Terrapin Station

Friday Five.

Thanks to Karla at RevGals for this Friday Five, played on Saturday;

Hey there gals and pals!
Happy Friday Five....and although I don't have a theme for this Friday, I do have five questions for you to ponder upon:

1.  If you could hear what someone is thinking for a day, who would you choose, and why?  Barack Obama. Because I (living in the Big Red State) know a lot of people who think he is thinking evil things, and I don't believe it.

2.  If you were trapped in a tv show for a month, which show would you choose, and why?  That 70's Show. I'm a hippie born too late.

3.  If you could do any job in the world for a day, what would it be? Captain of a small sailboat.

4.  What are you loving right now?  GREEN GREEN GREEN in this world. And my tomato plants.

5.  Use these words in a sentence:    bless, cheeseburger, chihauha, skipping, Georgia.

My chihuahua, Georgia, was skipping toward a cheeseburger. She stopped to bless it.

 

Friday Five: April Showers

Jan says at RevGals:

With the old adage "April showers bring May flowers," let's look at the weather and vegetation in our home areas to see if any May Flowers will be blooming.

1. What spring flowers and plants do you see? Or will see sometime in the future?

Bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.  From statesymbolsusa@org.

2. What kinds of weather are you experiencing in April?

It's an exceptionally long and cold Spring.  Right now it's 60 degrees and cloudy. But we keep having cold fronts that threaten the new little tomatoes I have set out...and this is AFTER the mesquites and the pecans are in leaf, our folklore failsafes. 

3. What are the stereotypical harbingers of spring in your area? How about where you grew up?

Bluebonnets, always. I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast and we would always go on bluebonnet picnics. There are many, many photos of us at various ages, standing in the bluebonnets while trying not to smash them...

There are not as many bluebonnets up here. But we have them. The first signs of spring here in North Texas are forsythias and Japanese quince.  Then redbud trees. 

4. What season do you like best in your home area?

Well, Spring.  :)

5. What is sprouting or blooming in your life? What do you wish for?

Hm. Something, but I don't know its name, yet.  I wish to be introduced to this new thing. That's what I wish for.

Friday Five: Random

Thanks to the lovely revkjarla for this one from RevGals:

Can you believe it is April 12????  Have you finished your taxes?  Here in Boston, the city is abuzz with Boston Marathon anticipation.  We are finally hearing birds chirp in the morning, and even though it was in the low thirties last night, many of us are bravely sporting open-toed sandals.   None of this has anything to do Friday Five, except randomness.   So, in that spirit.......

1.  How are you doing?  What's going on in your life?

My eye is twitching.

Not sure what that's about, except that there's much considering going on. It's all good and productive; but I've been rather static for the last few years, so this is new. 

2.  Have you ever resigned from a position?  What was the good-bye like?

When I left my job of 9 years at Texas A&M it was very tough. My boss there was famous for disappearing when the real goodbyes happened (as in, the time you walked out for the last time, not the farewell party.) I was honored that she stayed for my final farewell.  She was an amazing friend and mentor to me. 

3. So, we are still resurrecting...still getting used to New Life!!  What is a source of new life for you?

Nature. Walking to work. Looking at things andbeing thankful for them. Thinking of the sources of my food: these tortillas were made from corn, which grew in the ground; then people and machines made them; then a trucker brought them to Kroger for me to buy...

And also attending an adoption shower this week for my friend/colleague's two-year-old "new" daughter. What a gift. What a delight. 

4.  My friend is running the marathon on Friday, because it is on her bucket list.  What is something on your bucket list? 

Hmm. There's a big one that I'm not ready to say publicly. I don't have a large such list anyway...I would like to take some more time and revive my Ancestry.com project. My sister Barbara has offered to help pay for the subscription (which is really high) so that's a great help. 

5.  Tell us about one precious thing (tngible) you keep around your house, your altar, your pocket, and what is its story?

My grandfather had a lovely mother of pearl fountain pen that he was given by a girlfriend. He gave it to me because I am "the historian in the family." See above, though Ancestry.com doesn't require use of the pen.  It is in my china cabinet with the other objects of art.  :)

As always, tell us you played in the comments so we can come over and visit!
Happy Friday, every one!

Friday Five: Frodo and Sam

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

===oOo===

In these last few weeks there's been all kinds of bad news. Tornadoes and a blizzard. Gun violence and a legislative body squabbling like toddlers over budgets, health care and who knows what else. For those of us in the US, it's tax season. Yuck.

We're only in the second week of Lent. Easter's a long way off. And here in the Mid-Atlantic region, the weather can't seem to make up its mind. Is it winter? Is it spring? Will it snow? Will it rain? Are my daffodils doomed if they actually BLOOM next week like they are threatening to?

So this week's Friday Five is courtesy of my good friends Frodo and Sam. Tell me 5 things that are good in our world. Or your world. Photos are a bonus.

Thanks, Deb! I really needed this. Here are mine:

1. The squirrel who comes to my window every day for sunflower seeds. I interchangeably call him Max and Bob. Here he is. :) Say hi! Choose whichever name you like.  

2. The cedar tree you can see greening up behind him.

3. My public library. It's recycled: it used to be a Food Lion grocery store, and after that closed, the building was cleverly repurposed. I adore it.  Click here to see the project portfolio. I love the kids' areas.

4. This organization in my city: I Heart Denton. From their website:  i[heart]denton’s sole goal is to provide humanitarian aid to those in need, within our city. Through actively engaging in community benevolence, i[heart]denton strives to freely provide basic resources to help increase the quality of life to the citizens of Denton, TX. Mostly what I've seen them do so far is bring and install fans and air conditioners for people in the community who cannot afford them...and they are a necessity here. Especially for the ill and elderly.

5. Our kiddos, who are well and healthy and succeeding at their current pursuits. Miss Holley has built a beautiful house where she lives with her partner TJ, and she continues to love her EMT career.  

and Brandon works at UNT and has a dear and wonderful girlfriend, a hairstylist, whom we adore:

 

I am grateful.

Friday Five: Lent

 Jan asks at RevGals:

1. Oddly this year, the second day of Lent was Valentine's Day. How was this for you? Was Valentine's Day any different being in Lent? Nope. There were opportunities to eat chocolate and donuts, but I was already eschewing those, so no difference. 

2. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday this year? Any memories of memorable celebrations past? I managed to find and wear my Mardi Gras beads to work, and that was pretty much my observation. Usually I'm at a pancake supper, but see above. 

3. How about Ash Wednesday, past and/or present?  This year I was home on the couch feeling horrible, although I'd planned to go to church for the 7 pm service. I hate to miss that service; it means a lot to me, so I read through the liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer and called myself to a holy Lent:

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great
devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and
it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a
season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided
a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy
Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of
notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful
were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to
the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation
was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set
forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all
Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the
observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and
meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning
of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now
kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

4. Do you have a personal plan of give-ups, take-ons, special ministries, and/or a special focus for your own spiritual growth between now and Easter? There's something private I'm doing. Also, I'm writing daily prayers thanks to Rachel Hackenberg's prompts, and I'm reading the Sermon on the Mount each day. There's a group on FB doing the latter, and so far I find that pulling it out of my bag and giving a read each day is illuminating. I'll have to let you know how it feels after 40 days.

5. Do you have a book or a website you are reading often during Lent? Lent Madness!  I pray both collects daily.

Sneaky Friday Five

Karla gives us this week's RevGals Friday Five:

Who knew it was the Second Friday of the month?   

Thank goodness something reminded me, but my apologies for the late post.  I have been busy getting ready for Blizzard Nemo (really, 24 inches in Boston?  Why on earth don't I have a snow blower???) and pondering life transitions--oh, but enough about me.  

Be safe and warm, Karla!!

How about you?  

1) What is sneaking up on you, and what have you been thinking about?  I want and need to go visit my parents. I was going to do it next weekend but now something has gotten slotted in there. I must put a weekend on the calendar so that cannot happen again...or it will keep sneaking and getting put off. 

Oh...and I put out the last of the sunflower seeds for Mr. Squirrel yesterday, and I am thinking he is going to sneak up on the windowsill any time and look INQUIRING. And importunate.  And hungry.

2)  What will you have for lunch today?  Almost certainly a salad with feta cheese, chopped rotisserie chicken, and whatever else I can find to go on it. It's my go-to lunch.

3)  If you were to get snowed in for two days, and you need to hunker down, what essentials and treats would you store up? Sandwich stuff for Ken. Black beans/lentils and rice for me. Chips & salsa & guacamole. Dog treats for sure (we love Yummy Chummies!). And for human libations, I would make a big batch of The Recipe. This is a secret, legendary mixture to which our local newspaper columnist of many years (recently retired) has been referring forever, and she has finally released the recipe on her blog. You saw it here first!!  

4) Tell me a story about one awesome thing you have experienced in the last couple of weeks. Well, it seems too easy to say the Big Event...which is in its own category of awesome.

On the first night of the cruise, as I was lying in bed drifting off, I had the very clear thought: "This is where I come every year to remember who I am." So I will say: coming home from the Big Event with a newly cleared mind, a renewed sense of who I am, and new gratitude for the people in my daily life and in my virtual life, too. 

5)  What is your favorite office supply to splurge on? (now THAT is random, right?)  - Markers and pens.  Ooh! I have so many markers I do not need ONE MORE but I just love them. Sharpies, watercolor markers, slimline markers...my latest jones is for the Sharpie Brush Tip collection.

(pic from Mommy Kat & Kids)

Friday Five: What Makes You Smile?

For this Friday Five, what makes you smile? Remembering that Meister Eckhart said that if you pray "thank you" that that is enough of a prayer, share with us five things, memories, or activities that bring you smiles and gratitude.

1) Walking across this university campus, which went "smoke-free" on January 1.  It is a pure dee joy to know that I will not have to hold my breath at a random time, especially 25 feet from a building door where smokers used to congregate.  Or get smoke-bombed unexpectedly. I feel like I can breathe better already.

2) My silly funny dogs, and the squirrels who come to my office windows for sunflower seeds each day. And animals in general.

3) The new radio in my car, and the new antenna too, which is apparently made of platinum (based on what it cost). Christmas gifts from my sweet spouse.

4) New chiropractor today - I am VERY impressed with her and think she is really going to be able to help me. 

5) I cruise in 11 days! 

Friday Five: Almost Christmas!

Jan says at RevGals: 

In a few days the Fourth Sunday of Advent will be celebrated, immediately followed by Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A lot of worship and celebrating will be packed into these few days, which for my husband and me also includes our wedding anniversary today (41 years!). So for this holiday Friday Five, let's have a free-for-all: Write 5 items about anything connected with Christmas, which of course includes Advent. Be personal, professional, spiritual or however you are feeling!

1. I attended a Blue Christmas service last night for the first time.  It was lovely and very well done.  I was grateful to have the time and space to sit quietly with the sorrows of this year, the things that are making it hard to feel "jolly" right about now.  All the writing I have read about the Sandy Hook shootings has left me with this assurance: I don't have to feel jolly, now or ever. I have to practice joy, which is a fierce thing, rather than a light and frothy thing. 

2. I have one more gift to buy (unless I am forgetting something), plus a dress to wear to a wedding next week.  The latter is by far the harder thing, but I have enlisted a friend to go with me. She will make sure I do not attend the wedding in jeans.

3. Brandon and his girlfriend are coming on Christmas Night.  Fun!  Now that I know I can start planning a menu. 

4. This campus is SILENT. Almost.  Someone on a skateboard is going by under my window. But otherwise, silent. The department down the hall had a party earlier, with much loud laughing. My phone has rung once today. After 5:00 the heat will be turned off in all campus buildings and we will be in hibernation mode until after New Year's. I'm grateful to work at a university so that my holidays can be configured this way...but it is eerie here. 

5. The birds and squirrels that I feed outside my south window will be fine in my absence. I will look forward to seeing them next year. They are a large part of my daily joy.

Friday Five: Corner Shops

Here's the Friday Five, as posted by ME: 

1. If you suddenly received a ton of money and could open up some kind of store or service just for the pleasure of having it (assume it wouldn’t have to be too financially successful!), what would it be?  I'd love to have a knitting/crafting store where people could come and work on their projects and get help and hang out and talk.  The closest place to me for this is ... not very close.  45 minutes into the Dallas metro-mess, a foray I almost never attempt. 

 

 

 

 

photo courtesy of Charles Chips

2. What service or store that no longer exists do you miss most?  I miss when we used to have milk delivered.  I barely remember it, but I do remember it.  Also when the Charles Chips man would deliver barbecue chips in that big tin.  Mmmmm. 

3. What local business do you think you could make better if you were to take it over? And if you don’t mind sharing, what changes would you make? Hmm.  I doubt I would make it better, but if I were to take over our local awesome used book store, Recycled Books, I would arrange it in a way that made sense to ME. 

photo:  Recycled Books on the Denton Courthouse Square. Three stories of awesome (includes basement). Located in the 1901 Opera House.  Painted LAVENDER.  Photo source:  The Painted Area blog

4. What spot nearby seems to be impossible for businesses to survive in?  I'm not sure it's the spot but rather the businesses there...but there's a little cottage south of downtown that has had a pet boutique, a candle store, and most recently, a vegan store called Vegan Freak.  I'm sure these small start-ups find a tiny building like this one perfect for their new endeavors.  However, it's out of the way (as you see) and not really close to other shopping venues.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of the former Vegan Freak courtesy of Yelp.

5. We’ve all seen stores that combined books and records, beer and laundry, or coffee and whatever. One of my favorite places to get coffee in Honolulu is a cafe and florist, and there is a car garage that’s also a diner in a town nearby. What would be a cool hybrid of two disparate ideas for somewhere you’d like to hang out? Knitting store and music store.  By music store I mean something like the old Sound Warehouses (any Houstonians remember this?) They had these listening booths and you could take any LP or cassette (this was 30 years ago, folks) and you could listen as long as you wanted. If you didn't want to buy it after the listen, no worries. 

Photo from Rocking Houston (a real blast from the past, if your past was there)

Thanksgiving soon!

The Cure

Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.

--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)

So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?

1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?  Take a walk with dogs.  Sing a song.  Take a shower.  Get a pedicure.

2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?  At home, eating mostly regular food.  Cooking piles of special meal items out of allegiance to tradition, when I am trying to reduce and my resident eater finds any food consumption a chore - doesn't make sense. 

3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?  I will certainly make my mom's bread dressing, which has tons of onion and celery and (properly made) Kellogg's seasoned Croutettes.  However, those are very hard to find now-a-days; Pepperidge Farm or Mrs. Cubbison's will do. 

I also plan to experiment with Hippie Loaf, which sounds good to me but which my husband would hate. 

4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?  It's actually my favorite, because there is no pressure about gifts.  :)  Growing up, we were always with family and there were dozens of people; but this feels good too. 

5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for? I'm grateful that K continues to improve, very slowly.  That we went and worked out at the gym together this morning!  For Fall weather and for all my family, and a winter Farmer's Market in Coppell tomorrow.  For the break from work coming up.  That empty streets in my university neighborhood coming up will mean I can practice riding my bike!

BONUS: Describe Aunt Bert's Thanksgiving.  It sounds a bit like mine.  She's not going to be doing what she might have been accustomed to for most of her life, but she is making the best of it.  And looking to have some fun, too.