Kitchen Tables

I was given a book this week to read entitled "Kitchen Table Wisdom". I liked the title and I'm enjoying the stories. I find that it brings to mind all the kitchen tables I 've sat at, leaned on, mused upon, and bumped up to for a mighty fine dinner.
I think my favorite is really just a small drop leaf square wooden table. It is squeezed in a sunny, square paned window alcove in my friends kitchen. It's often stacked with bills and mail.. A hummingbird feeder is a side glance away, and an early blooming camellia hugs the window frames outside edges. Huge rhododendrons tower next to a cherry tree that rivals any Washington DC postcard every Easter season.
As tables go this one isn't at all beautiful to look at, but the memories of good times spoken of and remembered echo off its marred surface.
Ive sat there many times while my friend, who loves to cook, slices and chops and prepares appetizers, pours me a glass of wine, as she prepares birthday dinners.We chat and gossip and catch up on general doings. We reminisce about all the times her kids sat here and giggled there way through dinner. She's listened to me moan and groan..about jobs and husbands and diets. We talk about books and walks in the woods and neighborhoods. The table now often serves as a place where she rolls out dough for her granddaughter to make cookies. Its not a big table or a polished marvel, but I think its one of my favorites.

Oh what a difference A Year can make

I reviewed what I wrote last November, when the harvest was in and the snows were beginning to fly in Baker County. At that time I had no idea we would purchase a new home in Florida and spend our next winter there. Or here as it now is. This November morning was sunny with a tiny hint of cool to the air.The dogs and I walk every morning. The suns shines. The air is warmish and filled with perfumy frangrances I havent yet identified . Hibiscus is blooming. The sandhill cranes and Great white egrets hang in the neighborhood yards. I miss people and conversations but I feel WARM. And I like it. We shall see my friends, we shall see.

Mixed Blessings

My husband and I are soon to start a new adventure in our life. We will winter in a different place away from our beloved immediate families and friends and our place. We are looking forward to the new sites and adventures. We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to experience all this adventure.
Meanwhile, hard health problems persist for many. The dichotomy of experiencing fun and joy while such severe suffering goes on is difficult to reconcile.
I wish there was a magic wand to cure all pain, rid the earth of great personal agony and insert joy instead.
So, for Uncle Bob...I wish thee great health and peace and blessings; For my friends dealing with surgery...now and future, I anoint thee with magic fairy dust to promote quick healing and better than ever use of limbs.For everyone with pain- physical or mental, may sun lift your sorrow and let it go away.
If it was only so easy.

Laughing Trees of Summer

"That tickles" giggled the tree, as the sprinkler showered droplets of water on the grass at the base of the sturdy trunk. "It makes my toes laugh". Leaflets wiggled with joy in the summer breeze. A gold finch twittered merrily high in the branches. Frogs croaked in the shadow of the moist roots.Thats what I imagine the tree outside my kitchen window was saying this summer. It was such a happy site. I was sure the whispers were giggles.

Why are we important?

Picture the universe as a dress. A single thread woven into fabric does not seem like it makes any difference. Picture a slight pull on a single thread; a significant flaw appears in the outfit.We are like the threads. Each one is important for the whole, maybe not notable unless something goes awry. But the strength of each fiber makes the whole strong and long wearing and beautiful.

DEATH

This seems a bit grim for a spring day topic. But the more I consider it's fabric in life, I get that it's Ok to die. Eventually and far down the road I hope. But, it is OK. If you believe in a religion or not or care how you end up for eternity isn't really the point. It's that in this reality, as we inevitably age, we get cantankerous about new ways of doing things and look contemptuously at the young and bold. We get to like the comfortable and old and familiar. We must make way for the young and new. Our model of evolution must continue to evolve. It's Ok to let the young take over. If they make a mess and have to re-learn all the lessons....I guess that is not different if this is Rome, Greece, or New America. Our aging brains rarley take to new fangled stuff. We drag our feet at leaning new tecniques. Why is that? And maybe, at last, we don't want to know how it all turns out.I'm hoping for a front row seat though on a nearby cosmic cloud with a long lens to peer at the antics.

Lessons

Why must we have to re-learn the same lessons again and again. Why can't the mind and heart absorb the deeply painful and soul stabbing life lessons the first time? I think we should have a buzzer when we react badly that makes us recall the corrected behavior pattern without having to go through all the painful stuff again. I vote for that.  Put my buzzer right on my forehead . Quickly before I say somethimg really dumb . Again.

Silence

I learned a good lesson about what silence means the other day. Raised an only child , I wasn't around noisy people growing up. My fellow graandchildren lived far away so few episodes of running, frolicking cousinry are in my memory. I love my neices and nephews and grand nephews and neices to pieces....but they are noisy. And in big colorful bunches the decible volume goes over my staid,sensitive limit.
The other day our kitten became lost for 20 hours. Instantly, despite the pack of two other adult cats and two other adult dogs...the house was too quiet. We slept with one eye open , and an ear tuned for a little mew. Nuttin. QUIET. No balls rolling down the halls wooden flooring at midnight. No earrings swishing off the nightstand at two a.m.. No loud sucky noises on the fuzzy blanket, near your ear at three a.m.. I can hear my friend Susan saying " And that's why I don't let the damn cats in "!! And I smile. But, the other night it was too quiet. I didn't know it could be too quiet.
And then baby kitty was found and rescued and brought home. And I was busily shouting"No! Kitty no-no" again. And my husband looked at me and said, " That's what it was, you werent yelling at the cat all the time!"

Let it Snow

Snow is falling. And falling. And stacking up! Its a nice powdery white that drifts and hides all the bad spots I never got around to in fall clean-up. But dog poop shows up quite nicely. Ugh.
It is winter. And its not officically winter yet. It is interesting to see how the season shapes up. Is this the one with mountanous piles all over town for months or the big storm and then everything melts and just looks dull all the rest of the time? I like that I have more time indoors and dont feel guilty because the sun in shining and the weeds are looking me in the eyes! It's time to enjoy the fire, good books, those sewing projects I've put off too long.
The Grosbeaks landed at the seed feeder today. Zeke went running hard to the back corner and then skidded to a halt in the powder and flopped upside down for a good snow massage. Tanzy chased the quail hiding in the remnents of the rasberry rows. Christmas songs are on the radio and the neighbor put up the Christmas lights. I suppose I'll have to dig out the ornaments now! Hmm, a good stew needs to appear in the crockpot.And now that my friend gave me a real old fashoined iron fry pan, I can try out that recipes for apple tart. OOOhhh, covered in cream straight out of the oven! Love the seasons!!

Fall

There is nothing like the first frost and sub 32 degree F night to awaken awareness of fall seasons's onset. Crisp cold air, crunchy dried leaves tumbling from trees, flower heads bending and dripping seedlings; The pumpkin vine is stretched across the garden, alas the lone pumpkin still greenish . Tomatoes and peaches warming in the kitchen window for final ripening, having been spared the shriveling chilled night.
Time to think of pies baking, quilt designs, warm fires with a good book. Or maybe a brisk walk with the dogs kicking up orange and yellow maple leaves and chasing squirrels busily hiding nuts.

Mid Year

When I made my New Years Resolutions this year I never dreamed how some of the goals would be accomplished.
The exercise thing has picked up...because we adopted two dogs. Dogs need to walk. So, I'm walking. And plotting how to keep walking in the winter. I had forgotten how much I like walking.
 I bought on sale a keyboard so I could learn to play the "piano". I am midway through book one. I need a teacher. Self help only goes so far for the non musical mind!
I am about half way through my stack of" books to read" and am enjoying most of them.
And the garage sale went really well.
I'm doing a little sewing although the whole back log thing is not happening.
The Orchard did get planted and I'm thrilled with the tiny apricots, peaches, pears, and apples that are presenting on the first year trees! The raspberries are looking like a fine crop is coming in also. Don't ask me whats eating the beans. I don't know and the fourth planting appears to going the way of the others. Gazads! Maybe no beans to can this year! Yikes!
And no writing is occurring. But its only the end of June. I have 6 more months.

Hope for the Future

Everyone goes through periods of time when they think "I must change" and "Now is it, I can't go on this way". I've always believed those feelings are gut instinct telling you to move on. What I hadn't learned until now, at nearly 51, is, the change maybe just needs to be in your thinking. Shift your self perception; look through the other side of the glass; change you. Hmmm. I'm working on it!

Rain it is

Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.


Saw this  and loved it!!

Rights for all

From an AAUW news brief: "Thousands gathered at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to remember feminist and civil rights champion Dr. Dorothy Height. President Obama eulogized Dr. Height saying, "We remember her for all she did over a lifetime, behind the scenes, to broaden the movement's reach...To make us see the drive for civil rights and women's rights not as a separate struggle, but as part of a larger movement to secure the rights of all humanity, regardless of gender, regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity."
Being a member of AAUW, I am particularly fond of the fact that we not forget that in supporting women's equity rights, we not forget we should be supporting humanity in general. Men, children, immigrants...for we are not different from one another in our dreams and hopes. In our self-interest, we should strive to account for our own actions in this regard and not overlook our own prejudice.

Why Here

Why here? My husband and I moved to this small Eastern Oregon town 3 1/2 years ago. It was almost a cliché. He came home from a motorcycle adventure, the Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally, and announced, “You have to see this place”. Our friends, who had also been on the trip, were already searching for property. I had driven by on the gritty, truck rutted I-84 a few times, often late at night and usually commented how beautiful the snow capped mountain scenery appeared.

It never occurred to me we would seriously uproot and move within a few months. Particularly, as after 20 years of marriage we had just completed my dream kitchen remodel complete with real Hickory cabinets and starry night black granite countertops with copper flecks and an arty dangle light over the expansive cooking surface and wine sipping area. Especially, as my husband was known to hate moving and treated his home purchased 34 years before as his man cave and sanctuary. You could have made a Las Vegas bet with odds of a million to one, that he would never move. Really. Just ask his best friends and relatives.

Why here. To some eyes, it’ s a small town with few job prospects, no mall, big diesel trucks with unleashed dogs in the back, and dodgy looking fella’s squinting in the bright sun ,occupying sidewalk corners, staring as the outsiders BMW convertible zips past on Main street. Throw in the occasional hoarder’s contraption filled yard (a metal scrap man’s dream) and you can see why a person barely passing through with big city eyes might keep on passing.

Here is where I nearly fell out of my sandals laughing the first several times someone actually stopped so I could cross the street; no crosswalk light required. And then the teenaged kid revving his truck loudly rolled down his window and apologized, saying it kept dying on him and he was just trying to get it home. And the people passing by on a riverside walk looked me in the eye, smiled, and said Good Morning. I actually existed.

Here is where I found a coffee shop, with people interested in who was new in town, and where you had traveled and what you might want to see next. The coffee was terrific, and yes, they could make a non-fat no foam Latte. Here is where the bookstore has an amazing collection of history and mystery and new best sellers and old timer’s memoirs. The library is modern and beautiful and striving to serve every community member.

It turns out that most of the fella’s on the corner were squinting because it was sunny that day and they don’t own fancy Oakley shades, and were leery of stepping boldly out in front of the tourist who didn’t know it was only polite to let pedestrians cross the street even if you had a green light. The dog in the truck was likely either Mr. Jones well mannered farm dog, or one of the future assistance dogs being trained in town. The dress shop and the gift stores have more than enough beautiful pretties to satisfy all but a shopaholics cravings. The jewelry stores have stunning and original pieces, as well as the tasteful and affordable. The groceries are stocking locally grown and organic produce next to favorite staples. The constable may even give a newcomer a pass at the confusing cross lanes on 10th and Hughes Lane. The first time.

Here is where 20 minutes gets you to Huckleberry bushes and pristine reservoirs. Here, a heron rookery, bluebird trail, and peregrine nests are common but no less awe inspiring. If you name all the bird and wildlife you see in a day here, the “ditchsiders” are likely to think you are lying. Here, the man with the junk in his yard, is very likely to offer to find you just the right part for that old lawnmower you need.
Here is where your neighbor will come over and help you tear off the old leaky gutters on your house; before you fall off the ladder. They offer to pick up your newspaper and feed your cat when you have to leave town. No charge, although a cup of coffee would be welcome.
Here is where your kids can still ride their bikes and play in the park. Here the historic Movie theatre, named after the original owners's wife (but spelled backwards we explain), still has Sugar Babies and Whoppers. Here, an inspiring arts community allows anyone to try their hand at crafting, Or you can just admire and it’s no big deal to rub shoulders with a painter and a potter. And the 360 degree view of snow capped mountains are beautiful.

Here is not Utopia. Things happen. Bad people are still bad people. Here people do have different strong opinions. But here, it is still your right to be your own person, be respected, and the coffee to be hot and the conversation to be lively. Stop in. You might even pack up and move here.

How much are you worth?

If you were ever waaaayyyy up an apple tree, where you had been carefully pruning with clippers and shears and pruning saws , and under you was a very nice aluminum garagae sale ladder with just a slight twist when you push off hard on the top step as you are trying to saw through a knothole...and it really gives you a scare as it tips away from your scrabbling feet...has anyone else wondered how long it would be before your spouse came looking for your body? Or came to rescue you at the top of the tree as you sat forlornly on an upper branch Y.Of course, the sun is shining, the quail are hooting in the field, the cat is staring at you from the neighboring Ash tree, wondering perhaps what exotic turkey that is in the apple tree.
It occured to me, it might be quite some time. After all, the Daytona 500 was on the television, honey....and really I was just about to come check on you...really honey-bunch...I would have come ...really.

The first week

The first week of 2010 has flown by. I finished Kellyn's baby quilt, only 3 months late. Im cleaning out the office. I spent a few hours remembering the past while going through old scrapbooks and collections.Im trying to eat right. I just finished a great although somewhat grim book by Tim Gatreaux entitled The Clearing.Very good writing.We celebrated a birthday for Irvs 70th, a ping-pong party, a goodbye party and watched so many football games my eyes are crossed. The exercise thing is NOT going so well.
The garage constuction is proceeding despite the freezing weather. Rod and I are very excited about that. It was looking like a mud bath outside for a bit.
We are trying hard this year to bring the positive to the forefront, and leave the negative behind.

I really am...

The agony of Christmas is almost past. But that's another thought. Time for the New Year and its resolutions. I was cleaning my house (well, a small corner of it) and thought of the new year.
This year, 2010, I really am going to....
1) Have that Garage sale and get rid of all the knickknacks I dont ever take out.
2) Write a chapter or two of those books spinning in my head
3) Plan that trip to France and Italy Im going to take someday
4) Read all the books in my stack
5) And increase my exercise ( this will be easy as going from zero to one minute worth counts!)
6)Finish some of the sewing/quilting projects that are piling up!
7) Plan the Orchard
8) Talk Wanda in to letting me take paino lessons on her new piano!!
9) Send out those notes to poeple I think of all the time but never quite dial up
10) Visit the beach at least twice

And you????

Sad Santa

Sorry folks its been awhile. Not that I didnt want to "talk" to you but sometimes sorting it all out just takes too much energy. Anyway, today's topic is Santa.
I personally witnessed a fairly sad Santa the other day. It was hilarious.We watched as  the 299th kid was plugged onto Santa's lap, by the Elf. The Elf who dangled candy canes in front of the kids nose then ripped it away and stuck the kid on Santa's lap.
They all screamed!!The kids that is. I think Santa wanted to scream too. He wasn't smiling. He wasnt Ho Ho ing. Nada. Nothing. A grim line where his smile should be, right above where the itchy white fake polyester looking beard was perched.
Our grand nephew did really well in line, dangling his legs over his Dad's shoulders and running his candy cane gooped fingers in Dad's hair. He was calm. Composed. Didn't look a bit worried like all the kids in front of him in line. Even the 8 year old looking kids were looking dubious. The one little girl, she outright howled. I admit it. I laughed like a hyena. It was funny. All those parents paid 10 bucks to have their lovely and sweet children photographed with  the man of Christmas, bringer of secret stuff, man of wrapped goodies and to whom they have written their most secretest desires and mailed to the North pole for his eyes only. But in person.... The Masked Red man just didnt fit the billing. He was fat, and fake, and furry. Ick.And some lady dressed in an Elf costume kept taking candy away. Geez!

2012

Lots of hype out there with Dan Brown's new book coming out. How the Mayans supposedly think 2012 is the end, etc. and all the other speculators. So, I thought to myself..what if? I suppose with a humongy asteroid or some crazy person with a nuclear weapon its possible life could change radically very fast. I figure if that happened we wouldnt live through it anyway. Or if we did, it wouldnt be for long what with the air and water contamination. So, what do I do if this is it??? Enjoy every day. Try harder to enjoy the people we are with, send love to those we cant be next to but love. Share hope and kindness.Seek to improve the human condition?? Expand the mind to reach out and send good vibrations...hmmmm. Sit back with a glass of wine and ...enjoy the sunset.