I'm Addicted!

Last night I went to a poetry reading and when I got up to read for open mic I said, "Good evening, everyone. My name is Beverly and I'm an addict." Everyone did a deep breath suck-in and then I said, "I am addicted to my computer. It has been in for an upgrade since Tuesday and I'm having terrible withdrawal pains." With that everyone laughed and exhaled.

It wasn't funny. I got it back today and couldn't wait to get to work. However, I had to do over all my settings, all my bookmarks, all my everythings!

I have an upgraded OS, larger hard drive and more RAM. Everything looks different, but I'm slowly but surely making it the way I want it. I'm just glad to have it back! :)

One thing I need to work on is the memorial book I did for my mother. I printed 25 copies for family and close friends. But others, once they see it, want a copy. It has been very well received. This weekend I need to produce 10 more copies.

Tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. there will be a ceremony at the Mark Twain ball fields here in town. The fields will be renamed Veteran's Memorial Park and the two fields will be individually named for Gunnery Sgt. Philip Jordan and LCpl Philip Johnson (my grandson). This is quite an honor and I'm sure Phil is pleased. Joe (my other Marine grandson) will throw out the first ball at the field named for Phil...how fitting is that.

Don't know what else is going on this weekend, but it's sure to be busy.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend and don't forget what the holiday is all about...those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can live free. Semper Fi.

When Looking for Envelopes… ☺

Last Wednesday I finished putting together a book of poems and essays in memory of my mother. I needed 6x9 envelopes to mail some of them to out-of-town family and friends. So I start looking. I knew I’d seen them since I moved in here. But where?

I didn’t stop looking until I had gone through every box on the shelves in the back storage area, repacking some of them, relabeling all of them, and trashing some stuff. I was able to empty 4 boxes in the process (and throw them out).

No envelopes.

In the meantime, I contracted to have my water heater replaced, and assured Patrick (from the company doing the replacing) that I would have all the stuff in the area of the existing water heater cleared and cleaned. That meant calling in the reserves. I called Andy (my youngest) and asked him to come over Friday night to help me take a big load of stuff to the dumpster.

(Note: the condo association has a huge dumpster down by the pool house for the owners to do their spring cleaning throw away. I made two trips!)

I hung up with Andy and went to start clearing off the table back there so the table could be thrown out. I picked up a box of front door wreath type thingies, and, would you believe…there were the envelopes I’d been looking for. Now why didn’t I think to look there first? ☺ Isn’t that where you’d expect to find envelopes?

Andy came over last night after work and helped me move some heavy boxes…some staying and some being trashed. I was able to vacuum and make the floor presentable.

Once the new water heater is in, I will put leftover vinyl down in that back area, which will make it so much easier to keep clean.

Oh! Yes, I did mail the books…in new envelopes I had bought. As it turned out I would not have had enough so would have had to buy more anyway.

Beware the next time you go looking for envelopes (or anything else, for that matter)! ☺

Lovely Morning for a Walk

I took advantage of this morning’s beautiful weather to go for a walk around the block. Where I live, that means 3 miles.

The sun was shining, the air filled with the scent of spring flowers and flowering trees. The shadblow is blooming, so I guess the shad are running.

I stopped to talk with a young man getting ready to go fishing for stripers. I didn’t know they were in the CT River. A little further down the road I chatted with an elderly lady sitting out in front of her riverside home warming herself in the sun. She was so delightful. At the 2 mile mark I was at the boat launch and stopped for a while to enjoy the river (and rest ☺).

None of the geese or ducks showed up, but the trees were filled with birds singing their hearts out. I saw an eagle across the river, high above the trees. The man I talked to earlier told me kids are going down the bike path to the barricade and putting their bikes up and over which amounts to harassing the breeding pair of eagles nesting between Stony Brook and the railroad trestle. He called the cops and the DEP. I hope these kids got caught. I’d love to ride the canal pathway, too, but KEEP OUT means just that. Once the eaglets are fledged, the path will reopen.

From the boat launch the next .25 mi is a steep hill (huff, puff, groan), but the reward is that the last .25 is flat and heading home.

After a shower and some lunch, my quads are barking (especially the right side). By tomorrow everything will feel fine, but, no bike ride this afternoon. That’s pushing it a little! ☺

Two Summer Looks

Last summer's look, the white bed spread and naked windows (except those horrible wooden blinds), really didn’t do much for me as you can see by the bottom pictures. Blah. Bland.

I like this summer’s look a lot better…sage. The sheers were up over the winter and just needed to be freshened up a bit. This looks so much better. Cooler. And the drapes will keep out the summer heat during the day.

I should have taken a picture of the winter look, but thought of it too late. Don’t worry, another winter will come! ☹

Osama bin Ladin is Dead

I reacted to the news in two ways:
1) Good! They got the bastard!
2) This isn’t going to bring Phil back (or any of our troops who have died in combat), and the safety of the world just went down the drain.

The feeling that stays with me is that his death has solved nothing, and in fact has made a bad situation worse.

So I’m of two minds: I’m glad we finally got him and I don’t see that this has solved anything.

We can’t keep throwing hate at hate and expect our problems to be solved. Only Light dispels the darkness and only Love will replace hate.

I ask you to pray that Love and Light replace negativity on the planet.
I ask you to pray that all negativity be transmuted back to the Light.
I ask you to pray for Peace.
I ask you to Love one another.
I ask you to try really, really hard.