What a month

So as I look at my blog I see that I so far have written one post in June, and that was on the 3rd.....and here it is June 29......clearly after the unexpected death of a dear friend on June 3, the subsequent working with others to support the family, culminating with singing with the choir at his memorial service, I have been at a loss for words.

The fact that I started this blog after buying his used camera, so that I would have pictures to tell my stories (since as we all know a picture is worth a thousand words...)....hasn't made it easier.

I found myself doing many things to cope, and learned a great deal about myself in the process.   I helped a friend move on 3 different days, have spent much time in the yard pulling weeds, and Johnson Grass, mowing, moving (one more time) the 10 Holly bushes, digging up the landscape evergreens that I killed.......

So much of my life I have dealt with emotional pain by doing hard physical work, usually working at a stable, doing the things that make one's muscles tired, and cause much sweat and the dirt to cling...yesterday while attacking the unwanted grass in the yard, I realized that there was no way to tell if I was sweating or crying; I had water flowing down my face in rivers.

A friend said of our friend's death that he and someone else had been trying to make sense of it. They had commented that he was a person who did the things that he loved, and threw himself into those things, and that our lesson should be to do the same.

I pondered that in confusion for a moment and then realized that exactly 1 week after his death, I got HOPE.
The wonderfulness of her name (she was the second of 3 sister puppies, FAITH, HOPE and LOVE), is second only to the wonderfulness of her.

She is a good, potentially great dog, especially for a puppy, and Halle absolutely loves her.

So in losing my friend, I have gained a new reason to blog.....and it's the Story of HOPE.......

We are heartbroken......

We lost one of the great ones today, a man of many talents, a man with much love for his wife, children, step-children, and grandchildren.  A man quick with a smile, and love for his friends and of life.....An Edison grad, a music maker extraordinaire, a man dedicated to preserving memories for others through video, through pictures, through recording....

A man who became my friend, my mentor in preserving music for others, the person from whom I got my camera which has allowed me to take pictures, for my blog, to share with others, for therapy for me, and through this who allowed me to be closer to my dad, who was in so many ways like him, a photographer, a man who knew so much about so many things....

My heart breaks for his family, for our music family, and for the myriads of friends who loved him.

With each picture I post, my heart will say...thank you Moby for being my friend.

Judging a book by its cover.....

The other day I was looking out my sliding glass door and saw a huge cloud of birds flying.  As I watched I was struck by the gracefulness of their flight as a whole, it was like ballet in the sky, and I realized that once more I was watching a flock of Pelicans.  Yes, they are still here, and I have never seen anything so beautiful in flight as a flock of Pelicans.

To look at them, I'm not sure any of us would believe that they could actually get airborne, let alone fly well, and certainly not in the way that they do.

And one more time I realized as I was standing there marveling at the beauty, I did not grab my camera in time to capture their flight on video.

Hopefully I will have the opportunity soon, as their beauty is something I would love to be able to share.  The still pictures included here simply do not do justice to the beauty of their flight......

So much love, so little time

In the past several days, I have gotten word of the High School age son of a friend who is in ICU following a car accident.   He has not completely regained consciousness, although signs seem to point toward recovery for him.  This news comes along with the news that the middle school aged son of another set of friends has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Reminders that come with all too frightening speed that those we love (or ourselves) may be facing a life threatening event, or may be gone tomorrow, or even today.  

In the words of a song sung by our favorite son, Garth Brooks, "if tomorrow never comes, will (they) know how much I love them"......

.and have I done all that I can do to express that love by making things easy on those I love, if the life threatening or ending event happens to me?  Are my wishes in writing, are the people who need to know my wishes informed as to what there are and where to find documentation?

Tough conversations to have to be sure, but acts of love to do beforehand, so that those we love do not have unnecessary pain added if something happens to us.....and conversations to have so that if we are the ones with the decisions that we know what our loved one wants so that we can carry out their wishes in love as well.

And one of the most loving things of all.......Wear your seatbelt, insist that others in your car wear them, put children in child safety, and booster seats, and make sure that they are working properly.........

***Note:  the author of this post brought to you by a seatbelt/shoulder belt that worked.....

Pelican talents continued....

So today's news includes the story of Ralph the Pelican, proving that our feathered friends are more than just precise weather predictors.

They have a sense of fun, and love of travel, as well as the risque.  For more here the link to the story is below.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/strange/article_212348565.shtml

And in addition to all that, they are some of the most beautiful birds in flight that I've seen.  Their flying formations change, in a way that can only be described as balletic, swooping and dipping in flight, and morphing from a V, to an S, and back.

How something which appears so non-aerodynamic, can fly so gracefully, and so well in formation, is a mystery to me......

Clearly, they do not worry about the idea that functionally a bird with that body type should not be a graceful flyer........nor do they let the reality of their less than ideal aerodynamic design stop them from providing poetry in the sky.......

Definitions......

So after multiple downsizings over the past number of years, I have learned to live in a somewhat humble fashion, which includes doing laundry in the apartment laundry room.  To encourage myself, I have this plaque in my living room.

Shortly after I bought it, I realized that one of my favorite neighbors had a doormat that said, "Simplify Life".

All these things made sense, given our lifestyle.

Today however, I became quite confused when I saw this car, in the parking lot of our most upscale shopping area.

In case the car isn't immediately recognizable (perhaps more difficult if you live simply), it is a Porsche Carrera 4 Convertible with a MSRP of  around $100,000......

I'm  thinking one of us isn't in touch with reality..........

My new weather forecasting experts

So a little over two weeks ago we had weather with temps in the 70's.  The week before we had had some snow predicted, and got a little bit.  The night before the snow, I went walking and took my first pictures of "Pelican Island", and the pelicans in flight.  They seemed quite happy on their sandbar, with the approaching snow, and evidently stayed put through the cold, and into the next week.

That next week with the 70 degree temperatures, I went out and took more pictures of the pelicans.   On Sunday of that week, the temp had dropped into the low 40s and high 30s in the afternoon (24 hours from the 70 degrees), and I went to check out the pelicans.  They were gone, no sign of them, totally disappeared in 24 hours.   Snow was predicted for about 36 hours later, and I started thinking 'uh oh', if the pelicans have completely disappeared, what are we in for?

The answer was the largest single snow fall in the city's history.   It was quite shocking for everyone in terms of the impact on travel and the city, and we just now received more snow, although not nearly as much.

Also as is typical, when the roads were still treacherous with snow, and ice, there were many people out on the river paths, which had (priorities and all) been plowed, unlike the streets.

But today, the sun is starting to peek through the clouds, and this weekend promises temps in the 50's, which is much more typical of our weather....snow one day, shorts and t-shirts the next.

From here on out though, I'm listening to the pelicans to determine when to worry about snow, and when to not!