Month: December 2014

Mixed Blessings

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Time for me to say thank you to all of the new friends I have made since I started this blog in August. Never knew how rewarding it would be, or I would have started it long ago. New friends from many countries, and from many American states, how could it be better? There are mixed blessings because of the ones that we have lost along the way, and I will always remember them with love, but we have a New Year and a new opportunity to meet the ones waiting out there to be found and befriended. Have a wonderful time as we move forward into 2015, Thanks to my very supportive family, wherever you may happen to be right now and to all of my WordPress, Facebook and Twitter friends.

WHAT DOES MY IPAD MEAN TO ME?

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Yesterday was an exciting day for me. I went shopping on the Internet on my laptop. It seems like I have been spending a lot of time there lately, like a lot of other Americans. Such an easy way for my fingers to do the walking. Sales abounded everywhere for all of the fun things that cash or a credit card can manage. I knew just what I was looking for, having discussed it endlessly for months. I already was aware of all of the wonderful new features that awaited me. Lightness of weight, faster, newer applications, all of these abided on the new Ipad Air 2, and I was about to order one.
It was a big day for my husband also, since he was going to be the recipient of my “old” Ipad. This sounded just fine to him: he thought the “old” one was just great, light enough, fast enough, and had so many apps already he didn’t know what to do with all of them. So I clicked the shopping cart button, checked it all out, and I was the owner of the new Air 2. They said I could pick it up at the store in two hours, so off we went to Plant City.
It turned out to be astonishingly easy to set it up myself, everything that was stored in the Cloud downloaded itself to the new one. All I had to do was hunt up passwords for the applications. Altho I do not understand the Cloud, I do know that it works, and it is just like a miracle.
Having an Ipad is a wonderful thing for me. It has opened up so many new worlds that I never had access to. I now have friends everywhere that I have only seen in pictures, but the photos bring us all closer. Whenever anything good or not so good happens to someone I know, I am one of the first to hear it. Having my blog has brought friends from all over the world, and a different way of looking at things. Playing games with relatives or old acquaintances is a great way of connecting with each other. The ability to play my favorite slot machines without spending any money can’t be beat.
Puzzles are a great way of keeping my mind sharp. I keep in touch with relatives and friends from long ago even tho we aren’t physically in each others lives anymore.
My writing is one of the main blessings in my life, and the Ipad is a huge part of that. Being able to express myself freely is so much easier, with a great instrument. Putting articles together for our writing group is a very satisfying accomplishment for me.
With all of its ups and downs, I am connected to the stock market every day with my Ipad. I can make trades, study reports, read opinions, and realize anew just how much fun it is. Even if it is a down day, I am connected with the financial world where I can invest. And on a good day I can watch the figures on the screen and smile.
I am so happy that I have lived in this time frame and been able to partake of the pleasures of the electronic world. It was meant for me, I just know it. Someday, in the far off future I hope, my family and friends will be able to read what I have written and know me just a little bit better. In the meantime I will continue to write, play games, do my crossword puzzles on line, invest, and watch my husband as he also plays and studies with my old Ipad. He looks pretty happy to me too.

HERE I AM, GOD

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You already knew that I was here.
I do not need to tell you, God.
Why do I feel the need to inform you?
Have I forgotten that wherever I am, God is?
Or is my ego in the way again, saying,
I must remind Him, lest He forget me,
Or is too busy, or doesn’t realize how important it is.
Or am I really reminding myself of that which already is?
Wherever I am, God is!

Thank you, God.

From The Four R’s by Verlie Rider

REASSURANCE

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NicholasToday I needed to know that you love me.
I needed to hear your voice.
I needed to feel your loving embrace.
I needed to see the twinkle in your eyes, just for me!
I needed the warm feelings that come to me
whenever I think of you.
I needed to know that no matter where you are
Or what you are doing
You care about me, no matter what!

And so what did I do? I found a favorite place to sit
And I became still and dreamed a dream of you.
I realized that what I needed I already have.
Husbands, wives, parents, beloved friends, sisters, brothers,
our children and grandchildren, I send my warm and
productive thoughts to wherever you are.
Somewhere deep in your hearts, you are feeling
The loving energy that transcends all of the negativity of the world.

The certainty of my love for you has returned all of the
peace and love to me that I was yearning for.
I am reassured by the knowledge that we are all
One together, united in love.

ELECTRONIC THANKFULNESS

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On the first day of winter, I am choosing to be thankful for all of the pictures on my Ipad and computer screensaver.
Over the years one of the mainstays of my life has been doing a lot of traveling. Some of it was going from one place to another in order to change my place of residence. Some of it was just pure pleasure, on a cruise ship or in our car. Even buses and airplanes had their day in the sun and one thing that tied them together was all of the pictures that I took along the way.
At first it was a pretty simple Kodak camera, and it took 20 pictures and plenty of them were not really worth saving. But we graduated to a better instrument as the years went by and I saved them for a while. Because I was living in so many different places all around the country I sent the majority of them to relatives to brag about all of the places in our American West. I am sure that lots of my children still have those old black and white pictures in their albums somewhere.
But now everything has changed. I take pictures with the Iphone or my Ipad, copy my friends pictures on Facebook, and put them into a screensaver on anything electronic. At any time I can sit and watch the pictures from all over the United States that I have actually visited, or smile at the children’s faces from long ago.
And when I look at an Alaskan landscape like a glacier, I can still bring forth the memories of standing on the deck of a cruise ship, can still feel the majesty and the awe that I experienced on that memorable day.
I can look at the picture of a great grandson only two hours old, and it is just like I was still there. Here in Florida I can look at our fruit trees in Michigan, loaded with blossoms, and remember how lucky I am to have lived on a farm. I can and do bring all of the faces of our children right in front of me, feeling the love and respect that we have for each other.
A screensaver is a wonderful thing, and I am so thankful for it. It is the reminder of all of the wonderful events in my life, always to be savored no matter where I am. Every picture is a reminder of how good life has been to me and so this is what I am most thankful for this Christmas.

WINTER MEMORIES

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Looking at this picture of my bird feeder in Michigan about five years ago, I am reminded of why we are now living in Florida for a few months each year. The feeder is on a railing just outside of our kitchen sliding door, and many a summer morning is spent enjoying the many birds that come to see us each day. The feeder has an apple crate over the top of it each night because the raccoons in our area think that this is their personal feeding trough. They are very messy and they dig more than they eat. As darkness comes upon us each evening my husband heads for the deck to cover it up because the raccoons are night time feeders. But if I sleep in even a few minutes over my normal time in the morning the birds fly in and start tapping on the top of the crate.
So I go outside and remove the crate. Just to let them know that I am here I also tap on the crate, and as I watch I can see our feathered friends perching on the branches of the big maple trees in the yard.
I really love the birds. I just don’t love them enough to stay home in Michigan all winter in order to feed them. Guilt arises in me as I make this statement. I know that other neighbors feed them, I tell myself. I’ve thought that maybe I could arrange to have someone come in and fill the feeder for me. But the yard usually has three feet of snow and so does the driveway.
What to do? I have decided. Maybe the birds are smart enough that they too have flown to a warmer climate.
They must do that, because each spring as I come back so do they. They too must be “snowbirds”. I sure hope so.

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR EMOTIONS IN A HURRY

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Listen to these words carefully.
Angrily Blindly
Badly Boastfully
Boldly Foolishly
Fortunately Happily
Gleefully

Take a good look at these words. Read them aloud. Leave a second in between each of them. What do you feel when you hear them?

Angrily, Blindly, Badly, Boastfully, Boldly, Foolishly, Fortunately, Happily, Gleefully.

Emotions, that is what you hear, because that is what you feel. As you speak each word again, your emotions do an abrupt about face, switching from negative to positive and back again. Your thoughts and your feelings are inner twined in the same way that we are all connected. Every time that we are beset with an unhappy or negative thought it is possible, yes even probable that we can change just one little word and by doing so change our current outlook on life.
Our thoughts and our words are the engine that runs us. The next time that you are having a less than positive thought, stop and look at the word you used that described it. There are tons of great words that should be floating around in our mind. Let us capture them and share them with someone we love. Share them in our writing and share them in our speech.
Someone famous once said we are our own worst enemy. We use our own words against ourselves. Listening to our own positive words will bring a lift to our spirits and a smile to our faces. It sure beats hunting for the Bufferin bottle when my own thoughts give me a headache.