I just returned from a great walk around the hood. It feels good to be out walking again first thing in the morning when it’s cool out. If you’re not from Florida, you think “nice balmy weather.” What we have 6 months of each year is humidity so hot and thick it’s like walking through steam and misquitoes that grab you the moment you’re out the door. So you can either live May to October wrapped in long sleeves and pants to avoid sunburn and misquitoes, or slather sunscreen and repellent on every exposed body part. Oooo if I could have my house and land in Carmel or Monterey, California, I would be there.

On Facebook, I posted a link –> to an article and wrote “WWYD? She blows up because her husband’s former mistress is sitting 15 rows away at a football game? Isn’t that a public place and isn’t 15 rows a lot of distance? Folks need to stop looking for trouble, this is a small planet.” The next day I got a FB message from a friend saying their brand new neighbor is my ex. “How close does 15 rows seem now?” I had to smile since that’s about 15 blocks from me. I don’t care but what made me laugh was he’s on Tiger Street. On October 17, I wrote A tiger stalks me in the woods. The Universe is constantly keeping me in stitches.    Continue reading →

It makes me shake my head when I hear law enforcement or investigators or anyone saying that someone didn’t have an appropriate reaction to grief. There is no standard appropriate reaction. Absence of tears or sadness does not mean absence of grief. People who make statements like this plant erroneous ideas in the minds of other people of how someone should act under stress. I’ve seen it countless hundreds of times. People are quiet, people laugh and joke, people are nervous, there is no one reaction. Anyone who says someone did not have an appropriate emotional reaction to grief simply has a pre-conceived notion of what the response should be.

Is Tweety-Bird a boy or a girl? Does it matter?

Why all the fuss about Caitlyn Jenner when we grew up with transgender cartoon characters???? Lisa Shaw writes on Facebook, “Yesterday,during a lesson on commonly confused words, I talked about “taught” and “thought,” which some of my Caribbean students confuse in writing, and my right brain kicked in when I said, “I THOUGHT I saw puddycat.” I said to the class, “Tweety’s a girl, right?” so I researched it in class and lo and behold! We discovered that originally, Tweety was female, but when Warner brothers bought the rights to the cartoon, he was changed to a male. Well!, then, I said, what’s the whole controversy over transgender issues and Caitlin Jenner? We all grew up with a transgender bird whom we loved. And look at Porky Pig. He is a he without genitals. We know this because he never wears pants, yet no one has been upset over this for 75 years. Bugs was defnitely male, but how often did he dress in drag to be funny? Hmmmm, the students thought. That’s right.”

I noticed today how big Benny was getting. “Oh, you’re such a big boy!” He’s clearly been supplementing with a natural outdoor diet. I reminded him “Hunting doesn’t make you a big boy. Only little boys think hunting makes you a big boy, whether it’s a mouse or a bear.”

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Last night two 45 minute calls turned into 4 hours but the time flew. The last two had issues with, among other things, barking dogs and grouchy neighbors. With each, I talked about how they attracted the vibe and how to get out of it. Afterwards, I went for a long walk in the neighborhood under the full moon. I thought “I seldom hear dogs bark. I know half my neighbors have them.” As I walked I began thinking which houses they lived at. I passed Cricket’s house and he barks in confirmation. The trampoline people have a dog and the 2 story house new people have a dog. I heard another bark from that direction. Then another from farther up the street. By the time I pass his house, his human has turned on the spotlights and opened the front door yelling at the dog. As I turn my corner, I notice there are several dogs barking now. Wow, I thought. This is a reminder how powerful I am, my thoughts can cause things to happen around me. All I have to do is let myself sink into the vibe of it (talking about and thinking about barking dogs — or whatever) and it appears literally in front of me. Now, how to use this amazing super power for good?

This is the face of OUR golden years. We’re not your grandma’s grandma. As elders we are the visionkeepers, holding your vision until you’re able to hold it on your own. We are the wayshowers; to make your path easier and save you steps, we share the way we’ve come and what the journey has taught us. We didn’t listen either so we learned our own way. This is the face of our golden years. We’re not your grandma’s grandma.

Image from Wild Woman Sisterhood: Radiant, luminous “crone” woman. During ancient times, the crones, hags and witches were frequently sages, leaders, midwives and healers in their communities and were revered for their wisdom and knowledge. As history evolved and a patriarchal society took hold, the definitions of the crone, (the crowned one) the hag, (the holy one), and the witch (the wise one) were distorted.  May we again respect all elders and honor their wisdom.

A 30-second spot during 2015 Super Bowl cost $4.5 million because those 30 seconds of words are proven to cause consumers to run out and buy that product. Impressionable minds learn disrespect even in sitcoms, violence and hate on tv, in video games and song lyrics. If you’re asking “Where did we go wrong?” when they see you glued to a monitor during your waking hours, phone, computer, iPad, tv, they learn to do the same. It less about telling them what not to do than it is about encouraging them to more fun and creative alternatives.