Meditation Garden in progress

My Mom is donating a meditation garden in memory of my father to the  local cemetery.  My father was treasurer for more than 35 years.  The area for seating is shown in the photos here, with the pavers just installed this morning. 

The process for a freestanding paved area is to dig out a space, lay down heavy landscape fabric, apply crushed rock or concrete, apply decomposed granite, tamp those layers down well, lay down the pavers in the shape and pattern you want, apply concrete around the outside edge to keep the pavers from shifting, brush in sand between the pavers, and then tamp down the pavers.  The finishing touch is to water down the pavers and see the colors all reappear.    We also made sure to create a concrete ramp to bridge from the height of the ground to the paver top, which will make it easier access for a wheel chair or walker.

The hardscape work was down by Birchwood Design.  Next up is plants, trees, bulbs, and benches.

Little boy smile

Age claims us all.  Even those with a little boy smile as my cousin spoke at his celebration service at the Dorchester Methodist Church on Saturday.  We were all sad but so glad his smile and good nature had warmed our lives.

Early daffodils bring a smile to my 1st post-op anniversary

Daffodils always put a smile on my face because when my son was born, his father brought me daffodils as a celebration.  So, it is appropriate that they are blooming early here in New Jersey this year on this day, as I am already smiling.  It was one year ago today that the cardiac surgeons of Penn Presbyterian replaced my faulty aortic valve and gave me a new outlook for my life.  So smile with me and raise a glass to help pay tribute to their skill if you can.  I am sure they have saved and improved many lives, not just mine.  Thanks.

A Valentine Gift to each and every person on the planet (and off too!)

Valentine's Day is usually touted as a holiday for lovers but for years I have struggled against that idea.  Actually since elementary school, since each classmate had to provide a valentine card for every other classmate.  Such inconsistency awakens rebellious thoughts even in six-year-olds, I assure you.  So, as an adult, I have often sent valentine cards to friends and family members as well as whomever was my current romantic partner.  And, of course, I have had to explain in the cards to friends that I am sending them a valentine out of an impulse that Valentine's Day is just not for lovers. 

With all the hypersensitivity about same sex attraction, the word "love" is just something you say now to your significant other, your parents, your siblings, and, if you have them, your children and grandchildren. Or, you "love, love, love" some expensive consumer item like a car or a cashmere coat. What a waste of a perfectly good four letter word and feeling.

So for several days, I have been thinking about how I could justify sending a miniscule bit of love to everyone on the planet (and off) when that list includes those individuals who have been incredibly, terribly inhumane to others.  How could I believe they deserved even a teensy measure of love?  The answer came to me last night as I was watching a cheesy but cute Hallmark Movie.  The writers had the Cupid character say, in effect, that no one deserves love, love is a gift from the person expressing it.  Problem solved. 

Here goes.  I am sending out a teeny-tiny gift of love for every human being.  Please add this gift to the store of love you already have in your heart/soul no matter how meager or little you sense it.  You may even find that if you pass it along to someone else, that bit of love shines brighter in your own life.

Happy Valentine's Day Every One!

When KISS isn't

So, KISS is an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid.  When you hear your aging parent screaming that the expensive programmable thermostat is an elephantine pile of dung (in not so nice terms) you realize that even though your impulse was KISS -- all she has to do is switch from heat to cool as the seasons dictate -- that is not enough.  First of all, you forgot she can not see the symbol that means the AA battery needs to be changed even though it is very obvious and plain to see because she doesn't expect to see such a thing on a thermostat.  Secondly, she expects that she has to turn it up and down because that is the way thermostats have worked all her life and has completely forgotten that all she has to do is switch from heat to cool or the reverse because you made it easier for her.  Sigh.

Newfield Memorial Service for 9-11-2001 includes callery pear

The service in the grove was low key and hopeful.  Children from the local parochial school sang a song expressing wishes for peace around the world.    The local business alliance planted a callery pear, which is the same variety of tree as the 'survivor' tree located at the 9-11 memorial site in New York City.

Personal consequence of 9/11/2001 morning

I used to be an watcher of TV news and listened faithfully to NPR during my drive to and from work each weekday.  But since that morning I can no longer do either.  The heartbreak of 9/11 is etched into my visual and aural memories of news programs in either media.

What happened was this:  Every weekday I would take a shower than wander into the kitchen to snap on the tv to hear the weather and fix my breakfast just before 6am Seattle time.  If it was a lucky day, Mt Rainier would be visible and start off my day with a smile.  Now you are saying to yourself, why would she watch the weather when it is always raining in Seattle -- temperature baby, temperature.

Anyway, that day was the tv picture came into focus I see this building burning and what appears to be airplane wreckage.  I say to myself, I don't remember any disaster movies coming out soon wonder what that is and my it looks realistic.  Then I hear a voice over talking about NYC and how a plane hit one of the twin towers.  I think to myself was there some horrible glitch in the cockpit software (hint: I was software engineer for Boeing)? 

I dash to my bedroom and don a pair of slacks and pullon type top suitable for the casual work environment of the Boeing Space Center and rush back to see this plane I recognize as a Boeing plane impact the second tower.  That image is seared on my brain.  To see a Boeing plane hit the tower.  I knew then it was not an accident or glitch but a hijacking.

I rushed the rest of my morning routine and started my commute to work.  I don't even remember finishing breakfast so I bet my cat ate the milk and cereal.  I snapped on the radio, which was always tuned to NPR to listen and catch what ever was being reported.

I am almost to work and have been listening to a reporter live from the Pentagon when what happens but he is saying "we're hit"  and a couple of seconds of silence and then the studio reporter takes over.  I snapped off the radio and have never listened to NPR news again. 

When I reach work a few minutes later, the gates are still open and I park inside.  Less than thirty minutes later, the gates will be closed for several years with guards checking badges.  The office administrator I had known for fifteen years has a small black and white tv she is using to provide us information during the day.  There's no tweeting or wide spread texting to spread the news then.  We had no idea if there were more targets only this time the West Coast.  The admin reported about the plane going down in Pennsylvania.  People who were on vacation far from home called in to say they would be driving rather than flying and hence not back when expected.  The atmosphere was not just somber but wary.

My daughter asked me later why I had even gone to work that day.   I replied I didn't know what was going to happen but I thought I might be able to help, no matter what it was.  So, I guess I am one of those whose impulse is to pull together and do whatever needs to be done to get all of us through the crisis.  I know I am not alone in this and many, many people did that following 9/11.   I salute them all.

Today, in Newfield there will be a ceremony in the grove (some towns have a square, Newfield has a grove) in remembrance.  Local volunteer fire companies will attend and local churches are supporting.  Newfield has four - hopefully the one that always sets itself apart because of religious doctrine will bend and participate but I wouldn't bet on it.

Just like I wouldn't bet that our congress critters will bend from their doctrinal positions and put the good of all the citizens as their first priority rather than re-election, but I can always hope.  Congress needs that spirit of pulling together that 9/11 evinced.  Heck the whole country needs to remember and act on that feeling.