Monday, April 1, 2019
APRIL BEGINS BY GETTING RID OF MARCH
In the month of March, Old Man Winter behaved like the guest who is invited to dinner then stays late. St. Louis was treated with the same quirky weather as were other cities and nations on this Planet. When it should have been time for Spring to come to our table, she remained hidden behind layers of mist, fog, snow and ice. The lady seemed deserted by the Sun. Rivers raged when they should have been bubbling brooks. Winter came to us much too soon and is still hanging around.
No matter how bad things were, some of the upside to all this was the presence of the young and old who raised strong voices to tell us we need to change our ways if we are to protect Mother Earth and ourselves.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
SUNDIALS IN THE MIDST OF TURBULENCE
In the midst of automation and world-wide turbulence a small number of people will meet
in Denver Colorado to see Sundials. They are part of a smaller number of men and women who
are members of the North American Sundial Society which meets annually.
The Society's membership is made up of men and women of all ages and includes medical and professional business people, naturalists and educators and even families. During the Society's 3-day Conference participants will tour local Sundials of historical interest.
I attended the 25th Annual Conference held last year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Conference tour included sites which gave us a glimpse of the way people measured and recorded change through Sundials which became a part of that city's history.
The Society's 2019 Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado in June at a time when our country is in great natural and man-made turbulence. Perhaps touring and measuring Sundials will once again help us better understand how to cope with human and planetary movement that sometimes appears uncontrollable.
(For more information about the North American Sundial Society go to: http://www.sundials.org/)
I attended the 25th Annual Conference held last year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Conference tour included sites which gave us a glimpse of the way people measured and recorded change through Sundials which became a part of that city's history.
The Society's 2019 Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado in June at a time when our country is in great natural and man-made turbulence. Perhaps touring and measuring Sundials will once again help us better understand how to cope with human and planetary movement that sometimes appears uncontrollable.
(For more information about the North American Sundial Society go to: http://www.sundials.org/)
Monday, March 11, 2019
SKY WATCH MARCH 2019
This night, the eleventh of March
She comes out from hiding
The sky is crystal clear, not a cloud intrudes
Winds turn soft almost murmuring as if to acknowledge
Even a slice of moon delights us and tells us Spring is on the way!
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
DO WE CREATE OUR OWN WALLS?
Sometimes I have my supper in a small restaurant near me. Generally there is no specified seating nor is there a host or hostess to seat customers. People pretty much go to a table with friends. Sometimes
a customer will go to another table with strangers where there is room for others. When this happens there is a good chance to get to know people I might not know otherwise.
That was the situation I was in a few weeks ago when I sat down with two women of color. We chatted in an amicable way and then they told me they were waiting for another friend. I offered to leave but they wanted me to stay. I did and we found a number of things to talk about.
We seemed to be enjoying ourselves until their friend arrived. It was clear to me their friend seemed annoyed with my presence so I excused myself and left.
Afterward, I wondered what had annoyed their friend who I also knew. Was it because I was of another color? Was it because they simply wanted to have a private conversation? Or was it because I imagined an anger displayed toward me? I don't know. What I do know is that we were at table with four women who might have enjoyed an evening together had we not allowed anger or anxiety to place a wall between us.
I thought too about the precious time we spend building walls when we are with people with whom we could share so much, yet in a mistaken effort to protect ourselves we create our own wall.
a customer will go to another table with strangers where there is room for others. When this happens there is a good chance to get to know people I might not know otherwise.
That was the situation I was in a few weeks ago when I sat down with two women of color. We chatted in an amicable way and then they told me they were waiting for another friend. I offered to leave but they wanted me to stay. I did and we found a number of things to talk about.
We seemed to be enjoying ourselves until their friend arrived. It was clear to me their friend seemed annoyed with my presence so I excused myself and left.
Afterward, I wondered what had annoyed their friend who I also knew. Was it because I was of another color? Was it because they simply wanted to have a private conversation? Or was it because I imagined an anger displayed toward me? I don't know. What I do know is that we were at table with four women who might have enjoyed an evening together had we not allowed anger or anxiety to place a wall between us.
I thought too about the precious time we spend building walls when we are with people with whom we could share so much, yet in a mistaken effort to protect ourselves we create our own wall.
Friday, February 1, 2019
MY "WHAT IF" AWARD
There are more awards in America than you can count. There are book awards, thousand points of light awards and cooking awards. Because of something that happened here recently I want to create the "WHAT IF AWARD" for people who have the ability to call into play experience and action when things do not go as planned or are not neatly outlined in job specification.
I live in a ten-story apartment building. On each floor there are about ten apartments with just two some-time working elevators. People who live here range in age from job holders to retirees who are mid-life and older. Most are mobile. Some use walkers. Some are in wheelchairs.
On one of the coldest nights of this long winter both our elevators went kaput. Some people were stranded coming into the building. Some residents were stranded in the drafty lobby at a function that was taking place. Only one member of our full-time management staff, our director of community services was on duty and about to leave for the day. Our maintenance chief had just pulled out of the drive way toward home.
When the elevators broke down our maintenance chief turned around and came back to work. The director of community services took off her coat, grabbed some chips, cookies and water and distributed them to residents who did not walk up the steps but stayed in the lobby. Within a few minutes the fire department and local police arrived to assist with people who needed help.
The next morning the elevators worked. Our staff was weary. Residents talked of the help they received from people who extended themselves even when things did not go as planned. For this, I give them all
my "WHAT IF AWARD."
I live in a ten-story apartment building. On each floor there are about ten apartments with just two some-time working elevators. People who live here range in age from job holders to retirees who are mid-life and older. Most are mobile. Some use walkers. Some are in wheelchairs.
On one of the coldest nights of this long winter both our elevators went kaput. Some people were stranded coming into the building. Some residents were stranded in the drafty lobby at a function that was taking place. Only one member of our full-time management staff, our director of community services was on duty and about to leave for the day. Our maintenance chief had just pulled out of the drive way toward home.
When the elevators broke down our maintenance chief turned around and came back to work. The director of community services took off her coat, grabbed some chips, cookies and water and distributed them to residents who did not walk up the steps but stayed in the lobby. Within a few minutes the fire department and local police arrived to assist with people who needed help.
The next morning the elevators worked. Our staff was weary. Residents talked of the help they received from people who extended themselves even when things did not go as planned. For this, I give them all
my "WHAT IF AWARD."
Monday, December 31, 2018
FINDING MEANING IN 2018: WELCOME 2019!
What gave meaning to 2018 as it ended? Ii was the action of people that had meaning for me. Family, friends, and strangers whose words and deeds warmed my heart and gave me hope for a brighter future. People like these:
After going to the theater to see a corny holiday show we went to get something to eat. We went to a local, nearby restaurant. When we arrived a group of people were coming out. One was profoundly handicapped. He recognized me and called out my name. This simple gesture was a major accomplishment for him that gave my evening greater importance and gladdened my heart.
In August I traveled with Don to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for the North American Sundial Society's 25 Th Anniversary Meeting. I had not to been to Pittsburgh since I was a child. At that time there was great fascination with the newly opened Tunnel which went underground through the Mountains.
That fascination remained the same when I went back with Don in August.
I was excited to take The Sundial Society's Historic Tour through neighborhoods. One site was Squirrel Hills. The Tour took us past the shopping center near the Synagogue where my family used to live. Weeks later the horrific sense less murders of Jews in that Synagogue took place. In the face of all this needless horror, of the grief and anger of people, politicians told the President of the United States he was not welcome to come. Then other voices were heard. The Rabbi said, "Tell the President, he is welcome to come." The wonderful memory of the Sundial Society Meeting has not been overshadowed. The irony for me is that the same sense of reason required for the science of sundials and respect for our laws was used by the Rabbi when he calmed his turbulent congregants.
Most recently I came upon three little girls dressed to have their pictured taken with Santa Claus.
They were excited with the pictures. I stopped to speak to them. They were sisters between 3, 5 and 6 years old. I stopped to speak to them and ask what they thought the holiday was all about? The little one told me it was about the baby Jesus.
The older child asked if I had Christmas lights too. I said no but I do have lights that I enjoyed. The middle sister shouted "Hanuka Mexican lights". I told her yes and thought how wonderful this country has always been. We allow each one of us to celebrate those things, religious or not, native born or immigrant, to enjoy the fruits of our own decision making even when it appears we are less than we could be.
So as 2019 begins to each of you I extend good wishes. Keep well and keep in touch.
Beverly
After going to the theater to see a corny holiday show we went to get something to eat. We went to a local, nearby restaurant. When we arrived a group of people were coming out. One was profoundly handicapped. He recognized me and called out my name. This simple gesture was a major accomplishment for him that gave my evening greater importance and gladdened my heart.
In August I traveled with Don to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for the North American Sundial Society's 25 Th Anniversary Meeting. I had not to been to Pittsburgh since I was a child. At that time there was great fascination with the newly opened Tunnel which went underground through the Mountains.
That fascination remained the same when I went back with Don in August.
I was excited to take The Sundial Society's Historic Tour through neighborhoods. One site was Squirrel Hills. The Tour took us past the shopping center near the Synagogue where my family used to live. Weeks later the horrific sense less murders of Jews in that Synagogue took place. In the face of all this needless horror, of the grief and anger of people, politicians told the President of the United States he was not welcome to come. Then other voices were heard. The Rabbi said, "Tell the President, he is welcome to come." The wonderful memory of the Sundial Society Meeting has not been overshadowed. The irony for me is that the same sense of reason required for the science of sundials and respect for our laws was used by the Rabbi when he calmed his turbulent congregants.
Most recently I came upon three little girls dressed to have their pictured taken with Santa Claus.
They were excited with the pictures. I stopped to speak to them. They were sisters between 3, 5 and 6 years old. I stopped to speak to them and ask what they thought the holiday was all about? The little one told me it was about the baby Jesus.
The older child asked if I had Christmas lights too. I said no but I do have lights that I enjoyed. The middle sister shouted "Hanuka Mexican lights". I told her yes and thought how wonderful this country has always been. We allow each one of us to celebrate those things, religious or not, native born or immigrant, to enjoy the fruits of our own decision making even when it appears we are less than we could be.
So as 2019 begins to each of you I extend good wishes. Keep well and keep in touch.
Beverly
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
MY FRIEND DELANEY: WRITER & POET
Her smile is broad, ever-ready as is her good humour
she will do things her own way
she succeeds, crossing all boundaries
religion, traditional customs, marrying her husband
spontaneously on Sadie Hawkins Day with hundreds of others.
We are two women who enjoy writing
sometimes working, many times not
but always looking for differences
in colors, hues, in painting, clothes
people and nature and in the hats we wear.
Her credentials are impressive
taking her from one city to another
writing for businesses to public institutions
to the love of a tree in her backyard.
All described in poetry,
We met because of aspiring to careers of our own
but kept in touch at writer groups.
She writes with a passion and consistency
about the life she builds with her husband
and in journals she keeps on their travels.
In September she published a 5 Volume Set of her Poetry
each one expressing another facet of her life.
On a snowy day in St. Louis I began to read Volume 5
"Shifting Gears"* because I am in the middle of doing just that
with my own life.
As I read I see clearly some of the feelings and surroundings
she describes. I recognize how wonderful it is to be alive
and be a part of the time in which we live even in times of great distress.
It is not politics nor party which can diffuse people like my friend
because she sees and appreciates life.
*"Shifting Gears", Poetry by Delaney (c)Copyright 2018 FlagshipPress
Philadelphia, Pa. 19147
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
