QUARANTINE BLOG # 560

October 11, 2021

Since the beginning of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, its date has moved several times – from mid-week in April to a Thursday in November – until 1957, when the Canadian government officially declared that Thanksgiving would occur on the second Monday in October.  

Canadian Thanksgiving was originally less about celebrating the harvest and more about thanking God for keeping early explorers safe as they ventured into the New World.  In that sense of “thanks-giving,” the earliest report of such a dinner dates back to 1578, when English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew held a special meal to thank God for granting them safe passage through northern North America, into what is today the Canadian Territory of Nunavut.  The first Thanksgiving after Canadian Confederation didn’t happen until April 1872, when the holiday was observed to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a serious illness.

Best wishes to our friends north of the border as you celebrate today!

👉  We begin another limited series.  This one is authored by Mac Bryan Herrington, who at the time of these pronouncements was in the neighborhood of 5-7 years old.  Mac would come up with some incredible thoughts, his mom would pass them on to me, and I saved them in my computer.  I know there were more of them, but my computer seems to have eaten them (and they aren’t dated, so I am guessing at the age).  Anyway, enjoy a few “Sayings by Mac.”

Mac was looking at a baby picture: “Mama is that me.”  Yes.  “Was I brand new?”   Yes.  “Will you keep me till I’m 11?”  Yes and longer than that.  “No, Mama.  Then I will be in high school and college and I will get a girlfriend and get married and you will miss me but don’t be sad.  I will meet you for dinner.”

“Mama, I can pee with my eyes closed and still hit the water!”

Mac was holding his newborn brother, Tate, and said, “Here Mama.  Hold him for a minute.  I need to show you something.  It’s okay though Mama.  I think he will like you, too.”

“Mama why do you have silver on your tooth?  Amy: Because I didn’t listen when Granny and Pappy told me to brush my teeth so the dentist have to fix my tooth.  “Does Pappy have silver on his teeth?”  His older brother Luke chips in: No he has wooden teeth.

👉  There was no time to get a photographer or even a wedding gown when Royce King and his wife, Frankie, got married on his whirlwind, two-day leave in 1944 before he went overseas to fight in World War II.  Seventy-seven years later, the couple from Iowa finally have some beautiful wedding photos to cherish.  

Royce, 98, and Frankie, 97, had a special 77th anniversary thanks to the staff at St. Croix Hospice who help care for the couple at their home in Oelwein, Iowa.  They found a vintage 1940s wedding gown for Frankie, and Royce wore his Air Force uniform as they held an anniversary celebration in their backyard. 

👉  The next 5 state license plates:

👉  Nellie Bowles, writing for The New York Times, reported that the people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it.  Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children anywhere near them.  A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a region-wide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high.  Athena Chavarria, who worked as an executive assistant at Facebook and is now at Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropic arm, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, said: “I am convinced the devil lives in our phones and is wreaking havoc on our children.”

👉   Country singer, songwriter, and musician Don Gibson wrote “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and first recorded it on December 30.  It was released in 1958 as the B-side of “Oh, Lonesome Me,” becoming a double-sided country hit single.  At the time of Gibson’s death in 2003, the song had been recorded by more than 700 artists.  One artist, Ray Charles, has made it his signature song.  His version reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, and stayed there for five weeks.  Here is a video of Ray Charles from 1962.

Our last Number One song from 1962 is “Speedy Gonzales,” by Pat Boone.  Speedy Gonzales is a cartoon character – the fastest mouse in Mexico – who first appeared in 1953.  The Boone record includes the voice of Speedy, Mel Blanc (1908-89), whose voice appears in the cartoon also, and who was renowned for voicing comic animation characters.  The lyric is loaded with Mexican stereotypes, as Speedy is portrayed as a dimwitted, destitute drunk who loves enchiladas and chili peppers.  Boone didn’t see it as derogatory.  “They might think it was a little denigrating but anyone who knew anything about me knew I wouldn’t be looking down my nose at anybody.”

👉  Today’s close, “The Lord is Near,” is by Chuck Swindoll.

Out of the lowest pit.

You have heard my voice,

“Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,

From my cry for help.”

You drew near when I called on You;

You said, “Do not fear!”  (Lamentations 3:55-57).

Our Father, we find relief in knowing that You’re here. We talk to You as though You are sitting right next to us. For indeed, though we cannot see You, by faith we believe You’re here. You bring us such relief in life. We would be so lonely without You. The nights would linger interminably; the pressure would be more than we could bear. The tests would be incalculable were we on this journey alone. But thankfully we’re not.

You are here with us. And You are in control. We ask You to take every part of that which makes us who we are... our temperaments, our personalities, our gifts, our drives, our ambitions, our dreams, our failures, our hopes, our sorrows, our disappointments, and everything that makes up life for us. Take whatever we have, take whomever we love, take us wherever You find us, and let it all be set apart to You.

We ask You to take care of those people and situations that are beyond our ability to fix or change. Relieve our minds of the worry of it all, because, like thorns and briars that encroach upon a lovely garden and finally choke out its blooms, these things have a way of choking us so that we are unable to hear what You have to say.

We trust You to answer our prayer. In the merciful name of Jesus our Savior and our tender God we pray. Amen.

-30-