Long Day of Traveling………

Saturday I flew from Colorado Springs to Seattle and spent the night in Seattle. Sunday I caught a 10 hour flight to Tokyo.  Once we arrived at the Tokyo airport I had to make the standard calls….food, drink and bathroom.  I found the toilets in the Tokyo rather amuzing.  One of the buttons on the side there is for a flushing sound.  You can even turn up or turn down the sound  based on your needs.  I guess this means my blog has now hit a new low as that is really a picture of a toilet! :)

While doing a little shopping in the Narita airport I spied this beautiful kimono.


After a 2+ hour connection I took a two and a half hour to Seoul. 

Then it was a three hour bus ride.

Then a thirty minute taxi ride followed by about a mile walk in the dark dragging our suitcases. Luckily it wasn’t too cold, snowing or raining. We finally got there safely  around 1am and I fell into bed exhausted!!!

While I was in Tokyo I came across a book store in the airport.   My son is quite the geek and I thought it would be nice of me to buy him an authentic Japanese manga. Of course, not being able to read Japanese I had to choose one based on the picture on the cover as the books are wrapped shut to prevent you from standing in the store and reading.   I know my son likes artwork of Japanese characters, especially girls. This one looked great, so I bought it. After arriving in Seoul, I discovered that it’s not exactly family friendly.  Yep, that’s right I bought my son hentai. Luckily, he’s 20, not 12. If you’re not familiar with the word I’ll let google.com explain it to you.

Quote of the moment: Children lose their innocence the very moment they are forced to make excuses for their parent's bad behavior. ~Krista Delle Femine
Question to Ponder:  Can you find the humor in the situation even when you’re exhausted?

Great ways to reconnect……….

Here are a few suggestions to reconnect with loved ones, the past, or yourself.  I find that refocusing my attention to a positive activity can really turn around a frustrating or negative day.

• Write snail mail to a loved one with a really nice pen.  Everyone loves to find a small treasure of a note from a friend amidst their bills or junk mail.  Allow yourself to be the one to send a smile to someone.  Write a heartfelt note with a nice pen.  Imagine back in the day, when mail was the only way to connect with long distance loved ones. Take your time and treasure what your writing.

  

• Make a dish using an old recipe.  Ask an elder to share a recipe from a dish that they enjoyed but don’t cook very often.  Determine if your Mom or other relatives have a stash of old recipes.  Go to the local library and look through old cookbooks or magazine to find a great dish from times gone by.

• Snap a few photos of sentimental things. Take some time and take pictures of a piece of jewelry once owned by your Grandmother.  Snap a few pictures of a memento from a happy event in your life. Try different lighting, angles, and backgrounds.  Discover what you believe to be a really great photo of your prized object.  

 

 

• Find an old black and white film to watch with a long distance loved one. You always tell yourself that you’ll call your friend or relative that lives miles away later, when you have time to talk.  But you rarely follow through because life just gets too busy.  Stop putting it off.  Search the TV listings for your area and find a great classic movie.  Then search the TV listings for their area for the same movie, which can be done online.  Make a date with yourself to watch the movie.  Then, make a date to call the loved one and discuss the movie. 

 

• Schedule a low-tech day with your family. Schedule a day in the near future to turn off all of your high tech gadgets.  No TV, try not to answer your phone, no computer, etc.  Enjoy the radio, a board game or a card game with your family.  We get so busy with technology that we ignore the great family connecting activities from yesteryear.

 

• Teach a youngster your hobby. My grandmother loved to embroidery by hand.  I remember vividly working on embroidering pillowcases when I was a young teenager.  I still have those pillowcases and I treasure them to this day.

 

• Stroll thru an antique store.  There are lots of little treasures waiting to be found in an antique store.  But, I love seeing if I can find an item similar to what my Grandparents used to own or even something from my own childhood home.

 

• Find a unique ‘recipe’ to share with someone you’d like to get to know.  Their are some great recipes for things like homemade play-do, milk baths, dry hot chocolate mix.  Seek out these types of recipes, make some for yourself and a friend you don’t know so well.  Give them your gift, along with the recipe, for a great way to break the ice and start a new conversation.

Quote of the moment: Remember that when you leave this earth you can taken nothing of what you have received, but only what you have a given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage. ~Saint Francis of Assisi

Finding Warmth………..

Sometimes nature comes to you.  A few days ago we had a few visitors.  When we spotted them, I grabbed my camera in hopes of being able to snap a picture or two.  I quietly opened the door and they all stopped an glared at me.

This photo shows only 4 of them but there were 7 total.  They took their time just loitering in the yard and digging under the snow for some brunch.  Granted they do leave “droppings” and can destroy ones flowers but seeing Nature’s Grace so close to home is a great blessing.

They were so beautiful and so peaceful.  They had a nice visit in our yard and they stayed for more than an hour.  Today, is not quite such a pleasant site.  We got quite a lot of wet, heavy snow.




It makes for a very bleak picture outside. But it’s pretty picturesque if you don’t have to get out in it.  Luckily, I have no agenda for the day and I am free to stay inside and stay warm.



  







Today finds me with a severe muscle spasm in my neck and my shoulder on the right side.  So I will be spending the day in front of my tv or computer watching movies.




Quote of the moment: A beautiful young woman is an accident of nature, a beautiful old woman is a work of art. ~Unknown

Enjoying Friendship…………

I had a very enjoyable flight to Seattle yesterday!  I had an interesting flight!! It seems that the Federal Reserve Bank was loading bricks and bricks and bricks of brand new money on our plane, over 100 of them.  I was surprised that I was actually able to snap a pic with my phone from the plane window. It was very interesting to watch them be loaded and then removed after landing.  Secretly, I was hoping that some of it would find its way to my suitcase.  But no such luck!

Katie and J-man picked me up from the airport and we headed straight to the Cheesecake Factory!! YUMMO!!! There food is great and the cake is not to bad either! It was so fun to catch up with Katie and J-man is always so entertaining.

Now I must say that staying at Casa Katie is like staying in a 5 star resort. Actually it’s better; because having such a great friend nearby is so much fun! I even found fresh tulips and gifties when I checked into my guest room! Look at how beautiful they are! And she left me a bookmark pen and earrings!!  So, so sweet of Katie to leave me such wonderful goodies!   Katie is such a great hostess. I am so glad I have such a wonderful place to stay when I come here!! I am truly blessed to have such a great friend.  And I also have the opportunity to provide my friend an chance to sneak away to an amazing B & B with her darling new hubby Sean.  I am so glad they can get away for a couple of nights. Katie’s health hasn’t been the most cooperative lately and Sean is so amazing about taking care of her.  She is truly blessed to have such a great hubby.  It really tickles me pink to be able to spend some quality time with J-man and give them a little couple time! Great friends are hard to come by and I have found one amazing gem in Katie!

I had mailed some gifts to Katie for her birthday but actually one of them was a thank you gift for letting me stay with her.  You should have seen her jump up and attack the present with such Gusto!!! 

I was so happy when she opened it because she had been looking at these exact bowls! It’s a beautiful bread bowl which can be warmed in the oven along with your bread.  It’s made of eucalyptus and keeps the bread warm while you have dinner! She was so excited to get it and I was thrilled to be the one to give it to her!

Quote: To walk the earth in friendship is to embrace the highest human potential. Friendship bathes us with warmth and life while inspiring our soul to blossom.
Question to Ponder: Do you really take the time to truly appreciate your friendships? Even the one with yourself? After all, the only friend with you 24/7 is the one you find within yourself.

Beauty of Living……………..

Here in Oklahoma I have had a grand time visiting with my son Brendon and his friends.  I haven’t been able to spend as much time with them as I would like since they have school or work and I require a little extra time to relax since I am medically challenged.  However, there is a beauty to life and being young that I find myself really missing.  The simplest things can provide so much entertainment for a

youngster.  They have such an amazement at some of the simplest things.  As you can see this video was shot 19 years ago.  My son was only 18 months old in this video.  A sink of water and a brush could provide him with hours of entertainment.  He also loved sitting in laundry baskets or hampers at that age.  So often we get bogged down in the details of everyday life and we forget to take time to splash in the water or sit in our own laundry basket.  It’s not about the activity you are engaged in it’s the squeal of laughter that brings to your life. For me the simple things include quilting, reading, cardmaking, writing, and my relationships with family, friends and fellow Chiarians.  The most recent thing that I squealed about was Lady Gaga bag and lipstick from MAC for their Viva Glam campaign much to the amusement of one of my extra children.  (My extra kids are my son's friends who claim me as their “Momma”)  It hit me that I had squealed or squeaked over it and I realized that it felt really great to be free of all that plagues me. I was  just delighted in something as simple and feminine as make up.  I was thirteen all over again. I wasn’t the wife of an airman overseas, the mother of a kid in college, a patient with multiple medical problems or even a rebellious teenager.  I was just a girl thrilled over her new tube of lipstick. 

Quote: There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying things which are beyond the power of our will. ~Epictetus

New Attitude………

Somewhere here in Texas I got a phone call. I became so engrossed in the conversation.  Yep, I missed a turn.  I should have turned right and headed south.  Instead, I kept going east.  Of course, there’s that sudden flash of panic, fear of being lost. Then the urge was to turn around and go back to the place where I made this wrong turn.  Literally I was in the middle of nowhere with nothing but fields and farmlands. Instead I decided to turn on my GPS navigator and see how far out of my way this ‘detour’ would take me.  It wouldn’t add any significant travel time to my drive so I decided not to turn around but to continue on and to let the navigator do the thinking for me.  Although, I had initially panicked, after I calmed myself and weighed my options, I made the decision to take a different route than usual and to enjoy the new scenery.  As the picture above shows it was a beautiful day to travel and the panhandle of Texas provided an amazing sky under which to enjoy the open road.

Soft, green, rolling hills,
Baby blue, lofty canopy,
Gentle, white, fluffy clouds,
Dance around a winding road.

Brisk spring day to journey,
My heart roaming plains,
Hazel eyes horizons scan,
Seeking faeries secret land.

Romance of freedom now,
Gardens sweet calling note,
Marring my lonely soul,
Easing burdens heavy load.

Lifting over my melancholy,
Flirting with feelings new,
Soaring above places past,
To eager flights of fancy.

Brave, bold, new beginnings,
Pushing me to greater heights,
Freeing thoughts, memories gone,
Future dreams dawns anew.

Dancing sprites, joyous call,
Meadows sing of melodies crest,
Faerie wing’s bringing forth,
Heart’s new sultry muse.

Sun setting in my past,
Future’s calling bringing forth,
Hopeful thoughts, brightly lit,
Abundance full now dawning.

Quote: Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose--and commit myself to--what is best for me. ~Paulo Coelho