The Incredible Shrinking Woman

October 15, 2013 //

It Halloween time and all the scary movies are returning. One that frightened me and stuck in my head forever was “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” which came out in 1957 when I was in 6th or 7th grade. The images are so vivid to me of the man who kept getting smaller and smaller until he lived in a dollhouse, terrorized by the family cat and household spiders. The old black and white movie was well done, at least to this young mind. He got so small his wife couldn’t see him anymore and he was lost in the house.

Yesterday, I was measured at a doctor’s office and seemed to have shrunk. I still think she measured me wrong, but whatever. Good grief, I take enough calcium and eat enough dairy and exercise. Another strange thing about aging. Those movie images came back to me along with the fact that I would be getting smaller as my grandchildren get bigger and bigger – a couple are already around 6’4″ and still growing.

Scary movies have nothing on real life. The good news is that the movie ended on a positive note as the incredible shrinking man realized that he was going to shrink to atomic size but that there was no zero in the universe and he would always be a part of it. As the minister said at my son’s memorial service, “He is now all around us.”

In the meantime, look for the little woman in my family pictures. That will be me. Incredible.

Tags aging, Halloween, The Incredible Shrinking Man

Categories Entertainment, Family, Holidays, Reflections, Uncategorized

Okie Girls

October 14, 2013 //

Last week, I went to the cabin of a friend along with two other friends, all of us Oklahoma born. While driving an hour out of town, we started talking about how beautiful the state is, one friend calling it underrated, with a diverse landscape that we appreciate. All of us are well-traveled, spanning the world, so it’s not like we haven’t seen the beauty of the Swiss Alps, the Mediterranean, the Colorado Rockies, the national parks, and on and on. We love it all. But we still feel tied to this land where we were born.

We had a stunningly beautiful afternoon to enjoy all that was around us…I love the rivers, creeks, scrub and blackjack oaks in rural Oklahoma. Fall hadn’t touched it yet, but it’s on the verge.

Our roots are important to us no matter how many times we pull them up. I recently traveled with two friends, one who lives in Tulsa, born in Portland. She will forever be an Oregon girl. Our other friend has lived in so many places, including Tulsa, on so many continents, that she has to put down her roots over and over. I don’t know how that feels…I can’t imagine. She adapts well. What I understand is that we do feel connected to our land, to our environment and we find peace in it. There is something that pulls at our hearts from the land we have inhabited, the land where we grew up. In it, we find our true selves, we’re stripped bare. For those who move around, it must be a different feeling, one of making those connections wherever you are at the time, mixed with memories of where you’ve been. Neither one is better, they are just a part of us.

I will share the places of the heart with my Okie girls, with my friends whose roots are elsewhere, whenever I can. We need the places, but we also need the people. Peace…

Tags home, land, Okie, Oklahoma

Categories Friends, Nature, Places, Reflections, Uncategorized

Blogging…Year One

October 12, 2013 //

Confetti Thoughts is a year old today…that means I figured out how to set this up and started writing a year ago. Some random thoughts…

1. I chose a good name, Confetti Thoughts, because I have been able to write about whatever was on my mind. Some people blog about a single topic, but I didn’t want to be limited.

2. I haven’t messed with the look since I started. Other blogs are much fancier, but that isn’t what this is about and I can just see me doing something crazy and not being able to get out of it. I don’t even remember how I did this look, to tell the truth. I may experiment this year or I may not. I did get an app to transfer photos from my camera to my iPad while traveling so I could post from the road, which was handy.

3. The blogs that I may love the most may never get read, which is interesting. I have one post that has gone around the world and I find that pretty funny. There are others which would fascinate me way more, but it is what it is.

4. I have readers everywhere on the globe. I have no idea how that works, if their computers translate it or they all speak English or what, but it’s pretty amazing to think someone in Korea or Africa or Australia has ever read something I wrote.

5. Most of the comments I get are from friends or on Facebook, but occasionally I hear from a stranger and it’s nice. I also get a little spam from people promising me that I can make money from my blog with their help or things like that.

6. There are billions of bloggers out there and some of them write beautifully, some write from their heart, some are boring, some have pretty strange topics, some have beautiful pictures. I’m just impressed that writers of all ages, from all countries are doing this. I love that people like to write.

7. I love having a place to post some fun photos, which I love to take, and to write about things. I do it for myself because it would be pretty vain of me to think I’m improving the world or something important like that.

8. I avoid politics pretty much because that brings out the craziness in people and I hate finding out that people I have liked so much can get so rabid and full of hate over issues. It’s hard to have a decent discussion these days with people so polarized.

9. I’ve made it a year without writing about my 3 dogs and 2 cats very much and just a little about my 8 grandchildren and my 4 children. Not that they aren’t the most interesting things in my world, but enough is enough.

10. This has been a discipline in that I try to write at least a few times a week. Every day would be too much for people reading unless you’re as entertaining as The Pioneer Woman. Sometimes, while traveling I took a break. Or when I had surgery. I always thought I could write about anything and I seem to find something. This is my 156th post, which seems pretty good, I guess.

Anyway, thanks to my friends who tickle me with their compliments. That’s what friends are for. Thanks to strangers who share the writing and send it around the world. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this out of all there is to read in books, newspapers, internet, whatever media is coming round the bend.

Cheers to year two!

Tags blogging, Confetti Thoughts, Friends

Categories Family, Friends, Memories, Reflections

Rockin’ Walkin’

October 11, 2013 //

On my morning walk today, I plugged my earphones into a compilation of oldies, very oldies. The music of my youth always puts a beat in my walk. And the memories…oh, the memories. This one started with Rock Around the Clock, a hit when I was in grade school. I got a pink clock radio for Christmas when I was in about 5th grade, the coolest thing ever, next to my record player that played 45s. I could listen to all this music in the peace of my room. That doesn’t sound like much to generations who grew up with their personal music everywhere they went, but all we had were radios and car radios and records. Real records. I lived in some prehistoric age obviously.

Anyway, today I was rockin’ and walkin’ to Bo Diddley and the Moonglows singing “Sincerely” and the Spaniels crooning “Goodnight Sweetheart” along with Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle & Roll.” I was definitely in a different place because these took me back to my days as a silly jr. high girl, full of shyness and insecurities and curiosity about everything. Way way back…

As much as I loved going back, I decided to switch my tunes and my era, so I put on a little J.T. I have to admit having an old lady crush on him…so cute, such talent, such humor. So this old one rocked home to music that holds no memories, but makes me smile. I’m sure parents are worrying about the music their kids listen to just as our parents worried about us. We all turned out just fine, still rockin’ along…

Tags Bo Diddley, JT, records, Rock Around the Clock

Categories Art, History, Music, Reflections

Plucky Pelican Predicament

October 8, 2013 //

Sometimes we humans get to witness moments in nature that we know we will never see again. I was taking pictures after the recent storms in Oregon, watching the thick sea foam washing over the beach when something caught my eye, an unusual movement through my viewer. I had zoomed in and still couldn’t recognize exactly what I was seeing. You may see it around the center of this shot…

It was a bird, covered in sea foam, waddling towards me until it got covered in foam again with the next wave. It was a pelican.

I wasn’t sure what to do. He was completely covered, his eyes, his wings, his bill. I was still too far from him to be of much help, so I kept taking pictures. He, or she…what do I know?…stopped and stretched. It was definitely a pelican, a tired pelican. No telling how long it had been struggling to escape the strong waves of sea foam. I know. I had been standing with my back to the ocean the day before and got caught in a rush of the nasty looking, thick foam. I couldn’t outrun it. And I’m a whole lot taller than a bird on the ground. It seems to take a long time to make it closer to the shore.

I wasn’t moving, only clicking my camera, but the pelican seemed to know I wasn’t going to hurt him. Or he was too tired to care. He was just trying to get out of the mess. Thoughts were running through my mind about trying to help. Do pelicans bite? What if I just scared him. I had nothing with me to dry him off. So much for my valiant thoughts of a wildlife rescue. He stopped and shook a few times, losing a little bit of the foam.

He wasn’t very graceful but he was moving. He seemed to know what to do. He stretched his wings again.

Then his neck. He was watching me now.

He let his pouch drop a little, alternating spreading his wings, preening to get the foam off.

He turned to me, looking right at me, probably 20 feet away.

Then he spread his wings, airing them out, and headed for the safety of a log thrown to shore by the storm.

A couple, probably from Germany, joined me on the shore and began taking photos with an iPad. They had seen many dead birds after the storm and thought this one would probably die, he looked old to them.

You know what…I don’t think so. I think he knew exactly what to do and was going to go dry off before returning to the other pelicans in the area. I’m not naive, but I saw the look in his eye, a look of strength. No matter what happened later, he had made it to shore, cleaned himself off, and looked a human in the eye. I felt good about him and grateful for getting to capture it for you. I won’t forget my plucky pelican friend…

Tags Beaches, Oregon, pelican, sea foam, storm

Categories Nature, Photography, Places, Reflections, Travel

Oregon, oh Oregon!

October 6, 2013 //

I took a blogging break, not because I couldn’t get online or didn’t have things to show and tell, but because I was busy adventuring. There’s actually too much, but I have to treat you to the wonders of Oregon. This was my fourth trip to this state and I have to say that, while I’ll never leave Oklahoma, I hope to always come back here.

We were here for about 11 days this time and even the things I’d seen before at the same time of year looked different. First, we flew in over Mt Hood and it was covered with snow. Last year, it was dry.

And our first weekend on the coast was in record rains with high winds. From the safety of our place, we watched the stormy seas, venturing away from the fireplace only for better views. As visitors, you don’t have to worry about your property, only your own safety and preparedness, so we kept the fire lit and had flashlights and enjoyed snuggling in while the winds roared and the waves rolled higher and higher.

The beaches we saw after the storm were altered by the foam and debris.

and the waves were rough for a few days

But it soon relaxed and the earth restored itself to a refreshed beauty. We explored the towns along the coast with all their seaside charm…

…ate wonderful seafood…Dungeness crab, Oregon pink shrimp, shrimp and clam chowder, rock fish, halibut, and snapper…in nice restaurants and along the road…

I saw the creatures of the sea…the pelicans, gulls, and cormorants, the sea lions in rain and shine…

…and the harbor seals…

I walked early in the morning as the sun hit the sea…

…and captured sunsets…

There were beaches with sand dunes…

and beaches with driftwood…

…and treasures to find…

There were lighthouses…

…and signs that alert…

And I left the beach to hike up trails that led to mossy forests and flowing waterfalls, lush from the storms…

…and travelled the historic coastal highway along the Columbia River, looking over where Lewis & Clark paddled by, enjoying the falls along the way.

So I prepare to leave this beautiful state while the beaches, the forests, and Mt Hood are in my heart, begging me to return.

How can I refuse as long as I can walk the shores or climb the trails? Oregon will always be a special, magical place for me.

Tags Beaches, hiking, Oregon

Categories Friends, Nature, Photography, Reflections, Seasons, Travel, Uncategorized

Beaches, Beaches, Beaches

September 30, 2013 //

Places that restore my soul definitely include beaches ever since I saw my first one when I was about 10. That was Boca Raton, Florida and we looked for shells back when you could find lots of big ones, went crabbing, my brother got stung by a Man o’War, and we learned about tides and undertows.

Since then, I’ve been to other beaches in Florida, beaches in Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain, California, Virginia, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Oregon. Probably others, too!

When I hit a beach, I walk, looking out to sea. I look down to see what has washed up. I pick up shells, rocks, driftwood, sand dollars, whatever I find. I know the names of lots of shells, refreshed when I go each time. I watch for ships, boats, whales, dolphins, sharks, fish, birds. I watch the sky, the water, the sand and rocks.

I feel small at the beach, less than a grain of sand, and that gives me peace. I am of the universe, of nature. All problems are small, all life is part of the ebb and flow of the sea.

I walk, I think, I remember, I take pictures. Here are some of my favorites…

Naples, Florida in the morning…

Naples, Florida at sunset…

My first view of an Oregon beach…

Elephant Seals in California…

California coast

Cannon Beach, Oregon from Ecola Park…

I’m on the Oregon coast now, never tiring of the ever changing shore, the pounding waves, the variety of beaches. I’m at peace in my heart…

Tags Beaches, California, Florida, Oregon

Categories Nature, Places, Travel

Southeast to Northwest

September 28, 2013 //

Last month I toured the Southeast states and now I am in the Northwest, Oregon to be exact. Getting to make two fun trips in a short time is a reminder of how beautiful this country is, how varied the plants, the foods, the dialects. I ended summer in the south and am welcoming fall in the northwest. The abundance of resources is taken for granted, but why are there still starving people in our country?

I’m here with two friends, kickin’ back on the laid back Oregon coast in a little town, Depoe Bay, on Highway 101. We’ve been up and down the coast before, so we’re deciding where to return, where to go new. Last night we ate looking over the harbor on a drizzly evening with the best waitress, Precious (and she was), fabulous salmon and fish & chips, and warm pear pie ala mode to die for.

Today is the perfect day to stay in with rain and 50 mph winds. Our view has gone from relatively calm yesterday…

…to rougher and rougher as today unfolds.

Bottom line is that the weather doesn’t matter – of course it is raining in the Northwest, duh – when you’re adventuring with friends who make you laugh! Off we go…

Tags Depoe Bay, Oregon

Categories Friends, Nature, Travel

Retirement…Year One!

September 27, 2013 //

I’ve officially been retired for one year and here are five things I can tell you…

1. There is not enough time to do all you want to do. It’s true that you will wonder how you ever found time to work full time before.

2. It’s good to have some goals. I made a list at first of things I needed to get done at home and checked them off so I knew I was getting things accomplished. Some still aren’t done, but at least I have the list.

3. Take your time when starting new things that require a commitment. I started a part time job after about seven months and a friend started a volunteer job. They are working out fine for both of us, but you need to make sure what ever you do is flexible or you won’t enjoy it as much. You get used to YOUR time.

4. Do anything that keeps you in touch with friends and family. Isn’t that why you retired?

5. Do something that you’ve always wanted to do. I started this blog, which I should have done years ago.

6. See…I told you five and I’m at six or more. Make retirement yours and make it count. Don’t sit around thinking about things to do…just do them. Make it fun, make it interesting, make it count.

I’m just getting started and there is so much more ahead. I’m on a trip right now, returning to where I started my retirement a year ago. Time to see what is ahead for year two!

Tags goals, retirement

Categories Friends, Reflections, Uncategorized

The Downhill Slide

September 24, 2013 //

Remember when you were little and everything seemed so far away? You had to wait an eternity for your birthday or summer vacation or Halloween or Christmas or even for school to get out for the day. The clock moved ever so slowly.

Then you get over the hill, so to speak, and you are suddenly on what I call the Downhill Slide. Time is moving so fast you can’t believe another year, another birthday are past. Your children are suddenly grown up and you have grandchildren and they are suddenly grown up and you don’t have time to do all the things you want to do in this life and it’s all moving way too fast as you slide down, down, down.

I was having this panicky feeling that I wasn’t going to get everything done in this lifetime that I want to do. I’ve been racing to make sure I do what I can, hedging a bet that my body won’t give out before I’m finished. Maybe all this is because I retired a year ago this week. I worked on a lot of projects I wanted to finish at first and still have work to do. I keep adding to my list. There’s still not enough time.

I read an article this week that gave me some new perspective. It was an interview with about ten people who have reached the age of 100. They all looked great and were very active and doing all the things I like to do. They were involved with people, volunteering, living full lives. It made me stop and think because they didn’t seem to be worrying about not getting things done…they were just doing it.

Maybe because I’ve lost people close to me when they were young, I appreciate every year I have. Maybe, just maybe, there comes a time when you stop the rush of the downhill slide and come to terms with it all and find peace. You live out your life on a plateau without worrying about the end. You are just grateful and appreciate all the people and love in the world. So now I’m still on the slippery slide, but I can look forward to knowing I’ve reached the plateau where I have the perspective to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

There are a lot of things that can happen to stop the slide, none of them good, but I’m going to just keep on sliding towards that day when I can just relax and do it! God willin’ and the creek don’t rise…

Tags aging, Over the Hill

Categories Reflections

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