You'll know it's Easter time if you walk through any store in your home town this week. Of course this is traditionally a Christian celebration of resurrection. It is also the perfect spring celebration of awakening, rebirth and renewal. Crocus, hyacinth and jonquil bloom in the gardens as baby rabbits and chicks are born and hatch, bringing hope of a new day and a new season with new life once again. One feels a sense of faith as days grow brighter after a long and dark winter. What a perfect time to celebrate with new hope, new ambition and a new hat.
Many years ago, weather permitting, people enjoyed the Easter parade of neighbors from home to church. Perhaps the parade on 5th Avenue was more spectacular but ours was great fun. What ever happened to that special day for showing off new shoes, dresses, Sunday suits and hats dripping with ribbons and rosebuds?
Easter meant a big family dinner. Our dining table was opened to its full length to accommodate old aunts and uncles. Some years snow covered the ground and winter coats hid our new clothes. Other years were so warm dyed eggs were hidden among the spring flowers blooming in Dad's gardens. Collected from their hiding places, the eggs provided colorful decorations to the serving table where Mother carried huge bowls of food and the big, shiny ham. The sight was a Norman Rockwell picture; the aroma, mouth-watering.
Oh, so many beautiful Easter baskets. I do love the colors of this season. I love hats and new clothes. I love baby bunnies, too. This year, living in the middle of nowhere, I thought I'd bring home a couple baby ducklings to raise as 'watch dogs' since they are a better alarm system than my cats can ever be. Unfortunately, my ducky idea was vetoed - it may violate some covenant. But, there is nobody to veto my pleasure in enjoying this year's family dinner, a basket filled with goodies, perhaps a bouquet of flowers and lots of jelly beans. I still have three days to take a shopping trip to buy an Easter bonnet - just in case, with the remotest possibility, there will be an Easter Parade ... somewhere....
How do you remember Easter? Tell me. I'd like to know.
Nancy yTe\
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
THE LIST MAKER
Just in case you didn't know, lists are the secret ingredient for a happy, healthy and successful life. Sort of...
I like lists. I write and use lists on a daily basis. While they take time, they also save time. Everybody needs lists. Who doesn't rely on a 'to do' list? They make me think - and save energy. OK, you may keep lists in your head but I have to write mine down or end up wasting time, patience and money. I feel both happy and successful as I click off each accomplishment. Experience has shown me that life, organized with lists, pays bonus minutes for pleasure and relaxation. (At this time in my life, I need every minute I can get.)
My bonus minutes are spent on music, friends, words and ideas. All that good stuff showed up this week in a skinny printing of Chicken Soup for... which includes lists entitled 'Dare To...' and 'It's Never too Late to...,' contributed by Meiji Stewart. Wow - lists with a potential to stimulate happier, healthier, more successful stuff in my already beautiful life.
Dare to... Ask for what you want. Holy smackaroos! I had to take a moment to think of what I want. What do I want? Do I want something enough that I would ask for it? My enlightenment: Of course, this would be the first item on the list. Of course, I do ask for what I want on a daily basis - as I start every day asking God, my higher power, to protect me and guide me through the day. With that request in good hands, there is little else I might want.
Dare to... Believe in yourself; Follow your heart's desire; Join in more; Make new friends and Be zany. With these five dares bundled into one, I feel confident to join with a friend to attend art classes. Since both she and I come from families with artists, this new adventure shouldn't be too far off the mark. I've wanted to try out my artistic genes for years - after all, I won a "Best in Show" for my artwork in 7th grade - seventy years ago. Certainly I plan to join in whole heartedly to make new friends in the art classes. I believe 'in' is 'in' and I couldn't keep myself from being zany - even if I tried.
That's as far as I've gotten on today's 'to do' list ;- but there is a whole lot more to Stewart's lists. I'm sure more of it will show up on the NancyPtahDaa blog site at a later date. Dare to... Hope.
Do you make lists? Do you dare to Believe, Follow, Join, Be.... Tell me. I'd like to know.
Nancy yTe \
I like lists. I write and use lists on a daily basis. While they take time, they also save time. Everybody needs lists. Who doesn't rely on a 'to do' list? They make me think - and save energy. OK, you may keep lists in your head but I have to write mine down or end up wasting time, patience and money. I feel both happy and successful as I click off each accomplishment. Experience has shown me that life, organized with lists, pays bonus minutes for pleasure and relaxation. (At this time in my life, I need every minute I can get.)
My bonus minutes are spent on music, friends, words and ideas. All that good stuff showed up this week in a skinny printing of Chicken Soup for... which includes lists entitled 'Dare To...' and 'It's Never too Late to...,' contributed by Meiji Stewart. Wow - lists with a potential to stimulate happier, healthier, more successful stuff in my already beautiful life.
Dare to... Ask for what you want. Holy smackaroos! I had to take a moment to think of what I want. What do I want? Do I want something enough that I would ask for it? My enlightenment: Of course, this would be the first item on the list. Of course, I do ask for what I want on a daily basis - as I start every day asking God, my higher power, to protect me and guide me through the day. With that request in good hands, there is little else I might want.
Dare to... Believe in yourself; Follow your heart's desire; Join in more; Make new friends and Be zany. With these five dares bundled into one, I feel confident to join with a friend to attend art classes. Since both she and I come from families with artists, this new adventure shouldn't be too far off the mark. I've wanted to try out my artistic genes for years - after all, I won a "Best in Show" for my artwork in 7th grade - seventy years ago. Certainly I plan to join in whole heartedly to make new friends in the art classes. I believe 'in' is 'in' and I couldn't keep myself from being zany - even if I tried.
That's as far as I've gotten on today's 'to do' list ;- but there is a whole lot more to Stewart's lists. I'm sure more of it will show up on the NancyPtahDaa blog site at a later date. Dare to... Hope.
Do you make lists? Do you dare to Believe, Follow, Join, Be.... Tell me. I'd like to know.
Nancy yTe \
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
PITY A POOR HOARDER
Okay. It's official. I may be 'a hoarder.' I suspected as much when I was overwhelmed with cleaning out a closet filled with research notes, files and stories of family history, genealogy and biographies. The closet contains a paper trail accumulation of forty years.
Family genealogy requires thousands of hours of reading, research and writing - just ask any genealogist or biographer. Additionally, I spent weeks and months mindlessly transcribing data from the 5" floppy disks of the 1970s to 3.5" floppies - which are now outdated as well. Fortunately, I retained binders of hard copies. Transferring all 250 of my (now obsolete) 3.5" floppies to 'flash drive' will be time consuming, frustrating and overwhelming. So, I give up. It's either update or clean out my genealogy closet.
I'm not a hoarder in all aspects of life or home, thankfully. I can clean out a dresser or a clothes closet in one day. True, with piles of 'keep' 'toss' and 'donate,' I have been known to take back a jacket or scarf from the 'donate' pile. I say with confidence, however, those things earmarked for 'trash' are trashed. So, a day in the clothes closet is a simple task while a year in my genealogy 'stacks' hasn't yielded an extra inch of space.
I now have some degree of sympathy for hoarders depicted on that popular television show. I hear myself using their same excuses and explanations: All these files are important and usable; I will need each of them - eventually; I didn't realize they were getting out of control; I am overwhelmed with trying to organize and downsize; and especially, I don't want help with my files because I need to review every scrap of paper and make painful decisions about 'keep' 'toss' 'or 'donate.' I don't plan to write any more biographies but that may change if I can get organized because there are at least three more fantastic people with great life stories - worth writing.
When all is said and done, my mess still fits back in the closet. It doesn't necessarily overflow into other rooms or impact other functions of my house. Maybe, if I hide it and don't acknowledge it, as the hoarders on television do, I'll move to the next level of hoarding or, perhaps, I was never 'a hoarder' - just a writer with too much bibliography research.
Do you stockpile stuff? Tell me about it. I'd like to know.
Nancy yTe \
Family genealogy requires thousands of hours of reading, research and writing - just ask any genealogist or biographer. Additionally, I spent weeks and months mindlessly transcribing data from the 5" floppy disks of the 1970s to 3.5" floppies - which are now outdated as well. Fortunately, I retained binders of hard copies. Transferring all 250 of my (now obsolete) 3.5" floppies to 'flash drive' will be time consuming, frustrating and overwhelming. So, I give up. It's either update or clean out my genealogy closet.
I'm not a hoarder in all aspects of life or home, thankfully. I can clean out a dresser or a clothes closet in one day. True, with piles of 'keep' 'toss' and 'donate,' I have been known to take back a jacket or scarf from the 'donate' pile. I say with confidence, however, those things earmarked for 'trash' are trashed. So, a day in the clothes closet is a simple task while a year in my genealogy 'stacks' hasn't yielded an extra inch of space.
I now have some degree of sympathy for hoarders depicted on that popular television show. I hear myself using their same excuses and explanations: All these files are important and usable; I will need each of them - eventually; I didn't realize they were getting out of control; I am overwhelmed with trying to organize and downsize; and especially, I don't want help with my files because I need to review every scrap of paper and make painful decisions about 'keep' 'toss' 'or 'donate.' I don't plan to write any more biographies but that may change if I can get organized because there are at least three more fantastic people with great life stories - worth writing.
When all is said and done, my mess still fits back in the closet. It doesn't necessarily overflow into other rooms or impact other functions of my house. Maybe, if I hide it and don't acknowledge it, as the hoarders on television do, I'll move to the next level of hoarding or, perhaps, I was never 'a hoarder' - just a writer with too much bibliography research.
Do you stockpile stuff? Tell me about it. I'd like to know.
Nancy yTe \
Monday, March 11, 2013
SPRING CLEANING
Habits are a blessing - and a burden. It is Spring. Ready or not, it is time for spring cleaning. I am looking forward to enjoying the result of rooms freshly cleaned from ceiling to baseboard. A bedroom is always a good place to begin 'airing out.' The vision of bedding hung on a clothesline is the perfect picture of nostalgia in springtime. What fun to empty closets and dressers, to sort and reorganize to perfection. I can hardly wait to see the showplace I plan to create.
All this cleaning, dusting, scrubbing and redecorating requires planning, ambition, energy and dedication. There is no doubt I enjoy the planning part. I just cannot help myself. I can picture coordinated boxes, compartments and containers for shoes, clothes, scarves and jewelry. I have a mental image of the colorful new pictures I'll hang on the walls and chachka strategically placed on dressers and night stands. Yes, planning is definitely my favorite part of spring cleaning.
It is going to take some ambition to transform the winter bedroom into a vision of spring. I have accomplished this miracle many times in my past life. I remember closets emptied into boxes and piled about the room as I hauled a six foot stepladder and dragged the stiffened drop clothes in readiness to paint closet walls. It takes at least two days before paint dries in closets and it is safe to refill with newly sorted clothes. Of course the smell of paint lingers for days - and even weeks in the clothes that were hung there. Meanwhile, it is time to clean out dresser drawers - though the weather is now sweet and inviting - like butterfly kisses on winter-pale faces. The patio beckons with its cushioned furniture and shade umbrella; plants are beginning to bloom and birds call "good morning" as they flit to and from the feeders.
The closet is completed and I am without energy to move to the next room. I've used up all my 'dedication' on one closet, so it's time to enjoy the season. I'll just grab my camera and a cup of coffee before I join the other colorful birds on the patio. Perhaps next year, when the spring cleaning hub bites me, I'll remember to begin in a smaller closet.
Are you bitten by the spring cleaning bug? Tell me about it. I'd like to know.
Nancy yTe \
All this cleaning, dusting, scrubbing and redecorating requires planning, ambition, energy and dedication. There is no doubt I enjoy the planning part. I just cannot help myself. I can picture coordinated boxes, compartments and containers for shoes, clothes, scarves and jewelry. I have a mental image of the colorful new pictures I'll hang on the walls and chachka strategically placed on dressers and night stands. Yes, planning is definitely my favorite part of spring cleaning.
It is going to take some ambition to transform the winter bedroom into a vision of spring. I have accomplished this miracle many times in my past life. I remember closets emptied into boxes and piled about the room as I hauled a six foot stepladder and dragged the stiffened drop clothes in readiness to paint closet walls. It takes at least two days before paint dries in closets and it is safe to refill with newly sorted clothes. Of course the smell of paint lingers for days - and even weeks in the clothes that were hung there. Meanwhile, it is time to clean out dresser drawers - though the weather is now sweet and inviting - like butterfly kisses on winter-pale faces. The patio beckons with its cushioned furniture and shade umbrella; plants are beginning to bloom and birds call "good morning" as they flit to and from the feeders.
The closet is completed and I am without energy to move to the next room. I've used up all my 'dedication' on one closet, so it's time to enjoy the season. I'll just grab my camera and a cup of coffee before I join the other colorful birds on the patio. Perhaps next year, when the spring cleaning hub bites me, I'll remember to begin in a smaller closet.
Are you bitten by the spring cleaning bug? Tell me about it. I'd like to know.
Nancy yTe \
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