Best wishes for a wonderful birthday celebration - they just announced it on NPR radio.

Happy Birthday!!!

And many many more to come!


Luis

ps. Somewhere in Mars, in a small town that looks exactly like Green Bluff, Illinois in 1925, someone is watching the candles flicker in front of a frosty cake that reads 'Happy Birthday Ray'... !

Ray,
May you have the happiest of birthdays! And I hope to send you this greeting for many, many more years to come!

One of my most vivid, lingering and delicious childhood memories is having the Hell scared out of me by a cutting from "Dandelion Wine."

Thank you for the inspiration, the wonder, the joy and the terror.

Hope you all have a "whale" of a day.
Congratulations!

- Tink

Mog the Dog here.

Happy birthday to my favorite author on my favorite day of the year!

You're twice twice twenty-two today. That's 616 in dog years, so woof it up a little today for us canine fans!

MTD

quote:

Originally posted by Grouchowan:
One of my most vivid, lingering and delicious childhood memories is having the Hell scared out of me by a cutting from "Dandelion Wine."

Better out than in!

A cutting?

MogTheDog, I don't mean to be a spoiler but wouldn't Ray be a four times twenty-two for 88 rather than a two times twenty-two which, I believe, is only 44. Is there a Time Machine involved here? Or were you speaking only in dog years? But no, there you said he would be 616 in dog years. I'm flummoxed!

Woah!!! Wait one minute. I missed the first "twice" in your sentence. My bad!

I posted this on another thread, but this looks like the official Birthday thread so forgive a second posting here:

Today we celebrate a most unusal birthday occurance, Ray is now 88 years young. I have written the following poem in his honor and will present it to Ray tomorrow at the Birthday Party in Glendale. I post it here for others to read. I hope you enjoy the poem:


For Ray at 88
The time has come, the digits are now again the same,
‘Gives one pause to think, how this happens in the game;
You have made it to the pinnacle of yearly symmetry,
How you did it with such grace and charm is such a mystery.

Eight times in your life this has now occurred,
This time, two infinities stand on their heads, observe;
The boy of 8 now adds another 80 and remembers his past,
Runs again through fields and ravines he loves so it will last.

The years are like the keys on the piano, black and white,
Each a different tone memory of things quite lost to sight;
Arranged in several ways, their songs can all be heard,
A music of the years, up and down, all quite absurd.

An artist can play these notes for all to hear and feel,
A symphony of living, that celebrates love so real;
Each key a time vibration, of things that were then,
Now played by the Master’s hand, we can live it all again.

Your first such, 11, was too early to take note of,
Then came 22, life began to move and fill with love;
Upon 33, partnership, the sum, larger than the parts,
Then 44, and works to keep you in your children’s hearts.

At midlife, 55, somehow seemed to be too fast,
Then 66 came, and you knew it would not last;
Then 77, like two lovers who spoon in bed,
And now a full keyboard of music that plays in your head.

So Ray, at 88 we rejoice with you as we celebrate,
The music of your life, so carefully arranged this late;
And the years are played for us, as for you they were then,
May the music of the years make you happy once again.

¬¬By Philip Trask August 22, 2008

quote:

Woah!!! Wait one minute. I missed the first "twice" in your sentence. My bad!

I'm now wondering...Should I have placed a comma between those two twices?

By the way, my favorite companion, the one who types my words for me in this forum, just celebrated her final day of being twice twenty-two yesterday. She's 45 today, having taken her first breath of life in the last minute of Mr. Bradbury's 43rd birthday.

patrask - Your poem is lovely, simply lovely. Thanks for posting it.

Great poem, Philip! I wish someone could mail it to him!

As always. Any birthday Ray celebrates is happy for me!

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Wilder:
Great poem, Philip! I wish someone could mail it to him!

Captain: Phil will be handing the poem to Ray later today...

All: Please make sure to say hello. I'll be the guy trying to keep the organized chaos just that.

quote:

Originally posted by jkt:
I'll be the guy trying to keep the organized chaos just that.

Organized or chaos?

And now, off to Glendale!

Many happy returns to Ray! After 88, what next to look forward to? Only another 11 years before we can celebrate 99!

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Many happy returns to Ray! After 88, what next to look forward to? Only another 11 years before we can celebrate 99!

I saved you some cake. More photos later...