A Day In The Life

People, Places, Nature, LIFE!

02/10/2015
DailyMusings

6 comments

Gentlemen to bed! For tomorrow we rise at daybreak, and we battle…at 9:30…ish

Daily Prompt:Silver Screen -Take a quote from your favorite movie — there’s the title of your post.

I can’t say I have one favorite movie, or one favorite line. I recently saw the movie Harry Brown with the wonderful and amazing Michael Caine.The story follows Harry Brown, a widowed Royal Marines veteran, who had served in Northern Ireland, living on a London housing estate that is rapidly descending into youth crime. Harry fights fire with fire after a friend is murdered. A line from the film that has become a joke between myself and a friend is “You failed to maintain your weapon son”  We use the line when something goes awry, as it did in the movie when someone ran out of bullets in the midst of a shoot out.

Another wonderful movie is The Trip starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. It is absolutely hilarious. Steve Coogan has been asked by The Observer to tour the country’s finest restaurants, but after his girlfriend backs out on him he must take his best friend and source of eternal aggravation, Rob Brydon. They do marvelous impressions of famous actors all throughout the film. The scene that contains the line “To bed! For we rise at daybreak!” I just loved, and was reminded of it when I saw the Daily Prompt. Click the link below to see it, the video takes a minute to load, you may have to click it twice.

http://www.videobash.com/video_show/steve-coogan-we-rise-at-daybreak-658783

02/09/2015
DailyMusings

19 comments

Proud

Daily Prompt: When was the last time someone told you they were proud of you?

It has been interesting to read the responses to this prompt. Many of them had real disdain for the word, the concept. Many made mention of the quote “Pride comes before a fall.”  “Pride is one of the seven deadly sins.”

Some likened it to hubris: A person who is extremely proud of his or her abilities will often suffer a setback or failure, because he or she tends to be overconfident and to make errors of judgment.

It surprised me, as I had never thought of pride in the negative. It has always held a positive connotation in my mind, not arrogance, not hubris, but just feeling good about completing an arduous task perhaps, or having met ones fears head on. Not that having accomplished something made me better than the next person, or made me think I knew it all now. It didn’t “puff me up” and give me a swelled head and make me think I am invincible. Not at all. It was a feeling of contentment brought on by accomplishing something I set out to do, meeting a challenge I never thought I could or would.

I did not grow up hearing the words “I am proud of you.” I did what was expected of me and did not receive kudos for doing so. Perhaps that is where my lack of negative feeling for the word comes from. I believe there is in each of us the need to hear those words, when having accomplished something, to hear out loud that you have made someone proud for having done it. It is not always enough to be satisfied just with knowing on your own you have done it. It is reaffirming to have someone tell you what you’ve done has been seen in their eyes as a good thing. Is it low self esteem and insecurity that makes it necessary to hear those words, or having never heard them that leads to low self esteem and insecurity?

I do not hesitate to tell someone I am proud of them when I feel they have risen above something or met a challenge, or accomplished something they set out to do. I want them to know it matters. That they matter and I have taken notice.

 

02/08/2015
DailyMusings

25 comments

Bench Series-February

bradThis bench has a story that goes with it, and it seemed appropriate that it be in black and white. There is a shadow falling across one side, and sunlight on the other. As was the life of the person whose name is on the plaque- a life filled with light, but also with dark shadows.

Brad Shwidock was a childhood friend. We went through school together, shared the same childhood memories that bound us together, even after the years had come between us and we lost touch. Facebook allowed us to find each other again, and it was then that I learned life had presented Brad with a challenge – he had an auto immune disease that caused his liver to fail. He had a transplant and all was going well enough for 18 years, until the transplanted liver failed, and once again he needed a transplant. His wife turned out to be a perfect match. She donated a portion of her liver to her husband. You can read about it here

Sadly, Brad lost his battle with this disease and died in November of 2012 at the age of 54. He had been an avid golfer, and this bench was placed on the golf course he so loved. He was a special man and I am glad I reconnected with him, even though for a short time. His ability to stay positive when faced with adversity, to find the good in life even though his life was made so difficult, is a testament to the will of his spirit. Something to remember and emulate when life presents us with challenges that seem impossible to face.

TravelWords Bench Series

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Brad and his wife Carol

02/08/2015
DailyMusings

21 comments

If We Were Having Coffee

coffeecup2Hello again- I barely have a minute to sit for a coffee today, I promised myself I would stay away from the computer in order to accomplish the long list of things I must get done!

In the few minutes I do have I would tell you we had a snow day off from school on Monday. More shoveling, more to add to the mountains we already have. The temps stayed in the teens and single digits so it became a real frozen tundra.

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I would tell you I made a loaf of gluten free bread to ward off all that cold. It came out delicious-for gluten free- a beautiful hard crust and just right on the inside.

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I would tell you in honor of President’s Day we are learning all about Abraham Lincoln in our class at school. Here is the craft project we made on Friday.AbeLincoln project

I loved how each child had their own interpretation of Honest Abe. Some made his hair gray, others colored in his suit red white and blue. It was wonderful to see each child express himself in his own way. Tomorrow I will make a new bulletin board in the hall using a writing prompt they did about Abraham Lincoln and each “puppet” next to it.

I would tell you that last night when I logged onto WordPress I got the news that my friend and fellow blogger Easy‘s mom broke her elbow. I cried as I read the post from her husband, as I felt her pain having broken mine 2 years ago. She said we are now the hell-bow twins- with hell-bows from hell. Her sense of humor still there at such a trying time.

And now I must get back to my list, wishing you a good day and a good week.  I hope to sit down later to read the many weekend coffee shares, something to look forward to at the end of my day!

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coffeeshare

02/06/2015
DailyMusings

18 comments

Lowering Expectations

expectationsI recently discovered I had lowered my expectations of someone so low that they were no longer on my radar. It was a very welcome discovery. The end result was my no longer feeling slighted, unloved, ignored. Pining for the relationship I wished we had. I am not sure if the actual acceptance of the limitations of this relationship came first, or if I had  just stopped expecting anything from this person. The chicken or the egg?

The reality hit me when at 10 PM on my birthday I received a text from this person, saying : “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to call you earlier! Hope you had a nice day!” I laughed out loud after reading it as I hadn’t even thought about the fact that she hadn’t called me. A year ago I would have been letting it eat me up alive. I would have been watching the clock, allowing disappointment to seep into every part of my being as the hours ticked away with no call. Let down again. Wishing things were different.

I was shocked at myself for not having even thought about her not calling. I felt I had turned a corner- finally. I must have finally come to terms with accepting the relationship as “it is what it is.” I had been telling myself that for the longest time, like a mantra “it is what it is, you just have to stop setting yourself up when you know it’s not going to happen, it is what it is.” Ad Nauseam.

Sometimes we have no choice but to accept the changes that happen in relationships with people we love. To accept we cannot change them, cannot force them to be somebody they are incapable of being. Of giving us what we want. What we expect because we think the relationship holds a certain status. Throwing all expectation out. Not so easy, even though I understood it intellectually, I could not tie the intellectual to the emotional. Until now.

Do I wish she wasn’t off my radar? Sure. Would I like to have a relationship not mired down in the unspoken that forced me into this place of nothingness? Sure. But I am glad I have finally reached a place where I am no longer allowing myself to feel the hurt, to set myself up for the disappointment, to finally have come to terms with the reality of “it is what it is.”

02/02/2015
DailyMusings

8 comments

Lung Leavin’ Day – Mesothelioma Awareness

LLD-2015Today, February 2nd is Lung Leavin’ Day. I only became aware of this a few days ago when Cameron Von St James introduced himself to me through my blog. His wife is a survivor of Mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by asbestos exposure. She was exposed to asbestos from her father’s work coat that was routinely covered in the harmful fibers. After a life saving surgery in 2005 at the age of 36, that included the removal of her left lung, she made it her life’s mission to spread awareness about mesothelioma and the dangers of asbestos, and Lung Leavin’ Day was born. Lung Leavin’ Day is a holiday created to celebrate life and distinguish fears. She gathers at her house with friends and family and they all write their fears on a plate, and smash the plates into a large bonfire. Heather, with the help and support of the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance, created an interactive page to help spread the word about Lung Leavin’ Day, and show that we do not be fearful of what life can bring. Please help us spread the sentiment and click to participate!!

Click here to see the wonderful interactive Lung Leavin’ webpage, and to write one of your own fears on a virtual plate and throw it into the fire!

You can read more about Heather and Lung Leavin’ Day here

There are many cancers that are less known and have little research being done because they occur less often. Cameron and Heather are trying to bring more awareness to Mesothelioma, and using Lung Leavin’ day to do this while also allowing people to recognize their own fears, while also embracing life. A powerful combination.

We all have fears, for those who have been ill there is the fear of re occurrence, for those who have not there can be fear of something occurring. A fear of the what if. For myself, once something traumatic has occurred in my life, illness or injury, it can be hard for me to move on from it. That loss of “control” takes me to a place of fear, where I struggle to regain a healthy perspective. I want the control back, the feeling of safety and knowing what to expect. Life isn’t always so neat- things happen that are out of our control, and we have no choice other than to face whatever it is and get through it. One of my fears is having that unknown occur, and then not being able to get through it when it does. So I am now going to grab one of those virtual plates, and have a go at smashing it.

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02/02/2015
DailyMusings

16 comments

Nostalgia in New York City

I spent yesterday in New York City’s East Village.The East Village is considered to be the area east of Third Avenue and the Bowery to the East River, between 14th Street and Houston Street. It is found in the lower portion of Manhattan.

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I had not been to the area since I was in my 20’s. At that time I went to concerts a few nights a week at a venue called The Palladium that was located on 14th Street. Yesterday I walked along 14th Street and the building facades looked foreign to me. Where the Palladium had once stood, demolished in 1997, now stood New York University dorms. I did spot another theater called Irving Plaza, where I had seen Talking Heads and many other punk and new wave bands popular in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. Seeing the marqueeirving plaza

transported me back to another time in my life, left so far behind from the person I am today. The man I attended all those concerts with died two years ago. I thought back to those nights, our lives ahead of us, no real responsibilities other than getting to work the next morning on time. Not thinking about what lay ahead of us, who we would become, where our lives would take us. It seemed an endless time, music night after night.

I was taken aback at the nostalgia I felt, I suppose it was stronger because I had not been to the area since those times. Revisiting places as they change, as we change, makes the defining moments between them less apparent. I was sad at the thought of my friend from that time being gone, not here to see the changes, to share that moment of “remember when”, maybe to remind me of something I had forgotten that he had remembered.

I pulled my coat tighter against the cold winds, readjusted my earmuffs, and broke from my reverie to join my friends and husband as we continued on to our lunch destination. Present in the present, but knowing one can never fully leave their past in the past.

02/02/2015
DailyMusings

14 comments

Cee’s Share Your World

Do you prefer shopping or going to a park?

As much as I like going to a park, I must admit I am an avid shopper. I love to buy things, but I also love to just browse.

If you were a shoe, what kind would you be and why?

I think I would be a comfortable shoe, sparkly too maybe. A shoe that does not look off putting by being too pointy and high, but rather something that looks approachable, that you would want to slip onto your feet. The sparkle would make the shoes have a little something extra so as not to be boring.

These are my favorite pink sparkly shoes:

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What’s the story behind a time when you got locked out?

All of the doors inside our home have the original doorknobs from 1930, which have crystal handles. Every now and then they need to be tightened as the little screws that hold the knobs in place get loose. Our den has an old fashioned door with glass panes and the doorknob I described. My husband and I were watching TV one night with the den door closed. I got up to open the door and lo and behold the doorknob came off in my hand. There was no way to screw it back on as you need to hold onto both ends to do so. Being the high strung panicky person I am I became hysterical. “We’re trapped!!” How will we get OUT????” My husband being a person without an iota of panic in him first suggested he jump out the window and go around to the front door. Obviously he had not thought this through, as once there what did he propose to do as I would still be trapped and he did not have a house key on him to unlock the front door to get back in. So I then went into “take control” mode, which is how I usually respond after first panicking. I took the sweatshirt I was wearing and wrapped it around my hand and broke one of the panes of glass in the door so I could reach the outside doorknob and open the door. After that night I gave a neighbor an extra key of ours, so that in the event it happened again I could call her and she could let herself in to rescue us.

Do you prefer eating foods with nuts or no nuts? 

I love nuts. I am always happy to eat food with nuts. Pecans, cashews. toasted almond slivers, walnuts. I add them to salads all the time and snack on them all the time. I remember meeting a very old woman once who told me her secret for longevity was to eat a handful of nuts everyday.

 

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02/01/2015
DailyMusings

12 comments

If We Were Having Coffee

Good morning and come join me so we can catch up!
coffee the sun is just beginning to come up and I’m ready for my first cup of coffee, sit down and watch the sunrise and share one with me.

gwThe birds are here already, it is so very cold this morning as it has been all week. Only in the teens and twenties and yesterday with the wind it was crazy!birds

The weather people are saying more snow is on the way tonight. This past week they pretty much got it wrong about a major blizzard that was supposed to dump 26 inches of snow on us. Turned out to be six inches. I had a day off from school and spent it with my BFF- chronicled here.

I would like to tell you two of the students in my first grade class that were struggling with spelling did great on their spelling test this week. I took them aside and allowed them to take the test at their own pace, while the rest of the class followed along with the head teacher. Having no time pressure, fear of not keeping up to undermine their confidence, they both aced it. Some of the words I needed to sound out quite explicitly, but 3 weeks ago even with sounding out one of these boys still couldn’t differentiate between short i and e. The bonus word was they, which they both got too. Along with my singing the reminder song “there is no a in they” (sung to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell)

I started reading the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The novel is narrated in the first-person perspective by a 15-year-old boy who describes himself as “a mathematician with some behavioral difficulties” living in Swindon, Wiltshire. The book’s blurb refers to the main character having Asperger syndrome, but the author has stated on his blog, The “Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger’s….if anything it’s a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way.” I am enjoying it and gaining insight into how each of us perceives things differently, and the resulting actions. Another book I enjoyed reading was Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison, chronicling the author’s life with Asperger syndrome and tough times growing up. Some of the students in my class last year and this year are “on the spectrum” and have been given diagnosis of Asperger syndrome, so I am always eager to learn more about how better to serve them as a teacher and facilitate in their learning.

That being said, perhaps tomorrow will bring another snow day off from school as the forecast is calling for up to 10 inches of snow. I now must wish you all a good day and get started on mine, hope to see you next week!

coffeecoffeeshare

Weekly Weekend Coffee Share. Go over there and join other bloggers for a cup of coffee!

01/29/2015
DailyMusings

22 comments

Cee’s Share Your World

In front of the house in Queens,NY – November 1961 Me, my Brother & Mother

Where did you live at age five?  Is it the same place or town you live now?

I lived in Flushing, Queens which is one of the five boroughs of New York, a short ride from Manhattan. We lived in a 3 family house, occupying the 2nd floor. I have vague recollections of it, as we moved just as I was turning 6. I do remember we got our milk delivered in glass bottles that when emptied we put out in a metal gray box by the back door. I remember watching Jack La Lanne on TV with my mother and trying to do the exercises along with her. We left the “city” for our own house in the suburbs with a backyard, the town I still live in now.

You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met.  Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself?

I never go to parties alone, it makes me too uncomfortable to walk into a party by myself. I can’t say I am so interested in meeting “fascinating” people I have never met. If the party were filled with the many fascinating bloggers I have never met that would be a different story. I would attend, and I would have no problem walking in by myself!blogging friends

Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?

The town I moved to when I was six happens to be the largest town in our County, population 40,000. It still seems small town in many ways. The same ice cream shop and bakery are still on the main street as they have been for over 60 years. I have lived here since 1963 so many of the faces are still familiar too.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

My only recollection of wanting to be something when I grew up was when I was about 11 and wanted to be a teacher. I was working in a summer playgroup with four year olds and I loved it, so I think that must have been what gave me the idea. In reality, by the time I left high school it wasn’t even on my radar. After a lifetime of doing something else, 4 years ago I did end up in the classroom as an assistant teacher in first grade. Funny how life turns out.

In the classroom

In the classroom

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01/28/2015
DailyMusings

11 comments

The Blizzard That Was Not

The gargantuan, once in a lifetime blizzard that was supposed to hit our area on Tuesday never materialized. The Mayor of NYC shut the transit system, called for a mandatory ban on all cars on the road, and closed schools and government offices. I awoke Tuesday morning to six inches of fluffy snow and no 50 mile per hour winds. As always, the weather people said, “oops” the storm seems to have shifted. Others said better to be prepared for an emergency that doesn’t happen, than to be unprepared for an emergency that does happen.

School was closed, and my BFF came to stay with me as my home is close to where she works, and her home is an hour away. This way Wednesday she would have less trouble getting to work through the massive snow amounts that were predicted. It turned out that her offices could have been open Tuesday given the snow no show, but it was too late to change that! So we spent a snow day together having fun, just like we had way back when, in the 1970’s and 80’s. I still live in the town we grew up in, and we walked the familiar mile to the shopping area to have lunch as we had done endlessly through our teenage years before we drove. It was cold, only in the 20’s but the fresh air felt great. I took photos of our day throughout and posted them on Facebook, as many of the friends we grew up with who knew us both got a kick out of seeing us spending the day together as they had remembered we used to.

So the blizzard of 2015 will be remembered as a great snow day, but not for the amount of snow that fell, but for the amount of fun I had, feeling like a kid again on my snow day off from school with my BFF.

My husband, chef for a day made omelettes for breakfast

We walked the mile to go out for lunch.

Home again, back into pajamas and time for hot cocoa!20150127_152800Figuring out how things really work on our phones and having a good laugh as always

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01/28/2015
DailyMusings

16 comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: This Land Is My Land

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,

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I saw above me that endless skyway:

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 I saw below me that golden valley:

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This land was made for you and me.


I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps

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To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;024032

And all around me a voice was sounding: This land was made for you and me.

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cees-fun-foto

01/26/2015
DailyMusings

12 comments

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

All I have been hearing for the past two days is about the impending “Blizzard of the Century”- Snowmaggedon!! Use of words like “horrendous” “overwhelming” “MASSIVE” “we haven’t seen snow like this EVER.” Yes a blizzard is not something to take lightly, people need to make sure they are prepared, have food in the house, flashlights at the ready in case power goes out. But the endless “drama” that the newscasters and the Mayors inject into the reports do nothing more than instill fear in an unproductive manner. Being nervous will not change anything, being prepared is a good thing.

The snow started this morning, but just light flurries which are supposed to “ramp up” over night. I was glad school had an early dismissal today, and took a ride in with the teacher I work with as she has an all wheel drive SUV. Once home I checked the weather report to see if any of the predictions had changed, and sure enough, the snowfall amounts originally predicted have been lowered. Two feet has now turned into “anywhere between 8 and 20 inches. That’s quite a spread. The weatherman said he will have better estimates around midnight. Good to know. It will still be a major event, and school will be closed tomorrow, but the hype, drama and panic has begun to subside in the weatherman’s reports.

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Nuthatch

My backyard is filled with birds, I keep putting out seed and bread for them. Some have found a safe haven in the branches of a tree. I always feel so bad for them in the snow. Here’s a look at some of the visitors this afternoon.

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Red Wing Blackbirds

Red Wing Blackbirds

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Blue Jay

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Male Cardinal in feeder, female underneath

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Female Cardinal

 

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