More

It cannot come soon enough to suit me.    I just hope we are not heading 'up the creek' as I think we should have more to choose from.    

I have to remember this and offer up a prayer or two to keep going on those left handed days;  now don't take that wrong, I have nothing against a left hand-er, have a few in my immediate family and I love them;  it is just a saying meaning an odd day here and there.   Not that left hand folks are odd...now how did I get into that mess.....

Larry  Smith's folks.   His mom is having a birthday....Happy Birthday to YOU!!  A loving couple  I have not seen in a lot of years.  

I did a little shopping yesterday, had a chance to walk the aisles and look around to see what is new and different.   Not a lot.   Prices have not come down.    Enjoyed the exercise and didn't find much  but learned that they have a new system at the cash register for checks.   I wrote a check, asking first if they took checks these days, and the clerk said 'yes'; then after doing a little pushing of register keys handed me back my check...they have something new and different going on as now the check goes through to the bank immediately  and I am still trying to figure out what they do.    I think it might be a bit dangerous to have a new system using the bank numbers on your check....seems to me it could create some larger problems down the way.    An easier way to make mistakes  and find your bank account empty.    I think I'll become a cash and carry person.  Trust is hard to come by these days.

Pat and I did make it to the little shop over in the Market and the beaded bracelets were still there.   The clerk was having her lunch so Pat and I had a cup of fish chowder then went back and bought all twenty in the tray.    It saved us a lot of  bead work that was not coming out very well.   Beading is not as easy as we thought.    There are several short cuts and some knotting to learn before we attempt that again.   This way we have 'saved the day' and now can take time to learn the right way to bead.   I wish our friend , Marge, was nearby to show us the right way.  She is a marvel and does some truly beautiful work.    The lady of the shop was delighted to make the sale and had a new tray of bracelets out that were much higher priced.   We also found a huge bag of salt water taffy for the upcoming affair which should fill  a big pirate chest.  When you hear many hands lighten a load , it really is a truism.

It looks like another soft day;  the blinds are open, the sky is a pale grey and silence prevails.  The blinds are not open over at the hospital wing but an ambulance is there by the front door.   The workers are on their way in and a new day begins.  the cars are parked for the day with no open spots so all must be on hand.    One thing about the way the buildings are set back of the highway , one never hears street noise.   It is a major highway out there with all kinds of traffic day and night, yet we do not hear the noise.   The huge grassy area, trees and bushes accounts for that.    You would be amazed at the size and scope of the senior housing in this area.   There are new apartments going up near the Fred Meyer shopping center, but not just for seniors,   I wonder what they cost to rent;  I am betting a lot. 

One thing is that there are a lot of people as Port Orchard is like a bedroom community to Seattle, even across the sound.   People seem to want to live in this area and more come every day.    The traffic is heavy no matter when you go out.   People drive crazy so there is an accident every day.   I think they get impatient waiting at a crossroad to have the traffic go by in a seamless endless line.    The Mac-Cormack  Woods area has the large homes with huge surrounding lots, while in-town homes are small probably built back in the forties and fifties.    Tiny houses like those in New Orleans .  You have seen pictures of the hills  of San Francisco, well we have a few of those right here in Port Orchard.   It is like going down in a roller coaster when you start at the top of Sydney Avenue and go down into town to Bay Street, the main street.    You stomach does a little flip flop when you start down.  there are dozens of antique shops lining Bay Street, a Coffee Oasis with great sandwiches, The Market where I like to have the fish chowder, and the thrift stores are up around the bend of the road.  St. Vincent  is a good browsing spot.  Like all small towns it could do with some sprucing up, but it really isn't a bad place to be.    The water front alone is worth a trip in town.

I don't know what got me tarted on Port Orchard down town , maybe I thought you would like a review....hope so.    I am off to have my coffee and wake up.     Not sure what is in store today but I am about to find out.    Maybe Vinnie will show up for a read today and we will finish the little paperback about the Navy which has been funny and brought back a few memories of his Navy days.  I am off to have seconds on my coffee, heat up a breakfast role and start my new day.

I hope you are up and ready for your new day.   Remember to do that one good deed for today.    Get up, get outside, take a walk around the block, say hello to a neighbor and smile like it was your idea in the first place.   Be good, be kind, be gentle , and share a hug or two...bear hugs don't hurt even a little bit.    Hugs to all.

Mid Week

Newspaper reporters hone in on The Donald while Hillary has the President out campaigning for her.  Politics rearing its ugly head.      

Friend Larry Smith is off to see the world in his 'yacht';  great looking sail boat, a bit bigger than the one I got to sail in on Tahoe some years back.   I hope he write about his travels as he must have a million tales to tell.

 A lake in Arizona where Andrea loves to  kayak around.    Cool, calm and collected , what a way to spend a morning.

Well here it is hump day , six days of July  going, going, gone.     Our weather has been cool and calm and today we have been promised a bit of sunshine.   Today is the day Sandy drives the bus around to places she thinks we will find of interest.  I have not gone on the riding trips as yet, and today I have a date to shop, so will miss out again.   I am not sure I want to ride in the rickety bus  which shakes and rattles and is not really very comfortable for distance rides.    We have been to the museums and to several of the smaller towns, so finding places to take us is not easy.    We need the outings but run out of new places to go.    Some of us would settle for a casino for lunch and a little play but a lot of the folks don't like to gamble so the bus doesn't fill up and that means we cannot go.    Most like the idea of shopping but pooze out quickly and are ready to return long before time.   It is an 'age' thing as the mind is willing but the body is not.    Most are more comfortable with their walkers and  they are cumbersome to store on the bus.  A lot of the folks do not go as it seems to be just too much trouble, yet want to go and get out of their apartments for a few hours.  What is needed is a strong activities director who has a huge imagination and some great ideas for the 'over the hill' crowd.

I had a telephone visit with an old neighbor of mine in Brookings and heard about the changes in the neighborhood.  It has only been a little over a year and it is like everyone moved  away.   It was sad to hear that a couple of folks have suffered ill health and not doing well.  Her major complaint was about the hedge between properties and it is not being clipped to her satisfaction.   It is a tall hedge that grows between the properties and when I lived there I had it clipped and not once did this neighbor offer to help keep it up.  I think it was planted right on the property line.   Good neighbors  could and would share but some just don't think that way.   I think a fence is a better idea, shrubbery creates more of a problem  as it takes work and expense to keep it up.  So there are a lot of new faces and it takes time to get to know your neighbors.   I think the renters like the idea of a tall hedge and a bit of privacy.  Smile.

The blinds are open, the sky is blue without a cloud in the sky, the trees are not moving and quiet prevails.  The workers are all in as the cars are parked and it seems everyone has a certain space they call their own.    Not a soul in sight.   The blinds are still closed in the hospital wing.  One young worker is standing by her car pulling her long hair into a pony tail.    Another work day and off she goes.

As for me, I am going to love you and leave you.   I need a refill and have to get dressed and ready for a trip around  a couple of stores today.   Patricia and I are going to see if we can find the ready made bracelets which are cheap at half the price and will save us a lot of grief.   We just are not getting the hang of making beaded bracelets.    Last I heard from my daughter was the spilling of the box of beads off of her dining room table.    I don't think you really want to hear what she said.   and No, I didn't teach her those words.....well, maybe I did use them when I dropped things and spilled them all over the floor and had to pick them up and clean up.   I really didn't think I knew that many words....but I do and she must have been close by and heard every one.

So go about your today with joy.....that feeling that gives you a zest for living.    Be good, be kind, be generous to a fault and open up those arms and hug everyone you see today.    Being a lover isn't all bad.    Hugs to all..

Morning After

You just cannot keep a good man down.   I would like this fellow for a neighbor.   Maybe he will be lucky and his neighbors will move.

I heard this many times yesterday and it sounded great.  A hard scale to go up and down but we do it and we do it with pride.

Political jargon, Bill an Hillary never seem to get enough attention.   It seems the more they get, the more they want.

There was someone firing off a fire cracker, or more like a dozen or two, at ten o'clock last night.   You would think they would have been more sensitive to the folks in the hospital wing  as they set them off right under their windows.   There is a huge front lawn area they could have gone to but that was not their choice.    I was surprised someone in charge in the hospital wing didn't come out and tell them to celebrate elsewhere.    It was midnight before they gave up the ghost and went away.   Guess it takes all kinds to make the world go around.   

I was one of the lucky ones as I had an invitation to a very delicious and delectable dinner at daughter Pat's home.  Christine made a fruit salad that was extra good with fruits and Yakima cherries that were delicious.    Huge yellow and red cherries that  really did melt in your mouth.     I had some of the chard from Pat's garden that was a special treat right from her garden box.   She has been fighting some kind of a moth that wants to eat it up before she can pick it.   Pat grilled the steaks, made her special salads that are to die for;  not much left and I did get to bring a doggy bag home for another go round today.   It was  special just like my girls.   How lucky I am.

We have a project going so after dinner Pat and I tried to make a bead bracelet and it is a lot more difficult than we thought.  We had sheets of instructions but it didn't help.   We had new heavier elastic but that didn't do the trick either.   I am not sure what it is that we are not getting, but pretty bracelets is not one of them.   We will give it another try, maybe a strong needle might do the trick.  Fingers  freeze and patience does not prevail.    It is a good thing the affair is not until August.

So, the Fourth of July has come and gone.  The television programs  were great and the spirit in America was awesome.   I hope everyone had a good time and no one lost a finger or two.    It is a holiday of pride in out country and rightly so, but I'd like to see the fireworks left in the hands of those who are experienced.  Now it is time to think vacation, maybe a trip to a beach is in the offering;  a trip to visit Grandma, a fishing trip or a few days in a cabin by a lake.    Time to get out and enjoy nature , mosquitoes and sleeping bags and have a great time.    Not for me though, as a hot house flower, I like to stop at a motel with all the amenities  of clean living and a lovely waitress taking my order for something delicious enough to eat the flowers of the plate.    City bred, what can I tell you.....

So whatever you choose to do with your summer vacation time, relax, enjoy and know you earned our down time.    Have fun and relax that is what summer is all about.    Just remember your sun screen, take care of your skin.    A little tanning is much better than one of those burn outs where you turn bright red and hot and hurt.     A little bit of sunshine at a  time as no one looks good in blisters.   Did I ever tell you.....nah....you really don't want to hear that story......

Be good, be unselfish, be  a special mentor today.     Be a bumble bee and flit from friend to friend leaving a little of YOU behind.   Don't forget the one good deed.   Don't forget to share a hug or two.   Just make today as special as YOU.  Hugs to all.

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

 Hail, Hail the Gangs A;ll Here...Happy Fourth of July.     Future citizens with the love of life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.      Way to Go!!!!  

If there is a parade....Go!!!

If there is a cook out you are invited to....Go!!!

If you are shooting off some fire crackers..be careful....Go!!!!

If you are not in a holiday mood....change your attitude and Go!!!

Go and be YOU;  celebrate your Independence; Your Freedom:   Your pride in being an American.

Make this Fourth of July the best yet.

Be YOU. . . Be kind, loving and have a great holiday today.

Hugs to all.

It Is Sunday

Out in the Bay, a favorite place to play.  The Orca, what a beauty, so playful and making waves..

Letting go takes courage  that leads you onto a path of happiness.

How true.    A little Irish whiskey , a bit of lemon, some hot water and sip , one way to beat a cold.

I don't know about you, but every now and then,sometimes more often than not,  I have to admit, I lose a day here and there.   I woke up thinking this was Monday and it is Sunday, all day, so I have  to adjust my thinking and find something to do with today....I had a Sunday yesterday, quiet, alone,  and now find it was not Sunday but Saturday . . . strange how the days go bye so fast  we lose track of them.   It was very quiet around Ridgemont and I did have my door open but no one entered.  It was extremely quiet around here.   I took a walk up to the corner and even the traffic on the avenue was quiet.   A holiday weekend and everyone is off and having fun.   At least I hope so.    

I opened the blinds and the sky is a  gray, not a bit of a breeze, nothing stirring and hardly a car in the parking lot.  It is only a little after five a.m. so most folks are still sleeping.   I woke up around four a.m. and and told myself to go back to sleep, but I don't listen well.    No sense laying there so up I got and went out to the kitchen and put on my coffee.   I have a little two cup pot and it doesn't take long for it to brew a decent cup of coffee.   Of course I wake up hungry so dropped an egg , a saying for the poached egg and put it on an English muffin which was a bit different and tasty.    I would rather have a big fat juicy jelly donut but they don't have a decent bakery in this town.   A good thing really, as I'd probably be their best customer.    I used to love those coffee buns. . ah, I'll be honest, there isn't anything I don't like when it comes to those early morning pastries, the bigger they are the tastier they are  and you do use up a lot of calories in the chewing....so I tell myself.

So find your shoes, put them on, go out the door and warm up the car,take a little ride to the bakery and buy some luscious donuts for the family breakfast.  Surprise them with  a special treat this morning and get your holiday week off to a great start.   If I were there I would join you...in fact, I'd have brought the treats with me.

Be good to yourself this holiday week and be careful around the fire works.    Have fun, invite a friend or two to join you for a cook out and eat like a King.    If you are close to a Veteran's Hospital, stop bye and say hello and take a little treat to one of the guys shut in this holiday.    A little time is the greatest gift of all.   Keep an eye and ear open and see if there is someone in your neighborhood  all alone and lonely and invite them to your celebration.   It only takes a small act of kindness to make someone feel good.    That one guest could be the highlight of your party and bring a lot of love and laughter to your celebration.    Be all you can be today , for that matter, every day,  be YOU, kind, loving and a sparkling jewel everyone wants to wear.....Shine!!!  Hugs to all.

 

Holiday Weekend

You do have the power to make someone happy by just being in their lives.   A touch of your hand, a tiny kiss on the cheek, a soft word , a smile from you and their day becomes alive with the promise of being loved.  

Now this is a thatched roof.

The lovely hibiscus.

It is Saturday, a holiday weekend  with a promise of a fireworks display .    If you bought fireworks to shoot off at home just be sure you know what you are doing and do it carefully;  many an eye or a hand has been injured beyond repair, so know what you are doing and be careful.  In my day salmon and peas was the main course for the Fourth of July dinner, in fact, we had it at our dinner time yesterday and I must say it has not improved with age.   Jock wasn't around to grill the salmon so our cooks did not do it justice.  They cook it with the skin left on which is far from appetizing.   I think a big juicy hamburger or a hot dog would be a treat.   I wonder if I can get Patricia to fire up her grill and have  a cook out.  I'll bring desert.

Last evening we had the ice cream social at the Gallery.   The tables were set up outside on the grass and the stars and stripes beamed  bright and inviting.   The cherries were in a bowl, the sprinkles at the ready and the cups and spoons  lined up waiting for our Port Orchard celebrants to come and join us.    I would say we had thirty or more before the night was over and many stopped in to see the art work or our local artists.    Louis King donned his Charlie Chaplin outfit and walked down the hill into town with a big sandwich sign , playing the part of a pied piper and got the interest of the folks in town.  It was a fun time and there is some left over ice cream to be saved for the coming artist show .  The new refrigerator is in the kitchen, bare, waiting to hold any of that delicious ice cream, although I am not to sure it will be safe from those of us who are the lovers of delicious ice cream.   

Enjoy your holiday weekend and share YOU with those you love and like.    If you have not had an invitation to a Fourth of July party, host one yourself.  Hot dogs , hamburger, pickles, onions, buns, hot apple pie with ice cream and you have a feast to share.  Your guests will be happy to bring something  to share and you can all celebrate together.   Holidays can be very lonely if you do not have family or friends close bye.    Take time to look around and see how you can host a get- together and celebrate the Fourth of July in style.    What is that old adage about getting out of life what you put into it, no more, no less;  yeah, I've said t.hat one before.  It is true, think about it and get on the telephone or that 'pad' and start a small 'riot' in your own back yard.  Fie up a rocket or two and celebrate freedom .

Be good, be kind, be gentle and stretch those lips into a smile that will light up the whole neighborhood.   Be YOU!!!  Hugs to all. 

Emma

Emma, so easy to love.

Emma's favorite place.

Emma loves to be loved.   She loves to greet you and knows she will be petted and made over.    She never gets enough loving, reminds me of a few folks I know..smile.

Here it is Friday already, where did this week go?   It has been a busy one for the most part and perfect weather wise.  I am hearing about the heat wave in Brookings, Oregon but that is a good thing as our friend Marcia is having her big yearly yard sale this weekend.  Sure hope it is a big success.   It seems I heard Marcia say a time or two that 'this one is the last one' but we know she really doesn't mean it.   It does take a lot of work to get ready for the sale but she does it with such ease that you would think it was nothing at all to set up.   we all know better as we have had a hand at doing a yard sale or two.  We wish her good luck and hope she has  a lot folks dropping bye.

Today is the First of July;  time flies.  There are many fire work places to go and buy some fire works if you are prone to firing off those noisy things.  I am not a lover of  fire works although I do enjoy the last barrage when it goes off at the end of the fireworks show.   I seem to remember salmon and peas as the fare for dinner on the fourth of July.   Now if Jock were here and not in Gold Beach, he would fire up the grill and make a delicious treat for us.    Sigh !!!

Speaking of Jock, he is due for a consultation for back surgery, never and easy problem to deal with but it has to be done.   Put him on your prayer list for a successful operation and a fast recovery.  We are hoping it turns out to be like the television ads and they zap the spine and two minutes later you are walking without pain .We hope his doctor is sending him to a specialist with miracle hands.   

Speaking of backs, we are prone to abuse them rather than take care of them.  How many times do you lift heavy things without thinking;  how many times do you forget to have good posture and slump.  How many times have you been told to straighten up and then relax and do not do it and wonder why your back bends and hurts.    Take heed, pay attention and start this minute to be aware of how you treat yourself.  If you do not take good care of your body it cannot take good care of you.  We get lazy, slump, slouch, and forget that good posture means good health.  Think about that today as you slump. The nuns  didn't  tap us with a ruler and make us sit straighter because they were mean, they wanted us to be strong and healthy.  So do not slouch...sit up straight.....walk tall with shoulders back.....posture is everything.   Be good to yourself and pay attention to what you are doing to your body and your mind.    Those seconds go by faster than the wink of an eye , it is up to you to take good care of YOU.   

So today make a bargain with yourself to take better care of yourself.    Be healthy, be wise, be good and be kind and let nature takes its course.    Good habits ...you were taught that from infancy.    Apply yourself.    Stand straight and tall.   Do not slouch.....Smile.....frowning makes wrinkles.....you have heard them all over and over so pay attention and you will be a King or Queen today and everyday.    Add a bit of love and laughter and enjoy one day as it comes.   Share you with those you love and like....be content and happiness follows.    Be discontent and life takes on a whole new meaning, one you just do not like or want.    

Be good, be kind, be gentle and most of all be loving.  Hugs to all.