Big Man....little man

Sometimes we see something,…..a picture, a captured moment, a tender touch and it brings back a lost moment to us. Or at least a moment we thought was lost. And then there it is. I had such a moment the other day.

Time goes by so fast that we are afraid we will forget special moments, special relationships. But I am reminded of one special one recently. We can get so caught up in what we did and do for our children that we forget what they did for us…and how they helped us through difficult times.

A move to England when I was such a young mother was life altering. Yes there was excitement, but it was so tinged with fear and anxiety it’s hard to remember how I physically got myself on the plane and left this country. I carried with me, a 7 month old baby. They may speak the same language over there, but the way of life, the customs, the expectations …they were so different. I did not have the sort of personality that stepped into a new and totally unknown community and grasped it. I was terribly afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. Would I stand out? Would my harsh American accent draw attention to myself? How to take a shy and retiring personality full of fear and self-doubt and work its way into the community? It would be so easy to find every excuse to say goodbye to my husband in the morning….and just mark time until he returned from London in the evening. But it would make for some long and lonely days.

Enter…the best little excuse in the world for integrating yourself into a new community, a new country and a totally new way of life!! This little man here was responsible for totally immersing me into the English way of life. He was my companion. He made me get up each morning and throw myself into the day where the British world of nappies, teatime, Dr. Who, well-baby clinics, church crèche, neighborhood parks with prams all formed the mainstay of the English way of life. He made me fill my days.

I look back and think with fond memories of just how much this little man did for me. My world revolved around his daily needs. His endearing personality and charm opened the world to me and introduced me to so many wonderful people. He was without question a conversation starter. I have never told him what an important part he played in my life and my adjustment to living in a new country away from family and friends. How he filled my long days with joy and helped me cross that barrier of feeling alone.
I am so fortunate that he made that journey with us when we moved away to the UK. I am not sure the entire experience would have ever worked out as well as it did if I hadn’t had him to share it with at the beginning. He made that initial immersion a most wonderful experience.

I see him now with his little man and I think to myself....I hope he can someday look back and realize the joy that he shared with new adventures and new experiences with his little boy and be as thankful as I am.
I will forever be grateful to have had that experience outside the United States and am even more grateful that we took those steps onto foreign soil with this little fellow….he made the experience richer for us all.

Turkeys = ?

Ok...so I'm not totally mean spirited. I'm not jaded. I'm not wicked...not evil.....not totally a skeptic, not malicious, not vengeful, overly sarcastic, vindictive or......well, maybe just the slightest bit evil and sarcastic.

Yesterday, just a mere two weeks before the ELECTION TO END ALL ELECTIONS......(dear Lord let it pleeeeasee be over)....I was sort of daydreaming at the computer and glanced slowly to my left, gazing at my birdfeeder just outside my window and found something VERY prophetic about the 3 ENORMOUS turkeys sucking up all the birdseed from my little birds.

There is a message here....I just know there is a message..... big turkeys....little fellas.....politicians, electorate, birdseed, money........hmmmm. Its a sign, I know its a sign.

Common sense and politics

About the only bit of common sense I have heard in the past weeks is a suggestion made this morning by Campbell Brown on CNN.
There is a potential of both candidates spending over 30 MILLION dollars per week between now and the election on November 4th. The majority of this will be spent on negative advertising. She suggests the candidates knock it off and donate these millions to charities which are hurting in the present economic climate. We don't need to hear any more negative ads and lies from either party.
So gentlemen, listen to the lady and ante up, ok?

I think I've Found It!!

This may be the invention of the year! I have been lamenting the fact that I am no longer good at multi-tasking. Its just not happening for me any more. But Hark! I have come across something that will definitely be a boom to those frustrated by trying to keep things clean, while trying to entertain the younger set.

Kayla is here for a week and while trying to keep a happy smile on her face but not exhaust myself with the effort, I borrowed a cool little car thingy from Emily. I believe it was the last thing she brought through the door when she dropped her off with her suitcase(s). It really IS a cool thing. I have a long kitchen….I have a lot of dogs and foot traffic….I have a 10 month old granddaughter who thinks its pretty neat to whiz from one end of the room to the other with a car that makes zooming sounds and reverse beeps Its very entertaining. Add to that some thick white socks and TaDah! We have a clean or at least cleaner floor!! I am going out and buying little matching sponges tomorrow, attaching them to her feet....and Voila! a washed and buffed floor.

How clever am I????? If you want to borrow her for said purpose of floor cleaning, give me a call and I will leave her on the front porch for ya!! :)

What's Happening........?

Seriously, what the heck is happening? I can remember when life was at a slightly slower pace. NOT a snails pace, but a reasonably doable pace. I remember telling friends I would come over and share a pot of tea with them in the afternoon and not feel like I was slighting anything, anything at all. And those were the days when I had 3 little kids under the age of 7 and no clothes dryer or dish washer or in some cases no car.
We live our lives so much in the fast lane, that when a moment or two becomes available where we can relax for a bit, meet a friend for a coffee, sit quietly and read or knit it becomes impossible to disengage our brain and ON switch and just relax. What’s that about? Why do we feel the need to cram every second with jobs, and commitments and errands and appointments and promises?? And when we actually find that “lost” few moments for R and R, we find our mind leaping to do the things we left undone.

I want a brain vacation. I don’t care so much about the body….just an opportunity to turn the brain off for a bit and mindlessly do some crafting or writing or reading. Not feel accountable to anyone for anything….including myself. Mostly myself.

I don’t think I suffer this “sickness” on my own. I think most of the people that I know are over-committed, over-stimulated, over-committeed (I made that word up) and just plain over the top. We all have forgotten how to say the word no…perhaps we don’t really want to say the word no. But we are cheating ourselves of opportunities to live a completed life. A life where each commitment, each unfinished project (you want projects, I got projects), each undertaking is completed.

I fear what friends and family will say when I am no longer here. “There she lies, the queen of the unfinished project. She lived ½ a good life.” Eh…maybe ½ isn’t so bad. Know anyone who wants a half-knit sleeveless cardigan or a half-written poem or a half-read book??? I’ll never get them finished in this lifetime.

What's In a Day?

It would be ridiculous to assume that every day is a great day. Some days are downright crummy….other days are filled with touches of absolute brilliance. Sometimes I find it helpful to string those moments of brilliance together and make a patchwork of my best days. It’s also very helpful to try to spend even the tiniest bit of time each day with each of those things. The in between bits that aren’t so good….well, they become less significant if I can focus on those wonderful distractions.

We live in times where we are bombarded with negativity. You can find it anywhere and everywhere….the local paper, the radio, the television, the internet, even contacts from friends. These are times when it seems the world thrives on negativity; you rarely hear about the “good stuff”.

Here is some of the good stuff in my life…..the things that make me get up in the morning and try to make each day better than the last. I hope you have lots of good stuff in your life too!!

This is how I start my day!! A hot cup of coffee brought to me every morning by this wonderful man!

These sweet little souls Chloe, Zack and Kayla bring more joy to my life than a person could want! How lucky am I?!! Today Miss Kayla looked up and spotted my new blown glass hot air balloon. The morning sun shone through it and it looked glorious. She was mesmerized. It was one of those special moments. Twice. The first special moment was when my Beloved gave it to me on our anniversay at the Cape.

If I can read and knit for an hour each day, I am a happy person. If I can do it for longer, I am even ecstatic! I love this book and I love this knitting project.

There will always be more wonderful books and more scrumptious knitting projects as well!!

These puppies bring pure joy and brilliance to every single day. They are so much fun and such little troublemakers....all at the same time. What's not to love about a puppy??! Three? Triple the fun! Working with them for a while each day is inspiring and invigorating...and I believe it

lowers blood pressure too!

So...try to find the fun and inspirational parts of each day and string them together. It will become a patchwork of joy, love, discovery and sheer brilliance and it will far 0utweigh the negative bits!!

Two Moose For Sister Sarah

I try to take my political pleasure wherever I can find it!
Being rendered pretty much mute in recent days because of the over zealousness of our present day media “geniuses”, I am thrilled to see for once that many were themselves rendered pretty much speechless after the speech last evening at the RNC.
I have always been a Democrat and in recent years tried desperately to set an example by following as much discourse as I could from both sides of the aisle. I try to read as much as I can so that I feel truly informed. I also try to watch as many round table type discussions on the various networks and cable stations so I can see the entire political picture from all directions.

I have panicked in recent months as I felt the entire system was spiraling out of control. Too many members of the media were starting to spew out personal interpretations and were lining up and taking sides. No matter when I would pop on the news programs, there they would sit, out shouting each other with their opinions and looking like children on a playground arguing over a dodgeball game. These are not journalists….these are self serving pundits looking for their own show. I have been devastated in recent months by this continual 24/7 assault on our intelligence.

Last night, I listened to a new candidate. This was no common, everyday member of the elite Washington establishment. She also wasn’t actually someone I would vote for come November. BUT….she was new…she was fresh and she put it all out there. It was simply….Here’s Me….Here’s My Family….Here are my Challenges.
I was fascinated by her candor….her honesty…..her rather simple appearance…..and I thought to myself…. Welcome Sarah. Let’s see you change it up a bit in the next two months. Let’s see you meet the issues head on. Let’s see you add some new and unpredictable energy into what has been possibly one of the worst election seasons that I can remember. I still probably won’t agree with much that you say but I sure am happy to see a new face. I was even happier to see the usual pundits rendered pretty much speechless last night as they sat back and looked like they had been smacked upside the head.

Nice job girlfriend.