From my spot here in the great room I can see "what I haven't done" towards finishing the exterior paint job on our house. I could finish it in a day, and I might, do that today. What's left is part of the little house and touch up along one side. I wanted to get this done so I could focus my full attention on the quilts (that I made for Christmas gifts). The summer heat finally shut me down.

I started that job after we came home from our summer camping trip.

We needed  warm sleeping bags on the night we spent on the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon. Boy were we miserable that night! All three of us were cold, but making matters worse, my daughter C had altitude sickness. As soon as there was light we headed to the lodge there for a big breakfast. My fruit salad featured blackberries the size of shooter marbles and fresh cantaloupe - so good.

I guess I feel bad about not at very least creating a post to save some of the camping trip memories ...

The trip wasn't very well planned.  We knew roughly where we wanted to go - with Zion being the furthest point, and Denver would be our last stop before heading home.

White Sands was an add on ... very cool. I don't need to see it again, but it is definitely a must see. I asked one of my flying buds to send a pic from "up high" and it's a cool looking white spot on New Mexico.  The lava fields at Carrizozo, Valley of Fires, was another very cool add on to the over all loose plan. Fair to say New Mexico was a delightful surprise because of the rich natural beauty. Carlsbad, NM was definitely our worst over night camping experience though. It was just a mess of a town in my opinion.

This was a remote area for a sissy girl camp site ... probably was our 3rd night out and I was still "skittish". Turned out I was the most cautious of our little group of three.

The petroglyphs we saw the next day around Three Rivers, New Mexico really made the campsite selection worth it for me ... on the drive in to the camping area we passed through private ranch land and saw magnificent horses roaming free. That was pretty cool.

I seem to have a thing of LOVING searching for and finding little less than obvious treasures ... it was exercised frequently during this trek through the Southwest.

The ruins at Chaco are amazing.
Definitely on my second look list.

Those two pictures (above) were taken at Chaco.

Pretty fabulous. Remote though ... we drove for an hour or more one way in on a rutted dirt road. There's a better way in but that wasn't our route.

Carlsbad - in a picture

The two above were taken at Mesa Verde - also a favorite National Park

It's amazing to see how the ancient people lived.

four corners - basically  photo op stop and a bunch of merchant stalls

The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest was an add on for this trip.

I had been there several times during my childhood but my traveling buddies hadn't seen it before.

Breakfast at the Lodge on the North Rim. 

Grand Canyon

Zion - hard to say it was my favorite stop, but it is one I need to go back to and stay awhile.

typical campsite

bare essentials kept close at hand
the showers provided at most of our campsites were
adequate ... and for pay.
I came to look forward to the next one!

This is the MOAB area

we were without cell coverage a good bit of the time

which has led us to research better options for the next trip
especially if we "get" a Sprinter Van which is looking like a go.

typical breakfast

typical dinner
but I'm practicing on our home fire ring pit
for next time because there's something very appealing about cooking over an open flame!

One of our sons joined us for a few nights in the Denver area.

Before that we tucked in at Blackhawk for the comforts of  pristine clean sheets and all the running water we could use!

First day hike ... LBJ State Park

Thanksgiving, the day, has come and gone and before we are way long past, I thought I might "try" to post some of my pictures which surrounded the holiday.

We had beautiful weather here, most especially for late November, but it was punishingly cold in a few places in the US, most notably for me, in DEN where flights out were canceled ... not to be rescheduled for several days. Three made it in on Friday. 

It's so good when they can make it home.

This is Oliver, a very sweet (and handsome) bobtailed  orange marmalade cat. He's been here a good bit and is totally chill with us.

Lol!
No, thats not me! That's my husband and that's my dog ...
and that's superwoman (aka 4)!

My dad loved to make turkey and avocado tacos with the leftovers. I actually probably prefer that to the traditional meal. This year, V had the idea to attempt turkey taquitos. My parents, both great cooks, would be delighted to see their grands enjoying cooking so much as they do.

It's one of my favorite things to see them doing either separately or in combo.

special request bacon, biscuits and gravy
and the dog got the leftovers again
Thanks again to V for the flowers!
Sweet.

One, and Four's feet
(which were up on the coffee table a good bit this year
note worthy because she is not a good "rester" but she's getting more chill,
I like to see them relaxing when they are here.)

One brought the puzzle, we seem to be puzzle workers when they come home. pink check mark on the missing piece which coincidentally showed up laying on top of the puzzle once One checked back in a few days later ... hmmmmm. He knew we all (yes, there was some discussion) thought him capable of sitting a piece off somewhere and I moved all the furniture around looking for it, and scolded my dog for his tabletop height dust brush tail swishing around everywhere, One, eyes dancing with his unique brand of delight, was quick to point out that the piece is actually in the picture I took and sent out for all to see. We laughed about that! Even better! Hidden in plain sight by serendipity.

I like to do the solid color pieces best. All of the pieces I found are either in the sky or that blasted tree where the temporally missing piece finally completed this one. It's neat to watch the activity around the puzzle.

Last Christmas, Two's significant other, who has been a part of the bigger us for several years now, observed that my five are like the Power Rangers, each pretty awesome as individuals, but completely a force to be reckoned with, potentially intimidating, when they join together as the Morphin MEGAZOID.  (that's cultural literacy check millennial 101)  I'm looking for a Power Ranger puzzle for next.

It's a lot of people. Seems normal to me, but may be a bit much at one time for some. 

Sometimes there's a bit of drama. All Five, plus 2sSO, will be in for a longer stay at Christmas so this was a sorta warm up. I am so excited ... and I may be getting better at hosting adult children. I'm realizing it's an art form. And they are the best parts of my heart.

BBQ lunch with Three

Three left his cap on little sister's desk.
He'll be back for it soon.  I like seeing their things around.

This is Thanksgiving so far. Apples on the table for two pies, one blackberry apple double crust the other just apple but with half tart, half sweet, and vanilla ice cream with a hot buttered rum sauce. V brought the flowers when she came in  - she seems more grown up every time I see her! I had forgotten how turbulent the early twenties can seem ... she has a problem room mate  and a bestie who seems to be headed for trouble, derailed from a potentially brilliant career by a weird new boyfriend. Her insights were very comforting- I’m glad she knows what trouble looks like, but it’s sad that some things must be learned on ones own. She asked me to talk with the girl when she’s here at Christmas and I will if it seems right.
Those feet up on the table will multiply to a total of six pair this year. We are missing Two and her Sweetheart this year.

I am thankful for this time in my life. 60 has been great and I feel hopeful for good days ahead. It’s good to be healthy and at a low stress time.
Pictures from that hobby I picked up this year will be forth coming. I don’t think it has the staying power of a hobby, maybe a pastime.

I’m reading up on Enneagram  “stuff” lately. I don’t know really what I think of it yet but the popular characterizations may be too much of a short cut to understanding. What I’m really excited to write posts about so that I might better understand it are my notes on the Jewish Festivals. I’m still waiting on a few Zola booklets to help my understanding, but that Festival thing really should be part of  our basic knowledge.

Today I read an apparently well known Jewish parable  -

There once was a mighty king who owned the finest diamond in all the world.  People came from far and near to see the precious stone, which sat glowing in a display case.

One day the king passed the case and decided he wished to hold the stone that had given him such pleasure. As he stood gazing at it, a flash of sunlight happened to strike at a certain angle and the king noticed for the first time that his diamond had a flaw.

So precious had the jewel become to him that the ruler was distraught. He called for his advisers to tell him what to do. The advisers pondered and could arrive at no solution. Finally, by consensus they agreed the king should offer a reward to anyone who could come forward and ease the ruler’s pain.

The reward was duly posted and the amount was substantial. Word traveled quickly and soon jewelers from throughout the land lined up to offer their suggestions.  Each viewed the stone and shook his head. No, the stone was permanently flawed and the only alternative offered to the sad king was to cut the diamond at the flaw line and make two smaller stones. To this the king would not agree.

Finally, all the jewelers had been heard. Left standing was a poor bedraggled man who had been pushed to the end of the line by all the others. Eyeing him, the king asked if he, too, were a jeweler.

No, I am not, your highness. I do lapidary work. I see beauty not only in precious jewels but in stones from the ground, as well.

The king hesitated a moment and thought carefully. He nearly turned the lowly man away, but there was something that glowed in the lapidist’s eyes that caught and held the king’s attentions, some sureness.

Your highness, if you will permit, I can not only restore the jewel, but I can bring it to even greater beauty than it had before. Please trust me.

The king stood quite still, his hands behind his ermine-bedecked velvet robes.  Finally, after what seemed an eternity to all who listened, he ordered the lapidist to begin his work.

His advisors were aghast.

How can you trust such a man with such a jewel?

No! Sire, please reconsider.

But the king held firm.

You may proceed, he said, but be aware that if you fail you will die.

I understand, sire, said the little man.

He was given a special room in which to work, one that glowed in the sunlight from many sides. The king watched as the man examined the stone and began chiseling around the imperfection. Startled, the king demanded to know why the lapidary was furthering damaging the stone.

Please, your highness, he said, wait until I am done and you shall see I have not damaged the diamond.

A week went by, and then another. Frequently the king would stop into the workshop, and each time the lapidist would assure him and then reassure him that all was going well.

Finally, the great day came. With a look of pride the poor man entered the king’s chamber and, kneeling, presented the ruler with the finished jewel. The king loved his diamond so greatly that he actually feared what he might see.

Then, after saying a small prayer to his god, he looked down at the gem now glowing in the palm of his hand. What he saw brought such an aura of joy to him that it matched the happiness on the lapidist’s face.

What the man had done was to engrave a rosebud around the imperfection and in creating the rosebud he used the flaw as its stem.

The king was truly awed for the poor man had kept his word. Not only did he have his precious stone but it was now even more special as the flower glistened from every angle.

2 April 2011

Today Five and I will spend the best part of the day on a major University campus as she participates in several Science Olympiad events. This is her second year at "the big show" and she is very happy and excited. ... And she's trying to play it cool. This is probably my 15th visit to this particular event ... I am enjoying watching my daughter's joy. This is a special day for her ... The competitive buzz has empowered her to request her first cup of StarBucks. Yeah, seriously. She is cloistered in her event and I am on a coffee run. Starbucks opens in one minute ... 10:59 local time ... She says she wants plenty of cream and sugar ... Light and sweet, just like her momma.

Notes from 2011

"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next."
-Michael Gerber THE E-Myth REVISITED

I think this is an accurate statement ... perhaps stated more emphatically then I "own" ... I think this attitude is part of a bigger picture. 
This is why I don't wait well ... I can see the value in "wait" (As in wait upon the Lord), but wait is not my default mode. 
Wait is a choice and I have recently learned that it is not necessarily a passive choice.  Wait upon the Lord makes perfect sense to me ... wait on who knows what to  ... what? rescue you? ... tell you what to do? ... dwindle your options down to one or two?  I have gotten myself in to a little life lesson in an airplane because I didn't think about waiting ... but I always remember that now ... wait can be a good choice when you know what you are waiting on, and how long you can wait (until wait is not longer viable).  Seems like you'd definitely want to be making some plans ... while you wait. 


In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21



Proverbs is pretty much loaded with this idea ... make your plans,but the Lord ... .  This seems to me to be a call to engage.  Religion sometimes makes this idea hard ... from my prospective.  But, it's really pretty simple.  I see it as a raft ride ... I love rafting.  I love dragging White Russians in the cold stream ... for later ... those are for days when you just want a leisurely float.  And then there are other days when the roar of the water calls out and you squint your eyes and laugh out loud wondering if you'll ever have to really grow up.  Maybe you chose your day in advance ... way before you put in. Sometimes, it seems like you are presented with a choice (either in the planning stage or if you are not a planner ... on the fly, so to speak) and later find that either route empties into the same pool  ... downstream.  I can start at many different points, there are many different experiences offered ... everything from Texas Gourmet (Uhhuh ...    http://www.crumpetsa.com/rafting.html  ) rafting all the way down to a  little pink blow up floaty ... the  Rio Grande emptys it's muddy flow in to the Gulf of Mexico ... I've seen it from a fishing boat off South Padre Island.  I would like to raft the Big Bend area. 
I think that is how it is with God.
We chose the route, He already sees the destination. 
I love that expression Vaya Con Dios for this very reason ... Go with God ... always a good plan.



I have been busy while I wait. And there have been a few days when I didn't wait well ... . I am starting to hope that I have heard the songs that this downtime has sung in to my soul.  I need a break from myself!

From 2011 - in the mood for a bad mood - just goofiness.

Okay here's something kinda funny: well, first the background, it's certainly not my intention to hide this.

Last year that professional hero who I talked with about this blog said the very least I should do is make an attempt to record visits to this site somewhere ... Somehow. There are a few whacks out there he said. I said some goofy blog of a housewife who happens to love flying ... Surely the voltage here would be way too low to charge a whacko. Just do that stat counter thing he said.
So I did.

The statcounter ... Well, for one thing, it's free ... and I am reminded of the old adage, "you get what you pay for" ... Of course, I've been on the planet long enough to believe that one frequently overpays ... and is then expected to tip!
The stat counter feature records some "hits" ... And gives the possible location for the cellular tower that is pinging the site. If apple devices are used it may or may nor capture the visit. If it does, it's documented as "service provider" and basically says ... USA. Whenever I have asked friends to open my page it never records their hit ...and this is strange: it might show several different pageloads, but record the time spent as zero ... It's just not good data. It is fun to see the page maybe being openned up in other countries ... and it is a lot of fun to see the words translated to foreign languages ... very cool for a little country mouse like me.  But as far as who is actually reading the blog ... who knows, and who cares for the most part.  The free level of data that is collected is unreliable ... and doesn't even agree with the blogger stats ...and the time range is very limited.  My good friend who is down in South Texas ... never ever shows her looking in on me ... but she does. Okay ... We all know South Texas is the armpit of the world ... perhaps reception is poor there.   So ... My daughter was recently visiting in Los Angeles. That would seem to be an area that would record a hit.I asked her to open the page on her phone and on her laptop ... she did ... her visit wasn't captured.  Seems like it works best with hits from outside the US ... maybe ... it doesn't matter to me.
Why am I writing about this? This is why ... All of a sudden statcounter is lighting up with "Google queries" ... What is meant by "this quote" ... What about true north funeral something or other.  Weird little arteries that dead end on a blog ... questions that will find no answers here.  This is what kinda has me going tonight ... these google queries. Maybe I am just in the mood to be in a bad mood.  Someone wants to know what has changed on the FAA written exam

I have a few pet peeve ... .  One is the toilet papar roll/wall dispenser. Seriously, I'm not even kidding around here, in our home ... and every home I have ever lived in ... okay including the only outhouse I've ever visited and the job site type porta-potties ... That spring loaded dowel that attaches itself to a handy little t-paper dispenser ... If you use the last bit on the roll ... for the love of all things lovely ... please freaking reload the roll holder! It would be so extra credit to "point" the tip of the roll, but never something one would count on. Every freaking day in my house ... I pick up new rolls and hang them in the appropriate location ... that pisses me off.  And has absolutely nothing to do with the google search ... they are related only as pet peeves.
So here is the other thing ...

Flight training/testing gamesmanship. Okay ... That is not right. Gamesmanship I get. Gamesmanship is actually appropriate ... perhaps expected ... perhaps even admirable. The slackerness is what zings me ... Some google search recorded by the statcounter asks "what are the written test changes?" I would really like to ask ... where in real life are you ever given all the possible questions and all the correct answers in a multiple choice format? If your goal is to score well ... memorize the answers. I'm not even being judgmental with that remark. There are all kinds of reasons why people who want to be pilots just memorize the answers. I think it's stupid to leave yourself exposed like that ... Cramming for a test and "understanding" pertinate info are two different things ... But surely a person who puts a plane up in the air gets that. Here's the deal as I see it ... The written is an opportunity for you to see if you "know" the stuff you really should know before you fly yourself and your buds around. There is a ton of stuff and it takes quite a bit of effort to "get it" ... It's impossible to know everything ... Someone said aviation knowledge is like a block of Swiss cheese ... No matter how big your chunk, there are still going to be holes in it. So ... The written might be an instrument to indicate weak areas.

Now it is the next day ... and I see that this little post is just a little rant.  I see that I really was in the mood to be in a bad mood ... as I suspected.  This may be about the pre-dinner dirty martini ... looks like I might do well to stick with ice cold water ... .   I'm going to go ahead and post this so I can see how ridiculous I sometimes am.

Choices are sacrifices

Notes from 2011 (I still like ice cream and coffee and altitude.)

Choices are sacrifices ... It means giving up something you want for something you want more.

I'm not a big TV watcher ... I like to read, or maybe do a suduko while a program is on. My husband enjoys relaxing with a show ... During the last several months we have "seen" several seasons of Mad Men (ummm ... not really a fan, though I do think it's well written), Flash Forward (Sci-Fi, I liked the concept), Burn Notice (strong character development of weak characters ... Stuff gets blown up often, predictable, but okay), and one I will actually watch ... White Collar (FBI guys team up with a couple of interesting Con men to fight crime). We watch them on NetFlix or purchase them at iTunes. That line above is from one of those shows. I thought it was interesting enough to stop flipping through pictures on Pinterest, or stop Stumbling through articles on topics of interest ... and tap it out on my little yellow pad.

Choices are sacrifices.

That seems right ... This or that with frequently unknown penalties and/or pleasures. Life is a series of almost constant choices.

Giving up something you want for something you want more ...

Well, that's pretty great ... like you're a winner either way.  
I don't think that's very realistic.
 How 'bout "something I don't want for something I want even less".

How do we know to chose. We can't see very far in to the outcomes of choices.

I am hungry for ice cream ... I want it to taste like coffee and altitude. That flavor is unavailable.

O'Donohue on Memory

“Your soul is the priestess of memory, selecting, sifting, and ultimately gathering your vanishing days toward presence."

"On its outer surface time is vulnerable to transience. Regardless of its sadness or beauty, each day empties and vanishes. In its deeper heart, time is transfiguration. Time minds possibility and makes sure that nothing is lost or forgotten. That which seems to pass away on the surface of time is in fact transfigured and housed in the tabernacle of memory.” John O'Donohue

First ever.

Scrap squares bound with a butterfly stitch.

I finished attaching the binding today and have just the handwork left.

Two others are away to the longarm.

I have two left to do, starting one tomorrow.

Palo Duro Canyon

Some of the comments on this photo, snapped on recent campout, observe that the fire looks like a barking dog. Or a coyote. I didn't see coyotes, but I did hear them barking off somewhere in the dark distance. I saw deer tracks in the mud covering the trails and I saw wild turkeys who seemed tame enough wandering the camp sites. I saw a tarantula who was the size of my palm and I heard something scratching in the gravel of the campsite. By the second night I was too tired to notice. 

Turns out I love tent camping. Nobody could be more surprised about that than I. I like that you not only get to see things differently then you do from your usual places or even a hotel balcony, but that you are immersed in what is going on around you. I sleep well. Mostly. If I do wake up during the night it's because I sense my dog is contemplating licking my face or something about the cot isn't quite right. I don't wake up with my heart pounding. I probably feel safer out there than I should, but the camp grounds are invariably full of airstreams and fancy pop out RVs pulled by big trucks driven largely by men who discretely indicate their willingness to have served the country. 

I like it out there so much at dusk when the hush falls and just for those very few moments darkness is barely an expectation. it feels like just a second later it is dark. Velvety dark and ten degrees cooler. I love it when the night insects begin to call and I listen hoping to hear an owl as well. Then the stars. I'm always looking for "the first one", but it seems like a few appear together, and more later and later, and I wonder if that's the Milky Way or just a high veil of stratus crystals. I think about that dust mote and the Pale Blue Dot. We leave the top off of the tent and I enjoy waking to notice where the moon has flown to while I snoozed. 

White Heron surveying The San Gabriel River southern branch

60 has been my favorite year so far and we've finished only 2/3rds of it.  Probably several things have come together to make this such a neat time in my life. A major one for me is ... one of the things I have struggled with over the years is celebrating important occasions, marking milestones well. The Happiness Hypothesis guy, Haidt, well, let's do this...

The Happiness Hypothesis is a book about ten Great Ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea that has been discovered by several of the world's civilizations -- to question it in light of what we now know from scientific research, and to extract from it the lessons that still apply to our modern lives and illuminate the causes of human flourishing.

I bought the book back in 2011 in support of some things I was thinking about back then. Lately it was added to my Audible library because I wanted to read it again before recommending it to Tommy's daughter in law (He'd adore her ... and they are expecting a son in January I can feel him busting buttons on his robe of white.) 
A friend and I were trying to float some of the scorching Texas heat off the other day when the topic of my hearing loss came up. I don't want to fiddle with hearing aids yet. I can tune out most of what I don't want to hear while still hearing birds chirp and the fountain energy resolving with a happy patter in the pool ... I was raised back when Walter Cronkite read you news you could count on, back before Third World Problems were our own. 
She is a nurse Doctor (taught nursing) evolved to "Life Coach", super smart (like, I can see her actually thinking about what was said rather than what she's going to reply and it makes me smile). She is the most "free spirited" person I can ever remember letting in to my life. She said she has recently read studies linking hearing loss with dementia and told me that the area of my brain that processes and interprets language is also the memory recall center. I thought, but didn't say, I don't know about that*, she is after all a professional in that broader area. 

 *just because I have hearing loss doesn't mean that I will also develop dementia ... but maybe there is a link ... so have they linked memory with smell because my memories are easily prompted by smells as well ... sounds actually seem to recall feelings before memories (like this, Rumors album, released in 1977 which was the year I took my little world by the tail ... i hear a snippet form that and I smile. I feel happy ... why do I feel happy? Oh yeah, 1977.  Language is different from sound, obviously related for the hearing, but still ... . Then I wondered about selective hearing, or selecting what I hear, and the idea of listening to the Haidt book quickly progressed to my Amazon wishlist. I'm listening to it while I sew quilt tops together and while I garden. 
I like the quiet I find myself with. I didn't tell her this (because of that life coach thing) when she asked me what hearing loss "feels" like. But ... it feels good to me, my interior space is invitingly calm and generally happy ... it's the outside world that is troubling. That a dial down the societal hum makes sense to me. It's in my good choice column for now. I like the book and I love being read too, it there are memory health advantages to me gained that's even better!


60 has been my favorite year so far and we've finished only 2/3rds of it.

Probably several things have come together to make this such a neat time in my life. A major one for me is ... one of the things I have struggled with over the years is celebrating important occasions, marking milestones well. My sixtieth birthday celebration seemed like a good place to start trying to remedy that . The Happiness Hypothesis guy, Haidt, said, the time after responsibilities to/for others decrease and the time before health related problems occur, is measurably the best, happiest time of our lives.  That has been my experience as well.
Haidt also noted that it is the actual process of achieving our goal that creates happiness while the completion of those efforts usually culminates in something more like a sign of relief. that idea also resonates with my goal oriented self.
Before my big birthday I told my husband that a "one time thing" really didn't seem like enough time  to eek all the joy out of arriving at sixty, the big 6-oh, feeling as wonderful about life as I do. He said, for this year we will celebrate your birthday everyday, and he is reminding me of why I liked him in the first place every time he says "It's your birthday!"

"Will you grill steaks on Sunday?"

"For your birthday?  Sure!"

One of the ways to "be" happier according to Haidt, and I believe it, is to chose to spend your time doing things that make you happy. I like walking as much as I have liked flying. I like being at the walking time of my life. I'm really enjoying this quieter season of my life.