A Feather From.....

I found this feather on the ground on the way in to work this morning. I'm not sure what made me stop and pick it up. It was pretty big, 10 to 12 inches long, which is too big to come from most birds I see around. I think something in the back of my mind said finding a feather is supposed to mean something.


So, I picked it up and looked it up. I found several answers, but the one I like best said supposedly it is an angel's sign to you, they are communicating with you. It can also be a sign or communication from someone you loved who has died. It is usually associated with them saying "I'm ok" or "I'm here" if it's a loved one, and " I'm here to help you" if it's an angel.

I suppose it could have been from Michael Jackson or Ted Kennedy, but in my mind it could have only been from my mother. My mother and my father both died when I was 18, my mother a few weeks after my 18th birthday and my father a few months later. In all the years since then, when I find a penny on the ground I think of my mother. I don't know why that started, but it has always been a comfort to think of her in that "I'm here" way. I'm glad to find something else that brings that sense of connection to my mind.

Since I've never had a mother as an adult I have not had that relationship to look to in knowing how to be a good mother to my adult children, but I have still looked to my mother for guidance.
My children have been adults for a long time, but I still sometimes wonder how to be the best mother,and now also grandmother, that I can be. That has been on my mind lately, so I'm choosing to think of finding the feather as a sign from my mother that "it's okay" and "I'm here to help". And if I'm just being fanciful, I'm sure my children will give me a little more tangible guidance.

Not Ready For My Apology Post Yet

One day earlier this week my horoscope said this:

Don't fear failure or back away because you think someone can
outdo you. Believe in yourself and what you have to offer and so
will everyone everyone around you. Share information and ask for suggestions.

I'm sure most people would apply those words to the more lofty challenges of life. On that day I was feeling a bit hopeless about my blogging skills in a "she knows how to put such great things on her page", or simply "I wish I knew how to do that" sort of way. Most all of the blogs I follow and those I just read from time to time show skills beyond what I have (yet) learned. The first line of the horoscope took me back to the reason I started to blog in the first place....to help me have greater awareness in my own life-to live my life more consciously. If I have done that, and I think I have, than there is no failure, and I am certainly not trying to outdo anyone. I will continue to work on the believe in yourself and what you have to offer part.

Beyond my original goal to live my own life more consciously, blogging has given me the opportunity to read some great blogs behind which are some wonderful people. I am grateful to those (and you know who you are) who have let me feel at least a little bit like one of the "cool kids". I certainly owe thanks to my daughter, Joanna at http://harphouse.blogspot.com/ and to Betty at
http://glimpseintomidlife.blogspot.com/ for help when my computer skills have been lacking.

As for the title of this post....I have seen several posts in which someone fairly new to blogging has written an apology for breaches of blog etiquette or other errors they have made when they started. I haven't learned enough yet to know what I need to apologize for. While I am learning I will continue to share information and ask for suggestions and especially continue to enjoy all that others have to share.

Homework

I live with a home maintenance enthusiast (freak) who has decided that our house needs to be painted now. The thing about Doc's home maintenance enthusiasm is that he doesn't have many actual home maintenance skills. What he does have is a long list of people who do have home maintenance skills to choose from when he suddenly decides something must be done (there are so many workmen who know our garage door code that we might as well not even have locks on our doors). He has already called a painter and then he called on me to choose a color. I tried to hang up on his call, but the color samples landed on my desk anyway. I haven't gotten very far with the decision making process. After all, it will be a color I have to look at every time I come home for years. I have, at least, gotten as far as deciding what I don't want.


Too Pink

Too Blue
Too Green

So I'm left with this to decide from

And I could hardly decide what to wear this morning

Sundays In My City

Thanks to Betty at http://glimpseintomidlife.blogspot.com/ who coached me in my computer skills, I want to participate in Sundays in My City from http://unknownmami.blogspot.com/. I hope I've done it right. (Disclaimer: any computer skill errors are mine and mine alone).

My City, Louisville, Colorado, is actually a town of about 22,000, recently named as Money Magazine's #1 Best Place to Live (under 50,000 population). Louisville is between Boulder and Denver, Colorado at the base of the foothills to the Rocky Mountains. Louisville is an old mining town with an Italian heritage. I have lived here or near here for about 25 years

Downtown Louisville. There is a street fair here every Friday night in the summer.

Louisville has lots of great parks...this one has a playground, Bocce courts and a swimming pool.

Interesting houses

An old church near downtown.
Beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains.
A glimpse toward my back yard.

A great place to live is a fun place to share.

Dark Chocolate Reese's and a Failed Quest

While I was on the treadmill this evening, I saw a wondrous thing on the TV....an ad for the new DARK CHOCOLATE Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Yes, I did jump off the treadmill in the middle of my program and I did go straight to the car in all my treadmill-wear glory to start my quest. Three stores later, all was lost. I found plenty of Reese's, but, alas, not DARK CHOCOLATE. It seems that DARK CHOCOLATE Reese's has not yet arrived in Colorado.
I guess I will have to make do with DARK CHOCOLATE M&M's for a while longer.

And I do love having something to look forward to.

Lack of Attention or a Seniorish moment

As I was driving home from work today on a road that I drive many times every week, I looked out and for a moment I didn't recognize where I was. It was only for a moment and I quickly realized that I was just a few blocks farther along than I thought I was. Even though I know it was just a matter of paying less attention than I should have been paying, it was a little chilling. I couldn't help but think how horrifying it must be to reach a point in life when those kinds of things begin happening on a regular basis to ones self or to a loved one.

Most all of us have known someone who has dealt with dementia in one form or another. Many of us do the things that "they" say will help prevent it (I'm sort of partial to crossword puzzles). Maybe they'll someday discover that blogging is the key to maintaining our mental function. I just know that a brief moment for me today brought an even heightened sense of feeling for those who face those moments every day.

How to Brighten a Workday

A beautiful sight on the way to work
and a picnic lunch with some of my grand kids

go a long way toward brightening a workday Tuesday.

Kindle

I've had my Kindle for about a year now and I love it. I'm certainly not marketing for Amazon, but I really do love it. I know, I know, reading an "electronic" book just isn't the same as reading a "real" book.....it doesn't look like a book, it doesn't smell like a book, you don't turn the pages like a book, it doesn't have a cover like a book. I wondered about all of those things and more before I got it, but the idea of having it for travel convinced me to try it. Things I like about my Kindle:

• It is about the size of a paperback and very light weight.
• When a book comes out that I want to read I can start reading it in about 60 seconds for $9.99 (they have about 300,000 titles-so far, I've always found what I want).
• You can change the size of the print to fit your need.
• You can download a sample of a book to read before you buy it.
• It really is great for traveling. (Let's say I am in Las Vegas and not doing too well in the casino....a new book to read by the pool is great consolation, not that that ever really happened). Not having to lug several books in my suitcase on a long trip is a big plus.

Things I don't like about my Kindle:

• It is a pricey initial purchase, right now about $300. I probably haven't paid for it quite yet with the savings from what I would have spent on books, but I am close.
• Like a cell phone, you have to keep it charged.
• It is a little too easy to spend that $9.99. I have to be careful and I try to limit myself to 2 books a month.
• You don't have a book to pass along to someone else after you have read it.
• It is not yet available internationally because of licensing issues, but they say it will be in time.
• Reading it in the bathtub is probably not a great idea.

I definitely still get lots of books from the library and I still love going to a bookstore to buy a book, but for instant gratification and portability the Kindle can't be beat.

Road Trip

I wish my title meant that I am planning a road trip. Unfortunately it only means that I have been thinking about road trips a lot lately and wishing I was planning one. It's been about a year since I have been on a road trip.....California to Colorado with my sister-in-law, Boo.

A good road trip is hard to beat. A good traveling companion, like the above mentioned Boo, is a great plus. Whether alone or with someone, I love the "cocoonish" feeling of being in the car with nothing to be responsible for but putting the miles behind you. Good scenery or just one town after another, I love seeing things I've never seen before. I love having hour after hour to listen to old songs on the radio (and sing along if I'm alone) or listen to a book on tape, or I guess these days, CDs. I love the time to talk with someone without all the normal distractions. And, there is no better excuse for eating junk food than a road trip.

I know, there are all kinds of road trips. Road trips with kids are in a class by themselves, but I bet most of us have memories of family road trips that were good, or at least memorable. I remember my Dad being stopped for speeding and having "words" with a policeman that I thought were going to land us all in jail. My kids learned that I could get from the front seat to the back of the station wagon or van with amazing speed.

My longest road trip was driving from Colorado to Belize.....seven days there, five days back and weeks in Belize in between. There were things about the trip that weren't great (a not-the-best traveling companion), but the road travel was an unforgettable experience. I tried to find some pictures from that trip, but I ran into some old Christmas candy, or maybe it was Halloween candy, in the closet and I got distracted and gave up.

As I said, I don't have a trip planned right now, but I may have to pull out a map and start planning.

THAT Never Happened Before

I woke up the other morning and I was really hungry. I realized that I had forgotten to eat dinner the night before. At about the time I would normally eat, a friend dropped by. I visited with her for an hour or so and after she left I just did whatever I would normally do at 7:30 or 8 at night. Let me explain that I don't usually plan and cook a big meal at night. Doc and I like to eat at different times and we both just fix our own (we sometimes run into each other at the grocery store). I usually eat soup or cheese and crackers and fruit (or occasionally a frozen dinner).

I know, not that interesting in itself, but it made me think that I often eat from habit as much as hunger......it's noon-time for lunch, mid-afternoon-off to the office next door for a snack (it's a dental office and they have the best junk food around and are very generous with me) and so on. It's not just food-there are so many other things I do without really thinking. Every morning the first thing I do is head for the coffee pot.....okay, bad example, gotta have the coffee! But you know what I am talking about.

Since my blog title is Living Consciously and I started it partly to help me pay more attention to and remember all that I am doing and, well, live more consciously, I want to renew my efforts to do just that. Certainly, writing about what we do (or thinking about writing about it) keeps us tuned in.

I would love to hear what you are thinking about what you do without thinking.

I Guess I Am That Old

I went with Jill and the boys and Joanna and the girls to National Night Out in Broomfield last night. It is a fun event where the kids get to interact with policemen, firemen, even the S.W.A.T. team and their paraphernalia and vehicles. Lots of good safety tips, a display of what you eat and wear in jail (a very sober look on Jared's face looking at that-he is a picky eater), free snacks, giveaways, and so on. I was standing with Hope as she talked to a woman about walking and biking to school , fitness and such, and the lady turned to me and handed me a brochure and said "and this is our information on Senior Services". Whoa! As I took it with what must have been a somewhat strained smile, she said something about not profiling, giving it to everyone, and maybe I had elderly parents, yada, yada, yada. Okay, Jill said the lady gave the same information to her, (must have been because the lady had seen her with me at some point). Sometimes I hate it when I have to face reality.


We had a picnic first...

Jared and Hope trying the S.W.A.T. gear...it was heavy

Sunday Favorites

I got to do two of my favorite things today...coffee at Starbucks and a long visit with my friend Patty.

Part of Living Consciously is being grateful for the people in our lives. I have a lot of people in my life I am grateful for and Patty is one of them....a great friend and a superb traveling buddy. Patty and I have been friends for a looong time. We've watched one another's kids grow up and have kids of their own. We've shared a lot (from clothes to life experiences). Whether it's been a week or a month or way longer since we've seen each other, the friendship is the same as if we had talked that morning. If I need to talk something through or want to take a trip, Patty is always up for it.

A trip with Patty is a guaranteed good time. Through the years we've gone to the Caribbean , Mexico, Disney World, London, many ski trips and camping (yes, camping). It looks like we are now planning a trip to Rio or Paris, or maybe both.

A great friend, a great Sunday.