Watch for the deer....

Years ago when, as a teacher, I was sending high school Seniors off into the world, I would tell them that #1, when going through day-to-day life, is "to trust your gut".  I also told them not to drink the punch at parties and to be cautious of accepting any kind of drink or food ... but that is a whole other area of concern.

Then just last week my son and my daughter-in-law were heading from Indiana into the post-hurricane mountains of Tennessee, and I found myself texting -- Watch for the deer! (I also told them not to pet the bears - or fuzzy dogs as the sign in their cabin reads.) Anyway --  I realized, once again, that I always say that to my kids -- even now that they are grown-up, extraordinarily competent adults.  I stand on my kitchen porch, waving goodbye and yelling "Watch for the deer!". I am compelled to say/yell this.  Every. Single. Time. They don't seem to mind.  They know it means "I love you!" (and that they are the most precious part of my life).

Then again... "Watch for the deer!", in northwest Pennsylvania is good advice taken literally as well -- especially during hunting season when the deer are being herded from place to place by the flame orange people.  But back to the main point - as a phrase - I think it is much like "drive carefully", "sleep well", "put your feet up at the end of a long day", "take care", "I am here if you need anything", or "let me know how it goes".  They all mean the same thing.  It's very simple really.  They all mean "I love you!".  Even grown-up kids should be reminded of that. Everyone should be. Words can be hugs. Everyone needs a word hug once in a while.  

Treasure Hunt

Always on the lookout for word treasures ... I ran across one posted on Facebook by a neighbor of mine that I simply want to share with you.  Unfortunately it is an anonymous word treasure.  Oh how I wish I could have lunch with the person who wrote it.  It seems especially poignant in these times. So many people going through so many difficult challenges.

"When life breaks you, it is because you are ready to be put back together differently. Every piece of you that  feels shattered is a piece that will find a new place, a new purpose, a new meaning.  Trust that the cracks are where the light gets in. And sometimes, in our brokenness, we find our greatest wholeness.

We find the courage to rebuild, to reimagine, to redefine what it means to be strong.

You are not broken; you are breaking through."  (Unknown)

There are an untold number of ways that this might speak to you. I know that, and so do you. We all have our own stories, our bag of rocks ... as my Mom used to say.  Right now, in light of what all is going on in our country weather and ... otherwise, I find this treasure of words comforting. Hope you do as well. 

May we all find our "greatest wholeness". 

Shoes off ...

Saw a photo recently of Kindergartners napping.  The photo had been taken in the '50's, and it got me thinking about those days long ago.  I never napped in Kindergarten because the one I attended at Battles Memorial School in Girard, Pennsylvania was only half a day long so I napped when I got home. However ... I do remember one beloved elementary school teacher at my next school who had a story time after lunch every day when she would read to us, and... we were allowed to lay our heads down on our desks if we wanted.  I don't think I ever fell asleep.  It was a wonderful time of the day. My favorite. 

Now here's the thing.  This gentle soul of a teacher made a bonding and calming production out of the whole experience... starting with removing her shoes and lining them up carefully off to the side in front of her.  She would always whisper that she hoped the Principal didn't drop in to find her without her shoes.  This, of course, make this special reading time even more wonderful. She made it a conspiratorial time just between her and us. I loved it.  

Now here is my hope... that someone out there will remember her name. I remember that she was "old" so ... that probably would have made her around 30 to 40 at that time. (I was 8.) This was at the Wright Street School in Corry, Pennsylvania. It would have been around 1957. Perhaps her name was Mrs. Porter?  She deserves to be remembered by name -- right up there on the list with the First Grade teacher there who let you borrow books to take home to read even if you were not or never had been her student. Miss? She would wrap each book carefully in sturdy brown paper and tie the treasured parcel with string -- the book became a cherished item worthy of gentle and serious care.  I can't remember her name either and am not feeling good about that.  Both schools are gone now. I am quite sure that both of these wonderful teachers are gone too.  Their names should not be. Help?

Officially Autumn

So thankful to have four different seasons here in Northwest Pennsylvania.  Autumn officially began on September 22nd. Yet -- I am still waiting for brisk afternoons and evenings.  The season seems to have the cool mornings down pat, but as for the rest -- too warm for me.  Still waiting, a bit impatiently as well, for the brilliant colors of changing leaves.  Fall is my favorite of all the seasons. I love to walk through leaves and have the occasional evening fire in the patio firepit.  I love to wear thick socks, jeans and sweatshirts, or soft wraps over long-sleeved shirts. I love the comfort of flannel sheets.  I love to warm my home with a welcoming fire in a fireplace. I have one in my living room and a smaller one in my book room where I write every morning in the predawn hours when the world is quiet and calm.  Fireplaces are a double blessing in this neck of the woods when winter hits and sometimes before. They are warm in the comfort sense and they take the chill off as we say around here.

I have been working in the pasture cutting up downed branches to use as firewood and have cut back all the wild geranium and weeded around the house. I am letting the rest of last year's Spring cleanup go until next year.  Ready for snow here. Even Margaret, my trusty old Bush Hog Trail Hand utility vehicle has been serviced and stored for the season - although am going to keep her in the garage this winter instead of the barn ... just in case I decide to put her in 4-wheel drive and head to the mailbox on a snowy day, use her to take the garbage to the road, or decide to take a trip around the pasture to see what is going on.  Ready here.  Yet -- the days are still in the 70's, low 80's. What's with that? I am sick of this nice weather.  I would move south if I wanted to sweat. I live here because there is usually more cold/cool weather than hot/warm. Some years are just weird.

Maybe Fall will come tomorrow and set in to stay for a while.  Hope to have a few days to enjoy my favorite season before the snows hit ... breezy open window days between AC and furnace days.  Just sayin'.  We will see. Before we know it, it will be time for hats, gloves, scarves, heavy coats and time to move from flannel to fleece sheets.  Mother Nature has a mind of her own.  Sometimes one just has to go with the flow.  I remember putting snowsuits over Halloween costumes -- more than once. It's a common practice in these parts.

 

A letter to the Vice-President

Note -- this blog was written prior to the 2nd assassination attempt of Donald J. Trump. Had it been written after, the questions may have been different.

Dear Madam Vice-President,

The following questions are asked with all due respect for the office you hold. After careful deliberation over the past week, I ask them because I need to know your answers and thought for sure that the ABC news team moderating the recent debate would ask them.  They did not. (I am boycotting the entire ABC network and Disney now, by the way.  Their obvious bias and one-sided-only fact checking was shameful and ... inaccurately misleading with obvious ill intent.) I have many questions, but have limited them to my top ten or so concerns. My confusion stems, in part from the clips I have seen of you saying one thing and then saying the opposite in current time. Some call it flip-flopping. Others call it pandering for votes. It's confusing. Anyway --  following the debate, I also watched what I could stand of your campaign stop in North Carolina to see if you would be more specific about your "plans".  Alas you did not find your way there.  I am hopeful that you are able to understand my confusion. Saying you have a plan is too vague for me.  It seems like your solution to everything is to throw more taxpayer money at it.  Throwing money at something doesn't work -- our educational system is an obvious example of that. I might also suggest that you go a bit lighter on the glad hands, dancing on stage, loud laughter and hugging. It's a bit much. These are serious times. Pretend joy doesn't cut it. Plus this "act" blatantly contradicts your nastiness toward your political opponents. Okay -- here we go...

Are you at all embarrassed or remorseful that you repeatedly reassured the American people that President Biden was fit to be President - alert and "with it"?  You lied. You covered up. Have, you, in fact, been running the country for the past almost four years? Or ... are you a puppet of some sort? If so, who is your real boss?

Do you find any crisis in conscience, as a former prosecutor, that you encourage illegal entrance of millions of unvetted migrants across both the southern and northern borders? I don't understand why you did and continue to do that. I can't seem to find exact numbers of how many people have entered our country illegally under your watch ... not to mention "got-a-ways", but... even if 11 million encounters does not equal 11 million people, estimates are that it is at least 9 million plus another million or so of "got-a-ways" who have crossed our borders illegally under your leadership. We have no idea who they are or where they are. That is a lot during 3 1/2 years. It's a lot to handle for American communities. Too much really. Schools, hospitals, social services --- overwhelmed. You never even mention that hundreds of thousands of children are missing. It's shameful! What's your plan?

And related to that...  Do you see that you are prioritizing illegal immigrants over American citizens and, to add insult to injury, that you are making American citizens pay for all the goodies you offer to those who disobey the law? To be more specific -- do you understand that the American tax payer is concerned about paying for things like phones, food, housing, debit cards, etc. for illegal aliens?  They also have concerns about their tax dollars paying for gender reassignment surgery for illegal aliens or the incarcerated -- both groups have broken the law and hurt others in doing so. As you say, "Let me be clear". Our objection, in this case, is not to their gender preferences, but rather to their criminality.  These are people who have broken the law. Do you not see that?  On to the next question .... Are we no longer a country of law and order in part because of you? i.e. no cash bail / defund the police.

Do you realize that you do all the things that you accuse former President Donald Trump doing?  i.e.. name calling, acting on self interest, lying, fear mongering, etc.?  Must mention also, that you, like Biden, are also a plagiarist -- low in my book for sure. Do you not see that this is shameful, wrong, deceitful and just plain lazy? Does that not matter to you either?

Is it really true that over 90% of your White House staff have resigned -- perhaps, as suggested by some, because you are mean, intolerant, short tempered and do a really bad job of it and ... they really don't want to work with you or ... have their experience with you on their resumes? Some say you do not do your homework? Is this true? It appears that you did not in your selection of a running mate. Who are you really?

What do you love more than power? 

And finally (asking for a friend) -- does it feel weird that no one voted for you to become the Democrat party's nominee for President?  Does it make you feel like a cog in a machine or a token?  Do you find it insulting that people may vote for you because of your gender or race rather than any demonstrated accomplishments or simply because they have been led to believe that your opponent is a big meany sometimes? Are you aware that some find you to be the dangerous one? 

Thank you, Madam Vice-President for your response to my concerns. I don't really think that you will respond to this or even see it, but sometimes questions need to be asked. Anyway -- just in case... mine is a small audience with some readers from other countries, but each of the American readers' vote counts, and I am sure that others across the globe may be interested in your responses as well. We are, after all, The United States of America. The world is watching you now ... and all Americans come November 5th. We would like to know who you are before we have to vote. How can anyone vote for you if they don't know what you stand for or details of your plans? You might be the opposite of what people hope you are. Do you hate Donald Trump because he will not play the politician games and because he actually gets things done? What have you done?

P.S.  You may not buy back my guns or anyone's, for that matter. Check the Constitution. The Second Amendment. I am embarrassed for you that you think you are able to do this. Thinking you can control my rights in this or elsewhere is a serious and the real threat to Democracy. You might want to reverse your position on this as well.  Obviously you know how to do that.  Oh wait -- maybe you have already put that promise of a mandatory gun buy-back on hold.  I get confused. Are you able to understand why?

TMI

I am sure you have noticed that over the past several decades our mother tongue has suffered an infestation of acronyms that sometimes seems to threaten the fundamental vocabulary of all Americans -- or else it's a new vocabulary sort of like no punctuation is becoming a trend and confusing everyone.  Anyway -- I am not sure where it officially started, but I recall the use of LOL in the 80's. Then again AWOL probably came before that .. as well as SOS.  Who knows? Does it matter? Is this happening in other languages? 

The thing is that acronyms seem to have become a little on the out of control side with their use on social media and in texting. Did you know that internet acronyms are also called "universal strings"? TMI? I bought a little dictionary of acronyms a few years ago so I could figure out what people were talking about, but ...  it appears to be hiding somewhere in my book room. I sometimes struggle to know what people are talking about, but I do try to figure it out.  I also use punctuation as I think it is helpful. Call me OF (old fashioned? old fart?)

ASAP, LOL, FYI, TTYL, OMG, BFF are pretty well known.  BRB (be right back), GMTA (great minds think alike), IMHO (in my humble opinion), and MTFBWY (may the force be with you) are somewhat less popular, but I have run into them more than once. Current in the political arena are MAGA (Make America Great Again) which triggers those with TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome). SMH (shaking my head).  Do you have a favorite? ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing)? POS (parent over shoulder)? What is your point of view (POV)?

The thing is acronyms are getting longer and longer and harder and harder to decipher.  Received a meme in a text a bit ago. JOGAYOP If it had not had an explanation with it, I don't think I would have "gotten it"  I will share.  The joy of going at your own pace.  I like JOGAYOP.  It's what I do. IWID. (I just made up that last one. I think I like it. (ITILI). Actually it probably already exists. (AIPAE).  Like I said -- an infestation.

Perfect ... Not Perfect ...

My sister once wrote to me about perfection and talked about all the effort wasted in trying to attain something that was impossible to reach -- ever --- that sometimes good was good enough. Oh how I wish she were still around so that I could ask her about it. She said it so well -- much better than I can relate the idea to you. Anyway --  I sometimes have to remind myself that the effort for perfection can be a waste of time ...  so that I don't keep on keeping on when I could have stopped whatever it was and it would have been okay -- just fine really and much less stressful.

A favorite refrigerator magnet reminds me of this every day.  "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful." Neither do you...  nor do I.  Nice; isn't it?  

My grandson seeded a "repair patch" the other day that covers a new drainage pipe the runs the length of my front yard.  We were walking the "pipeline" and checking out every little thing when I heard myself telling him that grass is nice to have, but weeds are just as green. Guess I wanted him to know that I wasn't that concerned with or interested in perfection.  I am okay with a good effort. Weeds, after all, have a certain perfection of their own.  Plus the fact...

Imperfections are sometimes the most fascinating characteristics of something or someone... at least I think so. Imperfection and/or uniqueness are things that make life truly interesting sometimes. Effort counts, but sometimes it is important to relax a bit.