My Swan Song
I'm alive, but am I living ?
Really, am I truly living ?
I go through the motions,
Seemingly life consistent.
Food easily downed, trouble
With those darn lazy innards.
Mobility necessary though stymied ;
Walker now, wheelchair, in my future?
How in the world do I cope ?
Desperately, I long for the off switch.
Sleeping more, rested less,
Nothing constant but pills.
My life, is it in order for its passing ?
I always controlled, now dependent.
Discomfort and pain with disability
Dissolves any sense of normality.
Yes, I am ready to meet the grim reaper !
Is a dead death any worse than living one ?
Ronald C. Downie
Friday, June 12, 2015
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Open Letter to Senator Casey
Dear Senator,
Hidden deeply within our Planet, history is recorded in rock, in oceans, in tree rings. Reading history is a difficult task society leaves to the students of science. In them, the truly learned of each generation, is the huge task of studying the past to see into the future. Science, for ever, has based assumptions on the premiss, that to know where your going you need to set your bearings from a point established by a study of the past.
I am told Senator, you are engaged in a soul searching endeavor along with the other elected representatives of the people who are on the proverbial fence. Do you, and they, put your trust in science that global warming is indeed true ? Or, as you all ponder your decisions, do you trust the learned of the knowledgable or do you side with so many who have a financial gain in your vote's outcome.
In the image of his father, a man must either be a statesman or just another elected official. Your father would have risen above just another elected official position and voted his statesman status. The living will soon forget your vote, but the unborn, the future of this World will have to try to live in an environment you'll have helped to mold. In your hands lies a future of sustainability or one of human degradation. Pick the one you wish to be remembered for.
Ronald C. Downie's
Dear Senator,
Hidden deeply within our Planet, history is recorded in rock, in oceans, in tree rings. Reading history is a difficult task society leaves to the students of science. In them, the truly learned of each generation, is the huge task of studying the past to see into the future. Science, for ever, has based assumptions on the premiss, that to know where your going you need to set your bearings from a point established by a study of the past.
I am told Senator, you are engaged in a soul searching endeavor along with the other elected representatives of the people who are on the proverbial fence. Do you, and they, put your trust in science that global warming is indeed true ? Or, as you all ponder your decisions, do you trust the learned of the knowledgable or do you side with so many who have a financial gain in your vote's outcome.
In the image of his father, a man must either be a statesman or just another elected official. Your father would have risen above just another elected official position and voted his statesman status. The living will soon forget your vote, but the unborn, the future of this World will have to try to live in an environment you'll have helped to mold. In your hands lies a future of sustainability or one of human degradation. Pick the one you wish to be remembered for.
Ronald C. Downie's
Monday, June 8, 2015
Even at this late stage of my life, I find myself preaching mundane ideas to far flung grandchildren which, I hope, helps them get through life.
Connor Kurtz
Toward sunset, when having to walk across a bridge dressed only in pants and a tee shirt, realizing there are lower temperatures and heightened breezes on the bridge even in California, only one remedy comes to my mind. Find some cardboard or purchase a newspaper which you can place under your tee shirt as insulation, extra layers of airspace, that may protect you from extremes in temperature.
Plan your work and work your plan and a place for everything and everything in its place.
Love, Nanny&PopPop
11:30 AM Monday 6/8/15
Connor Kurtz
Toward sunset, when having to walk across a bridge dressed only in pants and a tee shirt, realizing there are lower temperatures and heightened breezes on the bridge even in California, only one remedy comes to my mind. Find some cardboard or purchase a newspaper which you can place under your tee shirt as insulation, extra layers of airspace, that may protect you from extremes in temperature.
Plan your work and work your plan and a place for everything and everything in its place.
Love, Nanny&PopPop
11:30 AM Monday 6/8/15
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Connor Man
My telephone call caught grandson Connor as he was going into a Juice Bar in San Francisco, California at 5PM Saturday, the 6th of June. With his juice in a container Connor called me back as he continued on his sightseeing tour of his newly found horizon. Connor seems to devour new sights he allows himself to explore : the Painted Ladies, so often photographed, fisherman's wharf, hills with cable cars, and where he was at the time, The Presidio, an expansive beautiful park.
Days earlier on his train ride west Connor had a few hour stopover in Chicago. He enjoyed the lake waterfront, the cleanliness of the city, and the Sears Tower. He especially liked a small bookstore where he purchased eight books at a really fair price to engage his mind for the remainder of the trip. Connor was not very complimentary of his fellow train travelers. Many seemed course, foul mouthed and discourteous. West of Chicago he encountered many Amish riding the tracts, he presumes, because they shun airplanes. Because of the high cost of eating in the Diner Car, Connor carried his food with him. Unlike the Amish who ate from canned foods they carried with them, Connor ate mostly snack foods while dreaming of a cooked meal.
At this writing Connor should be on his way south from Oakland to LA then on to San Diego where he is to arrive there at 1AM. His job requires Federal clearance including fingerprinting which he'll do this first week. I don't quite understand what he will be actually be doing at his job. No matter what, in Connor they will be getting a more rounded young man than normal realizing last summer he was all over London, England and continental Europe and so far this year he crossed our continent by train ready to explore the west coast.
Naturally, Nanny and I love him whether he is on the move or not. He is to receive his college degree this next year then where he goes is still a mystery. We're sure it, too, will be an exciting journey, another episode in Connor Kurtz's life. Good Luck Connor ! Keep your eye on the horizon as you move forward in life.
Love, Nanny&PopPop
My telephone call caught grandson Connor as he was going into a Juice Bar in San Francisco, California at 5PM Saturday, the 6th of June. With his juice in a container Connor called me back as he continued on his sightseeing tour of his newly found horizon. Connor seems to devour new sights he allows himself to explore : the Painted Ladies, so often photographed, fisherman's wharf, hills with cable cars, and where he was at the time, The Presidio, an expansive beautiful park.
Days earlier on his train ride west Connor had a few hour stopover in Chicago. He enjoyed the lake waterfront, the cleanliness of the city, and the Sears Tower. He especially liked a small bookstore where he purchased eight books at a really fair price to engage his mind for the remainder of the trip. Connor was not very complimentary of his fellow train travelers. Many seemed course, foul mouthed and discourteous. West of Chicago he encountered many Amish riding the tracts, he presumes, because they shun airplanes. Because of the high cost of eating in the Diner Car, Connor carried his food with him. Unlike the Amish who ate from canned foods they carried with them, Connor ate mostly snack foods while dreaming of a cooked meal.
At this writing Connor should be on his way south from Oakland to LA then on to San Diego where he is to arrive there at 1AM. His job requires Federal clearance including fingerprinting which he'll do this first week. I don't quite understand what he will be actually be doing at his job. No matter what, in Connor they will be getting a more rounded young man than normal realizing last summer he was all over London, England and continental Europe and so far this year he crossed our continent by train ready to explore the west coast.
Naturally, Nanny and I love him whether he is on the move or not. He is to receive his college degree this next year then where he goes is still a mystery. We're sure it, too, will be an exciting journey, another episode in Connor Kurtz's life. Good Luck Connor ! Keep your eye on the horizon as you move forward in life.
Love, Nanny&PopPop
Beau Biden's funeral was exceptionally moving and President Obama's eulogy stands with the best I've ever heard. Few, if any, candidates running for office in 2016 could stir a nation as President Obama did. It disturbs me to no end when I see on Facebook a degenerate group of users denigrate the President, I believe, since he has black pigments in his skin. The office of the Presidency, if nothing else, is an honored position requiring public respect. It is with the ballot box that we shift allegiance in this country from one person to another and name that person President.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Life of Fire
Flames die, embers sputter,
Wisp of smoke spirals up
To show some energy's left.
From ash, warmth still flows
Seeking rekindle, a rebirth.
Fire life starts, finishes weak.
Life's fire, sperm mating egg.
All cells rushing to multiply
In an orderly frenzy, a twenty
Year, or so, drawn out sojourn.
Continued frenzy climbing the
Ladder in twenty year bites.
Then the slowing down process :
Maladies, afflictions, disease
Captures a body strong, making it
Weak, infirmities seek surrender.
Flames die out, embers cool,
Slips slowly toward oblivion.
Ronald C. Downie
Flames die, embers sputter,
Wisp of smoke spirals up
To show some energy's left.
From ash, warmth still flows
Seeking rekindle, a rebirth.
Fire life starts, finishes weak.
Life's fire, sperm mating egg.
All cells rushing to multiply
In an orderly frenzy, a twenty
Year, or so, drawn out sojourn.
Continued frenzy climbing the
Ladder in twenty year bites.
Then the slowing down process :
Maladies, afflictions, disease
Captures a body strong, making it
Weak, infirmities seek surrender.
Flames die out, embers cool,
Slips slowly toward oblivion.
Ronald C. Downie
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Brother Andrew
The Downies were a two children family : Alex and Olive raised Andy and me, Ronald. I was 80 my last birthday, brother Andy was 85 on May 30th. Neither of us seems well enough to travel the distance between North Jersey and here to celebrate our birthdays together. From early childhood the Downie family played down celebrations as our religion directed so skipping celebrations is nothing new to either of us.
Andy left Pottstown during the Korean Conflict by joining the Navy spending his shore time on the west coast. I was brought to Pottstown when I was 6 month old and never left. Andy came back to the area after the Navy commitment, got some required credits through tutoring by Hill School professors, and enrolled in Muhlenberg College, Allentown. While schooling he worked at The Upper Bank in Boyertown ( National Penn) and lived in New Hanover. He married while still in the Navy and he and Peggy had two children, David & Anne. After graduation they moved the family to Jersey and Andy began public school teaching. Some years later after attaining graduate credits he gained a Professorship and began teaching at Morris County Community College, Randolph, NJ, a position he had until his retirement. English Literature and Composition was his forte.
I stayed home, Andy moved along. We rarely joined together for big events which effected the rest of our lives. I was very pleased when he joined me and my family for the dedication by the Borough of The Amphitheater at the Schuylkill River in my name. Since then: time, distance, and now health has gotten in the way. Neither of us ever thought that our lives would go on forever, though I doubt, either of us would have written the script we are now roll playing. For me, eighty years has been a sufficient time to make my mark on the life I've lived.
Well Andy, Happy Birthday ! No matter the situation you're in, nor mine, we will expire and leave the living for the young as it's always been and always will be. As our lives draw to an end, thoughts accumulated in the mind are the only remnants of our lives which we carry with us to our deaths. So Mote It Be !
Ronald C. Downie
The Downies were a two children family : Alex and Olive raised Andy and me, Ronald. I was 80 my last birthday, brother Andy was 85 on May 30th. Neither of us seems well enough to travel the distance between North Jersey and here to celebrate our birthdays together. From early childhood the Downie family played down celebrations as our religion directed so skipping celebrations is nothing new to either of us.
Andy left Pottstown during the Korean Conflict by joining the Navy spending his shore time on the west coast. I was brought to Pottstown when I was 6 month old and never left. Andy came back to the area after the Navy commitment, got some required credits through tutoring by Hill School professors, and enrolled in Muhlenberg College, Allentown. While schooling he worked at The Upper Bank in Boyertown ( National Penn) and lived in New Hanover. He married while still in the Navy and he and Peggy had two children, David & Anne. After graduation they moved the family to Jersey and Andy began public school teaching. Some years later after attaining graduate credits he gained a Professorship and began teaching at Morris County Community College, Randolph, NJ, a position he had until his retirement. English Literature and Composition was his forte.
I stayed home, Andy moved along. We rarely joined together for big events which effected the rest of our lives. I was very pleased when he joined me and my family for the dedication by the Borough of The Amphitheater at the Schuylkill River in my name. Since then: time, distance, and now health has gotten in the way. Neither of us ever thought that our lives would go on forever, though I doubt, either of us would have written the script we are now roll playing. For me, eighty years has been a sufficient time to make my mark on the life I've lived.
Well Andy, Happy Birthday ! No matter the situation you're in, nor mine, we will expire and leave the living for the young as it's always been and always will be. As our lives draw to an end, thoughts accumulated in the mind are the only remnants of our lives which we carry with us to our deaths. So Mote It Be !
Ronald C. Downie
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