New Hampshire In Winter

PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire is definitely the place I want to move to.

She Is Back

WOOHOO!!!! She's back.

California Coast

What Happened To The Land Of The Free?

Something a bit different, well... very different.
I found this in an article and it struck a cord with me.

"...Barry Goldwater comes along and says something like "A government strong enough to give you what you want is strong enough to take it all away," people shout him down as a fascist, heartless, or right-wing extremist (though Goldwater was, contrary to commonly held perceptions of him, quite libertarian-oriented)."

I must say, he (Barry Goldwater) was absolutely correct. The more so-called "help" we get from our government, the more control it has over our actions, over our private lives.

Sooo... let's all try to stand on our own two feet and use our hands for work instead of holding them out for some hand-out from our government. And yes, things may be tough for a while, but if we really try hard we can make it on our own. Let's remember and find again the American Spirit of Independence, I think it got lost on the way to the land of "entitlements"

I See

I found this on the internet and thought it was worth sharing here.

In a small village a hundred years ago, a father gave each of his two young daughters a live chicken. He said to them, “Take the chicken where no one can see and kill it and bring it back here.” The one daughter returned in fifteen minutes with the dead chicken. The other daughter returned an hour later with her live chicken. When the father asked what happened, the daughter said, “Wherever I went, the chicken saw and I saw.”


So, no matter what you do, if you are totally alone or not, somebody is going to SEE what you are doing. EVEN IF IT IS JUST YOU!!! You will see, and no amount of rationalizing will change the fact that YOU will see what you have done. And it will always be with you.

wow !! what a house!

FLAG THIS IMAGE

Self Education!!

"The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts." -- Rene Descartes

"I believe people should study a little bit every day. It should become habitual, like brushing your teeth, combing your hair, having a shower or getting dressed. Study the mind, the laws of the universe and paradigms. There's enough information on those subjects to keep a person studying forever." -- Bob Proctor

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." -- Derek Bok

But my thoughts are, self education really isn't that expensive, it just takes time and effort. Well, college education takes time and effort, too... but also A LOT OF MONEY!

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her 70+ birthday.

Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older.

And, there on television, she said it was "exciting."

Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring every day...like her breasts.

They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist, first.

The audience laughed so hard they cried. She is such a simple and honest woman, with so much wisdom in her words!

Maya Angelou said this:

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow."

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."

"I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life."

"I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life'."

"I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance."

"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back."

"I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision."

"I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one."

"I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone.

People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back."

"I've learned that I still have a lot to learn."

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

If only.............

I so agree that it would teach a better lesson, for Mrs Drew, to have to work on a teen suicide crisis center. I wonder if she really appreciates what she did? I suspect that she is the type that sees herself as the victim. I also would LOVE to see people who drinks and drives, work in a morgue to see what death looks like. Or work in a rehab center. There life should change, as well as for them to learn something.

Megan's Suicide

One of my daughters had a good idea what to do with this Drew person, and I refuse to call her "woman" because she isn't mature enough to be considered a woman.
The Drew person should be made to do community service, and lots of it. Perhaps working with teenagers (under total supervision of course).
I'd like to add one of my own ideas to that, this Drew person should be made to take classes in humanity, child psychology, and whatever other courses are out there to teach this person to become a human being. For that matter so should all teachers and school administrators, and they should be going through psychological tests to make sure that they don't have those bullying tendencies.
Prison has never been proven to change anybody to the better, usually they have the exact opposite effect. People get worse and taxpayers are paying for that. As far as I'm concerned Community Service is one of the better answers, at least for most.

Megan Suicide

I would like to go back to that blog, and add my two cents.

I think the Mother displayed a real lack of judgement. Perhaps the jail term was excessive, but not in my opinion unwarranted. Depression in young people of course is not rational. Nor in adults for that matter. But in young people, when they have no experience to call upon they they simply don't make the right decisions at times of crisis. And as I know from personal experience, parents do not always read the signs well.
The Drew lady I feel should have been tested for her mental stability, as what she did showed real lack of mature behaviour. What kind of example is this setting, if all mother's behave this way, for her daughter, or for that mater, other girls of that age. It concerns me greatly the lack of judgement that parents are now showing. It seems that parents today don't want their children to have disappointments, it's success at all costs. Since when does does this reflect real life?
It is not unusual for young teens to be on a high and low with their relationship with their parents, I sure was, and so were my boys. Then you add their inexperience, and you have nothing but problems.
In an ideal world this kind of think would not happen, but it does happen. And at times the consequents are devastating. For both families. Frankly, because of my personal experience with teachers and students bullying, I am tired of it. And I want accountability.
I understand your concerns about the movement for internet control. But, I think there does have to be some rules for net users who abuse it. However, like you, I don't want my free speech monitor.
I wish I had answers to your questions, and I wonder who does.

Quote Of The Day

Diets are for people who are thick and tired of it.

Being Thinner?

So you want to be thinner... read below for instructions!!!

It's a relief to know the truth after all the conflicting medical studies:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausage and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

Conclusion:

Eat and drink what you like.

Speaking English is apparently what kills you, but the US government is trying to correct the problem.

Mystery Castle

Pictures below are from our trip to the Mystery Castle in Arizona

Megan Meier's suicide

I'd like to discuss this subject.

It says in several different articles that Megan suffered with depression. So I'm thinking that she didn't commit suicide over just the bullying on MySpace.
Mind you, I think this Drew woman was a total jerk and should be punished for her contributions to this problem, but to be sentenced to prison for 5 years for each count that she was found guilty of, is totally outrageous. Since when do people go to prison at all for this type of verbal misbehavior??? There is a lot of bullying going on in most schools, done by both students and teachers. Are we going to throw all of them into prison, too? Ask yourself why so many young teenagers are committing suicide now a days? Ask yourself why there are now so many shootings in schools. Checking the backgrounds of the young shooters, you'll find that all of them suffered from bullying in schools.
I can also see that some of the charges had absolutely nothing to do with her bullying, so our "enlightened" government is just making an example of her. They will probably use this as an excuse to gain control over the internet. They have been looking for a way to do it without too much of an uproar. And of course now you've got a lot of the "goody two-shoes" on the bandwagon to pass more and more laws.
And now to the family of the teenager, Megan. Where was her mother all this time? Her mother states that they had an argument over Megan's vulgar language in responding to the bullying and then stormed off to her room only to kill herself. Something is not right here. Why wasn't her mother trying to help her to either deal with the bullying or to show her that Megan has the choice not to engage in this bullying? Why harp on her language? The mother knew of the emotional problems of her daughter, why wasn't she there helping her more? Why didn't she monitor her computer usage???

I Won't

It is the end of the day, and with a bit of luck, I will dream tonight. Other wise I will have to go back and remember the dreams that have been left behind. One dream was to play the piano. I love piano music. Another was to have voice lessons, mom and I use to sign duets together in church. Another one was to be able to paint, and I did take tole painting classes. And other then making a designer quilt, all by myself, the one I dream of most now, is to be thin. Or at least thinner.

DREAMS

Let me ask you this, what does the word “important” mean to you? And why does it have to be an “important” dream? Don’t you have any dreams that are just for the fun of it all? I think once you start to “act” upon smaller dreams we get into the habit of actually “acting”. And when you start to “act” upon one dream you will become more aware of your other

dreams that you may have left by the side of the road, also dreams that you have given up when you were just a child; dreams that other people have talked you out of. Don’t ever listen to “naysayers”.
Don’t tell your dreams to anybody other than the person that you know would encourage you.

Of Course

Of course you are right, but I took his quote to mean, that "of course" one must act, but so many times we "do not do the action part" of a dream. That is why I liked the quote. To remind me to act upon my dreams. Now I just have to figure out which dream is really important to me, and then do the "action" part.

Deeper Thought Of The Day ;-)

That really is an odd statement of "Bill Strickland". Think about it, a dream will always be just a dream unless you DO act upon it. So a dream won't come true until you do act on it.

The Quote Of The Day

You must be prepared to act on your dreams, just in case they do come true.

- Bill Strickland

Word to the Wise

An old man, a boy & a donkey were going to town.

The boy rode on the donkey & the old man walked.

As they went along they passed some people
who remarked it was a shame the old man
was walking and the boy was riding.
The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right,
so they changed positions.
Then, later, they passed some people who remarked,
'What a shame, he makes that little boy walk.'
So they then decided they'd both walk!

Soon they passed some more people who thought
they were stupid to walk when they had a
decent donkey to ride.

So, they both rode the donkey.
Now they passed some people
who shamed them by saying how awful to
put such a load on a poor donkey.
The boy and man figured they were probably right,
so they decide to carry the donkey.
As they crossed the bridge,
they lost their grip on the animal
and he fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story?

If you try to please everyone,
you might as well...
Kiss your ass goodbye!

Have A Nice Day And
Be Careful With Your Donkey

Thought For The Day

" I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change."
--- Jim Rohn

On A Lighter Note

Zen Sarcasm

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me,
for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much
leave me the heck alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and
leaky tire.
3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your
neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be
promoted.
5.. Always remember that you're unique Just like everyone else.
6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car
payments.
8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their
shoes.
9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish,
and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
11. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was
probably worth it.
12. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
13.. Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.
14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put
it back in your pocket.
16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
17. Duct tape is like 'The Force'. It has a light side and a dark side,
and it holds the universe together.
18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
19. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are
moving.
20. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
21. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
22. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative
on the same night.

Let me see if I can explain what I meant by my statement.

Mind-Thought-Understanding

Christians call this the Trinity and rightly so, but the individual aspect of the Trinity is mostly misunderstood; although, Christians actually call it Father-Son-Holy Ghost.

First: Mind is the Mental element, or the Spiritual element or as some people say just simply Intelligence. It is the BEING!

Second: Thought is the active force of this mentality (spirit/intelligence)

Third: Understanding is the conclusion or conviction… understanding it all.

The “Father” is the mind, the spirit, the intelligence… the substance of which we all are made of. It is not separate from us, it IS us.

The “Son” is the mind starting to THINK, it is intelligence in action

The “Holy Ghost” is understanding the whole process, understanding and sensing and feeling and knowing what we truly are. It is “WISDOM” … The original word for “The Holy Ghost” was actually “WISDOM”

Here is a small example what I'm trying to say: One soul, who lives life as a mother or wants to be a mother, says to another soul: "I would like to live with you as my child" the other soul agrees to that. Now the baby is not as aware of itself as the mother is aware of herself. The baby has to start to learn how to think, and through it's thinking it starts to act. This is an awakening process. With correct thinking the baby learns or becomes aware of who or what it actually is.

Unfortunately, 99% of babies are not taught how to think properly, thus we have a world of unenlightened adults.

Enlightenment is ALWAYS profitable in every aspect of our lives. Enlightenment does not mean that we have to live in poverty, it does not mean we have to give up "earthly" delights. True enlightenment means living a life of abundance, whatever each individual's thoughts of abundance are, but it also means never hurting others. Jesus was a very enlightened being, but he chose the life of a teacher. But being a teacher doesn't mean you have to be dirt poor.

Enlightenment

Enlightenment is just that..........Making ourselves lighter.

From the book "Eating for beauty"

I think that looking for"enlightenment" is not always very profitable, because in our heart of hearts, we know what is right and wrong for ourself. Either by being or by doing. We just don't want to follow the heart.


Guide me more on where your thoughts are going.

Some Deep Thinking

Been going through my journal and found this entry. It was written during a time I was (and still am) trying very hard to get to know who or what I am.

"Spirit is not aware of itself until it starts to actively THINK and through this THINKING it starts to unfold itself, becoming more and more aware of itself! ENLIGHTENMENT !"

Ask me if you have any questions about that.

Spell Spelling

Saturday, June 14, 2008: "noze" and "nozy" for "nose" and "nosy" / "nosey"

The sibilant sound in today's twofer is Z (voiced), not S (unvoiced). So why is it spelled with an S?: "noze" and "nozy".
____________________

My thanks to "Unicycle..." for today's twofer, with thanks also to "yao..." for pointing out the variant spelling "nosey".

SPELLING

I'm definitely a firm believer of having at least one big dictionary on my desk. I don't bother with the little books anymore. I also have one dictionary on my night stand so that I can look up a word while I'm reading.
And, if you can't figure out how to find a word in the dictionary while writing, perhaps you shouldn't use that word, try using a different one. There are many different words one can use to describe the same thing, THESAURUS.
Actually that is on my wish list to get a THESAURUS.

Spelling

I hear ya on mis-spelled words. Man, don't you just hate it. I just don't know how these young folks get through college not knowing how to spell. :-)) One should indeed always use spell check, but what if what you are spelling is so far off the mark, spell check isn't smart enough to figure out what you are trying to spell. What about that???

A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point. That's the basic spelling that every woman ought to know.

- Mistinguette

Vocabulary

Today I learned a new word while reading an article. I've never heard of it before, and since many articles have misspelled words in them, I decided to look this one up. I'm always amazed at how often these news articles have words that are misspelled... doesn't anybody believe in using spell check? I know many of us believe we are good spellers so we don't need to check, but you'd be amazed at all the typos that are in articles.
Oh yeah, the new word was spelled right. ;-)

Diaspora --- scattering-- any scattering of a people with a common origin
The dispersion of the Jews after the Babylonian exile

Argument

I love to see a good argument.

Cali

Cali
Originally uploaded by T3B1X5

My little Japanese wonder

WAS NOT

Yesterday was the deadline on all complaints.

The Nicol Family

The Nicol Family
Originally uploaded by T3B1X5

This is my family. Shawn left Monty,Gene, Mom. Front Julie holding Cannon, My Mother holding Cali.

Saturday

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

-John Wooden

The sun is shinning, so today I have to go and buy some more plants for the bigger flower bed Gene dug. :-((

Quote

"I can see clearly now, the brain has gone"

Hello

Dorris am I there yet??

Cane, one of my 11 grandkids. He is now 9 years old and a smart kid.

It's been many months since I've even looked at my own blog, much less post anything. And I still don't know what to do, or how to do it.
Lorna, when I figure out how to invite you to this blog then I'll send you the info... unless of course your son Monty can tell you how.
I tried to upload a picture of some of my grandkids, but it took forever, I think perhaps, the pics are too big.