The luck of the Irish

Today is St. Patrick's Day. We often hear the statement, "the luck of the Irish". Although, I'm not Irish, my husband is from Ireland. Within our home, we have a number of items that are Irish. When I think of the statement"luck of the Irish", I feel very lucky and fortunate. Although, I have had my share of hurts and disappointments, I feel very lucky. I'm fortunate to have had a long career and was able to retire at age 56 with 90% of my salary. I've just recently applied for Soc. Sec. benefits. With my time I have the freedom to spend time with family and friends. I enjoy being a Hospice volunteer and receive many blessings from those I spend time with. I'm fortunate to be pretty healthy, whereas others are not so fortunate. My home life can be "crazy" living with my Irish man,who will blast up the c.d.'s of Irish music,comes up with unusual inventions, as well as art works. Still, I'll keep my man. I have a beautiful stepdaughter as well as a granddaughter,and son-in-law. My,now 6 dogs are loud but gives me pleasure as well as medical bills. I, may not be Irish, but I'm lucky. Are you lucky and what do you feel fortunate to have?

I think that most people would have to admit the weather has been "wild",
too much rain,snow,wind. Living in Georgia, we rarely expect to get snow.
In the past no. of months, we have had snow (2-4 in.)on Christmas Day.We have
had snow two times since Christmas. This amount of snow may not seem much,
but Georgia isn't equipped to deal with this as other states. Recently,
we had a few days with sun and temps. between 50-60 degrees. I, hope you
enjoy the photos I took when I went to Berry College. I, was amazed to
see some students laying on blankets on campus enjoying the sun. Also
included are two photos showing buds on the trees as well as the yellow
jonquils coming up from the ground. All that I see are wonders of life and
blessings given to us from God.

NIGHT TIME

What's it like at your home at night time? Before going to bed, we "SUSH"
our 6 babies(dogs) outside for their "bathroom needs".While waiting,darkness
surrounds us with a dark black sky as a background for twinkling stars.
What a beautiful sight. I often wonder who is looking at the same stars.
Are these star gazers living within our range,what do they do,what are their
life styles? It's doubtful, I will get an answer. The road in front of
our home has less traffic at night then during daylight. Unfortunately,
our bedroom faces this road, so car lights as well as movements are quite
noticeable.Ambulances seem to prefer to travel on our road, or is it just my
imagination? This isn't the best sound, as our "babies" tend to howl to
loud ambulance sounds.Sometimes our"babies", decide to take their time
outside like children,as they don't want to go to bed. Still waiting
outside, I can hear a train traveling through our town. I, wonder about
it's destination. When my sister and I were children, we could hear a train
as we lay in our bed to go to sleep. The sound hypnotized us to fall
asleep. There are dogs in the neighborhood that seem to continuously bark.
Are they saying they are hungry or just want someone to go out and
play? I, could care less.I,miss the birds chirping, they must be getting
ready to sleep. Finally, the babies slowly enter our kitchen. It's a good
thing that we have a large country kitchen. Four of the babies sleep in
kitchen with beds scattered alongside walls, or in front of the dishwasher,
and most likely under the kitchen table. Our babies are good about "potty"
issues, but just in case, pee wee pads are a lifesaver. Our oldest, Missy,
as well as our newest child, Mattie, have beds in our bedroom. As good
parents we allow Mattie to sleep with us, Mattie hasn't felt well.
Mattie, needs time to adjust to our home and know the security of our
home. Finally, all of the "babies" are bedded down. Time for Mom and Dad,
to get our p.j.'s on and jump into bed. The t.v.is on until I notice the
snoring sounds of my husband. I'm careful to slowly move the t.v. control
out of Hubby's hand, if he awakes, he denies he fell asleep and the t.v.
remains on until the next time. Sometimes, while in a deep sleep, the
"babies" will get rowdy,sing(howl)in the middle of the morning between
2 a.m. and 6 a.m.Their Dad will jump out of our bed and open the kitchen
door and shout"SLEEPY,SLEEPY,GO TO SLEEP'. Their dad is very convincing,
the "babies" settle down. What a night! Although, we are retired, we
usually get up by 7 a.m. Time to get the "babies" to go outside and
prepare breakfast. It can be a long night.Whenever I think of this
life, I, thank God for all he has given me ,simple pleasures,good
memories.

THE PICTURE OF A CHILD

I have to admit that I don't have extensive knowledge about art. Rarely do I know one artist from another. My favorite art/pictures/photos are depicting people as in a portrait or being involved in some activity. During the past year I have started a collection of pictures of children and began to hang these in a grouping in my hallway. Throughout my work history, I have worked with children, from infancy through teen years. Children face good and bad times and we adults should be positive role models. Unfortunately not all adults teach children positive values. Looking at images of children there are possible indications of innocence, playfulness and simplicity. There are also those images that depict strife and sadness. Looking at a picture, I often wonder what story is behind a child's image. The "children gallery"reminds me of the love we should have for a child. Over two years ago, we were blessed with a granddaughter, "ms. pumpkin"(nickname).Our granddaughter is fortunate as she has alot of people who love her. Although, "ms.pumpkin" lives in another state her parents take alot of pictures of her as well as we usually talk with her on the telephone weekly. I know it's great being a parent, but Boy! being a grandparent, is SUPER. If you are a grandparent, you will understand what I mean. Enjoy my collection as well as my PRIZE photo of "ms. pumpkin". Out of curiosity, do you have a collection /gallery of pictures/photos/art that is special or has some significance?

THE TRAIN

THE TRAIN


THE TRAIN is traveling, making trips and stops,
where will it finally rest?
It's easy to get wrapped on a trip,that you
missed the joy of the beginning.

It's time to get back on the track,
travel at a slower pace,
say HELLO, to ALL who passes my way.

Rose

Like a train, I feel that it's time to stop, take time to get back to
blogging,checking in and saying Hello.I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had snow on Christmas Day in Ga. It was beautiful. New Years was quiet, but safe.Busy with family, friends, volunteering. My goal of this 2011, is weight reduction, increase volunteering, enjoying life with all it's ups and downs. For those of you who know, we are the parents of 5 babies(dogs), we now have adopted a new baby(dog), her name is Mattie. I'm a sucker and after hearing that her owner had died and this dog needed a home we introduced her to her new 5 siblings. All has gone well, and we named our new baby, Mattie. All of our babies have names starting with the letter M. as our last name starts with M.When I was a young child I had a severe fear of dogs. Up until age 8, I would run, jump on items, including making my parents hold me if a dog was insight. Mother and Dad bought a Chihuahua and after jumping on the kitchen table, I worked on my fear and thank goodness no longer had to jump onto our table. Dog fear solved,so what can I say, my parents did a great job in helping me. Hopefully, I will come to my senses and my husband and myself will keep our family number the same, now 6. Bear with me to get to your blogs,bear with me if my posts sometimes experience a "time lapse". I have been having problems with photos, but will try to include some photos.

TRY,TRY,TRY

TRY, TRY, TRY, it has taken me days to get my pictures to be posted. Don't know what went wrong. After much frustration, I just couldn't deal with the computer. I'm sorry for the delay and now will try to say Hi! to my friends.Please notice my post dated 12/05/10. your friend, Rose

CHRISTMAS IS COMMING

I, had planned to do this post sooner, but as many of us bloggers have said,"busy", it's easy to get sidetracked. I'm still alive and will get back to reading blogs. I hope that all of you had a safe and warm Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving was good and busy. As we have just celebrated Thanksgiving, we are preparing for Christmas. This usually involves decorating and food preparation. Some families have certain traditions and ideas. In 1991, my 1st. husband was killed in a car accident. As the months went by (husband was killed during May, Memorial weekend), Christmas became an issue. My Mother, asked me why would I want to decorate the house and celebrate Christmas. I, told Mother that I felt if I didn't acknowledge Christmas life would be very miserable and that we needed to celebrate the birth of Jesus. When I lost my husband, I never got angry at God and ask why me. I was fortunate to have 18 years with my husband and that was a blessing. During this time, I used an idea given by my church to help people through Christmas. I, set up a "Blessing Tree". What is a " Blessing Tree"? A tree that is not pretty or several tree limbs to make up as a tree. Everyone at church would write on a piece of paper a blessing they have received. The blessing was put onto the tree and eventually there was a beautiful tree thanking God for providing blessings to everyone. I, remember getting a few tree limbs, setting this up as a tree in my home and daily place a blessing on my tree. It looked strange to some, but was my salvation. I, admit that I don't do a blessing tree every year, but try to remember how this helped me. The tags on the tree would be written from Thanksgiving until the end of December. Currently, my tree is located in our hallway, I, can't miss it. I, have a bowl of tags, a calender on the table and check each day off as I write a blessing. Some of my blessings are having friends, a husband who will make oatmeal and coffee for us, that is just some examples. When the Christmas holiday is over, I still keep my tree and decorate for different holidays. I, wanted to share this idea to you and maybe the "Blessing Tree", will become a part of your life. Attached is a photo of my tree, you can notice that it is different from our Christmas tree. Also included are photos of our Christmas decorations in our home. My husband often will tell me I go overboard decorating, but I still go the same path. I, have a collection of Santa's, some of which my Mother gave me way before she died. I, also have a very old chalk nativity scene that I had when I was a toddler.Enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed decorating. Are there any traditions that you do in preparing yourself and your home for Christmas?