Dover Place

My parents moved us to Dover Place in 1968. I lived there until I left for my one and only year in college in 1977. I didn't really ever go back. Then, in 1986, Annette and I moved back to Dover Place. I can't quite put it into words what I feel when I look up and down the street; the canopy of sycamores and oaks, the quiet nights, the church around the corner. And the neighbors that you can't imagine living without. Tonight is our last night on Dover Place. We're moving to Center Court. Oh, I know it's not far from here. You'd laugh if you'd hear me describe it as "out of the neighborhood." It's not 10 minutes from here. But, it is out of my neighborhood. I don't know if I'll hear the bells of the Lutheran Church from Center Court. I hope so. But, we'll be back. That's right; one day in a couple of years, we'll move back to Dover Place or Bellerive Boulevard. There's a church in the valley by the wildwood No lovelier spot in the dale No place is so dear to my childhood As the little brown church in the vale Oh, come to the church in the vale To the trees where the wild flowers bloom Where the parting hymn will be chanted We will weep by the side of the tomb How sweet on a clear Sabbath morning To list to the clear ringing bell Its tones so sweetly are calling Oh come to the church in the vale From the church in the valley by the wildwood When day fades away into night I would fain from this spot of my childhood Wing my way to the mansions of light Come to the church by the wildwood Oh, come to the church in the vale

Popular posts from this blog

Relatively Speaking

The term "relativism" gets thrown around too much these days. In the days following the election, relativism, as it relates to "values," was blamed for the liberals' loss. I think that's what some of them would like to think, but I, for one, don't buy it. This election was about security and terrorism and not much more. Generally speaking we mean relativism to describe the lack of any absolute truth in reality. To generalize even more, I mean it to describe a large number of Americans who's grandparents believed in God and had a very clear notion of right and wrong, but they no longer do. Scientism and pantheism have crept into the psyche of modern Americans and Truth has become a quaint idea that only unenlightened folks hold on to. If your Grandmother believes the Bible is Truth, well that's fine, she's old and they didn't know any better in her day. Today, we know things that they didn't know back then; right? Yes, that's...
Read more

June 6, 2004

OK, now you got me started. It just so happens that next month marks the 60th anniversary of D-Day. But you knew that already. If you didn't, you would have soon started seeing the books laid out in front of the bookstores and ads for the TV specials. It's a pretty big deal. You'll have to put up with me for a while and I'll probably get worse as the day approaches. For now let's just say it was a pivotal event in history. There's hardly a day goes by when I don't think about the guys who jumped off those boats and into hell. Some of them by the way, had been in those landing craft boats a full day already because the invasion was started and stopped the day before. They were really, really sick. The flat bottoms of their boats were covered with vomit and excrement; I'll bet they thought anything was better than that. I'll just mention one more thing tonight. Freedom like we enjoy in this country doesn't happen by magic. At the foundation o...
Read more

Concert for George

The Concert for George, a tribute to George Harrison, was on PBS the other night and we all sat down to watch it. It brought me to tears several times. What exactly brought on the tears? Well, it's like this: Eric Clapton was of course a close friend of George's for many years. So he was the producer of the show. Jeff Lynn was there too. Jeff Lynn is one of the premiere rock producers ever. So the show was just plain good. But what really did it was the authenticity of the guitar work. George Harrison was "just the guitar" player of the Beatles. So they happen to be the biggest rock act ever, he's still just the guitar player. You don't hear the extended solos from Harrison that we've become used to in the rock n roll world. Typically, just 8 bars - sometimes 16. When he took the solo, it counted. It had melody. It meant something. So Clapton was smart enough to get two great guitarists to back up the sound for this concert. And man were they good. The...
Read more