Monthly Archives: July 2019

Drying Up, like Hydrangeas, can be a Beautiful Thing!

Dear Reader: This time of year hydrangeas are more beautiful to me than in spring when the blooms of blue, pink, white, or purple hues first open into the new season and year of life. As they are now slowly … Continue reading

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The Best Expressions While Shelling Peas

Dear Reader: I think some of the most colorful expressions  I ever heard or learned came from Grandmother Wilson, some female cousins, and neighbors who would gather under an oak tree (outside the back screen door off the porch) in … Continue reading

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“Waiting”- Complicated and Contradictory

Dear Reader: One of the hardest things we face, as humans on earth, is waiting…not just waiting for the sake of waiting…but knowing when to wait and when to act. From the time we are children we get such contradictory … Continue reading

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Finding the Ruby Among the Rubble

Dear Reader: I received an article from my good friend and loyal blog supporter, Janet Bender, a few days ago and pulled it yesterday to read. It was as if the article had just been patiently waiting for me to … Continue reading

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The Secret to Changing the World

Dear Reader: As we get older don’t we all wish and hope that our presence will somehow have changed the world or someone in it for the better because of our existence after we are gone? If not…was our short … Continue reading

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The Hunt for a “Label-Less” Life

Dear Reader: I have a “hang-up” with labels to the point that I dream sometimes about a world in which we simply are our name….no descriptive physical adjective label or occupational label added… no religious or geographical label identified, or … Continue reading

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“The Gardener”

Dear Reader: Sometimes in the evenings as I sit on my garden bench I look at the Japanese Maples and imagine how each grandchild’s tree will look in five, ten or more years. Sadly I realize that one day the … Continue reading

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Can’t Help Ourselves…Unsolicited…Yet Excellent Advice!

*(Emily McDowell Art Studio) Dear Reader: I gave the Ya’s each a set of these funny stickies since we were all laughing about turning into those “parents” and “grandparents” who can’t help themselves…but must impart their wisdom on everything to … Continue reading

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When We’re “Just Not With the Program”

Dear Reader: Have you ever gotten in a “funk” when you are just “not with the program?” I remember telling my own students (who were day dreaming or writing notes during class) to “get with the program.” (follow the procedures)… … Continue reading

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The Train that Kept on Coming and Coming and Coming…

Dear Reader: Engine 8108….what in the world was your problem yesterday? You ended up providing quite a challenge for me and many others “to boot.” Let me start back at the very beginning of my story. Around 10:30 a.m. yesterday … Continue reading

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