advice from the beatles

I don't make New Year's resolutions but I make some goals for the upcoming year. I don't care for Facebook but the main reason I keep it is to see the stories my kids post about the grandbabies. There are so many ads, so much political ugliness, and so, so much misinformation that people believe because it's there which then gets passed along to perpetuate even more stupidity. It's not the social media it used to be. Get me off my soapbox. I do enjoy passing along happy birthday messages.

This popped up in one of the recent memories and it's a good one to share.

The Beatles' work is timeless. They sang to millions of people around the world but they managed to connect to us individually. That's what great musicians, poets, philosophers, and artists do. The Beatles had so many songs to reach a mood or feeling at any given time. And then some creative person put together a Venn Diagram depicting some of their gems with how we are feeling.

I don't know who created this and have found tweaks where others have changed the diagram. But whoever did, thank you. Have a good day, sunshine.

 

the first gardening catalog!

'Twas the week after Christmas, and all through the mail,

The catalogs started arriving, on schedule, without fail...

We're only a couple weeks into winter but look what's here...the first gardening catalog! There's so much joy flipping through the glossy pages, knowing that spring will return after the long, cold winter. I love sitting on the couch with my fuzzy UGG blanket planning the next gardening season, making lists, choosing plants and seeds for the upcoming growing season. It's such a good diversion from winter's cold and gray, offering hope and anticipation for the upcoming months. Suddenly they don't seem so far away.

 

the friday feed: mocktail #1

Last weekend while hanging out with my girlfriend of a long, long time, all at once she said, "I want to do dry January. Will you do it with me...help keep me accountable?"

"Sure...why not? It'll be fun to have a challenge," and Dry January started on Saturday.

So far, six days into this, it's been easy. I love water. If I want something other than plain water, I'll brighten my water intake with flavored sparkling water.

Right now mocktails are a thing, especially since it's Dry January. And just for fun, I looked up some mocktail recipes. Many are fruit based. You make a syrup, typically with berries, add sparkling water, and freshly squeezed citrus juice. Garnish it with mint or a slice of citrus or some other ornamentation.

I've been cleaning out my refrigerator and from the family being here for the Christmas holiday I had a lot of leftover blueberries. My little grandsons love blueberries so I purchased a carton for their meals and then my daughter and daughter-in-law brought some from their homes. We had a lot of blueberries and when it was time for people to leave, the kids left them here. Todd and I can eat only so many blueberries, I hate to waste food, so time to make a mocktail. With blueberries.

The recipe called for making a syrup with blueberries, honey and water. Put a couple Tablespoons in a glass, fill it with ice, add some sparkling water and fresh squeezed lime juice. It was tasty, refreshing, I had to figure out the balance between the syrup and lime juice. The first taste was too tart so a touch more blueberry syrup fixed that.

Todd took a taste. He said it was good...but it would be better with vodka!

🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂  🎂

Today is my dad's birthday, he would have been 92, and to celebrate he would have made a martini. His martinis were gin and vermouth with three olives and a couple ice cubes, and he measured his 'tinis very precisely using a glass baby bottle.

"A man must defend his home, his wife, his children, and his martini." 

~ Jackie Gleason

Dad liked Jackie Gleason, too.

Cheers, Dad. 

sunrise @ 7:42

This morning while sipping on the first cup of coffee, the blinds had a pink tinge to them. "Oh yes, here comes a glorious sunrise!" I still had my jammies on but what the heck...slip on Todd's shoes over my slippers, grab my phone, and get to the front porch to snap some photos of this bold and dazzling opening to today. 

 

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

Well, oops...I scheduled this post to hit cyberspace at noon instead of midnight. That's what happens for putting this together late night and a little bit sleepy.

I like to listen to XM Channel 25 (Classic Rewind) on my car radio. Lots of now oldies but still goodies from the late '70s and '80s that are reminiscent of college days, the early years of marriage, and having three kids (#4 was born in 1990) - a fun and exciting time of life. One day while out and about, Journey's "Be Good to Yourself" came on and I was in the mood to crank up the volume and sing loud. This could be my anthem for 2026. We all need to be good to ourselves.

In the vein of "Be Good to Yourself," I attended a yoga class under the rotunda at the historic Dayton Arcade which was built in 1904. Over the years the Arcade has undergone three renovations, with the most recent being completed in 2021. I worked in downtown Dayton in the early 1980s, when the Arcade was a vibrant fixture in the downtown scene. It's good to see it in use once again and refurbished to its original beauty. (That's my pink mat).

January in Ohio is typically gray and cloudy but we have had some beautiful sunsets. After a gray day on January 2, the sun said, "Enough!" and set the sky ablaze at the end of the day. Our son was sick with Flu B and asked us if we would mind if his dog came to stay with us until he felt better. The next morning at 6:00 a.m. I took the dog out for an early morning walk, grumbling because it was cold and I was still sleepy. The sky was clear and when we turned the corner, January's Super Moon (the Wolf Moon) was descending in the western sky. Ohmygosh...it was beautiful...and the sight of it took the grumpies away. I tried to take a photo but my old phone is showing its age and getting a good photo of this gorgeous sight didn't happen.

In 2025 we welcomed two new family members, our granddaughter Hallie and daughter-in-law Kelsey. Keeping with tradition, I made Christmas stockings for them but  didn't want to post them before they got the first looks. So without further ado...ta-daaa...here they are! Hallie is 9 months old for her first Christmas. Kelsey's favorite holiday is Halloween so her stocking is Christmas with some touches of Halloween.

Two of the grandbabes live in Cleveland and northern Ohio got a lot of snow over the Christmas holiday. Andrew and Jen bundled their littles up for some sledding fun and then spent 10 minutes outside before taking them back in from the bitter cold. Owen's 3 1/2 year old face shows the joy of being pulled around in the sled and Hallie's thinking, "I'll have more fun next year!"

We have season tickets to University of Dayton basketball games and last night UD played George Washington University. Dayton's two big guys are both injured, GW has a lot of big guys and in the first half GW was in charge of the game. Second half Dayton figured out what they needed to do, did it, and won the game. Both teams played well. George Washington University's nickname used to be the Colonials but due to concerns about the connotations "colonial" brought about, they changed their name to the Revolutionaries. The explanation for this change: A desire for a more unifying name that better reflected the university's values. I don't know if Revolutionaries is any better than Colonials but as they say, "Not my circus, not my monkeys." There's plenty of other things to think about.

 

a winter walk

After a week of bitter cold weather, then spending seven hours in the car driving to and from a funeral visitation, and yesterday getting the last of the Christmas decorations put away, cabin fever set in and I was ready for some fresh air. The day had started out at 31° (-0.55 C) but after putting the last of the Christmas ornaments away, the temperature had risen to 45° (7.2° C), the sun was shining, and I hopped in my car to take a hike a Hills and Dales MetroPark.

It was later in the afternoon and the park was empty; my car was the only one in the parking lot. The park was peaceful but it wasn't quiet. In the distance I could hear the traffic noise from I-75 and right above me geese honked as they flew in their Flying V formation. The park borders on a golf course and a foursome of golfers teed off and either complimented or chided one another for their good or not-so good shots. As I walked along the path, I heard some crunching in the leaves and there was a buck, and then another, and another, and another! Four bucks walking on the hillside. Hellos were shared with dog walkers. One man had a chocolate Lab that reminded me of one of my Labs and I got to give him some ear scritches. A road with a speed limit of 25 mph goes thorough the park and today a very loud car sped down Patterson Road. Nothing like a noisy car to disturb nature's peace. Since I arrived at the park a little after 4:00 (16:00), the sun was starting to decend toward the horizon as I headed back to the car. It was going to be a pretty sunset and I picked up the pace to get back to the car before it got too dark.

Fresh air, sunshine, tranquility. Nature calms the chaos.

monday's mulling: heart(attack)breaking events

We've had a couple of bad news events in the last few weeks. On December 18, I was supposed to go see my girl Robin for a haircut and some color for those insistent gray highlights that keep showing up. At 4:00 a.m. my text message noise sounded (I usually turn the sound off when I go to bed but I didn't that night), woke me up, and then I was wide awake. Her 42-year old daughter had a heart attack and was in the hospital in a medically induced coma. This event left her daughter with catastrophic brain damage and she died yesterday afternoon. A parent losing a child...I can't  imagine.

Yesterday we drove to Norwalk, Ohio to attend the visitation of a friend's older brother who died a couple days ago from a massive heart attack as he drove home from visiting his mother who is dying of cancer. Her time on this earth isn't much longer and the family will be planning another funeral within the week. Talk about a double gut punch. Wow. Our friend's brother was a husband, father, grandpa, a well-loved high school basketball coach and the neighborhood grandpa - an all around good guy. The funeral home's parking lot was packed and overflow parking went across the street to the Masonic Center. The amount of people at this visitation was a testament to how well-loved this man was.

These two sudden and unexpected events show the fragility and unexpected turns life takes. 

"Yesterday is history,

Tomorrow is a mystery,

Today is a gift.

That’s why we call it the present."

Unwrap each daily gift with gratitude.