...restoration

sometimes...

while you're in a period of change...
and you've come to that place ...
where you've scraped away so much
that you're down to the basic framing...



and you stretch, longingly up to the sun...
wanting to be "finished"...
to be "right"... or at least "better...

all the while,
knowing ...
that there's still, such a long journey ahead...



that's when you must look around...
and in your striving... find rest...
in your driven, frenetic efforts... find peace...
in your plans... find His way...
and in your heart... find Him...



"be still... and know that I am God..."

...not for sissies, part deux

"What though the radiance...
which was once so bright...











Be now, forever taken...
from my sight...







Though nothing can bring back the hour...






Of splendor in the grass...

Of glory in the flower...

We will grieve not...

but rather find...





Strength in that....

which remains behind...


[from "Ode on Intimations of Immortality" William Wordsworth]

...that old devil moon

when I taught jr high...
I wore a "moon phase" watch...
I wanted that little bit of warning...
because when the moon was "waxing"...
"they" were wacko...hyper...impulsive...
[more than usual, anyway...]

when I left home this morning to run errands...
I hadn't looked at the "moon phase" widget on my blog...
but I wasn't "out" amongst the masses long at all...
when I heard myself say, "the moon must be going full..."
and I was right...



drivers whipping in and out of lanes...
cars NOT signaling...[not new...]
then pulling right in front of me...
and my favorite...

the old teal blue Honda Civic hatchback
that slid through a stop sign to merge
in front of me...testing my breaks...
and then a "primer grey" doppelganger Civic...
who zipped past me on the left...
only to be stopped next to its teal twin at a light...

motors revving... I knew what was next...

then the light changed...
and off they charged...
racing east on Hammer towards Pershing...
neck and neck for a bit...

"teal" Civic quit first...
[he was behind anyway...]
allowing "primer" Civic to roar off
in a victorious cloud of smog...

I felt like Mr. Magoo...
hollering, "road hog"...
and shaking an impotent fist...
as I shook my head in disbelief...



I made it home safely...
and since the moon...
is only about 85% full as I write this...
I'm staying put for the next day or so...
avoiding the bumper car tournament out there...



because if there was one thing I learned
teaching jr high for more than 20 years...
it was that a waxing moon is worse than a full moon...
and a heat wave just exacerbates everything...
[it's supposed to be hot ( 100+) for the next 3 or 4 days...]

my sympathies to all you commuters out there...
watch out.... and stay safe...

....meme, meme, meow

no... I'm NOT reverting to age 2...
I just thought I'd do a meme,
[of sorts...]
expressing my CATLY nature...
so here it is...

my feline meme...
[ah, redundancy...]

I have much more energy than I used to... but I still need my catnaps....
I used to have twice the feline housemates...and half the work...
[now, most are old...and if growing old isn't for sissies...
neither is taking care of the elderly...human OR feline...]

my furry friends eat a case[24, 13 oz cans] of cat food a week...
they consume about a 20 lb bag of dry food a week...
during flea season, we use about 12 tubes of Advantage per month...
and I go through a 50 count package of training pads a week...
[to cover the now very used "new" rugs....]

I'm going to pick-up canned food tomorrow...
10 cases that will last about 10 weeks...
also more training pads...
and a couple of bags of dry food....

we're not going to discuss litter...
except to say that Tidy Cats Blue rocks !
I have a sifter pan and the clumps, etc.
get removed easily...

I tried those pans that automatically rake out the poop...
I'm sure it would work well with 1 or 2 cats...
with my herd...it was a large toy...
and didn't work at all...



"cat games" I have observed include seeding the house with grasshoppers...
[see "Gifts from the Meow-Guys"
[note : I don't know why this link doesn't work...
the post is 9/21/07]
"stalking" each other....and the carnage that follows...
as well as numerous other "wretched things"
I have amply documented in "catmas carols"...

games I play with the kitties include...

pretending NOT to notice the pitiful crying
and starved demeanor of cats who have a full dish...
but want what I'm eating....
or just, "different"...

peering around corners, while going in or out, loaded down...
[grocery bags, trash, anything heavy or "big"...]
to catch Sneaky Pie preparing to jet through my legs...
and out the door to FREEDOM !!!
[aka the land of busy streets, fast cars and BIG dogs...]

trying to find a "safe" place for my dinner,
should the phone or door bell ring...

guessing what that crash used to be...

NOT turning down my bed too soon...
if the Piglet has been "out" and comes in "wet"...

taking bets with myself as to whether that nasty mess
is a hair ball, cat barf or worse....

but, when it's all said and done.....
my catly sloth will finally take over...

like today... after doing laundry, dishes,
changing my bed, taking out the trash,
cleaning cat boxes, cleaning up after Robbie...
mowing the lawn, edging the lawn,

planting some chives I've had for a couple of months...
moving some plants to the back, "trying to tame" the VA creeper...
watering outside, cleaning up more plant stuff,
trimming roses, lemon tree, creeper, etc ...
and getting stabbed numerous times in the process...

I'll pop some Excedrin... drink a lot of water...
sit in my rocking chair...
have some dinner...
[if I can keep "them" away from it...]
and watch some TV....

I don't think I have any beer....
[darn... dark, cold... ummmm beer...]
I just hope that I can move tomorrow...

...pay it forward exchange [Ravelry], part deux

I had been considering redoing this post...
in hopes of attracting 2 more people to accept the challenge...
and then...Miz Minka beat me "to it"...
[ would that be a round "to it"... ?]

the basic idea is that I got only one response initially...
[Mousie's Mommy]
so now... I'm "trolling" for 2 others...
[update : I now have 2... can I find #3 ?...]

I am not able to craft textile based goods...
which is too bad, 'cause I've got a bunch of cat hair I could spin into yarn..
but there are always my organic, HEALTHY oatmeal cookies...
[they are really good...AND good for you...]

and I have been known to devise "other" homemade/handmade things...
but this is not about what you get...
rather the chance to surprise someone
with something they weren't really expecting...
at a time you choose...
...just because...

all you need to do is to post
the challenge on your blog,
[if you're not clear on what that means...
see Miz Minka or my April 3 post]
and then within 6 months...
make something for the first 3 readers
who accept the challenge on your blog...
the schematic at the top of my post is intended to illustrate
how this can proliferate kindness...

if you're not a blogger... just a reader [and you know who you are...]
and you want to modify the challenge to pick 3 random people
to make something for...that's fine with me...
just leave me a comment with your intentions...

this idea came to me from Miz Minka...
who stated that "there are no rules"...
you are supposed to have a blog...
but the random acts of kindness are the point...

so in that generous spirit...
leave me a comment...
take the challenge...

you won't be sorry...

...don't worry...BE HAPPY !!![or else...]

sometimes...the world seems to close in on you...
and no matter how hard you try...
"being happy"...
is not a place you can find...
or so it would seem...


you try all the "usual ways" of "letting go"...
with not always the hoped for results....
and so... you're "treading jell-o"

still... you're relatively calm...
just not happy...
so you look "up"...



God is good, indeed....

...requiescat in pace

My next door neighbor to the north
passed away this morning...

I awoke around 8:30 AM...
to the paramedics arriving...
dressed quickly and went outside...
I knew it wasn't good...

I called my next door neighbor to the south....
as he was going in to work at the same hospital
where they had taken her...

he called me around 9 AM with the news
that she was gone...

she had lived in this neighborhood
much of her life...
and after her stroke a couple of years ago...
her family went to a lot of effort
to allow her to live "at home"...
an effort that she greatly appreciated...

she was always bright, lively and fun to talk with...
it was harder for her... after the stroke...
because she had to search for words...
but she would find them...

she was in her late 80's...
and I think she was tired...
the last time we visited...
she seemed to be "ready"....

my sympathies go to her family in their loss...
especially so close to Mother's Day....

farewell Alma...
we will all miss you...

"requiem eternam, dona eis, Domine"