Potpourri

It's Friday.

Time to look back on the week

and join Nancy for Random Five Friday.

*
I love mini-carnations.
They are cheap.
They are pretty.
They last a long time.
And, they smell good.

**
I really like Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream.
Yum Yum Yum!!!

***

I love books.

I love to read.

My current read is Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo.

This novel has been in my TBR stack for years.

I have no idea why I kept putting it off.

Now that I've started it, I can't wait to sit down and read.

At the same time, I don't want it to end.

I've quite enjoyed my trip across country with Otto Ringling and Rinpoche

having good American fun!

Otto is tricked into taking his sister's guru on a trip to their childhood home.

Six days on the road with a holy man and a skeptic was definitely not in the plan.

Otto gets to see his world  through someone else's eyes --  Hersey Chocolate,

miniature golf, to a bowling alley, to a yoga lesson and more.

Wonderful.

A real delight.

A keeper!

****

I've been crocheting for Halloween.

Pictures next week!

*****

It's hot.

 We have had some rain this week although we are more than 10 inches below our normal.

Every little bit helps.

We will get a short break from the heat with morning lows in the lower 70s as a very

unusual cold front stalls and brings some north wind to the area.

December Favorites

Time got away from me this weekend.

I didn't have anything prepared for Mosaic Monday.

So, I decided to look at December, pick some favorites and share them with you.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best of everything.

Thank you to Mary for hosting Mosaic Monday.

***

Mr. Dragon is on oxygen 24 hours a day now and is very frail.

He still has his sense of humor and makes me laugh daily.

He enjoys visits and telephone calls from friends.

We are trying to make every moment count.

Simple Woman's Daybook

Today we were given the choice of the regular
Simple Woman's Daybook
or

20 Of My Favorite Things.

Here's 20 of My Favorite Things!

1. Color- green -- all greens -- remind me of Mother Earth

2. Dessert- I love cherries ... cherry anything!

3. Smell- honeysuckle

4. Flower- Iris

5. Animal- kitties!

6. Month - October

7. Beverage- tea

8. Pair of shoes- tennis and a pair of SAS sandals

9. Snack- I try real hard not to snack -- anything salty or a piece of
cranberry walnut bread

10.Song- Almost anything by HEART, soundtrack from Les Mis

11. Book- War and Peace

12. Fruit- if it’s not cherries, it better be strawberries!

13. Hairstyle- I’d love to wear my hair in a pony tail,
but it isn’t long enough and long hair makes me look shorter!

14. Piece of clothing- I really don’t have one .. a favorite, that is!

15. Store to clothes shop- Lands End, Stein Mart.
No more board meetings or faculty shindigs.
I don’t have to shop for clothes anymore, so I don’t!

16. Season-Autumn

17. Hobby- Too many hobbies ... knit, crochet, counted cross stitch, mixed-media, reading

18. Thing to collect- too many collections, too.
Dragons, chickens, books

19. Movie- Still thinking! Not a movie goer.

20. Restaurant - Benjy's

To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Engaging Your Creativity

Today the group at The Next Chapter is talking about Engaging Your Creativity, Chapter 3 in the book 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women by Gail McMeekin. I read a few of the comments this morning that my fellow members made, and found that I wasn't the only one who wasn't turned on by this chapter. Some of this may be my age. I'll be 60 this year and I've been through the pains of working in jobs that didn't interest me and spent a lot of time wondering where I'd gone wrong. I just fell into my profession. I worked in a hospital while I was going to university and once I graduated I just continued in the medical profession. I made a living wage and met Mr. Dragon - so not all was bad. And, it wasn't bad, just didn't *turn me on*. But I was successful enough to be able to retire (thank you Mr. Dragon), became a professional volunteer, which I really enjoyed, working with Ronald McDonald House, art centers, humane shelters. It really wasn't until the last 10 years that I've been able to do what I really wanted to do -- Asian art. Again, it's volunteer (mostly) -- doing research for the curators in asian art and is especially exciting right now because the galleries are moving into larger space. Lot's of research to do and I love it. I get to "lecture" (with a very little L) to the docents and try to teach them why I am so excited by this art -- ancient and modern.

I did relate to Jolen Godfrey (Independent Means, Inc.) when she said, 'For the last 20 years, I have watched when I have begun to bounce off walls, and that's real information that things are not great. Rather than put up with a really dysfunctional, unhappy life, I have at least been able to say, 'Uh-oh, things aren't right here, and I need to find something that will make me sane and more at peace with myself." Amen! That's usually when I'd start a new yarn project of some kind and escape into the meditation of the project -- calm, serene work.

I did find a few quotes that I especially liked, but have to say that my favorite was one by Dolly Parton, "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain."

This brings me back to last week and my list of things I love. I prepared the journal page (above) and have started to list them there (sorry,no picture -- I ran out of time today). Here they are (so far):

• teddy bears
• museums (all kinds)
• books, libraries, used book stores
• dragons, wizards, fairies, magic, science fiction, fantasy
• laughter
• art, yarn, crochet, knitting
• nature, birds, trees, critters, oceans, rivers, snow, flowers, waterfalls
• kitties,puppies, pets
• tea, tea pots
• soup
• Buddhism, meditation
• the color green
• anthropology
• the zoo
• chickens, deer
• cookies, jamoca almond fudge ice cream
• chocolate
• candles
• ceramics, hand built/thrown pots
• butterflies, dragon flies
• Chinese and Thai food, sushi
• music
• pink plastic flamingoes
• picnics
• college baseball, hot air ballooning
• champagne
• gardens
• snowmen
• walking barefoot

I'll leave you today with a quote from OFFERINGS: Buddhist Wisdom For Everyday:

"On the day that you were born, you began to die.
Do not waste a single moment more!"
~Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche