Saturday, October 31, 2020

Meaningful Moments

This week has passed in a wintry blur of frozen tree limbs hanging to the ground building igloos underneath.  For a week the weather predictors promised ice and rain, but since when do we put a great deal of credit in their exuberance to share diabolical weather conditions?

We felt the sting of winter and our trees bent and broke before our very eyes. 

In those my moments of awe at Mother Nature's power, I found some amazing moments. 






I love zinnias and enjoy watching the birds freely scatter the zinnia seeds from year to year. They may pop us anywhere in our gardens bringing a smile to my face and the hum of insects exploring their red, pink, violet, burning orange, or yellow petals. With this ice storm I discovered their beauty encased in ice. Isn't nature amazing?

Along with the shock of the ice storm came the experience of waiting in line to vote early at the Fairgrounds. I really don't know what we expected to see at 8:00 in the morning with a cold blustery damp rain falling, but it sure wasn't the line already wrapped around the building on the outside! Being the problem solvers that we are, we drove over to IHop and ate breakfast. Still not believing a line in the weather, we drove by the Fairgrounds and moaned. The line was even longer. 

By noon the weather changed and the sun came out. It seems like another few hundred or thousand people made the same choice. We stood in line from 12:24pm until we voted at 2:35pm. 

I am proud to be an American, and even more proud  that our crowd of people from our county all wore masks, displayed no abusiveness, no arguments, nothing negative. In fact, I enjoyed people watching. Amazing how we all seem to blend as thoughtful caring human beings. Each and every person felt a duty to vote and not make a scene. 

  I'm Proud to Be an American by Lee Greenwood (click here to listen to the music)

And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you
And defend Her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.


There is still nothing better than neighborhood friends who step in to help in times of need, and we all need help from time to time. Thank you Charley and Debi for helping us to save one tree in the front yard, by cutting down the damaged hanging tree. 



After several hours of labor over two days, the tree is down and stacked all around the yard. We finished off the night with pizza and a few adult beverages. Cheers! We are thankful for meaningful moments in life.   





Monday, October 26, 2020

A Funny Ending After All

Between Braum's malts, with an extra dip of malt please, hitting golf balls on the driving range, and walking, I let go of all things that consumed my gut earlier this month.  This only took a day of my life and lots of laughter therapy at myself, and then I read this cartoon. "Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go." I could have played in the leaves and forgotten everything instantly.  *Previous blog link Looking for a Funny Ending

Except our leaves haven't fallen and now we have a snow and ice storm tearing our tress apart. This is why Oklahoman's have such a humorous backbone when it comes to weather. It is, after all, October 26. Why should we be surprised at icy roads and closed schools?

The computer is no longer in danger of a dastardly virus, and so far we haven't caught a virus either. Best of all my new car adventures reached closure with the purchase of "Helen Reddy."
2020 Ford Escape
This purchase reminded me again of how resolute we women need to be when taking on the world of car buying. After I relaxed from three days of golf competition, I returned to the computer for info on new smaller SUV's.  I also queried women friends who had newer cars with safety and technological advances. 
Then I put together a list of what I wanted and what I didn't need. I didn't need all of the space I once needed for golf adventures across Kansas and Oklahoma. I needed new safety features and wanted a sporty color, not white, not black, not gray.

Within three days, the dealership worked with me and found a red Ford Escape. Only people who are five foot five or shorter might appreciate the most important feature on my new car, the seat belt that crosses my chest fits me. For decades I wore the seat belt under my left arm, knowing that on impact I would crush my left boob, my lungs, and my heart and die! Now I feel safer than ever. 

Owning a new car and with confounding technology, like remote start, travel apps, audio messaging, warning systems that light up without explanation, means that I have to learn to drive all over again. 

Let's start with the beginning. Immediate success doesn't happen when learning how to start the car with NO ignition switch. My right hand is trained to insert a key, not push a button; trained to reach for a gear shift, not a shift dial; and besides that the car runs so quietly that I can't tell if it is running or not. Older cars can be heard.

My weekend reading highlights included "Memory Function." It seems my car knows more than I do. "Intelligent Access Remote Entry Icons"-- directions that anyone can follow IF they've done it before. The cold temperatures yesterday pushed me to read and learn how to use the remote start, but now I need to know how to program myself or "smart phone" to warm the seats and the steering wheel before I get in. (Matthew please come home from New York and teach me how to be as smart as my car and phone.)  "Intelligent Access" but nowhere does it explain the training involved in changing the mind of a woman who could still start a car with a clutch and run it through the gears. Best laugh of technical reading: The index refers to a "bonnet lock." Where was this when the pioneer women needed it?

My favorite technology is a BLIS (Blind Spot Information System). Even after cataract surgery I worried that my eyes might not see a small car coming along side of me. Now my car tells me with orange flashing indicator lights on the side mirrors when a car is in the blind spot. Relief!

 Somewhere on the car the book tells me I have a "panic" button. Where was that panic button when my car vibrated and tightened the steering wheel when I was test driving the car? The manual tells me to use the panic button only in case of a "Post Crash Alert." I hope I never have to learn that system. 

1972 Capitol Records
Sadly, I can't play my Helen Reddy music.  A new challenge of learning how to upload or download music to the cloud creates a sense of stress. Yes, Sirius plays my music until the contract runs out. I can plug in my EYE phone and listen to Pandora, but I have
no EYEdea of how to listen to my favorite CD music. Turning my head to the right of my computer, I see three shelves of CD'S. Oops, and a pile of records.  What to do?

I think I will simply listen to the ice hit the roof,  watch the house finches flutter around the bird feeder, hope that our trees are strong enough to withstand a freak winter storm, and give thanks for all we have. 

Ironically, in a time of smart phones and cars, we still need candles and matches lined up on the kitchen counter, just in case the power and brilliance of our world goes out. It must still be 2020. 

The End. 

The Never Ending Story/Storm rages on....

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Looking for A Funny Ending



I vividly remember sitting in fifth grade taking a test on the multiplication tables! Rather than looking around the room or out the window for answers, I simply rubbed my tummy and felt ready to leap to run. Over and over I rubbed my tummy. 

Carl Sandburg must have felt my pain when he said, Arithmetic is where you have to multiply--and you carry the multiplication table in your head and hope you don't lose it."

One day at age sixteen when I practiced my golf swing in the heat of day my tummy ached. My swing had abandoned me and the tournament began the next day. My gut ached to the point that I stopped and rubbed my tummy. I couldn't breath because if I sucked air into my diaphragm then I looked fat!  Out of the clear blue my mind began to sing a nonsense Girl Scout song that let me breath, and helped with the belly ache. This one simple skill especially saved me many a times with tension over golf, schooling, and then 'Life.'

 "Om pa, om pa, tiddly pom. Om pa, om pa, tiddly pom

Two blue pigeons....one was black and white  pom

Sandy he belonged to the mill, the mill belonged to Sandy still.

Sandy he belonged to the mill, the mill belonged to Sandy." 

Sandy's Mill 

Decades later my tummy still hurts from time to time, depending on the stress of my life.  I didn't know in fifth grade that I felt stress, nor did I at age sixteen. By age twenty-five  the doctors began to prescribe medicine for those times. Valium does not give answers nor guidance.

Over the years, I leaned on Braum's malts, with a double dip of malt, Saltine crackers, water, singing out loud, walking, and hitting golf balls for a cure.  No medicines can really cure what ails us when the head, the heart, and the gut work so hard to give us answers.  Answers that we, along with faith, must work out. 

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

Time and experience helped me figure out that my gut quit hurting when God showed me or coached me on how to solve my problem. 

 Al Anon planted it firmly in my soul to "Let Go and Let God."

Most recently, my gut throbbed with emotions, confusion, and too much happening at once.  I have been car shopping, and must laugh at myself for finding the occasion of driving new cars to be quite overwhelming with technology. Honestly, it is like the car says 'let me do the job since you are not capable of driving and focusing!!!!' No technology will take over my life, I thought. For instance, the car can now tell you when you are weaving down the road, or you get too close to another car. Who drives without hands and head totally focused on the road? Apparently, there are many people who barely pay attention to the road, especially when the driver can text verbally, a message to someone. That thought explodes in my brain like fireworks.

My Prayer: Thank you Lord for not giving us this type of technology in the 1980's when I drove three teenagers around, and help me Lord to adapt and laugh about this someday.

Last Friday, I made an appointment with the dealership to see a new used car that matched my Want list perfectly.  I played golf that morning, enjoyed late lunch and headed to the dealership. The car I thought might be perfect, but I could not stay because the roofer was coming. I raced home to meet the roofer and discover that we do indeed meet and most likely qualify for a new roof thanks to Oklahoma weather. Then I began to ponder the cost of the car, the timing, and since Jack was out of town, how much money do I have to work with?  


That kind of thinking could only be solved by a strawberry malt with double malt from Braum's late at night.

At nine in the morning I met at the dealership to compare this car to two others that might work. Luckily, I solved my problems. The other cars did not match my needs, but doggon'it there was an important football game on TV at 11:00am. The salesman urged me to sign on the paper, but suddenly the rush of Friday and Saturday by 11am to make a decision left me blank. I knew we could afford it, but I wasn't sure how to move money around and seal the deal. I told him I would call immediately after the game. So I went home to watch the game while eating crackers and drinking water (maybe a beer would have been a better idea). My stomach churned like a hurricane in the gulf. 

"In order to reflect, think, and plan, you must quiet yourself. You can't see your reflection in churning waters. Water must be still to see your reflection."      Karen Hentze Susman, 1962 singles women champion at Wimbledon


Butterfly Angel
Game over, our Sooners nearly lost after a 4th quarter meltdown (sounds like me), but they focused and pulled together to drag their fans through four overtime thrilling matches.  A sigh of relief and a call to the salesman to tell him I want the car, but need to talk about any type of reduced rate they can give me. He called me back while I was still watching Monarch butterflies in our yard. 

They sold the car when I wasn't prompt and efficient. Perhaps, I stomped and screamed out loud, as I noticed that the birds all flew from the feeders. I could not quit screaming and my stomach roared like an angry lioness.  Jack walked in from his trip just as I experienced this 'tizzy fit' of mine.

Unable to clear my mind I drove to the golf course to practice.  Along the way I prayed for help, for guidance, and for forgiveness for being so self centered. I thought of all of the people out of jobs, out of income and here I was in a selfish tizzy

Miracles do happen. I pulled out my 9 iron to hit some golf shots and suddenly my anger flowed down through the shaft of the club. I took proper dirt, called a divot, when I hit the shot. For the next three practice shots I took a divot.  Then I began laughing out loud, nearly doubled over on the tee box laughing at myself. That is the best I have hit a golf shot in nearly a decade. (Yes, taking a divot at contact with the golf ball shows power in the swing.) Now in hysterics in my soul, I let go of the anger, and said, "Thank you Lord for giving me this day and all of its glory."

I most certainly learned a lesson. Know exactly how much money I have to spend before I go searching for a car to purchase,  and be prepared to buy one that day. 

***

On Sunday, today, the same weekend that started on Friday with the car dealership and the roofer, my story continues as I write this blog. 

In order to find quotes that tell a short story in a few words, I search the Internet. I discovered the reflection quote, and began writing it in my favorite quote and words to live by book. The penmanship looked orderly. I wrote the author's name  Karen Hentze Sus......... When my computer turned Blue, like it had been strangled, and screamed at the top of it's volume "YOUR COMPUTER IS IN DANGER." There are no words to express my fear, frustrations, and exasperation at that moment. One miracle yesterday was more than I could ask for. I called the number and when the man began he immediately struck fear in my poor weakened gut. 

With Jack's helped he googled what was happening and I knew that a foreign property was in my computer about to do damage, but it was when the foreign voice said, "It is senior citizens like you who don't understand what a Firewall is. Let me educate you." There were spewing fireworks everywhere in my quiet studio. 

I hung up, shut down the computer, we shut off the internet connection and then I conferred with my higher power. 

"Now what? I asked the Lord. 


Then a calm like an ocean of blue came across me. Jack and I walked away from the computer, a few deep breaths and memories of oceans and calm water created a quiet mind. When I returned my computer worked just fine. The safety protocol saved me and my 'senior' mind. 

I will call Norman Nerds and ask for assurance, but I think we escaped a very nasty showdown between woman and her computer scammer. 

Feels like a Michelob Ultra wins tonight for malt in my tummy.  Cheers to a great ending. Miracles do happen

Thank you again dear Lord for this life, for this day, and for this moment to remember and laugh about.  





  *Thank you Kay Watts for sharing this lovely photos of Scotland coastal walkways.