a lesson learned

When I was ten-years old, my grandmother taught me to crochet. She gave me a hook and a ball of yarn and showed me how to make a chain and then single crochet. I had dreams of making a scarf which she assured me would be a quick project.

Speed is in the eye of the beholder. As a ten-year old just learning to crochet, I tore out every row at least twice before I got it right. This scarf project was anything but quick. And it wasn't long before I lost interest, put my hook and yarn away and went on to something else - skateboarding!

Years later when I was in college, a friend was crocheting an afghan as a Christmas gift for her parents. I was intrigued as I watched her, the afghan growing ever-longer fairly quickly. Hmmm. I decided to give crocheting another try and under the patient guidance of my friend, I finished an afghan as a Christmas gift before classes and clinical began demanding all my time.

About fifteen years later, I picked up my hook and began crocheting again. Mostly I made baby blankets and donated them to Project Linus, an organization that provides homemade blankets (crocheted, knitted, quilted, ...) to children who have suffered loss or trauma. Many of the ones I made went to NICUs in the area.

Somewhere I got it in my head that I could do a project with straight rows, like a blanket or a scarf, but not a project with pieces, or something round. I don't know when or why that "belief" started but it was entrenched in my mind. I was convinced I was not a good enough crocheter to do a "complicated" project like a sweater or a round placemat so I continued making blankets.

Years later, my grandson, Nick, got two crocheted  stuffed turtles out of the "treasure box" at his school. They were well-loved as he played and slept with these two turtles until finally, one day, they wore out. The stitches couldn't hold the stuffing in any longer.

Nick called me to ask if I would make him a crocheted turtle to replace the ones that were worn out. "Please, Grandma? I know you can do that!!!"

And then, before I thought about it or even realized it, I heard myself saying, "Of course, Nick! What color do you want them to be?" After I hung up the phone, a cold sweat gripped me. What was I thinking? I couldn't do a round project with pieces to fit together!!

I had coffee with my crochet-guru friend and told her about my conversation with Nick. I was secretly hoping she would volunteer to make them, since everyone knew I couldn't do something like that. Instead, she laughed and said it was about time I try a project in the round, that I absolutely was ready for it and she would help me.

We met again a week later and she helped me get started with the pattern. I continued working on it at home and within a few days I had finished the first turtle. The second turtle was even easier and was finished in no time.

Nick, of course, was thrilled with his turtles. When I asked him why he thought I could crochet turtles when all I had done before was blankets, he replied, "Well, Grandma, why couldn't you???" with all the innocence and sincerity of a 7-year old.

Hmmmm. Out of the mouths of babes. It reminded me that I sometimes put limitations on myself when I shouldn't. What other things have I said, "I can't do that!" to and missed the joy and excitement of doing something new?

That revelation resulted in two game-changers for me. First, I don't say "I can't" unless there is a reasonable and logical reason. This requires some time to carefully, prayerfully consider the option. 

Secondly, I decided to try some new crochet projects.  Stuffed animals, potholders and even a purse stretched my comfort zone as well as my enjoyment.

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals or anthropomorphic creatures. Although popular in Japan for decades, it didn't become popular in the West until 2003.

I think my grandmother would be happy to know that the seeds she planted when she taught me the basics of crocheting not only took root but sprouted and continue to grow.

prisoners

San Fransisco is one of my most favorite places to visit.

The art deco design of the Golden Gate Bridge, the choppiness of the water, the clouds and fog, historic Fort Point built just prior to the Civil War, sailboats in the bay... just a few of the things I LOVE about San Fransisco!

While visiting San Fransisco a few weeks ago, we took a walking tour of the Golden Gate Bridge,  something I highly recommend and it's free! Our group stopped mid-span and I was able to spend a few minutes admiring the view... the downtown area, the Oakland Bay Bridge and finally, Alcatraz. 

It was from that perspective that I realized just how close Alcatraz is to downtown San Fransisco. And how far away at the same time. 

The swift currents and freezing, often shark-infested, water of San Fransisco Bay made Alcatraz, aka the Rock, a perfect location for a prison. During its 29-year reign as a federal prison, Alcatraz housed 1576 prisoners. Quite a few inmates requested to be sent to Alcatraz because prisoners had a bit more "freedom" to roam around since "the Rock" was considered "escape-proof." They had an extensive library, outside areas, single person cells and much better food than most prisons.

From the outside looking in, Alcatraz probably looked pretty good, everything considered. But I wonder if once they got there, they looked at it differently. 

Prisoners could see the "City by the Bay" - the buildings, the lights, the bridges carrying people here and there. They could watch the ships, both commercial and pleasure, come and go. Unlike prisoners at other, more remote, federal prisons wth high walls around their perimeters, the Alcatraz inmates could see freedom.

I wonder if it was that constant reminder of freedom that made 36 men try to escape despite nearly impossible odds. They wanted what the people living in San Fransisco had, or at least what it looked like they had. Of the 36 escapees, 23 were caught before making it off the island, six were shot and killed during the escape, two drowned, and five were missing and presumed drowned when their belongings were found floating in the bay.

As I was walking off the Golden Gate Bridge, back to the visitor's center, I pondered this idea of freedom. And decided the escapees were chasing a misguided notion of what real freedom is. 

Sure, San Fransisco-ites have the ability to come and go as they please and can do pretty much whatever they want to. 

But real freedom is being unchained from the bondage of sin through faith and trust in Christ alone. Perhaps the prisoners who had THAT freedom didn't feel a need to escape from the Rock. 

Something to ponder...

not too old to learn a new trick

Bananas... that deliciously-sweet-but-not-too-sweet fruit that comes prepackaged in a bright yellow wrapper, ready to eat and is available throughout the year.  But the frosting on the cake is that bananas are nutrient-dense meaning they are packed full of things that are good for you like vitamin B6, manganese, vitamin C (yep!), potassium, fiber, copper and biotin.

While I didn't know how good bananas are for you when I was a child, I did know I liked them. I had them in a sack lunch at school, as an after-school snack, and of course, cut up on my cereal for breakfast. I have no idea exactly how many bananas I've peeled over the decades but I am sure it is in the hundreds. Maybe even thousands.

And I've been doing it all wrong.

We were traveling with friends a few weeks ago and while enjoying breakfast at the hotel buffet, my sweet hubby cut the stem area of his banana and began peeling it, just the way I do. My friend laughingly mentioned that another friend of hers would say that he was peeling his banana incorrectly. Her friend pinches the opposite end (non-stem end) of the banana, and then peels it.

Hmmmmm.

So the next morning, he peeled his banana the "correct" way. And it was much easier to peel! And required no cutting utensil. And the stringy things (called phloem) peel down with the skin. And, you have a "handle" to hold the banana with - the stem.

That got me wondering if there really is a "correct" way to peel a banana. A quick internet search revealed that there is, indeed, a correct way to peel a banana and it's the way monkeys peel them - from the non-stem end. Cutting or pulling the stem-end bruises the fruit and makes it mushy.

You are never too old to learn a new trick!

burro blunder

Arizona has an abundance of burros. The animals, that is, not the food... well, maybe the food, too, but that's a blog post for another day.

But it wasn't always that way.

Burros, also called donkeys if you live east of the Mississippi River, are not native to Arizona. They were introduced into North America by Spanish colonists. During the mining boon in the 1860's, prospectors brought them to Arizona. After the mining bust, the donkeys were either abandoned or released into the wild where their populations grew, mostly because they have no natural predators in Arizona.

The old mining town of Oatman is home to a herd of wild burros who roam the streets and beg for treats (carrots) from the tourists.

Coincidentally, camels (also not native animals) were introduced into the state at about the same time when Secretary of State Jefferson Davis imported the camels to solve military transportation woes before the railroad came to Arizona. The camels were able to carry heavier loads than mules (which are native and also different from burros/donkeys - they are the offspring from a donkey and a horse) and could survive on the little vegetation in the area. However, the Civil War brought an end to the U.S. government's camel venture and the camels were released into the wild. No one knows exactly how long they survived but there are no wild camels in Arizona today.

But back to the burro problem.

The burro population has grown every year and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) now estimates Arizona has over 5000 wild burros, more than three times what the government can manage. Burros are protected by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 which says the animals can be gathered or removed from an area but prohibits them from being killed.

For decades, the BLM has arranged "burro adoptions" and turned over thousands of wild burros to owners across the country. But burro adoptions are down and the population is increasing. This means more burros are placed in holding pens run by the BLM which are already over-crowded.

The burros aren't aggressive so what is the problem with letting them roam? They cause motor vehicle accidents posing a public-safety concern and compete for food with native bighorn sheep and livestock, affecting Arizona's agricultural industry.

This summer, federal officials, animal advocacy groups, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and others met in Washington, D.C. met to discuss land management including ways to reduce the burro population. They came up with three means to manage the burro population: temporary fertility vaccines (burro birth control)/permanent sterilization (can you imagine how much that would cost based on human birth control costs?), selling them to anyone, including "kill buyers" who would sell the burros for meat, and more aggressively promoting adoptions. The animal advocacy groups don't like the first two options so that leaves door number three - promoting burro adoptions.

Adoption applications are available through the BLM website and at their holding pens. The minimum adoption fee for each wild burro is $125; jennies (burro mommies) with an unweaned foal are $250. There is considerable paperwork and red tape to "ensure the animals go to good homes that can properly accommodate them" and many people don't want to jump through hoops just to adopt a burro. Economic factors also play into steadily declining burro adoptions.

In the meantime, the burro population is constantly growing.

I wonder what the long-term consequences of my generation's "quick fixes" will be. Creating artificial sweeteners to curb obesity rather than promoting portion control and exercise, for example. Or lowering educational standards because parents and kids are too busy to do homework or read daily.

They seem like such innocuous things at first - or so we think.

printer problem

Printers, like smart phones and laptops, are devices designed to make our lives easier. And when they work the way we want them to to, they are an incredible convenience. But when they don't, it is a HUGE inconvenience. In fact, it's more than an inconvenience - it's maddening to have spent time creating a document or flyer that you can't print at home.

Our home printer has been dying a slow and very painful death over the past year and a half. My sweet hubby has nursed it along cleaning the heads, shaking the ink cartridges, and the like for months. But its days are numbered, I fear, as it makes long, ugly, black streaks on nearly everything that comes out of it.

We are looking for a replacement printer (unfortunately, it's not cost-effective to repair them) but until we decide definitively on one, I am stuck with the old printer. And I hate it.

It was with some amusement I read a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (August 26, 2016) that confirmed what I suspected. MANY people truly hate their printers for all kinds of malfunctioning/mechanical reasons. 

But what I didn't suspect was that, motivated by the 1999 movie, "Office Space," they are publicly smashing them to smithereens! Some companies have planned employee retreats around printer pummeling. Or have contests where the winner gets to bash one of the evil company printers with a baseball bat. And "rage rooms" (aka "anger rooms") across the country report that printers are one of the most in-demand items. 

So I wonder... why is there such an over-the-top anger with printers? Why not smart phones or laptops? Maybe it's because our printer is the last in line. We become annoyed when the app on our smartphone doesn't work the way it should or the way we want it to. So we move on to our laptop and then become frustrated when pages are slow to download or we lose internet connectivity. We finally get the document finished or the coupon ready to print and now the printer isn't cooperating. We just want to be finished with whatever it is we're working on. We blow past annoyed and frustrated landing on angry.

It's funny how quickly we forget how it used to be when we had to go to a printing place to make copies. And creating our own documents at home to print  at home was just a dream.  It seems the more "convenient" life gets, the less content we are. 

Hmmm....

the love/hate affair

I have a confession to make. I have a love/hate relationship with the world wide web.

Way back when, if I had a question about something, I had to find the answer in a book or some other resource. For example, if I wanted to know who the 14th president of the United States was, I could look in an encyclopedia under "Presidents" and find a chart with the answer in a few minutes - Franklin Pierce was the 14th president, born in 1804 and died in 1868. Easy peasy.

But we don't carry reference books around with us all the time, so often I would wonder about something but not have the opportunity to quickly look it up. However, if I looked it up later, I almost always remembered what I'd read. I think the effort involved in getting the information made it worthwhile to remember.

Then personal computers became widely available and "surfing the web" was a thing. It was new and exciting and really fast. Information was available in the blink of an eye. From multiple sources. In living color. Doing a Google search brought up the information before I had finished typing my query.

And with a smart phone I can search for information anywhere, anytime I have cell service. Instant information, 24/7. Sounds like a great thing, right? Super convenient and very easy.

I'm not so sure.

Unlike a reputable reference book like World Book Encyclopedia or Encyclopedia Brittanica that is edited and fact-checked by multiple people and sources (and historical information doesn't change like technology or geographical information does), anyone can put absolutely anything on the web. It takes much more effort to find "fact sources" on the internet that are edited by experts and consistently accurate.

But it's more than just the potential for inaccuracy. It's what I call the "laziness factor." Doing a Google search to answer the "question of the moment" requires almost zero effort on our part. We don't even have to spell correctly. Instantly the information is quite literally at our fingertips where we can either read it for ourself or, if we're really lazy, listen to Siri tell us whatever factoid we've requested.

"Ahhh... so that's the answer!" we think to ourself before we quickly discard that piece of information.  We think we remember it until we try to tell someone else what we read 15 minutes later and have to look it up again. There is no need to remember the information because we can just look it up again if we want or need it.

I agree that there are some things I might be curious about but don't need to remember forever. For example, what time the current blockbuster hit is playing at the local theater.

But I wonder if what we are really doing is training ourselves to not think as we read, to not retain information but to merely read the words to quickly find the answer to the question before moving on to the next thing.

And that is the crux of my love/hate relationship with the world wide web. I love the convenience and speed of getting information but hate the mindlessness of it. My solution? Use it when I must but also take time to investigate something - read a book, talk to a craftsman or professional, engage in the process and think critically about the information. I find it far more satisfying than just clicking a button and mindlessly reading whatever answer pops up.

labor day

Today is Labor Day, the first Monday in September. Although it is a holiday dating back over a hundred years, today most Americans just know it as "the three-day weekend in September" or "the holiday after which school starts" or simply as "the end of summer."

The first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. It was planned and implemented by the Central Labor Union (CLU) to honor the working man. Just two years later, the date was changed to the first Monday in September so that worker's could enjoy a three-day weekend. It was the "workingmen's holiday" which makes me wonder if the  business executives and CEO's had their own holiday. I don't think they did - or do now.

Labor Day became an official federal holiday in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed it into law following the deaths of workers during the Pullman Strike of 1894. The CLU and Knights of Labor encouraged street parades to show the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and union organizations." This was to be followed by festivals "for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families."

While its origin was to honor the "workingmen," the sad truth is that the first Monday in September has just become another three-day weekend. Yes, there are "events" going on - an Hawaiian Luau in Cave Creek, an arts and crafts fair in Prescott, a BBQ Platter at Twin Arrows Casino Resort and sales at every department sale. But I couldn't find a single parade or "festival for the recreation and amusement of workers and their families."

Perhaps it's time to just call it what it is - September Long Weekend. It's what the Canadians call their Labour Day (also on the first Monday of September).

so that's how they do it!

The way we shop has changed dramatically in the last decade or so. We are no longer a society that physically goes to a store, finds several models/styles of a product, tries it on or holds it, talks to a sales clerk... and then makes a decision and buys one, taking it home in a bag. Instead, we read endless reviews (a few are helpful but most are ridiculous if you can even read the text-speak they are written in without grammar or punctuation), scour the internet for the best price, click the "buy now" button and wait for the item to be delivered to our home. We can buy everything from apples to zebra-striped leggings and more with the click of a button.

Last year Amazon became the world's largest online retailer. Chances are good that if you have access to either a computer or smart phone, you have ordered something from Amazon. And it is delivered to your doorstep quickly - often within a day or two. Some cities now have same-day delivery.

Wow! How can they do that?

A friend invited me to go with her on an Amazon Fulfillment Center tour in Phoenix. She made the reservation for the tour over a year in advance and at last the day came!

The Amazon Fulfillment Center building is really big huge gigantic humongous but fortunately the signage for visitors is quite clear. We were greeted by our tour guide as soon as we arrived, given a visitor badge and head set for the tour. After a safety talk (only walk in the designated areas, walk no more than two abreast, ...) and reminder that there is absolutely no photography and all phones must be silenced and put away or they will be confiscated, we were ready to begin.

The Phoenix facility we were at has small and medium-sized items. There are rows and rows and rows of shelving units with the aisles labeled with a number/lettering system. Our tour stopped on one of the aisles as the tour guide explained the process.

The first thing I noticed were lots of smallish (slightly larger than a shoebox) bins on the shelves filled with a seemingly random assortment of goods. One bin had a package of drinking straws, Disney cookie cutters, saline nasal spray, baby wipes, and measuring spoons. Of course, that's just what I could see without taking the bin out - there was lots of other stuff in the back of the bin.

Why were those particular items together in the bin? My mind was spinning trying to figure out what these items had in common.  And I was getting nowhere fast.

And then the answer was given by our tour guide - there is no rhyme or reason to placing items in the bin, only that they fit in the bin. The entire operation is computer-controlled with employees doing the "stowing" and "picking."

When a product comes into the facility, the barcode on the item is scanned into their computer system and put in a cart. When the cart is filled, an employee called a "stower" scans a product with a hand-held scanner and the computer identifies which aisle and bin has room for that item. The stower finds the correct aisle and bin, makes sure the product will fit and then scans the product into that particular bin (all bins are identified with a barcode).

Okay, that explains the hodge-podge collection of items in the small bins. But how in the world do they find the items in a timely fashion when an order comes in? Wouldn't someone be running all over this massive facility just to find three or four items in a single order?

Filling an order is where employees called "pickers" come into play. Pickers are assigned an area and also issued a hand-held scanner. As orders come in, the computer lets pickers know which items to pick from a particular bin. When an item is taken from a bin, it is scanned "out" of the bin letting the computer know that bin now has room for another product. The computer knows how much space each product needs as well as how much space is in each bin, thus allowing the maximum amount of products in the least amount of space. There is no wasted space in the bin.

Once the picker scans an item out of a bin, it is placed in a large yellow bin which when filled, often with parts of multiple orders, are placed on a conveyor belt system and taken to the shipping area.

In the shipping area, all the parts of an order are put together in a box or mailing envelope by a "shipper" who places a label with a barcode on the package before placing it on a conveyor belt.  From there it passes through scanners and machinery that generate a mailing label and adheres it to the package. It passes through yet another scanner to ensure the label is readable and in the right place on the package before being sent off to a truck to be shipped to the customer.

And all this happens very quickly.

As I was watching this amazing process in action, I wondered how someone came up with this process. It seems like a recipe for disaster for someone like me who craves order and logic, not randomness. But it works and I can't argue with that.

We enjoyed the tour and recommend it for anyone who wants to see what goes on behind the scenes. You can make a reservation for a tour of an Amazon Fulfillment Center near you (in six cities across the United States) here. But make it early - many are already completely booked through 2017! The 2018 schedule will be out "soon" or you can be put on a wait list for a cancellation.

And now I feel a "need" to browse through Amazon....

happy 100th birthday!

The National Park Service turns 100 years old today... and we are all invited to the party! From August 25th through August 28th, 2016 all 412 national parks (including national monuments, national seashores, national battlefields, national memorials, etc.) are offering FREE ADMISSION!

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It all began way back in 1872 when Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the territories of Montana and Wyoming "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." It was placed under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior. The founding of Yellowstone National Park was the impetus for countries around the world to also establish their own national parks. Today there are about 1200 national parks or similar preserves in over 100 countries.

Congress authorized other parks and memorials which were administered by the Department of the Interior, the War Department, and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture - there was no one single agency unifying the administration of the parks and monuments.

On August 26, 1916,  President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments already administered by the Department of the Interior as well as any new national parks or monuments that might be established in the future. An Executive Order in 1933 transferred 56 national monuments and military sites from the Forest Service and the War Department to the National Park Service. Finally, all the national parks, monuments and military sites were administered by one department.

Today there are 59 National Parks located in 27 states and the territories of American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands - a 68.5% increase in the last 100 years! And national monuments, military sites, memorials, rivers, seashores, etc. have increased just over 530% in the last 100 years! Wow!

One of my Bucket List items is to visit all 59 National Parks. To date, I have been to 29 and I would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite.

(Clockwise from top: Denali National Park (Alaska), Arches National Park (Utah), Voyageurs National Park (Minnesota), Badlands National Park (South Dakota), Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona), Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota), Joshua Tree National Park (California), Haleakala National Park (Hawaii)

The National Park Service protects our national treasures. They are areas of magnificent beauty, historical significance and/or wildlife refuges. Make it a priority to visit some of these each year. Perhaps even this weekend when they are FREE! You will be seeing America... the beautiful!

a happy place??

As I was scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook the other day, a post from one of the many crochet sites I follow had this meme:

I suspect most people who saw that post smiled and scrolled on by but it grabbed my attention and I thought about it for quite some time. I've heard people say things like, "A glass of wine is my happy place" or "Quilting is my happy place." 

Do you have to have something or be doing something or be in a certain place to be happy? If that is the case, then happiness is something we have virtually no control over. Things can be taken away, circumstances change so that you can't engage in an activity or go to a particular place.

I get that the idea behind the meme is that you enjoy that activity. It's not meant to be taken literally, and is in fact, meant to be humorous.  But I wonder if phrases like that have an effect on us like subliminal messages. 

If they are subliminal messages, it might explain why I have more yarn than I have projects. And why some people are never happy - they either don't have the right stuff or the time to do it.

Or maybe I have too much time to ponder such things....

thankful thursday - light

This is my last "thankful Thursday" post. I have enjoyed posting something I'm thankful for every week for the past year - I hope you have, too. But now I'm looking forward to random posting - it might be a "Wacky Wednesday" (remember those?) or "Thankful Thursday" post or something totally different - like a restaurant review or someplace I've visited or something about my sweethearts. I will post weekly (or more often) but not necessarily on a specific day. Check back often - you don't want to miss anything!

I never thought much about light until I started dabbling in photography. It was either light or it was dark; I could see or I couldn't. When it got dark, it was time to turn on some lights.

But as I have learned more about photography, I realize how important light is. I have "discovered" all kinds of light, both natural and artificial - filtered, direct, indirect, bright, not bright, soft, harsh. And then there's directionality of the light - backlighting, side-lighting, overhead lighting.

Light provides ambiance, it creates a mood. In photography, it helps us see more of the picture (pun intended ;-)). It enhances the story being told.

And as I dabble deeper into photography, I am learning to look at light... all the time... even when I don't have my camera. I see beauty in the light. I think about light A LOT... how it enriches our lives, sometimes in ways we don't even give a second thought. Or how different light, like using a flash, could completely change a scene or photograph.

The more I thought about light, I came to realize it is a gift from God. He created it and declared it "good." (Genesis 1:3-5). And I absolutely agree. 

Not that darkness is "bad."  It serves a purpose. Our bodies recognize it as a time to rest. Some plants ONLY bloom at night, in the dark.

I have only been in absolute, complete, total darkness for about a minute when they turned off the lights in a cave and it was disorienting, bordering on scary. And I didn't like it very much. 

Yes, I much prefer "light!" In fact, I would say I need light. And that makes me appreciate the gift all the more!

thankful thursday - simple things

My mom used to tell us that we would be about as happy as we decided to be. This was usually in response to one of us moping about lamenting the sad fact that we didn't have something one of our friend's had. There was no point in moping about and being upset because the only thing that got us was extra chores.

In today's world, many would find that to be harsh or even cruel. Some would say that our self-esteem would surely suffer. (I'm here to tell you that is blatantly untrue in this case!) And others would claim that it was an infringement of our civil rights - surely we have the right to be unhappy. (To be fair, she didn't say we could not be unhappy, just that we would be as happy as we decided to be. The extra chores were for moping about what we didn't have - and the chore usually involved taking care of what we DID have - for example, cleaning something.) More than a few would argue that we wouldn't like our parents if they treated us that way, like we were inferior to them. (Nope, that wasn't true, either. We grew up respecting out parents and as adults, had great relationships with them.)

I am glad, grateful even, that my mom taught me that important lesson about being happy. I learned from an early age to be satisfied with what I had, to find contentment in my life. As an adult, that is still true.

In no particular order, here are three simple things that bring me joy, happiness and contentment:

1. Flowers - One of my favorite things to do in the spring is search for wildflowers. They are vibrant and delicate bringing a special beauty to the outdoors. But I don't have to be outdoors. I have a miniature rose bush in a pot on my kitchen window sill where it gets a lot of indirect light. It blooms often and brings a smile to my face daily.

2. A hand-written note - The art of writing a note with pen and paper has almost become extinct having been replaced with email and texts. While I appreciate personal emails and texts - they let me know the person sending them is thinking about me - there is something special about a hand-written note. I can feel the paper (soft, smooth, coarse, rough, ...) and the hand-writing evokes a special, almost emotional, response as I recognize the writer from the strokes of the pen. Texts and emails often get deleted but hand-written notes are carefully saved and reread time and time again. 

3. Flags on houses - I love seeing flags flying on houses. I love the patriotism they show. In this world of division, seeing flags flying on houses in neighborhoods reminds me are united in our love for our country. And who wouldn't be happy about unity?!

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

1 Timothy 6:6

thankful thursday - lists

I have a confession. I am a list-maker. I make a list of things I have to do,  things to take on vacation,  books to read, restaurants to try, things to buy with separate lists for each store, places I want to visit, and the list goes on and on.

I've written about this before.  50 Shades of Summer is a list of 50 things I did one summer and Amazing Arizona... 100 Things  is a list of places to see or things to do in Arizona that I completed during our state's centennial celebration.

I recently read The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski. It's a quick, fun read about a woman who is in a car accident and her passenger dies, leaving behind a list - "20 Things to Do by My 25th Birthday." The tasks are varied - run a 5K, throw away my scale, change someone's life, etc. To work through her guilt (although the accident was not her fault), the woman takes over the list completing the remaining 18 tasks before the deadline.

Hmmmm. That's an intriguing idea - completing someone else's list for them. And not just any list - their Bucket List. The things on a Bucket List are meaningful to that person. The tasks might be challenging or learning something new or visiting someplace or about a relationship. In other words, they are personal to the person making the list.

I thought about my Bucket List. I started it when I was in my 40's with about a half dozen tasks. I have added to it over time and quite honestly, I think there are more things on it than I could do in my lifetime. But it's good to have goals and I get great satisfaction from crossing something off the list.

Some are fairly straight forward and not too difficult like:
     *  Visit all 50 states
     *  Anonymously pay for a family's meal at a restaurant - must be people I don't know

Others are adventurous like:
     *  Visit Antartica
     *  Ride in a hot air balloon

And a few are edifying like:
     *  Read through the Bible in a year
     *  Secretly give something to someone I know

What would be like for someone else to do the things on my Bucket List? For someone who is always cold, visiting Antartica could be torture, not adventure. Or they could rise to the challenge, dress very warmly, have a great adventure and learn they can do more than they think they can.

I think at some point, as the woman in the book discovered, the list would become their own. They would learn different things and feel differently about completing the tasks than I would.

I am thankful for my Bucket List. It's good to have goals and I get great satisfaction from crossing something off the list. It's okay if I add two more things the next month. It's not about completing the list as much as it is just doing the list.

And that's what the woman in the book eventually learned.

thankful thursday - the entrepreneurs

While our sweethearts were visiting us a few weeks ago, we were telling stories about past 4th of July celebrations when our children (aka their mom and aunt) were their age. Like most kids, the older four enjoyed hearing what their mom and aunt did when they were kids. We laughed about the year our oldest daughter along with several neighbor kids worked all day decorating their bikes, trikes and a wagon (to haul our youngest daughter who was a toddler) with red, white and blue signs and streamers in preparation for the "Big 4th of July Parade." The parents and other extended family members gathered in the afternoon to watch the parade... which lasted all of a minute and a half! And we  laughed about the year all the kids in the neighborhood set up a lemonade stand in the drive-way but ended up drinking all their product since it was so hot... and there were no kids left to BUY the lemonade.

That story intrigued the kids and they kept bringing it up, asking questions. Pretty soon the inevitable, dreaded question was asked: Can we have a stand and sell something?

I told them they could do a snack stand on the 4th of July but they needed to prepare for it and do the work.

The first thing was deciding what to sell. They suggested lemonade, homemade chocolate chip cookies, popsicles, and chocolate candy. After being reminded that it would be really hot outside, they realized popsicles, chocolate chips and chocolate candy would melt too quickly. They finally decided on lemonade, Otter Pops (they don't make a mess if they melt and can be refrozen) and Red Vines.

They figured out how much to charge for their goodies. They, of course, were thinking "dollars" while we were suggesting "cents." We talked about what happens when you over-price your product... and they finally agreed cents made more sense (Oh yeah, they made that joke!).

Next was making signs. We cut up some cardboard boxes and they went to town with markers. They decided to make an arrow sign that someone would twirl and dance with to get people's attention.

We practiced making change and counting it back to the customer. We talked about making eye contact, smiling and being friendly. We talked about wearing food-service gloves when getting the Red Vines out of the container. Good customer service is priceless!

Finally, the big day arrived and the kids were sooooooo excited. We had decided 2:30 in the afternoon would be a good time to catch people coming and going as they connected with their family. At 2:30 on the dot they set up the card table in front of our driveway. They agreed beforehand on who would sell first and who would dance with the signs.

Christopher and Ben were the first salespersons. 

And Nick and Lexie were the sign dancers down on the corner.

Although they got a few cars to come down the street, they quickly realized they would have better success if their goods were on the corner where the cars passed by. We packed up the table, chairs, goodies and ice chest and walked down to the corner to set up. 

It was 108 degrees that afternoon. And these kids are not used to our extreme heat. But there was no complaining. They waved at cars and danced with their signs... and people stopped! Cars made u-turns to come back. A couple of times there was a line of cars waiting for their turn. People were talking and laughing. A few told stories of their own lemonade stand when they were a child.

After an hour, the adults decided to pack it in. When we got back to the house, the kids cleaned the table and put stuff away. Finally it was time to count their money. Christopher was the counter and Nick watched to make sure he counted correctly and didn't take any. Such brotherly love! Their mom and dad reminded them they needed to pay their supplier (me) for the goodies before they divided up the money.

Everyone - adults and kids - was surprised to learn they made $60! In an hour! They had quite a few large tips because they were "so friendly" and "so sweet" and "enthusiastic" but no one thought they made that much. After I told them I would donate the supplies and they could keep their $60, they were all very quick to calculate that was $15 each! 

I am thankful for the lessons my sweethearts learned through this entrepreneurial adventure. Things like it takes hard work to make money. To evaluate your business plan and modify it as needed. And how to work together towards a common goal. That having a good work ethic is important. And I am thankful we were only out in the heat for an hour!

thankful thursday - rules??

When my sweet hubby and I were first married, before we had children, we had many opinions (most of them incorrect!) about raising children. For example, I was convinced that no child of mine would ever be plopped down in front of the tv so I could get something done. That lasted until our first child was about a month old and I discovered I could brush my teeth and get dressed before my hubby came home from work if I positioned our daughter (who was VERY colicky and awake most of the day) so she could "watch" Sesame Street. The shapes and colors of the characters and sing-songy dialog seemed to calm her - or at least distract her - for a few minutes.

We eventually learned to relax and trust our instincts while following the "rules." Rules like bedtime is bedtime, no snacks if you didn't eat your meal, no running in the house, keep your hands and other body parts off the windows, and we don't have cookies or candy before lunch.  It's important for children to have routine and to know what the boundaries are. I firmly believed that children are happier when the "rules" are consistent.

Then I became a grandma.

And the "rules" changed. Dramatically. Almost over night.

At grandma's house, bedtime is more like a starting point or suggestion. Dessert and snacks are always an option if you ate at least some of your meal. Running in the house doesn't bother me as much as it used to. And not only do I not mind fingerprints (and other body-prints ;-)) on my windows, I have each of them make a handprint up high on the window that remains pristine for several weeks after they leave! M&M's or a cookie before breakfast is good clean fun. As is having ice cream for breakfast.

Yep. I became my mother and my mother-in-law. They "spoiled" our children in good ways. Spending time with them. Bending the rules. Eating ice cream for breakfast one day a year isn't going to harm anyone but is a memory kids never forget. Going to their houses was always a treat for our kids, something they looked forward to. I am thankful for the wisdom my mother and mother-in-law shared on being a grandparent and on rules.

And just to be clear, some rules never change or go out of style. Rules like speak respectfully to each other, ask permission before you use something that belongs to someone else, no means no, don't run on the kool-deck, buckle up in the car. They are rules for safety or being respectful to others. And I still firmly believe that children are happier when the rules are consistent. But they also learn that rules may be different in different places (like grandma's house) or situations (like vacation).

I think our sweethearts make lots of memories when they are at our house. I hope they will one day share those memories with their children.  And laugh as hard as their parents do when they share their grandparent memories!

We love our sweethearts!

thankful thursday - the unusual

My aunt and uncle had a small ranch in Montana when I was a child. I loved spending a few weeks with them during the summer - gathering the eggs each morning, trying to milk the cows, riding horses and watching the pigs roll and romp in the mud. It was a beautiful place to spend part of my summer vacation.

I grew up thinking all ranches were like the one my aunt and uncle had. Some were bigger, of course,  and a few might be smaller, but in general a ranch was a plot of land used for agricultural purposes or raising animals.

On our recent cross-country trip we visited four very different ranches.

1. Cadillac Ranch (west of Amarillo, Texas) - In 1974, Texas billionaire Stanley Marsh III wanted to create public art that would inspire as well as outrage the citizens of Amarillo. A group of art hippies from San Fransisco had an idea and Marsh became their silent partner. Ten caddies, ranging from a 1949 Club Sedan to a 1963 Sedan de Ville, were half-buried nose-down in a field. Visitors were encouraged to spray paint them and even take a souvenir. Today the car bodies bear little resemblance to their original form but are delightful to look at. They have now been in the ground as art longer than they were on the road as cars.

2. Slug Bug Ranch (Conway, Texas) - In 1967, Tom Crutchfield opened a service station and souvenir shop on the south frontage road of I-40. Some years later, when a Love's Travel Stop opened on the north frontage road and his business took a nose-dive, Tom decided to add a roadside attraction. He half-buried five VW Beetles nose-down and let folks go to town with their spray cans. It was a parody of nearby Cadillac Ranch and people loved it. The trouble was, they still filled up their tanks at Love's Travel Stop and then came by Slug Bug Ranch for some fun. He eventually moved on and today Slug Bug Ranch is surrounded by abandoned building on either side. 

3. Ra66it Ranch (Staunton, Illinois) - Rich Henry bought a parcel of land in Staunton, Illinois and after learning it was right on Route 66, he decided to drive the entire Mother Road. When he returned, he told his wife he wanted to open a kitchy place like Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, Arizona (side note - it's well worth the trip!!) as a roadside attraction. About the same time, his daughter asked him to board her two pet rabbits for a few months. He fell in love with the critters and knew what his "theme" would be. In 1999, he half-buried seven VW Rabbits nose-down as a tribute to Cadillac Ranch but unlike the Caddies, the Rabbits are NOT spray painted. They are buried very close together to mimic real rabbits huddling. He also has a herd of about 20 rabbits, most of them orphaned by their owners, several semi-trucks, and a nine-foot rabbit "statue" you can climb on on the grounds.  He runs his insurance business out of the shop as well as sells  rabbit- and Route 66-themed souvenirs. We enjoyed talking to him!

4. Bottle Tree Ranch (north of Oro Grande, California) - When Elmer Long was a little boy, he hiked in the California desert with his dad. They collected all kinds of stuff (old garden tools, mattress springs, bottles, discarded glass insulators from telephone poles, washboards, ...) from old dumps. Fast forward several decades and he found a use for all the stuff he and his dad had collected. He started making bottle trees (large metal pipes with bottles and other stuff on them) in 2000 and now has a forest of over 200 of them! He likes to use the things he and his dad found on the top of his trees to give them character.

I am inspired by the creative artistry at these ranches. I appreciate their unusualness and am thankful for owners who aren't restricted by convention. I am amazed that all four of these ranches are open to public and are free of charge (although  Ra66it Ranch and Bottle Tree Ranch accept donations). And I am astonished that, at least on the day we were there, there were no gang tags, obscenities or inappropriate anythings spray painted on the cars at Cadillac Ranch and Slug Bug Ranch. 

thankful thursday - surf and sunset

Listening to ocean waves pounding the beach is soothing... relaxing... calming. It is why so many people listen to "waves" on their sound machines as they go to sleep. Watching and hearing the real thing takes it up a notch.

We recently spent a week in Southern California with our North Carolina sweethearts and their parents. In addition to the general chaos that comes with five kids, we also spent three days at Disneyland and California Adventure. Alternating Disney days with a beach day and a whale-watching tour day was the perfect way for us to unwind and relax so we could more fully enjoy the next "magical" day.

A beach day is an immersion experience involving all your senses.Watching children build sand castles as the waves roll in. The scent of fresh ocean air. Feeling the ocean spray on your face and the sand between your toes. The salty taste on your lips. Hearing the roar of the waves and the laughter of children.

I think I do some of my best pondering at the beach. I find solitude and energy in the crashing waves and inspiration in the tiny grains of sand. I recognize and appreciate the gift that has been given to me. And I am filled with awe.

The only thing better is being there at sunset!

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought." 

~ Helen Keller

thankful thursday - the unplanned things

I am, by nature, a planner... a list-maker... a scheduler. At home I have a "to-do" list every single day and I enjoy crossing the items off my list. It helps me remember what I did at the end of a busy day when it looks like I've done nothing at all. Sometimes my list gets derailed when unexpected things happen like the washing machine going on the fritz or illness.

On vacation, we have an itinerary, a list of places we're going or things we're doing. I research the places we're visiting to discover what there is to do and see. And occasionally we get sidelined due to road closures or traffic.

Some say that man makes plans and God laughs. They mean it in the sense that God is malicious and wants to circumvent our plans, to make life harder for no reason. I think God laughs because He has better things in store for us. Kind of like when my grandparents laughed when they asked my younger sister, who was four-years old at the time, if she'd rather go to Yellowstone Park to see geysers and buffalo or Yellowfront (a neighborhood variety-type store) to pick out something to buy and she chose Yellowfront.

While I am not usually happy about appliances needing repairs or illness or traffic issues, I have learned to appreciate the things I can't schedule or put on a list and cross off at the end of the day. The random things that "just happen." Things like...

... finding a nest full of robin eggs.

We were geocaching in Illinois when we stumbled upon this nest of eggs on the top of a bush. Mama bird was not very happy with us looking in the bushes for the geocache (which we found in a nearby bush) but did allow us a quick peek at her nursery. It was the first time I had ever seen eggs in a nest with mama bird watching over them. Amazing!

... finding a nest full of baby birds.

This is the house that Babe Ruth grew up in in Commerce, Oklahoma. As we were walking up to the porch, I noticed an irate bird squawking at us, then she flew away. It was then I heard a faint cheeping and saw three tiny beaks peaking out of the nest. Mama bird returned with what looked like a worm and after a few moments, began feeding her babies. It was also the first time I had seen baby birds in a nest. Amazing!

... watching the light from a lighthouse at night in the fog.

Two Harbors Lighthouse along Lake Superior is a working lighthouse (the oldest one in Minnesota!) keeping ships safe from the rocky shore. I have seen a dozen or so lighthouses in the daylight. Their lights are bright and I could imagine them piercing the thick darkness. But this was the first time I saw one at night... in the fog. Amazing!

... a snowstorm in May in Arizona with an impromptu snowball fight. 

It was a warmish, overcast morning in the Valley of the Sun as we left town but was snowing up on the Mogollon Rim. We arrived to a blanket of pristine white snow and just had to get out of the car and play a bit! Amazing!

I am thankful for the unexpected opportunities in my life. They are a blessing from God.

thankful thursday - vacation, part 2

One of my favorite things about being on vacation is meeting and talking to new people that God has put in my path - or me in theirs. Most of the time these encounters are brief and the conversations are several minutes long to maybe an hour or so. But my life is enriched by meeting these people.

One of my quirky photo ops is water towers (and that will probably be a blog post for another day!). Not the ordinary, run-of-the-mill water towers but something that makes them unique. Before we left on vacation I heard about a red-and-white-checkered water tower in Minot, North Dakota that was unlike any other checkered water tower. The information I found on it was dated so I called the public  works department in Minot, ND to enquire about the water tower. The woman on the phone assured me the tower was still around - but offered no directions and I didn't think to ask. When we arrived in Minot, I figured we could ask someone at our lunch stop. We eat local when we travel (also another blog post...) and stopped at a regional chain called Burger Time. After we ordered our food I asked the woman helping us if she knew where the red and white checkered water tower was. She laughed and said she just moved there from Florida and had no idea and then she asked the cook. The cook, a middle-aged woman, told us she had lived there her whole life and had no idea where it was. I showed her a picture of it which intrigued her and she went to her computer to see if she could find it. I went outside to call the public works department. The first woman I got had no idea where it was (I was beginning to see a trend...) but said if I could hold a few minutes, she'd ask someone else who has lived there longer. The second woman who came on the line knew exactly where it was and gave us directions. Meanwhile, the ladies at Burger Time were still interested in finding out where this mysterious water tower was so I shared the directions with them. They thanked us for showing them something new about their town and waved as we left to find the water tower. We enjoyed their friendly banter and were thankful for people willing to go the extra mile to answer a question.

It was worth the trouble to locate it! I've seen other checkered water towers but this one is truly the most beautiful.

No road trip is complete without seeing some of the kitschy things along the way. I researched some before we left using my favorite source, Roadside America, and found the largest ball of twine (by weight) according to the Guiness Book of World Records would be more-or-less on our route through Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin. The creator of the giant ball of twine is James Frank Kotera (he calls himself JFK) and he built it in his backyard. He came out to talk to us when we arrived and told us how he got started and how he does it. He started making the twine ball after God told him to stop drinking and turn his life around and then God would make JFK famous as the Twine Man of the World. Four years later, clean and sober, JFK began making his twine ball and it quickly made him famous, just as God had told him it would. Each twine piece is knotted to and through the next one to keep it together. Although he works on it many hours a day, his hands are smooth and soft, something he attributes to it being God's work. We enjoyed hearing his story and seeing his handiwork.  

His ball of twine is HUGE - over 8-feet high and 22-feet wide with a weight of 21,280 pounds! 

We stayed in 19 different hotels/motels on our 21-day road trip. Fourteen were chain hotels (Marriott or Hilton) and one was La Posada (originally a Fred Harvey hotel but now owned by private citizens) in Winslow, Arizona. But four were small mom & pop motels and we were blessed to spend some time talking with the owners. The motels were all around  during Route 66's heyday and are located in small towns.   All these motels have "outside entrances" which allowed us to park our car right outside our room making it much easier to get all our stuff from the car to the room. They have classic neon signs or large marquees advertising their amenities (color tv, air conditioning, etc.). Although the motels have been updated since they were built, the rooms and bathrooms are small compared to bigger chain hotels. But what they lack in space they more than make up for in character. The owners work the front desk and usually live on the premises. They were interested in knowing "our story" - where we live, why we were there, what we enjoyed so far - and also shared their story - how they came to own the motel, something about it's history and recommendations on where to eat (or not eat). It was a refreshing change from the very professional but hurried twenty-something behind the front desk of the big chain hotels.

Both owners and motels were all very different. We appreciated that the character of the motels was maintained during remodeling. The Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri was built in the 1920's and has the most beautiful cut-glass door handles in the rooms. The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico was built in the 1940's and has real rotary phones in the rooms along with instructions on how to use it. The Route 66 Motel in Shamrock, Texas (top right) was built in the 1950's and has slightly larger rooms and traditional decor. The Canyon Lodge Motel in Seligman, Arizona has themed-rooms - ours was the Hollywood room and had posters of famous movie stars as well as a headboard that looked like the curtains on a stage - which was their claim to fame when they opened in the 1960's. 

As we were leaving Kansas we made a u-turn so I could take a photo of the "Welcome to Kansas" sign since the tiny road we entered Kansas on didn't have one. I just finished getting my photo when a great classic car pulled up behind us and a woman jumped out with her camera. I asked her if I could take a photo of the hood ornament (another of my quirky photo ops...) on their car. She said I could and then offered to take one of me by the car. We introduced ourselves and chatted for about ten or fifteen minutes. During that time I learned that Sheila and her husband were also driving Route 66 but going west to east and doing it in the car she bought when she was in high school, we are both believers and enjoy seeing God's creation, we both take a lot of photos and that we have both met many more Europeans traveling Route 66 than Americans. I took a photo of her by the "Welcome to Kansas" sign and then we went our separate ways. Although our time together was short, I will always fondly remember Sheila when I think about this trip.

Isn't it a gorgeous hood ornament? And the car was built the year I was born!

I like talking with people - getting a different perspective on something or learning what's going on in their lives. For me, it's one of the things that makes vacation fun.  And thankfully, we were blessed with lots of fun opportunities!

thankful thursday - vacation, part 1

For many people, summer means vacation. It's a time to slow down and relax. Or maybe go like crazy to fit as much into a few days or weeks as possible. It might be a destination vacation like Disneyland or Paris. Or a cruise. Or some time in the mountains in a secluded cabin or tent.

Or... it might be the all-American road trip!

We recently returned from a three-week road trip across the country and back logging 6,571 miles as we traversed 15 states and three time zones. Along the way, we learned some important lessons about enjoying vacation.

1. Stick your feet out the car window for a few minutes and relax! (Okay, only do this if you are NOT the driver! And wear your seatbelt properly while you do this.) Taking off your shoes and socks and letting the wind rush through your toes is relaxing. It reminds you that the "normal routine" has been suspended for a time. And besides, it's fun!

Don't you just love indentations on your feet from your socks?

2. Pack food and drinks to have a quiet, impromptu picnic! We had picnic lunches quite a few times, mostly because we were in the middle of nowhere at lunchtime. Once we ate in the car because it was raining, but the rest of the time is was wonderful to sit by a river or along the side of a road and enjoy the quiet, the beauty of nature and each other.

Nacho Doritos... my favorite vacation food!

3. Enjoy the solitude. We get so caught up in the busyness of life, in the noise of living that sometimes it's refreshing to just be alone (okay, we were together but there was no one else!). No bright screens flashing, no text or email alerts, no cars zooming by - just peace and quiet. It's good to spend some time alone with your thoughts, to let your mind wander, to appreciate the beauty of the world.

Yep, that's a dirt road!

4. Seek shelter when things get too rough. We got caught in a downpour on I-55 near Wilson Heights, Illinois. Buckets of rain and hail pummeled our car as Richard tried to keep it on the road. We finally came to an overpass  and pulled waaaay off to the side underneath it right behind another car. And the car behind us and the one behind them did the same thing. Sometimes it's just not worth it to keep going.

After ten minutes or so, the storm let up some and we were able to safely continue on our way.

5. Enjoy the sunsets. Spend a couple of minutes reflecting on your day. Enjoy the beauty of a colorful sunset. Relax. Be grateful.

God paints a new picture for us every night!

I am thankful God gives us times of relaxation and fun as well as work to be done. I am thankful for the simple things - a cool breeze on my feet and a surreal sunset - not just the "big" things. 

thankful thursday - a day of remembrance

Memorial Day is the last Monday in May, and this year it falls on May 30th, the date originally ordained for the holiday before Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 which reordered several holidays to Mondays creating three-day weekends. You can read more about that in my blogpost Wacky Wednesday - Monday Holidays.

Many people confuse Veteran's Day and Memorial Day. And then there's Armed Forces Day thrown into the mix to confound folks even more. Consequently, those currently serving in the military as well as veterans are often wished a Happy Memorial Day, Happy Veteran's Day and Happy Armed Forces Day, all in the same year, year after year.

Armed Forces Day is the third Saturday in May and honors those currently serving in any branch of the military. Veteran's Day is November 11th and honors those who once served in the military. And Memorial Day is the last Monday in May and honors those who died while serving in the military.

We were in Williams, Arizona on May 18th and a shopkeeper asked us if we wanted a small American flag to wave when the bikers came in an hour or so. She said they were a group who were riding to Washington, D.C. for Memorial Day. We were intrigued and decided to wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

I noticed a man and his wife (and their cute dog!) seemed to be waiting, too. I asked if they knew anything about the bikers that were coming and the man smiled and said, "Why yes I do. They are bikers from all over who have served in the military or know someone who did. Most of them are Viet Nam veterans and they are part of the Run For The Wall organization." We started talking and it turns out he is a Viet Nam vet who is a member of the group but broke off early that day to meet up with his wife.

Run For The Wall's mission is to "promote healing among all veterans and their families and friends, to call for an accounting of all Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action (POW/MIA), to honor the memory of those killed in all wars (KIA), and to support our military personnel all over the world." One way they accomplish that is their ten-day ride from California to Washington, D.C., arriving Memorial Day weekend. I was told that they ride for those who can't. There are so many bikers going this year that they added a third route with SEVERAL HUNDRED bikers in each group.

I asked him a jillion questions and he told me a jillion stories. In what seemed like no time at all, it was time for the bikers to arrive. The police cleared the streets and folks lined up to cheer them on. It's like that in every city they ride through or stop in all across the country.

(This is the very end of the parade of bikers... hundreds went before these... but you get the idea!)

They meet at the Viet Nam Memorial (aka the Wall) when they arrive in Washington, D.C. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. They run their fingers over the names of friends who didn't make it home. It's a time to remember fallen comrades in arms. They lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery.

While this Monday is a day to remember those who have died while serving our country, I think it's also appropriate to remember, to pray for the POWs and MIAs and their families. May we never forget.