Do you know that today....

Do you know that today in the year 1913, Gideon Sunback patented the zipper?
Imagine the world without zippers!

Have to zip out of here and go to work at the winery. I hope your day is zippy!

Sunday's Poem~ Butterfly, Butterfly

Butterfly, Butterfly

Hoping to catch your eye
Circling around you, oh my
Butterfly, butterfly, come into the light
Oh, what a beautiful sight
Flying so gracefully
Into the sky, the butterfly
Trying to catch a butterfly
Fly, fly, fly, butterfly
There he sets upon the mums
I'm having so much fun
Here's another on the sill
Your standing so still
You go to touch him
There he goes, the butterfly
I hear a tapping on the window
It's the butterfly, fly, fly, fly
There he goes into the sky
Flying so high, the butterfly
I'll see you another day
Butterfly, butterfly, away

Sharon Adamson


Have you had the pleasure this spring to be seeing butterflies? I have been watching the wonderful creatures fluttering around my yard, especially around the rose bushes.
What do butterfly's mean to you? To me they represent freedom and change.
Where ever the final Sunday of April leads you, notice how many butterfly's you encounter, and be sure to smile.

Choose to be Happy!

Life is about choices. Everyone of us have to make several choices each and every day.  Do you choose to be happy? The only source of happiness and unhappiness come from inside yourself.
Happiness is not something that comes to you, it is something you create. Waiting for something or someone to change in order to be happy is actually waiting to live your life. Life throws us many curve balls, it's how you react that counts, not what happens to you.
Its all in your attitude. When you adopt a positive attitude, life becomes easier.
Happiness is in your own hands. Think in a positive way. When you encounter what you consider a problem, do your very best to look for all the good points. I know myself, when an issue arises which I wasn't expecting, during this time we can't see the forest through the trees. Once the issue passes, and we remove our emotions from it, more times than not, the reasons become clear. Everything has at least one good point. Even sickness has its positive side. I know for myself, after I as diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis over nineteen years ago, my life as I had known it now looked dismal and scary. Once I chose to be positive about this situation I now found myself in, my life took a turn for the better. Yes, I still suffer with this debilitating disease on a daily basis, but it's how I deal with it. I take control of my daily situation with it, I do not let it take control over me.
Positive thinking is not enough on its own, however. We also need to fix the problem or prevent it from happening again. In my situation with this disease, I listen to my body and rest when it tells me to, I do my best to live a stress free, happy, upbeat life. Yes, I still have my issues with it, but I always remain positive.
We can turn suffering into non-suffering. We can even turn it into happiness. Whether we suffer or not depends solely upon us. It doesn't depend on what happens to us.
Everyone wants to nothing but good. But things will be even better if we can train ourselves to be more patient and to think in a positive way. If we can do that, then we'll have a definite guarantee that regardless of what we encounter, we won't suffer as much or as easily as we did before.

Enjoy your day, and find happiness!

Saturday's Poem~ Yellow Rose

Yellow Rose

She came in my dreams last night,
She left a yellow rose and a love note on pillow next to me,
As always the inscription read,
'we are friends for ever and in the eternity'.

Since a rose is a rose,
why the red rose shines in the glory of love?
why the white roses remind us of our departed souls?
and why the yellow rose shines the rays of friendship in all of us?

Like sunshine bursting through grey clouds,
The aura of friendship emanates from its golden petals,
The frozen dew drops on its soft satin petals,
glorifies tears on my cheeks in the times of sadness,
Its mere presence and the fragrance,
fills my heart with the scent of warmth and affection.

Yellow rose you are perfection in creation,
I wonder why you have to wither away in time,
With every falling petal, a heart is broken,
with every withered yellow rose, a token of eternal friendship is lost.

Jay P Narain

Any day now, my yellow Japanese roses will be opening. I will post a picture once they open.

Did everyone have a great week and an even greater Friday? Any big plans for today?

I will be visiting our library to finalize the new writers group I'm forming. The grass needs cutting, I'll do that in the afternoon.

Where ever your Saturday takes you, enjoy!

Real Excitment before I left work yesterday

Our winemaker, Brian was pulled over by our local police on suspicion of yesterday's bank robbery. Brian had been up at our our location working on swamp coolers! It was quite the scene to watch approx. 7 undercover cops, sheriff's and local police fly into our parking lot. I had just closed the tasting room at 5 pm when this happened! Never a dull moment! Have I mentioned how much I love my job?


The third operator steams a singer.

Friday's Poem~ Rain, Rain

Rain, Rain

Rain, Rain, wash over me,
cleanse an purify me,
your drops, so soothing n' smooth,
lull me to sleep, content, not blue,

Rain, Rain, drops abound,
clean my body n' soul,
make me new,
with no walls around,

Rain Rain, my roof you seek,
your floods wash over me,
the emotions do peek,
cause rain is life-giving,
much zeal to thee,

Rain, Rain, clean my body,
for you always make me,
feel so fancy n' so free,

Rain, Rain, refreshing to me,
for during the rain,
no refrain from sleepin I see,

Rain, Rain, stay with me,
cause I'm in love with you,
you leave me unchained,
feeling worthy, not blue.

Richard McClellan

Late afternoon Thursday, a wind storm blew through our area, with a few drops of rain. We are in dire need of rain. It's supposed to rain this evening and clear up to sunny skies for my Friday.

Where ever your Friday takes you, my wish is that you have sunny beautiful skies and a quiet end to your work week.

Thursday's Poem~ Lightening Bugs

Lightening Bugs

When I was a curious little girl
I chased bright blinking lights
Into the darkness of the night.

The lighting bugs were shifty.
They were not easy to catch.
Finally, they met their match.

I placed them into a Mason jar.
I punched nail holes into the cap.
With fascination, I would rap…

Constant tapping prompted flickers.
Their lights dimmed as I went to bed
At sunrise, they were certainly dead.

I grieved and wondered why…
What could have blown their fuse?
Regretful, I did not mean to abuse.

Now I know to let them stay in the wild.
Leave them alone to dazzle with a pride.
Don’t seal them up and take them inside.

7/5/07      

Theresa Ann Moore

 

 

How was your Wednesday? Mine was busy. At the winery, we've been painting the vast space since early February. Today, I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In between painting some trim, I enjoyed conversing with customers and having them sample our honey wine.

A couple of Mesa University  girls came in to taste. I enjoyed talking with the girls about a variety of subjects. Somehow, we got on the subject of how different scents open up your brain to memories of the past.  I told them a story about when I was a child and one Christmas, I received an ice cream maker. Being the third of six, (all females,) after I made ice cream the first time, I was the first to taste it, as my siblings stared, wishing they were me.

My sisters, anxiously anticipating my answer, ask me, "what does it taste like?"

Bending my head, my left ear facing the floor, eyes staring into the air, I responded, "it tastes like lightening bugs smell."

Have you ever experienced this?

One of the girls from the University asked myself and her friend, "what are lightening bugs?"

This girl was born and raised in southern California, and evidently, lightening bugs do not reside in this region.

I love my job, I enjoy meeting people. Everyone has a story, and I listen.

Whatever you do on your Thursday, enjoy and listen, you will probably hear a future book.

 

 

 

Wednesday's Poem ~Sleep - a poem by Sir Philip Sydney

SLEEP
Sir Philip Sidney

Come, Sleep; O Sleep! the certain knot of peace.
The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
Th' indifferent judge between the high and low;
With shield of proof shield me from out the prease
Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw:
O make in me those civil wars to cease;
I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.
Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed,
A chamber deaf to noise and blind of light,
A rosy garland and a weary head;
And if these things, as being thine by right,
Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,
Livelier than elsewhere, Stella's image see.

How was your Tuesday? I had a sleepless night and I'm looking forward to placing my head onto my feather pillow and slowly closing my eyes.

Any plans for your Wednesday? Where ever this last Wednesday of April takes you, make it the best you can.

"What?" I ask. "Is that you soft, fluffy pillow calling my name?"

Tuesday's Poem~ Some People

Some People

Some people want to die
some people want to live
some people want to take
some people want to give

Some people have family
some people have friends
some people love life
some people wait for it to end

Some people need the help
some people help the need
some people want to share
some people love the greed

Some people are weak
some people are strong
some people are right
some people are wrong

Some people are smart
some people are fools
some people are wise
some people need school

Some people have no mind
some people have no heart
some people keep us together
some people tear us apart

True Pain

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday. My day was both good and not so good. I believe this poem says it all.

Where ever your Tuesday leads you, I hope you are one of the strong, have a heart, have family and friends, and someone who wants to share.

Monday Mistake

In  my earlier blog about stress, I said to enjoy the last Monday of April, I'm rushing the month, must because of the great heat wave we're having. We still have one more Monday this month.

Enjoy your second to last Monday!

Monday's Poem~ Stress

Stress

A definition, friends, of stress:
Your own reaction to a mess
Stresses may be large or small
Sometimes they're not perceived at all
Examples: Say a lack of cash;
A just-avoided freeway crash;
An allergen that's in the air;
The barber says you're losing hair;
Fifty on a spavined horse;
Attorney's letter re divorce;
Wetness, dryness, heat or cold;
Callow youth or getting old
Stress from pains to pleasures range
The common element is change
Adapt or die, and that's a fact
And so our bodies must react:
The heart speeds up, the gutda slows down
Facial muscles snarl or frown
Bronchial tubes expand and then
The blood absorbs more oxygen
Widened pupils search the void
Adrenal glands secrete steroid
Serum glucose starts to climb
More insulin works overtime
Stressed physically or mentally
Muscles tense to fight or flee
The midbrain boils with rage and fear
While cortex plans to save your rear
The point is, stress is not unique
It doesn't mean you're dumb or weak
A part of mankind's constitution
Bequeathed to us by evolution
Common both to man and beast
It proves you're still alive, at least.

By William Goldsmith, MD

Everyone has stress in their lives, it's how we deal with it that counts. I like this poem and it is appropriate for my day today! The one thing I have learned in fifty-two years is not to take on other's stress. We all have different stresses in our lives, and I feel it's how we deal with it, either makes you or breaks you. I have learned to let other's stresses roll off my back like water off a duck.
I hope everyone had a fantastic, stress free day. Where ever this final Monday of April 2012 leads you, make it the best and don't stress, tomorrow the sun will rise and we get a new beginning.

Sunday's Poem~ Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis

The praying mantis hardly prays!
By camouflage, it takes its preys;
It hunts insects that fly all days;
A carnivore, it always stays!

Its eyes see well for sixty feet!
It lives on branches green to eat;
Sometimes, its color looks like wheat;
It turns its neck full circle neat.

The female kills the male in sex;
Big ones can eat a frog and vex;
They are not poisonous at all;
They climb quite fast a tree or wall!

Copyright by Dr John Celes 7-27-2008

Dr John Celes

Did everyone have a great Saturday? Here in Western Colorado the weather couldn't have been better. 84 degree's today. After I cut the grass and worked in my soon to be vegetable garden, Brett and I enjoyed a nice cold Fat Tire beer. While Brett was working with our Japanese rose bushes, he observed a    recently laid mantis ootheca attached to a branch on the roses. We're excited to see the praying mantis return. Last summer we had several who hung out in our garden. This is the first time in my nearly fifty-three years alive to see this. I'll be anxiously watching this ootheca evolve.

Where ever you find yourself today, please make the best of it.

Poem for Saturday~ The Robin's Bath

The Robin's Bath
by Evaleen Stein

A flash and flicker of dripping wings,
A wet red breast that glows
Bright as the newly opened bud
The first red poppy shows,

A sparkle of flying rainbow drops,
A glint of golden sun
On ruffled feathers, a snatch of song,
And the robin's bath is done.

Did everyone have a wonderful Friday? I had the day off from the winery so my husband and I purchased some Miracle Grow soil for my free standing garden box Brett built for me a couple of years ago. I'm happy to say I planted radishes, snap peas, and spinach today after placing the fresh soil into the box. A few day's ago, a wind storm blew through and left a lot of down branches in our yard which Brett and I also had to clean up today. Beautiful blue skies,and warm sun helped our projects get completed quickly. As the sprinklers quenched the parched landscaping, a robin enjoyed the droplets as they scattered about.

Where ever your Saturday leads you, enjoy!

Friday's Poem~ SIMPLICITY - How happy is the little stone

SIMPLICITY - How happy is the little stone
Emily Dickinson 


 How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn't care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity.

Simplicity, what a wonderful concept. In the year 2006, I chose to modify my life. I left a good paying position, sold most of my personal possessions, and moved across country  to write a much simpler, stress less chapter in my life.

Six years after I began writing this new chapter, I find myself happier then ever. I now live a simple, stress free, wonderful reality.
What ever road your Friday leads you, make it as stress free as possible.




I

Thursday's Poem~ The Rainy Day

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I chose the Rainy day poem for today because it is going to be a rainy day here on the Western Slope of Colorado.
Where ever you're Thursday leads you, whether it's wet or dry outside, make the best of it.

Wednesday's Poem~ Life Is Fine

Life Is Fine by Langston Hughes

    I went down to the river,

I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry--
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine

What a great poem! No matter how hard life gets at times, it always gets better. Tomorrow is another day.

My hope for you is that your Wednesday is wonderful, and no matter what your day brings you, be sure to smile, (it makes people wonder what you've been up to!)

Tuesday's Poem for my granddaughter Miah

I Miss You
I always enjoy myself
When I spend time with you
We need to see each other more often
As our visits are too few.
Our time together is precious
And it goes by too swift
Every time I see you
You always give me a lift!
Author Unknown
I love you Miah

Monday I met my daughter in Vail, our halfway point for my granddaughter to go home after spending her spring break with me.I had a great time with her as usual, and can't wait until the next time we see one another, we're hoping in June.
My vacation is also over, I'm back to work at the winery today.

Where ever this Tuesday takes you, make it the best you can!

Monday's poem by Alvin Schwartz~

There was a man who lived in leeds,
He filled his garden full of seeds.
And when those seeds began to grow,
It was like a garden filled with snow.
But when the snow began to melt,
It was like a ship without a belt.(???? That line I don't get!)
And when the ship began to sail,
It was like a bird without a tail.
And when the bird began to fly,
It was like an Eagle in the sky.
And when the sky began to roar,
It was like a lion at my door.
And when the door began to crack,
It was like a pen knife in my back.
And when my back began to bleed,
I was dead,dead,dead indeed!

Alvin Schwart

Last evening I asked my granddaughter if she knows of another poem. I handed her a pen and paper and she wrote out the above poem. My granddaughter is ten. Needless to say, I was amazed.

I chose this poem today because my granddaughter is heading back home today. I'm happy she wanted to spend her spring break visiting us this past week.

Where ever your Monday leads you, be sure to grab an extra cup of java and enjoy the day!

Sunday's Poem~ by Emily Dickinson

His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for the bee's experience               
Of clovers and of noon!

Emily Dickinson




I chose this poem for today, because on Saturday, my granddaughter and I attended the Palisade International Honey Bee Festival. We enjoyed live music and entertainment.  The winery I work for had a booth for the occasion with Mead (or honey wine), and other bee items. Other vendors shared their bee and honey products and  of course there were food vendors galore!   

Where ever your Sunday leads you, make it a great experience!

Reminder ~ New Writers Group

Please e-mail me at: write2donnalively@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the writer's group beginning in May in Palisade, CO.

• The group will meet at the Palisade Library which is located at 119 West 3rd Street Palisade, CO 81526
• We will meet on the 2nd & 4th Friday's of each month with the first meeting to be on May 11, 2012.
• The exact time of the meeting will be known in the near future.

The purpose of our writing group is to:

• Support each other in our writing
• Share information pertaining to our writing
• Edit our writing
• Critique our writing

If you are interested or know of someone who would be, please contact me at:
write2donnalively@gmail.com

If there is a certain time of day that works better for you to be able to meet, please tell me in the e-mail you send.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Donna