Season reminders

We drove around the valley on the evening of Christmas Day and saw this:

Santa flies an airplane.

The Mormon Temple.


The Mormon Temple.

Chandler Boulevard, Phoenix.

Things festive

Christmas week scenes.

A neighborhood house.

Milk and cookie for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolph.

A gift from work mates.

A fire in the backyard.

The fireplace.

It happened to me

My PC got a virus...

And someone here is getting really old trying to fix it...

Important Days in sister's lives

Birthdays... Hope 45 is a good one.

Remembering who you are

To be nobody but myself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.

-E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

Christmas as described by Molly

She is an outstanding writer, and an European Catholic.

Can you relate?

Go see her here!

The Myth of the Good Ol' Boy and The Nice Girl

One of my favorite authors, John Bradshaw, is a brilliant and inspiring guy who addresses the human condition and provides insight into what ails us. Here's a passage that I have been thinking about:

" We are taught to be nice and polite. We are taught that these behaviors (most often lies) are better than telling the truth. Our churches, schools and politics are rampant with teaching dishonesty (saying things we don't mean and pretending to feel ways we don't feel). Smile when we feel sad, laugh nervously when dealing with grief, laugh at jokes we don't think are funny, tell people things to be polite that we surely don't mean." This was from the titled Bradshaw On: The Family.

I must say I have worked hard for congruency between my inner and outward self. That means I have been accused of being mean.... a price one pays for clarity of mind and soul.

Grab some of his books... they will knock you off your socks.

Superior, AZ

I had to visit a local shipping location of a customer of my employer.

I got to see the facility in its glory.

I go to see some of Superior too. It looked so dormant at 8:30 am...

Final destination.

A building.

Boarded up.


On a street corner.

Early morning drive... rising with the sun.

The Dad Man

He would have been 78 today.

Here, in his late 20s, he moved to Africa, first to Angola, then Mozambique.

Visit this Dad Man for an array of information on Father/Daughter relationships.

Celebrating Africa

In Art Masterpiece at school.

Tribal women in Namibia gather after the rains to repaint their mud houses using their fingers as brushes. They work in harmony and do not compete. I taught this lesson in a 5th grade class today and I asked most kids individually what they remembered. They remembered that the women worked as a group.

Sharing Peace

Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.

- Etty Hillesum,died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 29.

From An Interrupted Life, a compilation of her diaries and letters.

The full Moon of Dec. 12th is the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year

See here.

A little bit greener

It's official. We are now users of our very own recycle shopping bags.

It took me a while to get the groove but I have steadily worked on my system and now it is implemented.

My Home

So let me tell you: I intend to protect my home.

Praying -- not a curse -- only the hope that my courage will not fail my love. But if by some miracle, and all our struggle, the Earth is spared, only justice to every living thing (and everything is alive) will save humankind.

- Alice Walker

The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear

Color changes

At the park on Sunday I saw pretty trees.

I'm beginning to feel that all this decorating going on everywhere is over the top. I wouldn't mind a blackout from all these lights. :-)

It's a balancing act

Doesn't it feel that way sometimes? Best do it with friends.

It is no wonder that just the touch of another human being at a dark time can be enough to save the day.

- Frederick Buechner

Beyond Words

Art Fest in Tempe

Passear... It means going on an outing and I was promised many of those as a kid, but only a few materialized. I suppose that explains my predilection with local and free activities.

Chalk art.

Made of wood.

Very fancy walking sticks which caught the eye of Snowden and Grasshopper.

Made of wood again.

Metal.

The Art Festival on Mill Avenue in Tempe is full of art vendors. We didn't buy anything as we are practicing being smart shoppers. It was a happy outing after school.

Handmade for Christmas

Made these over the weekend.

See more handmade projects here.

Fashion

I base most of my fashion tastes on what doesn't itch.

- Gilda Radner (1946-1989)