Learning

There are so many ways to learn and in educational jargon, many different "learning styles".  I don't remember terms like, "going off the deep end" or "crying and sweating on the treadmill", or "going through old family papers and old journal writing", or "digging in the dirt".  I think those must be my true learning styles.

This has been a learning and remembering week.
 
I've learned that Zumba is not for me.
I've learned that wearing shoes while exercising doesn't work for me.  Maybe my old yoga is where I belong.
I've learned that I must disclose if people are to really know me.  No, I'm not a closeted personality.  I just have some baggage.
I've learned that letting the words fly IS theraputic and okay!
I've learned that I like to sweat and I MUST HAVE some time to myself each day.  I used to stay up to the wee hours when my children were young...just to hear the quiet and think.
I've learned that I have little tolerance for hurtful personalities.  In reality...

I'm glad to breathe deeply.

a little plain

You never know when the very simple will influence the happiness of a given day.  Our backyard fence was over 30 years old, I'm sure (no, we are not the original owners!)...we replaced it last year with the help of neighbors on both sides.  It was a good thing for all of us.  Now I am happy to be getting plants and shrubs in order around my house and it makes for very nice times to sit in the morning with a drink and NPR.  I've discovered the pleasure of this plant (portulaca) for Oklahoma heat and humidity.  It gives beautiful tomato-red flowers every morning and then closes down the performance during the evening hours. 

The barren area to the left in the top picture is a running start with a variegated ground cover.  We are watering the dickens out of it (let's assume it had a great deal of "dickens" in it to begin with!)...and it is progressing...covering more and more each week.  Should be a fun thing to keep the other grass and weeds from setting up camp there, but that one was NOT my call! ~ and guess what?  I don't tend to that garden! :)   ...from the peaceful porch~  Lana

Moments From My Childhood

This is what I'm dreaming of for next summer at this time.  These adorn the picket fence three blocks from my house.  I've had the pleasure of driving by these hollyhocks whenever I get out to that "other world" of economic scramble...Target, Wally World, QuikTrip for gas, etc.  These just take me back to a reality I had as a child...at the back of my next door neighbor's house.  We would turn the hollyhock blooms upside down and pin on a bud (can you see them at the top of the stems?) for the "head" of the doll.  The flourishing petals were the "skirts" and then we could pretend to be at the ball... Ah...southern Missouri in the 1950's.

Go Figure. It's Hot.

It's July in Oklahoma.  That sort of explains things in a few words.  We had this same sort of thing last year, though it was truly over 100 degrees for weeks on end.  My whole "nice system" shut down quickly.  I didn't want to go anywhere; didn't want to see anyone; didn't want to DO anything!  At the time I was working 5 days a week and as soon as I got home (thankfully, a quick 5 minute drive) I would put on my "sloppier" clothes, lie down on the couch, and promptly fall asleep.  One hundred degree weather will promote such activities...
Let's not have a repeat this year. Please.

Greater Thinking Through Chemistry~ Crystal LIght

No.  I really doubt that it is the Crystal Light grape flavor energy drink that is helping me pull my brain in a jillion different directions.  I'm replacing my Dr. Pepper for the C.L. stuff more often than not.  Trying to cut the calories and dependance on the REALLY good stuff... Dr. Pepper. 
I have had several days and nights of things rolling around in my mind.  Things I would change.  Things I will change.  Things that happened in my childhood that I had no control over...and those I did.  It is so nice to have some time to really reflect on those.  I need to do more journal writing though. 
Right now I'm headed out the door (soon!) to see the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  I've heard so many great things about it and I think, especially so, for the over-60 group.
I have things to do and no one to see.  Quiet afternoon.  Good.  I'm liking this.

No, They Don't Have Extra Duties...

It's just my random guess, but I don't believe the chefs who do their chopping and mopping, braising and grazing, and slicing and dicing on T.V. have children to get to school, a load of white clothes in the dryer, a grant proposal to finish, and one child who can't-find-her-6th-grade-planner-that-needs-to-be-signed-or-she-will-get-a-zero.  Just my guess. I could be wrong.

~Kindred Spirits~

People~ you are my kindred spirits. One of the greatest gifts in my life is the spirit, truth, loves, joys, and energy of those I call my friends.  Some of these friends are family.  One or two are people whom I have never met...not in the sense of having spent physical space time.  It is difficult for me to understand how people do not want friends or need friends to nourish life itself.  I need friends for the give and take of my life and theirs.  We need each other for growth, for thoughts, for love and caring, for giving and sharing the great and the small.  I can't envision life in a different way.  It must be a narrow hallway with no light, a narrow space where roots are trying to take hold and have nothing to hold on to.  I thank my friends for helping me grow and thrive in life.

Strange Things

Those who know me know how much I love the publication, Where Women Create. I love it so much (@14.99 a pop!) that I will purchase the same magazine TWICE. Why do I do things in a such a hurry? Not thinking things through, or looking through things. Good grief! Went to Barnes and Noble on Friday night and found my favorite light reading...light, but I love it!...grabbed what I thought was a new issue of WWC. Got it home and, nope! Not! I had purchased the same magazine over a month ago! *B & N does NOT do returns on magazines, ladies and gentlemen. I don't care how much you paid for it nor that it is on newstands only 4 times a year. Does not matter.

...coming back into my previously written post, several months later.  At some time I have read that we (warm bodies out there who journal, write, post, or scribble) should never delete our writings.  So I didn't. 

...It's been a beautiful, warm day in Northeastern Oklahoma.  Our summer will probably be exceptionally warm...hot.  That's what most people say in early June in Oklahoma.  Boy.  I would have never picked living here lo these many years ago!  Why not St. Louis?!  or San Francisco? (well, I would be living on the streets if I lived there, that's why!)...but it might be worth it!!~ tho I DO LOVE the seasons of the Midwest!  Like many young married women in the Sixties...I moved where my husband moved.  No protest.  No question.  I've sure changed my tune!

So, there's that. 

AND....I bought a new Canon camera today!  Yea!!  Watch for pictures!  I'll probably use lemon juice and sunlight to make things appear!  Ah, the 1950's...

posting~  Lana

The Gold Leaf

I've heard the saying "Turn over a new leaf" for as long as I can remember. Probably came from my mother's wisdom. I don't recall ever having the thought so strongly as I do tonight. This leaf is gold. My son talks of "winning the Gold Ball"...as he is a high school basketball coach and, in winning the state tournament, the best team in a particular conference wins the "Gold Ball" at the State level for being the ultimate winner. So I'm choosing the Gold Leaf. Beginning at 1:20 this morning, I have an ultimate goal of not only turning over a new leaf, but making it one that will have significant meaning...the Gold Leaf. It is a decision and choice for me. One that will make my every moment better. It may be a difficult challenge. I'm up for that. It will be done.