Composting For Life

At this point in my life sometimes it is hard to remember what turned me into the person I have become.  Having lived on a farm for the first 14 almost 15 years of my life definitely influenced who I am today.  Table scraps were either fed to the dogs or the hogs.  A slop bucket held the scraps that would become slop for the hogs.  Kitchen scraps, table scraps all either were put out for Yellow, the dog, or in the slop bucket.

In October of 1961 we "moved to town" permanently leaving farm and slop buckets.  Momma and Daddy bought a new brick home with running water, indoor plumbing and attached garages.  No more dogs nor hogs for the scraps.  All those scraps began to be dumped in the garbage cans.  There were no plastic bags to line the garbage cans in 1961.  That industry had not been developed yet.  Daddy would carry the trash to the landfill on the way to taking me to school in McKinney.

Fast forward a few years.  A young married moving into a brand new apartment.  A built in dishwasher is complimented with an InSinkErator garbage disposal.  We faithfully ground our scraps and washed them down the sink.  Fast, easy with no nasty orders.  As we developed our plans for our first home, a built in dishwasher and InSinkErator were part of the package.  We were prepared to live happily ever after washing the food waste out of sight.

Our new home was in the country with water system access.  That was new, again in those days, water systems out in the country.  No wells, no water hauling, just a hook up fee.  There were no such things for sewer systems.  Septic tanks were the only answer.  Two separate tanks, one for bathroom sewage, one for kitchen and laundry sewage.  To keep the little microbes that eat all the sewage into just water one must not put too much soap and bleach into a system.  I did not know this.  I learned it after we had a sewage backup.  Two words, Ridex and compost.

This was the early 1970's.  The impact of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was taking hold.   Mother Earth News was started.  Back to earth living was being rediscovered by hippies in communes.  We had a brick home with 2 1/2 baths, 1.9 acres of land but were still farm kids with a little hippie mixed in for good measure.  The garden area needed a place to put clippings and other waste so composting came into my life.  We have had compost piles ever since that time.  We never were just real perfect with it but it sure kept the stuff out of the landfills and water systems.  We, also, kept a 'piggy' at hand for all compostable scraps.  The last compost pile would yield 5 or 6 wheelbarrows of soil every year or so.  Even neighbors would bring scraps to our compost stalls.

Compost stall at last home in Missouri

In the late 1970's exposure to the effects of our various other items in the trash, recycling began to work its way into our life.  Gradually in the 1990's it became easier to recycle aluminum cans, newsprint, magazines, plastic milk cartons and soda bottles.  It just seemed that doing that little bit for the environment was what we needed to do.  It just became our habit to sort and recycle with the ease of curbside service.

Now we are back to life in an apartment.  No place for a compost pile.  The apartments do not have recycling so we are doing it on our own.  We live a couple of miles from the city's drop off center for all our recycling needs.  Well, except the sacks that we seem unable to avoid no matter how hard we try.  Several stores have drop off bins for the sacks so they can reappear as carpet or a shopping bag.  

Bedding awaiting worms.

For the first couple of months we did not do much to attempt to recycle much more than the packing boxes.  At Ikea we have found compact buckets that fit in the available spaces for plastics, cans and paper.  Hubby made a recycle run just this morning.

While he was gone I began to assemble our compact answer for composting, a worm farm bin.

Adding damp paper to maintain moisture.

This is something new that we have never tried.  We will see how it goes.  But at least we will feel we are staying true to our desire to compost as long as possible.

Cover with lid.

Extra bins stored on top.

Awaiting a trip to the worm farm.

I have a long way to go to be living a 'green' lifestyle.  But here is one more little step.  Now just don't you get shook when I announce, "I have worms".

Fixer Upper

Hubby standing next to 'fireplace', spring 1969

Our first home was really our own from the ground up.  We bought the land, about 2 acres in a development in the country, within the first year we were married.  It was 7 miles to get a loaf of bread.  We did not care as we were 22 and 28 when we moved into the brand spanking new custom home on Labor Day weekend in September of 1969. There were
quarry tile floors in the sunken great room and dining room.  The sunken tub in the master bath was surrounded by a brand new invention, poured marble.

Made the curtains, painted the fireplace.

I began the exciting task of decorating my new home.  With the help of a monthly magazine titled "100 Ideas Under $100" I dove in hook, lining and Singer sewing machine.  I learned to make swag drapes for our bedroom.  Lambrequins adorned the guest bath window and bath tub.  Cabinets were repainted and my own designs were added to the front.  Pictures were purchased and hung as advised by the gentleman from The Curosity Shoppe.

On the exterior not much needed to be be done except landscaping.  We bought a garden tractor with implements.  A vegetable garden was started along with hundreds of feet of flowerbeds.  We arranged a small retaining walls of rock we brought back from Missouri.   This was done in the early 1970's long before there were Lowe's or Home Depot.  Wolfe Nursery supplied the ableia, boxwood, pyracantha, weeping willow, crepe myrtle and oak trees.  Seeds for the garden and flower beds came from the local farm store of Crump's.  WalMart was not yet in North Texas.
All supplies and shopping were done on Saturdays because nothing was open on Sundays.

Photo of our first home taken in late March, 2014.  

Times changed and fear of layoffs kept my husband a little on edge.  We decided to relocate to Missouri and go in business with his folks.  It was a TV and radio repair business.  WalMart arrived about the same time we did so the little town of 5000 did not need 3 TV repair shops or 7 places to but TV.  But that is a story for another day.

After all the successes we had enhancing the new home in Texas we decided to buy an older home, a fixer upper.  I wanted the 2 story but we finally decided our furniture would not fit.  We did find a place we could add on to and update.  We started the addition before we ever even completely moved from Texas in the fall of 1975.  Wall paper was stripped. Woodwork was stripped.  Walls and ceilings were textured and painted.  Rooms received repeated face lifts.  New areas of accent wall paper were added.  All new kitchen cabinets installed in the new addition.  Cabinets stained and finished.  That was the first year those things were done.

House fixed up, not so much the owners!  Inside our second home.

We lived in that home until February 1993.  Walls were moved to make room for a second full bath.  Built in shelves were added in one bedroom after the ceiling tiles were removed.  That meant more texturing and painting.  Window treatments were made and replaced as the toddler grew to be a teen.  Repairs were made following a horrible lightning strike that blew a small hole in the front office wall.  New wall treatments for the repaired room.  The last thing we did or had done was a repair to the main bath that was to have been done soon after we moved in in 1975.  The repair was done in August before we sold the house in November of 1992.  We were in some stage of remodeling the house or the out building or the yard the entire 17 1/2 years we lived there.

Back garden, 2013

Entry to back garden, 2013

We moved into another new home in 1993.  I added all the touches to make it our/my home and garden.  There were hail storms that caused leaks.  That caused roof replacements and ceiling painting. There were the plugged drains for the air conditioner that flooded the hall.  That caused flooring to be replaced.  There was the improperly installed shower that my foot cracked one day.  That led to having to get the shower rebuilt.  The shower rebuild helped find the leaking drain that had rotted the floor joist that we had the pleasure of replacing.  Of course there is the infamous chimney that leaked from day one.  It quit leaking about 3 weeks before we left that house in October of 2013.  We had spent about eight to ten thousand dollars to fix that %KW#@J chimney and the leak damage.

Last picture made of the house in Springfield, Mo, 10/31/2013

I have no desire to live in another fixer upper or home we are responsible for maintenance.  But Husband did install a new kitchen faucet today cause I did not like the one provided in the apartment.  Hard to break old habits!

For more takes on Fixer Uppers, tool on over to Gretchen's or Ginny's.  And if you have a particularly fun story about fixer uppers, join up with The Spin Cycle!

Daddy's Birthday

My dad was born 100 years ago today.  He passed away 10 years and 6 weeks ago.  Daddy was born to a 20 year old Anna Mae and Ed Rogers.  Daddy was their first child.  Within a little more than 4 years Daddy would have two sisters added to the family.  The youngest died within days of her birth.  Within 6 days little Tommy's death was followed by the death of Daddy's Momma, his Grandma and Grandpa Rogers and an uncle.  It was 1918 and the terrible flu epidemic swept across the world.

My Grandmother and the brother in law both died in the 1918 flu epidemic.

Needless to say the loss of Daddy's mother at such a young age would influence his entire life.  The extended family had to group together to survive the hard life of rural Texas farmers.  Aunts acted as surrogate mothers while uncles took on the responsibilities of fathers.  Shared farming duties and childcare was common for many families of the time.  First cousins were as close as brothers and sisters.  And family was everything.

The importance of family never changed through out Daddy's life.  Daddy's father, PaPa, almost died as a result of being overcome with gases.  He and a brother in law were cleaning out the bottom of a water well.  Gases would collect in the bottom of the wells.  A neighbor discovered the men and pulled them from the well.  PawPaw, as we grandchildren called him, had permanent lung damage.  Daddy stayed on the farm to help his dad with the rigors of farming.  The help continued even after marriage, a world war and three daughters.  It would not be until PawPaw died in the early 1950's that Daddy would begin to pursue a different direction with his talents.

Daddy was class valedictorian.

Daddy loved to tinker with machines, engines and later electronics.   He first tried automobile repair. Eventually he settled into a business of appliance repair. He worked that profession until he was 84 years old.  Daddy's gentle manner, good humor and deep honesty made his skills trusted by many in the county.  One friend put it so well in the days following Daddy's passing in 2004.  "Arleigh knew where every one of his customers' lived and where they kept their keys.  Every one of us trusted him."

Daddy was not a perfect person.  Who on this earth ever is.  Daddy had a heart for the underdog, underprivileged and orphans in particular.  If the shirt on his back had been the only shirt he had he would have given it to one in need.  Daddy in his 70's was stronger than men half his age.  He loved his wife, four daughters, the men they married and the grandchildren they produced.  And we still love him and miss that wonderful laugh.

Happy Birthday, Daddy

I will forever be Arleigh Rogers' brat.

Bird Watching

The tree across the street from our apartment provides a roost to several different birds.  I see bluejays, doves, sparrows, crows and mockingbirds taking advantage of the outstreached arms of the tree.  With the bare limbs, the birds have been very visible from my easy chair.  Watching the birds has given me great entertainment on the chilly, damp days of winter. This past week has brought quite a change to the naked limbs.  The limbs are flush with new, shiny green buds and leaflets.  The birds, now camouflaged by leaves, are singing courting songs.  Spring is definitely upon us.

As we drove to Middle grandson's soccer game this Saturday morning the roadsides were beginning to erupt with bluebonnets.  The blue hue is accented by the orange splash of Indian Paintbrush and the greening of grasses.  The soccer game was played under an increasingly heavy cloud cover.  With the area still being in a deep drought, we just hoped the downpour would wait until the game was complete.  Unfortunately only sprinkles fell from the deep grey clouds.

In thinking back over the last year I remembered my mother in law watching the birds at the care center.  Life cycles continue.  The last two years have seen the loss of three aunts and Edna.  The remaining aunts, an uncle and my mom are declining too rapidly.  Hearing is worsening, mobility challenges and increasing dementia leave a shadow of the people of our youth.  As are we ourselves find changes in aches and pains and noises we make getting out of chairs.

My youngest niece is expecting her third child.  Her four year old son played his first t ball game today.  Our youngest grandson was at a Math competition this morning.  The oldest was on a scouting adventure.  Tomorrow brings another soccer game and a lacrosse game.  Skinned knees, sweaty kid smells, Easter basket preparations for expected visitors on Monday is part of the cycle, too.  Passing traditions and love on to the next generation.

On the easy, late Saturday afternoon I am sitting in my easy chair watching PBS shows about bird migrations across the world.  Sipping iced coffee as the temperature is a humid 79 degrees.  With binoculars I watch the birds play hide and seek in the tree across the street.

 

Spin On Spring

Somber

     Persons

           Rouse                                          

                  Into 

                         New

                                Growth

   As surely as the trees, grass and all plants respond to the warmth of the sun, so do the souls of people held in the grip of winter.

For more takes on Spring, join the Spin Cycle at Gretchen's or Ginny's.  Maybe you even have something to add to the conversation.

Happy Spring!

              

Two Blogs

Yes, I did start a separate blog just for the photo memes.  That just seemed like the best way to keep the lengthy writing posts from cluttering up the photo memes.  So if you want to visit the photo memes you will need to visit me at A Little Of Nothing.  If you want to know what is rolling around in the grey matter, you can just bookmark this place.

Some days it will be nothing to post as nothing is rolling around except my eyes in their sockets.  Hope you folks north of the Red River awake to beautiful skies and warm temperatures.  Know you are frequently in our thoughts and on our minds.  Except on the days there is nothing rolling around.

Taxing Tuesday

Today we will tax our relationship. We will do our taxes for 2013. Not a fun time.  Even with Turbo Tax I get impatient with all the reading and hesitations.  ...  Update.  Taxes finished and no need to come up with more $.  And no meltdowns that required leaving the apartment.

 Yesterday was pleasant as we spent the evening with our Son. He was prepping his food for the week as well as our dinner. Son allowed Husband to grill on cedar planks salmon, talapia and chicken breasts. Lime cilantro rice, roasted Brussels sprouts and a salad I brought were the food for the evening.

Not much else to report these days.  Just sort of staying close to home and working small projects as the notion hits us.  We saw a picture of ourselves at a gathering in late October of last year.  Man, we looked like a couple of old tires people.  Back during that time we were both having to take the max of pain medications to keep going each day.  Our legs were swollen with almost constant ankle pain.  But we seem to be able to do our walks and most things we want and still feel good.  Sure glad we are not having to push ourselves that much now.

We have begun thinking about a trip to Ireland and England possibly for our 50th anniversary in 2017.  We figure it will take that long to get to where we can do the necessary walking and planning done.  Anyway sure gives us something to which we can look forward.  So if anyone reading this blog has suggestions for places to visit across the pond, please, leave a comment.  The birding blogs I visit are sure putting ideas in our heads.

That about all for now from the Texas Adcocks.  Hope all goes well for you and yours this week.

Skywatch Friday

Yesterday's wispy clouds and bright sun brought the elusive hawk out to scan for lunch.  I was unable to zoom closely enough to catch the pair as they cavorted above the nearby shopping center.  At least these shots begin to show a few more of the features.  I will get a better closeup done in time.  Even if I have to tie a mouse to my patio railing!  Connecting to SkyWatch Friday and Wild Bird Wednesday.

There it is!

Come on over here.

No!  Not that direction!

Yes, back this way and a little closer, please.

Did I say something?  Don't go.

Thanks, for coming close enough for this one!

Hope you will visit SkyWatch Friday and Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday.

Thursday Challenge, Heat

When I thing of heat I often remember my childhood in a North Texas farming community.  In July and August one could look across the land and see the heatwaves rising from the ground.  That black dirt would be so hot it could almost blister your feet if you walked barefoot.  I have no pictures of the heatwaves of my childhood.  I do have a campfire from our primitive campsite in Yellowstone National Park.

For more interpretations of Heat (flames, fire place, stoves, sun etc ...) click here

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St. Patty's Day, Spin Cycle

Faith and begorrah! Go raibh míle maith agat for stopping by!

For more St. Patrick fun give The Spin Cycle a try.

Our youngest ginger performing her version of Let It Go!

)

Sunday Night Spring Forward

After a night of lightning and thunder today has been rather quite.  We took the day to watch "Man on a Ledge".  Enjoyable for a quite afternoon.  Mostly it was just computer surfing today.  Gene was energetic enough to walk to Sam's for a few groceries.  If you can get a few of anything at Sam's.

It has been a day with not even any phone calls.  Quite is a nice sort of way to be these days.  We are still resting our minds a little.  I did have fun on Friday sorting through some of our son's infant clothing.  Many of the items were stained and I was able to remove the stain from most of them.  One item I was able to remove the stains was a little infant t-shirt.  It was embroidered by my sister.  It said, "I love my Aunt Suzie".  The shirt is about 40 years old.  He still does love his Aunt Suzie, Aunt Mak Mak and Aunt Arlene.

The eight clocks in our one bedroom apartment have sprung forward.  An hour gone till sometime this fall.  We may spring into action a little more tomorrow.  Unpack a few more boxes.  But mostly we will just be quite and not pay much attention to the time on any of the eight clocks.

Soccer With a Chance of Drizzle

We are having a great time being able to attend the functions in which our grandsons are active.  This time of year is soccer and lacrosse.  Next will be swimming.  Then summer vacation for the boys.  After living almost 700 miles away from these guys it surely is fun to drive 10 or 15 minutes to watch soccer, drums, plays, etc., etc,, etc.

Many folks that visit this blog or who have 'eyeballed' us (as amateur radio operators say) we do not rise early.  We, likewise, do not go to bed early.  This morning's first soccer game started at 8:30 AM.  The Jeep needed gas.  The field was about 10 miles away and Husband's favorite gas stop was on the way.  This was Middle's game.  We missed all of his game last week because the Wicked Witch of the GPS sent us down walking trails and then in circles.  Anyway, we wanted to make certain we were at the field on time!!!!

The sonic boom alarm clock with super shaker activated at 6:00 AM this morning.  I am pretty sure the folks on the other side of the wall and upstairs were awakened by this device.  It is loud.  When I asked Husband the reason for having the sound on, he had a simple answer, "Just wanted to make sure it still worked."  It does.  Please, know the super shaker could easily compete with a jack hammer when it comes to vibrating the bed.

Up, bagel consumed so daily meds will not eat the stomach lining, shower, dress and out the door by 7:15.  Jeep is gassed but no time to activate the Starbucks gift card so we arrive at the soccer field uncaffeinated.  Which is just as well as the restroom doors were locked and we have old people bladders.  I have no rain boots and Husband did not think to wear his.  It is about 50 degrees, a slight breeze and drizzling when we arrive at the field at 8.A.M.  We did have rain jackets and umbrellas.  I had gloves and earmuffs as I hate to get chilly.  That is part of why I was okay moving back to Texas.

The soccer game was fun to watch.  Middle had a great assist on one of the 5 goals T&T made.  The opposing team had 3 goals.  Middle was happy and it was time to move to the next set of fields for Youngest's game.  Son is the coach for the team.  The opponents had only 3 boys at game time so Youngest puts on a green shirt and plays for the opponents.  These are 7 year old boys playing this game.  It is entertaining to watch the boys and the crowd.

I guess you could call it a crowd.  Parents, siblings, friends and one set of grandparents on this coolish, damp, drizzly morning.  It is interesting to overhear comments about one's grandsons from people that know them so much better than we do.  One person I did not know noted it was Middle's kind of day to play, wet, muddy and a chance to tackle.  I did know that about Middle, smart but still quite physical in his play.

Youngest was eventually allowed to play with his own team as one additional player arrived for the opponents.  Youngest is really tall for his age.  He is all legs and arms and drama.  It was as much fun to watch his reactions to the three goals he scored as about anything I see in my life.  Grandpa and I stood next to a couple of friends and Son's significant other.  The wet grass had soaked through the tops of my Merrills and my socks were soaked.  Game over and we head to the Jeep with directions to join Son and friends at a local pub.

The Jeep is started and there is still warmth in the engine.  I remove the wet shoes, stick my feet up to the floor heater outlet and feel toes begin to thaw.  You know that tingly feeling one gets when your feet or hands have been cold?  We head for the pub, a pint, burger and catching up with friends.  It was almost 2 PM when we got home.  Warm drinks, dry socks and an afghan was a cozy feeling.  We did crank the heat up to 69 degrees.  Something about the damp had us chilled to the bone.  Finally around 9 PM after homemade soup the afghans were tossed aside.

This week is Spring Break.  There will be no soccer nor lacrosse games till March 22.  I loved the morning soccer games.  I loved Middle grandson coming to the Jeep and giggling with us about silly stuff we said.  I loved Oldest grandson being a ninja like Grandpa.  I loved watching Youngest with the darkest blue eyes and a face covered in freckles score three goals.  And I will be out there again for soccer or track or lacrosse standing and smiling even in the drizzle.

Women of Inspiration

This week's Spin Cycle prompt is inspirational women.  A myopic world view leaves most inspiration coming from women within my circle of life.  Aunts, sisters, grandmothers, in some ways my Mom and my mother in law.  There have been political leaders, church leaders, doctors and teachers that have inspired me.  Some are from my first memories of women.  Others are women who have recently come into my life's journey.  There is no one, all encompassing person that represents my inspirations and aspirations for my life.

So here is a list in neither importance nor order of any kind.  Just as the faces and names come to my mind.

• Lucille Anderson was my best friend's mom.  Lucille never seemed to get angry with us when we made mistakes in judgement.  She was kind, caring and gentle.  She inspired me to be a more gentle mother.
• Aunt Sissy was fun.  She lived in a way that made even the dullest day bright.  She was my Daddy's sister.  She could spin a yarn on the spot.  Her husband died in 1960 leaving her with a laundry delivery business, a son in the navy, two teens still at home and an apartment building near the beach in Santa Monica.  The day after he died she had to run the laundry van by herself.  She only knew parts of the route by remembering certain intersections.  She was successful in taking the business and making a success.  Later she worked in a handicrafts business.  She could do the most beautiful cutwork and other hand crafted items.  She did all this without being overtly mean, angry or bitter.  She transitioned through the various phases of her life with grace and a smile.  She inspired me to accept change with an open heart.
• Aunt Opal, Mom's only sister, was faithful.  She still refers to me as her first baby.   Love, unconditional love.  What better inspiration could anyone have. 
• Aunt Billie, Daddy's baby sister, was a single mom in the 1950's.  A tough situation.  She held 3 jobs, shared a home with her mother and made it work.  She trusted me to be responsible.  That is a huge thing to a teen, to be seen as responsible and to be trusted.  Aunt Billie was an executive assistant to the business associates of Clint Murchison.  Later she was the executive assistant to Colonels and Commanders overseeing government military contracts with E Systems.  Her expertise gained her the respect and admiration of all ages of military and civilians.  And, like her sister, Aunt Sissy, Aunt Billie could spin a yarn filled with humor!
• Mrs. Taylor was simply a grade school teacher.  We had first, second and third grades together in the country school I attended.  The floors were wooden and well worn from decades of use.  This was the same school house my Mom attended.  Mrs. Taylor did not let the setting determine the quality of teaching.  Her daughter was a stewardess as they were called in the 50's.  The daughter would come visit our school dressed in the uniform of her profession.  She even brought everyone the little gum packets.  Mrs. Taylor would read to us country kids each day after lunch recess.  We were instructed to lay our heads on our desks, close our eyes and listen.  And she read us Shakespeare.  Then in the late spring not long before summer break we did a performance for PTA.  We made the props and brought flowers from home to decorate the stage setting.  First, second and third graders entertained the farmers, ranchers and the few others in the community with a performance of  'A Midsummer's Night's Dream'.  She inspired a roomful of ragtag country kid to believe there was more to life than pigs, cattle, corn, cotton and drag racing.
• Edna Adcock was calm.  Mom Adcock was quite.  When we came to visit, she did not bawl and squall when we left to return to Texas.  I admired her for that.  I admired her for taking care of her finances in a way that left her self sustaining her entire life.  Granted, some of her approach to saving could be eccentric, it got the job done.  Her lifestyle inspired me to rethink my approach to life.
• Granny Chandler was a grandmother.  She inspired me to accept aging with grace.  That is so important at this point in life.  She, also, by her willingness to just sit and watch children inspired me to appreciate children.  The simple pleasure of kids at play.   The joy of sharing traditions with children in unassuming ways.  Granny wore her long, gray hair in a knot at the top of her head.  She made the best rolls without having ever heard of Martha Stewart.  She endured countless hardships such as the loss of her father at an early age.  She helped make the living for the younger siblings.  Granny married 'late in life' for the times.  Her first child was born when she was 36.  She had 3 more children in a 6 year span.  One of her homes and property were lost in the Crash of 29.  Later she would have the last home burn to the ground.  Her husband suffered a stroke and was immobile the last couple of years of his life.  Granddaddy passed leaving Granny to live with her children for the remainder of her life.  And I never remember her speaking of regrets.  She aged without complaints.  She would sit for what seemed endless hours letting a granddaughter comb her long thin hair.  And she always wore an apron except to town or church.  She inspired me to live in the now without regrets.
• My mother inspired me to seek extensive counseling.  You see inspiration can come from seeing how a person's words and actions are hurtful.  How the face of the person the world sees is at times a 180 degrees from the face behind closed doors.  Mom did not flinch from taking on non traditional roles in order to help put food on the table.  She was the first female school bus driver in Collin County.  I was about 19 months old when she took on the responsibility.  She plowed, hoed, picked cotton, drove crops to market and sewed like master couture.  Momma gave of herself to care for aging relatives and friends.
• Dr. Anne Khalil inspired me to see liberation did not have to look the same for all women.  She was my first mental health professional to help me begin the journey of overcoming a less than Ozzie and Harriet childhood.  
• Mai Gray was the first black president of the Division of United Methodist Women.  Mai Gray was well read, compassionate and articulate.  To this day I am inspired by her recalling a visit to India in the mid 1970's.  She saw a child of about 10 or 12 years of age pickup a banana peel from the road.  The child took the peel and pulled the strings that we leave in the peels.  This child then fed these strings to a younger child.  Mai Gray inspired me to see the larger world and the needs around me.  She did all this with Christlike wisdom and the grace of a ballerina. 

Mai Gray

This list could go on and on.  I have been so blessed to have been surrounded by so many inspirational women in my life.  A life that has been lived in an age of redefining women's roles in the world.  A time of heightened racial and social awareness.  A time of hopes as high at the moon with sadness as deep as assassinations.  But I have had these varied women to act as lighthouses in the storms of life.  Sisters in the dance of being female.

For more inspiration, visit Gretchen's or Ginny's blog.

Thursday Challenge Creative Photos Second Week .. Blurrrr, etc.

Week two of Thursday Challenge

Creative photos with motion blur, long exposures, unusual .....  

And who does not have a stockpile of blur.

Wildbird Wednesday

A pair of hawks were just outside our apartment.  By the time I grabbed the camera they were out of reach by my camera.  So crows on the roof are all I have to offer.  And not even clear closeups : (

 Maybe next week!

I promise it is a hawk.

Blurry crows.

For really good pictures of wildbirds pop on over to Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday!  Beautiful skies can bee seen on SkyWatch Friday.