Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Rose

I say love, it is a flower,
And you its only seed






My love...

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
An endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
And you its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
Who cannot seem to give,
And the soul afraid of dyin'
That never learns to live.



When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose.

Friday, January 24, 2014

I'm Dreaming of the Beach.....

We enjoy every sunset.

Our favorite beaches are along Hwy. 30A.  Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Seagrove Beach, Grayton Beach, and Watercolor, to name a few, are all located there.


Glorious Morning!
This is always one of our first stops.  They
have the most wonderful muffins!
"Glorious Morning" is our favorite.

This is a local hangout. The cafe is located in the back.
They make the best grouper po' boys!
Their gumbo is great too.

This bookstore is at Seaside.  I could spend hours here.

Seaside on a Saturday morning.





Favorite way to relax...
We like to visit the "Tom Thumb" a few times.

We had a nice little pool which was very handy.

Did I mention that we stayed at Seagrove Beach this  time?
We selected The Palms for several reasons.  The main one being it was gulf side.
We also get a condo that is on the first floor.  (No steps to climb)
There is always something going on at Seaside.
So many good places to eat!



                                                                                                              


Up and down 30A.....eating, shopping, I even found a great garage sale.  I bought 2 sets of antlers for $12.00 each!

Yep....I'm dreaming of the beach!

Monday, January 13, 2014

I'm Spending this Winter with Pat Conroy

January is my month for reading.  This doesn't mean that I don't read in February.  It has to do with the busyness of the holidays and
my longing for more time to do what I want to do.

Pat Conroy is my all-time favorite author.  This January, I am starting to re-read, and a few for the first time, everything he has written.  When I discovered him in the late 1990's,  I read every book and waited for the next one to come out.  In 1997, while flying to Italy, Beach Music was the perfect book, as most of the setting was in Italy.  

Beginning in the year, 2000, life happened, and for about ten years I struggled to read the daily newspaper.  To have read a book would have not been possible.  My husband was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis and Primary Biliary Cirrhosis of the Liver.  I had Two Total Knee Replacements and a Fibromyalgia diagnosis.
My sister and I were fast becoming caregivers for our mother.  Our sweet mother went to heaven on April 9, 2013.  I had never not   been able to read.  It was just too much.....my mind could not focus
long enough to read.
I would think about it and miss that so enjoyable part of my life.  At the same time trusting that my soul, heart, and mind would be healed.

It is happening.....my life is simpler this January.  
I'm going to read Pat Conroy and love every minute!


About Pat ConroyPat Conroy

Biography

Pat Conroy, born in Atlanta in 1945, was the first of seven children of a young career military officer from Chicago and a Southern beauty from Alabama, to whom Pat often credits for his love of language. The Conroys moved frequently to military bases throughout the South, with Conroy eventually attending The Citadel Military Academy in Charleston, South Carolina, where, as a student, he published his first boohe Boo, a tribute to a beloved teacher. Following graduation, Conroy taught English in Beaufort, where he met and married a young mother of two children who had been widowed during the Vietnam War.
He soon took a job teaching underprivileged children in a one-room schoolhouse on Daufuskie Island off the South Carolina shore but, after a year, was fired for his unconventional teaching practices – such as his refusal to allow corporal punishment of his students – and for his personal differences with the school's administration. Conroy was never to teach again but he evened the score by exposing the racism and appalling conditions his students endured with the publication of a memoir, The Water is Wide published in 1972. The book won Conroy a humanitarian award from the National Education Association and was made into the feature film Conrack.
Following the birth of a daughter, the Conroys moved to Atlanta, where Pat wrote his novel, The Great Santini, published in 1976, and later made into a film starring Robert Duvall, that explored the conflicts of the author's childhood, particularly his ambivalent love for his violent and abusive father. The publication of a book that so painfully exposed his family's secret brought Conroy a period of tremendous personal desolation. This crisis resulted not only in his divorce, but the divorce of his parents; his mother presented a copy of The Great Santini to the judge as "evidence" in divorce proceedings against his father.
The Citadel became the subject of his next novel, The Lords of Discipline, published in 1980. The novel exposed the school's harsh military discipline and racism.
Conroy remarried and moved from Atlanta to Rome, where he began The Prince of Tides, which, when published in 1986, became his most successful book. Reviewers immediately acknowledged Conroy as a master storyteller and a poetic and gifted prose stylist. This novel has become one of the most beloved novels of modern time. With over five million copies in print, it has earned Conroy an international reputation. The Prince of Tides was later made into a highly successful feature film directed by and starring Barbra Streisand, as well as actor Nick Nolte, whose performance won him an Oscar nomination.
Beach Music (1995), Conroy's sixth book, was the story of Jack McCall, an American who moves to Rome to escape the trauma and painful memory of his young wife's suicidal leap off a bridge in South Carolina. While he was on tour for Beach Music, members of his Citadel basketball team began appearing, one by one, at his book signings around the country, Conroy realized that his team members had come back into his life just when he needed them most. He began reconstructing his senior year, his last year as an athlete, and the 21 basketball games that changed his life. The result of these recollections, along with his insights into his early aspirations as a writer, became My Losing Season.
Conroy's fifth novel and ninth book, South of father in the character of Leo Bloom King, the story's central figure.
He followed the novel with The Pat Conroy Cookbook. His next book, My Reading Life, published in 2010, is a celebration of reading and the books that most influenced him. In his next book, The Death of Santini, a memoir scheduled to be published on October 30, 2013, Conroy revisits one last time his tortured family, where he describes his father's surprising evolution into a father he could finally love.
Conroy currently lives in Beaufort, South Carolina with his wife, novelist Cassandra King.



#13342   This biography was copied from Pat Conway's blog.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Mardi Gras & The Fun It Brings





On a visit to Mardi Gras in "The Big Easy" a while ago, we brought all these "throws" home with us. Now our neighborhood looks forward to our " Mardi Gras Tree" every year.

Another way we have used the colorful beads...we shared them with the Solona Unit of Riverside Rehab where the residents had their own parade!
                                            
Our sweet mother waiting for the parade to start.


One of the nurses (Nina) came in on her day off to lead the parade!



One of the great floats in the Orpheus parade on the
Northshore!


Another favorite!







Have you ever been to Mardi Gras? This should be on your "Things I want to do before I die"
list. No one can really tell you about it. To capture the spirit, excitement, and tradition, you
must be there.
I had the pleasure of attending the wonderful Orpheus parade on the Northshore (Mandeville) two years ago.

The floats were great, the bands were all so good, and the crowds were huge!
How fun it is to turn into complete idiots begging for beads!

First published bcpmylife. ..both blogs belong to me.






Saturday, January 4, 2014

Mother Theresa's Prayer


my67 003 

May today there be peace within,
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content, knowing that you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones,
and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

Friday, January 3, 2014

A Train-Wreck That Goes On and On..........

Misc.Fall 2009 017 For those of you who are blessed as I am to have a cleaning lady, you know what I’m talking about when I describe the feeling just after she leaves…the house smells so clean, everything is dusted, the bathrooms clean….Ah, I think I’ll have me a large glass of sweet tea. Oh, I forgot to mention, I had just put a loaf of apple bread in the oven. I have my nest made with all my stuff on the table beside my chair. Phone, remote, fan, address book, a small basket with pens, scissors, stamps, nail file. Life is good…until the phones rings. I spill that large glass of tea. It goes everywhere including in the remote, Misc.Fall 2009 018 the phone base, the rug and carpet. Remember, it was a full glass of tea, sweet tea, sticky tea! Dear God in heaven, what a mess! I proceeded to wipe, blot, swipe . This episode did help me decide it was time to have carpets cleaned.
By now it was time to take the apple bread from the oven. It smelled sooo good! It was a large loaf and was browned to perfection. I got my pot holders out and carefully lifted that wonderful ,fragrant bread from the oven. Before I knew what had happened, I had dropped the whole loaf of bread to the floor (my floor that my cleaning lady had just cleaned). Misc.Fall 2009 004 Because it was so moist and hot, and because the floor is ceramic tile, it just went everywhere! Misc.Fall 2009 010  I gave up! I went to bed!  SH said that he “dipped” him some bread before retiring.

A train-wreck, indeed!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

30 things.....


30 THINGS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE & SHOULD KNOW BY THE TIME SHE'S 30.

“This isn't new, exactly. But it's definitely the most famous piece of journalism I've ever written. In the eight years since Glamour first published this list, it has been attributed to Maya Angelou (nope), been posted on countless websites and fridges (thank you very much), been published as a book and quilted into a museum piece, and inspired millions of women all over the world (love that).”  

 Pamela Redmond Satran

By 30, you should have:
  1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you’ve come.
  2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.
  3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.
  4. A purse, a suitcase and an umbrella you’re not ashamed to be seen carrying.
  5. A youth you’re content to move beyond.
  6. A past juicy enough that you’re looking forward to retelling it in your old age.
  7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age—and some money set aside to help fund it.
  8. An e-mail address, a voice mailbox and a bank account—all of which nobody has access to but you.
  9. A résumé that is not even the slightest bit padded.
  10. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry.
  11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra.
  12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.
  13. The belief that you deserve it.
  14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don’t get better after 30.
  15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship and all those other facets of life that do get better
  16. How to fall in love without losing yourself.
  17. How you feel about having kids.
  18. How to quit a job, break up with a man and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.
  19. When to try harder and when to walk away.
  20. How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn’t like to happen next.
  21. The names of: the secretary of state, your great-grandmother and the best tailor in town.
  22. How to live alone, even if you don’t like to.
  23. How to take control of your own birthday.
  24. That you can’t change the length of your calves, the width of your hips or the nature of your parents.
  25. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over.
  26. What you would and wouldn’t do for money or love.
  27. That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs or not flossing for very long.
  28. Who you can trust, who you can’t and why you shouldn’t take it personally.
  29. Not to apologize for something that isn’t your fault.
  30. Why they say life begins at 30.
This is Pamela’s updated list and she encourages us to add to it! How about it?

What would you add?