Jack’s Winning Words 9/21/18
“If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.”  (Charles Lindbergh)  I’ve flown in jet planes, open-air planes and a glider.  I like flying…but I’d like flying as birds fly, particularly the way hummingbirds do it at our feeder.  I also enjoy watching swallows and hawks.  I remember seeing a video of a man trying to fly with bird-like wings attached to his arms.  It didn’t work.  It was a good day when God had the idea of creating birds.   ;-)  Jack

FROM LBP:  Really? I don’t know if I’d have the stomach for it. I don’t mind flying but I appreciate the closed space of commercial jets so my brain doesn’t have to think of where we are. On the runway, take off or landing, I say a little prayer and typically acknowledge the absurd (non bird) idea of plane flight.===JACK:  You used to babysit for Jason who is now a pilot.  I know that he'd be willing and anxious to take you on a flight over the "places" where you grew up.  You wouldn't be afraid to fly with him, would you?===LBP:  He was a good kid, I'd be OK with it I suppose. It's just not my thing to take a plane ride for kicks.===JACK:  Do you remember the TV commercial for the new cereal, LIFE?  Two brothers didn't want to eat something they hadn't eaten before, so they turned to their little brother and said, "Mikey, try it; you'll like it."  Soooo...flying with Jason?  Try it; you'll like it."

FROM SHALOM JAN:  With a number of my colleagues working now on Blessing of Animals rites for October, I'm reminded that my only pet was a canary.  After a while, even as a child, I felt bad for the bird being in a cage where there was no real room to fly.  No wonder Chippy didn't sing very much as he aged!===JACK:  I once served as an interim pastor to a congregation which had a bird (named Olive) in the narthex.  My children and g-children still refer to that place as Olive's church.

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  do you recall Alfred Hitchcock's weird movie, The Birds??.   a few  people left the theater angry and wanting their money back:):):)   true story..===JACK:  Hitchcock was known for making some scary movies...and The Birds was one of them.  I remember seeing it and thinking that it could be real.  It is now considered to be a classic.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  One of my joys is sitting in my chair watching the birds at our 6 feeders and in our pond.  I have to shoo away our large birds such as Blue Herons, Storks, Egrets and Cormorants.  They eat my fish and frogs!  But I do watch them for awhile because they are so majestic!     The Cormorants do the most damage and they are the hardest to get out of the pond.  They swim the opposite way from me so it looks like we are performing some kind of strange dance.  I shoo them to the left and they turn right etc.  it makes me laugh every time.  God certainly blessed us with these wonderful friends.   I do have some of them named because they are back every year.  And, they let me know of their favorite feeder is empty!===JACK:  If you could be a bird, which one would you choose?===JUDY:  I’d like to say a beautiful songbird but I really want to be an eagle!  How about you?===JACK:  A Blackbird.

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  angels have wings... 😇===JACK: Many birds are mentioned in the Bible...eagle, hen, dove (I like the mention of the turtledove), swallow, quail and raven...there may be others.  Just as the word, angel, means messenger of God, so each reference to birds in the Bible, sees it connected to "a message from God."  I remember the time a classmate in seminary asked a professor, "How did the angels manage to get their robes over their wings?"  BTW, the depiction of angels with wings was a visual explanation of how these messengers were able to travel between heaven and earth.===LIZ: zippers===JACK:  Elias Howe came up with the "zipper idea" in 1851, but the naming of that closure as a zipper didn't happen until 1923.  Maybe the Biblical angels used Velcro.===LIZ:  I'll bet that you are right.===JACK:  Or, it was one of God's miracles.

FROM FCGF:  I am also an avid bird watcher , especially in the winter.  Though, I'm often appalled by their savagery towards each other, taking baby birds out of the nest to eat. It doesn't bother me as much when a hawk swoops down to catch a meal. I tell myself, I guess other baby birds have to eat too.===JACK:  Remember that the next time you're at Buffalo Wild Wings, or when you're choosing between "white or dark" at Thanskinging dinner.===GF:  Yeah, you're absolutely right.  Years ago we secured the used Christmas tree to an oak in the back yard.  A family of robins built a nest and Nancy was so happy to sit on the deck for morning coffee and watch things progress in the nest. One morning, they were all gone, too young to leave on their own, remnants of blood about the nest, Nancy very sad, was not comforted by my remark that baby owls have to eat too.===JACK:  During the Nixon investigation leading up to his resignation, one of his supporters said:  "My mind's made up.  Don't confuse me with the facts."  Your "owl story" reminded me of that.

FROM DM IN LIV:  I agree completely!  Birds are one of my favorite creatures, though I love them all.  I get so much joy from watching birds just do what they do.  One of my favorite experiences is when there’s a large flock of them and they’re all flying in the same direction with dipping and weaving.  I call this the dance of the birds.  Birds make my heart happy===JACK:  When birds are able fly in unison like that, how can you ever call someone a birdbrain?===DM:  Exactly!  So beautiful

FROM KANSAN DON:  What no helicopter?  My first flight washer St.Peter in  whirlybird. Never tried a parachute.===JACK:  I wasn't even a helicopter parent.   Grandson Jason recently took a helicopter ride in Nepal at the foot of Mt. Everest.  He also has done the parachute thing.  His brother, John, has done the Bungee Jump off of a high bridge.  I get those thrills vicariously.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Surprised that C. Lindbergh would not prefer airplanes, with his rich history of aviation! But I think we all appreciate the colorful variety of birds that enhance our lives. This reminds me to get feed for my winter feeder, which is the only time I feed birds (and squirrels with corn...). We took a plane ride around and over Mt. Denali when in Alaska to watch for wild animals and see the snow capped peak of the Mt. Awesome beauty, but few birds!===JACK:  He was called, Lucky Lindy, but his life after his solo flight across the Atlantic was not so lucky, but those are other stories.  His mother is buried in our little cemetery here in West Bloomfield, and he would have buried here, too, except for his wish to be buried in Maui, Hawaii., where he lived when he died.
===OAKS:  I didn't know his mother was from MI. What surprised me was the fact of his second family in Germany, which his wife didn't know about until after he died!  I understand the children from both of his families have corresponded and gotten together!  I am a big fan of his wife's writing. (Anne Morrow Lindbergh.) Especially her little book "Gifts of The Sea." Profound!===JACK:  Time, the people who come into our life and the events that occur have a way of shaping us into who we are...even you.....and me..