When You Have Writers Block.... ..... You put out the SOS. This week I am sharing from my sisters. Sister #1 In response to my previous post, she texts: "I guess Vaseline Calm Healing wasn't so calm at the end of its life 😀" Sister #2... .... signed up to have locally grown produce delivered every week. First week consists of a bag of leaves - lettuce, cabbage, spinach, chard, radishes, garlic and strawberries. Me: Very Healthy Sister: Only if you eat it. We're calling it "The Tyranny of the Vegetables."
Y'all (from my St. Louis living days) Enjoy your sisters - blood related or home grown.
When a container of product is almost gone, & you can't get the lid off, & you see more at the bottom, & it's driving you crazy, because, being a child of depression era parents, "waste not, want not," is deeply ingrained; & you would rather waste half a day trying to get to the bottom and liberate the handcream, shampoo, etc. What to do?
Solution: Try every tool you can muster up to get that lid off (being careful not to swear in front of the children). Hint: go straight to the saw.
Caution: Be prepared for resultant injuries - especially if you are visually impaired. (First aide paraphernalia has become standard issue when I leave the house).
And, then you have the problem of what to do next, which as you can see, I solved by cleverly enlisting a disposable cup.
May you find satisfactory resolutions to all of your pet peeves this weekend.
Fear and Faith... ..... are the same. They are both expectations for the future. Fear expects the outcome to be bad. Faith expects the outcome to be for the good (JP Jackson). May you see good expectations fulfilled this weekend... .... Even if it's just a new leaf on your plant (with thanks to my sister and niece for my house warming gift).
In the interest of surrounding myself with more nature, I decide to add hummingbirds to my mix of succulents that have been prolificating. Having found a feeder that doubles as a solar light at night, I purchase a pack of food written in Spanish (being price conscious). Not able to read directions, I guess at the dilution ratio.
Having followed the simple instructions, and not able to find the switch to activate the solar light, I proceeded to fill the feeder and take it outside to hang. With my visual perception impaired, trying to hang it up, I miss and drop the feeder, whereupon it falls apart. Able now to find the hidden switch, red sugar fluid flows over my patio. I mend the feeder as I have super glue in stock due to previous disasters.
Now, with my patio hosed down, fluid in the feeder, I proceed, very carefully to hang it up; where upon, it leaks and the handle comes apart spilling the liquid again. Being from pioneer stock, I do not give up.
All issues resolved, I sit back to watch hummingbirds come, but bigger birds land on it. Still, I do not give up. Before continuing my bird watching vigil, I go to the refrigerator and get sport drink (which I dilute with water) and grab the hummingbird mix instead. Let it be noted, my preference for a sugar high is gelato.
The beauty of Picasso vision is that when a leaf falls or a little breeze moves the feeder, I "see" hummingbirds. All is well with the world.
[This just in -- I am on my patio writing & a real, honest to goodness humming bird just filled up at my feeder! I give thanks to the Creator of all!]
The Benefits Of Nature: Being exposed to nature, inside or out, as well as viewing nature, will reduce anger, fear, and stress, while increasing pleasant feelings. That is to say, your emotional and physical wellbeing improves, blood pressure lowers, muscles loose tension and fewer stress hormones are produced. A Difficult Day.....My Internal Struggle: I've been able to turn my experiences into humorous posts and I intended to share a great story about trying to attract hummingbirds with my visual disability and physical limitations. But today, I just cannot seem to find much humor. So, I will leave you with a little Hope (my word for the year) and then share some thoughts that will offend many. Fortunately, the many do not know of my existence.
A dragonfly carries silver dust upon its wings to soften our hearts when hope fades.
It reminds us to love,
Prompts us to forgive,
Inspires us to grow,
And restores joy to our souls.
Now, I know the dragonfly, rainbow, owl, butterfly, lily, oak tree, etc. etc. have "bad" connotations for different groups of people. I am going to enjoy whatever I want to in nature that God, Yah, The Most High, Supreme Being, etc. created for us to enjoy. I will use whatever color I want. When I hear that an on-line knitting group is being torn apart because somebody knitted green socks, it's not humorous. Tolerance has become "I will only tolerate you if you, not only believe, but say I am right." I did find one conversation where people of all different views actually started listening to each other without shutting down their minds. [Disclaimer: I am not promoting the host or any one individual]
Relevant to this weeks occurrences, I will not bow down to anybody; I stake my life on it. I will not feel guilty for something that I didn't do. I have done enough things that have caused true guilt. We are individuals who make individual decisions. When we devolve to judging collectively other collections of people.... well, you see the results. This does not shut down listening to someone who has a grievance, as long as there is open mindedness and willingness to change ones opinion. ....Hope returns as I finally have a hair appointment today (after eye surgery I could not bend backwards and then the virus thing). And, I will share my humming bird story. Apparently the birds have visual problems also as big birds are landing on my hummingbird feeder.
I do not, as a rule, consume (so called) news; and thus, I did not know about the cultural war raging around us until my good friend text me that our state was on a mandated curfew.
My family lived through the 60's burning of Detroit. Very vivid in my mind is my mother, close to hysteria, telling the four of us to get on our knees and start praying, as we watched people being trucked in while smoke and flames approached closer to our suburban home. Yesterday I experienced a little bad deja vu.
I have friends from across all spectrums with disparate points of view: religious, political, social, economic, conspiratorial. From the depths of my heart I cry out for all of us- -and as simplistic as it sounds - Love is the answer. "Love Will Keep Us Together."
A Little Alert: I'm about to pontificate and you will most likely want to move on with your life.
People who are aware of and study cultural dynamics prayed we could maintain our humanity and not devlove.
I have a rather unique perspective. I started a PhD program (in marriage and family therapy), about twenty years ago when I turned 50 (and had been out of academia for 20 years).
Social Constructionism (post-modernism) was the overwhelming flavor of the epoch. First, let me say, the beauty of this philosophical position is in acknowledging that we all use words without common meaning. Thus, a major goal is to help people come to a shared understanding through "talk therapy."
However, as with all philosophical orientations taken to extremes.... well you are seeing the results. I seriously delved into post modernism, instinctively knowing this would lead to violence & I asked, "What is post post-modernism?" and was greeted with blank stares.
I remember asking, "What about abuse?" And of course there is no good answer because abuse is always wrong. When we give credence to tolerating whatever anybody says as morally acceptable, we lose respect and tolerance for the individual.
Left with no way to say abuse is always wrong, we see that social constructionism has swallowed itself in post-modern thought. Throughout the course of history, change comes with destruction. May our future quickly evolve into dialogue and communication with deep respect for each individual member of humanity.
[And now for my dose of gelato. Please join me in your favorite comfort food.]
.... signed up to have locally grown produce delivered every week. First week consists of a bag of leaves - lettuce, cabbage, spinach, chard, radishes, garlic and strawberries.
