The time change has shortened the time I have available for blogging this morning.

This might be a good time to share a little story my Mom recently told me about the time she first met my Dad’s parents. It’s a well known story to me that my Dad’s mom wasn’t very happy that he had chosen my Mom for his wife. Dorothy (my Dad’s mom) expressed this disappointment directly to  Mary (my mom) when she met her. I can picture my grandmother’s mouth pursed and her saying in a slightly whiny voice, “Oooh, and we had somebody else picked out for Paul.”

So that’s one I have heard Mom tell more than once. But recently when she told it she added the face that at the breakfast table the next morning she found Ben, my Dad’s dad, sitting in front of a place with a piece of toast on it. He apparently jauntily held it out to and observed that was he “toasting” her.

Get it?

There’s the added fun that Ben (like almost all people in the “Churchagod”) was a teetotaler.

Anyway here’s a couple of links.

Ancient Mars Had an Ocean, Scientists Say – NYTimes.com

I know I mentioned this yesterday but I didn’t link it. I love this sort of thing. This morning while I cleaned the kitchen, I listened to Holst’s “The Planets” which begins with “Mars.”

‘The Events’ Uses Local Choirs for Vocals, Minus a Script – NYTimes.com

I think people in volunteer choirs are some of the most tolerant people I have known. This story reminds me of when a country singer named Laurie Morgan came to Muskegon. Somehow my little Roman Catholic choir got roped into being her back up choir for a religious number. It was a surreal experience. Also my daughters and some other kids from the church appeared with Morgan on stage as sort of human props. Weird shit.