somepinkflowers

oh happy day for random good luck

Dear Mr. Random Number Generator,

Hi, there! How you doing?

It's me, somepinkflowers.

Hope things are going well in your neck of the woods.

Me?

I am great. Things are wonderful.

Loving the beach here during the glorious Florida spring~time weather.

Say, I have been meaning to drop you a line.

Thanks to you and your cousin, Luck~of~the~Draw, I have been making out like a bandit over here for quite sometime.

Yes, I know...

For the longest time it was me griping about never winning anything.

It did seem that way. I guess we all go through a dry spell every now and then.

Sorry about that.

Normally I am like Pollyanna counting her blessings.

"Isn't life grand!" I have been know to say on more than one occasion.

"Wow! Wow! Wow!" I have been known to exclaim at the drop of a sunset.

Any little sparkly little thing can set me off.

Seriously. ♥♥♥

You know me...

I never want to miss anything.

I do try to look  on the bright side of most streets I walk down.

I love to sing in the rain providing it does not occur in the midst of a hurricane.

My personal mantra is --->Oh happy day.

{{ But you knew that, didn't you? }}

Anyway, this is about you not me.

Or, rather, about how you have been so kind to me, how you have included me in your warm embrace of luckiness.

I am so thankful, I can not even tell you.

I think it started a few years ago when I won this. 

Man! I was so surprised. You could have knocked me over with a feather!

And, Lord knows, I need all the $$$ help I can in the dental expense department.

So, yes, thanks for that, RNG.

Then I started popping in here to Blog World where I have won so many lovely hand~made treasures that I am afraid to list them or I may seem all braggy, or even somewhat greedy.

Yikes!

How can anypinkflower be so fortunate?

Why, I have no idea.

Mostly, I do not want to change the tide of good fortune that has been coming my way..I am just saying....

As it is, I am looking around now for wood to knock on so my stellar good luck does not change one little bit.

{{ thank goodness for this genuine little wooden box sitting right here:  knock, knock, knock... }}

I love how life comes rushing at you from around a corner.

I just never know what I will find delivered to my door, what will end up sitting on the wall of my garden.

I love how far, far away someone can draw my name out of a hat and then wondrous shiny things arrive and glow into my appreciative heart.

A lovely striped bit of ribbon. A sparkle on a butterfly's wing.

A random name selected with a silent touch.

A piece of paper gently unfolding into the sweet surprise that is my name.

Thanks to you, Mr. Random Number Generator, and  to your cousin, Luck~of~the~Draw!

Thank you both ever~so much. {{ Would you like a fruit basket? I am wondering... }}

Always know that you are both more than welcome at my house any time of the day, any day of the week as long as your gift is a happy one.

Just drop right on in. No need to call ahead. Mi casa su casa, you all.

Sincerely your friend for life,
somepinkflowers

PS--I only wish the entire world could be so lucky but I guess that would take A Fanciful Twist ♥of fate.....

oh happy earth day from a tree~hugger, flower~lover {{which would be me}}

 
"All the trees have that sad~looking moss hanging down," she explained wearily. "It looks like gray ghosts dangling from the trees. We have to get rid of all of it." 

"What?" I asked, the incredulousness dripped from my voice. "What? What? What?"

"Ghosts dangling? Where?" I questioned looking high over my head for spooky things.

I just could not see ghosts dangling to save my soul.

I saw only the draping gracefulness swinging gently from the trees. All the trees of my childhood were thus clothed.

The swinging Spanish moss make me smile with happy remembrance.

 
"That is not the only thing," my new neighbor continued. "All the trees are bent and spread out over everything. Not one is straight."

I looked around at the aging live oak trees, dappled in the sunlight. They were so generously shade giving, these trees. Hanging out peacefully for years and years and years. Growing leaves and dropping them with natural ease. Standing up strong against hurricanes. Framing homes in a picturesque manner.

I loved these guys and their soft gray beards. For the life of me I saw not one thing sad.

I had high hopes for the long and carefree existence of these trees.

Who knew?

One morning I pulled out of my tree-lined driveway, turned right, then right again. On my way to another day.

I drove past  my neighbor's yard with her wonderfully curved, moss-draped trees.

I could not see the future for the trees.

Well, of course you know the story.

One told often up and down my highway here in Florida.

Here today. Gone tomorrow. In spite of rules and regulations. In spite of those who strive to protect the innocent.

Sometimes things happen out of the blue. You might be looking the other way.

In the evening I drove home, turning of off  US1, not expecting One Thing.

Then I saw them.

Men were cutting down my neighbor's wonderfully curved, moss-draped trees.

With a wildly beating heart, I pulled over and shouted above the noise. I waved my arms wildly at the groups of men working their tree eating equipment.

Some men were cutting trees. Some men were chipping bits of limbs in a wood~chomping machine. Some men were pushing green bits into the creek with a bulldozer.

No one heard me, no one saw me.

No one wanted to.

I was standing in my worse nightmare, an apocalyptic one that unfolds around me where I am impotent to make it stop.

I wish I could tell you I calmly did this or that.

I did not. 

I did not Calmly do anything.

I was Totally Reactive and maybe not on my Best Game.

 
After I waved my arms and shouts a bit more I reached for my cell and made one phone call.

Fortunately for me I knew who to call. The number is programmed into my phone because you never know.

On more than one occasion I have been called a tree hugger.

Like that is something bad.

I strive to see the bigger picture.

 
I wish I could tell you that all the trees in my neighbor's back yard were saved but they were not.

I wish I could tell you that no trees were harmed during the happening of this true story but I cannot.

Agencies zoomed over. Action was stopped. Warnings were issued.

Much too late, plans were made to replant and replace.

 
Not in my lifetime will the newly planted trees grow tall into the sun.

Not in my lifetime will the newly planted trees sport gray mossy beards.

Not in my lifetime.

Down the road between where I live and where I work trees have come down with alarming speed. As I drive by I hear the echoes across the places where the trees are missing.

One new development is called Wood Lake.

Ha! All the trees were cleared plum away. The pines were harvested, the oaks were bulldozed. A retention pond was dug into the ground to make a place for all the storm~water runoff.

Impervious surfaces like roof tops and paved roads prevent aquifer recharge. No water trickles down. Water pools and floods with no place to go. A storm~water retention pond does not necessarily make a happy, lovely pond. Not always.

Wood Lake is a place with no trees,  a place with a man~made retention pond now called a lake.

Another new development is called Grand Ravine.

Where are the trees? Why they plowed them right down. What about that ravine? Man~made from dirt piled high to fill a swampy area.

I am so embarrassed for my state sometimes.

 
Another development is called Cottages at Winding Creek.

I popped in to visit one day when the developers had balloons flying and hot dogs roasting to bring in the crowd. They hoped to sway us into buying.

"Hi, there," I said all friendly~like, as I was truly curious. "I came to see your sweet little cottages."

"Oh, dear!" a smooth talking developer replied. "We do not have cottages here. We have condos."

"Well, why ever does your sign say cottages?' I asked a bit perturbed.

"Oh, that!" was the smooth but somewhat embarrassed reply.

"Well, may I please see your winding creek then?" I continued, not to be outdone.

"Oh, that!" was the reply. "Please walk this way."

And so I did.

Way back along the property line, way behind the asphalt parking area, was a teeny creek narrow enough to jump over. If a person could even get near it. If a person did not mind the poison ivy.

There I saw three old oak trees. They were bent and spread out over everything. Not one was straight. They were covered in moss hanging down.

 Draping gracefulness swinging gently.

tourist tuesday and tomorrowland

Time just zooms by.

Blink and it is another day.

As I was unpacking my carry~on from  Easter Break Vacation I realized I never told you about my visit to Disney World back in February for my birthday.

I know what you are thinking---->"Here we go again! A visit to the Mouse House with that castle and the princess and pixie dust and everything."

Wrong.

Truth is, even though I live near by, I have only been here three times since it opened.

For one thing, it is $$$$, and, another thing, it is All Those People.

Mostly I would simply rather go some other place. A place where there are authentic castles. Not ones made in my life time.

In a stroke of marketing wisdom, seen only during recessional times, the head cooks over at Disney decided to let folks in Free on their birthday.

I know.

How can you refuse that kind of bargain? When you live 2 hours away like I do, you have to snap up a deal like that.

And so I did.

A 'birthday guest' must still pay the $$ to park in the Goofy section and, unless all your friends and/or family were born on the same day, some one is going to need to hand over some cash.

Still, all in all, not a bad little discount.

Oh happy birthday day!

If you like shiny chrome and roundy orbs for decoration, take a right turn at the castle and head into Tomorrowland.

This park was meant to represent The Future, what the future would look like way back when it was designed.

Time just zooms by.

The future never does turn out to be exactly the way you envision it.

Thank goodness.

When Disney designed this Florida theme park there had been no actual moon landings to date.

His original Flight to the Moon foretold of such things and had to be modified to meet the needs of a changing reality as the space~age soared.

After all, Cape Canaveral was only miles away.

Godspeed, John Glenn, and get a move on, Disney folks!

Out comes Mission to Mars. On to the next dream.

Necessity is the Mother and so on...

The flying elephants over near the castle are seemingly much more popular than the flying rockets over here. It can take 20 minutes to buy a $$ cola or a $$$ water.

Here in Tomorrowland a  birthday person can plop down outside and have a quick snack.

A birthday person can spend productive time looking up, which is one of my favorite things to do.

Look up.

Now, I told you I visited here on my birthday this year but I did not tell you which birthday it was.

I will tell you this much---> I saw my first microwave oven featured here in an exhibit by Monsanto. A space~age invention to help the homemaker do more with her time.

I remember thinking, "Groovy! But that is never going to happen."

It just goes to show you.

Time just zooms by.

Earlier this month I went to see Chicago. Not the city, but the band.

They played over here.

One of my friends left early because he said, " It wasn't the original band."

Not the original band? Not the original band?

Well, with that brass section Chicago has about a dozen guys in it. The band started around 1967. Most were born in the early~to~mid 1940s.

You do the math.

Factor in health and normal life expectancy.  Thumb through tables of statistical variance which may or may not include possible accidental happenstance.

These guys were around before moon landings, after all. Before the use of microwave ovens blossomed in suburbia.

Time just zooms by.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

I digress.

Pardon the rant.

And this from someone who went back stage to chat with this one.

Anyway.

I recommend Tomorrowland if you should find yourself in the Disney area.

It celebrates the future that never was. The future that probably will never be in my lifetime. The future where an Astro Orbiter seems the norm mode of transport.

"Hey, somepinkflowers," you might say to me, "meet me over at the Astro Orbiter after you finish looking up, why don't cha?"

"Right on, " I might answer.

"Groovy," I might reply, "as soon as I finish reading the news over here, as soon as Chicago finishes up this tune."

Listen.

If Tomorrowland is not your cup of tea, I will understand.

I can personally take only limited amounts of  shiny chrome and roundy orbs myself.

Just know that steps away you can find that castle and the princess and pixie dust and everything.

I am planning on coming back here to Tomorrowland in maybe 15 or 20 years or so.

Time just zooms by so watch this space.

 

Maybe by then I will have my own Astro Orbiter.

easter sunday memories are hatching

Ten minutes from my house to the east the Atlantic Ocean slides up on the nicest beach in the whole wide world. The sand there is smooth and white and fun to walk on. We have shells galore on that beach, though most of them are small. Sometimes seaweed washes up with teeny crabs and shrimps entwined.

I go there every chance I get and have done for most of my life.

On Easter Sunday every year the sun rises up out out the sea and shine down on the Baptist Church choir singing songs of Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit.

Amen will be said by everyone at least 25 times.

Probably more.

Most Easter mornings I get up early and drive over there with my Earl Grey tea in a large mug. Sweet and milky the tea is still steaming when I arrive in the dark gloaming. But I know my way.

I sit on the wooden beach walk-over and watch the  clouds. I pray that the sun makes an appearance as I hate for folks to be disappointed about anything.

The sun, always and without fail, shows up.

A tall wooden cross is stuck deep in the sand way early in the morning and people gather around. They cannot help themselves. They come from all over the place. Some from faraway.

Babies still asleep are gently rocked by parents standing. Old people set up folding beach-chairs and sit in sweet anticipation. They act like they have all the time in the world. I guess they do.

Nine times out of ten dolphins show up and roll in the calm waves.

I never can figure out how the dolphins know what time to be there.

From the dune you can see it all. 

The people gathered on the beach. The slender cross planted in the white sand. The dolphins rolling in the smooth sea. The pink clouds parting for the blue sky. The sun easing its way up from the deep ocean bed. 

I can not tell you how many times I have watched this sight and felt pleased with myself for being there.

Everyone is so full of faith. We all know the clouds will part and the sun will rise.

We all know those dolphins will pop up and roll in the rays of sunlight reflected on the water. We just know.

Well, maybe we have faith but maybe we know because this same thing happens everyday here. Just another day in beach paradise.

Plus, hurricane season does not start for another month yet.

So there is that.

Twenty minutes from my house to the west cabbages grow in neat lines as do Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. Flat land and dark soil do their part. The rain and sunshine helps out, too.

Kingfishers sit on the power lines and look down watching everything. They keep track of seasons.

I guess you could say I sort~of live in the country.

I guess you would sort~of be right on the mark with that.

One hundred years ago when I was young all of us cousins got little, bitty pastel-colored chicks for Easter one year.

I do not know how it was achieved but the chicks were dyed different colors, turquoise, green or pink.

This is most likely against the law now but then it was OK.

We had small chicken cages behind our houses even though we lived near town.

This is most likely against the law now but then it was OK.

We kept those chicks until they got huge. I have no idea how long that would take, do you?

One at a time my grandfather offered us cousins each a silver dollar for our grown chicks. After this financial transaction the chicken would disappear.

Shortly after that, we would have chicken for Sunday dinner.

I know. What were our young brains thinking? But I was no fool.

I held out for the longest time. Even then I think my vegetarianism was growing deep inside me.

And I did so want a silver dollar as those coins were as big as the palm of my hand.

Have I told you this story before? How my chicken turned out to be a rooster? Did I tell you I never got my silver dollar but gave my rooster to the woman who came to help my grandmother with chores around the house?

Did I tell you that story? How she took it home and it ran loose in her yard like a guard dog? How he turned out to be a noble fighting rooster?

This is most definitely against the law now but then it was OK.

I do not remember what happened to my fighting rooster. Most likely I was never told the gruesome details of his death but I like to think he lived a good long life and eventually died of old age.

Maybe he retired early as a reward for being a winner and then went to live on a farm somewhere.

This is what happened to our old dog Skipper. When he got really, really old he went to live on a farm somewhere.

Or so we were told.

What is happening this Easter Sunday?

Well, I am learning a new trick. I am going away to visit friends.

No dolphins in the early morning sunlight for me this year. No pastel-colored chicks growing up to uncertain fates. No milk~chocolate Easter bunny ears for my afternoon snack. No.

A change of pace.

Just sneaking out of town. Heading south in the white jeep. My Earl Grey is already packed with my suntan lotion and my books. We will see.

I have faith everything will still be here when I get back.

Plus, hurricane season does not start for another month yet.

So there is that.

unfolding and decluttering spring

Last night I dreamed of Prague. 

I was walking, walking, walking down narrow streets pausing to look at windows.

Truth be told, I have not YET been to Prague but this was the Prague of my dreams. I would know it anywhere.

I am nothing if not strong on imagination and weak on disbelief.

All night I dreamed and walked around Prague and then the morning light brought my day off from work.

For this day I had Plan A---> a lazy adventure close to home. I would be sitting beach~side reading this book which was suggested to me by this friend.

My beach bag was packed with Hawaiian Tropic SPF 15 and I was heading east at first crack of dawn. A small cooler set aside on the kitchen~counter waited in sweet anticipation to be packed with satisfying beach snacks.

Nothing could stop me now.

Well, in my quest for a day~of~leisure I forgot to check in with Mother nature and she does so hate to be left out! She pouts. She cries. She has her way.

I woke to pouring rain which is good for this and especially this but not so good for being beach~side. I desired most a tan, not rust.

Quickly I switched to Plan B ----> a satisfying day of housekeeping.

Yes,  even though frequently neglected over here in my neck of the of the woods,  Miss Housekeeping waits in the wings in a dependable fashion. She is ready to pop on stage and have her chance in the spot*light. Plan B, always patient, is there hovering for days such as this.

We embraced like the long lost friends we are.

I am nothing if not willing to change priories and go with the flow.

My beach~front destination now became a fair~weather friend. You win some, you lose some and, well, yes, some do actually get rained out.

Such is the way of the world.

Instead I would use the rainy day to clean my entire house.

I would re~organize over~stocked cabinets and jam~packed closets. Items would be re~purposed or re~moved. I would mark shelves and boxes using one of my favorite toys.

Just thinking about it made me I feel virtuous.

Plus I could brag about it later.

I could picture it all so perfectly.  Things would get worse, then better. A whirl of ciaos would give birth to meaningful neatness. In my house. Here.

I would Stay Focused, Keep On Track and Get It Done.

I could imagine the tall, cool can of Lemon Pledge in my hand. I could smell the familiar fragrance drifting round me. Dust would high~tail it out of town in shame.

I am nothing if not over~confident and sure~footed.

Tee~shirt and shorts donned, I put this on my CD player.

There is nothing like a little jive to help move the dust around, I always say.

Time enough on a rainy day for transformation, for molting. Off with the old stuff to make way for Tide Fresh Zen*ness.

How long could it take anyway?

Earl Grey topped off, I started with my bed~side table. Two shallow drawers filled to the tippy~top with treasures from around the house, from around the world.

Inside the top drawer 100 folded bits of paper, little notes or thoughts I had tried to capture, were snoozing, arms haphazardly wrapped around each other. Verbs and nouns sleeping together.

A wee packet of  M&Ms left over from Halloween was cowering in a back corner, pretending to be invisible, pretending to be healthy.

Emery~boards were rubbing shoulders in a most irritating manner with mostly~empty bottles of baby aspirin. Have they no shame?

Clearly something had to be done.

I ate the M&Ms and tossed the bag.

A start. In the right direction. One less thing to litter up my life.

Then, Count Basie came on the Bose and who could sit still for that?

Not me.

With one drawer cleaned I felt so alive and carefree. I could do this kind of cleaning and organizing all the live~long day. I was in the swim of things and my label maker was nearby.

Isn't life grand?

When the chocolate kicked in I danced over to the window and looked out.

No rain!

{{ You knew this was coming. }}

Man! My redbud tree was showing off! Blooming to beat the band! Pinky~red. Reddish~pink. Blooming.

Without a look back, I grabbed the waiting hand of Plan C ---> take up a camera and go outside and play with it.

So that is what I ended up doing.

I left Count Basie to his own devices, put on my flip~flops and was out that door. I  was  so happy I could have walked all the way to Prague.

I am nothing if not readily flexible and appropriately in the now.

Oh happy day!