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 Day to day stuff....a memoir without order. |
 Imagination is described by Webster as...The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses in reality. Albert Einstein said "Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere."  I never realized it until I read it somewhere but there are ways to boost one's imagination: Create a visual journal Draw whatever you see for 15 minutes a day. You don't need to be an artist. Think like an artist Cut out pictures from magazines & piece them together to create an original image. Listen to Bach Close your eyes while playing your favorite music. Or listen to the sounds of nature on a CD or in the great outdoors. Play word games Try thinking of as many words as you can that begin with MAR...or you pick. Daydream Let your mind wander, or focus on a single object & study its characteristics.     Everyone has a story....here's mine.....c ** Image ID #1701066 Unavailable **  |
| How we find out things has drastically changed over my lifetime. Getting information today has never been easier. A few taps on the keyboard or even a few words spoken into a phone gets us instant results, not always dependable but results just the same. And for free (relatively speaking). Social media such as YouTube, Facebook and many many other websites teach us things we never would have imagined when I was growing up. Back then, I bought many books on different hobbies I wanted to explore, but today I look at them, and my first thought is how was I so patient to learn anything from them? I mean, really, you have to read…slowly. And that takes me back to the old days when many people claim things were so much better. I wonder. My sixth grade teacher was an older lady with a hairdo that went every which a way. My nickname for her was Miz Einstein, and it didn’t have everything to do with her appearance. She was very knowledgeable on lots of subjects, and I and other classmates were always asking her questions. Later, when my own kids were in school, I found out Mrs. Mann’s love of knowledge was not a fluke. Sometime in the early 70s on a weekday, near Rising Sun, Delaware, I was at home alone, kids in school, husband at work. The doorbell rang and when I opened it, to my astonishment there stood my “really old” six grade teacher. We recognized each other right away, and both of us started talking at the same time. “I can’t believe it’s you. What a surprise!” And other similar exclamations. You get the picture. Of course, I invited her in, eager to learn how she came to be at my house. She was carrying something that looked similar to an old book bag from the 50s, and she walked a little lopsided from the weight of it. We sat side by side on the sofa with the bookbag deposited near her feet. We caught up on our current lives. Yes, she still lived in Harrington, but was now retired and no longer taught school. Her husband had passed away a year before, and she was coping with all the changes that were involved, the big one being income. I immediately started putting two and two together and came up with four. My math skills were excellent. Soon, she leaned over to open the catches on the book bag and out came the “A” volume of the World Book Encyclopedia. Well, you can imagine what happened. This was my former 6th grade teacher, and she was in need. Financing could be arranged, and in a few weeks I would be the proud owner of a complete set including a two-volume dictionary. And wait, there was more. Each year for the next ten years, I would receive, through the mail, a “yearbook” updating all previous information that may have changed. We had a wonderful visit, and in addition, I was immensely aiding my children’s education. I was excited and anxious to receive those books. But, then Mrs. Mann was gone and reality set in. Jim was going to kill me. I had not consulted him, and we talked everything over beforehand. That night, after supper, we settled in front of the tv to watch Gunsmoke, one of our favorite shows. I waited until the end and a commercial had come on before I broke the news of Mrs. Mann’s visit and my purchase. It turned out Jim loved the idea, and, in fact, he had lugged an old set of encyclopedias around with him to Lackland (Air Force training in Texas) and even to Dover Air Force Base where, ever the business man, he had sold them to a roommate! And today, here they sit on a bookshelf in my living room, much used, much loved and today remembered, but sorely out of date. They take up two shelves with the yearbooks and dictionaries. Not long ago, I actually looked up something in one and found an old sheet of 3-ring notebook paper on which my daughter had written a school assignment. I wish I had taken a photo since I gave it to her for her memories. She couldn’t believe it had survived all these years in an old set of encyclopedias. |
| I'm sitting in my paint/craft/writing room staring out the window at a hummingbird feeding in the falling rain. June storms here in Florida give little notice, happening often and when you least expect them. But they are welcome as they bring a little fleeting relief to the smothering heat at this time of year. The birds actually seem to celebrate in the rain. Can you imagine being covered with insulating feathers in 90+ degrees? The porch roof forms a valley and water is pouring in a stream into a birdbath I have strategically positioned. I hear the waves of water beating on the roof and now thunder and lightning and some wind. As I sit here, grateful to be inside in the air conditioning, I think of the chaos and turmoil going on in our world, and my heart goes out to all those suffering today. |
| I had a very enjoyable meeting today with my Life History Group. We get together at a local library Branch on the first Thursday of each month and share a story from our past (close or distant). There were only seven of us today, a paltry group for our normal number of ten to fifteen, but all the stories were very interesting as usual. They covered a broad range of topics from golf to pets to trips to clotheslines. We even had a first timer who looked like a student. She's embarking on the historical journey of her grandmother's life, intending to put words to paper for her. I hope she comes back. |
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