New Day - Tuesday

Good morning.    Yeah, once we throw the stone it does not come back, one  more reference to 'time' that I read about one day last week.    Time, one of the good four letter words . . . or is it?  For some it is much too long and for others much too short.   The young ones think it will never pass and they will never grow up and get to live their own lives.   We had a nun tell us in eighth or ninth grade that there would be a time that we would be wishing to be back in school and we thought she was crazy.   Time has been a trickster, a buffoon and a blessing . . . how quickly we have learned about time and its correlation with our minds, our heart and our souls.

So today, make good use of all your seconds.    Go out of doors when you can to enjoy the sunshine and the  end of spring as the 22nd of this month becomes the first day of the new season.    Pray that the weather pattern will change for the better and we can enjoy this summer without excessive hot days.    With the weather patterns we have been having, it is going to be a challenge if we have abnormal summer heat . . . 'time' will tell.    Have a 'slow' day if you can and be sure to laugh out loud.   Hugs to all.

D Day Allied Invasion

Good Monday morning.   Here is a beautiful picture my granddaughter Erin took in her travels.  I like it.   It has a feeling of serenity and peace, the sun is setting after a busy day as the tide is coming in and I am wondering where you were when all this was going on.    Walking a city street?   Jogging down a pathway?   Heading home after a busy day?    This would be an ideal picture to blow up poster size and have hanging in your bedroom so if you felt restless or couldn't sleep, this picture would help you to relax and fall into a quiet mode.   



The calendar says it is "D-Day", can you remember where you were when the news broke?   The Memorial Day movies brought back so many memories of that day and the loss of lives.   Light a candle for the brave souls that gave their all for you and me.   If nothing else, we owe them big time.

As for this little guy, looks a bit like my pocketbook after a trip to Freddys for some groceries.   I had to laugh yesterday when my son John wrote about his shopping expedition and the cost of things.  It is usually me doing all the griping and groaning over the new every day higher price and I am not shy about complaining to anyone who will listen.   It is not fair, not right, not just, that the grocery stores get away with the daily rise in prices.   If everyone was working and had a good income that would be one thing, but a lot of folks haven't worked in a year or two, have food stamps to contend with and cannot get some necessary and needed items, like paper products.    Where will all this end?  and when? Just how much are you willing to pay for a piece of steak . . . the eatable ones are ten dollars and better per pound;  even hamburger runs five dollars a pound, well . . . $4.95,   How folks with children can survive is a mystery to me.  

So today, if you are lucky to have an income, celebrate your good fortune by buying a few extra groceries and share them with your local food bank.    Those folks work hard to help the unfortunate who are having a really bad time of it right now.     Try and remember when you are checking out your food closet, not to throw out the old bent cans, go out and buy new so those folks will stay healthy and well so when work comes their way they will be strong and willing to go back to work and then help others.   It is a good circle to belong to.    Be one of the 'good guys' and make someone smile today.   Hugs to all.

Lazy Day

The Juno crew asked for comments on the changes and of course I responded.  It is always fun to remind them, once again, that like the picture of the rusty can promoting a product that doesn't work, jumping ads do nothing but create a feeling of ill will and frustration.    It will not do much good as they have already responded with the words that we computer users should really be thankful as the ads, jumping or not, keep the cost down on the use of their prestigious product.  Boy, would I love your feedback on that one.   It is much like our television with ads every four minutes.    Talk about intrusion . . . well, lets not, fighting 'city hall' is rather useless . . .  but, nothing says we have to by the product. 

A mystery, I had other pictures but they have disappeared, well what can I expect when I am trying to get into the back door and my old friend Mortimer the friendly ghost of blame is hanging around.    I apologize for the harangue, it has been a useless use of words that will not resolve the computer problems of updating.  Let 's go on to something else like the wildfires in Arizona that are driving the folks out of town to get some fresh air.    Andrea and Bob wrote yesterday they were packing up and taking off for a reprieve.   Over two hundred thousand acres have burned already.  How sad, how awful, some folks have lost their homes and everything in them.     It has been a tragic year for so many.    Reminds me of a rather long poem I did some time ago which I called "I Often Wonder"

The elements show themselves/in so many varied forms/I often wonder/Is this God's way/ to keep us well informed.

The oceans circle round the globe/the mountains reaching high/moisture forms/and soon a storm fills the sky.

The thunder roars/lightening soars/sending rain/upon the earth/the soil becomes a muddy pond/ the trees bend/from the wind/I often wonder/ is this God's way to show he sees/the foolishness below/how come the summer storms are soft/the world a soft glow/are we doing something to please His very soul?

This earth can tremble/crusts do move/the earth can split apart/I often wonder/ Is this Gods way to show the mean at heart?

When winds collide and form a cone/cyclone forms arrive/ to take whatever is in its path/I often wonder is this Gods way/to show the greedy/ they should share today?

The ocean can be smooth as silk/then turns to fury/as the waves/pound heavily on shore/flooding areas/and homes are no more/ I often wonder is this God's way to say/we are selfish and hoard and hoard and hoard.

Volcanoes erupt up into the sky/spuming heavy clouds of ash and smoke/making lava rivers/to destroy any- thing in its path/I often wonder/ Is this Gods way of telling us nothing is forever/so wake up/ pay attention/help change our ways/ so God will make the elements behave.

So today, Sunday all day, hopefully a long slow day in which you can rest and relax before starting the second week of June.    The month of brides and I don't know a single one.    I hope you do so you can join in the festivities and have a great time.    Daughter Patricia is coming along fine and should be coming home today which makes Emma and me happy.    I can hardly wait to spend some time with my daughter Christine and make up for some of the time we do not get to share.    It has been a long week and I am glad it is over although I have to admit it was wonderful to hear the voices of my sons and to have my granddaughter catch up with me.    If you have been a little remiss, take time out today to pick up the 'gadget' and call someone who loves you and brighten their day.    A few words, really only three little ones . . . I love you . . . well, I do, and I am glad you are in my life.     Go, laugh out loud today.   Hugs to all.

 

Time You Cannot Get Back

Good morning.    It is Saturday, all day, and it looks like a big black cloud is passing over and hopefully it will keep going and there will be some warmth and sunshine today.  We certainly can use a little summer weather.    The butterflies are out and that is a good sign.    My garden is growing wilder and bushier and looks like someone planted some lovely plants and knew what they were doing.  Too bad, I can't take credit for most of it as it was here when we moved in.   I have added a few odds and ends and they are growing so I can pat myself on the back for keeping them alive.   Not having green thumbs is far from a blessing.    Meanwhile I do pray over them a lot and that seems to be working.

Hug you always get back and that is one of life's blessings.    This week has been a hard one as my daughter Patricia had to go into the hospital for some private personal 'we don't talk about' surgery.   I am ready to shout to the world as I don't like the idea of anyone hovering over my children but me, and I find that as the role reversal comes about this changes.    The hovering of motherhood is no longer needed, or so 'they' say,but I am willing to bet that the attention given during recuperation will be welcomed with open arms.   The news is good and Pat is doing fine.  When her sister Christine called me last evening to report in, her first words were that Patricia was 'crabby' . . . good news as Patricia has a perchance for crabbiness when it suits her.    She is not happy having to stay an extra night, but then she will appreciate it more once she stands up and finds out she is not Katrina the Great this morning.  The funny thing is that they have her housed near the pediatric area and Christine teased her sister about the 'real' reason she was in there as a cart filled with new babies went by to join the new moms.     Pat didn't think it was that funny, but then, as I said, she is being crabby and right now she can be. . . it's okay . . . she will get over it as soon as they give her permission to go out the hospital door.

Another picture of the butterfly in Judy's garden in Colorado.  They are having warmer weather there.   I am fascinated by the size and designer patterns, such symmetry.  It looks almost painted . . . how surprising nature is as it unfolds such beauty.

So today, you have 'time' so use it wisely because once it is gone you can never get it back.   Some time we don't want back, others we would love to do all over again.   Some we throw away and some we hug close . . . make your seconds count today by filling your time with love and laughter.   Hugs to all.

TGIF June 3rd

Good morning.  An old picture taken in Bandon, Oregon a few weeks ago.   Yeah, I am back talking about 'the change' which has screwed up the picture process but I will not waste our visit going back into that.

I had some pictures that came in on an attachment yesterday.  It showed different animals hung up on some one thing that imprisoned them.   It was a wonder as to how they got themselves in such dire straights as the cows wandered around with buckets on their head or caught in the fork of a tree.    They must be curious and wander around looking for something new and different.   Guess they are not much different than we are in that respect.   One old sow caught in a mud puddle didn't seem at all unhappy, just glad I didn't have to clean up after any of them.   

It is cold in the house this morning so it has to be down to forty overnight.   We are having our spring weather and are waiting to see if we actually do get at least one week of summer which starts in another week or two.    Yesterday there was a huge rainbow that ran across the sky right over my neighbors house.   I took a picture of it but haven't uploaded it into  'my pictures' yet .  Hopefully I will be able to pull pictures up again.   The sky has been filled with unbelievable clouds of every size, shape and color.   An artist would have a 'field' day.      I saw that my neighbor, Mary, was outside puttering around her yard so went over to say hello and ask about the 'for sale' sign now on her front lawn.    Mary and her husband Joseph have only been in the neighborhood about two years now.    Nice folks and I am going to be sorry when they leave us.  It seems Jo is having problems physically and when they were in Nevada he felt so much better they have decided to move up in the high desert country.   Where?   Carson City . . . my old stomping grounds.    It was fun to tell her of some of the places and describe some of the beauty of Nevada.   The housing market up there is dirt cheap right now as Nevada was hit badly by the decline in the housing market.   I almost had myself talked into moving back there . . . well now that I know it is still snowing up there, I have second thoughts.   I talked with my friend Helen yesterday and she and her sister are planning another trip up to Reno in September.   I would love to join them and revisit my old haunts but getting there is always the hardest part since they tripled the air fare from here to there.   


If you find yourself in a mood to read, don't be afraid to read "Eminence" by Morris West.  An interesting and a good read.     The book sale here over the holiday weekend was a huge success and this year they let the remaining books stay out on the tables for an extra few days so you could go and buy a bag full for two dollars.   I now have ten new novels to read, hopefully on the back porch in sunshine, but rainy day reading curled up on the couch is a blessing also.  I found a few of my favorite authors but then the fly leaf on some  others I am not familiar with were enticing enough to bring home with me too.    Daughter Christine brought down one of her old bookcases and it is a beauty.  I spent yesterday moving some books around and today I have to revamp my old bookcase and make it neater.   I have heard that flowers brighten a room, but books make it cozy and comfortable.  


So today, if your weather is beautiful, and you go about winding  down for the weekend, take time out to read awhile.   You may even have one of the newer gadgets that has a new best seller on it.   Daughter Christine has a gadget that does so many things that it is hard to believe it contains the information it does.  She can find her way in a strange area, or use her gadget as a camera, or a telephone, or even a computer.  She can get e mail, text messages and a host of other things all at the touch of a screen.  It is amazing what is happening in our world of communication.    I cannot imagine what will be next for those of you just starting out or for those of you who are mid way . . . an amazing world is opening up.    Just remember to use your seconds wisely.  Hugs to all.

You Judge

I wish I had known that it was sand casting time at Cannon Beach, Oregon as I would have tried very hard to go up there to see the absolutely wonderful work done by the sand artists.    They have six hours to do their project, starting with low tide and getting a masterpiece finished before the tide rolls back in and demolishes it.   

The details are amazing and so life like.    Such talent.

This one must have taken all of the six hours.  I would be heart broken to make such a masterpiece and then watch it being demolished by the sea. There were many more entries, and each one was an amazing feat of beauty and wonder.    I would love to have walked the beach and inspected each entry.   You can bet my camera would have gotten a good workout.    


 So today, the second day of your new month, relax and enjoy June for it is the beginning of summer and it is going to be very interesting to see what our weather is going to do.   There was a tornado in Springfield, Massachusetts yesterday, something that does not happen very often.   I guess we have to get our three day pack ready whether we want to or not, as the weather seems to have a mind of its own this year.    My two daughters and I went to the Nautical Inn for our scallops last evening and sat at a table facing the ocean as the sun was going down.  It had been raining slightly on the window panes so as we were looking through the window pane it made the clouds look like they were dripping.  They had irregular shapes and an iridescence about them that would have made an artist stand up and sketch.    It isn't often I get to enjoy both of my girls together and it was fun.  They have a camaraderie that was good to see and laughter came easy.    My world seemed a lot brighter.   The seconds fly by so do not miss a chance to share time with those you love.    Just remember 'life is not a rehersal' so make good use of today.    Hugs to all.

Look and See

High up in the Saguaro cactus, some forty feet in the air, sits a golden cat with amber eyes feeling its oats.  I wonder what chased it up there.    I don't think it makes a habit of scaling a cactus.  Just think how agile and how scared it must have been to 'reach for the stars'.

This picture reminded me of my expression when I go into a big city and have to be in heavy traffic moving bumper to bumper at high speed.   My granddaughter Erin will get a big kick out of this one.   I actually took her to task for driving fast in the rain.   Yeah!   I am getting OLD.

A close up of the bob cat on a perch that cannot be to comfortable.    Those pickers must be on the top as well as the sides of the cactus.    Well, this tough old cat doesn't seem to mind.  I'd like to see what chased it up there.   At least it is getting a tan.  Wonder if they have to call the fire men to get it down?  




So today, hump day, hopefully a sunshine day.   Daughter Christine has arrived and brought some lovely birthday presents.   I now have some beautiful tiles made by one of the artists at the Port Orchard Gallery.    They were made from the original work done in several different styles, one in water color, charcoal and oils.    The four smaller ones are almost to beautiful to put a glass on.   I may just make a wall collage out of all of them, but on second thought they are made to be used so use them I will.    I may even let you put your glass on one.

Don't let time get by you.  Use it well and make your seconds count.     I am off to make some blueberry pancakes for my two daughters this morning.    I haven't had the two of them together in a very long time.  Have I told you how beautiful they are, inside and out, well have you got an hour or two to listen?    I hope your having a breakfast that will make you healthy and happy this morning, go . . . enjoy your day.  Hugs to all.