Birthdays

"The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes" Frank Lloyd Wright

Today I am taking my friend out for a birthday lunch.  Her birthday is on Sunday. 

She has been a really great friend. Ralph Waldo Emerson said " A friend is one before whom I may think aloud."  Well Brenda certainly is a friend because she lets me just talk and talk about anything and everything.

Brenda's birthday made  me start thinking about my own birthday which will be coming up next month. I will be turning 53!  I still feel like I am 33!  I have some friends who don't really like to celebrate their birthdays.  I love mine!  So I was really happy to come across this quote by Frank Lloyd Wright. 

I really love to celebrate birthdays.  I think they are some truly happy days.  I am certainly glad that my friends were born and I get a chance to celebrate with them

Okay enough of the sappy!   Hey its Friday!  Hooray!  And I am having the girlfriends in for games tonight.  I have been looking forward to this Friday!

Now Voyager

The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, 

Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.

Walt Whitman

Since the WGA strike started to affect television, I sit aimlessly channel surfing when I am in need of some entertainment.  I have been tuning into the classic movie channels more often.  The other night Now Voyager was on.  I LOVE that movie! Claude Rains was a brilliant character actor and Bette Davis was one of the best.

Like always my mind is running in two directions with this train of thought.

Firstly,  I was struck with two scenes in the film that I seem to remember seeing in a newer film, Titanic.  I wonder if James Cameron loved Now Voyager also.  The first time I saw Titanic I thought when Rose gets out of the automobile and the camera pans in on her as she raises her head and you see her face from under a terrific hat, revealing something of her character, that she looked like Charlotte in Now Voyager and it was a neat tribute to that movie. Then when I was watching Now Voyager recently I noticed that Charlotte and the young mate on the ship are making out in an automobile on board! Of course her mother puts the kabosh on that as he is not socially acceptable for a Vale of Boston!  Guess what Jack and Rose have a similar encounter in an automobile on the Titanic.  I fell asleep before the end of the film, but I have to wonder if there are any other similarities.

Secondly,  I began to think about the poem that the Doctor Jaquith gives to Charlotte in the "rest home".  It is Walt Whitman's The Untold Want from Leaves of Grass.   Now I own that book and I love Walt Whitman.   I just haven't thought about it for a long time.  Now I am inspired to take it off the shelf, dust if off, and dive in!  I can hardly wait for the weekend to do just that!  

I also think that might have some deeper meaning for me at this phase of my life!

 

Snow Rain Complexities and Silly Stuff

"Unusual weather we're having, ain't it"  Cowardly Lion

Well my mind is full of random thoughts today!  I went to church this morning and when I came out it was misting rain.  Then it really rained. Later in the morning I had to go and sign my will at the lawyer's office and when I went out it was snowing!  I could only think of the Cowardly lion.  It is unusual weather. The snow was absolutely beautiful, big wet flakes falling gently from the sky gathering in my hair and on my coat.

When I finished signing the will, the snowflakes were not as large.  I drove over to the WorkOut 24, jogged for 30 minutes, lifted a few weights and used some machines and when I went back out it was misting rain again.  I would rather have the snow!

My other thoughts as I was driving around had to do with a friends blog that I read this morning.  He had put a link to a fun little thing he found on the web concerning LOST.  It just happened to be about my favorite character, Sawyer!  By answering a few simple questions you could procure a nickname for yourself from Sawyer.  Now, Sawyer's nicknames have been some of my favorite lines from LOST.  So I dived right in and and answered the questions.   As I was going along it occurred to me that I am a complicated person.  I could answer the questions in different ways at different times.  That set me to thinking about who I am.   Well, when I got to the Brain question, I could choose three. When I chose smart, and thoughtful my nickname turned out to be Ferdinand.   When I added logical to the equation it turned out Sand Dab.  Now sometimes my brain isn't logical or thoughtful, it is creative and impulsive. So when I combined smart, creative and impulsvie, Sawyer would call me Stork!   You notice that smart was always a choice!

Well I have always been this way.  I am not totally predictable at anytime and I am not always sure how I will think or act or react to any given situation.

So perhaps this character trait is why I can't get a man to stay.  Maybe men don't like women who are smart, thoughtful at times, creative at times, logical at times and impulsive at times. Who they never know what is going to come out of her mouth!

I spent 17 years trying to be the person my husband wanted and lost myself.  Now that he is gone I can be me again.   Whoever that is!

Curiouser and Curiouser

Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influences of each.   Henry David Thoreau

Now normally I think that is very sage advice, but I can't quite figure out what season it is here in Illinois!

On Thursday last we had a beautiful 10 inch snowfall.  I was all excited, it really is winter! I had a fire in the fireplace and watched snowy movies.  

Now here it is Tuesday and the snow is gone, replaced by lots of water from a thunderstorm we had overnight!  It was a spring type thunderstorm.   We had the strangest fog all day yesterday. Very eerie. 

 I went to pick Regena up from work last night at 10:00pm.  The fog was so much less than it had been earlier that I decided to take Race street to Curtis. That takes me out of the city and into the farm fields.  Well what a mistake that was!   It is really dark out there with no lights and the fog rolled in.  All I could see was the beam of my headlights  and the occasional brightness due to the lightning!   Yes I said lightning! I rolled down my window to try to see where exactly I was on the road, No painted lines!

The snow was in the fields being illuminated by lightning. Now I know that road like the back of my hand, but I was never so glad to see the lights of Savoy as I neared the stop at First and Curtis.  I felt like I had been in the scene from the Incredible Shrinking Man when he drove through the misty fog.

Then when I returned home the thunderstorm intensified.  I was feeling very lonely and a little bit freaked out, wishing I had another human in the house.  I mean the dogs and cats can't talk.

So I am feeling very confused is it Winter  or Spring?

I must say I am glad that I don't have to gingerly climb over the piled up snow at the curb to get into and out of my car at work.

I think that Ed is predicting snow again tomorrow!   Oy!

In Need of Inspiration

"There are only two ways to liver your life. One as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."   Albert Einstein

It's February.  I woke up this morning feeling very uninspired.  It's Monday.  I don't like having to get out of my comfy bed to get up and get ready for work.   And did I mention it is February?  I am not really a morning person, but I like to get to work early to get the day going and to be alone in my office for a couple of hours before everyone else gets here.  Now I truly love my co-workers, but the quiet of my office in the early morning hours is really  nice.

So I forced myself out of bed, showered,   fed the cats and dogs and fish. Put together my lunch and grabbed a yogurt and fixed my soy milk with flax oil to take with me.  I folded Janet's laundry.  I made sure I had my cell phone and glasses in my bag, I didn't want to forget anything (I have been known to forget my glasses and/or cell phone on occasion). I brought the dogs in from outside and gave them a treat.  I  grabbed the bag Janet's laundry, my bag of workout clothes and sneakers, and my work bag and happily headed out the door. All of this in 45 minutes! I felt like I was ahead of the game. About one and one half blocks from home I remembered I forgot my cup of soy milk.  I left it sitting right next to where I picked up all those bags!  Well  that made me feel even more uninspired.  I am forgetting more and more things and it seems I am always 5 minutes late for everything.  I used to always be early!

So I started looking for inspiration when I got to work.   First I saw this quote by Einstein hanging by my desk,  then I found this photo of  Stirling Scotland with Wallace Monument and a view of the Highlands.   Suddenly, I remembered how truly blessed I have been and should always remember how to live as though everything is a miracle! I am feeling more and more inspired.

SNOW

Since my snow angel made it so easy for me to get out,  I came to work!  I rather like the snow and the University has done an amazing job clearing the sidewalks.  The roads are clear with hardly any snow.   I had a book I had to return to the Urbana Library, hate to pay late fees, and a report I need to finish at work. 

There are a few brave souls here.  So i am sitting here listening to Snow Patrol, writing my report and thinking of going home to re-build the fire, snuggle in with the dogs and cats and watch Dr. Zhivago!

Snow Angels

 I used to love to make snow angels when I was a little girl.  When it snowed

we took every opportunity to play in the snow and go sledding.  Living in Alton there were hills everywhere to sled down.

This morning I woke up at 6:30 turned on the radio and Ed said we had 7.2 inches of snow with 1-3 in. still to come,  so I rolled over snuggled in and slept until 9am.  I got up fed the cats and looked out the window.  Sure enough there was a bunch of snow on the driveway.   I woke up with a tremendous headache and couldn't face shoveling yet so I made some oatmeal and some Highlander Grog coffee, built a fire in the fireplace and settled in with a movie.  At about 10:45 I decided to go and try to shovel some of the driveway.

I opened my garage door and much to my surprise and amazement my driveway was entirely shoveled!   I could hardly believe it,  how could I be so lucky.  My snow angel had come and cleared my drive and the path to the front door.   No my angel did not stop to tell me that he had done this for me.  I felt really grateful because my headache was not any better.

I would love it if my snow angel would disclose himself, so I could with much gratidue thank him.