Today
is Buddy Boy's sort of birthday. Being a shelter/rescue dog, there is no record
that I have been able to locate which has his date of birth, but he arrived
here to live with me on August 18, 2016, so "we" decided that date
could be his ex officio birthday. He is shown here reclining on one of his birthday
presents (a duramesh, elevated bed) while chewing on another (a bacon-flavored bone). He seems pleased with his gifts .... his party will begin
promptly at 7:00 p.m., with cake served at 8:00, if any of you happen to be in
the neighborhood. The "entertainment" this time is a blend of a poem
by Rudyard Kipling and two songs, one from the band, Head East, and the other
by Ricky Nelson. Buddy and I like them; we hope you do, too ....
Lines
from the song
"Garden
Party"
composed
& recorded
by
Ricky Nelson
But
it's all right now,
I've
learned my lesson well
you
see, you can't please everyone,
so
you've got to please yourself ....
How
does one measure one's relevance?
If
you see a man staring rather intently at you, it might be me.
Somewhere
along the road, I began to notice the absolute differences in individual faces.
Possibly, that is one reason the word "individual" was born.
Actually, one dictionary cites this as the origin of the word: "Late
Middle English (in the sense 'indivisible'): from medieval Latin individualis,
from Latin individuus, from in- 'not' + dividuus 'divisible' (from dividere 'to
divide')."
Got
that straight?
Prior
to my sort of obsession with the differences among people, I was focused on
their similarities. I think it was an early interest in genetics in the sense
of the complexity of human origins and the absolutely fantastic numbers of
primates (of which we are one) who have roamed the Earth which led me onto the
trail of differences. The evolutionary tree which leads to us includes the
Ardipithecus, the Australopithecus, the Paranthropus and the Homo groups.
Our
"little clan" of Homo sapiens has been around only for an estimated
300,000 years, but because of the billions of years of evolution, humans share
genes with all living organisms. (I do not hold all this information in my
"memory banks," but innate curiosity and learned ability to read come
in handy quite often .... in fact, I think of them as indispensable tools.)
An
interesting element regarding DNA testing is that it is quickly realized
everyone has varying as well as similar genetic patterns, even brothers and
sisters of the same parents.
If
you ever wish to measure your relevance, try to put your lifetime in
perspective to those numbers and to the generations of individual
"evolving creatures" which have come and gone during them. The weight
of the thought of them and of their collective experiences of happiness and
sorrow / pleasure and pain / victory and defeat crushes me emotionally and, in
a sense, spiritually .... my mind is too puny to grasp it all ....
I
suppose the sum and substance of this is that as I began to learn more about
how different we all are from each other inside our bodies, I began to take
greater notice of the differences outside our bodies -- especially in the
obvious .... in the faces .... make sense?
9 comments:
Well he is a darling dog Buddy!He looks so happy and content.I bet you have alot of fun with him.And its good to have somebody there..I refer to myself and that old kitty cat..its good to love somebody:)))
Our existence.Wow.That is a great big theme.I dont know..but when i see myself in the mirror ... more and more my spanish heritage is shown.I have not thought so much about it before . I think dna and the search for family is become a great thing.Also health matters-Its funny to think of in some years all our sickness can be removed with new dna material.May be we even can live forever---Who knows?
Sometimes I wish I could be at your house for a coffe and a cake-And celebrate Buddys birhtday.Instead I send alot of thinking and love to both of you..May you and family and all love ones have a happy day/weekend
The two last music videos is just lovely--I am in the atumm mood and they suits me fine
Anita
Buddy is a handsome young man and an excellent companion. He does seem happy and content most of the time, especially when there are squirrels in the yard for him to chase. Three turkeys stroll by from time to time, but Buddy has come to ignore them. I think he finally figured out that turkeys can fly away and he never will catch one. It would seem you no longer have a dog in your life? Even one you "puppysit" for on occasion?
I have been interested in genealogy for years and have a great deal of information on/about family members since their arrival in the United States (or in Canada, in one instance) in the 1850s. I actually sent my DNA in to Ancestry in August of 2017, but really have not pursued doing any research through that organization. In fact, I cannot even recall what my "genetic breakdown" was beyond being somewhere around ninety (90) percent Norwegian. I will try to track it down more definitively and, maybe, write a post about it. In the very least, I will let you know the results of the test.
When I look at your photographs, Anita, I see the Spanish lineage. I have known a few Norwegians who have darker skin and black hair, but most range from lighter brown to blonde hair and have fair skin. There are some redheads in my family, too, but I am not among them.
I think it would be great if we lived closer to each other. Some day, maybe, we will meet and be able to share coffee and cake. The cousin I had in Stockholm is dead, apparently at the hands of her husband. I knew her and we communicated regularly. I still have a "shirt tail" cousin living on one of the islands offshore from Bergen. I never have had communication with him, but assume he still is alive and well .... hmmmm .... that is a big assumption, I guess.
I do think about you, too, and wonder about you. We have "known" each other a long time and, in a way, it is strange that we never actually have met. Well, who can say with certainty what the future might hold ....
I am glad you like the music. If you never have heard the origin of the "garden party" song, you can find it in the Wikipedia. The garden refers to Madison Square Garden in New York City, where Ricky Nelson actually was heckled during a concert. It is an interesting story, I think.
So, Sunday is here. I hope the day and the coming week will be good to you and for you, Anita. You are a sweetie ....
Happy Buddy when you gave her home.
Satisfied Buddy looks ..
It's great that you took the discovery animal.
Good luck for you and Budy.
Interest ended in genealogy when I was involved in several names that could not be my relatives.
I did not survive and could fix the names of the errors and the birthdays. People in some 18th and 17th centuries.
Poor information is passed on to other genealogists.
I left the Genealogy.
I saved some family tree archives to the external hard drive before removing it.
I'm not interested in my own root from Dna research.
DNA research is a good invention.
Not only the Genealogy but also the investigation of crimes.
Decades later, DNA can condemn a homicide.
I enjoyed garden party music, thank you.
One person suggested I change the name of Buddy to Joseph because of the Biblical reference to "coat of many colors" -- which seems to describe Buddy. His fur is different from any dog I ever have seen and shows varying colors under varying light conditions, but his name will stay Buddy. When he arrived, his name was Gator. He showed absolutely no recognition of the name, and I tried calling him every name I could think of over a span of a few weeks. The only word he responded to was Buddy, so "we" settled on that.
My interest in family lineage is pretty much confined to straight/direct line material otherwise, as you seem to have learned, it grows to a point of becoming overwhelming. The only "off the beaten path" material which caught my attention was an item which noted one of my great-grandfathers and a great-grandfather of actor David Soul were brothers .... whoopty doo ....
A cousin on my father's side traced that line back to the mid-Fifteenth Century in Norway. Otherwise, my own knowledge extends back to the parents/grandparents of those who arrived in the United States from both Norway and Germany in the mid-Nineteenth Century .... which means I have the names and the dates for many born in Europe in the 1700s. I am content with that .... at least for now ....
I resisted the idea of checking my own DNA for a long time, but my former wife and my children had their own done and kept "hounding" me until I relented. I have not tried to look up the results of the test again, and I only saw them once in August 2017 and cannot recall the specifics.
I agree that DNA science is a good thing to have at this point in time, but where it might lead in the future troubles me.
I like most of Ricky Nelson's music because it is easy-going and friendly and, probably, because once upon a time a young lady told me I looked like him -- which really was a stretch.
So, Liplatus, Buddy and I thank you for your appearance and for your comment. Be well, be safe, be happy .... later ....
Que bello animalito, son los mejores compañeros, un lindo perro :)
Feliz cumpleaños.
Boris .... you have been invisible during recent times. I hope all is fine for you and that your love life is going smoothly.
Yes, dogs are the best companions and Buddy is a very handsome lad. He and I thank you for your visit and for your birthday greetings. Take care, Boris, and I hope you live your days wisely ....
For the record, according to Ancestry my DNA is:
89 percent Scandinavian
Hordaland & Rogaland in western Norway
Buskerud & Oppland in eastern Norway
7 percent Great Britain
2 percent Iberian Peninsula
Asia South less than 1 percent
Europe South less than 1 percent
I will try to do a bit of research and, maybe, add more to this in the days ahead. This information is based on the data I received in August 2017. I have not been back to the organization's website since then.
Buddy é lindo, paarece ser grande amigo. Adoro animais.
Até mais Fram!
Yes, Smareis .... Buddy is a very handsome young man and a most excellent companion. I love animals, too ....
Thank you, for being here ....
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