Frequent Flyer

Song - Fly Like an Eagle by the Steve Miller Band

New Year's morning we woke to the shrill of hawks calling to each other.  Some were far away in the valley and some were in our own backyard.  I looked out from the deck and saw this guy in a dead tree down our creek.  His tail looked like a raccoons.

He let me get quite close but kept and eye on what I was doing.  After about 40 photos, my bare feet were beginning to freeze to the ground but one second later another hawk flew into a nearby tree. They are Red-shouldered Hawks and smaller than a Red-tailed Hawk.

She was a bit smaller than the first hawk so I am assuming this one is female and the first is a male.

He watched her as she called to him and then they both flew away together.......how romantic to start 2019 off with a whirlwind romance!



"If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans." 
--Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Grace

Song - Amazing Grace by Jeff Campbell

Each year I choose One Little Word on which to focus for the upcoming new year.  It is more relevant for me to have a word to focus on than to have a New Year's resolution which I usually blow within the first month and then I feel bad about myself.

In December my word came to me for 2016 and it was Grace.

Not the kind of Grace where I have to walk and act "graceful"......nope, that wouldn't be me!  But the kind of grace that you don't see but you feel.

Looking back on the month of January, my dad was the perfect example of Grace.  He was a quite man who loved his family and home.  Dad worked hard and loved the simple things in life - his garden, going for a ride with mom, fishing, and good friends.

Calvin Kenneth Crawford

1927 - 2016

"I do not understand the mystery of grace - 
only that it meets us where we are
 and does not leave us where it found us." 
-- Anne Lamott

Lightness of Being

Junie-Maroonie - my niece

Last evening I got a text from my friend "J".  While we don't get together too often, when we do, it just feels like "home".  Neither of us are very "high tech" people but we can email and text and....oh yeah, sometimes blog!

Our text last night began over concerns about a mutual friend of ours who is in the hospital.  The evening ended in laughter and tears.  I'll tell you, there is nothing like a good ol' belly laugh to relax your body and remind you that you need to laugh.......and often!

Our waiter in Avignon (must of been my pronunciation of Diet Coke please!)

Here goes - typo's and all....


ME - Jill is doing great. I walked here up & down the hallway today!!

J - Great.  U walked the hallway or she did?

ME - Sorry.  I walked with her (Jill).  Up and down the hallway!
ME - Actually I probably needed the workout more than her!!!

J - Ok that makes more sense.  I thought u were proud of yourself for the walk!

ME - I am! ! !
ME - Thanks for the rose & dogwood info too!

J - Btw.  What's next on the schedule?  Nantucket, France ???

ME - I had to cancel my trip to France in June as Jon is graduating from Cal Poly on June 10th.
ME - When can the three of us get together?

J - January?  Maybe for a couple days-we can take over the apartment and plan our next trip.
J - Sh******, I need to buy and puck up my painting b4 Xmas.

Me - Okey dokey.  Let's book it!

J - Pick
J - Why r u so fast at this?  New phone?
J - U home for the holidays?
J - Forget what I just said "slow poke"!

ME - Yes.  We will be home.  And I will mail or

J - Or what?

ME - OK I was just trying to compose my message girlfriend!

J - Lol

Me - Is hubby helping you QuickDraw ?

J - What's that

Me - Or what is that I will bring it to PA.

J - Okely dokely
J - Let's check in next week

Me - Quick Draw mcGraw was a TV show.  And FYI I'm crying now because you crack me up!

J - R u drunk
J - Now that makes me laugh.
J - Are u skinny, medium, or fat?
J - I'm door #3 - fat.

Me - I just read our text to Jim and he is crying now too.  Good going!
Me - Me too...what will we do.  You are not Fat.  Just beautiful.
Me.  Next week.  Painting delivered.  Lunch?

J - What will we do?  Talk about our plan when I c u.

Me - I mean diet lunch?

J - Next week is BAD.  What about the following week

Me - Okey dokey.

J - Perfect.  Hi to Jimmy baby

Crystal clear.....right?

You know how when you are texting and the person responds faster than you can answer.  That's what was going on and we never really got in sync.

I think we will hook up eventually.

Maybe in Nantucket or possibly France......

Tyler at the Boadwalk - delighted to be "driving a car" with his big brother!

TJ & Jon - happy to be playful

Tyler laughing at himself for hamming it up for the camera

Paul & TJ - my nephews

Sweet, sweet Cal - my grand nephew

Jodi - my friend laughing at playing Canasta in Tahoe

Junie - Maroonie & Andy

My parents - Betty & Cal - happy to be at the World Series

Mark & Mr. B - (private joke) while boating in Tahoe

Me & Jackie in Paris

Even dogs have a lightness of being!! Especially if they live in Carmel!

“Laughter is carbonated holiness.”  ― Anne Lamott

Serenity of the Soul

I just began reading "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott.  The title is from her father who was also a writer.  Anne's brother had put off a large school report about birds for months and on the night before it was due, he was trying to start it but was feeling overwhelmed.

(I don't know about you but I never delay in any of my tasks!)

Sitting at the kitchen table amongst piles of bird books, her father gently rubbed his son's shoulders and told him to take it "bird by bird".


And that my friends is life......

I have been feeling so overwhelmed with life lately that I didn't feel balanced.








Therefore my body gently reminded me with 3 weeks of vertigo to come into balance both mentally and physically.



Why is simple so difficult?  Just take it bird by bird.....

“I'm all over the place, up and down, scattered, withdrawing, trying to find some elusive sense of serenity."
The world can't give that serenity. The world can't give us peace. We can only find it in our hearts."
I hate that."
I know. But the good news is that by the same token, the world can't take it away.”
― Anne Lamott