Spa Days

Everything around here is so damp and the humidity won't quit. Nothing is drying out including me...I guess it's like a day or more at the spa with the steam facials. No extra charge. The husband has ordered a de-humidifier for the basement. We used to have one that finally gave up the ghost as they say. Things are truly so damp that mildew is imminent. It's like living on a ship at sea I think, not that I ever did but I can imagine. Off for my walk for which I need two towels upon my return. Later!

Thought for the Day

When all else fails - or when what you want to say is too abrasive and you need to think about it and tone it down a bit - reach for the email. Here's a good one.


Inner Peace

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment ,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!

Just the Two of Us

This is a picture of me at home for the evening with the husband. I don't know how this person captured us so perfectly but ....

A bit of info

Look at how the time has flown. Where have I been for all these days? Here and there and nowhere. This weekend is a mad whirl. I am off to stay with my cousin and have a girls' night which means she will drink wine and I will drive and we will get a pizza. I would drink wine too but I am driving. We will come back to her house where we will eat the pizza and more wine will be poured but truly, after I eat I am done with wine. We will then blah blah blah until my eyes are screaming at me to close. A good time will be had by both.

The next day I will be off to my neice's where I will tell you later what's going on. Sunday will be safe to say just in case she finds me here on the net. I have to not blab things for that reason.

The husband is so excited because he can stay home, have a couple of guys over and they can belch and burp and scratch their privates, spit too if they choose. Heaven, huh? They think so. NO GIRLS ALLOWED. Until Sunday.

My dear friend Julie has tagged me...I am working on it Julie.....honest.
And that's the point of the tag...honesty. I will deal with this after I duck and bob on what's up at the neice's.

Old Barns, Old People & Old Friends

I don't know who to credit for this but I am posting it here because it is such a lovely essay. I will move along the email I am taking this from but I want it to be here, in this journal where I try to think and search and - this is saying everything for me today.

Enjoy

Old Barns, Old People & Old Friends

Oh how I would love to restore and live in one of these !! -
but then , at my age, maybe I already do



A stranger came by the other day with an offer that set me to thinking.

He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway.
I told him right off he was crazy.

He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car,
His hands, and the way he talked.

He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn
sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale.

I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.



Sure, it was a handsome building in its day. But then, there's
been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind.
The summer sun's beat down on that old barn till all the paint's
gone, and the wood has turned silver gray.
Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired.
Yet, ... that fellow called it beautiful!!



That set me to thinking. I walked out to the field and just stood there,
gazing at that old barn.

The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls
of his den in a new country home he's building down the road.

He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful.

Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and
Scorching sun, --only that can produce beautiful barn wood.



It came to me then....
We're a lot like that, you and I....
Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us.
Sure we turn silver gray too... and lean a bit more than
we did when we were young and full of sap.
But the Good Lord knows what He's doing.
And as the years pass He's busy using the hard weather of our lives,
the dry spells and the stormy seasons, to do a job of beautifying
our souls that nothing else can produce.



They took the old barn down today and hauled it away
to beautify a rich man's house.

And I reckon someday you and I'll be hauled off
to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord
has for us on the Great Sky Ranch.
And I suspect we'll be more beautiful
then for the seasons we've been through here....

and just maybe even add a bit of beauty to our Father's House.



May there be peace within you today.
May you trust God that you are
exactly where you are meant to be.



And ........,
I do sincerely Thank God for my wonderful friends and
family who care about me even though I show signs of weathering!

I say Amen to all of the above

After the 4th

Happy after the 4th of July. We had such a nice holiday weekend. For the first time in my memory, we had no company at the house and no plan for the neighborhood piling in. We were guests! One of the neighbors had a cookout on the 4th which began at about 6pm. One of our outdoor tables and many of our chairs were called into service and we also brought some marinated shrimp on skewers to throw on the grill but other than that we were bone idle. What an amazing feeling! The street was milling with people and many stopped in at the outdoor eat-in to snack or sip. Later at the end of the street where the beach is many fireworks were in order and this year they were light up the sky beautiful. It was so clear that we could see the fireworks in the Vineyard way off there in the distance. Little colored bright flashes just hanging there at the horizon. Hope everyone enjoyed as much as we did.

Time. Flying.

July second???????? Cut it out!! How? As someone in the family once said, "Seems like just yesterday it was July 1st."

Rain, Rain Won't Go Away

The sun is out and it's warm too! Have to hurry before it goes away. Today is changeover day here in the summer area where I live all the time or will in the near future. The past week has been rain and gloom and damp and cool and here, on the last of the vacation day rentals, the sun bursts out to hurry these cool, damp, cabin fever riddled folks home. Go away. Make room for the next renters. The sun will more than likely fade and the rain clouds will roll in around 4pm or so as the unpacking for the upcoming rental week begins. Such is the rainy summer on Cape Cod.

Memories

Cruising around the net and read about happy hour here on Cape Cod. It is not legal anymore. There can be no cut rate drinks but oddly enough most thriving places, aka bars, get by with 1/2 price appetizers or dollar specials. A spot we always went to and still go once a summer was mentioned and it brought to mind a song that was always sung there by the wait-staff and bartenders.

Put something on the bar besides your elbow.
Something like an old 10 dollar bill.
Put something on the bar besides your elbow.
You can't ring up your elbow on the till.

I think it is still sung to this very day. Now if I could only remember how the story of Rindercella and the Prandsome Hince goes....I do know that when the clock struck 12 she slopped her dripper.

Let me ponder that for a while. Later.

Is There a Lincoln in the House? the Senate?

I'm reading Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. It is really good. Just read this statement he made when he challenged a proposed railroad project and I thought it could well be used to challenge just about any of the projects coming out of Washington today...most especially health care.

"However high our imagination may be heated at thoughts of it...there is a heart appalling shock accompanying the account of its cost."

Of course our esteemed Madarins in Washington don't really delve into the cost - the true cost - of any of their high blown proposals and what costs they refer to are entirely pulled out of the air.

Just sayin'

Fathers' Day Blessing

Happy Father's Day!

Went to brunch with my husband's dad and brother and his family and my nephew and husband of course. One of the nieces brought her friend who is a boy...not a boy friend mind you. We really had a nice time. Lots of food and talk and laughter and kindness and love all at the same table.

My husband has reconnected with his long lost family from his first marriage. Way back in the mid sixties he graduated from high school, joined the Air Force and while stationed in the deep South met and married a lovely, very young lady from Mississippi. They moved where the Air Force sent him and after two children in a short three year marriage, while he was overseas again, she determined that she wanted out and moved home with her parents. Broken hearts and young men and women don't make for a friendly breakup and when she remarried he totally went down the poor me road. His grandmother was the only connecting string and she passed away quite a while ago. In the past few months he has made a connection with both his daughter and son and although the story more than likely has twists and turns to come, this year he received his first ever Fathers' Day card. His daughter calls him several times a week or he calls her. His son is a bit less connected but I am sure when they meet, and they will this fall, that will move in the right direction. On the way home from brunch his phone rang and his daughter put his granddaughter on the phone. His son has 2 children and they are visiting with her for the week. As he talked on the phone I watched and I have never seen him so truly content. This is a huge blessing. He has had these missing pieces rattling him for years. Thank you God for putting the puzzle together.

Hope everyone had as blessed a day as we did.

Jesus is Street Smart but He Throws His $ Around

All right so here is what hit my mind on my walk today. When I'm done you may wonder why I ever walk. Me too.

Of a sudden a memory hit me from so many years ago. There I was, maybe 7 years old and trading things with the only girl in my neighborhood and she also happened to be about 7. We had known each other forever. She went to kindergarten with me and now was in whatever...maybe 2nd grade. I have to say though, she was way more able than I was. Hard to explain but I was always a little smushy. When I was 23 or so I dated this fellow who was older and he said to me one day, "How the hell did you
ever get to this point in your life without knowing anything?"

I had no idea what he meant and asked him. It seemed that he meant I had no "street smarts" and in fact I didn't know what they were. He was right. I knew nothing. Which brings me back to the 7 year old me and my this morning thoughts.

At seven all I ever wanted was a Cinderella watch. I know the meaning of covet from that time in my life. My friend got one for Christmas or a birthday or whenever but she had one and I did not. I wanted one. More. Than. Anything.

I had something she wanted but I really didn't know she did. See? If I had "street smarts" I would have worked that angle. I traded something really great for a broken Cinderella watch and I came home like a crazed woman. I was thrilled and dancing for heavens' sake. Man oh Man Happy as a whatever in whatever....YES! That Happy....

Then.. dum da dumm dumm.... Mom arrives and says "What do you have?" and, you know, being a non-street smart person I say, "Look at what I have Mom. A Cinderella watch. I have always wanted one. I am so happy, and look at her blond hair and the blue watch band and I love it I love it."

"It's broken and how did you get this piece of garbage?"

"It's only a little broken and her hair is still blond and the band is still blue and I traded my only friend in the neighborhood my doll and all her clothes for it."

I think something like "You're an Idiot!!!" might have been said and off we went to undo the deal of a lifetime.

My heart was broken and I realized that not only would I never have a Cinderella watch but also I was lousy tradesman.

So after all that, there I was walking this morning and being grateful to God for sending his son Jesus to ransom me and I thought, "What if Jesus is a bad tradesman too?" What if on that day when I turn up at the gate, God turns to Jesus and says, "You paid for this??? Are you nuts? Look at this and think about what you spent. You're going to get your money back."

Would he do that do you think? Will Jesus say "I always wanted a Gemma and I don't care if she doesn't keep time. I just like the blue band and the blond hair and no matter what I paid, I'm glad I have her." Or will be march back with Dad and return me.

I hope he keeps me.

I wish I had that watch.

I do know Jesus is way stronger that anyone I know. I hope he doesn't march back with his Dad and undo the trade. I just hope he doesn't think he paid too much for me. I think He has street smarts don't you?

Yeah. Me too.

UPDATE:

I just read this and from my logic, if Jesus had street smarts then he wouldn't have bought me at all. Thank you Jesus!

Press or Propaganda

I remember when I was way younger and the press was bringing Nixon down. There was no doubt that the President felt he was above the law back then. He was doing things that were, in his eyes, necessary but perhaps also, in his eyes, if not illegal then bent to the point of broken. The press beat the drum. The drum beats were constant. The story became a part of our personal fabric. Watergate. Watergate. Watergate. Endlessly pounding and pounding.

Now the silence towards the law breaking being done by this administration is deafening. I mean political party when I say administration. When the power shifted, the press got lost. They became the Goebbels of our time. All Obama, all the time. In the same way Nixon was brought down, Bush was declared selected, Obama is coronated and sanctified. Every day the press anoints him anew and we are to be dazzled by his sinless brilliance. I, for one, put my undazzlers on long before I saw what the press was capable of during the Nixon years.

Just sayin'

UPDATE in the same vein:

“Iran is not ruled by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but by the head ayatollah, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and his pigsty of brutal mullahs. Mr. Ahmadinejad never misses an opportunity to pay craven tribute to these unelected agents of harsh Islamic rule, always with a bending of the knee and a kiss for every outstretched holy hand”

I forget where I got this from but it struck me that we could substitute the USA for Iran, Obama’s name for Ahmadinejad and I’m not sure who we would substitute for the Kamenie and the pigsty but there are names to be used there. The frightening part is that here, in the land of the free, we don’t know who is truly in charge. Soros? I wonder. I used to be afraid it was Soros, now I am even more fearful that it isn’t.

Flowers for all Seasons

Did I already post this pic? If so sorry - it's just so darned cute I had to put it up here.

Daffodil Days never end around here do they? The daffodils are gone til next year though, now here comes hydrangea season and yes this is the exact color that springs out every year...amazing isn't it?

The Times they are A-Changing

I have a head full of things I would like to spew forth. Right now it's all whirling around like a Dairy Queen Blizzard....yum on that by the way. The weather has been very chilly and damp..what's new? Thank heavens for Global Warming or we'd be shoveling I'm sure. I said that to a friend and her reply made me realize how much pounding people are taking to be politically correct. She didn't want to jump on my wagon and ride to the "Al Gore is an IDIOT" tune but she is my friend so she said, in her most constricted voice....the one you use when your mother is pinching the under part of your arm, "Well there is a climate change occurring and it is cyclical." Huh? That's how free we seem to be to voice any opinion other than the accepted one. No one was there but the two of us and, as we talked later, because of the subject matter she felt she had to tread very carefully. I don't care if she agrees with me or not. She used to know that. I told her she was watching too much Main Stream News. I was right, she never watches Fox or uses the net. She feels that this subject is like politics and religion...we don't go there. Scary!

I guess all those years of organized everything for the kids is paying off. In addition to training kids to never have a rogue opinion, I heard this morning that businesses have to train new employees to make decisions. So it seems the system has trained the younger generation so well in this team effort that they have trouble with risk taking and independence. Yow....ya think???? I was always one who kind of hung back to see what the trends were before I either bucked them or went with them so I never thought I was very courageous. I made decisions only after tons of fact finding. In a business meeting I cringed when a co-worker leaped into the fray before we had the whole picture. Now....I feel like Captain Courageous and yet, my style hasn't changed at all. I guess it's true. Just wait a while -- don't change -- the world will.

Gotta Love It!!!!

Shred the Past and Move Along

Tuesdays feel like Mondays around here......and now it's Wednesday. Where does the time go? We - the husband and I - are doing a lot of ditzy things that really feel like you're doing nothing. Trying to empty out one house so we can sell it and the move to the other, much smaller, house is happening in fits and starts. One of the things we have accomplished is the removal of cartons of legal stuff that relates to every member of my family over the past 40 years. Everyone had the same attorney and that attorney passed away recently -- all the family members have also passed away, except for me of course. Thus, I have inherited all the cartons of paper in the attorney's basement that dealt with my family. I am shredding and shredding and shredding. Oh, the memories that all of this brings back, divorces and spouses who passed away and law suits and - - what a soap opera this family I was born into has lived. The book will be forthcoming and no one will believe it.

I feel like I have lost weight as this paper goes away. The shredding is like giving it to God. Let it go! Did I mention that we are on our second shredder? First one stopped never to start again. We have the heavy duty top of the line - at least for the home office. Back to the job at hand.

ZZZZZZZZZ

More rain and gloom today but the tears are clearing up..the wet air drops the pollen down and it certainly feels better. The house is so quiet right now. My husband had a sleep test last night or maybe I should say a couldn't sleep test. He flunked! He couldn't stay asleep long enough for them to figure out the apnea thing so he has to do a do over. Right now he's here...sleeping. The dog, who missed him more than oxygen is sleeping too. I don't think she slept a wink either. She kept expecting him to come home and she ran from her bed to the window a lot of times. I slept like a dream thank you. Had the bed to myself and the dog was awake so no one was snoring. I was up and down my usual two times and conked out each time. The radio was not playing ever and - - I missed him too! A good night's sleep isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Aches Pains and Tears

How did this week get by so fast? I have been moaning and groaning my way through the past couple of days. The weather is gloomy and spitting rain every now and then and it's chilly. Every bone and muscle in my body is creaking or cracking or aching and paining. Over the weekend I walked and walked and walked and that may have something to do with the aches and moans since I haven't been doing much at all since January. The age thing and the arthritis thing might also play a role here. Today, another gloomy and chilly day but since I took two days off I MUST get out the door and walk some more. Maybe that will work the creaks out.

At least the rain is washing the pollen off the car..all the puddles around here have a green film floating on them. Sneeze much? Well sort of but the worst of it for me is my watery teary eyes. Everyone I meet on my walk thinks I am running away from home after a fight with the spouse. No matter how many times I explain the allergy eyes I get a lot of sympathetic nods and you know the look? That oh yeah sure look? At least I give the neighbors something to mull over.

Hold on to the Wisdom

Made a huge mistake and checked the news. As a result I had to go to a source of wisdom and strength. I found a site where these gifts were received.

"The world cannnot exist without God's consistent spritual energy" That is a true blessing and I must internalize that. Here is the real keeper.

"To the arrogant and wicked, theirs is only a world of mirage and they should not think with such posturing they will succeed." Amen

Let it Go

On the road again. Trying to get my house ready to sell and it involves moving 60 odd years and every family member's unwanted belongings out in some way. I had an antique dealer in and he treated everything as if it's ready for the junk pile. He would give me something and then he talked about how much man power he would need to expend to move it all.

Well, in my head I say to myself, "if it's that much bother and work then why pay me anything? I should be paying you."

So that thought makes me reconsider and decide to look for another dealer and then I think, "You have been sitting on this stuff for years and it is just in the way."

Then I think of the monkey story. You know the one. The monkey is given a coconut with a hole drilled in it big enough to fit his hand through. Inside the coconut is a bunch of really tasty food. Once the monkey reaches in and grabs as much as he can, his hand full of food won't fit to get back out of the hole. If he would let go he could get his hand out. He won't let go. He is tied to this coconut which means he can't move and so he sits and starves to death. Am I the monkey?

It is so hard to let go.