Sunday Quotes

A dog owns nothing, yet is seldom dissatisfied.

- Irish Proverb

Saturday Night Movie

I never get tired of seeing this - maybe because I see a little too much of myself in it. Enjoy!

Sunday Quotes

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Please share this video

If you haven't had the chance to see "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, please take the time to go see this video. His philosophy, and the message he conveys, is empowering. It is a stark reminder that as long as we have breath, we can make a difference.

A little off

I've been a little off this past week. I had some news last Wednesday, though not completely unexpected, was still a shock to the system. It's not really something I'm ready to talk about, and it's not going to kill me, it just means I have to make some lifestyle changes. In other words, it's going to be a pain in the ass and I'm going to be cranky.

It just causes me to wonder "why me"? The only happy little refuge I have in my life right now is knitting. With almost everything else there is pressure, responsibility, inadequacy, disappointment or angst. I realize that I have it better than a lot of people, but there are a lot of people that have it better than me.

I know I'm just wallowing in a shimmering pool of self pity, but honestly, I hardly ever put myself first. Maybe that's why I'm in the shape I'm in now. So many people pull at me during the day, I have nothing left for myself at the end. Except for a little knitting time just for me. There are times that I wish I could just knit my problems away. About as likely as Santa and Tinker Bell stopping by for a drink this Friday night.

I'm just frustrated and mentally tired and I feel like whining. Sorry.

Tomorrow normalcy will return and I will post what I'm working on and we'll just put this little pity party on the back burner. Not every day can be wine and roses.

Thanks for humoring me.

Sunday Quotes

The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views...which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.

-Doctor Who

Just because

Thoughts for a Tuesday

This really isn't Tuesday, because, quite frankly, I feel soundly asleep on the couch about 15 minutes after I sat down, which was around 9:30pm. I woke up around 3 am and crawled into bed. It was about 10 minutes or so later that I realized - damn - I forgot to blog.

I hate being tried. I hate not being able to do the things I want to do. Sometimes life just doesn't want to work with your schedule, and you just have to deal with. I hate that I'm getting older and I can't function anymore on less than 6 hours a night.

So, in my head I blogged these thoughts yesterday. I have to cut myself a little slack every once in a while.

The simple things in life

I don't know why this is such a favorite picture of mine - a lonely, little pine cone on the Tahoe shore. There was just something so sad, yet poignant.

There are times when you just have to appreciate the simple things.

Sunday Quotes

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of being.

Carl Jung

Favorite's

BEER - Tasters at the Eel River Brewing Company, America's first certified organic brewery. The Hazelnut Porter was a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

Water

Water is fascinating to me. It falls from the sky in droplets, flakes and mist. It freezes and forms glaciers, icicles, frost and black ice. The earth is 2/3rd's water, and we are comprised of it and need to exist. It can be fresh or salty. The colors it takes in nature are varied and breathtaking. But what gets me is this...



The morning sun as seen through my windshield. This ice formed from the overnight dew.

Amazing.

We must not forget

This is a memorial in Lafayette, California. It is a well-to-do town, about 20 miles east of San Francisco. I took this picture on February 13th, 2007. I thought what a horrible cost this war has been. When I passed it last week, one year later, the total was 3953. A difference of 842. Add to that an additional 478 who have been lost in Afghanistan. So many people gone. We will never know what they could have accomplished if their fate had been different.

Regardless of your view of the conflict in the Middle East, and our role in it, over 4,000 families will forever be missing a family member at the table at holidays, never be able to hear their voice in laughter, never be able to touch their face with love. Then there are all those who sacrificed a part of themselves in these conflicts. Their lives are forever changed.

Even if you're having a really bad day, it doesn't compare to this, does it?

Sunday Quotes

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

-Aristotle

Sunday Quotes

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

- Mark Twain



I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has left comments in the last few weeks. I appreciate your kind words. It is always encouraging to see that someone else reads, or sees, your work. I wish that I could respond back directly, but that's not something available through Blogger. Can't expect too much for something that is free. Just know that it mean a lot to me, and it just makes my day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Favorite's

On the trail to Kehoe Beach, Pt. Reyes Station.

Every once in a while when I take that "special" shot, even I have to say "damn, did I take that"? I totally love this one.

Thoughts for a Tuesday

I like this title better than Tirade Tuesday. It's hard for me to be a shrieking witch on a continual basis.

I've been giving a lot of thought to where I am in the world. My circumstances. My sphere of influence. My interaction with other people. I have found I'm not entirely happy with it, but I'm not putting any effort into correcting it either.

I love my family and friends. I love what I do, personally and professionally. I feel blessed that I have a wonderful man to share my life with. I feel truly fortunate to be where I am professionally. But something is missing.

There are times I want to call up a friend, and just hang out at Starbucks, or Barnes & Noble. Go cruise the craft store. Have lunch. But I want this with one of my old friends, the ones that know me sometimes better than I know myself. They are too far away for that.

I love the Bay Area, but sometimes it's lonely. I made a "new" friend a few years ago. We met at work. I put far more stock in our friendship than she did. I haven't seen her since June 2006, and the deep sense of hurt and betrayal I felt then is still as strong today. Sadly, this renewed my belief that your personal life and professional life need to be held far apart.

I spend a lot of time at work on the phone. It has become my least favorite mode of communication. I have days when my ears just hurt from being on the phone so much. The last thing I want to do is have a 2 hour conversation on the phone with a friend. I want to talk to them - but I want to see them. See, there's my one big regret. Losing the physical connection with my friends.

Do I actively go out and involve myself in activities where I could meet new people? Not so much. Do I make an effort to become involved in groups? A little.

Here I am whining about something that I know I will make little effort to change. Am I alone in this? I don't think so. Am I too picky about who I choose to associate with? Probably. I don't have a great record when it comes to "girl friends", probably because I never really understood other girls. I found most to be completely silly, boy/man obsessed, and shopping fanatics. Then again, my mother was never great at supporting my socializing endeavors. Until I moved out of the house, I had spent one night away from my mother. One solitary night. I spent it with my godmother's, a woman I didn't like. Not one bit. She used me like a prized show dog to her friends. "Isn't my little Norwegian God Daughter just precious? I could just eat her up!" I told my mother when I went home the next day, that I never wanted to spend another night at THAT WOMAN'S house. I was 8. My mother took that to be I never wanted to spend another night away from her. Yeah - it pretty much sucked around my house after that.

My mother has one friend. A very sweet lady, I have know her my whole life. She has been more of an aunt to me than my own blood. My mother and her best friend. They had another woman they were close to. She passed away in 1976 from breast cancer. They still talk about her, and that awful husband of hers. They're like a couple of school girls when they are together- laughing and joking about nothing and everything. I don't know what they would do without the other. I don't want this to be my life when I'm their age.

In some ways, I am mimicking my mother and her isolationist ways. At least I have things to do to occupy my time. And I obviously share details of my life with anyone willing to listen. I guess I have gotten to a stage in my life that it would be nice to have someone close to hang out with - someone other than my husband. As I said, he is wonderful and I love him to death. But he's a husband! He can't be completely objective.

God, I could go on and on about this. Poop.

Memories

There are days when I really miss my Dad. And yes - I was Daddy's little girl.

Does this, or does this not, just scream 70's?

Sunday Quotes

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

Steve Martin

In Memorium

I have enjoyed knitting socks very much this past year. There are two pair that stand out, because they were created around the time a favorite book series finished up last summer.

Gigi Silva, otherwise known as Momma Monkey, the host of Socktopia, passed away this week. She was a wonderfully creative woman. I enjoyed participating in Socktopia. When Harry Potter was released last July, Gigi created three sock patterns for the event. I have completed Fawkes and Bellatrix. I was ready to move on to Nagini, but was diverted to other pretty patterns.

I run a KAL called Sock Stash Elimination Campaign. I have challenged the participants to knit a pair of Momma Monkey socks during the month of February. For each completed pair, I will be donating $5 to the Lupus Foundation in Gigi's memory. It's a fitting time to complete Nagini, I think.

We'll miss you, Momma Monkey.