International Left-handers Day

The 13th of August each year is designated as International Left-handers day.  What a great feeling to know that other people think that we are special enough to have our very own day. Check out what Wikipedia says about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Lefthanders_Day

Being left handed use to be a curse but I'm finding more people everyday who are left handed. Many people don't understand what the difference is or why even twins can have one right hander and one left hander.  I checked out some information from Wikipedia and thought I would share it with you. You can follow the link listed here to read more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handed

I also thought I would list a few special people,  Gerald Ford, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who are all presidents of the United States.  And then you have lots of  actors, musicians and artist's and just to name a few,  H.G. Wells, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Michelangelo,  Charlie Chaplin, Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey and George Kennedy. The actual list of famous lefthanders is to long to list in this blog.

Of course my all time favorite is Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William,_Duke_of_Cambridge   Besides being left handed we also share the same birthday, June 21st.  I have watch him grow into a really fine young man and now he is a husband and father.  It will be interesting to watch as he moves along in his role in England.

I know that it is still hard to find left handed items and with school starting we struggle to get what school supplies that are needed.  Here are a few sites to check out.  Kids School Supplies  or  High School and College  Last but not least, I also receive a monthly left handed newsletter.  If anyone is interested I am putting the site for registration here.  http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/newsletters/lhc-nl-201308.html#sthash.h7o9t3xk.dpbs .

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

 Today's Birthday wishes goes to Lefty Michael Stipe - American singer, lyricist and visual artist. Born January 4, 1960 in Decatur Georgia. Check out Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Stipe  

He has numerous sountracks titles on many TV series, video games and movies including "It's the end of the World as we know it" from "Independence Day", one of my favorite movies staring Will Smith and Bill Pullman. Independence Day (Single Disc Widescreen Edition)

Michael also has produced several movies but one of the cutest ones is "Olive, the Other Reindeer"  A fun filled animated story of Santa ( Ed Asner)  canceling Christmas due to an injured reindeer and a young dog name Olive (Drew Barrymore) trying to come to the rescue. It is a wonderful movie that can be enjoyed by all.   Olive the Other Reindeer


For more information on Michael Stipes movies and soundtracks check out IMDB www.imdb.com/name/nm0005468/

Thanks for coming by.

My husband is left handed and has several different types of left handed guitars. He mainly purchases Fender guitars but he does have a Gibson. If you would like to play a great sounding guitar try a Gibson. Also check out the Fender getting started books and the Squier by Fender. Great products for Great People.

Happy Birthday George Kennedy

 Lefty George Kennedy was born February 18, 1925 in New York City, New York. He has played in over 200 movies and was a technical adviser for the television series Sergeant Bilko. He served 16 years in the United States Army where he saw combat and worked in the Armed Forces radio.

I had never really heard or even thought much of George Kennedy until we watched the Airport movies and I started knowing him as Joe Patroni, an airline troubleshooter.  I liked him so much in those movies that I started watching and searching for other movies that he might have played in both as a young man and as he is now.

I was really lucky to find him along side of some of my more favorite stars such as John Wayne in Sons of Katie Elder, The Train Robbers and Cahill U.S. Marshal.  He was in The Flight of the Phoenix with James Stewart, Charade with Cary Grant and starred with Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In most of these parts he played a hard, cold or indifferent man.  As Joe Patroni, he was more carefree, chewed on that nasty old cigar and of course loved his wife so much that he would move heaven or hell or a huge airplane to get home to her or to keep her safe.

In the movie Earthquake, he played a policeman who in the mist of all the chaos,  managed to rescue a young woman and keep law and order. What a man!

So as we go from hard and cold to strong and loving, we don't stop there. There is a giggle side to him with a great knack for comedy as he played along side of Leslie Nielson in Naked Gun 2 1/2 and Naked Gun 33 1/3.

George played so many different parts that its hard to describe them all.  There's not much this man cannot do, a part he cannot play, or a woman he cannot save.  But then of course he is a Lefty, he can do it all!

Happy 85th Birthday George Kennedy!

Oprah Winfrey- Birthday Greetings

Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American television host, producer, and philanthropist, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She has also been in several movies including my favorites, Beloved, The Color Purple
and The Women of Brewster Place
 

When it comes to celebrities and charitable giving, few give more than the charities of Oprah Winfrey.  Any money collected for The Angel Network goes directly to funding.  Oprah pays the operating expenses.

And last but not least, Oprah is a woman after my own heart with her love of her dogs. Because they are so special to her that when she added her three Golden Retrievers she had Cesar Millan help her to train them. What I wouldn't give to have Cesar Millan help train my dogs.

So Happy Birthday Oprah.

Non Left Handed Best Friends

Even though my Newfoundland isn't left handed she always has a way to get to the left side of my body. She is only 18 months old and 129 pounds, but she still acts very much like a young kid. They keep telling me that she will soon become a couch potato, but I really can't see it happening real soon. I have been training with her, but I sometimes think that I need help. I am always looking for articles or books on Newfoundlands.

I have always had large dogs all of my life. Rather or not any of them were left handed or not just didn't seem to matter. Their companionship was all that I looked for.

My nephew has large dogs also. One is a huge St. Bernard named George. He really is a beauty and is as good as gold. He has had some really good training. All large dogs should be so gentle.

I think that most of my family have always had dogs all of our lives. Large and small, Rottweiler's to Cocker Spaniels. They are a lot of work, but with a little loving care and good training they can be great companions.

I'm not sure how we choose which dogs we get, I'm sure that very few of us have really studied up on it. It's like presto, instant dog and then we spend the rest of their lives loving them.

Left Handed Jesus

As I sit here in the quiet of my living room it is not hard to realize all that I have to be thankful for. My wonderful husband who seems to have the patience of Job, our home, my children, grandchildren and the fact that I work for one of the best organizations in the world, St. Benedict's Abbey, which is located on the bluffs of Atchison, Kansas.

Now I would like to share the following text from an article that was printed in the Fall 2007 Kansas Monks which is a quarterly publication of St. Benedict's Abbey, Dan Madden, editor.
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From left to right monks make a difference.

It was a simple postcard.

Abbot Barnabas Senecal had handed out several that day at a conference we were both attending. But the image on it struck me and I was touched by the gift, perhaps a bit more than most who received it.

Pictured in the simple painting on the card was St. Joseph, crouching before a carpenter bench, gently instructing his toddler son, Jesus. But here was the kicker. The young boy, with a muted yellow halo around his head was wielding a small hammer – in his left hand. The Abbot even called the artwork the fresco of the “left-handed Jesus.”

The card was a reprint of a fresco on the wall over the altar in the Chapel of St. Joseph the Worker, located in the crypt beneath the Abbey Church. Even though the Abbot was among the vast majority of right-handers in the world, he recognized the uncommonness of a left-handed Jesus, let alone anything left-handed that was good and holy in religious art, history or literature. This certainly was not lost on me, a member of the poor, unfortunate tribe of left-handers.

We haven’t exactly been celebrated throughout history, where we’ve been labeled awkward, clumsy, subversive, evil and even satanic. Frankly, Christianity has been especially unkind.

The Bible contains more than 100 favorable references to the right hand and 25 unfavorable references to the left hand. “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly…The right hand of the Lord is exalted” (Psalm 118:15,16).

In the parable of the sheep and goats, the sheep are set at Christ’s right hand and the goats on the left. Those on the right inherit the kingdom of God, while those on the left depart into everlasting fire. The devil is almost always portrayed as left-handed and evil spirits always lurk over the left shoulder.

The word sinister comes from the Latin root meaning “left,” and the English word left comes from “lyft,” meaning “worthless.”
And for generations left-handed children who attended Catholic schools were forced through corporal punishment to become righties.

The postcard Abbot Barnabas gave me sparked conversation and an eventual friendship. I recall thinking that I wouldn’t mind working for a man like him someday. Little did I know at the time that a few years later that thought would become reality when Abbot Barnabas appointed me director of development for his community.

Now I enjoy the honor of being touched each day by the hospitality and generous hearts of Abbot Barnabas and his entire community of Benedictine monks, all while receiving a livelihood for me and my family.

And as a bonus I can go visit the left-handed Jesus any time I like.

In the short time I have worked at St. Benedict’s Abbey, I have heard many tales of monks who have touched the lives of people, either through their dedicated work at Benedictine College and Maur Hill-Mount Academy, through their hospitable stewardship of the Guest House, through their pastoral service in parishes,
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I also know first hand of the wonderful works of the monks at St. Benedict's Abbey. I have worked for a Benedictine organization for over 30 years.

I hope that you have enjoyed this little piece of information and that it helps you or a loved one feel good about being left handed.