...because merry-go-round-and-round is not so merry

I love roller-coasters.

I have never enjoyed the rides that go around and around and around . . . making me dizzy, upsetting my stomach. The same images blurring by me again and again and again. Screaming to get off - I've had enough.

I like the butterflies, the adrenaline rush before every curve and dip, the excitement when I've reached the highest points . . . and the magnificent view from the top.

The once around. And when it's over - I get back in line to experience it all over again - because no two rides are ever the same.

I never saw that twinkling light on the top of water tower before.

breathing, heart beating, eyes open, smiling

Happy, Blessed, Healthy, Loving, Prosperous, Peaceful, Abundant . . . New Year!

Chisel in hand, intent in heart, design in mind . . . and I have not yet carved my resolutions in the stone.

These first five days of the new year escaped in an exhale.

I am larger these days . . . the world around me, tiny. Days like seconds. Miles like steps. Obstacles like pebbles.

I am smaller these days . . . the world around me vast. Seconds like lifetimes. Steps like eternity. Me . . . a speck of blue in the sky.

I have found my place. I have found my space. I have found me in this place in this space.

All the Signs Indicate the Halfway Point

If a flower, if a plant, if the seedling of a tree . . . is aware when it is halfway to the surface . . . then I suppose I can say I am half-way there.

I don't know know though if, when I arrive, I will arrive as a flower or a plant or a tree . . .

I do know I am on my way to finding out. And that is what I want . . . to know . . . to know.

In time I will know.

Time in patience.

Patience is a virtue.

Patience builds character, and having character eliminates the want and need of being a character.

The Sins of the Winless

Ok, so as it turned out, I was not the needed 'good luck' charm to help the Detroit Tigers end their - now six game - winless streak, when they played against the Chicago White Sox last night. Or maybe it was a no-luck combination of me, my daughter and two of her friends who went together. Or maybe it was the fact the White Sox played an exceptional game. Or maybe it was the fact the Tiger's did not play such an exceptional game. Or maybe the Tiger's are still acclimating and will soon get into a winning groove that will bring them up to first-place which is where they belong. Or maybe the seventh time will be the charm. Or maybe or maybe or maybe.

"Let's Go Tigers!"

I wonder about the 'fans' who are fortunate enough, wealthy enough, connected enough to sit in some of the best seats in the park . . . like the seat I was lucky enough to sit in last night . . . I wonder about those very quiet, dignified "fans." Some were busy doing late-night business deals and introductions while their teenage daughters were getting up and down and up and down to walk around and shop for candy, peanuts, coke and pizza all while text messaging every one of their friends. Some looked bored. Some very proper. Some looked like they were there because they were important enough to sit in those great seats. Some looked like had they had a remote control they would have surfed the channels. Yes, some were Sox fans. Some were jeering, booing fools, while some others, whose lives may have been on the line depending on the outcome, were just plan crabby. And then there was me and my gang. We were there to cheer on and support our team - The TIGERS - and we were cheering them on. YEAH!
oh, was that too loud? Come on people! Support our team! It's not like we're asking you to paint letters on your bare chests! The game was televised on ESPN and my sister and some friends informed me that we on on TV - good thing I did not eat any ice-cream - a little Seinfeld humor; George Costanza style.

Carpe diem

Lovely Sunday here in Detroit . . .
Seizing the day

That is Canada across the lake

Emmy and I are enjoying this DAY
Tonight is 'taken me out to the ball game.' Let's hope I can be some kind of a 'good luck charm' for the Tigers!

Yes Lindy . . .There is LOGIC in TECHNO - it just comes at the end

Alleluia . . . I merged my e-mail . . . I merged my e-mail. Alleluia!
Yes, I'm a spiritual being by nature - a spiritual being having a beautiful, technological experience - for today, anyway.
Technology can sink me to the depths of the Underworld; snorkeling through the murky murk of Styx for lost cyber files, crashed out hard drives, frozen-in-time hourglass cursors, downloading errors and every other type of high tech malfunction dysfunction. Or, technology can have me soaring to heights of angelic ecstasy . . . flying on the wings of uninterrupted streams of wireless capacity for endless hours upon hours.
But today; today, whether it came of my pure determination and will, mental clarity, a little extra time and energy or some combination of all the above mixed with a tad pre-Saint Patrick's Day Irish luck: Today I finally merged my aol e-mail with my Comcast e-mail into my Windows (aka Outlook) Mail. A lovely marriage of two mail servers living happily ever after in one safe, neat domestic household. A menage a trois of organized convenience . . . for moi!
So, as I was singing . . . Alleluia . . . I merged my e-mail! Ain't life grand!

24

A gift. A day. Twenty-four hours extra.
What will you do with today?
Twenty-four hours may not seem like much -
but to Kiefer Sutherland, it is an entire season.
So, do something today that you would not ordinarily do.
Celebrate this refund of time.
Unwrap this day with gratitude.
Yes,I agree, why February?
Why an extra day in February?
Why not an extra July 4th every four years?
But, it is here. It is today. It is yours.
It is mine.
Enjoy.
HAPPY LEAP DAY TO ALL.

All in a Morning's Day

Ok, so today I spent my morning caring for an ill Beta fish named Nemo. Technically, he is my grandson Nathan's pet fish, but Nemo has been in my care for about a year now. My daughter rescued him from a party as he was part of the table's centerpiece; swimming in a vase of flowers for everyone's amusement. I won't go there right now, but I was proud of her for rescuing him before the props were disassembled and packed away. That was three years ago. How long do these little Beta fish live?

We thought he was dying at Easter time. He lay, almost lifeless, at the bottom of the bowl, not interested in eating his breakfast nor in watching the comings and goings of our colorful and gigantic bodies as he usually did. We would stop to tap gently on his glass house to get him to move . . . we were checking for signs of life. We said some prayers around him. I put a few drops of holy water in his bowl and I even gave him a Reiki treatment. Soon he was his old bouncy self again. A Miracle!

Well, he has had a case of the icks lately . . . fin rot. I have been treating him for that, but the medicine has not healed him completely. I was about to try a stronger medicine today, but, after I changed his water and cleaned his bowl, then I put him in the new water, he would not leave the top. Betas can breathe the air at the top. I quickly re-changed the water, fearing the medication was too strong and therefore suffocating him. I continued observing him. He was still hanging, listlessly around the top gulping air.

I went online to look up Betas and Beta health problems. Along with fin rot, swim bladder and constipation are the three most common ailments, with swim bladder and constipation going hand-in-hand. The information provided suggested I do not feed him his Beta food for a day or two, but I was to peel and mush a couple of frozen or canned peas and see if I could tempt him to eat them. The high fiber would help unblock him. The 'pea' treatment is preferable to the good old-fashioned Epsom Salt bath, which should be my last option due the the extra stress it would create. Now remember, I am still referring to a little Beta fish here . . . not me.

Nemo did not go for the peas and I am going to hold off on the Epsom Salt bath and the medication for the time being. I'm praying that nature takes its course and within a day or two he will be pooping with the best of them. I'm praying for a Christmas miracle much like the Easter miracle.

(Don't doubt for a minute that a little fish won't steal your heart - Nemo actually has a personality, he comes to see me when I'm near his bowl and he bubbles with love. I love that little guy!)

So, that was my morning - diagnosing and treating a Beta fish named Nemo with constipation and swim bladder. Two nights ago, my friend rescued a cat that was trapped in her window well and she spent her afternoon at the Veterinarian's office. Tonight I'm going to rescue and treat myself . . . I'm meeting a friend for a drink. Salute!

Down with Santa! created by: StoveStomper on 12/23/03”

Trimming my Tree and Decking my Halls

While I prepare for the Christmas holiday . . . send out my cards (the one above - for all of you - is our "Christmas in July photo taken 7-25-07 on Luke's 18th Birthday), bake cookies, wrap gifts, fix the top strand of lights on my fully decorated tree that went out . . . here's a bit a holiday cheer and spirit:

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when my mother took me to see him in a department store, and he asked for my autograph. Shirley Temple

Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we'll be seeing six or seven. W. C. Fields

Santa Claus wears a Red Suit,
He must be a communist.
And a beard and long hair,
Must be a pacifist.
What's in that pipe that he's smoking? Arlo Guthrie

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better that at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself. Charles Dickens

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin. Jay Leno

"Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people once a year."
Victor Borge

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

'Til ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
first published in 1863

I wish you all a festive, stress-free, pre-holiday season!

AND . . . A Festivus for the rest of us!" From Seinfeld

The Corner in Between

Standing at the corner.

One foot left of it. One foot right of it. I can't stand here forever (not in this outfit, anyway). And I can't do the splits anymore (surely, not in these jeans). I've been down each of those roads . . . the Wall Street of it . . . the Broadway of it. Occasionally, I high kicked when I should have been trading up and I traded down when I should have been kicking high. Overall, I did most things right. I played the game according to the rules.

But the lights are still brighter on Broadway . . . that is, if I can afford to pay the increasing electric bill.

Ahhhh, the starving artist. Ahhhh, the tortured artist. I'm over it. And as for the high stakes and fast pace of the Wall Street society; that wall keeps getting higher and higher and I don't want to be anther brick in the wall.

So, basically, my left brain is watching me starve while my right brain is drawing pictures of figs and sushi and tomatoes and Gouda cheese . . . you know, healthy food for the soul.

What's next? Is this all there is? What's my third option?

PS Thank you friends and readers. Thanks for your patience. This upheaval has left me without internet for the time being.

Wax on . . . I'm almost there

CURRENT MOON

about the moon

No time to come up for air

I am in over my head with work and new projects and family and traveling and mothering and teenagers and spring cleaning . . . I have to remind myself to come up for air and BREATHE. Right now, my writing is in my top drawer under some bills, a half-eaten box of chocolates and an endless 'to do' list. I miss the words and I miss all of you. I will get it together soon . . . carve out some time and fill you in on my comings and goings. Hope you are all well. XOXO Lindy

On Becoming My Own Product

SELLING OUT . . . What is the modern meaning of "selling out" these days? I used to tout the fact that I would 'Neeeeeeeeeeeeeever sell out!" Selling out was a sin. It was a lowering of one's standards. It was crossing the picket line of integrity and good taste. Looking back, I think I was setting myself up for a life of hardship, debt and privation by holding onto my arrogant and self-righteous claim.
I had girlfriends who 'sold out' and left our modern dance company to dance in 'Gentleman's Clubs.' (One went on the Vegas.) A couple of my girlfriends admitted they would never settle for anything less than a man who was very financially well of. (Which, by the way, my romantic ideals of love left me a single mother, while 'some' of my girlfriends are living in houses too big to clean - but that's what their housekeepers are paid for.) I swore if I ever went into show business I would never be in a commercial for something like hemorrhoid cream or that bad fire breath. I held strong to the belief that one day people would appreciate my ancient poetry and poetic prose because to admit I could write a mean Sara Lee jingle would be a nightmare in the literary community!
Well, well, well, could I have been wrong all along? I mean, maybe writing instruction manuals and information guides could have led to publishing my first book!
I am questioning my old beliefs, re-examining my ethics, morals and standards - maybe they are all TOO high.
My question has changed from, "What would I do for love?" to "What would I do for money?"

Everything old is new again

Well, I don't know what to call this . . . it's not my first time anymore, but I have not been at it long enough to be making a "comeback." So, I will just quietly slip back into the blog scene, hopefully not unnoticed, but definitively without a bang or a scandal or rehab discharge papers. I missed all of you - my readers and my fellow bloggers - and I appreciate your comments over the holidays. Things are better: my son has one last doctor appointment today for a final chest ex-ray and the official "ok" to return to school; and I have set up a mini camp in my private quarters where I can write / blog on my new laptop without being disturbed by the natives when they become restless (I now have a desk in my bedroom!).

Everything old is new again . . . from blogging to resolutions. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ok, a break from my crazy life!

Hey y'all, I will be back to posting daily after having been on a week-long "medical and MENTAL leave" from blogging. I was having some health issues along with leading the very busy life of a working-mother-approaching-the-holidays!
Good news, my health is good - all of the tests came back good:) I am scheduled for an outpatient surgery January 8 and hopefully, that will be that!
My car is finally fixed! Hooray! And my new laptop just arrived and I am trying to learn how to work it - it's all so high-tech!
I am getting organized for Christmas and the New Year. I am also hosting an out-of-town guest (my really good friend, Kim) for a few days next week . . . I have cards, baking, cleaning . . . I'm feeling more than a bit overwhelmed with all I have to do within these next few weeks!
And tomorrow is my Birthday!
Whew! badabadbabdabdba . . . that's all folks . . . all least for today!
Oh yeah, a PS: My grandson, Nathan, was "fan of the game" at last night's Red Wing game! He has so much energy, that even in a huge crowd, he was singled out! He got to on the ice and receive a practice jersey!

Today's blah, blah, blahs and yada yadas: Lions and turkeys and yams oh my!

Ok, when I can't be clever, creative or anything in between, I will blah and yada.
So, today is Monday, November 20, already! Thanksgiving is three days away.

Last night I watched a program on the History Channel about the history of Thanksgiving Day. I found it to be quite interesting - most things I did not know. One fact surprised me (though, it shouldn't have): back in the 1920's when football was gaining popularity, it was the good ole Detroit Lion's who combined Thanksgiving Day with the game and made it the big event that it has become. I know that the Lions play every year on Thanksgiving Day, because, coming from a family where football ranks higher than almost anything, our turkey dinner is always after my brother-in-laws return from the game . . . pissed off and hungry.

I am fortunate this year, since I had the big Halloween bash, my sister is preparing Thanksgiving dinner at her home and all I have to do is show up. Sweet!