Good Morning! Well today is my sister Rosemary's Birthday. And she has shared with me a wonderful secret-- she is going to be a grandmother for the first time. This is really wonderful and quite unexpected. So with the other news that my nephew and his wife are expecting a second child that means I will become a great uncle TWICE this year: once in October and again in December. So this is a most happy day! I am very happy for my niece Stephanie and her fine husband Mando and for my Nephew and his wife Berenda. I wish my mom and dad were still alive to enjoy all of this, but sadly I lost them long ago. Just to let you know, I was the only boy in a family with three sisters: Lorie, Rosemary and Annette. My poor dad and I sometimes seemed surrounded. We even had a female dog named Happy and several female cats. At one point we even had a female turtle! Growing up with three sisters is never easy. But I love them all and am at this point in my life really beginning to enjoy and appreciate them. They are all different: each with their own personalities and characters. We laughed a lot when were kids and all of us really had a very happy childhood. We had aunts and uncles that were simply incredible characters. They were sometimes so funny, I still laugh when i think of some of their antics! I can recall all of them even today. They made my childhood so rich with experience. But even without the aunts and uncles there are so many wonderful memories that I recall and always will. I remember my mother playing piano and my dad singing "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie" and "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". We may have been poor, but my mom and dad were so incredibly generous to us kids-- they simply made things happen. Christmas Days were so happy! You will not believe how many presents were under that tree of ours! Birthdays were mega events! My mom balanced the budget with the skill of a great planner. I still don't know how she managed it all! My dad was a house painter. Now because back in those days house and industrial painters used oil based paints, inclement weather would put my dad out of work for up to two months. But reflecting on my sister Rosemary today, I will tell you that I am becoming so much closer to her. Her advice all of these years now finally all makes sense. I really do think that we don't appreciate the ones we love until we lose them. I was just getting to know my father when I lost him forty years ago this year and my angel mother: I still talk to her every day in my thoughts and prayers in some way. So I guess the message here is to re-connect with your mother, father, brothers and sisters before they're gone. Even if you have not been that close to them for a few years-- get close again! They will always teach you something! Even parents long after you are out of "the nest" can teach so much still! I remember the great Mark Twain once said "When I was fourteen years old, I thought my father was the stupidest creature who ever walked on two legs-- by the time I was twenty-one, I was amazed at just how wise he had become in seven short years." My sister shares a birthday with Walton's actor Richard Thomas (John Boy) who turns 55 today and with the late great Basil Rathbone and the incredible Paul Lynde. Paul would have been eighty years old today. Paul Lynde without a doubt could make me laugh any time he was on. His appearances on "The Hollywood Squares" were simply hilarious. I am up early this morning and it's a grand and sunny day. I just hope that it stays cool likeand pleasant as it has been the last fe days. My prayers go out to those people who are threatened by this tropical storm in Florida named "Alberto". Go away! I've never been through a hurricane before but my partner John has. It's not a pleasant experience by any means. Today is another day at work at Ritz Camera, but everything there is getting better all the time. Well I guess that's it for today-- have a wonderful day and we'll meet back here tomorrow. Ciao!