Randomness

How does your garden grow?

It’s a good time of year for tending gardens. It all begins with planning a space to grow things like tomatoes, patience, beans, kindness, garlic, acceptance, cucumbers and love. After deciding on the amount of space required, hard work is needed to till the soil by removing rocks, hate, weeds, criticisms, bugs, selfishness, sticks, and bigotry. After the soil is prepared, we need to add fertilizer, laughter, rows, respect, drainage, encouragement, seeds, and smiles. A productive garden requires daily attention. Without it, weeds and lies come back to crowd out vegetables, truth, flowers, generosity, berries, and tolerance. I’m planning my garden today. I know where I will plant it, how I will cultivate it, and what I intend to produce. The end product will nurture my body, my soul, and my mind, as well as the bodies, minds, and souls of those sharing my life’s journey. So I ask you — how does your garden grow? Later, Mary Ann

Randomness

Making it Count

“Our life is but a grain of sand in the indifferent ocean of infinity.”  Sergei Dovlatov Simply said — we are, as individuals, insignificant in the universal scheme of things. A self important person only need step outside their tidy little world to understand and reap the benefits of such an absolute truth. Not s single one of us is that big a deal! Now, the mountains – they’re a big deal. They are room and board to all kinds of wildlife, plant-life, streams, rivers, birds. They have the power to challenge, inspire, destroy, and heal. Spending time in the mountains puts me in my place. I’ve never conquered a mountain by climbing to the top. Yet, I have stood on the summit and felt grateful to have arrived without being swallowed up along the way. And the oceans? Now, that’s something to brag about. If you wake up one day and discover you are the Pacific Ocean, you have a right to be cocky! You and the moon are in cahoots, (can you imagine such a thing?) and your tides rule as a maritime god. The power of your combined forces is unimaginable. So, if the oceans roll in…

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Randomness

Spring into Confusion

It’s that time of year again, when we lose the ever so precious hour, yet gain an hour at the end of the day. Funny how there are times when we simply can’t tell spring is on the way, regardless of the date. Being the research junkie that I am, I turned to the internet for advise. Don’t look at the snow in your yard, it said. Just sit back and ask yourself these simple questions: Have you seen any Indian Plum in bloom yet? Because it’s about the first thing to bloom in lowland forest and wetlands. Lord knows we have plenty of those, so finding it shouldn’t be much of a challenge. Are the Herons gathering in their giant rookeries to build or repair nests in massive treetop colonies? Go look around Discovery Park if your not sure. Have you spotted any gray whales lately? They migrate in spring, travel through Puget Sound, and feed off the bottom which makes them pretty easy to spot. Usually in March. Have you been to the Columbia Gorge recently? Is it exploding in wild flowers? The unique combination of dry hi desert and damp west-side air contribute to the abundance of…

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Randomness

The Uncertainty of Surely

As surely as a rose reveals velvet soft petals and heavenly fragrance, Shirley reminded me of it’s rather nasty thorns. In the world of surely, Shirley held her ground with solid stance and determination, unyielding to the ideas of others. Meaning me. Surely, I knew Shirley was annoyed and probably hated me by the time I’d submitted my dissertation regarding the necessity of a name change. It’s not as if she’d been christened with a name she would most likely spend her whole life defending. Right? A few examples: Page 1. The time in sixth grade when Robby Grafton proclaimed loud and clear, “surely, you’re a sure thing, Shirley!” From that moment on, you’ve been referred to as, “sure thing, Shirley.” That right there should be enough. Page 2. The entirely dreadful memory in sixth grade gym class when Mrs. Strand couldn’t stop herself with, “surely you can climb that rope, Shirley! Surely, you can’t give up with a name like, “Shirley!” “Surely you can do it, Shirley!” the whole class chanted. Page 3. “It’s a sure thing cuz we’ve got Shirley on our team!” “That’s right! Sure thing Shirley!” Page 25. High School. Your own mom saying, “surely you…

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Randomness

Wheather or Not

It is, of course, unnecessary to point out that we are buried in snow, not only here in the Pacific Northwest, but apparently everywhere there’s a news station. So, while we’re drowning in the stuff, I’d like to point out the obvious, just for the sake of whining, and share a few facts I’ve never really thought about. For example — snow shoveling backaches, slips and falls and broken bones, frozen toes, frost bit fingers, cars in ditches, icy roads, and school closures, are just a few reasons why we often feel snow is a negative. There are all the usual things like helping the dog find a place to pee, and the inconvenience of keeping the sugar water in the hummingbird feeder thawed. Not to mention suffering from anxiety over delayed Amazon orders and mail delivery and just exactly when is garbage pick up anyway? So here’s some more bad stuff. Did you know the moles, voles, and field mice are rejoicing this very minute over the fact that their natural predators can’t find them? Therefore, they are free to gnaw on the bark of trees and shrubs, often killing the plants, then brazenly prance around fat and happy…

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Randomness

The Conundrum

Prescription drugs. Can’t sleep with them – can’t live without them. Sleep aids aside, that’s the conclusion I’ve arrived at after minutes of intense research into the question of why we no longer sleep through the night. The “we” I am referring to is the mature population of our country. The sixty and over crowd. “We” have a very serious choice to make. You see, there is this thing called “sleep architecture” which involves changes in our sleep patterns. Although we still need the same seven to eight hours every night, the nights sleep we get now-a-days doesn’t look the same as it used to. We now have “sleep latency” which is a fancy way of saying it takes us forever to fall asleep. Back in our care free youthful years, it was lights out the minute our heads hit the pillow. Not anymore. Now it’s “latency.” So, when you find yourself tossing and turning and sighing for hours on end, be comforted by the fact that science is not only on it, but so aware of our demise that they’ve taken the time to assign a scientific label to it. “Latency.” Next is the decline of REM sleep. REM…

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Randomness

Fly on the Wall

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “Oh, how I would love to be a fly on the wall.”  Or, “wouldn’t it be great to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!”  And then there’s, “Oh-My-Gosh! I need to be a fly on the wall!” Fly’s are filthy. They carry a variety of diseases and spread them everywhere. They lay eggs on our fruit, our pets, on rotting flesh, on just about anything. They don’t give a thought to the neighborhood; they’ll let those eggs hatch anywhere. And then they proceed to eat disgusting things – like manure. You know what it’s like to come upon a pile of horse poop on a nice sunny summer day? Oh, yes. The flies! Yet, the disgusting little critters are nothing more than disease infested wimps. They have little endurance and only live about 28 days. That’s it. They have 28 days to do their worst. So, where did that crazy saying come from? Why would we say such a stupid thing — that we would like to be a fly on the wall? Well, for starters, flies can see behind them; which brings to mind the old saying,…

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Randomness

Let it Be

Tiz the season for naughty and nice. For some reason, naughty often wins during the holiday season, preying upon exhausted, over-extended parents, and sugared-to-the-moon, kids. Yet, this year, let nice prevail! Never mind how Jeremiah shovels in the food with his mouth wide open, or how Aunt Mable expels gas at the dinner table. Don’t even notice how Suzie, once again, brought nothing but her four kids and plans to stay and eat you out of house and home, just like every year. Forget about how Frank likes to spend half the day walking around in his boxers and loves to answer the front door with a drink in his hand at ten in the morning. Who cares what the neighbors think! And don’t take offense to having your extra pounds pointed out loud and clear by Betty. It’s just her way of welcoming you to the club. Naughty would get grumpy and say things that shouldn’t be said. Nice will keep quiet and deal with the bleeding ulcer later. Naughty would hand auntie a gas-x and ask Suzie where’s the food she surely needs to put in the frig. Nice will simply light candles and buy enough food for…

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Randomness

Settling In

We’re feeling a bit flounder-y these days. I think it’s a lot to do with age, retirement, kids with kids.Speaking of those kids of our kids, (not that we were,) they’re bounding into the world on handsprings and dance moves and tech smarts I’ve yet to master and admittedly, probably never will. They’re like superheros in grandkid bodies. Feeling low? Just ask one of them for a hug. It’s pure magic. Need a laugh? Ask them a question – about anything. Want help with your cell phone? Hand it over to the one that just learned to walk. She’ll take care of it! Where did they even come from and how did we get so lucky? It’s overwhelming. Yet, we find the need to counter balance the overachievers by hanging out with our friends. The old ones, like us. There’s something comforting in watching others struggle to figure out the mystery of multiple remote controls, or how to scan, copy, and print on that one stupid machine. It’s heartwarming to witness others break down in tears and throw their cell phones across the room, or the GPS out the car window. And then back over it. I think it’s time…

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Randomness

Just Saying

I often wonder how we would ever get through this life without famous sayings. For example; “kill two birds with one stone,” or “you can’t see the forest for the trees,” or even better, “we have nothing without our health.” All true, I say. I mean, who can argue with the fine advise of going for a two-for one? Or how about clearing the crap out of our lives in order to find life, or being grateful for one of the few things that actually counts? These are saying that have withstood the test of time – worthy of contemplation. Which bring me to this. I’ve noticed how rarely new saying come along to rival the tried and true, but believe it or not, I heard one the other night. While enjoying a lovely evening with dear friends over a great meal, our host enriched the heartfelt conversation by saying, “well, I guess when your nose picking finger gets cut off, you learn to pick with another finger.” My heart soared. There’s no arguing with the wisdom in that. It was like the clouds parted, the sun shone through, and God Himself said, “now that is a saying to live…

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