John Cowan, What a Great Singer

There are lots of videos from many different years and venues, of this wonderful performer with the extraordinary voice and musicianship available on the youtube.com. Don't dare miss him! "Ain't That Peculiar" Right now he is touring with the Doobie Brothers! Check out his website for the info: www.johncowan.com

Story of the Horse In the Barn

This is the horse in the barn story! Among people I have told the story, it has become a meaningful shorthand that instantly communicates. I first thought of it as a way to comfort myself about having to do so much for another perfectly capable human. I thought, What if I had invested in a very valuable horse and planned a care and maintenance schedule for it, in order to protect my investment. Good care keeps an animal happy and content, healthy and beautiful. The care schedule would be another responsibility in a life filled with responsibilities. But the return on my investment would be worth the time and effort of doing everything for the valuable horse. A horse needs food, vitamin supplements, good water, clean surroundings. He can’t arrange any of these things for himself. He can’t get his water pail washed or measure out the oats for himself. He doesn’t have any hands, he can’t read a clock or a calendar. When he makes noise I can’t understand what he’s saying, because I don’t speak Horse. So I just talk in a nice tone, and make sure to do the best I can to do what the horse needs. I can’t be angry at the horse for my inability to understand his language, or his inability to get his own breakfast and things. The comparisons can be carried out as far as needed. The point for me is, everything that I want to have comes with a high price in money, energy, frustration, patience and wear on my nerves. So I just keep my wants down to where I can try to manage the costs. I thought of this story when my friend was blowing her top because her husband would only take his meds and supplements if she portioned them out for him every morning. If she was rushing around and didn’t do it, he wouldn’t go and take them. So I said, How about pretending that he is a horse in a barn with no hands, and he can’t get the meds himself? She said, Well yeah, if he actually cannot get them for himself, then I don’t mind.

Middle o' Winter

Lotsa good cooking going on, today a pot roast. Nice but fatty chuck roast on sale, but very tasty. Two bulbs of garlic, onions, red and green peppers sauteed together, dumped over the roast in the slow cooker with canned tomatoes and an envelope of Good Seasons dressing mix. Potatoes, carrots. It all turned out great!

Just right for a cold rainy day.

That Cat

Here's Shadow the Cat's new furniture. She took a nap in each cat holder as soon as we brought it in!

World's Fair Expositions

There is a world of history to be savored by researching the world's fairs, such as the 1904 St. Louis fair, and the one in Chicago 1893. Here is a link for a grandmother's story of how she visited the fair in St. Louis when she was six: http://washingtonmo.com/1904/midi/stuartg.htm

When she was six, she was looking into a future of improved lifestyles, enriched by electric appliances and an invention that re-wired peoples' brains: ice cream. My own grandmother spoke often and awestruck of her introduction to it. And she always added, Don't eat too much of it or your rearend will be huge. Which, I found, to be accurate.

We can look backwards 106 years later and realize most of the modern wonders seen at the World's Fair for the first time and taken for granted or taken for entitlements now, aren't really any good for us. And they don't make us happy. And we don't appreciate them. And we're trying to learn to live without them now, so we won't use up all the earth's resources.

There were massive, intricate structures built just for the fair in St. Louis, and had to be torn down afterwards, for the most part. The story with all its details is just captivating.

I began to wonder what things I'm doing now that will be thrown into the dump and laughed at a hundred years from now. Or even sooner!

What a Ripoff!

Did I mention the gullible woman I am, believing someone who says they want to meet me for lunch? I thought we were actually going to eat a meal together! Instead, we paid an exhorbitant amount of money to sit in a gussied up room and eat a couple of tacos across the table from one another - I talked to the grandkid, and the current male in my life pretended to be involved with our conversation while his eyes flicked constantly to the ceiling-mounted TV tuned to a football game.

"Current male," because we've only been together 33 years. Nothing is set in concrete yet.

Meanwhile, Moving On

Daily decisions and less frequent interruptions. Ability to focus increases and able to get rid of the sensation of being scattered and out of control. Decisions about nutrition, scheduling, what's necessary, what would be a diversion. Record-keeping includes photos. Photo opps awareness is always in the back of my mind.

There's a red lily by the fence attracting a hummingbird. There's a bright red cardinal trying to hide on a branch. There's a black and orange butterfly teasing the cat on the back deck. There's a yellow school bus bringing a little boy home across the street. There's the mail-lady smiling with a package at the front door. There's a girl in the toy aisle smiling at her new doll. There's the clerk at my favorite grocery store making sure I don't forget any coupons. There's the bag-person loading the groceries into my car and wedging the flowers in upright. The neighbor waving from his garden gladiolas. The full moon lighting up the landscape last night was just gorgeous.