Daily Reminder # 98

Well, I think I'm going to steal tonight's reminder from a recent "I Believe God Wants You to Know" email - the ones that come from Neal Donald Walsh.  This is one that I kind of dislike because I know - at least I mostly know - that it's true - but I really hate admitting it.


Not that I haven't owned up to the reality that on some level my agoraphobia is a choice that I've made... It didn't feel like a choice early on. Didn't feel like a choice at all. That didn't stop me from raining down an almost non-stop hate-fest on myself for my own pain, for not being able to breathe, for a body that virtually paralyzed itself in fear when I set foot out my door. Now I blame myself for giving up the fight. The hate is less virulent. Resignation is less painful that full-blown panic and suffocation. But I still do battle with she who judges me for the choice I have made. The coward's choice. So anyway, I know there's truth in this message. But it really pisses me off.  On my good days, I figure there's a purpose to it.  (And she who judges snorts in disgust, but who's listening.)  

Guess that's more than enough preface.... here's what Neal Donald Walsh believes God wants us to know....

On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...

...that no one does anything they do not want to do.

You always have a reason--and usually, a pretty good one--

for doing what you are doing and choosing what you are

choosing. Be careful not to convince yourself that you are

doing something against your will. Such a thing is impossible.

Therefore, be honest with yourself as to why you are choosing

to do a particular thing. Then, do it gladly, knowing that you 

are always getting to do what you want. The statement "I have

no choice" is a lie. You can choose. You simply do not prefer

the alternatives available to you, for whatever reason. So you

select the outcome that you most prefer.  Isn't that power?

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• Cool air
• movies
• wordzzles
• a break from Huffington Post madness
• music
• Angel and Tara Grace
• paid bills
• pizza

Have a Great Day

May You Be Pleased with All of Your Choice

Daily Reminder # 97

Please scroll down for Weekly Wordzzle Challenge

Humor is a powerful force.  I've been obsessed with politics this week. I mean really obsessed. I've been feeling rather discouraged by the way things are going, but the power of people like Glenn Beck to foment fear and racism and paranoia.  And then I ran across this. It's a movement to get Stephen Colbert to stage a rebuttal rally to Beck's... The very idea of it has energized me, so I hope that Colbert will get behind it. The Democrats need something to blast through the propaganda machine of the GOP and the Tea Party. I think this just might do it.

In any case, it will be funny. And laughter heals.... not just in politics, but in life.

There's a movement afoot to persuade Stephen Colbert to hold a rally of his own in Washington.  I think it's  glorious idea and hope people will sign on.  Here's where I read about it and here's the website created by the guy who thought it up.  I think it's a great idea and might just energize the liberal voters who are kind of dispirited at the moment.


There's something else called One Nation Working Together that sounds interesting to me.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• clever people
• Stephen Colbert
• Jon Stewart
• my monthly stipend
• rain that cools the stuffy, humid, hot air
• life
• beauty
• Truthiness

MAY YOUR DAY BE RICH 

IN LAUGHTER AND LOVE

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge: Week # 125

It's week 125 of the Weekly (formerly known as "Saturday") Wordzzle Challenge.  Still so consumed with arguing politics at Huffington Post that II almost forgot it was Friday, so these were thrown together pretty quickly.  Looking forward to reading what others have come up with.


Words for this week's 10 word challenge were:  pyramid, laughter, orangutan, recycling, infinity, toilet paper, greasy dishes, Spanish, preparation, back-up  and for the mini: carpet, cane, outer space, handball, ambitious


My mega:


The cartoon orangutan backed up the steps of a pyramid thowing toilet paper at the crowd to the tune of canned laughter,  while Maria Mariso labored over a sink full of greasy dishes that seemed to go on for infinity. She always tried to clean up as she did her preparations but somehow she still ended up with a sink full of grimy things to wash and either put away or box up for recycling. Once the dishes were done, she'd help her son with his Spanish homework and his  rather ambitious history project... something about the history of slavery and harvesting surgar cane... Her husband, meanwhile, had breezed out the door with the words "going to play handball... see you in a few hours." You'd be going
to outer space if I had my way, you lazy bum," she muttered to herself dropping one of her favorite plates which carpeted the kitchen floor in a thousand shattered pieces. She cleaned it up, resisting the impulse to weep and had just taken a moment to sit, when her son's voice bellowed from the other room. "MOMMMMM.... I need you."  Tired as she was, those words lifted her spirits. What mother doesn't love being needed?



My 10-word:


I dreamed I had a pet orangutan named Spanish Laughter. Such an odd name, but that wasn't the strangest part of the dream. She wore a maid's uniform, was responsible for preparation of all my meals,including grocery shopping.  She made my bed, cleaned the house, washed all the greasy dishes in the sink (which she knew how to fix when it occasionally backed up) and she even handled the recycling. She slept inside a large crystal pyramid, covering the floor with half a dozen rolls of toilet paper as a kind of carpet/mattress.  It was all very strange but seeemed so very real that I was kind of disappointed when I woke up to find that my only companions were my slob of a boyfriend and my cat, Infinity.



The mini:


My name is Francis Cane the third. I've been the owner and manager of Cane Carpets for the 6 years since my late father passed from this life and left the damned business to me. I have always hated it.  I was ambitious for more adventurous things like being an astronaut and exploring outer space.  My father mocked those dreams and stuck me with his grinding life, even made me responsible for caring for my crazy mother. That's not just a figure of speech. She's really crazy, so I had no choice but to give up my dreams and settle down to a life of dreary business brightened only by my twice-weekly handball game. Something happened this week, though. I met a girl. A beautiful girl and a magnificent handball player. Her name is Samantha and for some reason I feel hopeful again for the first time in forever.




***********

Words for next week's 10-word challenge are: charm, judge, flowers, mixed nuts, earthquake, politics, sugar and spice, bricks and mortar, neurosurgeon, blinking lights, plastic bag


And for the mini: lawn mower, sheets and towels, smashed, bookcase, pinky finger

Thank you for playing! Newcomers can check here for some guidelines (and they are only guidelines, not rules) to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week!

Daily Reminder # 96

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I have a problem. I am in a phase of being addicted to Huffington Post and commenting ad nauseum there. All day. Didn't even play any games today. Just commented and waited for people to comment back. Eeeeeek... I need help. I will distract myself with remembering that there is more to life than Glenn Beck and hate speech and ... and... and.... So...           


Ok.... let me preface the rest of this post by saying that by the time I realized what a truly awful idea it is, it was too late to start over.... And I don't have any new pictures either.  Not the best day ever at Raven's Nest. Sorry. Too late to turn back, though... 

Gratitude is a glorious thing. It's an awesome and miraculous world. As I have mentioned before, I try to remember to start my day with gratitude. This morning for some reason, by gratitude took a turn to the alphabetical and I decided maybe it would be a fun game to do for today's reminder: five things for each letter of the alphabet to be grateful for. Not as easy as it sounds. A few letters I couldn't stop thinking of things. A few I had to stretch and I few I couldn't even stretch.




A


apples
amethyst
Angel Joy - naughty cat
art/artists
angels
autumn colors

B


Bananas
beauty
batteries
butterflies
bees
books
brains
Bach


C


candy
cucumbers
cats
cheese
cinnamon
crystals
celery


D


dandylions
dogs
daffodils
democracy (such as it is)
dreams
deer

digital cameras

E


elephants
ears
education
eagles
eyes
e-mail


F


flowers
falling leaves
food
freedom
French fries
friends
fans
forgiveness


G


grapes
grapefruit
gravity
ginger
gratitude
gladiolas

H


honey
happiness
heather
humor
health


I


irises
imagination
ideas
impressionist painting
ice (as in cubes, not the stuff on sidewalks)
Irish brogues


J


joy
justice
jackals
jiffy pop
journalists (the rare and few)

K


kisses
Kahlil Gibran
kangaroos
Koala bears
kitties 


L


lilacs
love
lemons
lavender
lasagne
lettuce
life

M
mozzarella cheese
money
music
movies
melons
mangoes
Mozart


N


nature
nuts
nieces
nephew
national parks


O


owls
ovens
organs
organic food
orange/ and oranges


P


praise
purple
pepper
the Prophet (by Kahlil Gibran)
poetry
politics (mixed blessing)


Q


quarters
quiet
quilts
Queen Anne's Lace
Quan Yin


R


rocks
roses
reiki
radishes
rabbits
ravens
Redemptions
rainbows

S


sparrows
sisters
singing/songs
showers
salad
Spring
salt
silliness
squash


T


turtles
taste
thought
tears
talent
Tibetan salt lamps

TV

U


umbrellas (not really... I hate umbrellas)
UPS
USPS
stumped for more here... 


V


violets
violins
vision
visitors


W


water
watermelon
whipped cream
wood chucks
woodpeckers

X


xerox
xylophones


Y


yellow
yogurt
Youtube
yard (my backyard... and front)


Z


Zen
zoos (I know many don't approve but some of my only memories of childhood are connected to the Bronx         Zoo and the Botanical Gardens)
Zuma

zeal
Zzzzzzzz......... 

HAVE A GREAT DAY! 

May Your Blessings be Numberless 

and Un-alphebetized

Daily Reminder # 95

I have a lot to say but no energy to say it, so tonight is just going to be pure gratitude ad some pictures from yesterday's back yard.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• toy mice that Angel and Tara love
• my salt lamps
• cinna honey
• clean litter box & garbage out
• my home
• water
• watching Tara play
• watching Angel watch Tara play
• the wonders of the internet
• TV
• netflix
• computer games
• my sister's children
• life
• water
• Dennis Puffett
• the sense of taste
• the sense of smell
• hearing
• sight
• touch
• the sound of purring
• kitty hugs

Have a Purr-fect Day!

Daily Reminder # 94

I've been feeling very old and creaky today. Lots of things are aching and strange new rashes are bugging me and I'm in one of my phases where I feel exceptionally wobbly.  I was trying to think of what to write about and I ran across a poem written by the late, great Abigail. She wrote three poems in her long kitty life - she was approaching 22 when she died very peacefully on Columbus day afternoon seven years ago. Her poem is a good lesson for me in my current state of mind. She was a remarkable kitty. I still miss her.

THE ELDER KITTY SPEAKS AGAIN


I think my person is going deaf
I talk to her at the top of my lungs
And she just doesn’t seem to get it
Perhaps she is just slow in the way these humans are
They are remarkably clever sometimes
And quite the dullards at others
But I digress
Our new home is cold and damp
But I am glad to have the desert behind me
We are on our own again, Person and I,
And it feels good to be free to be ourselves
To have my freedom back is worth a lot
Person tells me that I’m very old
She seems quite obsessed with it
Like age is some kind of talent I possess
Me, I just take things one day at a time
And find what solutions I can to my troubles
It’s a bit embarrassing not to jump so well any more
I used to be quite the leaper once
And now I’m forced to pull myself up most places
Frustrating, I can tell you that - and embarrassing too
But Person roots me on and tells me I can do it
And so I can
You wouldn’t think it would make a difference, really,
But it does
Wanting someone you love to be right
I love snuggling up against her now,
Though I didn’t always – not in the same way, anyhow
I’m not sure sometimes, who is comforting who
And maybe it doesn’t matter 
As long as we are both at peace
I speak my mind these days
I’ve given up on being shy
It’s quite a relief, really to just be me.
Age has it’s privileges after all, I guess
And I’m learning that 
I’m learning too to enjoy the simple things
A patch of sunlight on the floor
A soft blanket
A tasty meal
And of course the sound of my own voice
Pitched loud enough for all to hear
I am Abigail, Elder Kitty
Hear me roar!  

                       - Abigail 

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• all my kitties
• resilience
• my computer
• my home
• water
• yogurt
• wars that end

Have a great day!

May you be as wise as an old kitty!

The Coffee Party!

Love it!




And it's so wonderful to hear this old piece of Jon Stewart calling the so-called media on their ineptitude. It was posted in an article about whether he should be running CNN. Wouldn't that be wonderful... him or someone like him. People who actually care about truth and discourse and really covering issues in depth. What a concept!

Daily Reminder # 93

Just gratitude today, I think.


Some things I'm grateful for today:

• My friend E
• All my friends
• my nieces and nephew
• Angel and Tara Grace
• Blog visitors
• the beauty of autumn leaves
• water
• TV
• movies
• finishing a good book
• music
• my house
• cream cheese wontons
• my microwave
• Raven's Nest
• Possibilities
• Huffington Post
• Indoor Plumbing
• fans
• computer games
• coffee with International Delight
• cashew nuts
• my cane
• the ability to walk (however wobbly I may be)
• sight
• hearing
• sense of smell
• words and sound
• beauty in all its manifestations
• Life
• hope

Have a Great Day!

Daily Reminder # 92

The back yard was busy but uncooperative today.  Lots of birds flitting beyond camera range and hiding in bushes. I got a few so-so shots, though. Thought I'd do another fable today.  Don't have anything new on my mind today so I'm taking the lazy way yet again. The last line of this one is one of those things I wrote that I really like. I don't know if it's good or kitchy, but I just really like it.

THE HERMIT OF ANGELWOOD MOUNTAIN
by Katherine E. Rabenau

Frank Osborne could not remember how long he had been living on Anglewood Mountain, but he knew it had been a long time. In his youth, Frank had not been very good with people. Shy and blunt, he had seemed remote and snide and people had not liked him. He hadn't liked himself either. Suffocating behind the glass wall of his loneliness, his efforts to reach out had landed like hammers on the toes of prospective acquaintances. Their hostility had cut through him like a sword.

Until, that is, he met and loved and lived with Amanda. Frank never knew why or how she had felt his pain and his gentleness. She had simply walked up to him one day as he sat alone in the park, taken his hand, looked directly into his eyes and said, "It's OK. I see you." He had cried -- not long or loud -- but his heart had fluttered and three large tears had escaped before he could stop them. Catching one of them on her finger, Amanda had put it to her lips and said, "Such tears quench the thirst of God," and had leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Take me home, sweet prince, for I have drunk your heart and I am yours." And despite thinking that she must be crazy, he thought also that she was beautiful like an angel and that he had waited his whole life for someone to touch his tears. Her beauty was mythical. At first, certain that she was an illusion, he had been afraid to touch her, afraid she would dissolve if he dared to reach for her. But she had been no illusion. She had been so real. Although she had been dead now for many years, Frank could taste her mouth, feel the solid softness of her, the silky warmth of her skin as though he had held her that morning. He could still smell the spicy sweetness of her.

She had moved into his life and heart with the direct, natural flow of a river heading to sea. They had made sweet, tender, wild love and he savored the memory of it, but he savored more the memory of her presence and what it had done for him. She had moved so easily into his world that in some ways he hardly noticed it, yet to say only that she had changed his life was like saying that the sun was merely important to life on earth. Amanda was a mirror in which he had seen a new reflection of himself. She was unconditional in her love. There was nothing simpy or vapid in this; she did not overlook his flaws, his moods. She simply loved him anyway, without sacrificing her own integrity.

Frank still believed that God had sent him an angel to soothe his isolation and after a time had taken her away. At first his grief had been so deep he had thought he would die of it. He had been unable to believe that she was really gone, had felt like a lost child waiting for rescue. He had tried to hate God, had waited for bitterness, for the return of his former emptiness. But when time passed and it did not come, he realized that he had been changed forever. Amanda was part of him. It was not just that he had beautiful memories, it was that he was alive inside. She had shown him his soul by sharing her own.

And then he had known that he had to move to the mountain. It was not, as some thought, to escape or be alone. He had gone to the mountain to touch the stars and feel the heartbeat of the earth. He had gone to the mountain to make himself available to the people he knew would come. And they did. Somehow they found him. Some stayed for an hour, some for weeks. Sometimes he would converse with them, tell them about Amanda and his former life, about living on the mountain. Sometimes Wolf, his four-legged companion, would minister to them. But mostly, he would simply hold their hands and look into their eyes, and something in his shining, tender look would show them the beauty of their own souls. And when they cried, as they so often did, he would catch a single drop on his finger and whisper, "Such tears quench the thirst of God."

THE END

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• a few new photos from the back yard
• Instant Download netflix
• sleeping kitties
• my microwave oven
• Pandora Online Radio
• Music
• neighbors
• my nose and wonderful aromas

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

Daily Reminder # 91

Gratitude is good for you - not just emotionally, but physically. Who'd a thunk?  This morning I read this short - not very clear - article saying that holding feeling of love and gratitude can change your heart rate and impact DNA (that's the part that isn't very clear). Cool. 


So... Be grateful. It's good for you.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• gratitude
• good books
• cheese
• my home
• paid bills
• life
• friends
• my nieces and nephew

May life give you lots of things 
to be grateful for

and a heart to receive them.

Daily Reminder # 90

Well, even though it was a beautiful sunny day, there was not a photo to be had in the back yard. I had an awful time getting even the two wordzzles I did written ... AND.... some strange, REALLY annoying quirk with this stupid new blogger set-up makes the spacing on posts go totally wonky.  I redid the darned wordzzle post and it was ok and then I went to correct something and it's all full of huge spaces again. I'm too frustrated to deal with it.

So... since all I have is a whining rant in me at the moment, my reminder is to try not to let things get to you.... even if they're very frustrating.


I'm thinking of the AA serenity prayer that says:  


"God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference."


Good advice. So.... I'm taking a deep breath and recognizing that tonight, in my present state of mind, I can't fix the wordzzle post. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to do it. If not, it's not really that big a deal. It looks stupid, but it's readable.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• the serenity prayer
• tomorrow
• soup
• old photos
• Jon Stewart yet again
• a roof over my head
• reiki

MAY YOUR DAY BE SERENE

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge: Week # 124

It's week 124 of the Weekly (formerly known as "Saturday") Wordzzle Challenge. Special thanks Argent for this week's words.   Wow, Argent!  I hope you're having as difficult a time with these words as I am. Oh, my.... they're killing me.  It's 10:00 pm and I've finally gotten a mini and a 10-word. I think I need to let my brain rest and do the mega in the morning.  Thanks for the challenge. I think.

Is anyone besides me having an awful time with the new blogger thingy?  Things don't stay where I put them and I get huge gaps of space.  I redid the post to eliminate them and hope that holds.  Very frustrating.  My nephew (bless him) fixed the spacing by copying everything into notepad and reposting it. This apparently takes out all the code.  I just tried to reinstate the bolding and color, but that mucked everything up again and I just can't do battle with this any more, so I apologize for not  making the words clear, but blogger has defeated me for the time being. I'd rather have paragraphs (they went away when I tried to restore bold and color - the opposite of my original problem which was huge gaps of space...) Anyway... hopefully next week, I can return to normalcy but not today. 

Thank you for playing! Newcomers can check here for some guidelines (and they are only guidelines, not rules) to make the process more fun.<

Words for this week's 10-word challenge were: 

corner, cold-stone, rolex, sole, effortless, raindrops, eyebrow, speaker, amusing, leapt   
And for the mini: fluid, acreage, fasten, tripe, pages


My 10-word:

The disheveled speaker on the corner leapt effortlessly from foot to foot in a kind of strange frenetic dance. It might have been amusing if what he was saying had not been so filled with a mix of hate and fear and despair. Martha lifted an eyebrow in surprise as a well dressed man, impeccably groomed, rolex on his wrist approached him, a mix of disgust and compassion on his face. He seemed frozen to the cold-stone sidewalk, unaware of the raindrops dripping off his hat or the muck into which thesoles of his shiny polished shoes were losing their perfect new-ness.  "Father?" he whispered, half crying, half terrified. "Father?" But the oblivious old man looked through him and ranted on.  She felt like she had intruded on something so painfully private that she should turn and walk away, but instead unable to stop herself - she reached out a hand and asked the young man. "Is there any way I can help?"

My mini:

"I adore watching your fluid movements as you move through the fields of wheat, my beloved Miranda... Your beauty increases the value of my acreage...." Spencer Wheatly intoned in his best stage voice. Then he turned to angrily fasten his eyes angrily on the director and asked, "Who wrote this tripe anyway?"  throwing the pages of new script onto the floor of the stage. The director stiffened and his wife, sitting beside him, gasped in dismay and began crying. Question answered, Spencer thought to himself. To her he said, "I'm sorry if I have hurt your feelings madam, but your writing is beyond awful. Better you hear it now, than down the road in debt and in the laughter of critics and audiences."  She didn't appear to hear him, but thought he saw a shudder of relief flow though the body of his old friend, the director and maybe a nod of thanks.


The mega: 
  

My mother was the most god-awful cook you can imagine, Nigel Wickenbottom drawled into the speaker in a quiet voice. She got fastened onto idea that things like tripe and filet of sole were de rigueur, I think. She had visions of marrying a count - someone with a manor house and acreage and a title - and she thought somehow that poisoning me would make her seem more upper crust. Poor Mum. Nothing was effortless for her and she made everything more complicated than it needed to be even so. She leapt at every new fad, scouring the pages of all the fancy magazines to see what fashion was in style, how her eyebrows should be shaped, glopping one fluid and cream after another onto her skin in hopes of somehow making herself acceptable. It would have been amusing if it wasn't so tragic and painful. Because, you see, she was a beautiful charming woman when she wasn't trying so hard. Not the best analogy, but she never saw herself for who she was... she thought she was a timex that needed constant upgrading, when in reality, she was the most inherently more unique and elegant than the finest rolex.  If she hadn't spent so much effort being something she wasn't she could have cornered the market on men....  His voice was quivering a bit now...  but because she tried so hard, nobody saw her... and in her desperation she fell vicitm to those with the most cold stone... i mean stone cold hearts...  His tears were falling now, raindrops of love and sorrow. Others in the crowd were weeping with him.  "She died too  young," he finished up, "never seeing that she didn't have to do anything to be magnificent. She was magnificent. I loved her very much. Rest in peace, sweet darling," he said in conclusion. And at her funeral, all who had loved her - and they were many - wept.


***********

Words for next week's 10-word challenge are: pyramid, laughter, orangutan, recycling, infinity, toilet paper, greasy dishes, Spanish, preparation, back-up

And for the mini: carpet, cane, outer space, hand ball, ambitious

Thank you for playing! Newcomers can check here for some guidelines (and they are only guidelines, not rules) to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week!

Daily Reminder # 89

Very tired tonight, so I'm going to take the lazy way out yet again and just post a poem and a few VERY old photos tonight.  


Many of us haven't had very idyllic childhoods. I have forgotten almost everything about my childhood except for some things I kind of wish I could forget. Still, I guess even troubled childhoods have their moments.  I have trouble nurturing my inner child, but looking at these pictures I kind of think maybe she deserves a little love.  Maybe I wasn't the carefree baby I look like in these photos - but maybe I'm not the distorted mess that memory has made of me either.  Food for thought, I guess...

Remembering childhood days in the park

I wish sometimes

To have those moments back

Of trust

And smiling eyes

And no conscience.

                         -  Katherine E. Rabenau

      
Some things I'm grateful for today:

• Margaret who helps me 2x/month
• sunshine
• cool night air
• my house
• teeth
• mouth wash
• music
• memories  (some of them)

HAVE A GREAT DAY!
And may your memories be sweet.

Laugh and the World Laughs With You

I'm so grateful for The Daily Show, especially now that I've been posting at Huffington post, which is currently awash in bigotry.  Laughter really is a good way to disempower those who hate.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tennessee No Evil
www.thedailyshow.com
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