Saturday, April 30, 2011

Daily Reminder # 334

(Please scroll down for the Weekly Wordzzle Challenge.)
Why is she looking out the door instead of playing with ME!
It isn't fair. I'm bored.


Just gratitude tonight. Slow day in the back yard and I'm tired in any case.


Some things I'm grateful for today: (Items in red are pre-gratitude, an attempt to convince the Universe that it really ought to bring me a truckload of money and flowers and a clothes dryer and other good things.)

The Tara Grace stare...
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • my house
  • open windows
  • my camera
  • my TV
  • the remote control
  • my computer
  • wordzzles
  • wordzzles completed
  • water
  • Sam-e
  • Vitamin D3
  • IP-6
  • Omega-3
  • ear phones
  • music
  • coffee and International Delight
  • clothes dryer
  • Nintendo
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • paid off mortgage
  • sun room on the back of my house
  • freshly painted living and bedroom walls
  • a truckload of money
  • winning lottery numbers
  • $5,000/week for life from PCH
  • a Bose sound system
  • more flowers in my back yard
  • my bird feeder
  • my  neighbor's bird feeder
  • reiki
  • angels
  • magic
  • inspiration
  • words
  • poetry
  • the 5 senses
  • the ability to read and write
  • the ability to speak
  • the view from my living room window
  • the view from my back door
  • Spring
  • forsythia
  • my flowering quince
  • new bird on the feeder (even if I didn't get a picture)
  • daffodils
  • my microwave
  • my cane
  • my red chair
  • the ability to still get from room to room on my own legs
  • Netflix
  • birds
  • indoor plumbing
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • electricity
  • paper towels
  • cat toys
  • soap
  • toothpaste
  • my electric tooth brush
  • Listerine
  • my teeth
  • the ability to type fast
  • email
  • my nieces, my nephew and their families
  • hope
  • possibilities
  • ibuprofen
  • resilience
  • life

I know this isn't very focussed, but I just think she looks
so darn cute...

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 153



I'm having a compulsive craving to check the back door for birds, so I'll post Mr. Linky and my first two wordzzles awhile and finish up later or in the morning with a mega. 


Words for this week's 10-word challenge were:  harpsichord, salt and pepper, wallowing, argument, ghost, parking lot, chocolate bunny, frying pan, frosted glass, mermaid   And for the mini: treaty, platitude, puddle jumper, graft, cork


My 10-word:  


Looking at the chocolate bunny sitting on the harpsichord, Fred was grateful for a small touch of what could pass for normalcy here in this bloody ghost-ridden castle. It had looked so beautiful and peaceful in the brochure with the stained glass mermaids in the windows, the elegant furniture and the portraits on the wall. Even the salt and pepper shakers, the elegant frosted glasses and the frying pans in the ancient stone kitchen had looked elegant and romantic. It had seemed like a perfect place for a honeymoon. He and Elizabeth had had their first real argument on the subject. She had wanted to honeymoon in the Bahamas but he had eventually persuaded her that this would be more memorable. He had been right about it being memorable, he guessed, but unfortunately it did not appear they would be good memories. The place was and damp and the rooms were the size of small parking lots. But it was the ghosts that were the real problem. They were real and they were obnoxious. He sat wallowing in misery, disappointment and unfulfilled desire. How could you consummate your wedding with a crowd of raunchy ghosts staring at you? It was humiliating. He was grateful that Elizabeth was being a good sport about the whole debacle, all things considered. Turns out (the ghosts had told them) she was a long-lost relative and were eager to catch up on news. Next time they planned a trip, he was going to let her plan it. 


My mini:


The Puddle Jumper Treaty as he and Griff liked to call it would be ratified at midnight with the uncorking of a bottle of champagne and a marathon viewing of every episode of both the Stargate and Battleship Gallactica series.  Each series was to be judged by a team of 10 friends on originality, repeated themes, use/over use of platitudes and how often they grafted "space" material onto old and over-used themes from other genres. Alas, their hope of putting their 20-year argument to rest was unsuccessful due to the oversight of having created an even numbered panel of judges. The result was a tie and a debate which continued over the next ten years with 10 additional combatants. It was all in good fun, though and they drank the champagne anyway.





My mega:

Albert Graft and Connie Cork were married at the Puddle Jumper chapel in the town of Mermaid, New Earth on the Planet Mars. Mars had been colonized by earth beings after the signing of the Harpsichord Treaty of 2595. Nobody could remember any more why it was called the Harpsichord Treaty or even what a harpsichord was. Most assumed it was some kind of extra-terrestial being. They had met at the job where after a heated argument about who should get what space in the parking lot, they discovered that they were going to be working together wallowing in the sludge and muck of the Old Frying Pan mine. (Early settlers of Mars had had a fetish about naming things after ancient Earth utensils. It was very strange and to current residents of the planet the names might as well have been Venusian for all that the understood the references.)  It might be something of a platitude, but for Albert it had been love at first sight. He loved her spunk. He loved her salt and pepper hair. He loved her jade green eyes. He loved the pitch of her voice (even when she was yelling) and he loved her passionate conviction about everything she said and did.  Before meeting her, he had felt like a ghost of his former self exiled on this planet he had not wanted to move to and had never accepted as home.  So great had been his attraction that despite being somewhat shy and diffident by nature he had caught up to her in the same parking lot after work on that very first day and been happily stunned when she smiled and said "sure."  He had splurged pulled together every cent he had and taken her to "the" place to go - The Chocolate Bunny Lounge - where drinks made with real Earth alcohol were served in frosted glasses and they grew real vegetables in an on-site greenhouse with bottled solar light.  It was a night neither would never forget as they woke up the next morning as husband and wife. Happily it was a union decreed by the fates and despite their instant wedding, they remained happily married for the next 50 years. Even a planet as bleak and desolate as Mars, was not entirely devoid of magic, it seemed.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Words for next week's 10-word challenge: frequent, dawn, robin's egg blue, glacial, operation, implications, parking meter, remote control, cadaver, courteous




And for the mini: talented, chatter box, championship, mustard, blank slate


Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.



Daily Reminder # 333

Goldfinches! I can't tell you how thrilled I am about not
just seeing goldfinches, but seeing them close up.
Ok... I apologize. I'm going completely nuts with photos tonight, but the yard was incredibly, incredibly generous today. I mean over the top good to me. I took a trillion photos and I'm just going to share too many because I had so much fun taking them. Beyond that, just gratitude.


There were goldfinches... right up close! Goldfinches!





There was a lone flicker and a grackle or two that I didn't photograph....




The chickadee came by a few times...




And the chipmunk spent some time. He actually came right up on the porch and posed but I was too slow. Hate it when that happens.  I don't know why he seems to come out blurry all the time. Drives me crazy that I can't get a really good photo of him. Partly how dirty my back door is, but I don't think that's all. It's just as dirty for everything else.





And blue jays came in droves... at least 5 of them for multiple visits. As you can tell, my inner photographer was in hog heaven.... There are so many MORE pictures... this is me being restrained... my apologies... I just get really excited when I see birds up close... or not so close too. I find them both beautiful and awesome.  Considering what brash characters the blue jays are, they were suprisingly skittish at first. But they adjusted...











Some things I'm grateful for today:  (Items in red are pre-gratitude, an attempt to persuade the Universe that it is supposed to supply the desired items and hopefully to encourage hasty action as well.)

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • Margaret
  • my camera
  • my back yard
  • blue jays
  • gold finches!!!
  • chickadees
  • flickers
  • robins
  • crows
  • turkey vultures in flight
  • chipmunks
  • forsythia
  • daffodils
  • open windows
  • fans (ceiling and non)
  • sunshine
  • my bird feeder
  • my neighbor's feeder
  • bagels & cream cheese
  • Sam-e
  • Vitamin D-3
  • IP-6
  • Omega-3
  • Netflix
  • Amazon.com
  • Harry Potter
  • my computer
  • the internet
  • a clothes dryer
  • Nintendo
  • a sun room on the back of the house
  • zero balance on my credit card
  • freshly painted living and bedroom walls
  • winning lottery numbers
  • $5,000/week for life from PCH
  • a TRUCKLOAD of money
  • more flowers in my back yard
  • paid off mortgage
  • a Bose Sound system
  • my house
  • my kitchen
  • my friends
  • my nieces, my nephew and their families
  • water
  • indoor plumbing
  • coffee and International Delight
  • books
  • the ability to read and write
  • the ability to think
  • seeing birds and critters close up
  • new experiences
  • my red chair
  • my cane
  • the ability to hobble from room to room
  • Jon Stewart
  • laughter
  • reiki
  • angels
  • music
  • TV
  • my remote control
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • ibuprofen
  • hearing
  • taste
  • touch
  • smell
  • sight
  • beauty
  • colors, especially
  • yellow
  • green
  • blue
  • red
  • brown
  • that my friend in Alabama is ok
  • the possibility of a friend's visit in June
  • imagination
  • resilience
  • hope
  • life



WISHING YOU A GLORIOUS DAY!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Daily Reminder # 332


The back yard was oddly empty of visitors this afternoon. Maybe because the weather has been ominous. Nothing actually happened weather-wise, but there has been a sense of impending something and there is more impending something tonight. Mercifully most of the warning are for areas that surround where I live but we seem to be the eye of the threat, for which I'm very grateful. I was just watching pictures of Alabama and just feel terrible for the victims of these storms.


I wasn't going to do more than gratitude tonight, but today's message from Neale Donald Walsh and God just has to be shared. I was raised worrying about what the neighbors might think across an incredible range of topics. We kept our TV virtually inaudible lest we bother the neighbors. I have superlative hearing and I often struggled to make out what was being said on the tube, so I imagine the neighbors (whose TV could be heard by us much of the time) were fine. Of course there were deeper worries. My other - obsessed about my weight from the time I was six months old - worried about how I looked to the neighbors. If I wore a loose t-shirt, they would think I was a pregnant whore and if I wore something more fitted, they would think I was a not pregnant whore. Sense a theme? The irony of it all is that I was truly so profoundly innocent that there was little chance of my being either of those things. So anyway, when Neale and God sent today's message, I just thought I had to share it.  



I have made progress on letting go of this toxic shame I was raised with. A few years back I realized that every time I got a package from UPS, I felt like a criminal, worried that the neighbors would think I had money (the crazy in my head is so weird sometimes) and was living an extravagant life, that they would resent me having anything. Then one afternoon as I watched the UPS guy deliver something to someone else, it occurred to me that I didn't have any of those feelings about them and that there was a good chance that they didn't give a hoot one way or the other about whether I got a package or had money or anything else. Toxic shame is really such a soul stealer. I'm not cured, but I'm not ruled by it any more. Thank Heaven.


It's a stretch, but this topic sort of fits with the totally deranged national embarrassment of the Birther movement in this country and the cynical politicians who feed it's racist frenzy - some out of conviction, some because they are as crazy as the mob they are trying to stir up. Since the nonsense began, the President has stood against pleasing these viscious neighbors, but today he caved in. And of course they are no more convinced now than they were before. Lunatics and reason don't go together. The President has known this, but given the unfortunate fact that our so-called "news" media loves  junk food more than substance, had made the story eclipse everything else. He has had a thicker skin than I would have been able to. But now I'm just rambling. Here's today's message:



On this day of your life, dear friend, 
I believe God wants you to know...
...that they who are all things to their 
neighbors cease to be anything to themselves.
Norman Douglas said that, and he was right. So do not

worry about "what the neighbors think." Worry only
about whether you are being true to yourself.

Think, act, and speak today from the place of your
highest truth. About all things. Including your
relationship, your life work, your thoughts 
and your choices.

It is time that you came out of hiding on 
some things,don't you agree?



Love, Your Friend.... 

neale



Some things I'm grateful for today:
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • my house
  • coffee and International Delight
  • my camera
  • water
  • a lovely shower
  • shampoos and soap
  • indoor plumbing
  • open windows
  • cheese
  • Vitamin D-3
  • Sam-e
  • IP-6
  • Omega-3
  • TV
  • electricity
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • my TV
  • the remote control
  • Netflix
  • clean laundry
  • a clothes dryer
  • Nintendo
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • a paid off mortgage
  • freshly painted living and bedroom walls
  • a sun room on the back of the house
  • winning lottery numbers
  • a Bose sound system
  • a truckload of money
  • $5,000/week for life from PCH
  • more flowers in my back yard
  • reiki
  • angels
  • forsythia
  • Spring
  • litter box changed and garbage out
  • kitty hugs
  • music
  • colors
  • beauty
  • the fading of toxic shame
  • Jon Stewart
  • Stephen Colbert
  • laughter
  • fans
  • my back yard
  • my computer
  • the ability to read and write
  • the ability to see
  • the ability to hear
  • the sense of touch
  • the sense of smell
  • the ability to speak
  • the ability to feel emotions (not something I was always able to do)
  • the ability to get from room to room on my wobbly legs
  • my cane
  • my red chair
  • imagination
  • mail
  • email
  • my friends
  • my nieces, my nephew and their families
  • books
  • poetry
  • literature
  • the ability to sing
  • hope
  • resilience
  • ibuprofen
  • kitty joy
  • love
  • life


HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY
EXPECT THE NEIGHBORS TO LOVE YOU

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Daily Reminder # 331



Well, temperatures went up 20 plus degrees overnight and I got to keep the windows open. It felt and sounded and looked more like Spring. There weren't so many birds today but furry creatures were very entertaining. I thought I'd share a Neale Donald Walsh/God message today and photos of my other furry visitor who seems to have been living that message out in his own way.


On this day of your life, dear friend, 
I believe God wants you to know...
...that desire is a powerful force
 that can be used to make things happen.

Marcia Weider said that, and she was right. Yet do
not confuse desire with expectation, or with need.
Desire has an entirely different quality to it. You can
desire something without needing or requiring it.

That little difference makes everything work. That
little difference is the whole trick. Desire, do not
Require. To desire propels. To require compels. Life
will not be compelled, but it can be coaxed...

Whoever or whatever you are trying to compel today,
stop itJust...fall back into the soft cotton of desire.



Love, Your Friend.... 

neale


Yesterday's squirrel returned to give the feeder another try.
He pondered it from every angle....

He seemed to have no fear of me.
 Stared me down more than once.
A little recon mission to observe the problem close up.

Unfortunately, I was too slow to catch the initial leap
and  climb to the curved top of the pole.....
How's this for determination?




A slide down the pole and
He headed off, hopefully deciding that in the future there are
easier ways to get a few nibbles of food.  I guess I'll find out.
Some things I'm grateful for today:  (Items in red are pre-gratitude, an effort to encourage, cajole, inspire and/or trick the Universe into supplying me with small and large blessings BEFORE I kick the bucket.... way before... like NOW.)
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • open windows
  • my house
  • forsythia
  • squirrelly visitors
  • juncos
  • pine siskins
  • gold finches
  • blue jays
  • my camera
  • zoom on my camera
  • music
  • Netflix
  • Jon Stewart
  • Elizabeth Warren
  • laughter
  • UPS
  • the US mail
  • my computer
  • zero balance on my credit cards
  • winning lottery numbers
  • paid off mortgage
  • a truckload of money
  • $5,000/week for life from PCH
  • Nintendo
  • sun room on the back of the house
  • fresh paint on the living and bedroom walls
  • a Bose sound system
  • a clothes dryer
  • more flowers in my back yard
  • the ability to read and write
  • the ability to type
  • my microwave
  • strawberry/banana yogurt smoothies
  • green grass, budding trees
  • ingenuity
  • my Tibetan salt lamps
  • rocks
  • email
  • Dennis Puffett
  • reiki
  • angels
  • magic
  • inspiration
  • brazen squirrels
  • chipmunks
  • my mattress
  • my red chair
  • my cane
  • that my legs still wobble me around
  • my teeth
  • toothpaste
  • my electric tooth brush
  • Listerine
  • electricity
  • ibuprofen
  • Sam-e
  • IP-6
  • Vitamin D-3
  • matches
  • the smell of white sage
  • aromas
  • tastes
  • touch
  • sight
  • hearing
  • purple flowers
  • my flowering quince
  • my friends
  • my nieces, my nephew and their families
  • living on high ground
  • resilience
  • the capacity to learn and change
  • love
  • life

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY
MAY IT BE RICH IN LOVE AND BEAUTY