Sensory Massage

As the huge, dirty, gray, snow/ice mounds melt, now we're getting floods. Nothing to set off floods better than lots of snow, followed by a crazy thunderstorm; complete w/thunder, wild lightening & buckets of rain. A couple of parks I passed today were completely underground. It rained and left big blocks of snow & the poor, beaten down grass. This time of year gets really ugly; no 'pretty' snow to hide everything in white, puffy, lumps. Only slush, mud, sticks, tree branches, dog poop in the dog-run - previously hid (ewwww....) grays, browns, dirt, water and... did I say mud?

I had to go back into the archives from '09 and dig out some blasts of color to keep my sanity. Tomorrow is March 1st already. Soon, these pictures will be a reality again. Aaahhh...

Thinking of the empty lot behind me to make a garden also gets me thru the weather crap. I get overwhelmed w/the possibilities. I'm sure I'll over-do. I can't wait! :-)

Pictures by: me :-]
flowers are my mom's New Guinea Impatients (love 'em);
the park 20 steps from my house. i used to play there growing up.

Saved

After boxes of her memories & life were packed
and leaving for destinations unknown
boxes of clippings of younger, days
with ironed hair & red lipstick
love letters from a love long lost
buttons, charms, & sweaters

I looked into my pocket and realized
I saved the bell
that she used to ring
that once made me cringe
but now made me feel
lost



Picture: internet courtesy
Carry On Tuesday phrase prompt: Saved the bell

Cabin Fever Randoms & 'Nelson'

• We got slammed w/2 major winter storms this week. I won't (trying not to) complain because this is February. In Ohio, after all...

• The ongoing winter is making me very crazy. Just when I hit my near-insane mark, Spring breaks through
• The insane mark is fastly approaching & the weather guy said "new storm moving in Sunday..."
• Scream!!!

• I have become a complete addict for rubber stamps/ink pads, which has re-opened my eyes to all the left-over crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, etc., from Son's school days
  
• I actually do hand-stamp almost every card & note I send
• I wish I had a room where I could leave all my "toys" spread out instead of always packing everything away
• I have enuff of 'em (stamps) now. I need to stop
  
• I've never been a chicken fan, but I find the older I get, the more I dislike it unless it's in the form of a breast & no where near a bone. I can cook it really well in all forms, but I never eat it

• Today, I talked to the homeless guy who is always @ the library, studying with a HUGE magnifying glass. I usually quietly slip him a few bucks, say hi & keep walking, but today he introduced himself as 'Nelson' & told me I've always been so good to him, that he would like me to sit down w/him one day, when I had time, & talk w/him. I didn't sit, but we shook hands & he told me about the books he always studies (major medical, history books & the Bible). He said he has a lot of good ideas, but he always gives them away to people. I told him maybe he should write 'em down & hold onto them for himself. Maybe he could be rich one day
• He said he'd love nothing more than to be rich ...

• For all the folks there who, I'm sure, look at him like he's something from underground; I hope those folks saw us being nice to each other & that Nelson is a normal dude having a hard time. Whatever is going in his life, whoever he is, I believe he deserves some nice-ness.
• I find myself looking for him every time Son & I go to that branch of the library. The library allows him to leave his stacks of books at "his" table always, like they know he will arrive every day (he does)
• one time, I didn't see him for a couple of weeks & asked the snotty-assed librarian if she had. She, twisted up her face like she smelled crap, and over-the-top, said very loudly: YOU KNOW HE'S SCHIZOPHRENIC, DON'T YOU?
• I told her yes, & asked if he had been in lately & she said NO!!!!
• What I wanted to say: Yeah? We'll you're ugly & we're talking to you, aren't we? (LOLOL!!)**

**Disclaimer: excuse that last cruel remark - it's the cabin fever.. :-\
Pictures by: me :-)

Love Thursday: Nyakers

Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also those who need it so much. ~ Daphine Rose Kingma

Happy Love Thursday, all :-)

Picture by: me :-}
Nyakers Swedish Ginger Snaps from World Market. Blissful & so easy to eat a million of 'em. As you can see, I took a little nibble, then decided to take photo! (LOL!)

Talk(less) Tuesday...

No spoken word, but clearly the point is "joy." And who better to get it from than a little dude fresh from preschool w/finger paints all over his shirt! Thanks, Jeremiah :-)


Pictures by: me :-}

It burns

How is it that just a glance at your face
I can read your feelings when they're out of place
As hard as you try to not to show
They're more clear to me than you could know

Even tho I don't see you everyday
For that matter, nor every night
Something inside of you
makes my heart take flight

When I see you, my innards flip
with feelings I cannot try to name
it can only be described as something almost
like a flame....

Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts,
and we are never, ever the same. ~Flavia Weedn,

Picture by me: :-)

Yummy!

With iPod on, & my thoughts traveling the universe,
I carefully & mindfully:
marinated, seasoned, chopped, diced, rinsed,
peeled, boiled, simmered, steamed, baked, basted, flipped,
quartered, stirred, whisked, drained, mashed, sprinkled, timed,
buttered, poured, and finally served.*

Yet I fancied the comfort of my old standby...

Cherrio's.

*once i spend quality time preparing food, I usually have no desire to eat it.



picture: internet courtesy

Sunday Scribbling word prompt: "Food"

Believe it

Happy Friday, all. Remember my friend, Cassie, that I've spoken of here? The one that was making her way through the battle with cancer?

Well....

She updated everyone yesterday to let them all know that she went to follow-up visit with her doctor and... she is.... now, cancer free!!!!! Reading her words brought such joy to my heart, I almost exploded!! The joy in her words were so strong, they jumped off the screen right into my heart! This is all we have been praying for is for her to heal.

I think back over times @ City of Hope when I truly did not think she would ever see the sun rise the next day. That's how 'close' she was. I told her my dreams/prayers for her was that one day, she would be well, resumed her law practice, have found "ill-patient friendly" housing close to her law firm (easy on the pockets), it would be a beautiful day and she would live close enough to walk down the streets, cane free, with the sun shining on her.

I know God is always at work on us and in us, but I feel like I've never seen Him at work in a person's life like I witnessed with Cass. Maybe it's because she was ill and shared it so deeply with us, along with her very strong faith, that it was so evident that she was going to recover. Any and everything that hindered her recovery was taken care of in ways that could be nothing more than God & his Angels. Powerful stuff!

Her experience taught me, again, that when you ask God for something....

... you better be ready

... cause he WILL give it to you.

And that, my friends, is a good thing! :-)

“There's no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster” Richard Bach

Pictures by: me :-) (the beautiful Greek church is near the office)

The thaw

I felt something changing, way down inside of me.

For all these years, I fought it, so blind, but now I'm old enough to see

how to put down my judging gavel, & let you be you, and me be me






and open up a forgiving heart and finally set you free, to give all the love and happiness that you wish to bestow upon me

Now I don't know where this came from, me feeling this silly way

*But rest assured, it's only cause
it's Valentine's Day!!! (LOL!)

Happy Love Day, All

*Sorry, "D". Maybe one day we'll 'get there."
Disclaimer: I'm personally not a fan of V.Day cause I think it's an unnecessary gouge to the wallet & pressure on the soul. So in keeping w/poking fun, here's a quote from a pretty funny guy, Mo Rocca: “I have a dream, and a plan, to combine the commercial possibilities of Valentine’s Day with the substance and meaning of black history month. I call it: Blackentine’s Day.”


Pictures: by me :-} (how about those icicles outside my office window, huh?)
Roses were a treat to myself; grew the Roma tomato last year in a pot (see the heart?)

Way Down the Road

the bad things i've said
the bad things i've thought
the bad things i've done
the bad habits I have
the rules i've broken
the moral lines i've crossed
the good deeds i've done
the people i've loved
the people who have wronged me
the people who have "righted" me
the words i've spoken
the words i've written
the feelings that have been hurt
the promises that have been broken
i've resolved to forgive myself, daily
and ask God for forgiveness as well
because in A Thousand Years from now
none of it will matter
and no one will remember

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” Albert Einstein

Picture by: me :-}
Sunday Scribbling word prompt: "a thousand years"

25 Randoms & Windows

'

1. special olympic sports never end & they pretty much dominate all of your Saturdays. Every season.
   
2. we have shirts that say "Mom, aka 'Roadie.'" (lol!) cute & true.
3. all in love with my new camera & iPod. they both soothe the savage beast-ette.
4. congratulations to the people in Egypt for their joy.
5. i need a vacation - STAT.
6. i hyperventilate every time i think of my new garden on the empty lot
7. i can't believe i followed thru & actually hand made simple Valentine's Day cards
8. and mailed them out to everyone!
9. it's funny how after temperatures in the teens, 35 degrees almost feels balmy
10. i need to go someplace different to take new pictures of fresh things
11. i would like to see the faces of the folks @ the nursing homes when they get my random cards
12. i'm pissed that PBS & NPR's funds are in jeopardy
13. iPod + podcasts = Happy Tracey
14. my photog friend told me it's best to shoot pix in "raw." it's a good thing.
15. why do i check out more library books than I could ever possibly read in two weeks?
    
16. sending random cards is perfect opportunity to feed my latest 'thing'; rubber stamp designs. Yay!
17. discovery: curly spinach beats flat-leaf, hands down
18. this would be a pretty cool garden, no? seats among the harvest (lol). Swoon
    
19. why is my stylist @ JCPenney suddenly 'booked solid' constantly? Damn!
20. sadness is seeing a book @ Border's for $23
21. happiness is seeing the same book @ the library book sale for $1
    
22. a friend randomly sends me little packages of handmade treasures. its always a perfect end to a day
23. when i held the door for an elderly woman, she told me she liked my smile the best. blessings
24. Ahh.. Thich Nhat Hanh 'gets' my need/craving for spells of silence
25. i love how i'm blessed to be able to see a picture in all things :-)

Pictures by: me :->

If a tree falls in the forest....

... will there be anyone there to take pictures of it?

... besides me? (LOL!) Happy Friday, all




Pictures by: me :-)
Location: woods outside the office