What Will the Future Bring?

Starr said to me the other day, “I’m worried about my future.”

I asked what brought that on and she said that things have always been easy for her. That things sort of fall into her lap and that adults in the working world don’t get those types of opportunities.

I agree that she has had some great opportunities and that being a grown-up isn’t always easy, but let’s look at it realistically.

She has held office in her sorority for two years. They didn’t just hand it to her, she went after those positions.

She has been interning with our local congresswoman’s office. A fellow college student asked how she lucked into that. Starr’s response, “I called them.” And she did, she decided what she wanted, she made the call, went in for an interview and was “hired”.

She has done a lot of volunteering and has started her own non-profit.

She has volunteered for and then worked for the National Writing Project for over four years.

She has had a  job outside of school and left a great impression.

She has experienced a horrifically tragic event that gave her life experience that we would gladly give back if possible. It matured her, she looks at life differently and she is aware of the strength that she carries with her.

They way I see it, she has been lucky in many ways over the years, but things haven’t always been easy. From the accident, to being a mixed race child of a single mom, as well as dealing with her mostly absent father. She has worked for and reached out for the things that she wanted. She didn’t just sit back and wait for life to happen, she is living it.

Just yesterday, she was talking to her boss from the National Writing Project about her goals to move to DC and possibly work as a legislative assistant when her boss offered to bring her to DC next Spring as her assistant. They will be meeting with legislators in an effort to shine some light on the National Writing Project. What a wonderful opportunity, at just the right time.

She is walking about 3 feet off the ground! It makes me smile.

I don’t know what the future will bring, but I do think that she is ready and that she is stepping out with the right attitude.

I think she will be just fine.

I worry about accidents, I can’t help it, but I don’t worry about her finding her place in the world.

Oh, and These

Looking through the slides it is hard not to find other photographs that make me smile:

Me with Granddaddy on his farm in Tennessee

Playing with my Dad. The little boy was a neighbor.

I look forward to getting a new camera and photographing the rest of the slides. I think they are a lot of fun!!

Dad in the Marines

I’ve mentioned my “slide project” several times in the past few years, a project which is stalled until I can upgrade my camera. I do not want to waste time taking pictures of these old slides when I know that there are much better cameras out there…so I wait.

However, my brother made a request this weekend for pics of our dad from his days in the Marines. I spent quite a bit of time browsing the slides and found a few that I really liked:

These pictures are from the mid to late 1960s.

Out of the Box

I was in my pj’s watching TV at around 10:45 last night when I used my phone to check my email. A Facebook message from Heather, a music blog connection, caught my attention. She was looking for a place in Fort Collins for a band who needed a place to stay…they would be arriving exhausted in about 3 hours!! They were looking for sofas or floor space. Anywhere to get some sleep.

I was cozy and thinking about going to bed, but I had some space. I have never done anything like that before, but I contacted her and offered up my home. They gratefully accepted.

Then I did a little panic cleaning in the basement. Bathrooms, large items. It was midnight by then, so I did not do the floors, dust or wash the linens. I don’t think they cared.  But the real question is: Am I cool enough to host a band? Do I have to be cool??

I decided that I’m not that cool and it doesn’t matter.

My guests were Drew Grow & the Pastors’ Wives and Kelli Schaefer. They rolled in at about 2:30 this morning and slept until they had to leave to get ready for a radio show this morning.

Just in case you are interested you can listen to Drew Grow and the Pastor’ Wives latest album here at Bandcamp…my favorite song lately has been “Bootstraps”.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?? Meh, probably more laundry….

Back to Normal

It might be a stretch to say that things are back to normal around here, but I am going to pretend. Laundry is going, the dishwasher just finished its cycle and there aren’t a bunch of dirty dishes waiting, my bed is made, groceries are stocked, Starr is in class, the sun is shining, Zeta kitten is cone free and loving it, the main spaces in the house are dust free and vacuumed.

Exciting! Yeah, well, as mundane as all of that is, I am miles ahead of where I was last week, so I am happy!!

Random recent photo of Starr and a couple of her Sorority Sisters

Last week Starr was tasked to go canvassing for our local Congresswoman Betsy Markey. She has been interning at her office for several months now answering phones and making copies etc. Since the election is tomorrow, they wanted her to visit the campaign office during her scheduled work hours. Starr was looking forward to seeing what was going on behind the scenes, but instead was handed an address list and a pile of flyers and sent on her way.

I hate it when people knock on my door. Starr hates it when people knock on the door. She is much more outgoing than I am, but this was something she really didn’t want to do. She called me and asked if I would come along as moral support, so I did. I will be honest, there were tears, she did not want this job…but she did it.

I am proud of her for pushing through it.

Be Kind!!!

Be Kind by Sophia

Wednesday: The New Monday

Okay, only this one time!! Hopefully. Being sick is no fun.

I am thinking that today might just be a good day to (try again to) quit those evil and addictive Diet Cokes, as I have been caffeine free and aspartame free for three days already. Yeah! Fresh start?!?

While I have been curled up in a ball, Starr has been hanging out here doing her homework. The distractions at the sorority house have been just too distracting. I appreciate her presence, and I understand and support her desire to pass her classes, but I wish she would pick up a bit. Do a dish? Start a load of laundry? Or just not make a mess?? Oh well.

Before I dive into the catching up and cleaning up today, I am going to go vote. I love early voting.

Have you voted?

Tangled Up

My apologies to Zeta kitten, but the whole “wearing the cone” thing is just too funny. He walks into the walls and the furniture and has this silly head bob when walking. I love watching him try to groom, succeeding only in licking the insides of the cone. We are giving him all kinds of love and ,despite the silly, we are looking forward to removing the cone for good. I am sure that he will be very happy to get back to normal.

My friend is adopting a little girl from China, they are hoping to be able to pick her up before her first birthday in December. There is going to be a baby celebration/shower for the family this weekend. Guests have been asked to bring an ornament for mobiles. I didn’t, and still don’t, know exactly what they have in mind but decided to make a paper flower ornament. I made paper by layering a copy of the ZenTangle that I made for Starr’s birthday and printing it out on card stock. I knew that I was going to cut it up, so I didn’t worry too much about the layout.

I like the result. I hope it works for the project.

I was also tasked by Starr to make her a pair of cat ears for her and some polar bear ears for her friend Christy for Halloween. Simple, but I think they will be cute.

Siestas are Serious Business

When I was seven years old, our family moved to Athens, Greece. My dad was an airline pilot and his company contracted with Olympic Airlines to do some teaching/training. The plan was to stay there for a year, but life happened and we had to return to the states after about three months. I posted about it previously here The Summer of 1972. As young as we were, the summer in Greece left a big impression on us.

We rented the bottom apartment in a three story flat topped house. Our landlords, Constance and Sofia, lived on the top floor. The house was a wondrous place for a seven year old and her brother. Lemon trees, an aviary full of birds, the cats, a Koi pond, a guest house which also had a flat roof and was covered with lattice and grape vines. I loved to spend time up there in the shade where we could also look behind the house and watch kids playing in the neighborhood park. We could access the roof of the main house by climbing the iron spiral staircase at the back of the house. From the rooftop, you could see the sea and if I remember accurately, you could also see the Parthenon. The house was along the flight path, so we spent a lot of time up there watching for dad to fly over.

Sofia, our landlord

On the front porch

Some of the yard cats

The glassed in porch/breakfast nook

The main stairs to the upper floors.

My dad, fishing in the pond

DJ trying hard to pull up the fish

Oh, it was another one of dad’s jokes!

I remember eating the lemons from the yard, mom cut them up and would give me some sugar for dipping. Yum! Constance teased me about it, saying that the lemons were perfect fresh from the trees and would regularly pick and eat them, rind and all, just like an apple. I tried, and failed, to copy him.

One thing that I will never forget was when DJ and I were playing with a hose and a tub in the front yard one sunny afternoon. I am guessing that we were laughing and squealing, as kids tend to do when playing in water, because what I really remember is Sofia leaning out of her third floor window. Angry. Yelling at us in Greek, waving her hand. I was confused. We hadn’t broken anything. Later, I found out that we had disrupted siesta time. A very serious infraction. We tried to respect siesta time from then on and I do believe that she eventually forgave us.

I found this online:

It is not only considered very bad manners in Greece to make noise during the period from around 2 to 5 pm (and especially after 3 pm), but there is a law against it (though broken sometimes by those doing construction or using rototillers, because work is often excused if the workers have no other time to do that work). This is less so and rarely enforced in the city of Athens much to the chagrin of many local residents. In theory it is quiet time. Siesta time!

So if a visitor to Greece is staying in a rooms complex that is near the houses of local Greeks, it is not appropriate to sit outside talking loudly and playing a radio or live music at that time.

The same need for quiet holds for those renting apartments in Greek towns or cities. During the hot summer months the midday meal and nap may get pushed forward until it cools off a little, with the meal even as late as 4 pm, and the nap to 5 pm or so. Few rules are ‘set in stone’ in Greece, but to be on the safe side, in the heat of summer, one should be aware that many Greeks are still napping until maybe 6:30.

Many visitors to Greece learn to do as the Greeks do, and find that this way of patterning one’s day makes perfect sense, given the climate.

For years, if we were in trouble, or about to get into trouble, my dad would lift his hand like Sofia did and we knew that we had better stop what ever we were doing and shape up!!

Poor Thing

Zeta this morning after a visit to the vet. I am guessing that Sammy accidentally scratched his eye while playing.

He is NOT a happy camper!