Featured_Grownups

What are the things you want to accomplish, experience, enjoy, endure during your time on this earth?

You
can make it a simple list, poem, fairy tale, mystery, fun, serious;
it’s up to you… it’s your blog! ~ feel free to use pictures,
songs…you choose, we enjoy!

There are so many things I’d like to try, see and do!!
Part of them involves travel.

  I would like to see

and

and

and

and

Many other places I’d love to see, too, like Norway, Hong Kong, and more.
I’d like to dream of being in a Winnebago–years down the road–
and traveling through parts of the US I haven’t seen yet!

I love photography and painting and poetry

I love giving and giving some more

I love love

I love my life

There are adventures to try
and places to go
whether dry and arid
or cold, wet with snow

There is sunshine and rain
and a trainful of  sleeps
a key to unlock
and love that is deep

Mother Theresa did it best
the loving and giving
handing out to needy
and those barely living

I have my center
my hopes and my base
a universe of people
with love on their face.

~Laurie

Taking a break!!

Silva
Vinicius
Cantuária
2005

Bossa nova remains Brazil’s flagship musical export, a style so
cool and subdued that the sensation it made on the international scene in the
1950s still comes as a surprise. João Gilberto, the first star of bossa nova,
helped define the style along with a few other key musicians, and their original
template has proved as durable as it is thrilling. Even a half-century after its
birth, the music is still reaping rewards, as in the wonderful, surprising work
of the artist Vinicius Cantuária. A seasoned Brazilian musician who has worked
closely with major singers like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, Cantuária
initiated a string of solo releases in the late 1990s that smartly updated the
bossa nova sound for the modern age. 2005′s Silva may be the best of the
lot, a collection of dreamy singer-songwriter samba that coasts by and entrances
with the grace of a gazelle.

The set opens on “A Dot,” with its glowing
strummed guitar, lilting pockets of strings, and lightly shuffling rhythm.
Cantuária sings with a cool detachment that conveys loneliness, pain, and
resilience in its low tones. It’s a seductive and engaging sound, understated
yet captivating like the best bossa nova of years before but with modernity in
its crisp sonic curves. “The Bridge,” meanwhile, jumps with a bright, funky
shake, as Cantuária half-sings, half-speaks before entering a spare, low-soaring
refrain. The instrumental bed of the track is composed of altered flugelhorn,
keyboards, and samples, creating a jazzy, contemporary brew that still
conjures—in its attitude and groove—the classic spirit of Brazilian bossa nova.


The disc closes with a hypnotic, partly English-language number called
“India.” Over slowly swirling guitar lines and a woozy beat, Cantuária sings,
“We can make some money / We can make a big deal / We can shoot a movie / Before
we come back to Brazil.” Perhaps it’s fitting to end this song cycle with such
an internationally minded number: After all, bossa nova has always been the
world’s music, and Cantuária, more than any other musician working today, still
recognizes and explores its universal appeal. With Silva, he finds the
perfect balance between the traditional and the modern and delivers arguably the
finest album of his career.

	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
“A Dot” “The Bridge” “India”

Buy this CD

I love you!!

Milee curled up by (black) computer mouse

and sleeping

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – February 26
“The Great Spirit is the one that’s looking after us.”
–Jimmy Jackson, OJIBWAY
The only place our minds can find peace is when our focus is on the Creator. Daily we need to ask the Creator to direct our thinking. When we look at our brothers and sisters, we need to see the Creator in them. When we look at the trees, plants and the animals, we need to realize the Creator is within us. Our attention needs to be on the Creator. When we work, we do it for the Creator. When we are troubled, we need to pray to the Creator. When we are happy and joyful, we need to realize we are feeling the presence of the Creator. Thinking God thoughts will produce peace.

Oh Great Mystery, let me focus on You today.

Enduring Discomfort
Missing Our
Old Habits

Whenever we make the effort to free ourselves of an addiction or
a habit we no longer need, we are often surprised to find ourselves missing the
old pattern as we would a familiar friend. This sounds counterintuitive, because
we think we should instinctively gravitate toward what is good for us. Yet, it
makes a lot of sense when you consider that we humans are creatures of habit.
This is why we gravitate to people and places—and patterns of behavior—that make
us feel comfortable. Therefore, many of the habits we form are not conscious and
are based instead on learned behavior from role models who were not always
making the healthiest decisions.

The only
way to get to this new place is to endure a time of difficulty, which is a
challenge we can confidently handle, if we remember that it will lead to the
change we seek in our lives. Our bodies, hearts, and minds always need time to
adjust to a new way of doing things, but they will adapt, and even become our
allies, if we remain true to our vision of a new way.

I love you!!

Today is Toto’s birthday-he would have been 44.
This is what I got in my email this morning from Tut:

Told you pretending was powerful, Laurie. Especially when you really, really
care

Fairy of the Woods
Gary
Stadler
1996

As if conjured up from some dark but fragrant corner of the
universal mind comes the music of Gary Stadler. An electronics engineer who
started the album originally as a present for his girlfriend, Stadler was just
playing around in his spare time. Friends with a small label heard it and urged
him to keep going and make something for the label, which he did for three
years. The result is Fairy in the Woods, an album with so much heart and
simplicity that you will want to drop your worldly concerns and possessions and
just dive into the beauty, perhaps never to return.

“Pool of
Light” brings you into the fairy chamber at last. Cascades of harpsichord add a
sense of courtly propriety and decorum, signaling perhaps that the dreaming and
waking part of your fairyland slumber has come to a close and that it is time to
meet the queen herself. There’s no need to worry or hastily straighten your cap
and tie, though. Here there is nothing but gentleness, magic, and the essence of
undemanding love. If you let it, the music can take you far away so fast that
you may never want to return. It can give your spirit wings and make the tired
old world of mortal strife fade like ants and anthills as you embrace the fluffy
clouds of Celtic majesty. But all things fade, even the eternal castles of the
fairies must vanish with the coming sun. At album’s end, Stadler strikes a
melancholy note of sadness, the inevitable follow-up to so much tranquil and
rewarding joy. Just as mortals must shuffle off to bed at the call of night, so
must the fairies in your hear! t and mind shuffle off at the dawn’s first rays.
Fear not, sad-eyed reveler, this album is not going anywhere, except maybe in
your special case of favorites.

	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
“Sometimes” “Fairy of the Woods” “Pool of Light”

Buy this CD

It’s already 30 here, and foggy, but the high will be only 32?!  Hmmm…we shall see!





One I wrote for Toto

I looked up at you
with such a curiosity
that time stopped
and I fell into your eyes

It’s going to be 35 here today!  That’s warmer than normal.  No sunshine, but I’ll take it!

Milee and Morgan seem to fight a lot, some of it is play, but I think that Milee bites Morgan at times,
which is not a good thing.  We keep them separated at night though.  Milee is so cute, but she can be
a little hellion, and she has front claws, unlike Morgan!  I hope they will get along better as Milee
matures?!

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – February 24
“But each of us must find out for himself or herself what their gift is, so that they can use it in their life.”
–Jimmy Jackson, OJIBWAY
The old people say, everyone has a song to sing. This song is the reason we are on this earth. When we are doing what we came on this earth to do, we know true happiness. How will we know our song? Pray. Ask the Great Mystery, “What is it you want me to do during my stay on earth?” Ask. He will tell you. He will even help you develop yourself to accomplish His mission.

Great Spirit, help me find my song and let me sing it.

This is what it still looks like here Spring comes around April for us.

Going to keep this short.  Thank you for all of the sympathy and love!

I am blessed to have so many friends!

I love you!!

Some of you saw Milee’s picture yesterday, but I am running it again, for those that missed it

I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend, most of you still probably in bed!!

I love you!!

SENIORS GIVING BIRTH

With all the new technology regarding
fertility recently, a 65-year-old woman was able to give birth.

When she
was discharged from the hospital and went home, her relatives came to
visit.

“May we see the new baby?” one asked.

“Not yet,” said the
mother. “I’ll make coffee and we can visit for a while first.”

Thirty
minutes had passed, and another relative asked,

“May we see the new baby
now?”

“No, not yet,” said the mother.

After another few minutes
had elapsed, they asked again ,

“May we see the baby now?”

“No,
not yet,” replied the mother.

Growing very impatient, they
asked,

“Well, when can we see the baby?”

“WHEN HE CRIES!” she told
them.

“WHEN HE CRIES?” they demanded.

“Why do we have to wait
until he CRIES?”

“BECAUSE I FORGOT WHERE I PUT HIM. O.K.?”

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – February 22
“In the Indian way, we are connected to that flower if we understand its spirit, the essence of its life.”
–Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA
Everything on our Earth is alive. Every rock, every plant, every animal, every tree, every bird, every thought is alive. This is true because everything is made by the Great Spirit and the Great Spirit is alive. We need to slow our lives down each day and realize, consciously, that this is true. First we need to realize it, second, we need to acknowledge it, third, we need to appreciate it and, finally, we need to go on.

Great Spirit, let me see life through Your eyes. Today let me
be alive.

Just a short one today, it’s Friday!!
I might be making a protected post soon,
but 99% of you will be on it.  It’s extremely weird.

I love you!!

Our little kitty, Milee

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – February 21
“Every thing or living being that exists in this world, be it trees, flowers, birds, grasses, rocks, soil of the earth, or human beings, has its unique manner of existence –its essence, its spirit that makes it what it is. That is what is meant by connectedness.”
–Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA
Scientists are finally realizing what the Elders have taught for thousands of years-every- thing is connected. Because everything is interconnected, whatever you do to any one thing, you do to everything. If you poison any part of the earth, the poison eventually affects everything else. If you poison the plants, the birds will eat the plants, which poisons the birds. The birds are eaten by humans which poisons the humans. The humans will have babies who could be deformed because the plants were poisoned. We must learn to live in harmony with the earth. We must learn to think good things. Every good thought is felt by everything, which causes everything to be happy.

Creator, let my thoughts only be good thoughts.

Mambo!
Yma Sumac

1954

Peruvian-born singer Yma Sumac was a true princess, a direct
descendant of the last Incan emperor Atahualpa. Or at least that’s the widely
accepted lore, and if her story smacks of a trumped-up publicity ploy, it’s no
more flabbergasting than Sumac’s voice. At the height of the ’50s exotica craze,
Sumac soared to fame on the power of her astonishing four-octave voice and
expressiveness. She could chirp in a bird’s register or growl like a feral cat,
often within the same song. Sumac’s second album, Mambo!, showcases the
full range of her talents, and its 11 mambo originals, written in Spanish by
Sumac’s husband Moises Vivanco and arranged in tiki-torch settings by Billy May,
make for some deliriously fun listening.

So exotically flavored are the arrangements on Mambo!, so out
there is Yma Sumac’s vocal presence, that it’s easy to imagine that the album
was recorded on location deep in the jungles of Peru. Perhaps “Indian Carnival”
is a traditional song performed during an annual harvest festival. Maybe
“Jungla,” with its ethnic-sounding melody and nonsense words, could be a
children’s folk song given a makeover to celebrate a visiting tribal dignitary.
There are many reasons to love Mambo! Whether your path into the jungle
involves the record’s electrifying arrangements, its kitsch factor, or the
bewildering vocal technique of the Incan princess at its center, you’ll be glad
you came.

	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
“Taki Rari” “Five Bottles Mambo” “Jungla”

Buy this CD

Warmer here today-not your kind of warm though-hehe.
Learning a lot about emotional regulation in  my class.
If we don’t check our emotions, they rules us.
Being in wise mind is the best way to handle things,
with skills.  Skills like distract, being in the moment,
self-soothe, mastery, counting blessings, and so much more.
I wish everybody could take this class, it is so worthwhile!
Marsha Linehan introduced a book about DBT-I will try to
get the title for you, as what’s in it-exercises and all, are so
helpful for getting along in any relationship!

I love you!!

We dip into the pool
of wanderlust
seething with fantasies,
arching with need
no identity
filled with greed

Singing in group harmony
the wanderers come to rest
eyes glinting with suspicion
and no
inhibition

The witch of the dawn
may scare you
but she has drawn up her magic
to defeat this enemy
with indemnity…

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – February 20
“When a community does something together, that community is very happy, jovial, connected and unified.”
–Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA
The Indian People have always been able to adapt. If the hunting changed, we found new hunting grounds. If the earth changed, we moved to a better place. If the river changed course, we followed the river. But with every change, we kept our Indianness and spirituality. Our culture and spirituality have always been our strength. Our culture and spirituality taught us to live in harmony. We must change with the times, but we must maintain our culture and spirituality, always living in harmony.

Great Spirit, You have taught us to survive. Let me always
maintain my Indianness.

I love you!!

Outside The Comfort Zone
Things We
Don’t Want To Do

Most of us have had the experience of tackling some dreaded task
only to come out the other side feeling invigorated, filled with a new sense of
confidence and strength. The funny thing is, most of the time when we do them,
we come out on the other side changed and often wondering what we were so
worried about or why it took us so long. We may even begin to look for other
tasks we’ve been avoiding so that we can feel that same heady mix of excitement
and completion.

We all have at least one thing
in our life that never seems to get done. Bringing that task to the top of the
list and promising ourselves that we will do it as soon as possible is an act
that could liberate a tremendous amount of energy in our lives. Whatever it is,
we can allow ourselves to be fueled by the promise of the feelings of
exhilaration and confidence that will be the natural result of doing it.

http://www.dailyom.com

It was a small town and the
patrolman was making

his evening rounds.

As he was checking a used car lot,
he came upon two little old ladies sitting in a used car.!

He stopped and asked them why they
were sitting there in the car. Were they trying to steal it?

“Heavens no, we bought it.”

“Then why don’t you drive it
away.”

“We can’t drive.”

“Then why did you buy it?”

“We were told that if we bought a
Used car here we’d get screwed ..so we’re just waiting.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – February 19
The Old Man said, `you are both ugly and handsome and you must accept your ugliness as well as your handsomeness in order to really accept yourself.”
–Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA
My Grandfather told me one time that any person who is judgmental to another is also judgmental to themselves. If we want to be free of being judgmental, we need to first work on how judgmental we are to ourselves. If we quit judging ourselves and start accepting ourselves as we are, we will start accepting others as they are. Then we will experience a level of new freedom.

Great Spirit, let me accept myself as I am –honoring both my
strengths and my weaknesses.

-9 degrees (F) here, and cold for the next couple of days.

Cowabunga…Spring will come.

Not much here to report-the cat and kitten

were together for a bit yesterday-

Morgan (the older cat) kept taking swipes

at the little one (Milee), but she doesn’t seem to be

growling as much.

(Geez, I forget how to not double-space here,

Xanga made a change).

Have to re-apply for Trisha’s

social security card, as she lost the other one,

then she needs to apply for a state ID

so she can finally get her darned permit!

By the time she gets her license, she might be close to 17,

but that’s all right…I guess…

Hope everyone has a good Tuesday!

I love you!!