December 6--And 8 More Blocks of 50

Math, our nation's shame. --Often uttered by my husband and me regarding many folks' inability to do simple arithmetic

    My niece is a high school math teacher. Alas, she would agree with the sentiment above. Note I said "high school," and she told me the other day that she has students who can't do simple arithmetic, let alone algebra or geometry. It's sad. 

    I did my 12 blocks of 50 miles yesterday with dry roads and clear skies the whole way. I don't believe I have ever, on any road trip, encountered so many semis as I did today. And usually I am passing them, but yesterday, probably half of them passed me. It was crazy. But my safe arrival is all that matters. I had a nice visit with my in-laws. 

    400 more miles and I'll be home. I can generally count on Kansas having considerably less traffic than the rest of the states. Whew!

        Westward ho!

            Leta

Can't wait to snuggle my sweet Barney!!!

December 5--12 Blocks of 50

On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again.  --Willie Nelson

    I leave Ohio today, destination Wentzville, Missouri, for an overnight stay with my in-laws. I have an audiobook and crunchy foods to keep me awake as I move through those 12 blocks of 50 miles. It is nice to get the bigger part of the trip done first, then the second day is merely 8 blocks of 50 miles. (You already did the math, didn't you?!?!) 

    There are several family members whom I get to see only by making this trip. While the roads run west as well as east, I have always been the one to travel to them rather than the other way 'round. This trip has been a good motivator for me to regain my stamina and fully recover from the sciatica mess, as my niece will be retiring from teaching in a couple years and we want to travel together. I've also had a good dose of feeling happy, which is a feeling I plan to return to often (see Nov 29 post on keeping a grateful heart). 

    Time to "start my engine!"

        Leta

December 4--Reversing the Process

If I were packing for a deserted island, I would bring sunscreen, a water purifier, something to start a fire with, my sister, and something for protection. 
--Gracie Gold

    It has been a bit of a puzzle to figure out when to head home to Wichita from NE Ohio. I've been checking weather reports for Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Wichita, hoping to find two clear days to trek home. Though I'd like to stay longer, it looks like Friday-Saturday is my best bet. So today is packing day. 

    It has been an awesome visit. I told my niece that I am so happy here. Who wouldn't enjoy swimming, napping, painting and game-playing? I'm already looking forward to our summer time together!

    Blessed big-time,

        Leta

My artwork hung above the bed,
and my travel bud, Ted Bear,
who goes with me on all my road trips.

December 3--Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Blah Blah Blah

Let it snow somewhere else.  --On my "Life is Good" shirt featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet lying in a hammock under a palm tree

    It started snowing very early Tuesday morning. My niece's hopes of a "snow day" from school came to fruition. First looks outside around sunrise revealed a heavy snow downpour and already more snow than I cared to clear from my vehicle. It was a "hunker down" day. 

    So many of us, me included, were raised to be a "human doing" rather than a "human being," measuring our worth by how many items we check off our to-do list. So a "snow day" leads to the question, "What am I going to do all day!?!?!" I can happily report that we worked out (my niece drove, so I got to swim), played games, ate leftovers, napped, and enjoyed the extra bit of time together because the snow cancelled school. We had a lovely Italian dinner out with a friend. Little was "accomplished," much was enjoyed.

    Here's something fun to play with... what if snow was some color other than white (or yellow!!)?  

        Leta

From my niece's back door, quite lovely

December 2--"Show the Way"

This is one of my favorite David Wilcox songs, a song of hope so valuable in our damaged world. It makes me cry every time I hear it. You can listen at this YouTube link...

You say you see no hope
You say you see no reason we should dream
That the world would ever change
You say the love is foolish to believe
'Cause they'll always be some crazy
With an army or a knife
To wake you from your daydream
Put the fear back in your life

Look
If someone wrote a play
To just to glorify what's stronger than hate
Would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late?
He's almost in defeat
It's looking like the evil side will when
So on the edge of every seat
From the moment that the whole thing begins

It is love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene, set in shadows,
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play
For in this darkness love can show the way

Now the stage is set
You can feel your own heart beating in your chest
This life's not over yet
So we get up on our feet and do our best
We play against the fear
We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears
Burning in the happy angel's eyes

For it's love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Though it looks like we're alone
In this scene, set in shadows,
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play
For in this darkness love will show the way

    We must remember that love is the one and only power.

        Leta

It is Love that creates art. 
"Wild Lights"

December 1--Well, Yes and No

The soul does not proceed by contraction but by expansion. It moves forward, not by exclusion, but by inclusion. It sees things deeply and broadly, not by saying no, but by saying yes, at least on some level, to whatever comes its way. 
--Richard Rohr

    I have had the great joy of showing off my paintings to several folks on this trip. Nearly everyone responds with "I can't paint." That's a "no," contracting the soul. I was there at one point. Think of how much fun and learning I would have missed had I stuck with that "no." 

    "Yes" and "no" are fairly loaded words in our society. Too often we say "yes" when we really want to say "no," and vice versa. This leads back to knowing and following one's heart. Whatever the heart's answer, that's the true route to expansion.

        Leta

I'm working on saying "yes" to winter :(

November 30--Just Skip December?

Bah! Humbug!  --Ebenezer Scrooge

    My niece has lots and lots of Christmas decorations that she is gradually placing around her home. Her son insisted on Alexa playing carols during our game night. It snowed a couple inches making everything beautiful and "Christmas-y" here in northeast Ohio. 

    For decades our family went to Prairie Pines Christmas Tree farm a few miles north of our house, where my husband cut down our LIVE tree. I LOVE the smell of a fresh cut tree, having grown up in a family whose business was a lumber mill. After shoulder surgery a few years back, my husband could not do the tree chopping, so we bought an artificial tree. I expect my parents are still spinning in their graves. I can't stand the artificial tree--to me it is a symbol of how I really couldn't care less about Christmas since there are no offspring planning to share the day with us. Last year we had "Christmas after Christmas" with our kids, and that was a huge letdown. My husband and I will likely spend December 25 at home as a fairly "regular" day. He may do some decorating while I am in Ohio, but if not, there are a few decorative things I will put out when I get home. I don't do much gift-giving, but there are still some things there to be planned, gathered and/or made. Last year I made gifts for the neighbors on our court; I may do that again to help me get over my Christmas crankiness. 

    I'm thinking I need to get back on the "gratitude train." 

        Leta

November 29--Grateful Heart = Practice, Practice, Practice

This is from the Richard Rohr Daily Meditation of Nov 28:

Brain studies have shown that we may be hardwired to focus on problems at the expense of a positive vision. The human brain wraps around fear and problems like Velcro. We dwell on bad experiences long after the fact and spend vast amounts of energy anticipating what might go wrong in the future. Conversely, positivity and gratitude and simple happiness slide away like cheese on hot Teflon. Studies like the ones done by the neuropsychologist Rick Hanson show that we must consciously hold on to a positive thought or feeling for a minimum of fifteen seconds before it leaves any imprint in the neurons. The whole dynamic, in fact, is called the Velcro/Teflon model of the mind. We are more attracted to the problem than to the solution, you might say... 
The only way, then, to increase authentic spirituality is to deliberately practice actually enjoying a positive response and a grateful heart. And the benefits are very real. By following through on conscious choices, we can rewire our responses toward love, trust, and patience. Neuroscience calls this neuroplasticity. This is how we increase our bandwidth of freedom.  --Richard Rohr

    My grateful heart is enjoying the wonderful Thanksgiving holiday I spent with my brother's family, enjoying all our favorite foods, football and game-playing. I re-learned the card game Euchre. I was fairly successful at it, even though I can't even manage to count a mere seven trump cards, embarrassing for numbers-nerd me. 

    There's a pleasant journey awaiting your grateful heart. Happy travels!

        Leta

November 28--Keeping the Gratitude Train on Track and Moving

I am here in this moment because of every experience I have had along the way. I look with compassion on my journey from there to here.  --Mary Davis

Gratitude is defiance of sorts, the defiance of kindness in the face of anger, of connection in the face of division, and of hope in the face of fear. Gratefulness does not acquiesce to evil—it resists evil … by tunneling under its foundations of anger, resentment, and greed. Thus, gratitude strengthens our character and moral resolve, giving each of us the possibility of living peaceably and justly. It untwists knotted hearts, waking us to a new sense of who we are as individuals and in community. Being thankful is the very essence of what it means to be alive, and to know that life abundantly. --Diana Butler Bass

    My son sent a photo of their first big snow in northern Minnesota. I am grateful that I no longer live "up nord, hey." 

    Now that I am mostly recovered from my many-months journey through sciatica, I see that one big lesson is not taking things for granted. The first thing in this category is walking normally without cane, limp or imbalance. Next is how well my husband took care of me and our household while I couldn't do much. I appreciate those in my pickleball group who kept playing and "kept the doors open" while I was on the "injured list." I am grateful to be able to sleep comfortably in bed, to be able to go up and down stairs without holding onto something, to be able to walk Barney. I am hugely thankful for whatever sustained my "hope in the face of fear," because, trust me, pain at the level I experienced is terrifying. 

    Grateful, thankful, appreciative, 

        Leta

My lifesaver angel, otherwise known as Barney

November 27--Set Those Turkeys Free!!

If you want to save a species, simply decide to eat it. Then it will be managed - like chickens, like turkeys, like deer, like Canadian geese.  --Ted Nugent

Gratitude magnifies awareness of sufficiency. The very act of recognition is a bridge between forgetting and remembering our divine origin, a return to the Source from which all good flows. --Rev. Dr. David Ault

    FINALLY! It has been coming to this for years now... pretty much everyone in my family confessed to a "really not interested" in turkey for Thanksgiving. Why continue a tradition that no one really cares for? At my niece's home, we are going with "bring whatever meat you would like to grill." It could be snowing here, so grilling may be interesting. Since we are having sides such as mac 'n' cheese and the Miller family classic, baked corn, I say, "Who needs meat?" 

    Thoughts of gratitude usually take me directly to family and friends. Yet today I am grateful for a working furnace, snowplows and folks willing and able to drive them, those who invented playing cards and games, butter, and the water and sewer systems. 😉😉

    Let's take it easy on the turkeys. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

        Leta

November 26--Reflecting on Contact Bias

The more we bump into the folks who are so-called “other,” the more we are stretched and the more we are pulled out of bias. We have new truths, because we have tangible evidence of the beautiful, powerful creativity of our God who made all of this diversity for us to enjoy.  --Jacqui Lewis
(See posts Nov 18 & 22 on biases.)

    These are the words of Brian McLaren regarding contact bias:

When I don’t have intense and sustained personal contact with “the other,” my prejudices and false assumptions go unchallenged. Think of the child who is told by people he trusts that people of another race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, or class are dirty and dangerous.

You can immediately see the self-reinforcing cycle: those people are dirty or dangerous, so I will distrust and avoid them, which means I will never have sustained and respectful interactive contact with them, which means I will never discover that they are actually wonderful people to be around.

In this way, the prejudice cycle spins on, unchallenged across generations. As prejudice persists, it becomes embedded in cultures and institutions, creating systems of racism and hatred, marginalizing groups who are stigmatized, dehumanized, scapegoated, exploited, oppressed, or even killed.

    I grew up in a predominantly WASP area in the boonies of Pennsylvania. For reasons unknown to me, my dad despised Catholics. Yet my best friend from 7th grade on was Catholic, so they didn't seem so awful to me. My cousin did the unthinkable and ran off and married an African American man. Most of the African Americans in our area in PA lived in one particular small town, I kid you not. We had a few African American kids in our high school, and they were friends with some of my friends. If my dad saw me anywhere near an African American, male or female, say at a football game, I was "read the riot act" and told to never go near "those people" again. In my young adult life, I met gay friends whom I dearly loved. Growing up they were referred to (negatively then) as "queers." 

    Prejudice is both blatant and insidious.

        Leta

Wild Lights

November 25--Settled in Ohio

By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.  --Christopher Columbus

    I made the 600-mile drive yesterday in 10 hours flat. I really did not speed that much. It was foggy for a few hours, then I finally got to see the sun. I was able to unload, unpack and settle in before my niece returned home from school. The big event I joyfully anticipated finally happened--I surprised my niece with the painting I had done for the bedroom I use at her house. She loves it! I told her it would have been OK if she didn't like it--that I would just take it back home and enjoy it myself. Now I have another project while I'm here--to hang it above the bed. 

    Already a great trip!!

        Leta

The beach even has real sand!

November 24--Approx 400 miles east of Wichita

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.  --Earl Nightingale

    I had a cloudy, foggy trip to Wentzville, otherwise uneventful, which is a good thing. The audiobook, carrots and Fritos did their jobs of keeping me awake. I did take a half-hour break in the early afternoon. I had a lovely visit with my in-laws. My M-I-L has a cold, which had I known, I would have stayed elsewhere to not bother her. My plan is to leave the cold stuff in Missouri!

    I'm going to leave by 5am to get to Stow, Ohio, before dark. 

    More tomorrow,

        Leta

More joy from Wild Lights,
Sedgwick County Zoo

November 23--Two Favorite Words

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.  --Yogi Berra

    "ROAD TRIP!!!" After a lap-swim to get my body energized for the first 400 miles, I head east today, final destination Stow, Ohio. I will spend tonight with my in-laws in Wentzville, Missouri, and finish the 1000-mile drive on Monday. 

    How can I do this by myself? Audio books. Crunchy foods like carrots and Fritos. Frequent stops to walk and stretch. I break the trip into 50-mile blocks, because it is easy to drive 50 miles, less easy to drive 400 or 600. Today has 8 blocks, tomorrow has 12. Granted, that is number-nerd stuff, but it makes the trip easier for me. 

    Google Maps will take care of me at the forks in the road!

        Leta

November 22--Confirmation Bias

The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears. 
--Dan Stevens

    Let's get back to our biases. See the Nov 18 post for background. Below is more from Brian McLaren about confirmation bias. This comes from the Center for Action and Contemplation Daily Meditation of November 19:

We all have filters: What do I already believe? Does this new idea or piece of information confirm what I already think? Does it fit in the frame I’ve already constructed?

If so, I can accept it.

If not, in all likelihood, I’m simply going to reject it as unreasonable and unbelievable, even though doing so is, well, unreasonable.

I do this, not to be ignorant, but to be efficient. My brain (without my conscious awareness, and certainly without my permission) makes incredibly quick decisions as it evaluates incoming information or ideas. Ideas that fit in are easy and convenient to accept, and they give me pleasure because they confirm what I already think.

But ideas that don’t fit easily will require me to think, and think twice, and maybe even rethink some of my long-held assumptions. That kind of thinking is hard work. It requires a lot of time and energy. My brain has a lot going on, so it interprets hard work like this as pain.

It’s as if I’m presented with a new picture that won’t fit in my old frame and so requires me to build a new one. Wanting to save me from that extra reframing work, my brain presses a “reject” or “delete” button when a new idea presents itself. “I’ll stick with my current frame, thank you very much,” it says. And it gives me a little jolt of pleasure to reward me for my efficiency.

You may have heard the old saying that people only change their minds when the pain of not changing surpasses the pain of changing. That old saying is all about confirmation bias.

    Confirmation bias keeps us in our comfort zone. I'll have more on our biases in days to come. 

        Leta

Wild Lights, Sedgwick County Zoo

November 21--Do Something Wild

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.  --Albert Einstein

    If you live in or near Wichita, don't miss the opportunity to see Wild Lights at the Sedgwick County Zoo. It is a phenomenal display of Asian lantern sculptures. The path around and through the lighted sculptures is about a mile long. My husband and I went on Wednesday night. We had perfect weather, and we were blown away by the variety and scale of the sculptures. Below are a few "teaser" photos; the event is a photographer's dream! You'll be seeing more photos in future posts. 

    Do good for yourself and the Zoo--GO!

        Leta

November 20--What ARE You Thinking?

Things are always better than you think they will be. So think that. 
--Mike Dooley, Notes from the Universe, Nov 18

    Ain't that simple?!?!! This made me laugh at first, but there's some big-time wisdom there. "What ifs" can lead our thoughts down a scary path. We tend to (un)consciously assume that "the other shoe is going to drop." Yet I can think of so many instances where this quote rings true. One is my international travel--always turned out better than I expected. My recently celebrated birthday--even WAY better than I thought it might be. Teaching yoga and Melt Method for many years--so much more rewarding than I could ever have imagined at the start--it brought me some of my best friends and adventures in this lifetime. And my 12-Step journey--who knew that giving up my substance of choice could make my life so much better?!?!

    I'm guessing that some thought will lead you to your own examples. So let's just go with "this is going to be even better than I can imagine!!" 

    What's next?!?!

        Leta

Fort Collins, CO
(another trip that was better than expected!)

November 19--Bumming on College Basketball

Usually the team that scores the most points wins the game.  --John Madden

    I have been a big sports fan most of my life. Major League Baseball, of course, is No. 1. My interest in NFL football is mostly limited to watching the Chiefs. My dad taught me about the game as a young kid, and I know just enough to be entertained. Over the past decade I have increasingly enjoyed NBA basketball, starting with my "local" favorite, the Oklahoma City Thunder. I also follow the Dallas Mavericks, the Phoenix Suns, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. I plan a trip annually to see an OKC Thunder game. 

    All this brings me to the point of this blog. I used to be a big fan of college basketball, following Wichita State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Penn State (I grew up near there). I have tuned into one game for each of those teams so far, and I cannot name one returning player from last year on any of those teams. One or more may be there, and I just missed them. Anyway, my point is that the transfer portal has wrecked college basketball. I used to look forward to March Madness, but I doubt that I will even watch many more college games. Money, and the potential for money, has overtaken that sport, too. Recruiting is now the focus, and coaches' jobs have become more challenging. It's all very disappointing. 

    Opening Day of baseball season cannot come soon enough!

        Leta

November 18--What We See or Don't See...

We may live in the same country, the same city, or even under the same roof, but we live in different realities.  --Brian McLaren

    This is written by McLaren and comes from the Nov 17 "Daily Meditation" from the Center for Action and Contemplation:

Over the last decade, I have felt increasingly alarmed about the vitriol, distrust, and destructive miscommunication that are tearing people apart everywhere I turn … in nations, in religious communities, in businesses, in non-profit organizations, in friendships, even in families.

On social media, name-calling, misinformation, and propaganda squeeze out intelligent, honest, respectful conversation. In the mass media, accusations of “fake news” fly in all directions, leaving people wondering who to trust. In the world of religion, shallow, mean-spirited, or profit-hungry preachers draw huge crowds week after week, and they consistently appeal, not to the better angels of human nature, but to our unspoken fears and unacknowledged prejudices.

In the world of politics, uninformed, dishonest, and manipulative candidates keep winning elections, telling people not what they need to hear, but what they want to hear. Because of our polarization and paralysis, major problems are going unresolved, which intensifies frustration on all sides, and leaves (literally) billions of us vulnerable to populist demagogues.

The social fabric seems to be stretching so tight that it might rip apart. That scares me. “What’s going on here?” I keep asking myself….

Here’s the simple truth I began to see as I observed the decline in reasonableness, monitored the rise in dysfunctional and even dangerous discourse, and reviewed the academic literature:

People can’t see what they can’t see.

We all, yes, even me—and more shockingly, even you, have a whole set of assumptions and limitations, prejudices and preferences, likes, dislikes and triggers, fears and conflicts of interest, blind spots and obsessions that keep us from seeing what we could and would see if we didn’t have them.

We are almost always unconscious of these internal obstacles to seeing and understanding, which makes it even harder for us to address them. We are, you might say, blind to what blinds us. The name for these unconscious internal obstacles is bias.

Bias makes us resist and reject messages we should accept and accept messages we should resist and reject. In short … we can’t see what we can’t see because our biases get in the way.

    We are reminded yet again that solving our current issues begins within each of us.

        Leta

November 17--Too Much Energy Going to Pain

If you are doing something to avoid pain, then pain is running your life. 
--Michael Singer

    Yesterday's crankiness encountered a kindred spirit and bless the human sense of humor, we were able to laugh our way out of it. I shared a photo of a couple items from my post-it note collection (below). 

    Today's quote was my morning "2x4 upside the head." Pain has been running my life since being in Bali. Even as I grow physically stronger and pain lessens, I have an ongoing fear of pain, so it's still running my life. I'm now halfway through PT for my left foot/ankle/calf, six more sessions to go. I succumbed to scheduling a long overdue physical for mid-December. Despite six weeks of PT on my right shoulder, it has shown no improvement, though I got some temporary relief from a shot. So in December, I have the physical, conclude my foot PT, and get another shoulder shot. I declare that when those are complete, I am DONE with medical attention for the entirety of 2026 (and hopefully beyond!!). Any remaining aches and pains will simply be lived with and I will keep moving. 

    Weary of the "organ recital," our common term for excessive medical/ailment talk.

        Leta

Poor sleep is the big culprit!

November 16--Is It Nap Time Yet?

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. --Exodus 20:8

    I'm cranky from poor sleep, so I'm taking the day off. Alas, I wish sleeplessness was as beautiful as the painting below.

        Leta

"Sleeplessness at Night" by 
Leonid Afremov

November 15--Let Us Use Imagination Wisely

No one has ever hurt their eyes by looking on the bright side.  --Mary Davis

    I have a magic magnifying morbid mind. I think that Grammie dying suddenly when I was four years old implanted the idea that something horrible could happen at any minute, and my imagination went wild and never stopped. My interminably long recovery from sciatica and the current U.S. political horror have only exacerbated the scariness. When I head down a frightening path, I'm developing the practice of dragging my thoughts in a more positive direction, while giving myself credit for my vivid imagination. I'll say to myself, "Good one! But that's not helping my mood, let's go elsewhere." That same imagination that scares me also enables me to paint, garden and write a blog. 

    Less terror, please!

        Leta

Nature's beauty in our neighborhood

November 14--BUGS! and Such

My mother is a walking miracle.  --Leonardo DiCaprio

    Why am I having goofy thoughts this morning about my long-deceased mother? She passed in 1979 at the young age of 61, so for the bulk of my life, I have been motherless. 

    She had a thing about bugs, most especially roaches, lice and bed bugs. She believed that having any of those critters in one's home was a clear sign of "white trash." (Note that I grew up in an area with very few non-WASPs.) Those bugs were a crisis to be avoided at all cost. 

    Dishwashers, Kleenex and margarine were Communist plots. Dishwashers wasted water, and who needed one when you had a daughter (me) perfectly capable of washing dishes? Kleenex were wasteful--use a handkerchief. And margarine--Good Heavens! Why would you use fake stuff when you had real butter?!!? I grew up in a family that worshiped butter, and I still do to this day! 

    Mom loved her roses and she had a bed of about a dozen bushes in the back yard. Japanese beetles were the bane of her existence. She was generally an organic gardener, but for her roses, no chemical was too strong to keep them thriving and bug-free. She raised and preserved, via canning or freezing, nearly all our fruits and vegetables. 

    Mom never drank alcohol. Dad drank enough for both of them, and I think not-drinking was her one truly self-righteous stance. She brought a bottle of champagne back from France around 1971, and never drank it. We found it when we cleaned out the house many years later. 

    Mom took me on trips to France, Italy, Canary Islands and Japan. She was always trying to sneak back home cuttings from exotic plants. She would certainly be "pulled aside" at airports these days!

    Her favorite late night snack for watching Johnny Carson was to fry up a batch of chicken livers. 

    I would easily label Mom as a hypochondriac, and she spent hours poring over our two-volume medical encyclopedia (yes, actual books in those days!) trying to figure out what was wrong with her. 

    In hindsight, I'm amazed that I turned out even close to "normal."

        Leta

Bird of Paradise, Mom's favorite non-rose flower

November 13--Life As It Is

Just for today, rest in the acceptance of what is. Don't judge it or analyze it. Rest where you are in your heart. Allow gratitude to pour freely from your soul. Decide to love your life today. Just as it is. Especially as it is.  --Mary Davis

    This sentiment is a challenge for me. My healing journey is dragging on, now with foot issues requiring me to rest from pickleball and limiting my walking. Days have settled into exercises, swimming, painting and watching basketball. Twice a week the routine is supplemented with physical therapy. It is easy to become bored, so I remind myself that I do like all those activities. The phrases "one day at a time" and "this, too, shall pass" are sanity-savers. After swimming seven days in a row, I think I shall take advantage of our glorious weather and do some winter-prep in the garden rather than swimming. That will help my "acceptance of what is" and my gratitude level. Hands in the dirt is fine therapy.

    Below is the photo of the northern lights my son sent last night from Minnesota. 

    Enjoy today!

        Leta

November 12--A Good Education

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves. 
--Henry Ward Beecher

    I've worked through a lot of angst relative to my upbringing and the people I was closest to. I know they loved me and did the best they could. I do not know much at all about any early life experiences that helped to shape them. There is much to appreciate about these flawed (like every one of us) folks, so here goes...

    My mother taught me to sew, crochet and cook, skills that I have used my whole life. She somehow passed on the joy of gardening even though I did not appreciate it at the time. She taught me to clean house and iron, skills I would rather not have! Mom is the one who planted the "travel bug" in me, taking me on trips to France, Italy, Canary Islands and Japan. 

    Dad taught me to swim, still my favorite exercise. He had his own business and passed on a wealth of knowledge about the administration, customer service and grind of it all. He rescued me many hours from home with truck rides to deliver lumber. He taught me about stock market investing. He instilled in me the value of generosity. He put me through college and grad school.

    I am grateful,

        Leta

HOT!!!
My brother's wedding, 1961

November 11--Appreciating Their Service

Here is the Kansas connection to Veteran's Day, written by Jason English:

The reason we celebrate Veterans Day on November 11 dates back to 1918, when an armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed that essentially ended World War I. The first Armistice Day was celebrated the following November 11.
World War I was billed as the war to end all wars, but of course it didn’t. By the 1950s, with so many American veterans of World War II and the conflict in Korea, some thought the term "Armistice Day" was outdated.
Alvin King, a shoe repairman from Emporia, Kansas, probably isn’t in many history books, but he deserves at least a paragraph. In the early 1950s, he thought "Armistice Day" was too limiting. He had lost family in World War II, and thought all American veterans of all wars should be honored on November 11. So he formed a committee and, in 1953, the city of Emporia celebrated Veterans Day.
Ed Rees, Emporia’s congressman, loved the idea and took it to Washington. President Eisenhower—another Kansan—liked King’s idea, too. In 1954, Eisenhower formally changed November 11 to Veterans Day and invited some of Emporia’s residents to be there when he signed the bill. King was one of those invited, but there was one problem: he didn’t own a nice suit. His veteran friends chipped in and bought him a proper suit and paid his way from Kansas to the White House.
In 2003, Congress passed a resolution declaring Emporia the founding city of Veterans Day.

    I am grateful to all those who have served us and fought for freedom!

        Leta

Including my brother, Arlie, an Army Ranger
who served 2 tours in Viet Nam 

November 10--Down the Rabbit Hole

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.  --Steve Martin

    Occasionally I come up with a question that makes me wonder and wander aimlessly. Here goes. With the billions of stars out there in our universe, why is outer space dark? Aren't there enough mighty stars out there to keep things well lit? Well, those stars are really far apart. But if there are photons of light shooting out of the sun, do they just fizzle out at some point? Where does a star's light end? And when I am on the side of planet Earth that is temporarily facing away from our sun, why can't I still see the sunlight shooting past the earth in all directions? 

    I could get weird about electricity, too, but I'll spare you!

        Leta

Jamaican sunshine

November 9--"The Devil You Know..."

Your nervous system will always choose a familiar hell over an unfamiliar heaven. –Sarah Alpern

    Isn't it interesting that the only constant in life is change, yet we humans are hard-wired to avoid it? I see multiple examples of this in my life. This is what keeps people mired in addiction... "the devil you know..." I am so thankful for the 12-Step programs that offer folks a (simple but not easy) plan to reach the heaven of recovery. I see in myself that I am very familiar with aches and pains, but being pain-free with no physical issues? That is a heaven that I find difficult to imagine. I'm thinking this is the basis for the cliche that men "marry their mother" and women "marry their father."

    This one deserves much more pondering!

        Leta 

This is the photo of the real Swilcan Bridge
at St. Andrew's Old Course in Scotland

November 8--Check Your Focus

These are excerpts from today's "Daily Guide" in Science of Mind magazine. It was written by Rev. Dr. David Ault. 

In the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition, the nature of mind is often likened to the sky — vast, open and fundamentally unchanging. Phenomena such as thoughts, emotions and life events are clouds that pass through the sky. No matter how dark or turbulent the clouds become, they never alter the sky’s
essential nature...
When we identify with the cloud — with fear, limitation, separation — we create from that illusion. But when we remember we are the sky — limitless, spacious, eternal — we tap into the creative law and live from that power. The path, then, is not about attempting to control clouds. It is about remembering the constancy of sky, abiding in our true identity and creating, not from fear or lack, but from the knowing that wholeness is already ours.

    I like this! I focus too much on the clouds!

        Leta

November 7--One Day at a Time

Do not try to approach God with your thinking mind. It may only stimulate your intellectual ideas, activities, and beliefs. Try to approach God with your crying heart. It will awaken your soulful, spiritual consciousness.  --Sri Chinmoy

    Yesterday was a meltdown day. I have them periodically, frustrated with the lingering issues from sciatica that cause every step I take to hurt. I expect I must be fairly unpleasant to live with. I said a version of "screw it" regarding my daily exercises--I have been doing them faithfully for months, and still I can't walk comfortably. Yes, I've made a LOT of progress, and I SHOULD be grateful. Sometimes the aggravation is just too much, and I have to vent. 

    What did I do to pull myself out of my funk? I made myself go swimming, generally my first step when I need to calm down. I took a lovely nap. I did some venting in my journal. I had a chiropractic appointment--doc couldn't fix the problem, but she was sympathetic and gave me some pointers to work on my foot. And I did a lot of painting--it is intense enough to distract me from everything else.  

    Somewhere along the way, I need to accept the effects of aging. I'm most definitely not there yet. 

        Leta

Chihuly glass, Adelaide, Australia...
Art is essential to life!

November 6--More Tomorrow

Crying is cleansing. There's a reason for tears, happiness or sadness. 
--Dionne Warwick

    I'm safely back home from Colorado, a great trip. I'm in the midst of some good soul-rinsing, and I shall write more tomorrow. 

        Leta

November 5--Encouraging Curiosity

Assumptions breed suffering but curiosity breeds compassion. --David Ault

    I know for certain that I make a lot of assumptions. It is easy to do and challenging to stop the practice. The propensity to make assumptions and the destruction caused by it are blatantly evident in our political landscape today. I have no ability to stop the blowhards from spouting false assumptions, but I can work on the practice in my personal relationships. I am well aware that the effects of my upbringing lead me to assumptions that can be "way out in left field." There have been times when I have expressed an assumption to my spouse, and he looks at me like a Martian has just materialized in front of him. 

    The phrase "There, but for the grace of God, go I" bubbled up to me. This gives the speaker a comforting sense of God's favor while recognizing that God has screwed the person being scrutinized. What an exceedingly rude assumption! 

    A spiritual teacher many years ago offered this wise practice when faced with something that might incite assumption-making: just say internally "Isn't that interesting!" and move on. That three word phrase leads to curiosity, and cuts off the tendency to make a story filled with assumptions. 

    One of "The Four Agreements" (book by Don Miguel Ruiz) is "don't make assumptions." The book is subtitled "A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom." That's a pretty powerful reward for stopping the assumption practice. 

    More curiosity, fewer assumptions!

        Leta

The Curiosity Cycle from
Psychology Today

November 4--I Take That Back!

If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf.  --Bob Hope

    So much for no golf this year, sort of. My son took me to a golf simulator and I had a blast swinging the clubs and learning about the system. It is amazing. He picked St. Andrews Old Course. Having not swung a club in a year, I played the junior tees 😀 I have been to the actual course in Scotland. Since it was pouring rain then, no one was playing, and travel bud Lanie & I were able to walk #18, and get our photo taken on the Swilcan Bridge, the famous "landmark" on the course. 

    Since I had not played in a year, we did holes 1-9 and 16-18 on the simulator. It felt SO good to swing the clubs. The sand traps on this course are deep holes with steep, solid sides. When I hit into one (and only one!!), my son said he would hit it out for me. I wanted to try and I was successful on my first attempt! If it happened on the real course, I don't think I could even get my body in and out of the trap, let alone hit a ball out. 

    Afterwards, my husband said, "I haven't seen you this happy in months!" I can hardly wait to do it again and learn more about the system--that's the techy nerd in me. 

        Leta

The golf simulator version of the Swilcan Bridge;
I'll find my actual photo in a couple days & post it.

November 3--Life Requires Adjustments

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.  --Alan Watts

    I am in Colorado visiting our younger son. Mental adjustments are gradually happening. Our older son and his family, including my two grandsons, used to live here; now they live in Minnesota. This is the first time that our sons have lived in different places. So it was weird driving out here for the first time knowing I wouldn't be seeing the grandsons and parents, nor would I ever see their former home again. 

    For the first time since our younger son turned 10 (when he was old enough to be on the golf course; he's 36 now), I have gone a whole season without playing golf. I played so poorly last year that I did not enjoy it, then sciatica and recovery from it made golf a mere dream this year. I am looking forward to a return to play in 2026, trying to keep my expectations extremely low. 

    My schedule for the past six months has revolved around physical therapy appointments. I've had more medical attention this year than in any former year of my life, even when I had my hip replaced. I'm hoping that 2026 holds only my routine chiropractor visits and nothing more. That's a part of "getting my life back."

    Life changes, we adapt to the new whether we like it or not.

        Leta

A fine reminder!

November 2--"No Joy in Mudville" (Ernest Lawrence Thayer)

When I get stuck, I lower my standards.  --William Stafford

    This is a good reminder for me about writing this blog. Every post is not Pulitzer-worthy, I write for me, and it really does not matter if anyone reads it. Being a "grammar nerd," I edit relentlessly, but even that does not matter. Some days the post I've written doesn't feel that good, and that's OK. 

    So, as you can tell, I'm stuck! I am in a different space of mourning this morning, because baseball is officially over for 2025. Plus, alas and dang it, the Dodgers won the World Series last night in a very exciting 11-inning game. Now I turn my sights to March 26, 2026--Opening Day for the Cubs, my favorite day of the year. Winter is SO long 😞 

    We "fell back" early this morning, leaving daylight savings time once again. I'd sure like to stop the nonsense of spring and fall time changes. I've noticed via recent articles that some states are more ready for the change than others. Arizona is tough enough to keep track of... what if we had a random handful of states that decided to follow Arizona's lead? How would we keep track? Let's just eliminate the time change for the whole country!

    Mountains are in my future,

        Leta

A LONG winter ahead...

November 1--Grief = Love Lost

Grief changes shape, but it never ends.  --Keanu Reeves

    I would say that in general, we humans are fairly forgiving and quite willing to offer "second chances." Even in baseball, one gets three strikes. So much can be fixed by a "do-over" or making amends. We learn to "do better next time." 

    I think that is partly why death, losing a loved one, is so difficult. It's forever, which to our little human psyches doesn't make sense; it is incomprehensible, yet right in our faces. My brain keeps repeating, "I can't believe _____ is gone forever." There is a lovely story on Upworthy.com about a fourth-grade teacher describing grief to her students, and the subsequent outpouring of the students from her story. (Upworthy is good positive news, much needed in our world today!) I appreciate the teacher's idea that grief takes up space in our hearts and minds and can make them less available to everyday life tasks and emotions... less patient, distracted, overwhelmed. 

    It has begun. While I've lost quite a few family members (I'm the only one remaining from my family of origin), the friend who passed this week is the first close friend and contemporary to pass. Unless I beat all the rest to eternity, I expect there is more grief in my future, thus the Reeves quote above. 

    One day at a time,

        Leta

October 31--Sad, But Not Spooky

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.  --Robert Fulghum

    I am mourning the passing of a dear friend. We met in Kansas City at a spiritual growth workshop and became instant friends. She moved to Florida to be closer to her offsprings' families. Both of us are writers, and we re-connected a few years ago, adding a third writer and having fairly regular Zoom meetings to share our lives and our written words. The three of us truly were "a match made in heaven." 😉 She was a mighty example of facing death head-on, even hosting workshops for folks to process their issues regarding death and dying. I know that her final days were quite uncomfortable, and that she is now in total bliss, and I am happy for her, yet still sad for me and her many other friends and loved ones who are missing her brilliant light. 

    Soul-rinsing continues,

        Leta

October 30--A Meditation of Love

This is from Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation of October 29. It is by CAC teacher, James Finley:

This is a meditation to help us experience the immediate presence and intimacy of God’s love and those who have joined God before us:

I invite you to imagine that you are sitting alone in the middle of a well-lit room. There are no windows and no furniture in the room other than the chair you are sitting in…. As you sit there alone in silence, the light in the room slowly begins to dim. As the room dims, a light on the other side of the wall you are facing slowly becomes brighter and brighter. You begin to realize that the wall you are facing is not really a solid wall, as you had imagined, but is rather a gossamer veil that is becoming increasingly translucent in the light that is shining through it, filling the darkness of your room with an unfamiliar light.

In the light shining out from the other side of the veil you see God, the angels, and the saints. They are all laughing and waving at you, letting you know how delighted they are that you can see them. You start laughing and waving back at them.

Then God, the angels, and the saints pass through the veil to join you, rendering the room radiant with communal joy and delight in which your very presence begins to glow with the presence of God. Illumined and transformed in this way, God and the angels and saints carry you with them into heaven, just on the other side of the veil, where all are dwelling who have died and crossed over into God. Then God and the angels and saints carry you with them back through the veil, back to the room, now aglow with heavenly wonder and delight. Then, once again, they transport you back into the celestial realm, and then back again into the room….

You are left once again in the familiarity of your earthly experience of yourself sitting there alone in the room, facing the wall. But while everything is the same as before, everything is, in an interior way, radically different. For you now realize that while, yes, it is true that, on one level, the wall you are facing really is a wall, … yet in the afterglow of the unitive experience that has just graced your life, you now know in the depths of your awakened heart that, ultimately speaking, the wall is no wall at all…. You have been graced with a fleeting experience of being immersed in God-immersed-in-you in a boundless communion that utterly transcends, even as it utterly permeates, the darkness and fragmentations of this world.

    AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

        Leta

October 29--Love Anyway

Sometimes people just need to be loved. Even when they have made mistakes. Even when they have been mean. Even when they get a tattoo that you don't love. Sometimes we just need to speak love.  --Mary Davis

    I might add this: "Even when they belong to a cult." My husband brought to my attention the word "cult-ure," emphasizing the cult part. Examples are the Trump cult-ure, the Catholic cult-ure (or any religion), the Republican cult-ure, and so on. Most likely these days we all know someone, or several, who are strongly attached to a cult. I should have added to my "advice" post: do not discuss religion or politics at family gatherings. Keep those events love-focused. 

    My husband succinctly pointed out that the Republican mission is to give us all PTSD. I've mentioned the mission to create a peasant class, necessary for a ruling king. So those peasants can be appropriately controlled because they are poor, terrified, sick and dumb. Poor--we are seeing the end of the middle class. Terrified--the whole Republican party is based on fear-mongering. Sick--take away their medical insurance and make needed care ever harder to get. Dumb--destroy public education, re-write history, ban books, on and on. 

    Love may be the answer, but it surely is challenging!

        Leta

Barney reminds me that love is easy.

October 28--Go, Blue Jays!

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.  --Dr. Seuss

    I've finished with one round of the legacy questions from the Oct 21 post. I encourage you to answer those questions for yourself, whether you be a youngster or a senior citizen. 

    I am in sports heaven. Last night I had the option of watching two NBA basketball games, the Chiefs football game and the third World Series game of Blue Jays vs. Dodgers. I really want the Blue Jays, a Canadian team (Toronto) to win the World Series. Alas, I did not make it through the 18-inning walk-off loss the Blue Jays suffered--bummer. All games are recorded so I can view them at my leisure. My husband has learned not to discuss a sporting event until he finds out if I've watched it. Baseball will end soon 😞 but college basketball will take its place 😀

    Meanwhile, have I mentioned that I'm back in physical therapy? Two sessions down, 10 to go, this time to strengthen my left calf, ankle, foot and arch, lingering effects from sciatica. I'm doing such fun things as walking heel-to-toe and picking up marbles with my toes. I've added firm arch supports to a couple pairs of shoes, and those, while necessary, make walking uncomfortable. I'm so grateful for Crocs, as they seem to be the best option for my feet wherein my left foot is about 3/4" longer than my right due to the fallen arch. My strength and arch seem to be improving. I'm looking forward to the completion of all this by year-end, and I'm hoping for NO need for medical attention in 2026! 

    One day at a time,

        Leta

Thunder basketball,
reigning champs!!

October 27--Who Wants Advice?

Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it. 
--Agatha Christie

    What do you wish for your family and dearest friends? What advice would you give them? (See Oct 21 post for background.)

In no particular order:

•     Your thoughts are creative--change your thinking, change your life.
•     Be yourself.
•     Learn something new every day.
•     Do something creative every day to feed your soul.
•     Rest more.
•     Worry less.
•     Connect more with nature.
•     We are here for joy, expansion and freedom.
•     Forgive quickly.
•     Create an intimate working relationship with Something Bigger.
•     Know that you are dearly loved and nothing can lessen that love. 
•     Ignore other people's sentiments or opinions of you.
•     Remember: "This, too, shall pass."
•     Travel! Experience other cultures and marvel at our magnificent Mother Earth.
•     KEEP MOVING!

    Some of these are easier than others. Life is a practice!

        Leta

From Google Images

October 26--What Will the Memories Be?

Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others. 
--Rosa Parks

    How do you want to be remembered? (See Oct 21 post for background.)

    Yikes! This is a biggie. My first thought is that I had a great sense of humor. I would like to be remembered as creative, starting with my early days when Mom taught me to sew and crochet, all the way through life with gardening, assorted crafts, and most recently painting. I hope folks think of me as a good family member and friend. Anyone who knows me well would note that I am nuts about baseball, so much so that I completed the quest of seeing a game in all 30 MLB stadiums. There were some brave solo trips involved, and all that fed into my love of traveling. I wouldn't mind if folks noted that my favorite hobby was napping!

    I'm gonna think about this one a lot more!

        Leta

"That's Odd" by yours truly...
Geometry was my favorite subject in school!

October 25--I Would Have...

Happy or unhappy, families are all mysterious. We have only to imagine how differently we would be described - and will be, after our deaths - by each of the family members who believe they know us.  --Gloria Steinem

    What do you wish you had done differently? (See Oct 21 post for background.)

    I've said many times that I would have purchased a vacation home on a large body of water. Fortunately over the years, I have had friends who shared such properties with me. Most recently it has been the condo on the beach at Ocean City, Maryland, where my niece and I have had a lovely week's vacation the past few years. It's no problem to drive from Kansas to Maryland--I love the water and beach that much! 

    I would have asked a lot more family historical questions of the people who could answer them before it was too late. What were my mom's and dad's childhoods like? What traumas did they experience? How would they answer these legacy questions?

    One of the most powerful lessons the 12-Step program has taught me is to make amends, and to do it asap. Having learned to live this way, I don't feel like I have "loose ends" hanging out there that need attention. That's a comforting feeling.

        Leta

Something like this would be quite cool!!!

October 24--Gratitude Is Creative

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.  --Gilbert K. Chesterton

    What are you most grateful for? (See Oct 21 post for background.)

    My mind immediately starts making a long list, but at the top is my health. Having gone through the awful bout of sciatica with its very lengthy (still underway) recovery, I most definitely do not take my active life and my ability to move for granted. 

    The next thing that comes to mind is being a mother. I had two very different pregnancies and births, and no surprise, my sons have very different personalities. Certainly raising children had its challenges, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The joy far outweighed the difficulties. The best thing I have ever been called is "Mom!" 

    More to come on the gratitude list as I ponder these legacy questions.

        Leta

Grateful for art and travel--
Chihuly glass in Australia,
Adelaide Botanic Garden

October 23--Those Special Folks

You have to be in the world to understand what the spiritual is about, and you have to be spiritual in order to truly be able to accept what the world is about. 
--Mary Oliver

    Who were the most positive influences in your life, and what did they teach you? (See Oct 21 post for background.)

    Here my first response is my dad and my sons. 

    The foremost thing I learned from my dad is generosity, both with his time and financial resources. He drove door-to-door in the boonies of Pennsylvania to collect for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. He worked hard creating his own business, a sawmill, to support his family. He paid for my college and grad-school education. If someone was in need, he helped. He paid for the overseas trips my mom and I took, maybe because he was glad to get rid of us for a while! If I was not in school, I was in the truck with my dad delivering lumber. Those trips always seemed to culminate at an ice cream place. I can't think of black raspberry custard without connecting it to Dad. He was also the one who taught me how to swim. He built a pool at our house where my nieces and nephews and I spent many a joyful hour. To his credit in teaching me, yesterday I completed lap swimming of 100 miles for the 28th consecutive year. Yes, I love to swim. 

    Learning from my sons would have to fall into the "infinite" category. Both have very different personalities, thus each creating different challenges for me as a parent. Though I loved my parents, I did not grow up learning a successful way to deal with life and people (mine was "stop crying and eat this, you'll feel better.") Fortunately the 12-Step program put me on a better path to parenting. Those two boys made me laugh, cry, and rage, and I marvel at their creativity to this day. 

    What is your answer to today's question?

        Leta

The last blooms of fall