“And the Rocket’s Red Glare – Bursting in Air”

That is just part of the song we sing this week – because it is Alan’s Birthday, and everybody,  just loves to help “Alan”  celebrate all week!  It does take at least,  one whole week, TODAY – to celebrate a BIRTHDAY – as Family and Friends are scatter all across AMERICA – and each of us,  just LOVES to add our “Two Cents” to anything of importance – and A Birthday,  is very important to all of us!

So, with the above “Fire Works” -WHO do you think would just LOVE to watch and enjoy the complete display of each cannon going off and  high  above  all of the spectators watching, and  showing off  the nice “Water Front”  playground for the Saint Louis Arch, with all eyes from everywhere  around  to view the calm Mississippi River  meeting with the Saint Louis Sky,  so very bright with lights – up, down and all around, none other than my favorite “Grand-son, little Alan, himself!

JUST tell me – what do you think – is there enthusiasm coming out of this PHOTO – do you see what I see?

Alan 001This is the most enthusiastic fully energized motivating full body ready and able to show – that I am ready, to go to the big “Fire Works Display” and will stay all night,  just to see all that is going on – and all just for my big Birthday this week!

“In my book, and of course – I am only one of the “GRANDMAS” that like to put a good word in here and there – I think that I still have a few extra words  that – you may like to hear – but when I see this kind of enthusiasm – I would go to “MARS and BACK” just to keep this level  of enthusiasm alive forever!”

It is NOW,  getting so close to that hour and that day – that we will all be celebrating another “BIG Birthday Party” with our “Great Grand-son, Alan” and that will be all this week! 

  “Happy Birthday, Alan” – and many more with the extra special Blessings of our Almighty Yahweh – the ONE that LOVES and Blesses those that LOVE and Obey him – for He is so good to us, all!       “Now and Forever”    D.V.


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“All of America Celebrates ALAN’s Birthday Party”

“Happy Birthday Alan”

“When it is time, that extra special,  “TIME” to celebrate an important  “BIRTHDAY”  and it is for your  “A # 1 son, ALAN”  well,  we will  have to just celebrate,  all  the week  long, so  is everyone  on board and in agreement???”  Anyone that  has to answer  “NO” just stay home,  as you will be missing out  on all of the extra special  FUN and GAMES that have been in the water-works  for a good long time,  and just so you know what  that means, that will mean more of the “good eats” for all those who  want to have FUN and CELEBRATE,  because  TIME will  fly  by, and so very fast, when we are  all having lots of  FUN!”IMG_1377

“Al Aldrich and Alan Aldrich”  –   “Father and son” making plans for the FAMILY BUSINESS,  but, and  first of all  for today  and all of this special  week “Alan’s BIRTHDAY” is top priority  as we celebrate and all of “AMERICA” will also  help in our  celebrating this week,  with all of the “Fire-Work” displays, taking place in each  and every nearby neighborhood!

  Just letting  “ALAN” know that,   and for “TODAY”   they are all lighting candles on that  extra special “BIRTHDAY” cake  just for  our “ALAN”  himself,   a very  “BIG TIME”  with so many singing,  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ALAN” – one  very great AMERICAN that shares his BIG BIRTHDAY party  with all of AMERICA  – each and every year that the Almighty wants to continue giving him more Blessings – than ever before!     D.V.


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“Setting the STAGE for Alan’s Big Birthday”

     “Birthday Requirements”

To start the PARTY ,  one must have guests, and who else would you start with   but,  the best in the FAMILY,  and  so, we will start off with “Alan, for today,  and two months back was for  JAIME and then to start the NEW YEAR,  Alyssa will  will start  with Daddy O” just the very best “Grand-children and  their  terrific DADDY,  that,  I could have ever wanted!

What  would  you need that everyone likes and will usually ask, “Will there BE CAKE?”

And to be sure they will like what you like, the question will be, “What kind of CAKE is your FAVORITE?” This is where we have to consider,  some may like this and some may like something just a little off the ordinary,  so as to please everyone, “Let’s have two CAKES,  so all can for sure,  have what they like,  and if,  there is any left overs,  then the “BIRTHDAY PERSON”  will be in “7th Heaven”  finishing all  of the  Delicious left-overs!”

“So, how would you like this  extra special cake for your “BIRTHDAY”  if  it is so close to the  “4th of July?” Looks like just the right kind of  “Fire-Cracker” to eat and really enjoy each and every bite – just so yummy looking – can not wait to eat!”

Let us all start getting busy with the table setting !

Just so we can start the PARTY,  take a look at this “Birthday Party”  table,  all set and ready to go.  There may  be one or two things we need to add, but we are still preparing and we will be adding more,   as we pull more items from the closet, the  real big surprises!

So grateful and THANKFUL for all of  the tips that are given,  as we start our second childhood,  still remembering all those “Birthday Parties” when the “Grand-Children” were small – so we still have to continue with lots of flair, because everyone knows, that when the second childhood  starts setting up camp in us  “Grand-Parents”  we muster up all that wisdom and put it to work, getting ourselves back  into  PLAYING games like never before!  We can NOW,  do whatever we like,  just to make up for not getting to do everything  and any thing that  we  did want to do, a hundred years ago!     D.V.


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“A BIG and Happy Birthday to ALAN”

“BIRTHDAY… Surprise for ALAN”

“JULIA CHILD” in the Kitchen -with ALAN!   *********

Have you ever seen  “JULIA CHILD”  at work in your KITCHEN?

IMG_1003 (1)

Grand-daughter JAIME was taking pictures as “GRANDMA” was putting  “31”  candles on a home made cake  for the  best GRANDSON,  “ALAN” and since this “Birthday Party”  was for him, he was giving his  approval   as he  over looks the last minute preparations.

When I saw this PHOTO,  I just had to die laughing as I remember seeing “JULIA CHILD” bending over as you see me,  because as you hit the older years in  “LIFE” looks like the straight back,  takes a good bend forward . That  “old” bending,   seems to just creepe up, on us senior citizens as we approach those beyond  “GOLDEN” years.

Many years ago,  I would watch “JULIA CHILD” in her cooking shows, and always thought that she really enjoyed all of the cooking that she did. In fact,  I even had to buy her book, “The FRENCH CHEF”   and that is “one”   of the very many books on cooking,  that I have. 

 Years ago,  when I would be in the KITCHEN  and my MOTHER would be there, too  – she would remark  to me,  that she thought that I would be “talking”  just  like “JULIA CHILD.”   I did not think so,  but I do have one of those voices,  that when  you hear it,  you will  always remember me!

Getting back to “ALAN’s” BIRTHDAY PARTY,  we had a very good time  and everyone liked that cake so much, even some  guests, took seconds.    Something  to think about,  a  most important thing that  is happening in our world  TODAY .  I feel  that there are lots of FAMILIES,  that will not be celebrating special times  with “GRAND-CHILDREN”  as  FAMILIES  are cutting down  on having  children,  so it seems  to me, that   this world  will soon have a  shortage of children.

When I was a small child and  in school,  there was the saying,  “The FAMILY that PRAYS together, STAYS TOGETHER!”   Something that I have not heard in a very long time!    Every day,  I give THANKS to the ALMIGHTY, since HE gave to me the best children and “GRAND-CHILDREN”   jut something that I wish more people could  or even would say,   and  also be so very  grateful to our CREATOR,  for all the wonderful gifts of  “Children”  we receive daily  to enjoy having occasions to meet  with , work with, celebrate with, and, that  starts  each and every day, with our very own FAMILY!  D.V.


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“Which is the SUN GLASS – You like Best”

National Sunglasses Day - June 27

NATIONAL SUNGLASSES DAY

Article Contributed by Bethany Cleg

Celebrated each year on June 27th, National Sunglasses Day is becoming more and more popular, especially as organizations like The Vision Council inform people about the dangers of UV exposure and why wearing sunglasses should be more than to just make a fashion statement. So in honor of the holiday—and to help you pick out a pair of your own—we present the top 10 sunglasses styles that have stood the test of time.

Prada Model SPR07F

Photo: Mary Evans/Everett Collection

Most known for their appearance in the 1963 Academy Award-winning Italian film 8 ½, these glasses are anything but old-fashioned. They were first introduced by Prada as Prada model SPR07F, but the design has undergone some changes since the 60’s.Regardless, these sunglasses might be one of the only designs that can not only be worn with a suit, but that makes a suit look so good.

Persol 714

Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

The original folding glasses, the Persol 714 sunglasses were introduced in the 1960s when the iconic actor Steve McQueen wore them in the film The Thomas Crown Affair. These glasses were based on the Persol 649 model and adapted with 10 additional manufacturing steps to allow them to fold. In 2006, a pair of Persol 714’s from McQueen’s personal collection were auctioned off at nearly $70,000. Get suave with aperhaps less expensivepair for National Sunglasses Day.

Ray-Ban 3138 Shooter

Photo: Raoul Duke

These yellow-tinted aviator shooters were not first worn by Johnny Depp in the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but that is where they first became famous. The sunglasses, which have a small circle in between the lenses that is said to aid in hunting or shooting, were regularly worn by Hunter S. Thompson, the author of the novel that inspired the film. Shooters come in different color tints.

Ray-Ban Wayfarer

Photo: iloveretro.com

At their introduction in 1956, Ray-Ban’s Wayfarers were almost instantly popular because of the revolutionary plastic frame, a distinct diversion from the metal-framed sunglasses that were popular at the time. The sunglasses continued to be popular throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s but then slumped in popularity until the late 2000s when artists like Katy Perry and Bruno Mars wore them in their music videos.

Round and Oversized

Photo: rdujour.com

Often known today simply as Jackie O’s, these sunglasses were popularized by former First Lady and fashion icon Jackie Kennedy during the years that her husband was president. They are instantly recognizable by their large round shape and still serve to make quite a fashion statement when worn today. It’s hard to wear these sunglasses and not channel some of the grace, style and elegance that Jackie was so famous for.

Gold-rimmed Aviator

Photo: Oliver Cheshire

The history of the archetypal Ray-Ban Aviators begins in the 1930s when US Army pilots were reporting that the glare from the sun was giving them headaches and altitude sickness. American company Bausch & Lomb created what was originally known as “Anti-Glare,” sunglasses with plastic frames and green lenses. Just a year later they were remodeled with metal frames and rebranded as “Aviators,” how we still know them today.

The Clubmaster

Photo: fashionologieedina.wordpress.com

Clubmasters are a type of browline sunglasses, which gets its name from the fact that the bold upper part of the frames frame the lenses like the eyebrow frames the eyes. Ray-Ban introduced the Clubmaster in the 1980s when Bruce Willis wore a pair of browline Shuron Ronsirs on the series Moonlighting. The Clubmasters gained popularity and quickly became the third best-selling sunglasses of the 1980s, after Ray-Ban’s Wayfarer and Aviator styles.

Oliver Peoples Gregory Peck

Photo: Cateshill.com

Not only did Gregory Peck win an Oscar for his role as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill A Mockingbird, but he also won a fair amount of acclaim for the glasses frames he wore in the film. These frames are once again popular today, thanks partly to their reintroduction in 2011 when Oliver Peoples released a new model to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the novel that inspired the film. Don these on National Sunglasses Day and channel your inner Atticus Finch.

Oliver Goldsmith Manhattan

Photo: everythingaudrey.com

Audrey Hepburn is one of film’s most well-known faces, and it was usually with a pair of Oliver Goldsmith Manhattans framing her eyes. These large, rounded-square sunglasses were first made famous when Hepburn wore them in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a role that was originally supposed to be played by Marilyn Monroe. The glasses, instantly recognizable today, are still popular.

Rose-colored Glasses

Photo: Allyn Scura

“To see the world through rose-colored glasses” is a phrase that means to view the world in a perpetual optimistic, perhaps naive, and unrealistic way. It remains in question what the origin of the phrase is, though there are some interesting and possible theories. One theory suggests that early mapmakers used rose petals to clean the lenses of the glasses. Not only would the natural oils protect the glass, but they would also leave a rose-colored stain.


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“July 1st is right around the corner”

Happy Birthday “Alan!”

Time sure does  fly by, and in a big   hurry,  when you’re having fun! I must be having too much fun,  time is going by so  fast as I am getting,  just a little “older.”  My judgement on this  is that my grandson,  Alan Aldrich will be having a birthday,  on   this  “July 1st, 2019”   and I sure am glad,   that I got his birthday card  into the mail,   yesterday!

So now,  for  “Alan’s” birthday party,  should we celebrate all week?  Since the  July 4th, 2019  holiday  will be in the middle of the week,  Thursday?   Everybody is going  to start to celebrate the 4th   and carry it forward,   but  then,  there will be others,  who will  start on  June 29th and go  forward   and that will include  “Alan’s” birthday, too!  I just knew  that Alan  was a “fire-cracker!”  I always thought he would be born on the  4th,  but  Alan thought,  why  should I  wait to be born, may as well show up on the  ( 1st )  then,  I can celebrate all week long, and forever!

I think,  we should celebrate one’s Birthday,  for a whole week only and   because,   a week  will  give us more time to be with the ones we love  on those days that,  they are  available  for  all of the  family and even their   friends, and  for  several times through out the week! 

And what else is there,  that is  any  more important in life,  anyway?    Than  to be with our family and  friends, celebrating   our having a chance to give  to each other that  most important,  “gift”   that we all  can give.  That extra special  “GIFT”  is some of our  “undivided time,”  including our “LOVE” that we have to share, on  those extra  special occasions of  celebrating,  BIRTHDAYS!  That is because – these “GOOD TIMES” only come around once a year – for most of us!

“Happy Birthday Alan  and  many more  to follow,  and may  the Almighty  Yahweh,  bless you  more abundantly, than you could ever expect,  as His best Blessings,  are what we all want and need!”      D.V.


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