Dog dreams

Tags

dreams, pets, postaday2015, sleep

Before having dogs, it had never occurred to me that pets could dream, when I was little spending time in France with my family and the family dogs; my cousins, my sister and I were more in tune with what the dogs were doing awake than when they were sleeping, so it never crossed my mind that a dog could dream.

Since having our pets Marshall the black Lab, Rex our glorious German Shepard, Tuck our one of a kind Beagle, Jack our baby and now Lulu our little lady; each and every dog has had their own unique sleeping and dreaming pattern. Tuck and Jack, perhaps by virtue of being the smallest, were and are the quietest when it comes to sleeping and dreaming; whereas Marshall and Rex, both dreamt of running and chasing things, perhaps in meadows or forests, their legs would flail as if galloping through the grass intent on catching whatever it was they were chasing. I would bet that both Marshall and Rex were chasing cats; Marshall was often teased by our neighbor Jim, he would  make kitty cat sounds and Marshall would run around searching for the source of the fake meows; it was always good for a laugh. Rex on the other hand, had a real life cat that he was obsessed with, her name was Skittles, he wanted her so badly, but thank goodness for her and for him, Skittles was always just out of reach, not that Rex didn’t try.

Lulu on the other hand takes the cake when it comes to be an active and noisy dreamer, boy can she snore!

http://youtu.be/br3vlnRHtjY

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=963191137025843

These two videos don’t do her snoring justice; she sounds like such a human when she lets loose with her deep sleep snoring, she cracks me up. 

I might be a nobody, but I have something to say

Tags

books, postaday2015, published, waiting

It is so frustrating dealing with this waiting/rejection game. Intellectually I know that everyone who is a renown author has had to deal with the same challenges, but when you are in the midst of it, it offers cold comfort. I realize that I am one amongst millions who truly, fundamentally want to be published, to share with the world what they have written, to have that moment of pride “I am a published author!” to have the feeling of validation. Knowing that still doesn’t make it easier. 

Last night while at dinner, we were talking about me perhaps getting published and I was getting the pep talk about J.K Rowlings receiving over 200 rejection letters before finally getting signed and that does keep me going. My newest gripe is with the 50 or so literary agents who have yet to answer back in any form. What is that all about? It has been only 3 months, but still it isn’t as if I had sent the entire book, just a cover letter and twenty odd pages of text, how long does it take to read that?

I hate waiting, but on the other hand in the waiting there still resides hope. Answers are definitive, the waiting game allows me to fantasize about a hard cover book with my name in bold letters, my first televison appearance on the “Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, my second appearance on “Good Morning America” and my third appearance on “Live with Kelly and Michael”. Fantasies are fun. 

21 is an exciting birthday to be sure

Tags

birthdays, children, postaday2015

            

At 6:10, 21 years ago, our daughter was  born. We are so proud of her  and today we are spending the entire day together, all four of us plus of course Jack and Lulu. We just came back from having lunch at her favorite  place in Westfield “”Wings”  where she had her first beer as aan adult of legal drinking age. Tonight we will be having dinner at Olive Garden and then her big brother will take her out iin Northampton,, a fine college town.

We still see our little one when we look at our young lady, but when we listen to her speak about her dreams and plans, she is wise beyond her 21 years. She has strong sense of who she is and who she would like to be in the future. 21 is a very exciting time and I know  that she will make the most of it.

Look at that face, you want to squeeze those cheeks and smother them in kisses, she is so cute!

Mud season what mud season?

Tags

postaday2015, snow

    

I spoke too soon! What is this with the white stuff falling down once again, I mean REALLY! Haven’t we had enough?!

I know that tomorrow, theoretically, it will warm up to the forties, but still, seeing more snow just got me down. I want blue skies, green shoots now! 

I did take a long whiff of my rosemary plant to calm me down, it worked, aromatherapy works wonders on the psyche.

And so mud season commences

Tags

blooms, mud season, postaday2015

      

When I had left for New York Tuesday morning, the front had still been completely covered in snow and in the course of three days, almost all of it has melted. Now the ground is very, very squishy where I walk with the dogs and in some parts, a great deal of it is water logged, beyond the descriptive squishy, the dogs don’t even walk on it, not wanting to get their paws completely submerged in cold dirty water. They are both of a somewhat dainty nature which is adorable, the way they pick their paws high up in the air when they encounter something wet, cold, or slimy, it is too precious.

I can’t remember the last time that we had so much snow melt, so I don’t really know how long our mud season will last this time. I don’t foresee us getting very warm anytime soon, so the mud that we have probably won’t dry up quickly. On the upside, I think that all of this deeply sourced moisture will be a tremendous boon to my garden and I can’t wait for green shoots to poke their little heads up, no matter what they are, I am waiting impatiently for my little  surprises.

My mother has her daffodils and tulips poking their heads up, it will only be a matter of a few weeks or so before they bloom. I am looking forward to my return trip to her house because New York in spring is truly magnificent.

I took a picture of my bougainvillea bloom because that bloom has been holding strong since the last time that I had posted its picture. I have no idea how it is still alive and fresh, it should have faded and fallen off the branch weeks ago, but it is stubbornly clinging to life and vitality, I am in awe at its staying power.

Home sweet home

Tags

dogs, postaday2015, travel

      

I got home from New York to be greeted by these two love bugs. The kids were out; one at school and the other at work, so my greeting was huge. Hooray someone is here to feed us!

I cleaned up after them while they were wolfing down their vittles and then, after releasing the hounds outside to do their business, the three of us are settled on the couch, watching General Hospital and also writing this post. It feels good to relax with these two.

Daily prompt: Third from the top

Tags

postaday2015, prompts

Head to “Blogs I Follow” in the Reader. Scroll down to the third post in the list. Take the third sentence in the post, and work it into your own.

I have had a few epiphanies over the years; the biggest one is that life is all about perception. I have extended my epiphany to apply not only to belief systems, but to our legal systems, our government systems and economic systems as well. I firmly believe that everything takes on a new shade when seen this way. An excellent example is the ongoing debate on The Affordable Care Act, where the conservative right proclaims that this is another example of government tyranny where everyone must opt-in. On the other hand, there is no law prohibiting opt-out. The conservative right works very tirelessly to distract the public from paying attention to the issue that there are several ways to either be in compliance with the law or pay the penalty.  The real issue here is whether you believe that health care is a privilege or a right; depending on where you stand on the question is what  will color your perception of the debate. My perception is that health care is a right, along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This was my tired attempt with this prompt. I am feeling less than inspired today, perhaps because I am feeling so, so tired. Tomorrow will be a new day.

Wild Turkeys running amok

Tags

postaday2015, roads, wild turkeys

      

Driving down to New Jersey this morning, I had just passed the New Boston Inn right on Route 8 South and lo and behold, a very large wild turky decided to cross the road, for a few seconds I felt as if I were playing a game of chicken with the wild turkey as to who had the right of way, but in the end the wild turkey won and I slowed down  really quickly to allow her to cross the road safely. She was alone, she must have been an older bird because she was very large in size. I am more used to seeing two or three smaller females leading their flocks of baby turkeys across small town roads being so cute in single file. To this day I have yet to see a Tom turkey, though  I am always on the look out. Funny enough when my husband said “that was a close one” I replied “yes we could have had a turkey dinner tonight”. He didn’t find that funny, I guess that joke only works on our kids, they appreciate the French dark humor of being at the top of the food chain.

I think that it was about ten years at that very spot that I had seen my first black bear. I got so excited that I slowed down to a crawl and called out to the kds to look on their left, our daughter had the chance to get a look, but our son had missed the bear, he had turned towards the woods and retreated away from the road before our son could get a good look. Another time, I got excited over a blue crane running alongside the car and taking off in flight, the kids saw that one.  There once had been a gorgeous fox crossing the road, but the kids missed him, his tail was a thing of beauty, I remember it well.

I do love living somewhere where you never know what kind of wildlife you might run into, iit is very humbling in my eyes, it reminds me that this place is not just for me, it has to be shared fairly and sustainably with all living things.

Daily prompt: Fly on the wall

Tags

Jones, names, postaday2015

If you could be a “fly on the wall” anywhere and at any time in history, where and when would you choose?

As I was driving us back home, my mind was wandering and I don’t know why, but I wondered who was the first Jones in the world. My maiden name is Jones, my grandfather was William Henry Jones from Liverpool who emigrated to France in the early 1900’s, found my grandmother married her and then my father was born in Talence, France.

I don’t know why that thought popped into my head, but considering how many Joneses there are in the world, I am very curious to find out where the name started, I googled the question and it said that it was of Wales origin. There is the site:

https://www.houseofnames.com/Jones-family-crest

According to this site, Wales is the place of origin and Jones, one of the most prolific names in the world, descends from three main sources in the early Middle Ages; they eventually merged in Denbighsire, but no one is sure who was the dominant source, Lord Cardigan, Bleddyn Ap Cynfyn, King of Powys or Dyfryn Clwyd a chieftain of Denbighland. I got a kick that there were three big wigs who started with the name Jones. 

This is definitely the period in time that I would be that fly on the wall; I am imagining this time period to be like the time of Merlin and Arthur. I adored the book “The Mists of Avalon” and being that fly on the wall, safe and sound hidden and yet in plain sight, would be an endless fascinating history lesson personalized all for me; talk about a treat.

I still find it amazing that the name Jones went forth and multiplied at the rate that it did, I find it it to be so very cool.

Green shoots

Tags

daffodils, green shoots, postaday2015

    

As you can see today is a bit colder than yesterday with a biting wind blowing boisterously, especially near the river. However my daughter and I found green shoots of daffodils! I know that I won’t be seeing any green shoots for quite a few weeks, but it was so exciting to see them here. I haven’t any luck with daffodils because my tribe of chipmunks have seen to it by digging them up and enjoying them as tasty treats. So I appreciate them that much more when I see them elswhere.