White House White Board

A wonderful visual description of the tax cut debate by the new Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors:

Daily Reminder # 122

Well, I'm going to borrow Neale Donald Walsh's daily email again today, because I don't have much original on my mind and I like what he has to offer. Somewhere in the course of my day - at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website, maybe - I realized that there is something I never remember to be consciously grateful for, so it's on my list tonight. I'm really conscious about things like clean water that's so abundant here but not everywhere in the world, but I realized that except when it goes off, I totally take Electricity for granted. But what a different world it would be without it. No tv, no telephone, no internet, no lights or fans or....refrigerators or.... So easy to take the miracles around us for granted...

On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God 
wants you to know...that it is the sweet, simple 
things of life which are the real ones after all.

Laura Ingalls Wilder said that, and she was right. 
This seems such simple stuff, such simplistic 
knowledge, yet when we truly embrace it as 
our living reality, our day-to-day lives begin 
to change in very important ways.

So take a look today and this evening at what 
sweet, simple things of life you may be looking 
past, or right over, and neither seeing nor 
enjoying.  Look closely.  They are likely to be 
right in front of your face -- something you're 
looking through every day.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• electricity
• angels
• Angel and Tara Grace
• friends
• Jon Stewart's Restore Sanity Rally
• a clean litter box and garbage put out
• water
• a good mattress
• colors
• words and writing
• sound
• life

Have a Glorious Day 

Full of Simple Miracles!

Daily Reminder # 121

Well, I really liked today's "I Believe God Wants You to Know" from Neale Donald Walsh, so that's today's theme.  I like the idea of daily kindness. Years and years ago now, at a workshop I attended we did a series of "mirroring exercises" that ended with mirroring to the person you were facing their own beauty... something like that. It was one of the most profound experiences of my life, because as I did it, I experienced - at least in those moments - my OWN beauty - as well as his. I wish every human on earth could experience what I felt at least once in their lives. 

On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...that your job, your invitation from the Universe, is to give people back to themselves.

You can do this every day, in a hundred ways. Why not practice it with the first three people you encounter after reading this?

It is really a very easy thing to do -- yet it can affect a person mightily. All you have to do is look for the best in that person, and then show it to them, right then and there. Describe it. Admire it. Thank them for it.

Do this for three people every day and watch how your whole life can change. At last you will realize what you are doing here. All the rest will be just stuff and nonsense.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• my kitties
• Angels
• photography
• Fall colors
• Rain
• my Tibetan Salt lamps orange glow
• the people in my life
• my nieces and nephew
• the internet
• beauty

Have a lovely day!

May Your Own Beauty be Mirrored Back 

to You In a Thousand Ways - 

and May You SEE Yourself!

Daily Reminder # 120 with Rubies on It

I haven't done Ruby Tuesday for a while and since there have been some reds in the Fall colors, I thought maybe this would be a good day to just remember what a beautiful world we live in and how amazing each season of the year - and of life - is if we take the time to observe and pay attention.  Ruby Tuesday is the creation of Mary the Teach at Work of the Poet.  Many wonderful photographers share little (and large) pieces of red from around the world. It's fun.


We haven't had much sunshine of late, so I was lucky to catch these bits of blurry red yesterday afternoon.

I

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• Fall colors
• Dr. Jim
• ice cream
• reiki
• angels
• Angel and Tara Grace
• My home
• Life
• Legs that still hold me up
• my microwave oven
• friends
• laughter

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Fair Elections Now Act

Does anybody know why these don't fit in the frame anymore? Is there a way I can fix that?

Daily Reminder # 119

I just had a discussion of sorts at Huffington Post trying to defend reiki to one of those people who say they are scientific and therefore reject it, but do so without doing actually testing out their theory in any way, which I think is extremely UNscientific.  Anyway, I've used up my own creativity and I opened an email from a woman named Sally Jordan Austin and thought it was a lovely thing to share this evening.

Heaven Sent

Heaven is an opening within your heart to receive love, it is noticing the pattern in the clouds even as they begin to dissolving with the warming sun.

Heaven is a smile upon a stranger's face or a sudden suprise of an unexpected experience of joy.

Heaven can be found in taking a moment to play that brings forth such a well of happiness within, that you naturally wish to extend to others. Heaven can be found by making the choice to see yourself and this world in a new way: to look for the best that has always been apparent, but may have been obscured by the clouds of one's mind.

In choosing to smile at life, heaven can be created as a way of being that opens the door of hopefulness to all that may be possible. Heaven can be noticing what's there, rather what is absent. Heaven can be a kiss of sunshine on the face of the day, that you thought only held rain.

Transformation of life can occur in a moment when we set aside our problems, embrace what is new and taste the warm waters upon which life rests. Heaven may exist on our doorstep and in our hearts, or in a change in our experience that flows from the synchronicity that is noticed, when we allow our life to sing with heaven's blessings.

By Rev Sally Jordan Austin, M.A.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• Fall colors
• Reiki
• interesting emails
• coffee
• pineapple orange smoothies (one more left)
• water
• Angel and Tara Grace
• That Angel is so loveable even when she is HORRIBLY naughty  as she was just moments ago
• cooler air
• laughter
• music
• Wordzzles

This is a strange photo... I just like the layers of light and
color - looks much better in life. 

HAVE A HEAVENLY DAY!

Daily Reminder # 118

Tonight's daily reminder comes to you from Neale Donald Walsh... I thought it was a good one. Something I'm trying to deal with. I'm kind of always concerned about money.  I do believe that there's an element of trusting that you will have enough that helps the Universe to provide it. I have a hard time LIVING that belief, though, especially around the 10th of the month when the mortgage payment goes out and the rest of the month is pretty much an empty bank account. But I'm still here and it seems like the Universe DOES come through when my need is great with some unexpected gift.   The photos are from  other years. Got nothing new at the moment and it looks like it may be a kind of drab Fall.

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

...that you need not be concerned about money.  Be concerned, instead, about joy.

 

How much joy are you experiencing in this moment?  How much joy are youbringing to this moment?  The joy you experience will be the joy you bring.  If you are waiting for joy to be brought to you, you do not understand what you are doing here.  And if you think that joy has anything to do with money, you really do not understand what you are doing here.

 

There is a person waiting right now, right this very minute, for you to uplift them.  Do that...and you will be rich.

 

Really.  I mean, really.  I'm not making this up.

Some things I'm grateful for tonight:

• Life
• Laughter
• My home
• The money I have
• My capacity for joy
• sam-e
• Fall colors
• Angel and Tara Grace
• The ability to read and write and think
• water
• indoor plumbing

Have a Great Day!

Daily Reminder # 117

(Please Scroll Down for the Weekly Wordzzle Challenge)

Well, this is just a regular post pretending to be a daily reminder, but I'm exhausted for some reason, so...

It's always good to hear voices of peace and reason and hope. Jon Stewart doesn't always do good interviews, but I thought this was well done and really worth listening to... if for nothing else than his description of Jordon thinking of itself as being "between Iraq and a hard place."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
King Abdullah II of Jordan
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - King Abdullah II of Jordan Extended Interview
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

And then this political one, which is I think is just brilliant....

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Postcards From the Pledge
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• fans (it was in the high 80s here today again!)
• movies, even bad ones
• games
• life
• my home
• music
• beauty
• Angel and Tara Grace
• Orange Pineapple smoothies
• the basket on the Frenemie

Have a Great Day!

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge: Week 128

It's week 12 of the Weekly (formerly known as "Saturday") Wordzzle Challenge. Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.  Sorry to be posting these so late. Don't know what's wrong with me, I literally had to squeeze these out of my brain in droplets. Ugh. Don't think it was the words. Think it was me. I'm exhausted. Looking forward to seeing how everybody else did this week.




Words for this week's 10-word challenge were: English, edible, eagerly, elves, eulogy, estimable, entrance, education, extra-special, Energizer Bunny And for the mini: drab, dutiful, dusty, delicatessen, dart board


My mega:

The drab, dusty and unimposing exterior and entrance to Dutiful Danny's Delicatessen and Dining Experience belied the vibrant, colorful interior, which contained a magnificent deli counter and three distinctive dining areas. The most popular was one decorated like an English pub, replete with dart boards and beer on tap and meal like fish and chips on the menu.  A more family friendly section was decorated with elves and fairies and each table had what looked like basket full of take home toys that ranged from energizer bunnies to toy soldiers to coloring books, depending on the day and mood of the owner. The third restaurant was like a Zen garden and offered haute cuisine created by a chef named ZaZa, whose offerings were edible art. There was no menu, no choices; diners eagerly awaited the "meal of the day" which came with an educational flyer explaining where ingredients came from, how they were blended and what the nutritional values were of eating foods grown locally. The estimable creator and owner of this extra-special establishment was Daniel David Dorgensen. Eccentric in the extreme he posted his own pre-death eulogy over the door to his office. It read:  He loved people, he loved food, he loved pleasure. He manifested that love and fed the people. This was more true than most knew. Daniel David Dorgensen's Deli had another room that few knew about. Here each week he brought some of those who were living on the streets or eating at food kitchens and fed them, offered them a bath and warm or cool clothing, depending on the season. He should have added the words "he was an angel" to his eulogy, because surely he was.


My 10-word:


The eulogy for English entrepreneur, Eddie Eagerly described him as an "estimable gentleman, a champion of education who rose out of childhood poverty to be one of the richest men in the world. Nobody quite remembers how he made his entrance into the scene, but he made his money creating edible sculptures  for catered events. He hit it big when he sculpted an Energizer bunny out of a mixture of cakes and fruits and vegetables for a gala held by the Energizer company. Eventually he morphed his talents into his company Extra-Special Chocolates whose products ranged from Elves and fairies to Frogs to Easter bunnies to.... well, you name it. He loved children and left his massive fortune to 5 schools which he founded around the world to offer education to the poorest of the poor. He made sure they were were always provided with chocolate too. "One should seek wisdom," he said, "but never forget to savor life's sweetness." He was much loved by all who knew him. He will be missed, but he will live on in all the lives touched by his creativity and generosity.


My mini:

Maureen O'Connell's life was drab and boring and she spent much of her time wrapped in depression, caring for her aging and ill parents. It was a painful existence, stressful and sad. Not that she didn't love them. Delicatessen owners, they had worked hard and spent long hours at work, but they had always made time for Maureen. She loved them very much and as a dutiful and loving daughter could not imagine putting them into a home and so she bore her burden with as much grace and good will as she could, entertaining herself with reading through papers in the attic and painting when she was able to find a few quiet moments. The day  when she found the dusty old dart board and the trophy with her father's name on it, it was as though some little piece of magic came into her life again. She hung it on the wall of her room and looked forward to the times she could spend each day honing her skills.


***********


Words for next week's 10-word challenge are: church, tongue in cheek, butterflies, charcoal, neurotic, save our schools, candles, solitaire, matches, chatter box, 

And for the mini:  march, bald headed man, bones, photo album, mail box

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 # 116

Angel supervises most activities for me and for visitors.
What would we do without her?

 Well, I am once again bereft of ideas for anything meaningful to say.... so maybe I'll share another fable. These fables were written as assignments for a writer's group I participated with in 1993.... same place I discovered wordzzles.  It was called the Slightly Amazing Writer's Therapy Group and was run by a wonderful, crazy, creative woman named Jane Allison. I've tried googling her and searching on facebook, but can't find her. Too bad. She was great.

GLORIA'S DEI

Gloria Sampson could hardly believe that she had just become the first woman Cardinal in the Anglican Church -- or any church for that matter.  Apostolic succession was irrevocably altered.  The Church was irrevocably altered.  But, of course, that had happened earlier, long before today's ceremony.  

Most people thought the stories about her were apocryphal - works of fiction to make her seem extraordinary.  Few really believed (although it was true) that the serene, elegant woman standing before them, had, just eight years earlier, been a filthy, homeless hag, roaming the streets filled with rage and despair.  Crawling with lice, she had smelled so bad that you could sense her approach from a block away.  It was not that she didn't care.  She cared desperately.  But she had had no idea of  how to fend for herself.  She was so terribly ashamed.  The more dirty and hungry she became, the deeper her shame, so that she did not dare seek out those things which could alleviate her distress.  What kept her alive in those early months she would never know, but what had saved her, that was something else. 

Was it the hand of God?  No.  That would make a good story, but she liked the truth better.  For what had saved her was a simple act of human kindness.  Was it a priest, then?  That would make a nice story too, but the priests, offended by her smell, had been only too glad to see her scurry away, had kept their hands clean, doing their "good deed" (bags of food) from a convenient, sanitized distance.

The act of kindness had come from a threadbare old woman in her late seventies.  She was painfully thin, her clothes were ragged, her shoes just barely holding together.  She moved arthriticly and was clearly more than a little concerned for her safety, yet, seeing Gloria huddled next to the garbage cans, she had looked at her squarely and said:  "What's your name?  Mine's Rose."

Stunned at being spoken to as though she was human, Gloria had told her.  

"You smell awful, honey.  How can you stand it?"

And Gloria had wept.  Before she could stop herself, all the pain and grief and fear of her months on the street had flowed out of her.

"Well, they should lock me up for crazy and throw away the key, but come on with me, girl.  I ain't got much, but I do got soap and water.  You got lice?"

Gloria had nodded yes.

"Crazy, I must be crazy.  Try not to touch anything.  Johnson kids had lice.  Mrs. J. will know what to do.  Stop snivelling and come along."

And that was how it began.

Rose bathed her, deloused her, took her in and shared her frugal fare with her.

And daily, over and over, Rose had told her: "You been touched by God, child.  Dirty and smelly as you was, I could see God's mark on you.  He got a purpose for you.  I see it."

And though she did not believe it at first, she had tried to make it true, so that she would deserve Rose's kindness, as a kind of thank you.  In Gloria's eyes, it was Rose who was touched by God, who saw the beauty and goodness in everyone.   And whether by magic or contagion or the hand of God, she had begun to see things that way too, even herself.

As the music of the recessional vibrated around her, the new Cardinal whispered quietly: "Thank you, Rose.  Even if God hasn't touched me, you have, and that seems to me to be pretty much the same thing.

THE END

A rare moment of Tara Grace looking for trouble. She has been frisky of late.
This is a rare photo where you can see how small she is. That's a normal
sized teddy bear.and all 5 pounds of Tara.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• Inspiring people
• Jane Allison
• water
• showers
• Margaret
• watermelon
• hope
• laughter (I say that every day, don't I?)
• gratitude
• angels
• reiki
• teeth
• eyes

Have a Lovely Day!

May You Be Touched by God - 

In Any form He/She May Enter Your Life

Daily Reminder # 115

Just gratitude tonight.  I think I had something else in my head earlier, but it is gone and will have to wait until tomorrow in any case. 


Frenemie and I are getting acquainted. It really doesn't fit past the bathroom door, but the bathroom is so tiny it would take up the whole space in any case, so I guess that's not the worst thing in the world. I'm back and forth about whether it feels steadier than the cane. I guess I just need to get more practice. I do love having the basket, though. That's cool.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• Angel and Tara Grace
• My frenemie & its basket
• angels
• reiki
• Dennis Puffett
• life
• my home
• Schwans
• orange pineapple smoothies
• Netflix
• laughter
• my windows and the view

Have a Wonderful Day!

Daily Reminder # 114

Angel plays queen of the mountain.

Face your fears.... ish....  


Ok... late this afternoon I worked up my courage and my determination and got the Frenemy out of it's box. As you can see, Angel liked having a nice tall box to sit on. She and Tara had some fun and some fights over its massive emptiness ones the THING was out of it. It was pretty easy to put together, though I'm not sure about some things. 

Sorry there's so much clutter that it's kind of
hard to see.  Isn't Tara cute?

I took it on a slow roll around the room and have to say that I'm more scared of it at present than thrilled with how much easier it is to get around.  I guess I need to practice and decide on the height of the handle bars and things like that. I tried taking it into the bathroom and it doesn't seem to fit through the door, though it fits the bedroom door. Haven't tried the kitchen. We will see.  I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have gone with wheels. I might have been safer with the other kind. Sigh. We will see. One step at a time. One day at a time.

Raphael Emmanuel bear - my reiki bear - tested out the seat.
It only holds 250 pounds so I probably won't try it. The
warnings are very dire if you sit more than 250 pounds on it.
I don't know what I weigh but I'm not taking any chances.
At least that much, unfortunately.

On another note, I'm sorry that I'm a day late with this - but today was supposed to be an International Day of Peace and Care2 shared some good peace songs. This is more a little mini movie/song, but I thought I'd share it as my belated contribution.  I think it's quite wonderful. I also post a belated happy FOURTEENTH wedding anniversary to my niece Cindy and her husband Rick. Wow. How can they have been married 14 years when they are still children in my  mind?





Some things I'm grateful for today:

• my new walker... sort of
• encouragement from friends - cyber and "real" (I know cyber friends are real just I haven't met them)
• Angel and Tara Grace
• Angels
• reiki
• My home
• Food in my freezer
• my microwave oven
• bananas
• Life
• those who strive for peace
• International Peace Day

PEACE!

Daily Reminder # 113

My new "frenemy" arrived today.... well, technically, it arrived on Saturday but I wasn't able to get it into the house until this morning. I haven't opened the box yet. I'm letting it settle in. Letting myself get accustomed to the idea of using a walker, dreading unpacking it and putting it together. Tomorrow I will unbox it and hopefully be able to assemble it. We will see. Have I wasted $70? Will it make getting around easier or will it trip me up and land me on the floor in a humiliated heap? Time will tell. 


It's hard, sometimes to adjust to a new image of yourself. Using a walker is something OLD people do. Silly really... but I'm fighting with the impulse to turn this into something "bad" that has happened. I did the same thing with using my cane. I lurched around panic-stricken for at least a year rather than "succumb" to the weakness of needing to lean on something.  My friend E finally persuaded me to try a cane. It has helped me ever since. The walker will no doubt be the same. A blessing that will make moving around easier. We will see. Tonight I will reset my attitude. I will remember my mantra (well Alan Cohen's mantra...): "Thank you for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever."  And so it is. 

big box... the walker... day one
will it be friend or foe?

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• my new walker
• my cane
• legs that still hold me up
• angels
• my friend Kailie Ellie
• reiki
• Thai lemon coconut soup (really good)
• punny Monday  (you really should try it)
• the transformation of negatives into positives
• Life

Have a Great Day!

Daily Reminder # 112

I seem to be in a bad haiku phase. Since I stole the picture
from Google images and don't know if it's copyrighted,
I had to make it my own.

Found the following statement on Huffington Post today and it seemed like very good advice so I thought I'd share it as today's daily reminder. It's a quote from the sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein.

Don't try to teach a pig to sing. 

It wastes your time and annoys the pig. 

There are so many more useful ways to spend our time than trying to make people into who we think they should be. The best persuasion there is, is living your own Truth. 

While I was looking for the attribution for the quote above, I found another
good one from Bill Clinton, which inspired my next bad haiku above:
"You can put wings on a pig, but that doesn't make it an eagle."

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• pigs
• Huffington Post
• Compassion
• Thai Chicken Coconut Soup
• wit
• haiku
• my house
• hope
• coffee

Daily Reminder # 111

Laughter is a powerful force and so is feeling heard.


Not much to say today.  I spent some time at Huffington Post reading through the almost 13,000 comments about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert putting together the October 30th gathering in Washington. You can feel the hope and excitement in all the comments and it's really delightful. The humor isn't as barbed as most of the post there. Its as though a whole collective of people who feel unheard sense that they will have a place to be seen and heard. I always complain about the media, but this got me to thinking that maybe part of my own frustration these days is that sense that the loonies on the right and the sound byters on the left are the only voices heard. Colbert and Stewart are now offering a place for moderate (well Stewart is) voices to gather and feel connected and heard - and, of course to engage in the powerful magic of laughing together. Should be awesome.


The other thing that happened today is that my walker came. Well, it sort of happened. I was still asleep when it was delivered (pretty early) and it's kind of awkward to get it inside. So it's still on my front porch. I think the real thing is, though, that I have mixed feelings about it... a little like I'm inviting the enemy in. We will see. Tomorrow is another day.

I wrote a haiku for tonight. Not very good, but I tried

Some things I'm grateful for today:

• the moon through the trees
• Angels
• laughter
• Stewart and Colbert
• Dennis Puffett
• food
• water
• my home
• watching my cats play and sleep together 
• my eyes, which at the moment are very tired
• Life
• Hope

Ok... the pictures weren't very good, so I messed with them
and added bad haiku....
Have a great day with just enough mystery to make it interesting!