Seems like a very long month.....

We have been shocked,

We have been sad,

We have been inspired,

We have been exhausted,

We have been rejuvenated....

We are moving...

Unexpected for sure,

worrying, yes,

but exciting too.

When the company that you have worked for 35 years

closes......

What do you do?

Grieve.

There is so much change going on around me that I can hardly

breathe....

But....

I believe

that there is something

Wonderful on the horizon, if only we will

walk in the right direction,

and be willing to see things differently.

BREATHE......

Big breath...

whew...

I am hopeful.

I am tired,

I am hopeful.

breathe...

Long ago and far away....

It seems like a million years ago.

But in reality it was only 25 years or so...

We were young, making money, spending it,

traveling, carefree....

We had no children,

we had few bills....

We were young, foolish and happy...

We visited St. Augustine, Fl.

And....

We moved on.

We got "real" jobs,

made tons of money,

bought homes,

had children,

got involved in PTA's,

made Kool-aid, cookies, after school snacks,

cup cakes, birthday cakes, patty cakes,

We nursed sick children,

helped them with homework,

got them off to college,

and now we are re-connecting to the

carefree people that we once were.

trouble is.....not everyone wants to

reconnect....

We can't always understand why friends want to

forget.

Did we do something they can't forgive?

Were we not there for them when they needed us?

Or

are there other memories that they simply cannot tolerate,

that by simply being with us they cannot ignore?

It is so strange.

So hard to fathom...

We may never know the reasons.

Maybe we aren't meant to....

Lavender......

Lavender is the smell of serenity.......
I am addicted to the waves of heady sweetness that emanate from my wardrobe drawers as I open them to put away clean laundry. I find myself unable to resist the cheap hit of lavender found at the "dollar store" in the soap aisle. I scarf up as many of the small boxes of Yardley lavender soap as a basket will accommodate, run home and hide them all in various secret places so that the whole house will have a faint aroma.....
When we traveled to rural Canada last year we visited a lavender farm.
The tour guide remarked that when the harvest came in, everyone on the job would become very "laded back" from working in a constant state of serenity.
That's where I want to work,
next time around.....
Smiles!

Taking the easy way out......

Of this week.....

Someone sent this to me this morning, and I reflected how true it is....

A group of university graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit one of their honored professors, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.
Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of porcelain, glass, and crystal cups with some being rather plain looking while others were expensive and exquisite looking. He then asked them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress."
"The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this:"
"Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have."
"Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups."
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have." "Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy the hot chocolate in your life."

Happy Friday!

Finally.......

I have finally completed the scanning of my Italian negatives.......

Some 30 rolls or so.......

I am relieved and exhilarated at the same time....

I can't wait to complete ALL of my negatives, which number in the thousands.

I am currently working on a coffee table book of the best of the Italian images.

This will be my Christmas gift to loved ones.

I have given individual prints, but this will be a more comprehensive collection.

It costs me little, but time....

Which of course, any active adult has precious little of....

So, I work on it as I can, never allowing myself to get to the point of "drudgery".

That would make it a chore, which this is not.

It is a gift of love.

At least it is meant that way.

Blessed.

What a wonderful surprise.......

"I 'm delivering a prize to you today."

"OK", I reply. "Well, I might not be here, I have a lunch date", wondering....

"Where should I leave it, then?"

I am confused, still.......my mind has been focused on a zillion other things this morning.....

On the porch should be just fine.....

"We couldn't stay long anyway, so Happy Birthday!"

Oh, I get it now...

So my day unfolds, and I race from event to event, mindlessly, and when I return home, hot and sweaty....there it is, sitting so sweet and pretty at the front door. A gift to tell someone that they are special, a gift to say thank you, a gift to say let's do a fun-date, a gift from three of the sweetest girls on earth......

How lucky am I?

They're growin' up.....

Oh my!
Between David and I,............we have 4 children.
The youngest is Matt.

He starts college today..........
Chelsea, his girl, came to dinner with him last night.
What fun!

They brought us gift cards to Starbucks for our birthdays....

They are SO sweet together, we could hardly ignore it.

David and I feel about a hundred years old.........

But,
what fun to spend time with them!

Life is sweet.