I heard a song today that made me smile. It was called, and I will quote, "What Would Willie Do?" "Willie loves all people, Willie loves all races, he even made a hit country song with Julio Iglasis, and that's not easy" It was a tribute song of all the greatness of Willie Nelson. It told of his adventures and misadventures, about the time his wife, whom he beat when he was drunk, how she one day had had enough so when he passed out, she sewed him up in a sheet and beat him with a broom stick. It talked about how he handled it when the IRS took all his stuff, his house, his golf course, all his cars. All he had left in the world was his tour bus, his four semis full of equipment and his crew of 40 people. But he bounced right back.

Indeed, Willie is an icon.

Another thing that made me smile today was the Asian man I saw crossing the road. I don't always smile at Asian men crossing the road, but this one was wearing high water pants that would have kept him dry for day in the time of Noah's flood. He had on white socks and black shoes. Very cute.

Just before that I had been sitting at a stop light listening to CCR when I suddenly realized that I was way into a shoulder dance. Blessed are the tinted windows.

Drat!

I had a Morman Jesus sighting. I was at 1/2 price books. I walked into the Christian section and there was this guy talking to this woman. He was holding a paper and explaining some point of theology to her. She kind of sounded like she didn't really want to know, but was indulging a stranger. I didn't pay much attention to them as I was hunting a book. But when I turned around and looked at them, the guy was Morman Jesus! He has shoulder length wavy blond hair, a full beard and blue eyes. He was shorter than I had imagined Morman Jesus. All the same, I felt like following him when he walked away, just to see where he was going. Maybe that was how James and John felt too.

People have been remembering me doing things I never did, being places I never was.

I was told that was better than not being remembered at all because at least they are thinking of me.

I'm not sure though.

maybe why I'm skeptical:
I was the youngest grandchild. That left me open to being picked on by not just my older brothers, buy by my cousins too. One time when I was a little kid, maybe 5, they showed me a piece of candy and said, "This is a pill."
I said, "No it' isn't." It looked like candy to me.
They insisted it was a pill and I had to take it. They said "Don't bite it, swollow it with water."
They gave it to me, I put it in my mouth and bit it. Just as I had suspected, a red hot.
I said, "It's candy."
They said, "It's a pill, now swallow it this time." And they gave me another one.
I bit it, and said, "It's candy."
They said, "NO! it's a pill! SWALLOW it!" and they gave me another one.

Now, even at the tender age of 5 I knew that this was a game all to my advantage: I figured if I went along with the story and swollowed the "pill", they would probably stop giving me candy, but if my skepticism remained, I could probably get all the candy I wanted.

I've been feeling pretty skeptical lately, where's my candy?

I dreamed of French Creek last night. A smallish river that runs through the town I grew up in, French Creek was locally famed because George Washington (so the story goes) threw a silver dollar into it. I don't think I ever knew why he threw it in.

I think I'll try to find out.

He probably did a lot of things in and around French Creek. He probably crossed it several times, (but the Delaware gets all the glory for that.) I expect he peed in it too (French Creek and the Delaware) but nobody really wants to talk about where the first President of the United States of America urinated.

I digress, but I think I will continueto digress: I never went swimming in French Creek myself, (although it is possible that President Washington did.) My brother and I would go down to the river sometimes, throw rocks and sticks, spit off the bridge, look for turtles on the banks, but we never got in, due to a healthy fear of the undercurrents instilled in us by our grandmother.

When my grandmother was a child, she and her little brother used to go swimming in French Creek. One day when he was about 10 and she was about 12, they were swimming. She said the last time she saw him he was laying on one of the cement support structures of the bridge. The next time she looked, he was gone. His body was found the next day. No one can say what happened. He was a strong swimmer. Maybe he hit his head, maybe he passed out, maybe he was sucked down by the under current. My brother and I never went swimming in French Creek.

My dream . . . I was standing near the bank when I decided to fly over the river (because you can do that in a dream) to get a better look. I was using some sort of small hang -gliding contraption. While I was over the river I notice how low the water was. I thought to myself that I had never seen the river so low, but I knew that it was still dangerous to get into the water.

As I was coming back across the river in my hang glider, I looked down and saw a large piece of debris floating down the center. It was shaped like a Star of David. I was wondering what it could be from when I lost control of my glider and plunged into the water. I was afraid, but I grabbed hold of the Star of David and I knew I would be okay until I could get out of the water.

So . . . should I become a Jew?

Should I avoid hang gliders?

Should I learn the history of French Creek?

I don't know.

I do know this: French Creek joins the Allegheny River in Franklin, PA . The Allegheny River joins the Monogahala River to form the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, PA. The Ohio River joins the Mississippi River in Cairo, IL. The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico in New Orleans, LA.

Thank you Mrs. Zeigler 7th grade geography.

9. Apply it correctly. Surratt advises this method: Line and fill in lips with liner. Apply lipstick from the tube or using a lip brush (which eases color into tiny lip lines) over the liner. Blot once with a tissue, and lightly dust with face powder. Apply one more coat of lipstick, and you're set.