Dear Reader:

As I watched the progression of Anne’s blue crab painting, on Facebook, I knew I wanted a copy of this little cutie when it was finished.

Timing is everything….after I got home from Mt. Pleasant Friday, I unpacked and plopped on the sofa for a cat nap before starting yesterday’s blog. I had just finished it when Anne called and asked what I was doing for supper. “Nothing” I said…”My mind hasn’t gotten that far yet.” Anne invited me for supper to try out a new “tomato pie” pastry that looks like a pizza and was out of sight!

She said she always took magazines on vacation to read which she never did at home and found the tomato pie pastry recipe under one of Paula Dean’s favorites. It is now my favorite too!

We had ro·tis·ser·ie chicken with these wonderful pastry slices of tomatoes, herbs, and cheese…..melts in your mouth. As we were eating Anne mentioned that she had picked up the reproductions of the blue crab and had a few extra copies.

“Sold” I yelled and was even luckier to get a set of note cards that had just come in with the blue crab on it too.

I love pictures of crabs and am always fascinated watching the little fiddler crabs whenever I am at the beach. They play a constant game of hide and seek….but then in real life don’t we humans play the same game (when you stop and think about it?)

*I have decided to name my blue crab “Carolina”…quite fitting since the Atlantic coast is home to the blue crab population.

I found some information on crabs that connects them to us through certain enlightening human behaviors.

Scientists also have found that crabs live by the age-old saying, “Love thy neighbor.” If a male Australian fiddler crab’s burrow is being invaded by an intruder looking to take over the burrow, his male neighbor will leave his own burrow to help fight off the intruder.

Scientists have also found that the two neighboring crabs will never fight each other, and they even work hard to keep their homes clean and comfortable for their babies. So sweet!

If you get caught cheating on your homework, you’ll hopefully learn from your mistake and never do it again. Crabs can also retain information so that they don’t make the same mistakes in the future!

In one instance, researchers moved a screen over water above crabs to mimic the cues of a seagull or other predators passing overhead. At first, the crabs ran into their burrows. But after a few times, the crabs learned that the darkness didn’t correspond with danger, and they no longer fled.

Because of the biological dynamics of the legs being attached to the side with their “knees” bent outward…..crabs must move sideways to meet their goals. 

Don’t we humans also have to stop sometimes and do a quick step to the side to give a situation more consideration before deciding whether to go forward or backward?

*Never taking a direct (forward, or head-on) route, the crab makes its way on land with a sideways tap-dance.

This is a reminder that not all paths are direct and not all ways will be forthcoming in their meaning. When you are moving in a certain direction, and you feel a bit misguided, call upon the travel-savvy crab. She will guide you in an unorthodox way – taking lesser known paths of least resistance and bring you to clarity.

Crabs communicate with each other by drumming or waving their pincers. Humans use their hands to wave a greeting to another human being. 

Just like humans come in all different types of skin tone, so do crabs…..all the colors of the rainbow plus more are found in the beauty of crabs.

Unfortunately the blue crab, like “Carolina,” is the most popular species of crabs to eat and thus their life span (3 years) is a difficult task to accomplish.

Unlike their close cousin, the lobster, who can live up to 100 years…blue crabs are just too desired in seafood restaurants.

Eric Carle’s beautifully illustrated children’s book about Henry the Hermit Crab is a great book to read to children who are going through an unsettling change….like a move to a new home.

Since hermit crabs outgrow their shells they constantly have to venture out on the ocean floor, watch out for predators while they search for a larger home with more room. Then just when they get settled back in and learn all their neighbors, it is time to move again.

Henry learns however, that every move has brought him into contact with new friends who help him decorate his shell and keep him company….soon he doesn’t dread his next move so much, but looks on it as a new adventure….with opportunities to make new friends.

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So until tomorrow….Let us take the time to learn valuable lessons from all God’s creatures….especially the crabs. Be a good neighbor, learn from our mistakes, take time to move sideways and give ourselves time to think about our next step in life, welcome diversity with all the other colored crabs in the world, be friendly and wave at others, don’t fear change but look on it as an adventure and (For Heavens’ Sake) stop being “crabby”.…life is too short not to be happy!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I got “Rabbit” a little more spruced up for the Fourth of July tomorrow! I hope everyone has a most wonderful holiday….it’s all about FREEDOM and on the fourth we get to “taste” freedom with hot dogs and hamburgers! Don’t forget the watermelon!

*Just got these beautiful pictures of Sis Kinney’s day lilies….in the mountains they are just coming into their own. Thank you Sis for sharing your “delights of the day” with us. Ours are definitely on the down slope.

After buying “Carolina the Crab” we tried a “twosie” photo with the painting…..and at least we aren’t two old crabby crabs….we can still be silly. Anne sent another photo with just the painting she declared “more dignified”….but who wants that….the painting stands alone but this one is funnier.

Dear Reader:

The rest of the quote from the blog title today reads: “Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts”. Paramahansa Yogananda

Can’t we tell when a child is running fever and doesn’t feel well? It is always in the eyes….”They look weak” is the universal diagnosis pronounced, confidently, by  parents and grandparents down through the ages.

Thursday afternoon Jakie just wanted mommy to hold him. Overall he is doing better but gets his feelings hurt and tires more easily than usual.. He just needs a lot of rocking and loving to help him get over his virus…along with all kinds of meds.

It was while Mandy was holding Jakie that I closed my eyes on the other sofa perpendicular to theirs and kept them closed until I had a strange feeling. I felt someone staring at me. I opened my eyes and there was Jakie (who I thought had fallen asleep) staring straight into my eyes.

It startled me at first, but then I smiled and looked back at him…he kept his expression serene (as in the title photo) and seemingly never blinked …..he just kept staring at me. It made me wonder what was going on in his little mind that kept me in his target range of vision.

“Thickness“….didn’t I read something awhile back about the ability of small children to block nothing from their gaze at you providing a thickness of peace between you.   That was exactly what I was feeling. A sense of peace and connection with Jakie.

I discovered the article, again… titled : “Keeping Nothing Between” by Eugene Grenlin. Here are some excerpts from his message.

“In a restaurant a little girl in the next booth turns to look at you. It is an open look, direct from her – to you. She doesn’t know that strangers are not supposed to connect. She does not put this knowledge between herself and you. There is nothing in between. You look back. Her parents make her sit down and face forward. But then, when they all leave, she turns around at the door, to look again. After all, you and she have met therefore she wouldn’t just leave.

In first grade the children look at the teacher searchingly, openly, reachingly. They put nothing between. The teacher is concerned with the eight levels of reading ability, and does not look back.

Do only little children keep nothing between? Or can adults do that too? We can, but for us it is a special case.

…If I really want to be with you, I keep nothing in front of me. Of course I know I can fall back on the automatic ways I have been taught to avoid deeper contact. If need be, I can also defend myself. I have many resources. But I don’t want all that between us.

If I keep nothing between, you can look into my eyes and find me. You might not look, of course. But if you do, I won’t hide. Then you may see a very insufficient person. But for contact, no special kind of human being is required. This fact makes a thick peacefulness.”

Eva Cate and Jakie connecting! A truce…a “thick peacefulness.”

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So until tomorrow Let us remind ourselves to be honest in our visual contacts with others, letting the walls come down to reveal our true selves…splinters and all.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*John sent this link of their short stay at Disney but you would never guess it was short for everything the Turners experienced while there. (Mandy told me that several of the rides like The Haunted House are now personalized with the ghost sitting between you wishing you  a safe trip back to South Carolina. Really cute to see your names and home state personalized on the rides.)

*Eva Cate informed me that the fairy Tinker Bell was missing from my garden Wednesday.

Eva Cate….after seeing this photo in the family Disney album I think I know where she went…..don’t you?

…she must have decided to catch a ride to Disney World and hang out with Eva Cate and family.

W.T. and Joan….you two just keep getting younger and younger….it must be the magic pixie dust each year from Tinker Bell!

https://goo.gl/photos/F227kFCmk3qLba6YA

*Mollie is having a ball working with the cosmetic company Beauty Counter Momma. She started with this company this summer to supplement her income since several of her speech therapy clients are students and out for the summer. Instead she is having so much fun and has been promoted three times now in six weeks….amazing. She is getting to meet lots of new people while selling safe products to family, friends, and strangers who want to know that the cosmetics they are putting on their bodies are safe for them and their loved ones.. (Mollie is the third from the left in the white dress)

*Good evening ladies! What an awesome evening I just had with local Charleston Beautycounter consultants. I attended a “sip and see” in which Landon Clements from the Bravo hit series Southern Charm hosted. She is a local consultant advocating for safe products just like me.

Y’all this company is doing incredible things and going amazing places. I highly suggest joining me and the movement. Whether you chose to switch some products out or jump in and become a voice. You will 100% not regret it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

On the way home yesterday from Eva Cate and Jakie’s….I stopped by to see my other two little munchkins – Rutledge and Lachlan. They are leaving in the morning with mommy for New Hampshire to see Mollie’s parents and just have fun!. Walsh will be joining them later in the week so they can all fly home together.

I went to tell them good-bye and give them their “funny money”  to pick out something to remember their trip by…Walsh said he had the boys Thursday….Daddy’s Day and they went on alligator adventures. Lachlan was so worn out when they got home he fell fast asleep on Poogan.

Mollie took Lachlan to get his summer shots before they leave for N. H. so Walsh, Rutledge, and I “hung” together for awhile yesterday. Have a safe trip my precious ones.

As Roy Rogers and Dale Evans used to say: “Happy Trails” to you until we meet again!

Dear Reader:

What a day Wednesday June 29 turned out to be. As I texted Anne….I must honestly admit “It was NOT my favorite day.”

The “Bad Mojo” started Tuesday morning with a text from Mandy saying that the family would have to return home from their Disney World vacation because Jake had a bad cough, diagnosed with a virus, and running a high fever of 104.

My heart broke for everyone….how disappointing after all the pre-planning they had done over months for this week of vacation with Joan and W.T. (John’s parents) at Disney. But nothing is less fun than a sick child with a bad cough because then no one can sleep or function well.

They got home Tuesday evening arriving in the midst of torrential rain storms.

I suggested to Mandy that I come get Eva Cate and do something special with her to relieve them and let them concentrate on getting Jakie feeling better.

I baked cookies all Wednesday morning for the DSS water/cookie distribution and then ran over to Mr. Pleasant to pick up Eva Cate so she could go with me and weather permitting watch and learn about giving to others at the DSS parking lot.

It was not to be …..I ran into torrential rains Wednesday on I-526 getting to the house> My plan B with DSS was to take a set of cookies simply to the DSS office to thank the workers for all they do. This was not to be either. I got stuck in one of the worst traffic jams I have ever been on returning on I-526. It took Eva Cate and myself 2 and a half hours to reach Summerville.

DSS had been long closed before we got back home. Lessons in patience dominated Wednesday afternoon. “Patience” is a virtue and one I still need a lot of work on.

But yesterday was another day…..Not only did we “Find Dory” at the movies we found time to drop all the cookies off to an appreciative group of DSS workers.

Eva Cate loved helping give the cookies out.

At lunchtime  we had a chance to discuss the theme of the Disney movie and Eva Cate nailed it: “No matter what happens you have to keep on swimming Boo Boo.”

A wonderful lesson in life for all of us.

I am going to keep this blog short today since I am taking Eva Cate back home and want to leave before the afternoon thunderstorms arrive. Am babysitting the children tonight so John and Mandy can salvage one evening out together from the “busted” holiday. All’s well that ends well….and Jakie is slowly starting to turn around with his upper respiratory cough and cold.

So until tomorrow….Isn’t it wonderful to know that every day we get to wipe the slate clean and start life over with renewed hope…as long as we just keep swimming….never giving in to disappointments but bouncing back excited about the next surprise.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• July1st! Remember to say “Rabbit” and get the good mojo going for our wonderful patriotic month of thanking God for being a citizen of this great country!

Dear Reader:

Most evenings I watch the ABC Evening News with David Muir and have been an avid fan of their “Made in America” series. Almost by osmosis, I do find myself checking labels more now to see if a product, food, drink, clothing, toy, etc. is made in America.

I do feel strongly that this patriotic endeavor to help Americans sell their wares over foreign imports falls under being a good citizen, as taught to me through my ninth grade civics class.

One thing I have learned from the book Hamilton, is that God definitely put the right people in the right place at the right time to create this amazing country we call home… The United States of America.

Winning a revolution against all the odds from England and then creating a democracy from all the differing views on exactly just what that meant was nothing short of miraculous. But somehow, some way the right people ended up at the right assemblies and meetings with a brilliance that still stuns me today….Jefferson, Madison, Washington, and Hamilton…just to name a few.

When I look at my grandchildren I know they are by-products of “Made in America“….the best country in the world with opportunities limited only by the individual him/herself. The dream is still there for those spunky enough to want it.

Yesterday, in Hamilton, I had gotten to the first Presidential inauguration. Washington knew he was walking a fine line so as not to dress or look like royalty while at the same time appearing as a leader for all the people.

David Muir would probably love to know that it was Washington, himself, who set the precedent for wearing clothing made only in America. Here is the description from the book describing Washington’s poise and appearance.

“From the outset, the fifty-seven year-old Washington was determined to strike a happy medium between regal dignity and republican austerity.

Resplendent with a ceremonial sword at his side, he also wore a plain brown suit of American broadcloth woven at a mill in Hartford. A special message for Hamilton’s future was encoded in this outfit: that America should encourage manufactures, especially textiles, an industry dominated by Great Britain.

*Washington hoped it would soon “be unfashionable for a gentleman to appear in any dress that was not of American origin.” 

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*If this were still true today, think of the difference it could make for American textiles and manufacturers. Being true to the Red, White, and Blue!

So until tomorrow….As much as one can find fault with America getting caught up on the dark side of politics, let us never forget it is still the most wonderful land in the world….why so many immigrants still want to make it home. Thank goodness for the immigrants, like Alexander Hamilton, who helped build our country.Diversity has been the key to our success. Let us never forget it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delight of the Day: Look how my Ginger Shell plant grows! It is loving the rain and clouds and literally growing as I watch. Its shoots start out as twisted looking green candy canes and then slowly unfurl into huge big leaves. Life is just amazing.!

Dear Reader:

You will be quite proud of me ( I am! Whew!!!) for having gotten almost halfway through Hamilton. (“If I were a rich man”….surely two hours of the Broadway play would be a lot easier on the eyes and brain.) I have a list of words that I have had to look up for each meaning on a sheet of paper that grows longer each day.

In spite of the obstacles I am still finding the biography fascinating…once again showing how complex human nature is. When I came across the word bugaboo.…it was used to describe one of the major problems in establishing a new constitution to replace the weak Articles of Confederation.

Hamilton, an abolitionist opposed to slavery admits that “the issue of slavery (in the southern states) is such a bugaboo that it might likely be the loggerhead in the failure of an enduring Constitution for future generations.”  

When I looked up the term, bugaboo, this is what I found:

1.	bugaboo – an imaginary monster used to frighten children from Celtic origin referring to the devil. bogeyman, bugbear monster  (an imaginary creature usually having various human and animal parts)
	2.	bugaboo – a source of concern; “the old bugaboo of inflation still bothers them” headache, worry, vexation, concern – something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness;

The idea of the term bugaboo also refers to: something that causes fear or distress out of proportion to its importance

As a child the real bugaboo at night, when we just knew something creepy was lying in wait under the bed (so you never, ever let your arms dangle over the side) was our imagination. The scary monster under the bed or in the closet was completely out of proportion to reality but certainly forefront in a child’s imaginative fantasy.

I must admit, however, that some nights I make sure my arms still don’t dangle over the sides (one can never be too cautious.) My bugaboos appear around 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. If I happen to wake up during that “bewitching time” ordinary problems suddenly turn into big creepy monsters which surely in time will consume me.

My biggest bugaboo falls  in the financial arena. Looking back on my education, I do think the required curriculum failed me by not offering a course in every day financial economics. Because all I have to hear are terms like:refinance, equity line, roll over, tax forms, annuities, pre-planning funeral arrangements and my mouth goes dry.

The hairy monster in the closet is covered in green bills and is demanding more bills (from me) be placed on him. Now! By the next morning, with the sun’s rays pouring into the room, I shake my head in disbelief that I let myself get taken in again by that old financial bugaboo.

In reality I am pretty much on top of things and have a plan that I am following with lots of good advisers to help me. My fear is definitely out of proportion when the nightly bugaboo returns in random intervals. It seems to know my weak spot and attacks it every time.

My other bugaboo, of late, has been “quenched” as I am watching the glorious rain fall down in my yard….I can practically see all the flowers turning their faces upward to the heavens to drink gustily from the much-needed rain.

No matter our ages….don’t we all have our bugaboos lying in wait to pounce on us when we are down and out? They can be social/relationship issues, money matters, medical decisions, job problems, etc. When the bugaboos come…we must remember to take charge and bring them back down to their right proportion and size –  diminutive…….exactly where they belong.

So until tomorrow…Let’s keep our bugaboos locked up in the closet or squished under the bed….they are not real…. God is always in charge of our lives…not the bugaboos. Cast them out!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* If we need any extra help casting out bugaboos ….we can always use the monster swatters to swat them away.

Dear Reader:

Madeleine L’Engle once said:

“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.”

As children, don’t we all remember wanting to be all grown-up? We wearied of being a child and wanted the independence and freedom we thought we saw in our parents and other adult lives around us. Until one day, it dawned on us we were now grown-ups and we felt even more restrained and restricted some days as “mature” adults. Images of childhood suddenly appeared carefree and uninhibited…we wanted to return to those “good old days.”

Excerpt from Walking on Water: Madeleine L’Engle:

” If we try to follow in Jesus’ way, what the children see us in does matter. Jesus told his friends and disciples over and over again that not only were they to let the little children come to him but that they were to be like little children themselves.”

‘I need not belabor the point that to retain our childlike openness does not mean to be childish. Only the most mature of us are able to be childlike. And to be able to be childlike involves memory; we must never forget any part of ourselves… at any chronological age we are at we must also be able to be four or twelve or twenty-three, thirty-one, forty-five and…and …and…”

“For growing up never ends, we never get there. I am still in the process of growing up, but I will make no progress if I lose any of myself along the way. “

…………………………….

I saw an article written the other day by one of the famous atomic physicists responsible for the production of nuclear weapons (Dr. Friedrich Dessaurer,) A man of science he wrote:

“Man is a creature who depends entirely on revelation. In all his intellectual endeavor he should not strive to superimpose the structure of his own mind, his systems of thought upon reality… because at the beginning of all spiritual endeavor stands humility, and he who loses it can achieve no other heights than the height of disillusionment. “

………………………..

In reflection upon my own continued “growing up” stage in life, I do look for new revelations each and every day….a new thought might surprise me while watering the garden or hearing a catch-phrase on television or reading a book and it takes my train of thought off into a new Never-Land of possibilities.

There has to be a certain amount of trust embedded in us spiritually to open ourselves to the invisible world around us like a small child can do. Jesus told us call the Creator of us all ABBA. Not only Father or Sir or Lord, but Abba-Daddy- the small child’s name for Father. Not Dad, the way Daddy becomes Dad when children reach adolescence, but Daddy, the name of trust.

The precious peeks we receive occasionally into another world that will one day beckon us home can exist only within the realm of trust as a small child trusts his Daddy….our ABBA.

So until tomorrow….Father, thank you for those precious peeks of eternity you give us as a gift of grace. They give us hope to continue growing towards You as a child of God.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Big Red has gotten so big I couldn’t get all of it in either a verical or lateral photo shot. As soon as all the buds pop open Big Red is going to need to have a lot of its branches trimmed….It is getting almost too big for bench. How far you have come, my friend, since late winter when I worried about your future. You knew you were fine all along, just resting for the spring and summer.

Dear Reader:

One evening, as I watching Jeopardy, I heard a buzzer go off (several times) dismissing the correct answer because a contestant forgot to frame the answer into a form of a question.

In a sense don’t the rules of Jeopardy apply to life? Every time we think we have found an answer to a problem, something reliable that will stand the test of time, we quickly come to realize that one question begets another answer which, in turn, begets another question…and so on and so on and so on.

If this Jean-Paul Sartre quote was read on the game show….would you form your question/answer to this verbal response –“What is life?”

“One always dies too soon–or too late. And yet one’s whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are–your life, and nothing else.”

Jean-Paul Sartre
French author

One man’s opinion of our life, of course. Basically he is saying we can’t separate the essence of our being from our lives…they are one and the same.

In a recent Guidepost magazine article a woman was talking about the bond she and her mother formed over the years by watching Jeopardy together as a nightly ritual.

After her mother was diagnosed with severe dementia….the daughter returned home to live with her mother, to take care of her, for as long as possible.

She would turn Jeopardy on each evening and try to get her mother, who had, previously, been a whiz at the game, to play along with her but to no avail. Until….

“…It was impossible to tell what she was really thinking. Did she still enjoy watching Jeopardy! with me? Was she still Mom? Not even Alex Trebek had the answers to those questions. Maybe it was silly, keeping this tradition going. I said a silent prayer for some sign that our time together still meant something.

I played along solo. Finally, Alex announced it was time for Final Jeopardy!—Mom’s favorite part of the game, mine too. I leaned in. Alex read the category—America—and the clue. “It says, ‘Prudence… will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.’”

“Okay,” I said, “that means it must be some famous American document. Maybe the U.S. Constitution?” Could that be it? I racked my brain, but failed to come up with anything better.

Suddenly, a low, but firm voice spoke beside me. Just as the buzzer sounded.

“Independence.”

I stared at Mom. On TV, Alex confirmed her correct response: “What is the Declaration of Independence?” How in the world? I squeezed Mom’s hand, overcome.

Mom and I continued to watch Jeopardy! in the evenings. And I knew, without a doubt, she was playing along.

…………………………………

So until tomorrow Thank you Father for showing us again and again what the human spirit is capable of with You holding our hands.
Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Tommy, Kaitlyn, and I went to Lee and Vikki’s baby shower yesterday and had such a good time….great to see my brother Ben there, Susan, her mother Nancy, Bekah and Ady, along with Vikki’s mother, Joni and her mother-the adorable Ya Ya.

Here are some family photos from the happy gathering.

Vikki’s beautiful family, her mother Joni, grandmother YaYa and sister!

Ben, Lee, Vikki, Ady, Nancy, and Bekah

Susan, Lee, Ady, Vikki, Nancy, and Bekah

Bekah, Ben, and me

In patriotic red, white and blue:Susan, Tommy, Kaitlyn

Vikki, Kaitlyn, Lee and me

A friend from the past….Hunter (with me) Was the photographer at Walsh and Mollie’s wedding; Ady and Bekah

The excitement is building as the birth date draws closer and closer!

Dear Reader:

I thoroughly enjoyed all the stories in the latest edition of Azalea Magazine but one article, Family Tides by Tara Bailey, really struck home with me a familiar ritual, as well as, I am sure many of you. Summer family reunions!

In Tara’s case it was and is the annual first week of their family’s summer reunion, at Pawley’s  Island, that still evokes nostalgic memories of the past intertwined with present-day anticipation and excitement over the family gathering again.

Annual family reunions become a living calendar and keepsake (In memorial) of the loved ones lost each year… mingled with new friends and prospective family additions. Lesson learned….no matter what has happened from one reunion to the next…life goes on. Sadness and tears, over the loss of a beloved family member, are helped by the sounds of communal squeals and  laughter of children… cousins, friends, and ever-growing extended family.

At one point in the story, the author/Tara Bailey/ made the astute verbal observation that: “It doesn’t take a long time for a long time to pass.” Her own children, now teenagers, will be hurrying to the beach (upon arrival) to claim the island as their own….as only teenagers can do. Soon, even this short stage of adolescence, will one day be just a summer afternoon’s musing of “the way it was.”

When my cousins, Marcia and Susan, came to visit me this past February it was the first time I had been with them for any length of time since a family reunion way back in the eighties.

Marcia, accidentally, left one of her scrapbooks and I have so enjoyed going back through it and finding the last family reunion… when we were all young married couples with small children. Tara is right “It doesn’t take a long time for a long time to pass.”

Mandy was the oldest and then the rest of the cousins fell in line behind….now they are all grown and married…many with their own children. So hard to believe!

Tommy looks like he is close to a year old, eating with his adorable cousin, so the reunion must have been in the summer of 1983 or whereabouts.

My cousin, Bob and his wife Lou brought their daughter Sydney to the reunion… who is now married and expecting a child of her own this summer…a little girl!

Today, many members of the family, will be gathering to celebrate my nephew Lee and his adorable wife, Vikki’s baby shower…the approaching birth of their first child in September. How precious family time is together to commemorate these special occasions.

So until tomorrow…Let us cherish and treasure every opportunity we have to share in our family and friends’ benchmarks in life….the memories that become the “keepers” for all.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delights of the Day: Look at Harriett’s tiger lilies and crimun lilies in full bloom. Just beautiful Harriett….here are some photos of them.

Harriett surprised me, last evening, with a bouquet of these beautiful assortment of flowers and some seeds to plant. Thank you Harriett!!! I will give those seeds my best shot and see what happens!

Dear Reader:

In one of Jerry Seinfeld’s  questions on life (in his famous sit-con series) he wondered out-loud to Elaine one day (reflecting on his parent’s move to a tiny condo in Florida) why when people got older…everything started shrinking except one scenario..  Jerry quoted: “You know you’re officially old when there is only one candle placed on the cake and everyone yells “You can do it….You can do it…Blow hard now!”

He continued that physically his parents were getting smaller by the minute, they ate smaller meals, downsized into smaller homes, had smaller needs….except when it came to CARS…..old people go out and buy really BIG cars? “Why” he asked Elaine as she shrugged….Why do old people do that?”

We can all laugh at Jerry’s funny (and truthful) observations on life but in a sense, don’t we all live in our own individual cosmos….seeing the world through our eyes only?

Some of us know that there is a big world out there…but are perfectly content to stay within our own comfort perimeters and build a small world around us and our daily lives. Others of us want to travel and see what pieces of this world actually look like and how people differ and/or are similar no matter where we go.

Intellectually I know our little planet, Earth, which is the world to its inhabitants, is (in actuality) just a mere dot in the skies of the universe with so many more galaxies around than we can begin to count. I stare at the stars and struggle to comprehend just how majestic the Creation really is….mind-bogging!

Spiritually, it is easier for me to accept a cosmos so magnificent and utterly awe-inspiring in the wake of my belief in a Creator Who is in control of this crazy thing we call life.

Since I am more of a “big picture” thinker….this acceptance comes more easily to me, I feel sure, than a “detail” thinker….because if I even slightly contemplate all the details that go into every life form on earth, animal and plant….my head literally starts hurting again.

In all my years on Earth I know now that there should never be anything like loneliness felt within us….because on a larger scale, far removed from our eyes to see or even imagine, we are all connected to the tapestry of the cosmos, the Creation of God. We all belong, we all have an important role to play and most importantly, we are all loved.

So until tomorrow….Keep telling yourself every morning when you rise and every evening when you retire….”I am Loved Unconditionally!” “I am an important part of the universe.” Smile. Sweet dreams.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delights of the Day: In every new plant or flower that emerges in my garden or old plant that resurrects itself each year and returns to the garden….I see its connection to  me and the universe. Here are some of my latest loves.

Dear Reader:

The other day I came across an article which made me pause and reflect on our daily greetings and their cultural significance. We, Americans, are used to “How are you today?” as we briskly pass a stranger or casual acquaintance and are slightly irritated if they respond with more words than “Fine, thank you.”

In Persian or Arabic (English translation) it sounds more like: “How is your haal”? What is this haal that you inquire about? It is the transient state of one’s heart. In reality, the question is, “How is your heart doing at this very moment, at this breath?” When I ask, “How are you?” that is really what I want to know.

I am not asking how many items are on your to-do list, nor asking how many items are in your inbox. I want to know how your heart is doing, at this very moment. Tell me. Tell me your heart is joyous, tell me your heart is aching, tell me your heart is sad, tell me your heart craves a human touch. Examine your own heart, explore your soul, and then tell me something about your heart and your soul.

Tell me you remember you are still a human being, not just a human doing. Tell me you’re more than just a machine, checking off items from your to-do list. Have that conversation, that glance, that touch. Be a healing conversation, one filled with grace and presence.

The young author concludes this difference in cultural greetings with these final thoughts:

I don’t have any magical solutions. All I know is that we are losing the ability to live a truly human life.

W. B. Yeats once wrote, “It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a solider to fight on a battlefield.”

How exactly are we supposed to examine the dark corners of our soul when we are so busy? How are we supposed to live the examined life?

I want us to have a kind of existence where we can pause, look each other in the eye […] and inquire together: Here is how my heart is doing. […]

How is the state of your heart today?

(How Is Your Heart Doing?by Omid Safi)

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When I finished reading this excerpt the other day I thought to myself….“How IS my heart today?” I am encouraged to see young people starting to ask these types of questions, while pondering whether human beings have given up too much humanity to machines and technology. Sometimes all that is left is a blinking light in the night on a screen for company. Where did it all go wrong?

So until tomorrow…My heart today is open to hope and new possibilities that humanity can take the time necessary to soul search their connection to their Creator and continue to be a beacon of light for others lost in the darkness.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the pooh

*The Turners are off to Disney World today…..My wish for all of you is to have more joyous occasions than problems and more memories added to the treasure box of your lives.

Yesterday I took cards with a little “funny money” in them to Eva Cate and Jakie….Eva Cate understands now what the money represents in the form of buying power…but Jakie was excited too. He was just so happy to have a letter he could open….he kept yelling “MINE MINE” He strutted around in his pj’s waving his card….too proud!

Jakie is 21 months today….and he’s my hugger…he loves to put his face up beside yours and just stay like that while he is in his loving zone!

Walsh brought the boys over to Mandy and John’s and the cousins all had a swimmingly good time! Tommy and Kaitlyn will be holding down the fort with Tigger and friends while John, Mandy and family are gone…starting today

(We keep trying…but the elusive (everyone facing the camera at the same time) is still eluding us….maybe next time…hope is eternal.

Speaking of “How is your heart today”….Ted, Brooke’s husband has been experiencing some heart problems this past week and certainly all prayers for improved health are appreciated.