Our summer season is in full swing, unless you live in Wisconsin. During this time of year, our daytime temperatures here in the Ozarks usually hover near 100 degrees. I definitely can’t sneak around because it’s too hot for shoes and my flip-flops are always flip-floppin’.

Summer time should be a time when we can shed some tension along with some of our clothes. When we experience a perfect summer day we can believe that everything is going to be alright. For me, early summer mornings are the best. A gentle cool breeze, birds singing, and a heavy dew on the grass that swirls a sweet fragrance around until is disappears with the rising sun. After our afternoon heat starts to subside early evening and sunset draws my eyes to the skies. Sometimes the clouds seem to outline a great big smile as God’s comfort signature of His amazing grace. Just this morning I kept my mind quiet, listened to my heart, and enjoyed watching-listening to a thunderstorm roll across our valley.

Gemuetlichkeit Days

“Gemuetlichkeit” is a German word which when translated on Google has a English definition of “comfort.” I’ll admit that once awhile on a really hot summer day I’ll get a craving and find refreshing comfort in an ice cold beer. Surely, that will tweak out some over zealous religious types over the topic of sipping saints. But let me assure everyone, I’m definitely not for drunkenness. Just a FYI, there are ministers and pastors in Europe who have their beer and wine with their meals. Martin Luther (initiated the Protestant reformation, teaching that salvation was a free gift of God received by grace through faith in his Son Jesus as the redeemer from sin. He showed in God’s Word that salvation is not through just good works or can be purchased with money), was married to Katie, who was not only a wife, a mother, an innkeeper, but also a brew master.

Welcome to Wisconsin

There’s a big difference between having a beverage and my former days of when I majored in beer drinking and minored in boilermakers (shot of whiskey served with a beer) in college at Eau Claire. Gemuetlickkeit Days were everyday because there were beer and shot specials seven days a week at the local taverns. State Street in “Eaux Claires” (meaning clear waters) for the Eau Claire River, was a part of town where drinking lots of beer (over-refreshed) is the norm. The more people surrounding each other drinking lots of beer will inevitably rouse up some German songs and the next thing you know you’re ready to march down the road to the next town and conquer their beer supply. You know, Brian “Kato” Kaelin (O.J. Simpson trial fame) always has looked kind of familiar to me. We must have stumbled into each other from time to time? Strangely enough he didn‘t graduate from UW@EC either. Probably had the same college major as me.

Sometimes it’s good to be reminded where we have come from to reflect if we have matured.

Happy Music… Polka

Old-Time, Happy Music… Polka

Old-Time, Goodtime, Happy Music… Polka

Too Much Beer, Old Time, Goodtime, Happy Music…Mattress Polka

Nope, don’t expect to rock out to Lynyrd Skynard’s “Free Bird” when you are drinking with a bunch of people wearing lederhosen. By the way, if any of us guys run into someone whose wearing super-short, super-tight, yellow lederhosen, and singing Shania Twain’s song “I Feel Like a Woman,” just kindly excuse yourself because Bruno has had too much to drink.