Stick Horse Cowgirls

I am self-employed, true enough.  You might think this means I have all kinds of discretionary time.  I guess it depends on how you define “discretionary.”  I feel like I have very little, really. Last weekend, for example, I worked both days.  No one said I had to do this.  It isn’t that I have a burning desire to work seven days a week.  No, I just knew what needed doing and went in.  Same with going into the office very early or staying late. Yesterday (Friday), my brother suggested we go out to lunch together.    We seldom do that, ending up eating at the desk 9 out of 10 work days (usually something bad for us, although we’re trying to pack healthier choices now).  I was tempted to go.  I had no afternoon appointments and the weather is so fine right now that I knew we could probably score a table out in spring. Still, I was nagged.  Shouldn’t I stay and get just one more thing done?  He and I had a serious discussio...

There was nothing on the slate, particularly, today.  I knew I had to work a trip into the office sometime this weekend, and there is always plenty of work to do around here on the weekend, but no schedule. So, my phone rang at 8:30 this morning as I was still sipping coffee in my pajamas.  It was V.  She had been on the phone with M, one of our close friends, and was now calling to invite me out with them.  So, see, it is either M’s or V’s fault (I suspect V). “ Can you meet M  and me for breakfast at 9:30?” I was game…I wouldn’t even shower.  I had just enough time.  “ Sure!  Where do we meet up?” You won’t believe what she said…I could hardly believe it when I heard it: “ Krispy Kreme .” What!!  This after I just wrote a post on the dangers of fast food?  Isn’t Krispy Kreme fast food danger squared???  V explained:  “ Well, it’s cheap, and I’m craving a maple iced doughnut.” That was enough justification f...

No, it’s not a contest…it’s the other kind of “giveaway.” I have dear, dear friends in Wales.  They live in the outskirts of Cardiff.  We became friends because their middle (and, later, their younger) son came to the US to coach soccer—specifically, my son’s team.  He landed in our  guest bedroom, and he became party of our family. When he married a girl from here, his family came over for the wedding.  Their arrival added a dimension to my life for which I am eternally grateful.  They are true, wonderful friends, and we could go years without face-to-face contact and remain almost family. They have stayed with us perhaps half a dozen times.   Their sons had the unmitigated gall to move to the next state, so when they come to the US now, I do not see them.  I have yet to visit Wales, but have absolutely no doubt of my welcome should my ship come in and I be able to afford the trip and the time from home.  (I’m counting on the lott...

I am a wee bit worried about myself.  I’m thinking I might have a lazy streak, and it might be sizeable.  That is not a good thing, I realize.  Now, don’t get me wrong: I work very, very hard.  I am busy as a bee from sunup to sundown.  I have so many balls in the air each work day that keeping them each from crashing to the ground is a constant struggle.  No, I’m not lazy about my profession, and when I come home, I am usually very tired, which gives me great justification for what I am about to say…. What I am lazy about is most things physical.  I don’t want to exercise (and there’s little time, for it given my work schedule—see? Justified!) And I don’t want to clean my house!  I am thinking of hiring a housekeeper to come in every other week or so, but I am going to have to clean the house and put away the clutter before anyone will take this job. I was out to dinner with my good friends from next door, midlife country girl .  They...

I was thinking recently about the importance of friendship as I left a baby shower. We had such fun at the party; there were family and friends all together in one room, and the gregarious part of me enjoyed it all. Later that afternoon one of my co-workers and I visited another friend who was recuperating at home from a biopsy she had recently. I had a great time sharing a drink and meeting her family. I couldn't help but think how much fun heaven will be with fellowship that never ends and where there are no biopsies, or divorces or loss of any kind. I don't think heaven will be a boring place where people float around on clouds, playing harps--but I wonder - what will it be like? Will we have work to do, friends to visit?--My finite mind grapples with its limitations of understanding. When life grabs me by the ankles and threatens to pull me under with defeat and despair, it is without fail my friends who I turn to. Believe me, the Lord hears my lamentations first, but I do...

Well, it was going on 6:00 p.m. and I was still at my desk.  I am so far behind…it was nice to sit there with no phones ringing; and though I was tired, I was moving paper at a rate I cannot accomplish during the regular office hours. My cell phone rang.  It was V wanting me to meet our friend P and her for a stroll-from-store-to-store-evening that a quaint little shopping area of our city hosts once a month. Sounded like fun but, no, I’d better not.  I was making progress and hated to lose momentum.  I declined.  She protested…I was unmoved.  We hung up, and I turned back to the computer. Cell phone rings again.  This time it was P.  “ C’mon, you’ve got to come.  They are going to have free wine at these shops, and everyone turns a blind eye to that no-open-container law.  You can carry your plastic wine cup store-t0-store sampling fancy foods and enjoying the sidewalk stroll .” I declined, again, virtuous person that I am. Bac...

Yes, another Ayn Rand Quote.  Still in Chapter one of Atlas Shrugged (and  it is a loooooong book!) we find Eddie thinking: He wanted no sadness attached to his childhood; he loved its memories: any day of it he remembered now seemed flooded by still, brilliant sunlight.  It seemed to him as if a few rays from it reached into his prese nt: not rays, more like pinpoint spotlights… What do you think of as your “typical” child hood day? You know I can remember rainy days, alright; and I recall bundling up against the cold winter.  I can bring to mind events of other seasons.  But when I think of my childhood, my mind immediately goes to summer; to days free from school schedules and days of play, mostly with V. Really, the summer memories dominate; they are far and away more disproportionate in the ranking I give them in childhood memories than in time actually spent.  I think of summer play days, running into the the house occasionally for a swi...

in·teg·ri·ty /ɪnˈtɛgrɪti/  1.adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. 2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.  3.a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition Do you ever have epiphanies of basic, simple concepts?  I’d like to say that I have flashes of genius in areas yet unexplored and undefined.  But, no, my “flashes” lead me to exclaim, “ Eureka! Look what I’ve discovered!  The sky really is blue!” Only to see others shrug their shoulders and say, “Yeah, what else is new?”  I had one of these flashes recently on the definition of “integrity.”  I have a wonderful long-time friend who is so supportive of me.  And, yet, I found out that he is also supportive of my husband.  You know, the husband who has stolen money from my mother, who has abandoned his entire family, and who has left me with a butt-load of debt?  Yeah, that one. I foun...

V and I had a wonderful Saturday!  Last night my two young nieces spent the night with me, the plan being to visit our local Farmer’s Market early, before the heat set in too much.  I invited MIL and my mother to attend—both declined, having heard the triple-digit weather report and knowing the energy and stamina of my nieces… V, the girls and I were down there by 8:30, and the heat was rising already.  We breakfasted on pastry and French toast (the girls) then perused the lovely display of fresh vegetables and fruit and the array of  other goods in small booths.  Mom had “ordered” some locally-grown okra and tomatoes.  She likes to make this stewed okra-tomato thing ( ugh ! I have to have my okra fried or in gumbo).  We found the former but discovered that there are NO local tomatoes.  The story goes that the heat here has caused them to split, so vine-ripened ones had to be trucked in.  Mom had to make do with tomatoes from the next st...

When I was a girl, V and I spent many Saturdays in our town’s “downtown.”  Going downtown in the late 50’s and the 60’s was a fairly-big deal, as we lived out in the suburbs.  Back then, one “dressed” to go downtown: I remember my mother putting on a dress, stockings and heels to go.  We kids never wore our play clothes to go downtown.  This photo to the left is of my hometown in the late 50’s.  If you look closely, you’ll see that the women were all in dresses or skirts with hose…no jeans or even dress slacks on women downtown in those days. There was a ritual for most of my trips to town with V; always on Saturday, and sometimes several times in one month.  V’s mother never learned to drive.  Her father, a newspaper printer by weekday, was a pool shark on Saturdays!  He spent his Saturdays in the pool hall downtown, so either he’d take us to town or (more often) he would drop V’s mother and us kids off at V’s aunt’s house, where we would gath...

I've always loved summer! Here it is mid June and I don't have to go back to work til August! I love to putter around the house and garden, try new recipes, go the Farmer's Market, etc. Eldest daughter is expecting her baby daughter very soon, so I am taking granddaughter to horseback riding camp this week! I would have loved the opportunity to attend a camp like that! "C" and I would play outdoors and get so dirty that the sweat and dirt would accumulate and make grimy rings in the creases of our necks--we called them "sweat beads"! I love my memories of summer growing up in the South! "C" and I are old enough- ahem- yes, I'm afraid we are are old enough to remember the days before air conditioning ! We played outdoors from sunrise to sundown--even after sundown some days and we had no neighborhood pool to go to cool off! Of course, with no air conditioning in our homes we were somewhat acclimated to the heat. We spent many afternoons run...