“Make hay in May for you may never know what June is coming with and you may never know what July will present! When you see May, make hay!” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, Ghanaian writer and a teacher

Hello out there to all trying to keep up on that spinning wheel called the electronic information highway. It's Tuesday, May 8, 2018, and I did mention yesterday how that May is called the Merry Month. Here's what we know about how that got started. ~ The Merry Month of May is a poem by Thomas Dekker (c. 1572–1632), an English Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer. 'The Merry Month of May' was a part of Dekker's play, The Shoemaker's Holiday, first performed in 1599. The poem is included within Act 3 Scene V of the play. In a scene set in a "french hood", where people are performing for some of the major characters of the play. Little is known about the poem, other than its publication in The Shoemaker's Holiday. The first stanza goes like this, "O, the month of May, the merry month of May, So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green! O, and then did I unto my true love say, Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my Summer's Queen." ~ (From the Wikipedia entry on that subject.) I get the idea it reflects the enjoyment for those who like the warmer temperatures and being outdoors. Supposedly, the Houston area is the most air-conditioned in the United States. I can't be sure how that was arrived at, but, it appears to still be advertised as such. Why? I'll give you the word picture of the day, "Frying an egg on the sidewalk." Add to that a stifling humidity that makes breathing a labor all its own. And, the noise. You know the one I'm talking about. That whirring sound on the electrical meter mounted on the side of the house. Got it? Good!

We bought the house where we currently reside in 1984. The house was built in the early 1960's. When we moved in, it had a brand new furnace. We replaced the air conditioning system in 1994. This week we will have both the furnace and the a/c system replaced. I'm told the new systems will reduce our utility requirements by one third. I think we were told the same thing back in 1994. I was hoping that perhaps this time around we would be receiving a monthly check from the gas and power companies. You know. We will be so efficient. When our technician told me I needed to think about replacing the old units, I told him I thought the a/c system was practically new. He then told me what the tag said on the unit. Seems like yesterday, not 24 years ago. They both still work and they do an adequate job but we have had continuing issues with repair and maintenance and rather than wait until they go belly up we decided to replace them. We are blessed to have a technician that we have confidence in. He is a Godly man who has always done a good job for us. That means a lot, folks, and we are thankful for him and his testimony. Soon and very soon, I will be the one with the magnifying glass, (like the lady in the cartoon), looking for the cost on my utility bill. It will be so hard to find. I'm also into dreaming.

Last Friday we visited the hometown bank where mom and dad did a lot of their business. The lady who waited on us had to tell us once again how much everyone there loved our dad. He always had his business together and they all thought him to be a very respectful and sweet person. This thought came to me: What will people say about me when I am no longer here on the planet? The sentiment from the old song, 'Leave behind, leave behind, what will I leave behind?' comes to mind. We will leave something. Those that we had to do with will remember something about us. I am thankful the overwhelming majority of thoughts and recollections about our parents have been very positive. They were people willing to serve others. They cared. They were people of faith. They were hard workers. Their word could be trusted. Within the family, of course, the recollections are more personal and emotional. My point? We can't make a good testimony come into being after we have breathed our last. It has to be done before. Or, as one fellow at our local Church likes to say, "On this side of the dirt." So true. Bank tellers reminded us once again of the testimony of our dad. That should inspire us all. And, for many of us, we are closer to that day than we have ever been before. Something for us all to consider, think about, ponder, and reflect upon. Have a great rest of this particular merry day of May and I'll see what falls out for our next time together. May God bless. Amen. ....More later.