Hooray for the ports! Hug the sailors!

On Valentines Day our little town celebrated by hosting a dinner at the town hall. What a wonderful occasion this turned out to be! We filled our little building to capacity with 70 people and fed them a nice meal. They had meat choices of halibut, chicken cordon bleu, and pork ribs accompanied by a baked potato, vegetables, rolls, and desert . All the food for the meal was donated and all the help to prepare and serve the food, decorate the hall, and clean up the mess was volunteer. Each person attending paid $20.00 for the meal and the money for the meal went as a donation for a half mile long walking path and nature trail to be built around the perimeter of the park.

After the meal an auction was held and many hand made items, services from businesses, and other odds and ends donated by businesses and individuals alike were sold to those attending, with the proceeds from the auction going toward the walking path as well. Even the auctioneer from a neighboring community donated his talent and time toward this event. I ask myself, how do you begin to express enough thanks and love toward these good people? My heart is full.

My purpose for posting the memory of this event in this format is to announce to anyone reading, that in spite of all the negative information and gloomy atmosphere in our world today there are still ports in the storm everywhere around us, where good people gather to help each other and support a worthy cause. We hear very little about the good things that transpire in our lives, because as individuals and a society in general we seem to have made a habit of maximizing the negative and minimizing the positive. The positive is there in abundance, find it push it to the front, and cheer! I say celebrate the heroes of everyday life those who work hard, raise good children, love each other, serve others, and live life in the best tradition of our human existence. Hooray for the ports! Hug the sailors!

Party on young people, party on!

A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Arizona to see my elderly parents in the geriatric and barren environment that is Quartzsite Arizona. This in not my first trip and not maybe not my last.

This town, located 70 miles south of Lake Havasu is an oasis of sorts, where retired people go to escape their families and forget they have any wisdom, children, or inhibitions at all. Quartzsite grows from a population of 800 in the summer, to 8000 in the winter with the influx of senior citizen rowdies bumping into each other with their trucks, vans and RVs at blistering speeds hovering around 30 mph, and partying into the wee hours of the evening, (9 or 10:00 pm) by entertaining themselves at events called gigs, in places called club houses. In these club house places they gather with their walkers, canes and oxygen, and the normally serious and shy elderly become free spirits, and lose their fear of criticism from the young. They come alive and let their hair down, (or something to that effect) and sing old songs to each other while playing instruments of some kind, for each other. The instrument's are usually a guitar, banjo, harmonica, violin or piano with the occasional wash tub, wash board, spoons, drums or most anything that makes noise accompanying. It doesn't matter to these people whether it's any good or not, everyone is welcome to participate, and everyone gets an applause. And it goes on for HOURS! This activity often reminds me of my simple days in elementry school. Could this be part of the circle of life? I wonder! They love it, they live for it, and I think it is wonderful they are happy. So I say party on young people, party on!

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town all the people were gathering where celebrations abound;
With ma in her PJ's and I in the sack we had just settled down for a Christmas eve nap;
When a ring from the telephone rang in my ear, it was the town water guy saying we've got problems out here;
"People in town have no water, we have a broken main line"! This is what I dread most, could it come at a worse time?! ;
Away to the closet I flew like a flash, put on all my warm clothes, dang I don't have a sash.
I drove to the town hall to meet Richard up there, I found him wringing his hands and hanging his head in despair;
We looked at each other and said, "what should we do"? Then we got out the water system plans to locate a water valve or two;
We knew we could get water from the neighbors, and that would save the day, but we needed to shut off the broken line and locate the neighbors water in some way;
With plans in hand and shovels in the truck ,we braved a cold winter storm praying for success and that we wouldn't get stuck;
We shoveled deep snow and braved fierce howling winds, but we found the right valves, got water back on, and had wide frozen grins;
At two in the morning accomplishment done, we staggered back home to rest before good Christmas fun;
Most will never know what we went through, but that is okay, that's just what we do.

Where have all the young girls gone?

Question? What is small and loud when activated, has a dangerous weapon that spews toxic waste, is deceptively quiet and lovely when dormant, has control of everything around it when deployed, has the ability to cause feelings of fear, frustration, confusion, joy, anxiety, and love all within a few seconds of contact, and deliberately steals the hearts and minds of all who come near it? No, this not some alien devise, or terrorist plot. (I don't think anyway) It's Adysen my first granddaughter. What a great new addition to my life. She is perfect in every way. Now I know what other oldsters like me mean when they say, "we should have had the grandchildren first".

Ady has reminded me of my three daughters when they were babies. The oldest Heather had the cutest feet, which I took multiple pictures of. She cried a lot, and demanded a lot and we gave as much as we could. She was and is very intelligent and passionate, and as I remember we may have had about four good years or so before she became much smarter than her parents. She is a blessing. Holly was the quiet solid one. She was content with almost anything, and happy most of the time. She was and is kind and thoughtful. A person with a heart of gold, and a good dependable friend to all. Kinlee was just like her daughter Ady. She knew what she wanted and couldn't wait to get it. She was feisty and a bit whiny. She was and is a breath of fresh air in my world. She is an independent spirit who is capable of all she chooses to do and will do it to the best of her abilities.

Where have all the young girls gone? Oh, oh,! I know what it is, we are starting over with a new generation!