Morning Folks 10 20 08

Morning Folks.

Last week was not the best week for us. As many of you know already, Ed ended up in the hospital for 5 days with a nasty staph infection in his elbow after tripping in the parking lot and landing on his elbow. We went to the ER last Sunday night, 4 days after he fell, his arm swollen to twice its size and very sore. They admitted him right away and started massive doses of IV antibiotics immediately. But, all's well that ends well, and now he's home and well on his way to a full recovery. He should be back to work on Wednesday if the docs give him permission. But that was last week.

This week, on the other hand, has started off just great. It is beautiful here, much warmer than usual with temps in the 70s and 80s. But, we have some chilly nights and the leaves are beginning to turn. TN has some pretty foliage, but nothing like the colors of Massachusetts. The maples are so beautiful and everything is just so vivid. I asked Bill to send me some Autumn pix, since I won't be seeing the trees in person this year, and he was very accommodating.

Here is my Billy. (He lets us call him that now.) He was in a department store flyer when he was not quite a year old modeling a snowsuit, but hasn't done any modeling since then. I think he may have missed his calling, don't you?
How lovely New England is in the Fall. These are some really pretty shots of a spot I love in Sudbury.

This is the Grist Mill in Sudbury, a beautiful spot to photograph. You may have seen it on a calendar or two over the years. An episode of the old TV show Spencer for Hire was shot here. Spencer and his girlfriend were on a picnic in the scene. And there was a scene in a Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin movie done here as well. And, this is also known as the local lover's lane. At night they light it up and it is really very pretty, especially when the wheel is turning. They still grind corn and wheat here. It is a very romantic spot.

And here is Bill and his sweetheart Kim. They had a picnic for Kim's birthday, which was Sunday.

And what do we have here?

BIG NEWS!!!

Bill proposed to Kim at the Grist Mill Sunday, and she said yes! He gave her a beautiful solitaire set in platinum and he picked it out himself. I am thrilled and so is he, of course. I already consider Kim a member of the family, but soon it will be official. I will have a daughter, finally. Doug will have a sister-in-law and Billy will have a wife. We will keep you posted when we know the date.

Congratulations, Bill and Kim. You were made for each other.

Have a wonderful week. I know I will!

Love,

Suz

Morning Folks October 7 2008

I hope you are riding out the Wall Street roller coaster okay. I am really stressed by it, while Ed seems to be taking it in stride. Because of all of this I am watching more news on TV than I ever have so I have come to the conclusion that the TV Newscasters are the cause of my stress. My natural tendency is to bury my head in the sand about things over which I have no control, but Dianne Sawyer and her friends will not let me do that this time.

The news. I feel like every one of them is telling us to just hunker down and don't leave your house, don't buy anything. Life as we know it is over. Everyone will be out of work, there will be no gas for the cars in which we are all living and we will all be in bread lines, until there is no more bread.

But these same news programs that tell us all of this doom and gloom show ads from sponsors who, from the news reports, should be closing their doors any minute. I watch these ads on TV for furniture stores and restaurants, car dealerships and condos, vacations and jewelry, etc., and wonder 'What Are they Thinking?' Are they not watching the news?

So, today, I will be repeating my mantra over and over. All Shall Be Well, and All Shall Be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well. That mantra comes from Dame Julian of Norwich who was an English mystic who lived in the 14th century.

She spoke to God so we really should believe her. Interesting little factoid about this woman is that she is the one attributed to first comparing God to good Mothers and referred to God with both Male and Female pronouns. What a dame!

So, if things are getting to you, too, just think of that mantra and join with me today.

I will visualize lavender fields and lovely things and say it over and over.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

I will be repeating it this mornig while I am on th golf course.

Have a great day!

Love,

Suz

Morning Folks 10 01 08

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit, y'all. I goofed and forgot. How about you? If you forgot, also, you don't have to worry about a month of less than wonderful luck. To fix it, just say Tibbar, Tibbar, Tibbar and jump backwards 3 times. Then do your rabbits and your October will be lucky.

Recent Revelations

Do you remember Perry Como? For those of you of my generation and younger, he was a cute (for an old guy) singer, very popular in the 50s; a crooner of Italian descent who never ran with the rat pack. He had a real nice guy image from my 7 year old's perspective. I remember he used to wear cardigan sweaters with his sleeves rolled up to about 3/4 length.
I had a crush on him but gave him up for Gregory Peck, whose picture came in my first wallet. (I told everyone Gregory was my boyfriend. Talk about a May and December romance.) But mostly I remember the fun songs Perry recorded because my Dad used to sing them and taught a lot of them to us. Catch a Falling Star was a real favorite and fun for my sisters and me to harmonize to. "There's No Boat, Like a Row Boat", "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive", "Chi Baba Chi Baba" and my all time favorite "Hot Diggity".

For 50 years I have sung that song with these words: Hot Diggity Dog Diggity, Boom, what you do to me". But Ed and I were listening to his favorite 50s station and there was Perry singing that old favorite. But, what a revelation when we listened carefully the words are actually Hot Diggity Dog Ziggity! Now does that make sense to you? I was shocked that I had those words wrong. I wonder if Dad taught them to us incorrectly from the beginning. Dad? Anything to say for yourself?

Other recent revelations:

The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle. (I found that fact rather titillating. Don't forget to cross your T's and tittle your I's. Actually, to tittle your I's in public sounds a little obscene.)

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top. (Let me know what happens if you try this .)

The original name for butterfly was flutterby. (I think I will use this name from now on. Makes so much more sense!)

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb. (No comment)

By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannotsink into quicksand. (What a relief to know this. I have watched countless episodes of The Lone Ranger which left me with such a fear of quicksand. Thank goodness now I know how to save myself.)






The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska (I wonder if some of them work in Russia?)



Spades - King David

Hearts - Charlemagne

Clubs -Alexander, the Great

Diamonds - Julius Caesar



I couldn't think of 4 queens, but here are some suggestions for the jacks:




Spades-Jack Black

Hearts-Jack Sparrow-(okay that's a streatch, but Johnny Depp IS a heartthrob!)

Clubs-Jack Niclaus (you know, golf clubs?)

Diamonds-Jackie Robinson (you, know baseball diamond?)

Have a great day. Do your rabbits and keep your fingers crossed that Wall Street did theirs.



Love ,

Suz







PS 3 people voted and it looks like this old signature picture will remain. Thanks for voting! Personally, I liked me as a 7 year old, back when I was innocent and thought the words were Hot Diggity Dog Diggity.

Morning Folks 09 21 08

When I started this blog in 2005 I had intended it to be a place for me to share an inspirational quote, thought, or poem and maybe add a picture or piece of artwork that I found on the web. I was so excited to discover how to use the Web and find quotes and even insert photos and share them with you all that I just went crazy! Then to get your feedback was really wonderful. It is so nice to connect and to find out later, sometimes years later, that something I posted made an impact or just made you chuckle. But it got bigger and bigger and I couldn't decide which picture to post or which quote to include or what to tell you all about and so I started to include more and more and it got bigger and bigger and I was getting burned out!

So a month or so ago when I took this picture of the path to the beach at the Cape this summer, it reminded me of a posting from a few years ago. I went to the archive section on my website and scrolling through I found the post for November 16, 2005. Maybe you will remember it, too. (if you click on this link and then you want to get back to today's blog, use your browser's back arrow key. Also, if you click on a picture to enlarge it, use your back arrow key to get back to the original spot.)




http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/morning-folks-11-16-05.html


Looking back through some of the older posts on my way to finding this one, was kind of fun. According to the stats counter, as of this posting there have been 10,362 Page Views since I started this. Can you believe that? I am amazed at those numbers. (You can click on the stats at the very bottom of the post to get the counts if you are interested)


Anyway, won't you take a stroll down Suzies Musings Lane with me back to some of my faves? (You can copy and paste these links if they aren't live when you come to them.)

On July 27, 2005 http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/07/morning-folks-07-27-05.html I posted a poem by Addison re-wording the 23rd Psalm with a beatiful picture of a winding Crested Butte Stream. I am still inspired by that poem and the picture.




And I love Labarynths and had to share them in October of 2005.


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/10/morning-folks-10-14-10-15.html
I did quite a few theme blogs over the years. For example, the one on lemons posted August 9, 2005 was fun.


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/08/morning-folks-08-09-05.html


I got comments from some of you on that one. Curious choice for a subject, but who knows why I chose it.



In September of 2005 I did one on windows http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/morning-folks-09-19-05.html



and another on doors


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/morning-folks-09-17-05.html


And then there was a revival of my architectural period in 03 02 06 when I did one on Victorian houses.


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2006/03/morning-folks-03-02-06.html


I found something to say about hands,


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/morning-folks-11-30-05.html






and eyes,
http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/10/morning-folks-10-18-05.html


numbers and time, the color purple, and asters and hydrangeas.


I went on about things that most of you probably didn't really care about, like exotic kinds of fruit,


http://suziesmusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/morning-folks-09-21-05.html


but it was interesting for a couple of you and I learned something when I was writing it.


And there were even a couple about rodents... the good (rabbits) and the bad (squirrels).



I found myself discovering new poets and rediscovering old friends, like Robert Louis Stevenson. It has been really fun and at the same time interesting , writing this blog. Connecting with you all is really my payoff, though.




So, today, I just felt like blogging about blogging. I hope you go back and look at some of the older ones. I put some of the links here, but you can go to the archive section and browse all of them. (In the archive list, click on a month and year, then scroll through and find one you like. Then, click on the bottom where the date of the posting shows to get the full screen version.)



I guess some were kind of funny, even if I do say so myself. And some topics were inspiring or thought provoking, or silly or boring or just okay. Not everybody found all of them their cups-o-tea, but if you do look at some of the old ones and find one you liked or think of one that you still remember, it would be fun to know which ones they were.



Of course, some of my lengthier ones are those where I have shared pix of family and friends, and I know those aren't universally interesting. However, for me, there is nothing that inpsires me more than you folks.


Have a wonderful Sunday.


And Happy 7th Birthday, dear Granddaughter Arabella!






Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 09 04 08

Morning Folks. It's been a while since my last post. I believe it was August 6 and here we are into the first week of September already. Since then, I continued to spend the month of August on the Cape where I was able to visit with most of my family and friends in the area. There were a lot of you to fit in and I regret that I didn't get to see everyone, but maybe next time I will be lucky enough to visit with you all.


Ed came back up from TN for the last two weeks in August so we had a great time going to the beach, researching some family geneaology and tramping through some Cape Cod cemeteries looking for ancestors. We loved seeing friends and family and even went out dancing one night. We got out to Franklin to see Kitty and Rick and then on to Sudbury to see the gang and have dinner at Melinda and George's.

Our hosts.


We missed seeing Malaryn and Denny, who are part of that group but find it tough to get off Martha's Vineyard in the summer, especially.


Frankie and Ed.








I didn't get a picture of them together, but Frank and Linda celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary that night.






Linder and me.













Congrats Anniversary Tart.


I brought my own birthday cake, but, alas, it fell out of the refrigerator before we got to serve it. Tasted good, though!

Elizabeth and Linder enjoy the wine.

Ed and Kitty cuddled alot.

Kitty, Linder and Rick raised a glass, or two.

Delicious Food.







Great conversation, wonderful weather.

Ed had a blast. Can you tell? We all had lots of fun as we always do! I have missed my peeps.

We also had a visit from our friends Terry and Debbie who stopped by the trailer, but the pictures I took of them are on the laptop. And, as some of you already know, I drowned the laptop in Diet Pepsi shortly before we left the Cape, so those pix are unavailable at this time! That also explains why I didn't do the Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit e-mail this month. But I remembered mine. Did you?

After we left the Cape last Saturday, we went to visit Ed's son, Joe, in Wilmington, NC. He lives in what's called the Cape Fear Coastal area and the beach we went to is Wrightsville Beach. The waves were wild! The beach was beautiful. We spent hours cavorting in the surf. It was pretty funny to see, I suppose, two rotund AARP-ers jumping around like kids, but it was so much fun.

We both got sunburned a little.

No pix of me in a bathing suit because I had control of the camera!

So back to reality in TN as of Tuesday night. Bags are unpacked and laundry's all done. Have to run to the computer geeks' to see if the laptop can be resurrected; groceries to shop for and dinners to plan; all my outside planters are dried up and dead so it's time to go get some mums and plant some perrenniels in the gardens for next year and of course we have to go see the grandkids asap. It's good to be home, but I had a wonderful summer and I am so grateful to Ed for letting me have all that fun while he worked. I am a lucky gal for lots of reasons. I hope you all had a great summer, too.

Have a great day.

Love,

Suz

Morning Folks

No thoughts in my head today, except "when should I head to the beach?"
The air is cooler than yesterday. Nice, yet I cherish the sun
And that warmth on the palm of my hand when I touch my hair
After sitting a while
Staring out at the sea.
Shall I bring a book or just me?

The decision is made and I choose to go now and so I head to the beach.
The air is cooler on the path through scrub pine. Sand under foot
Foreshadows what lies ahead. Up worn wooden steps

Through low-lying dunes,

And suddenly there is the sea.
Each time it surprises me.

No weight on my shoulders in this moment of peace. I head down the beach,

The only weight I bear is my beach bag and pink folding chair. Cares, left behind
Like the book I know I won't read, though I've carried it here before.
Meaningless words on the page
Disappear when I am lost at sea.
Strange, for a lover of words like me.

I look for the spot that I've chosen before. It's not far. As I head 'cross the beach
Warm sand, at first, loose, slows every step as it collapses around my foot,
As if to challenge my going there. And, just as I tire of it's teasing game,
It changes to a firm, cool way
Where sand meets sea.
It's there that it's leading me.

I settle down comfortably into my chair, now solidly set in the sand. Down the beach
Suspended in air on the wind, a gull floats above, then he's gone.

His flight interrupted by something I missed that he saw, or he felt
In his bones or his heart,
Here in His world, by His sea.

And I thank Him for sharing with me.

Staring out at the sea, sun warm on my face, there's nothing else but this beach
In this world. All worries, like graceful, dark seaweed, float there unnoticed

When the tide is in and deep, tangled and tauntingly reappearing later.

It's a comfort to know there's an ebb
And a flow to the sea.
And there is no better place to be.

__________________________________

Having a wonderful time.

Wish you were here!

Love,

Suz