Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.
Henry Ellis



Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
Anton Chekhov



Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha



Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Mark Twain



Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
William Wallace

Important Information

TO ALL MY DEAREST FRIENDS........I'M SO GLAD I FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS!

The correct way to weigh yourself:



I can't believe I was doing it wrong all these years.
WE MUST SPREAD THE WORD.

Things We Just Don't Want to Know

Last Saturday Bob Herbert, Op-Ed columnist with the New York Times, had a sad but thought provoking column regarding the life and death of Michael Jackson and how it reflects a whole era of extreme immaturity and grotesque irresponsibility that was already well under way in America. The craziness played out on a shockingly broad front and Jackson’s life, among many others, would prove to be a shining and ultimately tragic example.

It was the 80s, Ronald Reagan was president, making promises he couldn’t keep about taxes and deficits and allowing the readings of a West Coast astrologer to shape his public schedule. The movie “Wall Street” would soon appear, accurately reflecting the nation’s wholesale acceptance of unrestrained greed and other excesses of the rich and powerful. Sound familiar?

In neighborhoods through much of black America, crack was taking a fearful toll. Young criminals were arming themselves with ever more powerful weapons and prison garb was used to set fashion trends. Hip-hop would soon appear, and then the violence and misogyny of gansta rap.

All kinds of restraints were coming off and it seemed to many of us then that it was almost as if the adults had gone into hiding. The deregulation that we were told would be great for the economy was being applied to the culture as a whole. Women could be treated as sex objects again as misogyny, hardly limited to hip-hop, went mainstream. Astonishing numbers of men abandoned their children with impunity. Most of the nation seemed fine with the idea of going to war without a draft and without raising taxes --- sound familiar???

As Herbert says, in many ways we descended as a society into a fantasyland, trying to leave the limits and consequences and obligations of the real world behind. Politicians stopped talking about the poor. We built up staggering amounts of debt and called it an economic boom. We shipped jobs overseas by the millions without ever thinking seriously about how to replace them. And, we let New Orleans drown.
Jackson was the perfect star for the era, the embodiment of fantasy gone wild. He tried to carve himself up into another person, but, of course, there was the same Michael Jackson underneath – talented but psychologically disabled to the point where he was a danger to himself and others.

Reality is unforgiving and there is no escape. Behind the Jackson façade was the horror of child abuse. The court records and reams of well-documented media accounts contain a stream of serious allegations of child sex abuse and inappropriate behavior, but Jackson, a multimillionaire megastar, was excused as an eccentric. But to me, one of the worst and most inexcusable, is the fact that often small children were delivered into his company to spend the night in his bed by their own parents. One case of alleged pedophilia against Jackson, the details of which would make your hair stand on end was settled for a reported $25 million. He beat another case in court.

The Michael-mania that has erupted since Jackson’s death – not just an appreciation of his music, but a giddy celebration of his life, is just another spasm of the culture opting for fantasy over reality. We don’t want to look under the rock that was Jackson’s real life.

As with so many other things, we just don’t want to know.

That's My World -- Oregon Coast

That's My World is a marvelous meme hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Fishing Guy and Louise, every Tuesday and it is such a great opportunity to share the lovely things in all of our worlds with each other. Click here to sign up and join the fun!

Last week I shared the Washington Coast with you and this week I'm sharing the Oregon Coast. I have lived in Oregon and Washington for the past seventeen years and it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen, particularly the coasts. So, like I told you last week, I've only taken up photography over the past six months, so for now I've had to depend on Google for the pictures to share with you. And, also, like last week, these photos need no words for you to enjoy the beauty.

Evening Wisdom, Thoughts and Beauty

Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Mark Twain

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Mark Twain



Where there is love there is life.
Mohandas K. Gandhi



To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Oscar Wilde



Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.
Marie Curie

How Old Is Grandpa?

A friend of mine in Texas sent this to me and it gave me a whole new view of how quickly time slips away!

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away -- at least it did me.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandfather replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:

television
penicillin
polio shots
frozen foods
Xerox
contact lenses
Frisbees and
the pill

There were no:

credit cards
laser beams or
ball-point pens

Man had not invented:
pantyhose
air conditioners
dishwashers
clothes dryers
and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and
man hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandmother and I got married first, . ... ... and then lived together.Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir".
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."
We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze
started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and
weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters,
yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam..

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all
a nickel.

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough
stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . .. . but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day:

"grass" was mowed,
"coke" was a cold drink,
"pot" was something your mother cooked in and
"rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
" chip" meant a piece of wood,
"hardware" was found in a hardware store and
"software" wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a
husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation
gap. and how old do you think I am?
I bet you have this old man in mind...you are in for a shock!
Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.

Are you ready ?????

This man would be only 59 years old.

Pet Pride

It's time for our pets to have their day with Bozo of Wings and Paws who sponsors this meme and gives us all a great chance to show our stuff! Click here to sign up and play!

This is my friend, Izzie! Well, she was my friend when she was little!

 

Now she'd rather play with Mojo!

 

As for Mojo, well as you can see, she's passed out again!
 

Now, look into my eyes! How can you possibly resist a face like mine?

 

Shadow Shot Sunday!

Time to tip toe around looking in all kinds of strange places, obvious places, wherever for shadows to share with Harriet and the rest of us on Shadow Shot Sunday! Click on here to sign up and have the most fun ever!

My first two shadows came as I was cleaning and waxing the shelves around our fireplace and took some of the trinkets there and put them on the window sill. Of course, the minute I did on this gorgeous sunny day, I saw some fun shadows! A crystal dolphin given to me by a good friend for Christmas one year and a lovely set of star shaped candle holders my husband bought for me one year for my birthday when we lived in Germany.





Then there was a marvelous shadow on the grass near the beach where I had such a fun morning taking pictures!

Happy 4th of July from Seattle!

May you all have a wonderful July 4th!

Evening Wisdom, Nature, Beauty

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.
Henry David Thoreau



Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given. But up to now he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day. [Uncle Vanya, 1897]
Anton Chekhov



To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.
Mohandas K. Gandhi



The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.
Blaise Pascal



To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.
Helen Keller

Looking Back - Part 9 - A Job That Made a Difference

My husband and I raised our kids in Montana, where my husband was stationed at Malmstrom AFB. I didn't work outside the home while the kids were small, but when they were all in elementary/kindergarten,I took a teaching position in the same Catholic school they attended. I didn’t teach any of their classes, of course, but it was fun because we could go to school together in the mornings, come home together in the afternoon and we had the same holidays and shared the same school activities.

Once they moved on to public middle schools, I took a job at the local library. I had gotten discouraged with schools in general, as well as the teaching environment at the time. I decided that I needed a change. So, for a couple of years I worked in various departments of the library and enjoyed it primarily because I got to be around books all the time and books have always been one of my favorite things.

But then one day I saw an ad in the newspaper that tweaked my curiosity. It was regarding a new program in Montana and the position was for a director of a local facility for a project called Independent Living. It was designed to help people with disabilities to become more integrated into the community. It was something I felt strongly about, something that I felt needed to happen for the disabled and so, although I knew very little about disabilities and knew no disabled people in the community, I knew I was more than willing and able to learn. So, I put in my application. Three days later I had my first interview.

The project was being directed by a nun, Sister Helen, out of the program's office in the state capital in Helena and she was looking for directors for Great Falls and Billings offices. The interview went well and I met a wonderful disabled man, Jim Clark, who worked in the local office of the state employment department. He would be working with the new project as well.

I had to admit that I had no experience with the disabled, but that I was willing to learn and that I felt very strongly about the need for such a program. However, no one was more amazed than I was when three days later I was offered the job. I had to ask them why they had chosen me. Thinking about it later, their answer made perfect sense – for one thing, I didn’t know what many involved with the disabled, considered impossible, I didn’t know what the usual excuses were for why the project’s goals were out of reach, I didn’t see why it couldn’t be done. They didn’t hire a disabled person at the time because there weren’t that many that would even be able to access and do much of what had to be done – that’s how bad conditions were at that time. The plan was to put the entire project in the hands of the disabled once the immediate goals were achieved. I knew the job probably wouldn’t last more than three to four years, and I was more than okay with that as I felt the disabled should, indeed run their own project, but I was excited about being able to help get it moving.

They also hired me an assistant, a Vietnam veteran who, due to wounds he received there had developed epilepsy and had been unable to find work in spite of having a degree in business. His name was David – one more David in my life in addition to my husband, David and my son, David -- well, at least I wouldn't have to worry about talking in my sleep.

The next three years were among the best, the most exciting and rewarding years of my life.

Our first task was to find and furnish an office. Once that was done, we set about locating as many of the disabled in the Great Falls area as possible. We got lists from hospitals, care givers and state offices. We visited one on one with as many as possible. We set up meetings where the disabled could come and voice their needs, their hopes and we began a list of things to accomplish. Things like providing parking spaces, with parking meters low enough for them to reach from a wheelchair --the idea of free handicapped parking hadn't even been thought of at the time. Ramps to enable them to cross streets, attend church; go to movies, access the working environments so they might be able to get jobs, doors wide enough to allow wheelchair entrance into restaurants, stores, offices, restrooms. It was a daunting task and we met a lot of resistance, and lots of excuses as to why it could never happen.

But over the next three years it did happen, as we set about to educate the public about the disabled. We met with business owners and city officials. We even took part in a school program in local high schools where we brought people with different disabilities to meet with students, to tell them their story about their disabilities and to answer questions. Gradually we began to see such incredible and wonderful changes not only in the disabled community, but in the entire community as they began to accept the disabled as needed and viable members.

Looking back and seeing how much has changed for the disabled over the past twenty-eight years gives me one of those warm, fuzzy feelings just knowing that I had a small part in making that happen for a lot of people in Great Falls, Montana.

Evening Words, Wisdom and Beauty

Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted.
Rabindranath Tagore



Music fills the infinite between two souls
Rabindranath Tagore



There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.
Albert Schweitzer



The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
Bertrand Russell



Good things happen to those who hustle.
Anais Nin

Sky Watch Friday!

Summer is here, the skies are beautiful everywhere! Join us along with the hosts of Sky Watch Friday, Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Fishing Guy and Louise and share the beauty! Click here to sign up!

This week has been Seattle at it's best! Blue skies, warm sun, cool breeze! Needless to say, I headed for the beach and the park just five minutes from our house. There were a few gauzy clouds earlier, but they soon vanished. All of the photos will look better if you click on them to embiggen.



Such rich green trees and shrubs hugging the edge of the sandy beach. Took my breath away!



There was one young man out on the water early with his water skies and sail/kite!



There were sailing boats everywhere and lots of people!

Evening Wisdom, Thoughts and Beauty

I just realized that today is my blog's 1st birthday! And what a year it has been!
To all of you who have added so much to my life over the past year, your friendship, your understanding, your encouragement, your marvelous comments, I just want to say, Thank you! from the bottom of my heart!

 

Not hammer strokes, but dance of the water sings the pebbles into perfection.
- Rabindranath Tagore

 

The soil, in return for her service, keeps the tree tied to her; the sky asks nothing and leaves it free.
- Rabindranath Tagore

 

God respects me when I work, but loves me when I sing.
- Rabindranath Tagore



The butterfly counts not months but moments, And has time enough.
- Rabindranath Tagore