I wish I could assure you that in only 35 steps you could be made perfect or your world made awesome. I could sell those 35 steps in a notebook for just a little and, if it turned out I was right, I would have enough to share some with you. WOW!
However, in my world those 35 steps re-enforces my belief that my husband can do anything.
We ordered a small desk for my computer for 15% off on black Friday. Yesterday it was delivered in a very flat box with instructions for assembly. Somehow we didn't think this through and hadn't counted on a flat box. We don't think the ad said "some assembly required" We could be wrong.
So today...all day...my husband took on the 35 steps and a gajillion small screws, bolts and nails to assemble my prize. When I came home at around 2 pm he had been at the task for several hours. He was on step 24. It is now 5:47 pm and I am just now set up to write again
.
I do love that man!
What did you do today?
b+
PS I had a wonderful day of golfing with friends! :)
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
What IS Important?
Note: I published one year ago on this date. It is still important to me. How about you?
I have had this on my mind for a few days. I think it must be because the last few weeks have been very hard on all of us. We are trying to find the ground again and begin living our life without that dark cloud of mistrust and hurt feelings hanging over our heads. What is important in my world...really, what is it given that I have control over almost nothing?The other day I was feeling very discouraged over a game of golf when one of the women I was playing with told me her grandson had committed suicide last week. What is important on a day like that?
My beautiful great-granddaughter smiled for the camera the other day and I loved her so. What is important on a day like that?
A friend dropped by with a problem here in the park and began to talk about his children and their spouses. The problem faded. What is important on a day like that?
Important: Our Earth |
Important: Our young son and his beautiful granddaughter. |
So, today the sun is shining. We shopped for vegetables and I made a pot of soup. Soon I will have a glass of wine and begin reading a book I ordered for my kindle on my iPad. I ordered a gift for a grandchild for Xmas and checked on another that is to be delivered later this week. I will order more this afternoon.
On this day, what is important to me is that pot of soup, the people I love and, above all, all of you. Outside of that I will do what I can to keep my family safe and loved, our earth clean and do my duty for my country. What else is there?
Important: My husband and I laughing on our 56th wedding anniversary. |
What do you think is important?
b+
Monday, November 13, 2017
My Thoughts on Football becoming the Good in our Country
The inside of the tiny library my husband built for our neighborhood. We decided to be the good in our world. How about you? |
Lately...doggone it...it seems that there is a film of discontent hanging over the whole thing. I used to enjoy not liking football and yelled at the TV a lot on Sunday afternoon.
Football came into the conversation last night at dinner. A friend brought up the professional football players rebellion that has become part of the pregame ritual. First kneeling during the national anthem then standing but kneeling before. There is a video going around that has been digitally altered to show ballplayers burning the American flag. I suppose there is a lot more of which I am not aware. I simply did not want to think about it.
But then my friend had an idea that really got my attention. In football we have a group of greatly admired men in a position to do something good for their people. I for one would like them to join together a movement that could help someone in the USA. I for one would join. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Does that make sense? The election is over for a year now...the time has come for all of us, including professional athletes, to become the good in this country and that good should be inclusive and polite. I think that professional ball players might be the very place it could all begin.
So, do you have a connection with one of those men? I don't but somehow we need to get their attention. We need them to help those of us that have no voice or influence.
Pass the word my friends. I am waiting.
Oh and please tell those men that the American flag belongs to the American people. The President has to salute it because we expect it just like we expect them to stand and be proud of their country no matter how flawed it is.
b+
Saturday, November 11, 2017
On Remaining a Logical Thinker
b+ 2017 |
See, the thing is I am so emotionally attached to my ideas and dreams that I cannot be very logical.
I am old enough that I remember the day John F. Kennedy was elected. I was in my college dorm room and I thought at the time that "now we can live in a country that respects intellect and it's value to our world". I didn't count on an assassination and then later the tearing down of the "Kennedy" myth. I was attached to that dream. (I was in the classroom when Kennedy was assassinated.)
Over the years I have been through the ups and downs of politics. I was running a summer sunday school program on June 8, 1968 when Ten Kennedy was assassinate. During the Vietnam War I did not read the newspaper. The insanity of the whole thing was too much for me as a young wife and mother. That was not what I had dreamt of when I graduated college and became a teacher of little children.
Like so many people of my generation I truly dreamt of equality among all of us. I for one celebrated the Equal Right Amendment. When President Barack Obama was elected, I felt so hopeful that people would see the opportunity to lift up the minorities in our country. I didn't count on a leftover recession from G.W. Bush and a group of people that were so hung up in bigotry and hatred for the President that they forgot about the rest of the American people for 8 years.
Now...now we are in the midst of a 4 year term with a president that simply undoes all the good that Obama has done because he is obsessed with the idea that he is called to do that. We will see the repercussions of all that. Oregon's homeless population has doubled in the past year in many parts of the state. Our beautiful Portland is being called a tent city.
Last night we had dinner with friends and one of the people at the table began extolling the progress Trump has made in his visit to the Far East. I was absolutely silent. Trying to remain logical at that moment was not even possible. I can only hope that she is right but.....! (CNN)
Are you still a logical thinker? Do you sift out and let go of ideas that are just dreams and nothing more? Let me know.
b+
Thursday, November 9, 2017
That One Day When Travel Surprised Me Again
Mail boxes taken through the screen on a dirty window...just interesting! |
This trip to Santa Fe comes four years after our last. It was my birthday so it was a celebration of sorts. We ate authentic New Mexico food, visited Canyon Road and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. We ate at the Plaza Cafe for breakfast (a must).We shopped from the Native American artists that sell their wares in front of the Palace of Governor's.
Those artists are chosen by lottery so the person you see today will not be back tomorrow. Every item must be hand made...no manufacturing of any kind can happen. One does not get to "think it over". I like that too. I am always surprised by what we find.
On the way to and from Santa Fe we found new gems and missed some old ones. Hatch NM did not have the chiles drying on the roof or in the street this year. But they did have some beautiful pottery from Mexico.
We found a restaurant in Deming, NM on our way home called Elsa's House of Pies & Restaurant. The food was good old fashions southern home cooking. The very small space was located in the alley beside the Well Fargo Bank parking lot! It was a surprise to say the least.
Out of all the wonders this trip brought, it was the totally unexpected event that happened at the The Museum of Art and Culture on Museum Hill south east of the city center. As we arrived, a crowd was gathering and a crowd of Native Americans and locals were walking up the hill toward the center piece of that complex. Native drummers were practicing in the parking lot. It was there we happened onto a ceremony for the unveiling of a statue of Valentino Tzigiwhaeno Rivera. Valentina was the son of a former New Mexico governor, George M. Rivera and a famous hoop dancer that performed around the world. His father is a renowned artist and created the bronze sculpture as a way of healing.
Valentino was injured in a car accident in 2015 that took his life 14 month later. He was 8 years old at the time of his death.
Performers from dance troupes called the Lightning Boy Dancers, some very small and other's teens that contend in the World championship competition held in Phoenix each year. Tzigiwhaeno was Valentino's Native American name and meant "lightning". The group is lead by a world champion hoop dancer and named is sponsored by the Lightning Boy Foundation formed in Valentino's memory. His mother, Felicia Rosacker-Rivera, leads that foundation.
We found a restaurant in Deming, NM on our way home called Elsa's House of Pies & Restaurant. The food was good old fashions southern home cooking. The very small space was located in the alley beside the Well Fargo Bank parking lot! It was a surprise to say the least.
Out of all the wonders this trip brought, it was the totally unexpected event that happened at the The Museum of Art and Culture on Museum Hill south east of the city center. As we arrived, a crowd was gathering and a crowd of Native Americans and locals were walking up the hill toward the center piece of that complex. Native drummers were practicing in the parking lot. It was there we happened onto a ceremony for the unveiling of a statue of Valentino Tzigiwhaeno Rivera. Valentina was the son of a former New Mexico governor, George M. Rivera and a famous hoop dancer that performed around the world. His father is a renowned artist and created the bronze sculpture as a way of healing.
Valentino was injured in a car accident in 2015 that took his life 14 month later. He was 8 years old at the time of his death.
Even in the womb, Valentino Tzigiwhaeno Rivera was a dancer. Complete story here. |
We were very fortunate to witness the whole event from the speeches to the unveiling of the beautiful sculpture to the hoop dances dedicated to Valentino's memories. It was a remarkable though heart wrenching thing to see. That little boy was a gift and a wonder.
We spent 4 nights in the area and never stopped to wonder what we were going to do. The more we come to Santa Fe the more I want to go back. And on this trip..life happened to us again. I suppose we shouldn't even be surprised after almost 57 years of marriage.
What was your big surprise lately? :)
We spent 4 nights in the area and never stopped to wonder what we were going to do. The more we come to Santa Fe the more I want to go back. And on this trip..life happened to us again. I suppose we shouldn't even be surprised after almost 57 years of marriage.
What was your big surprise lately? :)
Canyon Road Art Gallery. It is a feast for the eyes. |
Fall brings out the last colors! |
She was just sitting in the Plaza in Santa Fe and waiting for an admirer. I am glad we came by! |
Sculpture in the garden on Museum Hill. |
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
What do YOU know?
Have I said this before......?
Having been a mother/grandmother/great-grandmother/teacher for over 50 years a lot of words spoken by children have gone in one ear and out the other. Yet I never cease to be amaze.
As I sat the kindergartners every day for the last 5 years of my career I learned I could not even possibly guess what was going on inside all those minds. I only got a small glimpse when I asked the simple question, "What do YOU know?" It was amazing the answers that came, all different, as I went around the circle of the children seated before me.
If you were to ask me that question today my answer would be,
Have a wonderful day!
b+
Having been a mother/grandmother/great-grandmother/teacher for over 50 years a lot of words spoken by children have gone in one ear and out the other. Yet I never cease to be amaze.
As I sat the kindergartners every day for the last 5 years of my career I learned I could not even possibly guess what was going on inside all those minds. I only got a small glimpse when I asked the simple question, "What do YOU know?" It was amazing the answers that came, all different, as I went around the circle of the children seated before me.
If you were to ask me that question today my answer would be,
"Good manners never go out of style." I think we are lifted up by the small courtesies that make up an ordinary day.So today I am asking you, "what do YOU know?"
Have a wonderful day!
b+
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Featured Post
Things that Go Bump in the Night
Do you live alone? Are you afraid? Do noises make you jump? My little dog is a barker and noises make her jump. She barks at her reflection ...
-
This is so funny...I made this list and then went out to see if I could find a "how-to" for each one. Here are the ideas AND a lin...
-
The following article was sent to me by Reverse.Org and I am publishing it as information. I do not endorse reverse mortgages or any type of...