"A time to reflect" is an overused cliche.  Yet there are times in life when one realizes that is exactly what they are doing.  Since the first of this year I have had some minor health issues that largely incapacitated me.  Being unable to operate, gave me a lot of time for reading, sleeping, watching television, eating...and yes, time for reflection.  In summation I've come to the conclusion that I have lived a good life.  At the end, I have family that are friends and friends that are family...and they all get along.  What more could I ask for?

In fact the other morning, while enjoying strong cup of coffee, I observed to CJ (my cat):  "CJ, you know what, we have landed really well."  We have a warm and comfortable home.  He has critters to watch...and in fact, he thrives in this space.  I have classical music to listen to and good books to read.  What more could I ask for?

Lastly, as I have mentioned, I dealt with health issues this year that impaired my functionability.  Now those health seem to be in the rearview mirror of my life.  And I ask once again,  what more could I ask for?

​You see, I have health, home, food, love.  What more could I ask for?

It is now Monday morning and I am sitting here enjoying the luxury of a hot mug of coffee, of the lights being on as well as the warmth of heat.

Yesterday was not the same as today.  Saturday night the power went out about 9:00...and it did not come back on until 1:24 yesterday afternoon.  The reason I know the exact time was because I was sitting the clocks on the stove, coffee maker, etc.

We'd gotten a good bit of ice from late Friday night and into Saturday morning.  Then Saturday night the rain, ice and snow returned with a vengeance bringing down tree limbs and trees themselves.  The point where I lost power was close to the corner of my yard where it interdicted my neighbors yard...a tree in his yard came down taking out the electric wire(s).

The long and short of me talking about this is that I hate ice storms.  I can deal with snow.  I can deal with cold.  But ice is just plain destructive.  However, I am also thankful for the goodness of neighbors who had power and invited me into their home for warmth, coffee and breakfast.  And for other neighbors who also had power and baked cookies and distributed them to those of us without power.

I came away from this event with a tremendous sense of community.  In these very troubling times, these goodnesses are beacons of hope.

A good friends passed on to me this idea/recipe for a brownie...or bar.  It is excellent.  The basic ingredients are your favorite packaged brownie mix (8x8 pan size) and two Symphony bars...plus oil, eggs and milk per brownie mix instructions.

Mix together the brownie batter per the directions on the package.  Pour 1/2 of the batter into a greased 8x8 baking pan.  Top this with two Symphony bars.  Pour the remaining batter over the top of the bars...smooth to edge of pan.

Bake per directions on brownie mix package.  In my case it was 30 minutes and 350 degrees.

Enjoy.  Really, enjoy!

It is my conviction that thoughts are powerful tools.  Our thoughts create our reality on a daily basis.  When these thoughts are put into the spoken word, they become even more powerful.  And lastly, when these thoughts are written down they gain a strength and a permanence.

I've been thinking about the direction in which I want to take my blog.  This thing...this blog...is the reason I get up in the morning.  Consequently because it is so important to me, I want to add to it...to make it perhaps even more interesting those of you that come upon it.

As Mark Twain said:  "Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life."

So this area of my blog..."Residual Thoughts" is going to become an area of comment about life whether is be a story about the day...or a commentary on the interesting world in which we live.

I hope you will enjoy this as much as I do...