WAY TOO LONG

Geeze...just shoot me. I can never seem to find the time to get on my blog and write. Other's like Thepioneerwoman.com, intothehermitage and mytartelette not only write, but have great recipes, great picture and fabulous give aways. I feel like I am in the dark ages of blogging. I think it is time for me to retire so I can spend more time writing! OK, once again I am going to publicly promise to try to write more often and enhance my blog. If you know of any great books, websites, or seminars that will get me into the real blogging game, please write a comment.

SMILE....THEY'LL WONDER WHAT YOU'VE BEEN UP TO!

Just can't be....that the last time I posted was April!!! And here we are the 11th of August with another New England summer slowly walking to her closing days.

Wait! The double horn just went off. They are building a new subdivision on the farm behind us and they are blasting (ka-booom!). One guy comes out on our street and blows a loud horn twice....then twice again....and then KA-BOOM!!...The house shakes and the windows shiver.....even though I prepare myself for the tiny earthquake, it still rattles me when it happens....make me wonder what this might be doing to our foundations???

So anyway, August is here and September is tagging along close by and usually when September arrives, Mother Nature gets out her shrink bags and starts packing up her summer stuff, shaking out her carpets and trees and preparing all her family for the onset of fall. But we've had such a wet summer and so few warm days (except for the last week), that who knows what fall will bring. Unless I'm mistaken, when there is lots of rain, the changing colors in the trees is especially spectacular. Soon it will be time to go out in my gardens and prune back everything....most all the way to the ground, prepare for the long hard winter and dream about the glorious spring that will find tiny green sprouts poking their little arms out of the ground; yawning and reaching for the light. The bloom of new color, new life, renewal. A sure sign of hope.

I love these quotes about gardening:

I appreciate the misunderstanding I have had with Nature over my perennial border. I think it is a flower garden; she thinks it is a meadow lacking grass, and tries to correct the error. ~Sara Stein, My Weeds, 1988

...and

The kiss of the sun for pardon,The song of the birds for mirth,One is nearer God's heart in a gardenThan anywhere else on earth.~Dorothy Frances Gurney, "Garden Thoughts"

I go back to work on Monday and I have mixed emotions....I've so enjoyed the summer, reading and writing (a little) and walking....and yes (to my great joy) losing some weight! I could get used to this. But there is a tiny part of me that is ready to get back in the mix of it and the responsibilities to account for every day....so like it or not, ready or not, Monday is the day.

I won't make any iron clad promises, but this year I am going to make an effort to write in my blog at least once a week.

Till we meet again......take care, be well and smile.

A WEEK OFF, SAD NEWS, LET THERE BE WARMTH

Well I've had a week off from work and as usual, I have not come anywhere's near to getting the things done on my "to do" list. I haven't even slept in much (even at the insistance of John)....some day I will learn to relax. I hope it's soon because on the nights when I've really gotten a good 8 hours of sound sleep, the next morning seems so wonderful. I guess there is a lot of truth in "as you get older, your body needs more rest". (I say that as I sit here and yawn profusely)! I have managed to read some great books....Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray and Love" and right now I am reading Jodi Picoult's "Change of Heart"...wow both such grand writers. I could truly do that for an entire week.....read and write (hmmmm....wonder what holds me back from doing just that???

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Last night I signed on to my computer, which I've don't do near as often as I used to, and read some of the blogs I follow........only to discover that the writer of my favorite blog lost her sweet mother this week. From your writings about taking care of her in these last few months, I know you loved her dearly and she was loved by everyone who knew her and met her. I grew to love her too. My thoughts, prayers and heart go out to you Bonnie.

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At long last it appears that we will finally be getting a few days of really decent (Texas-like) weather. Tomorrow, Sunday and Monday is predicted to be into the 70's and 80's.
Hallelujah!!! Hallelujah!!!

There is just something about warm weather....the feel of the sun on your skin (covered with UV protection of course). It makes you feel healthy and alive. And for a gal who lived most of her life in the south....it feels like going home! Now don't get me wrong, Maine is my home now and I love everyone and everything about it (except for the snow and cold!)....I have to be honest. If I could find a place that had Maine's mild summers and Texas' mild winters ....wouldn't that be like heaven.

Well it's my last weekday off for a while and it's nearing 10:00, so I guess I should get out of my jammies and try to get something productive done......an art project perhaps!

As my old friends Roy and Dale used to say.....

"Happy trails to you until we meet again

Happy trails to you, keep smiling until then

Who cares about the clouds when we're together?

Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'til we meet again."

AT LONG LAST.............

SPRING! Yesterday was absolutely fabulous. I got out in the yard and cleaned out old dried leaves. John swept all the sand out of the grass and off the sidewalks. The rain is heading our way and we all know......April showers bring May flowers.......so let it rain, let it rain, let it rain. Just 8 weeks and let the planting begin!



This says it all: If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Audra Foveo

Soon I will be thrilled to the very edge of my soul!

We'll talk again soon.......be well....enjoy spring!

Cute shoes.....tell your Mamma Hi!

IT'S TRUE...IT'S TRUE....SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

Oh glorious day! It was simply beautiful today, not a cloud in the sky, sun shining with wonderful warmth......a feeling of renewal that we've waited for all winter. We got outside and hooked up the hose and washed our cars. We wondered to ourselves and outloud where everyone was on such a breath-taking day. It was much too pretty a day to be all cooped up inside....there will still be days for that in the next few weeks. But we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is sunshine and it is pretty flowers and bushes and trees opening their eyes and stretching to the light after a long long winter's sleep. On a day like today you know what faith is, especially in Maine.

I think Mr. Fleischman should have ended his little verse with "Maine" instead of Cleveland:

You can't see Canada across lake Erie, but you know it's there.
It's the same with spring. You have to have faith, especially in Cleveland. ~Paul Fleischman

I hope you got outside today and enjoyed the day!

LOST TRACK OF TIME....IMAGINE THAT!

I just realized when I posted earlier today (March 7) that I had previously posted on January 7th.....so instead of 3 weeks or a month......it's been 2 months!! I must be more diligent about this. The writer John Manderino (Crying at the Movies) gets up and writes for 4 hours everyday............NOTE TO SELF: "TO BE A WRITER, YOU MUST WRITE!"

SIMPLE THINGS.....PERHAPS

I started writing this 3 weeks ago and am just now getting time to finish it up and post it.....I thought I'd just leave it as it was started because I still need the advice on relaxing...

And so it started...........

Aaah....a week off from work....time to relax and refresh....a time to try to overlook the fact that it seems winter just isn't going to end this year or that my dry cracking hands will never be soft and smooth again. I laugh at myself because instead of relaxing and enjoying the time off, I immediately, in anticipation of the time off coming, start making my "to-do" lists. List of those little projects I've been wanting to get to, but never seem to have the time to do.....cleaning out the spice cabinet and the pantry, rearranging my linen closet, sorting through the clothes and taking out the things I never wear. And all the while I'm doing these little chores, on my week off, I'm thinking that I never take the time to just relax...to read a good book....to write another chapter in my never written novel...to lazily soak in a bubble bath.....to make an entry in my blog. I wrote a friend of mine today and told her that I think that's why I don't write more, because I'm thinking of all the little projects I should be doing (instead of doing something I enjoy)! How bizarre am I ? I told her I settle in on the recliner with a good book and wrap myself in a blanket of guilt. (Feel free to jump in here and offer some advice on "how to relax and take some time for yourself")


It seems like forever since I've been here and actually it's been a month. Since I wrote, the Christmas decorations have come down, we've had more snow, we've gone to Texas to see my folks and the month of February has (as it usually does) tiptoed past us and is gone....sweeping it's way behind it to welcome in March........aaah March, the month of hope....the month that on it's 4th day you can truly say March Fourth (and think) March Forth! We may have more snow storms.......well no may about it...we will have more snow storms....big heavy wet ones, but when March rolls around, you can say with joy that April is only 4 weeks away and thoughts of spring bring the joyful feeling of renewal, warmer days, more sunshine, closer to the flower time.......and less and less the thought of how warm the 80 degrees in Texas in January felt. So I'm dusting off my spring bonnet, looking out at the snow in the front and back yard toward the areas where I planted bulbs in November with hopes that they are stretching their little roots and will pop through the ground bringing the inspiration of spring with them.




I don't know about any of you....but I'm betting that a lot of you are just about as tired as I am of this gut wrenching roller coaster ride the economy is taking us on......at least I'm hoping that we're not the only ones who see our personal spreadsheet of when we might be able to retire get longer and longer. I'm certainly no financial adviser but I find it so hard to try to figure our how America got itself in such a mess.....and painstakingly wonder how will we get out of it.....except the way that most people (short of some inheritance or windfall) gets out of debt....by tightening their belts, sucking up, stepping back and reassessing their true needs, paying off their bills and quit spending. I don't mind helping people in real need (and I truly don't mean to offend anyone), but we've worked hard for our money, worked diligently to pay our bills and not spend beyond our means and the thought of my tax money being used to help someone who spent beyond their means doesn't make me a happy camper. But what do you do. We're kind of all in this together....even if you don't have any debt. If the ones that need help aren't helped it will eventually affect the ones who don't need the help. I thought it was interesting the analogy that I heard...."It's kind of like people were told to learn how to swim, to not go near the deep end if they couldn't swim, but they didn't listen, they jumped in the deep end anyway (to get a piece of the American dream) and now they're drowning. Somehow they are tethered to us and if we don't save them, we're going down with them". But there just seems something wrong with a picture of borrowing money to pay the interest on the money we're borrowing. It's scary! I count my blessing everyday and truly wonder how people are making it. It's the crazy domino effect. Look at the state of California, getting ready to lay off 20,000 people from government jobs. Those 20,000 people buy gasoline for their cars, food for their meals, clothes, all kinds of household products....their loss will affect all of those areas and more.....because less buying of food affects the food industry, which affects the trucking industry carrying the food, which affects every industry used by the truckers. It affects the farmers, which affects the stores that supply seed and on and on and on........ We're all in this together. We need to get back to the basics.

I've spent the last week in a computer class learning how to use a newish product called Infinite Campus. It can track students in a school from 1st registration through all their school years; keeping records of who makes up their family, address(es), phone numbers, allergies, grades, courses, behavior, etc. etc. and allows a school, a district or the state to collect this data in report form on one or all of the children. It is truly an intricate integrated system. It reminds me very much of a system built years ago by Price-Waterhouse to track oil and gas wells from the time the land was leased to the time the well was plugged and all the conceivable things in between--permitting for drilling, production, repairs, revenue........from the onset we were told that system was built to eliminate jobs.........and it did. But what strides the world of technology has made in such a short time.

The computer is a marvelous wonder of the world. It has made the world a much smaller place. It has made communication and ways to acquire knowledge a vast never ending, continually renewing and advancing reality. It has kept loved ones in touch, brought people across the world together..........opened our minds and abilities to do all kinds of things just by striking a few keys on a keyboard. Marvelous, phenomenal, life changing don't come close to describing the wonder of this century........and we've only scratched the surface. But in all it's glory it has and will continue to change the dynamics of our lives. It's changed the way we communicate; changed the way we read the news; changed the way we entertain ourselves........which in turn has affected and in many ways hurt the old ways we use to communicate, read the news, entertain ourselves. And in turn all those old ways, writing and mailing paper letters, sending documents, brochures, advertising, reading a paper newspaper, going to a walk-in movie.......are now forever changed along with the people who use to work in those areas.

Perhaps what has happened to our world can be compared to a town that all of a sudden has a huge influx of people and the roads and highways around the town can no longer contain the traffic flow.........planners didn't fully anticipate or plan for such growth or the resulting gigantic traffic congestion and snarls or give thought to the people it would affect along the way.

Perhaps the world of technology is moving so fast that we haven't fully planned for the ramifications. "Perhaps" lenders just got too greedy. "Perhaps" some people spent beyond their means. Perhaps the love of and importance of money is over-rated.....Perhaps those people who live from day to day or those who live for the moment are happier........

Perhaps it's time for the world as a whole (jointly) to step back for a moment, retrace our steps, calculate how far we've come and plan for the inevitable and daily mind boggling changes of the future........but most importantly... perhaps it's time to remember where we came from and how much simpler life was....step back and regroup.........all of us together.

Uh oh.....I'm rambling............Whew! Sorry! Let me step down off my soap box! For a minute there I was a big old balloon that got pricked by a pin whirling around this blog box whistling loudly, spinning eratically, bouncing off in a million directions.

I think I'll go downstairs, make myself a cup of hot chocolate, get some stationary and write my mother an old fashion letter while I watch the gray squirrel scurry across the snow to nibble on the bird seed that fell out of the bird feeder.

Till later....take care.

P.S. Please be assured that I think technology and computers are true marvels that I can barely live without..........but there is so much to be said for the simple things in life.



Do I think the world is in a mess? Yes I do.

Do I have faith that somehow we will pull ourselves out of the intractable murky mire? Yes I do.

I think there is a lot to be said for having hope and pledging to help in whatever way I can....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51kAw4OTlA0

Do I believe that prayer changes things? Yes I do.

As many of you, my gut aches as I dare to open my quarterly portfolio report watch retirement money dwindle with the stock market....but I try to remind myself that no matter what.........the really truly important things in life don't, and never will, cost a dime.

I wonder what ever happened to that old TV show called "Good News"(where they only reported good news). I think it would be a hit today!

ON BEING BORING...

I don't know where I found this....but I love it....it so describes me...



It's a poem by Wendy Cope called "Being Boring"



If you ask me 'What's new?', I have nothing to say

Except that the garden is growing.

I had a slight cold but it's better today.

I'm content with the way things are going.

Yes, he is the same as he usually is,

Still eating and sleeping and snoring.

I get on with my work.

He gets on with his.

I know this is all very boring.



There was drama enough in my turbulent past:

Tears of passion-I've used up a tankful.

No news is good news, and long may it last.

If nothing much happens, I'm thankful.

A happier cabbage you never did see,

My vegetable spirits are soaring.

If you're after excitement, steer well clear of me.

I want to go on being boring.



I don't go to parties. Well, what are they for,

If you don't need to find a new lover?

You drink and you listen and drink a bit more

And you take the next day to recover.

Someone to stay home with was all my desire

And, now that I've found a safe mooring,

I've just one ambition in life: I aspire

To go on and on being boring.

GOOD NIGHT BENJAMIN

I love movies and I love books. Maybe sometimes with an unhealthy passion....but I try to think not. To me a great movie or a great book has a great story; a story I get lost in; a story that I don't want to end....a movie that I want to go on. The book will be so well written that I can smell the rain, I can feel the breeze, my heart breaks with a character's heartbreak or I laugh out loud from the bottom of my toes......perhaps that is because I want so badly to write. I have so many stories in my mind aching to get out.........not just stories, but stories I would like made into movies........smile, if you must....as I am smiling too....at the thought that someday that could happen. I am easily drawn into a book or movie that is written and/or acted well, unconditionally and completely....I cry without shame (sometimes to the dismay of those sitting next to me) and sometimes I laugh way too loud. But that's me. It's means my emotions have been touched and I think that is a wonderful thing.

I write this today because I have just returned from seeing just such a movie....I am still reeling over the splendid story it was and how well it was written, acted and told. It was a jewel. I just got back from seeing "The Curious Story of Benjamin Button". Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji Henson and Julia Ormond truly outdid themselves in this movie........oh my gosh! The make-up was unbelievable....truly exquisite and exceptional. John said I cried through the whole movie...I didn't. And the times (even after the movie, when we were driving out of the parking lot of the theater) when I did cry.....it was not all because of sadness.....Part of me cried because it was such a beautiful love story, part of me cried for how it made me think about some of the things the story taught........how it's never to late to begin again.....or live happily ever after........or how in the end--we must all..."just let go".

But I cried too for the aching inside of me to write a story like that.......to write something that will touch someone elses emotions so deeply that they will lose themselves in my story, laugh and cry openly and never want my story to end...I ache to the core to do that....

.........and so perhaps, I shall.

I just finished reading a marvelous book too....."Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. Wow! It was phenominal....she did her homework. Her descriptions, flow of words, and twists in the storyline just pulled me right into each setting and conversation. She is the kind of writer that lends the reading of her book to learning for a "would be writer" as myself.

Well back to my real world....more writing will have to wait.

"HOW'S THAT WORKING FOR YOU?"

I'm sitting here in my office and as I type my hands are really cold. We have heat in the house so I'm wondering why this coldness....could be because the wind is whipping so badly outside and the wind chill is about 11 below !!!


I've missed writing here. As I always say time just rudely does not wait for me. She flits and flies by with no concern for my needs. As much as I'd like to pull her stem out and just stop her hands for a while, she doesn't allow anyone to do that. Each second just keeps ticking away as I listen to the beat of the pendulum rocking back and forth under the clock on the wall.

We've had snow here in Maine and there is snow on the ground. Today is bright and beautiful, but the wind is howling and kicking up the snow like a professional skater twirling with great speed on the ice. And yes we had a white Christmas. We've had some warmish days and some of the snow melted off the driveway and the amount on the ground lessened, but today even though there is hardly a cloud in the beautiful blue sky, there is no sign that any snow is going to melt today. But we're in Maine and so it goes. A friend of mine who used to live in Alaska and who now lives in Arizona wrote a short note recently comparing the fact that now they are where it's nice and warm and I, who used to live in Dallas & San Antonio, am now in Maine with the cold and snow. He asked in the fashion of "Dr. Phil"...."How's that working for you?" Well it's working just peachy!! Life is so good! When you are totally content and happy with someone and they are totally content and happy with you.....I think it doesn't much matter where you live or what the weather is like. Someday we might decide to move to a warmer climate, but we look at this this way......we're sitting here on January 1st, heading for a visit to Texas later in the month....then it will be February....then March and when March gets here be it Maine or Texas....spring is not far behind. It's all relative. Here in Maine we have 4 months of pretty cold weather and snow. In San Antonio there are 4 months of pretty blistering hot weather. If you are where you really believe you are meant to be, you adjust and take it in stride. So it's working just fine for me.... (except when my dear sweet 85 year old Daddy calls from San Antonio and jokingly says it's 70 degrees here and gasoline is $1.32)....now that's just mean! Ha Ha! But I adore him anyway.

We had a lovely Christmas sharing an evening exchanging gifts with our girls and grandchildren here in Maine and sharing gifts with my family in San Antonio and Denham Springs, Louisiana. John and I had a nice quiet Christmas day by ourselves celebrating the way we love to celebrate....lots of silly gifts (so we have lots to open) with riddles on each box to try and guess what's in the package. It doesn't matter if it cost $1.00 or $100.00. We take the time to think about something that made us laugh or something we mentioned to each other we'd like to have....the real gift to each other .........is each other. We are thankful for the simplicity of the day and our love for each other.

New Year's is usually pretty quiet for us, but this year we decided to invite a few neighbors over and we had a truly fun evening....a potluck of snacks and a mingling of laughter, talk, and thoughts. Good friends, good neighbors, good night. John and I even managed to stay up til the ball in New York dropped (on TV) and we gave a New Year's kiss and hit the hay....like the two old "party animals" we are.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I wish for you a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous 2009. Stay warm, tell those you care about how you feel and please keep in touch.

I'll be back here soon....til then smile and be happy.....2008 is over and done....you have a brand new sparkly slate to begin again.

I saw a sign in the mall the other day that I loved.....It said..... "It's never to late to live happily ever after".