Emma’s Snow Adventures
29 Jan 2009 20 Comments
It has been snowing here all week and the temps have been oh so cold; but we make the best of it here in the North Country, but nothing stops little Emma from wanting to go outside and play in the white stuff. Here is a little part of our week…Emma style, of course!
Making the best of it…from Emma’s point of view!
When Daddy uses the snow blower, he makes paths in the backyard for me to run around in…it is soooooooo much fun.
I miss being able to swing so Mommy and Daddy dumped the snow out of it so I could still do my favorite thing…wheeeeee!
Mommy helped me build a snow girl but it was hard cuz the snow is so dry it won’t stick together.
She is a little funny looking, but I still like her.
I rode in the wagon and helped Daddy fill up the feeders so the birds wouldn’t be hungry.
Then let Mommy take one last picture cuz she never seems to be able to take enough of them.
Well, that’s about it…I got cold so Mommy took me inside for lunch, chocolate milk and my nap…that was hard work!
Nite Nite….zzzzzzzzz
I’m a Grandma…again!
28 Jan 2009 31 Comments
in Family
Just wanted to welcome my new little granddaughter into the world. She was born last night, January 27, back home in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
I wish I was able to be there but the brutal winter storm we are having has made that impossible; hopefully I can get there soon to see her.
They named her Cheyenne and she weighed in at 7 lbs and 2 oz.
She has a 2 year old sister named Chloe that was born 2 months before my daughter Emma.
As soon as I get more details and a photo, I’ll be sure to post an update..
Welcome sweet little Cheyenne!
What If?
26 Jan 2009 12 Comments
in Poetry
What If?
What if we could fly away?
Swim among the stars,
Feel the warmth of other suns-
Suns so near and yet so far.
What if we could touch the sky?
Speak the language of the trees?
Hear the branches whisper words
As they flutter in the breeze.
What if we could fight a storm?
Bellow back its angry cry,
Smite the mighty lightening bolts –
Strike them from the sky?
What if we could be the forest?
Harmony the robin’s song?
Keep in all the good and right?
Banish everything evil and wrong?
What if we could fly away?
Embrace the starry sky?
Swim in waters of other seas?
Oh, what if we could fly?
(c) 1999 James R. Belleforte
Hearts and Minds: Loss and Peace
25 Jan 2009 11 Comments
in Quotes
LOSS
The only way to deal with loss – as a horribly unwelcome guest that you know will show up eventually. And so you deny it and reject it and ignore it and laugh in its face. You toss it out into the street and push it away and fight it off, and only it has landed square in your lap, only then do you deal with it.- Michael Johnson
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
– William Shakespeare
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no man lives forever,
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
– Algernon Charles Swinburne
PEACE
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. – Matthew 5:9
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
– Romans 12:18
If we are to have real peace, we must begin with the children.
– Mahatma Gandhi
The real and lasting victories are those of peace and not of war. 
– John Milton, seventeenth-century English poet
Follow peace with all men.
– Hebrews 12:14
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
– Albert Einstein
Snowy Sunday
25 Jan 2009 17 Comments
in Nature
Good morning from the North Country…a frigid minus 10 degrees here this morning.
This has become quite the normal scene, hasn’t it?
If you look close, you can just barely see the top of our fence post sticking up above the snow.
I took this photo yesterday of the icesicles hanging from the roof…
it reminded me of the underground caverns, just ice instead of rock.
The beauty God surrounds us with never ceases to amaze me…
somehow the sun trying to shine through the ice made me feel that
there is always hope to be found,
even when your world feels cold and hopeless…God Bless!
Wednesday Humor: Dave Barry Explains a Colonoscopy
21 Jan 2009 14 Comments
in Humor
If you are easily offended, don’t read; I just find it totally humorous…if you’ve had one you’ll understand and if you haven’t, your time is coming.
This is from "Newshound" Dave Barry’s colonoscopy journal:
I called my friend Andy Sable, a Gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis.
Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn’t really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, ‘HE’S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!’
I left Andy’s office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called ‘MoviPrep,’ which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America’s enemies.
I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn’t eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep.
You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes – and here I am being kind – like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.
The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, ‘a loose, watery bowel movement may result.’ This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.
MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don’t want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch?
This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.
After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, ‘What if I spurt on Andy?’ How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.
At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.
Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn’t thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.
When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA.
I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, ‘Dancing Queen’ had to be the least appropriate.
‘You want me to turn it up?’ said Andy, from somewhere behind me. ‘Ha ha,’ I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.
I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling ‘Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,’ and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.
About the Writer: Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald. On the subject of Colonoscopies… Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous. A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their Colonoscopies:
1. ‘Take it easy, Doc. You’re boldly going where
no man has gone before!
2. ‘Find Amelia Earhart yet?’
3. ‘Can you hear me NOW?’
4. ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?’
5. ‘You know, in Arkansas , we’re now legally married.’
6. ‘Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?’
7. ‘You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out…’
8. ‘Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!’
9. ‘If your hand doesn’t fit, you must quit!
10. ‘Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.’
11. ‘You used to be an executive at Enron, didn’t you?’
12. ‘God, now I know why I am not gay.’
And the best one of all.
13. ‘Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?
Sometimes You Have To Choose A Song
20 Jan 2009 13 Comments
in Poetry
Sometimes You Have To Choose A Song
Rain . . .
Softly falling down . . .
each drop a symphony of sound . . .
as it hits the tin roof.
It can sound just like a sad song with a slow beat . . .
the kind that makes you daydream . . .
and feel sad and sigh . . .
as you think of what might of been or could be in your life.
Or maybe it is a happy song that brings back sweet memories . . .
tender thoughts and special smiles . . .
thinking of someone who makes your heart beat faster . . .
and your laughter ring with happiness and joy.
Or maybe it is a love song . . .
with sweet and soft lyrics . . .
tender and romantic and sensual . . .
that makes you think of dancing in the rain.
Only you can decide which song . . .
is the one you are hearing . . .
which music soothes your soul . . .
and which song you want to sing along with.
Sometimes, you have to choose a song . . .
and sometimes the choosing isn’t easy.
(c) 1999 Gail
Hearts and Minds – Spirituality
17 Jan 2009 11 Comments
in Quotes
People of all religions can find inspiration
to do more good, so that the beauty
of our religious buildings will better
reflect the beauty of our lives.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
And he led them forth by the right way
and filled their hungry soul with goodness.
– Psalm 107: 5-9
Rejoice and be glad…for the Lord God is your exceeding great reward.
– Isaiah 66:10; Genesis 15:1
The Almighty will deliver you from evil.
– Job 5:17-19
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
– Matthew 22:34-40
[God says,] "This rather is the practice that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke,
setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke,
sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless,
clothing the naked when you see them
and not turning your back on your own flesh.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn;
your wound shall quickly be healed;
your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call and the Lord will answer."
– Isaiah 58:6-9
In thought, faith
In word, wisdom
In deed, courage
In life, service
– Anonymous
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not lack.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for you are with me.
You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
– Psalm 23
Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you.
– Isaiah 49:15
God’s gifts put man’s best dreams to shame.
– Elizabeth Barrett Browning
To love another person is to see the face of God.
– Victor Hugo
To say I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.
– Thomas Kemps
What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
– Eleanor Powell
God’s last name is not ‘Damnit.’
– Author Unknown
I just hope God does not get bored of dreaming me.
– Author Unknown
The less you open your heart to others the more your heart suffers.
– Deepak Chopra
Heaven means to be one with God.
– Confucius
Where I live, if someone gives you a hug, its from the heart.
– Steve Irwin
In the attitude of silence, the soul finds the path in a clearer light and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.
– Ghandi
There are no accidents…there is only some purpose that we haven’t yet understood.
– Deepak Chopra
Sharing My World 