Happy Easter...

...and behold our complex decor for today...thankfully the meaning of Easter exceeds that of colored eggs, peeps and the return of spring.

If you're a Christian, you know that...well, you should know that, anyway.

I worked with a gentleman who was raised in a particular denomination from a child and was a faithful "clockwork Christian"...every Sunday he was filling the pews with his family no matter what.

So I asked him one Easter season what the big yank was...why all the hoopla about this Sunday as opposed to all the others?

After fumbling around a bit about tradition and family and Palm Sunday / Maundy Thursday / Good Friday and the like, the bottom line was he wasn't quite sure.

He knew of course it was a celebration of the resurrection of Christ, but so what?

What's the big deal about that?

The answer is found in the resurrection chapter of the Bible, I Corinthians 15.

It's there the Apostle Paul outlined exactly what the big yank is:

The good news that saves us is Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried and then rose again the third day.

And while two out of three ain't bad, it won't cut it in this case.

In fact, Paul explains if there is no resurrection - if Christ simply died and was buried and that's that - then all preaching is vanity as is our faith.  Worse, we're actually a bunch of liars since we claim Christ rose again, and we're still dead in our sins.

"If in this life only," Paul writes, "we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."

Thankfully Paul did not stop there:

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (I Corinthians 15:20)

The tomb is empty, so rejoice in this Resurrection Sunday, the harbinger of the good news that Christ is risen as will all those who've put their faith in Him.

It's been a cold weekend...only 28 degrees this morning...so that and a project at work going live this weekend has kept us close to home...not much shaking.

Did watch a couple of good movies...an old favorite, The Rocketeer on Friday night...

...and then a very fine WWII thriller last night, Allied.

If you really take time to contemplate what people in the first half of the 1940's had to deal with on a daily basis it will humble you.

By way of contrast, think of the content of our daily lives today, where our biggest decisions typically revolve around business meetings, wardrobe selections and restaurant menus.

Back then they waged war in a global conflict against a great evil burning across the continents, the outcome of which was anything but certain.

As such they literally made life and death decisions daily.  Boot this choice and your life is over, and perhaps those of people you know and love.

Not a fan of Tom Brokaw, his leftist colleagues and the liberal claptrap they espouse, but he did get one thing right: they were indeed The Greatest Generation.  We owe a continuing debt of gratitude for a generation that has almost disappeared from our midst.

If you do happen to bump into a WWII vet, be sure to stop and say thank you.  You're free today because of their selfless defense of our freedoms.

later, mcm fans...

Found It...

...my vacation home...an A frame combined with a "shipping container" home...love the deck which ideally faces a body of water.

Many moons ago when I lived in Maine I knew some folks with a cottage on a remote pond/lake...was bigger than a pond, smaller than the typical inland lake...and though it was reachable by dirt road in the summer, an equally common method of arrival was via the air...Piper Cubs on floats were everywhere...

...during the winter you had to arrive via snowmobile or dog sled...

It was beautiful, but in the summer you were constantly doing battle with the bugs...black flies in the early spring, mosquitoes after that...brutal at times.

The view of the wildlife was incredible though...deer, bear, even moose...if backwoods is your thing, this was the perfect place for you.

I remember thinking way back when, "someday I'll have my A-frame on a lake"...hasn't happened yet, don't know if it ever will.  Guess I've been too busy living in the real world to worry about it.

A rich man I know once told me you should always rent your fun...that owning it is too much time and expense...probably right...a second home implies more maintenance, more taxes, two of everything while you're using it...furniture, dishes, appliances, etc...I'd have to refresh my pilot's license, buy a piper cub...it's a tough life...let's get started...

Watched "Allied" last night, starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard...aside from whatever juicy part their pairing might have played in the Brangelina fiasco, it's a very fine film in which both actors truly shine.

They are spies during WWII, he a Canadian intelligence officer, she a French resistance fighter, and the opening sequence covers their mission to assassinate the German ambassador in Casablanca...yes, that Casablanca of Bogart and Bergman fame.

And like that classic from 1942, this is a love story set against the impossibly tense, dangerous and heroic backdrop of a great world conflict.

The only flaw in this otherwise wonderful movie is the completely unnecessary and ridiculously stilted imposition of a gay romance between Brad Pitt's character's sister and her lesbian live in.

It's so jarringly out of place for that time, so utterly spurious and out of context to the story, I can only imagine the working sessions when the scriptwriter struggled to find just the right part of the story to insert the wholly meaningless advertisement for homosexuality.

"hmm...here?  no, doesn't really fit...how about there?  no, doesn't fit there, either...well dang!  there must be someplace I can shove this claptrap in to keep my liberal overlords happy..."

Is it a contractual requirement every movie nowadays must promote same sex unions?

It's like all the real actors take a five minute break while the two lesbian lovers have their big scene - they kiss!  right in front of people!  In a bar!  In 1942!  how meaningful!  now I see where this is going!  it's all so clear! - then resume the actual movie.

The only thing missing is a voice over by a baritone announcer telling us "we interrupted this movie to bring you this important reminder:  homosexuality is cool!  we now rejoin our regularly scheduled programming..."

Devoid of relevance to the story and completely disjointed from the rest of the movie, when I watch this again I'll treat that pointless interruption the same way I do all inane commercials...great, a couple of minutes to go use the bathroom and pour myself another whisky.

Other than that little bit of contrived nonsense, the rest of the movie is fantastic...a fabulous period piece with stellar performances by Pitt and Cotillard...well worth your time.

In the "accidental fun" category...went to look at a home on 2.5 acres a few miles west of here and most of that acreage is a wide backyard that goes straight back behind the house.  For all the world it looks like a tree lined fairway, with a small creek running across the middle of it.

Sooooo...I brought my hickory clubs and a golf ball with me and guess what?  I can now officially say I've swung the hickories and actually hit a few golf balls.

I admit most of my attempts weren't worth spit, but I had two - count 'em, two - glorious strokes where the ball lofted high, straight and long, almost like I knew what I was doing.  That was with my mashie...never did hit my niblick worth a damn.

Not that I spent all my time in the backyard...it was sunny but freezing outside, about 20 degrees, so I only took about 15 minutes for that, then toured the rest of the home...an old mid century modern ranch in need of lots of updating, priced about $25k more than I'm willing to fork out for it.

Heard a little later they received a near full price offer for it so that one's probably gone, but we'll see...real estate deals regularly fall apart and for the right price we'd buy it.

And now it's coming on to 8 am on a Saturday morning of time change weekend...

spring forward, y'all...

...so it's time to get after this day.

later, mcm fans...