Life Is Full Of Surprises

12:18:14 AM EDT
Feeling Hopeful
Hearing Mish Mash

 

Wow, ever have one of those days where your thoughts just ramble on and on till you almost have no control as to what you are thinking of or where your mind takes you.  That's how my day was...

First I've made up my mind to lose some weight, that's why the scales are up on the page...figured visual positive thinking...heck if it's working for Oprah...why not me.  I still have to find a large piece of cardboard and cover it with all that I endeavour to accomplish. Some swear that it really works. I haven't cut wishes out of a magazine since I was a giddy teenager in love with Fabian and Sal Mineo...lol. Look at me, I'm going backwards!

The Monkey's are my favorite.   I had to use them. A couple of days ago I read the most ignorant blog and it was from a professional writer. He claimed that the 9.3 TRILLION dollars that we are in a hole for is largely being driven by rising Medicare and Social Security costs!

Oh, really! Not the little old war in Iraq? How about Afganistan? This is just another twist from a spin doctor to white the Republicans and in particular President Bush.  They are bankrupting this entire country, putting all of us in jeopardy and limiting our children's futures. It is heinous. Now to turn around and blame a system that did work, would work if they would keep their dam hands off of it.

I don't have that much memory loss and can recall a time that we were debt free, the future looked pretty good - we were respected around the world.  Not that long ago either...eight years ago. Then it ended. We need change and I hope everyone will vote for change not just the party that they always vote for either...we need to really get on the right page for this one folks.

The Star Wars Plates? Oh, well someone was talking about Star Wars and my mind went to the dishes that I put away somewhere.  I had been planning to find them and put them up in the Ebay Store...I loved Star Wars, as did my kids.

Now you have had a little peek into my mind complete with pictures!

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

1:18:01 PM EDT
Feeling Chillin'
Hearing The Way We Were

Everybody have a wonderful, safe fourth of July....eat, enjoy - make merry. That wonderful fireworks display is a photo that my talented son Kenji shot off his balcony window in New Jersey....right across the river is Manhattan in all it's full glory.  What a sight!

The other picture is one of my mother and father in law at their own wedding. There is just something about this picture that is so touching, the way Jim is holding Anne's hand, as if to never let it go.  And he didn't.  I was going through old pictures and this one captured my eye.  They are both gone now, too early I believe.  There are so many times where I would love to pick up the phone and call Anne but the years have taken that course away from me.  It is uncanny the way my youngest son resembles his grandfather, you can definitely see the genes at work here.

Speaking of my youngest son, he is getting settled in at his new place in Portland Oregon.  He took off just about one month ago for the great west, looking for adventure I would guess...or maybe mountains? Anything but flat, hot, yucky Florida.   He found a great job, making double what he was here...a neat little apartment, an older small car to save gas...now comes the fun part of furnishing the whole place..lol.  My sister helped by giving him a bed as she is redoing her guestroom and taking him in for the first couple of weeks so he could get his act together and learn where everything was in Portland.   It is a grand adventure and he is doing well.    Still miss him..but that's Mommy talk.

Everybody enjoy the holiday.....

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 3 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

1:08:26 AM EDT
Feeling Sad
Hearing Those Were The Days My Friends...

The year was 1971, I was living back in the States right in my old neighborhood of Queens.  I had picked that area because my folks lived not too far from me, little did I know that they would soon be transferred by Air France to a little town called Humble in Texas.

My youngest sister Barbie had adjusted pretty well to the move to Texas, she was enrolled in a good high school and was making friends. 

All this was brought back home to me in full force tonight when I read AOL's story about the "cold case" of the missing boys in Texas.  How they have not identified three of the victims as yet.

Barbie had a friend named Beth who was dating a young man and very much in love with him.  He was about eighteen a little older that the girls.  One night he was supposed to show up for a date, he never showed up. They tried calling him, no answer. They went to his apartment and found his wallet, money and all his possessions there but not him. It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth.  So it stayed for several years...terrible fears, anxiety, anyone who knew him felt it.

Until August 8th,1973....Elmer Wayne Henly killed Dean Coril and confessed to the police about massive horrendous murders. They doubted him until he showed them where the bodies were.

There are some very evil people, filled with nothing but pure hatred for everyone...Henly, Coril and Brooks were such vermin.

Twenty-seven boys and young men all under the age of twenty-one.  The way they were slain is beyond brutal. There should be a special place in Hell for Henly, Coril and Brooks, I hope.

Unfortunately my sister and her friend had the answer to the whereabouts of their missing friend.  How they managed to entrap him is something that has never been answered. 

Shortly after all this my Dad was transferred back to Kennedy Airport and they bought a house not too far from me.  We all settled in, feeling safe in our old neighborhood....until..."The Son of Sam" arrived in town.  We had brunettes afraid to go out at night, some dyed their hair blond...men with long hair were targeted too.  I can remember the fear, we only lived a short distance from Kew Gardens one of his "strike zones". 

It's a helluva life if we all don't weaken folks.... 

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 4 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

9:32:17 PM EDT
Feeling Bummed
Hearing Leaving On A Jet Plane..bags are packed, ready to go

 So much has changed since my last entry in this journal.

At the very last minute my son's girlfriend backed out of the plans to move to Portland, Oregon.  Evidently she is/was scared of traveling so far from her family, even to follow someone that she professed to love.  It was needlessly cruel to wait till the last moment to back out.  My son just walked away from everything, took his knapsack, laptop - a few personal items - bought a ticket and flew out by himself.

He was determined to follow his dream.  Florida has never suited him, he hated the heat, the humidity,  the boredom that besets most of the youth down here. There is no "living on the edge" in Saint Petersburg..most of the sidewalks are pulled in after 9 P.M.  Some of his happiest memories are of visiting his big sister in New York City, awestruck by the complexity of the "big City". 

He tells me he has given up on love and I know that he says that because he is hurting.  Love hurts.  He's a fine young man, no longer my baby...but he grew up well into a caring, wonderful human being who, I hope, one day will find his one true love, the forever love that never leaves.  I want that for him so much.

He seems to be adapting. My brother in law took him to the local union and believe it or not he wound up finding a terrific job, at almost double what he was making here!  I realize how hard it is to go from a committed relationship to being alone in a strange city...so my thoughts are with him throughout my day.

I know he will make friends out there and, of course, my sister and her husband have been wonderfully helpful. 

I still wish we had teleportation for real.  Zip...in...Zip out....I'd be a fast moving Momma......

 

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 7 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

10:32:04 PM EDT
Feeling Quiet
Hearing Over There, Over There..Coming Over There...

Memorial Day is a day to reflect, remember, honor our present and past warriors.  We've come a long way since the sign above was posted on a Norfolk, Virginia lawn.  I can remember growing up and having my Grandma tell me stories of how rowdy the sailors were when they came into the port of Norfolk. In all my youthful innocence I just shook my head and agreed with her.  Grandma Lee had told me about the lawn signs and I had never seen one until a few months ago...one was for sale on of all things..Ebay!

But it made me stop and think.  Imagine being 18 or l9 full of piss and vinegar, taught how to fight, survive, knowing you are going into battle...and you are told to "stay off the damn grass?"  The temptation to run barefoot through that grass would of been all consuming till mission accomplished.  Imagine...you are to risk your life to preserve home, Mom and apple pie...but stay off the grass! Unbelievable.

Well, fast forward sixty-five years and at least our troops are getting the attention they deserve.  Our boys and girls are over there fighting for us, whether we agree with how they were sent, or who they were sent by.  Wishing they could all just be safe and out of harm's way till they plant their feet firmly on American soil once again.

Love and respect all you guys.......

 

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 7 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

12:51:04 AM EDT
Feeling Quiet
Hearing California Dreaming On Such A Such A Winters Nite

We just celebrated a small farewell dinner at my sister's new house to say goodbye to my youngest son and his girlfriend. They are going to be driving cross country, actually from the lowest part of the US to the upper Northwestern tip...heck throw a stone and I think you can hit Canada up there!

I have to make myself remember how I felt when I left the states for Japan, a totally radical adventure in those days. Yet, I was all for it - young, full of life and wanting to see everything, feel everything.  So, as I look my young son in his eyes I see the wanderlust there, I do know it well. A deep  yearning within for something different, a need to know what's over the horizon.  I guess that's what the pioneers felt too.

I looked at Joe and Holly so much ahead of them, so many adventures, roads to travel down...and I have to be happy for them.   Even though my heart is breaking.

My son's answer to me is "Move too...come on up there", easier said than done.  Yes, I'm playing the age card...it' s hard to start over in your mid sixties.  Although, it may come to that.

After all I really hate Florida, the humidity arrived yesterday with a bit of rain. The trick will be to get hubby to travel out west...I think once he got a look at the majestic mountains, the winding river, especially the Columbia and the good, dark, rich soil as a gardener he would probably freak.

My sister lives up near Portland so the kids will have someone there for moral support, which is great. She's letting them stay with her until they get an apartment. I appreciate it so much I would be a bit more frantic without her & her hubby's involvement. 

I think they are going to have fun getting out there, even with the high cost of gas. So many states to travel through and they are planning on taking their time. That way they can sight see too.   I think triple A is plotting a course for them.

It will be the first time in forty-three years that I haven't at least had a child of mine in the same state as I was. Oh, well I know I will adjust.....

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

12:23:46 AM EDT <center><a href="http://www.sparkletags.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z195/sparkletags4/Tags%20By%20Lesia/DareToDream.gif" alt="Best images, comment images, layouts and more for your profile on SparkleTags.com" border="0"><br><font size="-2"><b>Best graphics, layouts, and more for your profiles!  Click Here!<b></font></a></center><br>

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

1:30:32 AM EDT
Feeling Silly

Green, so softly green does my garden grow
Dew drops in the morning mist appear to shimmer
captured exquisitely on a spider's spun web
Prisms of light dance in the sunlight that shows through
Sparkling diamond like across the lush growth as if
painted by glimmer.

Green, so softly green does my garden grow
Little gray green frogs playing hopscotch on
the fallen tree limbs
A baby Opposum has lost it's way...seeking
safe haven in my green heaven
Creatures big and small are drawn into my
little world of green only on a whim
Little green Lizards lie lazily in the sun's heat
As a little feral black cat tries to play cat and mouse
almost by my feet.

My friend the Peacock suddenly strolls by
causing the little cat to jump and fly
A Bluebird lands on a hanging basket, looking
for worms it seems.
Butterflies flit in and out - my little green haven
with life just teems.

I sit in meditation surrounded by nature's glorious beauty
Relaxed, refreshed beyond all imaginings....
Thank you Mother Earth.

 

Sandi/2008

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

8:55:09 PM EDT
Feeling Hopeful

We walk a fine line in defense of our country, yearning for peace but ready to fight.

The following is a letter that I sent to my State's non committed Super Delegates...

 

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

10:14:02 PM EDT
Feeling Frustrated

 

 

I am just so turned off by politics right now...disgusted actually.  Here we are in a country that fought for it's freedom only a short few hundred years ago, people died to give us the right to vote, to have a say, to keep the government for the people by the people.

So what happens today?  In a state that has over EIGHT MILLION people...guess how many voted.  Under 200,000, well under. Maybe we don't deserve to have out votes count anyway...we are giving out freedom away.  What is it that people are thinking? Oh, it's only the primary? I'll vote when it's the "real" election? Horsecrap people.

I can remember being 17 and not able to vote for Barry Goldwater...I campaigned for him anyway.  I wad thrilled when I got my first voters card, and the feeling of casting my first vote left a pit in my stomach that I can still recall today. Has that feeling gone from America?

If anyone has a right to feel jaded about elections it is "us" here in Florida.  We have been abused for the last eight years and it's still continuing to this day. Not allowing our votes to count in this primary is a smack in the face to every voter in my state.  Yes, I know the story that the Republication Party and our dear Governor actually prodded the vote for the earlier primary date knowing it would cause havoc within the Democratic Party for their nominations..  But, the Democratic Party COULD HAVE overlooked this whole fiasco and let the vote stand....but NO they are going right along and punishing our Dems here for something they really didn't push. 

I tell you what I never thought that I would ever be as disappointed in being an American as I am right now.  This whole debacle shows such a horrid face to the rest of the world, so then once again we are the laughing stock of the world. 

My family came to these shores in the early 1700's, my forefathers fought in the Revolution, The Civil War, World War I and World War II, some of my relatives made a career out of serving.  I think if they were here today, they would hand their heads and weep.

Written by sdoscher458 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own