AgainstTheWind

Yawn!

Yawn

Dear Framily,

What a day I had today! Let's see, an online bridge game, walked with Tootie, changed the oil in my car and got some prescriptions filled. I've completed an online application for 4 different government jobs, and will soon go pick up Quentin so we, Tara, Quentin and I can walk yet again. It's rough to be so pressed and pressured!

On the webI've been reading and admiring the work of this guy for several months. In fact I almost broke down and bought one of his books for the daughters at Christmas. It's still on the to do list. I do enjoy Lilek's writing. I want to write as well as he does, and I want his job grinding out columns. The web is still swarming about the Newsweek bit and retraction. But I've rather lost interest. I was interested in the writing from Iraq the Model not because it's anything really newsworthy, but because it suggests the continuing evolution of a free, more stable Iraq.

In the mailThere have been two of those "deep thoughts" that I often find so irritating, that I am passing along. Kathi sends this.

You must travel your own path in life, but if our paths cross then walk with me for awhile. We can exchange ideas and share stories of things we have encountered on our travels.

It seems to fit the pace of the day. This from a "thought of the day" site also seems appropriate to my time.

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Paula has sent the first installment of "The Griers to to Ft. Benning" Yes, I've spent my fair share of time on the side of the road with car trouble. They lost lug nuts, and the remaining ones were impossible to remove. Here's the song for that... "You picked a fine time to leave me Loosewheel!" I've been there twice actually, and I enjoy the tune each time. Not enough to court the disaster, mind you, but put that in your goodie bag of humor in the face of adversity. Anyway, their eldest is now out of basic and on to Korea, unless things have changed. I'm reminded that in the military, things do change. My father was pretty young during WW2, and only got into the action on the tail end. He was in Seattle getting his snow gear and ready to ship off to Alaska when they boarded a boat headed for Pearl Harbor. He was in the cue to be on those islands as the Japanese were fought back to the homeland. So very likely, Paula, both our fathers' lives were considerably lengthened by the bombing that ended WW2. At least their histories and by default, ours were much different.


Daily Photo Offering We arrived at Destrahan Plantation in time to make the last tour through the house. The sun was setting and I wanted to photograph the levee and the oaks rather than hear what the docent had to say. But I'm well trained. My herd instinct overcame my desire to be a shutterbug. The low sun highlighted the Spanish moss draped from the oaks. There's really no focal point in this photo, but it's a good representation of the day I'm in. Mother, I hope you can figure out what is ailing the Mac. Tania did share with me that in an office she was in they had all Macs. Great dependable machines, Except for the one. They did have a lemon. I'm about ready to think you got a lemon too. Maybe start explaining to Macintosh that you are NOT a happy customer, and a replacement is in order? Deb, if you come by here, Destrahan Plantation is the one that is in the New Orleans metro area.

As always, if you have time, leave a comment. It gratifies me so! Sheesh, it'll be time to go pick up the Q man in a few minutes. I hope to finish the table runner this evening. My rotary cutter has disappeared. I'm absolutely baffled. I'll have to buy a new one to finish cutting the next project if I can't find it and about $20 of blades I have squirelled away somewhere here.

No news is no deterent... Ms Typesalot is on the job! Share the happenings in your life, please? And enjoy the remains of the day. Love, D'Loye

Saturday

Dear Framily,

Maybe a letter here would work? It's just a thought, so I'll try it. I've just gotten tangled in several layers of computer stuff, and not gotten out too well. I found a style sheet I really liked for the blog, but after downloading, I couldn't even find the thing. That's a familiar 'plaint. So if I ever find it I have to try and put it in the correct folder and change the style sheet name in the odd looking files. As one of the forum comments said, even if you have a good bit of web experience, this may be hard. No joke!

Mother's in computer hell at the moment. I spoke to Tara, and she's fighting a flakey machine, I went to Pat W's this morning to see if I could resurrect her printer. It wasn't something simple, so it didn't get resurrected. Her absolute unwillingness to look at the manual and take the time to even figure out what the few buttons on the thing do was noted. But looking at what they do, and mashing them a few times only cleared up the fact that the printer was demanding about $100 worth of ink. I understand balking there! I could shake the cartridges and hear the ink in there, so it's not like they ran out.

On the web The POTUS made a stirring speech in Latvia. I read some of it and got postively teary. Ok, I'll drop a tear on a dime these days. There's a link here, but I'll see if I can quote a bit.

Causes can be judged by the monuments they leave behind. The Nazi terror is remembered today in places like Auschwitz, Dachau, Rumbula Forest, where we still hear the cries of the innocent, and pledge to God and history: Never again. The alliance that won the war is remembered today in carefully tended cemeteries in Normandy, Margraten, St. Petersburg, and other places across Europe, where we recall brief lives of great honor, and we offer this pledge: We will always be grateful.

In the Mail Several of you have come up with good suggestions of driving jobs. Hot shot driving, mobile homes from California to new owners, escorting wide loads... there really are a lot of possibilities. I do sincerely appreciate your thoughts. I'm going to give myself a couple weeks to let my emotional flightiness settle down. The road is calming, but a job search and such is not so easy. The fact is that I'm just one scared, lonely cookie. Things will settle out in some form or another. I'm already starting to lose weight. Last time I lost a LOT of weight was in Honduras, when I was... a scared lonely, cookie. So, something good could come of this anyway!

Photo Here is the acid test. I'll try to link to the photo after I upload it. The photo of the day is another from Christmas. Tania must have been holding the camera, because there I am the mawmaw with two of my exotically beautiful daughters. It never ceases to amaze me what beautiful creatures they are. *Late addition... WooHoo, I got it!*

So, it's Saturday. Mr. Chuck is having a Mother's day barbecue in honor of all the mom's in the family, and I'll go over there and have some barbecue. I'm not a mom in Chuck and Veda's direct line, but he's kind of celebrating that *NEWS* Tara's expecting again, and so is Mallory, the girlfriend of Kyle, Darryl's brother. They will have two more grands right about the same time. Quentin is about to have a first cousin.

Love yas.... and take a sec and post a comment?