Mrs. Burckhard's Birthday And Other Fireside Chats
I don't know, does anyone really read my posts by fireside or by candlelight? It could happen ... the first half of my title today is a shout out to our son Jeffrey's kindergarten teacher and a childhood friend of Martha's ... if I haven't heard from my childhood friends through Facebook, I'm sorry to say I do not see or hear them. Sometimes I envy that, five days before the season premiere of Once Upon A Time (yeah, Martha had to remind me of that last night after the kids went to bed last night because I still thought it was the middle of September)!
Tomorrow, the first day of fall (or autumn, which gets a wider use in the Americas; apparently fall comes from Great Britain and even used to be known as "harvest" season until that term got shifted to its current agricultural meaning) and it's already getting chillier outside. No snowfall, of course, though I have a friend who turned fifty this Sunday and her mom who happened to be in church with her that day told me that when she was born it HAD snowed. The earliest I think I've seen it snow in North Dakota since I've been here is Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November.
Of course, my memory's not quite what it used to be, I wink wink. And I wasn't alive when Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his "fireside chats" over the radio in the 1930s and 40s, but from the way I've heard them described I thought he gave one every other week or so, but no. In the twelve years FDR was President, he only gave thirty-one (and that's from the book I read, Penguin Books' collection of eight, ISBN 0146001001; other sources give thirty and thirty-something counts on their number) of them. And from their length ... it's hard for me to imagine sitting in front of a radio for that long.
But I didn't live through the Great Depression (the Great Recession, though, I hear that I am) so understanding a world where the first attempt at mass communication -- that is, where you could hear what happened as it was happening; you didn't hear FDR pre-recorded, the Fireside Chats were "live" -- isn't as much of an effort as I think. Television existed in its basic form, but it wouldn't be mass produced until after World War II. And there certainly were no personal computers, tablets, or smartphones! So when you need inspiration you are willing to listen, and the sooner
one gets their message, their "spin", out the better! That too is as old as history and juvenile delinquents. Jeffrey's got his first Cub Scout pack meeting tonight, and he was so excited about starting back this fall (as opposed to the end of school this past May, where he admitted he just went because he could get more play time with his friends) that we agreed to let him since we're paid up to January. BUT he's got to do more than play with friends, he's got to participate, he's got to commit. Sarah's looking forward to spending the night Friday with a friend who was an enemy --
again, until this fall. Whew; the kids are growing up faster than we'd like sometimes. Martha and I are not only nice to Sarah and Jeffrey because they may choose our nursing home -- nah, we'll likely die AT home the way we're going. One very positive sign for me came this morning, glory to God for it! My blood sugar's been hovering in the 150s and 160s for months, but this morning when I pricked my finger -- it's not as disgusting it sounds, trust me -- it was 106. Normal human range is 80 to 120, and while the 150s and 160s is hardly lethal, it's a level you want to go down from!
I'm so excited about that, David
Tomorrow, the first day of fall (or autumn, which gets a wider use in the Americas; apparently fall comes from Great Britain and even used to be known as "harvest" season until that term got shifted to its current agricultural meaning) and it's already getting chillier outside. No snowfall, of course, though I have a friend who turned fifty this Sunday and her mom who happened to be in church with her that day told me that when she was born it HAD snowed. The earliest I think I've seen it snow in North Dakota since I've been here is Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November.
Of course, my memory's not quite what it used to be, I wink wink. And I wasn't alive when Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his "fireside chats" over the radio in the 1930s and 40s, but from the way I've heard them described I thought he gave one every other week or so, but no. In the twelve years FDR was President, he only gave thirty-one (and that's from the book I read, Penguin Books' collection of eight, ISBN 0146001001; other sources give thirty and thirty-something counts on their number) of them. And from their length ... it's hard for me to imagine sitting in front of a radio for that long.
But I didn't live through the Great Depression (the Great Recession, though, I hear that I am) so understanding a world where the first attempt at mass communication -- that is, where you could hear what happened as it was happening; you didn't hear FDR pre-recorded, the Fireside Chats were "live" -- isn't as much of an effort as I think. Television existed in its basic form, but it wouldn't be mass produced until after World War II. And there certainly were no personal computers, tablets, or smartphones! So when you need inspiration you are willing to listen, and the sooner
one gets their message, their "spin", out the better! That too is as old as history and juvenile delinquents. Jeffrey's got his first Cub Scout pack meeting tonight, and he was so excited about starting back this fall (as opposed to the end of school this past May, where he admitted he just went because he could get more play time with his friends) that we agreed to let him since we're paid up to January. BUT he's got to do more than play with friends, he's got to participate, he's got to commit. Sarah's looking forward to spending the night Friday with a friend who was an enemy --
again, until this fall. Whew; the kids are growing up faster than we'd like sometimes. Martha and I are not only nice to Sarah and Jeffrey because they may choose our nursing home -- nah, we'll likely die AT home the way we're going. One very positive sign for me came this morning, glory to God for it! My blood sugar's been hovering in the 150s and 160s for months, but this morning when I pricked my finger -- it's not as disgusting it sounds, trust me -- it was 106. Normal human range is 80 to 120, and while the 150s and 160s is hardly lethal, it's a level you want to go down from!
I'm so excited about that, David
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