November - Birthday Month

My younger sister and I have the same birth date, along with our nephew, son of older sister on November 23.  Older sister shares birth date with my son, November 27.  I have several nieces and nephews and a daughter-in-law with November birthdays. 

A pretty fall day, much of which I spent in the dentist office.

Autumn Leaves - Nat King Cole

 

 

Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I'm always on the lookout for 'signs'.  I walked outside and this was parked in front of my house.  Is it a sign that I should read, Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, again?  I've read it twice and I think the timing wasn't right, because I seem to have missed the "message".  Maybe the time is right and I'm ready for ther teacher.  Maybe it was just a literary minded motorcyclist parked out front. 

More Sandy, More Sacramento

Devastation in New York City

 

and on the West Coast

Walking to CVS at 17th and K

  These are very small flowers, but look what you see when you look closely!

  Using small point and shoot camera so was difficult to get action shots

 Color Poles at 16th and Q.
Long ago there was a paint store here, now it's the blood bank (behind the poles). 

 One of Sacramento's grand old trees

 Corner of 17th and Capital

 

 This one is for my sister

Super Storm Sandy and Fall in Sacramento

Lights Out in New York City
I've been watching CNN's coverage of Sandy for the last couple of days.  I see it and I believe it but it's very difficult to wrap my head around what it's like on the East Coast right now and about the abject misery that millions will experience for sometime to come.  

It looks like this at my house now. 

  

Setting on the Sidelines

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, Ecclesiastes 3:1 

 

It's my season for setting on the sidelines, but then it always was when it came to sports. 

Jacey and Peyton

A sweet aspect to being older is setting on the sidelines, watching grandchildren and friend's children.

 Friday night I went with a friend and her daughter to my granddaughter's varsity football game.  

We were cheering the cheerleaders. 

 On Saturday I went to Peyton's soccer game in El Dorado Hills

Color - Finally the World Looks Right

Walking up J Street from 16th to 29th Street

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

Screen Technology Adjustment

Just to be clear, I'm not giving up e-reader(s), iPad, phone, laptop, however, I did give serious thought to the article which was the subject of yesterday's post.

When I was in 4th grade we moved to a rural area in North Texas and had a crank phone on a party line.  So I definitely understand advancements in technology and have no interest in going back to the "good ole days". 

When we'd occasionally go to a cafe and if there was a juke box, that was magical to me  How could  there be a mind that thought that up and made it work?  A hundred or so records in a shiny box and for a nickel, you punched buttons to put in a code; usually a letter and a couple of numbers and just like that it could figure out which record to play and soon a favorite song was playing.  Now I click on Pandora and have 900,000 songs available and I'm not paying a nickel.

I've gotten into the habit of having the TV on, and at my side is laptop, phone, iPad and e-reader, one of them in use at all times.  At 8:15 last night while 'watching' Dancing With the Stars, playing an electronic game, checking news and checking texts, I decided that for the next 45 minutes I would watch TV only; no other electronics, no touching the remote to mute commercials, no jumping up to wash a couple of dishes during commercial breaks.  I was not asking myself to sit quietly for 45 minutes, just to concentrate on only one thing.  Immediately one of my feet started jiggling.  I stopped that, but was aware that my constant use of multiple screen technology was tampering, not only with my mind, but also with my nervous system.  I had to stay conscious, as I would unconsciously reach for a gadget.  I managed to get through the 45 mintues.  I then checked the TV menu, discovering that there was nothing that I wanted to watch until 10:00 and so for one whole hour I turned off the TV.  During that hour I allowed myself to check the news twice and the rest of the time, I read.  I watched TV ONLY from 10 to 11:30, went to bed and slept more restfully than I had in ages.  I had only started 3 hours before to moderate my use of screen technology and could already feel the calming affect to my nervous system.  That could be a fluke, but I doubt it.  I don't know where I'll go with this; probably I'll go online and read more about it!

Technology is Tinkering with My Mind...

 I'm going to ponder an article (excerpt below) by Nicholas Carr and will write about that at a later date. 

"The Internet isn’t going anywhere, but if people value calmer,

more contemplative thought, they need to change the way

they use the technology. The goal should be to clear considerable

portions of your day for working, conversing, thinking

and playing without the mediation (or the interruption) of

screen technologies. Once you start doing that – and I would

emphasize that even modest cutbacks in connectivity are

difficult to pull off – I think you’ll fairly quickly begin to have

a better perspective on the proper role for digital media in

your life. You’ll realize that we often reach for a computer

or a smartphone out of laziness, boredom or habit, and that

resisting that temptation can be healthy, particularly for the

depth of our intellectual and social lives.

If your working memory is constantly overloaded,

you aren't building all the mental connections

between information, experiences and

emotions that are essential to a rich intellect.

Beginnings and Endings

And so here it is, Sunday, the beginning of a new week.  I "churched" today at the World Peace Rose Garden in Capital Park.  After summer is over the garden is left to grow willy-nilly before being severely pruned at the end of October. It's my favorite time in the garden now.  Most of the weddings are over until Spring.  The cooling weather allows for lingering; stopping to smell the roses. The next time I see the garden, the plants will be short, knobby, brown stubs but in just a few months, new life peeks through and by next October the roses will be higher than I, and so it goes.

Sunday in Fall in Midtown - and what I see through these aging eyes that will be tested on Tuesday.  I have a notion my photos will get sharper when my new prescription allows me to see things clearly again.  I've just been guessing at photo clarity for the last couple of months.

I love that others enjoy my front yard...Fremont Park.

I've lived long enough to have seen a lot of bad news, and have enough history to know things always change and often for the better.  

A good cup of coffee helps everything look brighter.  A bright sign about a
good cup of coffee does, too.

Simple Pleasures

Roses.....

Whether simple or complex

Pink or Purple

Yellow or Orange

Fading around the Edges....

All Have Their Own Beauty

 Still looks like summer.

"I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall. "
Eleanor Roosevelt

  

 

 I like the symbolism here.  

This was once lush with petals, and even though they've all dropped off, there is a different, but still exquisite beauty which remains. 

 Almost home and without any yogurt.

Though it was an apartment fire the same week as 9/11/2001 that moved me on to where I now live. I've grown to love my home and neighborhood more and more, over the 11 years I've been here.  My world is within walking distance.  And with trains, buses, shuttles and cabs, I can get to anywhere else I need or want to go. In other words, not having a car hasn't kept me stationery. Where there is a will or public transportation, or Jennifer, or Chris, or Brian, or Kourtney, or Sara or Becky, or Donny, or James, Janyll or Jackie, Stacey, Cathy, or Nina, Betty, Jude......
there is a way!
Hum...I sure hope I'm offering back friendship as wonderful as that which I receive.

This was a good note upon which to start a new week...in gratitude for the Village
that keeps me together
body, mind and soul.
Amen!