Signs..Signs..Everywhere There's Signs

Clockwise from top left: Tokyo, Las Vegas, Brooklyn, and Grand Canary Islands.
(Click pictures to enlarge)

“One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.” ~Thomas Sowell (American Writer and Economist, b.1930)

I have a photo of a group of Canada geese standing on the shore of a local lake next to a sign that reads... "NO SWIMMING". It is as if they wonder... "Does this mean me?" These signs are from around the world.. some three dimensional, some profound and some simply different. Since I don't travel much these days, those from overseas were taken by my brother. The first, from Tokyo shows businessmen and women waiting to cross the street, although I must admit that I wondered if they were male models posing... then again... no, no way.. waiting to cross the street. All of them in black suits or skirts, black jackets or dark gray coats and white shirts; uniform in nature... conforming....expected. But the huge red LOVE sign in the background POPS off the page and gives it a strange twist (which is why I wondered if there was a photo shoot going on for a magazine cover or something). The "LOVE" also feeds into the next sign... M&M's. I do so love M&M's, either plain or with almonds (peanuts are ok but almonds are heavenly). The crazy bright colors and the three dimensional look of the lovable and sweet (in more ways than one) characters make me want to walk right into the store and buy all the M&M's my suitcase can hold. This sign would stand out here at home, but in Las Vegas... everything is gaudy and everything is brightly colored and over-the-top. You can see the Coca-Cola store next door with its oversized bottle... anyway... I love M&M's.

The next sign is one of several on the outer walls of the Brooklyn Public Library, profound and true. Even in these days of instant downloads of Kindle books, I still like to walk through the stacked shelves of the library; to smell the pages of the books and see the worn page edges. If I can check it out from the library for free, I won't buy the book to download. In any form, electronic or hardcover... books are definitely the inheritance of generations.

I thought the final sign in this group was cute... it reads "pedestrian zone".. so someone painted pedestrians on the wall behind the sign. In doing so, the artist fulfilled the intent of the sign... now it IS a pedestrian zone!

My brother is the central figure in this opera sign.

Yes, my brother is the large central figure in this opera poster sign... he's the one with the gun pointed at his head. Operas always put these large signs to advertise the coming event or the opera currently playing. Here in the United States, opera isn't that popular and the opera companies are much smaller, as are the productions. In Japan, however, the people are wild about opera to an almost fanatic degree. Stephen has performed several times in Tokyo, in this case the only opera written by Mozart... Fidelio. It is one of those comedy/drama stories... he plays Florestan, a nobleman, who has been kidnapped and imprisoned by an evil governor who spreads the word that Florestan is dead. Leonore, Florestan's wife, suspects he is still alive and she pretends to be a man (Fidelio) and manages to obtain a job as the chief jailer's helper. She smuggles provisions to her husband in the dungeon.

However, the daughter of the chief jailer, falls in love with Fidelio (not knowing that he is really Leonore) and rebuffs another young assistant who is mad for her. The governor tries to get the chief jailor to kill Florestan when he discovers that a high minister in the government is on his way to inspect the prison. The minister, Florestans close friend, will surely find him and the governor will be in real trouble. The chief jailer refuses, so the governor goes to do the murderous deed himself... the minister is within sight on the road. Lenore as Fidelio is in the dungeon with her husband and flings herself between the governor and her bound husband. She reveals herself and the pistol she has smuggled in; but as she prepares to shoot the governor or die trying to save her husband, the trumpet sounds... the minister is here... Florestan is saved! Leonore releases her husband and all is well. Oh... the chief jailer's daughter is a bit rattled that Fidelio was actually Leonore, but she quickly gets over it when the young man who is mad for her again professes his love and she accepts. It's one of those "happily ever after" endings... well, except for the evil governor... one that is not often seen in opera. In fact, this is one of the few parts my brother plays that does NOT die in the end.

While Stephen was still singing as a house tenor in Linz, Austria, they did a production of "Peter Grimes". Opera is sung in the language it is written in and this was written in English. He plays a rustic fisherman and of course, dies in the end. For the pre-opera advertising, they shot photos of him in his costume... a thick sweater, jeans and old fisherman hat.. with thick nets. The ocean was in the background and he was kneeling on the sand. This was the opera poster shot and they made it into a large billboard as well. He told me it was always disconcerting to walk down that street and look up to see a multiple times life size picture of himself. Life-size, he is big and imposing. The billboard.....really scary.

Carmi is collecting "signs" this week... I know he is going to have a lot of great ones. Actually, when I read what he wants over there... it really isn't this. I probably SHOULD have posted the geese with the "no swimming" sign. Oh, well. I am this far into it so I am just going to go with it... just won't link it over there. This is why one should ALWAYS read the instructions AND any fine print. However, the Saturday Photo Hunt, which I missed of course is on "informative". I thought this meant an informative post.. and this is one, in a way. But signs also are very informative.. at least sometimes. So, better late than never... on to the Photo Hunt.

(end of post)
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ "Informative"

March Madness: In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lion

March Madness... in so many ways.

"March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice." ~ Hal Borland

Well, March came in like a lion and... looks like it's going out like a lion as well, a Nor'easter setting up and cold, cold, rain coming down. While a few days this month were warmer than usual, most were colder. I laughed at Nyssa just a week ago when we had 76 degree days and she was having snow and 32 degree temperatures. Now the roles are reversed.. Reno has 70 degree days and we had sleet and temperatures consistently in the 40's for almost a week now. That is "madness".

Secondly, one of the black swallowtail butterflies who had been hibernating and transforming in my little aquarium in the sunroom decided it was time to emerge. I believe they do so on basis of the amount of light as in the length of the days, rather than the temperatures. This group of six chrysalides settled down back in early October and have overwintered in warmth and comfort and moderate humidity. They aren't suppose to emerge until mid-April but this one was an early bird... er.. butterfly. He was desperate to leave but we have nothing blooming except pansies and I doubt they have much nectar. Still, I let him go. There is fennel that is already growing well and even though the temperature seems much too cold for them... it could still lay its eggs on the fennel and hopefully find a bit of food somewhere. It was "madness" to emerge that early.

Then there is this picture... I really wasn't going to post this as it is not a great idea to take pictures while driving down the road. But, it was so interesting. I took it this month, on one of our many rainy days and it looks so cold and dreary out and that long stream of car lights. This is Dominion Blvd... the main highway south to North Carolina and Elizabeth City area. It is always congested and lined with traffic after 2PM and when the drawbridge has been open. I never come south on this road after 2PM... though the other drawbridge is no better. But not only was it probably madness to take this photo... my point and shoot does have the screen on the back so it isn't as risky a behavior as having to put your eye to a viewfinder... but, look at the window covered with streaming water droplets.... WHERE ARE MY WINDSHIELD WIPERS? I was startled that there was so much water in the picture! If it was raining this hard, I should have had the wipers on high and I don't remember it being this MUCH rain... and I don't usually escape the black stroke of the wiper blade cutting across the corner of the picture. Please, don't panic... I DID have the wipers on.... didn't I!!!????

(end of post)

PS: Going to take Mom for another attempt at her iron infusion outpatient procedure. I am hoping it will not be entangled as last week's version was but I think it has a 50/50 chance of actually happening, as we still do not have the blood pressure under the best control. My car is draining my battery for some mysterious reason and the battery is sitting there dead as a doornail and we were needing the second car tomorrow... and one of the gas fireplace burners is not working right so I cut off all gas to it... and this portends of another "Alexander" terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.... I certainly hope not. Did I take a wrong turn and step into the Twilight Zone?

Carmi's Theme ~ March Madness

Haunted

There is more than one way to be "haunted"......

"Sing once again with me our strange duet ...
My power over you grows stronger yet ...
And though you turn from me, to glance behind,
The Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind ..."
~ Batt, Michael; Hart, C; Stilgoe, R; Lloyd-Webber, Andrew (lyrics)

In 1989 a casting call went out to singers, including classically trained opera singers particularly in Chicago. Andrew Lloyd Webber was casting for the second traveling company of The Phantom of the Opera... the show was to originate and play in Chicago for its first nine months. My brother, Stephen, was doing an apprenticeship at the Lyric Opera in Chicago after completing his Master's at New England Conservatory. He auditioned, was signed and that is how his "haunting" began.

Of course, we thought this was great and over the eight years he traveled with this company, we were able to see the production in many different venues.. The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC and The Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia to name a few. Eight shows a week, 52 weeks a year, for eight years.... you do the math. What happens when you sing and act the same thing over and over and over? Stephen said that some nights he could do the entire show and not really remember the details at all.

What do they do to break up the repetitiveness? Well, for one thing, birthdays. When Stephen turned 30... I planned a surprise. I can't remember if they were in Denver or Chicago, but I got in touch with another cast member and sent a box to them. Inside was a small black coffin shaped box filled with black and white shredded paper and all sorts of "Over the Hill" gifts, coffee mugs and such. In addition, they delivered thirty white carnations that had been tip dyed in black with greenery in a large arrangement and a special ballon... the Grim Reaper holding a cup cake.. it read "I'm just here for the cake." Others had put together some finger foods and a cake and they set all the things up on a large table backstage. I sent a package of stickers as well, that read... "Look Who's Turning 30". The cast passed them out amongst themselves and attached them in various strategic places on their costumes.

The woman who played Carlotta was quite buxom and the neckline of the costume for the Masquerade scene was very, very low... but she had a decorative scarf of some sort as well. So, she attached the sticker, strategically .. well, on her partially exposed bosom and covered it with the scarf. Carlotta had to dance with Stephen when he played the part of Piangi and apparently he had to do so that evening. As they were in the middle of the scene and whirling round and round across stage.. Carlotta (with her back to the audience) would fling up the scarf and show Stephen the sticker.... what a way to break things up! It was a memorable birthday after all.

I was able to see the show ten times and always found it moving. Nyssa was four when it began and seven when we went to Chicago for her first viewing. She was mesmerized... and afterward, when we went backstage, all the cast stopped to talk to her and she saw all the heavy, heavy costumes and the stage props and wigs and even the Phantom's makeup. We thought it amazing and wonderful and never tired of the performances. But, after years of hearing the music night after night... Stephen DID tire of it. He was "haunted" by the Phantom of the Opera sounds wherever he went. Do you know how many fine restaurants have live background piano music playing during lunch or dinner? More than you know. The songs were in their cycles and it never failed that a strain from some part of Phantom would begin as he ate.... he has several times paid a tip to the piano player NOT to play pieces from Phantom until he left the restaurant.

The final touring companies closed last year in November 2010 in Los Angeles. In all there were three different touring companies and at closing, they had played 205 engagements in 98 cities for an unprecedented combined total of 36 years and 14,605 performances. Of those, my brother performed for eight years.

Oh, as for the picture. I was in our local Walmart parking lot and I saw this car with this bumper sticker and just could not resist. I had to use my handy dandy small point and shoot so as not to cause too big of a scene, so it isn't my best picture, a little spooky really ... but, I thought I would post it for Stephen... who will in some ways, forever be "haunted" by the Phantom of the Opera.

(end of post)
Carmi's Weekly Theme ~ "Letters"
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ "Mostly Black"

Computer Maintenance Blocking Left Lane Ahead

Working on the webpage.......

"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ~ One of Murphy's Laws of Technology

I am taking the plunge, heading into unknown territory, on a mission (hopefully not a five year one) to explore the inner workings of this layout and attempt to change over from the worst commenting system in the universe JS-Kit Echo..... to something manageable without losing all the comments. Cross your fingers, say a prayer and hope.... In the mean time I have to disable commenting for a while... I really don't know how long. I will try and keep it as short as possible... but as you know with computers.....

"The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back." ~ Author Unknown

(Gulp!) OK... Here we go!

(end of post)
Update: Well, I did it and with less than stellar results. Yes, Disqus imported the Blogger comments that were synched up with Echo... But, while Disqus imported the raw files that I had exported from Echo.. Echo and JSKIT (which is the ABSOLUTE WORST!!!!!! commenting system in the universe and who wants you to PAY $120 a year for using the ABSOLUTE WORST!!!! system) for all their self-serving praise, managed to download their comments without identifiers to show which post they belong to. I figure this is because they thought of those of us who used Haloscan and whom they had to bring into the system when they bought and ravaged Haloscan were simply second rate. They did nothing to help us salvage the Haloscan comments if we wanted to move. Their pricing went from "free" if you came over from Haloscan, to $11 a year, to $120 a year within four months. Their service is lousy... two to three weeks to even get an email back when initiating a service problem. They have dismounted their forum where a lot of quick help could be had .... probably because they were getting so much NEGATIVE feedback that it tied up too many employees to delete it from the site.

I found out that there is one redeeming thing about all the old, old spam that showed up in comments. You know.. when you occasionally go to the 2005 posts and find a comment from "Cleaning houses in _________.(insert VA, NV, GA, or whatever).. It seems that the presence of those comments, somehow getting posted by bypassing some form or other... well, they grounded the post... gave it identity and made the other imported Haloscan comments that were legitimate, show up. So, I've lost all the comments on many favorite posts.... sigh. I still have the exported original Haloscan files from the day I was forced to switch to Echo. Perhaps some geeky angel will figure something out.

Until then, I am back and I think this comment system is more user friendly.... at least it has a spot to put in the commenter's website so I can return the visits.

Musical Beds Monday

One of the beds in transit... bringing to mind the statement yelled out by many a child in the morning...
"MOM! I can't make up my bed... the 'insert one' (cat/dog/grandma) is on it!"

"The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late." ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Just a short (turned out longer than I expected) post on this VERY busy day. Mom and Dad have a queen sized sleep number bed that they have had for several years and they said they 'loved' it. I have questioned this because on top of this sleep number bed they have put a protective mattress pad, a three inch memory foam mattress pad, a pillowtop mattress pad and a heated mattress pad. In fact, the thickness of the mattress pads has almost equaled the thickness of the mattress itself. How they could ever feel if the sleep number bed did them any good or not... well, I don't know. The bed frame was a modified full size headboard and footboard.. dark cherry and antique, or at least antique now. We have two such bed frames in the house, one was my grandmother's. Hers was not modified and is still a full size with the original slats and is currently in Stephen's room. These are four poster beds and normally the bottom of the frame and therefore, box springs sit about 12 inches off the floor; but when you add the "Princess and the Pea" set up of sleep number mattress and the myriad pads and foam and such.. their bed is 34 inches above the floor.. almost 3 ft. As each additional pad was added the pockets of the sheets became thicker and Dad started building small platforms to step up on to get into the bed. Currently it takes two levels.. a five inch and a ten inch for Mom to get in and Dad had to make himself a six inch one. They are both 82. This is the most insane arrangement I have ever seen.

Finally, Mom decided she wanted to try the Tempurpedic Ergo Adjustable bed with the memory foam mattress and they have ordered one. It is to be delivered tomorrow and set up.. and I have been trying to arrange help to play musical beds...move the sleep number (sans at least three of the pads) up to Stephen's room and the bed in Stephen's room taken apart and moved to the storage unit on the outside chance Nyssa wants an antique bed for a guest room that was once her great-grandmother's. So, I thought they would bring the bed and then call to arrange a time to set it up but, they are going to set it up at the time of delivery. I am in full scramble mode to get help to get this done... at least all the moving parts, before the delivery.

Oh... and they have already started with the mattress pad obsession for the new bed... I hope to be able to at least limit them to one or at most two for each side of the split king this time.. new bed height is said to be 25 inches from the floor... no steps required. And the headboard and footboard for the new bed? The company assures me that we can just add this around the outside of the bed later... I certainly hope so..

But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? Oh I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day! *

(end of post)
*Borrowed and rearranged from Gone With The Wind

Shadows In Time

Sunlight and shadows. University of the South. Sewanee, Tennessee.

"In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't." ~ Blaise Pascal

Old stones, rough hewn and set in the gothic style. Narrow and tall arches with swinging lantern lights. The campus of University of the South is very beautiful, resembling the buildings seen in Oxford and other universities of England. It has to be one of the most remote universities in the United States, set on top of a mountain in southeastern Tennessee, halfway between Chattanooga and Nashville. It is a 25 minute drive down a winding mountain road to the nearest Walmart. The small Piggly-Wiggly grocery store closes by 8 pm on most days. You really DO need to be able to commune with nature, all the time, to go there.

Nyssa did her first year in college here, before transferring to William and Mary. It was a long and trying year. She had a goal.. to get to William and Mary... and she worked hard to make it happen. I think this school is lovely and perfect for some people...but, it just wasn't perfect for her. I will say that someone could walk through these shadows, under the arches and out into the sun and be completely lost in time and space.

(end of post)

Serenity Can Be Deceiving

Grand Canary Island Sunset...July 2009
(Click picture to enlarge)

"Peace... is seeing a sunset, and knowing who to thank." ~ Author Unknown

Finally! The computer is back from the shop and things are ok. Nothing wrong with software; the internal power supply simply decided to quit working. Fortunately it was under warranty.. or the extended Apple Care plan and they really came through. It only took 15 minutes with the Apple representative and we had a choice of three places in the area to chose from for the repair. They fixed it and checked the software and now it works great! I am glad... who knew you could have such withdrawal from an electronic device!

My brother took the picture above while he was performing on Grand Canary Island last year. His hotel was right on the ocean. Sounds wonderful doesn't it, especially with these views. But, apparently, the activity and noise from vacationers and such never stops... party time, all the time. (And you thought New York City was the only "city that never sleeps".) Anyway, it was July and the island was hot. Night breezes off the ocean would cool it down a bit, but with open windows... you guessed it, NOISE! It looks serene... thank goodness we can't hear the racket!

People often remark that Stephen's life must be wonderful with all the traveling and wonderful places he visits. They don't realize that it isn't that great. Work visas for all the different countries, paying for short term housing all over the globe, rehearsals that limit the time for sightseeing and travel is a real pain these days. An opera singer is paid by the performance.... but not for the rehearsals, which often last for four to six weeks before opening night. If he should come down with flu or something that prevents the performance, he won't get paid... even if he made every rehearsal. Of course each country takes out tax... and the US takes a big share as well, over and above this. Then on occasion, a problem may arise between a conductor and an opera house and cancellations occur; happened this year in Brazil. But, on the bright side, he got to spend an extra month at home.

Right now, he is back in Europe, putting the final touches on an opera he will be singing for the first time...Tristan and Isolda. He has a performance in Dresden before he heads off to Japan for "Tristan"... Christmas Day he will be on stage. This coming year is packed for him, even the summer season with a major Wagner Festival in Salzburg, Austria. We have no idea right now as to when he will be back home again. Thank goodness for Skype and e-mail!

Anyway... computer problem solved... I'm back!

(end of post)

Just A Little Too Far From The Ocean

Would you want this mailbox next door to you?

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities." ~ Theodore Geisel

Ginny at Let Your Light Shine had a post today of beautiful and unusual mailboxes. It reminded me of this mailbox I ran across several years ago while looking at houses for my brother. This was a high end neighborhood with gorgeous homes, most being out of our league at the time.... and then we stumbled across this fellow. He is a perfectly formed dolphin and cute as dolphins tend to be; but a mailbox? What sort of house has a dolphin mailbox? A large white brick two story house. I just wonder what the neighbors think.

About Earl: We have been under a tropical storm warning for two days. I have spent the time taking down all the birdfeeders so we don't have broken poles and scattered seed everywhere. I moved the container patio plants to places of shelter and tied down the hot tub lid. I emptied the birdbaths and moved them and Stephen took the umbrella off the patio set before he left. Even the wind chimes came down.

I also took 35 more tiny Monarch caterpillars to the botanical gardens. The butterfly garden supervisor wanted them to raise for release on September 25th. They will be tagged and released and sent on their way to Mexico. I still have 70 in their chrysalides and another ten to fifteen that are big but still feeding on the last two milkweed plants I have. Both groups are safe and out of the weather.

Of course, the hurricane will bypass us. If we get an inch of rain out of it, I will be glad. So far our highest wind gust was 8 mph.... Nor'Ida last November caused us more trouble than Earl. As of last night, however, I was getting a bit nervous.... those winds were getting closer and closer to shore. I think we are going to dodge another bullet.

(end of post)

Some Days It Doesn't Pay To Show Your Face

...this was one of those days.

"Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car." ~ Evan Davis

One thing went right today... I got my hair done... cut and colored. At my age you have to color to keep that pesky gray stuff from showing in the roots... never mind dark roots... they are gray now.. gray hair is your kid's fault, specifically teenagers. It doesn't matter if you have your kids when you are really young or in your thirties... when they hit puberty you will turn gray. So my hair did well and the lady said... "Don't get it wet for 24 hours." I stepped out of her house and.....

It was raining. I wanted to go to the nursery to get some ladybug lure so that the ladybugs I put out to eat the aphids on my roses would stay. But it was raining. No one walks around a larger outside nursery with an umbrella. I had about decided not to go when... the rain stopped. I went. I did take my umbrella with me and halfway to the Japanese maples.. it started again. It was like that for two hours... rain... stop... rain... stop...

Then after getting the hair wet again getting the plants and ladybug lure in the car.. I started home. My windshield wipers decided to shred, front and back... just when it started to rain again. Thank goodness the front only shredded on the edges. So I stopped and bought new wiper blades.

I made it back to the house and the rain stopped. So I put out the ladybug lure and when I got to the rose garden in the back.. that one that I have spent several months lovingly planting.. it looked as if someone had come in and dug small holes down beside four of the roses and the last one I planted just yesterday had been completely dug up and was laying on its side. So I stopped and got down and dug with my hands, made a small mound and carefully put the roots back in and replanted it. Now I am dirty and it is raining again.

My car is going to the shop for an oil change tomorrow and it is a trash heap inside. Really, the garbage dump has nothing on the inside of my car... dirt from the topsoil, fragments of rock and mulch, a box of files and papers that need shredding and empty cups and bags and bits of gum wrappers. Oh yes, and a piece of a bacon biscuit that crumbled and fell on the floor... er... well, almost half of a half of a biscuit. I kept meaning to pick that up. I was going to wash my car inside and out... or at least vacuum inside... but, it is raining. I do finally get the trash out, in the rain and my hair is even more wet.

Now I can't lock the car because I can't find my keys. I had them to open the car. I think I had them when I went around putting the ladybug lure out... So, around the house again.. no keys. Back to the rose garden.. No, I couldn't have dropped them and covered them with dirt. Before I go digging again I check around the house and in the car and in the house and just before I head back to the roses... there they are, not lost at all, on the workbench.

Who could have vandalized my roses? I decide to scan the security video for last night. Finally, at the 3:18 AM time stamp he appears.... waddles by around the patio to the back steps before heading to the roses. It has a body slightly bigger than our Ragdoll cat.. she is really big.. but has a gait different from a cat and a tail that drags the ground and is not as round as a raccoon but flatter. Dad said it wasn't a badger and since the neighbor has seen beaver in the pond behind her house... that is the most likely suspect. So now I have to figure out how to keep beaver out of the roses. This is the city, I am a suburban girl and there shouldn't be beaver in my back yard. Sigh!

It is trash night... so next, I scoop the cat boxes and gather the trash and put the monstrous can out on the curb along with the four bags of limbs and vines and cane I cut back out beyond the back fence. I haven't had anything to eat today... nothing but a coffee. So at 8PM I make a salad and sit down... I think about calling Nyssa and reach for my cell phone. It was in my shirt pocket, I know it was! It is not there. I am determined to finish the salad. I do. It is not raining but it doesn't matter as I am inside.

I look for my phone. Not in the purse, on the cabinet, in my room or in the garage. I do hope I turned the volume on at least low... I get the house phone and start calling my phone. Listen... no, not in the house. Let's try another trip around the house... oh, look... it's raining again. No, no sound out front... try the rose garden. Surely there is no way it fell out of my shirt pocket while I was trying to replant the rose and it was covered by the dirt and mulch? I don't hear any ringtones... would I hear the ringtones if it were buried?

One last place to look... yuck... oh, yes.. the garbage can. I open the lid, hit redial for the tenth time and..... bingo! Now I have to pull the can back up from the street, take everything out and keep calling my phone to see which bag it is in. It is there... I even see the light on the face light up... the bag on the very bottom of the can... and it is in the very bottom of the bag and covered with.... well, I can't bring myself to say which bag it was.. but by my previous work you can guess.... please, don't say it out loud... I will definitely find the lysol wipes.

Looking back.. I did a lot of "things" but all of the "putting out the next fire" variety and very little of the actual accomplishment type. Now, I am tired... and have wet hair. Sigh.

(end of post)

I Made A New Year's Resolution, But Broke It The Very First Day.

Grand Canary Island, June 2009 (Picture by Stephen)

"A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other." ~ Unknown

It has been a long time... and I have a great excuse, I really do; but if I try to put my excuse into words it will probably leave my head all addled and inspiration will fly down the stairs and out the door. My knees wouldn't let me follow, much less catch it and it might be another five months before I found this page again.

As it is, I started this two days ago. But, when I finally visited my own blog, I discovered that my template had this little sticky message where the header picture used to be. So I decided to upload a new template, even though I had to change the HTML of the last one to allow for the larger pictures. But I forgot that when you changed templates, Blogger deletes some of your sidebar widgets as well as the code for any third party comments. So pretty much everything was deleted.

Then I went to Haloscan to replace the comment code, only to discover that they are changing over to something called "Echo" but you can't change it without the e-mail and so far... no email. Of course I found my old comments and exported them to my computer but Blogger has no way to import them. Oh, well! I guess that's what I get for a long lapse in writing.

So much has happened this year: bulldozers, concrete, wood, brick, pavers, decking, hot tubs, stained glass, tile floors, fire pits, tillers, trellis, ceiling fans, landscaping material, pebbles, split system air/heaters, sinks, copper roofs, swampy rose garden.... oh, yes... top soil and compost... lots and lots and lots of top soil and compost.

So, I really did make a resolution to start writing everyday again... but, of course it went right out the window on January 1st. We will see how it goes!

(end of post)

Eat Your Fruits And Veggies

An odd sort of food.... Yankee Candle Company
(Click picture to enlarge)

"It's a very odd thing—
As odd as can be—
That whatever Miss T. eats
Turns into Miss T."

~ Walter De La Mare (1873-1956), British poet. Miss T. (l. 1-4). FaBoBe. Family Book of Best Loved Poems, The David L. George, ed. (1952) Doubleday & Company.

I wonder what Miss T would look like if she ate a few of these funny fruits and vegetables? These orange cats, cauliflower sheep, gourd geese, pear seals and banana octopus are strange and adorable figurines found in one of the shops at the Yankee Candle Company in Williamsburg, Virginia.

This is a wonderful place to shop that keeps families in mind. From the outside it looks like a large warehouse with facades of different houses painted in different colors and with different roof lines. When you walk into the front door, however, you step onto the mainstreet walkways of a bygone era, when people shopped in small towns, sat on wooden benches in front of the stores and strolled beneath old fashioned ornate street lamps. Above the curved ceiling is painted with blue skies and fluffy clouds and a full size flagpole stands in the center of "town" replete with a full-sized American flag. To the sides various shops open onto the street.. some selling candles, others include bed and bath items, decorative wall hangings, knick knacks, and stationary products. There is a toy store and a candy store with large bins of penny candy and clear plastic bags to shovel your finds into. High above the town square runs a toy train, the tracks weave in and out of the various stores and all around the outside walls. Town square hosts cookie shops, fudge shops, snack shops and small ice cream parlor chairs and tables to rest and watch the mechanical town clock clang. On the hour the clock opens and a group of automated puppets appear for ten minutes of music, song and jokes for the kids.

It is always Christmas here, as one shop specialized in ornaments and Christmas lights... it is guarded by a large nutcracker and boasts a bridge over a frozen pond where penguins and polar bears frolic in the snow. This room has a dark night sky with thousands of tiny twinkling star lights shining down and Christmas carols are always, always, always playing.

The Yankee Candle Company is a magical place to visit... so be sure to take your camera... photos are welcomed there.

Last week I was very late for Carmi's theme... so this week I'll try to be a little more prompt. His theme this week is "odd", things that are odd, unusual or funny. I also think these critters are quite colorful... in more ways than one.. so check out the other colorful creations at Color Carnival.

(end of post)

Something Old

Colonial transparency.... (Click picture to enlarge)

"A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used" ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes (American Physician, Poet, Writer, Humorist and Professor at Harvard, 1809-1894)

Through the looking glass and back in time, a slow saunter through Colonial Williamsburg is always an experience. The wavy glass tells me this is original with small air bubbles the norm rather than the exception. Many of the homes have typical shutters.... on the outside; but this one... shutters on the inside.

Antique crystal.....

Here the delicate pink crystal, seen through the hutch doors is another example of history, another century, another time. This crystal is my mother's wedding set.... almost 58 years old now. It is extremely delicate, just a misplaced tap will shatter these! The plates are my china... a gift from my grandmother and I do believe they have just a touch of pink as well. I love the way the lighting makes the glass sparkle and glow in the dim light of the evening.

Carmi's theme for this week is "transparent" and you can see other examples here. Oh, I just remembered! My previous post has a curious picture that also is a prime example of the theme......

(end of post)

The Random Thoughts Of An Addled Mind or A Strange Thing Happened On The Way To The Blogpost

Pansies.... (click for larger views)

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." ~ Mark Twain

Let's see. I did post about the sale of my parent's house and the daughter's graduation and the "fleeing of the nest." I managed to let you know about the sweetheart of a dog we adopted and the passing of dear Miss Clover. But there are many, many pictures of gardens and cats and storms and pumpkins and holidays that haven't seen the light of day.... well, because my mind is addled. I forgot to do a post on my wonderful surprise gift.... from my brother.... a new iMac with the wide 24 inch screen and 4 GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive and that it has Aperture for pictures and the software to make it run Windows. Oh! He also sent a new HP Photosmart All-in-one printer.. fax.. copier.. scanner; although I think part of this was for him too... so he could fax business stuff back and forth to Vienna. The package is WONDERFUL!!!!! Since it came in May, I have had time to link it to my network and can share picture files back and forth with the old Dell.

A patch of autumn color...

Then we have had the ongoing saga of Mom's back pain... or, hip pain... or. Well!
That was just it! It took more than four months of seeing orthopedic surgeons for hips, orthopedic surgeons for backs, physical therapy for both, neurosurgeons for backs, various injections, scans, blood tests... etc........ before one of the docs finally decided that there was a problem with BOTH.. but the hip was the worst and first to be taken care of. So we made the rounds of the renal specialist, heart specialist, rheumatologist, family practice, orthopedic surgeon, more bone densities, chest x-rays, stress tests and pre-op blood tests and had the surgery set for October 23rd but because of a last minute glitch, it was canceled and more tests ordered.

Finally, on November 17th, the surgery finally went off.... right hip replacement. Surgery went well but the post-op pain meds really made her confused.... she thought we were all lying to her and that the surgery had been canceled again. Friday, finally over the post-op problems, she transferred to the rehab center.... right next to the two gas stations with the cheapest gas in Hampton Roads...... yeah! Dad spent the last two weeks on the couch in the hospital room. I got him to come home to shower and eat two or three times. Now, he will stay home at night and sit with her part of the day.

Wildflowers & friend....

One day (the days run together with an addled mind) I was driving home from the hospital and saw this huge soaring bird. At first I thought it was Canadian goose or a large duck, but it had a smooth gliding motion unlike the frantic flapping of the geese. The bird landed on the golf course green right next to the pond with Mallards and geese already present. As I drove by I was amazed to see the large and regal white head of the American bald eagle... perched at the edge of the putting surface. (That's one way to score an eagle!) I hope he migrates on back in the subdivision... we have a great source of food for him this year... the field mice are plentiful!

Thanksgiving was formally held in the hospital, and I must say that the kitchen personnel outdid themselves with ham and turkey, yams, mashed potatoes, green beans and collards. It was one of the better hospital fares I have seen. On the way to the feast I saw a woodchuck (groundhog) sitting up at the side of the road... doing whatever woodchucks do... so... with the addled mind running loosely... that childhood rhyme started running through my head... How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Of course, it is now in my head and won't go away!!!

Violas.....

I was coming home Thanksgiving evening and started hearing a slight hissing sound that quickly turned into a loud roaring grind.... I thought my transmission had fallen out or something horrible like that. Somehow, with a break in the traffic, I maneuvered across five lanes of traffic and came to a stop just before an exit ramp, got out and there... my back tire was flatter than a pancake. I called 911 to ask about the roadside service but he pulled up behind me just as I got a person... not two minutes after my flat! This is a really good service for motorists.. he had my spare on in less than 10 minutes and wouldn't take a tip or anything! I did have to get a new tire as it was punctured by a four inch piece of metal from a phillips head screw driver... it was still inside the tire when they changed it.

So that about catches things up... oh, yes! I MET JUDY!! AND MR. KENJU!! We had a wonderful lunch and her daughter was reassured that I was not a knife wielding serial killer from the internet...

"It can take a surprisingly long time to get from one part of my mind to another." ~ Ashleigh Brilliant

What do the flower and tree pictures have to do with any of this post? Absolutely nothing! An addled mind doesn't need an excuse... for anything.

(end of post)

On The Road Again

No quote.....brain is dead.
No witty sayings.... too tired.
Just moving... always moving... this time moving Nyssa back to Mississippi for grad school.
I am off to bed... a 1AM alarm set and I will likely be out of pocket until August 8th... unless there is a miracle and great service with internet in Starkville...I won't hold my breath though.
So, it's "On the road again.........."

(end of post)

Time To Review

The fence.

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein

And yet it seems as if the last five months have been one big blur of everything happening at once.... and it continues, this longest move in the history of mankind.

June

• June 4th: My brother, Stephen, flew in from Europe for a whirlwind house hunt. The same day, Mom had her knee replacement surgery.
• June 5-6: Thirteen houses visited, offers made, negotiations and a verbal contract set.
• June 7: Obtain power of attorney for all things "house" related and do four hour home inspection. Work out written offer and contract and get final acceptance by builder at 6PM. Mom gets out of hospital and goes to rehab facility
• June 8: Stephen flies back to Europe at 6 AM and I tangle with the concrete curb initiating my intimate and ongoing relationship with knee braces.

I did fairly well keeping up with my posting in June, even in the face of checklists and inspections and a glitch in Mom's knee recovery that required an additional week in the hospital. And then there was June 30th... the day I signed my name and Stephen's name on a stack of papers an inch thick... and the real "fun" began.

Miss Chloe enjoying her new home.

July

• July 1: We vacuum and clean the hardwood floors in the huge house during a significant thunderstorm. Utilities have to be changed over and the grass mowed....(the grass saga will not be mentioned again...but it does go on and I don't think it quits, even in winter here) Formal request is made for fence to the homeowner's association.
• July 3: Max has his surgery and starts his recovery in air conditioned comfort. I start with the dismantling of the 10 x 23 foot storage unit. (This takes three weeks with the help of my beautiful, strong and energetic daughter... it would have been impossible without her.)
• July 8: We started putting down the rugs
• July 13: My furniture arrived from storage and some found a home in the new house while other pieces would find their way back to the old house and be sold. The packing and sorting of my parent's house begins in earnest and boxes arrive daily... one van load at a time. Max begins his new chemotherapy... weekly for three weeks, blood check the fourth week and two weeks off.
• July 19: Finally get screens put in the windows and find that we have an extra one... wrong size and we are missing one. (This is still an ongoing problem) I spend the first night in the new house.

Then the days merge together with packing at the old house and hauling boxes to the new house and unpacking them so we can recycle the boxes. Did I tell you that I found boxes I used in the move from Oklahoma to Mississippi when Nyssa was 3 years old? They have so many labels on the side, it is impossible to find space for more... these were good boxes! Somewhere in here they hooked up the security system and at the end of the month they connected the phone... although it took six weeks to bury the cable. And approval for the fence but then a wait on the installers. All the while, Mom was doing home rehab and the boxes in the living room ear marked for the moving sale were stacking up at the old house.

I must stop here and ask you to remember that it is a 13.5 mile drive from the old house to the new house.....and a 13.5 mile drive back again.

August

• By the first of August I began spending more nights here at the new house than at the old. Each time the garage seemed to clear of boxes, more came over.
• August 10th: Broke down and had cable put in for the TV and computer and found out that the living room, while wired for HDTV, did not have the simple connection for standard cable.
• August 20th: The poor installation of the cable modem shorts out the motherboard of the security system. Oh! Joy!
• The security company who wired the house comes and connects the "hidden" standard cable outlet, at the same time informing me that the warranty on their wiring is VOID because I didn't chose them to monitor the security. (Now tell me this. If a security company sent you a round smart box key in a flat regular envelope and sent it by regular mail and when the envelope arrived, the key was gone and the envelope was in a "US POST OFFICE 'WE'RE SORRY ABOUT YOUR MAIL'" get up....tell me, would you trust them with the security of your home? Their answer to my question as to why they sent it without padded packaging? "We have ALWAYS sent keys that way.") Anyway, since the wiring would be considered VOID when the guy left, I had him look at the intercom which only worked in two rooms. Wonder of wonders... it had not been hooked up correctly! (Again back to my "would you trust" question.)
• August 16th: I spend the day in Williamsburg, moving Nyssa's lamps, fridge, microwave, futon and various boxes from Jamestown South 4th floor to Jamestown North 4th floor. We get caught at Target in a ferocious severe thunderstorm that frightened even the budding meteorologist and finally took shelter by pulling the van under the drive through lane at a closed bank. (I was nervously waiting for the police to arrive because of this maneuver.)

Also during August, Mom finished her home therapy and began her outpatient segment. This knee was rougher than the first but started to come along. Max's new cancer didn't respond as quickly to the chemo as the lymphoma and while he seemed on the mend, he preferred the cool comfort of his sunroom waterbed crate and all the kitties to the open back yard. I finally consented to start up a routine watering of the yard with the sprinkler system, knowing full well that this would only cause the weeds to grow at an exponential rate... and it did.

September

• September 4th: A date is set for the movers to move my parents.... September 28th. But wait! The movers are ONLY moving the furniture!!! But the kitchen cabinets and the bedroom closets and the garage stuff and the pantry stuff.... who is going to move all that? I had not planned for this eventuality... so I had to get it in gear and unpack boxes to recycle and start packing up the kitchen. Again we moved one van load at a time.
• September 6: The fence guys finally start. The permit was secured in August, the homeowner's association approval given the last of July and finally in September, they begin. I noticed that the contract has a provision stating "we have no liability for sprinkler system lines". The fence is finished in four days... the fence looks great... but zone three of the sprinkler is not working. Water bubbles from the ground around a fence post... AH, YES. They cut the line... in two places....let's see, now where did I put that sprinkler system guy's number?
• September 10th: BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) starts. This year we are studying Matthew. Add homework but great blessing as well. Mom again volunteers to play the piano and I now help in the children's program full time so we no longer carpool.
• September 15th: We start the window coverings... first the master bedroom and bath.
• September 24th: Max doesn't want his biscuit. A trip to the vet and Pepcid AC seem to help but he isn't the same happy go lucky dog. Pain in his back leg, limping... but he still eats some, just not as much.
• September 28th: The furniture arrives from my parent's house and they spend their first official night here. Mom loses her pajamas on the way from the master bedroom to the master bath and doesn't find them for two weeks. Max gets to see his new back yard and the night is cool. He is not eating much at all, barely enough to take his medicine, but when the sun goes down he hears or sees or senses something off in the preserve and excitedly runs back and forth by the fence. He will feel this new wind in his face and the cool grass against his tummy here for only four days, it will have to be enough.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

October

• October 1st: Nyssa comes to say good-bye to Max. We sit, we cry, we rub his head, we offer all sorts of steak and chicken and hot dogs but to no avail. It is time.
• October 2nd: My precious Max is gone...no longer in pain...his new yard empty. I put away all his things, wash his crate, empty his waterbed, launder his linens...cry a lot.
• October 3rd: I have to take all six of the cats to the vet for shots in preparation for their move and let him know that Max is gone. Flowers arrive from the veterinary oncologist. I cry some more.
• October 6: My parents take their ragdoll cat, Maggie, to be groomed. Three hours later I receive a call for them to come and get her... she is too hysterical and is hissing and biting and no one can handle her.
• October 8th: I pick up Max's ashes and his clay paw print. It is strangely comforting to have the beautiful marble urn with me.
• October 10th: Maggie finally gets a bath and nail clipping at my vet.... under sedation. It is the big day... all the cats move to the new house at the same time. We introduce them to the garage first, then other parts of the house after several days. They like the stairs... up one staircase and down the other.
• October 15th: I start getting ready for the big garage/yard/moving sale at the old house.... target date... November 3rd. The living room at the old house is full of boxes to unload and the decision is quickly made to have the sale inside, setting up in the garage, living room, dining room, kitchen, den and the large study. I set up nine, eight foot tables along with three square folding tables and five smaller four foot rectangular tables and one very, very heavy ten foot table in the garage. I used all the kitchen counters and even some of the cabinets, the corner kitchen hutch (which stays with the house), all the cabinets and shelves in the garage and all the built in bookshelves in the office. Did I ever mention that we had an obscene number of books? Nyssa sold her Barbie dolls and I had some of my Cabbage Patch collection to go as well. Of course the stuffed animals were everywhere as well as four hot curler sets....no one seems to use those anymore. I often despaired of ever having it together.
• October 25th: My brother arrives for a week and spends his first night in his new house. Success!!! He likes what I have done so far. He helps label all the books and "stuff" for the sale but has to leave the day before.
• October 29th: Stephen orders Stickley furniture for the new dining room... The first garage organization man comes to pitch his product.
• October 30th: The guttering company comes to give a quote... the second garage organization company comes to pitch their product and the blinds man comes to measure for the eating area, the den and Stephen's room.
• October 31st: Decisions made for guttering to be done in the spring, the garage system... to be done the week after Thanksgiving and the change in the garage steps making them better suited for our elderly parents. At dusk we have a very special time at the edge of the preserve behind the new house. Nyssa, Stephen and I speak of three dogs... Dixie and Dottie who lived long lives and left us a few months before Max found us. They loved the woods, so it was only fitting that we mingle their ashes with those of sweet Max and let them play together forever in the trees and the brush. They were all rescues, they were all good dogs, they were all special. Stephen sang "Memory" (yes, I know it is from 'CATS') and "O Danny Boy" in which he changed the words to "O Maxi Boy". Their ashes clung to the brush until the winds came and they became part of the earth again.

It was also the first Halloween here and Stephen didn't want to run out of candy.... he loved giving the candy out...but there were not as many as expected, so Nyssa took a LOT of candy back to William and Mary.

Look who mowed the yard!!!!

November

• November 1st: Stephen's Stickley sideboard is delivered. When he answered the door, the young fellow handed him a pink carnation... with a very red face. Apparently, most deliveries are made when the "lady of the house" is there and the furniture company has the drivers give her a flower. Oh, well... not this time... I almost forgot... Stephen mowed his lawn for the first time, after I showed him how to operate the mower. No edging, but he did mow!!!
• November 2nd: Stephen flies to Europe... Christmas in Paris. And now there is more to do.
• November 3rd: The big moving sale... 7AM until 4PM. Hurricane Noel has evolved and interacted with a strong front to set up the season's first Nor'easter with only misting rain, but with 50 mph winds from the northeast... it is cold. The flow of people is steady, not overwhelming but never really dead either. While we sold a lot of stuff and made over $1000, it was still difficult to tell that people had actually moved out of the house already... there was SO MUCH STUFF! One idea was.... leave it and have it again next week.... NO! NO! NO! It took three weeks to put it together and one week to box it up again. We finally have most of the left overs distributed to various charities. I have some books to donate to the library for their book sale and we kept Mom's cookbooks. Nyssa is going to help her SELL them on the internet. The tables have been returned and now the preparations to sell the house begin in earnest.

Stephen said I should sleep in for several days after the sale....(peels of laughter!) not likely. One thing just leads to another. Why, this week alone there have been sessions with the security system guy, the fireplace man and today... they tore out the garage steps and built the new..wider steps, lower rise and platformed version. Tomorrow the painter comes and hopefully by next week, this will be done. You see... the garage people are starting on November 28th.

So, you see... I really haven't been neglecting you on purpose.. I have several posts started, but by the end of the day my knees and hands and eyes are just begging to go to bed.... I will do better... at least I hope to do better.. and send more pictures as things start falling into place. Thanks for all your encouraging comments!!

(end of post)

Fortune Cookie

Fortune Cookie. June 27, 2007.

Dad stopped for Chinese food on his way home from Mom's rehab facility. When he broke open his complimentary almond fortune cookie, he found this.

Never known them to be that specific before.... or even close, actually! Closing is 10 AM on Friday, June 29th. All is in order.

(end of short post)

I Have A Little Shadow....

Well, not so little sometimes.

My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow--
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,
And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Everyone feels like a shadow sometimes... not really there, a figment of the imagination. Sometimes we wish we could be shadows; to slip in unannounced, seen but not recognized and able to fade away when the sun goes behind a cloud. To be a shadow, sometimes comforting... sometimes lonely; just remember... you can't have a shadow without the sunshine!

Submission for PhotoFriday topic "how I see myself". (end of post)

Sign Of The Times

A little addition. (Click for larger view)

One time a policeman pulled me over for running a stop sign. He said, "Didn't you see the stop sign?" I said, "Yeah, but I don't believe everything I read" ~ Steven Wright, Canadian comedian (1955 - )

There isn't much "fur" wearing in this town with winters mild and no snow to speak of; so I question the effectiveness of this addition to the stop sign. But it makes for an interesting picture, doesn't it?

I have been out of pocket with a trip to Indiana and looking at houses for my brother. He flies in on the 4th for three days of marathon house hunting.... I am nervous, hoping I am choosing those that will fit most of his criteria. Too many? Too few? Too high? Too few bedrooms? Lot too small? Kitchen too small? Pool? Hardwood floors? After four or five they start to blend together and I get dizzy! So, spread sheets, here we come... pros, cons, details... and the hope that he can make up his mind easier than I can. Five days and counting.... we'll see!

Submission for Lensday topic "sign". (end of post)

Playing With Fire

Smoke gets in your eyes.
(Click picture to enlarge)

"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs."
~ William Shakespeare

Take a new Canon Digital Rebel xti, a candle, some matches, a few props and you have..... a whole lot of fun. First with the flame; then with the smoke. I think it would have been easier had there been someone to gently blow the candle out while I simply took the shots, instead of having to do both. What do they say? Practice makes perfect? Much more practice to come, I know.

Submission for PhotoFriday topic "smoke". (end of post)

The Light From A Single Candle....

...can illuminate the darkest night.
(Click picture for larger view)

An Irish Blessing

May the blessing of light be upon you,
Light on the outside, Light on the inside.
With God's sunlight shining on you,
May your heart glow with warmth,
Like a turf fire that welcomes friends and strangers alike.
May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes,
Like a candle in the window,
Welcoming the weary traveler.

May the blessing of God's soft rain be on you,
Falling gently on your head, refreshing your soul
With the sweetness of little flowers newly blooming.
May the strength of the winds of Heaven bless you,
Carrying the rain to wash your spirit clean
Sparkling after in the sunlight.
May the blessing of God's earth be on you,
And as you walk the roads,
May you always have a kind word for those you meet.

May you understand the strength and power of God.
In a thunderstorm in Winter, And the quiet beauty of creation,
In the calm of a Summer sunset, And may you come to realize,
that, insignificant as you may seem in this great Universe,
You are an important part of God's plan.
May "HE" watch over you and keep you safe from harm.

~ Phil Coulter

A simple blessing for a complex world. May a candle so shine to light your way.

Submission for Moody Monday topic "light". (end of post)