Happy New Year

My days are now more precious
More treasures I do see
More birds sing at my window
New melodies today  me.

There’s a sweeter breeze caressing
My face as it wafts on by
It sighs and whispers softly
Of days so long gone by.

My life so fast is changing
I hardly can keep up
But I know that all these changes
I really don’t wish to stop!

So you breezes keep on whispering
Fuel my spirit with your fire
For it’s only through these struggles
That I’ll achieve what I desire.

Cause a spirit that is stagnant
That no longer has a goal
Is an essence that’s departed
Like the body with no soul.

A New Day

A New Day

Morning dawns across the heavens

As the bright sun claims supremacy once again

Conquered now, the stars are take cover

Behind the mantle of dawn’s delight

Like chastised children hiding from Mother’s reproaching frown.

Darkness retreats, now defeated

Its departure a victory o’er the night

Silently the slumbering new day wakens

Its course as yet uncharted – insecure

But potential beckons – buoyant, optimistic

To dream of ventures, aspirations 

That defy the scrutiny borne of fear

Presenting bravado like a dare

Yet treading stealthily lest they overstep their bounds.

Limitions

My  Achilles Heel

Just when I think I’ve conquered

Just when I think I’ve won

Just when I think I can succeed

I find  I’ve just begun.

The task looms large before me

It hackles all my senses

It gains its sheer momentum

And shatters my defences.

My confidence just plummets,

In the face of this big mission

It’s really not then simple

To reach this goal’s fruition.

I may have to change direction

And abandon this objective

It seems that I made decisions

Without a true perspective.

I thought I was invincible

That my powers would abound

I never considered limits

Or how they would confound 

Those tasks and that are around me
Those commitments every day

They gobbled up my leisure

And left no time for play

Finally?????

Reality

So call me "unorganised". I have been here two months and I have no regrets about the move, but I am still waiting for one more "AHA" moment though this last AHA may never come.  The item I am looking for could just be a casualty of the move.  It is just that it was a special souvenir  and I was rather fond of the item.  However, it is a small price to pay for a move that was otherwise very positive. It will take time to develop a lasting comfortable routine but I am getting there.

Moving is a stressful venture, especially for the elderly.  It uproots your home, your routine, and most definitely your comfort zone.  But it  carries with it important benefits that that make the stress almost worth it.  (Notice I said "almost")  I am sure that my last "AHA so there you are!" moment will probably erase the "almost" entirely  but in the meantime,  the memory of the stress associated with moving is still rather fresh in my mind.  Still,  like everything else in life, "This too shall pass".  In the meantime, summer is here, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming and the sun smiles at me every morning, so life is GOOD!

An Awakening

Acknowledging An Awakening

The brilliant orb of light awakens me

The Eye of Judgement from heaven above

 It pierces my downcast emotions

Condemning and rebuking me

For my unwarranted despondency

Wishing for something even I cannot define

It stabs and spears at my voracity

And my failure to comprehend

That my rational needs have all been met. 

Reality crashes through my melancholy

Charging me with disapproval and admonition 

Shaming me for my ingratitude.

Scattering my despondency to oblivion!

I humbly review my good fortune

So unrivalled that I bow in shame

I acknowledge all the notable blessings

Supplied so bountifully throughout my days

That I revile at my ingratitude

And renounce my senseless greed!

Timely Discovery

I found this poem when I was browsing through my files today.  I don't remember when I wrote it but it seems so appropriate  for what  I have been going through lately.  I wanted to share it with you. I apologize if it is  a repeat. 

Managing Impatience

What I feared did not happen

What I imagined did not come through

What I planned did not materialize

All my lists just followed queue.

 I suppose I should be grateful

I know less than I thought I knew

This time my apprehension

Failed to raise a coup!

It stressed me out for nothing

It frazzled me to no end

I could have stayed unruffled

But I failed to comprehend

Life is what we make it

We fear what we don’t know

If we face it with timidity

It’ll defeat us just to show

Fear cripples our capacity

To be the best that we can be

It limits our potential

And zaps our energy.

It makes us question everything

We used to think was right

It makes us fear the future

And makes us run in flight.

We multiply the negatives

The bad things that could go wrong

 We cripple that great spirit

That used to be so strong

We conjure up scenarios

Of catastrophic mayhem 

It cripples our potential

And serves as our REQUIM!

Amended Goals

Another Year,  Another Spring

Another year, another spring

Another promise in the making

Another dream, a goal, a vision

A new opportunity for undertaking

That task that once seemed so important

That I spent such hours in scheming

Has somehow lost its zest appeal

And no longer now has much meaning.

For ambitions seem to shift and change

With the whims of my emotions

They stray and flounder under stress

And alter prior devotions.

Progress and Change

Numbered Aspirations

My days are now more precious

More treasures I do see

More birds sing at my window

New melodies to me.

There’s a sweeter breeze caressing

My face as it wafts on by

It sighs and whispers softly

Of days so long gone by.

My life so fast is changing

I hardly can keep up

But I know that all these changes

I really don’t wish to stop!

So you breezes keep on whispering

Fuel my spirit with your fire

For it’s only through these struggles

That I’ll achieve what I desire.

Cause a spirit that is stagnant

That no longer has a goal

Is an essence that’s departed

Like the body with no soul.

Getting There

Hi All

It has been a very stressful albeit exciting and very busy couple of months for me.  Last fall, I visited a place that  that I liked very much and I decided I wanted to live there myself.  (It wasn’t that I disliked living where I was, but the new place had many amenities that that were just not available at the place where I was.)  I decided to move.  That is where the stress came in. Not that it was a bad decision!!!! But it meant disrupting my comfortable routines and my well-organized home and going to a place of absolute chaos, living out of boxes, and searching, searching, SEARCHING  for things that I had always known exactly where to find  and which had always been readily available at my fingertips.

 I am now having alot of  “AHA!  so there you are” moments and although the “AHA” moments are always rewarding, I find the preludes to them extremely distressing. They deplete my energy and distort my concentration.

But "This, too, shall pass!!!" Bear with me while I get myself organized and into a NORMAL routine. 

Life's Surprises

Mid Night Meanderings

I know I should be sleeping

I know I’m wasting time

I’m waiting for a piece of peace

To still this paradigm

My life is in a state of flux  

My brain works overtime

It portrays an image of a life

With blessings all sublime

Just when I thought it hopeless

When I expected least

My wish for just a simple fix

 God answered with a feast.

So now I lie awake content

Not in a state of strife

I can now go to sleep at night

All satisfied with life!

Still Here

Happy New year.
(Somewhat late for most folks but if you'll pretend you're Ukrainian for a few days, New Years is still coming on the 14th. Still for the Ukainians and the non-Ukrainians alike, I wish you all a great new year and if you had a not-so-good 2014,  I hope that 2015 will more than make up for it. So dump the bad memories in the garbage and let's have a great 2015!!!!!
 
I'm still here, perhaps not as tough as I'd like to be, but I'm still kickin' and on the green side of the grass yet!!! It's been a rough few weeks but I'm just not ready to throw in the towel that easily.  Bear with me while get back to normal and get my fiesty self back again.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Blessings

As we commemorate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in a manger in a lowly stable in Bethlehem, I would like to  wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a year filled with many blessings. May you all truly experience the true "Joy to the World" just as did  His Blessed Mother and the shepherds and the Wise men on that day so long ago! 

A Dream

My Dream

I dream of a world of plenty

I dream of a world of peace

I dream of love unbridled

I dream that wars will cease.

 I dream of a world of caring

For all of God’s creation

Of harmony and freedom

For each and every nation.

I dream of a world of sharing

All good fortunes we receive

I hope and pray that this old world

Will PEACE - someday - achieve.

That “color” will not matter

And religion will not divide

That “right” and “wrong” will triumph

As we all stand side by side!

Motivation

Managing Stress and Impatience

What I feared did not happen

What I imagined did not come through

What I dreaded did not materialize

All my lists just followed queue.

 I suppose I should be grateful

I know more that I thought I knew

This time my apprehension

Failed to raise a coup!

It stressed me out for nothing

It frazzled me to no end

I could have stayed unruffled

But I failed to comprehend

Life is what we make it

We fear what we don’t know

If we face it with timidity

It’ll defeat us just to show

Fear cripples our capacity

To be the best that we can be

It limits our potential

And zaps our energy.

It makes us question everything

We used to think was right

It makes us fear the future

And makes us run in flight.

We multiply the negatives

The bad things that could go wrong

 We cripple that great spirit

That used to be so strong

We conjure up scenarios

Of catastrophic mayhem 

It cripples our potential

And serves as our REQUIM!

Remembrance Day ---Still

Late Tribute to Our Veterans

This poem is two weeks late, however it is still relevant since November is still with us and our wounds, like our memories, are still open and raw.  Please forgive my  "harping" on a theme that can never grow old. This poem  "wrote" itself in my head the other night and did not let me sleep so I had to just get up and put my pen to paper.

 Another  Tribute to Our Veterans 
No one stops at that graveyard now
No one stops to stare
At those endless rows of  crosses
We're so used to seeing them there.

We gather there just once a year
A tribute for to pay
To thank them for their sacrifice
On each Remembrance Day.

But those crosses keep on reminding us
Of the souls we can't forget
Those strangers who gave up  their lives
For folks they had never met.

Those souls were someone's brother
Those souls were someone's friend
Once they held a baby
Once they held a hand.

But that heart  has now stopped beating
That laugh is forever still
That mind has now stopped dreaming
Of goals they'll  not fulfill.

Dreams Do Come True

Big Day Coming

Our Writing Group, called Blue Pencil Cafe, has published a book called "Out of the Blue".  It is a compilation of the writings from our members and we are having a book launch on  Monday, November 24 from the SAGE  site (15 Churchill Square,  corner of 102A   Avenue and  100 Street) in downtown Edmonton.  There will be readings by our members as well as a chance to meet the authors and see displays (and even purchase if you wish)  some of their other writings.

 Refreshments will be available on site.  Come and meet our writers and perhaps even join our group for the next season.  I am certain you will get (as I did) much inspiration from this  group. Many of us are now "living our dream!" We come from all walks of life but we all share a common dream and this group lets us live it!  Come and join us.

Remembering

A Final Tribute

T'was a day to remember

That his mother could not forget

A day that’s still so painful

That haunts her nightmares yet.

An agonizing, poignant sacrifice

Was demanded of her that day

When her only son was taken

To fight a war so far away.

He was just such a young lad

So innocent, naive

But he died before he had a chance

His grand dreams to achieve

Now strangers tend his gravesite

With grateful hearts overflowing

For a life that he gave up for them

Thus peace on them bestowing.

But his mother and his family

Still mourn his untimely passing

As they stand there on Remembrance Day

His final tributes now amassing! 

New Horizons

Questions

I have been reading  a new blog   Brenda @ Its A Beautiful Life recently and although I I have not been able to get all the way through it yet because of overriding previous engagements, I have found much inspiration and insight there that has been helpful to me in my own life.  I guess we all struggle with some kind of problems, whether they be insecurities or 'writing blocks' or what ever else it is that creates those stumbling blocks that make us question ourselves and keep us from  performing at our optimum level. Or perhaps it its just me. Brenda seems to have all her ducks in a row, while I am still trying to round mine up.  (Sometimes those ducks just don't herd well.) Many of my questions are still unanswered.

Is it our age that makes us question ourselves, or it it our bad experiences from the past? Because I honestly cannot say that I have taken such 'beatings'  in the past, but I have to admit that I miss that self-confidence that once came so naturally to me.  I find myself questioning many decisions that would never have worried me in the past.

Perhaps I should just finish reading the rest of Brenda's blog.  Maybe I will find the answers there.

Autumn Splendor

Autumn Splendor

Autumn’s flamboyant landscape beckons to me

With brilliant golds, rusty reds, bold burgundies

Stately oaks, aspen, birch and cherry

Flaunt their splendor with sheer abandon.

Those branches, once were a verdant green

Now display their new attire with bravado.

 Like outstretched arms, they reach out

Lacing their leafy fingers high above

As though embracing one final time

And form this lovely tunnel for my passage.

Not to be outdone,

Even stately Lombardy poplars join in the fun.

Like slim golden sentinels they stand

Overlooking this gaiety and pomposity

And boldly join this carnival of exuberance.

As they sway in the gentle breeze.

With one final display of boastful daring

The trees obscure the sun’s fading rays

With their own supreme display of glory!

Before shedding this magnificent garb

To don the barren nakedness of winter grey

And sink into a long and peaceful slumber.

Giftware and More

A Literary Festival

Getting ready for Words in the Park in just over a week, at Sherwood Park on October 25th. Please take note of this "Fall Feast of Words" at the Strathcona County Library, which will include a great selection of literary events. There will be a variety of books from various authors, plus many other items  suitable for yourself or as Christmas presents for friends and family.  It should be a great social and noteworthy experience for presenters and consumers alike .  If you require more info, check out the website: http://words.sclibrary.ab.ca/EventInfo

Hope to see you all there! 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving  Ode       

For friends who’re there that really care

Who’re always willing their love to share

Who’re tender, thoughtful, good and kind,

The kind of friends that’re hard to find.

With judgement sound they hang around

And fill my life with peace profound

I am so very thankful!

For the the splendor of our nation

My heart is bursting with adulation

O'er all the grandeur  and munificence    

Of God’s creation, its magnificence.

He entrusted us with our free will

To see the greatness of His skill

How can I not be thankful!

For our good health and rich full life

For protecting us from conflicts, strife

For His all His blessings, His benevolence

That keep enfolding with such prevalence

For all the joys and carefree living

For all our wrongs  God is forgiving

I bow in humble praise, thanksgiving!

Thank you, Lord!

Golden Leaves of Autumn

Golden Leaves of Autumn 

Like the golden leaves of autumn
So our years of youth fly  past
Leaving naught but poignant memories
Of good times we wished would last.

Like the golden leaves of autumn
We lose the resolve to hang on
Forsaking all life's daily struggles
Youth delivered on the run.

Like the golden leaves of autumn
Now we languish, reminisce
On those years when life was pleasing
On those years of youthful bliss.

Like the golden leaves of autumn
We're still wishing to explore
The summer of our youth now fading
To face those glory days once more.

Like the golden  leaves of autumn
We must let go of that hold
Sailing on to eternal slumber
Accepting that we're growing old!

My News

My Newest Book

I just received the shipment of my newest book called Mushrooms, Mini-cars and Welsh Mead.  This new book is a compilation of memories of experiences from my life and is a follow-up to my other two memoir books,  Roots - A Life in Review  and Small Beginnings.  It is the final one of this series.

          

     

I am now working on  a sequel to my fiction novel called The Secret in Her Heart,  and, if I can, I hope to someday publish another collection of poetry.  Wish me luck folks! I will need it.

                         

Peace One Day 2014

Peace One Day

I just realized that today is  designated as "Peace One Day 2014".   How wonderful it would be if for just one day - today - we could have total peace in the world?!!!!
Here are the words I heard sung over the internet.  What a wonderful idea!!!!!
I just could not resist adding this post today.

If I could write a magic song
That everyone could sing
I'd write of love and hope and joy
And things that peace could bring
And when we sang that magic song
All hate and war would cease
One song could bring a miracle
And fill the world with peace!
One song for all of us.

Journey of life

Journey of Life

I woke this morning thankful

For the time that I was given

To enjoy this wonderful new day

Cause my life is so worth livin’!

I cherish every moment

Every miracle of each day

Not wishing to waste its merits

Like some worthless castaway.  

We humans are so lucky

We can look ahead and back

We can study every blunder

Then improve on traits we lack.

We can learn important lessons

From each mistake we make

We can even change direction

With each task we undertake.

Our lives are but our tour maps

Of experiences that we bore

Those events that made us who we are

And they tally up our score.

We can make that score look good or bad

By how we respond to strife

We can make them just our stepping stones

On this journey we call life!!!

Age Spots

That’s Not Age Spots

They’re trying to sell me potions

To hide my age spots and my wrinkles

That are part of that living process

Each passing day now sprinkles.

I really do not think it’s bad

To display that confirmation

That I’ve been here for quite some time

That demands corroboration!

My wrinkles are the road map

Of the twists and turns I’ve made

My dark spots are the price tags

Of the penalties I paid.

So I cherish every blemish

Every wrinkle, every pore

And I’m hoping to keep getting  

More – and more – and more!

Cause stopping now means ceasing

To reap benefits that I’ve earned

To enjoy this life of leisure

So long for this I’ve yearned.

A Robins' Farewell

Back Again
A few days ago I happened to get a very special treat from Mother Nature.  I was at my daughter's place, sitting outside and enjoying what I now realize was probably summer's last hurrah,  because it was the day before the snow.  Not that we got what Calgary got, though it seemed that different regions got different amounts.  Downtown Edmonton, where my apartment is, the lawns stayed green. The snow melted as it hit the ground but at my daughter's place in the north end of the city the snow covered the ground for a shot while to make the lawn white.  Still, it was too early for snow!!! Anywhere!!!

Anyway, as I sat there, I got the thrill of my life when a flock of about fifteen to twenty robins  arrived in the yard.  They landed in the apricot tree just over the bird bath and took turns taking a bath!!! It was as if they came especially for that specific purpose --- to wash up before their trip south!  I have never seen robins flocking together in large numbers like that, though I used to have many of them come in for a bath at my birdbath when I lived in Manitoba.  This was an unusual treat for me to see them come in like this, as if they just came to bid me farewell.  The next day, we got that early snow!

Were they trying to tell me something????

A Precious Gift

OUT  OF STOCK

I went to a drugstore with a special request today but they told me they could not fill my order. They advertise that they carry everything so that is false advertising, is it not??? I only asked for one single dose of "youth" and they turned me down.  I was extremely disappointed.

 As a Ukrainian kid growing up, I used to listen to a very melodic and beautiful Ukrainian song about a woman that was  going to go on a trip in search of her youthful healthy years.  I can still hear the melody but do not recall all the words. It was sung by a woman who was going to ask  her youthful years to at least "visit her for awhile as a guest"  The next verse is the reply  from her youthful years who tell her they can never come back because she had not cherished either her youth or her good health when she had them, therefore there was "nothing" to come back to now.

Sometimes it seems to me that song is relevant to some of today's youth who waste their youthful good  health on drugs , alcohol, smokes and and other destructive lifestyles.  Too late, they find that there is no turning back after the damage is done.  Just simple ageing is enough of a downgrade for any "body". And that is even without any prior abuse or addition of destructive practices.

Cherish your youth and your health! They are precious! Just ask any senior.

Just Excuses

Apology

Sorry, I have been rather distracted lately and have not been as regular with my blog postings. I am working on getting another book published and it is in the final stages of editing so I am eating, sleeping, living with that book constantly.  I cannot seem to get my mind on much else these days and that is beyond silly.  Guess they call this the "one track mind syndrome" and I have it bad.  It is not as if the book is in "stall motion"! It is just me and I know that!

I do have other very interesting projects on the go. I am just too lazy to get going on them. I know the book is just a poor excuse so shame on me!!!!   You cannot beat time. You have capitalize on every moment you have and make the most of it.    I am just stalling and I have is no decent excuse for  it. Nobody can move my projects for me except me! So bear with me while as I stop making up excuses and get on with living again.

EXCUSES --- BE GONE!!!

In Memory Robin Williams

When Depression Wins

He made us laugh all through his life

It was his glowing passion

Yet behind that silly grin there lurked

That demon of depression.

That depression got the upper hand

And he lost all will to fight

All his problems overwhelmed him

When the darkness shut out light.

With age and fate against him

And gloom would not dispel

When the torrents of bleak anguish

Did forever rise and swell.

He tried to hide his feelings

His  problems and his  pain

But gloom and desperation

Had established their domain

He sought relief where ever

Illusive though it be

For just a glimpse of childlike peace

To end the misery.

But it’s really  not that easy

To camouflage the truth

No matter how hard we try

We can’t recapture youth.

Rest in peace Robin and keep smiling into forever!

Red Sun Phenomenon

A Red Sun in the Heavens

I’ve often watched a sunset

And marvelled at the view

Of clouds of pink and purple

And colors of every hue!

But what I saw last evening

Was a sun that was red! Instead!

I’ve never seen a sun like that

Hang suspended overhead.

Some said it was humidity

Some said it was just heat

Some said it was all that smoke

But I just thought it neat!

For I was watching a red balloon

Hung out there in the sky

An ornament for us to view

Our heavens to beautify.

Amid all our strife and conflicts

We need to sense delight

To know that life’s worth living

And our world can still be bright.

So that red sun last evening

Was a sign from God above

That even when we misbehave

He won’t withhold His love!

Prairie Floods

Flooding Prairies

Those twinkling stars of heaven

That wink and blink and tease

These days just hide in darkness

Determined to displease.

They peer from behind the shadows

Of clouds that make them dimmer

They peek and sneak in secret

With just a scanty glimmer

The clouds just weep in torrents

With tears that will not stop

Raising surging waters

And flooding every crop.

Those raindrops they all gather

In fields and streams and lakes

They have done so  much damage

All earth below them quakes.

They’re flooding every highway

And all valleys in between

In relentless surging rushes

Overflowing each ravine.

How do we save our homes and crops

And end this devastation

If all this rain does not stop soon

We may be asking for flotation

Paying it Forward

SNATCH THE MOMENT

With the weather kind to us, and the sun smiling down on us, and it is indeed difficult to feel anything but grateful for all our blessings.

I watch the news and see people are flooding on the Canadian prairies, burning in the far north and and in the American south, fighting typhoons out in the Philippines and living through horrific wars and strife in other parts of the world.

Here in our peaceful area, I hear our people complaining about oppressing heat! Granted I do not enjoy the 30 above heat either. But I am one of the fortunate ones. I do not have to actually go out and work in this heat.  If I did, I would be complaining too, but luckily, I can hole up in an air-conditioned building and wait it out. So my complaints could easily be classified as "juvenile whining".

Not so for the  problems of the millions of the really unfortunate people who are facing "real" problems. They cannot escape their hardships no matter what they do !!! My heart goes out to them, but that is of no consolation to them! We can only watch their suffering on a TV screen and empathize and sympathize and wish that somehow the world would right itself (but it doesn't!)

So to those of us who can, let's snatch the moment and make something good out of it --- for ourselves, for others out there.  Let's plant our piece of good where we find ground for it. If that stifles one senseless complaint and puts a smile on even one face, then we we have done "our part"!
In this world, that is all we can do. But it is better than contributing to the depression with complaints about things that are of little importance!

Search For Peace

Desperate Search For Peace

Searching for truth in a sea of doubting

Amid the frothy waves of life’s unending trials

I battle fear to maintain confidence

But simple buoyancy evades me still.

Desperately I flounder 

As I sink ever deeper beneath the brine.

The shore of wisdom slips ever further

From sight – and panic now grips the mind

All signs have vanished that had meaning

Survival struggles have lost appeal

It’s just “defeat” that now seems real!

Should I really forego the combat

To maintain serenity, faith and pride?

Is it really worth all this turmoil

This endless strain that just won’t yield?

Would it not be so much simpler

To accept the inevitable and make that the “truth”?

One More Yesterday

Just One More Yesterday

A head too full of “good times”

A mind too full of thought

A heart too full of memories

Of battles so hard fought.

A life so scarred and battered

With pain and sorrow borne

She spends her time remembering

As she sits there so forlorn.

She has nine children living

In this town (not far away)

But they never come to see her

They’re “too busy” they all say.

Still those times were well worth living

So filled with gratification

When her children all adored her

And showed appreciation

Now she’s lonely and forgotten

And she struggles all alone

To overcome depression

‘Bout the “good life” she’s outgrown.

New friends come try to cheer her

(All old friends have passed away)

So she sits with her heart broken

Wishing for “just one more yesterday”.

A Magpie's Lament

A Magpie’s Lament

Somehow I got short-changed

Somehow I was maltreated

When music was distributed

I feel that I was cheated.

The chickadee is just a little bird

Its coat is drab and grey

But it sings a lilting cheery song

As it flits about all day.

The robin only knows one song

But it's music to the ears

It’s a harbinger of happy times

Each time that spring appears

The bluebird has a neat blue coat

And a song that all admire

It sends the hearts of all who hear

To heights their souls aspire.

The whippoorwill just sings at night

Still it fails to aggravate

The folks don’t seem to mind at all

Cause its call they so appreciate

Even crows do not irritate

The folks the way I do

And jays don’t really sing, I know

And pigeons only coo.

But I’m dressed for the party

And I’m sure I sound conceited

But my tuxedo coat does not impress

Cause my squawk  has me defeated! 

Frustration

Scatterbrained

I'm really not a procrastinator, but I have to confess that I am somewhat scatterbrained. (And those squawking magpies outside my window certainly don't help my concentration process at all either!)
But excuses don't cut it, so I better just bite the bullet and put the blame where it belongs - right here at my own feet.  I  have too many projects on the go and cannot do any of them any justice until I prioritize them properly. It all boils down to "put your money where your  mouth is!"

Yes, I write!  But what am I writing???  Well, I finished a novel lately but it is in first draft stage and still requires alot of revision. That is one project. Next project: A friend finished his book and I struggled through it (I can read  normal print for very short periods of time and it was not a big book).  It was a collection of short stories and it triggered  many memories for me.  I enjoyed those stories and was so inspired by the book that I started jotting down some of my own somewhat self-buried adventures - actually some rather self-deprecating confessions, I must admit. (Well I never did claim to be "smart")!

I have also started another novel, a sequel to my already published "Secret In Her Heart". That is project #3. And now that I have my MP3 player working, I would like to listen to some more audio books.

Who said retirement is boring??? I have not learned the meaning of that word! Will I live long enough to complete all the things I'd like to do?  I can only hope!!!

Family Problems For Birds

Even Birds Have Family Problems

This spring a pair of magpies set up their home in a tree in our back yard.  Having been part of this kind of scenario in the past, I was expecting a raucous summer once those eggs hatched, but even I did not expect the piercing mayhem that has been inundating our eardrums for the past three or four weeks - at at all hours of the day and much of the nights as well.  Obviously even magpies have problems with their kids  -  well into their teens and beyond - according to the "bird time frame" that this piercing squawking has has been going on for - like - forever!.


Those young magpies have to have entered their "teens and beyond" by now but they must be worst "problem children" of the  bird kingdom because, surely by now, they should have grown up so that their parents can relax in peace! This has obviously not happened and those young magpies  are like some people's families.  These "bird kids" just refuse to "fly the coop"! Their poor, haggard, parents are still trying to teach them how to fend for themselves and they are apparently failing miserably at that task. It sounds to me  like  those young magpies will never, ever, grow up and will forever be depending on their parents to supply them with all the basic needs of life!

I think this family of magpies is the perfect example of  the "true dysfunctional family" of the  bird world!!!