To Partake or Not

I think it is okay to eat one grape from a bunch of grapes before purchasing them in the store. I think it is.    I would never taste any other fruit but in my opinion the grapes are the exception.  One grape.  It isn’t stealing – it is the one gift the conglomerate box stores offer to us as a way of saying thank you.  I always take the grape from the bag I am going to buy because most of the time they taste pretty good and i buy them anyway.  I looked up my problem and found many diverse opinions about this subject.  I see both sides including this response:  “My father says that it is ethical to try one grape because it should be unethical to sell sour grapes. So sayeth my dad, expert grape shopper. But most stores will let you sample any produce for free. I used to think my dad was committing a crime, but, considering how many bad bananas, apples, garlic bulbs and other hidden rotten fruits & veggies I’ve purchased over the years and not had time to return, I now think it’s fair.”    Now that I have processed this dilemma I don’t think I will eat another grape at a store.  That is my final decision.

The Rain Poured

I visited in a home today.  i had never been there before.  The floors were wooden, the walls bare.  An area in the back was wide open exposed to the outside.  It poured with rain and two men were on the roof, patching and hammering.  It was cool to me in the little house, actually damp, but I did feel some heat from the big stove in the main room.  There was no color, no decor but one large T.V. that sat on a cabinet.  The warmth came from those we visited.  Their hearts were big and they were so grateful we were there.  We sat on metal chairs and shared a message and brought a gift even though we knew their wants were few.  I didn’t leave sad, just humble.

Follow the Arrows

Deb and I continued our morning walk regimen this morning but now we are at the Sports Complex.  We get there early when it opens and share the track with just a few others.  We noticed a women walking in the opposite direction as us, but we just didn’t feel it was our business to tell her she needed to go the designated way. (according to the sign).  She had a stern look, the kind of look that meant “back off” without saying a word.  Part way through the walk an elderly couple let her know she was going the wrong way.  She seemed to take it well.  They walked and talked and I saw her face softened some.   We realized we should have been the ones to reach out to her.  We had just been talking about Elder Richard G. Scott and his qualities. He would have reached out.   His son shared, “Perhaps one of the reasons that Dad was so good at reaching out to the one — the less active, the lonely, the discouraged, the downtrodden — was because in that early period of his life he was ‘the one,’ the one being reached out to and rescued,” he explained.  We were humbled this morning.

Enriching Lives

There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.  “Why sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”   So is with our lives… Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all…  I thought this went well with my feelings after returning home from church where we congregate with good, wholesome, pure people who touch my life in some way, every day.

Getaway

It was a sad and happy day all in one.  There were two funerals, one for Lu and the other for Grant Stewart. In the midst of it all we began our craft day at Galene’s.  It was refreshing to visit and work.  I have awesome friends. all over fifty-five and we can’t take a selfie if our life depended on it.    We are a diverse group and have different tastes but our projects are all unified.  We put our snowmen in Galene’s tree (she is setting up already for her Christmas Open House).  I love these days.

The Long Road

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”  Beverly Sills.  I’ve been mulling over in my mind the need to practice the piano very hard.  That isn’t the easiest thing for me as my fingers don’t move like they used to.  Arthritis seemed to have settled in the digits and they are stiff.   I need a challenge – something hard to play that I have to work on everyday.  The quote is true, there are no shortcuts in this endeavor.  Like anything it takes practice and hard work.  I asked Mary Jorgenson to find a piece of music that her and Judy Cassidy once played at Christmas.  It was beautiful and perhaps just the difficult task that I need.

The Sounds

The sounds of sandpaper, the smell of freshly cut wood, the hum of quiet conversation, the sharing of paint and the hammering of nails makes for a wonderful evening.  It is so satisfying to have the sisters happy and heading home with a completed “Fall Project.”  I came home with twelve extra sets and I am looking forward to completing them all and delivering them anonymously this next week.  That is the fun of it.  Now to work on next month’s activity.

My Mary Janes

My Mary Jane Dansko’s broke again last week.   The strap snapped off leaving my favorite all time wonderful shoe hopeless and unusable.  This happened a few years ago and I was able to find a man in Palmer that fixed them but now I have lost track of him.   I searched in Anchorage and found a little shoe repair shop owned by an Oriental man who took my Mary Jane’s in without saying much and gave them a second chance at life.   Today I picked them up and for just ten dollars my dreamy Dansko’s were in working, happy order once again.   Ten dollars I pondered.  That was such a small trivial amount to make something so perfect and wonderful again.  I ought to think of that each day.  it doesn’t take much to change a saddened heart or to pick up one’s spirits.  Ten dollars buys a small bouquet of fresh flowers that can brighten up a home and heal a soul that hurts.  A smile, phone call or notecard is free.   Something small always seems to bring the big.

DMV – Day 2

We drove to the DMV looking rather “ghetto” in a super nice car with a front license plate bordered in pink hockey tape zip ties attaching it to the grill.  Not only ghetto but run-down, shanty and definitely “skid-row”.  All the shame and embarrassment dissipated once Rhea passed with flying colors and was awarded the coveted Alaska Driver’s License.  She and I floated on air as we left the building, both ecstatic about our newly found freedom.    My number seven child and last graduate had spread her wings.  I now have no one else to drive places and have entered a world of complete bliss.  We walked to the BMW and knew what we had to do – get the scissors out and cut off that plate – which we did.
Notice the zipties!

The Day

After what seemed like the “forever” countdown the day arrived for Rhea’s road test.  We had all our ducks in order.  We left the school at 1:45 pm. and drove the highway to practice going on and off the ramps, we parallel parked, we drove in traffic and in a school zone.  We signed in to the DMV well ahead of time and got all checked in.  The moment came and Rhea was called.  We were nervous but wanted to get it all over with.  I looked out at the shiny Crimson Red BMW just waiting for its occupants and to finally officially label Rhea as a driver.  And then . . . everything fell apart.  We had no front license ( Alaska State Law) which we knew but we didn’t have the registration back so we couldn’t get the new plate yet.  Surely they would understand that?  No.  It is illegal for them to take her on a test with no plate.  Major, sad, disappointed. sorrowful letdown.  We drove home crushed although they did put her on stand-by for the next day.  As Murphy’s law would have it – the plates arrived that afternoon and we rigged up a way for Tuesday to be the day!!!