Leave the driving to us

The wheels on the bus go round and round…

Every weekday morning we hop on the express bus (actually, climb with a great deal of effort due to the boot on my left leg) and ride an hour to work. I always swore I would never commute to work. So here we are doing volunteer work and COMMUTING. I hate to admit it but I enjoy the ride. I can sleep, read, study other passengers or just relax while someone else does the driving.

The only time this was a little less than desirable was when we had a new driver on a snowy morning. He asked for directions as to where the turns and stops were and then as we were starting down a long hill said, “I’ll take this a little slow. I’ve never driven a bus in the snow before.” Uh, I think I’ll get off at the next stop, thank you.

No. This is not our bus. But it is what I visualized that morning.

The other day, as the driver was trying to pull away from the curb in the snow the back of the bus slid and hit a sign but he was getting his speed up so we just went right on up the street. What’s one sign more or less?

We had another driver who was a great guy. He was friendly, pleasant, greeted everyone as they got on the bus, but…. used a pumping motion on the gas pedal. Rather jerky. The ride, not the driver.

The female driver we had several time would announce every stop with great detail and chat with everyone as they got on the bus. As we got onto the freeway she’d turn off the overhead lights and tell us, “Settle back and relax. Next stop, Salt Lake City.” Then, as we left the freeway she’d wake us up and announce the first stop. I wonder if she has designs on being an airline pilot.

Our favorite is our currently regular morning driver who gets right over to the curb and kneels the bus down for us to get off. Bless you, bless you.

Poetry and Parenting

I imagine genuine poets would love so many times,
To tell us stumbling amateurs that poems are more than
rhymes.


I decided that I would start each blog with a little poem, rhyme, ditty or whatever. After I read some of Kimberly’s poetry I had second thought about the idea. Hers are beautiful, polished and deep. Mine are kinda surfacey. Ooooh, the spell checker won’t like those two words. But then, it doesn’t like BLOG either. I get a kick out of some of the spell checker’s suggestions, especially for names.

Nevertheless, I enjoy rhyming words. The activity cheers me and helps keep my mind sharp. At my age I look for ways to keep the mind sharp: sudokos, crossword puzzles, cryptoquotes, reading, writing, games, etc. Although my children might tell you it’s a lost cause. Their theory is that you lose brain cells with the birth of each child. I’m in serious trouble. I’m not sure if you lose the brain cells during childbirth or during the years of worry about the children’s physical, social, mental, and spiritual welfare. Somehow, I had the mistaken idea that once your children are married you no longer worry about them. Not true. You still worry, and have little or no control over the situation. And then there are grandchildren added to the mix. My children and their spouses are great parents and I have wonderful grandchildren, so why do I still worry? Hey, that’s a grandmother’s prerogative! I thought that was spelled perogative but the spell checker disagrees.

Is one of the signs of senility wandering, random thoughts?

Back to “poetry.” I just want you to be forewarned that I will carry on with pathetic, paltry poetry as a preamble to my painfully pondered posts. If you don’t see a verse it’s not that I gave up the idea. It’s that the “muse” has wandered away. But it will come limping back hoping for better reception. Someday I’ll publish with panache.

color samples

What's my favorite color? Is it red or blue or green?
That's easy. It's the rainbow and all colors in between.

I love colors, all colors. Even the ones with strange names like Pea Soup Green. I love teaching children about the color wheel and how we mix colors to get different colors.

I enjoy color schemes that blend and harmonize, colors that accent, colors that wake you up or put you to sleep, colors one would never put together 50 years ago but are stylish combinations today. I color-code files, notebooks, storage containers and people. I'm so color conscious that if someone tells me that the plant identification book is green and is on the second shelf and the book is really purple, I have a hard time finding it.

I have a problem with painting every room in the house Antique White or even Biscuit or Believable Buff. They're okay for a base color but then I've got to have a texture or wash with other colors blended in. It helps that I have two daughter who paint professionally. (Don't look at the line between my kitchen and my living room where phase two of "let's fix up Mom and Dad's house" hasn't YET gotten finished.)

Have you ever looked at paint chips or a painter's color chip tool? It fans out with a gazillion blades, each a different color and 6 or 7 tints or shades of each color. The fun part is checking out the color names: Green Trance, Cosmetic Peach, Rejuvenate, Oleander, Cooled Blue (looks like a faded green to me), Lobelia (another blue), Intellectual Gray, (I could use that right by the computer.) Euphoric Lilac, Enticing Red, etc. And that is just one brand of paint. Other brands have their own creative names.Someone actually gets paid to make up these names? Oops, someone ran out of ideas. Here's one called Grayish.

So why do I have a pepto bismal pink blog???? That is a good question? It looked good on the sample templates. (I just now matched it to a color chip and it is actually Anemone with Gala pink trim and Juneberry lettering. Good grief! They're not even on the same color blade.)
As soon as I figure out how to change it, I will. I think I'll go with something like Afterglow or Wishful Blue.

Hint for the day: When making word strips, posters, flyers, etc. don't use yellow on white or white on yellow. They may look fine close up but the lettering disappears at even short distances. Pick colors that contrast so the lettering will stand out.

Have a colorful day!

Try, try again

I flung myself out into cyberspace,

And found that I was ill-equipped to face that great unknown.

Now, somewhat armed* I take another step,

Instead of wisely running back into my comfort zone.



*After my first bumbling attempt at blogging I emailed my blogging daughter and I visited the "help center." Now I know just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to edit an already published post so it's out there, as is, with problems. Don't even bother to try the links on that one.

Why is it that you can have all kind of ideas running around in your head and then, when you sit down in front of the screen, they all fly away? But since, after a few futile attempts I actually got back to my bog, oops! blog, (that's actually a good word for my brain functions at the moment) I'll fling out a few thoughts.

As a grandmother I feel I'm entitled to offer advice. Here's my gem for today:
Try new things even if it scares you a little, especially if it's something you've thought about doing for a l-o-n-g time.

I became an elementary school teacher at age 45. At age eight I decided I wanted to be an elementary school teacher because of a wonderful third grade teacher. When my youngest daughter was eight I began teaching third grade. There were days the first few overwhelming weeks when I wondered WHY I wanted to be a teacher. But over the years I learned to love teaching, love the students, and love the adventure of reaching young minds and hearts. I hope that somewhere there is a student or two who wants to be a teacher because they felt that love. One of my favorite momentos is a carefully hand lettered and decorated note that read:

You are a

grate

Y tichur Y

Teaching is a noble profession. Too bad they don't get paid like basketball players do. After all they're just molding the future. Okay, off the soap box. Actually, I'm retired but some days I miss it a little.

This new thing of blogging still scares me a little, but not as much as sky diving, which I almost tried. Having a baby in a foreign country, living in Spain with 7 children for a year (the oldest one was twelve), eating octopus, cow's stomach and pig brains (not together), taking up water coloring and quilting (also not together but, why not?), designing a house which we may build someday, climbing a mountain (once) which my husband and children have climbed many times, buying a trampoline and painting my kitchen table red, are all adventures which were a bit scary but interesting and rewarding. Having two daughters who love sky diving is little scary, too.

So.... try something new. You just might have fun.

Maybe I'll take another leap of faith and tell my family I have a blog.