Booming Banter

Aaron has been studying world religions at school so it was with great pleasure that we accepted an invitation from our dear friends to join them at their Synagogue yesterday for a very special Sabbat.

We learned a lot including a little Hebrew finding that Beth means home and Bethel is God’s House. This house had wide open door last evening.

The Rabbi and the leader of a local Muslim community had been very active in building cross community understanding. The Muslim congregation like us joined in the worship and also offered a delicious dinner to everyone.

This is the holy month of Ramadan so no food could be eaten before sundown. The service was really interesting with messages from both teachers on the significance of fasting and commonality across the doctrines.

The experience once again reinforced that we all have one fundamental belief and that is that we must love and do good to all people.

How tragic then that while we were celebrating together these common principles of common good that yet another mass shooting had taken place in this country.

It is with steps such as those taken by these wonderful men and women in these two communities last evening that such tragedy will eventually come to an end.

Blessing # 354 – Inclusion

Some people are extremely loyal to a particular brand others will test and try most anything.

My Mom was very dedicated to her favorites yet this didn’t rub off on me so much. Something has to really “work” for me to seek it out and buy it a second time. It happens but it’s rare!

When it came to skincare my Mom  swore by Oil of Olay. It was her only beauty routine and an obvious gift for birthday, Christmas and Mother’s Day. Maybe back in the day there was less to choose from but for fifty years the pink potion was all she wanted.

 

Today in most stores if we want a moisturizer or sun screen we are faced with a wall of choice. What drives our decision and how brands differentiate is the subject of intensive research.

This is what makes me an ideal Aldi shopper. If you want a sunscreen they offer one or two. Same with face creams or body lotions. You have the choice of  their totally acceptable private label. You take it or leave it.

Luxury items like body butter don’t even figure in their inventory unless perhaps as a special that’s in and out in a jiffy.

That’s when you rely on hints to hubby that maybe Santa might bring you a little. If your lucky, like me, he’ll then bring you Body Butter in every image shape and form. Nothing else just the Body Butter so  you’ll have a bucket load that will do you for the rest of your days!

Blessing # 362 – Loves & Limitations

 

We needed two cars to get all the goods to the store. Aaron was very helpful in squeezing as much as possible into each vehicle. Must have been all those Star Wars legos he did as a kid that makes him such a good fitter.

We set off just after lunch and lucked out finding two 2Hour parking spots just outside the store. By this stage it was steamy hot so we were glad we didn’t need to walk too far.

We emptied the goods onto the street and raised a few eyebrows. the last thing to come out was the first thing that went in La Piece  De Resistance the dreaded bench.

It stuck! By now my nerves were a little fried and I couldn’t imagine why I ever touched that piece of firewood in the first place. Dad and Son almost came to blows over how to extract the beast. Yet more eyebrows were raised. Finally Dad was victorious on how it had to be manipulated and Aaron got it out.

We then began the relay of moving everything inside and two little calamities occurred. Aaron set a large garden statue down a little too abruptly and broke off the base. He was full of remotes and has agreed to dig a big hole so we can stick it in our own yard.

Not to be outdone Dad dripped one of my prized retro Japanese salt and pepper sets and took the head off one Mr Pepper. So we will need to reattach him and keep him as a treasure at home with his Mrs Salt.

Yet another of Mother’s classics comes to mind; There Were Bigger Losses at Waterloo!

We got down to work arranging and it was only close to five o’clock that it struck me that I was parked in that two hour spot!

Yikes a ticket could erode my entire annual profit. Good omen though we lucked out again the ticket passed us by!

Blessing # 353 – Superglue & Spade

 

Can’t remember if you know that as of June 1 we are graduating from the glass cabinet at the antique mall to a half booth.

Today it was all hands on deck to get ready. Aaron and his girlfriend got into the painting while Dad cleaned recent purchases and took inventory.

My task was once again the dreaded bench.

This time there was no time for mistakes. It worked! The effect is a bit seafaring and both Aaron and I can sit in it so it can take a fair weight!

It was a very noisy business though putting in sixty or seventy big tacks so the whole afternoon there was major auditory disturbance across the area! I’m a bit shaky too. Talk about knock knock knocking on heavens door!

It went on so long one of our neighbors came over and asked what all the banging was. Fortunately he was joking I think.

We are good to go tomorrow for set up. There has been absolutely zero sales from the glass cabinet so the empire is off to a slow start.

Not to worry though we are now taking on the second frontier. As my Mom often said Rome wasn’t built in a day!  Just consider all that banging the drum roll for something to shout about.

Blessing # 353 -Third Time A  Charm

 

 

Do you ever hear a tune and instantly love it?

There is no explanation for this but it happens now and then. There is a familiarity with it. It’s sincere and not contrived. Maybe it reminds you of another tune maybe it’s just easy to sing along to. Maybe the lyrics strike a chord that play a little bit on your heart strings.

Thanks to Pop Pilates class there is a new favorite on my list. It’s our cool down song and it’s called It’s Worth It Every Drop of Rain.

It’s by two Scandinavian musicians Matin Carlsberg Feat and Jonathan Jarneek whom I’d  never heard. Seems it was written a few years ago but thought that since it was new to me and made me so happy it had to be shared with you too.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=9yxKjCO2lcM

If this link doesn’t work you can google it.

The repeating chorus is so sweet and so true and so summery

Whats your favorite recent find or  your all time number one summer song?

Blessing # 352 – A New Song

 

 

 

Around midnight the weather app alarm on my phone woke us up. As soon as we were in the land of the living we realized there was a great storm happening and almost immediately thereafter the tornado sirens sounded.

Aaron was already in the basement as he hibernates there when there is no school. So he was safe.

Dibley was silent as a mouse in his crate most likely petrified. We knew if we got him out he’d have to have a pee and we couldn’t take him outside.

So we started to watch TV on the iPhone to see the track of the storm. After ten minutes or so the tornado warning for our county was lifted. By this time We were wide awake and hooked on what was happening elsewhere in the state so kept watching.

Something really unusual happened about thirty minutes later. The sirens went off again. Another tornado? Again we decide to watch and wait. This too passed and we were fine but many others were not.

The city of Dayton, birthplace of aviation, that is about one and a half hours drive away was hit very hard. One person has died and five million people were without power. Homes and schools, shops and gas stations are devastated.

Such was the havoc on the interstate that the snow ploughs had to be brought in to sweep it away.

This morning we realize that one tornado after another was pounding the state including an EF3. It is a miracle of modern technology that all but one person escaped the wrath of the storm thanks to the early warning systems.

The wildlife also seem to have been impacted by the storm. Dibley and I had a big surprise as we went out for our constitutional today.

One of the deer who treat our yard as their ice-cream parlor had decided that we could also serve as the maternity unit.

She had given birth right in the middle of the grass in our back yard. Dibley and I almost fell as we tripped over the fawn but it was in great shape and took off into the bushes before we could get it’s pic. All we can offer is the Hay Where It Lay

Thankful for its health and beauty we decided since Mom or a close relative had trampled down the sedum we might as well pluck it and take it as a birthday treat for the sweet baby. Hope they’ll enjoy and come pose for a photo soon!

Blessing # 351 – Safe Delivery

 

On this Memorial Day a big shout out to all those who sacrifice so much for our safety.

The thanks we owe the forces who go to foreign shores and those locally who leave their homes each day to work for us in the police, fire and first response services is beyond measure.

The families of these brave souls also deserve such respect and gratitude as they worry each day about their loved ones.

For those, like me, who have never had any desire to sign up and who have little personal experience of what it means to serve in these ways we can only imagine and empathize with those who do.

Years ago in Northern Ireland I lost a childhood playmate who was a Policeman to a terrorist explosion. We had been out of touch for years but hearing his name announced on the radio that day was such a shock. What must his poor family have felt.

More recently it was an honor to know a young man who decided soon after graduating high school that he was going to sign up as a Marine.

Both his parents were my colleagues and also very good friends. The concern they had on his deployment to many war regions of the world over the four years he served was palpable so too was the joy on their faces on his return. Thank God he made it back home for good.

Blessing # 350 – Best of the Best!

 

It costs nothing to check the weather forecast or to carry a raincoat in a car. So wouldn’t you think we’d have the sense to do that. Oh NO!

My friend Laura had come to stay with her daughter Laurel and we were all going to see Laurel play in the semi finals of the state women’s rugby championships.

We all headed off dressed in shorts and short sleeve tops for the very hot weather we had yesterday afternoon. I went one step further than the rest and wore shorts over my swimsuit!

No sooner had we arrived at the stadium and dropped Laurel with her teammates than a storm rolled in. The temperature fell by at least 20F and we were feeling wet and miserable.

Laura and I headed back to the car to warm up for ten minutes and pick up umbrellas. The only protection we had though that could serve as clothing was two baseball caps, a pair of gloves, two shopping bags and a security vest.

Not being prone to embarrassment   I put on the security vest and matching orange shopping bag which perfectly match my gloves and umbrella. Laura chose the IKEA shopping bag. Aaron and his girlfriend took an umbrella and the baseball hats and moved to a far away seat.

We figured if they happened to need an umpire maybe I get a job!

Blessing # 349 – Tears of Laughter

This morning at Zumba there was a lovely group of teenage girls. They reminded me of disco days of the seventies when four friends and I would regularly go dancing at the weekend. The very last thing in the world I could ever envisage though is my Mum dancing disco!

How times have changed! Girls now work out to the latest hits with women old enough to be their moms or even like me their granny!

Better still the grannies do just as well as they do in keeping up the pace. Not claiming though that we could kick our legs quite as high as those youngsters this morning.

When we were kids our parents seemed so different from us. They wore grown up clothes, they had sensible flat shoes and they had funny hairstyles so unlike ours.

Now we all look alike from the back. The only clues to age are posture and maybe grey roots if you haven’t been to the hairdresser in a week or two.

Face forward given that dentistry has come such a long way our teeth may even look better today than they did when we were spring chickens. I know mine do!

Of course time tells it’s story in every face! That radiance fades even with all the magic potions we slap on each day. Wonder what the future will look like for today’s teenagers will they Zumba when their grannies too!

Blessing # 348 – Mixing it Up

 

 

The pool opened at 11:00 and by 11:45 I was all set for a good tanning session and possibly a dip.

Aaron and his girlfriend were joining me later but I couldn’t miss a moment.

In a yard sale a few weeks ago Krishna had found a book for me. A new Maeve Binchy. It is a compilation of some of her short stories that her husband and editors had published just recently.

Its a hard back so not ideal for sun loungers but heh it is a new publication so that’s not going to happen again!

Maeve was one of my all time favorite easy read authors and like many of her fans when she passed to the big library in the sky more than a few tears were shed.

Everything she wrote offered complete relaxation. No need to think too hard or ponder the depths of the universe. Just pure enjoyment and a bit of dreaming.

What better than a book of her short stories for the pool no need even to concentrate on where to snooze off.

So all set for an afternoon of Maeve and sun bathing I dug in.

Well the second story was not even finished when boom in rolled a thunder storm.

Everyone out of the water and undercover for thirty minutes. Just enough time to do a bit of banter and let the rain pass.

We have the all clear to take the plunge again but there’ll be no need for the aloe vera tonight!

Or maybe just a little bit!

Blessing # 347 – Base No Burn