Tuesday Thoughts

Just a little something extra to give you food for thoughts.

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 Memories between friends are blessings of the heart.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

All the Flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today.  (Proverbs)

Enfolded in His Love

The love of God surrounds us

Like the air we breathe around us

As near as a heartbeat,

As close as a prayer,

And whenever we need Him

He will always be there!

{Helen Steiner Rice}

God, Grant Me....

Courage and hope

for every day,

Faith to guide me 

Along the way,

Understanding,

And wisdom, too,

And grace to accept

What life gives me to do.

{Helen Steiner Rice}

No Blues Today

 As most of you know by now, there will not be a Blue Monday for awhile.  The area where Jeanne lives does not have an internet carrier at this time. May not be available for two more months.  We will miss her but understand.

 Be soft

Do not let the world

make you hard.

Do not let pain

make you hate,

Do not let business

steal your sweetness.

Take pride that,

even though the rest of the 

world may disagree.

You still believe it to be

a beautiful place.

   (Iain S. Thomas)

ACTS OF KINDNESS -Tuesday With MeMe

Good Things Still Happen

In today's time, not much good news is shown.  Seems all that is reported is the bad stuff. However, there is still lots of good in our world.  Just never know when it will show up.

One day last week, I was eating out. Lots of customers in the restaurant.  After I had finished, the waitress cleared the table, I asked for my ticket.  She informed me it had been paid by a young couple.  What a nice surprise! Had no idea who they were. Did not get to thank them as they were already gone. Their act of kindness meant a lot to me.

Later on in the week, I needed gas.  It was one of those terribly cold and rainy days.  Not my kind of weather. I pulled up to the pump and was dreading to get out in the cold. On the other side of my pump was a gentleman getting gas. He told me to stay in my car and he would pump my gas. I was happy to let him.  At least, I had the opportunity to thank him.

As most of you know, you need a membership card to shop at Sam's Club. I do not  have one as their quantities of products are too large for me. Once in awhile they will run have a coupon in the paper for you to be their guest for a day. They did that just recently.  My sister usually comes each Saturday for our outing together.  I told her about this and she wanted to go.  She needed some things for special occasions. The only draw back on using this guest pass is they charge you a 10% service fee plus taxes.  When they are combined, you are not saving too much. However, we went. I did find a few things I could store for future use. Needless to say, we managed to fill our buggy.  Still, sister forgot something. I stayed with the buggy while she went to get the item. While I was waiting, one of the young men from the bank I use saw me.  We were talking and I told him we did not have a card and the extra charges we would have to pay. Said he had a card and would take care of it.  He took our buggy to the self-check out counter, personally ran all the items through and used his member card.  We were truly blessed as it saved a lot. After that, he went with us to my car, unloaded all the things, and took the buggy back inside.  I was so thankful as it too was a cold day. I told him I would try to be nicer to him next time I was in the bank. His reply,"it would not be the same.  I like you giving me a hard time".

Tuesdays With MeMe -That 's Just The Way It Was

Sharing an incident I will never forget. My son and his wife were living in Portland, Oregon. I went to visit a few days in the later part of February of 1996. If you are familiar with Oregon, you know it is cold and rains most every day. They both worked, and had this sweet Cocker Spaniel puppy. Her name was Calamity. While they were working, I baby set with her. Over the weekend, they had planed a little trip or had to work, cannot remember which. That left me and Calamity alone. Early that Saturday morning, which was very cold, I went out to get the paper. I only had on my gown as I was just going to dash out and right back. Big mistake. The door locked behind me. I had no key, no way to contact them, freezing to death, and worried about the puppy. Panic set in!

I was in an area totally strange to me. I just picked a house from random. Knew absolutely no one around there. Bear in mind this was a Saturday and most people were off and sleeping in late. I am sure it was annoying as well as a shock when I aroused the neighbors from their sleep. Especially, when the lady saw a total stranger, stressed out, and in her gown standing at the door in the cold, early morning. I explained my predicament to her. She very graciously invited me in, got me a coat, made coffee, and tried to calm me down.

After awhile, she got her husband up to join in this fiasco. We discussed the situation and he tried to figure out what to do. He made several calls to different places that would have a connection to the addition, but no one answered. Beings it was a Saturday, the places he called were closed. After a couple of hours, I asked him to try and find a locksmith. He hated to do that as it is costly. We finally decided there was nothing else left to do. He found one, and in less than five minutes upon his arrival, he had the door unlocked. Luckily, I had brought enough money. I have never met strangers that were as nice and helpful as this couple. I definitely randomly selected the right house.

After I returned home, I sent her a little token of my appreciation. This is the note I received back from her. Wish I knew their whereabouts now.

That chapter ended, but another begin. On Sunday morning, I broke my glasses. Why do things always seem to happen on the weekend, when it is hard to find help? My daughter-in-law drove around for sometime trying to find an optical place open. Bear in mind, this was on Sunday. Thank goodness we finally found one and solved that issue. As of today, I have not been back to Portland, Oregon, and most likely never will again. My family moved to Texas shortly after that. How fortunate for me.

JUST A THOUGHT

When we were kids, we thought our "best friends" were going to be eternal. In some neighborhoods, they cut their fingers with something sterile like a jagged glass or dirty pocket-knife, and mixed their blood, making them":blood sisters or brothers" for life. Today that might not be such a good idea. We have become more knowledgeable about newly developed diseases we might spread by swapping blood and spit. Today we just make a promise to be friends forever. But, few of us know the joy of true friendship. If you are lucky enough to have a true friend, treasure the relationship. They are few and far between.

I consider myself very fortunate to have cultivated some special friendships, which I refer to as my "heart friends" someone you know you can count on in the midst of crisis or turmoil, if only to have a sincere ear to listen while offering a hug. Everyone has multiple acquaintances they might refer to as friends, but often times there is a vast difference between the two sorts.

Family and friends are precious and treasures we all often take for granted. We have no guarantee of tomorrow and life can change in the blink of an eye. In today's hustle-bustle, fast paced life take a minute to take an inventory of the relationships that are important to you. Let those that mean something to you know that they are a significant part of your life.

Just something to think about.

Goodwill Tuesday

Saturday's is my sister's day off. That is our "sister quality" time together. Several Saturdays ago, we took a little day trip to a location outside of our area. We walked the hot streets and went in and out of shops to browse and cool off. While we were strolling along the sidewalks, we passed a bank. It had an ATM machine accessible to people from the sidewalk. As we went by, I noticed a man's billfold laying on it. I picked it up and saw there was no money. It did contain a driver's license, credit cards, and other documents you would not want lost. We found an emergency number on one of the cards.

My sister used her cell phone and called it. She reached his daughter that lived a long way from where we were. My sister explained what we felt had happened. The daughter gave us her father's home phone number and said he lived just a couple of blocks from where we were. My sister called it and the gentlemen answered. He had not realized he had left it. He lost no time in coming and finding us. He is an 83 year old gentlemen that has senior moments like a lot of others. Since we did not know for sure what he looked like, we saw his birthday on the driver's license.

When he arrived, we asked him when his birthday was. We wanted to be sure he was the right person. We assured him, that we took nothing, only looked for a contact number. He said he knew we had not and was ever so grateful to us. He said the billfold I found was his filing cabinet for his cards etc. not for carrying money. Said he keeps his money in his pocket. He was one happy senior gentleman.

I regret to say, most anyone else could have used his cards, and at his age, he did not need that happen. That made our day!

Senior Computer Terms

The following information was complied by Susan Capps in a Senior Citizen paper. I am one of the seniors and understand completely what she is saying.

A computer was something on TV from a science fiction show of note. A window was something you hated to clean, and ram was the cousin of a goat.

Meg was the name of my girlfriend and gig was a job for the nights. Now they all mean different things, and that really mega bytes.

An application was for employment. A program was a TV show. A cursor used profanity. A keyboard was a piano.

Memory was something that you lost with age. A CD was a bank account.

Compressor was something you did to the garbage, not something you did to a file. And, if you unzipped anything in public, you'd be in jail for a while.

Log on was adding wood to the fire. Hard drive was a long trip on the road. A mouse pad was where a mouse lived. And, a backup happened to your commode.

Cut you did with a pocket knife. Paste you did with glue. A web was spider's home. And, a virus was the flu.

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper. And, the memory in my head. I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash. But when it happens, they wish they were dead.

Obituary of SOMEONE ELSE

I dare say there are very few of us that has not said, Let Someone Else do it. I am guilty and could have done more when needed. There are excuses we make that are just that - excuses.

SOMEONE ELSE

I know that all of you were saddened to learn this week of the death of "Someone Else".

Someone's passing created a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years, and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than the normal person's share of the work. Whenever something was needed, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results. The first name that would come up when help was needed, "let Someone Else do it". It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the largest giver when called on.

Someone Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing super-human, but a person can only do so much. Were the truth known, everyone expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone. We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?

Remember, we cannot depend on Someone Else anymore.

New kid on the Blog

Several years ago, the library near me offered free Senior Citizen computer training. I attended. This was the first time I had even touched a computer. After completing the course, still did not think I wanted a computer. Needless-to-say, three years ago, I relented and bought one. I am enjoying it very much, but causes me much frustration. There is so much good information available for us, as well as, not so good. It took me a longtime to figure out how to turn it on and off.

NOW, cannot believe I am attempting to post a blog that is completely a walk in the dark. I do so enjoy other blogs and will do my best to master this. In order to share pictures with you, I will have to purchase a digital camera. Surely, I can take pictures, but you may never see them. Trust I find the technical ability to use it on the computer.



Thought for the day:
In the 1930's-----

Milk (qt) 10 cents

Eggs (doz) 29 cents

Coffee (lb) 26 cents

Count your blessings!