Carpe Diem

 

 

 "Break the

monotony.

Do Something

Strange and

Extravagant."

The Giving

 

 

 "...it was the

outstretched

hands,

 the giving,

that mattered." Annie Proulx

Possible

 

 "Pretend impossibilities

are possible.

They are." -Sandi Hemmerlein

You Will Learn

 

"One day

you will

learn 

how to give and receive love

like an open window

and it will feel like summer

every day."

Come Sit With Me

 

Before Sleep

 

 

"Two practices I undertake every night while I lay in the dark before sleep. The first is to chat with the universe. I telepathically tell COTU (Creator of the Universe) what’s happened on Earth that day and how I feel about it. Everything from the horrors in Turkey and Syria and Ukraine to the “progress” on the hideous remodel two doors down. I complain about the arthritis in my knee and rhapsodize about the existence of the fruits and vegetables I saw at the Farmer’s Market.

Next I creep around in my own brain for a quarter of an hour unearthing buried childhood memories. I’ll remember incidentals like how itchy the petticoat I wore under my school dresses was or how warm and inviting the metal monkeybars felt. Also big stuff like the days I spent in isolation sick with Scarlet Fever and picking up a “chapter” book and realizing I could read it or the creepy bespectacled face of the math teacher who always tried to feel me up and gave me A’s in Algebra and Geometry just for showing up to class.

I tell you it’s therapeutic to talk to the universe and to stroll around your cerebellum every night. All those stars beckoning and the past so stuffed with experiences that didn’t get enough attention. I highly suggest you adopt a similar routine. Or take a Xanax. Win win."

 -Gail Greenfield Randall

The Beauty Shop

In the 1950's my grandma had a standing appointment at the hair salon every Saturday. Hair salons were often referred to as "The Beauty Shop". (June's Beauty Shop was where my grandma went.)  That term is so cute and when you think about it , very hopeful.  Whenever I have a an appointment at the "Beauty shop" I hope I can get me some beautiful while I'm there!

Wait

 

"Wait for someone

who could be the

moon for you.  Just

as strong; just as

steady.

illuminating

changes and seas

and blooming 

flowers and summer

nights. They'd wait 

for you in the

dark. They'd dance

around the sun.

They'd receive

your primal howls, 

your secrets, your

dreams, and

shifting tides.

Wait for the moon.

Wait for nothing 

less than what 

steals your breadth."

 

Gail's Remembers Her Grandmother

 

 

"Their apartment was teensy. Just perfect to be four in. My grandmother let me shake water on the clothes she was ironing and let me iron the handkerchiefs all by myself. I would hand her the clothespins as she hung the wet towels on the clothesline outside. She cut up apple slices and I dusted them with cinnamon sugar. We ate them swinging on the glider behind her apartment. She taught me how to knit. How to make a daisy chain. How to play “Go Fish”.

I sat next to her sweet-smelling body on the piano bench and we sang “Que Sera Sera” and “Around the World I Searched for You” as she pecked out the notes. We played “Chopsticks” together again and again to see how fast we could go.

In the late afternoon we pushed her little shopping cart to the corner market. Lamb chops for dinner and Hershey’s kisses for walking home. We walked slowly admiring the puffy white clouds in the sky and the roses in flowerbeds.

She let me use her pumice stone on my feet during my bath and her Jean Nate bath powder after. She gently brushed my hair before I went to bed on the made up sofa. The sheets so soft against my clean skin.

The lullaby of my grandparent’s quiet conversation would soothe me to sleep. I swear I never slept deeper — my dreams were never sweeter than in that teensy apartment that was perfect to be four in."

-Gail Greenfield Randall

Acts Of Kindness and Love

 "That best portion of a good man's life; 

His little, nameless, unremembered 

acts of kindness and of love." – William Wordsworth.

Beauty

 "and perhaps

what made her beautiful

was not her appearance

or what she achieved,

but in her love

and in her courage,

and in her audacity

to believe:

no matter the darkness

around her,

Light ran wild

within her,

and that was the way

she came alive,

and it showed up

in everything." -Morgan Harper Nicols

Happy St. Paddy's Day

 

 

 "May your heart be light

and happy, may your smile

be big and wide, and may

your pockets always have

a coin or two inside! - Irish Proverb

 

 

Soups for March

 During the early part of March before leaving for Australia it was very rainy.  We focused on comfort meals and made a lot of soups.  I made french onion soup, a thai vegetable curry, a potato corn chowder and a variation of a clam chowder.  All were great. 

 

A nice gin and tonic for happy hour accompaniment.

The thai curry calls for a curry paste ingredient.

Try this one:

A Day With Sherri

 The other day I had a nice rainy day meet up with my friend Sherri.  We watched a movie starring Emma Thompson and we had wonderful sandwiches.  Fun Times. 

 

Sofia Born To Be A Teacher

 

Sofia cracks me up. As you may know she always wants to "play school" when we face time. We are both co-teachers and she has all her stuffed animals paired up and at the ready for any class assignment. I know what her teacher must sound like because Sofia echoes what her teacher says when we are together. On career day in her Kindergarten class she dressed up as a teacher. Yesterday when her family when to a historical farm and they had an old school room she sat her little brother in his seat and she sat at the teacher's desk with bell in hand. The other day she brought home her school year book with photos of the staff and grade level student photos. She then play acted in front of our students and said would you all like to see pictures of Ms. Barbara and myself? She then proceeded to point out various staff and say "This is me when I had blonde hair?" Or this is "Ms. Barbara when she was younger!" This girl! She really makes me laugh. (ooops gotta go she just called to play school!)

 

 

An apple for you teacher

Got my eyes on you Rocco

Old Memories

It was another rainy morning this past Saturday in Southern California. My cousin Nancy  sent me this old picture of Mike sitting with our daughter Aria and her cousin Mariko. That took me on a long dive through some old family photos of the girls growing up. We spent those years doing all kinds of fun adventures which seemed so ordinary way back then. Summers at the bay where Mike and I now take frequent walks together. Tent camping which makes me laugh because I can’t imagine me doing that now. Sports of every kind that Mike often coached and Girl Scouts which I co-led. And all the trips we took with the kids on airplanes from the time they were babies. It’s no wonder they both grew up to be better, more savvy travelers than their parents! And all the ordinary daily simple things seem to be what I treasure most. Silly things like playing with scarves, going trick or treating in costumes I made the girls or simply laying on a blanket in the backyard looking up at the clouds. Being with family is the greatest gift. A reminder to cherish each moment and to young moms who feel tired and busy know that those times will pass and someday if you’re lucky you will say those were some of my best years. Remember even at those tired times to stop and take in the blessings of even those days.I attach some pictures I looked at this morning.