It's official. Sweet little old men give the best compliments. From "champagne girl" at the wine shop to "cute chick" at the coffee shop, I'm wrapped in love from the elderly. And since it seems my other research was driven by drink, I looked at the benefits of today's coffee run. With the combined effects of a daily glass of wine and cuppa joe, my brain hitting the 50 year mark might be in better shape than I imagined!
Caffeine Love
I can't get enough information at this stage of life concerning wellness. Each study/report/experiment is worth the time for discovery. With bodily health we have strength to concentrate on our emotional and mental well being. Adversity will come and preparedness should help the healing process.
Healing with a cuppa joe, an occasional champagne, and lots of little old men for compliments...sounds like a plan!
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Champagne
When the ego takes a hit, it's nice to feel a soothing balm. And the balms come from the most surprising people at the most opportune times. Thankfulness then is due to the gentleman who referred to me as "a champagne among women" rather than the whiskey I'd thought myself to be. lol
After all, whiskey ages so nicely and fits with my Kentuckian persona but champagne...what are its attributes and how might I use its balm? Upon research, I found this happy result:
All groups were then subjected to high levels of neurotoxicity similar to what the human brain experiences during inflammatory conditions. The study found that the groups pre-treated with exposure to Champagne had a higher level of cell restoration compared to the group that wasn't. The study's co-authors noted that it was too early to conclusively say that drinking Champagne is beneficial to brain health but that the study does point researchers to more exploration in this area.
I have tried to savor champagne only on special occasions. Unlike whiskey, its bubbles release into my laughter and my happiness buzz is quite speedy...great big smiles with that! Perhaps it's worth a toast more often with the thought that drinking it is good for my health. winkwink
Champagne Girl
May I compare thee to a cheerful glass?
With color like your hair
And tickles on your lips
May I taste your happiness?
With sweetness near
And a haunting kiss
May I stroke this smoothness?
With skin so supple
And peaking mounds
May I open your bottle?
With strength and care
And give you moans because I dare
After all, whiskey ages so nicely and fits with my Kentuckian persona but champagne...what are its attributes and how might I use its balm? Upon research, I found this happy result:
All groups were then subjected to high levels of neurotoxicity similar to what the human brain experiences during inflammatory conditions. The study found that the groups pre-treated with exposure to Champagne had a higher level of cell restoration compared to the group that wasn't. The study's co-authors noted that it was too early to conclusively say that drinking Champagne is beneficial to brain health but that the study does point researchers to more exploration in this area.
I have tried to savor champagne only on special occasions. Unlike whiskey, its bubbles release into my laughter and my happiness buzz is quite speedy...great big smiles with that! Perhaps it's worth a toast more often with the thought that drinking it is good for my health. winkwink
Champagne Girl
May I compare thee to a cheerful glass?With color like your hair
And tickles on your lips
May I taste your happiness?
With sweetness near
And a haunting kiss
May I stroke this smoothness?
With skin so supple
And peaking mounds
May I open your bottle?
With strength and care
And give you moans because I dare
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Hello Day
I'm always enchanted by the pure magic of time and reflection. Moments passing in a blur are for the younger set; I drink them in as they happen and hope for 50 more years of this wonderful phenomenon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Day
What brought me low
Cannot continue so
And that's because of you
We shed the shadows
Of your night and
Welcome morning new
Too bright for some
Clouds just right
You are an artist true
Hello Day
You're quite a sight
And now my heart's not blue
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a gift this beautiful day to remind me that I am not defined by sorrow. Instead, my choice is to climb past the broken and walking wounded who do not choose to stand up and move forward. I cannot understand their fear and fortunately, I'm at the stage of life where I no longer care to understand it.
Philosophers, saints, leaders have spent centuries trying to answer the question of WHY some souls stagnate and flounder. For me, the lessons of moving onward were early and harsh but oh, I would not change a thing. Instead, those days have prepared me to keep lifting foot after foot...letting my heart beat in hope for a someday love...forgiving myself over and over and all because I have lived through hardship.
Each DAY is my new beginning and my continued gratitude that I CAN welcome it all with a smile.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Day
What brought me low
Cannot continue so
And that's because of you
We shed the shadows
Of your night and
Welcome morning new
Too bright for some
Clouds just right
You are an artist true
Hello Day
You're quite a sight
And now my heart's not blue
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a gift this beautiful day to remind me that I am not defined by sorrow. Instead, my choice is to climb past the broken and walking wounded who do not choose to stand up and move forward. I cannot understand their fear and fortunately, I'm at the stage of life where I no longer care to understand it.
Philosophers, saints, leaders have spent centuries trying to answer the question of WHY some souls stagnate and flounder. For me, the lessons of moving onward were early and harsh but oh, I would not change a thing. Instead, those days have prepared me to keep lifting foot after foot...letting my heart beat in hope for a someday love...forgiving myself over and over and all because I have lived through hardship.
Each DAY is my new beginning and my continued gratitude that I CAN welcome it all with a smile.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Nothing Good Gets Away
Thank you again, John Steinbeck.
How clear your advice this morning...how appropriate as the sound of the "less than good" scurrying away into the void feels me with regret and yet, I am left again with the sun still smiling on my face.
Smiling changes brain chemistry. Sunshine makes the shadows that we leave behind and behind us is where they belong. I cannot fathom staying behind with them. It's not my nature and as those who know and love me can attest, it is with nature that my heart sings.
How clear your advice this morning...how appropriate as the sound of the "less than good" scurrying away into the void feels me with regret and yet, I am left again with the sun still smiling on my face.
Smiling changes brain chemistry. Sunshine makes the shadows that we leave behind and behind us is where they belong. I cannot fathom staying behind with them. It's not my nature and as those who know and love me can attest, it is with nature that my heart sings.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
The Circle of Fathers
I always imagined that the kind of father I longed for was a fairy tale character. Curiosity rules as I observe father/daughter interactions in public.
Are they happy together? Do they talk and dream and plot silly things? Will he support her decisions and will she forgive his mistakes?
My own daughter struggles confronting the fragility of her relationship with her father just as I did. How did this occur and why couldn't we break this sad circle? The answer lies with who I chose to marry and how I played out similar scenarios with him - a complete cycle of ineffective communication.
John Steinbeck wrote a beautiful letter about love and its effects to his eldest son Thom. For a man who had finally found peace with his third wife, it's particularly poignant and sweet.
Are they happy together? Do they talk and dream and plot silly things? Will he support her decisions and will she forgive his mistakes?
My own daughter struggles confronting the fragility of her relationship with her father just as I did. How did this occur and why couldn't we break this sad circle? The answer lies with who I chose to marry and how I played out similar scenarios with him - a complete cycle of ineffective communication.
John Steinbeck wrote a beautiful letter about love and its effects to his eldest son Thom. For a man who had finally found peace with his third wife, it's particularly poignant and sweet.
New York
November 10, 1958
November 10, 1958
Dear Thom:
We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.
First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.
Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.
You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.
But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.
Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.
The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.
If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.
Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.
It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.
Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.
We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.
And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.
Love,
Fa
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Nothing good gets away."
I will take Steinbeck's fatherly advice and remember that although he isn't my father, his words matter and nary a fairy tale need suffer. :-)
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Wallace Arrives
We keep them hidden...our old selves from our new.
A simple question triggered an emotional onslaught as my lost girl peeked out again.
SUNDAY MORNING
Stanza 2
Wallace Stevens
Why should she give her bounty to the dead?
What is divinity if it can come
Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Shall she not find in comforts of the sun,
In pungent fruit and bright green wings, or else
In any balm or beauty of the earth,
Things to be cherished like the thought of heaven?
Divinity must live within herself:
Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow;
Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued
Elations when the forest blooms; gusty
Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights;
All pleasures and all pains, remembering
The bough of summer and the winter branch.
These are the measure destined for her soul.
The days of a single poetry stanza bringing forth deep emotion had disappeared, right? But no, just delayed....
As a young woman in her mid 20's, I had no care for the speed of life. The faster, the better as silly youth dictated regardless of how much suffering needed to be healed. Rushing through pain was all that I understood to salve it and yet, the rushing of hurt did not make for a mended heart.
And so I delved into Wallace to find a release and there I first discovered my philosophy of heaven. Without any formal churchgoing, I sat alone and tried to make sense of religion. No one I knew talked much about heaven but hell was a constant threat.
Life was all about punishment; escaping eternal agony was a top priority in my poverty stricken and depressed community.
But I could not believe in their darkness. Instead, to get past my hurtful youth, I contrived that perhaps I was already in heaven. Glimpses of my personal hell, my often self-imposed misery convinced me that the ultimate direction to heaven was simply to pay attention to my beautiful and blessed surroundings. It existed around me if I cared to take notice and this part of Wallace's poem clearly explained my musings.
...gusty Emotions...pleasures...pains...destined for her soul
Cheers to Wallace!
A simple question triggered an emotional onslaught as my lost girl peeked out again.
SUNDAY MORNING
Stanza 2
Wallace Stevens
Why should she give her bounty to the dead?
What is divinity if it can come
Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Shall she not find in comforts of the sun,
In pungent fruit and bright green wings, or else
In any balm or beauty of the earth,
Things to be cherished like the thought of heaven?
Divinity must live within herself:
Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow;
Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued
Elations when the forest blooms; gusty
Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights;
All pleasures and all pains, remembering
The bough of summer and the winter branch.
These are the measure destined for her soul.
The days of a single poetry stanza bringing forth deep emotion had disappeared, right? But no, just delayed....
As a young woman in her mid 20's, I had no care for the speed of life. The faster, the better as silly youth dictated regardless of how much suffering needed to be healed. Rushing through pain was all that I understood to salve it and yet, the rushing of hurt did not make for a mended heart.
And so I delved into Wallace to find a release and there I first discovered my philosophy of heaven. Without any formal churchgoing, I sat alone and tried to make sense of religion. No one I knew talked much about heaven but hell was a constant threat.
Life was all about punishment; escaping eternal agony was a top priority in my poverty stricken and depressed community.
But I could not believe in their darkness. Instead, to get past my hurtful youth, I contrived that perhaps I was already in heaven. Glimpses of my personal hell, my often self-imposed misery convinced me that the ultimate direction to heaven was simply to pay attention to my beautiful and blessed surroundings. It existed around me if I cared to take notice and this part of Wallace's poem clearly explained my musings.
...gusty Emotions...pleasures...pains...destined for her soul
Cheers to Wallace!
Saturday, June 7, 2014
And then I remembered....
The most fabulous thing about this time in my life is that I get to have FUN with myself and that means I'm then happy to have FUN with another.
It's easy to get distracted as friends, family, former lovers, etc. thrash about with their own ideas concerning my bachelorette status...tsk tsk tsk...methinks they might be envious because my biggest concern isn't them but myself and my own contentment.
Because I remembered, life alone or supported can be fun....
It's easy to get distracted as friends, family, former lovers, etc. thrash about with their own ideas concerning my bachelorette status...tsk tsk tsk...methinks they might be envious because my biggest concern isn't them but myself and my own contentment.
Because I remembered, life alone or supported can be fun....
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