For Sunday, September 23rd, 2012

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

SEPTEMBER 23RD,  2012

If you can't see the Bright Side, polish the dull side

CHECKERS DAY

It's SUNDAY!  

Get out the Checker Board. Today is Checkers Day. So, do you want the red checkers? Or, the black ones?

It may surprise you to know that it is also Dogs in Politics Day. In 1952, Richard M. Nixon was a candidate for Vice-President of the United States, running with Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Media speculation centered around an $18,000 campaign contribution, and speculation that Nixon may have used some for his personal use.  In a brilliant political maneuver, Nixon took his case to the American people.

On September 23, 1952, Richard Nixon gave a speech that directly addressed and explained the issue. He assured the public that he did not use any of the funds for personal use. Towards the end of the speech, he stated that his daughters had received a dog, which they named Checkers, as a gift. He said they would keep the dog.

This speech quickly became known as the Checkers speech, and went on to be one of the better speeches in American political history.

Still, that’s no reason not to have a game or two of checkers – and you’ll probably have more fun anyway.

'Tis all a chequer board of nights and days,
Where destiny with men for pieces plays;
Hither and thither, and mates, and slays.

Edward F itzgerald

NEWS FROM HOME

The perfect family board game is one that can be played each time with fewer pieces.  

Robert Brault

No one is exactly sure how old checkers is, but we do know it has been around a long time, over 500 years, and it is still one of the world's most popular games. You probably never gave much thought to why checkers is played the way it is, why you have to stay on the black squares and can only move one space at a time and only jump over pieces that are next to you.

The idea was to use the black squares of the board as the battle field of checkers. The white, or red,  squares served only as checkers background on the board.  When a checker reaches the opponent’s edge of the board called the king’s row, it is crowned with another checker placed on top of it and is now referred to as a king. 

Board games, such as checkers and chess, have been acclaimed by educators as having a connection with higher reading and other academic scores for children who play the games. Children receive many mental and social advantages from playing checkers and become better learners. The game provides opportunities to develop skills in problem solving, concentration, memory recall, and sound judgment.

Who knew that checkers could provide fun and learning skills at the same time?

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.

Richard Bach

PRAYER FOR OUR TROOPS

Please pray for God's protection of

our troops and HIS wisdom for their

commanders.

Lord, hold our troops in

your loving hands.

Protect them as they protect us.

Bless them and their families for the

selfless acts they perform for us

in our time of need. I ask this in the

name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

AND bless our Police Officers, Firefighters

and Paramedics and EMT's

GOD BLESS YOU ALL !

COUNTING THE DAYS

Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, 

but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth. 

 Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

89 DAYS UNTIL WINTER

61 DAYS UNTIL THANKSGIVING

 93 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS !

Celebrate the happiness
that friends are always giving,
make every day a holiday,
and celebrate just living!

Amanda Bradley

 

A little smile, a word of cheer,
A bit of love from someone dear…

Love,

ma