Define Stupidity

Made this morning when I saw this wonderful quote.

Saturday Strength

In the day when I cried thou answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul---Psalms

Wall Street bull faced down by little girl

And Happy birthday to Emperor Akihito of Japan.

Just Some Photos

Pictures...

You can click on them to view them full size.

I hope you have a lovely weekend cuz life is simply grand once you strip away the junk....

Lilacs at front door, taken this afternoon

Come in....

Entry way 

around the little pond :mountain pinks and roses taken this afternoon

The Little  2016 vacation in  Rome

Big pond, taken this afternoon

This is my view from my back porch. I love seeing the water.

At Home by the Bay

Tonight my girls and I watch Pretty Little Liars and it is pizza night at our house.
PLL night is usually Mexican or Italian food.
We are in the final season and after all these years will find out who the real culprit has been!

I came across this video I made last summer of my favorite place by my house and thought I would share it with you. I believe I may have shared it before but it is a nice promise of summer.
The day was warm and breezy , sunny and lovely and the sound of the wind though the phragmites (frag-Mightys) was so nice to hear.
"Phragmites australis is a genus of four species of large perennial grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world ".
It is very invasive and grows very tall.

Sunday Stealing

Happy Sunday friends!
Here on the southern coast of New Jersey it is gray, overcast and chilly! 
I am joining in with Terri and Linda for  Sunday Stealing


1. What are five passions that you have? (If you have less than five, tell us what you do have interests.)
Passion is an over used, misused term.
Here are 5 things that interest me strongly:
1. My faith,
2 my family,
3. art,
4. real history,
5. anthropology

2. List up to ten random facts about yourself.

Silver Lake, American Fork Canyon, Utah.
Spent a lot of time here

1. I love to be outdoors and spent a lot of time camping and fishing in mountains of Utah.

2. I would have loved to fly a F14 Tom Cat.

3. I was good at sports like barrel racing, archery, baseball and ice skating. I was very involved with horses. We owned Arabians and Quarter horses.

4.  I have ghost written a few short novels in the past few years.

5.  I enjoy ponds and  pond plants. This began at age 5 and has never abated!

6. I can play piano pretty well.

7. I have a decent singing voice . My teacher sang with the Metropolitan Opera.  Auditioning for her was scary!

8.  I took many years of ballet lessons. The dancing lessons and acrobatics began at age 4 to strengthen my legs due to a problem at birth.

9. No one ever really called me by my real name.  I have been called
Chanela (pronounced Hanna-la). In high school I was called Angie (long story)
To this day Angie is my favorite though no one calls me that anymore.

10.   I am quiet and reserved.

11.  My mother in law and I were pregnant at the same time!
 

3. List five people (personal, historic, living or dead) who have had a major impact on your life or the way you think. 
(in random order)
   1.Susanne Masterson (who taught me to speak French, have lovely penmanship and      to be fashionable)
   2. My grandparents
   3. The famous anonymous kid bless her.
   4. Rabbi Avigdor Miller   who taught me that God has a hand in every facet of life and we are never alone.  I equate the word Kindly with this great man
   5.  Father Sebastian Chiego who was a really good person who gave from the heart.
     I must add one more,
  6. My mother was a very beautiful women who was always nicely dressed. In this age of dressing sloppy and dressing down, I try to follow her example.


4. List 5 things you’d tell your 15 year-old  self, if you could.

 Not much really. I did pretty good as a teenager and was very happy most of the time.
Only one thing probably:  Don't  date whatshisface  EVER. When he comes to ask you out say NO loudly, clearly and probably hit him with a frying pan over his block head too!


5. What is a major strength that you have? (You can list more than one. Staying with our no rules approach.)

I believe in a loving powerful and ever present God with whom one can have a personal relationship.
I am a good reader and good student.
I have good leadership ability.

6. What is a major weakness that you have? (You can list more than one. STILL staying with our no rules approach.)
1. I  can turn cold on a dime if I feel betrayed.
2. I am very reserved in public because of my upbringing which I think gives a false view of me.
3. I can be oblivious and need to remind myself to pay attention to things.

7. Describe the family dynamic of your childhood versus your family dynamic now.
I grew up having my grandparents as strong major influences in my life. It was they who raised me.
They were Victorians and  and both my grandparents and my parents (Who were Edwardians) were far older than those of my friends.
This played a major roll in the kind of person I am today and in my world view which is strongly a mix of Victorian/Edwardian values. This makes me straight laced on the outside but I can be extremely liberal in some ways that shock people.
Still waters run deeper than most modern people would expect. 
My family consisted of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins, all of whom were seen daily as we all lived in one very small town right by one another.
Today I have been married, had 4 kids, raised 6 kids , don't see my cousins at all but spend my time with my kids and family, especially my daughter who lives half a block from me.

8. What popular notion do you feel that the world has most wrong?

That government will make things all better and that globalism is a good thing.
That there is a difference between Democrat and Republican..there is not a dime's worth of difference in these paid criminals as nothing changes no matter who you vote for.
  One president is as bad as the next, they all tell you whatever they think will win your votes then do as the bankers tell them to do!  

9. Name three things that always cheers you up when you are down.

1. My kids 
2. going out
3. eating a meal at a restaurant (rare but I wish it were more often)

10. Name three things would you like to be remembered for?

 1. having been a good friend
 2. having helped people know God
 3. having been a good influence.

Stormy DaysFriday Foto Friends

Joining in for Debbie's  Friday Foto Friends.

Stormy day in my neighborhood.


On the bay:

In the small pond:

And in the big pond:



After watching the Famous Anonymous Kids Lacrosse game,(They Won!)
 I came home to a hot cup of coffee .  It is chilly today and stormy... a nice day for getting cozy.

Spitting Images and Time Gone By...

There is a photo of me taken by the Famous Anonymous Kid a few years ago that is on my profile on the right side of the blog.  Some have asked what I look like. It is a pretty good likeness of me.
But my Little is my spitting image at 9 years old.
These are my eyes.. this is my nose even today!
It is absolutely unreal to look at another face and see yourself looking back at you.
It blows me away frankly.
Here is The Little's photo from this past September.

I am trying to get back to posting more regularly.
The past few years have been very hard on me since the spinal surgery and the appearance of more damage to the spine since then.
Pain can just take everything out of you and it took a big toll on me and on my heart.
I literally had to change my life and as a result lost many friends who could not understand my silence, etc.  In reality I had little left over to give to people.
But other friends and family  hung in there come hell or high water understanding how bad my situation really was for me and I thank God for them.
My heart is now squared away and I am getting back on track once again.
I am in the process of undergoing more tests, MRI's and etc. to evaluate.  But right now the pain is extremely minimal for me and I am back up and walking.
It has been a few years of up and down.
Actually, I had little clue of how much time has passed and the last few years seem like one big year to me.
Time indeed flies by and I just did not notice much at all.

I hope everyone had a beautiful holiday season filled with meaning, love and light.