkjtuHKnVVb6d8THj-MEleJY_DXTBsG61HwA8qtj4LdInQQ" /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We settled in quickly and were promptly enrolled at the local elementary school. It was a quaint and typical ancient country school. It was two story, made of red brick darkened by enduring sixty years of changing weather and the school yard was filled with giant live oak trees with enormous boughs of swaying Spanish moss.</span></strong></div>
<div style="border: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I made news friends easily and it wasn't long before I had a best buddy, Cliff, to hang with. Our special treat each day was either a real orange juice popsicle, one of those real lime juice ones or the all time favorites, a fudgesicle. They were a mouthful of delight for only one nickel.</span></strong></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>But as the old cliche says, "all good things must come to an end." Mother had always had this problem with Aunt Louise. What it was all about I never knew, not even to this day. Apparently, she got in an argument one day with Aunt Louise and without prior announcement showed up at their house to yank us out of there.</b></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We were taken to relatives in central Florida. We were very upset and saddened, but nevertheless were all crammed back into the car and were on the road again, and again. </b></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">A Home for a Little Boy -</span> <span style="color: orange;"><i>Originally written and posted elsewhere January 2007 - transferred here Jan 15, 2013</i></span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></strong><strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong>At least this time that we were on the road again, it was a much shorter trip.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong>Steve and Marion were </strong></span><strong style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 30px;">Steve and Marion were taken to Aunt Vivian (mother's sister) and Uncle Kenney's home in Rockledge, Florida.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; clear: both; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Cle3guJpALJcDM:http://www.dynamiccontrols.uk.com/images/newrocket.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:Cle3guJpALJcDM:http://www.dynamiccontrols.uk.com/images/newrocket.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong>Uncle Kenny worked at Cape Canaveral and aunt Vivian was a homemaker. They had three children. The oldest we called Little Paula as she was named after aunt Paula. Kenny Jr. was the middle child and then there was Terry, son number two and was aproximately my age.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:la0YTIUaJPQvDM:http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/818003/2/istockphoto_818003_orange_grove.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:la0YTIUaJPQvDM:http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/818003/2/istockphoto_818003_orange_grove.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">I was to stay with Aunt Gladys (mom's sister), Uncle Austin and thier family. They lived outside a small town called Auburndale. This quaint little town was in the very heart of citrus country. Orange, grapefruit and tangerine groves were everywhere. </span></strong><img height="238" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3M5gGbeSvC11mkSEE1HX0az7ONmpHyHFZnzWP-tzdlXPoYh3t" style="background-color: transparent;" width="320" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">They had three children of their own. The oldest Gerald was living in Alabama and was soon to be married. Tom, the second oldest, who was named after his dad was in the navy. The youngest was Rod who was about four years older then I was.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:q2yeLBfSL-IOcM:http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Roy-Toft/A-Little-Blue-Heron-Silhouetted-on-a-Florida-Beach-at-Sunrise-Photographic-Print-C11893540.jpeg" style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:q2yeLBfSL-IOcM:http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Roy-Toft/A-Little-Blue-Heron-Silhouetted-on-a-Florida-Beach-at-Sunrise-Photographic-Print-C11893540.jpeg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong>Uncle Austin owned his own leather goods business in a neighboring city called Winter Haven. Aunt Gladys was a histology technician at the Winter Haven hospital.</strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">That first year was difficult for me and I am quite sure for them as well. I had a number of emotional issuesdue to the abuse from my mother and stepfather. One time I woke everyone in the house up because I had turned on all the lights...ever fearful of the darkness.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">There were medical problems as well. I continued to have stomach trouble and according to the doctors was in an emerging ucler stage. So, I was put on a bland (yuk) diet for several months.</span></strong><img src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTQvj9wZ37KPE4aaZkwQkKngneIMCLuVnRXS9fL8StPJR-wJDc" style="background-color: transparent;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Also, we needed to find an answer a to the question of why my legs swelled like they did.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Aunt Gladys had taken me to their family doctor to get his opinion. After a thorough examination and a family history, Dr. Smythe announced I had a condition called Milroy's Disease. This was the old name applied to almost all cases of lymphedema.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">My aunt and uncle's home quickly became "my" home as I was welcomed and settled in. I was enrolled in school at the Central Elementary School in Auburndale. This was the third school I attended in my first grade.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">The year 1959 was one of massive change for me and it ended on a good note.</span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; clear: both; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:kz1pJtSjcyRenM:http://library2.nalis.gov.tt/Portals/0/601/christmas%2520tree.jpg"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:kz1pJtSjcyRenM:http://library2.nalis.gov.tt/Portals/0/601/christmas%2520tree.jpg" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">At Christmas, I had decided I was going to rearrange a decoration at the top of the Christmas tree, and boy did I ever rearrange it. I knocked the whole tree over. Of course, I did what any little kid would do, I started crying. </span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">After some hugs of comfort from Aunt Gladys, both the tree and I were tidied up. How totally strange it was for me not to be beaten with a leather belt for something I had done. I honestly didn't know what to do since normally I would have been beat unmercifully....maybe there really is a Santa Claus </span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></strong><img height="640" src="https://sites.google.com/site/patoconnoroconnor/cypressswamp-medium.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" width="407" /></div>
<br />
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-4489326130894264992013-01-15T16:47:00.001-08:002013-01-15T16:47:07.330-08:00My Perceptions of Reality<br />
<h2 id="post-38" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.6em; margin: 30px 0px 0px;">
<a href="http://iconoclasticeclectic.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/my-perceptions-of-reality/" rel="bookmark" style="color: #cc6600; text-decoration: initial;" title="Permanent Link to My Perceptions of Reality">My Perceptions of Reality</a></h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Originally posted in another blog on November 7, 2007</b></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<img alt="irish-castle2" src="http://iconoclasticeclectic.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/irish-castle2.jpg?w=450&h=377" /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-family: '} ';"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">February 7, 2007</span></strong></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-family: '} ';"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-family: '} ';"><span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Like most Americans, I come from a mixture of peoples and cultures. I chose the two that I think most express who I am.</span></strong></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-family: '} ';"><span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">The Irish castle respresents that part of me from the Emerald Isle. Tempermentally, I am so very sterotypically Irish.</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong>But the Cherokee, calls most to the deepest hunger of my soul and my values.</strong></span> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">It is ironic as well that both people have known ethnic genocide.</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">The Cherokee through the brutal actions of President Jackson and the dislocation of the Cherokee nation to Oklahoma. The Cherokee history of that process, known as The Trail of Tears is filled with a people treated in a brutal and cruel manner.</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">The Irish too, know first hand this horror through the centuries of occupation and brutal mistreatment at the hands of the English.</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">It is a credit to both the courage and the strength of the Cherokee spirit and to the Irish spirit that BOTH have preserved their culture, history and language.</span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">They have an indestructible heart that despite of and in the midst of their sorrow still chose to be a blessing to humanity.</span></span></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">My Own Introduction</span></span></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<span style="color: #006600; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">I was born in West Palm Beach. Florida, in December of 1952. You might think that being from the Palm Beach area, life would always be “another day in paradise.”</span></strong></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, for some, that was not meant to be. This is the first time I will share some of the “events” of my childhood. I don’t do it for pity as pity is such a waste.</span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Also, I have long dealt with the shadows of my youth and have moved far beyond them.</span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">My father was a chef and well, my mother was simply who she was. They were divorced when I was barely a year old and so I have no cognitive memory of my father. Those who knew him well have said many times that he was devoted to his children and strove to be a good father.</span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Less then a month later, mother married a Marine sargeant several years her junior.</span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thus begins the story of paradise lost.</span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">And I learned to walk in a world being filled with terrible silent pain and quiet tears. A world where I was basically left to feel like a throw away.</span></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 1.5em;">
<strong><span style="color: #006600; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15.600000381469727px; line-height: 1.5em;">
<img alt="patrick9100311" height="311" src="http://iconoclasticeclectic.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/patrick9100311.jpg?w=450" width="400" /></div>
</div>
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-16775467492940236612013-01-15T07:56:00.001-08:002013-01-15T13:42:02.884-08:00If Only<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b> So quietly whispered, "If only."</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPoT9AvhzVSZWFVD8xHJBS2zYIpH27oenjjbKUG1MwBLfZu_YehAPHMTV3EUTqLXPITqeT-slWbxkneZlaP6X9yvfbmyO7g3iV5o_Ci3IwLHNJvvQ1tliWv7HaZ8iVgpGmu9IeCg/s1600/God-Love-and-Faith-god-29940535-478-383.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPoT9AvhzVSZWFVD8xHJBS2zYIpH27oenjjbKUG1MwBLfZu_YehAPHMTV3EUTqLXPITqeT-slWbxkneZlaP6X9yvfbmyO7g3iV5o_Ci3IwLHNJvvQ1tliWv7HaZ8iVgpGmu9IeCg/s400/God-Love-and-Faith-god-29940535-478-383.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17300838.post-45156626523550724642013-01-09T11:27:00.002-08:002013-01-09T11:29:39.896-08:00I hear your mother calling you for dinner<br />
<br />
<img height="400" src="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs43/i/2009/129/7/a/A_nasty_case_of_inner_beauty___by_Emryswolf.jpg" width="343" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Pat O'Connorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13638920419420663623noreply@blogger.com0