Tag Archives: philosophy

My Mantra

All Gods critters have their place in the choir,
Some sing low, some sing higher.
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire.
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they’ve got, now!

This is my mantra and I repeat it over and over. It is my “little engine that could” and it keeps me traveling forward, first with my left foot, then my right. It helps move me. It’s not a lot, but it is enough.

It is a deceptively simple song called “A Place In The Choir”, written by Bill Staines in 1978. It starts with the chorus and has just five verses of four lines each. However, I only repeat the chorus, mostly because I can’t remember all the verses, but also because it’s too hard to think through the haze that stands between remembrance and self. My daughter, Lauren taught it to me when she was ten years old. She in turn heard it as a campfire song at Guide camp. I liked this quirky, innocent song, so I went looking for it. I found a guitar tab on the Internet and reformatted so that both my daughter and I could read it. It’s one of the many songs we perform for ourselves at home. We are a guitar and ukulele duo, accompanying an unlikely duet. One has a beautiful young voice and the other, an older, straining one.

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Why A Wedgie?

Awarding_the_GuinessThe awarding of the Guinness
Tom (right) finishes ahead of me (left) and by tradition, I award him his well earned prize.
2008 Bellwood Sprint Triathlon

That’s a very good question, “Why a Wedgie?” When I first heard that phrase, it triggered the memory of a famous Marx Brothers routine from their movie “The Coconuts“. The key phrase for the whole routine was “Why a duck?

It’s a classic case of misunderstanding and random phrases confused and twisted. Groucho and Chico are talking about a map, when Groucho mentions about the presence of a “viaduct” between the mainland and the peninsula. Chico, in broken english, immediately replies, “Why a duck?”. Much hilarity, silliness, unusual connections and confusion ensues. Hey, it’s a Marx Brothers movie, that’s what happens.

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