With Liberty and Justice

 When I was in elementary school in the 50s, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Even back then something sounded a bit off to me although I couldn't have told you what. When my daughter was in the 8th grade (I think) they were going to say the Pledge and she came to me and said, "Mama, I can't do it. What do I do?" Giving it very little thought I realized she was having the sane questions I had had years before. I suggested she say the Pledge to the country as envisioned by so many good people: people, like her father, who marched for Civil Rights; people, like her grandfather, who fought in WWII; people, like her other grandfather, who defended a black man in the white courts of the South in the 30s; people of all times and races who knew that there wasn't liberty and justice for all yet ~ and there could be! 

We aren't there yet. In many ways we are slipping back from where we were even when she struggled with  what to say. Racism is rampant. LBGTQ folks struggle with acceptance of their identity. Immigration policy is chaotic with no sense of it being about human beings. We still have a problem with seeing the other as the same as we are. The right to vote is just now being restricted in such a way as to block people of color and economic diversity when every citizen should have access to a ballot and a way to make their voice heard. 

I may be disappointed and I am hopeful. White police who murder black citizens are finally being brought to account in the courts. Same sex couples are finally allowed to marry and adopt children. Women are finally being heard when they speak out about consent. 

I continue to be optimistic that one day, in this amazing country where the struggle continues,  there will indeed be liberty and justice for all. So - on that note, I wish you all a happy 4th of July! 

Family Time - Finally!!

After more than a year of COVID lock down, we all were vaccinated and Michelle's family came to Tahoe. It was a Delightful week ~ and here we are!!

Activities included shopping at Savers in Reno for wonderful vintage clothes and cooking. Cooking included: 

Michelle and Marc made kabobs and Marc made Chicken Adobo.

Trinity made crepes.

Akira made pudding.

Trinity made designer French bread.

And we all feasted well for five days. 

To prepare for more feasting later in the summer, Trinity helped Dean plant tomatoes, rosemary and basil.

Just for fun, the kids went kayaking and one night even battled a bat. 

Woke to this note on a paper towel. Orkin will arrive tomorrow if we haven't gotten it out yet. 

Grandson Carter from the McKay side of the clan 

came to dinner and a really good visit one night. 

Neighbors also came to dinner and to visit.

It was a wonderful week of lots of visiting and activities and just

being together as a family. Michelle took one last selfie as she and I 

prepared to say good-bye. This time, however, we have a date for

our next visit. Family love is very special and we have had the 

good fortune to have most of ours come this summer - three down,

one to go. Much love. 

I'm Spoiled

 We have a large portion of the McKay side of the clan visiting us this week. Due to a dietary issue in the family, they had hired a nanny who cooks for them. They brought her with them to Tahoe where she has not only continued to cook for all of us but also clean up after the meals. Wow!!

Son Rob has actually banished me from the kitchen for the duration of their trip and after deciding against all my Southern upbringing, I could do that, I have left it to Coco. Oh we are eating well. 

Even for meals that are not technically Chinese, her vegetables are brilliant with a flavor that is different to what I would prepare. For lunch today, she cooked veggies that we mixed for ourselves into a stir-fry: carrots, cabbage, onions, rice and left over pork shoulder. Yummy!! Like I said, I am spoiled. 

Dean said to his son, "What will you do when she leaves?" I said, "What will we do when she leaves and we've only had her around for a week!!" 

We will miss her when they leave and in the meantime, I will enjoy being spoiled and relish the delicious food laid before me and be grateful for Coco's arrival in our lives for a week. 

I'm Normal!

 At the opening of the musical The Fantastiks, The Girl has a lovely monologue that ends "Please, God, don't let me be normal". Often I have quoted that to myself until this morning when I was so grateful to discover I'm very normal. 

I was listening to a discussion about the new CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated people being able to go without masks in most situations and the opening of restaurants, churches, schools, society in general. I have said over the last several weeks, "I found it easier to shut down than I am finding it to open up again". An epidemiologist asked her blog listenings how they were feeling about getting back to pre-pandemic life and 79% of them said they were anxious. Thank You!! 

One woman even said she had been looking forward to going out, setting up play dates for her children, and now that she could, she wasn't sure she really wanted to. Last week friends were in town and asked to meet us for lunch. Whoa! I wasn't sure about that at all. We went. We ate outside. Everyone around us arrived masked until our food arrived. I made it through that first baby step. 

The doctors in this discussion all said we had to listen to our own emotional well-being and so I felt fine about what I was doing which is exactly that. Normal for me means listening to my body and not feeling pushed to do or be something I am uncomfortable doing. Please, God, let me be normal!!

The Workout Advantage

 Most of you know I now have a personal trainer for about 18 months with a long break because of the pandemic restrictions. I have slowly been regaining my strength and have known over the last couple of months that I was getting stronger - confirmed both by my trainer and by my massage therapist and just by the things I am able to do with more ease. So - working out two days a week has been helpful. 

Thursday night three of us (Dean, me and our friend Jessica) had had dinner on the front deck. I was carrying two plates with some steak fat and gristle on them back inside when I tripped over the door jamb. The plates flew out of my hands, my arms went out to protect me, and I landed slam on my already sore knee. OUCH!

So there I was, laid out on the floor, surrounded by broken plates, steak fat and juice, holding my knee and crying and practically screaming "Oh God, my knee! Oh God, my knee!!" Dean and Jessica were right beside me of course and together we eventually got me up at which point we realized my knee was very sore, probably bruised but in no way broken or damaged even. They got me in a chair, elevated my leg, put an ice pack on the knee, gave me Ibuprofen,  and brought me my dessert (Akira's chocolate pudding!). 

I am fine. Just sore. And the reason for the subject of this blog is that I have fallen before, I know what it is like for several days afterwards and I just have not had that this time! Even the day after I was able to walk around my deck, do some mild arm exercises with my 3 pound weights, and rest comfortably. There is no way I could have done that without the benefit of my workouts and getting stronger. I never thought that surviving a face plant would be one of the benefits of working out. 

And so you know - the initials used by massage therapists (RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for me now stands for Rest, Ice, Chocolate pudding, Elevation. 

A Universal Pattern

 Astarte, Ostara ~ Goddesses of fertility, spring, new life. The Church adopted Asherah worship and named it Easter, a variation on the name of the Scandinavian goddess Ostara, in about 155 of the Common Era. Many years before the resurrection of Christ, humans were aware of and celebrating the return of life into the world and into their lives. 

Christians around the world are celebrating Christ’s resurrection. All human being, no matter what their faith belief, recognize the pattern of death and resurrection in their lives. 

Probably the most obvious example right now is how many of us feel after that second COVID vaccination. Many of my friends have had really severe reactions sometimes for up to a week ~ and then suddenly they are ok again. Dean and I keep large pots of mint and rosemary on the back deck and for months now those pots have been full of dead stems. Just yesterday we commented that we hoped both herbs would return soon. Moms have looked into the eyes of a sick child and known it was not yet time for them to be up and about until the next day when the eyes are bright and mom knows recovery is complete. These are universal patterns of death and resurrection and they are happening over and over in our lives. 

This is a Divine pattern played out over the cosmic ages that Easter reminds us to recognize and celebrate. It’s an old universal pattern that continues to breathe new Life into our souls. A Blessed Easter to you all in the many names of God. 

Well, Of Course It Is!

 I have always been interested in words and where they came from and how we started using them. I rather amazed myself today when I was reading along and came upon the history of a word that I had never thought of before. 

The book is A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England by Sue Wilkes. She is writing about travel in the late 1700s and early 1800s. 

        "Foreign visitors have some troublesome formalities to undergo at the customs house when they disembark because of England's war with France. You must show your passport to the customs officer, or give a written statement of your name, rank, former residence, and servants' names. The officer will issue you with a certificate of arrival. You must not leave the port without first getting a passport from the local magistrate or mayor." (pages 26, 27)

And there it was, the origin of the name of that little booklet we need to pass the port of a foreign country and enter the country itself. 

Not sure why I never thought if it before. You may be thinking, "Come on, Susan. You know that." Well, no, my friends, I had never put it together before or thought about where the name might have originated. Now I know ~ and I'm just a little excited about it. Hope you can find pleasure in little things as well.