I found these a while back and they are just too funny. I haven't figured out how to change the size and postion of each photo so it's just a random collage,,, so just have a random giggle.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
More Photo Play
I found these a while back and they are just too funny. I haven't figured out how to change the size and postion of each photo so it's just a random collage,,, so just have a random giggle.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The Next Twenty
This last trip to Indy left me absolutely wrung out,,, lots of happy things and lots of sad things. Too much emotion. I hope I don't have to think too hard about anything any time soon.
One thing I really need to concentrate on, though, is my game plan for the next 20 years. Flygirl and I had a brief conversation about what we wanted to do. However we quickly left reality to flirt with ideas that would get us put in jail.
Since the last 60 years went so fast, and most of the folks who raised my generation are sliding down a slippery slope, I think it's high time I got serious with my plan.
If my goals are to 1) do something meaningful 2) do something that allows for maximum creativity and minimum supervision 3) something that makes a little money 4) but doesn't cut into my time for important family things, 5)and something that doesn’t allow me to live past 76 (but no pain involved in checking out earlier). What is the answer?
Some people feel you have to start with your passion. What is my passion? Heck, I'm 60ish, how much passion counts? Getting my heart rate above 80? Staying awake past 10 or getting up before 6?
Okay, let’s get serious. What are your thoughts? What can you add to this list of maybes?
1. Business owner (cat or dog "hotel")
2. Fund raiser for ASPCA
3. Fund raiser for organizations that support orphanages
4. Pole dancer at Baby Dolls
5. Uniform designer for NBA and the US military
6. Reality Police for Hollywood
7. Grass mower for folks with big yards (riding lawn mowers only, please)
It's easy to see I really need some help here. Don't be shy. Pull out the stops and let that brain storm loose.
One thing I really need to concentrate on, though, is my game plan for the next 20 years. Flygirl and I had a brief conversation about what we wanted to do. However we quickly left reality to flirt with ideas that would get us put in jail.
Since the last 60 years went so fast, and most of the folks who raised my generation are sliding down a slippery slope, I think it's high time I got serious with my plan.
If my goals are to 1) do something meaningful 2) do something that allows for maximum creativity and minimum supervision 3) something that makes a little money 4) but doesn't cut into my time for important family things, 5)and something that doesn’t allow me to live past 76 (but no pain involved in checking out earlier). What is the answer?
Some people feel you have to start with your passion. What is my passion? Heck, I'm 60ish, how much passion counts? Getting my heart rate above 80? Staying awake past 10 or getting up before 6?
Okay, let’s get serious. What are your thoughts? What can you add to this list of maybes?
1. Business owner (cat or dog "hotel")
2. Fund raiser for ASPCA
3. Fund raiser for organizations that support orphanages
4. Pole dancer at Baby Dolls
5. Uniform designer for NBA and the US military
6. Reality Police for Hollywood
7. Grass mower for folks with big yards (riding lawn mowers only, please)
It's easy to see I really need some help here. Don't be shy. Pull out the stops and let that brain storm loose.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Suggestions for the Prez
President Bush is gathering with top advisors this week. Somehow I didn't get my invitation; it must be lost in the mail. Maybe yours did too.
If you could attend the meeting, what would you tell the President? What should top his To Do List?
I'm making a list of my opening remarks to him and it starts like this.
1. Focus on alternative fuels. Set a goal (5 years) to have this country free from foreign oil. If Brazil can do it, we can.
2. Focus on Education. Improve education in sciences, math and languages. We are far behind other countries in our ability to compete in the global market
3. Focus on the law: If Americans are arrested for hiring illegal immigrants, those jobs would dry up and so would the illegal flow of immigrants. Help Mexico improve it's economy (think about annexing the whole place! Maybe turn it into a resort. Ask Disney for advice)
4. Focus on Consensus Opinions: Both within our own government and with foreign countries. Having friends will do more to stop terrorist attacks than trying to go it alone with a world full of enemies
5. Hire a decent FEMA director -- any military person knows more about disaster preparedness and personnel rescue than the ones currently running the place
6. Forget about the Gay Marriage thing. It's a bogus issue and shouldn't matter one whit. While you're at it, lose the religious fundamentalists; they are not creative thinkers nor good problem solvers.
7. Listen to Laura more than you do Cheney and Rummy
What else should be added? subtracted?
If you could attend the meeting, what would you tell the President? What should top his To Do List?
I'm making a list of my opening remarks to him and it starts like this.
1. Focus on alternative fuels. Set a goal (5 years) to have this country free from foreign oil. If Brazil can do it, we can.
2. Focus on Education. Improve education in sciences, math and languages. We are far behind other countries in our ability to compete in the global market
3. Focus on the law: If Americans are arrested for hiring illegal immigrants, those jobs would dry up and so would the illegal flow of immigrants. Help Mexico improve it's economy (think about annexing the whole place! Maybe turn it into a resort. Ask Disney for advice)
4. Focus on Consensus Opinions: Both within our own government and with foreign countries. Having friends will do more to stop terrorist attacks than trying to go it alone with a world full of enemies
5. Hire a decent FEMA director -- any military person knows more about disaster preparedness and personnel rescue than the ones currently running the place
6. Forget about the Gay Marriage thing. It's a bogus issue and shouldn't matter one whit. While you're at it, lose the religious fundamentalists; they are not creative thinkers nor good problem solvers.
7. Listen to Laura more than you do Cheney and Rummy
What else should be added? subtracted?
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Silver & Gold
Vandy & the Award Winners
XX
Vandy's Kids
The Stage Production
"Make new friends, keep the old
One is silver, the other is gold"
-- from a Brownie Scout song
A recent mini-reunion of my high school class was certainly awash in gold. Most of us met in the first grade and grew up in the same rural Indiana school until graduation in 1965.
Since then, our lives have taken us in different directions; we met challenges, disappointments and success in our own way. I had not seen many of my classmates since graduation; it was a thrill to see that they were much the same as they were back then – still fun loving, bright, interesting, and fully engaged in life.
It was gratifying to see that we had all learned to shine in our own way. From the Army Lt. General to the talented musician, from the successful business owner to parents of happy well balance kids.
A helicopter pilot, a church pastor, a HS teacher, a school nurse, a church secretary, a doctor, a resort owner, an accountant -- all so different yet as familiar to each other as siblings.
Each remembered stories from school days, laughed at ourselves, shared life stories of successes and failures. It surprised me that the spouses of classmates fit in so well; I kept thinking they were in our class too. What a delight!
A special treat was seeing our Principal, Vandy. Although he looked frail, his mind was as sharp as ever, he remembered many things we had all hoped he might forget. Hearing him say “Peeeeeeeeeeople …” had the same effect as if 40 years had not slipped by.
We celebrated being the Luckiest Generation, born of the Greatest Generation and gave thanks to those who made it happen. Our parents and teachers taught us lessons that sustained us and made our lives a rich tapestry .
The reunion was magical for me and I hope for others. It was a moment in time made of shear joy and remembrance -- worth much more than gold.
Thanks to everyone who made it possible.
One post script: Another class was represented and sadly was not adequately acknowledged at the time. Union High School Class of 1940 was 100% in attendance – OJ and my mother, classmates and friends since they were kids, shared the day with us.
They might be considered to be in the Platinum category
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
In the Company of Women
A few years ago, I decided to take up sewing in hopes of avoiding dementia. My reasoning was that if I had to problem-solve in an unfamiliar media, I could keep grey matter alive longer.
I bought a machine, took a few lessons and began to make things. I became fascinated with different fabrics, how they are made, different colors, different patterns, ways hey could be cut up and sewn together to make useful things.
It wasn't long until I ran into some quilters and then things really changed! In the company of other women I have learned so much more than how to sew: stories of their lives that make up the colorful fabric of life and I never tire of listening to them.
This sisterhood of women is as old as time and as vital as the new day. Anita Diamant writes in the novel The Red Tent about the lives of women in Jacob's tribe, the details of which the men knew little or nothing at all. The women paid lip service to their master but when push came to shove, they relied on each other and the advice of their mothers for survival.
Lisa See writes in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan , about Chinese women with bound feet, who went so far as to have a secret language for communication with each other in their highly regimented lives.
Once when I was overseas with the Air Force, another nurse brought in some of her quilts. It wasn’t long until the small clinic room was filled with women admiring her work, the fabric, and patterns. Few of us spoke a common language but we all understood the language of quilting and language of sisterhood.
Whether a culture values women or not, this ancient yet active sisterhood creates a strong fiber for the culture.
Sewing around the tables at the Quilt Retreat, my quilt sisters discussed husbands, children, grandchildren, illnesses, treatments, recipes, house repair, and which car gets the best gas mileage among other things. The ladies’ ages range from 19 to 76 years and all are animated and energetic in their enjoyment of life.
The youngest woman will marry this summer. She asked everyone to write down their advice for a happy marriage. She ended up with three pages of detailed notes, more than I can remember now!
What advice would you give her?
Friday, March 17, 2006
Gone Quilting
I know this Blog looks more like a test pattern than an active Blog but now I have a excuse,,, I've gone quilting.
A little B&B in east Texas, with cabins and a fish pond, cater to quilters and scappers. A major feature is a work area about the size of a 3-car garage, with lots of light, electrical outlets and cutting tables -- plenty of room to lay out projects. And you get stay up late or even all night working on something if you like,, nobody cares and you don't have to be anywhere else!
Did I mention that the rooms look like something out of House Beautiful and the meals are straight out of Southern Living? Cell phones don't work well in that little valley, there are no computers, TV is there but never on.
Stay safe and I'll see ya on the flip side.
A little B&B in east Texas, with cabins and a fish pond, cater to quilters and scappers. A major feature is a work area about the size of a 3-car garage, with lots of light, electrical outlets and cutting tables -- plenty of room to lay out projects. And you get stay up late or even all night working on something if you like,, nobody cares and you don't have to be anywhere else!
Did I mention that the rooms look like something out of House Beautiful and the meals are straight out of Southern Living? Cell phones don't work well in that little valley, there are no computers, TV is there but never on.
Stay safe and I'll see ya on the flip side.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Travels
Trading emails with Flygirl made me remember one of my favorite trips to England.
I love to ride trains and could quite happily spend an entire vacation riding around, reading a James Herriot book and eating Cadbury chocolate (the REAL stuff, not the kind we have here).
About 20 years ago, I rode the train and then a bus to James Herriot’s (All Creatures Great and Small) home town, Thrinsk, in Yorkshire. He had described it perfectly – the people the animals the shops—all of it!
The first night I stayed in a B&B whose other guest was an Aussie. At tea we, the guests and the family, reviewed the news from the Colonies.
The second night, I stayed at a B&B on the edge of town and could see Mrs. Pumphrey’s house from my room.
I had Sheppard’s pie at the pub the vets frequented, had dinner at the hotel where Helen and Jim danced and bought some candies from the shop keeper who picked out candies like a pharmacist might select medicine. I even visited the Vets surgery, where Herriot’s son works. Very little had changed in that office since it opened before WWII
Later, I was standing a shop that was smaller than single car garage and was stocked just like the one on the comedy Open All Hours. There were 5-6 people browsing and waiting in line. Suddenly, everyone left! No one said a word, they just walked out!
Was it something I said? The owner smiled and said “No Lass. The sun came out. Didn’t want to miss it.”
Five minutes later the sun was gone and everyone came back, talking about how lovely it had been. Cracked me up!
Do you have a favorite vacation? Perhaps a trip you like to relive? Or maybe someplace you want to see in the future?
I love to ride trains and could quite happily spend an entire vacation riding around, reading a James Herriot book and eating Cadbury chocolate (the REAL stuff, not the kind we have here).
About 20 years ago, I rode the train and then a bus to James Herriot’s (All Creatures Great and Small) home town, Thrinsk, in Yorkshire. He had described it perfectly – the people the animals the shops—all of it!
The first night I stayed in a B&B whose other guest was an Aussie. At tea we, the guests and the family, reviewed the news from the Colonies.
The second night, I stayed at a B&B on the edge of town and could see Mrs. Pumphrey’s house from my room.
I had Sheppard’s pie at the pub the vets frequented, had dinner at the hotel where Helen and Jim danced and bought some candies from the shop keeper who picked out candies like a pharmacist might select medicine. I even visited the Vets surgery, where Herriot’s son works. Very little had changed in that office since it opened before WWII
Later, I was standing a shop that was smaller than single car garage and was stocked just like the one on the comedy Open All Hours. There were 5-6 people browsing and waiting in line. Suddenly, everyone left! No one said a word, they just walked out!
Was it something I said? The owner smiled and said “No Lass. The sun came out. Didn’t want to miss it.”
Five minutes later the sun was gone and everyone came back, talking about how lovely it had been. Cracked me up!
Do you have a favorite vacation? Perhaps a trip you like to relive? Or maybe someplace you want to see in the future?
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