Posts
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Thanksgiving Day
I am thankful for my husband and children. I am thankful to live in this country where I have so much freedom. I can move around town or the entire country as I wish. I can earn money and save it and spend it. I can attend any church I want to. I can kneel down and pray on a street corner if I choose and won't get arrested. I can argue for, and against, politicians and presidents. I can trash talk. I can praise. I can learn. I can vote for representation in the government. I can listen to music of any kind should I choose to do so. I can speak up, or keep quiet. I can talk to strangers. I am thankful that our nation allows diversity of values, thought and lifestyle. Only by allowing freedom to all can we preserve our own.
Squaw Creek - and a lifer
I enjoyed a few hours driving around Squaw Creek yesterday. I took load of pictures. Here are five. I chalked up one lifer for the day. (that means the first time I ever saw a particular bird). That bird was the Sandhill Crane. Click the pictures to enlarge if you like.
This is a Northern Shoveler.
This is a Bald Eagle. The estimate is there are around 60 on the refuge right now. I saw at least 30 myself.
This is the sky. See all the dots? Those are snow geese flying into the refuge. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming. It was a constant flow for the over an hour.
This is a Short-billed Dowitcher.
This is a Sandhill Crane.
This is a Northern Shoveler.
This is a Bald Eagle. The estimate is there are around 60 on the refuge right now. I saw at least 30 myself.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Hallway talks
Seems like about once a week when me and the kids head to bed around the same time, we end up standing in the hall talking, laughing, joking, singing and otherwise spending quality mom-teen time. These hallway moments are so fleeting, 10 minutes maybe. But they are precious to me.
Not your typical Linkin Park/Green Day fan
Does our taste in music say anything about us? Is it incongruous that I am wearing a nice corporate suit today and have my Ipod tuned to Linkin Park? I don’t know. I guess we are all unique and this is one of the crazy little things about me, one of the better things about me.
Here are some of my favorite lines from LP songs
Here are some of my favorite lines from LP songs
“every step that I take is another mistake to you”
“you live what you’ve learned”
“sick of the dark ways we march to the drumming”
“amen”
“your time is borrowed, your time has come to be replaced”
“let me apologize for what I’m about to say”
“the only thing that’s worse than one is none”
“if you’re asking me I want you to know, when my time comes, forget the wrong that I’ve done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed”
I grew up learning to love music from a young age, but more than just hymns and classical. I learned to love and appreciate almost all music. To my parents, my music was just too loud and too objectionable I guess. I feel like this was a wedge between us. A part of my life they were not interested in, although it meant a lot to me. I guess it’s made me much more sensitive to how my own teens feel, and not just regarding music, but what they think about many things. I want to be able to relate, talk, share, and appreciate our differences. I think over the past years I’ve been able to do that for the most part.
The Lake
I worked overtime all weekend, but left at noon Sunday and Jordan and I headed up to the lake to enjoy the sun. We stood on the shore listening to the waves coming in. We closed our eyes and imagined ourselves in Florida on a sunny beach, instead of in the Midwest on a chilly day in autumn. Lovely. *sigh*.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
A New Day for Hope
I read the transcript of Obama's speech today at lunch. Here's a small exerpt that brought tears to my eyes.
"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon
Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. "
"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon
Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. "
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
