Well, the big day is over. The Royal Wedding went off without a hitch I have heard. Did I stay up and watch it? I am getting too old and I need my sleep. I did see the dress on TV today. I am impressed. I like it very much. Much better than Diana's dress, which I thought was so big you couldn't see her. Enough about the wedding--I wish them well.
When I got up this morning I saw:
Promises
Breaking dawn,
dove gray between
black branches of
early spring.
Filigreed lace, soon
to be new leaves
gracing the early morn.
I hope everyone is praying for all the people who have been in the tornato areas of our country. Those who lost everything they have, hopefully not their famlies, are really having it rough. I know when we had our fire and lost everything we didn't even have a toothbrush to brush our teeth or a pair of PJ's to sleep in. No clothes, no food, no bed to sleep in. Pray that someone is helping them and if you are able in any to assist either physically or financially, please do. Again, peace and love to all of the victims.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Special Day
My friend Kaye in Australia informed me of somthing I didn't know.
Today, in Australia, is A.N.ZAC day. This is the same as the US Veterans
Day. They always play the "Last Post" (Taps) at the dawn service in Melbourne. Then there is a parade to honor their military.
In honor of this day, lets give thanks for their Soldiers, Sailors,Marines and Cost-Guards. We tip our hats to all the brave men and women.
God Bless Australia. (and all the countries of the world. Let their be peace, and let it begin with me.)
Cherio,
Be Kind to One Another
Today, in Australia, is A.N.ZAC day. This is the same as the US Veterans
Day. They always play the "Last Post" (Taps) at the dawn service in Melbourne. Then there is a parade to honor their military.
In honor of this day, lets give thanks for their Soldiers, Sailors,Marines and Cost-Guards. We tip our hats to all the brave men and women.
God Bless Australia. (and all the countries of the world. Let their be peace, and let it begin with me.)
Cherio,
Be Kind to One Another
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
I Thought it was Spring
I know it is spring, but it is still cold outside. However, my forsythia bush has turned into a small tree of blooming sunshine, my daphanie smells like the best Paris perfume and my Lily-of-the Valley are shooting up tall green sprouts that will soon have a million sweet little flowers bowing their heads in praise of Springtime. How can anyone be gloomy with such a bounty of beauty?
When I was a child my grandfather had a soft-green, lacy bush and when we would pass it he would always tell me to put the leaves between my fingers and then smell my fingers. It had the greatest smell, one I can't describe. He called the plant "The Old Man." I have no idea what its Latin name is.
When I left my hometown, I took a start from the bush and we planted it in our first house in Millington, Tenn. When my husband got transfered, we again took it with us, one place after another. At last we brought it to Vancouver where we planted it again. When my husband died and I moved I finally brought the plant to it's final resting place and planted it at the corner of my house. It grew into quite a large bush and every time I passed it I always stopped and rubbed the leaf, still the great scent I remembered from my childhood.
Because it was a plant strange to this part of the country, the gardner came along and pulled, what he thought was a big weed into the garbage. For the moment I had the urge to kill. To myself I called him a few un-Christian names. Of course, the deed was done so I just have to forget about it. But, when spring comes around and I check my garden, I miss The Old Man.
Be Kind to Everyone
When I was a child my grandfather had a soft-green, lacy bush and when we would pass it he would always tell me to put the leaves between my fingers and then smell my fingers. It had the greatest smell, one I can't describe. He called the plant "The Old Man." I have no idea what its Latin name is.
When I left my hometown, I took a start from the bush and we planted it in our first house in Millington, Tenn. When my husband got transfered, we again took it with us, one place after another. At last we brought it to Vancouver where we planted it again. When my husband died and I moved I finally brought the plant to it's final resting place and planted it at the corner of my house. It grew into quite a large bush and every time I passed it I always stopped and rubbed the leaf, still the great scent I remembered from my childhood.
Because it was a plant strange to this part of the country, the gardner came along and pulled, what he thought was a big weed into the garbage. For the moment I had the urge to kill. To myself I called him a few un-Christian names. Of course, the deed was done so I just have to forget about it. But, when spring comes around and I check my garden, I miss The Old Man.
Be Kind to Everyone
Friday, April 15, 2011
Poem in Your Pocket Day
Thought for the day.
"A million experiences available through words."
Word for the day.
Etude= Piano student's practice piece
April is poetry month and yesterday was Poem in your pocket day. I goofed and waited until today to talk about it.
The poem I would put in my pocket was one written by Mary Oliver. It is the beginning of my book House of Memories and other Poems. It goes as follows:
I do not want to be frisky,
and theatrical.
I do not want to go forward in the
parade of names.
I do not want to be diligent or necessary
or in anyway heavy.
From my mouth to God's ear.
I swear it, I want only to be a song.
To wander around in the fields like a little
reed bird.
To be a song.
A year or two ago it was a dark, rainy night in Pinebrook. I took Annie, my sweet little puppy out to do her business. The night was so beautiful I had to write this little poem.
Rainy Night Portrait
Streetlights spangle rays
of gold
over black, wet pavement
creating a perfect
Van Gogh.
If you like poetry I would love to hear from you. Tell me your favorite poets and poems. If you write your own, how about sharing. I would love to read it.
Speaking of rain, It is again raining in beautiful Vancouver, Washington.
What a surprise. Ha. The weather man says we may have sunshine tomorrow. I wont hold my breath until that happens. However, when the news reports all the tornados across the middle of the country and snow in some places, I'm not going to complain about a little rain.
By the way I would like to thank Daniel , Brandy and Joyce H. for their comments. It is very encouraging to hear from you and know you are reading my Pinebrook news.
I like what Ellen DeGeneres says at the end of her shows and I think I I will be a copty-cat an use her message as I feel it is so important in these days.
BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER
.
"A million experiences available through words."
Word for the day.
Etude= Piano student's practice piece
April is poetry month and yesterday was Poem in your pocket day. I goofed and waited until today to talk about it.
The poem I would put in my pocket was one written by Mary Oliver. It is the beginning of my book House of Memories and other Poems. It goes as follows:
I do not want to be frisky,
and theatrical.
I do not want to go forward in the
parade of names.
I do not want to be diligent or necessary
or in anyway heavy.
From my mouth to God's ear.
I swear it, I want only to be a song.
To wander around in the fields like a little
reed bird.
To be a song.
A year or two ago it was a dark, rainy night in Pinebrook. I took Annie, my sweet little puppy out to do her business. The night was so beautiful I had to write this little poem.
Rainy Night Portrait
Streetlights spangle rays
of gold
over black, wet pavement
creating a perfect
Van Gogh.
If you like poetry I would love to hear from you. Tell me your favorite poets and poems. If you write your own, how about sharing. I would love to read it.
Speaking of rain, It is again raining in beautiful Vancouver, Washington.
What a surprise. Ha. The weather man says we may have sunshine tomorrow. I wont hold my breath until that happens. However, when the news reports all the tornados across the middle of the country and snow in some places, I'm not going to complain about a little rain.
By the way I would like to thank Daniel , Brandy and Joyce H. for their comments. It is very encouraging to hear from you and know you are reading my Pinebrook news.
I like what Ellen DeGeneres says at the end of her shows and I think I I will be a copty-cat an use her message as I feel it is so important in these days.
BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER
.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Happiness
Today on TV I listened to Author Gretchen Rubin discuss her book The Happiness Project. She said a lot of bookclubs were waiting for the paperback copy to come out as they wanted to use it in their club. I am going to suggest my book club, Book Talk, read it too.
Rubin took a year and studied all kinds of people to find out their philosophies on finding happiness, as well as discovering her own method.
I agree we all want to be happy, but I think I am more of a positive thinker. I think sometimes you can look at something in a positive way and find good in it even if you aren't happy.
A good example of this is the occastion of my 30th birthday. We were having a home built in Hayward, Ca. During the wait we lived in temporary Military housing in Alameda, Ca. Since it was my birthday, we were going to drive out to see how our house was progressing and then we were going out to dinner. While we were gone, the house we were living in burned down. We were going to wait until we got in our new house before we bought insurance, so we were left with nothing, not even our dog, and no insurance. We had just been transferred to Alameda so we knew no one. Now this is a situation that I think it would be difficult to feel happy about.
With our son in the back seat of our car, we were going to find a place to eat dinner and try to calm our minds. As we drove,. all of a sudden my husband and I started singin the song "Oh, we ain't got a barrel of money, maybe we're ragged and funny, but we'll travel along, singi'n a song, side, by side." My son said, "how could you sing when we just lost everything?" Our answer was that we were not in the fire and we had each other. That was what was important.
Many people don't like folks who always find something good in everything. In fact, when I was a child my mother always called me Pollyanna. At the time I had never read any Pollyanna books, but I knew it must be bad, because of the tone my mom used when she called me that.
When I did read the books I found that Pollyanna's philosophy was to always find something to be glad about, whatever the situation. I don't know why I am that way, but I figure we only have one life and we can spend it crying or we can spend it laughing. I would rather laugh.
So, getting back to Rubin's Happiness Project, of course I believe in finding ways to be happy and to make others happy, but it always helps if you think positive.
Word for the Day.
Maven=expert
Thought for the Day.
"The days are long, but the years are short.
Rubin took a year and studied all kinds of people to find out their philosophies on finding happiness, as well as discovering her own method.
I agree we all want to be happy, but I think I am more of a positive thinker. I think sometimes you can look at something in a positive way and find good in it even if you aren't happy.
A good example of this is the occastion of my 30th birthday. We were having a home built in Hayward, Ca. During the wait we lived in temporary Military housing in Alameda, Ca. Since it was my birthday, we were going to drive out to see how our house was progressing and then we were going out to dinner. While we were gone, the house we were living in burned down. We were going to wait until we got in our new house before we bought insurance, so we were left with nothing, not even our dog, and no insurance. We had just been transferred to Alameda so we knew no one. Now this is a situation that I think it would be difficult to feel happy about.
With our son in the back seat of our car, we were going to find a place to eat dinner and try to calm our minds. As we drove,. all of a sudden my husband and I started singin the song "Oh, we ain't got a barrel of money, maybe we're ragged and funny, but we'll travel along, singi'n a song, side, by side." My son said, "how could you sing when we just lost everything?" Our answer was that we were not in the fire and we had each other. That was what was important.
Many people don't like folks who always find something good in everything. In fact, when I was a child my mother always called me Pollyanna. At the time I had never read any Pollyanna books, but I knew it must be bad, because of the tone my mom used when she called me that.
When I did read the books I found that Pollyanna's philosophy was to always find something to be glad about, whatever the situation. I don't know why I am that way, but I figure we only have one life and we can spend it crying or we can spend it laughing. I would rather laugh.
So, getting back to Rubin's Happiness Project, of course I believe in finding ways to be happy and to make others happy, but it always helps if you think positive.
Word for the Day.
Maven=expert
Thought for the Day.
"The days are long, but the years are short.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
My Day
Thought for the Day:
"To love someone means to see him as God intended him." Dostoevski
Word for the Day:
bumf= It is British slang for the kind of printed paper junk that we take out to the recycling bins. It is slang for bum fodder which is slang for toilet paper.
Wow! The sun was washing the sky with its warm, golden rays today. What a change from all the rain.
Went to my watercolor class. Always a lot of fun to see all the great things people paint and it certainly makes you want to start a million pictures. One lady had a fascinating work. Very abstract with pictures of a woman, different playing cards, an ambulance, a group of people and a lot of designs. The class thought it might have something to do with gambeling because of the cards. She explained that she had been in an auto accident and these things represented things associated with that. She had been going to her bridge club hence the cards, she was the woman and naturally, the ambulance was there to take her to the hospital. What a way to remember a day.
I guess if I made one I would put some of the banana, pineapple upside down muffins that I baked this morning, some clothes I folded from yesterday's laundry, a group of paintings that were critiqued in class, my little Annnie and I playing fetch with the ball, and my computer as I type this bit of trivia.
By th way, those muffins were great. My idea. I used my banana bread recipe. Then, I put some crushed pineapple and a little brown sugar in the bottom of my muffin tines and then put the bread batter on top. Yum.
I have had a great day. Now to get dinner and watch the Biggest Looser. After that is the New Parents. I think it is one of the best new shows this season.
Blessings to all of you.
"To love someone means to see him as God intended him." Dostoevski
Word for the Day:
bumf= It is British slang for the kind of printed paper junk that we take out to the recycling bins. It is slang for bum fodder which is slang for toilet paper.
Wow! The sun was washing the sky with its warm, golden rays today. What a change from all the rain.
Went to my watercolor class. Always a lot of fun to see all the great things people paint and it certainly makes you want to start a million pictures. One lady had a fascinating work. Very abstract with pictures of a woman, different playing cards, an ambulance, a group of people and a lot of designs. The class thought it might have something to do with gambeling because of the cards. She explained that she had been in an auto accident and these things represented things associated with that. She had been going to her bridge club hence the cards, she was the woman and naturally, the ambulance was there to take her to the hospital. What a way to remember a day.
I guess if I made one I would put some of the banana, pineapple upside down muffins that I baked this morning, some clothes I folded from yesterday's laundry, a group of paintings that were critiqued in class, my little Annnie and I playing fetch with the ball, and my computer as I type this bit of trivia.
By th way, those muffins were great. My idea. I used my banana bread recipe. Then, I put some crushed pineapple and a little brown sugar in the bottom of my muffin tines and then put the bread batter on top. Yum.
I have had a great day. Now to get dinner and watch the Biggest Looser. After that is the New Parents. I think it is one of the best new shows this season.
Blessings to all of you.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Haiku Journaling
It seems that every new year I decide to keep a journal. I start off with a bang and then it usually takes about two months before I slack off and then finally quit. I have only kept a journal for the entire year once in my life. Then I met a lady in one of my writinhg classes that kept a Haiku Journal. She wrote a simple Haiku and then went on to write perhaps a paraagraph just listing a few simple activities of the day that applied to her Haiku.I liked this and decided to give it a try. Wow, it works, it really, really works. (sorry Sally Fields)
It is now April the 8th and I haven't missed a day. I would post them on my blog, but they are really very boring. The thing I like about it for myself though is I can keep track of anything about that day I want to remember.If you are into Haiku, you might want to try it, it is really fun.
I will share one of my regular Haiku's that have nothing to do with my Journal.
Smell of fireplace smoke
like campfires long remembered.
Chill springtime morning.
This is often the way it is in Pinebrook in the springtime and I love it. Whoever decided to build this lovely place had a lot of smarts. They took a piece of land covered with tall pines and cleared out just enough space to build little frame houses. They also built three ponds and a couple of miles of walks that are lit at night so one can stroll under the stars, hear the sound of the fountains in the ponds and just thank God for such beauty.
Hope you are finding beauty sometplace in your life today. Blessings to all of you.
It is now April the 8th and I haven't missed a day. I would post them on my blog, but they are really very boring. The thing I like about it for myself though is I can keep track of anything about that day I want to remember.If you are into Haiku, you might want to try it, it is really fun.
I will share one of my regular Haiku's that have nothing to do with my Journal.
Smell of fireplace smoke
like campfires long remembered.
Chill springtime morning.
This is often the way it is in Pinebrook in the springtime and I love it. Whoever decided to build this lovely place had a lot of smarts. They took a piece of land covered with tall pines and cleared out just enough space to build little frame houses. They also built three ponds and a couple of miles of walks that are lit at night so one can stroll under the stars, hear the sound of the fountains in the ponds and just thank God for such beauty.
Hope you are finding beauty sometplace in your life today. Blessings to all of you.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Book Review
A few weeks ago I finished reading Meg Wolitzer's book the Position. A couple of ladies in my book club didn't read it because they thought it was a dirty book. Not! I really liked it and if you like to read a book that involves character study, you will like it.
The book begins with a couple having an artist paint them in various sexual positions. When the book is published, they put it on a top shelf in their library. Naturally, one of the children finds it and shares it with his siblings, aged four to fifteen. The Position is actually a character study of how the book effects each of their lives. It even has a great effect on the parent's lives. I really enjoyed it and hope if you read it you will too.
How are things doing in your llives? I am sitting here watching it rain in good old Vancouver, Washington. The weather man said we had rain 28 of the 31 days in March. I won't complain. When I see how the rest of the country is doing, I am happy right where I am.
Hope you have a great and creative day.
Until next time, Blessings to all of you.
The book begins with a couple having an artist paint them in various sexual positions. When the book is published, they put it on a top shelf in their library. Naturally, one of the children finds it and shares it with his siblings, aged four to fifteen. The Position is actually a character study of how the book effects each of their lives. It even has a great effect on the parent's lives. I really enjoyed it and hope if you read it you will too.
How are things doing in your llives? I am sitting here watching it rain in good old Vancouver, Washington. The weather man said we had rain 28 of the 31 days in March. I won't complain. When I see how the rest of the country is doing, I am happy right where I am.
Hope you have a great and creative day.
Until next time, Blessings to all of you.
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