This evening, my husband Dan and I went to dinner. We ran into a business friend who was dining with her husband and his parents who were celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary. They were an adorable couple, he with a twinkle in his eye and she with a broad, friendly smile on her face. They reminded me of my grandparents.
Later, I remembered today was my grandparents' anniversary too. I vividly remember their 50th anniversary. It was a big, dressy affair with all their friends and our family. I was nineteen and in college. Fifty years with one person was unfathomable to me at the time, but I had been around them for nineteen of those years and they had a pretty special thing going between the two of them. Although they are both gone now, I can't imagine their heaven being anywhere but together.
It made me smile to know I had just met two people who shared that special date with my Gran and Pop.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
It's Crazy Out There!
By out there, I mean the highways, the malls, the restaurants, the entire world, it seems! I'm not going back out there until after Christmas. At least not unless I absolutely have to venture out to forage or gather food for my tribe. Nope, not going to get caught up in this insanity.
The parking lots at the malls are so full it is impossible to find a space. The amount of gas that is being expended by desperate shoppers trying to park their cars is probably twice the amount they will spend in the stores buying the multitude of presents they believe they must have for all the lucky individuals on their lists.
The highways are clogged (at least in Florida) with all the tourists escaping their inclement weather up north (boy did we fool them this week with temperatures in the 20's!). The tourists, being tourists, don't know where they are going and, because they are on vacation, are in no immediate hurry to get anywhere, unlike the rest of us who are on the clock and living in the real world.
The restaurants, well, don't get me started on them. I happen to live in Paradise. South Florida is so beautiful this time of year and the people who actually live here all the time are appreciative of the tourism for our state but hate to stand in line for hours at a time because of tourists.
My husband had an idea. All the people who live here all the time would have "I live here" cards that would take them to the front of the line in the restaurants they frequent during the lean times of the year when there are no tourists. The "I live here" cards would be given out during those summer months to patrons of restaurants who are steady customers. I thought it was a great idea. Much better than a "groupon" or some similar fish sounding coupon.
Perhaps at this time of year, going crazy is a normal thing to do. For those in business, crazy equals money spent, a good thing for them. For those still in economic distress (a lot of people), it is probably not a good thing. Credit cards come out and money is spent that shouldn't be spent.
The crazy world is doing what it does every single year at this time. It reminds me of lemmings. Those were unusual looking animals (rodents?) who followed each other off cliffs because that was where everyone else was going.
Perhaps if we all stayed home more, planned our ventures out to malls and restaurants better and more importantly, put on our very best behavior and were kind and polite to each other, maybe it wouldn't be so crazy out there and maybe it would be a bit more Merry!
Anyway, that's my plan and I'm sticking to it. Home is where the heart is and it's where I am until after Santa's big retail day. The "reason for the season" they say is because of a great gift given to mankind. Buying presents in stores to obsession is not exactly how this great gift was supposed to be translated. But then, that's just my own personal opinion, me, the person who's staying home. This is where my gifts are, the furry ones, who love unconditionally and the husband who only asks for a hug, a kiss and a hot meal at the end of his long day. In all this craziness, I think we've forgotten we already have all the gifts we really need.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Christmas, Climbing Trees and Cold Weather
It's almost Christmas. You can't open a website online without being informed of the day, hour and minute until the biggest holiday of the year. I'm not a big fan of the commercial side of Christmas. Unless there are children involved, who needs to go out and spend a huge amount of money, cash or credit, on presents.
If I give a gift, it has to be something I know the person wants, needs or would love to have. But to do that for a huge list of people because you have to is a lot of psychological pressure that is not needed at this time of year. I try to stay clear of the hoards of people pushing and shoving in the local shopping malls. Buying online is a much better, saner idea if you have to buy at all. The less, the better is my motto.
But I did buy myself a Christmas present this year. It's looking at me as I write this post. It arrived from Shanghai yesterday. I ordered it on Monday afternoon at the Apple store and it arrived on Friday. It's beautiful, shiny new and a joy to write on. This is my first blog post written on my new Apple MacBook Pro 17" laptop.
All day yesterday, after taking the new laptop out of the box and setting it on my living room table where I work, I walked back and forth by it, waiting to actually open it for a long time. I knew it was the beginning of a new era for me. As a long time Mac user, (can you say Macintosh SE?) I have evolved along with Apple since 1986. I was actually at the Superbowl in California where the famous Apple commercial aired. I still have the Macintosh Apple seat cushion everyone there received. The Miami Dolphins played the Raiders I think. It was rather overwhelming to be there and my first exposure to Apple is my most memorable moment.
Today I finally opened the MacBook Pro and started it up. Wow. I was so impressed. Wirelessly, I streamed items from my tiny 13" Macbook to the new Jumbotron Pro. I set my computer up within minutes all by myself (don't try this at home, I'm a professional!)
and seamlessly transferred to using the sleek, ergonomic computer. I love it!
So I wanted this blog post to be about the growth of my animal menagerie and their interactions with each other. In this tiny herd microcosm known as my household, everyone gets along with everyone. It's rather unsettling to know that so many disparate breeds and mixed breeds as well as different species can cohabit so easily.
My kittens are now adults. Very large, with glossy black coats, they slink around, acting smug about how they have all taught themselves (with no assistance from me) how to go in and out of both doggie doors. Now I have to refer to these doors ad dog & cat doors. I have one that goes from the house to the porch and another that goes from the porch into the small yard around the back of the house. This gives everyone a safe place to go when I am not here. All my animals are very proud of their doors and how they can go in and out of them at will, with no help from their humans. It makes them very superior animals!
Now that the kittens (I suppose I will always refer to them as kittens because they are my babies) are going in and out of the dog & cat doors, they have become quite brave, running here and there around the small yard and Spot (of course it was Spot!) even managed to end up somehow on the other side of the fence. She was quite upset about that and cried and cried until I finally heard her and let her in the gate. She was very relieved to come back into the house and go to bed in her kitty condo with her sisters.
Cold weather makes all the animals frisky. I think they, like we humans, appreciate the cool air and crispy days and nights as a bit of a relief from the humidity and heat of our very long summers. The horse don't walk from here to there in their pastures, they run, snorting and cavorting. The kittens are now climbing the Maple trees in the small yard. They think they are quite important looking down at me from the firsst branches of the largest of four trees.
I planted these trees when they were little saplings and it's hard to believe that these huge trees are now a virtual playground for three kittens I helped give birth to last March. But now I must close because Spot has decided that she needs attention (of course) and is trying very hard to add her two cents by rubbing her butt across my keyboard. Since this is my shiny new computer, this won't due and so I'm going to finish and give her the attention she feels is due right this very moment.
As she is now fast asleep and purring across both my arms, it seems the wisest thing to do!
If I give a gift, it has to be something I know the person wants, needs or would love to have. But to do that for a huge list of people because you have to is a lot of psychological pressure that is not needed at this time of year. I try to stay clear of the hoards of people pushing and shoving in the local shopping malls. Buying online is a much better, saner idea if you have to buy at all. The less, the better is my motto.
But I did buy myself a Christmas present this year. It's looking at me as I write this post. It arrived from Shanghai yesterday. I ordered it on Monday afternoon at the Apple store and it arrived on Friday. It's beautiful, shiny new and a joy to write on. This is my first blog post written on my new Apple MacBook Pro 17" laptop.
All day yesterday, after taking the new laptop out of the box and setting it on my living room table where I work, I walked back and forth by it, waiting to actually open it for a long time. I knew it was the beginning of a new era for me. As a long time Mac user, (can you say Macintosh SE?) I have evolved along with Apple since 1986. I was actually at the Superbowl in California where the famous Apple commercial aired. I still have the Macintosh Apple seat cushion everyone there received. The Miami Dolphins played the Raiders I think. It was rather overwhelming to be there and my first exposure to Apple is my most memorable moment.
Today I finally opened the MacBook Pro and started it up. Wow. I was so impressed. Wirelessly, I streamed items from my tiny 13" Macbook to the new Jumbotron Pro. I set my computer up within minutes all by myself (don't try this at home, I'm a professional!)
and seamlessly transferred to using the sleek, ergonomic computer. I love it!
So I wanted this blog post to be about the growth of my animal menagerie and their interactions with each other. In this tiny herd microcosm known as my household, everyone gets along with everyone. It's rather unsettling to know that so many disparate breeds and mixed breeds as well as different species can cohabit so easily.
My kittens are now adults. Very large, with glossy black coats, they slink around, acting smug about how they have all taught themselves (with no assistance from me) how to go in and out of both doggie doors. Now I have to refer to these doors ad dog & cat doors. I have one that goes from the house to the porch and another that goes from the porch into the small yard around the back of the house. This gives everyone a safe place to go when I am not here. All my animals are very proud of their doors and how they can go in and out of them at will, with no help from their humans. It makes them very superior animals!
Now that the kittens (I suppose I will always refer to them as kittens because they are my babies) are going in and out of the dog & cat doors, they have become quite brave, running here and there around the small yard and Spot (of course it was Spot!) even managed to end up somehow on the other side of the fence. She was quite upset about that and cried and cried until I finally heard her and let her in the gate. She was very relieved to come back into the house and go to bed in her kitty condo with her sisters.
Cold weather makes all the animals frisky. I think they, like we humans, appreciate the cool air and crispy days and nights as a bit of a relief from the humidity and heat of our very long summers. The horse don't walk from here to there in their pastures, they run, snorting and cavorting. The kittens are now climbing the Maple trees in the small yard. They think they are quite important looking down at me from the firsst branches of the largest of four trees.
I planted these trees when they were little saplings and it's hard to believe that these huge trees are now a virtual playground for three kittens I helped give birth to last March. But now I must close because Spot has decided that she needs attention (of course) and is trying very hard to add her two cents by rubbing her butt across my keyboard. Since this is my shiny new computer, this won't due and so I'm going to finish and give her the attention she feels is due right this very moment.
As she is now fast asleep and purring across both my arms, it seems the wisest thing to do!
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