WOW! WOW! WOW! THE BIG BLUES BENDER 2018

 

I could repeat that many more times after this weekend.    Hubby and I had a totally amazing time listening and seeing some great Blues Bands at the BIG BLUES BENDER 2018.    It was in Vegas which was way too hot for me but it was worth it!  And we had so much fun with the whole adventure.

Thank you, Billy D and the Hoodoos, for letting us know about it and especially for your great music.  A great one to see out of the Portland area.  His cd’s are both good ones.   I knew Blues had a following but I didn’t know that it was such a big great fun-loving group and the most amazing Music.  If you love the Blues you can check it out at http://bigbluesbender.com/lineup/.

If you are interested you can pull them up on you-tube and listen to them.  If you are a Blues Lover you are going to find a lot of good music there.  We saw Curtis Salgado, still going strong.   The fabulous, spine tingling sounds of the Keeshea Pratt Band, she is soulful and inspirational, and the band was great, together they rocked the place.  One of those that adjusted my back, lol it works!    There was J P Soars and the Red Hots. Another adjustment, lol. Wow!   We could not stop moving or smiling.  And Mr. Sipp, the Mississippi Kid, Awesome, awesome show!    War and Treaty what a great couple and their guitar player rocked. Victor Wainwright and The Train, what he could do on a piano, well yes, I was going to say WOW again!  Oh, and Anne Harris, you rock!  I wish I had known how to really play the violin like that, lol, I might have stuck with it! Incredible. I don’t mean to leave so many out, there were so many more good ones, but I don’t have enough room to cover it, plus I didn’t get to see as many as I wished I could.  LOL!  I have to admit I couldn’t keep up at times! LOL!  There was that many good shows! 

This event went on all day and night almost.  There were different rooms or spots so there was shows going on all the time.  People were dancing into and out of everywhere.  You couldn’t help it.  The music kept everyone moving and the smiles!  Miles and miles of smiles!  Seriously the Bands, the people everywhere were grinning ear to ear. You couldn’t help it.  The music worked it’s magic and for 4 days and nights everyone was happy!

I thank all the organizers and all who helped put it together.  I thank all the wonderful, wonderful talented artists who performed.  They were all so gracious also.  Thank You!  And Thank you to all the fun people we met and shared this experience with. 

An Amazing weekend!  The Blues Rock!

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The Paper Cries Out!

I see lines on the paper

that call to my pen.

Looking for the words to form

wondering when?

The paper cries out, start to write.

The pen has developed a bad case of stage fright.

The words are circling around inside,

but when I start to write the words collide.

 

Just ThoughtS!

Well I should really change my name to “the disappearing writingwildly,” lol!   I sure have done that most of the time.    I have lots of reasons why I don’t blog more often but the bottom line is that I don’t.  Not that I can’t but that I am not being focused.  I need to kick myself into gear.  I have been going through a time where I am trying to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life.  I know that I don’t want to waste it.   I saw to many important people in my life pass this last few years.  Some lived life day by day and enjoyed as much as they could.  Others hid out and well wasted away their time.  No judgments here, just sad for them.

So, then the looking in the mirror thing comes in to play and well I see so much.  I really have no reasons I don’t do the things I like or want to do.  I am just not doing some of them.  Truth hurts sometimes!  Now I am not saying that I don’t life every day.  I am very aware of how time flies how important it is to enjoy life.   I have things that I could legitimately use for reasons, but really they are still excuses some of the time.

It is just not being focused and mindful of what I need to do.  I am not going to promise that I will all of a sudden be blogging every day and they will all be great blogs, lol, that would not be me.  But I am working on a better way to handle it.

I say

SINCERELY, THANK YOU TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS!

I cannot say it enough and I know I don’t.   I appreciate you hanging in here.  The funny part of this is when I worked and raised my kids and ran all over like parents do, I was so organized it was almost anal. LOL.  Now when I am free to do whatever I can’t seem to be so organized.

Now for the finding ME, well I am not sure how to do that yet. lol!  Does everyone find themselves????  I wonder if there is a manual? LOL of course there are manuals for everything almost.   Anyone who has any good ideas to find themselves feel free to post in the comments, lol.

Maybe it is just reinventing ourselves in our new-found age groups that almost everyone eventually reaches if they are lucky.  And then again in this time in the world is a bit crazy, maybe we are all “trying to find ourselves”!  Good Luck!

Valentine’s Day Everyday

Valentine’s Day what does it mean 

It is a  special day that it does seem

I know it is not the candy or flowers

 For me it is more about the hours

All the times we sat and talked

The times thru the fire we walked

To each other holding on tight

Happy to know we made it through the night

It looked like it could not be

But it is right we did see

It is the tears and the laughter we do share

knowing each of us is always there

It is those things that lead up to the day 

The gift for me is all the love you give me along the way

 

So to my  love I say

Happy Valentine’s Day

Everyday!

 

 

THANK YOU TO ALL SERVICE PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES – “MY VILLAGE”

 

I realized something lately and that is the Military Service life I grew up in did me a lot of good.  My dad served 21 years in the Air Force.  It took me a while to fully appreciate what I learned from that life.

I would first like to start out by Thanking every man and women that has ever or is now serving in services defending and protecting our country.  THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL.  I also want to thank their families.  Unless you have grown up or been in the military life you don’t realize all the families go through  and the sacrifices made many times.  Moving constantly among all else.  This is very hard on the families. 

I grew up an Air Force brat moving every couple of years.  Always the new kid on the block.  Being very shy in those days it was very hard.   But it was also exciting in one way and that is that I got to see and live  in a lot of the US and lived in Japan and went to first grade there.  Japan was beautiful and very different but fascinating to see the difference in cultures.  That experience showed me a whole new world and I loved traveling even then.

Someone made a comment that set me off about another country and its people a few days back.  Thinking about it made me realize how lucky I was and am because of the fact I have been able to meet many people from around the world.  I have been blessed with an international view of the world.   That is one thing about the service you do get.   These people are my “Village” that I grew up with and learned from and saw life through their eyes even if it was for a moment.

Even when  moved to Sunnyvale California our neighborhood had several different nationalities within it.    Most of us have heard and know “it Takes a village to raise a child”.

My village was great.  I learned so much about different people and cultures and learned we are all people and go through so many of the same things.  In the service those families of the service person are a big part of that village.  Again, I thank them because I know it made a great difference in my life and how I look at things.

For me it is a good thing. It has opened me up to so much just in the fact that I got to see so much and meet so many different people from different walks of life.   I see everyone as an individual trying to make it in this world the best they can.  Doesn’t matter what the color of their skin, or shape of their eyes are.  They are just trying to survive and thrive as most of us do.   I see everyone as a  possible friend unless they themselves prove me wrong.

We were going Paris a few years back and we had someone tell us how rude “they” were over there and other negative things.  Well  i am a firm believer in you get what you put out and we went in with excitement ignoring this person’s impression.   Well we were treated great everywhere we went.   I don’t think I came across one rude person in my dealings.  But then we went in with smiles and treated them with respect and we got it back.  It was a wonderful trip.  And that has been the same for all our trips.  We will rob ourselves of meeting some wonderful people if we go with the attitude of other nationalities being bad or unequal to us.   Oh yes you will meet many bad people in life too but remember that is an individual.

Being a service brat gave me a love of travel and meeting different people.  It is wonderful to learn about others.   Again, thank you to all the service families that I had in my life and for your services that you also serve with your spouse.    

I also want to mention how blessed I was in my neighborhood in Sunnyvale.  I had 3 “other moms” whom I grew to love and cherish and taught me a lot of things during my high school years with a lot of stuff going on.  I thank you all and love you ladies!  You were there for me more than you may ever know.   THANK YOU and it is good to still talk to some of you after all these years.  I think you will know who you are if you read this!    It is not about where  your from or what you are it is how you treat others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Place To Be

There is a place I found

A place where nature is all around

The sky is filled with birds to sing to me

A more wonderful song there not be

The flowers and the trees all play their part

They fill my senses and my heart

But most of all it is the view

Of our majestic mountain

which stands tall and protects the valley too

Almost everywhere  you go Mt Si is seen

Once you see it you will know what I mean

It fills your heart with a sense of wonder.

It lifts you up when you ae down under.

A more beautiful view there not be.

for Mt Si is the one for me.

 

 

 

 

 

AGAIN I AM REMINDED!

Again I am reminded on how unexpected life is and the only for sure is that it will end.  In the last few years I have lost three very important people in my life.   They are at peace now so I am happy for them.    I realize more than ever how important it is to remember all the good things, learn from the bad and more on.  Live while you can.  That world has so much beauty and good in it if we look for it instead of looking at the bad always.  We already know we can find that.  It is wasted time we can never get back.  Being bitter and angry produces illness.  It robs us of precious time.  Being nice to people does not take money or good looks or higher education, not that it is bad to have any of those but it is not mandatory.  You get the same sense of satisfaction from a smile or a pleasant word back either way and  if you don’t you gave food for thought to a unhappy person.  Some times all someone needs is a smile to change their whole day from bad to good.  A kind word goes many many miles.

We will be healthier and happier through kindness.  The world needs this.  This is what will help bring peace.

LAUGHTER IS GOOD MEDICINE!

Today my blog is also on my Facebook page also.  I think everyone needs laughter in their live.  So the more that can be reminded the better for all.

So much sadness, so much sorrow.

Let us all stand together and

wish for a better tomorrow!

 

And yet there is so much that is good out there. But you don’t get overloaded with that kind of news. And how about the kids?  What are they to think when that is the focus?

 

I try to focus on that as so many of us do but all we hear about the world is negative all the time.

Many years ago it was suggested to me not to watch the news, especially before trying to go to sleep. Anything I need to know I will find out but to hear everything that is wrong is so narrow and hazardous to one’s health.   

I think we all need more laughter. It is the best medicine up there on the list under prayers. Pills can’t do it.

Our cousin from Australia sent us this e-mail. A reminder to me as I needed reminding to take my laughter everyday.   He and His wife laugh a lot and like to make others laugh too. 

This video is a few years old but it still made me laugh. So I thought I would share it.

And if this doesn’t I hope you find something that will.

 

How women burn Fat in France

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEH4Yum4nN4

 

I wish everyone peace and joy and lots and lots of laughter! It is great medicine. HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Yes Again! As We Get Older!

Shame! Shame! Shame!  Not only I am have not been here at all with a blog, now I show up and use the same title as the last one.  But what can I say?  I am getting older and learning all these new things.

But they are not new it is just what we always heard but didn’t believe or realize how it goes.  When we are young we are invincible and think we can do it all.  In reality the wall of  invincibility breaks down with age and that’s when the “OH I GET IT OR OH I SEE WHAT THEY MEAN!!”  comes to us!

I have lost several more people in my life.  It is so hard sometimes.  Some have led long good lives, some not so good but all taught me many things.  All leave a small hole in my heart.  I choose to remember the good from all of them.

I choose to pay attention now more than ever to what I say and how I treat people.  One never knows when it may be the last thing you say.

I choose to show more kindness to everyone, again now more than ever.  I see how life can just vanish!  I see more and more I need to keep learning and keeping my mind open and non-judgmental because I have not walked in their shoes.  And even if the stories of people are the same it never is just the same.  Everyone’s experience is different even under the exact circumstances.  And no matter how bad one story is there is worse!

So now that I will attend another good-bye to someone I loved.   I am now really starting to appreciate getting older!  Think of the Alternative!

I learn how precious our time is and the way I want to spend mind is in peace and love!  Now I will appreciate life and my loved ones more and I Thank God for everyday I get to be here and appreciate life AND as I get older!

 

 

As We Get Older!

I have heard many things about “As we get older”.    And I am now seeing a lot of these things happening as I get older.  One of them is loss.  The older I get the more loss I see.  There is not just older people either just people you know that seem to die young or old.

Of course we all expect to see our grandparents and parents go.  That is one of the hardest things.  My dad died when I was in my early 30’s  and then every now and then we would lose a friend or an uncle or two in a year.

I have started losing more and more friends.  And last year the very devastating loss of my mother.  So what does all this means.  It means that as I get older so does everyone around me and we are all approaching that age where people are dying at.

So what have I learned from this?  Well take good care of my health.  Be kind to others especially those you love their time may be soon and then they are gone.  It is too late to let them know how much you cared.      Because we never know when it is our time.

I also have learned that stress is  a big killer.  Every day I start my day now sitting outside listening to mother nature’s news cast for the day.  No TV. not even my music which I love and listen to all the time.  Music is medicine for the soul and mind and body.  But being outside sitting. listening, feeling the morning air at 5  or 6 am (or whatever time you get up will help start your day with calm and joy.  And hopefully more time to hang around with a good friend that just may not be around for long.   You may find something different that works better for you but keeping stress away from your life is critical.

Yes age does bring a lot to us, I just want to handle it with as much grace as I can and hopefully these old bones will take me  and my friends and family through to another day.  Thankfully I have discovered how to start my day right and I will be working on all the rest!   Have a Great Day!

 

To Our very special friend Chris V.  you will be missed and you most certainly will be remembered!