I first published this post on my old blog back on September 11, 2014. I published it again last year on this blog. I didn’t really plan to post it again today, but along with the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated and the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, September 11th is a day of my life that I recall so vividly and one that I will never forget.
I was at work, at my desk, when Phil, one of my co-workers, ran into my office. “A plane just flew into one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York,” he said.
We ran together to the company cafeteria where a small group of people had already started to gather in front of the TV mounted on one of the walls. Phil and I got there just as a second plane flew into the other tower.
More and more employees came into the large room and gazed fixedly at the television screen. Some stood around the TV, some sat down at the cafeteria tables. All were mesmerized and horrified by what we were seeing and hearing.
No one was speaking. Everyone in that cafeteria was shocked into a frozen silence. The only sounds that could be heard were those coming from the TV and the sniffling coming from those watching, as most of us were crying. Even I, a typically stoic, unemotional man, was crying.
I spent a lot of time that day — and much of that week — crying. And being angry. Very angry.
It was a day that changed everything. It was, indeed, a memorable day.
The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
This week’s recipient of Who Won the Week is Prince Charles, now known as King Charles III.
First, let me say that I am neither fan nor foe of the British monarchy. And let me also offer my condolences to the family and fans on the death of Queen Elizabeth. But now it’s Charles’ turn.
Charles is taking the British throne at a difficult time for the monarchy and he’s got big shoes to fill, metaphorically speaking, of course. I don’t know what size shoes his mother wore.
But I digress. I wish him luck in his role as King. It will be interesting to see if he’ll be able to hold the monarchy together.
So who (or what) do you think won the week?
If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. I thought this might be fun so I decided to join in.
This photo was taken using my iPhone the night before last while I was taking my dog out for her final walk of the day.
This time of year is mating season for tarantulas in my neck of the woods. That means it’s not uncommon to see those scary looking, enormous, hairy spiders crawling around as the male tarantulas are out looking love. They can sniff out female tarantulas who are burrowed in holes in the ground.
So far this year we have come across five tarantulas in our back yard. My dog spotted this one before I did and she stopped and just stared at it. I shined my headlamp at the big spider and whipped out my iPhone and snapped that picture.
Then we proceeded with her walk and by the time we got back to our yard, the tarantula was gone. Maybe he got lucky and found his mate.
If you wish to participate in this fun cellphone photo prompt, please click on the link to John’s post at the top of my post to see his photo and to read his instructions.
Deb, over at Nope, Not Pam, has this weekly challenge called A Letter a Week, where she gives us a place, an emotion, an adjective, a verb, and an animal all starting with the same letter. Then she asks us to write a post using those items and the letter she has given us, which this week is the letter X.
“X” is a tough letter. So before I begin, let me point out that Deb said that Xenia is an unincorporated community in the state of Kansas. She also noted that xenial is a friendly relationship between host and ghost. Finally, xany doesn’t seem to exist as a word in American English. So, for the sake of my story for the letter X, I’m going to use the definition of “zany” for the word “xany.”
“Toto, we’re not in Xenia anymore,” Tom said.
“What?” Carl responded.
“Don’t you see it over there?”
“See what?”
There’s some xany animal, I think it’s a xerus, wearing a top hat and it’s playing the xylophone.”
“I knew coming to a haunted house was a bad idea.” Carl said. “You’re seeing things.”
“Oh, you mean like that xenial ghost over there,” Tom said. “Don’t worry, he’s friendly.”
For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams is featuring a suggestion from Di at Pensitivity101 to go with novelty songs. I wanted to select one that most of you won’t have heard of, and that song is “Beep Beep” from The Playmates. Raise your hand if you ever heard this song.
“Beep Beep” was a 1958 novelty single by The Playmates. It was written by Carl Cicchetti and Donald Claps, also known as Chic Hetti and Donny Conn, the band’s arranger/pianist and drummer, respectively.
“Beep Beep” appeared on the Billboard chart for 15 weeks and peaked at number 4 in November 1958. The song was also known as “Little Nash Rambler” or simply “Nash Rambler.” The Nash Rambler was a model of car produced by Nash Motors in 1950. It was a small, bubble-shaped car that was to become the first compact car manufactured and sold in America.
Nash Rambler
At the time, the status symbol in American cars was the Cadillac or similar large cars, sometimes referred to as “land yachts.” A lot of Americans looked down their noses at compact cars such as the Nash Rambler. The humor of this song revolves around the ironic race between a prized Cadillac and a scornful little Nash Rambler, with a stunner punchline.
The song is built around accelerando, where the tempo of the song gradually increases, commensurate, in this case, with the increasing speed of the drivers.
Interesting tidbit #1: In December 1958, Time Magazine credited the popularity of “Beep Beep” with helping Nash Motors break sales records. In November 1958, the company doubled its previous year’s production record.
Interesting tidbit #2: This song, although not a chart hit, was enormously popular in the UK. It was played just about every week for nearly 20 years on the long-running BBC Radio show “Children’s Favorites” (later “Junior Choice”). But while “Beep Beep” was a huge favorite, the original recording was actually banned by the BBC because advertising in songs wasn’t allowed. Hence the words “Cadillac” and “Nash Rambler” were definitely out. The Playmates decided to re-record the song for the UK market. Cadillac became “limousine” and Nash Rambler “bubble car.” The ending on the UK version was just slightly different than the U.S. version.
Here are the lyrics to “Beep Beep.”
While riding in my Cadillac, what, to my surprise, A little Nash Rambler was following me, about one-third my size. The guy must’ve wanted it to pass me up As he kept on tooting his horn. Beep! Beep! I'll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn.
I pushed my foot down to the floor to give the guy the shake, But the little Nash Rambler stayed right behind; he still had on his brake. He must have thought his car had more guts As he kept on tooting his horn. Beep! Beep! I'll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn.
My car went into passing gear and we took off with gust. And soon we were doin' ninety, must have left him in the dust. When I peeked in the mirror of my car, I couldn't believe my eyes. The little Nash Rambler was right behind, you'd think that guy could fly.
Now we're doing a hundred and ten, it certainly was a race. For a Rambler to pass a Caddy would be a big disgrace. The guy must've wanted to pass me up As he kept on tooting his horn. Beep! Beep! I'll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn.
Now we're doing a hundred and twenty, as fast as I could go. The Rambler pulled alongside of me as if I were going slow. The fellow rolled down his window and yelled for me to hear, Hey, buddy, how can I get this car out of second gear?
This, That, and the Other 