Water, Water, Water

Today I want to talk about WATER, the source of all life, particularly since I don't have any at the moment. Several days ago, I began hearing a drip, drip drip coming from our downstairs shower, and after mentioning it to my husband, he went into action...well, if truth be told, after a

 few days thinking about it. Never-the-less, when the day finally arrived (yesterday) for him to fix it, he attacked it like he does many projects..."I can do this!" Well, after pulling everything out (whatever that means), tools everywhere in our bathroom, and three trips to the hardware store, he finally was defeated. I felt so helpless, seeing the annoyance and distress on his face, but when I offered to help, he quickly declined my offer....smart man; I know NOTHING! In the meantime, Mike had turned off all the water in the house, so this morning....we went to shower at our neighbors, and made coffee with a little water we had managed to save in a pot. Oh how much we take for granted in our privileged life. I was reminded of my time in Africa where I too did not have a source for water, and when we did get it to make coffee or cook with, we had to boil it first. Our outside shower was provided with water from a rain container of some sort that filtered into the space for bathing, as I recall. And, this worked until, one morning, I was visited by a Green Mamba snake, and had to literally "run for my life." But, I digress. Back to the modern world...we are now awaiting a plumber to come and fix the drip, drip, drip. Should my husband have gone to this "call for help" first? I guess I really don't think so. I would rather have a mate who thinks he can fix things and is willing to try rather than one who doesn't. This being said from a girl who grew up with men in my family who didn't know how to change a light bulb! I am remined of a joke I heard once, "How many Irishmen does it take to change a lightbulb? Five, one to change it, and four to remark about how grand the old bulb was."They had other wonderful talkents but fixing things was not one of them. Again, today I am thinking about how water is such a precious resource in our lives that we cannot live without; I am more aware of that today as I sit here waiting for the plumber to arrive.
.
 

The pleasures of an Ice Storm

 

This past week, on a cold January day, we experienced an ice storm which went from rain to freezing rain, and then to ice. The following morning, I awoke to one of the most beautiful, crystal-like scenes out my back window that I, almost, have ever seen. Our lovely, three-trunked Birch Tree had sparkling glass-like branches, and even the grass shone and dazzled. I wanted to run to this BLOG, and quickly describe this awesome scene, but, felt that I could never do it justice. At the same time, I had been reading the wonderful book,"John Adams" by David McCullough (if you have not read this, it is now on my "top five" list if anyone cares) and was just coming to the end when, John Adams, himself, described just such a scene outside his own farmhouse. So, if I may be so presumptuous, I am going to borrow his description, written so many years ago (1824, I believe) because he has described so well what I cannot. I love that human beings, no matter what the era, love and pay attention to some of the same things which bring us so much joy, as this scene did for both John Adams and myself.
"A rain had fallen from some warmer region in the skies when the cold here below was intense to extreme. Every drop was frozen wherever it fell in the trees, and clung to the limbs and sprigs as if it had been fastened by hooks of steel. The earth was never more universally covered with snow, and the rain had frozen upon a crust on the surface which shone with the brightness of burnished silver. The icicles on every sprig glowed in all the luster of diamonds. Every tree was a chandelier of cut glass. I have seen a Queen of France with eighteen millions of livres of diamonds upon her person and I declare that all the charms of her face and figure added to all the glitter or her jewels did not make an impression on me equal to that presented by every shrub. The whole world was glittering with precious stones." (John Adams) Now, this man was not only a great American hero, statesman, president etc. he was also a great writer!

A Healthy, Happy Plan

Every now and then, I come across an article in our little daily newspaper that jumps out at me, and this past week, there was just such an entry. The title was, "Chocolate, dancing, part of healthier you." This, or course, piqued my interest....especially the word, "chocolate." And, as good news would have it, the Cleveland Clinic (excellent reputation) experts have suggested seven tips for a healthier/happier lifestyle. (www.health.cleveland-clinic.org) which I really think I can live with! I have been waiting for just such a list to incorporate into my 2013 resolutions, and these I think I can actually accomplish! The first suggestion is: Eat more chocolate! It increases blood flow to the brain, decreases the impact of heart disease and can even fight depression. Wow. Bring it on! I am all for that! Of course, they suggest only a small square of chocolate three times a day, so I will have to decrease my consumption, but still. The second suggestion is to Dance. It burns calories, reduces stress, strengthens muscles and bones and can improve relationships. And, if you can believe, I have just begun a dance class that I am hoping will do all of these things! Next on their list is to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone. This will stimulate your brain which needs exercise too, according to these experts. My husband and I have just invested in a 1,000 piece picture puzzle, and if it does not drive up crazy first, I think this can qualify. Ah, and fourth on the list is to Take a Mental Time Out. Stress and other problems can take its tole on good health, so these folks suggest a vacation; a day off; a time to relax and do something you enjoy. O.K. I'm in....Next, and also one of my favorites is Drink Coffee. Research has shown (who cares what research) that drinking two to three 8 ounce cups of coffee daily can reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease by up to 20 percent. Well, that is not much, but if there is a "health" reason to drink coffee, head me toward Starbucks. Now the next one, my two sister-in-laws will love. Go Shoe Shopping. Well, this would not be the kind of shoe shopping they would have in mind ,as the experts suggest replacing high heels with shoes with a thicker heel that's2 1/4 inches or smaller. And stop pinching your feet and toes with those pointy shoes; go for the square-toed look. O.K., I can live with that. And finally, Laugh. Studies have shown laughter's positive effects on blood flow and sleep among other things, and I have heard that it can also help with healing. Now, before you laugh at these suggestions, try them. They seem pretty easy and painless to me.

NUMBER 13

As we began the new year of 2013, and as we swore in the new 113th congress of the United States, I began to think about the number 13, and its connotations of being unlucky. Egads! I certainly do not want to begin this year thinking that it will be an unlucky one! Last year was bad enough, and I want to look forward to good things in the year ahead. Be that as it may, there is still this lingering thought in my head that the number 13 is unlucky. People who have a phobia around this belief are said to be, Triskaidekaphobia. I am not kidding here. So this idea must have some significance in our culture given such a long and substantial name! As we know, buildings, hotels and even street addresses avoid the number 13, well, like the plague. Now why is this and where did this idea come from. I did a little searching on the Web, and encountered some, both pagan and Christian, ideas for this and also some mathematical ones, i.e. the number 12 is thought to be the "perfect" number, able to be divided by so many others, and 13, a prime number, comes after that and is not very cooperative in the math family. The best reason that I could find to think of the number 13 as unlucky is that kids officially become "teens" at the age of 13, and we know what that looks like! But, lucky for us, some cultures actually think the number 13 is lucky, Italy and China for example. Now, here is my take on all of this; the number 13 is as lucky or unlucky as you decide it to be. I am convinced, at this stage of my life, that we do, in fact, create our own reality, and if you choose to think of 13 as unlucky, it probably will be for you. A bit of a concrete example of this, and perhaps a very poor "scientific" example occurred in my own life many years ago. Often, and I mean often, when I would look at the clock, it would register 7:47. It kind of spooked me, and I began thinking that I should never get on a 747 Jet, and what not. And for a time, thinking that these numbers were omens to bad things, I decided to change my thinking to envisioning only good things; that it was a sign that everything was going right. I now even say this out loud when I continue to look at the clock and see these numbers. A pyridine shift that all of us can make when faced with negativity. But, just to be on the safe side, don't walk under any ladders, and avoid all black cats!

New Year's 2013

New Year's bells are beginning to ring around the world as I write my New Year's resolutions, once again. So many things in 2012 had us feeling dismayed,  devastated, and hopeless from "forces"greater than ourselves which, after the trauma settles, can bring insight that life is precious indeed, and that many things are beyond our control in this world that we want to be hopeful about, but also must  maintain a sense of the reality, that anything can occur to change our life as we know it, and expect it to be. So, can we move forward today with hope for a good new year? I suppose that this is a question that each of us must answer for him/herself....knowing that just as things can go awry, so too can they surprise and delight. I am hoping for more of the latter. I really do not have much on my resolution list this year. I was disappointed with last year's resolution to feed the winter birds, and after great effort to do so, had the squirrels get to the feeders first. Ugh! For this coming year, I do want to "get on board" to perform (at least) 26 acts of kindness in memory of those who died in Connecticut. This was a suggestion by Ann Curry; formally of the TODAY SHOW (why in the world did they ever let her go???) which I saw on T.V. Generally, I am hoping for more kindness in the world all around, and of course, it must begin with each of us. Once again, poetry speaks to me and I recently came across a poem by James Kavanaugh that reflects my emotions and mood at this time when, yes, time passes and options disappear and love means more.

As time passes and options disappear
Love means more, and sunsets
I want to stroll across green hills
More than to climb mountains
Lately I listen more to the stars
Wise and patient in their silent staring
What is an hour or a year?
What is a week or a lifetime?
What is time?
When love means more,
And sunsets.
Wishing all who read this BLOG many many moments of kindness, peace, love and joy.

Newtown, Connecticut Tragedy

Today is December 18, 2012, and I certainly, like the rest of the world, did not anticipate that I would be grieving for the community of Newtown, Connecticut. Actually, I do not even want to write this BLOG, but my heart says that I must in order, in my very small way, honor those brave people who now must go on with their lives, forever changed. I want them to know that I grieve with them even though I cannot begin to feel the depth of hurt they must feel for the losses they have experienced. "As if the soul's fullness didn't sometimes overflow into the emptiest of metaphors for,no one, EVER, can give the exact measure of his needs, his apprehensions, or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked cauldron on which we bang out tunes that make bears dance, when we want to move the stars to pity." (Flaubert)  I am also thinking of the ancient words of Seneca (4 B.C-A.D.65) who said, in a letter to Lucilius, "Sometimes even to live is an act of courage." It will take great courage to continue to live, and go on in this community, and the families there will need our thoughts and prayers for a very long time. As many of you know, I have a great love of poetry, and sometimes, poetry speaks the words we ourselves cannot say; they often convey a feeling we have within us that wants to express itself, and today, I reread John Donne's poem, "No Man is an Island," and it helped me with what I am feeling. For this reason, I wish to share it here.

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND  by John Donne (1572-1631) London, England

No man is an island,
Entire of itself
Each is a piece of the continent
A part of the main
If a clod be washed away by the sea
Europe is the less
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend were.
Each man's death diminishes me
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Today, the world, and the people who inhabit it, are surly diminished by the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.
 

IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS???

Every year at this time, my husband carries up from the basement, the very large and heavy box of my Christmas book collection. These books are treasures that I read and look at each Christmas season, and something that brings me great joy. I, of course, have my favorites, and this morning I was reading The New Yorker Christmas book collection, and laughing again at all the Christmas cartoons through the years. I have the usual; The Night Before Christmas and The Grinch (an actual autographed edition) and various editions of A Christmas Story, but my absolute favorite of all time is the little gem of the story of Virgina who wrote to the New York Sun Times because she was beginning (at age eight) to have doubts about the reality of Santa Claus. She wrote to the Sun Times because her father told her that, "if you see it in the Times, it's so." Virginia says in her letter, "Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?" I am guessing that most of you are familiar with this famous letter to the New York Sun Times, sent by Virgina, but each Christmas, when I reread it, I grasp a little more of the meaning so I want to share here, the answer that The Sun Times wrote to Virgina. I absolutely love it!

" Virginia, your little friends are wrong (who were telling her there was no Santa.) They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical  age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas, how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in Fairies! You might get your Papa to hire men to watch in chimneys on Christmas evening to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see Fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside the curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world, there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus? Thank God, he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virgina, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

And, I hasten to add that Helen Keller had this very same "take" on the world when she said, "The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."

So there you are; I believe in Santa Claus and all the other "things" in life that bring me great joy and an everlasting sense of wonder.