Month: March 2009

Scrapbook Club Day

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Good Morning!  I am very excited today because today is a day for scrapbooking with friends and accomplishing

tasks that create a wonderful place for all of those pictures I’ve taken.  Since it is another rainy day, I think I will work on an altered project, journal in my Fredericksburg book, and plan some more NE pages.  I look forward to a great day with “simply the best” friends. 

My mother and I had a wonderful time yesterday on the phone looking through my updated blog.  She is always such an encourager and appreciates time spent on documenting life through writing.  She is my inspiration, as she has produced volumes of history of our extended family for each of us, including her own personal written accounts and writings of her research.  She is an amazing person and loved dearly!

Fee and Riley
Fee and Riley

Seasoned Wisdom

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New Friends:

Ms. A.

During some of our volunteer work, Bill and I have befriended a sweet lady, Ms. A. who lives alone with her Shitzu-Peke named Buttons.  It is not easy for her to get about these days, so we try to go as often as possible to assist her in letting Mr. Buttons outside.  I usually end up staying a bit just visiting with Ms. A. about her past activities and listening to stories about her family.  She apparently had an amazing musical family of three sisters and one brother.

Her many talents consist of playing the accordion, the autoharp, the guitar, the piano, the harmonica, the keyboard and the recorder.  Her brother played the fiddle and even has a fiddle carved by their father, with the base of it made out of a cigar box.  She has signed pictures of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Slim Whitman, etc.  Her entire family got together frequently and played all of their instruments.  She is very intelligent and is an absolute delight.

We have enjoyed getting to know Ms. A. and consider her one of the gifts of retirement. 

Mr. N.

Bill and I befriended Mr. N. in the nursing home when GBill spent three days there.  Mr. N. manages to spread his cheer down the halls with the staff and residents, and wherever he roams.  If you happen upon Mr. N. during his travels, he will surely introduce himself to you several times during the day and tends to become a bit confused, but in spite of those difficulties, he is absolutely charming.  I hope I will be so blessed to be as cheerful and charming as Mr. N. in my older years.

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor

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I finished reading An Irish Country Doctor today.  What an enjoyable read.  The author, Patrick Taylor was born and grew up in Bangor County Down in Northern Ireland.  The book is based on his journals of his life as a rural doctor in Ireland.  The Ulster dialect is quite interesting. Some examples follow:

                  both legs the same length=standing about uselessly

                  get on one’s wick=get on one’s nerves

                  grand man for the pan=one who really enjoys fried food

                  knickers in a twist=anxiously upset

                  length and breadth of it=all the details

                  pop one’s clogs=die

                  shirty=short-tempered

                  ta-ta-ta-ra=party

                  boys-a-boys=expression of amazement

                  colloguing=chatting about trivia

                  heart of corn=very good natured

                  in soul, I do=emphatic

Aaaaahhhh—A Friday of Rain!

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Retirement Day #184:  A poem to share on this rainy Friday in March-

Morning Rain by Tu Fu
A slight rain comes, bathed in dawn light.
I hear it among treetop leaves before mist
Arrives. Soon it sprinkles the soil and,
Windblown, follows clouds away. Deepened

Colors grace thatch homes for a moment.
Flocks and herds of things wild glisten
Faintly. Then the scent of musk opens across
Half a mountain — and lingers on past noon.

Praises from Mr. Andy

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During my Early Childhood teaching years, there were many moments enacted and communicated by young children that I want to remember forever.  None of these moments was sweeter and more sincere than during Work Time with Mr. Andy.  It was the time when we truly believed children needed to be provided opportunities to use their own language to create their own experiences, facilitated expertly by adults.  Creative thinking and problem solving were heralded as what children needed to become successful adults, backed by longitudinal research studies.  Mr. Andy demonstrated significant visual disability, as illustrated by extremely thick glasses, which he covered on a daily basis with another pair of glasses minus the lenses.  On this particular day, Mr. Andy invited Mrs. Grover to accompany him to the top of the loft.  He dressed himself in a suit three times his size and found the largest book he could, lumbering carefully one step at a time to the top of the loft.  He called two other friends to join him as he carefully climbed the steps without stepping on the hem of his suit.  Once we all reached the top step, he told the three of us “Sit down right here, right here, right here”.  Mr. Andy then proceeded to pass out a book to each of us and told us to sing.  He then leaned as far over the top of the loft railing as he could without toppling over, holding the open book out before him, as he spouted “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”  to all of the little people below in the classroom.  He then announced “And now it’s time for Ms. Grover to sing “Praise Me”.  Did I sing “Praise Me” even though I have never been a singer?  Of course, and I’ve never sung better! You’ve never seen a wider, more glorious smile on a child’s face.  I will never know if Mr. Andy became a Preacher, but it was pure joy to watch him practice that role as a child:  pure delight at the event of one’s own creation.

Teacher Tip:  Promote meaningful play in young children; allow them to create events their way with adult facilitation–creating play schemes and solving problems through trial and error.  These abilities will last forever!

Current Scrapbooking Projects

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I have a special group of scrapbooking friends that I refer to as The Scrapbooking Divas, who I have the delight of meeting with once-a-month.  These are amazingly talented women and the best friends anyone could have the pleasure of knowing.  They have taught me the art of scrapbooking memories with style.  I have progressed from my very simple pages to some very complex and entertaining ones I am truly pleased at having created.  These ladies have also inspired me to alter several items, create several books,  and enjoy the amazing effects of inking, inking and more inking.

I am currently creating a board book kit of “The Best of 2008″, which I purchased from The Scrappy Gourmet and am adapting with my own style.

I am also continueing my journey of scrapping my thousands of photographs taken on a wonderful Classic Fall Foliage trip through all five states of New England with my sweet mama in October of 2008.

I hope to scan some of my pages and share them with you today!  Also, I will post some of my favorite photographs under the New England category here on my blog.

Reading Update

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READING THIS WEEK:  I finished The World in Six Songs this week (great music and the brain information) and am now focusing on An Irish Country Doctor (light-hearted and fun to read)tn_4_book as well as Love in the time of Cholera (a very good read so far).  Three Cups of Tea is still my ongoing favorite!  I recognize the beauty and endurance of REAL BOOKS, but I also love my Kindle 2!!!!  I enjoy taking notes, highlighting and easy access to the dictionary benefiting my continuous effort to improve the state of my brain.

Good Morning!

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This is Day # 183 of my retirement!  What a great rainy day it is, as we have had a drought for 5 months here in Texas.  We lost our sweet and heroic Granddaddy Bill on March 2nd of this month.  What wonderful memories we share of him and what a great legacy he left behind!  If you haven’t seen it, you must view the documentary about Bill Grosvenor in Last Best Hope, produced  by my brother-in-law David Grosvenor and his colleague, Ramona Kelly. 

READING THIS WEEK:  See Reading Update above.

Morning on Jordan Pond
Morning on Jordan Pond