Weather forgot its daytimer

Here we are in the middle of the fall season, and part of Connecticut receives a foot and a half of snow and church services are being cancelled a day ahead and the governor is declaring a state of emergency. And not even December 21st.

Possibly a confusion in the spinning department of the earth. Or maybe in not ordering enough day timers for the weather Gods. Whatever, it is a funny take on how the world spins.
Yet, even with these jabs, I do know that all is under His control. Especially how the whole earth is held together by His great love for us. Thank you Lord for that!!!

The Brooklyn Bridge

As you tower over the the Hudson River with its waters churning
Letting the traffic float above your shore
Quietly staying awake as the denizens go to sleep
Leaving windows open to the wanderers
Adorned and draped in garland
Peacefully awaiting for the sun to rise again to the bustle of
that morning commute.

Inspired by a photo by Lucia Aschetino

The ending of the dreams

Life sometimes is about endings of what we have dreamed of and what we have hoped would come out of fertile soil. I have experienced my first such loss this summer and it has been teaching me a lot about life and how I am to process what it has been teaching me.
I knew being friends with my special person was going to teach me some valuable lessons but I never expected loss to be one of them. On the news, I frequently have heard of the news of break ups of hollywood stars or of famous sports couples. But for me at the ripe old age of 48, I never thought that I would be in that arena. For the heartache of not being able to hear the laugh of my dear friend or the quirks that I adhered to of not going a step ahead or lock the car door after I got out.
I heard of a book called Necessary Endings and maybe this experience has been fertile soil for me to consider how to be more considerate and learn how to set and establish boundaries. I have learned that I need to be responsible and pay attention to the small details of where a movie is and to know the exact time of the showing of that movie. I have also learned to enjoy all kinds of food from McDonalds to the Diner to the Olive Garden and the Chinese restaurant. Of being able in a moments notice to be swept into a Home Depot or Walmart during the storm of Irene looking for double D batteries or the like. And of not going to Super Duper Weenie for the hot dog special.
Of being able to see movies of suspense and adventure and to identify key areas of our lives in the dialogue from the screen.
Lessons that I have learned that I have heard often but now it is on my front stoop of my heart and of which I will bring into the next close friendship that I want to develop. Relationships are about the give and take of our lives. Fresh water being deposited on the beachfronts of our lives and the swoosh of surf spray as it leave s the shore. Gulls overhead in symphony with the crows making their sounds and their cries.
Oh for those times to return. Oh for me to be patient and to learn to trust. To learn to sing a new ode with someone else. Taking more of a control and melding of faith into the relationship. Of being able to equal alongside but linked to the almighty- almost like a tripod.

For I am valued by Him and want to express that value to others as well.
For now I can add loss to the column of my life in a love that I was slowly trying to nurture and of which I will continue as I reach out to others to bring them slowly to the warm embrace of life. To dance that dream and that hope. Of the eternal joys found in the Eternal City of life. So let us dance and feel the joy sweep our hearts. As we await our names to called anew. To be brought into the continual daily dance, whether held by arms or by the Spirit itself. Renewed forevermore.

The priceless value of our friends

Life consists of random steps. We take them every day. Through the unfamiliar at first. In both territory and person. This is when the most valuable of these friends have appeared. Let me take you through a quick and inspiring journey and how I have found them to be.

When I was a freshman at college, I met one of my best friends who I have stayed in touch with since that first day of freshman orientation at Bellarmine Gardens. For the past 24 years, we have traveled often and gotten together at our 5 year class reunions and at holiday gatherings as well. And have united during moments of pain and tragedy as well.

Another random gathering of a friendship was at the bus stop after work when I met Andreaya. Just a chance encounter to discuss and talk about life and faith. Finding out we were in the same neighborhood and shared the common faith in God. Our friendship has taken me into new realms of concert promotion and even the city for an evening at a jazz club. And it has brought my heart to Africa as I have learned how their culture lives as I have worked on the small assignments. Challenges have arisen but they have given me insights to remain stronger as a result.

And then there was the friendship with a writer who I discovered one winter evening as I read an editorial in the daily news and saw her heart on the page and her compassion for life. Thanks to google, we met up when i responded to her blog and this journey has touched my soul as I have learned how to trust God more in those tough spots of our lives.

Finally, there is the jewel of my current friend who has helped produce an oyster in my life. There are those times in our lives when we don't want to allow the polishing to occur and we may fight and fuss over the minor things and not know exactly what the benefit may be.

That is exactly how friends are. They are sacrificial and lay down their lives for us and we for them. They are the waves that rock over our shoreline--bringing in beauty from the depths of the sea==to be laid down on our shorefront for beach combers to visit.'
And by which we get to walk with God along the shore-sharing the invaluable lessons learned by them along the way.

Friends are Jewels

For the past few months, I have been blessed to share networking time with a very good friend and I have learned that friends are like jewels that are to be treasured and worn around your neck and held in the heart closely.
Little lessons are learned and reinforced from ones youth. To look at the other person.
To call someone by their name.
To keep pace and do simple things like waiting til the car stops before popping out.
Friends are to nudge and encourage and keep ones path straight.
Friends like these go straight to the core of ones being and fertilize the soil of your heart
for greatness to spring forth.

And that can be a benefit and springing forth a gusher of hope with interviews my way and a confident step to my daily walk.
A motivation to live life to the fullest and this post is dedicated to my special friend on her way to greatness in the world.

Remember to cherish and nurture your friends in all that you do!!!

my love of Maine tied to family.

I love Maine. Maine is like a simple outfit that hangs on a woman beautifully covering the shoulders and gracefully making her very beautiful. A very welcome time spent away from the routine of the tryanny of the previous year. The school year always seemed like a marathon but I always looked forward to the reunions we had with our family and friends and the treasures that arose from our everyday life on the shore.

A good place to lose track of time as it suspends itself and nothing seems impossible.

I dance in Maine in the imagination of my surf. I find it a magical place where the sea dramatically meets the shore in a very personal way. I walked to the water's edge often at the North Shore beach as I walked through the forest behind our cottage and heard the soft moss underneath my feet squish at times from the wetness of the leaves. Seeing the light spreading her wings through the forest.

I looked out at the horizon. I skipped the rocks at the beach. My cousin Bruce taught me one summer the exact flick of the wrists that I needed to get the rocks to glide smoothly across the water. Causing bouncing ripples across the surface of the waters.
Once I was shown this secret place hidden behind our cottage, I kept going back and skipping the rocks in that very secluded and private spot to be enjoyed often. Many times, I regretted not being aware of the sanctuary that was behind the woods. But thankful for the curiosity of my cousins, Bruce and Carol, who brought joy to the summers we spent together.

Another fun time with family was when Uncle Lenny and Betty showed up for a week. My dad and mom and I invited them out on an excursion on our 16 foot motorboat. My father warned Uncle Lenny that it could be rough on the bow of the boat, but he bravely sat up there anyway. One day, when we were on the water, there was a rough wave that our boat swallowed and then let loose over the surface of the bow getting Uncle very wet and causing him to dive under cover.

We had my dad's sister often over at our cottage for a lobster meal or a night of meatloaf or spaghetti and meatballs cooked by my mom. One time, we went to a lobster pier outside and Aunt Marion was eating her hotdog and a seagull swooped down and took her dog from her bun. Aunt Marion said, "that poor scroundel took my dog." It was rather humorous at the time causing us to laugh and have a fond rememberance of that time.
She brought her pug dog often and Aunt Marion and the dog stayed at the camp of one of her cousins. We visited her small cabin that she had and often sat in chairs reminiscing over growing up in the 1930's in Maine.

Many times we celebrated the sea by just sitting out and watching the sunset go down over the water's edge and catching a glimpse of the warm afterglow spread across the sky painting a very vivid picture of what it was like. And we saw the birds make their evening migration to their gull rock. A very methodical commute to and from the rocks they hovered over.

Many times we walked along the docks observing the ships moored along the harbor after we had our dinner at
Boothbay Harbor. We walked the footbridge and ate our cones and cups of ice cream at the Roundtop stand. We stayed outside as the sun set and we saw the deep dark blue of the water disappear over time.

One year, we had a very rough summer with 14 straight days of fog and we never knew when it would lift. During this time, we explored many of the nooks and crannies that Maine is known for. The state is carved up and whittled into little fingers that jut out of the land. It is known as Down East and the further that one goes along the shore towards the North, Mainers say that
"you are going down East."

Our final activity that we shared as a family before we sold our house was a trip on the Windjammer, the Victory Chimes. My dad and my brother Randy and I took an excursion that summer for 4 magical days at sea. We ate the home cooking of the captain's cook and we sat along the edge of the boat as we listened to the strumming of the guitar against the lapping of the waters against the boat. We lifted the sails many times manually and then on the last day, the crew flipped a switch and the sails lifted automatically.

I only wish that we had that time to live each and every day, but my Aunt, my father and even Uncle Lenny are no longer around but the fun times and antics often bring a smile to my mind as I face the tyranny of the current day not knowing what will be around the corner.

Neighborhoods

We all grow up in neighborhoods. Some of them are quite idyllic and others can be quite the bustle of the town in the summer time.
Life on Margemere Drive in Fairfield was such a place. When our family moved there, we settled in at our house near the end of the cul-de-sac. We had several large barking dogs on either side of the street. On one side of the street, we had a loud beagle named, Trouble, belonging to a Doctor Samuelson and on the other side of the street, we had a yippy dog. And one of our neighbors next to us constantly had pool parties with 30 kids and parents yelling and splashing in and out of the pool. Causing us to worry about the safety of their kids as we tried to sit out and enjoy our rarely used back porch.
This series of noises led us to escape to our paradise in Maine, our second neighborhood, of which I have shared much with my audiences of this blog.

Margemere Drive was lined with lavender forsythia bushes and beautifully blooming dogwood and japanese maple trees that flowed smoothly into one another from above.

It was on this street that I learned how to ride my two wheel bike on my own after several weeks of my dad running behind me on the bike so I would not fall off. After the two weeks, I was not going to get any more help and I had to bravely hop on the bike and put on my helmet and ride around the street. I never did get off the street but that first time when I could balance myself was very exciting and freeing. And I would ride around for hours enjoying myself greatly even when I fell down to the pavement several times.

Our house at 166 Margemere was nestled down in a little valley. In the wintertime, I used to slide down the driveway when it was not fully shoveled and I also sled down the back yard. It was especially beautiful when we had a crust of snow and ice in the backyard. I would put on my boots and head out to the garage to get my red flyer sled and sit on the sled and go down the backyard until the snow stopped the blades from gliding forward. The trees glistened with the snow on them and occasionally some snow would fall off the trees and fall onto my face.
I would do this for an hour at times and then put away my sled and come back into the house for a cup of hot cocoa.

It was also on this street that I walked to the corner of the street to catch my school bus to my elementary, junior and senior high schools. I lugged my bookbag up and down this street many times and I grew up while I was on this street going through my adolescence and emerged into adulthood. And on this street that I invited my first friend , Barbara,from elementary school to share some times with our family.

Inside our home, my mom tenderly decorated the house with warm wallpaper with flowers on it and plush carpeting throughout. We had plants hanging in every room and it would take mom several hours a week to tenderly take care of the plants for she had a green thumb and extended it to the gardens around the outside of our home.
Pictures of seascapes and birds hung on the walls and mirrors were on the walls that extended the reach of the rooms.

It was always inviting to come home after my days at school and to smell the aroma of fresh cooking coming from the kitchen. Whether it was the homemade meatloaf or spaghetti and meatballs or the chicken stir fry that was simmering on the stove.
I was the chief table setter and I got the napkins out and the silverware from the silverware drawer. And the milk glasses and the condiments for the table.
In the kitchen there was a brown bar stool that I would sit at while my mom cooked and looked out and saw the birds flying to the bird feeder and the squirrels making their attempt to swing from the roof of the garage and land precariously on the bird feeder itself, sometimes to awkwardly fall off of it.
When my dad came home each day from work, mom dished us the food from the stove and we carried it into the dining room to sit down and have our evening meal and to discuss what went on during our days.
I also did quite a few chores along our property from the edging of the walk to the mowing of the grass and the shoveling of the snow.
And also I began to try out for the home basketball team by playing with the backboard that my dad set up but never did make it to the big leagues with all the tosses I made to the skies which often bounced back to the ground never making the net.


Our lawn care professional loved our street and especially our house and when Tim saw the view from our kitchen window, he knew that this would be the home that he wanted in the future. When it came time for us to make a move, we contacted Tim and he took us up on the offer.

So this sense of neighborhood extends to where we lived both on a street and also in our home itself. Both provided a great sense of neighborhood. Even though we never really knew our neighbors well except for when we had to call late to a neighbor to quiet a yipping dog, it did also extend to future neighborhoods for me in the wild blue yonder of Maine.

Creating the Bucket List

It is a scary trying to form a bucket list. There are many things that I want to try but involve a great deal of risk. Many times I go about my day using the contraction of "can't." It occurred this morning when I was presented the idea of selling a product and I responded to the automatic red flag of no as I began to make excuses. I must learn to live outside of the box which requires a great deal of risk.
I have many friends in my network that are willing to help me launch out new ideas and I need to engage them with me in this process.

In such circumstances,I must go to the bow and arrow store and grab a set that will innoculate the no beasts and make me immune to them. To just say Yes and not be so afraid. I need to make that self-imposed no to have no life at all. To make it extinct. I need to declare to the world that I CAN do all things. It is in the Scriptures all over the place, especially in Philipians 4:19 which states, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." While I won't be jumping off of planes or buildings with a parachute anytime soon, I can be open to the idea if it was presented to me.

There are three risks that I need to defeat in my life. The first is fear of the unknown. Right now, I am facing the fear of not knowing what is going to happen with my situation of employment. I do see glimmers of hope within the horizon. I am being given an opportunity to learn QuickBooks as I help update a local church for their audit. I also have had the opportunity this summer to be an intern with a local ministry that is holding their benefit in New York City. Now that is something that requires a great deal of faith.

Which brings me to the next lesson about risk. Being willing to step out of my comfort zone. I have had to learn many lessons along the way in getting to the methods of free event planning. After 10 days, I stumbled upon Zvents.com which allows me to announce the event to a wider audience. I also have mastered most of Constant Contact and have a fairly good working knowledge of the way it works. I have found that the technical aspect of learning the job at my own pace has brought me some more confidence. Now I will learn how to present the concert and missions to several local businesses to see if they will promote the attractive black and yellow post card.

The final lesson that this brings is that I must be willing to climb out of the boat and have faith to walk on the water. Or from a lesson that I learned as a 15 year old as I was in the middle of Cozy Harbor in Maine and ended up in the middle of the harbor without an oar lock. Having to ply the heavy waters with the big bulky wooden oar. Taking a very long time to row that boat. But knowing that dinner was waiting at home and being determined to make it back to shore and not stay in the middle of the harbor feeling sorry about myself. It all boils down to having perserverence. Something I am currently trying to learn and master!!That can take a lifetime but it is well worth it!!!

A good analogy is that of a puzzle box. Normally when you go to the store to buy a jigsaw puzzle, it is neatly shrink-wrapped and has the solution on the cover. Ye, life is not this way. We get pieces that are not always cut to size and we must work with what we have been given.
The key to any endeavor is to have the willingness to have the support of your friends with whatever you undertake for they can help lift you up out of any uncertainty that one may be facing.

Random thoughts

The rain clings to the outside of the sleeve to my arm and it is damp and clammy.

I went to an exhibit last night at a local gallery. The artist loved to work with architecture and we had a chance to play with several of his blocks with patterns on them. I got to make my own designs in which the lines matched. And sometimes, they did not match at all.

It can be rather fun to match the designs up. There are not as many combinations as the rain which falls from the sky. Those raindrops may or may not match at all. Yet, they form a constant dampness upon ones arm. Yet, they dry off fairly well.

The shuttle took off last morning and I got to see the lift off live just as I did on the original lift off on April 12, 1981. The first one was on Easter Sunday morning. On the last launch, I was at my potential new employer who has a big screen television in his office and it was good seeing all of the smoke and thrust going up into space. Last night on CSPAN television, there was a lot of discussion on the effectiveness of the program and the next steps that NASA is going to take.

It seems a hard challenge to build a spacecraft that will go to an asteroid, the planet Mars or the Moon. Doable maybe. I really enjoyed watching and following the shuttle era. I am going to miss it. Yet, I did not always walk around watch each launch and landing as they happened. They became almost commonplace for me.

I was there and present when they relaunched after the Challenger accident since I was in the job market looking for work after being let go from my first job. And I was there to see on television several other key launches.

But I guess it is time for a change and maybe change for the better.

Time Travel

On Memorial day, I got to travel through space and time!!!
Zoom back to the past and then onto the future.

Two weeks prior, I entered a drawing for a 6 pass ticket for the intrepid Air and Space Museum.
Last Wednesday when I was researching some jobs and checking email, I heard the reference librarian leave a message for the winner of the tickets to the Intrepid. Wondering if it was me, I asked. She said no. I quickly forgot about it.
When I was home 24 hours later, I received a phone call stating that I was the lucky winner of these tickets.

I have a tendency to win these things from the time I won an on air $1,008 on WEBE108 for being the 8th caller, to circuses and other fascinating prizes. When I called my mom to tell her the great news, she says that usually happens for me.

I quickly got onto it and called my long time friend from University days and told her of the good news and if she wanted to go with her family. I got a quick yes and at the end of the day, the party of 6 was booked.

Getting started that morning took a little while since there was a nasty thunder and lightning storm. A few minutes before I left to catch the train, my friend called and said " Better wait a few hours before the storm passes. Watched weather channel for a bit and then when the storm calmed down and houses stopped shaking, we rendevouzed our ways towards the train to meet up in Greenwich and then onto Grand Central. I was instructed to catch the first carriage and then my friends could meet me there. As the train pulled up to the track, it was moving way too fast. What I did was hop into the middle carriage and then called my friends and said, "I am in the middle carriage." At Greenwich, my friend Phil hopped onto the next carriage and found me and I walked back one. Even with the carriage reference going back to the reference of England.

When we got to the Intrepid, the line was quite long. When I asked where do the library patrons go to go through the line, we
were whisked through the VIP line and were able to flow right through;thus, not getting stuck in that wonderful heat and humidity.
The Intrepid was massive when looking up at it from the street level and the command deck was positioned directly on top of the boat. It was painted in green and grey paint and had a big white 7 on the boat. From the upper deck, we could see the skyline of New York City well and down by the water was the British Concorde at the dock. A big narrow red and white plane parked in its parking place neatly. Looking almost like how Captain Sully parked his plane onto the same Hudson River that the Concorde was sitting next to.


We saw many old planes that were in the hanger of the Intrepid and they were painted in bright blues, yellows, whites and reds and black. There were several long planes with wide wings and a small cockpit window. Some of them looked very similar to the ones that I saw in a Stratford Air show of the Corsairs a few years back. But these were on the deck of the USS Intrepid, the same deck that saw much of the fighting during the Pacific Theatre of World WarII.
We lined up in front of several screens and there was a film with some footage from Kamakaze days. The red sirens went off and the alarms rang too with the announcement of all hands on deck. Also, there was smoke that filled the deck as if the actual fight was going on. Soldiers who used to be on the boat spoke of the great effort some of the 69 men made who died while serving our country.
Being fleet week, there was another large aircraft carrier parked at the next dock of the Intrepid. At first when I heard fleet week, I thought it was going to be windjammer type boats sailing along the Hudson River. But no, it was the BIG War boats.

We saw one of the 95 year old men sitting in his wheel chair in a bright yellow t=shirt that served on the blue plane. He posed for our photographs and talked a little bit of the experience. His arms were narrow but well worn from his years of service and his enthusiasm beamed forth for what he had done with the service to our country. Especially on Memorial day to see that and to see all the men and women walking proudly around the city Streets with their heads held high in their uniforms. As the song by James Greenwood comes true, "I am proud to be an American for I know I am free!"


Looking at the missiles and the boating gear from this era inspired me and made me thankful on Memorial Day for the sacrifices that our men and women in our Armed Force made for our country to be free.

Later on, we were whisked away to Mars. On a space shuttle onto the Red Planet for dinner. Several times during the day, the special dinner was hinted. When I heard we were taking a shuttle , I was wondering was this going to be like they do it in the movies or not with special ships to restaurants. We got to the Mars 2112 building and it looked ordinary on the outside.
When we arrived, we had our own private trip to the Red Planet in our shuttle with the announcing and descriptions of the trip. When we arrived to the Planet Mars and the doors to our shuttle were opened, we were greeted by the Martians and commanders of the Planet.

We were seated at a big round table and we ate our meal nestled in a red grotto. The seats were silver and red. Several of the space aliens were walking around and shook our hands as they greeted us without words. My friends daughter, Willow, loved it and bounced around and bonded with CutePie. Cutepie alternated with sadness and great joy when hand gestures covering her face or bouncing them outward towards Willow in a hug. The huge webbed hands were soft and smooth to shake. Very welcoming of us and also a little reticent also. But they get many intergalactic visitors each and every day.
It was a joy to see life during this time travel from a 6 year old's perspective. It is good practice for when I visit my niece in Minnesota as she graduates from elementary school at the age of 12. There is so much wonder with the youth and to capture it only for 1/2 day is so precious. And for the first time meeting her as well.

As I was seated at the round table, I pulled out my cell phone and called my mom like I did when I was at Yankee Stadium once. I told Mom I am on Mars for dinner. She did not quite know what to make of it. I had to explain later on in the evening what I meant for my humor is not always great-even in the reality of the moment!!!

Mars 2112 was covered in Red Rock and there were screens showing vast expanses of wasteland of green and blue hazy atmospheres and beautiful orange and yellow sunsets and sunrises. There was music on Mars and it sounded a lot like the music here on earth. Yet, our aliens could not lip synch the music somehow.

At the end of the journey, we went through the land of the red rock and passed a sign saying, welcome back to earth. Not as exciting as the arrival in our space ship. But returning to earth was good as I have much to do. A quick way to go to Mars while still being grounded on earth but somehow transported by the imagination into the future while being in the present moment.

A definite fun way to spend the day traveling back to the time of war and then forward to the future. Seeing how life was lived and also how life could be lived in the 22nd century. Imagine how our citizens of the world would have felt back in 1945 if we told them what is happening now.

A good way to view life of going from one part of the world to the next-always in anticipation of what is in store for us.

For I am definitely proud to be an American for I know I am free. For the red blood and sacrifice of our soldiers even at this very moment. Willing to fight for us earthlings and aliens as well.