Not Just About A Book Club Yappy Hours for December 2020

 December 2

December 9

December 16 Book club reads "The Secret Book & Scone Society"

Destined To Meet

 "An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance.

 The thread may stretch or tangle. But it will never break."

 -Ancient Chinese Proverb

Sofia's Last Day of School Before Xmas 2020

 

 Last day of school PJ party and watching Polar Express with her class. Sofia is so excited for Xmas.

 

 On her break she gave me a spa play date. She said “we have a special today called ‘Extreme make over for grammas !” I had to laugh “Yes That’s exactly what I need!”

 

 

 

 Again we entertained her little brother.

 

Christmas Card from Jocelyn

 So for those of you who know my sister Jocelyn well,  you know she is really witty, and hilarious. She has this shy, quiet demeanor which totally will fool some but honestly she is one of the funniest people on this planet. I just received her xmas card and it made me laugh so hard. The best part was the cartoon she pasted inside. A little background on the cartoon message: When our mom passed away we said that she would come back to visit us in the form of a monarch butterfly because in life she loved that butterfly. Often times when I'd be on the phone with Jocelyn a butterfly would pass by one of us and we'd say things like "I just saw mom fly by to say hi!" On the day that my dad passed away and we were at the memorial two monarchs flew by and landed on his wreath and just stayed for the longest time so each of us could see those two together. We said it was a sign from mom that said she and dad were together again. So now this card from Jocelyn today. Thanks Joce you really made me smile.

 

 

Not Just About A Book Club reads "The Secret Book & Scone Society"

 "I prefer cinnamon twists over scones because they’re easier to eat while I’m reading. That’s my main priority when it comes to food. Other people are obsessed with calories, nutritional value, antioxidants. I look at food and wonder: Can I eat that without having to put my book down?”
― Ellery Adams, "The Secret Book & Scone Society" 

Home made scones by our book club member Donna

 Our book club met today for a fun zoom meeting.  We had planned for each of us to bring a favorite scone to eat while we discussed the book. It seemed fitting as much of the book takes place in the bakery located in Miracle Springs. This is a bakery where a custom baked scone with flavors fitting to the customer is made to order.   We had a nice discussion of this book which falls into the category of   "Cozy Mysteries." We all enjoyed this book which focuses on how four women from the town develop a close friendship as they gather together to solve a murder in Miracle Springs. The majority gave this light-hearted mystery a thumbs up. 

  “Stories don’t change much across continents and centuries. Hearts are broken. Pride is wounded. Souls wander too far from home and become lost. The wrong roads are taken. The incorrect choice is made. Stories echo with loneliness. Grief. Longing. Redemption. Forgiveness. Hope. And love.” Now it was her turn to point at the bookstore. “That building is stuffed with books that, once opened, reveal our communal story. And, if you’re lucky, the words in those books will force you to grapple with the hardest truths of your life. After reducing you to a puddle of tears, they’ll raise you to your feet again. The words will pull you up, higher and higher, until you feel the sun on your face again. Until you’re suddenly humming on the way to the mailbox. Or you’re buying bouquets of gerbera daisies because you crave bright colors. And you’ll laugh again—as freely as champagne bubbling in a tall, glass flute. When’s the last time you laughed like that?”
― Ellery Adams, The Secret Book & Scone Society

A Young Mother's Thoughts

 

This year, like every year, I asked Santa for a little more patience. A little more grace. A little more time.

The days are long and messy and mundane. An endless cycle of dishes and laundry. Lessons to plan, meals to make, floors to mop. My patience is often thin. My temper short. I often forget to see the magic through the mayhem and meltdowns. I'm not always the mom I want to be.

And despite those endless hours between dinner and bedtime, all too often it seems like the days slip away. Each night takes them a little farther from babyhood. A little farther from my arms.

So maybe, Santa can buy me a bit of time. Stretch these years of childhood just a little bit longer. Give me some grace when I'm too tired to see the magic.

And if not-- if my kiddos are intent on growing at lightning speed, as they seem to be...

I hope at least they know....

That these have been the best years of my life.

That loving them has been my greatest dream come true.

That once the sun sets and they're settled into their beds, I often lay there, just breathing them in, whispering silent prayers of gratitude for this wild ride of motherhood, and this incredible gift of holding them and guiding them through this world.

I hope my children know that they are my everything-- even when I'm not my softest, kindest, most patient self.

And perhaps it's too much, but I hope that they share this wish to slow down time. To love every messy, chaotic moment of their childhoods. To stay here, just a little longer, in the safety of their mama's love.

Exactly What You wanted

 

"Nothing last forever

So live it up, drink it down, 

laugh it off, avoid the drama.

Take chances, and never have regrets. At one

point, everything you did was exactly what you wanted."

Christmas A Little At A Time

 

"I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays — let them overtake me unexpectedly — waking up some fine morning and suddenly saying to myself: 'Why this is Christmas Day!'"-Ray Stannard Baker

 

Christmas Time

 

"Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given — when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes." -Joan Winmill Brown

Plenty of this to Give at Christmas 2020

 

"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas." -Peg Bracken

 

Winter Dreams

"Even the grief he could

have borne was left

behind in the country of

illusion, of youth, of 

the richness of life, 

where his winter dreams

had flourished." F Scott Fitzgerald 

Happy Birthday to my sister Jocelyn

 

 

These two things come to mind today on my sister Jocelyn's birthday:

 

"In thee, my soul shall own combined the sister and a friend." and

" More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you’ve been bad and good. "

Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister Jocelyn! I couldn't have wished for a kinder, more generous or funnier sister. We are the same-same sisters and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

December BLESSINGS

 

 

Be Present

Let the day flow with grace

Expect joy. Be Positive

Serve with Compassion

Speak only kindness.

Impart only love

Never forget, you're not alone

Give thanks for everything

See goodness in Others. 

In Search of the Real Santa

Christmas in You

 "Be filled with wonder

Be touched by Peace." 

 

 

A Prayer

 

 

 "Lead me to make choices

today that bring me joy and allow 

me to experience the life that I was

meant to live." 

 

Keep Looking Forward

 

December Walk in the Neighborhood

 Yesterday, December 2 we came back from our lunch time walk in the neighborhood. It was 70 degrees in Long Beach and hardly a soul out in the the hood. Beautiful sunny day and people were setting out their Xmas decorations. A little trick photography. Can you see us in the hanging tree ornament. I made Mike pose with me.

 

Cozy days and Warm Inside nights

 Hello December please make my wishes come true...

Welcome December Last of 2020

 Welcome December

"New Month, New Chapter, New page, and new wishes.

May the month give you courage, strength, confidence, patience,

self-love and inner peace. May everyday in December fill your 

days with Hope, Love, Sunshine and energy.

Let there be joy, fun, and laughter." - Naijagists.com

 

 

Not Just About A Book Club Yappy Hours November

 November 11

November 18

 

 

A Bit of Grammar

 

An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.

• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.

• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.

• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.

• A question mark walks into a bar?

• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.

• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."

• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.

• A synonym strolls into a tavern.

• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.

• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.

• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.

• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.

• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

• A dyslexic walks into a bra.

• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.

• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.

• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony

- Jill Thomas Doyle

An Invincible Summer

 

 "He said, "In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible

love.  In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In

the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized,

through it all, that in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible 

summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world 

pushes against me, there's something stronger-something better, pushing right back."

-Albert Camus

 

Thanksgiving Days 2020

 Despite it all we managed to have a very nice Thanksgiving (intimate party of two here in Long Beach) . The past days have been very peaceful with lots of zooming with family. My daily facetiming with Sofia has been exciting as she is filled with the enthusiasm about all the festivities of the season. She was excited to show me her gingerbread reindeer and her newly decorated Xmas tree and the letter she wrote to Santa. Her family also took a nighttime drive to see the local xmas lights fully equipped with 3 D glasses to see "snowflakes" and a special hot cocoa at the end of the drive. It's approaching summer in Australia and Jude and his mom and dad have been swimming and trying to keep cool in very hot temperatures. Everyone is well and that is what makes my heart extremely grateful. Soon the last month of the 2020 will be here. I hope everyone is making the most of these holidays and staying safe all the while.