Things Charlie Says - Top 10 2022

Charlie, my Dad-in-Law, has Alzheimer's. He lives with us. These are the top then things he has said (from my Facebook posts) and ranked according to "likes.


(based on the number of likes)
This year has been a tad more understated with respect to the things that Charlie says. Charlie sleeps more and says less -- even as he says less - more often. Even so, his razor wit shines through. Even more important, his thankful heart glows fierce.
.





Ten:
Charlie: Why am I here?
Kirk: You have a condition called Alzheimer's. Loss of Memory.
Charlie: Well I remember....
Peeing in the Panama Canal. Jean, do you remember peeing in the Panama Canal?
Jean: NO CHARLIE, I do not remember Peeing in the Panama Canal!
Charlie: Not everyone can remember peeing in the Panama Canal.
.
.
Nine
It is 5:30AM. I would like to sleep in but Charlie is up and rummaging through the fridge. Charlie and I are eating mini ice cream bars. I gobble mine in three bites, Charlie is holding his:
"You must be a consumptionist."
.
.
Eight
Charlie: Is Jeanie-weeny in the house.
Me: Yeah dad, She's here. She's sleeping.
Charlie: Well that's good. In heaven they don't sleep. All that stuff to do, but no sleeping. Because you never get tired. But I like to sleep. So maybe I don't want to go. Or maybe I can get my sleep right now. In preparation.
.
.
Seven
Charlie: So what seems to be my problem. Why am I here?
Me: Well dad, you have some medical conditions, and Kerry and I are here to give you and mom some help.
Charlie: Really like what?
Me: Well you have three. Two that are harder on us, One that is harder on you.
First, you are deaf...
Charlie: That is not a problem. Just Yell.
2) You have Alzheimer's.
Charlies: What's that?
Me: You know, forgetfulness!
Charlie: Well I can believe that, I can't remember why I am here!
Me: So the last and final trial is this pee bag. (A Catheter) You have a broken bladder.
Charlie: THAT's Terrible. And good.
Me?????
Charlie: Now we have something to talk about.
.
.
Six
Me: Hey Dad, let me empty that for you.
Charlie: Why? You MUST BE THE PEE MAN!
.
.
Five
Charlie to Alex (my son in law):
So what is your name?
Alex: Alex
Charlie: Alan?
Me: AleX
Charlie: Lester?
Me: ALEX!
Carlie: Harrold?
ME: No Dad. AL-EX...EX. EX (as I make big Xs with my arms.
Charlie. Oh ALEX...Glad to meet you, my name is CharLEX.
.
.
Four
Setting: We are at the dinner table chowing away. Our very bad dog has his muzzle right on my lap, pleading with his big silent eyes for food.
Charlie: That dog really loves you...he loves to watch you eat.
(Then turning to Jean)
I love you Jean, even when I'm not hungry.
.
.
Three
Charlie: FiVE Years!!! Why am I here?
Me: You have a condition called Alzheimer's.
Charlie: What's that, something to do with my hiney?
Me: (referencing one of his favorite jokes): No Dad, not Al's Hiney, Alzheimer's...loss of memory.
Charlie: Well that's good. I'd rather lose my mind than my butt.
.
.
Two:
Chas: How long have I been here... A day or a week. ---
FIVE YEARS, you've got to be kidding. Well, thank you for taking such good care of me.
five minutes later:
Chas: How long have I been here... A day or a week. ---
FIVE YEARS, you've got to be kidding. Well, thank you for taking such good care of us.
ten minutes later
Chas: How long have I been here... A day or a week. ---
FIVE YEARS! you've got to be kidding. Well, thank you for taking such good care of me.
(Repeat....)
---
Sermonette: The irritation of serial questions is a LOT easier to swallow when the same is accompanied by a thankful spirit.
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
(I Thessalonians 5: 16-18)
.
.
One:
Charlie: How long have I been here, a day or a week?
Me: Five years.
Charlie: FIVE YEARs...!!! I don't remember a thing. So why am I here?
Me: Because you don't remember a thing.
Charlie: I feel like I just woke up.
ME: You feel that way everyday, all the time!
Charlie: Well at least it doesn't hurt. But it is mysterious.

A Christmas Prayer

Sitting with You,
in You
And towards
The advancing light of day
May You,
Who are the brilliance
That illumines the sun
Give sight to our eyes
That we may behold your glory
The glory of God with us
donning flesh,
Shattering the depths
of our dull witted hearts.

He's Back

 After a nearly 7 year hiatus, writer/photographer Kirk Jordan is back…to blogging.

Facebook friends will know that I have been a busy boy.  First, some seven years ago I left my job with the Arkansas Governor’s Office--then moved to the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism;  I followed that with a life transition in which my wife’s elderly and cognitively-impaired parents moved into our home.  Things have never been the same.

Funny thing.  My earlier job--serving Governors Mike Huckabee, Mike Beebe, and Asa Hutchinson--may have sounded glamorous (and sometimes was) but it felt at times like glorified grip-and-grin photography. I needed an artful outlet to wage war against the tedium of executive life. Now that my life is all about chasing beauty I no longer feel the need to post daily photos…
(Not to mention that my employer owns many of my photos!)


And so another transition is taking place. I am looking for a space to call my own. Over the last few years I have felt myself moving ever so slowly into a new role.  I earned an MFA through the University of Central Arkansas. I’ve written a book (yet to be published) with more in the wings.  I am starting to think of myself as an Author.


Welcome to the journey.


Kirk Jordan - WRITER, photographer, tourist at large.

The Fatherland. In Memory

Stephen Edgington Jordan

August 4, 1932 – May 4, 2015


the Poem: The Fatherland

Road Trip

Its been a while since I have thrown anything up on this site.  I've worked like a dog for the last four months... but now that session is over, I've hit the road.  Here are a few outtakes from a 17 hour drive... Denver back to Conway, Arkansas.   It rained much of the trip but I did manage to snag these in between the drops.

Kirk

Colorado

Kansas

Oklahoma

.

Snow Ball - select images

Looks like the country has had quite a time of it this year.  I had more days off from work than ever before, even as folks from the northern parts of the US would shake their heads when they see what closes the state of Arkansas down.

As is, only one of these images (the top) was taken this year.  All others (c) by Kirk Jordan, presented out of sympathy.

Strafe

Snow Day, February 25, 2015.

"Mother of the South" pins the southwest corner of the Arkansas State Capitol grounds.


Unveiled in 1913.  This Monument to Confederate Women depicts a mother and daughter saying good-bye to their 16-year-old son and brother who is leaving to join his father in the fighting.

Note:  This vantage may give a false sense of distance. I used a mild telephoto, which compresses space. this statue is at least a 100 yards from the building.

Brothers Howard

Stand back Brothers Johnson, Brothers Grimm, and Brothers Karamazov - The Brothers Howard are here!

These two young men just happen to be my neighbors.  They are fraternal twins, and recently modeled for an album illustration.   Long Story Short:  I am fringe-friends with the musical band The Last Bison.   Members from that band ended up crashing on our couch a couple years back when they played for a local music fest.  They have a new album out  - VA - and with it have created a lyric book, showcasing guest artists submissions.  I gave them this photo in exchange for the CD and the book to illustrate a song that chases sibling themes.  (Hear a fragment of Come What May here.)

Come what may

We will always be the same
You and I, shall remain
In and out in every way
So alike
Into the mirror
Now I see clearer
We must have come from the same design

Captured, my eye turn, shattered my ears burn
Tell me your thoughts
Are they the same as mine?

(Lyric by Ben Hardesty, The Last Bison)

The Chrysta Rae Summersational Scavenger Hunt, 2014

One of the highlights of my year - make that one of the highlight of my quarter -- is the the somewhat seasonal Chrysta Rae Photography Scavenger Hunt held on Google Plus.   The Chrysta Rae Scavenger Hunt started about three years ago with a small group of photographers and has now bloomed to a truly international event in which 500 photographers work to capture photos from a secret theme list. We are given 10 subjects and then one  month to find our photos.  Sign ups for the last hunt finished in just hours after the opening bell.   I am now in the process of taking pictures for "Round 14"  -- The pictures below are from the Summersational Hunt, round 13.  

Find out more about the hunts here:  https://plus.google.com/113977984500465768287/posts/g5UdbSUscHx



Theme: Peace

 The "Peace" I didn't use:

Ice-Cream Cone: 

Perfect Summer Day

Your City Ie, My city: Conway Arkansas

Red Fruit

Worst Habit: (I have worse habits, but I wasn't going to go there... But jamming flowers in your eyes.  No good!

Sour 

The Letter B

Childhood Memory:

 Pig

Cross Pollination

Just a little pollination.  Check out this and other related lightning pictures on my standard photo blog (for celebrating the Might Works of God)  Here:  http://mightyworksproject.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-god-of-heaven-thunders.html

Oh the Radiance

Do you ever find yourself just startled by existence, or the mere possibility of color?  

I've been having the time of my life these last days, taking a series of eye popping stills with the idea of a color themed timelapse.   This is one of several hundred images taken from this particular vantage. 

I will be making this particular frame available as a fine art print.   Give Kirk a shout at Kirkwood2020   at   Yahoo.com

Visitors

These last few days quite a few visitors have passed my way as I have been out creating new time lapse sequences of the Arkansas State Capitol - with  bold color-blasting flower gardens. 


As is, I have about 4 timelapse creations at various stages of completion, that may require some time to finish with the photo work, and then to assemble.

Until then, here is an oldie for reference.   And be sure to check out my links at the side of the page.   Thanks, and welcome to Arkansas.

Capture Arkansas, Photo of the Day

And then the Sun rolled cross the horizon like a chariot wheel

or

Making Van Gogh Smile.

Always nice when Capture Arkansas awards a photo with POTD award.   Thank you. 

and Thank God for an hour of blue.

http://www.capturearkansas.com/photos/1496248

Hard days in Arkansas, Vilonia Mayflower Tornado, April 27, 2014

Lord, teach us to number our Days.

On Sunday, April 27th, a brutal F-4 tornado (up to five) battered parts of central Arkansas, deeply impacting the cities of Mayflower and Vilonia.  Initial reports,  15 dead, over 400 homes fully destroyed.   (Many more in various forms of injury or damage)

On April 28, 2014 I joined Governor Mike Beebe and other officials with the state of Arkansas in tour of our tornado ravaged communities,  On  Find images below and ... if you would, say a prayer for the fatherless...motherless, childless...

APRIL 28, Gallery as Governor Beebe joins other state officials viewing the storm damage

In Need of Green (St Paddy's Day)

As a rule, I keep the day job off the blog, but these were just too much fun.   Pictures feature my boss, Governor Beebe of Arkansas, and  actor Jeff Bridges.

Jeff was quick on his feet.  He picked up a leaf of lettuce to avoid further pinching by First Lady Ginger Beebe.

Traffic Poem

Only a year late!  This little video represents (Hopefully) the tip of an iceberg... That is, now that I am learning how to use Final Cut to edit and create films (so much more powerful than I-Movie) I hope to produce many more.  And indeed I have.  This December I completed putting together a two hour movie of a travel I took with several family members last year.  Keep your eyes peeled for more from the Go Great Circle expedition.

Cold Light Fusion

The bulbs on this years Arkansas State Capitol really are colder.  They switched from an incandescent bulb to LED lights.   The whole thing is just less vibrant and glowy, though cool in its own right.  I have noticed it has to be darker than before to get a good shot, cause the contrast doesn't kick in at the same level as before.

The Eyes Have It

Little Rock:  As part of my preparation for my radio talk with Dorothy Graves of the Science Cafe -- on our local NPR affiliate KUAR FM89.1 -- November 26, 2013 - about all things related to vision, I have revisited some of my poems and favorite quotes related to sight.  This is a smorgasbord of eye stuff:

Ode to the Eye: 1991

Patterned on the backmost curvature of eye, The great Retina-Dome, Rod and Cone—Inner-Cup Coliseum captures the illumined world and decodes with the aid of some many million R & C sense-cell minicams.

Do you remember rod and cone cells?


Bio 101 Refresher:

Consider your eye in form
A lollipop, with
lash attached and leering from the bone
like the part of a clam which shows,
between the parted shells:

Stereo tadpoles
bulbous in the skull;
tails streaming backward
at your brain …

Consider your eye, this time within:
Mini-twins
of the Houston Astrodome.
(This works best while lying on your back)

The spanning bubble roof with the skylight hole
corresponds to your iris,
The coliseum wrap with arena base –
your retina.

Billy Graham is preaching.
Every inch of stadium is full.

The CONE-heads in the center all wear
colored shades and sip a chosen hue:
lemonade, cyan, or red.
The RODgers on the rim
are colorblind and love dim rooms.


Now do you remember Rod and Cone cells?

The greater part of poetry would celebrate
the lesser part of any eye:
A marble-colored muscle, shinning life
and riveting our gaze.
But …
REAL seeing is a corporate vision.
The sum of each myopic rod and cone,
Siphoning a pixel, feeding a mosaic.

Remember –

Your first act of faith

is believing what you see.

*

Links related to sight and light, from the Journals of the Kirk:

In the dark of the Luna Sea
How many Moons are there?
Life in the Minus World
Noumenon

                                     Quotes/Thoughts

What any eye is, God only knows.
( George McDonald )

Girl with the crystal chip eyes
You look into mine and affirm to me worth

Sharing an ember through glass.
KJ.

To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree. When it was first said that the sun stood still and the world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying of Vox populi, vox Dei, as every philosopher knows, cannot be trusted in science. Reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a simple and imperfect eye to one complex and perfect can be shown to exist, each grade being useful to its possessor, as is certainly the case; if further, the eye ever varies and the variations be inherited, as is likewise certainly the case and if such variations should be useful to any animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, should not be considered as subversive of the theory. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself originated; but I may remark that, as some of the lowest organisms, in which nerves cannot be detected, are capable of perceiving light, it does not seem impossible that certain sensitive elements in their sarcode should become aggregated and developed into nerves, endowed with this special sensibility.

Charles Darwin: the Origin of Species. "Organs of extreme Perfection and Complication."

Note: I read from browsing on the Internet, that Evolutionists show that Creationists distort Darwin’s intent when they quote the first part of his eye-comment, but fail to include the latter. I don’t want to distort his intent -- nor affirm his view, but I will join him in his incredulity.

Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when you will you be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear: He that formed the eye, shall He not see? Psalm 94:2

Here is a monument that rises up behind us.
Here the sun falls severing the radiant dome of white,
piercing blue above – and below,
Here is the muffled throb of tourist,
as we move in and out of each other’s blurred snapshots.

Steve Scott—excerpt, Snapshots of the Taj.

His eyes are as the doves of the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes.

Song of Songs 5:12, 4:9

(If she could do that with one, just imagine what she’d do with two)



The most amazing component of the camera eye is its "film" or retina. This light sensitive layer, which lines the back of the eye ball, is thinner than a sheet of Saran-Wrap and is vastly more sensitive to a wider range of light than any man made film. The best man-made film can handle a range of 1,000-to-one. By comparison, the human retina can handle a dynamic range of light of 10 billion-to-one and can sense as little as a single photon of light in the dark! In bright daylight, the retina bleaches out and turns it's "volume control" way down so as not to overload.

The light sensitive cells of the retina are like an extremely complex high gain amplifier. There are over 10 million such cells in the retina and they are packed together with a density of 200,000/mm{2} in the highly sensitive fovea. These photo-receptor cells have a very high rate of metabolism and must completely replace themselves about every 7 days! If you look at a very bright light such as the sun, they immediately burn out but are rapidly replaced in most cases. Because the retina is thinner than the wave length of visible light it is totally transparent. (OOps I can not now find where I "borrowed this from.)

The eye is the lamp of the body. 

If your eyes are good, 

your whole body will be full of light, 

but if your eyes be bad, 

your whole body will be full of darkness. 

If then the light within you is darkness, 

how great is that darkness. 

Jesus. (Mathew 6:22-23)

I did not know that I was blind until I looked into your eyes… (Lyric fragment, Randy Stonehill)  

Brenda, your camera never lies …
(lyric fragment, Bill Malone – Vigilantes of Love)