Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just before 3:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 32° under cloudy skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 34°. The sun will rise today @ 8:01 a.m. and set later @ 5:55 p.m. Snow showers are in the forecast for this morning.

That's all I have to say about that. I'm going to depart from my regular format to blather about something that has been on my mind for a few days.

It was William Shakespeare who is most often credited with the phrase, "A rose by any other name..." But, the real origin of this phrase is unknown. It is said that it was coined by Shakespeare in Act-II, Scene-II of Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, wherein Juliet says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By Any Other Name would smell as sweet.” That sent my down the following path.

I was thinking about the names that we are given at birth, names such as ;James, Michael, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Charles, etc. Of course, some girls were given names like Mary because they were born or adopted into a Catholic family and it was nearly automatic or required for girls to receive the first name Mary as in the name of the Blessed Virgin, along with a more distinctive middle name and often, a confirmation names such as Frances, in honor of a saint who would act as a special patron to protect and guide the person who bears her name..

Me, I was given the first name of Jack and no middle name, just a middle initial, B. I was told many different stories about the derivation of my first name and that elusive middle name. My mother's favorite uncle was her uncle John, of which Jack is the diminutive.

According to one source I consulted, "The name Jack is a boy's name of English origin meaning "God is gracious." "Jack is also a derivative of John that originated in medieval England. The name went from John to Johnkin to Jankin to Jackin to Jack." "The name was so common in the Middle Ages that Jack became a generic term for a man." I guess that I should take some solace in that and be thankful that like that old Johnny Cash song, A Boy Named Sue, it could have been worse, much worse. 

However, I was not given a middle name, having to make do all my life with just a middle initial, a story that people often doubted when I said I didn't have a middle name. One story I was told is that my godmother's first name was Beatrice, which comes from the Italian and means, "She who makes you happy." I guess that would have been akin to being called Sue. Another story I was told was that my father's father had the middle name of Bernard and that my mother and he did not often see eye to eye. So, that name was out too. So, I never got a middle name., just that initial.

However, all of the above may be mere conjecture, derived from my need to have the name questions answered. One thing is for certain, when Mary and I first started dating, she didn't believe that I didn't have a more distinctive name, or at least so she says. I think that she has never been good with names and so she couldn't remember who had asked her out for dinner. Whatever, at least we have had 46 years together, sharing a name that is short and lacking in a middle-name. 

That leads to our son, Adam. Like most prospective parents, Mary and I discussed possible names for our child. If he had been a she, the first name might have been Sunshine, shortened to Sunny by family and friends. But, as he was born a boy, we had agreed that he would be Adam, based on the old TV series, Bonanza wherein the first son was named Adam. Our Adam's middle name, Joshua, was not based on anything religious, rather, it was to give him great initials for the back of an athletic jersey. A.J. just looks great on the back of a jersey. 

A little side note. Mary said that since it was just her and Adam and a nurse in the hospital room after A.J. was born, she could have chosen any name she wanted.

Our dogs over the years have had various names like one of our earliest, Scrappy Doo. He was generally called just Scrappy. That name was Adam's choice when we got Scrappy as Adam loved the TV cartoon show, Scooby Doo. Scooby's nephew was named Scrappy Doo. Hey, he was just six years old. 

Our ensuing dogs all came from shelters and they had names given to them by the shelter workers. One of our longest tenured dogs was Stay-C. We think that she was given the names Stacy at the shelter, so we tried to not confuse her and so Stay-C she became just to be more unique.

Sugar was another shelter name, and based on her coloration, the name seemed to fit. So to this day, she is Sugar. Ginger was yet another shelter dog. Mary had vowed that she would change Ginger's name to something more exotic, based on something mythological. But like Sugar, Ginger's coloration was indeed ginger in nature and so the name stayed. We also call her our little terrierist. 

At any rate, all of the above was a round about way of getting an idea that I'd had floating around in my head put to paper or blog. So once again, that's all I have to say about that. Ciao.


I nearly forgot. It is just 10 days until the pitchers and catchers report to spring training and thus, spring is officially in my world.