Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We've been taking care of our youngest grandson more this week, as the nanny is away.  Today we had a grand time with him, except for the nap.  He's decided not to take it.  At eighteen months he doesn't need it, unless, well, he falls asleep in his stroller or the car.  He's tired, you give him his bottle, zip him in his sleeping straight jacket, plug in the pacifer, hand him his kitty, and when you put him down he stands up immediately and cries.  No question who will win the battle:  today I listened 15 minutes and went up and tried to rock him, but as soon as I put him down, screams.  Monday I tried the routine three times, and it took an hour, and then I waved a white flag and prepared to sign documents on terms of surrender.  Today, we gave up and took him to a cafe, then to a park, where he lined up all the trucks, absconded with a little girl's shoes, and generally ran around like the energizer bunny, then on the way home fell asleep in the stroller.  He slept in our front hall in the stroller for an hour, too exhausted to wake himself up.  He bore no resentment however.  He awoke happy and cuddly and demanding "nak" as he calls snack.  He graciously accepted pear slices and drank some milk.  Mommy soon picked him up and murmured about early bedtime.  I have my writing group this evening, so no early bedtime for me.  Drat!

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Pretty quickly and impulsively I bought a plane ticket and headed to see my friend two states away who had knee surgery seven weeks ago and my daughter and granddaughter one state away.  The visits were reassuring.  My friend is not "all better", but coping well and on the road to full recovery.  We talked endlessly and had brief ventures out into the world, without much strain on her leg.  I hadn't seen her since October, so I'd been missing her, and I was needing to see with my own eyes that she was okay.  She is.  Then I took the train to see my older daughter and granddaughter, and they had wonderful news for me.  My daughter's cancer is in remission.  So we celebrated, and the visit was euphoric and we all had glowing smiles.  We ate out, toasted, shopped, saw a women's soccer game and generally hung out.  Even my plane flight getting canceled couldn't dampen our spirits, and I was able to fly out an hour and a half later than planned.  When I returned home, my husband and I walked the reservoir with our younger son, his wife, our younger daughter and youngest grandson, then went out to dinner with our son and daughter-in-law.  We had a delicious, two and a half hour dinner, and I felt like Mother's Day was wonderful.  Did I tell you my husband bought me five pots of plants and a Native American pottery bowl?  Wow!  I guess he missed me!

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

My husband and I met our two grandsons and their parents, plus our in-laws about an hour away from where we live, and the little boys had fun riding the train, the mechanical rides and feeding apacas and goats.  I had brought along two rolls of quarters for the animal food, as my son suggested, and we had a ball trying to feed the apacas without the goats barging over.  It was a beautiful day, there were waterfalls and minature towns and rides that the boys were too young for yet, and then we all ate together at an Indian restaurant, with only one scream, one spilling water all over the table, lots of shuffling of the boys, and finally us taking turns walking them outside while we finished.
Then my husband and I said goodbye, as naps were in order, and we strolled around a historic home nearby out in the midst of grassy fields and roses and shady trees.  I love the place.  I can really imagine a life on this property, and I'm so glad it's been preserved.  We began walking and my husband got an attack of hay fever from the grasses in the fields so we turned back, drove a few miles and had dinner outside beside a river with music wafting from the other side.  Most pleasant, indeed.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

My husband and I took our grandson to the zoo today.  All three of us are exhausted.  We saw giraffes, elephants, camels, tigers, warthogs, zebras, otters, baboons, hyenas, monkeys and other creatures.  We groomed goats.  We played in the grass.  We rode the train.  We ate outside and watched the train go past.  When we got our grandson back in the car, by carrying him, he wouldn't leave, he took two seconds to fall asleep in the carseat.  We stayed awake for safety reasons and transferred him to his mother's arms without him waking up.  When we returned home my husband ate a huge bowl of ice cream and I put the toys away in the living room.  Tomorrow we see both little grandsons but with their parents, so we should be less worn out.  And the wearing out is definitely worth it.  We always have fun with the grandkids!

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We watched two TCM films on TV last night, part of a group of "Maisie" movies from the 1940s starring Ann Southern.  I vaguely knew the name, but was attracted to the title, because my mother was often called Maisie, when she wasn't just May.  These are "B" movies, but fun comedies and they were so successful at the time that eight or nine were made.  Ann Southern is irresistible in the two we saw.  She's opinionated, speaks her mind, tells people "what's what" and so adorably and with so much verve that she's a heroine.  Snappy repartee and pretty good scripts give her the room she needs to take over the screen.  She won't shut up, and gets rewarded for it every time.  Of course she gets her man, and he is putty in her hands.  Ah, the good old days, when women could mouth off and cut their men down to size.  Like Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday, Maisie holds her own and teaches everyone else a lesson.  She's an awful busybody, but she's always right.  I'd say she's a better role model than Wonder Woman, and with no special powers, just smarts.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I had a lovely walk today with a friend.  We admired peonies, wisteria, blooming fruit trees and encountered a turkey that I'd seen earlier in my own yard.  I was raving about Kauai, but said I got home and noticed all the flowers everywhere here, the iris, roses and dogwood, and felt like THIS was paradise too.  I'm grateful.  My paltry garden is even bursting with color between the azaleas, iris, jasmine, and camellias.  But luckily, some real show gardens are nearby, popping with foxglove, grape vines, hollyhocks and more.  I've always loved white flowers, and I adore tuberroses, white roses, white wisteria and white dogwood; though my favorite flower, the daffodil, I expect to be yellow, and don't enjoy the white version as much.  The only thing I've consistently envied about the rich is their gardens, flowers and fresh cut flowers in their houses.  How I'd love blooms in vases in every room of my house.  That is how I treat myself when I'm feeling splurgy.  But even then, a couple of bouquets is all I manage.  But step outside my door, and a flowery world awaits me, for free, just for the looking!

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

My friend and I saw "The Rider" yesterday, and it is beautiful and heartbreaking.  It focuses on a real family, slightly fictionalized, and the young man who is recovering from a horrific rodeo accident and trying to find what to do with his life after the rodeo life is closed to him forever.  He's sweet, compassionate and kind to his best friend, who is severely disabled from his own rodeo accident, and his disabled sister.  But his gentleness is best shown in his interactions with horses, first Gus, then Apollo.  He is like Buck, in that documentary, who is a legendary horse whisperer.  In this film, the people are Lakota, on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.  Their poverty and lack of options are painful to observe.  Yet they persevere, living on the land, interlocked with horses, as were their ancestors.  It's a tough life, but with this young man it is a noble life, and we feel honored to have witnessed his bravery and compassion.