The Dead

No...not the grateful dead (though I see the irony in those 2 words side by side), no peeps....looks like Ricky is right....blogs are dead it seems....my how things fly into and out of radar these days....too bad....it goes the way of the newspaper....the way of the diary or the handwritten journal....the handwritten letter that you looked forward to from your grandma or friend....yes, some deaths are slow and lengthy, but apparently not the blog....it was like a massive heart attack....taken over by the twitbookningplurk social networking thingy....and yet IS it?!! IS it really SOCIAL? Hmmm..... lets see...SOCIAL - "marked by friendly companionship with others; "a social cup of coffee"...."living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups; "...."Inclined to seek out or enjoy the company of others; sociable."... these are only a few of the online (yes, online!) definitions....so.....see for yourself if you think these "social networks" seem indeed "social". I think they, like blogs, just make it easier NOT to be "social"....yes, they get you in contact with people you would not otherwise be in contact with, but do you truly socialize? Do you know about these friends of yours in a deeper way? Do you understand their hearts any clearer? Hard to do unless it is a slower time of face to face contact or at the least a decent phone conversation......conversation, facial expressions, body language, tears, anger, unbelief, not listening, the heart felt touch of another.....all this and more, lack in today's way of socializing....too bad.....we all miss out by going this direction.... and yet, to do or be otherwise, is not to be "up to date" with the times.....and for what.....so that we can be connected to people we don't really know or have time to really care about? So that we are connected with some tweet from someone or some entity that we get "news" from? And the thing is, is that it is "news" that we just belly ache about getting ANYWAY!!! The world is full of this madness.....so? So, step outside the tech box and into your neighbors yard.....into your friends or familes hearts....into the grocery store and the clerks day....bring some real sunshine to real people in this ever changing but real life that we supposedly "live".....me? I will keep writing here and there and everywhere....why? because I enjoy the art of it. Me? I will walk next door to talk to the old man taking care of his 93 year old mom and try to brighten his day or offer help. Me? I will cook for the friend who can't because she is sick. Me? I will look into the eyes of the people I come in contact with today and let them know there is light out here in this sometimes dark and care LESS world that seems to be so wrapped up in its own technology. Nothing wrong with it....I am using it NOW!!! But watch out.....it can take the place of truly knowing someone....of truly speaking your heart to a breathing living person....it can replace what is true and right and down your own road everyday in the EYES of the people you pass by or look away from as you send your IM/TWEET/FACEBOOKING important texts.....as I point the finger at the world at large, 4 other fingers MUST point back at myself.....yes, I see that hand...er finger.....nope, I won't stop blogging, as a matter of fact, I have 2! One for the ones who want to KNOW me and those who want to know ABOUT me. Whether they are read or not, or taken interest in or not, whether anyone freakin cares or not, is NOT the point....the point....to speak my heart....to listen to others replies, to spark thought and conversations with those I DO care about.....Take the good and leave the rest.....
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
Mark Twain (1835-1910)

COME ON!!!

Okay...how many more pictures of mountains can you post!!! Lots is the answer. This is but a smattering, trust me....so far I think I have taken around 800? Don't worry, I won't force you to look at them. But just want to post the last day for your enjoyment...and mine....Can't believe it has already been a week....we celebrated our 1st vow anniversary at a fondue place here in Banff....lovely. We went over to the Kootenay National Park today....again...spectacular. This has been the best vacation and the best of times with eachother....I would never have dreamed or even feigned to hope that I would be at this place in my life....both physically in the Canadian Rockies, or emotionally with my husband. Both have been breathtaking. Both have exceeded even MY expectations....I am happy, whatever that is ....for you.....for me, it is having my husband be my best friend, my love, my life and have that returned many times over....it has been a short time and a long time both at the SAME time...how does that happen? Anyway....so we live another day...paying attention to our own lives and the lives of eachother. It works. Ciao!

Huh?

Woke up late this morning...ahhh....the joys of vacation....it was snowing outside, the stillness here is almost deafening....I have forgotten what quiet in nature sounds like...it is peace. As I sat out on the back porch overlooking the pines and pinnacles of the Canadian Rockies, a HUGE native raven flew on to the porch to share the stillness awhile with me before taking off to find his breakfast I am sure....just hope it is not going to be my little morning friend the ground squirrel....he comes out daily for me to see his beauty and work ethics. The day held everything in it. The snow, the rain, the clouds, the light reflecting off the seasons last snow....the air is cool and dry and crisp....not like home where you can literally smother to death just getting to your car some days....it it refreshing with every breath and with every site my sore eyes see....here, again is just a smattering of pictures for you to drool over...and for me to cherish when I get back to the Oklahoma heat! Enjoy as I have....again, check my flicker on the slideshow to enjoy more...

OH CANADA! FER SURE!!

Okay...this is so stinking beautiful!! It has taken our breath away around every corner! You were right Uncle Donnie!! On Sunday, we mosied down to the town of Banff which is only about 2 minutes from the Buffalo Lodge. It was the weekend and fairly full of tourists, but still a good time just looking in shops and at people. Today, we took off and went down highway 1A up to Lake Louise...O.M.GOSH how gorgeous!! Then we took highway 1 or the Trans Canadian Highway up through Yoho National Park, into Golden British Columbia, down to Glacier National Park and back to Banff. Unbelievable sites we saw. The mountain range here just supercedes the Colorado Rockies by a long shot!! And of course, the pictures do NOT do it justice. The water is clear and blue and green and snow and, and, and....here are a few pics, but someday, you MUST see this for yourselves!
P.S. click on the slideshow to the right and see more pics!

Richardson East Cardboard Testimonies

We could be on that stage.....broken marriage, second chance...

Happy Easter......

"The Children's Song" - Josh Garrels from Josh Garrels on Vimeo.

SPRING!!!!

Yep....after lots of beautiful snow and a hard freeze, I am betting that spring is here to stay!!! So...I planted my flower beds, (which have been a barren wasteland), and am going to plant my very prolific garden (which takes up half of our already small backyard!) in hope and faith that the North Wind will not decide to blow this way again until around November!!!

Our house is coming along great. Our relationship seems to resemble our house. More compact, not so much junk, going through a total remodel, taking lots of time and patience to accomplish what we want and where we want to go, is a pain in the royal ass at times, but is very gratifying to see the results. Lots of hard work in both of these remodels. It has been very interesting and enlightening working on this house and our realationship at the same time and seeing how so MUCH of it comparable. When you plant new plants, you realize that you are doing the same with our realtionship. When you clean out the accumulated crap for a garage sale, we do the same cleaning out of the crap in the relationship. When you try to tweek the little annoying things in your house to make it a home, we do the same with eachother and ourselves tweeking and making just right and better and more appealing, to ourselves. Etc....It is coming on close to a year now folks and I can't wait for May 1st to be here and gone. We are reminded every single day of what last years upheaval cost us. We talk about it, we cry about it, we forgive about it, we try to forget some of the things about it, but we will never rid ourselves of the scars that remain. It was a major transforming blow but neither of us would trade it for all the world would have to offer us. The tragedy of the past is becoming the stepping stones to our future. We could not be where we are today without it. And just exactly where is it, you ask, that we ARE today? Well, I don't think you have that much time to read....but in a Readers Digest version, we are free. Free to be the people we lost or never had become. Free to love the way it was intended to be......respecting one another and our individual opinions....caring for the other more than ourselves.....mindful of the others feelings and thoughts (important notice: you must KNOW those before you can be mindful of them)......tenderly sacrificing....ever mindful and always aware totally of the hell we lived in and the the heaven we both desire to attain. Not picture perfect, but I swear....I only dreamed that life would be this good. I even ask Rick at times if this is real.....he is different, but I am different too. I can be strong and not bitchy. I can have an opinion without it always having to be right. I can make it on my own if need be. I can admit when I am wrong. I can live and not fear the next move from my husband. I can breathe and grow inside my own soul. We have a long way to go, but we have come so far in such a short time... God has blessed us. That is the meaning of "blessing"....doing more than would be humanly possible. Like Ricks counselor told him...."Don't push the river, it will flow by itself". We are not pushing, we are living and flowing and learning about each other, God and ourselves. It has exceeded my hopes, and that, for a dreamer like me, is saying a lot.

So think of us on the 1st of May.....it was a true Mayday last year, but this year, it will be a different May 1st...one with flowers hopefully.

MOODY BLUES

Breathe deep the gathering gloom

Watch lights fade from every room

Bedsitter people look back and lament

Another day's useless energy is spent

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one

Lonely man cries for love and has none

New mother picks up and suckles her son

Senior citizens wish they were young

Cold hearted orb that rules the night 

Removes the colours from our sight

Red is grey and yellow white

But we decide which is right

And which is an illusion

Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World

This is how it will be on the other side folks...too bad we don't see much of it here, but then that is why this video is GREAT!!!!

Sweet....

Ok....so we are now off on a new adventure!!! Rock poster creation and sales. Lots to learn...lots to do, but it has seemed to start off with a bang!  Hoping it all turns out ok and that eventually it can make a little money on the side. So...anybody out there that can hook us up with some peeps who would like some GREAT poster work done for their bands...hook us up!! A free signed poster with every gig you find us! We have a website in the works...more posters cranking out......

Seriously...who ever heard of a 55 year old woman rock poster artist? Well....I guess stranger things have happened...if not for Josh and Luke cheering me on and encouraging me, it would never be....so blame them for my insanity.  Actually, they could be blamed for LOTS of my insanity come to think of it! But alas...I won't put that on them..yet.  Micah is doing the website for us and it will be a work of art in and of itself. "Its a family affair....its a family affair...."....can you hear Sly singing it? I can.... Even Rick has become my cheerleader...my calmer-downer....my stabalizer....we will eventually find a place for him to put his talents to use in this thing. Who knows....maybe album covers are next!!! I am just one of the artists....I have WIZARDS who do all the behind the scene harder work....thanks WIZARDS!!!!

1 1st couple pre 1st Dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball

This first sentence out of his mouth that I have totally agreed with and that does make him a hope to me....when you can love your wife that much, in front of the world, not be prodded but be impromptu and overflowing in your love for her, during the busiest time in your life????? Too bad he is a democrat.....I would consider voting for him next time.....on the above stated fact alone....

Benediction for Obama's Inaugural by the Reverend Dr. Lowery

That's it. I am finding a church that has a pastor that can pray like that!!

Another year comes another year goes....

Okay. So this last year wasn't all that great on the surface....but underneath the harrowing exterior,  it was the best year of my life.  So many things I learned.  I cannot see what loss, sorrows and trials accomplish....I only need to trust. The only ONE I can trust and always have...my God. I have drawn closer to Him than I ever could have, had this past year been the same as the rest of my oh so doesn't-it-look-great-on-the-outside-life...not that I have arrived but at least I know ........what DO I know?!!! I know whom I have believed ....I have commited my heart....my soul.....and as a friend of mine has so brilliantly said...."I don't consider that I have captured it and made it my own yet, but this one thing I do know, it is my one aspiration; forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize."And the prize? Well, this side of life it IS life. The other side of life? Well, eye has not seen not ear heard....so, here is a clip from Mr. Henry David Thoreau for your enjoyment and cranial exercise and to celebrate the beginning of this year we call "new"...

"Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous. If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. If we respected only what is inevitable and has a right to be, music and poetry would resound along the streets. When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality. This is always exhilarating and sublime. By closing the eyes and slumbering and consenting to be deceived by shows, men establish and confirm their daily life of routine and habit everywhere, which still is built on purely illusory foundations. Children, who PLAY life, discern its true law and relations more clearly than men, who fail to live it worthily, but who think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure. Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails. However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names."