A blog category of pics I’ve taken of Hubby Robert and … well, just about anything.
Robert and Veterans Day 2021
Robert served in the US Army 1986-2009. He served four tours of Iraq and multiple other deployments.
Thank you for your service, Robert
Last fall near Halloween, Robert and I watched Pixar’s Coco, which beautifully introduced us to Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead). Coming from a family culture that embraces frequent visits to graveyards and cemeteries, I loved the idea of remembering loved ones who have passed on by having their own joyfully colorful and celebratory holiday.
It was only a couple of days until November 2, the traditional day when the holiday is celebrated in Mexico and other places. So we quickly made a little ofrenda (altar) consisting of a couple of pictures of our deceased parents, some flowers and a candle or two. Sitting before our simple shrine, we thanked our folks for their lives and their love.
But 2021 was another story. We began gathering Day of the Dead materials months ago and started making preparations.
We collected Day of the Dead candles, banners, decorations, and on a trip to Atlanta, we found a loaf of Pan de Muertos (Bread of the Dead) at the Buford Highway Farmers Market (what a glorious center of culinary diversity).
Last Tuesday, November 2nd, we celebrated by combining our dinner table and our Day of the Dead ofrenda.
Robert’s folks …
And mine …
We made some of their favorite foods for our meal …
The loaf of Pan de Muertos, round to symbolize the cycle of life, with teardrops flowing from the top, representing goddess Chimalma’s tears for the living.
Holding hands, we shared memories of fun, funny and joyful stories from the lives of our parents and other loved ones who have passed on.
A movingly marvelous evening and now a permanent addition to our holiday calendar.
A new blog category about finding “art” in unexpected places and situations.
After drying my hands, I carelessly tossed the hand towel toward the bar on the outside door of our new glass shower (fully expecting it to fall to the floor as usual—the towel, not the door).
But lo and behold, I instantly became a renowned artist! InstaArt. Putting me in the same league with, say, Jackson Pollock and his brilliant “drip technique” of throwing/pouring paint onto his canvases.
See my artistic intelligence? No?! Just look! My masterpiece (well, master towel) seems “bathed” in soft light, accentuating the “clean” lines of the work. Dramatically crowned in portrait mode by the green loofah.
Enjoy!
{Holiday prints now available for a limited time only for $19.99 plus shipping and handling! 🎄}
Last evening, Robert and I headed over to Big Bon Pizza in the hip Starland District of Savannah. (Being so hip myself, I like going to hip locations. As long as my right hip cooperates.) After voraciously enjoying their WONDERFUL hot-outta-the-brick-oven pizza …
… the Universe spoke to me as I waddled past Big Bon Bodega/Big Bon Pizza’s sandwich board:
An enlightening message I most definitely need to heed much more often!
(Even with the comma issue. 😩 Retired English professor.)
Here’s my mental activity as I continued waddling to the car:
Now isn’t that better?
Wait a second! Halt the waddling! Did I really just proofread and edit THE UNIVERSE?!
So Robert and I were sharing the Kale Salad at Kale Me Crazy (I love their name) at lunch today in midtown Atlanta …
… when I dropped a forkful of kale (with peanut dressing) on my pants (a far too frequent occurrence) and reached for my napkin. The universe chose that very moment to share a bit/bite of truth … on my napkin!
Such Kale Me Crazy Truth!
Hello out there. I did this blog post quite a while ago, but thought in today’s adversarial political and cultural environment, it might be relevant. We (okay, I!) judge others much too quickly.
Let’s try, in this new year with relatively few mistakes in it so far, to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to refuse to label somebody or some thing based on initial interactions or our preconceived notions.
What an incredible truth! (And, oh gosh, how it indicts me.)
I LOVE this short video about labeling:
*
2018: A Label-Free Year (at least for you and me).
I hope your Father’s Day (and night) 2015 has been a peaceful and joyful one. Mine was/is. Spent time with both daughters and all four grandies. What a blessing to have them all in my Savannah. My cards:
And an incredible Facebook post by older daughter Amy:
“Happy Father’s Day to my very hip and high impact dad! I am blessed to have a dad who taught me to love without discrimination, to have joy in all circumstances, and who creates an environment of safety and acceptance where I am free to develop into my best and truest self.”
What a Difficult and Unparalleled Joy Fatherhood is!
MAY — an incredibly joyful month, don’t you think?
Five Reasons for Happy:
1. An early morning walk along the McQueens-Tybee Island trail (between Savannah and Tybee Island–10 mins from my apartment).
2. Grandson Daniel in his end-of-year Who Am I? Research Biography presentation. (He was Paul McCartney, btw.)
(Okay. okay, maybe I helped him a little with the tri-board.)
(He could only get such coolness from his grandfather. Seriously.)
The kids had to explain their research, poster-board-presentation-style, to the folks in attendance.
They do that kinda stuff nowadays in 2nd Grade?! Research?! All I did in 2nd grade was spend a year of trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to stop crying for mama.
3. Being a judge for the 2015 Savannah Authors Anthology. Such fun!
(I want to be a judge … full time. And get paid. Exorbitantly. Call me if you or yours need high-end judging.)
4. Getting 2015 Beach Ready.
5. Seafood at Safe Harbor in Mayport, FL. (After taking the ferry across the St. John’s River on the south end of Amelia Island.)
Safe, Joyful Weekend ahead to you all!
I have FOUR grandchildren. (Yes, you’re right, I’m FAR too young. We all know that. It’s a given. But sometimes Mother Nature has a way of bypassing her laws of when people should have grandchildren–and presents them in, well, early, early middle age.)
Anyway, the second-from-the-oldest-grandchild is Gabriel, 5, a rambunctious bundle of pure little boy-ness. He’s often affectionately referred to simply as “G.” In his most recent pre-K school report, the patient-as-a-saint and give-her-a-raise teacher wrote that Gabriel is “smart, funny, with many friends … and has a touch of naughtiness.”
Here’s G (on the far right) with a few school buddies,
And here he is the other night with older brother Daniel (8).
Today I received this text from my daughter/G mom Amy:
The brutal honesty of children.
NealEnJoy 