Happy 2010

It's almost time for the glittering ball to start its descent. I am so grateful for a New Year and a New Decade! I think Jupiter is in line for a good year! :) I'm also grateful NOT to be in Times Square with the proposed other million of revelers. Just a normal Saturday night was almost my demise! One of the drawbacks to being tiny and somewhat wobbly on your feet. To survive there without injury, one needs the brawn of a linebacker!

I wish everyone a safe and happy evening as we cross the threshold into 2010. I plan on staying home and surrounding myself in solitude and silence and finishing my new book, "Songs of the Soul." I look forward to our first meeting of the new year next Wednesday the 6th of January.

For those still learning to appreciate the words of poetry, my first love, I'll leave you this year with a poem I wrote back in August on the tenth anniversary of my husband, Jerry's, passing . . . It seems fitting to do it for him here, too.

A Decade . . . A Moment

A decade . . . a moment,
The then and the now
The time and the no-time
Only you, know the how.

How do I see you yet standing here,
Still hear your whisper ring in my ear?
How do I feel you in a current of air,
Or touch you, in your book by your chair?

Why do I ask? Does it matter at all?
So, what . . . the risk of my sanity or resultant stakes?
As long as you’re close,
So, what . . . the form that you take?

A storm or a star, a fox or a bird.
A spark of memory at the sound of a word.
Your eyes looking out from the eyes of a son,
For a new grandpup, your love of a dog instantly won.

Some days you’re vague, and some, stay right by my side.
Some days in storms you perfectly hide.
Others you soar away, and there I can’t go.
Yet, I know you’ll return riding the next rainbow.

A decade, a moment . . . our then, and our now.
Some day you’ll take me, and I’ll, too, know the how
of this me in the 'here', and you over 'there'
but today, only you know . . . the when, and the where.

And, I wait . . .


Susan Haley ~ 8/13/09 ~ Preserved by what It Is

Newman Featured In Herald-Tribune

Our own Irv Newman was featured in the December 11, 2009, issue of the Sarasota Herald Tribune with a nearly-half-page spread about his WWII experiences. There's even a picture of a young, muscular Irv toting around a couple training bombs.

Commissioned as a second lieutenant bombardier on a B-17 Flying Fortress, Irv and his crew were scheduled to go to the European campaign. During his final flight training sessions, however, Irv was hospitalized for an ear problem. As a result, the crew he trained with was sent off to Europe without Irv.

Irv recaptured this series of events in a book he called Courage Never Known. He says, "I was this well-trained individual who never had a gun fired at me face-to-face."

Irv has also published a very humorous and thoughtful memoir called Living on House Money and has read from it at several of our local FWA meetings.

Congratulations, Irv! We hope the newspaper article will bring a pleasant spurt in sales!

Posted by
Russ Heitz