Just wanted to write a note about how creative my little Swiss Miss is in her writing. I am so impressed with her casual style and use of the English language. Makes me laugh....
I usually write comments on her blog and they weren't showing up....I read up on this and the blog owner has to approve of the comments.....so this meant my daughter didn't approve of my comments???!!!! what's up with that Swiss Missy! Then she explained that it would look funny if her MOM wrote most of the comments...I understand. You can't take the MOM out of Mama if you have the fantastic daughter that I have. I will always brag. So I will write here, on my own blog where the comments are approved!:) You have to understand that my email gets read by only Kristen and her's gets read by many.
Well, Kristen I loved the Riot day story.........I know what you mean about the flea markets and missing one.....
Package to you should be mailed today. There is a flea market book inside with other goodies.
Enjoy.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Proof is in the pudding.
Coming home from a trip that you really enjoyed is tough. First, you have to leave the people you love that made the trip so much fun and adventure. Second, you have to leave the place you were visting.
In my case, I had never been to Europe, anywhere "over there". So everything was an adventure, every sight a delicious eyeful of beauty previously unknown , every turn another neighborhood or mountain; bakery or bracki; lake or river; narrow street and quaint village.
So much of the learning about another country is how differently from the USA everything is done. We only know what we have lived. We know it will all be different but not sure how. For example, we have trains, buses and trolleys. Where I grew up outside Boston, Massachusetts we had the option of buses, trolleys or trains to get around and in and out of Boston but people didn't use them as much as they do in Zurich.
Even "when I was young," once cars became the normal mode of transportation, the buses were for the people who didn't have cars. The trains were used for workers commuting in and out of Boston. The is a grassroots comeback of public transportation but nothing close to Zurich. It was very impressive to see how few cars there are, how few gas stations you see( granted the price when I was there was 1.79 Fr per liter) and how many ride the public transportation all the time. It was all very impressive. The organization of the transportation, the timing, the schedule which is in full view and easy to read at each stop, the train police who randomly check for tickets (!) and can fine you 80 Frs if you don't have a ticket...or they kick you off and make you buy one... (some personal experience there) and they are clean! Plus I had the super Swiss Miss extrodonaire to guide me through the city.
My Swiss Miss daughter, Kristen who now lives there has learned so very quickly her way around (no car) the public transportation system all written in German. She only arrived on Feb 14, 2008 and I was there on April 3, 2008 and I am so impress with how much German she picked up, studied and learned to speak in that short time. She took Spanish for 4 years but that only helps in certain parts and certain restaurants. When we went out to eat fondue with her husband, Mark the night before I left, April 17th, the waiter, an older gentleman, spoke strong hard boisterous German. Later, after he complimented Kristen and spoke that she reminded him of Ursella Andres (or was it Rachel Welch?...it was some European beauty from the 60s)
the conversation got funnier and Kristen started speaking in Spanish and he was from Spain!
What a fun night and Mark at times was blushing at the comments he made in German about Kristen. Anyway, the waiter and Kristen had a nice Spanish conversation and he even showed up photos from his hometown which she had been to. Oh if only all waiters were so charming.
Since I arrived 3 1/2 days after they moved into their first apartment (from corporate housing) I helped. I like to help, no complaint here. They had bought some furniture from IKEA it is what everyone has over there. It is cheaper and available. The prices of furniture were outrageous. K & I went shopping for beds for them to get catalogs and ideas for K to show M.
Even the non IKEA stores have furniture that all looks like IKEA. Beds are low to the ground and not much of a frame, headboard or footboard. Kristen likes the bed low so it works for her but when I left they still hadn't ordered a bed.
They had purchased a craft table for K that is a good height for her to stand and work at and two storage tables that are like large night stand size with narrow but wide drawers. They are cool. I might go get some for me. She had put them together except for the drawers. So, that was our first project. I also call Swiss Miss, Miss IKEA. She is so so good at the putting together. The IKEA directions are only pictures. No words. She said that must help keep the cost down. I told here I would gladly pay and extra $5.00 for just simple words like, left side, right side, top or bottom, up or down! Next we tackled the 3 large wardrobes they bought.
The apartment (which is large, clean, white, bright, has good flow and is on the first floor) has only one (ONE!!!!) closet. It is in my room...oops, I mean the craft room or 3 rd bedroom.
Mark will have 1/2 and Kristen will fill up the other 1/2 with her crafts....along with those other two pieces of furniture we put together... She is a bargain shopper and when you find a deal and you know the real price, sometimes you have to buy it because you WILL need it in the future.
This craft/project stuff was one of Mark's biggest problems with his wife. Don't the vows state "thru craft and projects, thru knitting and purl, I will cherish you since you are making our apartment a home>>>" Kristen likes projects (there's that apple again) but she also get bored or tired (as all crafters do) with the same one for a long time till it is done, so she starts another.
This means piles of stuff to Mark. Here and there, table and chair. Rightly so, it can be cluttery.
So, If I understand right, now Kristen has a room. Projects can be done on the craft table w/o hurting her back and without messing up the dining room. Items can be stored in her 1/2 of the closet and in drawers and photos boxes and baskets etc. When guest come, they will have a day bed that pulls out like a trundle to be a full size bed in their own area of the large craft room. It was great for me when I was there and it is far away from everything else giving M & K privacy.
I was surprised at the food in Zurich. It was expensive (actually everything is very expensive there ). Sandwiches are meat and bread or cheese and bread. Not sliced bread but baggets. No mayo or mustard. There were some at a place K found that had lettuce and tomato etc on them but they too were different...but good and different can be good, it just takes some getting used to. Then when you go home, you miss it. I took Kristen and I out for lunch twice and lunch, salad (chopped up vegs and a very vinegar almost cole slaw dressing..but good) and a pizza once and the other time was salad and steam veg and veal in a sauce....Each time lunch was almost $50 Fr. And now with the dollar doing so poorly, the exchange is almost even. $50 lunch for 2
wow, things are feeling cheap here at home! I certainly didn't mind spending money on my baby girl, we had wonderful times for the entire time...I was just surprised.
I asked Mark how much a secretary (OOPS, sorry all you youngsters who need to have the "right" word to explain an old fashion job) ...administration person makes....I have no answer yet. He sometimes takes a long time to reply. He's a lawyer you know. I do know they must be making $60k in order to survive. There was no Marshall's there. Even the 2nd hand clothes stores were expensive and had lousy choices.
We went for a hike. Yep, me with my new joints went for a 15 minute hike! It was a hill by the Alps standards right above the city. I don't know the name of it, German you know. We took a train up and saw lots of walking trails and there were train stops in quaint villages. Better and better views at each mile...km. At the end of the train ride was a little cafe where we had lunch. K&M shared a wenersnichel plate and I had a sandwich. We needed food for the hike to the top.
I took some photos from the cafe not knowing their were going to be greater views 15 minutes later. An easy hike/walk up a wide gravel path to a beautiful area. A hotel, a tower to get even higher and overlooks. Mark went up the tower and took great photos and K & I went to the overlooks. Waving like fools to Mark who never even saw us....he was taking photos of course.
What a beautiful sight, the large snow covered Alps, Zurich coming into spring, the river and the lake LeMatte. From where we were we could see lots of green behind where K&M live. After asking around in the next few days, they found out that it is a huge area of trails. Very near their apartment. So exciting to have such great trails available without a bus/train ride. Just out the door and up the hill or two or three streets later. They went the weekend after I left and had a great relaxing time. Not to say that I was a stress, just that they had fun!
All in all it was great. I met Shannon who is an American woman (5 months pregnant) who Kristen met at a mosaic class for Ex Pats. They get along great and I am so glad she has someone who she can speak with without having to watch everyword in German. Shannon and her husband are very much into the outdoors and have passed along good info to Kristen about places to go. I hope they get together as couples and hit it off as they say.
I wish Kristen was living next door and we could just hang out and be buddies as we already are. I want to win the lottery so I can help make all my kids lives easier and their bills go away.
Then we could all live without stress and with more fun, smiles and freedom. Well, I have to go to work now!!!! Sell another house so I can go back to see all the progress Kristen has made on the apartment since I left.
In my case, I had never been to Europe, anywhere "over there". So everything was an adventure, every sight a delicious eyeful of beauty previously unknown , every turn another neighborhood or mountain; bakery or bracki; lake or river; narrow street and quaint village.
So much of the learning about another country is how differently from the USA everything is done. We only know what we have lived. We know it will all be different but not sure how. For example, we have trains, buses and trolleys. Where I grew up outside Boston, Massachusetts we had the option of buses, trolleys or trains to get around and in and out of Boston but people didn't use them as much as they do in Zurich.
Even "when I was young," once cars became the normal mode of transportation, the buses were for the people who didn't have cars. The trains were used for workers commuting in and out of Boston. The is a grassroots comeback of public transportation but nothing close to Zurich. It was very impressive to see how few cars there are, how few gas stations you see( granted the price when I was there was 1.79 Fr per liter) and how many ride the public transportation all the time. It was all very impressive. The organization of the transportation, the timing, the schedule which is in full view and easy to read at each stop, the train police who randomly check for tickets (!) and can fine you 80 Frs if you don't have a ticket...or they kick you off and make you buy one... (some personal experience there) and they are clean! Plus I had the super Swiss Miss extrodonaire to guide me through the city.
My Swiss Miss daughter, Kristen who now lives there has learned so very quickly her way around (no car) the public transportation system all written in German. She only arrived on Feb 14, 2008 and I was there on April 3, 2008 and I am so impress with how much German she picked up, studied and learned to speak in that short time. She took Spanish for 4 years but that only helps in certain parts and certain restaurants. When we went out to eat fondue with her husband, Mark the night before I left, April 17th, the waiter, an older gentleman, spoke strong hard boisterous German. Later, after he complimented Kristen and spoke that she reminded him of Ursella Andres (or was it Rachel Welch?...it was some European beauty from the 60s)
the conversation got funnier and Kristen started speaking in Spanish and he was from Spain!
What a fun night and Mark at times was blushing at the comments he made in German about Kristen. Anyway, the waiter and Kristen had a nice Spanish conversation and he even showed up photos from his hometown which she had been to. Oh if only all waiters were so charming.
Since I arrived 3 1/2 days after they moved into their first apartment (from corporate housing) I helped. I like to help, no complaint here. They had bought some furniture from IKEA it is what everyone has over there. It is cheaper and available. The prices of furniture were outrageous. K & I went shopping for beds for them to get catalogs and ideas for K to show M.
Even the non IKEA stores have furniture that all looks like IKEA. Beds are low to the ground and not much of a frame, headboard or footboard. Kristen likes the bed low so it works for her but when I left they still hadn't ordered a bed.
They had purchased a craft table for K that is a good height for her to stand and work at and two storage tables that are like large night stand size with narrow but wide drawers. They are cool. I might go get some for me. She had put them together except for the drawers. So, that was our first project. I also call Swiss Miss, Miss IKEA. She is so so good at the putting together. The IKEA directions are only pictures. No words. She said that must help keep the cost down. I told here I would gladly pay and extra $5.00 for just simple words like, left side, right side, top or bottom, up or down! Next we tackled the 3 large wardrobes they bought.
The apartment (which is large, clean, white, bright, has good flow and is on the first floor) has only one (ONE!!!!) closet. It is in my room...oops, I mean the craft room or 3 rd bedroom.
Mark will have 1/2 and Kristen will fill up the other 1/2 with her crafts....along with those other two pieces of furniture we put together... She is a bargain shopper and when you find a deal and you know the real price, sometimes you have to buy it because you WILL need it in the future.
This craft/project stuff was one of Mark's biggest problems with his wife. Don't the vows state "thru craft and projects, thru knitting and purl, I will cherish you since you are making our apartment a home>>>" Kristen likes projects (there's that apple again) but she also get bored or tired (as all crafters do) with the same one for a long time till it is done, so she starts another.
This means piles of stuff to Mark. Here and there, table and chair. Rightly so, it can be cluttery.
So, If I understand right, now Kristen has a room. Projects can be done on the craft table w/o hurting her back and without messing up the dining room. Items can be stored in her 1/2 of the closet and in drawers and photos boxes and baskets etc. When guest come, they will have a day bed that pulls out like a trundle to be a full size bed in their own area of the large craft room. It was great for me when I was there and it is far away from everything else giving M & K privacy.
I was surprised at the food in Zurich. It was expensive (actually everything is very expensive there ). Sandwiches are meat and bread or cheese and bread. Not sliced bread but baggets. No mayo or mustard. There were some at a place K found that had lettuce and tomato etc on them but they too were different...but good and different can be good, it just takes some getting used to. Then when you go home, you miss it. I took Kristen and I out for lunch twice and lunch, salad (chopped up vegs and a very vinegar almost cole slaw dressing..but good) and a pizza once and the other time was salad and steam veg and veal in a sauce....Each time lunch was almost $50 Fr. And now with the dollar doing so poorly, the exchange is almost even. $50 lunch for 2
wow, things are feeling cheap here at home! I certainly didn't mind spending money on my baby girl, we had wonderful times for the entire time...I was just surprised.
I asked Mark how much a secretary (OOPS, sorry all you youngsters who need to have the "right" word to explain an old fashion job) ...administration person makes....I have no answer yet. He sometimes takes a long time to reply. He's a lawyer you know. I do know they must be making $60k in order to survive. There was no Marshall's there. Even the 2nd hand clothes stores were expensive and had lousy choices.
We went for a hike. Yep, me with my new joints went for a 15 minute hike! It was a hill by the Alps standards right above the city. I don't know the name of it, German you know. We took a train up and saw lots of walking trails and there were train stops in quaint villages. Better and better views at each mile...km. At the end of the train ride was a little cafe where we had lunch. K&M shared a wenersnichel plate and I had a sandwich. We needed food for the hike to the top.
I took some photos from the cafe not knowing their were going to be greater views 15 minutes later. An easy hike/walk up a wide gravel path to a beautiful area. A hotel, a tower to get even higher and overlooks. Mark went up the tower and took great photos and K & I went to the overlooks. Waving like fools to Mark who never even saw us....he was taking photos of course.
What a beautiful sight, the large snow covered Alps, Zurich coming into spring, the river and the lake LeMatte. From where we were we could see lots of green behind where K&M live. After asking around in the next few days, they found out that it is a huge area of trails. Very near their apartment. So exciting to have such great trails available without a bus/train ride. Just out the door and up the hill or two or three streets later. They went the weekend after I left and had a great relaxing time. Not to say that I was a stress, just that they had fun!
All in all it was great. I met Shannon who is an American woman (5 months pregnant) who Kristen met at a mosaic class for Ex Pats. They get along great and I am so glad she has someone who she can speak with without having to watch everyword in German. Shannon and her husband are very much into the outdoors and have passed along good info to Kristen about places to go. I hope they get together as couples and hit it off as they say.
I wish Kristen was living next door and we could just hang out and be buddies as we already are. I want to win the lottery so I can help make all my kids lives easier and their bills go away.
Then we could all live without stress and with more fun, smiles and freedom. Well, I have to go to work now!!!! Sell another house so I can go back to see all the progress Kristen has made on the apartment since I left.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Europe at last!
When I was 18, I had wished I were brave enough to head out of Stoneham and travel. But alas I had no friends that had ever mentioned traveling and I put the idea of "backpacking through Europe" aside. It has often crossed my mind and I wished that I had traveled some before I married. During one of my trips back to a reunion in Stoneham, I traveled with a friend from elementary school who also lives in NH. To my surprise, she had traveled to England and lived there for 12 years !!!! Oh how I was so jealous that she had been brave and encouraged and followed through. She had wonderful tales.
Now, it is my turn to have a visit to Europe. I will be off next week for TWO weeks to Switzerland!
Off to visit my baby girl and her hubby in Zurich. I am looking forward to it so much. I don't really know what to expect except mountains, snow and adventures with my family in Zurich.
Sounds very strange, my family in Zurich. I have family all over the USA but never anywhere else. I am excited that Kristen lives there with her Mark and will explore the world as even she never has before. She has traveled but never lived in Europe. So far so good. Kristen has such a wonderful way with people, she is meeting friends through the ExPats. I am sure when I am visiting that I will be able to watch all of this first hand. Kristen said she has plans and adventures planned. Whatever I will be doing will be great and happy and fulfilling for me as I will be finally getting to Europe and seeing my baby girl Kristen in her new surroundings with her husband, Mark who has taken his new attorney position with Zurich Financial where he seems to be very happy and content. Oh, what a wonderful life they have. I hope they live each day to the fullest.
Wish we luck and a safe trip.
Now, it is my turn to have a visit to Europe. I will be off next week for TWO weeks to Switzerland!
Off to visit my baby girl and her hubby in Zurich. I am looking forward to it so much. I don't really know what to expect except mountains, snow and adventures with my family in Zurich.
Sounds very strange, my family in Zurich. I have family all over the USA but never anywhere else. I am excited that Kristen lives there with her Mark and will explore the world as even she never has before. She has traveled but never lived in Europe. So far so good. Kristen has such a wonderful way with people, she is meeting friends through the ExPats. I am sure when I am visiting that I will be able to watch all of this first hand. Kristen said she has plans and adventures planned. Whatever I will be doing will be great and happy and fulfilling for me as I will be finally getting to Europe and seeing my baby girl Kristen in her new surroundings with her husband, Mark who has taken his new attorney position with Zurich Financial where he seems to be very happy and content. Oh, what a wonderful life they have. I hope they live each day to the fullest.
Wish we luck and a safe trip.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Expectations :(
Expectations, what can I say. We all have them but we might want to learn to live without them.
As little kids, we are told that we are going to the store or to visit a new neighbor with Mom or Dad. We get excited. We think about what it will be like. We think about what we will ask Mom or Dad to get for us at the store. We think about how we would really love a nice little kid just like ourselves to live next door. What fun!!
As older kids, we enter Middle School with friends whom we have known for 2-5 years. We are happy and confident that they will always be our friends. Nothing ever cross our mind, that they would leave us high and dry in Middle School but some do. Did we do something that made them not like us now? Will they tell their new friends about what we said or did when we were little even though we did a pinky swear? Can I still trust them? Will the new friends that we make be as "good" as our old friends?
High School continues our expectations of our friends and family. When we are invited with the cool kids to go to a party, we have expectations about that party from what we have heard. We
think we are going to be completely accepted now, we too will now be cool. The party is just a gathering. Some people are cool others just try too hard to fit in. We figure out while there by just watching and listening that everyone else is just as scared, lonely, trying too hard, lacking confidence which shows up as boastful and over confident....as we are. On Monday, we are all back school and just being kids trying too hard to prove ourselves. Any why? What should we even care if the cool kids like us? We like ourselves.
Find another group. There are plenty of groups of kids doing different activities that we might like better than what we saw at the party.
College, yep, same thing but we know a little better and are more confident. Still make errors in judgment. Still having expectations. Didn't our parents warn us about this more than once?
"Birds of a feather stick together" If we have expectations for someone and he/she lets us down, shame on us. We can't change them we can only change our self. Stop with the expectations we tell ourselves. Just wait and see what happens. Then we won't be disappointed.
Marriage can be the same. Although we have talked for hours at a time, asked lots of questions and watched this mate of ours in different public surroundings we don't know them as well as we might. We don't even know how we will act in all circumstances so how can we expect to know how someone that we have know for a year or 5, will act in all circumstances. We might be surprised by how our mate acts when he/she sees an old boss, old teacher, old friend, old lover... We might have even played scenarios about this. How we will handle it if he/she runs into someone we don't know. We have expectations. If we are creative, we might run through the scene like a play or if we are overly dramatic, we might become the hero, villain or the marter. Will our mate be respectful of us?
Will our mate introduce us? Will we feel alone and left out?
Now, I ask you. Is this their fault? Isn't it ours? We had the expectations. We played the scene and fed into our own fears.
Now that is not good. If we are secure with who we are, confident that we are good, nice people, friendly, honest, loyal, hard working, adventurous or whatever...then we have no fear of the past or others.
Life is either based on Love or Fear. We have to choose our path. Have no expectations and don't be disappointed. Have no fear of the past and we will have confidence in our future. We can and should control our future and our fears. Control them so that we are the powerful force we were meant to be. Not cocky. Not overbearing. Not a bossy, know it all. Just be. Just be a silent, listening, interesting person. No expectations. Be the one people want to talk to, not talk about. Be the one who doesn't enter anywhere, wondering what if. Be the one who smiles and waits to see what happens. It will happen you know. It will happen no matter what. It will happen the way it is supposed to. Without your help or your interference. Make it fun. See what happens when you don't know. Don't care which way things go. You have no control anyway.
So, let go and relax. Love not fear.
As little kids, we are told that we are going to the store or to visit a new neighbor with Mom or Dad. We get excited. We think about what it will be like. We think about what we will ask Mom or Dad to get for us at the store. We think about how we would really love a nice little kid just like ourselves to live next door. What fun!!
As older kids, we enter Middle School with friends whom we have known for 2-5 years. We are happy and confident that they will always be our friends. Nothing ever cross our mind, that they would leave us high and dry in Middle School but some do. Did we do something that made them not like us now? Will they tell their new friends about what we said or did when we were little even though we did a pinky swear? Can I still trust them? Will the new friends that we make be as "good" as our old friends?
High School continues our expectations of our friends and family. When we are invited with the cool kids to go to a party, we have expectations about that party from what we have heard. We
think we are going to be completely accepted now, we too will now be cool. The party is just a gathering. Some people are cool others just try too hard to fit in. We figure out while there by just watching and listening that everyone else is just as scared, lonely, trying too hard, lacking confidence which shows up as boastful and over confident....as we are. On Monday, we are all back school and just being kids trying too hard to prove ourselves. Any why? What should we even care if the cool kids like us? We like ourselves.
Find another group. There are plenty of groups of kids doing different activities that we might like better than what we saw at the party.
College, yep, same thing but we know a little better and are more confident. Still make errors in judgment. Still having expectations. Didn't our parents warn us about this more than once?
"Birds of a feather stick together" If we have expectations for someone and he/she lets us down, shame on us. We can't change them we can only change our self. Stop with the expectations we tell ourselves. Just wait and see what happens. Then we won't be disappointed.
Marriage can be the same. Although we have talked for hours at a time, asked lots of questions and watched this mate of ours in different public surroundings we don't know them as well as we might. We don't even know how we will act in all circumstances so how can we expect to know how someone that we have know for a year or 5, will act in all circumstances. We might be surprised by how our mate acts when he/she sees an old boss, old teacher, old friend, old lover... We might have even played scenarios about this. How we will handle it if he/she runs into someone we don't know. We have expectations. If we are creative, we might run through the scene like a play or if we are overly dramatic, we might become the hero, villain or the marter. Will our mate be respectful of us?
Will our mate introduce us? Will we feel alone and left out?
Now, I ask you. Is this their fault? Isn't it ours? We had the expectations. We played the scene and fed into our own fears.
Now that is not good. If we are secure with who we are, confident that we are good, nice people, friendly, honest, loyal, hard working, adventurous or whatever...then we have no fear of the past or others.
Life is either based on Love or Fear. We have to choose our path. Have no expectations and don't be disappointed. Have no fear of the past and we will have confidence in our future. We can and should control our future and our fears. Control them so that we are the powerful force we were meant to be. Not cocky. Not overbearing. Not a bossy, know it all. Just be. Just be a silent, listening, interesting person. No expectations. Be the one people want to talk to, not talk about. Be the one who doesn't enter anywhere, wondering what if. Be the one who smiles and waits to see what happens. It will happen you know. It will happen no matter what. It will happen the way it is supposed to. Without your help or your interference. Make it fun. See what happens when you don't know. Don't care which way things go. You have no control anyway.
So, let go and relax. Love not fear.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Keeping up at 60.
I hear older people, well, people my age, all the time say that they "can't do it". They can't work a computer, they can't drive into Boston, they can't drive after dark, they can't stay up at night past 9PM, they can't move, lift or carry things, they can't use their DVD machine their kids gave them for Christmas, they can't use a remote, they can't set up their voice messaging system, they can't anything!
These people are NOT old. They have accepted being old. They have given up and don't have anyone around them to stop them from this negative thinking. I realize that as we all get older, we can't always do the physical things we used to do. We can't walk as fast, play our favorite sport activity as well, see as well and eat the way we used to. BUT "our list" still should be getting longer and we should continue to experience life. We can't give up. We can't stop learning, loving, trying, exploring, reading, living and succeeding.
I learned a long time ago from my woman friend, Gladys from Chester, NH, to keep that list of things you want to learn to do and make it grow. I have had at least 4 older women mentors. They were 45-70 when I met them. Three I met in Chester when I was between 28-32 and the last one I met where I live now about 2 years later. They didn't know and neither did I that I was learning so much from them. I learned from them by their example. I have since learned that this is the best way to "teach". Gladys was my current age when I knew her in the mid 1970's. She swam in her pool everyday, everyday..... from April to October. She canoed in her little pond w/ her grandchildren and taught them about nature while they had lunch in the canoe. She had trails around her 3 acres that she kept cleared for walking in all seasons. She ate PB&J very often. Most of all she played volleyball with us local younger women every week in her side yard. We brought our kids of all pre school ages. We never had to tell the kids to stay off the court. Gladys told them once. Firmly and with conviction and Love. We had a blast and so did the kids. Everyone was happy and the time flew by. We usually ended up inside her lovely home at the end to see what project she was working on next. There was stenciling, caning chairs, needlework, reading some great book, cooking, canning, maple syrup making, watercolor painting, planning parties, church work and on and on. She is a hard act to follow but I always keep her in mind and I try to keep up! I loved learning their stories. All of the women have great stories. Tales of hardship, life in the olden days, family problems, money situations, children and the trials they bring. Getting to hear someone's life story is a privilege. They trust you with their information. You become bound to them and them to you by this telling of words from the heart.
I think learning as you go is good but being open to learning is best. I think we all get more intuitive as we get older if we are aware of our own thoughts and feelings. We have experiences that are there for us to feel and recognize as connections to other people or feelings that we knew something before it happened.
I think many older people just accept their lives as they are. I know I have people in my world that just accept it and don't want more. That's fine. Live your life the way you want. Just be realistic about what you want compared to what you wish you could still have.
There are many ways to keep young. We don't have to compete with anyone anymore. We don't have to be the wife with the smart kids, the husband with the big job, the family with the big house that is the place where the family lives but might be pretending to either be happy or to keep up with the "Jones". We don't have to answer to anyone. We just have to know who we are and what it is that makes us happy. We have to learn confidence, be brave and push our boundaries.
If we hide, if we stay home, if we don't have the confidence in ourself, we will only make our world smaller and smaller. I have been involved with a singles group and had my own singles group and have seen woman who can't handle life and are afraid. Some learned to be brave during their time with me as the "leader" and others still just followed along like little ducklings.
Be brave, push your boundaries, try new things. No matter what your age remember "Life is not a dress rehearsal". We have to make our own happiness. Others may be there with us in our later years, or we may be alone. But if we live and not just survive the years, we will have lived well. We will be remembered with smiles.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
so much in my head
I am going to write a book before I die. I have started one on paper and 20 in my head. For Christmas '07, I asked for the same type of markers my Grandson has for his bathtub. I have great ideas and thoughts when I am in the shower and want to put them down somewhere before they are gone into the vast uk.
Now, the white walls of the two person shower are covered with reminders for my book or my life. Mine are much less scribbled than my Grandson's. At least if I am smart enough to write when the water is not washing it all away as quickly as I write.
I will post a list of chapters. Then I won't forget as things race through my mind and I have to grab quickly or wait for the next time they pass through my radar. Please feel free to comment on my chapters. I do have opinions on .....everything I guess. I call it chapters, my English teacher in HS would have wanted an outline. I think on my feet so for me to write chapters is easy but to go further into what I am going to write in each chapter is not for me. The process is my own and it works. Thank God I am not in HS anymore and I can do it as I please :)
Sampling of chapters to wet your appetite.....
This generation of women, what are they thinking?!
Do you need a 3000 sq.ft. house or are you showing off?
Do you understand need vs. want yet??
I will have to hired someone to do this work on the house, I don't know how & I don't have time.
Me, Me, Me
Everything costs so much. All the kids toys are electronic and expensive.
My idea of camping is Ritz Carlton. Bring me room service, honey.
I could go on for hours but then I would get nothing else done and I need to sell houses to make money to afford the house that I, myself live in. Realtors have bills too, even in this slump that seems never ending. BTW, if you are a renter, YOU SHOULD BUY NOW!!!
Rates are LOW, prices of houses are LOW and if you WAIT, you will lose out on some fantastic bargains no matter where in the USA you live.
I have a wonderful 1880 Victorian 4 bedroom home on .55 acre in Concord NH that belongs to my daughter and son in law that is FOR SALE........or Rent if we can't sell it soon.
Check out her blog... Harbaughhurlyburly
That's it for my #1 blog. Stay tuned folks.
Now, the white walls of the two person shower are covered with reminders for my book or my life. Mine are much less scribbled than my Grandson's. At least if I am smart enough to write when the water is not washing it all away as quickly as I write.
I will post a list of chapters. Then I won't forget as things race through my mind and I have to grab quickly or wait for the next time they pass through my radar. Please feel free to comment on my chapters. I do have opinions on .....everything I guess. I call it chapters, my English teacher in HS would have wanted an outline. I think on my feet so for me to write chapters is easy but to go further into what I am going to write in each chapter is not for me. The process is my own and it works. Thank God I am not in HS anymore and I can do it as I please :)
Sampling of chapters to wet your appetite.....
This generation of women, what are they thinking?!
Do you need a 3000 sq.ft. house or are you showing off?
Do you understand need vs. want yet??
I will have to hired someone to do this work on the house, I don't know how & I don't have time.
Me, Me, Me
Everything costs so much. All the kids toys are electronic and expensive.
My idea of camping is Ritz Carlton. Bring me room service, honey.
I could go on for hours but then I would get nothing else done and I need to sell houses to make money to afford the house that I, myself live in. Realtors have bills too, even in this slump that seems never ending. BTW, if you are a renter, YOU SHOULD BUY NOW!!!
Rates are LOW, prices of houses are LOW and if you WAIT, you will lose out on some fantastic bargains no matter where in the USA you live.
I have a wonderful 1880 Victorian 4 bedroom home on .55 acre in Concord NH that belongs to my daughter and son in law that is FOR SALE........or Rent if we can't sell it soon.
Check out her blog... Harbaughhurlyburly
That's it for my #1 blog. Stay tuned folks.
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