This About Says It ALL

Friendship

"Friendship is love without his wings"
~ Lord Byron

Some people came into my life for a short time. Hopefully, I was wise enough to learn something from each one. More importantly, I hope I brought something into their lives to learn or cherish.

Some people have made the effort to remain in contact with me as I traveled to various destinations and explored my options in my adventurous life. Two friends have been accepting of me and caring about me since 8th grade!

It's been a long time since 8th grade; mistakes made, lessons learned. I am blessed.

Screen Cleaner

Is Age A State Of Mind

Thanks to Matt at Empathy:

"Forever Young.

Feeling Old today? Well, don't!

Life is too short and too precious to feel old and tired, make today the beginning of the rest of your young life.

Here are 8 Ways to Stay Young and Healthy

Age? What's That? - Don't concentrate on numbers. (your age) if you use your numbers as a measuring tool for what you can or cannot do, you will start feeling old, possibly at 30! So forget your numbers!

Surround yourself with positive friends - Having "friends" who always seem grouchy or always getting you down and not being very supportive....can be a drag!

Learn, Learn, Learn - Keep learning about different things and adjust your interests throughout your life, keep your mind in a constant state of wanting to explore and learn about something new.

The Little Things - Take pleasure in a flower, or watching your children or grandchildren play, listen to their laughter and absorb that feeling. It really is a good feeling!

Laugh! - Laugh at yourself, at your mistakes, at your accomplishments, just laugh and don't take yourself too seriously.

Surround yourself with Love - Whatever you love, music, plants, animals, cars, surround yourself with them.

Share your Love - Tell the people you love, how much you love them everyday or whenever you see them and give them a hug or a kiss.

Volunteer your time - I say this a lot and I know from personal experience and from many many people telling me that it's true... When you give of yourself you feel really really good, sharing what you know with other people, taking the time to give a darn about someone else is just simply awesome!"

These are all good ideas. I hope Matt doesn't mind I used a different graphic!

For those of us who have had more birthdays than the younguns, we have our ways of staying young and keeping young at heart. We do not keep bringing up the number of years we have reached, as suggested in number one on the list. Not that the number would be depressing, just wasting the time acknowledging it would be a drag. I was depressed for a week around my 30th birthday, and that was the last time I paid any attention to my age!

I agree with the concept keep learning, keep challenging the mind, stay alert. I know people much older than I am who work crossword puzzles every day, puzzles that are much too difficult for me to master! I read every minute I'm not doing something else, so I am reading every day for a few hours, and I have a book with me at all times. Other than when I am driving, if I have a couple minutes to wait somewhere, I cannot get impatient or bored because I have a book to open and enjoy. Presently, I am learning new things on my job and striving to improve my situation at work.

Laughter is like medicine. Healing. Therapeutic. Rehabilitating.
Besides love, there are three things I cannot do without: Music, reading, and laughter. Reading and music are food for my soul and laughter brings my entire being into alignment and ensures there is still fun in my life.

A Blonde Story

From Winged Emotion:

"A Blonde’s Year in Review

January - Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.

February - Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels…..Helllloooo!!!…..bottles won’t fit in printer !!!

March - Got really excited…..finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months…..box said “2-4 years!”

April - Trapped on escalator for hours ….. power went out!!!

May - Tried to make Kool-Aid…..wrong instructions…. 8 cups of water won’t fit into those little packets!

June - Tried to go water skiing…..couldn’t find a lake with a slope.

July - Lost breast stroke swimming competition….. learned later,the other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!

August - Got locked out of my car in rain Storm….. car swamped because soft-top was open.

September - The capital of California is “C”…..isn’t it???

October - Hate M & M’s…..they are so hard to peel.

November - Baked turkey for 4 1/2 days … instructions said 1 hour per pound and I weigh 108!

December - Couldn’t call 911 ….. “duh”….. there’s no “eleven” button on the stupid phone!!!"

What a year!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Whether you are with family or friends, enjoy the Thanksgiving Day to the max!

My sweet boyfriend, JamesRaven, and I hope you will be saturated with peace, gorged with serenity, satiated with sentiment, and stuffed to the gills with affection. This gluttonous adventure has nothing to do with food and everything to do with attitude. Have an excellent day, wherever it takes you and whatever you do.

Meals On Wheels Story

From Better Homes And Gardens, November 2006, Then & Now Section: "A Movable Feast" by Mike Butler:

"I've always had kind of a strange relationship with Thanksgiving. It might be rooted in childhood, which in most respects was a happy one. But Dad, a chef and restaurateur, didn't care much for turkey beyond its ability to make stock. He yielded grudgingly to the tradition of turkey on Thanksgiving, only because it gave him an excuse to conjure up his magical bread dressing laced with sage.

During my married years, which in most respects were happy ones, too, Thanksgiving tradition required us to go over the river and through the woods to my mother-in-law's house. There, the men drank red wine and sat in front of the TV all afternoon while the women sipped white wine in the kitchen and prepared dinner. They always seemed to be having a better time, but the men weren't allowed in the kitchen until it was time to wash dishes.

A few years ago, hearing that regular volunteers clearly wanted to take off Thanksgiving Day, I signed up to deliver Meals on Wheels. My route is different every year. I always seem to get a couple of people who take their turkey dinners (donated by a grocery deli) and shut the door with hardly a thank-you. Sometimes I get mysterious notes saying to leave the meals on the porch. There's always a genuine character though.

One, Betty, a widow, insisted that I come in and chat and watch football for a while. She chain-smoked but her energy level gave me no doubt that I couldn't keep up with her on a brisk walk around the neighborhood. There was Ed, who with great sacrifice to his hip joints, lured me to his basement den and regaled me for a few hours with delightful stories of his railroading years.

My latest Thanksgiving Day ritual has me returning to the grocery store after my route is finished to buy my own deli dinner: turkey, dressing with not enough sage in it, mashed potatoes, and canned green beans with canned cream of mushroom soup and canned french-fried onions mixed in. I love it.

The turkey and glass of wine will make me drowsy, and I'll drift into sleep with a feeling of gratitude---for giving a little and receiving a lot."

This article is touching, thoughtful, and tender; the three T's. I enjoyed reading it; I hope you do too.

Patriotic

From Wikipedia:

"Personal patriotism is emotional and voluntary. The patriot adheres to certain patriotic values, such as respect for the flag."

[...]

"Patriotism implies a value preference for a specific civic or political community."

[...]

"Continuity of the connections between leaders, between leaders and followers, and among followers is vital to the strength of a community. Members individually hold the collective personality of the whole. With sustained connections and continued conversations, participants in communities develop emotional bonds, intellectual pathways, enhanced linguistic abilities, and even a higher capacity for critical thinking and problem-solving."

Respect for freedom. Respect for true community.

Renewed respect for the voting process.

Dinner Table Conversation

When I was growing up, the family ate evening meals together.

I always thought it was just because it was easier to have everyone sit down at one time and eat and get it over with and get on with the rest of the evening. For me, that meant going back outside to play baseball with the boys since there weren't any girls living nearby out in the country.

I am an observer of my kids and grandkids now, and they live a very different lifestyle. The grandkids are chauffeured to so many sports activities, music lessons, dance lessons, there isn't time for the family to be together. What the heck is that???????

Some enterprising people are providing help by encouraging conversation. I found two similar products, there are probably many more. A box of cards is placed at the dinner table and as a family member picks a card, it asks a question or in some helps start a discussion, thus encouraging interaction among the family members.

The first graphic in this post is from tabletopics.com, this particular photo is of the Family Edition:

"TableTopics Family Edition was created to encourage family connection around the dinner table. From silly to thought-provoking, the questions delve into family history and opinions to achieve a mix that's fun for everyone. At the dinner table, bedtime, or in the car, kids love to talk about what they think. And if you talk with your kids now, chances are they'll talk with you later. TableTopics Family will help get the conversation going."

The second graphic is from Food For Talk:

"Food for Talk is a recipe box filled with 200 cards designed to initiate and stimulate the dinner hour, helping parents and children connect on a deeper level by sharing feelings, values and experiences.

Each night, someone in the family picks one card and reads it aloud. Give everyone ample time to think and then go around the table one-by-one, letting the children answer first (helps them not just mimic mom and dad’s response). Set some important boundaries and manners, such as listen politely and no interruptions, criticisms or distractions. Parents and children will start learning about each other’s thoughts, feelings and values, resulting in a deeper sense of trust, respect and mutual friendship."

Can you believe, I am actually going to purchase one of each for my kids and their families for a Christmas gift!! Maybe it will even come in handy for their Thanksgiving dinner next year and a few Sunday dinners between now and then.

Nonverbal Communication

Eye gaze.
ASL.
Thumbs up.
High five.
Facial expressions.
Hand gestures.

Some more?

Fall Harvest

I am looking forward to having four days off work. This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. There doesn't have to be a particular holiday to be thankful.

My sweet boyfriend and I will cook our Thanksgiving dinner together and eat a nice meal together. But wait, we do that every day. For us, the joy of sharing preparation of the food, and the companionship while eating, and cleaning up is a daily blessing. We appreciate the simple things and are so grateful for the life we share.

We won't have a huge spread on the table; we will have a few simple foods and be grateful for it. In our past lives, we have seen hard times as well as abundance, and we agree: we don't want much or need much now.

As you all enjoy your Thanksgiving with family and friends, we wish you joy as you share food and conversation with your loved ones and accumulate good memories.

Birds Of A Feather

"There are three sorts of friendships which are advantageous, and three which are injurious. Friendships with the upright, friendships with the sincere, and friendships with the well informed are advantageous. Friendships with those who flatter, friendships with those of weak principles, and friendships with those who talk cleverly are injurious."
Confucius : Chinese philosopher

Found in Go English:"Birds of a feather flock together means that people who are similar to each other often spend time together."
[...]
"We know that birds are of the same type when they have the same feathers; they are of a feather. Birds flock when they join together in groups with other birds. Just as birds "of a feather" often flock with other birds of the same "feather", so do people who are like each other spend time together."

Picking our friends is a joy. My friends have enough in common with me to be empathetic at the right time but enough differences to make them interesting.

The Different Faces of Thee and Me

Do we wear a different face for each person we encounter?

People at work, neighbors, friends, and family expect to see what they think is normal for each of us. When I feel someone is expecting something from me, I back off and look at the situation and the overall picture. I spent too many years trying to be what other people wanted me to be and during the past five years I have been on an amazing adventure while getting to know myself.

From Emotional Intelligence:

"Emotional honesty means expressing your true feelings. To be able to be emotionally honest we must first be emotionally aware. This emotional awareness is related to our emotional intelligence. It is our emotional intelligence which gives us the ability to accurately identify our feelings."
{...}
"If we are more emotionally honest with ourselves we will get to know our "true selves" on a deeper level. This could help us become more self-accepting. It could also helps us make better choices about how to spend out time and who to spend it with.

If we are emotionally honest with others, it may encourage them to be more emotionally honest. When we are emotionally honest we are more likely not to be asked or pressured to do things which we do not want to do. We will also find out sooner who respects our feelings."

One of the characteristics I admire about my sweet boyfriend is that he is the same everywhere, with everyone.

He doesn't put on an act. He isn't trying to impress anyone. He is open and sincere and genuine. And honest.

"Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves."

Quote by Walter Anderson

Good advice.

Harmony

Surfing the blogs on BlogMad and Blog Explosion, it looks like there is still not harmony in this nation.

I don't want this blog to be a political blog; it is important to me that this is a free choice to write when I want and have fun writing. I wisely prefer to keep this blog a place to submit subjects of interest to me and allow myself the indulgence to write about them.

When I was younger, I wasn't aware or just don't remember such hatred and loathing between the members of political parties. But that is surely the way it is now.

That is a contributing factor to rejoicing in the harmony in our home. The atmosphere here is serene and comforting and accepting. And safe and encouraging.

Big Sigh. Three cheers for Harmony.

Leaded Or Unleaded

The aroma
of coffee
stimulates
the senses.

The first cup
of coffee
in the morning
is pure
java joy.
Coffee happens
to be
my favorite
beverage.





Some of the enjoyment is due to the delectable
fragrance assaulting my senses as the coffee brews.

The scent of coffee wafting through the house is a comfort and a delight.

My sweet boyfriend grinds the coffee beans and makes the coffee. The anticipation of the finished product is part of the experience.

In the morning I like full-on leaded coffee. In the afternoon and evening it has to be unleaded. The caffiene would interfere with my slumber, and we can't have that.

I add a little cream to the freshly brewed coffee in my favorite cup, and sometimes I add a little honey. We do not use refined sugar, so the flavored creamers are out of the question now.

Mmmmmmmmmmm. Great coffee. Cheers, everyone!

Crisis: Danger or Opportunity

In a previous post in this blog, I presented this interesting Biorhythm Chart.


At Astro Jyoti they have this to say regarding the biorhythm chart:

"The dates on which the curve crosses the baseline are known as the critical days."

Also found in Astro Jyoti:

"Our physical, emotional, intellectual and intuitive levels do not not remain constant. They vary, even from week to week. This is because of the effects of the constant biological fluctuations in our body because of the motion of the planets."

I like checking out my biorhythm chart periodically; however, the one word I cannot use is the word "critical".
I prefer the word "challenged".
I hear the word "critical" as being used to grade the seriousness of a patient's status during a medical crisis.


From Lessons4Living:

"In the Chinese language the ideogram for crisis is made up of two separate characters. One of these characters represents "danger" and the other represents "opportunity."

The way I choose to see something critical is to view it as an opportunity.
Sounds more positive, doesn't it? Seeing it that way helps me plan and forge ahead instead of feeling stuck in a bad place and not knowing how to change it.

So if my biorhythm chart says "uh-oh critical, critical", I receive it as "oh yeah, by the way, you will be challenged emotionally (or physically or intellectually) this particular day, so get ready for a great opportunity."

Interesting Job

Listening to political
commercials
has the
same view,
and the same smell.

Metamorphosis

For some of us, if we are tuned in fully to our life and our inner self, we are adjusting and growing and evolving constantly. Some changes may be within, not apparent. But sometimes there are life transformations for all to see.
A new relationship.
A new address that involves tension and strain and hard work of packing and moving and unpacking belongings.
A new job. The emotional susceptibility during the transition of leaving the familiarity of a job and then the excitement and butterflies while learning new responsibilities.



At Trans4Mind he describes a job like this:

"Having a career path is a bit like being on a train. You journey for miles in the one direction and changing direction can be difficult - you need to get off at the right station, hesitate while you study the train timetable and the various destinations, perhaps taking a break to eat in the station restaurant - a beautiful space - then when you are ready, know where you want to go and know the right train and the platform for its departure, you leave the comfort of the restaurant and climb aboard."

And here he says:

"Life has natural cycles of action and reflection - movement and rest. Remember that during periods of rest and reflection you are achieving inwardly, you are deepening the connection to your heart and soul. This is the most valuable connection you can have. Allow it to blossom."

The next book I will order online is "When Life Changes Or You Wish It Would: How to Survive and Thrive in Uncertain Times" by Carol Adrienne PHD. Sounds interesting.
The book review hits on these points that are particularly interesting to me:

"Clarifies the process of metamorphosis within emotional lives."

And

"Stop Struggling, Lean into Resistance, and Commit to Life, Not Just Security".

Metamorphosis. "Morphing". Not a one time experience, but rather, a continuous process. Forever morphing.
New word: evermorph.

Science Questions

Here are some
science
questions
and answers
as seen
through
a child's eyes:




Q. Name the four seasons.
A. Salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar.

Q. How is dew formed?
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q. How do you delay milk turning sour?
A. Keep it in the cow.

Q. What are steroids?
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.

Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A. Premature death.

Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie.

Q. What does "varicose" mean?
A. Nearby.

Q. What does the word benign mean?
A. Benign is what you will be after you are eight.

Walk Together

We walked together today
Side by side
Holding hands
Sharing

We smiled today
Our special smile
For just us
Caring

We appreciated each other today
Our deep knowledge
Of each others' strengths
Encouraged

We loved our day together
Another adventure
A blessing
We are so grateful