An Appropriate T-Shirt

While grocery shopping on my recent trip to California I spotted an interesting t-shirt. A colorful skull centered on my chest, and it would be perfect to wear on Sunday, October 30, 2022 for the Day of the Dead celebration. I also liked the price of $8.99 so I bought it. 

In the past different families of the parish would set up altars for their loved ones who had gone before them. My first altar was for my mother, father and brother. The following year I basically used the same items and skipped the third year. Before Covid hit, I did an altar for my son. 

This past summer I got together the items needed to decorate an altar for my parents and my son. I lost my brother this year, so I needed to find some of my brother's favorite things to add him to my altar. I was ready to set up my Altar this year, but the sad thing is that this year SOC did not have people fix altars. The migrant committee did fix Day of the Dead items on the counter in the Spirit Center to represent a Day of the Dead altar. I asked why the day was no longer celebrated with many altars and was told that no one was interested.

The thought that no one was interested saddened me and maybe next year it can be promoted again. The movie Coco is a wonderful movie explaining the holiday and a few places, like Botanic Gardens, still celebrate the day. Various places in Longmont and Denver also have displays.

"Dia de los Muertos has begun!

It's the one night of the year

our ancestors can come visit us."

Abuelita from Coco

SYNCHRONICITY

My best friend passed away recently after battling with Alzheimer's. Her name was Flora but I knew her as Louise. The name Louise is not a popular name yet this past week the name Louise came up four times. Either she wants me to remember her, pray for her, or just remind me that she continues to be in my life! My daughter says my friend is saying "hello to me!"

At a dinner I met a Louise Gutierrez who was a new member of the Young at Heart group, I took a picture of a lady with a sweatshirt with the words Deutschland and her name is Louise, at a funeral yesterday the lady who passed away was Bonne Louise and this morning, as I read The Personal Librarian, for my Book Club, one of the characters is Louise. At breakfast after mass, I again ran into the new member Louise.  Somehow, I find this a bit strange.

The Internet explains that seeing someone's name repeatedly is called Synchronicity. It works to keep our attention in order to deliver important messages called universal signs. If you are seeing or hearing someone's name often, it typically means that you are thinking about that person a lot.

That makes sense to me because I remember my friend and miss her more than ever now that she is gone.

"Good friends are hard to find,

harder to leave,

and impossible to forget."

QuotesGrams

A Beautiful Funeral

It seems that lately I have been to many funerals of friends. Today, I went to a funeral that made me feel emotional. When Irish Eyes Are Smiling was sung, a knot formed in my throat. I could picture the sweet, tiny Irish lady. Her husband sat in a front row next to his son and the son kept him supplied with tissues. That made me feel like crying, thinking how hard it must be for the husband who was now alone. It was not a big crowd, yet I knew the people attending were his friends. There weren't many Young At Heart members and that saddened me.

The husband had been the president of YAH about nine years ago and that is when I met the lovely lady. They attended most of the functions and I always stopped to chat with them. After he was no longer president, I would see them at mass or going to Blackhawk on the bus to gamble. When I heard she was suffering with Alzheimer's I admired his devotion to her. If they took the bus, she would cling to his arm. He said, "We may not be joining you too much longer because I cannot leave her alone and she is afraid of getting lost." He also told me, that he only had tunnel vision and could only see what was in front of him.

Their son gave the Eulogy and talked about how devoted his mother was to the family. How she had a sense of humor and April Fool's Day pranks would be played. Even though she told stories of what she saw, the family accepted her version of the facts. I felt as if I knew her a little bit better when he finished. The priest said he did not know them very well, but he knew of them because everything he heard about them was positive. I remembered the husband as a tall, robust man who had been a marine. She was a petite woman.

The priest said that her mind might not remember, but her heart remembered God.

The reception was a time for meeting friends and family members. I spoke to the husband, and he told me he was completely blind but that he was doing okay. I held his hand because I could not hug him since he was in a wheelchair, and I mentioned how he had welcomed me to Young At Heart. He squeezed my hand. My tears burned my eyes and wanted to leap out of my eyes, but I controlled them. This was a very emotional funeral for me!

Bonne Louise Taylor

Entered Into Life, January 10, 1939

Entered Into Eternal Life, October 18, 2022

The card handed to me had a quote from Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet. That impressed me because I thought I was the only one that loved his sayings!

"And now your ship has come, and you must needs go.

Deep is your longing for the land of your memories and 

the dwelling place of your greater desires. 

And our love would not bind you nor our needs hold you."

Kahlil Gibran

One Hour Wasted

Turning on my computer a few mornings ago, it informed me that I did not have Internet. I waited to see if during the day it would return but it never did. I went to Settings and was told I did not have Internet. Duh! I contacted Century Link, since they are my Internet people, and a young man with a very thick accent answered my call. I told him I did not have Internet and then began a question-and-answer period. 

Are the wires connected to the router in place?

Yes.

Go to your settings.

Okay

What do you see?

I read to him what was on the screen. Network and Internet.

Click on that.

Nothing is happening.

Internet should have come up.

It didn't. 

Can I have you use your phone camera and show me your screen. I am sending you a message and answer the question so I can get on with you.

I followed instructions and could see an arrow where he could point and ask me to click.

We did a few clicks, but no Internet.

I could tell he really wanted to figure it out but when he was unable to, he said, you will need to contact where you purchased your laptop, and they will need to reinstall your Internet.

How could it just stop working. It was fine last night before I went to bed. He had no answer.

Many of the questions I had to ask him to repeat because I could not understand what he was saying because of his accent. After almost an hour of dealing with the fellow from Century Link, I called Costco Concierge Services and a lady without an accent said, Turn off your laptop, hold the button down for 60 seconds, and then restart your laptop. I did as she asked and when I turned on my laptop my internet was restored! It took her less than five minutes and she had figured it out. I asked her the same question I had asked the fellow at Century Link and she said, Sometimes, if there is a power surge, it can throw out your Internet. I thanked her and now I am back to being able to use my laptop! Makes me wonder why the Century Link fellow did know such an easy way to fix the problem. Next time I have a problem with my laptop, I will begin by calling Costco for help! It also helped that I could understand the lady that did not have an accent but talked good old American English!

"Computers are foreign countries to me

and if I don't know the language, I am

stuck in my own little world."

E.  Moscoso

FINDING A JEWEL IN STORAGE

Well, not really a jewel, but a painting by my brother. When my brother came to visit, one day he quickly, with a few strokes painted my son. I was surprised that in a few minutes, he had finished the painting. I loved the picture and it was on a shelf for many years. One day I decided to declutter and I put many of my pictures away in boxes, leaving my shelves with a few books and some knick-knacks. The pictures went into a box and down into my basement. Yesterday when I was going through the boxes in storage, I found the picture and decided it had to come out. I found myself appreciating the painting, especially since my brother left us this year. Now, when I look at the simple painting, I love it and it is a great reminder of my son and my brother!

"What we have once enjoyed deeply

we can never lose.

All that we love deeply 

becomes part of us."

Helen Keller

 A Bluebird & A Hive

I backed the car out of the garage and heard a loud noise that seemed to be quite close. Sort of sounded like high pitch screaming ending in a squawk. Wondering what could be making such a racket I got out of the car, and it sounded like an angry bird.  I looked around but there was nothing in sight, though the bird continued its frantic squawking.  On the corner of my roof a bluebird with something in its mouth was prancing back and forth along the edge of the roof.  It amazed me that the loud noise came from such a beautiful bird.

It danced back and forth along the edge of the roof giving the loud squawks. Suddenly, it dove into the tall bush and disappeared. When it appeared again, whatever had been in its mouth was gone. Could there be a nest in the bush? Was the bird making a noise to distract any enemies? It returned to the roof, looked around and before it flew away, I could clearly see different shades of blue and a tuft of hair on its crown. 

"A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her 

trust is not on the branch but on its own wings."

Positive Outlooks

While I was looking up at the bird, I noticed two bee nests on the wooden frame below my roof. If it had not been for the loud noise of the bird, I probably would never have seen the honeycomb hive of the wasps, yellow jackets or bees. Tomorrow I will investigate further!

I posted pictures on Facebook and got some answers. Comments were that the bird was probably a Bluejay, and the hives were made by some sort of wasp. In the past, a wasp's nest had been removed from my porch and it looked more like a cocoon; smooth on the outside. This nest looked different with all its tiny holes. I thought it looked kind of artistic. I was unable to take a picture of the bird, but I took a picture of the two interesting looking nests!

Anger is as a stone cast into a wasp's nest."

Pope Paul VI

 WILL I BE BLE TO CALL HIM FATHER

A few days ago, a friend had a get together for her relative, a priest. I had attended some of his masses at Spirit of Christ Catholic Community but had never seen him up close. What a surprise to see this tall, handsome young man, and I mean young, as he was introduced to me. Gee whiz, I thought, I could be his great-grandmother!

He has a great sense of humor, is polite, friendly, and pleasant to be around. The thought that ran through my mind was: Would I ever be able to call him Father or even better, would I be able to confess my sins to him? There is quite a difference in the experience between old and young and in my case fifty-two years!

I mentioned my thoughts to my friend and her response was: "Calling him Father is showing him respect for the time he studied hard to become a priest." My feelings had nothing to do with showing respect and my respect for him is the same as I would have with any other priest. I admire his vocation and feel privileged to know him. When I have been to one of his masses, I enjoyed his homilies, yet it just seems odd saying Father to a person so much younger than me! 

Jesus was thirty-two years old when he died and I am sure some of his apostles were older than Jesus, and they called him, "Father." So maybe in time, I will also call this young man Father. I will have to wait and see but this was my first impression after meeting him.

Father,* thank you for following your vocation and becoming a priest. 

With your help you will bring people closer to God.

*I have no problem writing Father!

 pomegranate

For as long as I can remember while shopping at a grocery store. I look at pomegranates, yet I never buy one. In my whole life I have purchased two, and both times I hated the tiny, bitter seeds. Not too long ago I was watching a friend prepare a pomegranate and I was told the meat is great in a salad.  My friend then said, "I eat pomegranates after I have pulled out the tiny morsels of the tiny fruit and eat it with a spoon and love it."

I may have rolled my eyes in disbelief. How could anyone like that disgusting fruit? Yet, when I tasted the tiny red seeds that had been extracted from the hive like pomegranate, I found them to be juicy and sweet.  In the past I may have eaten the covering of each seed and that is bitter and awful tasting.

Now I enjoy the pomegranate and I found out that it is a healthy fruit to eat. They are a good source of vitamins and nutrients. Today I purchased another pomegranate and I have been told that putting the seeds into a salad makes a tasty dish. I also enjoy them as a side dish or spoonsfuls of the juicy seeds!

Sometimes one just needs to know what and how to do things correctly and once you do, life is so much better!

"I think that people want to know

how to do practical and every day 

things, like how to get the pomegranate

seeds out of a pomegranate."

Martha Stewart

 FIVE FRIENDS ON AN OUTING

Every once in a while, the six members of our group get together for coffee or tea. We call ourselves "the chicks." On Thursday, October 13, 2022, five of us drove to Idaho Springs, Colorado. This was not my choice, because I think of Idaho Springs as a place to drive through to get somewhere else. In the past, on our way home from the mountains, we always stopped for pizza at Beau Jo's but that was it. On this road trip we parked and walked around the interesting shops. I was surprised that it is a fun place with many restaurants and cute souvenir shops. I also saw many breweries. The day was perfect with the blue sky and the warm sun.

We ate at Clear Creek Cidery where three of us enjoyed their famous Reuben Sandwich and two ate hamburgers. Four of us could not finish our meal because the sandwiches were huge, and we ended up bringing our left-over Ruebens home with us!

Our tour guide who knows shortcuts and out of the way places chose Indian Hot Springs as our first stop. I had been to the Hot Springs in the past, yet, on entering I was surprised that the entrance looked pretty much like I remembered it, along with the steamy smell. I recall taking visitors to look at the pool, but now no one is allowed in the pool area unless a ticket is purchased. I also remember that while swimming in the hot pool, which is 90 degrees, I felt as if I was on a tropical island! I had to be satisfied by taking a picture of the television screen.

The caves are downstairs, and it looked as if they had been repainted by looking at the information on the t.v. screens. Our tour guide remembered "troughs with bars, on both sides and walking through the hot water." I recalled rough cement walls painted pink, square baths where we could sit; like in a hot tub with no jets. These were private baths for two people. Outside, behind wooden fences, are the hot tubs where it is not as suffocating as down in the caves!

On the Internet I found out the at one time Arapahoe Native Americans considered the springs to be sacred, but in 1863 it was made into public health baths by Dr. E.M. Cummings. 

We left the hot springs and headed to Echo Lake. Along the way we saw a lot of gold and some orange. The only wildlife we saw was roadkill and a squirrel running across the road! At Echo Lake Lodge we found out that the lease had not been renewed by Denver Parks and Recreation and they were closing for good. Everything in the lodge was 50% off so "the chicks," had a field day looking and buying.

At one point our tour guide asked if we wanted to go right or left and when left won, we went through Evergreen where there was a lot of traffic and ended up in Morrison. We drove through Red Rocks and I thought the red was beginning to fade. Somehow, the whole area did not look as red as I remembered it. We got home and I thanked our tour guide, who was also the driver, and I thanked God for a great road trip with wonderful friends!

                                      "If you don't know where you are going,

                                               any road will take you there."

Lewis Carroll

 A Snag at Trader Joe's

Sunday was a perfect day for me; Mass, breakfast with friends, taking pictures at the blessing of animals at Spirt of Christ and a beautiful drive to Boulder to the Trader Joe's store. I wandered up and down the aisle looking at the many different items that I cannot purchase at my local grocery store. The store was crowded, and I remember the warning my granddaughter gave me, "Don't shop at Trader Joe's on Sunday because it is always a mad house!" Each line had at least six persons waiting. The people patiently waited and when it was my turn the clerk began ringing up my items. Little did I know that my perfect day was about to end.

She then said, or I heard, "63.29" I made out the check, but she said, "It should be 62.39."  I did what I always do if I make a mistake.  I put a line through the error and initialed the error. She said that the machine would not accept the check. She asked that I write another check with the correct amount. I gave her the new check and she informed the machine would not accept my check. I said, "I wish to speak with a manager."  A young woman came up and fooled with the check and the register. She then called a young man. Their name tag had their name and crew member. I said, "I wanted to speak with a manager, and he said, "I am a manager." I then remembered that my granddaughter had told me only the managers wear the Hawaiian shirts. When I asked why his name tag had, "Crew Member" he said, "Because we are all crew members of Trader Joe's."

He also messed with the check and the register and could not get the machine to accept my check. He then said, "Let's move over to another register because I think there is something wrong with this register."  Three people in line moved to other registers. The people at the machine we moved to were asked to go to my original machine.  I apologized and the customer said, "No need for you to apologize, it's not your fault."

At the new machine the manager could not get it to accept my check. He then said, "If you give me a blank check, we can try letting the register print it out and then it may get accepted." I told him that it would be my third check and each check cost me money." By this time, I was tired of not being able to pay and feeling guilty about the people waiting in line, so I gave him a blank check. It was accepted and after 45 minutes, I was able to walk out of the store but not before he profusely apologized over and over again.

I think that the first clerk could have rung up the wrong amount and then given me the ninety cents difference but somehow, I think that youth only deal with computers and electronics and cannot figure out that their register would still balance if the change had been given to me. Giving the crew members the benefit of the doubt, I wondered if maybe they are not allowed to open their cash resisters. One crew member did say that he would not know what to do with a check because everyone uses a card. I was just happy to leave Trader Joe's with my groceries!

"Life is like a cash register,

in that every account

every thought, every deal,

like every sale, is registered

and recorded."

Fulton J. Sheen

 ONE MORE CROSS

My daughter and son-in-law walked the Camino de Santiago a few weeks ago. His four siblings and a niece and nephew also walked the 62 miles from Parra to Compostella, Spain. On her travels she found an unusual cross. Knowing that I have a wall with crosses, she brought it back for me. I love it. The fancy metal with the traveler's seashell represents how all roads lead to Compostella. 

The seashell is a symbol of the travelers and can be seen all along the walk to Compostela. My beautiful cross now hangs on my wall and I love looking at it. While my family was in Spain, she would send me pictures of their five day walk and I lived the walk vicariously through them. It is something I would have loved to do but there is no way I could walk fifteen miles or more in a day.  I have been to Compostella and visited the large Cathedral where St. James is buried, and I am sorry I never did the walk!

The walk is usually a spiritual walk though hikers and bicyclists also do the walk. Pope Alexander VI
 declared the " Camino de Santiego would be one of three pilgrimages of Christendom." The Scallop shell became a symbol for the people doing the walk and represents a pilgrimage. Posts along the way have a picture of the shell to keep people on the right path to Compostella.

I will now enjoy my new cross on the wall and enjoy looking at the many pictures she sent to me. That will make me feel closer to the Camino de Santiago!

"The only impossible journey

is one you never begin."

Samantha Wilson

FAIRY TALE OR NOT

On October 8, 2022, at 2 p.m. I joined forty other Young at Heart members at the Arvada Center for Performing Arts to see the play, Into the Woods. Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Peter and the Magic Beans, Rapunzel, two princes, the baker and his wife were telling the audience their story. A witch had put a spell on the baker and his wife so they could not have a child, but she would remove the spell if they brought her a golden slipper, a white cow's milk, a red cape, and hair like the yellow of corn silk.

The search for the items begins when the baker buys the white cow from Jack for magic beans.  Looking for Cinderella's gold slipper, Red Riding Hood's red cape and a corn's silk will end the curse so the baker goes into the woods looking for the items. What the witch does not realize is that she also is cursed as an ugly witch but once she gets the items, she becomes a beautiful woman and loses her powers. Jack's beans grow into a tree that reaches into a giant's land. The giant wants revenge because Jack killed her giant husband. Some of the characters are eaten by the giant and those left learn to live together in harmony.

For me, I would have been satisfied for the play to end before intermission, yet it continues as real life and not fairy tales. Prince is not happy with Cinderella, Rapunzel does not make her prince happy, Jack loses his mother, and the baker takes Red Riding Hood and Jack to live with him. How the actors could memorize their singing parts which sounded like poetry is amazing. There was more singing than talking. The stage was surprising with ways for the actors to go in and off the stage. One scene where the wolf is in bed and is killed, surprised me when from the small bed out came Granny and Little Red Riding Hood. I haven't quite figured out how they did that. A seat at the end of the bed, would open and characters would enter it and disappear. The audience never knew where an actor was going to enter the stage or where they would exit, and it always surprised me!

When the play ended the actors were given a standing ovation. In the brochure there is a note from Lynne Collins, the director of the play. She mentions that she feels compassion for the witch since the witch doesn't know how to love and to let go. "I relate to the feeling of loss that characters experience alongside the beauty of making a new story and a new family within the realities, not the fairy tales, of life." And I guess that sums up the play of Into the Woods.

"(to her prince) My father's house was a nightmare,

your house was a dream, 

now I want something in between."

Cinderella

 POST OFFICE WOES

When traveling to California for two weeks, the first thing on my agenda is to stop mail delivery. Because I have had problems in the past, I stop my mail a few days before I will leave. I filled out the card for my mail to be stopped on September 16, 2022, though I would not leave until September 19. I left the card with a mail clerk at the post office. On September 17, I found mail in my mailbox along with the card that I was stopping the mail. I filled out another card, drove to the post office, and told the clerk that even though I had stopped the mail it had been delivered. He reassured me he personally would give the information to the new mail carrier. The mail now should be stopped on Saturday, September 18. On Saturday I did not receive any mail and I went off happily on my two-week vacation.

I returned on October 3, 2022, and drove to the post office to retrieve my mail. There was no mail for me. The clerk went back a second time to search for my mail and returned to tell me that there was no mail addressed to me. Disappointed I drove home and happened to see a mail truck across the street from where I live. I flagged down the mail carrier and told him about my dilemma.  "Well, I am sorry," he said, "but that is not my route."  He did say that my carrier was his friend. I asked him if his friend knew how to read. He laughed and said he was sure his friend could read but he would talk to him about my mail the following day. I thanked him and wondered if my neighbor had picked up my mail.  I spoke with my neighbor, and he told me he had not picked up my mail. He suggested that next time I should do it online! The next day I went to the post office again and no one could find my mail. I was then told that the mail carrier had my mail, and he would deliver it later that day. Finally, my mail had been found.  Where could my mail have been?

The mystery of the missing mail will never be known, because no one seems to have any answers. I am just glad my mail finally appeared!

"Whether you are sending it 

or receiving it, your mail is 

important to you and to the USPS.

When mail is lost or delayed, 

we want to find it."

USPS

 A Visit to the Fullerton Arboretum

One morning when I was alone in California and I had already walked and fed the dog, I decided to visit the arboretum in Fullerton. I recalled that when my granddaughters were little, we would take them to the arboretum to see the plants, ducks, and trees. Sometimes we would enjoy a picnic and I remembered lots of green, lush greenery. 

I arrived at the parking lot that in the past was free, yet I saw several signs instructing me how to pay for contactless and convenient hourly parking. I needed an app but because I did not know my password, I could not get the app. The sign let me know that "it was a smart, contactless payment in the palm of my hand." What that sign did not know was that I might have a smart phone, but I was not smart enough to use it. All I had to do was put the zone number of 1676 and be charged per hour. It sounded easy enough, but it wasn't. I called a phone number listed but the line was busy. I tried calling several times and could not get an answer.

Walking to the entrance, I informed a young girl working there that I could not register my car for parking and was told she had nothing to do with parking because she only volunteered at the arboretum. Back to the sign I went and called the number again. I took a picture of the QR code that would take me to a URL for parking. Now I had the picture of the small black squiggly on my phone but had no idea what to do next. I tried the phone number again and a man answered. I told him my dilemma. After several attempts of following his instructions, I managed to hear him say, "You are already registered, and you are in Old Town Arvada. "No," I said, "I am in Fullerton and want to pay for parking at the Arboretum." He read me my license plate number and I said, "No that is my Colorado plate, I am in California and driving another car."

We then went through me giving him my name, address, phone number, credit card number, the license plate number of the car I was driving and finally heard, "Okay, you are now registered and how long will you be there?" I told him about an hour, and he said, "Your credit card will be billed for $4.00." It had taken about forty minutes before I entered the arboretum!

The first thing I noticed that it was not as green as I remembered and a sign letting me know what to do if I ran into a coyote!

I went to the Southwestern area to see the different cacti.

I wandered past the pond where in the past the girls would look for fish, admired blue flowers that reminded me of morning glories and then to the palm and fig tree area. There were many squirrels, and they were larger than the ones in Colorado.

The day was hot, around 95 degrees, and the park seemed to be much bigger than I remembered. I picked the shadiest areas and slowly made my way around certain areas of the arboretum. I know there was a lot more to see, but I had seen enough!

An Arboretum is a collection of trees and shrubs.

THINGS I FOUND INTERESTING IN CALIFORNIA

A rock in a church and a fence decoration.

 

A pear tree and a bee swimming in the pool.

 A sign for dogs and a cloud polar bear.

A helping poop and scoop in case you forgot yours and a Tsunami sign. 

Finn at a garage sale and an imprint of a shell in the road.

A pomegranate tree loaded with fruit and decorated sidewalk.

Me with pink hair and my daughter's gourd dogs.

A tiny lizard.

What fun to not have a care in the world other than to look around and enjoy the scenery!

"See the world through

the present moment lens."

Bert McCoy