couldn’t stop myself….
Category: embarrassment
Evanescent for WPC 5-24-17
Evanescent
Evanescent-
soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing.
“a shimmering evanescent bubble”
Oh boy, I had to look this one up…maybe because I am the Queen of Holding On, of refusing to let go of stuff, especially love and also beauty…in any and all of its forms. And PEOPLE, don’t get me started. I hang on to people, healthy for me or not. I am still in touch with almost every boy I have ever loved!!
So I had a hard time “getting” the definition of this word…
| synonyms: | vanishing, fading, evaporating, melting away, disappearing; |
I learn so many lessons from sea shells. Having grown up by the ocean, I have been a collector all my life. But it wasn’t until an amazing sailing trip throughout Fiji, where we got to prowl along beaches so remote it truly felt like we might be the first humans to ever lay bare feet in that sand, that I realized I was a shell snob. That was my first insight into my own ageism. I only wanted those gorgeous, undamaged shells. In other words, the young perfect ones.
Even though we had to receive permission from the chief of an island to collect shells, it was the locals who pointed out I was gathering shells that might not be finished with their life’s purpose yet. Most shells are recyclable! I was stealing some hermit crab’s future home or maybe a pearl’s gestation container!
But this post is not about shells. My interpretation of evanescent is about all things with a life cycle, no matter how short or long. My lesson from the word this week is to remember how the Fijians (the iTaukei) taught me to fully appreciate beauty at every stage.
It’s easy to see and appreciate the evanescent progression in nature…
I can see the obvious beauty there…
But it’s a bit more difficult when I study the phenomenon of Evanescence while looking in the mirror!
Time…….passing at warp speed now!
That’s all I can say…
PINK!!
I already confessed my tainted (or maybe tinted) history with Pink several times in my Blog but I bet you didn’t read them so here they are again.
Or there is also this one.
And another one…
How does something so BLUE turn into something so many shades of PINK??
Geez, I’m hounded by PINK!!!
Cee’s OddBall Challenge 5/7/17
Song Lyric Sunday 4/30/17 Consequences
Our musical challenge this week from Helen was to post a song about consequences…good or bad…and this is the one that came immediately to my mind.
No comments though…I wouldn’t want you to think I had ever made any bad choices in men or anything…..
Magic Man
Cold, late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue
You know, I could not run away it seemed
We’d seen each other in a dream
Seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me, yeah
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue
You know, I could not run away it seemed
We’d seen each other in a dream
Seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me, yeah
“Come on home, girl” he said with a smile
“you don’t have to love me yet, let’s get high awhile
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, I’m a magic man”
“you don’t have to love me yet, let’s get high awhile
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, I’m a magic man”
Winter nights we sang in tune
Played inside the months of moon
“Never think of never, let this spell last forever”
Well, summer lover passed to fall
Tried to realize it all
Mama says she’s worried..growing up in a hurry
Played inside the months of moon
“Never think of never, let this spell last forever”
Well, summer lover passed to fall
Tried to realize it all
Mama says she’s worried..growing up in a hurry
“Come on home, girl” Mama cried on the phone
“Too soon to lose my baby yet, my girl should be at home”
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, he’s a magic man, Mama, ah, he’s a magic man
“Too soon to lose my baby yet, my girl should be at home”
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, he’s a magic man, Mama, ah, he’s a magic man
“Come on home, girl” he said with a smile
“I cast my spell of love on you, a woman from a child”
But try to understand, try to understand
Oh, oh, try, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand
He’s a magic man, oh, he’s got the magic hands
“I cast my spell of love on you, a woman from a child”
But try to understand, try to understand
Oh, oh, try, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand
He’s a magic man, oh, he’s got the magic hands
OoooOooo’s over top
“Come on home, girl” he said with a smile
“You don’t have to love me yet, let’s get high awhile”
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, he’s a magic man, yeah, oh
“You don’t have to love me yet, let’s get high awhile”
But try to understand, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand, he’s a magic man, yeah, oh
Songwriters: Nancy Wilson / Ann Wilson
Magic Man lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2017/04/29/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-43017/
Dear M.I.A. Badfish,
I have no good photographs, just a few snapshots, as proof for my current plight but I AM thinking of you this morning as I sit in the Starbucks closest to my house. We had to come here to thaw and eat and get internet….all things I have never done before…at least, not at a Starbucks. (Not a coffee drinker and there really isn’t much here I would normally eat.)
You’ll no doubt have a chuckle as to the reason we are in this predicament…you, a Colorado Cowboy and all!
The Seattle area is blessed to never have more snow than just a bit of decoration. You know, a pretty dusting that everyone photographs and sends out to friends “See, we have snow here too!” The whole area shuts down and takes vacation days. It’s not that there aren’t thousands of snow bunnies here. We just prefer our snow to remain in it’s proper place, which is 40 minutes away in the Cascade mountains at Alpental or Crystal Mountain.
I guess if these intrepid Hummers can make it, I should stop complaining!
We had a major snow dump here about 4 days ago…not the fluffy white decorative stuff, but heavy, HEAVY wet snow. The kind that tears 3 inch thick branches right off their trunks! And I’m talking about hundreds of beautiful trees. The result is our whole area looks like a tornado went through…downed trees, ripped off branches, and NO POWER!!! For days now.
Hey, I have camped and hiked my whole life. I’ve lived for days without any power or running water (granted, many of those days were spent at various outdoor music festivals and I may or may not have been assisted chemically to be able to ignore any such hardships) but I really am getting too old for this life-style. To have to come to a Starbucks for food, coffee, warmth (and to brush my teeth and sneak a quick sponge bath) is a new low.
I told you! You are chuckling, right? I know how spoiled I am, believe me. I realize how lucky we are to not live in 3rd world conditions (at least, not yet. I guess we’ll see after a few more months of “He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken” in office).
If we were in our mountain retreat, at least we’d have the woodstove for heat and cooking and we’d have water (icy from the spring and well, but heatable).
But here’s the thing. Short of the discomfort of having to beg for a place to shower and warm up from my newly un-estranged sister, (they have power at their house) and the risk of losing all my bugs to this cold, I feel incredibly blessed.
The Seattle/Bellevue area has a huge, seriously shameful number of homeless, and though I am deeply impacted every single time I see a makeshift home under a bridge or a small temporary tent-city, I still haven’t done anything.
I feel a resolve today I have never felt before. I can’t believe how bad it must be in the snow, the rain, the cold without heat and food and hot water. Maybe in some ways a lot worse than in a country where the norm is to live with the minimum for generations. I know in your travels you have probably seen such a variety of living I know nothing about, except what I read.
I don’t feel guilty exactly, well, maybe for all the bitching I do for slow internet or other mundane and trivial things like that.
But I do feel inspiration. No idea for what yet, but something.
I’m starting here, with a post from my dear friend Karuna, to get an idea where to start.
https://livinglearningandlettinggo.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/tent-cities-in-seattleking-county/
If the cold didn’t wreak such havoc with my particular thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s) I’d have absolutely no reason to complain. I could choose to look at this whole thing as a grand adventure, which I have been trying to do with my grandsons who live with us. Hey, they’ve had 3 days of school being closed so they’re happy, mostly.
But whatever I do next, even if it’s just to take blankets to a tent city, those boys are coming with me!
Thanks for listening Mr. Fish. I miss you.
In Honor of Dr. King
This was my most visited post ever so it seems like a good idea to share it again today for any new visitors. Thanks and please feel free to comment.
A Swing and a Miss!!
OK you win some and you lose some. I get that. But it is so much harder to lose when you have been absolutely convinced that THIS time, it would be a WINNER for SURE!!
I believe that my duties as a grandmother are specifically limited. I do NOT get to “parent” my two amazing grandsons. Julius, who is 13 and Luca, 10 (for another week) depend on me to be that other adult in their lives that has the luxury of coming closer to unconditional love than either of their parents do. Even though they live with their father in my home, I do not have to crack the “do your homework” or “clean your room” whips. That’s their Dad’s job.
My self-imposed duties are clear to me though. I get to love them. I get to watch out for their safety. And my favorite, I get to teach them stuff, especially about our family’s history and traditions…
At Christmas time, it is not part of my job to be the one to give the “big” present each year. Again, that’s my son’s place and I never want to compete or even accidentally outshine him with his boys.
So I go for obscure, non-traditional gifts (no video games) and whenever possible, non-material. Gifts from Gramma are unexpected (sometimes unwanted) and always a bit weird. That’s OK with me. And I know some will land and some will fail! But most will be remembered.
Examples:
3 years ago, I made each a personal (Shutterfly) photo book of their lives so far. I think it got about a C+/B- grade from the boys.
2 years ago, I made them personalized “treasure boxes”. (They’ve always liked that concept). These boxes contained charms and totems and stickers that represented events in their lives. Each box also had a tiny tablet and mini pencil so they could guess, and then write down, what each token in and on their box signified. There was a prize for whoever guessed the most symbols. (Hey, do I know how to harness sibling rivalry or what??)
Last year, I gave them (all of us really) a family outing to a very cool local place. Maybe you have something like this in your area. It’s called the Boarding House. I have to admit I have some pretty strong judgments about how inundated our children are these days with all things electronic and technical…especially the whole video gaming addiction…so when I discovered the Boarding House, I was thrilled. It is a store/restaurant that sells almost every “board game” ever invented…not a single electronic game in the place! You can even go in and pick some games to try out at your table while enjoying a damn good meal. (Think the highest class “tavern food” EVER!)
This gift was NOT a hit because when they opened it, they had no idea what it was. They could not even grasp the concept of a game store without their coveted new video games for sale. (not an addiction, my ass!) It took 10 months for them to finally be willing to use their hefty Gramma gift certificate for dinner and games at the Boarding House. I’d say, eventually, this gift earned approximately a B-…but it was like pulling teeth.
This year, I thought I might finally earn an “A”. Oh well, best laid plans and all.
My son likes to expose the boys to a variety of different and special experiences in their lives. Wild and different restaurants. And last year, he bought them 3 piece suits and took them to the SYMPHONY!
Remember I said it was my self-imposed duty to teach them about Family Traditions? So, I combined my son’s determination to expose them to new things, and my childhood (and then Michael’s) tradition of weird food in our Christmas stockings, to provide a Christmas morning experience like no other. I knew it would be a HIT!! The boys love all the survival-type tv shows, especially when eating gross stuff is involved. So I did a lot of googling, shopped around, prepared a breakfast table, with a specific food challenge for each! (No crickets or ants involved…we are a Bug Household after all!) see
Here’s what they arrived to find for breakfast.
The deal was, they had to read the research I printed about their given fruit, take at least one bite and then go back to the printed material to find a clue for a treasure hunt to their real present. A gift card to their favorite place to shop hidden around the house.
Great idea, eh? Expose them to something new. Teach them something old. I was so sure….
I think I earned maybe a D- !!
Oh well. The hidden $50 Amazon cards went some distance to save the day…
The Sweetest Christmas Role Reversal ever!
I had the most delightful Holiday experience the other night.
It was one of those frosty ones we’ve had recently. They are still slightly rare here in the Northwest. I got home late, parked my car, went inside and unloaded stuff and then realized no one had gotten the mail. So, I bundled back up and trudged (well, it felt like trudging) back outside in the freezing cold to collect bills and hopefully, some holiday cards, from the mailbox. When I turned around to come back in, I decided to stop for a moment and look up to enjoy the stars that are so visible on this kind of crisp, clear night. As I’d hoped, they were stunning. But, what caught my eye was something in the tops of the two giant old trees in front of the house. There were a bunch, maybe hundreds, of white sparkles flitting in and on and around those trees!!
Instantly, in my mind, I was transported to a steaming hot summer night when I was just 7 years old. I was visiting my Aunt back in Prospect Heights, Illinois. I had a huge jar in my hands for collecting FIREFLIES!! They flitted and danced all around me, exactly like these were doing at the tops of my here and now trees.
I know I’m not crazy (at least most of the time) so I knew they couldn’t possibly be fireflies but what in the world were these pirouetting lights? Having just seen the movie Arrival, my mind raced with alien visitor possibilities. Or maybe it was some strange insect migration I’d never heard of. I even wondered about a flock of thousands of those mini drones, invading the sky above my house.
I ran inside and got James and he came out to see what I was so riled up about. He was also immediately blown away and we stood there wondering and guessing out loud.
Then, we both broke down into delighted giggles! What in the world??? What was this?? We were both so tickled!
I ran back in the house to get Michael (and my camera). I knew he’d never believe me if I tried describing it so even though he was already snuggled in bed with Netflix, I pulled the Mom Card and handed him his Robe. I was hoping the “swarm” would not take off before we could get back outside. He grumbled but came anyway.
Then the sweetest thing happened. Michael apologized…almost before we could even get outside. I guess my enthusiasm and wonder were pretty BIG.) He said, “Mom, I really don’t want to burst your bubble…but these are just someone’s Christmas laser lights.” I had no idea what he meant.
Sure enough, we traced the path of lights back toward probably our neighbors, the Jones’s, yard. James, ever the scientist, got it right away, when Michael explained how they worked. But, I stayed in denial for quite a while, a disappointed seven-year-old, bargaining for this to be a never-before-seen phenomenon.
“Are you sure?” I kept asking. “How could that be? Just look up there!”
Well, Michael was right, my bubble had popped but it didn’t really burst. It was still such an amazing display to see, all those pin points of light dancing in the tops of those HUGE ancient trees I love so much! I’ve lived here for over 40 years. I raised Michael in this house. Those trees were giant when we moved in and have acted as symbolic sentinels all these years. And now, he is raising his two sons here with those trees on guard.
Michael’s reaction to my childlike glee and then disappointment was so sweet and protective (thus the Role Reversal) but the best part came the next day. He went out and bought laser lights for all around the inside and outside of the house. That next night, he said “Mom, they’re baaack. Go look out your bedroom window.” And sure enough, a new Swarm had appeared, green and red this time, all over the two younger, but still large fir trees in the back of the house.
Delightful! Thanks, my sweet Son.
PS So sorry I don’t have visual aids as usual. Apparently laser lights are hard to photograph AND my site does not support video unless I “upgrade”. Otherwise I would embarrass myself for your entertainment by posting the completely black video of those lights, but with me squealing (and denying) in the background.
Jed Bartlet for President
I know I am a hopeless idealist.
I woke up Wednesday morning last week (11/9/16) wondering how in the world I was going to stay on my current path. How could I continue to answer my calling of the last 15 years? I’m on a personal mission to support pluralism, and fight absolutism. This came to me as the harsh lesson from 9/11.
I woke up Wednesday stuck in my absolute certainty that our new president-elect was absolutely the worst possible thing that could have happened to our country and to me!
I went back to my mantra…Ah, the magic of a Chosen Perspective, and remembered that somehow, somewhere I should be able to look at the whole thing from a different perspective…but other than reading a few hopeful posts, I remained completely disheartened.
I am nothing if not determined so I decided to search further for inspiration in making a shift. The politics of it all are lost on me so there was no help there. Next, I decided if this many people, that I share a country with, actually believe enough in Mr. Trump to have voted him into office, I’d better take a closer look at him…apart from the Reality TV version or the angry man debating Mrs. Clinton and I’d better look at those voters from a different perspective.
I watched the interview of Trump on 60 Minutes Sunday night to see what I could learn. I figured he’d be on his best behavior…and I think he actually was, but I still didn’t like him so I was surprised to feel a slight glimmer of something. Not exactly approval or even acceptance. My insides were still planning my version of a revolution. But I did see what I thought might be respect…not me for him but from him…Maybe even reverence or a kind of awe. I think actually winning may have actually touched him.
That tiny flicker, possibly just a spark of awareness in him gave me a comparable sliver of hope.
I went to sleep Sunday night thinking about two old sayings. One is “a rolling stone gathers no moss” and for me, the whole idea of Trump as my president still seemed pretty mossy so hmm, what other country could I move to??
But then I thought of my Dad. He had the most amazing trait of being able to be content anytime, any place. His favorite saying was “Bloom where you’re planted.”
Bloom with Trump??? Oh Dad, I wish you were still here to tell me how in the world to do that.
Now, here’s the woo-woo part. Guess what I dreamed Sunday night? A scene from the deliciously idealistic TV series, West Wing.
Here’s a brief context: A classically Southern Republican lawyer (stereotypical, but for her gender), much to her chagrin, gets “called” to join the White House staff. Here’s what TV Guide says about her character.
The West Wing gets a right winger as young Republican lawyer Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter) signs on as Associate White House Counsel. She’s offered the job at the insistence of the President…
In this scene she is having a small re-union lunch with her former, fellow right-wing lawyers. She’s been at the Whitehouse for long enough now to begin seeing who these “radical Jed Bartlet liberals” really are. (Script below in case the video doesn’t work.)
Leave it to my smart-ass dreams to make me get the lesson by slapping me into the shoes of a passionate Republican, with whom I simply cannot argue.
Ah, the Magic……………..
Oh, damn. I wanted you to say it to his face. I wanted to see…
Harriet: I hate these people.
Bruce: Did you meet anyone there who isn’t worthless?
Ainsley Hayes: Don’t say that.
Bruce: Did you meet anyone there who has any – ?
Ainsley Hayes: I said don’t say that. Say they’re smug and superior. Say their approach to public policy makes you want to tear your hair out. Say they like high taxes and spending your money. Say they want to take your guns and open your borders, but don’t call them worthless. At least don’t do it in front of me. The people that I have met have been extraordinarily qualified, their intent is good. Their commitment is true, they are righteous, and they are patriots. And I’m their lawyer.