then you know my generous friend Michelle has to be one of the world’s best Grandma’s! What she does for her kids and grandkids is amazing!
The photos I posted yesterday are all Christmas decorations. She’s been doing this a while and creates a new one every year. Her rule is they have to be made with primarily “sweets”. So every eyeball, ear, rooftop, face, gown, hand, etc. is made from an edible treat. (NOT that they are eaten!!! Who would DARE after all her work?) Her display grows and grows and I am in complete awe of her dedication to surprising those kids with each new contribution.
This Santa is made from marshmallows, licorice and get this…That pink face is BUBBLE GUM. She had to chew it up for the right consistency!
When she did Frozen one year for the girls (above), of course then she had to do R2D2 for the boys next. (below)
The Fairy House is my favorite. It is this years production! (below)
This one even has a picnic outside and a Fairy inside and a flickering light (for firelight)!
The time it must have taken to attach every single gumdrop, orange slice, M and M, tic tac, jelly bean, Gummy worms, and peppermints, well, I think it’s a wonder. (That is a very small list of examples. She’s always on the lookout for candies that will work in her creations.)
I’m hoping Michelle will comment (and correct any mistakes I’ve made) and give us all more information about this love-filled “hobby” of hers!
So thetheme for Song Lyric Sunday (this week) is to post a song that makes you feel better.
My first choice is this delightful anthem from Cris Williamson. I always feel better after playing this LOUD and singing along with this wonderful choir of women!! I feel so connected! I dare you not to smile at the very end!!
Chris’s voice is so clear and powerful. I LOVE her joyous, sometimes poignant and always and “heartful” singing!
I have used Williamson’s music often in my work. And one time, I had the extreme pleasure of being at a Bonnie Raitt concert (she’s my favorite), when Bonnie invited local treasure, Cris Williamson, up on stage to sing Angel from Montgomery with her!! WOW!!
Song of the Soul
Song of the Soul
(Cris Williamson)
Love of my life I am crying
I am not dying, I am dancing
Dancing along in the madness
There is no sadness
Only the song of the soul
cho: And we'll sing this song
Why don't you sing along
Then we can sing for a long, long time
Why don't you sing this song
Then we can sing along
Then we can sing for a long, long time
What do you do for a living
Are you forgiving, giving shelter
Follow your heart, love will find you
Truth will unbind you
Seek out a song of the soul
Come to your life like a warrior
Nothing will bore yer, you can be happy
Let in the light, it will heal you
And you can feel you
Sing out a song of the soul
Love of my life I am crying
I am not dying, I am dancing
Dancing along in the madness
There is no sadness
Only the song of the soul
Lyrics from http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Song_of_the_Soul.htm
Two slideshows to facilitate the theme…hope they work for you…..
Here are my contributions….
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WAIT! I just took a bathroom break while writing this post and look what I found!
But if I really want to relax, it has to be in the presence of one of the following…
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To me Sunsets are Holy…to the degree that it feels sinful to not freeze in my tracks to witness and appreciate the statement being made by that which is unfathomably bigger than me…
Well, I think this is a great theme for this Thanksgiving week (and not at all “cheesy” Helen)!
I knew my song immediately…well, my first song anyway.
You know when that question shows up “If you could have ONE album to play while stranded on a desert island, which one would it be?” This comes from my choice. Don Henley’s Inside Job. His opus. His Therapy album. His masterpiece.
This song gave me great comfort when a 25 year long business (and friendship) partnership ended. I had to fight hard to not focus just on the loss, and move into gratitude.
I hope the video works. It is the only one I could find of Don Henley actually singing
A lot of things have happened
Since the last time we spoke
Some of them are funny
Some of ’em ain’t no joke
And I trust you will forgive me
If I lay it on the line
I always thought you were a friend of mine
Sometimes I think about you
I wonder how you’re doing now
And what you’re going through
The last time I saw you
We were playing with fire
We were loaded with passion
And a burning desire
For every breath, for every day of living
And this is my Thanksgiving
Now the trouble with you and me, my friend
Is the trouble with this nation
Too many blessings, too little appreciation
And I know that kind of notion¡ªwell, it just ain’t cool
So send me back to Sunday school
Because I’m tired of waiting for reason to arrive
It’s too long we’ve been living
These unexamined lives
I’ve got great expectations
I’ve got family and friends
I’ve got satisfying work
I’ve got a back that bends
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving
Have you noticed that an angry man
Can only get so far
Until he reconciles the way he thinks things ought to be
With the way things are
Here in this fragmented world, I still believe
In learning how to give love, and how to receive it
And I would not be among those who abuse this privilege Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge
And I don’t mind saying that I still love it all
I wallowed in the springtime
Now I’m welcoming the fall
For every moment of joy
Every hour of fear
For every winding road that brought me here
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving
For everyone who helped me start
And for everything that broke my heart
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving
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.
I grew up in San Diego. My bones, my very cells are trained to live in a perfect climate, with very little temperature change, and where seasons are nearly undetectable.
I have lived in Washington state for more than 40 years now and as much as I adore the natural beauty of the Northwest in all its weather phases, I still grieve, deeply, as we move into Winter. I know there is beauty and purpose in the dark months, but I will never like the cold.
Is there anything more pitiful than the very last one of the year!!
These were all taken in the last week or so…depressing to see all the final blossoms on each plant…
But here are the ones that really get to me.
sigh………….the very last apples on 30 trees! I can feel the S.A.D. creeping in…
Oh wait. This morning I spotted THIS!!
You gotta love an undefeatable Primrose!!!
OK, tomorrow, something more uplifting, I promise!
One of my favorite songs for reminding me that no matter how big the “powers that be” are (or think they are), I can ALWAYS tap into my own personal power….
Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 was NOT the biggest of the big pictures…
Ain’t gonna let nobody, turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let nobody, turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world
Ain’t gonna let the administration turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let the administration turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world
Ain’t gonna let no first-strike policy turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let no first-strike policy turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talkin
Gonna build a brand new world
Ain’t gonna let Indira Gandhi turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let Indira Gandhi (how’d she get that name?) ’round
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world.
Ain’t gonna let that Henry Kissenger turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let that killer Kissenger turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a-talking
Gonna build a brand new world.
Ain’t gonna let nobody, turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain’t gonna let nobody, turn me around
Keep on a singing, keep on a swinging
Gonna build a brand new world
This is my second post for this challenge. Pauses and Clicks reminded me this morning of the whole challenge. Before I had focused mainly on the “strange and grotesque” part.
This series of photos I’ve been taking of Hydrangeas best captures the week’s theme for me but it wasn’t until reading the above post that I got how truly beautiful this amazing plant and it’s blossoms are….until their very end.
How in the world does THIS…
…Become THIS???
The “Transformation” is both invisibly slow, as well as lightning fast. I took these pictures from April to June!
Here is a Transformation slideshow.
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But for me, the lesson didn’t stop there. I had planned on showing the photos of Hydrangeas at the end of their life to demonstrate how something so lovely can transform into “ugly”…but I read her post this morning and it completely changed my perspective.
NOW, I can see how the Hydrangea becomes MORE beautiful as it ages, stunning even…
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And, since I’m always looking at life through the lens of Generations, look what else I found!
Multi-Generational Living at it’s finest!!!
Thanks Pauses and Clicks!
(Now if I can just apply this lesson the next time I look in a mirror!)
PS Today is November 4th, 2016 and when I walked outside, here’s what greeted me!
This Santa is made from marshmallows, licorice and get this…That pink face is BUBBLE GUM. She had to chew it up for the right consistency!
When she did Frozen one year for the girls (above), of course then she had to do R2D2 for the boys next. (below)
