Water Wheel of Time

My heart dances knowing that this past week my blog has had visitors from the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden, Argentina, Germany, China, India, Russia, and Slovenia.

Where I live in the Midwestern U.S., temperatures are frigid.  We tend to keep the temperature in our home on the coolish side.  It just seems smart to add a layer of clothing, rather than sink more money in the l.p. gas tank.  Plus, we feel better physically, mentally, and sleep better in cool air.

Two days ago my hubby went ice fishing with one of the neighbor guys.  Ice fishing is alot different than it used to be.  He explained how they used a camera and could watch the fish beneath the ice swimming toward their bait.  He had so much fun, and they had just enough luck (I refuse to call it skill) so each household could have a nice big meal.  The guys filleted the fish, removing the bones, and that way they fry up into crispy pieces.  We eat them like potato chips with our fingers. 

Tonight we're meeting another couple for supper in a small town about ten miles from home.  There's a bar in one room and dining area in the other.  An all-you-can-eat broasted chicken buffet is their Wednesday night special.  Buffets are probably not the healthiest places to eat, but, they sure are an occasional dining treat for us.  The way I see it, life is too darned short to only munch on lettuce leaves!  If my Creator wanted me to do that, I'd be a rabbit.

This past week, I'm finding myself thinking about springtime, my chatty wrens returning, the crocus and tulips popping out of the ground.  Trees re-budding, kids bringing out their trikes and bikes.  I feel that occasional twinge of patio fever, an urge to stroll beside a trout stream, pick a tiny bouquet of violets, and watch Mother Nature change her clothes.

The transition is ever so gradual.  One season blending into another.  The Universal Master Plan is jam-packed with amazing invisible intricacies that assure us of a better tomorrow.  The days grow longer, giving us more daylight hours, until we are staying outdoors much longer than during winter.  I can't wait to take my fuzzy one for a walk around town and not have to worry about slipping on the ice and falling. 

A Michael Russell Painting

Life is like the old water wheel, turning slowly, until one day we see ourselves having transitioned into someone totally new and different.  We morph like the caterpillar into the butterfly.  When we arrive at this late-life stage, we are free to spread our wings and fly anywhere we choose.  We can hover in one place, buzz off to somewhere else, or sit on a flower and watch the world go by.

There is no such thing as an ordinary day.  Life is a construction site, always building and tearing down.  Moving forward and leaving behind.  When the time comes for us to go to the next realm, we can be so pleased and proud that we were able to leave behind our unique footprints, knowing they will remain as long as the Earth itself exists.

And, that's another compelling reason to go barefoot while we're here, I'd say!

Ta-ta to my cyber friends all over the world.........   

Hop In! Let's Go For a Drive

I'll take you on a back-road wintry drive.  We'll go real slow, cuz there's so much beauty to see!

Two miles from home

Notice the Tree

Roadside Whipped Cream

Snow-Narrowed Lane

Weary Branches

Our Creator's Eye Watching Over Us All

Have a warm-fuzzy day!

This One is For Abby

Hi Abby.......thank you for the delicious wacky cake that you brought over yesterday!  The added pineapple was such a good idea.  Yummy.  Keep up the good work in the kitchen!

Love, love......

My Tribute to Christina Aguilera

Have I ranted about anything lately?

Whether I did or not, I'm gonna have me a good rant today.  It's about time we Americans stand up for each other and not let the media make fun of us.

Minutes after Christina Aguilera sang the National Anthem before the Super Bowl game last night, the Internet had headlines about her "botching the national anthem something fierce."

If I don't get this off my chest, I'll have a cardiac infarction, or whatever it's called.  Why are we Americans so quick to criticize, ridicule, make fun of, and demean one another?  So what if the words were switched around or omitted entirely.  All that really mattered was the crowd standing in honor and love of our country's flag.  The lady was in front of billions of people, doing her best, trying her best, and the last thing on earth she wanted to do was forget the words.  Instead of criticism, she should be getting our human understanding and praise for having the guts to stand up there in front of the world to lead us in patriotism in the first place.

Oh, I get steamed at stuff like this.  Which one of the media persons has never made a mistake, uttered the wrong word, made the wrong facial expression, or stumbled when walking up or down steps.  Why can't we feel compassion and show compassion instead of throwing stones.  I don't know about the rest of humanity, but thoughts slip my mind faster than I get them sometimes.  I can be in the middle of a sentence, and all of a sudden I have no frickin' idea what I was going to say.

So, on behalf of Christina Aguilera, I say she did a beautiful job of singing for us, she did her very best to lead us Americans in a few minutes of silence, which is an accomplishment by itself.

If I want to be 100% in the open, I couldn't explain what the "ramparts" are in the National Anthem anyway and so what if a few words were omitted.  For god sake, Christina suffered enough embarrassment without the media splashing this on the page and screen.  If I could have one wish in this world fulfilled before I pass on to the pie in the sky, it would be that people would be nicer to each other.  Why can't we come to grips that the person standing next to us is a mirror image of ourselves.....a walking, talking, and feeling human being dropped onto this earth like a chicken lays an egg.

What can possibly hurt us more than unkind words?  I'm trying very hard to think of an answer.............

There!  I feel better.

Are Ya Gonna Watch the Super Bowl, Maxine?

Seven Stages of Life

(Poem written by Sydnii Ray)

Fresh life

Soft skin, new baby

A soft cry escapes from rosebud lips

Quickly followed by a childlike gurgle

The first stage, as it was.

The second stage

Exploring life

Meeting new people

Eyes opening to the world

School bag in hand.

The third stage

That of the infamous lover,

Heart easily broken

Vulnerable like a baby bird

Thinking that they are invincible.

Stage four

Oh what a confusing time

Turmoil of happenings

Sent off, like a young bird pushed out of its nest

Flying off into an unknown life

Leaving home, yet another stage

New beginning.

At the fifth stage

Mid life crisis

Children fly away

A sudden stability, a  sense of knowing

Life plan set.

The sixth age shifts, comfort becomes the primary priority

Slippers, sweatshirts, and favorite pair of jeans

Worry about fashion...a thing of youth.

The seventh and final stage of this long life

Cared for by others

Free of all worries

Take the days as they come,

Until they come no longer.

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.

-Madeleine L'engle

My New Way To Pray

After all these years, I've come up with a new way to pray. 

First off, I'm not a religious fanatic.  Actually, I'm just the opposite.  I'm one who digs deep into the history of my religion, only to find facts that disappoint and discourage me.  With that said, there's another side to the coin of faith.....and that is spirituality. 

I'm one who wants all cards on the table, none of this tip-toeing around, talking behind the back, that sort of thing.  Each of us must remember that there is a separate line to heaven for each of us.  Mine is different than the guy next to me, and his will be different than mine.  But......we both have a line. 

Talking to My Creator has always been easy for me.  My way of prayer resembles a one-on-one visit with my best friend.  I don't use beads or a book anymore.  Only My Creator knows what's in my heart.  Only He knows what I've lived through. He knows what I need and what I don't need.  Only He knows how strong my relationship with Him really is. 

Day before yesterday I was sitting in my comfy recliner, my fuzzy one beside me, crocheting a comfort cross that I donate to a local rest home.  As my crochet hook was going in and out of the stitches, a fleeting voice told me to offer each stitch up as a prayer for someone in the world who is all alone and has no one to pray or care for them. 

This thought affected me more than I can say.  From that instant, I told My Creator that each crochet stitch is my prayer for whoever He thinks needs it most.  The interesting part of this is that when I offer my stitches up for a lonely stranger, suddenly my crocheting has a dual purpose.  Something actually changed inside of me.

Our world is in the midst of turmoil like hell won't have it right now.  There has been fighting over religion since the beginning, and that's probably not going to change.  But, what should change is the way we judge others based on their personal spiritual practices that we truly don't understand in the first place.  Where we are born will dictate what our religious upbringing will be.  It's a toss of the faith coin.  Maybe Our Creator designed it to be this way so He could watch us flail around blindly, trying to figure it all out.  I do think, though, that we waste precious time worrying about how others are fostering their spiritual beliefs when we could be doing something to help a forgotten and sad soul somewhere on this Earth, perhaps far far away on another continent.  This new way to pray is a way that I can do just that without leaving my home.

Of course, the jury is out on all facets of religion, but I do know that the older I get, the more I feel the need to pray.  There's something built into me that is doing this.  It's sort of like my hair turning gray.  I didn't ask for it to turn, it just happened.

Tata for today.

Lazy Susan Recipes

Late afternoon yesterday I officially declared war on our lazy susan---the circular food filing cabinet in the kitchen.  It seems lately when we spin it around to find something, all we find is a hodge-podge of cans and boxes piled on top of each other.

I am a person with limitations.  When I reach my limit, then things start to fly.  I thought to myself there has to be a way to conquer this cupboard catastrophe, so I made up a new game with new rules, rolled up my sweatshirt sleeves, and started playing.  I picked out a large can of Chinese vegetables and a box of Tuna Tetrazzini mix.  Went to the refrigerator freezer and took out a pound of frozen ground turkey.  Three weird ingredients, but that is exactly my game challenge.

First, I thawed the ground turkey in the microwave.  In a pan, I followed the boxed Tetrazzini directions using the juice from the canned Chinese vegetables for part of the water measurement.  When the turkey was thawed, I fried it in a pan with sauteed green onions.  Then I mixed the prepared Tetrazzini, Chinese vegetables, and ground turkey together, added a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese, put it all in a casserole dish, and popped it in a 350 oven.

Forty-five minutes later we sat down to a bubbly casserole that rocked the socks off my husband.  DeeeeLishUs!  My goal is to keep doing this until there's some semblance of organization in the lazy susan and I can put cans on one layer and boxes on the other, instead of having both mixed together.

After I finish writing today's blog, I'm gonna head straight to the kitchen and play my new game again.  It'll be fun to see what silly ingredients I take out of the susan for tonight's exciting supper recipe that will either wow my husband again or help us to control our portions.  Either way, it's another one of those win-win situations, as I see it.

Tata for today.

Rah Rah Best Buy!

Gotta put on my cheerleader's outfit and get my pom-poms out.......just spent an hour on the phone with a Best Buy member of the Geek Squad helping me with a computer glitch.  When he solved my problem, I asked him if he was married.  There was a pause.  Then a laugh.  Then he said, "I'm single, ma'am."  I told him then that if I lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, I would insist on taking him out to lunch.  "Thank you so very much, ma'am." 

We cannot applaud the services of Best Buy Geek Squad enough.  They are johnny-on-the-spot ready to help and solve problems.  I think it's good to set off fireworks in support of those who are out there doing a  good job at what they do.  And, you can bet all the money in the bank that if I lived in Fort Lauderdale, I'd be picking this guy up right now and heading to the best seafood restaurant in town.....and, he could order anything his little heart desired. 

I asked him what the weather was like down there.  He said he carries a rag in his back pocket.  Hmmmm.....didn't catch on right away.  Then he explained the rag is to wipe the sweat off his face!

When our phone conversation ended, he wished me a great day and a very good year.  Now, that's what I call outstanding free service of Best Buy. 

By the way, if yesterday's blog piqued any one's interest as to why pileated woodpeckers don't get headaches, go to www.livescience.com/animals/070108_woodpecker_headache.html.

Tata for today. 

A Pecker Project

Where I live, Pileated Woodpeckers are common. They're about the size of a crow and are the largest woodpecker in most of North America. Their long beaks dig into dead trees looking for ants, leaving behind these huge rectangular holes.

Near our Home

Wouldn't you think  the poor bird would have a headache after so much pecking?