There’s nothing like fighting with your cat in a Zoom meeting because he wants to swing from the curtains and bite your hand while you prefer that he did not do those things.
I hope everyone enjoyed seeing just two black ears in the frame while I restrained Scout in my lap and regrouped because I had dared to tell him no. A couple of times he sat up straighter so you could see eyes and nose as well but he was mainly ears.
He went on to climb from my lap onto the desk and shove his tail in front of the camera while he knocked over the lamp.
This activity is so strange because he hardly acknowledges my presence at all when I’m just sitting there working. In fact, he typically sits in the window to watch the birds or sleeps in another room. I guess cats aren’t that different than kids who mainly want their parents’ attention when there’s a phone call in progress.
Either that or maybe he’s ticked that I failed to acknowledge Black Cat Appreciation Day Tuesday. So Happy Belated Black Cat Appreciation Day!
There’s just one way to get through this week. Let’s keep moving forward, shall we?
Remember, we either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The two take the same amount of work so let’s be sure to focus our energy on being happy and better as we move forward.
This advertising mural can be found on the outskirts of Chillicothe, Ohio’s historic downtown district.
Elsie the Cow was the mascot for Borden Dairy Company since her creation in 1936 until the company went belly up in the nineties. You still see her used in advertising for some of the company’s successors including Eagle Family Foods and Borden Dairy.
I have no idea how long Elsie has been on this building but it looks like she’s had a touch up or two over the decades. The company once had a presence in Chillicothe. I know this because I’m the proud owner of some sundae glasses with Elsie’s likeness on them – they were a gift to a relative when she retired from the company some sixty or seventy years ago.
I try to drive by when I’m in town simply because that smiling face is so udderly beautiful. And holy cow, do we need a little beauty in our lives!!
On Friday night, a man named Justin renewed my faith in humanity.
My friend Dr. J and I had traveled up to Marysville for the All Ohio Balloon Festival. This adventure didn’t go as planned since poor weather conditions in the area had grounded the balloons which were the only reason we had driven a couple of hours to the event. Festival organizers knew when they took our money that the balloons were grounded and didn’t mention it.
We were disappointed by these unforeseen circumstances but felt cheated by event organizers who took our money knowing there was little reason to be there. I left knowing that I will not go back.
Dr J was driving and on the way home, her tire light came on so we stopped at a gas station to check the air in the tires. Justin agreed to help us and, when the air machine wasn’t working right, went with us to another gas station.
When it was determined the tire needed changed and my friend mentioned calling AAA, he said no way and changed it for us. It wasn’t easy either as he struggled to loosen a couple of lug nuts. He soldiered on until another good samaritan, a local fire and rescue employee, noticed his dilemma and stopped to offer some assistance.
I know little about Justin other than that he has a beautiful accent and eyes that sparkle when he smiles. He said that he is from a small place in South Africa and that he came to Central Ohio to be with family. He seemed knowledgeable about cars too and had that tire changed in a jiff once that last lug nut came off.
My friend gave him some cash as thanks for putting his evening on hold for us but he clearly felt uncomfortable taking it. I got the impression he simply wanted to help a fellow human in trouble.
After feeling taking advantage of at that event and in an age where people are so divided, Justin was like a much needed breath of fresh air.
It’s 12:34 a.m. on my birthday. I spent my last full day as a 43 year old person getting the gray washed out of my hair as the jingle told us, going on a failed adventure and watching undertakers carry my aunt’s lifeless body from her home.
I need my new year to be better than this.
I tend to get more philosophical around my birthday, thinking about what I have learned in the last year and what I think the next one should look like.
If I am to be completely honest with you and myself, I don’t really have it in me to do all that today. For the last few weeks, death and dying have been more prominent themes in my family than life and living.
That’s the season my family is in. It’s natural and that’s ok. That doesn’t mean we have to like it but that’s the thing about life – we don’t always have to like it but we do have to muddle through the best we can until conditions improve.
If anything, this time has been a superb reminder of why we should never complain about growing older.
After all, not everyone gets to do it.
Even with Covid limitations and even with family issues, over this last year I have managed to find enjoyment at home, to get out on adventures and to have some special experiences both near and far.
While hibernating at home this winter, I binged on I Love Lucy. I had bought the complete series and watched it in order- some episodes more than once. When conditions allowed, I visited her hometown and soaked in the recreated TV sets and had a few beautiful days wandering around western New York State.
I have walked hundreds of miles through parks and museums, wearing out shoes as I set out to see as much of the world as I can. This year found me exploring historic sites as well as natural places like a gorgeous sunflower field. I learned about Annie Oakley’s triumphant rise to fame from humble beginnings in Ohio. This year taught me that Buffalo Bill believed in equal pay and equal opportunities for women and Native Americans at a time that people still believed a woman’s place was at home and that Native Americans had no place in this country at all.
This year I cruised down highways in the Nerdmobile, floated down the Ohio and Muskingum rivers atop a paddle boat and soared high above the earth in a biplane.
The mountainside community of Thomas, West Virginia is where I learned about how immigrants of numerous nationalities lived and worked peacefully. Despite cultural and language barriers they were united by patriotism for their new home and the opportunities afforded to them in America.
This is where I saw the most stunning fall foliage of my lifetime.
I followed signs down country roads to find a working mill in Virginia, had a chance encounter with an artist and slammed on the brakes for many a roadside attraction or pretty scene.
I finally found a home for my pulpit, a family heirloom that I had been keeping safe until the right person came along and needed it for a church. When I couldn’t travel, I had books to keep my mind busy and I finally created a real office space for my work from home lifestyle with new furniture and decor.
When I did travel, I had the cutest little cat to come home to at night. Everyone should have someone in their life who gets this excited simply because they came home.
No, I didn’t leap from airplanes or fly off to exotic places. I flew to Denver and road tripped as much as possible. I daydreamed about all the places I still want to go and chided myself for not winning the lottery yet as that’s what it will take to fund the adventures I wish to take. Of course, I don’t actually play…..
For the last couple of months, I have spent more time getting to know my aunt and listening to her stories. Wednesday was my night to visit and to take something special for our dinner and dessert. It was far more fun and rewarding than I first expected.
As we have been bracing ourselves for the loss of this important person, we welcomed three small souls who have brought much joy and laughter to our lives. One of the most rewarding things you can do is to extend kindness to someone who has nothing to offer but their companionship.
This year has taught me to look more closely at what’s in my own area and that it’s ok to not plan, to just wander and make the best of things as they are. I have perfected the art of wandering this earth safely and appreciating whatever fun I’m able to find.
Friday’s adventure was a bust. I went with a friend to a hot air balloon festival where the balloons were grounded for weather, a detail event organizers didn’t mention until after we had paid for non-refundable admission. But we met a nice elderly man there and had a great dinner at Boston’s Restaurant upon his recommendation. We laughed a lot at the ridiculousness of our day and also got to see a gorgeous sky after sunset, a true gift at the end of a challenging week.
We had another chance encounter with a kind human when we experienced some trouble late in the day. I want to tell you about that experience but not today.
The moral of the story is that life is filled with sunrises and sunsets, with great fun and some disappointments. As my aunt slipped the bonds of this earth, somewhere else a child was born. As my trip around the sun comes to a close and another starts, there is both bitterness and sweetness.
If not for these things, life simply wouldn’t be life. What does the song say? We all want happiness but we can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.
This photo comes from a rest area near Gallipolis, Ohio and captures the last gasp of the setting sun Wednesday night. The parking lot was stacked with eighteen wheelers and the exit ramp was lined with the big trucks as well. These truckers crisscross the country, keeping goods and raw materials moving and our economy moving. They are symbols of progress and activity in our country.
I had just come from a joint meeting of local school boards where we dined and offered up some beginning of the school year inspiration. We heard from a professor of History and African American studies talk about his ideas for inspiring young people and giving them the tools to build a better tomorrow. Like any good historian, he encouraged teaching the hard truth about our history as understanding where we’ve been will set us on a better path to tomorrow. It’s when we teach the hard stuff and stop politicizing education that we will see real progress.
I appreciated his perspective and left with much food for thought on the drive home. Yet it was hard to concentrate. You see, I was on my way home to visit a sick aunt who won’t live to see this better tomorrow that our speaker described. She has terminal cancer, a disease that has robbed her of all quality of life, of her ability to speak or perform the simplest tasks for herself. There’s no life in her eyes and I can’t help but think her existence is no way to live.
She could be gone by the time you read this. Maybe it will be days from now. It is not ours to know. While I don’t want to lose her, I hope for her sake that her suffering ends soon.
This week has involved far more in-person interactions than normal. People seem more stressed than normal. Some seem depressed or sad. They are quick to tell you that something isn’t their job or that you’re wrong. Others are a little edgy, looking for trouble and ready to hurl an insult.
I try to remember that you don’t know where other people are coming from or where they’re headed to at that moment. Maybe they’re coming from an inspiring event where they learned something or that left them excited for the future. Maybe they’re headed home to say goodbye to someone who matters to them. Maybe they’re simply working hard to keep moving forward in whatever they’re doing. Maybe they need to take a break and rest for a while as these truckers are doing in this picture.
The point is that we need to be a little more patient and more tolerant of the people we encounter each day. It costs zero dollars to be a decent person and you never know when a bit of patience or a kind word will make a difference to someone else. You never know when that person who was rude to you will suddenly become nice simply because you extended a kind word to them.
