Somewhere ~

photo taken in my moms backyard after a spring shower

somewhere i have never travelled

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

ee cummings

My Anchor

The Anchor Of My Soul

On the darkest stormy sea of life,
When the worst disaster unfolds,
There, in the midst of turmoil and strife...
Is an Anchor that always holds.

In the valley of death's dark shadow,
I cry to God and He doth hear;
My spirit is lifted and I know
My loving Comforter is near.

Underneath the troubles, hurts and tears,
There's a foundation God hath laid,
And whatever may come through the years,
Resting in Christ I'm unafraid.

It matters not how rough the pathway,
What difficulties may unfold,
The Lord is my Shepherd and my stay...
He is The Anchor of My Soul.

Author ~ Connie Campbell Bratcher

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast..."
(Heb.6:19)

Stress Management

bird on a wire

Stress

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience,
raised a glass of water and asked
'How heavy is this glass of water?'
Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.
The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.
In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'
He continued,
'And that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,
as the burden becomes increasingly heavy,
we won't be able to carry on. '
'As with the glass of water,
you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.
When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'
'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down .
Don't carry it home.
You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carrying now,
let them down for a moment if you can.'
So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.
Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see them again, it was probably worth it.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When every thing's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

*My aunt Jeanne sent this to me a while back when my son Rob was in Kuwait and it was feeling a little heavy. Her e-mail was lighthearted and made me smile. I thought I would share.

Keeping This Tradition

For many years my dad's many sisters have gotten together and made tamales at Christmas. This is my third year to help. I can remember being a little girl and watching them, though mostly getting in the way. They all would wear aprons and bandannas. My oldest aunt, who is Mary, passed the baton down to her youngest sister, my aunt Deb. I felt a little sad as this was done; she recently had a 7 heart bypass surgery. I found it interesting that she went to the youngest of the five sisters to make sure that everything was done just the way my grandma had done it. The other sisters have their favorites and tend to do things their way (they all know how to do it my grandmas way, but due to their diets and special needs they tweak my grandmas recipe ~ GOSH! I don't want to get in trouble with any of them, they read my blog! LOVE all of yous!! smile smile started to rethink that last sentence). My aunt Mary knew that my aunt Deb would do it her way and knowing that she had done it my grandmas way. However, my aunt Deb would tell me that she had to get the meat at a certain time, then these specific peppers and spices, the corn husk and the masa. Deb was feeling a little overwhelmed and we both could not help feel the importance of keeping on the tradition of grandma's tamales. It was up to us now (more or less ~ being that she was the youngest of that generation and my sister and I are from the next. We were the ones that would be keeping carrying on this tradition).

I loved every second of this day and felt as if my grandma was right in the room with us with her bandanna wrapped around her head.
:)

Alice in Wonderland

I recently had the pleasure to see my cousin's high school play. He was the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland. This is his senior year and I plan to see the rest of the plays that he will be in during his last year of high school. Kiel is planning to go away to college. I know whatever he pursues in life he will succeed. He is a very driven young man.

My daughter was also in Drama while in high school as well as I was. This brought back so many memories.

NOTE~ Kiel is in the fuchsia striped t-shirt.
Wasn't the set awesome?!!

Advisory

The front page of our local News Paper read this morning...

MOTHER NATURE BLUSTERS INTO CALIFORNIA
Storms Pack a Punch!

A parade of storms is expected to pour up to 5 inches of rain on the Northern San Joaquin Valley, drop as much as 10 feet of snow at higher elevations in the Sierra and buffet the state with wind ranging from 35 mph to 150 mph, according to warnings from the state Office of Emergency Services, local public safety officials and weather forecasters.


This is what it was like outside at 11:00 A.M.


Here inside my house, listening to the sound track to Pride and Prejudice (sorry about the shaking, I was daydreaming that I was watching Darcy walk across the pasture to me... my heart was racing a little ~ hee hee). It has really been this dark in the house all day.

AND then...

I talked to my daughter Diandra about walking on the treadmill today; she had agreed. As I was going to work on my post sharing my day with you, she came in the room irritated saying, "I am NOT going to walk in the garage with the blinking strobe light (my husband has to fix the light; it is going out) it is boring! I would rather walk in the rain." I asked her if she had gone outside yet, she said no. I asked her to check the mail. She came back in, and had decided that she wouldn't walk in the rain. Irritated she walked back to the garage for the treadmill. I hear the door slam. A few minutes later, I heard it open, then slam again. She then proceeded to walk back and tell me she was going to walk in the rain. (Yes, she is crazy). I then said "Well, then I will go with you." I am thinking to myself, 'What good mom would let her daughter walk alone in this? I would never forgive myself if something happen to her.' Did I mention that she turned 21, for those of you thinking, 'Well you're the mom, why didn't you just tell her she could not walk out in the STORM!' Yes... well, that worked when she was the age 4-20. She is feeling a little more independent these days. Did I also mention that we both have had a school break going on 2 weeks? Need I say more? SO, we got all geared up to walk in this storm. I told her as I was putting layers on that she did know that she was making our little town talk about us, that they were going to say "did you see those two crazy women walking in this storm?" As we were walking against the wind, I had to keep my head down so that the rain was not stinging my face. I thought 'the news channel did say not to drive if you didn't have to. They didn't say anything about walking.' The rain coat's were not keeping us dry... 'of course not silly, they are only made to get you from point A to point B. Not to walk in the rain! WE need rain slickers!' "Is it hailing?" I asked Diandra, she said "No." I said, "Are you sure? Watch the rain drops. They are huge drops and they are hitting my face hard. Look! They are hitting the street and even rolling for a while."

Same ole' ~ Same ole'

I don't know about you, but I am tired of making the same old food time after time! With the holidays we have had our fill with turkey, ham and roast... nothing sounds good. With the cold weather, I have made chili beans, stew and chicken soup. I just don't know what to make anymore.

Give me some ideas.
What are you making for dinner these days?