Thursday, November 28, 2024

Flashback In Time

 

Some things are worth repeating   ...   Happy Thanksgiving!

                                 Heart Hugs 08/19/2021

Recently my granddaughter was helping me go through a bunch of photos and papers in preparation for having to move a ton of stuff so some new carpeting can be laid. She ran across some old blogs of mine and promptly cuddled down into the big reading chair in my “Book Room” to read them.  The first one that caught her eye was the one I wrote in 2015 about her dog.  It is entitled “I call her the Lovely Luna”, and she laughed out loud as she read my description of Luna rolling in bear meadow muffins while pasture prancing.  Then there was “Stranger on the Porch” in which her Uncle Garrett was featured as the hero who came to my back porch with his blow gun to try to dispatch a rabid fox.  Anyway – as I glanced back through those old blogs, I was struck by how light hearted most of them are/were.  They were pre-damncovid and pre-political unrest of great magnitude and before times of a world struggling perhaps more that ever before with all kinds of concerns.  I realized that, as I reread them, I was beginning to think in terms of the good olde days and yet -- they were really just a little while ago really.

There was “Klutz Factor” and “Klutz Factor Revisited’, “There an app for that….”, and “Presbyterian Bunnies”.  “I Cry at the Parades” was about how much I love small town America. I wrote about Tee-shirts decorated with fun sayings and about unsuccessful attempts at home repair. I wrote about upcoming elections, even including a memo that I sent to Donald Trump a year prior to the 2016 election.  I wrote about “Tchotchkes and Other Assorted Treasures”, “Scammed! Not a good feeling”, and “Mouse in the House!”.  And … I wrote about “Ladies Who Lunch” which was about my sister and her lovely friends sharing lunch with me when I was visiting in 2016.

So many….  As I was looking through them, the one that struck me the most though was “Heart Hugs” – so much so that I am going to repeat it today.  If you need to, in these days of social distancing -- you can think of these hugs as mental “air hugs”, those symbolic hugs of the damncovid times.  So – here it is – first published on 10/15/2015.  Who couldn’t use a good hug these days? Some things are worth repeating.

We go back in time together....

 I had a wonderful friend who gave what he called heart hugs.  They were the kind of hugs where you wrapped your arms around each other and pressed your hearts together.  They were indescribably wonderful.  He, being much taller than I, sometimes made these hugs hard to manage, but if I could find a step to stand on, they were perfect.  I miss him. 

Recently on Facebook someone shared a copyrighted “Photo” that made me remember these hugs.  It was a scene of Charlie Brown and Snoopy hugging.  The words? “I love the kind of hugs where you can physically feel the sadness leaving.”  I think the source was something like “You are My O2”.  It was sort of hard to see. Anyway – that is the best definition of a heart hug that I could ever imagine.  Perfect…

A wise woman once shared with me that she never passed up a hug.  She was one smart lady as she was definitely a hugger and thrived on them.  Not all people are huggers through.  I think hugging may be a learned behavior and some families are just not into it.  I am from a hugging family and sometimes I am not into it.  I get it.

Hugs are healthy in general.  Not all may be heart hugs, but all hugs are a good thing… even the ones that send your glasses flying.  I have taught my grandchildren the heart hug. Some things are worth passing on from generation to generation.   I consider it a gift from my friend to them.  They never had a chance to meet him.  I think, as he did, that it is important to share the good things, the best things about people who have passed through your life, whose lives have been a blessing.  It’s a poignant kind of immortality – if the best that was them continues on.

Heart hugs all around.

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Boycott Lifted

Now midway through my seventies, I find that I like TV even more now than ever ...  and ... although I had boycotted CBS for some reason that I cannot remember at the moment, I have to tell you that some of this season's offerings are wonderful.  I mean they rank right up there with Paramount's Yellowstone

I am talking about Thursday evening's offerings of Matlock and Elsbeth ... and I find both to be very entertaining. One cautionary note though.  If you are going to watch Matlock for the first time -- start with episode 1.  You can find it On Demand or streaming somewhere I am sure. Kathy Bates is outstanding in the lead role. The ending caught me off guard and I love that kind of surprise.  Elsbeth is just plain fun in its eccentricity ... although the totes Carrie Preston drags around with her are a bit annoying for some unexplainable reason ... maybe because they look empty.  The annoying meter dings at about a Tony Shalhoub Monk level... just so you know. Entertaining shows -- both. At least I think so.

Winter will be here soon.  Nice to have some fun "watching" when snowed or iced in.  Actually fun entertainment is wonderful even if you don't have real Winter.

Thursday, November 14, 2024

In Your Face....

Was working on getting a blog ready to post about the aftermath of the recent election (now that the dust has settled a bit), and suddenly, for no reason, began to think of a phrase that I hardly ever use .. but have been hearing quite a bit in the past few days.  I am torn between the underlying joy of revenge that it conveys and the sort of budding nasty that goes along with it.  

After living under the icky blanket of the woke for the past eight years -- if not longer, it is wonderful to see that common sense is no longer taking a back seat. It is a cultural shift... one that even mainstream Democrats appear to be embracing... and there are a lot of them...obviously.  Good for them.  They are no longer allowing the far left to hijack their political party. The recent election was, in part, a cleansing... a washing away. 

So it is with thought, but somewhat mixed emotions that I say to lying, virtue signaling, elite democrats who have been knocked off your perches:  "In your face!".  Let's see how gracious you can be when you don't get your own way.  Quite frankly, I don't think you will do well. Some evidence indicates otherwise.  Surprise me.  I am willing to meet you halfway ... and that is something you never offered me.  Just sayin'. 


Thursday, November 7, 2024

Everyone knows...

Struggling to prepare a blog to post ... my usual Thursday contribution to blog readers across the world is just not coming to mind this week. Plus it is a delayed start.  I usually have at least two written and ready to go.  Not sure why I am so behind.  And then this morning I wake up to see that a red tsunami has swept the country and I am, quite frankly a bit caught up in distracting happiness and hope.  These past few years have been a bit difficult ...  a long practice of patience and a continuing struggle for tolerance. Some people have been mean and I didn't understand or expect that. It was a major disappointment that still rankles more than I would like it to.  And now -- I feel like I can start to breathe again. I am not alone. Others have been in touch.

My sympathies to all who are feeling the opposite. Boohoo.  Trust me ... you will survive. There are very few who will feel sorry for you though.  Some might even say "turn about is fair play".  Be prepared. The only thing is that we of the red tsunami will be nicer about it all the way around. We won't call you deplorable, irredeemable, garbage or fascist.  We won't threaten to send you to a reeducation camp. (Think about that one for a moment.) We won't take your jobs or try to cancel you. We will respect your right to have your own opinions. We know not to expect a mea culpa... ever.  We will let you live in peace. We might even be a friend.  Stranger things have happened.

However... in thinking about both sides of this political situation, there is one phrase I hope to never ever hear again.  What is that, you ask? It is the phrase... "everyone knows..."  That is simply not true.  Everyone does not know and if they do, I would like to know what it is they know, who they are, and how they know. 

Further -- I never met anyone who knows everything about anything or everyone. Is knowing everything a part of the whole everyone knows "thing"?  Must be nice to be that person.  Or -- maybe not. Who is this "everyone"? What is it that they know?  Why don't I know it?  Or more correctly... Who are they?  And ... if they do exist ... I have one thing to say, and that is for the second time in this teeny paragraph ...  "Must be nice"!

Time to move forward.  Everyone knows that, right?

I will find my own way to the door now.  Thanks for reading.