CBS Sunday Morning

I like “CBS Sunday Morning” news. Recently, they celebrated their 35th anniversary.  If you’ve never watched it, most of what they report on is upbeat and interesting.  I always learn something surprising watching this show.  From the opening scene with trumpets blaring to the bright yellow sun, the tone of the show is set.  Charles Osgood is the host and has a most wonderful voice which is totally understandable because he has been, and still is a radio personality. 

A couple of weeks ago they showed a video of the latest winner of the “Rube Goldberg” contest.  So who is Rube Goldberg and what is his contest about??  He’s the guy that made simple tasks complicated, such as having balls run down troughs which causes something else to move to open a door or turn something on.  The popular board game “mousetrap” was designed with him as inspiration.  I remember playing this with my nephews and it was pretty cool.

One Sunday morning I head them mention Platteville, WI.  Since I was born about 25 miles from there, I was glued to the TV to see why they mentioned it.  Come to find out there is a guy there named Mark Hirsch.  Mark had been laid off from his job and while searching in a mostly rural area  for another one, he began to notice a single tree in a pasture from the road.  He began taking daily picture of it and “That Tree” has taken off.  He now has a book out, plus calendars.  An example of the things seen on this program and how one of man’s most devastating experiences  turned out to be a good thing.

A couple of their reporters, Mo Rocca and Bill Geist (father of Today’s  Willie Geist), are pretty quirky.  Mo did a segment this morning on people that get paid to cuddle with and hold people.  Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Last summer I saw a segment on Eileen Rockefeller, the great-granddaughter of John D.  Seeing this story inspired me to get her book “Being a Rockefeller”, which turned out to be a very enjoyable read.  And I learned a lot about one of American’s richest families. 

The program always ends with the sights and sounds of nature.  A very enjoyable was to start Sunday!!