Happy Mother's Day!

In honor of Mother's Day tomorrow, here's a little animation from Moms Rising. They are the offshoot group from MoveOn.org which has developed the "Motherhood Manifesto". Their documentary film will be shown on PBS stations around the U.S. Here's hoping their work, coupled with our support, leads to improved conditions for parents and children everywhere!

You can send this as an e-mail or embed it in your own blog by clicking on the links at the end of the video.

Nature As Nurture

Only a few weeks after September 11, 2001, my eldest sister became gravely ill. It was a shocking, tumultuous time for the nation and the world. For our family, it was a time of fear and anxiety on far too many levels. Thankfully, Karen survived after a lengthy stay in the hospital and a long recovery at home. Like many other folks during that difficult time, Chuck and I had problems sleeping. If we could fall asleep right away, we would often wake up suddenly with a feeling of dread. We would turn on the television or the radio to listen to a few minutes of news. We were trying to ascertain that nothing else horrible had happened in the world. Briefly reassured, we would attempt to fall back asleep.

It was during this time that we discovered The Sounds of Acadia CD by Nature’s Symphony. I still remember the afternoon we played it for the first time. We hadn’t slept well the night before and I had a pounding headache. Chuck slipped it in the CD player and we let the sounds of surf, gulls and streams, recorded in Acadia National Park in Maine, coupled with gentle music wash over us. It wasn’t a magic wand, but it did make us feel sufficiently more relaxed that we played it again at bed time. We’ve played it nearly every night since. It still provides comfort.

Orange Tree Productions, the company that produces The Sounds of Acadia CD, has an extensive catalogue of music combined with the sounds of nature. Perhaps you’ll find one that soothes your soul.

45 Days

45 days.
A month and a half.
That’s all the time that elapsed between these photos.
Same tree, same land, same planet.
Look how much can happen in such a short period of time.

:: What will you do in the next 45 days?

Creeping Along

These creeping phlox (or ground phlox) above, have been nestled in against this stone wall, down near the roadside, ever since we moved here. Each spring though, they seemed to suffer from the salt and sand the town spreads on the road in winter. A few years ago I transplanted several clumps up next to the barn. There they have flourished in full sun, in well drained soil. I love the new carpet of color below, that we can see out our kitchen window. But I still appreciate the feisty group where they came from.

Youth Meets Truth

When I was four, my Mom went back to work for the telephone company. My Dad was a regional salesman for a paint company. Dad would drive my Mom to work in the morning and then drop me off at my grandparents’ house for the day. Late in the afternoon Dad would come over after work to visit with Gagee and Gramps and then he and I would go and pick up Mom together. That was our routine for the next two years until I entered first grade. Yes, I was a very lucky kid.

Somedays, if Dad got done extra early, he and I would go over to Roger Williams Park. The Park was just around the corner from where Gagee and Gramps lived. It had a carousel, paddle boats, pony rides and it was lush and green and lovely. On the outskirts of the park there was a hot dog place. It was a small hole in the wall with a big sign that shouted: “Mile Long Hot Dogs”. Hmmm. Mile long hot dogs. I was little, but I knew a mile was very, very long. I must have pestered Dad about it, because one day we went in and each got a hot dog. You can imagine the visions of enormous hot dogs that danced in my head. Up came our order: two average sized rolls, each with a hot dog that extended off each end of the rolls. I was little, but I knew those were no mile long hot dogs!

We ate the hot dogs and I can’t remember the details of our conversation. I’m sure it involved some confusion and some discussion, perhaps even talk of false advertising (I was somewhat precocious!). By the time we finished our hot dogs we had settled on the best explanation. The owner of the hot dog stand most likely meant that if you were driving in a car, while eating one of his hot dogs, it would take you a whole mile to finish it. My faith in humanity restored, my tummy full of a mile long hot dog, Dad and I headed into the park. Yes, I was a very lucky kid.

Happy Birthday Sis!

”Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Karen
Happy Birthday to you -
and many more!
Wheeeeeee!!!”

Today is Cinco de Mayo and the run for the roses will take place at the Kentucky Derby. But the Queen of England shouldn’t be at Churchill Downs. Her Majesty should be in Arizona celebrating a much bigger event - my sister Karen’s birthday! I hope Karen has a terrific birthday and that the next 365 days hold only happiness for her! Love you Karen!

Forsythia

I’ve written about the lingering muted landscape of winter around this part of Massachusetts. This tumble of forsythia sprawls at one corner of our land, just in front of field cleared stone walls. Forsythia immediately sends me back to my childhood home where we had lots of bushes in every configuration. We even had a double hedge of it which lined each side of our back walk! I love the way these sudden sprays of color testify spring is well and truly here.

Carrie Says...

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! I am feeling well after my procedure and with lots of rest am back to "tip top" shape. Thanks again for all the support. Also, I am glad you feel my pain with living with a Yankees fan....I'll keep him though...he is a Carrie's fan too :)
Thanks to Auntie Lee, Uncle Chuck, Mom, Kate, Nana, Dad, and all my supporters out in blog land!
- Carrie

Backing Up

Ever since we got our laptop computer two years ago, we have been using Apple's own (plainly named) "Backup" program to back up everything on our computer to DVDs. We did the enormous, take-forever back up once and then incremental backups every single week since then. But we kept hearing about the need for additional back ups, generally triple back ups, including one kept outside of your home. Worse still, we heard the horror stories of folks whose computers crashed, hard drives died, or laptops were stolen and they didn't have all their stuff backed up! Yikes! As increasing amounts of our "lives" are connected to our computer, we realized it was time to take the "belt and suspenders approach". So we purchased an external hard drive. That's what we've been working on today. So far so good. Once we finish the process, I'll let you know how it's working. Meanwhile, take this opportunity to go back up your stuff!

The First of May

At a quick glance, everything still seems the drab brown, gray, beige of winter. But there are bright streaks of spring green and small splashes of color from all along the spectrum. Here are a few more daffodils and the first definitive buds of lilac.

A Thought

“At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed ten thousand men to guard the past.”

-- Count Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949)

This quote rings true to me. True not only for big social issues, but in our everyday lives as well. That constant struggle to keep what’s working smoothly, weighed against trusting our instincts and trying something new. Balance and risk...

Other Than That He’s a Great Guy

My niece Carrie’s boyfriend is a great guy. Al’s been a brick through Carrie’s recent medical situation. My Mom has an expression: “Just pull the shade!” It means try to block out something which is upsetting or unpleasant. For the first few years that Carrie and Al were together, I raised pulling the shade to an art form. You see Al is a New York Yankee’s fan. Maybe because he is such a nice fellow and has such excellent taste in women, I just couldn’t believe that he could be a fan of Major League Baseball’s Evil Empire! So for the longest time I simply blocked it out and spoke to him about baseball as if he were part of Red Sox Nation!

Well, I’ve finally come to accept it. Partly because Al comes by his New York loyalty by way of his late father, who was a total Yankee’s fan. I have to respect a father son thing like that. But Al also just won us over by being a prince to Carrie. And if Carrie can sit beside him and watch the Boston Red Sox play against the New York Yankees and still love the guy, well, so be it.

Today, when I called to see how Carrie was, I even went so far as to congratulate Al on the Yankees success against Boston last night. It’s O.K. Nobody is going to pull my Red Sox Nation Card. We’ve won four out of the five times we’ve played them this season and what the heck, the Yankees are in last place. Besides, Al really is a great guy!

Carrie is feeling better and stronger every single day. She will even be going back to work this week. But her colleagues have sworn to keep an eye on her and her workload, so she doesn’t overdo it. We remain so thankful that she has no residual impairment from the neurological incident and that her heart has been behaving normally! Thank you all for your caring, cheering and support. Carrie, Al and all of Team Carrie rock!

:: Go Red Sox!

Eeny, Meeny, Miney...

I am completely distracted. O.K. that’s only partly true. I am also completely obsessed. Scrap Girls, the digital scrapbooking website, is having a very good sale. They are calling it “Mischief Week” and it is definitely causing mischief around here! Nearly everything in their store is 21.9% off. They also have a Coupon Code which will get you an additional 5% off! The sale ends at Midnight, April 30, 2007 (MST)!

As you may remember, I’m still working on learning Adobe Photoshop Elements and digital scrapbooking in general. But don’tcha think having a few really gorgeous paper and embellishment sets would be inspiring and um, motivating? Yeah, me too!

White & Yellow

Today was a low and slow kind of day. It was drizzly, cool and raw. Seemed like a perfect night to make a fish chowder for dinner. Luckily all the important ingredients were in the house so I was able to go from cutting board to pot to table in short order. Here in southern New England, “chowder” generally means some sort of fish or seafood in a milk or cream base. But it can also be tomato based or a clear broth. The milk/cream chowders can also be thick or thin. I won’t go into the regional names - that just leads to unnecessary arguments - but the three styles are sometimes shorthanded as white, red or clear. Tonight we had a white chowder made with Cod, kind of on the thick side. It was scrumptious - if I do say so myself!

I took this daffodil photo earlier this week. I thought a bit of yellow might help brighten up the day.

An Apple & A Teacher

We’ve had our Apple notebook computer for over two years now and we absolutely love it. We like the rock solid reliability and incredibly intuitive ease of use. When we first bought it, we just wanted a computer to do all the humdrum things one does with a computer. It didn’t take long before we found ourselves actually having fun with the computer and using it for increasingly interesting things!

Today we made our first trip to one of the Apple in-store “Genius Bars”. We were running into a little glitch whenever we tried to download the last track of a very long CD. We booked an appointment online using the Apple Concierge Service. All went smoothly as we have come to expect whenever we’ve had occasion to call their tech support. Charlie, the genius who helped us, was an excellent, low key teacher who was a wizard with the keys and peripherals, yet never left us in the dust. He was able to break everything down into small enough bites for us to digest. Nor did he seem the least bit dismayed that we owned the computer equivalent of a Ferrari and hardly ever got it out of second gear or looked under the hood! Who knows, maybe one of these days we’ll get it all the way into third!


:: Team Carrie Update:

Carrie’s CAT Scan was clear!
Carrie’s MRI was clear!
While she did have what her neurologist called “an incident” as a result of the heart procedure, there appear to be no long lasting problems! So it has come down to plenty of rest, tincture of time and lots of TLC! Hurray!
Thank you all, for all the good wishes!
Team Carrie Rocks!

Smile For The Camera!

We had a plan for today. But it went out the window very early! So we regrouped and just went with the flow. (Not that we really had a choice!) We arrived home after dark to find this little Spotted Salamander (Yup - that’s the official name) perched in front of our barn door. The temperature was a nippy 41 degrees (5 C) and this guy (gal?) was moving very slowly. Which may explain how willing he/she/it was to be photographed!


:: Team Carrie Update:

Carrie has had a bit of a medical hiccup. She has been experiencing some unexpected side effects from her heart procedure last week. Her doctors have put her through a battery of tests, including an MRI tonight. We are hoping the symptoms will yield to medical expertise, “tincture of time” and more rest. She is the salt of the earth and is grateful for all of your caring and good wishes! Please hold her in your thoughts as her docs try to sort this all out.
I'll keep you posted.

Sunlight

I am so grateful to the Democratically controlled United States Congress for shining a bright, unflinching light on President George W. Bush’s administration and policies. Today, Private Jessica Lynch and relatives of the late Corporal Pat Tillman testified before Congress. They all spoke plainly, eloquently and with passion. I hope the administration heard their words and that somewhere deep inside their collective heart, they began to understand the damage they have done to our nation, the citizens of Iraq, our people and the world.

This is a painful time for our country as we struggle to begin to right the wrongs surrounding the war in Iraq. We also must continue to undo the assault on our Constitution which the misguided policies of the war against terror have brought about. We must also face our shame so that we can learn from it and never allow our nation to be dragged this low again. All the while, we must never fail to support the men and women of our armed services.

It was Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) who wrote: “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” Here’s to much more sunlight.

Quick Change

Today was sunny with not a cloud in the sky - just the moon. The temperature rose to an unseasonable 85 F (29 C - I think!). It felt as if we had leap-frogged over spring directly into summer. But the lack of green leaves on the trees belied the truth. Only the lilac bushes were showing a few tiny new leaves. I’m almost ready to say winter is really over!

Multiple Savings

For the last several years Chuck & I have made a concerted (and successful) effort to limit the number of shopping trips we make and combine as many errands as possible into a single expedition. It has saved time, money, gasoline, wear and tear on the car and pollution. This strategy, coupled with purchasing multiples of items at the best price, has been working well for us.

A few shopping trips ago we had trouble locating an item. We found ourselves adding stops along the way in an effort to obtain it. Granted, the stops were all along the same general route, but it got us thinking about what made good sense - especially when we came up empty handed!

We’ve also shopped online for a number of years. But after that wild goose chase we thought it might be a good idea to check the internet for some of the items we use on a regular basis. So far we have found two products we needed (which have been hard to find in stores), at very good prices and bought multiple units online. In both instances we got free shipping and handling.

On the second purchase we were able to save even more by using an online resource. First we did all of our comparison shopping online (and saved items to Kaboodle). Once we found our best price, we typed “online coupons” into the Google search box. Up popped over a million results! We browsed around a couple of different sites, typing the name of our online retailer into their search boxes. On our second try we found a coupon worth $5.00 off our already lowest total! All we had to do was click on the link and we saved the five bucks. If I felt one of these online coupon sites was hands down better than all the rest, I would include a link. But I can’t yet see a clear winner. BTW, these sites aren’t just limited to US retailers. And you can also print out coupons from these sites to use in person at brick and mortar stores. I hope “online coupons” work for you!



:: Red Sox Notes UPDATE:

The Red Sox swept the Yankees in all three games at Fenway!

Tonight:
Boston Red Sox 7, New York Yankees 6

And tonight, for the first time in Red Sox history, the Sox scored four consecutive Home Runs off the same pitcher! Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek hit four in a row off Yankees pitcher Chase Wright!

Mrs. Farley

When I was a little kid, I was extremely shy. I would hide my face in the fabric of my grandmother’s coat, rather than talk to the folks she was trying to introduce me to. I was so afraid to speak up in first grade, that I was assigned to a lower reading group. At some point I realized that I didn’t belong with the “Bluebirds” and found the courage to begin reading aloud the way I actually could. Soon I was transferred up to the “Robins”. But I was still a timid little girl.

Until I entered third grade. That’s when I was assigned to Mrs. Farley’s class. She was an older woman, tall, with graying, strawberry blonde hair. She had a deep, gravelly voice and a stern, gruff manner. It sounds like a match made in hell, but she was a Godsend to me. She must have seen something in the quiet little girl behind the cat’s eye glasses. She took me aside one day and explained that she was giving me greater latitude, independence and responsibility than the other kids. Mind you, I was about eight at the time. For instance if I needed to get a drink of water or use the lavatory, I could just quietly step out of the room. She said she knew I wouldn’t abuse the privilege. I never did. It seems an odd thing, but in those 180 school days, Mrs. Farley transformed me. I blossomed into a sort of extroverted introvert. In time, I wasn’t afraid to speak up in classes, stand up to people in authority, look out for the underdog, get on stage, serve as a lector and teach. I still felt those shadows of shyness, but they stayed in abeyance as my sense of confidence and competence grew.

The story doesn’t end there. The story only began there. But for tonight, I’ll leave it with a thank you to my third grade teacher. Thank you Mrs. Farley, for drawing me out of my shell. Thank you for helping me claim and grow into the life I was meant to have.