We went to the Pickford Cinema in Bellingham recently and saw a movie from China called Postmen in the Mountains. The scenery was quite beautiful as we watched the story unfold: a man who has worked decades delivering mail to rural China passes this good government job on to his son after it becomes too difficult for him to walk the three day route.
The father accompanies his son along the route, walking down mountainous paths and across rivers, so that he will learn the way and come to know the people whose lives his father has become part of. As they make this journey they discover new aspects of the person that is their father/son and realize that past things done and said have affected each of them differently. As with so many experiences while we are here, we often don't comprehend all sides or aspects of the experience at the time... The son had missed his father, who was gone on his postal route much of the time during his childhood, and at the same time the father had missed his son and his wife as he worked hard to support his family- neither had comprehended how, or even if, this loss of time together had affected the other.
The student and the teacher are one, and once again lessons come back anew.
Happiness... is not a destination: it is a manner of traveling. Happiness is not an end in itself. It is a by-product of working, playing, loving and living.- Haim Ginott
My co-worker Anita Brown is off from work goofing around for a few weeks. Well, she was hoping her leave included a little goofing off time, but I think the reality of surgery and pain has cast somewhat of a pall over the goofing off idea...
We wish Anita a speedy recovery as she goes about her physical therapy and sticks within the limits her doctor has prescribed... and hope she is doing well enough so as to enjoy some little modicum of goofing off during her non-working days. Best Wishes Nita!!
You will note that the picture of Nita to the left is different... I followed her into the bathroom (see me in the mirror) to find her one day. She did not like the pictures, but the bathroom one isn't bad and the one of her lovely smile is great. We all have a hard time with pictures of ourselves- it is hard to believe how much older we keep looking! But in reality the years have been good to us- we are still here.
"Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what the hell happened."- Cora Harvey Armstrong
Remember the art print Kira got us for Christmas? When I met Kira in Edmonds to pick it up at the art gallery, the gal there asked us if we wanted to enter a drawing for tickets to a play they were sponsoring. Of course we did and VOILA! Yes, I won tickets to the play- can you believe it??
It was a kind of goofy production but is was fun to meet Kira and her boyfriend, Jon, there and see it with them- damn, forgot to take a picture of them... The play's poster links to the gallery's site.
The picture at left was taken by my sister-in-law Terrie when we were in Michigan for the wedding. From left to right is my sister Linda, me, and Kira holding Bambi, with my mother in the background watching us. Thank you Terrie.
Fortunately [psycho]analysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist.- Karen Horney
So, I went to talk to some elderly women at a table and before I could say anything one looked up at me and said, "You've got curly hair! You have curly hair like me. It's pretty, do you get lots of compliments?"
I told her that I do and that sometimes people ask me where I get my perm because they like how the curl is done and that I tell them God does my curls. The ladies chuckled and one piped up, "Yes, but you are the one with the perm, ours certainly aren't permanent!" More chuckles, including my own...
Later the lady with the curls showed up at a group meeting and waited to talk to me- she wanted to know where I got my hair cut and what hair products I used. I wrote those things down for her on a piece of paper she brought with her just for that purpose.
At the end of the work day I once again ran into the lady with the gray curls sitting with another woman in the living area of the building. She flagged me down and once again told me how much she liked my hair. We chatted a bit and I told her I would see her again the next day. The other lady asked her if I was her daughter, but she hardly noticed the question, looking quite puzzled. "Do I have an appointment with you tomorrow?" I told her no, but that I would be back in the building tomorrow and since I saw her so much today I figured I would see her tomorrow too. She nodded and I said goodbye again. As I walked away I heard the lady next to her saying, "And she is so good to you..."
I was in the building for the next two days, but did not see the lady with the curls again.
The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing?- Richard Bach
"In our personal evolution, we must each go out into the world and choose from what- and whom- we find there. The man who seeks sustenance from himself alone will starve. By no means preordained or out of our hands, the process of self-formation occurs in this interplay between the self and the world. It is in this sense that our choice of whom to love is life-altering. Each of us comes to know ourselves, and to be ourselves through these choices and through the resulting encounters with the Other."- Ethel Spector Person
Rituals are important. Nowadays it's hip not to be married. I'm not interested in being hip.- John Lennon
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL........
My very good friend, Barbara Bizilia, graciously threw a party in celebration of our marriage on February 12th at her lovely Seattle home. Many friends from the Seattle office where I used to work attended. It was great fun to see folks I hadn't seen in over a year- how generous of them to come be with us. Thank you everyone for coming and Thank You Barbara, so much. Click on the nice picture of Barbara and Jeff to see a page full of party pictures.
The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.- Hada Bejar
"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."~ Louis L'Amour
HAPPY PRESIDENTS' DAY!!!
It is Presidents' Day, one of those holidays that people don't really celebrate much, except for maybe going to department store sales... For those of us who work for the government or a bank, it truly is a holiday that we cherish.
Reading about Teddy Roosevelt recently, it did strike me how different things were back then. With communication so relatively slow, there was lots of room and time for posturing and finagling in both domestic and foreign politics- kind of like the insider trading that got Martha in hot water. Knowing something had or was going to happen, one could position oneself advantageously. Nowadays, that lag time is virtually gone and so politics today are more like a game of chess instead of checkers, or at tleast that is what I get out of it.
Being in the public eye has never been so intense either, resulting in what seems like more cosmetic performances- who would have voted for an ugly duckling like Lincoln or a cripple like FDR if TV had existed the first couple centuries of the US's existence? The dramatic performance requirements of being President have changed, for better or worse- what is, is.
The morality police have also gotten more influential, concerning themselves with the sex lives and other preferences of Presidents. We are so lucky to have those souls to help those of us who lack morals understand the importance of realizing that our bodies are inherently "dirty"- especially the bodies of women. Today such scoundrels as Adams, who liked to get up early and skinny dip in the Potomac, would have been resoundedly chased
out of public office. We have them to thank for shining their bright and faithful light on the likes of Howard Dean, saving us from the actual expression of intense emotions. On January 19, 2004 Howard Dean got excited about how things were going and yelled "Yahoo!!". God save us from such utterances!
It is, as always, an interesting and fleeting world. Denial is its salve.
There are two kinds of light--the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures.- James Thurber
Uan Sripen is retiring from many years of state service. Uan's kind heart and gentle soul have touched many in her work. We wish her all of the best as she ventures on to new days.
The power of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special efforts, but by his ordinary doing.- Blaise Pascal
Hmmm... it must have been something I ate.
The other day Jay saw this cartoon and laughed and laughed. He said it made him think of me.
Red Meat is a cartoon featured on the AV Club page of The Onion- click the cartoon to go there.
"Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do."- Michel De Montaigne
A great language joke provided by Jay, found via FARK. Given its Irish lilt, I include visuals of Jay's favorite beer... Guinness:
Setting: Quaint Country Pub
Customer: "Oh, I love the way you roll your R's."
Waitress: "Get on wi'ya now, its just me new high heels!"
Life is raw material. We are artisans. We can sculpt our existence into something beautiful, or debase it into ugliness. It's in our hands.- Cathy Better
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Pictures link to somewhere in the cyberworld, go ahead...click.
