Long time no blog,

Has it really been 52 days since I last posted to this blog? So much for keeping up a new hobby. Well, after all, the summer is the busiest time of year when you have kids out of school that are quite busy with their summer activities and are not of driving age. This has been taking up the blog time for me as well as having become a daily user of facebook. Yes, I said facebook. It seems I, like so many innocent individuals who own computers, have found the time consuming ritual of looking at what their friends have posted, entering posts of one's own, accepting friends that found you and searching for new friends thereby requesting them to be virtual friends. I use the analogy of this facebook site as a vast black hole that has an enormous vacuum capability. Once you log on the suction power of the hole is so strong you can not break free of it. Before you know it, a vast amount of valuable time has been lost into the great beyond. You can actually hear the sound of wind and time forever disappearing with nothing to be done except type and read, type and read. Eventually, it loses its power and you are able to regain control, hit the logoff icon and your life continues as if nothing has changed. Oh, but it has. The time is gone, never to be gained back. Ah, but the fun you have among the posts of friends!

GM Declaration of Bankruptcy Day

The media is ablaze with the breaking story that GM has declared bankruptcy today in New York city. As if that is breaking news. I suppose that by breaking news, they mean to say offically legal news. That is all anyone heard said when GM was mentioned in a story. This has been long coming down the path. Except now it is legally official in court. I had to finally turn off the radio because I found myself diving deep into an emotional pool filled with everything great that used to be GM.

I was born in the decade of the 1960's. I lived in a neigborhood where every kid I knew, and there were a gaggle of us, had a parent or relative that directly or indirectly had a job related to the automotive giants that were GM, Ford and Chrysler. Every house on simply the three streets around my house had someone tied very closely to an auto company. In fact, this entire subdivision, I would guess from my current adult perspective, was built to house nothing but families and I would continue to guess they all had a direct or indirect tie to the iconic automobile. If not one of the Big Three, then Detroit Edison, Borden Milk, Hudson's Department Store, Kresges, Lamphere Schools, Circle Drug Pharmacy (family owned by the actual phramacist) , Kowalski meat store (owned by the people slicing the meat and ringing the sales) , Joe's Party Store (this Joe was a middle aged Italian man who seemed to live in the old house that was converted into a predecessor to today's convenience store. He watched us kids like a hawk when we came into the store. We were afraid of lingering at the candy too long for fear he would yell at us and not let us back in to get the coveted 5 cent, foot long Big Daddy bubble gum so we could stick the whole thing in our mouths at once so we would not have to carry or stuff it into our pockets!)

I digress. My whole bucolic childhood is embedded in this ideal world that the automakers helped build. Every summer I had no care in the world except when a thunderstorm passing through threatened to ruin our nightly came of kick the can when the streetlights came on. Even then, a thunderstorm could mean the potential of the sewers not draining quickly enough to allow the streets to flood, turning the street into a river of water up to a kid's knees, with the crazy idea we could swim or float in the warm rain waters with our clothes on or really turn our bikes into boats and splash and frolic for what seemed like hours in kid time even though in adult time it was probably minutes until the drains caught up with the overload of rain.

One such family lived on the next street from our in a house positioned exactly in the same layout of the street. In fact, the street address was exactly the same: 28636. Yes, mail is still delivered to my mom's house from the Freda Ct address. Anyway, the family was the Carlson's. They were Wally and Mona with two older daughters named Debbie and Cindy. If I remember correctly, Debbie was a year younger and Cindy was three years younger than Michael my brother. Somewhere along the way, Mike's friend Bill Gersh dated the older one because his sister was friends with Debbie. I do not know, I did not really care about the social aspect of the girls except for when they got to drive their father's gorgeous new GM cars. Now, we were a Chrysler family. My maternal grandfather worked for Chrysler so my dad, being a Rockwell employee and having no specific loyalty to a Big three pledged his loyalty to Chrysler. Which, ironically was puzzling because my paternal grandfather worked for Ford. I never asked why. I never really cared to ask why actually, until now, as I write this. For now, right now, I am thinking it is strange we at least never changed between the two companies. Never. As long as my car memory holds firm, my father always bought Chrysler products. I did ask my mom the reason why. My maternal grandfather worked for Chrysler, so my father wanted to show his loyalty to the company on my grandfather's behalf. Makes sense, even when no employee discounts were given back in the day. You simply bought the product based on loyalty. Simple. You worked diligently, received a decent wage, saved and bought the product you helped create. Now, that concept is not so simple. Venture into a parking lot of one of the various car companies today, right now, and you will indeed see badges of the competitor's adorning the cars. Oh, the people who own them will come to their defense by saying they are contract employees or some other lame excuse. If that is the case, then why are you working there now? Why not just leave and go to some other place. That is not so simple. They will also throw out the excuse the car is built in the U.S. Sorry, this is a thin veil. The most of the money made is still channeled back to the foreign country where the company is headquartered.

The poppies are beginning to bloom.

I acquired and planted these most glorious poppies from Arvo's Tadi Vilma well over 14 years ago. Alas, I do not know the exact year of acquistion. I simply know the year lies between our date of marriage and the birth of Erica. We managed to make quite a few bi-annual visits to her home in West Sand Lake, NY. We would stop to visit with her on our way to Vermont, to see my brother, and Connecticut, to see Arvo's parents. This blog post is to honor her memory and record the feelings aroused whenever I gaze upon these spectacular visions of nature.

Her home was an expansive, well preserved and imaculately maintained farmhouse situated very close to the road. It has an even grander sturdy, towering barn immediately across the road. She tirelessly cared for and primped the imacculate flower gardens that flanked the outside surroundings of the home. These showy poppies graced the garden, creating a bold and glorious view for the eye to see and stand in awe.

At first, when I acquired these flowers to bring home to Michigan, I had no idea what sort of lasting legacy to her I would be creating. I started with a few pips, or small plants from the mature ones. Vilma has long since departed this earth, leaving behind so many intricate whispers to those of us she loved. We no longer make the biannual visits to her home. Yet, these poppies begin blooming the week before Memorial Weekend every year. Just as we prepared and planned our journey to her house, the flowers prepare their journey of their bloom.

These flowers have slowly spread to other parts of our landscape. They have become a symbol of a legacy Vilma has left to those who loved her. These flowers, like her, have endured many years. They, like she, were transplanted to a new land not by their choice. They took root, spread and prospered under many hardships, physical and emotional. They continue through their offspring to prosper and reach for potentials beyond any stretch of the imagination. All of this happened with love, patience and knowledge of believing anything is possible in a new world if you so want it to happen.

You never know what each day will bring to you.

The inspiration for this post was born when I spontaneously was reunited with my eight grade English teacher. This happened in all places but a grocery store. It began as an ordinary Tuesday, which is the day I usually run out of the perishables of the fruit, vegetable and bread variety. My grocery store is embellished with a Starbucks right inside the front door. It makes my time grocery shopping so much more enjoyable. I have been shopping at the same store since Arvo and I were married, 17 1/2 years to be more descriptive. I see many of the same employees from week to week and always manage to see another person of whom I know from some other aspect of my life. I have even met a stranger or two who share a simple common bond of simply shopping on the same day of the week. She is a very friendly Indian woman who one time was in line behind me and asked me advice regarding a pre-baked pound cake she was purchasing for a potluck she was attending that evening. I eventually saw her again a few weeks later and asked how the recipe turned out and we have shared a warm, friendly smile and short conversations ever since. Yes, we did greet each other on this particular Tuesday.

This particular Tuesday was somewhat different than most. This Tuesday I noticed the lady who works in the dairy section was not her normal, happy, positive self. No, I do not know her by name. Her name tag is always turned around and I asked her name once and have since forgot. I am too embarrassed to ask her now after seeing her for many, many weeks. I stopped to ask her if all was right in her world. She said no, her 93 year old mother was in the hospital and had little hope living her life she has enjoyed for 93 years. So, instead of simply smiling and sharing our normal brief conversation of the weather and our blessings in life, I listened to her with the hope of giving her a way of relieving some of her sorrow and fear.

After this encounter, I finally made it to the check out when a lovely person from my long ago past literally walked right by me. The cashier did not know how to respond when I exclaimed "WOW. I think I just saw my eighth grade English teacher from, like 30 years ago!!" Her first response was to ask "what if it is not her?" As if to really ask "Wouldn't you feel foolish if it was not her?" "Who cares!" I said. "At worst I apoligize but as least I tried because what if it IS her?" Fortunately for me, the lady I saw pass me by was wearing a bright, sunny yellow shirt with a denim jumper. I kept a close eye on this person to plan my next move. If she exited through the doors, I knew I would have to move quickly to try and catch her in the parking lot. Luck, or fate, was at my side that day. She moved beyond the doors so I knew I could relax and for a moment enjoy the brief contemplation of hoping the lady was indeed connected to my past. Over the 30 years I often have imagined reuniting with her for a time in order to reveal to her my gratitude for having introduced writing to me. My first memory of her class was being exposed to writing in a journal. To some kids in the class, this was not a welcomed part of the day. To me, it was an opportunity to let words form in your mind and only in your mind and flow through a pen onto paper. This at times took on the form to expell sadness, observe beauty, prevent insanity or add to dilusion. To this day, whenever I see a spiral bound notebook with loose leaf paper in it, I am immediatley taken back to eighth grade English, siiting in a desk in Mrs. Daly's room. I finally reached the lady whom I thought made such a grand impression on a 13 year old girl in 1976. I looked at her while she studied the display of avocadoes. I knew immediately it has to be Mrs. Daly. So, I excused myself as I approached her to gain her attention and asked the obvious question "Are you Mrs. Daly who taught English at Page Junior High?" So poetic, good grief. A warm and welcoming smile appeared on her face assuring me that yes indeed she was Mrs. Daly.

Better today than the last post time....

When I read that last post of April 22, you can tell the tone around our geographical location was bleak. I can say since a few weeks have passed, my outlook, and the outlook in our household in general, is much, much brighter. Just having the warmer weather to inspire and gaze upon lends a positive spirit to so many facets of everyday life. The entire outdoors seems to be in action taking on each nature intended color: daffodils in sunny yellow, grass in lush green, hyacinths in deep blue, pink, and fuschia omitting a fragrant perfume all its own. Colorful birds too have returned to allow us their splendor of yellows, reds, black and great grey (of the Blue Heron variety). The sun graces our souls a bit earlier each day and along with its light brings an orchestra of birdsongs announcing its arrival. "Get up, get going, be thankful for a new day".

Of course, all this is so much more noticed when some fear of job loss has been corralled, for the time being. GM went through job eliminations and demotions last week. I prayed each day that no bad tidings would follow Arvo. Each day I was thankful for "no news is good news". The week ended to allow normal thought. Of course, nothing is guaranteed to last forever. Nothing. For now, we will carry on keeping this perspective continually in mind, while at the same time knowing that in the end, all will be well. Nature seems to know this. After a long, cold winter, spring always manages to present itself to the world to tell us, all will be well.

In my opinion, Simon and Garfunkel summed it up poetically like this:

"April, come she will. May she will stay resting in my arms again.

June she'll change her tune. In restless walks she'll prowl the night.

July, she will fly and give no warning to her flight.

August die she must. The autumn winds blow chilly and cold;

September, I'll remember a love once new has now grown old."

Randomness

I have not written anything in over a month, again. The spring of 2009 is taking forever to enter the realm of Michigan, USA. It appears one day and flees the next. Maybe it senses the dismal state of the local economy, the auto industry and decimation of property values. It is really easy to get taken down into a sad condition. Things could be really bad. I often say and think this and know very well that it could. How anyone ever made it through other periods in history is beyond my comprehension. So many examples could be cited I do not know where to begin. I just read a book that took place in Germany during WWII. How in the world did anyone in Europe endure the bitter cold, food deprived, paralysing fear induced during that period is beyond my realm The paralysing fear would be enough for me to give up and wither the ship. Of course, I can say this amid the luxury of my humble and plentiful life. One never knows exactly how one would react or survive given a certain situation. We have nothing on those souls of the time.

I have had other things to occupy my time.

I can not believe it has been a month since I last posted. There are many reasons: nothing to post, no time to post when an idea struck, wanting to change the look of the main page and started to educate myself using google searches, finding SO MANY great blogs of very creative people that are way better at blogging than me. Needless to say, I have spent time visiting these VERY talented people's sites and and I am thoroughly in awe of them and their creations.

I have been busy creating things myself. I beaded a few pretty bracelets and earrings to match for a color I wanted to wear that I had no self-made jewelry for. I read my books. I secretly want to be an author one day. I guess it is only a secret now if no one reads this blog. That is not a problem, no one reads it outside the family, even then it is sketchy. I created my Easter cards, a few Thinking of You cards, and designed and created a great lined tote bag that turned out so useful that it is now designated as my official gym bag tote. LOVE IT. I used still more of the Ralph sheet. It is overkill, but there is so much leftover, I can't waste it. Besides, I like the print. It makes me happy and calm. The blues will do that to a lot of people. I have proof that blue is my aura color too. Facebook told me so. I took one of their online quiz and it said I was, so it must be true! If I get the tech ambition going full throttle, I will take pictures of the creations and upload them here. Yes, I probably will once this posts and there is nothing next to these words. Hey, at least I am getting back to adding to it.