If we were having coffee, I would hope that it would be in a nice, air conditioned coffee shop. We are melting here in Oregon. Yesterday we hit 90 degrees. Right now it is only 12:30 pm and we are at 92, headed for 100. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Yuck! Way too hot for Oregon in June. Way too hot for this old lady who has no air conditioning.
I’m sure we would at least mention the passing of Muhammad Ali. He was one of those icons that even when they were no longer what we remembered of them, the memories kept him young, strong, and vital. I think we’ll all remember him that way. I remember one of the first times I heard of him. He was Cassius Clay then. Yeah, I’m that old! I remember my dad (also gone now) talking about him and Sonny Liston in the days before their championship boxing match. It was all over the news. The match was not televised then so we listened to it on the radio, in the kitchen, all gathered around. It was 1964. I was 9 years old. I didn’t understand everything that was going on during the match, especially since it was not on TV but I understood from the excitement in the announcer’s voice, and from the crowd’s screaming, and from my own parent’s reactions, that this was something special. This was something we would all remember many years later. And we did. Even when he became Muhammad Ali and his religious affiliation brought him negative attention from the Establishment, it also gained him a huge following from the younger generation. He was arrested for draft evasion and stripped of his World Heavyweight Championship. Until 4 years later when the U.S. Supreme Court over turned the conviction, Ali did not fight professionally. Finally, in 1971, he returned to boxing. He was able to regain his undisputed heavyweight boxing champion title and fought Joe Frazier and George Foreman to keep that title. I remember listening to those boxing matches too. My family…we were all Ali fans. Ali’s personal style craved the limelight. He created his image. Butterflies; bees. That was him. He was loud. He was confident. He was The Greatest. I guess we would more than mention him. At least I would. That’s what’s on my mind today.
I would also tell you that I got a little unexpected time this week and I was actually able to read an entire book! I haven’t picked up my Kindle to read since February! Finally I got to read. It wasn’t planned, either. Spencer needed a nap but Anderson had a friend playing over at their house and it was too noisy for Spencer to sleep so I went and picked him up and he came and slept in my bed. He stays in my bed as long as I am there with him. So he napped for a couple of hours and I got to read! Yay. It felt good to finally pick up a book!
I’m streaming movies, still. Nothing super but I did see one that was interesting. If I remember the name correctly, it was called The Age Of Adaline. Very interesting. I watched on Amazon, it’s a Prime selection. I recommend that.
Well, I’ve got to run. My daughter wants me to go on an errand with her. So tell me about you. How have you been? What is on the agenda for the coming days? How’s your weather? Do tell!
____________
#WeekendCoffeeShare is a weekly link-up hosted by Diana at Part Time Monster. Come check it out. Have a yummy drink with us and share your world!
Reading all those posts about him, thinking about the enormous number of people who he gave strength and hope to, it’s all just unbelievable. The greatest connected all of us once more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My sister lives in Oregon. She just moved from Portland out to Newberg and told me it’s 93 there today. Also no air. 😦 The weather here is a lovely 79, we had a light rain shower this morning.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s now 4 and it’s 102!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, that’s really odd weather for the pacific northwest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Losing another icon of our generation. A man with class and dignity, at least in my opinion. I don’t much understand the sport he chose because I see no sport in boxing each other, but that’s just my opinion. I heard the news just as I was falling asleep and then I was wide awake, my heart aching for his family.
I too picked up my kindle for the first time in ages and I am in the middle of a book called Second Firsts. It is a self-help book on grief for any type of loss in your life, death, divorce, losing a job… All of it. I hope it will help me. So far so good. It’s making me think, which sometimes is not a good thing! 😉 hope you get more time to read. Sounds like you really enjoy it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to read three our so books a week until February when things got crazy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I remember all the fuss in the boxing ring a d other things,that. RIP, Ali.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The temperature around here has been mid to high 80s. I can live with that. It must be horrible to try sleeping in that heat with no air conditioning. Is the weather there usually cooler? I saw the “Age of Adeline” and quite enjoyed it. The look and costumes in the film were beautiful and the story was very interesting. Can you imagine living her life?
Glad you were able to read a grown up book!😊 Thanks for the coffee.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Portland doesn’t sew 100° days more than five or so times a year and that’s not till August. And we don’t see many 90° days before late July. So yes, this is write unusual for us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The weather anymore is so unpredictable. I find it a little scary!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it would be horrible and so sad to live her life. To watch your loved ones grow old and fire while remaining young and never dying?!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true!
LikeLike
Oh, dear! I pity you in that heat with no air conditioner! God bless! After hurricane Rita came through and we went through the heat with no electricity, I learned that a wet rack draped around the back of one’s neck would help a lot. Also, to run a pan of cool water and put your feet in it!
We’ve had rain, rain and more rain! The grass is high as an elephant’s eye. We are suppose to have some friends from church over tomorrow and fry fish.
Suppose that is all of note for me.
Barbara, blogging at Life & Faith in Caneyhead
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oregon is crazy hot right now. My grass is starting to turn brown and it is only the beginning of June. What? Took the kids swimming in the river today. Get those core temperatures down a little before bed. The river was still nice and cold:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Which river? We live about 1/4 mile from the Clackamas River. However, it’s the fast party of the river and not recommended for swimming. And…I don’t know how to swim. So I stay away from water bodies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Willamette. We live pretty close to Kelly point at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree Corina- he was the greatest in more ways than one. I remember him as Cassius Clay too. Boxing was something we all looked forward to listening to but I wouldn’t watch a round now. It seemed different in those days somehow.
Hope your heat leaves you soon – we have the opposite problem. Although our temperature is probably between 17 and 20 degrees celsius I feel it is freezing. You would probably find it perfect. Lovely to get some reading done. Love the vision of your grandson sleeping and you reading. Idyllic.
LikeLiked by 2 people
He was The Greatest…. and to think his boxing career came and went long before I was born I still got to know about him, he was poetry inside and outside of the ring,
Well our weather is rather cold Winter Season this side of the world
Thank you for the coffee
~B
LikeLiked by 2 people
You have my sympathies with that heat and no air conditioning. It’s now Winter here and our heater isn’t the best. We have a wood fire heater but I have lung troubles so we can’t light it. We occasionally switch another heater on but I have an electric blanket. I was so cold on the weekend, that I had a big sleep. It was so good. Speaking of sleep, I’d better get to bed.
I watched a series of interviews with Parkinson and Ali and they were fascinating. I had no idea about Ali’s work with civil rights and was very moved. He was such a personality and such a shame the parkinson’s set in.
Hope you have a great week!
xx Rowena
LikeLiked by 1 person
I feel for you in that heat. We’ve been cooler than usual here in Denver, but we all know the 100 degree days are coming. I don’t have central air, and the swap cooler has been out since the beginning of last summer. This year I bought a portable one, I hope it works.
I have been thinking of Muhammad Ali all weekend and still into this morning. I am sad the world lost him. I liked him, not just because of his boxing skills, but for the things he said and stood for. He never compromised who he was and who he was was a great man. The Greatest. There will never be another Ali 😦
Thank you for the coffee 🙂
P.S. I just watched Age of Adaline too. It was pretty good, for a chick-flick lol 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know what you mean about the feeling of finally spending some time reading! Not enough hours in the day! Finishing a book is an even greater feeling. I was geeked when I learned my library accepts book donations – until I realized I couldn’t find any in my collection I wanted to part with! LOL
LikeLiked by 2 people
congrats on the book time- yeah – and also nice info on Ali (and for some reason when I read the other names I am thinking of how much we like our george foreman grill still)
LikeLiked by 1 person