Saturday, December 31, 2011

Saturday-11:45am

We finally had some snow yesterday. This was the predawn scene.
Enough for them to shovel the sidewalk...even a very narrow path to the exit door below my window. I wonder if they will keep that up? Sure hope so.
Today it was raining and now it's snowing. The roads are going to be terrible for the party folk. I hope they all travel safely.
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I checked emails and blogs first this morning.
Time for lunch after I am done here. :)
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Best of both worlds for Karma...her cat bed and a good hard pillow with the arm of the chair--LOL!
Well, I had a sad package yesterday from John/Spruce. Two large manila envelopes taped together and look what I pulled out of them? These envelopes...also taped together...
...containing all the bookcards I have sent John over the past year!??
He returned them!??
John has been a teacher in Nain (Labrador, Canada) with the Inuits for 50 years. He was online when I met him in the Chinese Brush Painting Yahoo group a few years ago, but decided to drop the internet over a year ago.
We had already been writing letters...
I knew he loved the prairie sky pictures on my blog...
...and anything to do with Karma....
...so, I'd print off pictures that I had used on the blog and glue them into the bookcards. He loved the Picture Bookcards. (These are what I mailed to my friend, Anita, too, who never had internet.) Anyways, my new printer is almost out of one color of ink...happened about a month ago..so I told John that it would be a while before I'd be able to add pictures to his letters...that it would take some time before I'd be buying ink cartridges because they were a little spendy, but no problem...just be writing regular letters for a few months.
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Well, I don't think he understood that the pictures in his bookcards were just copies...or that I don't do the picture bookcards for everybody...or something? He sent them all back because he said he "felt guilty hoarding all these wonderful photos". That I could use the pictures to make some kind of art project or I could somehow pass the pictures on to someone else. :( Made me sad. They were just prints, you know? I should have never said anything to him, but I wanted to explain why I was back to just writing plain letters with no pictures when he had been getting these for a year, you know? Dang it all. He didn't understand.
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And it has been so sad there with the Inuit culture. Alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, and recently a couple more suicides. One was a young boy who hung himself right in the school where John still substitutes. I think he was just feeling sorrowful and like he wasn't worth the pictures. Broke my heart. I think maybe I should send them back...but not really sure what to do.
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Anyways, that was the strange and sad mail yesterday. Maybe it made me more sad because it made me think...all the picture bookcards I sent to Anita would be a stack like this, too.
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Anyways, on to the blogger award.
I got the Versatile Blogger Award from Wendy.
I don't usually do awards. I will just invite anyone who wants to do this to grab the award and go for it! You just tell 7 things about yourself and pick 5 bloggers to pass it on to. I will certainly enjoy reading the stuff about you, for sure, if you do it! ;)
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Okay seven random things:
1. I really did used to have a mind like a steel trap. Now it is like a steel sieve! Fibro fog has blurred the edges of my mind. If I don't write things down these days I am likely to forget. This is why I need my desk calendar and lists and post-it notes and scratch pads--LOL! But then I have to remember to look at them. ;)

2. From the time I left home after high school I never lived in any place more than 3 years (twice) until I moved up here to the Fargo-Moorhead area. I lived in Moorhead from 1999-2005 and then moved here to Fargo in Feb of 2005! I am sick to death of moving and want to stay here forever. :)

3. I've been married twice. Lived with somebody twice, too. I apparently have no judgment when it comes to love. So I decided to hand my love life over to GA (guardian angel), put my spiritual path first, and have been happily alone since 1993. [Note: a psychic told me I'd be married three times and the last time I'd be old--but I'd be happy and content with him. I'd have to meet him online, I guess, eh? And I'd have to let the thought enter my consciousness once in a blue moon, too--ROFL!]

4. I have angels in every room of my apartment...even the bathroom and kitchen. Pictures, cross stitch (from my sister), magnets, figurines...

5. I was born in Minneapolis Swedish Hospital. I'm the oldest of three...have a brother and sister who still live in Minneapolis. They were born in the same year...brother in January and sister in December. [Is that what they call Irish twins? Even if they're Swedish?] We were the last of the full-blooded Swedes in the family.

6. The first 45 I ever bought (1962 when I was 11) was The Locomotion by Little Eva...and it still makes me want to dance!

7. I guess I have a distinctive laugh. At a reunion a classmate who hadn't seen me for 20 years told me, "I could hear that 'Rita-laugh' from across the room when I walked in and knew you were here before I ever laid eyes on you". There are worse things to be known for. :):)
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I have to quit playing The Locomotion so I can finish this. ;)
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New Year's Eve!!!
For those of you new to my blog, I have my own little ceremony for saying goodbye to the past year and greeting the new one. Have this square cloth I bought from the Tibetan monks when they came to Concordia in Moorhead about 9-10 years ago that I have used every year since. I place the cloth on the table, gather all my various crystals & do-dads from all over the apartment, clean them, and place them on the cloth. New Year's Eve is the time they all get cleaned and re-energized. Since I moved here, I try to let them all stay out on the table until they can get some sunshine...but sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate...and I want to use the table. ;)
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First I put on some peaceful new-age music and light some candles. Then I write down on little pieces of paper all the things I want to release to the universe. I slowly burn them one by one in my copper burning bowl and send them off. I always pick a card from my very favorite angel card deck. Sometimes I pick three rune stones--past, present, future. Sometimes I play my Tibetan bell or Tibetan bowl a little--or strike the ting shaws or the chime. Sometimes I journal. Sometimes I do a longer mediation. Sometimes I sage the whole apartment. Just depends on what I feel like doing and how tired I am--LOL!
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So, I best eat lunch and clear off the table and start puttering. This year I may or may not be doing this at midnight...unless I take a nap. Might be one of the years I'm done earlier because I'm too tired. Sleep comes before strict adherence to time ritual these days--LOL! I didn't make it past 10:30pm last night, so who knows? But the rituals will be given proper respect. It always feels like it completes the year for me...and like the starter gun for the next. :):)
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What is your New Year's like this year?
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"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

23 comments:

DJan said...

What wonderful rituals, Rita. They are giving me some ideas for my own cleansing of the past and welcoming of the future. I am new to your blog in the past year, but it feels like I've known you and Karma much longer than that! Hugs to you and catnip to Karma... :-)

Teresa Evangeline said...

Perhaps you could resend them and suggest he share them with his students in whatever way he feels would be right. I can understand the feelings you must have around this and the confusion....

I learned to dance by Little Eva's Loco Motion. I still love that song and want to get up and dance whenever I hear it. Perhaps tonight I'll play this video and dance, all by myself. :)

I really like that quote. Opportunity awaits!

Beth said...

Thank you for sharing 7 things with us Rita. All very interesting.

My New Year's Eve is like any other evening. I most likely will go to bed at 10PM. Seems I can't last much longer than that. ;-)

Hugs,
Beth

TexWisGirl said...

i like your ritual - the releasing part must be healing.

i don't think you should send the photos back to your friend. try to think of a way you could make an art project out of a couple favorites, then send THAT back to him. it would honor his wish.

happy new year to you, rita! blessings to you and karma!

AliceKay said...

I hope everyone stays safe out your way. The weather sounds nasty. Not bad here...mid 40s with some sprinkles on and off. My younger sister, brother-in-law, and nephew drove up from Allentown (PA) today, which is about a three hour drive. They visited with family and will be driving back home before it gets too late.

I like TexWisGirl's suggestion. An art project using those photos and then sending that project to him sounds like a wonderful idea.

Happy New Year, Rita and Karma. I hope the new year is good to both of you. *hugs*

Rita said...

Djan--It does seem like I have known you longer. :) Whatever you do, have a cleansing, rejuvenating, fresh New Year!! :)

Teresa--I feel badly because he never would have done it if I hadn't said I was out of ink and couldn't print for a while. *sigh* He was just trying to be nice. He's a gentle old soul.
Ha! Me, too! You'll have to play it! It will make you want to dance and dance!! ;)
Opportunity, baby! Opportunity! :)

Beth--I'd love to see you grab the award and share 7 things, too!! Love to learn more about you. :)
Sleep well! The new year will be waiting for you when you wake up--hehe! ;)

Theresa--Yes, and I also send off and release blessings, healing wishes, let the universe know what I would like help with...all kind of things go up in smoke over here on New Year's Eve--LOL! ;)
The trouble is, these photos aren't good for any art projects really. They were printed on thin computer paper and glued down and many of them are back to back on the bookcard pages. And I have no clue what I could make with sky and cat photos and pictures of things I bought or made and my family. They're just blog photos. Not as interesting as your fences and barns! ;)
Blessings to you, too!!

AliceKay--The weather is pretty yucky. Rain, snow, rain, and ice will get worse the later it gets. People have been sliding around in the parking lot. Dagan and Leah are going over to her sister and BIL's, but it's not far and they don't drink so I'm not overly worried about them. ;)
How nice that you got to your sister and family!!! Even if it was just for the day. Nice!!
Well, like I told Theresa--not very practical. In fact, most of the pictures have other pictures glued on the back side of the page. I have no clue what I would make out of a bunch of my blog photos. And, if I did, I have them all on my laptop. He just loves the sky pictures so much. Which is why I sent him a lot of them. Oh well. Maybe I'll just keep them for now and think about it for a while.
I hope you have a really good year in 2012, too! Lets toast to our health!! (Mine will just be coffee, but I can toast with that, right? LOL!)

Carol C said...

Love your quote!!! And I'm glad to see you finally got some snow....

You should make some stamps. It's pretty fun and the result is gratifying! Later I'll post the print from the stamp I cut tonight...

Serena Lewis said...

It sounds like John misinterpreted your meaning. I would send them back because you did write them to him after all so, technically, they belong to him anyway. You can put a note in saying as much and, hopefully, it will make him feel better. So sad about the Inuit boy hanging himself. :(

I enjoyed your seven facts! Hey, my mind is also like a steel sieve nowadays. lol

You already know how much I love hearing about your New Year's Eve ritual. I would love to start something like that myself.

May 2012 bring you many blessings of love, light and peace.

Love and hugs,
Serena xo

Queenie Jeannie said...

Happy New Year! Sounds like you will be off to a wonderful start!!!

I slept a bit better last night. Which is to say, I got some sleep, lol! Apparently I missed the crazy people screaming down the street that Thomas got to witness. I hope you are facing the new year well rested as well!

Hugs to you and Karma!!!

Gwen said...

Wishing you a very happy New Year Rita...I am very glad I found your blog this year. Keep busy and creative and perhaps you may find number three:)
I enjoyed reading your post as ever. Best wishes to you and Karma:)
xxx

Carolyn Dube said...

Happy 2012! How wonderful that you've been sending photos & handmade bookcards. I'm sure he meant to make you happy by sending them back to you - impressed that he had them all saved. I know plenty of people that would not save them or if they did even knew where they were. Oh, my family says thanks for getting Locomotion in my head. It seems to be stuck there and I keep humming it much to my teenagers embarrassment! (I must confess that is totally encouraging me to continue...)

Desiree said...

Aww that is sad and conflicted but I would send them back and re explain to him? They were gifts for him so maybe he can get it. I dunno...men! :D

Hugs

I want to be Karma laying around all snuggie while it is cold outside!

Far Side of Fifty said...

Happy New Year..it is very interesting to read how different people spend New Years Eve:)

Rita said...

CarolC--Rain, ice, and snow. I hope we get more just snow. ;)
I can hardly wait to see your stamps in action. Please let us know what supplies you used. :)

Serena--It's odd. John thinks my picture book letters are like works of art or something? I have been leaning toward mailing them back. They are useless to anyone but him. They were made just for him. Yes, so sad about the boy hanging himself in the school. He married an Inuit lady and their present culture up there sounds similar to the American Indians. So sad.
I had the best NYEve ritual ever!! Took me over four hours to get it all on the post (Sun). Hope you enjoy it! :):) xoxo

Jeannie--Wow! Even screaming people didn't wake you up! That's great! Please get in to the doctor on Tuesday, though. You need to have them check you out. :)
Happy 2012!

Gwen--Glad I connected with you, too! That would be like a miracle if I found number three AND was happy and content, like she predicted--LOL! :):)

Carolyn--Oh, I have no doubt he meant well. He's just so self-effacing that he didn't think he should keep them. Seems to think they are treasures or something. Well, they're his treasures--LOL!
ROFL!! Now I'm picturing you humming and singing The Locomotion all over the place!! ;) Keep dancing, lady!!

Desi--I know! I don't know what he was thinking! They're letters to HIM, you know. I am leaning towards sending them back with a long letter to explain and chat. ;)
I think all this peaceful, meditative music lately has put Karma into a trance! LOL!

Connie--Happy 2012 to you, too. I spent many years doing the party route, then the watching the ball drop at home...then I started the New Year's Eve ritual/ceremony/whatever you call it...but I can't even remember when. Mind like a steel sieve--LOL! Must be at least 15 years now. It started out just picking an angel card and grew from there.
I hope you and FarGuy and Chance had a glorious New Year's Eve...awake or asleep at midnight--LOL! ;)

Anonymous said...

I love that song but I never had the record. When I was a young teen my oldest brother bought me an old 45 player in a box with a suit case. You know how I love boxes! This was old and grey but I loved it. My brother worked at a thrift shop so he was always finding me records for it too. I remember playing blueberry hill over and over and over. Once day my brother came in with a full sized record player and a bunch of pictograph records. He kept all of the Elvis records but gave me a Buddy Holly, rolling stones, police (shaped like Africa) and a several other neat albums. I wish I had taken them with me when I left home because my mom decided they were "devil" music (one record was a KISS record - a collectible - my brother said the complete set of 4 was worth over $300 and my husband had two of them) Anyway, she took an ax to my records :O( I was so sad. I love reading your 7 things about you and your new years ritual. Sorry about your friend misunderstanding. I would just write him a new letter explaining and ask him if he'd like them back. You wouldn't want the misunderstanding to get worse by sending them back first. I have people that misunderstand things I've said before and usually it just keeps on going and snowballs into a train wreck! He sounds like a very interesting person. The area he is in sounds similar to some of the villages we have here. There are a lot of suicides and it is sad. It is really hard on the rest of the family. Happy 2012 Rita!

Rita said...

Donna--I wish I had all the LPs and 45s I had back when, too. Had all albums from the Beatles, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel, Vanilla Fudge, Moody Blues...can't even remember all of them. And my 45s went back to 1962. Such is life. And now we can find them on the internet...on youtube! Cool!
Yes, you have Inuits up there. too. Sad to see people have so little hope. :( I had just sent him off a new letter right before I got these in the mail and I explained how the pictures were just copies (he was already talking about feeling guilty hoarding them) and the letters were just for him. *sigh* I have thought I should write to him first and let him know that I really didn't want them back and can't really re-use them and explain again that all those pictures are on my computer and I can make more copies...and he's the only person I made these for now that Anita died...everybody else can see them on my blog. Oh well...I just hadn't felt up to making a decision yet or write a letter yet. Soon. After I get past this meeting tomorrow with federal housing and things settle down. ;)
Happy new year!

Intense Guy said...

Human communications are frought with perils - and without face to face meetings - things can go badly awry. :(

I'm sure he treasured and took great pleasure from them when he had them, Rita.

How close are you to being "out of ink" now? what kind of printer? The reason I ask is this - I've several clients that retired theirs - and I've the inks for that they didn't use - one or more might work for you...

Pats Karma on the head... but not too hard since she's resting on hard wood.

Toriz said...

The thing with your friend is a tough one; on the one hand he'd probably like them back, on the other hand he was trying to be nice so might be a bit upset if you sent them back again. It's a tough one!

Rita said...

Iggy--Yes, the way John talked it was like he thought I was sending him little works of art or something. *sigh* All I meant to do was explain why he didn't get his usual letter with pictures. *sigh* It is difficult to communicate sometimes in writing.
I have a new all in one printer and it's a HP OfficeJet Pro 8500A. One of those that has like four cartridges--black and then the colors. But if you are running out of one color your prints look strange, you know? You're welcome to look but this is a new one I got this last year. Thanks, though, sweetie. :):)
Funny how often Karma gets into a best of both worlds position--hehe! I wish I could tell her to do it all the time because she has no clue that soon she won't have that chair anymore. ;)

Tori--I know! I think I am going to wait and see if he writes me back from my last letter I had sent right before I got the returned bookcards. I told him I didn't need them back and they were his to keep in my letter. Maybe I'll just wait to see what he says. Maybe he just doesn't want to keep them, but didn't want to destroy them himself, you know? Hard to tell sometimes. I definitely know he loves getting them, though, because he's always made that very clear...and that's what counts. ;)

1artsychick said...

I loved learning more about you! Now The Locomotion is stuck in my head!
(I remember the Grand Funk Railroad version first, but do know the little Eva version...funny how things are re-recorded by different artist about ever 5-10 years.

I love your New Year's celebration!
How cool!!

Rita said...

Wendy--Now that I came back to this post I have The Locomotion in my head again, too. LOL! Grand Funk Railroad? Now I am going to have to check that out on youtube. I don't remember any other version but Little Eva's.
It really was a great NYEve!! :):)

Intense Guy said...

I checked. Don't have any HP 940 cartridges.

But I'll keep an eye out. :)

Rita said...

Iggy--Oh, thanks so much for looking. I figured this printer was too new. If it lasts a decade like my last one...one day maybe it won't be--LOL! ;)