Beautiful and delicate, reading and it's all good

- Spotting a recipe for this Tomato-Cheddar Strata with Broccoli in the February 2012 issue of Country Living (left behind at the hospital* last weekend by my sister.)  I made it yesterday (halving it since it was for one.)  After describing it to friend Kim on an email, she said that it sounded "beautiful and delicate" and that fits perfectly.

- Standing in the coffee shop waiting and spotting a man reading a book at a cafe table on the other side of the window.  I am always interested in what other people are reading, and move a little closer to see.  "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck.  Good choice.

- Calling the department of motor vehicles in my county to inquire about my annual tag fee going up instead of down, as it usually does.  She explains.  I sigh and proclaim my sadness with a little drama.  She chuckles and is appropriately sympathetic.  Neither of us ruins the other's day.  It's all good. 

I hope you have nothing but good things happen to you this weekend, my friends!  Happy Friday!

* My mom is doing much better and was moved to a rehabilitation hospital yesterday.  Thank you for all your prayers.

A song about loving cats, no harmony and find

- This is a spoof of one of those dating site videos that someone took a further step in "songifying." Just seeing the "cat band" is worth watching. What makes this a good thing? It made me laugh out loud and reminded me that the world is a great place if someone has the patience to make a cat look as if it is beating drums.

- I went through that dating site process once and the experience made me tell all my married and significant othered friends to hang onto their mates! You do end up revealing yourself so much and you run into crazy people like that guy who told me on an email (I never met him in person) that in our future relationship I would have to "keep myself clean." I told him that could be a problem and that we needed to end this right now. :)

- Discovering a forgotten cherry Tootsie Pop in my purse when searching for a pen in my cavernous purse before an evening meeting. A committee member says, "oh you are such a kid, aren't you?" when I unwrap it. At heart maybe, but really just a gal with a sweet tooth. Maybe I should make a video about loving candy and songify it. :)

Stone Mountain, lessons and savored moments

- I had to go back to my blog archive from the fall of 2007 to find this photo. It was taken with my phone one day, during a period of unemployment, after a walk around this granite mountain - called Stone Mountain. There's a sidewalk all the way around it, multiple attractions within its park and many people climb it - some every day.

- My friend Ronnie closes his veterinary office for lunch, drives to this park and walks up the mountain, runs back down, runs back up and walks down. Five days a week - I'm exhausted just writing about it. But he is the most fit man I know at the age of 60.

- My friend Janice* and I had a conversation about my race training plan early last spring and so she gave me a folded piece of paper at church the other day, saying it made her think of me. I fished it out of my purse yesterday and read it, just before leaving work for the day. It was this article - I have found it online, first printed in January 2011 in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I shared it with a coworker and posted it in my cubicle - to be read every day. I love its life lessons and her main points:

Lesson One: There is big value in feeling small.

Lesson Two: Everyone needs to stand on top of something.

Lesson Three: Some moments are meant to be savored, not seized by the lapels.

Ahhh - that third one is my favorite. So after a not particularly good day, I felt a renewed sense of how much I have in my life and went on my way.

* p.s. I emailed Janice to thank her for the article and she replied, "I can't remember if I told you but I had the big 50 birthday this year, and after reading the article, decided to walk up Stone Mountain 50 times. I have completed 23, maybe tonight will be 24 if the weather permits."

Hidden, dancing and today might be the day

- The trees on the hill behind my office building standing in a row like monuments, largely hidden from general view.

- My boss likes to post motivational quotations above the copier, usually rah rah stuff. But the one yesterday was a little different and stayed with me, "Life is not about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain."

- Receiving this uplifting passage from a book by Barbara Brown Taylor from friend Susan in an email, about Biblical Abraham and Sarah, and how very long they had to wait:

"It is a hard thing, to believe in a promise with no power to make it come true. Everything is in the future tense--the land, the son, the blessing. Everything will happen, by and by, but in the meantime what is there to live on now? And yet. What better way to live than in the grip of a promise, and a divine one at that? Who in her right mind would give that back? To wake every morning to the possibility that today might be the day. To remain wide awake all day long, noticing everything--the way the shade of the olive tree processes from west to east, and how the smell of the fields changes from green grass to yellow hay as the sun heats up overhead. To search the face of every stranger in case it turns out to be an angel of God. To take nothing for granted. Or to take everything as granted, though not yet grasped. To handle every moment of one's life as a seed of the promise and to plant it tenderly, never knowing if this moment, or the next, may be the one that grows."

from "The Late Bloomer" from Gospel Medicine, by Barbara Brown Taylor

Spirit, life is a gift and Think

Friend Kathleen sent the following "forward" and wanted me to pass it on. I usually do not send forwards, but after reading it, I wanted to post it here. Kathleen was in a boating accident (not caused by her) which resulted in permanent brain injuries that have affected her life greatly. She speaks to groups about driving under the influence and I am very proud of her for that and for her positive spirit. Read on for her forward...

- SEALED IN THE BOOK OF LIFE

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She
hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see
the world, I will marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her
boyfriend.

He asked her,'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who
was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a Gift

Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't
speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone
who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone
who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went
too early to heaven.

Before whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who
walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on
your face and think: you're alive and still around.

I PRAY
THIS MOVES AROUND
THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE....

Love, Kathleen

Productive life, practicality and crossing bridges

Mockingbird. Illustration by Talitha Shipman

- From Georgia State University Alumna Anne Marie Evans, who turns 101 years old this month,

How To Live To Be 100

• Be Tenacious. In the face of life’s obstacles, be innovative and creative. If you’re afraid or worried, don’t show it.
• Befriend Positive People.
• Value Education. Always get a good education because that’s the one thing they can’t take away from you.
• To Thine Own Self Be True. Analyze how you act and react. Know your skills and capabilities. Then set realistic goals and produce something in justify your existence. Have confidence in yourself and say your prayers because they will bear fruit. Get plenty of sleep and don’t worry about the things that might not happen.

- Smiling at my mother's reluctance to say what she would like for birthday presents. And finally saying she really just needs a new adding machine and maybe some slippers.

- The November quote on the calendar in my office: "The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn." David Russell, Classical Guitarist