Well, the "birthday week" is now drawing to a close on this Sunday afternoon.  The big "Seven-Oh" has arrived and it is here to stay.  Yikes!

Yesterday afternoon was the perfect end to the birthday week.  Family and I met and Ken and Marion's house for an afternoon of barbecue, laughter, love, eating, talking...and all in all the best time ever (at least for me).  I am ashamed to admit that this old man began fading away early and was in bed by 9:30pm...meanwhile the youngsters built a fire in the firepit and I am sure they were not in bed until well after midnight.

Of course the payback was that I was up bright and early (6:30am) and having coffee while they slumbered away.  LOL

The last time I had been in Ken and Marion's house was January, 2002, and I was there for a few days...and remember one of the best spaghetti dinners ever.  Fond memories.  Now they are no longer with us and although their house still echoes their voices and their presence, it also is filled with the present.  I know beyond a doubt that this is what they would want...their family enjoying their home.

So this morning while sipping coffee I was surrounded by memories...maybe even voices of the past...of simply sitting at the kitchen bar and sipping wine and getting snockered...to Christmases, Thanksgivings, Easters...all of the celebrations of life.  I could not help but wonder where all of these years have gone...there are so many years yet they have disappeared in seconds.  I miss Ken and Marion more today than I have ever missed them.

Life goes on, eh?

Apropos in today's Daily Word:   "I am the author of my story. No matter what happens, I choose the meaning I give to events in my life. "

Truly, I am the author of my life and I've written some great chapters to this thing called life.  Also, I've written some things that I will also keep buried for they are about episodes in my life that are not really me.

My goal...my purpose...is to keep writing those great chapters.

​E'nuff!

This past week I turned 70 years old.  Although on one level it was a quiet day of CJ and I simply hanging out at the wee cottage in the woods...it was also a day filled phone calls, texts, emails, FB greetings and packages being delivered to the front door.  Trust me when I say it was a very full day.

Also trust me when I say that I came away from that day knowing I was loved...and appreciated.  It was a humbling experience as friends and family told me how much I meant to them as they remembered my help and support in situations I had long forgotten...or as we shared much laughter over good times remembered.

So I sit here this morning with an "attitude of gratitude."  My life is full of love and laughter.  What more could a man want?

​E'nuff!

During many years of apartment living I'd forgotten some of the little pleasures of having a yard filled with flowers.  My gardens here at the wee little cottage in the woods are filled with a cacophony of perennials...when one ceases blooming another one starts.  It is now late July and the flowers that are blooming are Shasta Daisies and Cone Flowers.

My parents had a lot of white flowers in their gardens such as daisies and gladiolos.  Over the weekend I was thinking of how my mother used to cut bouquets of white flowers and color them with food coloring...and end up with beautiful exotic looking flowers for the dining room table, the kitchen tabled or the sideboard.

So I "Googled" the process for doing the same thing she used to do.  It is quite simple actually:  1/2 cup water to which one adds 20 - 30 drops of food colors.  In this mixture you place your white flowers making sure they are freshly cut...and three to four hours later you have these beautiful flowers.  My poor example is in the picture above.

I am going to do this again!

E'nuff!

Yesterday the birthday week began style!  Family joined me here at the wee little cottage in the woods bringing with them a delicious dinner of barbecue ribs, asparagus, tossed salad...and German Chocolate cake for dessert.  Pretty darn good, eh?

A few months ago when a friend from California was here helping me settle in after the move...one afternoon we went to the Dallas House in St. Croix Falls.  For our lunch we had one of the most delicious burgers either of have ever had.  PLUS...we each had an outstanding Bloody Mary and when we exclaimed to our waitress about their goodness...she told us that the Bloody Mary's were based upon a mix made on Somerset, Wisconsin.

Last week I finally found the mix at the local grocer in Luck, WI (Wayne's)...and I bought two bottles of it for my nephew Rod...who is the family Bloody Marty artist.  Yesterday afternoon I gave the mix to him, showed him where the vodka was located, and gave him all the garnish he could want and need.  We were all rewarded with the best Bloody Mary's ever!

Hence the hangover we all have today.

​E'nuff!

Next week I turn 70 years old!  How the hell did that ever happen?!?  It seems like it was only yesterday and I was a bright eyed youngster moving to San Francisco and pursuing my dreams.  Yes, I know that "age" is only a number...and I do agree with that concept.  I am 70 but my mind is nowhere near that old.  However, once in awhile my body reminds me that I am indeed older.  LOL

On my birthday my mother always made one of two dinner choices for me.  German Chocolate cake was and is my favorite cake...and was always homemade by her.  The the dinners were either her fried chicken with pan gravy and baking powder biscuits...or breaded pork chops with scalloped potatoes.  This year once again that tradition will be maintained as I make one of those dinners...except the German Chocolate cake will not be homemade but from the local bakery.

My California family always celebrated our birthdays together.  We always made each other's birthday a special event...dinners or brunches...filled with love and laughter.  I am going to miss that so much this year.  However, I will not concentrate on not being with them and instead concentrate on all of the good memories shared with them...and in doing that I will still be able to hear their laughter, smell the food, and toast them with a glass of champagne.

I am going to be in California in October...maybe we can celebrate all of our birthdays then?

​E'nuff!

Yesterday was a warm, rainy and humid day here in Frederic.  Thankfully by late evening the humidity went away and the temps dropped.  Right now at 6:30am the temperature is a delightful 54 degrees.  In the coolness of last night I slept like a baby.

What are my thoughts this morning?  Well, they are many so I am not sure where to begin.  However, one very important thought that I have...that actually began formulating yesterday...is that I want to release all negativity and worry from my life.  I want to live in peace and love and joy...and none of those will happen when negativity and worry occupy my thoughts.

Yesterday I did not feel very well.  I guess it was the culmination of a lack of sleep from the night before as well as the various aches and pains that are a part of a mature life.  Consequently it was a quiet day and a time for reflection on my attitudes and thoughts; and, I came to the conclusion that I've let "worry" control my thoughts and therefore my life.  As a very wise Unity minister (Rev. Maureen Bass) once said:  "When you worry about something, that is the same as praying that thing into reality."

So, I am releasing worry...and I am releasing negativity from my life.  Instead I take on positive thoughts...appreciation for where I am in this wonderful gift of life.  So this morning CJ and I are in our beautiful wee little cottage in the woods and living in this moment filled with early morning sunlight, classical music and peace.  Well, maybe not CJ so much...there is some critter outside right now that his undivided attention!  LOL!

​E'nuff!

There is nothing quite as quintessential summer Wisconsin as a "day spent at the lake."  This past Saturday they day was spent at Bone Lake...a large seven mile long beautiful lake close to Luck, WI.  As I watched the  kids and adults fish, boat,  swim and splash around in the water all afternoon I felt as if I had come full circle in my life.

I grew up on Amacoy Lake in North Central Wisconsin.  Us lake kids spent the summer either in the lake or on the lake.  We'd meet every afternoon to go swimming at a nice sandy beach at the south end of the lake and after a couple of hours of sun and water we would return to our homes for dinner.  Then in the evening we would meet once again and swim until it was dark.  This is the way it was...this is the way it was supposed to be in our minds for we never realized that we were growing up with things that most do not get to experience.

Then I grew up...we all grew up...and we went on with our lives.  We all pursued jobs and lives elsewhere in the country.  In my case I went off to university in the Twin Cities and then eventually lived 35 years in San Francisco and then Pacifica.  Now I've returned to Wisconsin and live in a village in Northwestern Wisconsin...in the heart of lake country.

Yes, the circle is now complete.  What I do and where I go from this point on...I do not know.  Suffice it to say that my faith will guide me and that divine order is present in all facets of my life.

​E'nuff!

The weather forecast says we are to have a high temp today of 85 (F).  As I walked to the end of the driveway and back while getting the mail I could not help but enjoy the soft warm breeze of this summer morning.

Now I am sitting here in the wee cottage in the woods enjoying my gardens, sipping on a cup of Gevalia coffee, and listening to classical music being streamed via KDFC (San Francisco).  I find myself wishing this moment could last forever.

However moments such as this do not last forever for the day moves on and there are things to be done, places to go, people to meet.  This old man is learning to live with an "attitude of gratitude."

From today's Daily Word here is a quote that spoke to me:  "Each moment I spend connecting with God in quiet times of prayer creates another layer of my spiritual character. I express the spirit of God through me and build my house—my spiritual character—with unshakable faith and unlimited joy."

​E'nuff!

In the wee hours of this morning a series of thunderstorms (or one big thunderstorm) rolled through the area with lots of lighting, booming thunder and rain.  At 5am when my alarm woke it me, it was still raining.  Now the storm(s) have passed and we here in Northwestern Wisconsin are greeted with a sunny morning.

Already it is Wednesday.  I feel good today.  Tomorrow the weather is to turn wonderfully cool and I am thinking of doing some baking...maybe a new recipe to post on this blog?  Yesterday a friend sent me a recipe for a blueberry/orange cake that I am tempted to try.  Since strawberries are now in season and inexpensive, it may be a good day to make a strawberry pie.

It is time to get this day started...

​E'nuff!

This morning I woke up homesick.  As I deconstruct the reasons for feeling this way I recognize a number of causes:  1)  psoriasis is flaring up  2)  gout is flaring up...the third flare-up in 10 days  3) a night of restless sleep and I am tired  4) videos on Instagram of friends/family in California together having good times.

My first thought is that I am miserable...and I definitely am not having a good time.  I never fully appreciated...perhaps took for granted...all of the good times shared while living there and now that I am no longer there...the absence of these good times is painful.  My type of people and my type of place.  I belonged and could express my thoughts freely since we were all like-minded.  I do not understand this place where I live...or perhaps I understand it way too well and do not like what it is?

My goodness but this period of transition is not fun.

All of that said, I firmly believe I am here in this place and time for a reason.  As I sit here at my computer and gaze across the comfortable expanse of my my home and watch the early morning sun kiss the leaves of the trees outside my windows, as I listen to the song of the Jenny Wren warbling outside, as I listen to classical music and as I sip on my mug of coffee...I slowly come back to my senses and realize that all is ok.  Divine Order is in this event as well as in this day.  This moment and this day is precious.

In fact today's Daily Word from Unity also touched upon living in the moment.  "I recommit today to being fully present in the moment—to the content and awareness of God’s presence."  If I do this how can I not help but know that everything is going to be ok?  Where all of this might lead is hidden from me right now but what I do know for sure is to live in the moment, to love, to be all that I can be today...and the future will take care of itself.

E'nuff!