by Keith
We'll start by listening to the Welsh National Anthem, with lyrics in Welsh.
Seeing the words makes the Chinese and Russian languages look relatively simple!
I have always known that the Welsh were know for their singing, especially males singing, but had never heard the national anthem. Google and YouTube to the rescue, again. I believe this all started when the men of each quarry sang together, possibly to pass the time after lunch or on the way to the mine or—well, whenever! Then they probably had competitions which ended with a winner and then, undoubtedly, singing by all the choirs combined.
They love to get about a thousand men together to sing!
While the Welsh genes in my body do not carry the ability to sing, they do carry the ability to enjoy music, especially large choruses of men's voices. In two weeks, we will go to the Corpus Christi Cathedral and hear the US Naval Academy Men's Glee Club. We will enjoy it!
I will admit that the 30 minutes of singing the old hymns during worship at the Come-As-You-Are Worship Center, the songs with which I grew, up has improved my "singing" immensely. Perhaps with another 50 years of practice, I might be able to sing in public!
Happy St. David's Day, friends! Enjoy it and remember your heritage.
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Pancake Race Slide Show
by Keith
Here's a slide show, with 73 pictures taken before, during, and after the recent Pancake Race. It's less than 2 minutes long. Enjoy!
Pam and Dianne (Carlson) did a great job of organizing this event. It went off without an obvious glitch. That's a sure sign of a lot of hard work prior to the event.
Geoff and MC Tom also put in more than a trivial amount of work.
All did a great job and produced an event which gave us a little respite from the February doldrums.
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Here's a slide show, with 73 pictures taken before, during, and after the recent Pancake Race. It's less than 2 minutes long. Enjoy!
Pam and Dianne (Carlson) did a great job of organizing this event. It went off without an obvious glitch. That's a sure sign of a lot of hard work prior to the event.
Geoff and MC Tom also put in more than a trivial amount of work.
All did a great job and produced an event which gave us a little respite from the February doldrums.
.
A Tale of Two Banks
by Keith
Some weeks ago, Pat needed quarters for the laundry. We were at Wal*Mart and the park office was unpeopled so I went to the branch of IBC (International Bank of Commerce) located at the front of the store.
A young man finally acknowledged my presence and asked what he could do for me. I told him I wanted to buy a couple of rolls of quarters.
"Do you have an account here?"
"No."
"Then I can't help you."
And so on. (I'll spare you the rest of the discussion.)
A week ago, we needed quarters. I walked into First Victoria Bank, near the DQ. A pleasant lady sold me two rolls of quarters with no questions asked and a smile on her face.
There's little doubt at which bank I'd open an account if I were going to open one here!
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Some weeks ago, Pat needed quarters for the laundry. We were at Wal*Mart and the park office was unpeopled so I went to the branch of IBC (International Bank of Commerce) located at the front of the store.
A young man finally acknowledged my presence and asked what he could do for me. I told him I wanted to buy a couple of rolls of quarters.
"Do you have an account here?"
"No."
"Then I can't help you."
And so on. (I'll spare you the rest of the discussion.)
A week ago, we needed quarters. I walked into First Victoria Bank, near the DQ. A pleasant lady sold me two rolls of quarters with no questions asked and a smile on her face.
There's little doubt at which bank I'd open an account if I were going to open one here!
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Here's Where It Happens!
by Keith
Because the Tuesday morning ladies coffee plays such an important role in our lives here at Rockport 35 RV Park, I thought there should be an article on it.
My first impression was that I had walked onto the set of the ABC program The View. But there was a difference: they only have half-a-dozen ladies all talking at once while this meeting had 20 all talking at once!
But that was before Connie arrived with her big stick. I'm sure she brought order out of what appeared to me to be complete chaos in short order.
The serious business of the group is to set and coordinate the many activities held on the park for the enjoyment of all. Of course not everyone will or should participate in every activity but, hopefully, there will be some activity that each guest will enjoy.
The group meets each Tuesday at 9:00. If you're a guest on the park and a lady, show up and make sure your vote counts! No one person has all the good ideas. Your idea just might spark a new and fun tradition. Look what happened after Pam suggested a pancake race last year!!
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| Ladies Coffee and Planning Session |
My first impression was that I had walked onto the set of the ABC program The View. But there was a difference: they only have half-a-dozen ladies all talking at once while this meeting had 20 all talking at once!
But that was before Connie arrived with her big stick. I'm sure she brought order out of what appeared to me to be complete chaos in short order.
 |
| The Park's Movers and Shakers |
The group meets each Tuesday at 9:00. If you're a guest on the park and a lady, show up and make sure your vote counts! No one person has all the good ideas. Your idea just might spark a new and fun tradition. Look what happened after Pam suggested a pancake race last year!!
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Monday, February 27, 2012
What Is It?
by Keith
This is the flag of the small country of Wales, land of my forefathers.
Wales, reluctantly now part of the United Kingdom, is on the island of Great Britain, along with England and Scotland.
People of Wales, Welsh, are known for their quarries. Many Welsh came to the U. S. and worked in or owned quarries.
They also have a very unique set of surnames, mainly a very small set! Names like Williams, Jones, Hughes, Davis, and Roberts are very common. And there are not a whole lot more surnames!
Similarly, there are few given names. A name with "w" and "y" in it stands a good chance of being a Welsh name, like Gwilym or Gwenyth.
As a result of the "name shortage," many people ended up with names like Robert Roberts or William Williams. My great grandfather was one of the latter. Because so many people had the same name, it was no surprise that nicknames developed so they could tell people with the same name apart.
In my little hometown, practically a Welsh ghetto in the early 1900s, there were at least three "John Hugheses." "Crazy John" and "Big John" neatly identified two of them; the third I don't remember. One of my great grandfathers was known as "Old Country Bill" and one of my uncles, Robert Jones, was known as "Bobby Short."
Enough on names.
Why is the Welsh flag flying at Main and Second St. at Rockport 35 RV Park?
Because March 1, Thursday, is St. David's Day. St. David is the patron saint of Wales. He died on March first, 589. This is a way to recognize that event and spread a little information about a little-known land.
I could recognize the other half of my heritage later except for two reasons:
Wales, reluctantly now part of the United Kingdom, is on the island of Great Britain, along with England and Scotland.
People of Wales, Welsh, are known for their quarries. Many Welsh came to the U. S. and worked in or owned quarries.
They also have a very unique set of surnames, mainly a very small set! Names like Williams, Jones, Hughes, Davis, and Roberts are very common. And there are not a whole lot more surnames!
Similarly, there are few given names. A name with "w" and "y" in it stands a good chance of being a Welsh name, like Gwilym or Gwenyth.
As a result of the "name shortage," many people ended up with names like Robert Roberts or William Williams. My great grandfather was one of the latter. Because so many people had the same name, it was no surprise that nicknames developed so they could tell people with the same name apart.
In my little hometown, practically a Welsh ghetto in the early 1900s, there were at least three "John Hugheses." "Crazy John" and "Big John" neatly identified two of them; the third I don't remember. One of my great grandfathers was known as "Old Country Bill" and one of my uncles, Robert Jones, was known as "Bobby Short."
Enough on names.
Why is the Welsh flag flying at Main and Second St. at Rockport 35 RV Park?
Because March 1, Thursday, is St. David's Day. St. David is the patron saint of Wales. He died on March first, 589. This is a way to recognize that event and spread a little information about a little-known land.
I could recognize the other half of my heritage later except for two reasons:
- I'll not be here at the park on May 17, and
- I do not have a Norwegian flag.
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Friday, February 24, 2012
Internet Restored
by Keith
If you are reading this, you probably are aware that the park's wi-fi system was not working for around 24 hours—2PM Thursday to 2PM Friday.
Connie's perseverance in contacting the players involved finally resulted in a solution.
Cobridge, the internet suppler, had a major outage yesterday. It was eventually fixed probably sometime today.
Because of that major outage, several parks were without wi-fi service even after the main problem was fixed, according to Tengo, our wi-fi sytem provider. That often occurs after such a major outage.
The bottom line is that Connie talked with enough folks at each company enough times that our service was restored about 2 this afternoon.
THANK YOU, Connie!
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If you are reading this, you probably are aware that the park's wi-fi system was not working for around 24 hours—2PM Thursday to 2PM Friday.
Connie's perseverance in contacting the players involved finally resulted in a solution.
Cobridge, the internet suppler, had a major outage yesterday. It was eventually fixed probably sometime today.
Because of that major outage, several parks were without wi-fi service even after the main problem was fixed, according to Tengo, our wi-fi sytem provider. That often occurs after such a major outage.
The bottom line is that Connie talked with enough folks at each company enough times that our service was restored about 2 this afternoon.
THANK YOU, Connie!
PS: I'm sure you all realize that this may have delayed my putting up more pictures of the pancake race by a few days :- )
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Pancake Race Winners
by Keith
Dianne did the math and pointed out that with 123 photos of the pancake race activities, an article with two photos written each day could provide articles for 60 days!
I did some math, too. If each article had three photos, it would only take 41 days to publish all of them. I'm trying for three photos today!
We'll start with the winners. Surely they are looking forward to being published on this blog!
Team 3 won the race.
One who certainly is a winner is Pam, for it is she who proposed this fun activity a year ago and pulled it together last year and again this year. Through her efforts in recruiting participants and helpers, the event increased in fun and attendance.
Thank You, Pam, for bringing this little bit of international culture to Rockport 35 RV Park!
And thanks to Geoff, as I am sure he did not get through this whole event without contributing behind the scenes!
.
Dianne did the math and pointed out that with 123 photos of the pancake race activities, an article with two photos written each day could provide articles for 60 days!
I did some math, too. If each article had three photos, it would only take 41 days to publish all of them. I'm trying for three photos today!
We'll start with the winners. Surely they are looking forward to being published on this blog!
Team 3 won the race.
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| The Winner: Team 3! |
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| Dennis, Best Hat Winner! |
The audience at the awards banquet selected the winner of the Best Hat contest. Actually, the results were inconclusive so all three were declared to be "the winner."
Many reported that they enjoyed the pancake dinner—some enjoyed it even more than the typical Friendship Dinner on Thursday nights.
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| Vi and Frieda, Best Hat Winners! |
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| Dianne and Pam Demonstrating Good Flipping Form |
And thanks to Geoff, as I am sure he did not get through this whole event without contributing behind the scenes!
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