"If you're ever in a mess.....SOS"

 I want to write a few words about friendship. I read something recently, about friends. This particular article made the statement that "if you have been friends with someone for seven ears, you have made a friend for life." I agree with that, and what's more, when you are pushing 80, the friends that you have, who are still alive and kicking with you, are pretty damn golden!

True Friends, to quote another source, are folks that you can talk to, not necessarily every day, or even every month. They are people that you can just start a conversation with, and it seems like you only spoke to them a couple of hours ago. My friends and I can do that.  If you have forever friends like that, you are truly blessed. 

Facebook has, in my opinion been worth all of the "hacks", ads, and sales pitches that get dumped on you, delivered unannounced and unwanted. I have been able to connect with dozens of friends, through Facebook, that I would have otherwise lost contact with.  Well, yeah, it can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but the comments I get, when I post a photo, or answer a post, are worth a million dollars to me.

And, I make new friends, quite often. I am not shy and I love to talk to folks, as a volunteer at the WWI Museum and any new place I happen to be. That old Girl Scout song lyric, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is Silver and the other Gold. A circle is round and has no end. That's how long, I"ll be your friend." So True.

"Friendship, Friendship, just a perfect blend ship. When other Friendships have been forgot. Ours will stilll be hot. Ladlie-ahdie-ahdie-ding-ding-ding."

Send me an email or text, sometime!!!! I'd love to hear from you!!!

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 Lord. I am so thankful for the wonderful friendships that I have made. Forgive me for perhaps not being a perfect friend, in return. Keep showing me how to be the best friend that I can be. Allow me to be there for others. Help me to guard against selfish thoughts, and put others first.

OSD

I have just been self- diagnosed with OSD. It's definitely not contagious and as far as I know, no one as yet, has ever succumbed to this rare disorder. I think I may have contracted OSD, from exposure to my family members, years ago. However, it may also be hereditary. It has been a bit of a distraction, since my very early childhood.

My earliest "remembry" of Obsessive Singing Disorder may actually have been learning the words to "Down Went McGinty". It's a marvelously goofy 1890's, Irish ditty, that my Grandpa Tom taught me. I must have been nearly 2 years old. Tom's brothers were are singers and his only sister played piano at the local movie houses. OSD came naturally to me, and I've pretty much always had it.

My mother and sister also were afflicted. My sister studied piano, for years, and played all types of music, and if there were words involved, I learned them. Music from the 19th and 20th Centuries, are my specialty. We had that kind of sheet music, at my house. Recently, I won a dollar, when I "Named That Tune", on a historic home tour. I could have sung it, word perfect, for the emcee, but the stunned look on his face when I gave him the title, stopped me! "My Wild Irish Rose", is a bit obscure. But, I could have belted out a couple of verses. Seriously, I would probably have known the title, and at least most of the first and second verses of anything, that man could have played. It's a thing with me.

Okay, I have never been a paid performer, but I can do a pretty good impression of Tina Turner, whilst whipping up dinner, most nights. "Rollin on the River" is great kitchen music. Elvis, the Beatles, the Beach Boys? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Lately, since I have returned to my roots, in Kansas, I have been recalling my Kansas related songs. I could begin with "Home on the Range", followed by the University of Kansas Alma Mater and Fight Song, four or five more, then end with "Over the Rainbow." Unfortunately, no one is interested in a concert.

So, don't be concerned. It's an odd sort of disease. I live with it. OSD, along with my other problem, OCRD (Obsessive Compulsive Recitation Disorder) will be with me, I'm convinced, to the end of my days. Actually, I think I am blessed. I have never been bored. I can always entertain myself.

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Lord: You have blessed each of us with particular gifts and graces. Grant us the ability to accept not only our own talents, but to appreciate those of others. Your world is a grand and glorious place.

"Toot,Toot, Toot, Toot. Yeah!!!!!"

 

As Paul McCartney wrote……“Baby you can drive my car…..” Now, I never believed he was singing to me, but, as it turns out, he was predicting my future. In our garage, we now have a car that “drives itself”. “Tess”, as I call affectionately call her, can now drive safely down the street, with a “Look, MA, no hands!” driver behind the wheel.

Now, don't worry, the driver must still keep his/her eyes on the road, full time. But, Tess can now stay in her lane, signal, pass and change lanes, stop and go, totally by herself. We get in the car, give Tess a destination, and Voila! She warns us of oncoming walkers, joggers and even deer, crossing the road. It's only a matter of time, before this technology is available to everyone who owns a car.

Never, you say. Well, let me remind you of this famous quote.

• "The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." – Eleanor Roosevelt 

 Remember (well, some of you can remember), when we said we were going to stop driving if gas got up to a dollar a gallon? Or what about when coffee reached a dollar a pound? Well, we're still driving and drinking the java!

Life is a road well traveled, and it's up to us to make the most of our trip!!!!

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 Dear Lord: Why are we so reluctant to embrace change? We don't remain infants our whole life. We change, we grow. Nothing is constant, but your steadfast love. That endures forever.

 

"Where troubles melt like Lemon Drops".....

 I have a new screensaver on my trusty Desktop, and although I have been known to switch images often, I plan on keeping this one, right where I can see it, for a long, long time. Just now, It suits me.

You know by now, that I am a native Kansan. Although, I have lived in Missouri, for many years, I have returned, "Back to Kansas, where the great big sunflowers grow." "I was born in Kansas. I was bred in Kansas, etc."

Although, Kansas may be considered a "fly-over state", by some, Kansas is famous for many things. For example: the man who invented Basketball, coached and taught for years, "up at Lawrence, on the Kaw." Dwight Eisenhower and Amelia Earhart were Kansans. More recently, both Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) and Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), often speak of their Kansas Roots. Kansas is, as one of my Junior High teachers rather oddly stated, "The Navel of the Nation."

But, the most famous Kansan, is Dorothy Gale. She is a figment of L. Frank Baum's imagination, but she is, never the less, outrageously famous. Dorothy saved Baum, from a life of obscurity and failure. She survived a tornado, the wicked witch, her ugly monkeys and a charlatan of a Wizard. And, she sings my second most favorite Kansas Song, "Over the Rainbow". 

So here's my Screensaver. It fits my personality to a tee. Watch out world. Don't mess with this Kansas Girl!

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Dear God. Thank you for dropping me, right where I belong. Life is a journey, and I am so grateful to be traveling along this road. I am your servant. Show me how to serve.

"Life is just a bowl of.................."

 Summertime has arrived in the Midwest. Most days, the temperature has been in the 90s, and for a change this year, our evening temps have been much lower than usual. We have had lots of showers, at night. Our weather has been pretty close to perfect, for July. 

The corn planted in the surrounding suburban fields "Is as high as an elephant's eye" and today, I am not above bragging on our tomato crop. Being a first time raised-bed gardener, there really were no expectations. We had no idea what or if the plants would produce. I purchased four plants, and put them in the dirt, in early May. By mid June, there were tons of yellow blossoms on the plants, and I was surprised that none of them had died. My companion added a wood trellis to the "garden" and things were looking pretty good.

Now, in mid July, we are eating tomatoes. We have several dozen grape-shaped beauties just beginning to turn red, and last night we had sliced tomatoes with our BBQed ribs. Fresh tomatoes, ripened in the sun, have a taste like nothing else on the planet. Sheer ambrosia.

It looks like we will have a bumper crop, maybe too many for 2 folks to consume. Need some fresh tomatoes? Just drop by with a bag or basket. We'll share.

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Dear Lord. Thank you for the abundance in our lives. We are blessed.