Happy July 4th....

I know it's been a while since I've written any blog....so many things I want to do and it seems that there is so little time for those "want" things.  Seems that as I get older, I feel restless....thoughts go through my head that there is not much time left to my life and yet, there are so many things I feel I haven't done, seen, gone to, spent time with, discovered, etc. 

Financially, I am forced to work if I want a roof over my head, food on my table, and money to pay bills with.  And it may not seem right to look forward to retirement because that is just wishing your life away faster!  Is there a happy medium?  I think that if I could afford to retire, then I would be able to spend time with daughter #1 in New York and enjoy her children; then do the same with daughter #2 in Connecticut; check in on my son and, oh so many ideas!! 

But I keep telling myself "One day at a time!"  One can't help having these thoughts when we see that some of our favorite people have passed to eternity right before our eyes.  One of my favorite actors, Andy Griffith, just passed away at 86 on July 3rd.  Now, some of you younger folk are probably thinking that 86 is O-L-D!!!  Well, it probably seems like it is, but the closer you get to it, it doesn't seem that old!!  Don't worry, some day you will understand what I am talking about.  Andy was Christian and knew where his final destination would be. 

I am thankful that, as a Christian, I too know where my final destination will be.  Every day is a gift from God.  He doesn't owe it to us, it is a GIFT.  Every breath we take is also a gift from God.  In these days so many people feel that everything should be "owed" to them. There are those of us who know that everything we have, every breath we take, every day when we open our eyes to a new day....it is not OWED to us, it is given to us as a GIFT from God. 

What are you going to do with your GIFT today?  There is no guarantee that you will have a "tomorrow".... so relish is what you have today, enjoy what you have today, and thank God for His graciousness of giving you that gift. 

Enjoy your Independence Day....

Dizzy as a Door Nail......Hmmmm

Okay, so what is a "door nail"?  I've heard that expression since I was a child, and still cannot figure out what a door nail has to do with being dizzy!!  I DO know, however, that the sinus canals on the right side of my face are smaller than the left -- and THAT is what seems to be causing the fluid to stay on the right side of my head causing my dizziness, vertigo, and wierd equilibrium sensations!  Ahhh, the joys of aging.  I am told that it will only get worse as I continue to age!!  Is there a pill to stop the aging process :-) 
Spring has finally sprung in NC and the weather has been wonderful!!  I hope your spring is just as great....get out and plant something, go for a walk, or eat a scoop of your favorite icecream....BEFORE dinner.  As the saying goes, "East Dessert First; Life is Uncertain"!!!

The Happy Friday Dance

Yes, finally, it's Friday!  I woke up this morning, appreciating the warm weather and wondering if Spring had finally sprung.  The temperature was nearly 60 degrees when I got up this morning and it definitely put a little hop in my step!  Even Maestro seemed to take on a Spring-like attitude, putting his nose up in the air and sniffing like "I can handle this"!! But, because of the lovely weather, and the day of the week, I just had to do my "Happy Friday Dance"!!  Just shake your booty and turn in a circle, arms up in the air.  Great exercise for the body and mood!!  I love Fridays.  I hope your Friday was a great one....and next week, don't forget to do the "Happy Friday Dance"!

AHH....SUMMER!!

i know...it's been a while since i've blogged....but this has been great golfing weather (until the very high humidity set in!)...what can i say!

i traveled to syracuse new york to visit my oldest daughter and her family over the 4th of july weekend...and had a great, great time! the first day there is got to a high of 69 degrees...quite a difference from the 90+ degree days we had been having in north carolina. the second and remaining days were in the high 80s, low 90s...but, from what i understand, now they are in the high 90s as well....just gotta love this weather! needless to say, the heat in new york brought out the slip and slide which, truth be known, i did have to participate in! yup, picture a 60 year old grandma running and sliding down that cool, wet slip and slide and having the kids laugh at the very sight of it! we had a blast getting the kids wet...and my daughter as well!! on the 4th of july we set off the sparkler-type fireworks in the back yard! that was pretty cool, too.

my daughter is a crafter extraordinare....she has a shop on etsy and creates the most fabulous things. since she is also an artist, creativity flows very easily from her...and she got me re-motivated to get my quilting juices flowing again. i showed her the trick of strip-quilting...she showed me how to do needle felting! another project to experiment with. so, of course, i can't be creative with my quilts until i clear out and clean up my sewing room. yesterday i spent just about the entire day reorganizing furniture and rooms. now i can get quilting again without feeling overwhelmed by the clutter.

i just have to show you the reaps of my harvest....this year i took a patch of my postage-stamp back yard and created a wildflower area. that was fun because in the bag of wildflower seed i wasn't sure just what was going to come up....turns out i ended up with several plants that produced wonderful flowers....my old brain cannot think of the name of the flowers right now (i knew the name just a few moments ago....)....okay, it came back to me...zinneas....beautiful colors that i just had to snip some and bring them into the kitchen...

and.....i also planted a peach tree last spring....this summer it has quite a few peaches on it...which i harvested today!!!

okay, laundry time.....hope you all have a wonderful day!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mom's out there!!! What is Mother's Day anyway? A day for mom's to feel guilty because we were not the "perfect' mother? A day for mom's to feel sad because our children neglected to contact us to wish us a Happy Mother's Day? NO, No, No!!! Did you know that Mother's Day started out as a religious holiday? I decided to find out just how Mother's Day came to be!!! In my older years I have found that history really intrigues me and I want to learn. Having the internet really helps in this area, as we can find just about anything on the internet!!! Gone are the days of those cumbersome encyclopedias!!! Thank goodness!!!

My thoughts wander....so to get back on track.....Mother's Day started as a religious holiday.

The history of Mother's Day is centuries old and the earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. In the early 1600s, the early Christians in England celebrated a day to honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. By a religious order, the holiday was later expanded to include all mothers and was named as "The Mothering Sunday." As Christianity spread throughout Europe, the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church". Over time, the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration. People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.

So the, how did Mother's Day get so commercialized? In the United States, the early settlers let the tradition slide and the celebration ended because the colonists were so busy. Julia Ward Howe (she wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic), an activist, started a movement to get "Mother's Day for Peace" to be recognized and celebrated on June 2nd, mainly intended to unite women against war.

Howe's idea was influenced by Anne Marie Reeves Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called "Mothers Friendship Day." Jarvis was active in trying to get better sanitation conditions during the Civil War. She was instrumental in saving thousands of lives by teaching women in her Mothers Friendship Clubs the basics of nursing and sanitation.

It was Jarvis' daughter, Anna Jarvis, who finally succeeded in introducing Mother's Day in the sense as we celebrate it today. After attending college and teaching for some time, she spent many years looking after her ailing mother. After her mother died, Anna missed her greatly. Anna felt that children often neglected to appreciate their mothers enough while the mother was still alive. Two years after her mother's death, she shared with friends her desire to establish a day for children to honor their mothers...living or dead. She hoped that Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.

As a result of her efforts, the first Mother's Day in the U.S. was observed on May 10, 1908 by a churce service honoring the late Mrs. Reece Jarvis in the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Grafton is now the home of the International Mother's Day Shrine. The first Mother's Day Proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia in 1910. By 1911, every state in the union celebrated Mother's Day. The House of Representatives in May 1913 unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the President, his cabinet, the members of both Houses and all officials in the federal government to wear a white carnation on Mother's Day. (The late Mrs. Jarvis was fond of carnations.) On May 7, 1914, it was resolved that the second Sunday of May be celebrated as Mother's Day.

"Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said Joint Resolution, do hereby direct the government officials to display the United States flag on all government buildings and do invite the people of the United States to display the flag at their homes or other suitable places on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."

Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialiasion became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. As the observance of Mother's Day enjoyed increasing popularity, this made Anna Jarvis disillusioned with her own creation. Though the original spirit of honoring the mothers remained the same, what began as a religious service expanded quickly into a more secular observance leading to giving of cards, gifts, flowers. Anna could not cope with this changing mode of expression.

Today, Mother's Day is a day of honoring mothers. It is a day when you acknowledge your mother's contribution in your life and pay tribute to her, often with flowers and gifts.

JFK - Part 2

Okay, so as if yesterday wasn't enough of an adventure, today was just as "fun (?)". I slept a few hours in the hotel room...not soundly because I was afraid I would oversleep and miss the shuttle back to the airport. Since JFK is so busy, I wanted to make sure I was at the airport at least 2 hours ahead of schedule....now I ask myself "for why?".....

I tried to check in at the kiosk, but the kiosk didn't remember that I was there the day before and did not want to recognize anything I tried to enter. I was then directed to the lady at the counter...who...for 45 minutes...tried to get me a ticket. After looking at the paperwork I had -- which comprised of my boarding pass from Sunday (which, obviously was no good) and an "interrupted flight voucher" which I received from the UNhelpful clerk at the desk at gate 23 the night before -- the woman told me that my flight had been completed! Yup...that's what she said..to which I replied "if it was completed, then why am I standing here still trying to get to Charlotte, North Carolina!!" There was some consulting with the other ticketing agents who finally helped her issue me a boarding pass...which I hope would work once I walked the 2 miles (really, it seemed like it) to gate 23.

Again, there were delays. The flight that was to have left at 8:30 a.m. still had lots of people in the waiting area wishing they could get home. The weather was very gray and wet! But, again, we were told the delay was more due to the extensive air traffic than the weather.

My flight was to have left at 10:30 a.m.; however, at 11:30 a.m. we were still waiting to board the plane. Finally at 12:30 p.m., we were allowed to board the plane, only to find out once they had us trapped on it, that we would need to sit on the plane at the gate for a while. That "while" turned out to be one and a half hours. Lunch of peanuts and cookies was offered after about a half hour. The pilot told us that some of the airplanes sitting on the tarmack had been waiting for take off for 3 hours....one of them happening to be the 9:30 a.m. flight!! Oh joy!! Around 2 pm, our plane got in line with the others on the tarmack and with approximately 30 planes in front of us, we waited, waited, waited to take off. We finally landed in Charlotte at 4:30 p.m. And, much to my amazement, when I went downstairs to baggage claim, there was my suitcase waiting for me in the Delta Baggage Office!!!

One thing to remember....avoid JFK at all costs!! I'm sure many reading this blog has been through similar situations. Fortunately, this is only the second time I've run into delays. Most of the time my flights happen without incidence! However, I do think that Delta needs to get a letter informing them of this...as many on the plane were talking about. Oh, while waiting in the terminal to board the plane, a lady came around with a business card asking people if they would go on-line and rate the airline and airport. When she asked me, I gladly said yes!! They should know, after all!!!!

The Big Apple Adventure

Greetings from JFK International Airport....well, right now it is the Days Inn. I'm actually supposed to be in Charlotte, NC trying to find my car in the East Deck Parking Garage.....HOWEVER......

I had a wonderful time visiting my daughter Melissa and visiting with her and my 3 grandchildren. But, alas, the time came for me to leave and catch my flight out of the Bradley International Airport. Looking at my itinerary, it appeared that this flight was going to be direct to Charlotte. No mention of a connecting flight or lay over! Yay!! Upon arriving at the airport, we were all greeted with the notification of a delay. Not a long one, we all were told. It was just that there was so much air traffic on this particular day, that we would have to wait for a while. My flight was to leave at 5:30 p.m.; however, we did not board the plane until 6:15 p.m. Once boarded, the pilot came over the speakers to tell us that we would need to sit on the tarmack for another 30 minutes -- which turned into approximately an hour. No big deal, I told myself, this was a direct flight so there was no fear of missing a connection!!

The flight attendand came around with bottles of water and snacks while we were waiting, waiting, waiting for air control to release our take off. Finally, we got the release and we would only be 7th in line to take off! We taxied out to get in line and waited, waited, waited! Finally, the speakers told us again, that we would now be taking off! The co-pilot informed us that this was a 30-minute flight to JFK airport from take off to landing. We got to what looked like Long Island below us and we circled, circled, circled waiting for permission to land. Again, we were told, all this delay was due to an extremely high volume of air traffic.

The flight attendant then came around and asked us what our connecting flight destination was to be. I politely informed her that I did not have a connecting flight, that I was staying on the plane and continuing on to Charlotte, NC!! The young gal that sat across the aisle from me confirmed that because she, too, was to stay on the plane for Charlotte. We both then were politely told back that we would need to get off the plane because this plane was continuing on to Rochester, NY. Oh, there must be some mistake we told her. We only had one boarding pass and it said "Hartford, CT to Charlotte, NC". Nope....we had to get off the plane and check at the gate desk for the correct plane to take us to Charlotte.

There were three of us on flight 6702 who stood helplessly in this huge JFK airport looking at the departure and arrival boards frantically checking for our connecting flight to Charlotte. There were none listed on the board. We finally got to speak to an attendant at another gate who told us that we had missed our connecting flight!!! W H A T?????????????????? We didn't even know we had a connecting flight!! It seems that with all the air traffic delays, we had missed the plane that was waiting for us at JFK. We were supposed to walk off one plane and board another and that plane got tired of waiting for us!!! The next flight to Charlotte would be on Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. And to top it off, we were told that we were not eligible for any hotel or meal vouchers!! (Delta just merged with NW Airlines and they have all this hype going on on how they are going to be better, blah blah blah....well, this is not a way to show it!) We were on our own...either sleep in the airport or find a hotel. My budget couldn't really handle a $100/night hotel room (yup...there were none found for less...), but there was no way I was going to sleep in those uncomfortable chairs in the terminal.

I headed down to baggage claim to get my luggage and found the belt where the luggage would be unloaded for flight 6702. I waited and waited and waited and waited. No luggage. Oh no!!! It was probably still on the plane! Yes, that is precisely what happened I was told at the Claim Office. My luggage would be delivered to my home on Monday sometime after 7:30 a.m. Hmmm, my luggage would arrive home faster than I would!!! I hope they leave it at my house until I get there, or who knows when I'll see it again!!!

JFK is a HUGE airport!!! In order to get to the Days Inn, I had to take an airport train to an area called Federal Station where all the hotel shuttles wait for you! I was asking all the "safe looking" people I saw (you know, the ones with kids in tow) if they were going to the same place and could I please follow them because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! Some said NO and there were a few angels out there who said YES. Bless their heart!!

I'm in the Days Inn ... with no luggage. That means no make up, no hair brush, no clothes, etc. I did get a complimentary toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and deodorant from the front desk!! I've asked for a wake up call at 6 a.m. I hope they remember! Breakfast is available in the lobby, which is a GOOD thing!!

Fortunately, I won't have to take the airport train back to the terminal. The Shuttle Man will drop me off right at the terminal! Horray for me because I seriously don't think I would be able to find my way back!! Let's see what adventures await me tomorrow! Good night all!!