LIVESTRONG

I found a song on the Lance Armstrong Foundation website.

It is called Maybe Tonight Maybe Tomorrow by an Austin, TX band named Wideawake. The song is about someone who has just learned they have cancer.

I would like to dedicate the song today to Ellen and Rocky.

For those two and for the rest of us; I challenge you to LIVESTRONG.

Until the next time
John Strain

Spring

Spring is here. We are enjoying some of the best weather of the year right now. Soon the humidity will be near the triple digits and the southern heat will be stifling, but not just yet.

Bear by the azaleas

Beauregard eating corn at his feeder

The trees are full of leaves, the azaleas are blooming, sweet smells of fragrant blooms hang in the air, and the birds add a perfect soundtrack to a wonderful gestalt.

The mornings and evenings are cool but not too cool. The sun shines brightly during the day, but not too hot. These are the few days of the year like the ones in the fall that no one complains about.

The lucky folks know this and drink it in. Life is that way. We have to drink it in and experience it or it will go on unnoticed and unappreciated like an unopened present. How many days and moments have we ignored or missed because we were preoccupied with "important" things? What is more important than living?

I know spring hasn't sprung everywhere. You may be in the last throws of winter where you are, but I can testify to the fact that spring is in Louisiana and headed north.

Now my favorite springtime poem: Thanks mom for teaching it to me.

The year's at the spring
The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!
-Robert Browning

Enjoy your day and sip from the cup of springtime; it only comes once a year.

Until the next time
John Strain

FREE NCAA TICKETS: Men's Basketball Tournament New Orleans

Folks, if you are in the New Orleans area and would like to attend the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the New Orleans arena let me know. I have 2 tickets I can't use and I just want to give them to someone who would enjoy attending the games.

The tickets are for the first round, session one, Friday, March 16th.

Games:
Memphis (30-3) vs. North Texas (23-10) 11:30 a.m.
Nevada (28-4) vs. Creighton (22-10) apprx. 2 p.m.

Until the next time
John Strain

St Patrick's Day Parade Slide Show

The parade was its usual spectacle of green and smiles. It was a beautiful day and a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. What more could one ask for than to have fun with family and friends?

The music doesn't play all the way through. Chalk it up to haste makes waste.

Until the next time
John Strain

It's Sunday; time for a parade

Today is the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Metairie, LA. I know St. Patty's Day is March 17th, but we do things different down here. I think the parade is always held the second Saturday in March.

The weather is perfect. Bright sun, azure skies, low humidity, and a high temperature expected to be 78 degrees. I'll take it.

I am foregoing finishing my yard work, but it will keep. It is hard missing the Jayhawks and Texas in the Big 12 Championship game, but I am holding out hopes I can find a TV near the parade. Worst case scenario, I watch the game on TiVo.

This is a good photo taking event. Check out the photos from the 2005 parade.

This being an Irish Sunday; please accept a sincere Irish blessing from me to you.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Until the next time
John Strain