Category Archives: This and That

An outing to look at flowers…

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Mom’s 82nd birthday was last week! She enjoyed a variety of activities and one was a trip to the Dallas Arboretum. Lorna came up with the idea for this excellent adventure and I’m glad she did. Mom, Lorna, Bear and I set off on  Wednesday morning, a beautiful north Texas spring day.

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Bear was an excellent adventurer. He rode in the stroller and sometimes got to get out and walk…

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The grown-ups looked at the flowers and plants, mostly to get ideas about what we might do in our own yards. Wild roses are so pretty, but I don’t have room…

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I have a lot more shade in my yard now than I used to and the best idea I got was to plant some ferns, purple oxalis, and some other purple-y shade lovers!

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I also have succulents in pots near the pool. I wish I could grow one of these, but there’s just not room…

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Here is my succulent space. No room for a century plant, although these guys should get bigger over the summer.

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Mom loves her plants. She used to love to work in the yard but she can’t do that so much any more. Happily she is only 4 houses down so I can do some digging for her, along with Hector (her yard man and his crew), and Christopher.

I spent most of last Thursday and Friday in my yard, and then mom’s yard. I should have been working on the manuscript for the next (two) book(s), but I didn’t. I felt some guilt but not enough to go inside :-). I was too busy last year with the color book to work in the yard and I promised myself that this year I would get out and deal with the bare spots. The weather was perfect when I planted and we got some rain on Sunday to water the plants in. My yard is making me smile!

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It’s nice now and it’s only going to get better! FYI to those who have not seen pics of my yard before: it’s small and unusual for my neighborhood. Every other house has the typical big yard of grass with bushes at the house. Lucky for us we live in a neighborhood without restrictions. Also, luckily, our neighbors really like our yard.

 

Hello there, stranger…

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It’s been days since I posted and if I was sitting next to you on the subway, or standing next to you in an elevator, I might tell you about it. Yes, I am one of those people who can’t seem to help themselves: I smile at strangers on the street, I talk to strangers on elevators. It drives my NYC-son crazy.

Now it is my turn to say “Hah!”. It turns out that talking to strangers is a mood lifter for all concerned and there is data to support that. You can read about it here in the NY Times. It’s a short read and worth the time it takes. Hers’ a teaser, quoted from the article:

“The behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder approached commuters in a Chicago area train station and asked them to break the rules. In return for a $5 Starbucks gift card, these commuters agreed to participate in a simple experiment during their train ride. One group was asked to talk to the stranger who sat down next to them on the train that morning. Other people were told to follow standard commuter norms, keeping to themselves. By the end of the train ride, commuters who talked to a stranger reported having a more positive experience than those who had sat in solitude.”

CrystalBridges-Cafe-01I have come to realize that each one of us is actually living a life that is one, long story. Who doesn’t love a story?! We heard stories read to us as children, we watch them on screens, and we read stories in books. When a stranger and I interact, we offer each other a glimpse of our own unique story. You may not think your story is interesting because you are used to it but to someone else, it’s new and different.

Most of us like to think that we are open-minded. I know I like to think that of myself but I’m like everyone else… I don’t break out of my personal bubble often. Interacting with complete strangers is one way to that I put myself in a position to hear, and learn, something different. I can tell you that it works for me.

Tinkering with tools…

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I recently taught my grandson, Jack, how to hammer a nail and how to use a hatchet. He’s 6 and, I think, plenty ready to learn how to use simple tools.

I just watched this TED talk and now I’m thinking that we could do more! Yay, Gever Tulley!

There’s also this article from The Atlantic, goes right along with the idea that kids can do more than we gave them credit for. In fact, I suspect that there are many of us who did a lot of things when we were kids that we never let our own children do. Maybe that’s why I think Jack might need a drill for Christmas this year, and a small hand saw…

PS: For those of you who are wondering why Jack got to work with these tools and not his older sister, Elanor, it isn’t so much sexism on my part as it is that whammering and whacking seem to fit Jack’s personality better right now. So, Elanor, if you are reading this and want to work with tools too, just say so :-).

 

I am not a crazy person…

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And do you know how I know that I am not a crazy person? It’s because I would never, ever, in a million years (except maybe if I was on The Amazing Race!), do this:

The actual jump starts at around 2:40 and that part goes by surprisingly quickly. I was impressed that no one got hung up on a street light.

One of the jumpers is a ‘legendary’ iron worker (who worked on 1 World Trade) and you can read more about him here. I am remaining neutral on whether these guys deserve to be punished or not. I can only hold strong opinions about so many things at a time and this isn’t one of them.

I can say that way back in the day MDH, Steve, was an iron worker. The buildings were shorter but a fall could still have killed him. I am much happier with his current profession :-).

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Thankfully, he is not crazy either.