JOY

Lost and Found

2009-06-25T09:15:00.005-04:00

YAY!!! ...or... as i typed the other day without realizing my fingers were on the wrong keys: TAT!!! (get it? the letter T is right next to the Y on the keyboard, and i was looking out the window as i tried typing YAY. when i looked back at the screen and saw TAT it made me laugh; so that's my new yippee word!) but that's not my subject; my subject today is JOY, JOY, JOY!

i found my JOY today. it was good 'n' lost yesterday, but i found it today. several reasons; one of course is that those creative writers of yore, with all their descriptions of spotty rain, scattered rain, intermittent showers, isolated t-storms, etc, etc, etc, FINALLY show me ONLY a SUN icon! TAT for THAT!!!!!!

plus the fact, that as i raced a storm last evening, trying to finish the mowing before yet another cloudburst (and of course lost to the rain again), but i kept an eye on the sky (and later shot a gazillion photos of its tumultuous beautiful mix of blacks, greys, lemons, roses and apricots). then i looked up and saw a very colorful and BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW!

well, all righty, GOD! I SURELY THANK YOU FOR THAT! AND FOR THE PROMISE THAT IT BRINGS! and YES, i'm SHOUTING CAPITAL LETTERS AT YOU cause i am THAT excited over rainbows--especially those which follow over a month of rain! JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING, the Bible tells me.

SURE ENOUGH, it DID!

Searching and Searching

2009-06-24T10:04:00.004-04:00

Have you ever lost something--something that was very valuable to you--and couldn't find it no matter how hard you looked, and no matter how many places you looked? i personally think that is one of life's most frustrating experiences. i absolutely HATE it when i can't find something, and really NEED to find it!

And this morning, that is what i am experiencing. i have looked everywhere and have only one last place to look, in HOPES of it being there. (in fact, there's a saying that, Why is it that the thing you are looking for, is always in the LAST place you look?! of course, given any thought, that saying makes no sense because once you find it, you obviously stop looking---thereby making that the last place that you look!)

things seem to be going completely haywire for a few very special loved ones and i feel helpless in correcting their situations. serious big time stuff, that they are facing--granted, while not life-threatening, still serious in the daily face-off with life's happenings. and serious enough that as my concerns FOR them mount, i have lost my JOY today.

JOY is that "thing" that, yes!--it IS very valuable to me. but i can't find it anywhere this morning and that is very frustrating. there are situations and issues that i am rather helpless in remedying no matter how MUCH i want to just FIX everything for those i love and care about! i know right well that i am not alone in these feelings, and you may, if not now, then previously or yet in the future, also experience this loss of JOY over hurting for others.

the last place i'll look--which by now i SHOULD have learned to look there FIRST!!!--is my Bible.

okay, WOW....perhaps i HAVE looked there before when my JOY was "MIA," cause i just turned to the bookshelf behind me, picked up my little Bible, opened it up to find where it says: "the JOY of the Lord is my strength"--and believe it or not, IT OPENED TO THE EXACT PAGE IN NEHEMIAH (chapter 8, verse 10)!!! i kid you NOT! i repeat: WOW!!!!

beginning in verse 9 thru 12, Living Bible translation, "All the people began sobbing when they heard the commands of the law. Then Ezra the priest, and I as governor, and the Levites who were assisting me, said to them, 'Don't cry on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God--it is a time to celebrate with a hearty meal, and to send presents to those in need, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. You must not be dejected and sad! And the Levites, too, quieted the people, telling them, 'That's right! Don't weep! For this is a day of holy joy, not of sadness.' So the people went away to eat a festive meal and to send presents; it was a time of great and joyful celebration because they could hear and understand God's words."

i KNEW i should've looked there first! Sometimes the only present i can offer is prayer for those who are hurting or facing challenges, decisions and huge hurdles.

Lost+Items Searching Life+Challenges Bible Joy Prayer

New Exercise Program

2009-06-22T09:22:00.005-04:00

I just KNEW i shouldn't have done it! i KNEW when i DID it, it was asking for trouble...and sure enough! i no sooner opened all the windows and BAM! it's now raining again and i had to run around, and up and down, and RE-close them...AGAIN! that has been our exercise program for the past four weeks! go up the stairs and open all the windows. come down, sit for a minute, then JUMP up and RUN up the stairs and CLOSE them all again! we are now entering our FIFTH straight week of on again, off again rain, rain, rain, interspersed with clouds and dark skies, and yep: more rain.

i will hand it to the weather predictors however; they have become extremely creative in coming up with lots of terms lately: showers, downpours, thunderstorms, intermittent rain, occasional showers, isolated storms, spotty storms, etc, etc.....all equal to the same thing: RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN! they do get an A+ for creative writing skills though.

seattle, on the other hand, which is where we FEEL like we live lately, has had record DRY weather! go figger! i tweeted this morning that perhaps our globe has had a "slip 'n' fall!" it's crazy, i tell you!

we got our hopes up this morning when this blinding--really, i kid you not; it hurt my eyes--brighter than bright light rolled into the living room as i drew open the blinds! i shielded my eyes from this strange and foreign sight and instinctively (almost) quickly closed the blinds again before it damaged my eyesight! ohhhh, but then i remembered: that bright light is called the sun! now i get it. oh, but wait! NO! i DON'T get it...it's gone again. well, at least it's only grey again. open the windows and let some air in. oh, WAIT! no, quick, RUN! SHUT THE WINDOWS! IT'S RAINING OUT!

between drops i put on my boots and run out to check my swamp...i mean, my vegetable garden. i used to joke a couple weeks ago that the puddles in my garden were larger than my zucchini leaves. but, seriously, i realize now, after all this time, and all this mud, and all these puddles, there is no WAY i will gather a great harvest! and THAT makes me sad.

if i project my little 128 square feet of soggy plants sitting in mud puddles, i can only IMAGINE what a REAL farmer is feeling, in the way of sadness right now. at least monetarily, my sadness won't bring me tremendous loss. for those who depend on farming as a living, they must be feeling something well beyond sadness about now...in this neck o' the woods anyway. so my heart goes out to them. and of course, one of the by-products too: mosquitos galore! i waded into the back yard a little while ago and was immediately attacked and came in with bites, whereas normally (i vaguely recall what normal is anyway), we never have a mosquito problem.

i'm convinced too, that the weather people are beginning to fear for their life. i notice now that they put up icons of the sun instead of "telling it like it REALLY is!" or, perhaps they are not trying to deceive us; they are just letting us know what that yellow ball in the sky looks like, in days of yore. to keep them honest tho, they splash maybe 3 strokes of rain across the yellow ball icon, and a cute little grey cloud blocking a corner of that thing called sun. but, HEY! FORECASTERS! LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW; it's RAINING!!!!!

if i search for any JOY in all this soggy-bottom mess, it is that my water bill will be far less than the typical summer water bill, since i have only watered my garden ONCE....WAY BACK when i first planted it about 6 weeks ago. on the other hand, the upstairs window is leaking, so what i save on water i may have to pay for in repair. o where o where is my JOY, glub, glub, blub, blu, bl.....

Exercise Rain Garden Weather Farming

By the Dawn's Early Light

2009-06-08T08:50:00.003-04:00

The moral of the story, bottom-line, is: 4:30 beats 7:30 ANY day! now i don't usually begin with the bottom line, but upside-down is pretty much how my monday started today, so it does seem appropriate.

hubby's work hours were changed---that's just part of the incredible "power" bosses of the world actually have over our own little world. the change took a while to get used to, and quite possibly i only got used to it because it occurred, not in the middle of a cold, dark winter, when it's next to impossible to pull that quilt or comforter away from your face and take your feet from their warm cozy place and introduce them to the cold reality of morning. but the change occurred when the early morning is truly the best part of the day. not only is the sun not even up yet, it certainly is not at all hot, humid and sticky yet. the late spring and summer demonstrate (for the mere taking) their very best they have to offer, in the very early hours of the day. and so! we used to believe that the 4's on our clocks only pertained to the p.m. indicator, when it turns out they also have an a.m. appearance.

even tho hubby feels badly and doesn't like that his hours are affecting my hours, i personally have always felt that if a hubby gets up to leave for work, while the wifey stays inside the door to wave to him, it is the LEAST she can do, to show her appreciation, is to BE there to wave. (what's right for you is fine, but this is my blog and that's how i feel about it.) {:D

last week this time, i was already finished the week's laundry, and weekly grocery shopping. today i went back to sleep and admittedly was NOT at the door to wave hubby off! and it's thrown off my whole day's plans. i got out of bed at 7:44 and have been playing catch-up ever since! what an ungodly hour! i know; i'm being facetious, but any time that i do not get up before dawn, i am all the more convinced that i've started off on the wrong foot.

plus, the early to bed, early to rise, has an aside bonus! it makes me feel like a kid again. wait--WHAT?! what does THAT have to do with anything? well, when i was a kid, i remember being sent to bed while it was still daylight--in some cases, while the sun was not yet set. and, that's what we do now. if the alarm is set for 4, we are climbing "the golden staircase" by about 8:30. (granted, the cat and the birds haven't caught on to the whole idea yet, when we cover the bird cages and announce to the cat: bedtime for bozos. but they have always been good about not complaining.) so, when i climb into bed before sunset, invariably in my mind's eye, i'm 10 years old again and am climbing up the ladder into my upper bunk as i hear the city noises out my window. so it's never a bad thing when you do something and it makes you feel like a ten year old once again. there is great JOY in that feeling! (if you want, i'll give you a wake-up call tomorrow at about 4:30 a.m.)

Textures

2009-06-04T07:00:00.004-04:00

I wonder how many people are "in love" with the zoom feature of their camera? i KNOW i'm not the only one! but i sure give mine a workout. i'm fascinated with textures and closeups. my previous blog attests to that, with the raindrops on petals....but it goes much further than that. in fact, i'm beginning to think that my eyeballs have a zoom lens, as a "built-in feature." for instance, yesterday i took a package of meat from the freezer to defrost for dinner and i was utterly and completely fascinated by the frost design on the plastic wrap. so yes! out came the camera and a few zoom shots later, i have a terrific couple of photos! No, no, no; that is not what this photo shows. that was just a teaser and i'll share that photo with you later. (which is a creative way of saying that i forget how to download just 1 or 2 photos.)

the photo i include above is one i took recently when i started to cook dinner one evening. i put water on to boil and added a little olive oil and immediately was struck with the beauty of lighting and bubble formations. i keep my camera always handy and hovered over my stove to get a few shots. typically when a woman says she slaves over a hot stove, it is not with a camera; but, then again, i've never really been a typical woman.

in fact, yesterday i tweeted about my ATYPICAL behavior, in that i spent all day shopping and didn't like that idea at all. it gave me pause to wonder if a handful of alpha male genes somehow got tossed into my mix! but then my son actually hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that the only time i really like shopping is when i (a) find exactly what i went for; and (b) find it on sale. that pretty much sums it up. otherwise, it is a feeling of: "git-in-n-git out."

i never could understand when i'd hear women say that they love shopping, or love to shop til they drop. in fact, years ago i met a woman who suggested we go shopping together. well, it was the first and last time i ever agreed to such a torturous pastime. what the heck was i thinking?! to me, it is pretty much a waste of time, money and gas. i go when i need to go and get what i need to get and then i need to get home. and WHAT that has to do with zoom lens and textures, i have NO IDEA, but i threw it in any way! bottom line: i can hardly wait to share with you my photo of the frost! i wonder what (photos) tonight's dinner will bring? could this be what they call creative cooking?

Focus

2009-05-29T09:01:00.006-04:00

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

2009-05-22T14:40:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-11T20:25:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-09T15:27:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-07T10:33:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-05T15:17:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-04T15:26:00.005-04:00

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

2009-05-03T14:41:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-01T17:20:00.003-04:00

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!

It's not easy being green

2009-04-29T12:36:00.003-04:00

"How do I [waste] thee, let me count the ways..."
i am typically a very "green" person. no, NOT green with envy. green in the newer sense of the word that we're all so conscious of these days: energy efficient and not wasteful. well, i DO hope the "green gods" are not horribly angry with me today cause i really flubbed up and the day is only half over. i have already wasted several things and i'm not filled with JOY about any of that.

i decided on the extra 40 winks this morning and slept a couple hours longer than i should have (and have been paying the price ever since)! after showering i knew i had to dash out of the house to make it in time to get my haircut. so my first waste was of time. after the hair was cut she asked if i wanted "a little mousse," (which i never get, but) caught off guard i said yes. well when i paid for the haircut, surprise! that little less-than-golf-ball-size dab of mousse cost an extra DOLLAR! so, added to my waste of time was now wasted money.

i left there and stopped in the fancy grocery store right next door and felt good that i was saving gas by not driving to a different store for the bananas i wanted...but, oh MAN! following that thought i completely canceled out that savings because it was then that i recalled there were two other errands in that area i had planned on, but both needed paper work (which of course in my earlier haste i forgot, and now had to waste gas in going back home for them and start out on the same exact route)! by now my wastes have summed up to time, money, gas and more time.

i also hadn't eaten or had coffee yet but in the interest of not wasting more time and money i didn't want to stop for anything; so home i go. gather up all the paperwork for my next trek out, and yet i really need to eat and put on coffee. but, now my meals are out of synch: it is completely beyond breakfast and a while before lunch so i come up with the brilliant idea of making waffles. perfect!

i opened up a box of something i hadn't tried before and mixed up some multi-grain with flax seed pancake waffle mix. i put on a pot of coffee while i waited for the waffle iron to heat up, but when i got ready to add the batter to the waffle iron it had hardened to near-rock consistency. i mixed in more water, poured it in and wasted more time while i waited to eat the meal i would now consider as blunch. standing waiting for my waffle, i casually brushed my hand through my moussed hair and found it to be spiked and stiff as a board! what was i thinking when i said yes to mousse? never again! i could've gotten the same results by smoothing in some of this multi-flax-mess!

waffle iron indicated my blunch is ready. OK! now i'll be able to get back on track. but wait...what's this? i can't get the stupid lid open! o GREAT! i took the plug out and yanked the thing open and found half my waffle (good and) stuck to the top, and the other half good 'n' stuck to the bottom, with a gooey, mousse-like-flax-y mixture-mess steaming wet in the middle!

so now the sum of my wastefulness also includes waffle mix, oil, water, electricity, (and if i had followed directions, an egg). i hate wasting things, but look at all i've stacked up so far and it wasn't quite noon! i feel guilty, i feel wasteful, and i feel hungry! so much for my "green-ness." today i feel more like a mean, green, waste-machine. i can't write any more right now. i need to go and find food---and my JOY!

Looking and Hoping

2009-04-27T08:54:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure if it is more a sign of the tech-times we are in or the poor economy we're even "more in," but the classified want-ads in this morning's newspaper were barely ONE column! are there really that few jobs that need filling, or are the websites overflowing with all the available jobs?

i can remember in year's past when i was looking for work, i felt as though i would barely make it through the day just waiting and waiting for the (then) afternoon delivery of the daily paper. i'd turn immediately to the entire section, page after page after page, of want-ads. then as i got closer and closer to the "W"-warehouse section, i knew it would be another long, long 24 hours to wait for the next day's paper in hopes of spending another hour pouring over the pages to find that "perfect job."

it HAS to be incredibly difficult for folks who are now looking for work when the ads are so few. then too, i remember hearing of a statistic a while back that said most positions are filled by word of mouth and not by the printed ad at all. i'm not sure i believe that, although for the "higher-ups" who have a huge network of business contacts perhaps it is true. but the "regular" hard working, dedicated folks who are looking, looking, looking, it has to be difficult to maintain that hope and trust.

i recently read a quote who's author was not identified : "Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible." i think what they were trying to say was a re-do of what God already said in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 1: "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead."

i remember even as a young teen having the distinct feeling that i definitely didn't know HOW people made it through life without trusting in God. i wonder at that still; life is just too hard without Him. my every-day prayers are with any one who is presently looking for work. keep looking and keep hoping and keep trusting.

Tech Tags: Classified Want+Ads Hope Trust

2009-04-25T10:47:00.000-04:00

this is a techy-test.

Technorati Profile

Un-welcome guests!

2009-04-24T11:28:00.003-04:00

I have blogged enough about birds that it is rather obvious that i really love 'em. but! more often than not, come this time of year, i'm not so crazy about their persistence in wanting to build a nest and raise their families in the outdoor vent from my dryer! they have been known to stuff (and i mean STUFF) it full with all kinds of paraphenalia...which is not so cute when you consider the possible fire hazard that this causes.

so we get very creative this time of year to try to come up with new and innovative ideas to spook 'em so they don't take up residence where they are not welcome. so far, everything we have tried works only for a short while until the little bird-brains catch on that it's no big deal and they become even more creative and work around our methods of determent.

we have planted lots of trees and eventually they do get the idea. last year, in the one tree alone, we discovered about 5 different nests! now THAT's what i'm talkin' 'bout! but they still insist on checking out the "property" without a For Rent sign (namely the vent)!

well, since they are still fluttering about the dryer vent so far this year, i have to admit i'm getting a little weary of every few minutes pounding on the window, then darting out the front door, waving arms, clapping hands, and yelling and stamping my foot. the neighbors i'm sure have determined that i've finally (completely) flipped out this time....for certain! so now, my latest ingenious idea is to hang a set of wind chimes. i even was thrilled to find a real pretty one with a shiny hummingbird on it, and it was on SALE half-price, which made me even happier!

we shall see how successful this will be. i have a feeling (and hope they prove me wrong) that they will swoop in, then HALT....whoa....what th'?...HEY! who put that thing there? as they rest momentarily in the arborvitae and size up the hangy-thing near where they wanted to build. then: oooh, what a loverly little tinkling-sound it makes; that should do well as a lullaby for my li'l babes. this really IS the perfect spot for our new nest! i love it! not only will we live here this year, i'm definitely coming back next year too, and i'm going to let all my feathered friends know about this location, location, location.

HEY! GET OUTTA HERE! G'WON, GIT! (clap, clap, stomp, stomp, stomp!) SHOO!

Pets

2009-04-23T12:16:00.008-04:00

I was in the pet store yesterday to load up on food for the keets and canary. (i almost bought a 40 pound bag of cat litter too, but struggled to put it back and decided to wait for it to go on sale, since we have enough to last.) it's easy to spend a LOT of money in a pet store nowaday!

rudy, our singing-canary (who in the 8 years we've cared for him has blessed us only ONCE with the beautiful trill and warble they're known for!) is named after rudy valee, an old time famous singer who is probably an unknown to anyone younger than 60. our rudy confuses us because he is suddenly, over the past couple months, eating like a horse! in all his previous years he ate "like a bird," which was hardly-at-all! now, he sometimes even perches on his food cup as if he's guarding it with his little yellow life for fear those neighboring keets might escape and steal it from him. i'm not sure why, after all these years, he suddenly discovered he has an appetite.

and the keets, well...i'm just hoping that miss cloudy doesn't plan on laying any eggs! mr whitey has been "taking liberty" lately and i hate to break it to them, but i'm not about to be purchasing that huge, heavy wooden nesting box they would require if they happen to become in the family-way. it weighed a ton and wouldn't even fit inside the cage. so i may have to look into a teensy-tiny-keet-size chastity belt.

mr rudy used to have a mate named ruby, who had quite a fun personality, if you can believe that of little birds! she did lay some eggs, but they were not fertilized. (i guess singing is not the only thing that rudy doesn't do.) but providing a nest for ruby was a lot easier than providing a wooden box for cloudy. a tiny little wicker nest just attached inside her cage and she filled it with little bits of string. the keets however do not sit in a nest and they'd much prefer eating string than sitting on it. so it remains a mystery what may or may not happen next.

all of the above however, was not what i intended to post! (sometimes i get side-tracked. tee hee) while in the pet store i always wander back to where they have a few windows where you can see the cats who are up for adoption. typically and surprisingly, they are young cats, not kittens; and usually there will be 1 or 2 older cats. what amazed me yesterday was the PRICE to adopt one of their older cats! $90!!!!!! i squinted. was i reading it wrong? no WAY!

when my kids were young we got most of our pets from the animal welfare shelter and they were free, though the shelter hoped you'd at least give a donation if you could afford it. then when we adopted our present cat (then an 8 week old kitten) from the shelter just 5 years ago, there was a charge of $28. but, come on...$90, for an older cat? are you kidding me?! no special breed, just a nice old black cat, fully grown. it somehow doesn't seem right. i'd rather see someone go to the animal shelter and pay, rather than give a store that much money. plus, most people, i would think, would prefer a kitten to a grown cat anyway. so, why 90 bucks? i don't get it.

Tech Tags: animal+adoption birds cats pets

Good Friday, and THEN...

2009-04-10T15:12:00.007-04:00

i'm actually glad it has been grey most of today. in fact, i kinda wish we had gotten the heavy rains that were predicted. Good Friday has always been a rather dismal and emotional day for me, so i really prefer that the weather match my mood. i get choked up when i think of the suffering, the terrible suffering, the dreadful, awful suffering that Jesus endured so that i wouldn't have to. the crucifixion seems even more real to me this year, since i went to the Easter production that was so professionally enacted by volunteers of my church. check out the incredible photos of past productions at their website here.

it is one thing to read about the crucifixion and resurrection in my Bible, and another, to see a film about it. but when i saw it presented LIVE, it took on even MORE meaning. incredible meaning! and some of the scenes have stayed with me so that when i close my eyes, i can visualize what i saw on the stage.

it is such a shame that stores have changed (most) holidays into nothing but SALE days. Easter is NOT about buy-one-get-one-half-off. look beyond good friday to the marvel of EASTER! it is the miracle of a resurrected, living Saviour! have a blessed resurrection day! JESUS IS ALIVE! JOY, JOY, JOY!

Tech Tags: religion good+friday

Coffee Please

2009-04-08T15:25:00.002-04:00

I know i could've had tea, but this morning i really wanted my caramel swirl coffee. but our ol' coffee pot called it quits. it's been a good one for i-dont-know-how-many-years, so i wasn't too, too upset (except that i was up early and really wanted my coffee).

when i saw the high prices of the new ones, it became obvious that we must've had this one longer than i thought! and depending on the brand name, they went anywhere from $25 up to $200. wait, WHAT? they all squirt hot water over coffee grounds and produce brown, flavored water, so why the drastic-difference in price? beats me. but i thought it best to get the same exact brand that just died since it served us well and i could still use the permanent "gold" filter and 100 paper filters that of course i just had restocked.

packaging nowaday is another whole topic! by the time i got the new coffee maker out of the box, took it out of the plastic bag, got a cardboard cut trying to peel all those inner cardboard inserts off, unwrapped the tape holding together various other parts, and a few other procedures, not dissimilar from outpatient surgery, i set it up and poured the plain water in to clean it (before seeing if i could salvage my caramel swirl coffee grounds from 6:30 this morning, since the water hadn't touched them).

new pot now on and ready to produce hot water, i proceeded to break apart the box and other cardboard for recycling while miss dusty (cat) had great tent-fun in the box. okay. all the trash and recycling taken care of...now, dump the hot water and it is now, finally time for some real coffee.

WHAT TH'???!!! wait a minute here! NOTHING! NO water dripped through. well, THAT's just GREAT! that gives me NO JOY! go get all the cardboard, reassemble the cat's tent, put the whole stupid thing back together again, back in the bag, back in the car, back to the store. customer service wasn't too crowded.

the customer service woman was from the Caribbean, the woman in line behind me was from India, and then the Caucasion with the defective re-packaged coffee pot. WELL! we had the nicest conversation amongst the three of us! it was as if we had just poured a defective cup o'coffee and sat down for a nice chat; who liked coffee, who liked tea, where they grew up, the best place to buy a coffee maker, which brand to stay away from (namely, the one i was returning...and the woman from India had already returned one just like it), which brand was best and where to get it. honestly, i felt bad breaking up the coffee-clatch, but another woman joined us then and not only did she seem perturbed by our chatting at the cust-service desk, but by adding another Caucasion, she threw the balance off. so off i go, disappointed only that now by going to the recommended store to look for the recommended brand, i would lose my senior citizen discount.

BUT! fear not! the recom-store had the recom-brand...AND IT WAS ON SALE! so i got a better coffee maker for $8 LESS than my sr-citiz-disc had me spending! and, yes, i'm just finished my first cup of caramel swirl and it's everything i had hoped it to be ten hours ago. funny how things work out, isn't it? what nice ladies i met today! now THAT is JOY!

Dusty

2009-04-07T11:30:00.004-04:00

Ode to The Duster

you yourself climbed into my bed
and on the pillow laid your furry head
slept all day quietly, no sound
while i searched for you all around.
this was fine, but then last night
as you curled up by my knee
WAIT! that sound, what could it be?
sounds like a...wait, what IS that!
that SNORING sound is from my CAT!
why am I awake while YOU soundly snore?
wake up, Dusty...there's the door!

Rainbow

2009-04-04T18:16:00.003-04:00

Last evening the sky became very ominous. the storm blew in, the clouds churned, the temperature dropped, the wind picked up, and the raindrops started pelting down! BUT! the JOY of it all: way off in the distance, across all the backyards, the horizon lit up with a VERY BRILLIANT RAINBOW! it was different than any other rainbow i'd ever seen! SO brilliant and such a small, but wide, wide portion. no arch, just a spectrum-spotlight! i always get SO excited when i see a rainbow (of any size) and have been known in the past to actually knock on neighbor's doors to get them to come out and witness it as well. in years gone by, God made a huge promise along with His rainbow. every time i see one, i always think He is making another promise...usually one that is only known between Him and me. thank you, God!

Violets

2009-04-03T13:36:00.003-04:00

I used to be known as having a "brown thumb"--y'know, like the opposite of a "green thumb." i killed my houseplants. ALWAYS. no exception. it wasn't until all these years later that i realized that i actually DO have a green thumb; i just had lousy lighting. whichever windows had the decent lighting to encourage growth, they also had a radiator in front of them. naturally, the heat from the radiator, no matter how often i'd water the plants, dried them out and in some cases cooked them brittle.

knowing that any house plant i bought was doomed to certain demise, i used to go the rack, "Reduced for Quick Sale" and buy any little pathetic and puny plant that begged me for a home. i delighted in caring for those poor green-orphans. if any of them responded with a new green shoot, i'd jump for JOY. on the other hand, if they brittled-up and browned, i'd console myself with the remembrance that they were practically dead when i bought them and i just prolonged their life with a little love first.

but, as i look now, i am SO thrilled to see my African Violets in full bloom! but, truly it is a bittersweet love. while i'm thrilled at their brilliance of deep purple, with that teensy little dab of sunshine-yellow in the middle----hmmm, i wonder if God planned them that way because purple and yellow are complementary colors on the color wheel?? anyway, whenever i see beautiful blooming African Violets i cannot help thinking of my mother-in-law, who is presently with our Lord. talk about a sweet, dear lady; mommom was all that and a whole lot more.

she knew i loved violets and she also knew that i had a hard time keeping plants alive. one year, which i will never forget, she gave one of the most loving, generous Christmas gifts i could've EVER hoped to receive! her African Violets. all of them! i even went and got one of those grow-lights with the special ultra-violet lights perfect for the violets and set aside a special place for them on my server shelf in the dining room. no radiators. no cooking of these plants. i was gonna do it right because i knew what a sacrifice it was for her to give up these "babies."

they did real well and blessed me with lots of flowers, and were remaining in good health. then, well, then....and oh! it pains me to remember. (excuse me while i get a kleenex....sniff. ok, just joshing; it was too long ago to cause that. but at the TIME....)

one day as i was doing a good thorough cleaning (it was back in the day when spring and fall housecleaning were in style. ever since women started working outside the home, instead of seasonally, they spent every weekend cleaning thoroughly! i remember once, a "thousand years ago" my mom asked me if i'd finished my fall housecleaning. i told her that my schedule was off and that i did in fact, finish. but i wasn't certain if i had finished my fall housecleaning early, or was it my spring housecleaning late? that's when i decided to do away with those old fashioned terms and just do the best i could with what time i could invest.)

ANY way! it was a beautiful sunny day, so while i worked on cleaning the dining room that day, i thought i'd place all my plants out on the front step for a dose of fresh air and sunshine before bringing them back inside under the "fake" light. (about now....if you know anything about African Violets, you might be going for that kleenex!) violets do NOT like hot sun! well, WHO KNEW??!!! (obviously not me!) when i went out later to bring them all in, the hot sun had literally burnt all the leaves brown, and crumbled and scorched the plants so terribly that they all (ALL!!!) very soon afterward, met their demise.....and left me, somehow, having to explain the situation to mommom. i'm not sure which one of us was more upset and sad.

obviously she forgave me and still loved me...she just never trusted her violets to me after that! she DID let me look at her's when they were in bloom. "just look, don't touch." it did nothing at the time to put to rest my brown-thumb reputation.

Labor Pains

2009-04-02T11:21:00.002-04:00

I remember a long, long time ago, after birthing my first-born, my mother told me that she, without knowing that i was in labor, at that same time, she also experienced "sympathy pains," as she called it. i have since discovered that it is SO true that no matter how young or old our children are, their pain becomes our pain; rather--their pain becomes my pain. however, the other side of that coin is that their JOY becomes my JOY!

today, eleven short years ago, i paced the floor continuously while my own daughter was in labor with my first grandson. WHAT A WONDER AND JOY he is; HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY "supershot75"!!!!! what incredible JOY you have brought to SO MANY! (excuse me for shouting, with all those capital letters and exclamations, but yes; i am THAT excited!!!)

i have two photographs framed on my mantel. one is a very young me, holding my daughter, just home from the hospital. the other is of a sorta-kinda-young me holding my brand new grandson. Amazingly, these two photos are virtually identical, in position of baby and me, and in both, a glow on my face that can only be explained as pure JOY!

a couple months before my mother went to her heavenly home, i remember during a visit, counting up for her remembrance, all the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for whom she was the matriarch. the numbers respectively were 4, 7 and 4. and it was THEN, that the shock hit me: i had just one less grandchild that my elderly momma had! i was only ONE behind her.....but, yet--WAIT! WHAT? i am not (ewww! yick!) elderly!!! how in the WORLD? WHAT th'!

then i remembered! it has always been, and remains, MY plan, to live til i'm 103, and then if i still like it, i'll stick around a little longer. so, in THAT case, i am just about middle age! SO, at that rate, i may have to add a third photograph to the mantel some day. when my now-11 year old grandson someday in the far future places his little one in my arms, someone had better be on assignment to have the camera ready.

Good Sport / Bad Timing

2009-04-01T14:03:00.003-04:00

always at this time of year, i can't help thinking of a man i worked for over 40 years ago. i gave him SUCH a hard time on april fool's day, and he took it all quite in stride--when he could've very easily gotten angry. i tantalized him with tricks all morning long. mostly simple things, but the worst of which was when i told him there was an assignment in the lobby for a portrait to be taken. (he was the company photographer.) after this good soul rounded up all his photography equipment....this was LONG before the age of digitals!!!...and headed downstairs, with cameras swinging from his shoulder, back-screens in tow, lights on tripods and extra film plates under his arms and balanced precariously in both hands...i called the receptionist and asked to speak with him. "April Fool." he had every right to fire me on the spot!

but instead, dear man that he was, with a mission only to get even, he told me he was going to the sandwich shop to bring lunch back to the office and did i want something too? as we later sat across from each other eating our yummy sandwiches, he asked how mine tasted. oh, it's delicious, i said. he asked me the same question in a few different ways, and each time i assured him how much i was really enjoying it and how that place makes such great sandwiches. is it HOT? he finally asked, a tad impatient. no, not at all. he then admitted that he was trying to get even with me and had the deli load up my sandwich with lots of hot peppers. OH, i said; i LOVE hot peppers! no wonder this tastes sooooooo good. thank you!

in keeping with my typical m.o. of bad-timing, i had also chosen that same day (not at all thinking of it being april 1 when i wrote it)... gave him at the close of the work day, my letter of resignation, with two-week notice. we had bought a little house in another state and would be moving soon. NATURALLeeee, he thought my letter was all part of my day's worth of tricks and he didn't believe me. he was such a good man to have put up with my trickery, and if it helps make amends at all, i think of dwayne and his lovely wife and 3 children, this time every year since. we lost track several years later, but i'm not sure i've ever met such a good sport.

Happy April Fool's day, dwayne, wherever you are!

JOY

2009-03-31T08:02:00.002-04:00

lest i forget the name of my blog.... a true and simple JOY in my life has always been, most definitely is still---and likely always will be---seeing a bird take a bath! such EXUBERANCE! such JOY! such SPLASHING! such JOY! such DUNKING! such JOY! such FLUTTERING! such JOY!

whitey, the new parakeet (last november) just now discovered he can climb into his water dish to take a bath! i think he is copying rudy (our 8 year old canary) who much prefers bathing in his water than drinking it! cloudy (5 yr old keet)...well, cloudy, she marches to a different drum. she just likes to lap up the little splash-droplets that land on the cage bars.

the other day while driving, i saw 2 robins splashing away in their "makeshift tub" (dirty rain puddle in the street). but they had an absolute ball! they didn't want to get out, and when they did, they were so heavily weighted with water on their feathers, i thought for sure i heard them go: WHHOOOA!! as they swooped low, then flapped harder to gain altitude, dripping as they flew off.

i remember when my little kid-lets loved their baths and playing in the tub; never wanting to get out. "your little fingers look like RAISINS!" i'd tell them. "they're all wrinkled from so much water." in my mind, it was a MOM who changed the design of the old fashioned bath tubs. they used to be rounded and not much more than a few inches. definitely uncomfortable to sit on for any period of time as you tended your toddler playing in the bath water. soon the design changed to a much wider, and flat surface. ok! now, that's MUCH better!

and, in ALL of life, there is little to compare to that smell, and that feel of wrapping in a towel your little toddler, fresh from the tub, wet hair and dripping little limbs, puffy little bumm...as you cuddle and warm them with a hug that stays with you all your years, no matter how old those toddlers get.

maybe that's partly why i just LOVE to see birds take a bath. such a happy and JOY-ful sight! it is impossible not to smile as i watch and enJOY it so very much. a little water, a little bird, a LOT of JOY!

The Masters

2009-03-30T18:48:00.003-04:00

the most difficult thing (I THINK!) about doing a painting, is deciding WHAT to paint! i was wonderfully treated yesterday to the exhibit at the art museum called "Cezanne and Beyond." (the beyond was that 18 additional painters were also part of mr paul's exhibit...several of whom i'd heard of and the others, not). it is always a thrill for me to go to art museums...in any city, really. there's something about looking at the works of the masters that stirs me up. it kinda nudges and gently wakens the creative part of my brain. then i get home and just, just, YES! i wanna PAINT! where's my canvas? where's my paints? where are my brushes?

we enjoyed the exhibit very much...altho the yukky part is putting on those same earphones that someone else just took off....eeeewww, gross! but i tried not to think about someone else's ear-germies because i really appreciate the audio tours. i learn so much. it was incredibly crowded, and like we commented: who knew so many people (of all ages) were that interested in cezanne?! it's neat that they are, tho. but it made it tricky to weave in and out of the crowds to get a full view of the paintings. sometimes i like to view them from the other side of the room, and other times i like to get "up close and personal" to see the brush strokes, the blendings of colors, the density of the paint on the canvas. i get a lot from both the close up inspection as well as the distant viewing.

just to gaze upon a master's work, does something to me! i've usually read about most of the artists before i go to see their works, so it takes me back in time when i look at the real life thing, and not just a print in an oversized art book. one thing is clear to me, at least in my humble opinion: the masters never had the problem each day of, hmmm...what shall i paint today? they just set out, or looked out, or went out...with their "bud" usually, and painted whatever. cezanne, for instance, painted many, many, many of the mountain that was in his view right out his window. sometimes the paintings looked alike and other times he took a different approach and it was a fresh view.

i have to admit tho, i have no mountain view out my window, as did cezanne; nor do i have the extravagant gardens that monet had, nor the available models that renoir had...so it's a little trickier to find subject matter. as i turn now and look out my nook window, okay, no. all i see is the neighbor's empty trash can blowing down the street! that's too warhol-ish! it's also been a thousand years since i've done any plein aire painting. but i'm definitely being nudged. i can feel it. i'll let you know what i come up with. it'll likely be a still life. i've done the last couple in pastel, but i think i'll try one in acrylic for a change. plus, i know a couple other special people who might just get stirred up, and if I paint, maybe they will also paint. i know one who does really, really great watercolors, and another who did a beautiful triptych of a tree. (is triptych the word i want? close; i'm not sure.) nevertheless. sometimes creativity needs a little stirring. are you feeling it?

Burnt Toast

2009-03-30T07:11:00.003-04:00

it's truly amazing how much one can accomplish before seven-thirty a.m.! bless his heart, my dear hubby had the alarm set for 3 a.m., drank his coffee, packed his lunch, and was out the door for work before 4 a.m.! and...he is NOT a milkman! 3 and 4 should only be observed on one's clock in the P.M., NOT the a.m.!!! he's likely looking at a 14-hour day and i feel really badly for him. if only his company could get more organized. they had no work for him last thurs or friday, now all of a sudden they want him to do 2 days work in one. just doesn't seem right. with so many people out of work, we're very grateful he has work, but it sure would be nice if they could just even it out a tad for him.

i have the laundry finished and am still trying to get the wretched smell of burnt toast out of the house! i put a slice of bread in the toaster about, i don't know, 4:30, or so?? when it popped up it wasn't as dark as i like it, so i pressed the toaster down for another go-around. BUT! then i proceeded to move a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, which is only 8 ft away from the toaster, but glanced over and saw smoke pouring out the top of the toaster! o for pete's sake! NOW look what you've gone and done! i thought for sure the smoke alarm was going to sound, but i threw open several windows and turned on the ceiling fan. it stayed a bit hazy for a while, and now, 3 hours later, it still stinks! guess next time i'll stand right there and watch the durn thing!

on a brighter note, the sun is now up and tho quite windy, it looks to be a decent day. the forsythia is blooming, the birds are nesting, the farmers' fields have been plowed; daffodils and hyacinths are blooming and all is well. i believe i'll try finishing my book today. we started to track the books we've read. hubby has already completed 7 since january, and if i complete this one i'm working on before tomorrow, it will also be my 7th. also, in between the seven i've read, i'm also reading through the Bible again. i started in january and so far have read through 18 out of 66 books. i'm going through both the Old and New Testaments, so i'm now up to II Samuel in the Old, and Ephesians in the New. this will be my second time through the Amplified translation, which is my favorite. i forget what all the others were that i've read through: Living Bible, Revised Version, New King James, and a few others. the Amplified tho, remains my favorite. it is so clear and easier to understand.

well, guess i'll try my hand at another piece of toast. i promise to be more careful this time!

Scheduled Outage

2009-03-26T10:47:00.003-04:00

well, thanks to blogger for warning us that there will be a scheduled outage at 4 pm PDT today. as i look over at the windowsill in the nook, my little kitty-cat has already begun her scheduled outage--she's sleeping soundly, curled up in her little kitty-bed. the sun typically shines in on her in this spot, and she's patiently waiting. i don't have the heart to tell her that it's to be grey and rainy all day today.

so, i've decided to adopt that terminology: scheduled outage. if i want to take time out and read my latest book, i can just schedule an outage. or if i feel an increase in yawnings, i can schedule an outage and take a short nap. if i feel the need for fresh air, i can schedule an outage and sit in my swing in the backyard. if i really need a lift, or just want to express my JOY, i can schedule an outage and spend an hour or so, playing my new autoharp and singing old hymns, and yes! even Christmas carols! it matters not in the least, that this is March, going on April. the carols are just as enjoyable. sometimes i sing them on a hot summer day and it cools me off.

now, granted, since i am almost 15 months into my "new" retirement, EVERY DAY is a scheduled outage! but, hey; humor me. i have "to-do" lists most days, too, y'know. and it is always fun to transform a to-do list to a tah-dah list. but still...sometimes we all need a JOY refresher.

blogger states that it is for maintenance.... well, yes, i'll go along with that. my JOY benefits from periodic maintenance as well. good old fashioned singing, praying, reading my Bible, resting, laughing, chatting with kids 'n' kidlets, walking, hugging, crosswording, chrocheting; they are each forms of maintenance. so, join blogger and me in adding a scheduled outage to your to-do list today.

Musical Spring

2009-03-25T14:13:00.004-04:00

a few unrelated items, otherwise, not a whole lot new going on these days. we are coming up on my favorite month, which will arrive this time next week. the thing that i love about the month of april is that it gets more and more beautiful with each passing day! i always thought that if i were to stand perfectly still on any given day, i would be able to actually SEE things growing! right now, as the tiny leaf-buds are casting a lime haze, interspersed with a reddish haze, it's as if an air hose flung out of God's hands and sporadically sprayed a very light mist of color on the bare branched trees. try it--go ahead, i'll wait here for you; go look to the horizon at the bare trees. see it? see the lime and raspberry mist dusting the landscape? it's the promise of growth and color to burst forth! every day in april, it will become more pink, more green, more yellow, more white, more purple, more, more, more...and MORE! my advice for everyone is to stop! stop (at least) once a day, just to see how everything looks brighter and prettier than it did the day before. that's your homework assignment for april.

now then, i am amusing myself in new ways since the arrival of my new "toy!" well, it is far from a toy really! but anything that i buy that i don't consider a necessity, i refer to as a toy. but this is a genuine musical instrument; one that has several names actually. the older name is zither; it is also sometimes called a chromaharp (which is actually the brand name). and i call it an autoharp. i first played one "a thousand years ago" in elementary school. then back in the early 80's i strummed a bit, and now just really had the hankerin' to get one.

it was a bit of a nightmare and took 6 long weeks, but i picked it up this week and have been THOROUGHLY en-JOY-ing the sounds ever since. i surprised myself by actually being a little better at playing it than i recall doing in the 80's. the sound is so, so lovely. it is soothing and soft on the ears and melodic and beautiful. and one of the nice things is that it is not bothersome to anyone because it is not particularly a loud instrument. if i use the picks, the sound is much louder. but if i strum with my finger it is a quiet, un-obtrusive, personal kind of music. i was upstairs the other day, playing and strummin' away, singing to me and my cat! next thing i knew, two hours had passed! o my! two wonderful, fun, worshipful hours. music is SUCH A JOY! it lightens any load.

Beautiful Little Chapel

2009-03-20T16:08:00.006-04:00

I thought it would be easier if i wrote out what i wanted to say, rather than depend on remembering it all on the spot. i sent a copy to my brother for his input before i "go public." it only takes a couple minutes for me to read it.

y'see, next tuesday afternoon, which i'm hoping to be more of a life celebration, rather than an afternoon of tears, the nursing home where my dear mother spent the last 8 years of her life, debilitated with alzheimer's, is having a service of remembrance...remembering those who passed away during the last 6 months of '08.

the strange thing is that FIFTY YEARS ago (OMG-osh!) my brother and i used to go with our youth group to hold services in this same chapel. then later, our mom also went regularly and she led services there. eventually we found ourselves, with mom in her wheelchair, going to services, again in that same chapel, but now led by others. and to bring it full cycle, i'll go next week to this same beautiful little chapel, to attend a service.... with mom looking down...not from the balcony, but Heaven itself.

a little hard to grasp....that simple paragraph encircles a half century. also hard to grasp...mom left us 5 months ago, but because of that heinous disease, she actually left us 12 years ago. our comfort is that mom is once again filled with JOY unspeakable for all eternity!

Research

2009-03-19T11:04:00.003-04:00

So...how in the world does one research old stuff? i mean, like, really, really, REALLY old stuff! the book i am reading, which i just got the other day and i'm half finished--yes! it is THAT interesting! but the chapter-parts are separated (and named) according to chronological years--are you ready?--beginning with A.D. 100! i KNOW!! we're talking one thousand-nine hundred-nine years ago! i mean, WHERE exactly is that section in my local library?

from there it goes to A.D. 100-325. another jump to A.D. 325 to 600. part 4 (the part i'm up to now) goes from A.D. 600 to 1517. ooooh, big jump, there! y'know what is shocking? some of the problems these dear people were going through literally a thousand years ago were precisely the same as some of the problems our world is presently facing! isn't that incredible?

i know. a thousand years is usually my cliche for something i did a long, long time ago, but this non-fiction book is really telling of things a thousand years ago. i'm so fascinated by how the author had even begun to think about gathering his research for writing this book. it's not like you can call a white-haired relative, Umm, uncle eddie, uh, do you or aunt mabel remember that situation that ummm..." nor is it a "man on the street" interview you could ever conduct. wow! i mean, just how far back does "wiki" go, anyway?

i am impressed, really. not only with the vast amount of interesting information in this book, but also, as i mentioned, that there truly IS nothing new under the sun.

Surprise Visits = JOY

2009-03-16T18:20:00.004-04:00

Two very nice surprise visits today: middle daughter (who has birthday tomorrow!), accompanied by "little sock feet" in the morning, and a lengthy, chatty visit with the world's best brother this afternoon. Two very nice ways to break up a cloudy grey laundry day! plus, i even managed to get in some grocery shopping...and, yes, finished the laundry too. what a woman!

my brother who lives 3,000 miles from me called just as i entered the grocery store so i told him i didn't need too much and would whip through and call him back in an hour. man, i FLEW thru those aisles! (am i the only one who wonders what people think when they see someone rushing, almost to the extent of running?) but i was home and cold-stuff in fridge and freezer and was on the sofa, kitty in lap, and my brother and i "visited" for about an hour via the "miracle" of cellular.

i JUST got added to my hubby's phone plan so we share minutes now. uh-oh! first day on family share plan and i spoke for an hour! i sure hope hubby's boss will understand when he has to turn off his phone and not take any more calls til april. oooops, sorry, boss! wifey used all our minutes for the month; ok if i catch ya next month? boss? BOSS??! HEY! just joshin'!

mixing fun visits with a productive day in the background equals a VERY fine day! hope your monday was filled with JOY as well.

Just Buddies

2009-03-12T09:47:00.003-04:00

They could've been huck finn and tom sawyer. the sight of the two caught my eye as i pulled into my driveway yesterday. "buds" just hangin' together, talkin' and yukkin' it up, on a sunny kinda-sorta-warm afternoon. they sat on the ledge that overlooked the tiny stream that runs between the back of our homes, that i "affectionately" refer to as the ditch. but there they were, feet dangling over the edge, legs swinging back and forth. passing the time, idling the day, shooting the breeze...both wearing an identical baseball cap, both in baggy white t-shirts and jeans.

so why did i have the urgency to call the police?

well, perhaps, just may-beeee, because these buddies were not so cute; they were old enough to drive and they were smoking what i hoped were cigarettes, and washing down their tobacco with a quart bottle each had of malt liquor! drinking in public. brazenly. broad daylight. just a tiny touch of guilt in the one, cause (as i watched from the upstairs window) he kept looking around, checking constantly over his shoulder, wondering if that lady who just pulled into her driveway and spotted us is gonna call the cops on us. the other one i knew as a neighbor a couple houses away, and he had been the terror of the neighborhood since he was old enough to walk out his front door; i doubted he would know guilt if it walked up and slapped him in the face.

it has, for years, struck me as ironic that the same people who think they are old enough to drink, are obviously not old enough to know that you don't litter other people's lawns with all your empties! devil-may-care-attitudes; just see how far you can throw it across the street. oh! missed! o well, the shattering of glass in the street made a neat sound. here, let's throw this one and see if we can hit that tree. ah, what the h---!

2009-03-06T16:32:00.006-05:00

well, i had a wonderful time with grandchild #4 (aka little-sock-feet) today. and at 3 1/2 he was just as fascinated by the live webcams as his nana! I'll attach the link here but i'm new at "attaching" so i can't promise where it might take you. little-sock-feet sat curled lovingly in my lap for a while checking out the penguins and otters and aquarium swimmers, of which the sharks and stingrays were his favorite. then we switched over to the African bush live web cam and sure enough, it was on a family of huge rhinoceros! his little eyes lit up, and mine did as well-- as they do EVERY time i look at the precious faces of any of my little kidlets.

after enjoying that together, we went outside to play for quite a while in what little snow was still left in a pile from the snowplow earlier this week. as i stood by enjoying his activity of kicking the snow, climbing the "mountain," and then stomping in the little puddles, it just warmed my heart watching this little one, thinking back to when my own were that size. ............sigh.....wasn't that just "yesterday?"

misspelliings

2009-03-06T15:50:00.003-05:00

well now! my third ever "by-line" appeared in today's newspaper! my letter to the editor was printed! isn't it funny how our own name is so well known to us, yet when you see it in print, it's as though you're meeting your self for the very first time; i wonder why it is so exciting? (or, quite possibly it isn't, unless you are an aspiring writer.) the editorial page gave me a big long headline too: "Special obligations may be what got us into this mess in the first place." then you get to the end of my letter, and there's my by-line, but what i didn't even notice, and my hubby pointed out to me: my name is misspelled. o well; i know who i am.

a thousand years ago i wrote to Parents magazine and they published whatever it was that i wrote--too long ago for me to remember what it was. (c'mon, give me a break; you don't remember things from a thousand years ago either.) and then--o MY, waaaay back in the 80's, i wrote a real genuine article and it sold to a magazine. they actually sent me a check and i was so thrilled! but then i waited and waited (and waited some more) to see it printed...but never did. as it happened, we were having dinner much later with friends and the editor of the magazine that purchased my article was also eating with us, so i mentioned that they still hadn't printed my article and he promised to check on it when he returned to the "left coast." he checked on it all right, but instead of having them print it, they returned it to me! well, phooey; THAT'S not what i wanted! but then the thought occurred to me that if it was good enough to be purchased once, perhaps it was good enough to be grabbed up by another magazine. so i sent it out again and it was bought and paid for a second time! and not only printed, but illustrated as well. how cool was THAT!

BTW, i was Soooooo tempted to purposely missspelll misspellings in my title. (tee hee)

Aqaurium Visit

2009-03-05T14:38:00.004-05:00

i "traveled" 3,000 miles a short time ago, and stopped in to the Monteray Bay Aquarium to check on the feeding of the penguins and the Outer Bay Exhibit feeding. i'm telling you! the world of webcams are truly, truly a JOY in our modern age! the neat thing about this one is that a couple years ago i DID actually visit this aquarium with my west coast family. so when i open up their various live webcams (they have a half dozen of them to view), it all looked so familiar, and just as i remembered it. the coolest ever!

their outer bay cam actually plays marvelous, relaxing music as you watch the plethora of sea life swimming by--truly a blood pressure-lowering experience. they narrated the different feedings also, so it was a learning experience. for instance, when they feed the sting rays, the rays come right to the surface (of the million gallon aquarium) and roll over on their backs. the workers actually place the food right on the rays' belly! and if you've ever seen the underside of the rays, with their little mouth and eyes, they really have a cute little face.

they also mentioned that the blue fin tunas (theirs are about 500 pounds, but they can get to three times that size out in the ocean), are the ones used for sushi. they said that a mere 400 pounder was recently caught and sold to the fish markets in Japan for (don't quote me, but i'm pretty sure they said) $1,500!!!! [i hate it when i want to--but can't--recall every little detail!!]

so, while this wasn't on my list of things to do today, i did enjoy my strolls through the aquarium and visited not only the outer bay tank, but listened in on and saw the otters being fed and also the penquins' feeding. a miracle of the same world-wide-web that ate up too much of my time yesterday, but gave me about a half hour of enjoyment and education today. check it out! you'll find yourself back home in no time and you can even keep their music on in the background while you get right back to the daily chores that ARE on the to-do list, guilt-free!

What's on Your Dining Room Table?

2009-03-04T15:59:00.004-05:00

Did you notice my new photo? i changed my veggie-happy-face to a more fitting bluebird nest. i was amazed at myself for remembering how to make the change and drop in one of my photos.

i just finished watching in my binoculars the ladderbacked woodpecker, who was feeding on the sunflower seed suet we hung out. our six feeders have kept lots of birds busy this week, with all the snow on the ground. yesterday the thistle feeder was practically emptied by a frenzy of about 10 or 12 goldfinches, all vying for the perches to enjoy their meal head-down. what a crazy way to eat. Blue jays, chickadees, juncos, song sparrows, titmouse, cardinals, cowbirds, redwing blackbirds, brewer blackbirds; what an absolute treat!

when i just laid the binoculars on the dining room table, i had to smile. it brought my thoughts back to about 30 years ago when i often visited an old uncle with whom most of the family just couldn't get along, but he and his wife and i somehow built up a great rapport. his binoculars were always on the dining room table. when you have birds in the backyard, a handy pair of binoculars are a must! but i had to smile at myself, cause also on the dining room table is my lead pencil and a copy of the daily crossword puzzle. now with uncle al, it was different: he was OLD. but how in the world did my dining room table get to look a little bit like his, i wonder? then i realized that i am now a mere 8 or 9 years younger than he was, when i regularly visited him. WHAT?? wait....WHA?

i wonder why the inside of me never notices or feels the change or progression of years? it's not that i mind being older; i actually enjoy many aspects of it. (that's another blog.) it just is sheer and honest amazement to me: that inside me i'm still me, but outside me i am a woman of age. that just tickles me!

Little Arms

2009-03-03T13:36:00.003-05:00

Being a mother and a grandmother is just about the truest form of JOY there is! there is little to compare! when you feel little arms wrap around your neck and give hugs, it is the best blessing one could ever hope for in this crazy, mixed up world! a child's hug warms my heart same as hot cocoa warms the child's little tummy.

my little ones are spread in ages from 5 months up to (almost) 11 years old. it'd be fine with me if i had as many as "the old woman who lived in a shoe." cause unlike that old woman, i DO know what to do. it's usually the simplest things that we have fun with, and it costs next to nothing. you can say a lot about all the electronic gadgets in toy stores...can you really find a toy for kids nowaday that does not require $8 in batteries?!...but the things i amuse the li'l kidlets with require no batteries. the age old fun things like construction paper, crayons, stickers and labels (that are sent free in the mail), paper hats from newspaper, going for a walk, finding fall color leaves, chasing your shadow in the back yard, tossing peanuts and stale crackers out for the birds, and so much more. when the 3 year old says: tv, tv, tv, i just explain that my tv doesn't work well in the daytime...which it doesn't, because it's very seldom ON in the daytime (and not that often in the nighttime either, for that matter.)

we give out hugs generously as needed. i snitch a kiss now and then and whisper in their little ears how much i love them. today, after 3 hours of fun, the 5 year old (while he was sitting on the toilet) called to me, "i am bored at your house now." i shared with him that my children were "not allowed" to tell me they were bored, or i would give them a chore to do (usually go to the back yard and pick up twigs & sticks). little chores are the perfect cure for boredom. so are little grandchildren.

Scary Sounds! RUN, cat, run!

2009-02-26T12:22:00.003-05:00

my faithful cat and i BOTH had a terrible scare about a half hour ago. she heard it first (big surprise!...i was busy singing), then when i saw her staring at the wall, alarmed-like, her cat-eyes bigger than usual, then i heard it too! it was that old familiar (once you hear it, you never mistake it) sound of a squirrel chewing through the wall!!!!!!!!!!!! YIKES!!!!! what th'!!! WHERE'S THAT COMING FROM????? sure enough, the adjoining wall between my neighbor and us. holy MACKERAL. that is one deTERmined animal. he sounds frantic! i'm running up and down the stairs to put my "good" ear against my wall, trying to locate it. nope, not as loud in my bedroom, back downstairs. on the landing, yes. coat closet, yep, right in the same area. MAN! the way he's chewin' he'll be through here in NO time! OMG-osh! what shall i DO??!! i pound on the wall several times, trying to scare it away but the gnawing continues. i go outside to see if it's trying to chew through the front of the house. nothing. no cars in the neighbor's driveway, so i can't ask them to check in their house. back inside, gnawing continues. i'm starting to shake, and my cat is now hiding...she scares quite easily, and was already quite frightened, but when i pounded on the wall and kicked my baseboard, that DID it. she went into her storm-shelter under the loveseat, tail all puffed out, hair on her back standing straight up. O GREAT! it's up to ME now!! call my hubby?? o sure, what's he gonna do?! he's not home; he's working and is MILES away! for sure, it is up to me to handle this. get a broom? a bag? a can? OMG-osh! WHAT'S THAT SOUND NOW???!! now i'm REALLY shaking like a leaf! i run out the door again and knock on the neighbor's front door....nothing! back in, noise is more of a clicking/bang now. wha-doo-I-DO??? i bang on the wall again, kick the baseboard a few more times--the only productive thing i can come up with! and lo and behold, out of the corner of my eye, i see my neighbor walk outside to bring in his mail...and the noise was silenced. good grief, c'mere, cat; we're safe! it's O-kay now. just the neighbor doing a little home remodeling i guess. as soon as i stop shaking, and the cat's tail is back to normal, i resume my singing. (i guess mr neighbor never answered his door cause he was busy chiseling through the wall and never heard my knocking. o for cryin' out loud!

Color Blind

2009-02-24T12:28:00.002-05:00

ohhhh, boy; here we go! i've been tempted many, many times, to write a letter to the editor of our local newspaper in response to one thing or another, and today i DID so! the editorial page is one of the very few favorites i have in the newspaper; the others being the daily crossword puzzle and a few cartoons. i only glance at the headlines with one eye because they strike me as the worst of the worst and i refuse to be pulled into it. it wrecks my JOY!

this morning, as i read a columnist's views on a recently published book, which was written by a friend of his, the last two sentences that he ended his article with, snagged me with the same "ouch!" you feel when you pull that little piece of skin next to your fingernail. so, with the snagged feeling fresh, i did write to the editor and faxed it to the newspaper. it's not like me to respond to a Washington Post Writers Group columnist, but i thought he did a great disservice to the author of the book on which he was reviewing. i actually didn't even care for the title he chose for his review, but that was the least of what bothered me. here's a copy of my letter...
---
I was raised to be color-blind, and I’m thankful for that. Once when a co-worker asked me if the new applicant interviewed was white or black, I answered, I don’t know; I didn’t ask. That said, I have a problem with the closing two sentences in columnist, David Broder’s editorial [Tuesday, 2/24/09, Analyst skeptical Obama represents total change]: “As the boundaries expand, the issues facing black politicians become more complex, not easier, starting with the question of what special obligation, if any, they owe to their African-American constituents. All that, and more, [Gwen] Ifill illuminates in her fine first book.”

It would seem to me that owing ANY constituents “special obligation” is what got us into some of the mess that we are in presently. Our elected politicians should owe no constituents any thing, but to serve to the best of their ability in a moral and legal way, to the benefit of ALL peoples.

I recently read a quote that said the only time colors should be separated is when you’re doing laundry. Oh, that ALL people would stop speaking in black and white and switch our thinking to right and wrong.
---
So. there it is.

First 100...

2009-02-23T16:21:00.005-05:00

Fooled you, didn't I? you thought i was going to talk about the president's first 100 days. Nope; rather, the first 100 pages.

i'm struggling to finish reading a book and have already violated my usual criteria: if it doesn't grab me in the first 100 pages i put it down, set it aside, bottom of the pile. more times than not, i return to it much later out of a personal obligation i feel toward the author; but not always.

this particular book was very interesting the first 50 pages so i had very high hopes for it, but it has been downhill ever since. i have at least three other books just "calling my name," waiting to be read, but i feel as if i'm letting down the author of my "struggle-book" by setting her aside and moving on. i've already given her the benefit of doubt by going as far as page 133. She doesn't seem to know how to make a point and let it lie. she beats it like a dusty carpet and just won't let it go. she also makes the mistake of giving WAY too many examples of quotes from others who agree with her and a gazillion who disagree with her. it gets to the point tho, where i am not sure if she's saying this one agrees or disagrees!

granted, she wrote this back in the early 1900's, so perhaps folks in those years were more patient. i've always considered myself a very patient person (except when i'm waiting for an elevator!), but i think i've decided to stop struggling and set her aside. as a writer (well, published only once), i've always thought the worst thing in the world would be to find something i'd written on the "bargain table" at the local bookstore. but right up there with that embarrassment, is having someone lay aside my book and not be inclined to finish reading it to the end.

i typically feel compelled to read absolutely EVERY thing a writer puts in her/his book: forward, prologue, notes, epilogue, acknowledgements, etc. if it's printed, i read it. (for some strange reason i always think there is that very outside chance that i might just know one of the people who are listed in "acknowledgements," but after my decades of reading, alas; i never have. still tho...there IS that chance!)

last year, which was my first of relifement, i started a spreadsheet of all the books i'd read. i was delighted to have tallied 29 books, only 3 of which were fiction. this year, in addition to my regular reads, i've decided to again read all through the Bible. (is it fair to add 66 to my list of books read, when i finish?)

so far, since january, i have finished Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Matthew, Mark and Luke. this will be my second time through the Amplified version, which is definitely my favorite. i forget how many times through the Bible this will be; maybe 5 or 6??? yet, it simply amazes me how many, many things i come across that i have no recollection of having read before! if only i could remember every thing i read!

i WILL say this: it sure didn't take God a hundred pages to get my attention!

Feeding Birds

2009-02-19T09:07:00.003-05:00

just briefly today: one of the absolute JOYs of my life has always been the sheer excitement and absolute thrill of having a bird eat from my hand! there is NOTHING like it! I have had chickadees, nuthatch, hummingbirds, parakeets and canary do so! it makes my heart flutter when they show their trust in me, if only for a brief moment. (O, and i almost forgot! once, at a sports show, i had a red tailed hawk eat from my hand! imagine THAT thrill!!!!)

i have been known to stand "frozen" for long, long, blood-running-out-of-my-arms-minutes at a time, exhibiting every ounce of patience i can muster, just for the reward of having the bird land on my thumb, or sip nectar from the feeder in my hand, or grab a sunflower seed, cock its head to look in my eye, then fly....and soon come back for more!

this morning, after having one of my parakeets for five years, cloudy finally showed that trust and came to eat some celery from my hand! i think it was probably only because the newer keet came first and cloudy didn't want whitey to have what she wanted. nevertheless, as they took turns nibbling the leaves, i felt rewarded. my canary rudy has a favorite: broccoli. rudy is jittery, but he will let me hold a broccoli floret for him (til i get tired and finally set it in his treat cup).

once while visiting my in-laws in canada, i delayed filling their feeders to see if the birds would first come for the sunflower seeds from my hand, and it was such a thrill when they did so! it was one of the best half hours of my life, standing there as they came and went and came again.

O! and speaking of birds in hands, my hubby saved a goldfinch the other day, which was very heart warming! even tho we have reflectors on the windows to prevent the birds from crashing, a beautiful goldfinch plowed right into the window and fell to the ground. this big man went out and picked up the dazed little bird and held it in his hands, stroking it gently and speaking softly to it, trying to bring it warmth and comfort. after a period of time, the revived bird shook its head, fluttered it's feathers, and took off in flight and was perfectly fine! had my hubby not comforted him, he could've been plucked up by a hawk while lying on the ground. i was so happy to hear of his part in aiding the fallen little creature, who is just beginning to get his "spring coat" of yellow feathers, changing out of his "grey coat" of winter feathers.

okay, so i was not brief after all. brevity has never been my strong point. but i just wanted to share this today. there are SO MANY thrills and blessings in my life that do not cost a single cent. i feel so blessed! sometimes i look for JOY; other times it is right in front of me. Thank You, God!

Blessing

2009-02-17T12:25:00.004-05:00

i sure don't want my blog to turn into a movie review or critique, but i've been struck lately with some of the films we've watched, as evidenced by my previous postings. last night it was "the boys of baraka." WOW, what a film!

the title, for one thing, is curious enough. if you research the word, which means blessing, you'll find reference to baraka being swahili, which was the language of our current president's father, in kenya. it is also believed that our president's first name may be the anglicized version...not surprisingly, i knew none of that when i ordered the film. there is also a hebrew word that has a similar meaning, baruch.

all that aside however, the film itself is not my intention to discuss. i was extremely moved by the conditions in the inner city schools. having grown up a "thousand years ago" in a city public school, and having worked with inner city youth in past years, plus having worked in various school systems for a number of years, i am appalled at how conditions have plummeted over the years. public education, of course, could not be discussed successfully in the confines of a blog entry, and i do know that not ALL public schools are as deplorable as sometimes portrayed in a film...this one, incidentally was a PBS documentary at one time, i believe.

that said, i'm also quite sure, and quite sadly enough, there ARE some inner city schools that have classrooms so, SO not conducive to learning! it is little wonder that the dropout rate is as astronomical as it is! the children who attend these schools come from neighborhoods that are equally as deplorable: high crime, fear, filth, hopelessness. neither my mind, nor my heart, can begin to even grasp living like this day in and day out. i imagine that it must just break the heart of our loving God.

i've thought a lot recently about the name of my blog: JOY. it is a cinch to feel JOY when the sun shines and everyone is employed, the bills are paid, all goes well and smiles abound. but our country and the world--not just the inner cities-- are hurting; seriously, seriously hurting. falling apart in some cases. everyone knows someone who is touched by unemployment or hardship. everyone is having to sacrifice some thing. we feel helpless in being of help to those we love and care about.

all the talk/news has been the stimulus plan. i believe our country's spirituality needs a GENUINE stimulus plan. we all need to get off our high horses and get down on our knees. sometimes the only thing LEFT to do is pray. but, what if it was the FIRST thing we did? it might not seem like much, but it can "move mountains." what if we were ALL to pray DAILY for our leaders, our country, our world, our youth, our inner cities, our schools, our neighborhoods, our pastors, our teachers, our employers?

lately, i think that i have a better understanding of joy. it is, after all, not MY joy!

MY joy centers around situations and things; if they sour or diminish, i have to go LOOKING in all the nooks and crannies for what's left of MY joy. but, "the JOY OF THE LORD is MY STRENGTH!" (Nehemiah 8:10)

Boxing Lessons

2009-02-08T14:21:00.003-05:00

My mother used to LOVE to watch the saturday night boxing matches, strange as that sounds! we didn't have a television, but we all walked to my grandmother's house on many saturday nights, so mom could watch them. two netflix movies we watched this weekend had to do with boxing. they were both excellent movies: Resurrecting the Champ and Cinderella Man. There were lessons to be learned in each of these boxing films, strange as that sounds. In fact, as i sat on the edge of the couch, all caught up in them, i couldn't help wondering if that "chip" from mom fell into my DNA somehow.

but aside from the pertinent lessons i learned in these boxing films, i can't help thinking back to Mr. Schur, the man i wrote about in my previous blog posting. turns out there were lessons learned by his horrible death, as evidenced by a second small article buried deep inside my newspaper the other day. as it turns out, when i listed what he and my mom had in common, i was wrong on one point, that they both "had the same amount of money, which was next to nothing." yet, there was another point that i found out from this follow-up article that showed mom and mr schur DID have something else in common: they both suffered dementia.

if ONLY someone had looked in on him. someone! mr schur's electric bill was $1,000 in arrears, but! he had a check already written out for $1,000, that was discovered AFTER his death. dementia's confusion caused him either to forget to mail the check, or forget when it was due--but the check was already written and signed by him. he HAD THE MONEY to pay his bill, yet suffered this tragic, heinous death! in addition, he had LOTS of money, and his will designated that his thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars were to be left to a hospital. all that money, but he died alone in the cold winter.....of the season, and of his life. my heart still weeps for this "poor" man.

there are so many lessons to be learned in and from life. unfortunately, i don't tune in to them nearly as often as i should. but when i do, they strike a chord so deep within. i just need to open my eyes and ears and heart to them more and let that chord resonate.

Cold Winters

2009-01-29T11:54:00.004-05:00

I cried this morning...and still cry thinking about him; about his last thoughts, his last hours. He was 93, but now he's gone. He had been a veteran of WW II; fought for the freedom of his countrymen. Ninety-three was the same age my Mom was when she died just 3 months ago, so I liken him to her in some respects. They probably had about the same amount of money, which was next to nothing. They were both independent characters--you could tell--but that may be where the similarities ended. Mom died peacefully in her sleep, in a bed, in a warm room. Mr. Schur was found dead on his bedroom floor, wearing a winter jacket over four layers of clothing. He froze to death days after the electric company out in Michigan, installed a power-limiting device due to unpaid bills more than $1,000.

The tiny little article on the front page of my newspaper ended by saying his death "has led to outrage, soul-searching and resolve never to let something like this happen again." The tragedy is that it happened even once! And how many other times has it happened that do not reach the news? And, whatever the size of his community, were there not a thousand people who would not be willing to give just ONE DOLLAR if it meant this man would not die is such a degrading, horribly inhumane way?

I wonder who it was that was sent to his house to install that device? Did that person just do the job assigned to him or her, or did the person take the time to knock on Mr. Schur's door to find out more about the situation?

Where I used to work, very soon after starting in their employ, one of the doctors I worked for, who had a strong reputation for reaming out those who worked for her, gave me a hard time for exhibiting compassion when a patient called. You can't spend time on the phone with them, I was told harshly. No other lines were ringing at the time, nor was anyone standing awaiting my attention, so I was confused as to WHY an extra few minutes of compassionate conversation was being chastised.

There were many times that I chose to fill out forms, compose letters, make phone calls to electric companies or other utilities, on behalf of patients who had to literally choose between paying their bill or purchasing necessary medicine to, in some cases, remain ALIVE! Even as I write this, my breathing is restrained just at the THOUGHT of them having to make such a decision! It IS, as this little news article points out: an OUTRAGE! The outrage is that someone was "just doing [my] job" and apparently felt no responsibility to take the next step. SOME thing! ANY thing! Go to their boss to get an extension; call a local church for assistance; see if a neighbor could help in any way. SOME thing!

My utility companies have programs that offer the option to pay more money in addition to what I owe, to help others who have trouble paying their bill. I also know that for that one doctor that seemed heartless several years ago, I had the good fortune to observe countless others at the same facility who were filled with compassion and dedication to their patients. Aside from physicians and electric company employees (who are just doing their job, nothing more, nothing less), it does make me, even hundreds of miles away from this poor, departed soul, search my own heart as to ask the same question that was posed by an expert of law, to Jesus (Luke 10:29): "who is my neighbor?"

There is NO JOY in reading about Mr. Schur, bundled in layers of clothing, dying on his bedroom floor, in the cold winter of Bay City, Michigan. It is an atrocity that now leaves me not only in tears, but without words.

Growing Pains

2009-01-22T11:32:00.002-05:00

On the night table next to my bed is a little framed photo of my "kidlets" when they were about 10 and 12 1/2, sprucing up in front of the foyer mirror before leaving for church. it is many times the first thing i see when i open my eyes in the morning, and i'm completely struck with awe almost every time, at just how fast the years have sped by since that photo was taken. the son of my daughter is now the same age that she was in this precious photo! my mind simply has great difficulty registering that fact.

i remember when they were tiny babes and i SO loved holding them in my lap and cuddling them with JOY unspeakable! i remember the pangs when they soon struggled to be free from my embrace and preferred walking (then soon running) around, running to my arms only when they needed comfort. i remember when i'd watch them play outside as i had a difficult time walking away from the window, as if by keeping them in my sight, they were still metaphorically and emotionally in my lap. oh, and the separation i felt when they spent their entire day in school, under the guidance of others, who i just knew couldn't possibly care for them, love them and teach them, as i did. then off to college, off into the world, off to living their lives...it was all so right, and followed the pattern intended.

i was the one, as mother who LOVED mothering as i do, who experienced the growing pains. yet with each pain, there was also the JOY of knowing it was as it was meant to be. suppose they still were cuddled in my lap, clinging to me with no ambition to walk on their own? suppose they had no schooling? what if they never stepped out on their own, following their pursuits in life, living their hopes and dreams, demonstrating their talents, finding their own JOY in life? then, the growing part would be removed and only the pain part would remain. growth is a natural process, a spiritual process; it is good even when sometimes it hurts. the tears it sometimes brings are just outpourings of overwhelming, overflowing love in our heart. they are good tears, cleansing tears, tears of JOY at the wonder and speed of growth.

so, this morning, as my eyes opened and settled on that favorite photo of my "little ones" i just re-JOY-ced at how thankful i am to have held them in my lap then and now in my heart, as i celebrate the JOY of their growth and my being their mother and a grandmother. it only took 9 short months to become a mother; the JOY it has brought me lasts infinitely and eternally. why wait til May to celebrate? as we always say, "EVery day is mother's day!"

Scrapbooks

2009-01-14T12:13:00.003-05:00

Wednesday is my typical DWIW-day, another privilege and opportunity in my relifement for which i am most thankful. (Do Whatever I Want-day, pronounced: dwewday) i typically don't plan them; i just let them take their own course. this dwewday, today, i spent ever so gently turning the pages of 2 old scrapbooks i recently found in my attic. the oldest of the two will soon be 55 years old! needless to say, the pages, once manilla colored, are now quite browned and brittle. i, in retrospect, have fared much better, being neither.

i put together this scrapbook when i was 12 years old to hold well over a hundred cards and lettters that were sent to me while i was hospitalized with a serious illness. i was in the 6th grade at the time and was informed much, much later that i was given one chance in ten of coming out of the hospital alive. well, thanks be to GOD, i took that one chance and praise Him for seeing me through.

Some of the long letters from my brother, who's handwriting i might add, still looks similar, are really precious. he now lives 3,000 miles from me, yet we are just as close in spirit as we were when growing up...another thing for which i'm extremely thankful. my sisters at the time were too young to write but there were numerous little cards from them, signed in my mother's handwriting.

one really neat paper, folded and inserted in the front of the scrapbook is a rather large piece of brown butcher paper (and if you are old enough to remember that kind of paper, you don't have to admit it to me). it is signed in various youthful handwriting by all my 6th grade classmates from my elementary school. The expressions were all somewhat similar as far as get well soon, we miss you, hurry back to school, but the really astounding thing that hit me as i read every note this morning, was how amazingly clear my mind flashed a mental picture of just about every single student! i could see their little 12 year old faces almost as clearly as if they were standing in front of me. isn't it incredible how just the spark of reading their notes and names, my mind knew exactly who wrote those words?!

another really neat thing was that there were several beautifully handwritten or printed letters from, not only the teacher whose 6th grade class i was missing, but also from my first and second grade teachers of the same school. i thought that was rather amazing! then too, cards and letters from members and pastor of both my former church as well as the church i was then a member of, and also from the choir director. (a lot of people prayed for my recovery.) i even got cards and letters from the mothers of my friends and the owner of the corner candy store!

the other thing that struck me was the designs and shapes of the cards that many long years ago. they were elaborate, colorful, and most of them die-cut into various shapes, and folded quite uniquely. there were even several that had little pull-out sections, or a tiny card inserted into the main card. many had extravagant fold-out sections that popped up when the card was opened! nice cards today are very, very expensive, and pretty standard. if you do find a more elaborate one (in a card store as opposed to drug store for instance) you pay quite a pretty penny for it.

i think with the advent of email and ecards, personal handwritten letters and card-sending is almost a lost art. granted, 42 cents to send snail-mail is a lot more than the 3 cents that was posted on the wishes i reviewed today, sent so long ago. but, c'mon, tell the truth: when you receive your daily mail, isn't the very first thing you open, as you set aside the junk-mail and bills, an envelope that is handwritten and you know inside it contains a card, note or a letter from a dear family member or close friend?

the second old scrapbook i enjoyed looking through this morning---well, more on that later. i have some cards and letters to go write just now! i recently even got a new fountain pen that i'll use; remember them?

True to Word

2009-01-13T09:34:00.003-05:00

He did it; seafood manager Chuck was true to his word! i made the second trip back to the grocery store on monday and was pleased with what i saw. there was a whole freezer case filled with good looking catfish fillets! mr chuck was standing nearby speaking with another employee, so i excused myself for interrupting their conversation, and thanked him kindly for ordering the fish and wished him a great day.

i picked up a few other things while there, chatted and joked with the courteous checkout woman and left the store. i put my "green" grocery bag in the car and went BACK into the store. i waited while the people ahead of me in line at the customer service counter finished, then said to the woman behind the counter, "I'm sure you get your share of complaints." to which i'm sure she must've thought, o boy, here we go again....NOW what! "BUT," i continued, "I'm not here to complain. i'm here to give compliments." i proceeded to tell her that i appreciated that seafood manager chuck did what he said he would do, when he said he would do it, and that doesn't always happen in stores anymore, so i wanted to draw attention to it with my words of appreciation. i also told her that every checker i get has always been most pleasant and cheerful, and that it was worth my while to avoid my usual grocery store only 2 miles from my home, go 4 miles to their store, just because it is a more pleasant experience.

she smiled from ear to ear! plus, about a quarter of the way in to my compliments, she had yelled for another person to come over. "Come here, come here! we have COMPLIMENTS; we have COMPLIMENTS! we don't hear many of them, come here!" and that person too, was grateful to hear what i was saying. when i left the store, they were both smiling huge warm smiles--and so was i. it felt good to share the JOY.

Managers

2009-01-09T15:14:00.003-05:00

My hubby and i used to joke and laugh about a sign that was posted at the little strip-mall a couple miles from home that announced: "Come in and meet your new laundromat manager."

We never did. and now i don't see the sign anymore; perhaps s/he is no longer new enough to meet. i feel somehow that i've let them down.

while grocery shopping today i actually did meet a manager--Chuck, the seafood manager. (i wonder if the laundromat manager also wears a clean, white, starched doctor's looking coat like Chuck wore, with his nametag. if ANY one should, it should be a laundromat manager, as a way of speechless advertisement of how great the washing machines work!) Chuck was very helpful. he agreed with me that the 2 bags of frozen catfish fillets just didn't look right. the fillets showing on the front of the bag looked fresh, good color. but when you turn over the bag and look at the ones underneath, they were NOT a good color, and looked all freezer-burned. he took them away (and HOPEFULLY did not return them to the case after i left), and told me he will order more for monday. the store is only about 4 miles away, and while i'm not thrilled to make a second trip, i do plan to return monday, in hopes that, now that i've met my seafood manager, he will have done what he said he would. time will tell.

today i am celebrating my ONE YEAR RELIFEMENT! TRUE JOY! since the past year has been one without me having to answer on a daily basis to managers, some of whom were quite unreasonable, it's so nice to meet a manager that responds to me, rather than vice versa.

Celebrations & Changes

2009-01-05T08:24:00.003-05:00

The past few months have brought many celebrations: 6th grandchild's birth, vacation in California, Mom's entrance to Heaven, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Anniversary, New Year, Daughter's 40th, to name just a few. I used to think that I didn't like change, but have discovered throughout the past 2 decades or so that changes take place regardless of whether or not we welcome them. I'm not sure that i've learned to necessarily welcome them, but at least i have learned not to fear them. that's a big step for me.

what else have i learned? well, as i come up to the one year celebration of my re-life-ment, i have learned to live in the present. i spent a couple years leading up to that important transition date, counting and re-counting the days and marking off my calendar in anticipation. i even considered (tho i never actually did) making one of those construction paper chains so that the few months leading up to my relifement, i could tear off one link at the end of the day, just so i could visually experience the closeness of it--like i used to do when my children were young and we'd anticipate just how close it was getting to Christmas.

i counted in all different patterns--which of course, suited so well the obsessive compulsive side of me. i'd count months, i'd count mondays, then eventually, days. in looking back, it has ALL gone so fast! going through the waiting however, seemed slow. but, i don't do much counting anymore; i'm thrilled to take things one day at a time. (IRONICALLY, as i type this, the song playing on my computer right NOW is: "This is the day that the Lord has made; i will rejoice and be glad in it.") I guess that pretty well sums it up!

New Year Resolutions

2009-01-01T12:36:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! I have never been one to make traditional new year resolutions. yet, during my morning devotions today, while reading Psalm 34, i really liked the 5th verse (NLT): "those who look to the Lord for help will be radiant with JOY."

that sent me to my Strong's Concordance and discovered there are about 165 times that JOY appears in verses in the Old and New Testaments (not counting other forms, eg:joyful, enjoy, joyous, etc). that's a lot of JOY! one of my favorites is: the JOY of the Lord is my strength. that is reassuring to me: if MY JOY ebbs, the JOY of the Lord wells up and carries me through.

further in Psalm 34 the question is asked (in verse 12): "Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous?" well now! if THAT's not a great question to ponder on the first day of a new year! the answer follows in verses 13, 14: "Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it." wow!

who doesn't want to live a life that is long and prosperous!! if i go by that (and i DO believe that the Bible is the true Word of God), then my new year resolutions appear to be laid out for me:
+keep my tongue from speaking evil; +keep my lips from telling lies; +turn away from evil; +do good; +search for peace; +work to maintain peace.

sounds like my work is cut out for me.

and, at the risk of sounding like a pre-programmed contender for miss america contest: i pray too, that all countries in our world will, throughout 2009 and beyond, SEARCH FOR PEACE and WORK TO MAINTAIN IT.

with peace, comes JOY! please join me in my search, and may the Lord help us. Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, JOY full New Year to all!

Work Route

2008-12-10T13:47:00.003-05:00

This morning, at about the same time i USED to leave the house to drive to work, i filled my coffee mug and took my binoculars and camera, told my cat, "I'll be right back," and off i went! i followed the same road i took for many years going back and forth to the hospital where i worked--and from where i retired 11 months ago to the day!

my intent was to see the farm field that this time of year was always SOLID WHITE with THOUSANDS of snow geese--no exaggeration! i used to pull over and roll down the windows, brave the cold air, just so i could listen to the cacophony of that many "voices" all trying to outdo each other. one morning in fact, one of the young docs was actually concerned when he saw me sitting on the side of the road, window down; he thought i was stuck and needed assistance. i thanked him for his thoughtfulness and explained that i was just enjoying the snow geese, even if it meant i'd be late for work that morning. he later thanked ME, cause he said he drove right by it every morning and never even SAW them!

well, my timing this morning was not good, as i saw not one snow goose, turned around and drove back home. but as my daughter pointed out, it felt good to go that same route with the exception of the liberty of turning around and going back home! yes! that DID feel real good!

i experienced a lot of different feelings though, on that round trip. so much had changed, yet so much was the same. two different sections of new homes have not only been built but also inhabited in 11 short months. a new traffic light had been put up; the pot holes on the roads, which i knew perfectly how to avoid, were gone and the roads all repaved smooth. the huge pumpkin patch was now a cornfield, but the field of "baby trees" as i called them, were still there. and the speeders were still there! (too bad they repaved the road--just makes it easier to use it as a racetrack. the guy behind me velcro-ed himself to my rear bumper for a while this morning, pushing me to 5 then 10 miles over the speed limit, until i realized it and then slowed back to the legal 50, but then, on a SOLID line, with traffic coming, he zipped around me...only to have to stop at the same traffic light ahead as each of us anyway.)

driving the speed limit on the way to work was always a challenge, i have to admit; especially on that back road through the farmland areas that i always traveled to work. i purposely avoided the main highway because there were COMPLETE maniacs on THAT road! at least the traffic was lighter and the maniacs fewer on the road i took. but i'm thankful that i no longer have to be part of that misnomer: rush-hour. oh, truth be told: i am SO THANKFUL for MANY things, as i look back over the past 11 months. God is SO good! His blessings are MANY!

oh! and, although i missed taking my photographs this morning of snow geese, i came home, poured a hot cup of pumpkin spice coffee, put a slice of cinnamon bread in the toaster, looked in the morning paper for my daily crossword puzzle--and there it was! a photo of the field FILLED WITH SNOW GEESE on the same farm! JOY!

En-JOY

2008-12-08T16:18:00.002-05:00

It dawned on me last week that one of the things that bring me great JOY is that i once again feel--really feel--the Christmas Spirit, now that i am no longer employed. way-back-when...i was a stay at home mom (called housewife in those days), i used to LOVE the preparations leading up to Christmas day! there was trips up and down the attic stairs getting all the boxes and bags, the decorating, the shopping, the baking, the wrapping, the church programs, writing out cards, the mailbox filled with envelopes that didn't contain bills---ALL of it---kit 'n'kaboodle (whatever that means)!

then i started working part time outside our home. at first i noticed no difference, since i worked for (the same) elementary school that my children attended. it continued to be a festive and meaningful season of celebration. (schools in those days could still celebrate Christmas and not be forced into secular snowmen and rudolphs only. we actually had Christmas trees and NOT "holiday trees," and no one was offended by the greeting: Merry Christmas.)

when my children were grown and i started working full time in an office, i usually only had Christmas day off; not the day before, on Christmas Eve, and mostly not the day after, either. it really made my festive mood take a plunge. i still reflected on the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the significance of His life, death and RESURRECTION, to bring us to God. but it only became a DAY, no longer a SEASON. it was shortened, and my JOY shortened as well. the preparations were no longer fun because it was a chore to get all the decorations up, shopping after a long tiring day at work; wrapping lost all creativity--and all baking was given up. what i DID bake, burnt and went to the dog (instead of buying those charcoal bones in the pet store.) i'd rush home, plug in the lights on the tree, but after dinner and dishes, there was little time leftover to sit and gaze and relax and enjoy. everything was rush, rush, rush; get-it-done-now and quickly move on to the next chore.

this Christmas is my FIRST as a retiree! or---i should say: re-LIFE-ee. and i felt all the JOY of the SEASON gush back in last week! it's a marvelous feeling! i plug in the tree lights now, before it is even dusk, and can thoroughly enjoy the beauty! i go outdoors and look at our home all lit up and feel all Christmas-sy. i enjoy planning my shopping trips and it's not crowded when i go. and today? today--i did something enjoyable that i have not had time to do in many years: i actually wrote out notes in Christmas cards and have them all ready to mail! JOY to the world! the Christmas music has been playing all day every day, and i sing loudly, if not wonderfully, and flit around like a child.

It's CHRISTMAS!! i wish you and your's JOY throughout.

Seasons

2008-12-04T14:31:00.004-05:00

Is it me, or does it seem like ages ago that we celebrated Thanksgiving? i had a busy morning today, with another transition of seasons. i cleaned out my flower garden, even tho some of the heartier chrysanthemums are still showing color. i rubbed off all the dried marigold seeds right into the soil for their winter's rest. i collected more zinnia seeds from the dried flower pods, and am amazed to see that my dianthus is still very green and putting forth buds! we should rename our dianthus; diehard! after taking out all the dried marigold stems, i added them to my compost pile. i plan on doubling the size of my veggie garden for next year. so, that was one transition, as i officially closed out the growing season.

i then opened the next season, and strung outdoor Christmas lights on our 3 arborvitae out front. And, back indoors now, our home is filled with the welcoming aroma of homemade turkey soup simmering on my stove. it's hard to beat the smell of simmering soup! so now i will think about decorating the inside of our home for Christmas. and so...season to season...holiday to holiday...the times between spent JOY-fully transitioning.

oh! and last night's new recipe was yummy: meatball stroganoff. i used lowfat milk and light sour cream, so it was healthier than the richness of typical stroganoffs. tonight, to go with the soup, i will make homemade drop biscuits--mainly because i hated the thoughts of paying almost $4 for a loaf of fresh bread! someday i will try my hand at baking my own bread. but--- not today.

Shoes

2008-11-26T16:31:00.002-05:00

Walk a mile in another man's shoes.....you know the saying. well, this afternoon my mantra was: walk 3 minutes in a pair of my own shoes and if they hurt my feet before 3 minutes is up, GIVE THEM AWAY or throw them away! (some didn't last even 1 minute!)

i am completely embarrassed and ashamed to admit the total number of shoes that were in the bottom of my closet (so i won't)! no one person should EVER own that many shoes!

to my credit (maybe, maybe not) some of them i've had for the past 25 years. others looked as though they've never been worn. i threw away 6 badly worn out pair and have 27 pair in very good/excellent condition to give to the group that collects in our neighborhood. even that still leaves me with an assortment of comfortable flats and heels in varying colors to see me through any and all future activities.

now that i'm no longer in the business world, i see no reason to EVER buy another pair of shoes, and the good news is that (1) there's a lot more room in my closet; and (2) it's good that i can share with someone who sadly, may not own even ONE pair.

Recipes & Chirps

2008-11-21T08:54:00.004-05:00

New recipe last night was a success, and while it looked like enough for "an army" while i was making it, just 2 of us did a pretty good job on it, with just enough for me to finish for lunch today! I couldn't make up my mind if it was more Mexican or more Italian; nevertheless, it was quite tasty, and very easy to make--my favorite combination! it was zucchini kielbasa, and like all recipes i make, i did change it a little, but i basically followed the book.

the seafood bisque from the other night turned out good too, but even tho i know bisques are typically thicker than chowders, i thought it was a little too thick. so when i heated the little bit leftover, i added more milk and thought it was much better. so, the two new recipes this week were both winners!

Totally unrelated, i'm still (im-)patiently waiting to hear the wonderful chirps of my new parakeet, whitey. he had a lot to "say" in the pet store when i bought him 2 weeks ago so that cloudy would have company after sunny died. but whitey is still adjusting and has been very quiet. well, TWICE this morning, i was VERY delighted to hear short trills and chirps. The first time i heard it however, i realized that it wasn't whitey OR cloudy--it was the 8 a.m. song sparrow sound on my bird clock, singing on the hour. then, just as i was typing this post, i jumped up to see if it was cloudy or whitey this time (for SURE) chirping away. when i saw them both preening feathers instead, i glanced over my shoulder and sure enough!! it was the bird clock chirping the hour with sounds from the belted kingfisher! okay, okay, i fell for it twice! i fully expect that when the tufted titmouse announces ten o'clock, i will have learned my lesson and not go rushing toward the parakeet cage!

JOY today is looking out my window and seeing TEN different kinds of birds feeding in our yard! And glowing between the large snow flakes are all the beautiful red cardinals! i'm SO thankful God made birds!

Memory Lane

2008-11-20T13:55:00.003-05:00

It would seem that yet another sheer pleasure and JOY of my relatively new "re-LIFE-ment" is having the time to stroll ever so slowly down "memory lane!" this afternoon, that stroll brought a couple tears, but more so, much laughter--and left me in complete awe of just how speedily the years, and decades even, just vanish!

a recent conversation with my kids (now grown of course) reminded me of a book i kept when they were both very young. the days of "journaling" and "blank books" had not yet become popular, so my book is one of those old fashioned black & white marbelized "Compositions" that we always referred to as Copybooks. On the cover i wrote: "Memos to Remember - Conversations with J & J." The pages are now quite yellowed as my first entry was made in 1970. (WOW!)

when my children were very young i would have bedtime prayers with them, and after our "Now i lay me down to sleep...." and "God Bless... (the whole family and all our pets)" i always asked them if they had a special prayer, which they said in their own words. in addition to recording some of their classics, i also wrote some precious conversations that we had when they were 3, 4, 5 years old, and more. i truly, truly thank God that i had the wherewithal to record these incredible, heart warming, loving vignettes. The slices of life on those pages AMAZINGLY brought memories back so vividly that it was as if someone had just turned on the slide projector!

surprisingly it only took me about 20 minutes to find my book (and was also delighted that along with it were their "baby books" and old report cards from elementary school). they were in the second box i looked in...which reminds me: i need to put all the things BACK in the box, cause i have no room on the floor to walk until i do! but as quickly as it took to find my copybook, i then spent several hours sitting on the edge of the bed reading through everything. what FUN! what JOY!

(shhhh, don't tell my kids, but...) i think one of the nicest, most meaningful gifts i could ever give them, is to some day, give them each a copy of all these entries, which span from 1970 to 1978. one of the sheer classics (the one that encouraged me to find this book today) is a special prayer offered by my little guy regarding his 2 year old sister. he prayed quite ernestly, as only a 4 year old can: "Dear God, Help J to stop spitting at me and play nice. Amen." And as that same young man pointed out yesterday, God answered his prayer!

indeed, God still does. JOY

IN-door Transition

2008-11-19T09:28:00.003-05:00

Hmmm; it's been two weeks since I posted on my blog. a combination i guess of my mom's death, my favorite parakeet's death, not feeling like i had any profound thoughts to record, and trying to jump-start my transition from outdoor activities to indoor activities, now that the warm weather is gone. No more planting, watering the garden, weeding, relaxing with a book on my swing, photographing flowers and insects, or planning a lazy day at the beach. Now all the things that were put on hold, while i enjoyed doing those just mentioned, are staring me in the face each day: sorting papers and filing, shredding old papers, dusting knick-knacks, washing windows, cleaning out closets.

one thing that the colder months do prompt me on is trying new recipes. i miss having my fresh garden veggies to pick, but i "pick" instead through my many cookbooks, for interesting and yummy-sounding recipes. they're not all winners, but most of them we really enjoy. matter of fact, tonight i will be making a seafood bisque. last week i made a tortellini vegetable soup that was especially tasty. i like to make one soup a week, plus one other new recipe--two new dinners a week make eating more exciting. next week i will make a new england clam chowder, and then i want to make a cheesy potato soup that sounds good.

not only have i been pouring over my cookbooks for new recipes, i've also been reading a lot, all non-fiction, my favorite. i started to keep a spreadsheet several months ago listing the books i'd read. i expect to finish a book this afternoon, which will make #23 on my list, since january. that's a little better than 2 books a month--definitely one of the blessings of re-LIFE-ment! i got a new book in the mail yesterday (God Speaks to Women in the Bible), expect another today (Gov. Huckabee's new release), and have 2 more on order (both on the Hebrew language).

so my cold-weather afternoons should be relaxing and informative! a good book, an afghan (with a warm, purring cat on top), soft music and a cup of tea make for THEE PERFECT afternoon! Not to mention: it is the proverbial "carrot on the stick in front of me" to encourage my doing those closet cleanings, dusting knick-knacks, sorting, shredding, filing things all morning, so as to have my afternoons free for the REALLY fun things! so, off i go!

Different but Same

2008-11-05T13:16:00.005-05:00

I just took some scraps to my compost pile and started to come back into the house when a bright spot out the corner of my eye caught my attention. i went over and picked the most beautiful late-blooming yellow rose you can imagine! i can hardly stop smelling it--inhaling its sweet, sweet aroma! the outside of some of the lower petals are tinged with a pink blush.

it came from one of my unusual rose bushes; each flower is different. Really! the buds are usually a dark red-orange color, but then each and every flower opens to its own unique splashes of mixed yellows, oranges, apricots and corals. Some of the petals are just tipped in color, others are blushed evenly, but every one different...much like us.

it reminded me of a poem i once wrote and framed; i gave it to my Mother for Mother's Day, probably close to 20 years ago. it described one of my childhood memories of how my mother used to walk my brother and i to a neighborhood church where she taught Bible school. we were raised to never see people as black or white; we were taught no matter how different we look on the outside, God made us all the same on the inside. (Mom illustrated this to that little Bible class more than 60 years ago, but my memory of the game she had us play is still fresh. After repeating all the colors of the clothes we had on that day, Mom told us to stick out our tongue. Well! We felt very naughty because that was something that we were never given permission to do. Mom made her point of how we were all unique and yet, the same inside.)

the rose I just picked reminds me that a yellow rose signifies PEACE. i need an extra dose of PEACE these days, since Mom's very recent death stirs my emotions at unexpected times and for unexpected reasons. it also reminds me to pray for PEACE for our country, having just emerged from an historical election process. like my rose bush, this election has produced a president-elect different than all others, yet God made him the same on the inside and has laid on his heart a purpose and desire to lead our country. SHALOM!

Sadness

2008-11-04T08:09:00.004-05:00

....I just buried my beautiful little yellow parakeet named Sunny. I'm feeling very sad and weepy right now.

yesterday it was only 2 weeks since we buried my dear, beautiful, special, loving, wonderful Mother. i have wanted to write about mom's death, which followed 12 long years of alzheimer's, but found that i haven't been able to write about her yet since i'm still absorbing it all...that even tho mom has mentally been "gone" for so long, now she's really gone from my life. even tho she has not known for a long, long time who i was, i still knew who she was and could stroke her hair and kiss her and try to make her smile, and tell her i love her.

in the interim, one of my parakeets has been ailing. just late yesterday he seemed to stop eating and became weaker. my husband lovingly set sunny on the bottom of the cage last evening so he wouldn't have to struggle to climb to a perch.

this morning sunny was still breathing, but laid his little head down. then while we were up the road voting, sunny died.

i know what i say next might sound really foolish, stupid and childish, but the way i figure it: God LOVES birds! He put them in the garden of eden. the Bible says in Matthew that "His eye is on the sparrow..." and it says in Jeremiah that God causes the birds to know when to migrate.

AND I KNOW GOD LOVED MY MOTHER! AND I KNOW MY MOTHER LOVED GOD and is now in His loving arms in Heaven! my mom also LOVED birds, as i do. the same night that mom died was the night i thought sunny-bird wouldn't live through the night. he bounced back, did well, but then the past 4 days has looked poorly. if God loves birds so much i'm just figuring that they will also be in Heaven. so in my mind, little sunny is sitting on my mom's finger, just chortling and chirping away, bringing her all the JOY that he brought me for the past five years.

... i sure miss my mom.

California

2008-10-16T14:46:00.003-04:00

SUCH JOY! Wonderful, spectacular days in California with family! we visited a couple lighthouses (Point Reyes and Pigeon Point); took a ferry to Alcatraz (lighthouse & prison audio tour)with our grandson; chapel service at ABSW; 9-holes of golf on the most beautiful golf course i've ever seen; saw many sights, many animals & marine life; had many yummy dinners, lunches and breakfasts with family--and now, missing west coast family all the more, but happy to have briefly shared in "their world."

the weather out there was perfect every day! I took a gazillion photos, including several shots of things not very many people think worthy of photographing, but i found very interesting: close-ups of the colors and textures of rocks & grasses, floor patterns of different tiles in old dining room of alcatraz, looking through old dirty window in warden's office, and the ocean as seen through old lighthouse window, for example. I have one shot that looks exactly like a Wyeth watercolor: an old dirty window, with an old dirty raincoat hanging on a nail hook next to the window. perhaps i will make my own painting of this shot.

the colors of the landscape and pacific ocean and rocks were just magnificent! i told my daughter as we rode along the coastline that i felt like i was living inside a calendar: each turn in the road exposed a new view, even more outstanding than the previous, as if someone had turned the page of a scenic calendar. it was definitely a MOST en-JOY-able vacation for us!

California

2008-10-10T20:35:00.002-04:00

We are SO EXCITED!! tomorrow morning we leave for California to visit daughter dear, her wonderful hubby and their marvelous son--our first-born grandson! Crazy flights these days mean that non-stop flights are hard to come by, so the majority of our day will be spent traveling. The good news is tho, that by heading west, we at least gain time and will get there earlier than it seems possible. I often tell my daughter how fortunate they are to be living "out there" where they are blessed with "27 hours a day" instead of our east coast measly 24 hr days! {:^D

i am all packed and ready to go. i suggested to my hubby that we leave NOW and spend the night in the airport, but he wasn't so sure that was a good idea. this will be very exciting too, since i usually have gone to California solo, and this time we will be going together. we have a lot planned for the short time we'll be there, but we are excited nonetheless.

i LOVE flying!!! i was 54 when i took my first flight, but i've been hooked ever since. i usually arrive at my destination with a stiff neck, which comes from staring out the window for hours at a time. i LOVE to look down on the fascinating cloud formations and the layout of the land far, far below. The colors and patterns are always interesting. It's as if i am viewing God's very own palette and i find it SO very interesting. i never tire of seeing it from such a different and glorious angle.

i take lots of activities to keep me busy on the long flights, but usually my book, crossword puzzle, my Bible, my crocheting are each barely started, because the majority of time i am staring at the wonders out my little window. it is a true JOY to be enJOYing a vacation with my loving husband and wonderful "left coast" family! happy travels!

African Safari

2008-10-08T10:28:00.003-04:00

Okay, i admit it: i have an addiction. i spent yesterday GLUED to my computer screen watching a live web-cam set up in Botswana, Africa, panning back and forth over a large pond area, filming all the wild animals and birds who happened by for a cool drink or snack. such a thrill, i cannot even describe! this morning i TOLD myself i wouldn't even open the link (if you want it, email me and i'll share it) but then i thought, what's the HARM if i just watch it while i have my toast and coffee?

honestly now, have you EVER enjoyed cinnamon toast while watching a small herd of elephants play in a pond on the other side of the world? i mean, c'mon! i got excited last week over praying mantis egg cases, but this is INCREDIBLY BIGGER! the elephants in this group (only 7 of them this morning, whereas yesterday a herd of 23 came by!) all sizes, from nursing (yes!) baby up to bull, and every size between. splashing, spraying, drinking (ewww..muddy water?!), and rolling! i was laughing out loud! what fun to watch; how AMAZING to watch! what a PRIVILEGE to see!

there was also a momma boar with a young one, drinking and rolling in the mud, a sunning crocodile (alligator??), two large turtles, wildabeast, heron, kingfisher, type of guinea hen, antelope, and a type of gull. the most exciting to me tho, was one of my favorite animals: the elephant. i took almost 80 photos on my safari, since i learned how to take a screen-shot of what the web-cam was showing.

i knew i had an addiction when, just after midnight, after listening to an hour of comments following the pres-debate, i ACTUALLY CONSIDERED tip-toeing downstairs to turn on the computer to see what was going on in Botswana!! they're 6 hours ahead of EST, so i thought the early morning "crowd" might be at the pond for a drink of muddy water to start their day. (Botswana web-cam support group, here i come! HELP! help!!!) fortunately i fell asleep before the temptation developed too strongly. but, ya-GOTTA love the folks who came up with such an idea; it opens the world to me! o what JOY!

Little Things for Free

2008-10-05T13:18:00.004-04:00

It's the little things in life that count, and most are free. they're one of the many thrills of my re-lifement (known to some as re-tirement). yesterday's "little thing" that is SO BIG to me: i SAW the praying mantis creating and forming her egg case! i've often been excited to see the finished product-egg case hidden on a branch (usually on our arborvitae bushes), but to actually SEE her foaming and forming this magnificent winter protection around the eggs, utterly AMAZED me.

i often see things that (of course) have been happening all along. but when i was in the "world of cubicles" i missed them; and now just feel SO BLESSED to be seeing them. i usually try to photograph as many as i can. perhaps someday i'll do a little book, "All I [did not] Miss" and include the photos of the early morning dew on the spider webs, the squirrel running across my lawn with a corn cob in its mouth, the swallowtail butterfly hatching from its chrysalis, the sunrise out my window, the hibiscus flower larger than my hand that was only budding the day before. i didn't have to spend a cent to see any of these marvels; i just had to look and see. how great is that!

come spring--usually the first really HOT day--i'll be out staring at that egg case to see the tiny (3/8") baby praying mantises, and am ALWAYS thrilled at the number of them! i follow throughout the summer, amazed at their growth spurts. come late summer, they are huge and that's when they usually watch ME--as i water the garden, invariably one or two usually come out of hiding and keep a close eye on me, sometimes running to a higher leaf to avoid getting wet.

i remember the very first time i saw their egg case. my young son brought a branch home to me, egg case firmly attached and asked what it was. i had no idea, but we looked it up in the encyclopedia (in the days before world wide web and wikipedia)! i've enjoyed these incredible (and beneficial) insects ever since. what JOY!

Book Notes

2008-10-02T13:26:00.003-04:00

I was in my "bunker" the other day--which i ought to explain before i say what i intended to say... (years ago when i worked in a school for handicapped young adults, one of the shop teachers made a wooden plaque for me and woodburned into it: [my name]'s Bunker. over the next 20 years it always found a place in whatever office i happened to be working in; now in my relifement, it sits atop one of the 3 bookshelves in my little art/study room.)

...so, as i was in my bunker for Bible study i reached for 2 old books that my dad gave me back in the 80's when i mentioned to him that i really enjoyed the g.campbell morgan commentaries. he had gone upstairs (to 1 of HIS many bookcases---gee, where did we all get our love of books from?) and he brought to me 2 old books that he happened to have in his library, by that same commentator. one book is dated 1944 (ok, i confess. i had to ask B to help me decipher the roman numerals), and the other is dated 1909. that alone, in ADDITION to the fact that these were books from my dad's own library, makes them of value to me. BUT! guess what makes them even MORE valuable? dad has penciled his notes in the margins in one of them!!!

Dad has been rejoicing in Heaven with our Lord for the past 12 years, but i felt very close to him when i turned the page in one of his old books (The Triumphs of Faith) and read his notations! it brought back such pleasant memories of when dad used to take my brother and i with him to Leary's Bookstore in downtown Philadelphia. leary's is no longer there, but was a tall, very narrow building with many stories, sandwiched between 2 larger buildings, much like a tall book itself perched on the shelf of sidewalk. how we LOVED going in town with dad to leary's! we rode the old elevator up to the floor with all the used books. on special days, he'd have an extra 10 or 25 cents and would buy us a poetry book, some of which i still have. we'd spend hours in there amongst the dusty, yellowed page books, the aroma of which could only be construed if you've ever smelled that wonderful scent. it would be like trying to describe the wonderful smell of a box of crayons--the person would only understand if they too, loved and recalled that pleasing smell and the memories it brought to mind.

dad left his mark in this book, and with much JOY i can truly and thankfully say, that dad left his mark on me as well. what a dad! what a dear dad.

Grape Mates

2008-10-01T13:48:00.003-04:00

Trees are just beginning to show their colors! Very exciting to see the reds "sneaking in" a little more each day! One sad change though, now that it's October, is that i soon won't be able to go out in the back yard and pick fresh veggies from my small garden planted way back in the unseasonably hot days of April. i have only a few more grape [to]mat'es to pick and a few sweet peppers. it makes me sad because i have loved going out and filling the up-turned hem of my t-shirt with these delicacies. i always had half of them eaten before they made it into the house. they were sweeter than candy and gave me great pleasure, not only in their taste, but in the fact that they were the results of my months of nurturing.

the few cucumbers and zucchini that i harvested were disappointing and baffling, but i'm hoping that by adding my compost to the soil for next year's garden, it'll make a difference. (imagine! me, born & raised on a small dead-end street in philadelphia, making her own compost pile! somehow that just amazes and thrills me.) i feel good too that it has saved much refuse going to a landfill and will be put to good use.

i might double the plot size next year from 8'x8' to 16'x8' and add a few other things. i also want to either get a soil test kit, or at least have our local co-op test my soil for me. plus, i want to try to save some seeds from the dead flowers in my front garden and see if i can get some of them to grow again (like i do every year with my marigolds).

as much as i'll miss gardening over the next 6 months, i'm glad we have the seasons of change. my focus can change to IN-door fun things now; no more weeding and hours spent watering and fretting over weeks of no rain. change is good. (i'm SURE going to miss pickin' and eatin' those precious, red grape mates tho!)

Ponderings

2008-09-30T10:12:00.002-04:00

One of the settings on my google home-page is Things to Ponder. Some of them are pretty funny, like: if a cow laughs does milk come out its nose? In my Daily Prayer book this morning, the reference was Psalm 111. In verse 2 (NLT) it says, "How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them." Ahhh, now THERE is something WORTH pondering!

Such an amazing deed is our new grandson born just 20 hours ago! I held this "amazing deed of our Lord" last night and marveled just in looking at his beautiful face, feeling his warm little body next to my heart. We placed him back in the arms of his mother, and as my husband and I left, we both repeated aloud, "Thank God, thank God." We pondered, and ponder still: what JOY it is to be blessed with our 4 children and 6 grandchildren! Thank You, Lord!

Old Friends

2008-09-27T10:53:00.002-04:00

As my daughter prepares for a visit from her best friend of 23 years, i think of the good fortune i have in several old friends. my twitter response was that old friends are a treasure beyond measure, and i believe it is so true.

Four come to mind: Nancy, Carol, Nita and JoAnne. If I total the number of years that I have been best friends with each of them, it comes to 151, if you can imagine such a thing! I was 13 when i met carol at summer baptist camp unami, so there's 53 years right there! And, nita and i were writing 12 page letters to each other when postage was 5 cents! (now we email) joanne moved to hawaii but when she returned to arizona and called me, we spoke like it had only been a week or so since our last contact. and nancy, well, she sums up everything precious that the word "dear" could possibly mean!

one of my early childhood memories is when my mother recognized that i had trouble remembering how to spell the word "friend." she said, "always remember that true friends are friends to the end, and you'll find the word end at the end of friend." (that's probably why i have ever since used "association learning" to help me recall things. it has served me well, even tho it sometimes takes 3 steps to put 1 in place; it works for me.) o my; friends to the end--how true and wonderful!

my "new best friend" of 10 years is my husband. we so enjoy each other's company, act silly together and laugh til the tears roll, share our thoughts and appreciate each other. he TELLS me regularly how appreciative he is, of all i do, big or small. he makes the mundane (like grocery shopping), FUN when we do it together. he can decipher in minutes, sometimes seconds, if something is bothering me. and he tells me "Happy Anniversary" on a monthly basis, like today, for instance. Quite special, he is, and I sure do love him! Friends to the end; thank you, Mom!

Tea & Scones

2008-09-26T14:29:00.003-04:00

Mmm, I wish you could smell the apple cinnamon scones baking in my oven right now! I have tea ready, c'mon over!

The very first time i ever heard of scones was when my daughter baked homemade scones and brought them over. i had no idea what they were, but enjoyed them immensely. they have become a standard treat any time i've been away for a business conference. my breakfast every morning during those conferences always meant i headed straight for whatever coffee shop the hotel had and bought (at least one) scone and flavored coffee! since i am now "re-lifed" and have no more business conferences on my agenda, i couldn't resist buying a mix on our recent visit to a neat store in cape may called love the cook. i still have the bag that they put my mix in--what IS IT about my saving bags?! Big, little, in-between, paper, plastic, fancy, plain; i show no partiality. ever since buying all the "green" (re-usable) bags from every store i ever frequent (as well as those i don't frequent but went to once!), my supply of bags has decreased exponentially. (i LOVE that word!)

yesterday was the first i got out my teapot and cozy! all summer i've enjoyed using my iced tea maker, but it must be the official sign that the season is changing. i've now made the switch to hot tea, book, quiet music, & afghan with cat-in-the-lap. add a fresh baked scone to the picture and you've painted a picture of a little heaven on earth.

speaking of music, mine was anything BUT quiet this morning. whenever i need a jump or kick-start on cleaning, i just BLAST buddy holly, sing to the top of my lungs and go, GO, GOOO! it even gets the parakeets all stirred up and they chirp away! i love it! the story of buddy holly was the ALL TIME favorite play i ever saw in all my years of sitting in the front row center of the walnut street theatre!

it is time for an apple-cinnamon scone and another cup o' tea. i'll save you one, kay?

Criteria

2008-09-24T14:47:00.000-04:00

Hmmm...seems strange to me that the criteria for hospice does not include two of the things that i myself cherish and hang onto as extremely dear: mom's singing and smiling! i mentioned in today's caregiver meeting that one time mom sang with a hymn and the hospice rep quick held her ears and commented that she "didn't hear that." (so i didn't dare tell her that at mom's BD party on saturday, after we had twice sung happy birthday to her, real soft, long afterwards--if i hadn't been right next to her i'd have never heard it--very softly she sang the last line: "happy birthday to you.") when i visit with mom i enjoy MOST that i can say something to make her laugh or smile, but listed on the hospice criteria checklist is "loss of ability to smile." even tho mom's doc told us that mom "may die within 6 months, based on [his] experience" if smiling and singing are reasons to "get kicked out of hospice" then i say, maybe mom's gonna enter Heaven's gates WITH a song and a smile!

That said, something sure made ME smile yesterday! while i was outside doing my pastel painting, just INCHES from my hand, as i held my drawing board, a humming bird came to the zinnia flower!! i could've touched him, he was that close. How exciting and thrilling is THAT!

there's a first for everything

2008-09-24T07:36:00.000-04:00

my o my; this is a first for me! my very own blog. i almost always have something to say, just have never really "put it out there." i chose JOY because it's what i feel deep inside, and it's what i see (most) days. after choosing it, it reminded me of my early childhood days in church and sunday school where we were taught that joy stood for: Jesus, Others, You. haven't thought about that acronym for years, but it's a pretty good layout to start my blogging. if you're here, welcome. i'll be in touch.

(o...how cool is this! my very own blog!)