Forgiveness

 Sometimes the first step to forgiveness

is understanding

the other person

is an idiot.

Magnifying Each Other's Light

 

"The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another."

-James Baldwin

First Puzzle of the New Year

 

Don't Underestimate

 "Reading 20 pages per day

is 30 books per year.

Saving $10.00 per day

is $3650 per year.

Running 1 mile per day

is 365 miles per year.

Decluttering 1 room per week

finishes your home in 3 months. 

Don't underestimate the power of

small habits." 

Annual Sweetheart Dance

 

Who You surround Yourself With

 "This year I want you to surround yourself with the best people.

The right people.  Those that lift you up, make you smile, make you

laugh, make you feel safe.  Those people that are always cheering for you

even when you're not in the room.  Especially then.  Surround yourself with

people that you can't wait to see.  That let you be you.  That celebrate and 

cheer you on.  Surround yourself with people that simply make you feel

good. " - Lisa Buscomb

The Accordian

 

Belated Birthday Girls Day Out For Sherri

Today the birthday celebration for Sherri continued began with drinks at "The Modern Kitchen and Grill" by the Long Beach Airport.  The atmosphere was fun and new to us. 

 

 

After that we headed to the newly opened L’Antica da Micheli (famed pizzeria from Naples). We loved the pizza margherita, roasted beet salad, frito misto and the gelato.

Man Vs. Obstacles and Other Things

 

Someone Who Means Everything

 

                                                Photo by: R. Pando Mc Collough

The Rainy Weekend

 

The rain arrived yesterday.  I made a cup of hot chocolate and started my new book. Stay safe and warm. 

Happy Saturday everyone.
 

A Sunday Workshop at The Meadows Museum

 

One of the many perks on campus are the free art workshops at the University Meadows’s Museum. Today Sofia and Rocco made airbrush totes.

 

 

Happy Birthday Mary

 

Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister in law.  Mary I love you so much! I wish you a wonderful year ahead!

Parisian Tea Party

 I was face timing with my 3 year old grandson Jude yesterday and he was showing me his Parisian cafe. He has been having fun with his mom pretending they are in Paris. He made me a cappuccino and a croissant. 

 

 

 

 His brother Julian is almost 7 months old now.

 

 Jude has fun serving Julian food too but says sometimes it’s just mom and me on a date! 

 

 

 

I attach a photo of Athena when she was Jude’s age. 

 

 

Time sure goes by in a blink of an eye!

Flowers from Trader Joe's

 

I had a bunch of errands to do today after my hair cut. I stopped off at Trader Joes to get some flowers and saw some pussy willows which I love so I bought them as well. 

 

 I also love silver dollar eucalyptus leaves 

 

 

And these tiny magenta flowers.

 

 

 

 I added them to my haul. I don’t know the name of that magenta flower but the color is beautiful. When I finally got home I arranged the flowers and then I started photographing them.

 

 

 

 

 

 I was having fun. Then I found a new recipe for chicken and broccoli stir fry. There are a ton of recipes all variations on this theme. It was good but I’m still on the lookout for something irresistible. Anyway I hope you had a good day. Sometimes just simple things like buying flowers and arranging them is very rewarding.

Ubuntu

 Ubuntu

I am because

we are

 

Ubuntu is a very nice story from Africa...

an anthropologist proposed a gme to the African tribal children.

He placed a basket of sweets near a tree and made the children

stand 100 meters away and then announced that whoever reaches

first would get all the sweets in the basket. 

 

When he said "ready steady go!"...do you know what these

children did?  They all held each other's hands, ran together

toward the tree, divided the sweets equally among themselves

ate the sweets and enjoyed it.

 

When the anthopologist asked them why they did so,

they answered..."Ubuntu". Which meant, "How can one be

happy when the others are sad?"

 

Ubuntu in their languare means:  "I am because we are." 

A Different Humour

 

 If you're not familiar the work of Steven Wright, he's the famous Erudite (comic) scientist who once said: "I woke up one morning, and all of my stuff had been stolen and replaced by exact duplicates."

His mind sees things differently than most of us do.
Here are some of his gems.

1 - I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
2 - Borrow money from pessimists – they don't expect it back.
3 - Half the people you know are below average.
4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
8 - If you want the rainbow, you have got to put up with the rain.

9 - All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.
10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese
11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend ... but she left me before we met.
12 - OK, so what's the speed of dark?
13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
18 - Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
19 - I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
22 - What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
26 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking
27 - Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
32 - The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.
33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.
34 - If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
35 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?

And the all-time favorite:
36 - If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments

 

The Best Gift

 "Choose to be in the company of

positive and happy people. 

Positive people make your world 

more positive. Surround yourself

with people you love and those

who love you. That's the best gift

you can give yourself for a happy, 

healthy and positive life." 

Sunday Adventure - The Natural History Museum

 

For our little Sunday adventure we rode the metro E line (old name blue line)from Long Beach to DTLA exited at Pico. From there a transfer to E line toward Santa Monica and exited at the Exposition/ USC stop.

 

 

 We met our friends Mary and David at the east entrance of the Natural History Museum. 

 

The Rose Garden in winter

 

 

The old South entrance is being renovated. It has been some time since all of us last visited.

 

 We had fun seeing all the wonderful exhibits. 

 

The dinosaur hall alone would be wonderful for our Grandson Rocco. 

 

 

 

Mike’s favorite exhibit are the gems and minerals. 

 

 

The centerpiece of the exhibit, the Jonker I Diamond, is the largest stone cut from the Jonker Diamond–the fourth largest diamond in the world when it was found in 1934–and weighs in at 125 carats, placing it among the largest cut diamonds in the world. This historic gem has passed through the hands of global royalty and Hollywood stars, but has not been on public view for decades.

 

I love the grand halls filled with animals in their imagined habitats. 

 

 

 

We had a fun day exploring the museum and then returned home on the metro.