Focus

There are some things you--rather, I---just can't get enough of! some of the things i just never seem to get enough of, in no particular order are: hugs, smiles from grandkids, hearing I love you, taking photos of dewdrops and raindrops, seeing rainbows, singing praise choruses, watching my garden grow, looking for the first hatchlings of tiny baby praying mantis from their egg case....and, well, i could go on and on.

this particular morning, and several other early mornings this week, seeing as how we've had pretty much a full week of rain, i can be spotted out in my front or back yard, hovering closely over my plants and flowers, camera in hand. there is just SOMETHING about seeing little drops on leaves and petals, reflecting the world back to me in microscopic proportions! perhaps that's it!

i never gave this a thought until just typing that sentence! just perhaps it is because it makes the world and its problems seem so tiny---in the larger scheme of things. we are so much bigger than our problems. and i can either focus on the problem, or i can focus on the expected outcome. i can focus on the raindrop in other words, or the leaf or petal, or the rose that it precariously rests on, and the beauty of the various highlights and its perfect roundness---the BIG picture, or i can choose to look for the tiny things (in life: the disruptions, the problems, the disturbances, the JOY interrupters, in other words).

i choose what to focus my camera on. i also need to choose what i focus my mind on. my JOY is full when i focus on the right things.... which reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses, Philippians 4:8. the Living Bible translation says it this way: "Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about."

Tech Tags: Focus Raindrop Photography Thinking

Garden Sprouts & Sun

garden time. beans seeds are sprouting. flowers on peppers and tomatoes. even the onions and potatoes are growing. while i'm anxious to see how well our garden grows this year, since we added for the first time, our very own home-grown-compost, IF it DOES produce abundantly, we will have enough food to feed an army. i don't preserve or can...or i should say, i never have canned. i have a friend who cans enough of her home-grown "garden pix" (as my grandson used to call them) to last them all winter. at this point, i'm not sure i am that into it, to learn it all and buy all the equipment. at this point, that just sounds like too much work. but! i sure do love seeing it all grow. and i sure do look forward to going out and picking my lunch.

this time of year, i spend less time in front of the computer (gee, could you tell, since i haven't blogged in so long?), and more time outdoors. but, speaking of outdoors, i took myself to the beach yesterday. the first trip down this year. because of my stupidity, it might be the last.

i am real, real good about telling others to put on suntan lotion. but since i was in a hurry to go yesterday, and had already wasted way too much time trying to find the lotion i just bought last season, i did without. my crazy skin type is such that i almost never burn; and if i do, it quickly just turns brown and no big deal. plus, it was actually cold on the beach when i arrived, so i didn't even take off my cover-ups until i had been there over an hour. when i did, i had goose-bumps, the air was that cool. but then, the last 2 hours i did lie on my towel, in the afternoon sun, bathing suit on, but no lotion.

by the time i got back home i was aware that the burn was beginning to show, and while i knew it was stupid of me NOT to lotion-up, i figured, o well, no big deal. welllllll, it was a big deal, because as the evening wore on i began to feel worse, and by late evening i hurt each time i moved and could not stop shivering. it even upset my stomach a bit. i felt really stupid for doing such a dumb-dumb-DUMB thing! then, just for good measure, on top of my stupidity, add in a huge dose of guilt. why? because---and YOU decide what is wrong with this picture:
hubby works long and hard all day; wifey lays on beach. hubby comes home from work and offers to take wifey out to eat. wifey, having gotten too much sun, apologetically declines (cause she could hardly move, let alone put clothes on her stupid burnt body). hubby lovingly offers to cook. wifey thanks him, while covering with 2 afghans to stop cold shivers. hubby makes nice meal. wifey can't even think about eating anything cause now her stomach's a bit upset from stupid sunburn hurting so much. hubby sends wifey to bed and even cleaned up all the dishes. wifey takes ibuprofen to help diminish pain and tho she's never heard of taking it for sunburn, is marvelously relieved that it DID help take away the pain. so wifey sleeps away the night and is (as always) very thankful to hubby for his kindness, generosity, understanding and helpfulness. hubby never even said, what the heck were you thinking, lying in the hot sun with no protection?! hubby is unbelievable. wifey is red and wears a mask of guilt and stupidity! never again, she says, having just returned from pharmacy with lots of suntan lotion and aloe gel to help cool her stupid red face and body!

many, many years ago, my mom always told me: you always learn the hard way! all these years later, turns out mom was right.....again!

JOY returneth and runneth over

Double JOY today! After three long, long hours of back breaking work, i finally have the veggie garden planted! when i sat down to rest my weary bones, it was at that EXACT moment i should've sat, because as i glanced at one of the beautiful new birdbaths hubby got me for mother's day (amongst a lot of other gifts as well), there at that precise moment was the Baltimore Oriole who has excited us the past several days, taking an enjoyable bath--splashing vigorously! we never have had this bird in our yard before, and as a matter of fact, i think i've only ever seen this species a couple rare times EVER! but never, ever in our backyard, so we are so thrilled for their visits!!!!

so, now i am amazed that i have 15 different plants in the garden. i hope they all take and produce for us. this time last year, after a much warmer spring, i already had things in for a month. but we have had a very cold and wet spring this year. so, as late as i'm planting, i DO hope i have a harvest before winter frost sets in!!

we also delayed planting this year because we were waiting for the results to be mailed back to us after we mailed a bag o'dirt (aka: fancy name would be soil sample, but bag o'dirt'll do). that took over 3 weeks for them to get back to us. we wondered if the results would've been: don't even THINK about planting veggies in THIS soil!!! but fortunately it wasn't all as bad as we expected. so with some remedies, everything is now planted and now the fretting begins over the weather. i don't know how serious farmers survive being at the mercy of the weather. in near drought situations you can always run up the water bill by hosing it, but in the rainy wet weather, you just have to watch as veggies turn soggy as they float to the surface. (well, okay, i exaggerate, but you get my point.)

i had little to no harvest last year and yet, completely defying that logic, we DOUBLED the size of the garden this year. i just cross my fingers when i do the math and hope that i don't get, let's see: two times nothing equals double nothing.

on the other hand, if the boost in the soil works, with double the size and twice as many varieties, i'm liable to have to build a corner stand and start my own veggie market. time will tell. i put in grape tomatoes, beefsteak and roma tomatoes, green bell peppers, yummy orange peppers (seriously, that's the name on their tag), banana peppers, eggplant (which hubby is hoping doesn't grow), cucumbers, watermelon, zucchini, green beans (2 rows of seeds sown), 3 kinds of onions, redskin potatoes, curly parsley and fern dill. what the heck am i gonna do with all that food?! what was i thinking!!

i have to say that it gave me a real warm-fuzzy feeling, especially being raised on a little dead-end street in the corner of a big city, to have "built" my own compost pile over the past 12 months. it makes me feel so productive to have that huge pile tilled into our otherwise insufficient soil. and to think of all that "mess" saved from going to the landfill. it's funny the little things that excite a person. especially when it's basically garbage i'm talking about.

but these are the things that brought me great JOY today. and when it comes on the very heels of a marvelous Mother's Day, it is even tallied as quadruple JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY! o happy day!

Joy Robbers

I don't blame the animal. i blame the owners. we have a neighbor with a dog, who, if not pure bred, certainly looks a lot like a pit bull. i will never understand WHY, people with kids own a pit bull! i used to work with 2 women who thought it was cute the way their grand-BABY played with their pit bull dogs! i also used to work with a beautiful young woman who's very own pet chow ripped into her thigh and face, scarring her for life. (it had actually unprovokingly attacked her 4 year old nephew and she was trying to get the child away from the dog--her "pet!" when it turned on her.)

the dog across the street from us is fenced up 99% of the time, thank God. but it barks....and barks...and barks, non-stop, incessantly, continuously (and all the other alike-adverbs you can fill in here)! we try to be patient. we try to be tolerant. we try to leave our front door open to get the lush spring breeze, but the peace is completely challenged by this dog.

if i live to be a hundred--which i definitely plan on doing---i will never understand why some people are so out of tune with what might be objectionable to those who live near them. the on-going barking simply just robs my JOY. the owners' ignorance certainly robs my JOY as well. there are a lot of things in this life we apparently just need to put up with, but it just seems so unfair. when my children were young i used to respond to that by saying that, "Not all things in life are going to be fair." i guess, just as i expected them to just "deal with" the world's unfairness, i have no alternative either.

but it's soooooooooo hard. (now for something i almost NEVER say, let alone yell)... SHUT UP!!!

National Day of Prayer

Recently i began to receive (almost) daily emails from womanlinks (let's see if i can do this right:) http://bit.ly/ka4qb and i enjoy its brevity and significance very much. today i had the opportunity to vote on "how important is prayer in your life?" NOT amazingly, the vote results posted 100% for "extremely important."

today as you know is on the calendar as National Day of Prayer. for as much difficulty as our country and others are in presently, my concern and suggestion is that one day is not nearly enough. i propose that every day at noon, even if it is just a simple, "God bless America and those who hate us," prayer. it is something we can all do no matter where we are, who we're with or what we're doing. the clock stikes noon, and prayers are raised. it sure can't hurt and it just may help.

one hundred years ago, in los angeles, california, there was a great Pentacostal revival on Azusa street. With all the hate and hurting going on today, all over the world, it is my thought that we could well do with another revival! God is so patient with us, but i picture Him just kinda shaking His head these days, not believing just how bad some people can get. the beginning of the third chapter of second timothy, in the New Testament, sounds like the front page of "anytown, usa" newspaper. may God have mercy on us!

Money well-spent

Three years ago, while visiting the west coast, we spent some fun time at the San Francisco zoo. while strolling through their gift shop, on a whim, i spent $5 for a small and cute little finger puppet. it is a little mouse. the thing that made this a stupid purchase was because i was buying it with the intent to bring home for my cat. i guess in retrospect, it would've been even crazier to bring her a tee shirt that said, "my owner went to san francisco zoo and all i got was this t-shirt!" nevertheless, it is pretty insane to bring home a memento of a trip to your....CAT!

well, i'll tell you what. that was the best $5 i have ever spent! dusty LOVES, loves, loves that mouse, and three years later, it is still about the only toy she ever plays with on a daily basis. her only other favorite (out of a whole box assortment) is the rumpled up balls of no-win-lottery tickets that she chases around and actually retrieves them for us to "flick" across the room again. (funny, cause i've never been successful in teaching any of my dogs to retrieve/fetch, but this cat as well as our previous cat never were taught, and yet, they fetch and retrieve until you're really sick of playing it over and over.)

last night, about 5 minutes after i crawled in bed, i heard the cat's proud (and loud) announcement, "icaughtsomethingforyou; icaughtsomethingforyou. wait'll y'see this!" kind of a meow-cry! with that, she RAN upstairs, RAN through the hall, RAN into my bedroom, RAN up onto my bed..yowling the whole time...and proudly dropped her mouse in front of me. this morning i came out of the shower and there sitting waiting for me was "mouse." on mornings that i decide to sleep in, always waiting at the bedroom door for me when i wake, is "mouse" and proud miss dusty right nearby.

it's not the plushness or size that makes this toy so special for her cause i've since bought other little miscellaneous and similar toys, none of which she looks at after a few fetches. she just struts away in a typical cat-like, "fer-gedd-a-boud-it." do you think she really knows that this one is a mouse?? never having seen a mouse (thank God!), does she really think this is a real mouse?? who told her that cats like mice, anyway? where did this "imprint" come from? and why does she appear to enjoy so much the fact that i tell her over and over and over and over what a good girl she is for bringing me the same old "dead mouse" day after day?

i don't get it. but i AM glad that this well-spent five bucks, spent so many years ago, seems to have bought so much JOY for a furry little devotee.

Tech Tags: Cat+and+Mouse Pet+Toys Fetch

Little of this, little of that

i know i probably should be ashamed of myself, but, er, well, i was just trying to do a good thing....namely, finish up a lot of little leftovers and dribs and drabs of this 'n' that. if my kids or grandkids ever ate the way i sometimes eat, i'd have a ka-niption. so don't tell them!

there was a smidgeon of leftover chicken curry from chinese-take-out, but i was still hungry. ok then, i found a small amount of pomegranate swirl frozen yogurt which was begging to be finished. but then there was that little bit of, seriously, nothing-but-crumbs really, in the bottom of the bag of 2 week old potato chips. but even tho i was then full, i was thirsty (and chilly on this crazy cool wet rainy day) so i just topped it all off with some sugar-free hot cocoa! aw, c'mon; i had it with OUT the coolwhip! and i'm feeling fine, really.

i must've ate crazy as a kid too cause my mother always told me when i was growing up that i had a stomach of iron. well, she also always told me (just cause i'd always have my feet propped up higher than my head when i lay on the couch) that my kids would all be born standing on their head; but that was not true. mom--she was quite the joker. she had a lot of lines--some of which i find myself using from time to time and have to look around real quick to see, "Who said that?!"

so, the good news is that a lot of the little leftovers and bags are now out of the fridge and cupboard and the trash needs emptying now. and i'm full. and i'm feeling fine. no big deal, really. so, no. i'm not ashamed. everyone eats crazy combination meals like that, right? be honest. even my good lunches are a little on the crazy side--my favorite being frozen peas and pina colada-yogurt. so no. i would not feed my kids and grandkids like i eat. but they'll never know if you don't squeal on me.

Tech Tags: Meals Combos

Aftermath

Referencing my previous post, the "culprit" waited until dark of night; and so continues to be an unknown. but at least they DID step up to the... well, plate,...and um, cans, jars, bottles, etc, etc.--and picked up their mess of wrongly-contained-recyclables that caused such a mess in the neighborhood all day Friday. i strongly suspect that the visit from the police, who as i admitted, i wanted to call but didn't, may have had much to do with the after-dark clean-up.

if this had been an isolated case it would've been less disturbing, but the township has regulations of how and when to put refuse/recyclables curbside for collection and these same unknown neighbors never comply. bags, cans and spilled messes often sit out for days and weeks. animals tear them open and wind blows their messes on others' property for them to handle and discard (properly).

what happened to the days when neighbors took great pride in their neighborhood? remember the good old fashioned corn-straw brooms with sturdy wooden handle? (they're quite costly nowaday, but work so much better than the flimsy little plastic excuses-of-a-broom now sold.) it was never unusual to see neighbors out sweeping their sidewalk or driveway, or city pavement. i have even been known to sweep the street in front of my house on many occasions. why? because (a) it needs it, and (b) it shows concern for others and expresses my care of where i live. it is not a pleasant task to be outdoors picking up cigarette butts that careless people (and i know who you are!) throw down haphazardly. and don't get me started on how gross it is when people let their dogs leave a huge pile of you-know-what in my grass! where is common courtesy that these folk just don't care? what, if anything, are they thinking, as they stand holding a dog leash in their hand, staring intently and purposely in the opposite direction as if they have no clue why their dog has paused and squatted? (and then just walk away and leave its donation!) there is an animal litter law but it's one of those things that i imagine if we each had a nickel for every time it is enforced, we'd have...well, a nickel.

we as a people have become very lax and lazy in putting trash in its place. it used to bother me when i'd walk at lunch time over in the big city and see an adult come out of a store, unwrap something and just toss the wrapper on the sidewalk. and have you ever noticed those countless ugly dark circles on the sidewalk where ignorant people have discarded chewing gum and it has been stepped on? have you ever had the disgusting job of cleaning off your shoe, after having stepped in someone else's gum...or worse, the dog pile?

perhaps in the larger scheme of things, and all the major problems our world is faced with, the proper discarding of trash, gum, animal waste and recycles is but a blip on the radar screen. but i think that it is a sad comment on us as human beings that some have lost the feeling of pride and respect of property...theirs' and others'. i say, we all get out our broom and start sweeping! let's raise a little dust! imagine the JOY of a clean neighborhood!

Trash Recycle Sweep Clean+Neighborhood

i started to blog about this earlier today but erased it all. i thought i would give "them" a chance to perhaps get home from work, see the damage and step up to the plate and do the right thing. and to be fair, perhaps they are not home from work yet...perhaps.

someone...and that's one of the problems, i don't know who, or i would be knocking on their door to have a chat.

they put all their plastic, glass and metal recycle items into the huge lidded-container that is meant for paper and cardboard only. obviously the paper truck could not take it. and obviously...if you could see the mess that is in our street...the metal-glass-plastic truck couldn't take it either because it is a lidded-container and they had no way of seeing that the grown, irresponsible adult to whom it belongs, loaded it with the wrong items. the wind blew over the container and all day long, the spilled contents of glass jars, plastic cans and metal has strewn all over the street, causing cars to have to circle around it.

ok...more later...the police just pulled up...and it wasn't even me who called them...even tho i wanted to!