New Page---New Day

The weather man is promising rain. I think it is a promise. He sounded pretty excited about it. I'm still waiting. I have to plan around these natural occurances.Watering the container plants is a science and we have a strict schedule about that. Then , there is Cricket. She has taken a dislike to going for a walk in the heat. And forget rain. She doesn't do that either. That's why I need to know when the rains will come.I have to plan her day.

How can one small dog have two grown people be concerned about what she likes and does not like. Maybe we need to get jobs. It seem we have time on our hands .

I would like to work in the bakery department at my local grocery. It looks like so much fun, smearing icing on cakes and getting to make roses and greetings. I'm not an icing eater, so this would be a good place for me.

I'd have to check if the schedule I would have if I worked complimented Cricket's schedule. Maybe working outside of the house isn't the best thing. It's never too late to just put a leash on Cricket and take her for a pull. That's the opposite of a walk,

Some advertizing genius came up with this ad that really talks to me, "A body at rest, stays at rest and a body in motion, stays in motion". I will add this to my other favorites. I also like" you don't know if you don't go". That's a Nike ad, and it speaks to me ,too. Both of the ads advocate movement. I want to keep moving for a long time, so in my limited way, I listen. I wonder if the people who made up those slogans know how much I take those words to heart. The" you don't know" inspired me to do some traveling. The "body in motion" make me get outside as often as I can.

My Mother was active and moving until she passed away. She was the only person I knew who could run for a street car in high heels. Imagine what she could have done in sneakers. My father, so I heard, played semi pro baseball. I never heard him say that and as a Jew, I have my doubts. But still he was strong and pretty active. I got all of the atheletic genes in our house. My sister couldn't walk without tripping and she never learned to ride a bike. Some people are just lucky. And this includes me.

I never take being able to walk as a given. I'm thankful that I can. It's never too late to thank Somebody for this.

I have been walking further and going faster . I then come home and get on the scale. Nothing has changed. There seems to be a problem here. Maybe I need a new scale. This one has seen several states, been in several bathrooms. Can there be a scale that is set lower. One that cheats a little.

I've tried stepping on it with only one foot, holding the other foot up. That didn't change anything. Two feet weigh the same on this scale as a one foot position. At least I can still balance on one foot. That is a plus.

 I've weighed myself before drinking my morning coffee and then after. Coffee weighs a lot.

It's never too late to put the scale in a closet and just rely on how I feel. If I feel good, that is what counts. Thin isn't all it is cracked up to be. If you can't be too rich, or too thin... I pick rich.

I was reading my NBN email and someone was selling organic cherries. I love cherries. They are my favorite fruit. All the more reason to move to Israel if I can get cherries before the rest of the planet gets them. Except for us here in paradise the rest of the world has seasons. Israel gets cold, this is their spring. How did the cherries rippen? I wonder if they came from some place else. If you have been to Israel, you know that their fruit stalls are a work of colorful art. Everything looks beautiful and ready to eat. I took pictures of the displays, they were that picturesque. So where did this fruit come from? I may have to take a fact finding trip. All for a piece of ripe fruit.

I like fruit with pits. We used to sit on our deck at our cottage and spit the pits over the railing . They would drop onto our hill and we hoped that one would germinate and a fruit tree would grow. It never happened. After 30 years those pits just turned into mulch.

Fresh picked,local fruit is something I miss here in Paradise. Strawberries , corn and citrus are fine, but I do miss apples,apricots and Michigan cherries and blueberries. You gotta give up something.

It's never too late to try and buy local, but when you can't long distance works for me.

I have started running again. I call it running, but in reality, it is walking as fast as I can. It is a surprise to me that my body remembers.

I go out every morning and I do this and feel pretty good about it. Until this younger lady passes me. Show off, is what I want to say as she does this every , single morning.

She is walking as fast as she can, and it is FAST. Her strides are hugh and she swings her arms from shoulder to finger tips. And she is a half a block past me in a second. How does she do that? For one thing, that is very disrespectful to me. Show off. In the running world there is protocal. When passing , you say" passing on your left" or "right". Then you do a little flutter with your hand, just as an acknowledgement. She doesn't even do this. And that hurts me. It's so unfriendly. Maybe if I didn't wave a greeting to the other people walking in my loop, or stop to pet a dog, I'd be as fast as she is. She looks so intimidating . One of us isn't having fun and it's not me.

I'll keep doing my as fast as I can walk "run", keep my ear buds in attached to my music, smile to everyone I see and just feel so good to be able to be outside and walking.

It's never too late to know that this makes me feel really good and I think I make the other people on my walk feel good, because I know that they are not invisable.

I know that Christian churches have prayer groups that ask for healing and strength for someone who is ill, or is to have surgery. And I learned from my reading of the Nefesh B Nefesh site that prayers are asked for recovery of very ill people.Now it is our turn to ask for healing ,strength,and acceptance of outcome for a wonderful family in our community. This is a time when we can't ask "why", because there is no answer to the "why". We just need to lend the prayers of our 270 voices to the prayers of the family  .

It's Never too late.

I don't know why my iPad has taken such a dislike to my blog site. I can't write my daily thoughts on it.  It can't be jealouse. It should be the other way around.I use my iPad so much, that I seldom use my desk computer. Steve Jobs did a good job of programming the iPod. Or maybe Adobe did the good job. But I need both and I only have one. And they don't share well. I need both for my blog.  I don't understand these things, but I can't use age as an excuse. I'll have to learn the system or sink.

I sent a message to a nephew from my iPad, and he wrote back that he was impressed that I had one. What is he thinking. He probably doesn't know a lot of people my age, because if he did, he wouldn't be so impressed with me. I was also a little insulted. I don't stay home and knit,Allan.

My next challenge will be to Skype. I'll figure it out because I can talk to my iPad and ask for help. I don't know how this voice knows the answers, but "she" usually does. I ask it to look up information and she does. How smart is that? I wonder how soon she will replace me. The computer has already made it possible to find old friends, talk and be seen to far off people, have a meeting electronically, buy presents,read books,play games and pay bills. These are human qualities. And it is so small. Scary.  

It's never too late to realize that this is an amazing time that we live in.I'm going to be part of it.

I just heard that I have another Granddog. This makes 2. My first Granddog is a problem child, although he is being given therapy and tough love. by his parents. I understand that he has gone to doggie boot camp ,twice, and has improved immensly. I just heard about my second Granddog, but I think it's too early to see his personality.

I love knowing that my Grandson's have adopted dogs. It's because of the good associations that they had with our dogs that they now have pets. You never know how you influence your children and Grandchildren.

Most of my friends know that one of my daughters adopts dogs with missing limbs. She and her husband adopt them and make appliances for the dogs, so the dogs can be mobile. Their poster dog, Kando, has her own web site, charity and fan club. Kando can also ski . !.Her appliance has ski's and she loves it. You may have seen Kando on TV. She makes public appearances. None of my daughters dogs realize that they have a handicap.

I can't wait to get a picture of the newest Granddog. Some people show pictures of their children, or Grandchildren ,I will start a new trend of showing doggie pictures.

It's never too late to be proud of my Grandchildren because they are carrying on the tradition of adoptng and rescuing dogs.

Woof back at you ,guys.

I think that I am insecure. I noticed that I have multiple calendars. I am afraid that I will miss something so I put the appointment in more than one calendar. I have a small calendar in my purse, one with large daily blocks on my desk ,one medium sized one that I plan to use for official appointments, one that I haven't decided what I will use for. And a fresh calendar that starts in July. None of them are picture calendars, so that isn't what attracted me to them. It must be insecurity. I forgot the electronic one on my iPad.

The theory is that I would transfer information from one to the other. Some how, that does'nt always work. Either I am not at my desk or don't have my purse, and I write the event on the calendar that I am nearest and forget to transfer the information. I never forget a social invite, so feel free to ask me to join you. And thank goodness that all doctor's offices know that we have memory problems, because they always call 24 hours before an appointment.

Is there such a thing as a calendar addiction ?  It's never too late to admit to this calendar addiction because I think that this is the first step toward recovery.

I am wondering if cassette tapes are still being made. I have a favorite Jane Fonda "Walk Out" tape that I like to play as I walk. She's a little worn and I want to replace her . I think it is the whole recorder that may need replacing and I bet they don't make those anymore , either. I may have to take a trip to Best Buy and check this out. My iPad has a great app that let's me record and play back.But it's too big to walk around with. I have my Torah portion on it and I can play it and hear my son in laws voice as he very slowly pronounce each word.

I used to run with real life people, so I didn't need a tape of Jane to keep me company. Here in Paradise, I haven't found a partner yet, so Jane keeps me company. I do get a little tired of her telling me to smile. I tried some Country Western music but I get depressed listening. The songs are about cheating, standing by your man, d-i-v-o-r-c-e,drinking and being a coal miners daughter.I want happy, bouncy music without a message.

I saw a woman speed walking yesterday. I thought about asking if I could join her . But then I remembered that this was the second time that she lapped me. Her body language was so intense that I knew it would never work. She definitly needs Jane to tell her to smile.

I like having music to keep me moving. But being outdoors, hearing the birds and seeing the blue sky is really enough for me. It's never too late to put fresh batteries in my recorder and see if this helps.

I'm always ready for an adventure. As a child, my family traveled, at the most, 50 miles away from home base. We would visit Aunt Fanny and Uncle Louie in Abita Springs, Louisiana. They had a summer home there. They were also the first people I knew who had a summer home. Going to Abita Springs was the most exotic thing that we did. We packed a fried chicken lunch . Stopped at the ice house for a chunk of ice to put in the wash tub and drove less than 50 miles to their house. We made at least one stop on the way. For Coke's.

This must be where my love of adventure started. I passed this on to at least one child. Today, our youngest starts his adventure from Washington state to Alaska, via sail boat. He didn't invite me along. That's OK. I like my boats a little larger.

I did remind him to wear his life jacket.And email when he gets to a port. He is my baby, so I can still tell him these things.

I prefer road trips. There is something comforting about being able to put your feet on the ground when you make a pit stop. We don't take too many road trips lately. I listen to snowbirds talk about their drive to their summer quarters and I get nostalgic. A little.

I don't know what I miss most. The stopping at rest stops, the shopping at truck stops, or just the experience of going some where.

It's never too late to Map Quest a destination. I don't have to actually go to be happy. I can get my thrills on route I 75 to Sarasota.

Have you noticed how some people kiss?  I am particularly reminded of this every Friday night when I go to services . We are a greet and kiss Congregation. if you don't like this form of greeting, better think again about joining us. I love it.I grew up in a household where we didn't hug or express feelings, but, we kissed hello, kissed good bye, kissed before we went to bed . The kisses didn't have much meaning. But here, I actually feel the affection when we all kiss and greet. 

We have the New York air kissers, the side of the face kissers and the right smack, dab on the mouth kissers. I'm good with it all.

Our Congregation is made up of a warm , caring bunch of people and we show it . It's nice not to hold back on affection. It's never too late to shed your reserve and plant a kiss on someone's face. Cheeks prefered.

Today would be the 87th birthday of my only sibling. Those who know me, know that she just couldn't go on after Katrina destroyed her home in New Orleans and life as she lived it. Some people just have more than they think that they can handle. Maybe she didn't give up. I am passing judgement. And I shouldn't. Maybe I wish she had done things differently. Maybe I am wrong.

We were never close as children. I was a child and she was a young lady.There was that age gap between us. As adults , we lived in different parts of the country. When we came together in New Orleans or in Evanston, it was good and then  we were sisters. We both had/have good marriages and good children ( hit or miss a few episodes). I was always more active and physically stronger. It just happened that way.

She and her husband had my Mother live with them after my Father died. That was a mistake, but they did it. My Mother was not a nice person and she never appreciated what my sister and brother in law did for her. I did. And I told them so, often.

Maybe my sister was just tired of fighting.

I think about her when I want to share something that triggers a memory of growing up in N.O. Those damn memories sometimes make you cry.'

It's never too late for that.

Have you gone for a drive in the last few days ? The roads are manageable. Have you gone out to dinner ? The restuarants can give you a table. Have you gone to the grocery store ? Checkers are waiting for you. What a nice thing. The snow birds have left and the Sun Birds are still here.

I like it both ways. Cricket, on the other hand, is suffering from depression. There are no more of her friends here. She will have to make some residential friends. She does have two, two legged friends here. She greets them every morning and they make a big fuss over her.She "talks " to them and they in turn accuse me of not giving her enough attention. Yea,Right.

I still say that in my other life, I am coming back as my pet. Then someone reminded me that I won't be here. I haven't figured this out yet, it seems.

Having all of these seasonal friends is a good thing for all of us. It brings in needed dollars, it shows our short term visitors how nice we are, Cricket gets to meet different dogs and I get to get out every morning to be reminded of how lucky I am to be living here.

It's never too late for that.

I just read my NBN emails. A new concern has popped up. Banks do not have safety deposit boxes for customers. This will be a challenge. The fun of going to the bank, going to the vault and having your own little room to open your box is so rewarding. I used to love to do that. The box hardly had anything in it. A few certifcates of stocks which probably had no value. An inventory list of our valuables that probably had no real value. But it felt so important to have a bank employee accompany us to the inner ,lower depths of the bank. We finally just bought a green waterproof box and transfered the " stuff" to it and put the box under the bed. 

We still have the box. It has a first cutting of our first born's hair. The red is fading, but I keep it. We have a Little Orphan Annie toy, and the same inventory list . No more certificates of stocks because they don't do that anymore. 

It's never too late to remember the thrill of going into that vault.I felt rich. I'm still rich with the memory.