CAN SPRING BE FAR BEHIND?

I once read that lowering expectations can make you happier. An interesting concept, to be sure, and one which I entertained this past week on March 21st, the first OFFICIAL day of spring. Where I live here in the Midwest, it neither looked like spring nor felt like spring with cold, non-forgiving temperatures, and no buds be seen on the trees. The first sign of  REAL spring for me is always the few crocuses that still manage to push their way up into my yard each year. Until I see them, I am not convinced of this long awaited season. The second things I look for, or course, are the robins in the yard, pulling up worms or just hopping around in hopes of a tasty meal.. And finally, when the tulips and daffodils can bee seen one day in all their splendor and glory along with the forsythia and lilacs. Now that is the picture of Spring, for me!
When I was growing up, I was not so aware of the natural signs of spring. I was a city girl in Cincinnati, and other than the Magnolia trees in bloom, I think that, only warmer weather brought on the feelings of spring for me. Along with that, there was also the anticipation of going downtown Cincinnati to shop for a new Easter outfit and new Easter shoes, usually patten-leather,black and shinny! In the earlier years, it also included looking for an Easter hat (bonnet), and the song, "In Your Easter Bonnet, With All the Frills Upon It...." was sung with happy anticipation in our house.
But, it is the feeling  that I still get when Daylight Savings time changes to let more light into the afternoon and evening that brings on the greatest memories of spring-time for me. For it was in these longer day-light hours that we could remain outside, playing with our neighborhood friends, games of Tag, Kick the Can, Capture the Flag etc. If truth be known, this is what spring-time really meant to me, and the memory of it captures me with delight even today!

St. Patrick's Day; Ireland

Today I am thinking about St. Patrick's Day, and the upcoming celebration of my Irish heritage. I was talking with my Irish sister, Maureen, this morning and she said that, growing up, there were only two saints that she really liked: St. Patrick, and St. Francis who loved animals and the environment, and lived a simple life. I agree with her, and how wonderful to have both these saints on the "world's stage" this week at the same time.
Many years ago, I took a trip to Ireland with my mother, niece and sister, Marueen and one of the special moments that I remember, was walking through the woods to view the Lake Isle of Innisfree that William ButlerYeats made famous in his poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree." What was particularly special to me was that my sister Maureen quoted this entire poem from memory while we overlooked the island of Innisfree....a special Irish moment in time. For any who might not know this poem, it has the same theme as "Daffodils" quoted by me earlier....that when we are away from these special views and places, the memory of them will sustain us, and nurture our soul. So, once again, I offer a poem on this BLOG...

THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfee
And a small cabin built there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavement grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
                                                        William Butler Yeats

Ah, who couldn't love the line, "And I shall find some peace there; for peace comes dropping slow." Certainly not a true Irishman!

* Though the picture above is not one taken in Ireland, it looks much like many of the green fields we saw there. In fact, it is a picture of farmland here in the midwest after spring planting and the first signs of growth...lovely sight wherever it is!

Here Comes the Month of March!

Ah, the fifth of March; time for the snow to go, but as you can see, March has once again come in like a lion, and hopefully will go out like a lamb. This is the "swing month" for me when waiting for spring seems an eternity, and those first crocuses are nowhere to be seen. But, in the meantime, a lot happens in March to keep us hopeful....daylight saving time returns here in the Midwest on March 10th, and the official day of spring is March 21st...not that far away. We have several other events in March: March 17th, St. Patrick's Day (a fun diversion for many, Irish or not), March Madness to keep us watching basketball,  and March also begins Baseball Spring training for all of us baseball fans who follow their special team; for me, it will always be The Cincinnati Reds. This is also Women's History month and I can think of many women who should be honored but, for me, I need not look any further than my own mother who raised seven children to become independent in the world, while keeping her  own sanity! I also would honor all the mothers of today who are raising their own children....knowing what a huge, and often stressful job this is today. These are the unsung women heroes in my book! And, o.k. I bet that you did not know that March 14th is "Save a Spider" Day...now who thinks these crazy things up? Aren't spiders still pretty well absent during the month of March? I guess I could go on and on with a few more March facts like the official flower for March is the daffodil (time to reread the poem "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth (one of my favorites!) And now that I am thinking about it, I think that I will quote it here...it always brings sunshine to my day, and happiness to my soul, so I share it here with you...
THE DAFFODILS

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed---and gazed----but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood
They flash upon the inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Well, these seem to be the highlights of the month of March, but perhaps,  there will be one more significant event; the election of a new Roman Catholic pope.... One might wish to pray to St. Joseph in regards to this, if one is so inclined, as the month of March is also dedicated to St. Joseph. Maybe he might help with the selection!

Cursive Hand Writing

Recently, I wrote about the demise of letter writing and the loss of cards and letters in our mailboxes. The Postal Service is having trouble keeping afloat with our high tech world, and if you have not  learned the special symbols used to text these days, you are at a distinct disadvantage. Now, along with this archaic activity, we are  talking about doing away with teaching cursive writing in schools. How do I feel about this? Mixed, at best. I grew up at a time when we still had ink wells on the right side of our desks, and nibbed pens were used for our best penmanship. I can remember having to write and rewrite (in cursive, of course) a Christmas letter to my parents, which the good nuns had us do each year, until I got it just right. The beauty of the penmanship was as important to them as the sentiment of the words. Today, "joined up writing" as cursive is often referred to is becoming less and less popular with students and teachers alike. Why spend time on an activity that does not favor the test of time where many people presently, and in the future will not even have to sign their own name, or will sign it in a way that is unreadable to the mass majority of people. Just trying to read my Doctor's medical orders rests my case. And why teach two ways of writing when one will do? As a matter of fact, many people today use a form of both cursive and print when they write, so why not just learn to print which is readable to all. Have you ever wondered why, on legal documents etc., they ask you to sign and print your name. Why have to do both? For me, being a left hander, I can certainly attest to the trials and tribulations I had trying to learn to write in cursive at a right-hander's desk. But all of that aside, I have to admit that I love the beauty of the written word in cursive. I have only to look at the treasured documents of our fore-fathers to appreciate the elegance of their important messages. What is interesting to me is that, even though many schools today do not require their students to learn cursive (to the delight of the students), many teachers still feel that it is a good skill to have.Writing is one of the major ways kids learn. After school clubs have formed for the very purpose of learning to write in cursive, just like taking an art class. Is it possible that, in the future, people will not even be able to read cursive writing because the have not learned to write it (or read it.) Ah, not to be able to read the original documents and letters of those who have come before us...would this be a significant loss of our heritage. Just wondering. In the meantime, I am glad that I learned to write cursive in school and appreciate the elegance of the written word....sometimes, a work of art in itself.

GETTING TO KNOW ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Presidents' Day, 2013 seems to be the perfect day to share with you an awesome "gem" of a book that I received from my daughter, Michelle, this past Christmas. It is called, "Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way," narrative by Michael Burlingame with Photography by Robert Shaw. If you are a Lincoln fan, or would just like to know this very humorous, humble man as he really was in life, this is a book not to be missed! Along with the dialogue, and actual writings and letters from Lincoln himself, there are stunning photos of the places Lincoln traveled and lived, particularly in Illinois, before he became president. As never before, here is where you can read about the real, human side of Lincoln as a boy, young man, poet, hard worker, lawyer and an all-around "great guy" who was loved by almost everyone he met. Some of my favorite quotes, I will share here:

As Lincoln reached his new home in Indiana from Kentucky, he writes, "We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up." Lincoln was eight years old at the time. And later, he wrote a poem about his childhood here.

"My child-hood home I see again,

And gladden with the view,

And still as memories crowd my brain,

There's sadness in it too.

Oh, memory! thou mid-way world

Twixt Earth and Paradise,

When things decayed, and loved ones lost

In dreamy shadows rise.

 

So memory will hallow all

We've known, but know no more.

Now twenty years have passed away,

Since here I bid farewell

To woods, and fields, and scenes of play

And school mates loved so well.

Where many were, how few remain

Of old familiar things!

But seeing these to mind again

The loss and absence brings.

The friends I left that parting day--

Now changed, as time has sped!

Young childhood grown, strong manhood grey,

And half of all are dead. (1846)

And, upon his marriage to Mary Todd, he writes to a friend,

"Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me, is matter of profound wonder."

And of everyday household things he humorously writes,

"Dear Sir: Some specimens of your soap have been used at our house and Mrs. L declares it is a superb article. She, at the same time, protests that I have never given sufficient attention to the "soap question" to be a competent judge."

I did not know this, but when Lincoln spoke his famous line, " a house divided against itself cannot stand," he made reference to the "great fabulists and philosopher, Aesop," who made this same point in his fable "The Bundle of Sticks."

I also think that Lincoln, who valued his friends above all else, wrote,"the better part of one's life consists of his friendships," and also said something very profound when he penned,
'How miserably things seem to be arranged in this world. If we have no friends, we have no pleasure, and if we have them, we are sure to lose them, and be doubly pained by the loss." (Amen to that!)

 

And shockingly, when Lincoln was quite angry, he made a speech at Bloomington, Ill. (where I live) and said,

"If I cannot rightfully murder a man; I may tie him to the tail of a kicking horse, and let him kick the man to death." Ah, Lincoln, a man of strong feelings, and not afraid to express them!

And, Lincoln being a lawyer himself for much of his life had much to say about lawyers. One of my favorite quotes being, "If in your own judgement you cannot be an honest lawyer, ....choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave."  And on preachers, lawyers and hired agents, he writes,

"The preacher, it is said, advocates temperance because he is a fanatic and desires a union of Church and State; the lawyer, from his pride and vanity of hearing himself speak; and the hired agent, for his salary."

And last but not least, did you know that Abraham Lincoln, with his family, visited Niagara Falls? Nor did I, but, in fact, they did, and actually wrote his thoughts when he wrote,

" Like scenes in some enchanted isle,

All bathed in liquid light

As distant mountains please the eye'

When twilight chases day--

As bugle tones, that, passing by,

In distance die away--

As leaving some grand water-fall

We lingering, list its roar"

O.K. one last item to share....Lincoln regarding his children wrote to his wife,

 

"Get another as soon as you can (person to take care of the kids, I suppose) to take charge of the dear codgers!"

In closing, I cannot say enough about this book, both in its insights into Lincoln as "just a man" like you and me, and for its beautiful photography. And who knew that Lincoln was a poet???

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Mail

"NO SATURDAY LETTERS? SIGN ME, HEARTBROKEN." Ah, a person after my own heart! This was the headline in our local newspaper the day that the Postal Service let the nation know there would soon be no delivery on Saturday. Now, I am all for saving money, and know that the Postal Service has been losing money ever since the "tech" invasion, but that is not my lament. The bigger worry for me is that "letter writing" is dying, if not already dead, as well as card sending and any other kind of personal snail mail. I agree that most of what we get in our mail box is either bills or junk advertising, so I really am not too unhinged by the demise of Saturday mail. But, don't you just love, every now in then, going to your mail box and finding a real letter or card from someone who took the time to think about you, and write to you! For me, it is always the jewel in the crown, or the prize in the box of crackerjacks.  In a previous BLOG, I wrote about the significant loss of letter writing (see letters), and what, in the future, our children and grandchildren will not know about how we felt about things; what we thought about things etc. or ever be able to save that special card or letter from Dad, Mom or Grandma. This loss is made more potent to me as I read the historical David McCullough books that give us such a genuine and real picture of the person he is writing about. We are able to peer into the person's real psych and personality by reading so many of the letters that are included in these books. I am presently reading "Truman" and were it not for the many letters that President Truman sent to his wife Bess, his mother and his sister...we would not know this profound and complicated man, nor would we know him as a real person who, thru his letters, lets us know how he is feeling about the major and significant years and events of his presidency. I know that letter writing cannot be brought back in this fast, tech society, and I am only lamenting what will be lost. Each week, I still try to write several letters, and perhaps send a card to someone I am thinking about.....not a big thing, but perhaps something that can brighten someone's day to know that someone was thinking about them.

What's Valentine's Day Have to Do With LOVE

WHEN FEBRUARY FIRST ROLLS AROUND, I ALWAYS THINK OF VALENTINE'S DAY. AFTER ALL, HERE IN THE MID-WEST IN MID-WINTER, IT IS A BRIGHT SPOT IN THE OTHERWISE COLD, WINTRY AND UNINTERESTING MONTH. FOR WHO DOESN'T LIKE TO THINK OF LOVE IN ALL ITS VARIOUS FORMS, AND MANIFESTATIONS! WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL, VALENTINE'S DAY WAS A DAY TO LOOK FORWARD TO WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A STRICT CATHOLIC SCHOOL WHERE NOT MUCH CHANGED IN THE REGULAR ROUTINE, AND THERE DID NOT SEEM TO BE MUCH REASON FOR JOY. BUT, ON VALENTINE'S DAY, WE WERE ALL ENCOURAGED TO DECORATE A SHOE BOX WITH VALENTINE'S DAY PARAPHERNALIA OF WHITE LACE DOILIES, RED TISSUE PAPER AND VARIOUS SIZES OF RED HEARTS. A CUT IN THE TOP OF THE BOX WAS FOR SLIPPING IN YOUR RECEIVED VALENTINES FROM EACH MEMBER OF THE CLASS, GIRLS AND BOYS. I REMEMBER GOING HOME AND WONDERING WHETHER THE VALENTINE FROM THE BOY I HAD A CRUSH ON AT THE TIME, HAD ANY SIGNIFICANCE AT ALL...BIGGER, NICER, PRETTIER THAN THE OTHERS....USUALLY NOT. ONE YEAR, MY BROTHER HAD BEEN SO STRUCK BY CUPID'S INFLUENCE THAT HE SHOT AN ARROW INTO THE FRONT YARD OF HIS GIRL-FRIEND'S HOUSE TO THE HORROR AND CONSTERNATION OF HER PARENTS. I THINK THAT THEY CALLED THE POLICE!
AS I GOT OLDER, VALENTINE'S DAY SEEMED LESS OF A DAY TO CELEBRATE THAN A DAY TO LAMENT THAT I DID NOT HAVE A BOYFRIEND OR "SIGNIFICANT OTHER" SENDING ME A CARD, CANDY OR FLOWERS. I BECAME A MEMBER OF THAT VAST GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WERE "SINGLE" ON VALENTINE'S DAY AND WISHED THAT THE DAY WOULD BE OVER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. TO THIS DAY, I HAVE A DEEP FEELING FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A SPECIAL "SOMEONE" TO SHARE THE DAY WITH. IT IS A VERY LONELY DAY FOR MANY.
TODAY, THANKS TO HALLMARK, FLOWER SHOPS AND CANDY MAKERS, VALENTINE'S DAY HAS A WIDER, MORE INCLUSIVE RANGE TO INCLUDE ANY AND ALL PEOPLE WE LOVE....MOMS, DADS, KIDS, GRANDS, FRIENDS AS WELL AS "SIGNIFICANT OTHERS" WHICH I THINK IS A VERY GOOD IDEA! AFTER ALL, LOVE IS LOVE WHICH TAKES MANY FORMS AND IS FELT BY EVERYONE TOWARDS THE SPECIAL PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES. SO, HURRAH FOR VALENTINE'S DAY, A DAY TO RECOGNIZE ALL THE PEOPLE WE LOVE IN THIS WORLD. AND JUST A THOUGHT, YOU NEVER HAVE TO WAIT FOR VALENTINE'S DAY TO LET THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE KNOW IT!