Trip Around the Sun (Jimmy Buffett & Martina McBride)

Posting this at 12:10 a.m., August 5; today is my 67th birthday!  What a boring, nondescript number/age but, hey, I'm just glad to still be on this planet, not only doing well but Doing Good, as evidenced by my new ventures (elaborated on in my last few blog posts).

It's actually been a good year since August 2020 (of course the bar was low from last year's sh*tshow), as we celebrated the election of a new President and Vice President (Joe and Kamala!), and are having regular press conferences again (Jen Psaki!)... most of us have chosen to get the COVID vaccine (if only we could convince the hold-outs to step it up, as their hesitation has allowed the Delta variant to run rampant)... we're watching the year-delayed Olympics... we're in process of auditioning a replacement for Jeopardy's Alex Trebek (I have some favorites, of course, including this week's David Faber, who I'd never even heard of before Monday)... live music and hugs are back in my life, although cautiously, given the aforementioned outbreak... my grandson Colin has only gotten funnier, more verbal, cuter (as if that were even possible!).

Doing my first volunteer stint this morning from 9-11 a.m. in the community outreach garden (so excited!), have plans to get together with Rob and Sarah for lunch (the new vegan wrap at Pollo Tropical), and not a clue what's in store for the rest of the day, but I have no doubt I'll be pleasantly surprised with well-wishes of all types.

I am still without social media so, I would love to ask, as I did last year that, at some point, if you are reading this, could you please wish me a Happy Birthday in the Comments box below (moderated, so it might not show up right away!) and let me know what you're reading (or not... 😍 )

Thanks in advance for celebrating with me, and much love always... 💖

My NR:  My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir by Jenn Shapland

Also, bonus horoscope overview; interesting reflections/predictions, and some of it is already happening!

Leo has a reputation for being self-focused, but this year you will feel as if the self you've so carefully constructed is being unraveled. The people you feel closest to will offer you reflections about who you are, and the truth may bring about a shift of radical proportions. 

New people will come into your life to assist you in uncovering more of your uniqueness and even eccentricities. Allow yourself to become a wilder, stranger version of yourself. 

With partners and close friends, there may be challenges as you learn more about what you need in order to feel loved. The key to success this year involves letting go of stubborn tendencies with regard to your significant others, and instead allowing more freedom and space between you and your beloveds. 

if you set love free, it could lead to even more security. 

Take time in late spring and summer to reevaluate your own aspirations and dreams for your life. Is the universe urging you to take on more of a leadership role in your community? Are you striving to live up to ideals that are unrealistic?

Are you too scattered to come up with a plan for the future? 

You are learning how to balance your desire for social stimulation with the need to make a lasting contribution to the world. 

Rather than than over-relying on yourself, listen to your chosen family and the broader community to see how your creative gifts may be best utilized. 

~ Rhea Wolf © Mother Tongue Ink 2020

SONG:  Trip Around the Sun by Jimmy Buffett (with Martina McBride)

BOOK(S):  Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life by Cleo Wade

Shit I Can't Remember: Organizer, Log Book & Notebook for Passwords and Shit by Phil D. Organizers

POEM:  A Whole Other Stage by Judith Viorst

I've reached the stage where my lawyer, my broker, my allergist, and my president are all significantly younger than I.

I've reached the stage where I recognize, when I'm buying new living-room drapes or a new set of dishes, that they're likely to be the last ones that I'll ever buy.

And when I'm starting to tell my friends some really terrific story, and I ask them whether I've told them this story before, and no matter what story I've started to tell, they say yes,

I know I have reached a whole other stage.

I've reached the stage where I find that most of the spaces I used to park in are now too small for my car.

I've reached the stage where I'm no longer able to call myself middle-aged because that's what my children are.

And when going to see two movies at two separate theaters on the same day, followed by eating a sausage-and-anchovy pizza, is what I'm defining as orgiastic excess,

I know that I have reached a whole other stage.

I've reached the stage where a lot of the reading I'm doing is at the market checking salt-free and fat-free and expiration dates.

I've reached the stage where nobody bothers to look at my driver's license when I want to purchase tickets at senior rates.

And when I'm out of town and I phone my husband at six A.M., and I ring and ring but he doesn't answer the phone, and my first thought is not infidelity but cardiac arrest,

I know that I have reached a whole other stage.

I've reached the stage where the people with whom I once discussed Marcel Proust are discussing inheritance taxes and living wills.

I've reached the stage where I couldn't leave my house for twenty-four hours unaccompanied by eight different kinds of pills.

And when I have to admit that, offered the choice, I'd - unhesitatingly - give up a night of wild rapture with Denzel Washington for a nice report on my next bone density test,

I know that I have reached a whole other stage.

QUOTE(S):  "And so it is of human life the goal to seek, forever seek, the kindred soul." ~ José Martí

"To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says:  Leave no stone unturned." ~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Everything I Need (Melissa Ferrick)

It seems as if I have turned a corner with my attitude as well as my awareness.  Life feels easier than it has in quite a while.  I am eating super-healthy; my relationships are, for the most part, honest and reciprocal; I am taking the time to self-nurture, on many levels.  I was speaking to my daughter Sarah by phone the other day and, when I was filling her in on my day (Goodreads review, blog post upload, starting a new book), she said:  "Mom, you are living your best life!".  "Yes, I am", I replied... 💖

It's been a good week:  celebrated a friend's birthday Monday; Tuesday Zoom with Nancy and Judi, then picked up Colin from preschool; Sarah and Colin came for a pool visit yesterday, as well as lunch with Eric; Pool Day with Nance today, and an online poetry event this evening.  My soul overfloweth... 😍

Lest this all be misconstrued as *perfect*, I do need to exercise more as well as tackle additional items on my To Do List.  I will make it happen!

NR:  Scratched: A Memoir of Perfectionism by Elizabeth Tallent

SONG:  Everything I Need by Melissa Ferrick (thanks and love to AmyW for introducing me to this song a bazillion years ago, when she sent me a mix CD on which it was included... 💓)

BOOK:  Recipes for a Sacred Life: True Stories and a Few Miracles by Rivvy Neshama

POEM:  Happiness (Reconsidered) by Judith Viorst

Happiness

Is a clean bill of health from the doctor,

And the kids shouldn't move back home for

more than a year,

And not being audited, overdrawn, in Wilkes-Barre,

in a lawsuit or in traction.

Happiness

Is falling asleep without Valium,

And having two breasts to put in my brassiere,

And not (yet) needing to get my blood pressure lowered,

my eyelids raised or a second opinion.

And on Saturday nights

When my husband and I have rented

Something with Fred Astaire for the VCR,

And we're sitting around in our robes discussing,

The state of the world, back exercises, our Keoghs,

And whether to fix the transmission or buy a new car,

And we're eating a pint of rum-raisin ice cream

on the grounds that

Tomorrow we're starting a diet of fish, fruit and grain,

And my dad's in Miami dating a very nice widow,

And no one we love is in serious trouble or pain,

And our bringing-up-baby days are far behind us,

But our senior-citizen days have not begun,

It's not what I called happiness

When I was twenty-one,

But it's turning out to be

What happiness is.

QUOTE:  "Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now.  Live it, feel it, cling to it.  I want to become acutely aware of all I've taken for granted." ~ Sylvia Plath

Through the Looking Glass (Eliza Gilkyson)

Wonderful to see Girlock and Jennifer again yesterday after their Tour o' Florida; since their flight back to PA left later that night, we had a chance to view the local burrowing owls (awesome!), walk around the Broward College Lake to see more wildlife (Egyptian geese!), go out to lunch at Don Pepe's (Cuban/Mexican!), and head back to my place for a few hours for more conversation (in the A/C; yesterday's high was 96 degrees!).

Lovely day, but more social than this hermit is used to lately, and I was exhausted; ended up taking a Cortisol Manager pill to ensure a good night's sleep, and didn't wake up until 9 a.m.  Bliss... 💖 

As soon as I hit Send, I am curling up with the (NR) book below, for this Tuesday's book club Zoom gathering.

NR:  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 

SONG:  Through the Looking Glass by Eliza Gilkyson

BOOK:  Change Your World: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Difference by John C. Maxwell, Rob Hoskins

POEM:  Confusion by Judith Viorst

I can't figure out if it's gas or a coronary.

I can't figure out if it's hostile or benign.

I can't figure out if I'm turning into a hypochondriac, or just being sensible.

I can't figure out when we stop supporting our children.

(At twenty-one? At thirty? Forty-nine?)

I can't figure out if not bothering to change the sheets in the guest room in between houseguests is ever an option, or always reprehensible.

I can't figure out why men won't ask for directions.

(Is it genetic or could they be retrained?)

I can't figure out when dressed in the height of fashion, if I'm looking incredibly chic or slightly ridiculous.

I can't figure out if my tale is enthralling or boring.

(What are those facial expressions? Spellbound? Or pained?)

I can't figure out if I wanting all the hangers in my closet to face the same way means I'm obsessive-compulsive, or merely meticulous.

I can't figure out if I've gone from stable to stodgy.

(Is "reliable" what I want as my epitaph?)

I can't figure out if helping yourself to a shrimp from your spouse's plate ought to be viewed as intimacy or intrusion.

I can't figure out if I've lost my sense of humor

Or if, after fifty, it just gets harder to laugh.

And I can't figure out if everyone else has figured everything out, or whether we are all in a state of confusion.

QUOTE:  "The realization that each day's 24-hour offering is abundant and more than enough is a fairly recent one. In a more renewed sense, today, personhood for me has begun to look like a home that is being lived in — where the light goes out sometimes, pipes break, sinks get clogged, wires trip, paint on the walls chips off." ~ Anjali Menon

If Tomorrow Never Comes (Todd Snider)

It has been an insanely long time since I last posted (almost a month?!? - yikes!).  Reasons, but really no good reasons.  I have three blog posts in draft form that I've been working on, and then something (whether meaningful or meaningless) comes along and I allow myself to get sidetracked.  Hey, I can do it tomorrow... or the next day... or the day after that.  I'm still walking, still doing yoga, still reading like a motherf*cker, in the condo pool (heated) a few times a week to stretch, still eating nutritiously, my vision has come back 100% after last month's health scare, my husband is loving, we've had both vaccines (blog post on that coming soon), my kids are well, my grandson is perfect, I do the NYT Mini-Crossword and Spelling Bee every morning to start my day, I switched from Brown Sadness Water to caffeinated coffee, and I am watching the news again because I *trust* this administration to tell the truth.  Considering the circumstances, life is pretty d*mn good... 💗

On the flip side, I am well aware of the extreme weather conditions in Texas, the fact that we will soon be hitting 500,000 (half a million) COVID deaths, children across the nation are still doing online learning, today’s Republican Party is less concerned with national public opinion than it used to be, etc.  However, since January 21, it feels like a kinder, gentler, more equitable nation with swift as well as measured responses to ongoing problems or, as MSNBC correspondent Brian Williams accurately described this evening:  "back to a standard, traditionally-operating White House with rigor and expertise and order and schedules and process."

Our country feels safe(r) again.

I haven't offered up a Feel Good Friday post in a while.  Attempting to resurrect this tradition:  five items below of beauty, interest, and humor to brighten your day/weekend/week.  Enjoy! 

Promotions for Female Generals Were Delayed Over Fears of Trump’s Reaction:  Under a Biden administration, the nominations are expected to go from the Pentagon to the White House within weeks and then to the Senate for approval.

Alex Trebek’s Wardrobe Is Donated to Formerly Incarcerated Men:  The gift, which will also benefit formerly homeless men, was in keeping with an appeal that the host of “Jeopardy!” had made when he asked viewers to “build a gentler, kinder society.”

Why 'A Case Of You' Is The Best Love Song Of All Time:  Sometimes a once-beloved work feels like a relic, like a junior high yearbook autographed with the names of people I no longer remember. Other times, I find myself understanding and appreciating it in new ways.

Feed families, spread kindness, strengthen communities:  When you become a part of Lasagna Love, you’re joining a movement full of people who want to weave kindness back into the fabric of our everyday lives. (thanks to MicheleW for the heads-up!)

Gwyneth Paltrow Is Selling Vibrators:  The Goop founder also talks about sexual wellness and how she contracted Covid-19 a year ago, probably in Paris.

NR:  Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (exquisite... 💞)

SONG:  If Tomorrow Never Comes by Todd Snider ("if worms had daggers,

birds wouldn't f*ck with them"... 😄 )

BOOK:  The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

POEM:  Wild Thing by Judith Viorst

I went for a walk in the sun without wearing my sunscreen.

I went out of town without making a reservation.

I placed my mouth directly upon a public drinking fountain, and took a sip.

I didn't bother flossing my teeth before bedtime.

I pumped my own gasoline at a self-service station.

I ate the deviled egg instead of the cauliflower with low-fat yogurt dip.

I bought, without reading Consumer Reports, a new dryer.

I left my checking account unreconciled.

I know that the consequences could be dire,

But sometimes a woman simply has to run wild.

QUOTE:  “There’s a particular feeling in your body when something goes right after a long time of things going wrong.  It feels warm and sweet and loose… For a moment all my bees have turned to honey.” ~ Lily King, Writers & Lovers

Better Than TV (Kristina Olsen)

I've been meaning to post for days that April 21 - 27, 2008 is TV Turnoff Week, which began in 1995 - when my kids were younger we always participated, to their dismay and my joy!

A few snippets:

Television cuts into family time, harms our children's ability to read and succeed in school, and contributes to unhealthy lifestyles and obesity.

On average, children in the US will spend more time in front of the television (1,023 hours) than in school this year (900 hours). Forty percent of Americans frequently or always watch television during dinner. As US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said at the Kick Off of TV-Turnoff Week 2001, "We are raising the most overweight generation of youngsters in American history...This week is about saving lives."

Turning off the television gives us a chance to think, read, create, and do. To connect with our families and engage in our communities. To turn off TV and turn on life.

TV-Turnoff Week is supported by over 70 national organizations including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, National Education Association, and President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. To find out who else supports the Week, visit our allies section.

I notice their general website has now been changed to Screen-Time Awareness, which "provides information so people can live healthier lives in functional families in vibrant communities by taking control of the electronic media in their lives, not allowing it to control them... a campaign to reduce screen-time and encourage real experiences with real people in real time" - hmmm, sounds as if they're widening the circle to now include video games, iPods, computers and, dare I say it?, cell phones along with televisions.

SONG(S): Better Than TV by Kristina Olsen (you *must* watch the video... ;-)

Etch A Sketch by Michael McNevin (I can't find the lyrics, but the recurring chorus is "life is like an Etch A Sketch, it's better than a TV set"... and I've included above Michael's illustration of his friend Tracy "stealing" his television!)

BOOK: The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid by Ellen Currey-Wilson

POEM: Fifteen, Maybe Sixteen Things to Worry About by Judith Viorst

My pants could maybe fall down when I dive off the diving board.
My nose could maybe keep growing and never quit.
Miss Brearly could ask me to spell words like stomach and special.
(Stumick and speshul?)
I could play tag all day and always be "it."
Jay Spievack, who's fourteen feet tall, could want to fight me.
My mom and my dad--like Ted's--could want a divorce.
Miss Brearly could ask me a question about Afghanistan.
(Who's Afghanistan?)
Somebody maybe could make me ride a horse.
My mother could maybe decide that I needed more liver.
My dad could decide that I needed less TV.
Miss Brearly could say that I have to write script and stop printing.
(I'm better at printing.)
Chris could decide to stop being friends with me.

The world could maybe come to an end on next Tuesday.
The ceiling could maybe come crashing on my head.
I maybe could run out of things for me to worry about.
And then I'd have to do my homework instead.

QUOTE: "Television has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object." ~ Author Unknown

There (Michael Smith)

I am presenting the extremely talented and very dear Sam Pacetti at my concert series this evening - Sam's personal and musical experiences in the last decade have only served to make his music that much more soulful and heartfelt. In the words of Andrew Calhoun:

"Sam Pacetti's first CD, Solitary Travel, was released nearly ten years ago, when he was 22. It got airplay on NPR, Sam was voted best new artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, everything was in place for a grander success, and... Pacetti disappeared. Well, not if you lived in St. Augustine, Florida, where he performs Monday nights at the Mill Top Tavern, and there was an occasional Southern festival gig. He hung some drywall and did some surfing, but the real journey involves the simple truth that no matter how much the world loves you, if you don't love yourself you have no home. His latest recording [Union, with Gabe Valla] reflects that journey, through loss and rapture and loves too fragile to survive, all the more passionately embraced... stating so elegantly that all we need for love and wonder is already in our hands. Yes, indeed. And welcome home."

Sam does a stunning version of my blog-titled song, and I intend to request it this evening - I made a compilation CD for my husband on our 27 (or 28th) wedding anniversary of love songs... not the typical "moon/spoon/June" variety but more like the "it ain't easy, baby, but it's ours" philosophy of Brian Joseph's Cal's Chevy (also on the mix).

Included too is Johnsmith's Iris Blue, which I've always related to since our anniversary is in September as well, and my favorite flowers are daisies (not roses) - on a related note, John wrote an incredible song for/about Dave Carter, not too long after Dave's death, and I requested it last night. He said he'd recently been performing it as a spoken word piece so as to focus on the lyrics - I told him that, although I'd always liked the melody, I truly thought it was more powerful without (who knew?... :-)

John also shared a very cool story with me - last year he played a house concert series in Lawrence, Kansas and the hosts told him that one of the locals asked if she could come by and visit with John alone before the concert. Turned out it was Elise (Dave Carter's sister), who said she wanted to meet and thank him for the loving tribute to her brother - she gifted John with a beautiful Buddhist bell that had belonged to Dave... and they both cried...

So much live music, so little time - love, in all its diverse and delightful incarnations, abounds...

SONG: There by Michael Smith

BOOK: The Truth About Love: The Highs, the Lows, and How You Can Make It Last Forever by Dr. Patricia Love

POEM: Scraps of Moon by Denise Levertov

Scraps of moon

bobbing discarded on broken water

but sky-moon

complete, transcending

all violation

Here she seems to be talking to herself about

the shape of a life:

Only Once

All which, because it was

flame and song and granted us

joy, we thought we'd do, be, revisit,

turns out to have been what it was

that once, only; every invitation

did not begin

a series, a build-up: the marvelous

did not happen in our lives, our stories

are not drab with its absence: but don't

expect to return for more. Whatever more

there will be will be

unique as those were unique. Try

to acknowledge the next

song in its body-halo of flames as utterly

present, as now or never.

QUOTE: "Infatuation is when you think he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Conners. Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but you'll take him anyway." ~ Judith Viorst

Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Ada R. Habershon)

We're leaving first thing in the morning for South Carolina, returning late Monday evening... so I'll be away from the computer (and blogging) for the next three days - warm thoughts, sincere prayers, skyward wishes and purple candles are all welcome...

SONG: Will the Circle Be Unbroken by Ada R. Habershon

BOOK: Necessary Losses: The Loves, Illusions, Dependencies, and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow by Judith Viorst

POEM: All Lovely Things by Conrad Aiken

All lovely things will have an ending,
All lovely things will fade and die,
And youth, that's now so bravely spending,
Will beg a penny by and by.

Fine ladies soon are all forgotten,
And goldenrod is dust when dead,
The sweetest flesh and flowers are rotten
And cobwebs tent the brightest head.

Come back, true love! Sweet youth, return!--
But time goes on, and will, unheeding,
Though hands will reach, and eyes will yearn,
And the wild days set true hearts bleeding.

Come back, true love! Sweet youth, remain!--
But goldenrod and daisies wither,
And over them blows autumn rain,
They pass, they pass, and know not whither.

QUOTE: "We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey." ~ Kenji Miyazawa