D.L. Havlin's Blog, page 10

Out and about

Come visit with me at the

Cultural Center of Charlotte County, Port Charlotte, FL

7/13th, 14th & 15th.

Have you read my new mystery/suspense book,

Turtle Point? amzn.to/2selUnr   Pls share.

Good Old 4th

[image error]A grandfather took his seven year old grandson to a parade on the 4th of July. Little Jimmy asks lots of questions. Watching the parade pass prompted many of them.

Jimmie asked, “Grandpa, are fire engines painted red because that’s the color of fire?

Grandpa answered. “No, but I’ve heard two reasons why fire-engines are painted red. One is that early firemen were proud of their trucks and so they painted them the most expensive color available in the late 1800’s. But … The one I think makes more sense was that most all of the early automobiles were painted black. Firemen in the late 1800’s wanted it to be easy for people to see them coming when they raced to a fire so they painted them red a color not used on cars back then.

Jimmie asked, “Grandpa, why do we have fire-engines in a parade, and set off fireworks, and wave all those flags, on the 4th of July?”

Grandpa answered, “The 4th of July is our country’s birthday so we Americans celebrate it just like we celebrate your birthday.”

Jimmie asked, “Wow, there are a lot of flags. Why do we have flags?”

Grandpa answered, “All people have flags as symbols of their country. We have the stars and stripes, Japan has a rising sun, Canada has a Maple leaf. Those symbols say something about their country.”

Jimmie asked, “Why do we have the stars and stripes for America?”

Grandpa thought for a few seconds and then answered, “Jimmie, most people will tell you the stars stand for each state we have in our nation and that thirteen stripes stand for the original thirteen colonies that declared their independence. That is true. But …… I’m going to give another reason, one that I believe is most important. It is one I want you to remember. I see those stripes as stairs our country offers to all its citizens, who are willing to do the work to climb them, to reach the stars above.

Fish Story

From the mouth of a seven year old, reacting to a “fish story”: “I don’t know you, but I trust you. Would you take me fishing?”

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Out & About: Saturday, 6/16

Has your life ever inspired you to write? Then come to check out the Gulf Coast Writers Association. Our guest speaker DL Havlin, will be letting us in on how he weaves reality into a world of fiction. The meeting will be held Saturday, June 16 at Zion Lutheran Church, Fort Myers 33919. First time guests are free. If you want more info please call 770-906-7885 or go to gulfwriters.org.

A Day to Remember

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I quote Santa Anna – “He who chooses to ignore history is doomed to live it again.” I believe we can learn so much from things we have done right and from our failures.

This day is one of those days that we should look back and listen to what history is screaming. Look at the pictures on this blog and understand what they mean. Each body lying on the beach was someone’s loved one. That corpse gave its life for all of us. It did this so we can have the freedoms we should enjoy and savor. They were purchased at such a high cost.

Today, there are many humans that do not value the sacrifices made and are perfectly willing to sacrifice freedoms for their particular political thought. Inflexibility and ignorance and siblings and some see their view of the world as the only correct one. How sad. If something doesn’t affect them in the here and now they devalue it.

Let’s see if we can add that worth back. Look at the picture below. It’s the body of a brave man who died alone. In all probability his death was painful. No one was there to comfort him. Now, look at him a little differently. His unseen face is your brother, your son, your uncle, your father. The price of his sacrifice has just gone up. We should accord all those nameless, faceless heroes the same honor and esteem we would for those of our blood.

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Today, June 6th, 2018, say a prayer and give thanks to all those who fought, who fought and died, and who fought and were forever changed. In actuality, they are all our blood relatives.

Testing, Testing, Testing

If you wondered why I suddenly stopped posting on this blog, the answer is simple. I couldn’t gain access to my own blog! The worst thing is we can’t get in touch with anybody to find out if it’s us or them. I don’t have the slightest. Mr. WordPress, can you please provide some reasonable and understandable way of contacting you for help? I guess you can chalk this post up to venting. It’s kind of like barking at the moon. You do it. You know it’s foolish and will accomplish nothing. But, you do it anyway. We’re back posting, but in a tortuous, round-about method.

Venting over! Many things are going on. My newest mystery/suspense book, “Turtle Point” is released. It is available on Amazon and Kindle. Pub folks always preach you should be able to describe your book in 20 words or less. Okay, here goes. “Can a good man literally bury a bad past event in his life?” Count them, that’s thirteen! #Turtle Point is set in Southwest Florida’s barrier islands, contains a lot of info about sea turtles, and introduces the heroine of my “Iron Lady” series, Harper Sturgis. (No shrinking violet she!)

For the many who have attended my historical presentations and bug me about the “Clayton’s Chronicles” series (Florida’s history in novel form – think “A Land Remembered”) the first book is complete, it’s edited, and it’s ready for the publisher. Fall of this year? Hopefully.

I’ll end with some TRULY GREAT NEWS for authors, writers, and writer-want-to-be’s in the southwest Florida area (That area from Sarasota to Marco Island and inland across the state.). ABC Books 4 Children and Adults is sponsoring a full-scale writers conference in April 2019 (Saturday the 13th). It’s titled, “The Hudson comes to the Peace” (Referring to rivers in each area) and will feature 16 of New York’s top agents and editors. The theme is “Possibilities”. That’s all the many ways you can improve your writing talent by working with newspapers, magazines, TV, electronic media and many more. It’s a full day of education that is available at a fraction of the cost of equivalent events in other venues.

OOPS!

I would love to talk with you, however, I am having difficulty accessing my sites after a recent update. Hopefully my DL Havlin blog site and Sandy Says blog site will be separated and available shortly.

A few thoughts about Memorial Day –

I was watching a national TV news program two nights ago. It was a channel I normally watch. The volume of inflammatory rhetoric got to the point I flipped the channel … Guess what … I got more of the same. After repeating the process several more times, I decided I’d go to a local channel to avoid the garbage. Oh, contraire … I was still in the truck, bouncing my way to the landfill.

At that moment, an advertisement for a car dealership came on. It was a relief from what had been insulting my eyes and ears moments before. You know … what falls on the barn floor. The man mentioned his stupendous, unbelievable, special would be available to his customers through Memorial Day.

Memorial Day! A day to honor all those who fought to provide us with the freedoms and lives we enjoy daily. I wondered … what would those who fought … bled … and died think about the two sides in this country trying their best to destroy all that those brave men and women fought to preserve.

I understand one of those rights is the freedom of expression. I also understand abusing a right is a sure way to lose it. In my opinion, today’s’ media sources … both sides … are so corrupt they are valueless. Happily or unhappily, this is an opinion shared by … in excess of 80% of our citizenry … not just me. Watching, listening, and reading the filth makes me disgusted and angry. It is an affront to those who fought and died for this country.

Criticizing, moaning … those things do no good. I want to do something. So … I’m going to ask that for one week … the Memorial Day week … the media return their manure to the cesspool. Eliminate all opinion of ANY KIND! One week! Just, one little week.

I’m going to send my request to as many national and local media as I can. TV … radio … newspapers … magazines … anywhere I see the stench of agenda over substance. Will it do any good … I don’t know. I do know my conscience will have some comfort. At least I’ve tried to do something to end the madness.

It might help … how sweet. It might … if I can get people to join me. If you agree … join me in sending this message.

I’m sick of it!

Both sides!

Stop indoctrinating and return to informing.

For the Memorial Day week, put your agenda aside.

Don’t broadcast or print opinion for those 7 days.

For one week, stop waging war on this country and its people.

If you decide to send this message, encourage others to do the same. The more voices that make noise, the harder it is to ignore for those who cavalierly go about destroying this country.

DL Havlin

 

Back to “Normal?”

The key I most frequently use

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This has been an especially busy winter season for me. Most have been very good. Some … Well, there’s always some rain to make you appreciate beautiful sunny days.

As has to be apparent, one of those rainy day events has been my inability to post to this and my other blogs. To compound the problem, I found in the six week period of time between posts, WordPress decided to make everything I knew about getting into to post obsolete. It was changed, or gone, or I simply don’t know. I’m still not able to post, but this will be my first one when I finally can get some help from this organization.

Technology is a good thing? Certainly … in many respects it is. But, I sometimes wonder if many changes in technology are made for that sake alone. Some require us all to relearn what we do when the changes are unwanted and in lots of cases less than useless to many users. Hopefully this post will find its way to the I-net sooner than later.

As a friend once said, “Oh, I long for the days of the slate, chisel, and hammer.”

Understanding Personal Relations

Hi all!  I hope to get back to posting soon.

I’ll be at the Fort Myers Beach Public Library Thursday, 4/05, at 10:30 AM to discuss “Why we get along…or don’t!” It is an introduction to acquiring human relations skills.