The last of the tomatoes
Harvested November 18, 2016 – in the snow – who’d a thunk?! I let them go to the last possible moment …
Lemonade!
Bless her heart, that girl isn’t going to miss a chance to make a snowman!
Here it comes!
Well, it’s a little late but the snow arrives tomorrow. Frankly, I’ve been looking forward to it for a while now. And I’m a little disappointed that we are only getting a bit of snow and not the blizzard conditions west of here – I’d love a good snow day! Are you ready? I am!
What a beautiful night!
Have you been outside to see the gorgeous supermoon? It is spectacularly clear here and the moon is so amazing I hope you get a chance to see it!
It turns out that it isn’t as easy to quit Facebook cold turkey as I thought. I deleted the app from my phone, then added it back two days later. But this time I put it on the last page of phone icons so I never see it when I turn on the phone. But I miss the small bits of their lives through the day. So now I only go to FB when I feel like I have the strength to cope with whatever I see there. And it’s getting better, I’m not feeling as consumed with dread. Maybe I will come back soon, but for tonight I am not missing the near constant available distraction of looking at my FB feed. I’ve made a lovely Sunday night dinner of pork roast, roasted sweet potatoes, and green beans. And I’ve got my fuzzy slippers on drinking a nice cup of my favorite Oolong and enjoying watching some relaxing TV after doing a bit of sewing. Maybe more of that later.
Jonathan Haidt: Can a divided America heal?
I am trying to find things that help me make sense of what I am feeling and what I sense going on around me. I have a lot to think about after listening to this, but maybe it will be thought provoking for someone else too. Disgust as indelible ink … If you don’t watch anything else, start watching at the 16:00 mark, but the entire talk is worth listening to … “Deep questions about morality and human nature”
Let’s dust this thing off and see if it still works
Over the past several years I have slowly abandoned using my blog except for the (very) occasional post. But I have sickened of the onslaught to my senses that is the reality (for me) of using Facebook on a daily basis and I’ve determined to reclaim some of my sanity by leaving Facebook, at least for the most part, completely behind me. But there are friends and loved ones far flung throughout this world (and near too) that I wish to stay connected with and it hardly seems fair to let the insanity of the world rob us of that. So I’ve dusted this darn blog off, replaced some old plugins that weren’t good anymore, and hopefully can keep this a more positive, upbeat place – a place where hope, creativity, encouragement, kindness and love are the orders of the day. That’s my plan and I’m sticking with it.
Not feeling very hopeful today …
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
1967 “Steeler Lecture,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The “Steeler Lecture” was one of five sermons published in a book called “Conscience for Change,” republished as “The Trumpet of Conscience” after King’s death.
(source: https://www.reference.com/history/quote-martin-luther-king-jr-s-speech-says-end-10507aacf0c7a90b#, retrieved 11/10/2016)
Teach them to be brave, not perfect!
If you are raising a daughter, are involved in any way in raising a girl, or have a girl in your life, you need to carefully listen to this powerful message. I happen to agree with everything she says.
A momentous day …
Today marks a significant anniversary of a major milestone in my personal life. It was on this day, August 27th, exactly 20 years that I got into my Ford T-Bird, drugged Miss Boots to keep her somewhat calm for the long drive ahead, and left my home in Florida for the last time, headed to God-only-knows-what in the great North Star state of Minnesota. I had a lot of “You must be crazy – it doesn’t work that way, people move from Minnesota TO Florida, not the other way around” type of comments, but my heart and intuition told me there was something here for me that beckoned me to follow and I was compelled to listen to that prompting. I think you could say I found my destiny when I moved to Minnesota, considering all of the phenomenal and quotidian things that are now part of my everyday life, chief among which are my husband and my daughter, my fantastic MIL, FIL and SIL that I love more than I can put into words, and the whole Hall/Faber clan. But so much more was waiting for me too – the restoration of my soul and healing of an existential pain I could not name or voice, a fulfilling career at a wonderful company where I still work, new friends who have been tried and remain true, a society with a live-and-let-live attitude that is still refreshing to me 20 years later, my great passion for quilting that channeled creative energy in a much needed and useful way, finding my birth mother Barbara, discovering the brother and sister I always wished for as a child – the list just goes on and on. And I have come to feel, for many years now, that Minnesota is my true home. This state still inspires me on a daily basis with its natural beauty and majestic scenery. I feel so fortunate to live here. My heart felt like it was breaking when I drove away 20 years ago, because I was leaving my very best friend in the entire world, Nancy, behind in West Palm Beach and I cried for many months with an aching longing to be with her, but she is even more dear to me now than she was then. And especially Neil, who hopped in the U-Haul and drove with me for four days until we crossed the border into Minnesota, a generosity and kindness that earned my everlasting gratitude. I couldn’t have made it here, I don’t think, without the extreme kindness and love that the Christenson family poured out to me when I arrived. They took me in and helped me learn my way around and discover the best of what Minnesota had to offer and for all of them they will never know how much gratitude my heart holds for their presence and their warmth. To quote a favorite scripture “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you”.
Now, if only I could figure out how to convince everyone I love to move here too.
