A Day In The Life

05/27/2015
DailyMusings

Serendipity Photo Prompt: Hands

My left hand holding my phone, snapped by accident with the camera I was holding in my right hand

Every Wednesday Marilyn at Serendipity gives us a photo prompt for us to use to write about one of our own photos. This week the subject is hands.

I have small hands. They are small but strong- they are good at baking and rolling out dough, they know how to embroider, crochet and knit. They strum and pluck the strings on the guitar, they play the piano, they are always there to give a pat or to hold. I use them to create letters and words in Sign Language, when they become tools of speech.

I love you in American Sign Language

As I have aged they have become more and more riddled with what my grandmother called “liver spots” from all those years of taking the sun. They have always been wrinkled, it bothered me when I was in my 20’s, but now I have grown into them. The veins stand out prominently and I was told once that they looked like “working hands” which I took as a compliment though that is not how it was intended.

My palms have an inordinate amount of wrinkles- far more than any of my friends. When I was in my twenties I had my palm read. When the Palm Reader turned my hand over she did not utter a word. I asked her what it meant that my palm was so lined. She looked up at me and replied, “It is because you have lived many lives my dear.” She then went on to tell me what my palm told her about who I was, and was spot on about many things, without having asked me any questions about myself beforehand. Years later I read that the cause of an overly wrinkled palm could come from clenching the fists very tightly while in the womb- but I prefer to stick with what the Palm Reader told me those many years ago.

05/26/2015
DailyMusings

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Turtle Travels

I went down to my favorite pond this morning, and as I started out on the pathway, always on the lookout for interesting things, I saw what looked like a rock, but I went to check it out anyway. Lo and behold, it was a turtle!

I have seen many painted turtles laying out sunning themselves on the branches in the water, but had never encountered one on dry land. He seemed to be stuck, as there was a hole of dirt where his back legs were. I gave him a little push with a stick and he got his back legs moving, but he was headed in the direction of a hill, opposite where the pond is located.I didn’t want to pick him up, I figured I had helped him get “unstuck” and now “nature would take its course”- he would figure it out. I left him to look at the family of geese that had arrived nearby. When I came back to the path, Mr Turtle had turned himself around and was heading down the hill in the direction of the pond.

To give you an idea of how far Mr. Turtle had to travel to reach the pond, here is what it looks like. That white barrier in the distance is where the water begins.

I was surprised at just how quickly he was moving, only stopping when he sensed I was behind him and he’d pull in his head. I tried to keep a distance so as not to stress him out.

almost there….

Heading straight through the plants to the water….

and in he goes! I could see the red color of his shell as he swam beneath the water before I lost sight of him. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing he had made it back where he belonged.

05/22/2015
DailyMusings

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Thursday’s Special: Opposites

05/22/2015
DailyMusings

14 comments

Morning Lingerer

Daily Prompt: Linger-Tell us about times in which you linger — when you don’t want an event, or a day to end. What is it you love about these times? Why do you wish you could linger forever?

First cup of morning coffee, quiet all but for the birds singing, the sun slowly lighting the sky with a glow of red, then changing to blue. I want to linger over more cups of coffee and read through the many posts that have appeared in my WP Reader overnight, but instead must move on after I drain the second cup. Face the reality of the day.

05/21/2015
DailyMusings

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Pairs

Bridge Towers

05/21/2015
DailyMusings

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Cee’s Which Way Challenge

Up

Over

Down

and ready to run

Wordless Wednesday

05/20/2015

05/19/2015
DailyMusings

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Written in Stone

This Friday marks the 17th anniversary of my mother in laws death. In Hebrew this is called the “Yahrzeit”. The custom in our family is to visit the grave of the deceased in the week leading up to the Yahrzeit, which is what my husband and I did on Sunday.

Nine months before my mother in law died she had accompanied me and my husband to visit the gravesites of her husband and her parents before the holiday of Rosh Hashana, which is also a time to visit. She had been fighting cancer for close to 12 years at that time, and I remember vividly her leaning on one of the headstones and saying to me, “I think the next time I come here it won’t be under my own steam.” She was right. As she and I walked among the graves that day she commented on the designs on some of the foot stones lined up around us, and mentioned she would like one with roses on it. When the time came to choose the headstone and foot stone for her we followed her wishes.

As I walked through the cemetery on Sunday I took notice of some of the designs on the headstones and how interesting the carvings were.

These two say Mother and Father in Yiddish

This one is unusual with its birds on a branch, but sadly reads “our beautiful daughter”

The person buried here was someone I knew, a young man is his 40’s who died in an accident. He was an avid guitar player.

It is humbling to stand amid the graves, to hear nothing but silence, just the wind and the occasional call of a bird. To see generations buried together, to think of the lives people lived, to look at the words carved out in the stone that families have written in remembrance of their loved ones.

05/18/2015
DailyMusings

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Counting Clothes

The Daily Prompt: To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
Sleep is one-third of our lives: write a post about it. Do you love naps? Have trouble falling alseep? Wish you could remember your dreams? Remember something especially vivid? Snuggle under a blanket, or throw the windows wide open? Meditate on sleep.

I remember years ago when I was in my 40’s, chatting about sleep with a friend who was about 25 years my senior. I was bemoaning the fact that I hadn’t slept well the night before, and I can clearly remember her saying to me, “Sleep? Who sleeps through the night after they’re 50? NO ONE- just wait you’ll see!” Hormones play a big part in the sleep cycle and for women once the hormones begin to deplete sleep can become elusive. I think of her words often these days, while staring at the clock at 2 am and again at 4.

I do have a method for helping me fall asleep, which I have used from the time I was a child. I put together outfits in my head. I methodically go through my closet in my head and think of things that go together, plan my outfit for the next day, or for an upcoming special occasion. Which blouse with which skirt, which pair of shoes, should it be flats or heels? Some people use breathing exercises, others count sheep, for me I go to my closet!

05/18/2015
DailyMusings

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Sunday Stills, the next challenge: Babies

Last week as I looked out on the pond I like to visit, I spied a mother duck and her ducklings. They swam in a group, right up against her and each other as you can see from the ripples in the water.

It was so sweet to see them move as group, holding on to one another for security and unity. They did break away at one point but still stayed close ducks3 The next day when I went back both mommy and daddy duck were there, and the ducklings had become a bit more adventurous, separating but under the watchful eye of their parents

Sunday Stills

05/17/2015
DailyMusings

22 comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Enveloped

Crossing the Throgs Neck Bridge in New York this morning, we were enveloped in the fog

05/17/2015
DailyMusings

24 comments

Travel Theme: Hats

I love to wear hats!

This photo of me was taken in 1991, wearing a hat my mother in law bought for me. I loved it, and especially loved that it went so perfectly with the dress that I was wearing that was navy with white on the sleeve cuffs.

Back in 1983, my friend brought me this fur hat as a gift, from a trip she took to Russia. It is my go to hat when the weather is frigid, there is nothing warmer! This photo is from 2014, so it has lasted through many winters.

Travel Theme:Hats

05/14/2015
DailyMusings

14 comments

Clothes Horse

Daily Prompt: How important are clothes to you? Describe your style, if you have one, and tell us how appearance impacts how you feel about yourself.

How important are clothes to me asks The Daily Prompt? Well honestly, pretty important. I’ll admit it, I love clothes. I have loved clothes since I was a kid. My father was a great dresser, he always looked sharp, always put together. Maybe that is where my love for clothes came from.

First Day Of School 1967

I love shopping for them, I even love spending hours browsing through stores without buying something. I love looking at the styles, the colors, the textures.

I dress fairly conservatively. I wear things that really do not go out of style, “classics” if you will. I am not “trendy.” My skirts hit the knee or below, the tops I wear may be colorful but not wildly patterned. I have a million (or so it seems) cardigan type sweaters in different colors. I try not to look matronly or stodgy, but put together, and wear things that are well fitted and neat.

Sweater, Black Skirt & Boots my look most of the winter!

I never leave the house without make up and being dressed for the day. I am only found in a t shirt or sweat shirt when exercising or taking out the garbage. Never when I leave the house. I also never leave the house without putting on make up. I think if I did most people wouldn’t recognize me anyway. Mascara, eyeliner and lipstick make a world of difference and I am just more comfortable that way. My appearance does have an impact on how I feel, if I am in a lousy mood it always helps me perk up if I dress a little nicer. I also love getting “dressed up” for a special occasion, still the kid who gets excited when wearing “something special!”

05/14/2015
DailyMusings

11 comments

Cee’s Which Way Challenge

It doesn’t look so far from one side to the other from here…..But once across it sure does!Cee’s Which Way

05/13/2015
DailyMusings

22 comments

Math: My Land of Confusion

$stan.oli.do.math$

The Daily Prompt asks:
Which subject in school did you find impossible to master? Did math give you hives? Did English make you scream? Do tell!

Math. My brain is just not able to make any sense of it. I managed to learn how to add, subtract, multiply and divide, but pretty much stopped there. Fractions? Adding them? Forget it. Word problems? That is when I would break out in a cold sweat. My brain could just not wrap itself around what was being asked.

It wasn’t bad enough I couldn’t do math, in 7th grade I ended up with the oldest, sternest math teacher in the school. He was tall and thin, NEVER smiled (of course not, he was a Math teacher) bald and wore small round wire rim glasses. While explaining some absurd mathematical concept to us he would take his glasses off, blow on them, and clean them with the hanky he kept in his pocket. I was usually more mesmerized by this ritual than whatever it was he was saying. He would tower over me as I sat at my desk with my brain exploding while reading some problem over and over and trying to decipher its meaning. The one time I ventured to ask, “Am I on the right track?” His booming voice responded, “Are you on the right track? You’re on the wrong railroad!!”

I managed through the rest of my school years barely passing, and not really caring as I didn’t think logarithms and cosines would be playing much of a part in my future.

As an adult my ability to figure out percentages became stronger with the advent of 20% and 30% off sales- as an avid shopper I have no problem figuring out my final price in my head in a matter of seconds.

And I ended up marrying an Accountant.

Wordless Wednesday

05/13/2015

05/12/2015
DailyMusings

20 comments

One Word Photo Challenge: Cloudy

Jennifer Nichole Wells

05/11/2015
DailyMusings

30 comments

Mayapples and Monk Parakeets

The local Audubon Society was having a walk yesterday, so my husband and I decided to go along. Our guide led us along the trail of the nature center pointing out different plants and trees along the way, and stopping to identify the bird calls.

and some feathers….this one from a Northern Flicker

Here he pointed out a plant called a Mayapple, which produces a white flower underneath the leaves. He was all excited to see them flowering as they flower for a very short time and it is easy to miss it.

We saw a feral cat and learned they pose the greatest danger to birds in the wild.

Many trees were taken over by grape vines, twisting around them and pulling their branches down

After exiting the trail we headed on to see the Monk Parakeets or Quaker Parrot, who have taken up residence in a nearby town. The Monk Parrakeet is a small bright green parrot with greyish breast and greenish-yellow abdomen. It originates from the subtropical areas of Argentina and the surrounding countries in South America, but after being brought into the US and getting loose, they have set up self-sustaining feral populations. The monk parakeet is the only parrot that builds a stick nest, in a tree or on a man-made structure, rather than using a hole in a tree. The ones we saw were built on a trestle above railroad tracks.

The hole is the entrance into the nest

Here’s one Parrot holding a piece of straw to add to the nest

It was a cloudy day and I was not able to get good photos so I will share this video so you can see and hear what we saw.

Our final stop was a marsh

Many different birds were flying around or visiting the bird boxes the Audubon Society had placed around the marsh. I learned about Tent Worms that build webs in the Wild Cherry Trees, decimating the leaves of the tree. A very sad sight.

We were each given a Douglas Fir Seedling as a gift at the end of our tour, ready for planting when we got home. An all around lovely day with nature!

05/09/2015
DailyMusings

21 comments

Happy I’m Not A Mother Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow bloggers who chose to become Mothers.

This was my post last Mother’s Day, which I am posting again this year.

My BFF and I both chose not to have children, and re dubbed Mother’s Day “Happy I’m Not A Mother Day” years ago. We both married in our 30’s, and had no burning desire (no desire at all really) to have children. No “biological urge.” I didn’t feel my life would be less without children in it. I knew myself well enough to know I really was not cut out to have children. Years ago when I told people I had no intention of having children, my choice was met with many reactions:

“But you’d be such a good mother.”

“Really? What’s wrong with you?”

“You’ll come around.”

“You’ll regret it when you are old.”

I was always amazed they showed a total lack of understanding or respect for the choice I made. I would never have thought of telling them what I really thought of some of the choices they had made in their lives that I might not have agreed with. When it came to making the choice about having children it was as if there was only one choice. To have them. The societal norm I guess. I am often asked how many children I have when meeting someone new. After responding with “none” and being met with looks of pity and “oh sorry”- I have learned to follow up with I “opted out.” I’m not sorry, you don’t need to be sorry.

I am glad for my friends who have found meaning and fulfillment in their lives by having children, good for them. But it would not have been good for me. My step daughter was 8 when she came into my life. We spoke on the phone everyday, saw each other every other weekend and one night during the week. Perfect. Just enough to get my nurturing out, and just enough before I was on my last nerve. I love my step daughter’s children, grandchildren to me, who I delight in spending time with. I am close with my nieces and nephews, it is important to me to be part of their lives, and for them to know how much I care about them. I love spending time with the children of my friends, and all of these relationships combined are just right for me. Am I less of a person because I am not a mother? I don’t think so. Is my life incomplete? Not at all. Having children is rewarding, fulfilling, meaningful for many, but not for everybody.

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05/08/2015
DailyMusings

10 comments

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener

Daily Prompt: We all get jealous from time to time — what wakes the green-eyed monster for you?

Definition:

jeal·ous ˈjeləs/

adjective
1.feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages.
“he grew jealous of her success”
synonyms: envious, covetous, desirous; resentful, grudging, begrudging, green (with envy)

I have to honestly say I am just not a jealous person. I am happy for my friends when they accomplish something in their lives, or for what they have, they are my friends, envy has no place there. For the people I may know from afar, why should I be jealous of what they have that differs from what I may have? I am happy with what I have, and thankful too. It always bothers me when someone makes a post on Facebook saying they are going to some fabulous place for a vacation, and someone has to respond with “SO JEALOUS!” Really? I always want to ask them why they can’t respond with, “wow that’s great, so happy for you!” I think it speaks to a person’s character, or lack thereof, when they need to respond that way. It’s like they never grew up. Or worse, they haven’t come to a place in their own lives where they are content.

05/08/2015
DailyMusings

15 comments

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge-Abandoned or Alone

One of the saddest kinds of alone, homeless on the streets of New York City

When I worked in the city I came to know many of the homeless people standing on the streets as I walked to work. I often would make sandwiches and hand them out as I passed, asking for their names, allowing them to lose their anonymity for a moment and be recognized as a person with a name not just the label “homeless.” After our introduction we would say hello everyday.

I do not know who the person in this photo is, I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car on the West Side Highway in New York City, and stopped at a light when I noticed her/him. I felt like a bit of a voyeur infringing on his/her privacy, but wanted to capture what I saw as such sadness in having to sleep on a bench overlooking the Hudson River, alone.

05/08/2015
DailyMusings

11 comments

Forget It Already!

Daily Prompt-Forgive and Forget

Memory- the double edged sword-the blessing and a curse. The ability to remember people’s names and the details they share about their lives is a good thing. I have this ability- I remember faces and names and details about people.
The other, darker side of having this ability is never being able to forget things. Remembering the details of the times people have been less than kind. Remembering the incidents where someone treated me shabbily. Said something not so nice. Said something stupid. I am slow to forgive. It is one of my less becoming traits, but it is just a part of who I am. Do not wrong me. I will never forget even if I do forgive. There will always be that incident stuck in the back of my mind when I see you. That lack of trusting you in the future, knowing you crossed that line before and so could cross it again. Why do I insist on keeping these incidents in the recesses of my mind? Some incident that took place years ago? It is not that I am sitting around brooding about it- but if something reminds me of the person or incident I can get all fired up again- sometimes over something that happened 20 years ago. It brings back the hurt, the frustration in certain situations. Why can’t I forget the words of the mother of my stepdaughter’s friend, who would not let her daughter come to a sleep over at our home when my step daughter was 6? It is now 25 years later and as chance would have it, this year I started working in the same place as this mother. The minute I laid eyes on her that came back to me. I had to look away for fear of telling her what I thought about the poor choice I thought she made 25 years ago. I have continued to judge her on her inability to see the bigger picture back then and the hurt she caused my step daughter. Am I wrong? Maybe. I always say hello and smile, but if someone tells me what a nice person she is, I remain quiet. I want to tell them, no she isn’t. She didn’t have brains enough 25 years ago to do the right thing, she hurt someone I love. But how crazy would that make me sound? Maybe it’s irrational, but it is what it is. Most of the bad that I remember does not affect me on a daily basis, does not impede my ability to function in my relationships. I can put it aside. The blessing and the curse. Remembering the good, but also not forgetting the bad. Memory and emotion inextricably linked into one.