Turtle Alert! Gra Gra down!

tea at 3?

Here I am again... up at 3 AM... drinking tea and trying to get a million different thoughts from running around blindly in my head.  I picture them all flitting around bumping into each other in some sort of mad frenzy... each vying for my attention... while I try my best to make them go away or at least settle down so I can just regain that soft calm druggy feeling of relaxed sleep. 

But on these mornings, its no use, so I get up, make a cup of tea, and sit with the cats in the kitchen for a bit. Now I'm reading blogs and deciding if there are other more productive things I could be doing. 

Ongoing projects consist of creating mobile bird feeders - have 2 of these sitting on the shelf in the studio (still greenware), continue proofing a book a friend of mine is helping me self-publish, work on another that is in progress, shredding tons of old paperwork that has accumulated in closets and computer room, cleaning out the garage - which hasn't been able to fit a car into these last few years, and finding the time, money, and ability to buy tickets to Hawaii to visit our son - hopefully in the next few months.

Also DH and I were watching "Chernobyl" on Netflix or Hulu last night before bed - not exactly conducive to a restful night's sleep (interesting story though). We have Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and Acorn.  Acorn is our favorite... love all those shows based in the countryside of England, Ireland, Wales, New Zealand, etc. One of my favorites was a non-assuming little series that didn't have any murders or any real action-packed anything, yet I really enjoyed watching it. It was called "The Detectorists" and it was simply a little group of people in a small town that spent their days roaming the countryside using metal detectors and then sharing what they found. (I'd love to do that - but I'm sure some would say.... "boring!)

Which reminds me (since our 6 year old granddaughter was at the house yesterday evening - and says "boring" a lot). Our youngest son dropped her by for a few hours so he and his wife could go out to a quiet dinner alone for a change. No problem. She and I watched a new Christmas movie together (well, I watched, she chatted the whole time - sitting still is difficult for her). But I had been at the pottery studio all day and was tired, so watching a movie rather than running around playing with her was more my speed last night. But she seemed to be fascinated with the story and asked a million questions. And for a Christmas (Santa) story, it was interesting... different. It was called "The Christmas Chronicles" on Netflix.

That's about the news here. Yes, I know... "boring"!  Oh, there was another thing we did recently... went down to Terrell, Texas for our semi-annual visit to Ham's Peach Orchard! We bought fresh peaches, fresh peach ice-cream, peach cobbler, fresh picked pecans, and peach-pulled pork sandwiches.  All wonderful! They have the little store out front and then a pavilion out back with tables and rocking chairs. It's got to be a tradition with us to go every May and July, stock up on goodies, and sit out back in the rockers eating our ice-cream. There's always a cool breeze blowing - very calm and refreshing way to spend a morning. DH's brother and his wife come down from Houston and go with us in July. (They bring a huge ice-chest and stock up too)

some of our Ham's Orchard purchases (not the cat)

OK... that's it for today... almost 5 am. Maybe I'll go back to bed for a bit. Thanks for being there. 

Oh... I forgot to explain the title of this blog , "Turtle Alert! Gra Gra down!"   One of my sons sent me an Alert bracelet/pendant  (for Mother's Day) to wear that alerts any falls or scares, etc. by not using a monitoring system but by connecting to a app on one's iPhone where when the alert is set off, it sends a text message to any 3 people whose phone numbers you set up. (Yes, although I luckily haven't had a problem with 'falls' so far, I must be officially old now) Well, you have to put in the text message, so instead of putting in the familiar "I've fallen and I can't get up" message, I thought of myself as a turtle on my back and since youngest granddaughter calls me Gra Gra ... "Turtle Alert! Gra Gra down!"

Hugs,
Rian

in the wee small hours of the morning...

It's 4 AM and I'm having one of those 'dark night of the soul' episodes. Well, perhaps that's an exaggeration. But you know those nights when you wake up at 3 AM... and your mind is filled with thoughts that you consciously avoid during your waking hours... worries about your children, your grandchildren, friends, your friends' children, finances, health, climate control, the state of the world, the state of the nation... as well as old age and dying.

I personally think these pop up because they are things that for the most part, we have little or no control over. During the day our conscious mind is aware of this and push these thoughts aside, but at night when our guard is down, these worries resurface.

When there's no answer or solution, I tend to 'give it to God' (as the expression goes), have a cup of tea, and eventually go back to bed.

But I have found that humor helps... if I can laugh at myself. For instance - I've seen that ambulance, fire truck, etc. show up in the middle of the night (for neighbors as well as for my own mother)... and I wonder if and when it will one day come for me. I'm sure other 'older folk' must think about this too. However, my first thought before this band of strangers come charging into my house would be... 'are there dishes in the sink?" 


Oh well... it is what it is right? (and we CAN handle it!)

Thanks for reading. Have a good Sunday (and don't leave any dishes in the sink!)

Sorting through the past...

Sorting through boxes of my past writings today and came across this.

17 years ago (April 2001 to be exact)  I was writing on a site called "Themestream".  This is what I wrote:

Good Morning to all of you out there who might also be awake at 3 am!  Teela, Molly, and Thibbadeaux (our 3 cats - all deceased now in 2018) surround me with their love and support even at this early hour.  Molly is jabbing at Teela trying to get her to play. Thibs is lolling around... just being cute. 

The theme of this post is 'focusing on the present'. I guess one can't get any more present than 3 am. It's an odd time - too early to actually do anything and  almost too late to try to get back to sleep. So when all else fails, I write.

I could use this time to dust my china cabinets, you know the ones that contain all the little treasures you collect from friends or travel (or traveling friends). I have 3 (china cabinets, not friends)  I'm sure it must be these wee hours of the morning that are making me silly. It takes me all day to lovingly go through even one cabinet as I tend to reminisce on each item as it is dusted and carefully rearranged.

Most of my treasures consist of a hodge podge of pretty china cups and saucers picked up in second shops in England or France, a lovely Lladro figure from Harrrod's,  a few Waterford pieces from our trip to Ireland,  and small seal and puffin figurines picked up on the Orkney Islands . 

Well, I'm probably too knackered (is that the right word? hopefully it means tired and silly) to dust anything at this hour without breaking it, so I'll sack that idea.




Well, it's now 2018 and I still have the occasional 3am wake up call. It doesn't happen often (thank goodness), but it does happen. And although the remaining cats here now are Tux, Julie, and Ghost... they react pretty much the same as our others did back then. They are happy to see me up at strange hours and generally join me in whatever endeavor I choose. 

My 3 China cabinets have now been reduced to one - having given one to my daughter and another to a friend.  And as you all well know - as we age, we need to simplify and downsize. However, a few things were kept...  

Lladro from Harrod's

Aynsley cup from second shop

puffin and seal from Orkney Islands

These too will go to my daughter (or a grand daughter) eventually. 
But for now I will continue to dust them and enjoy the memories they bring forth. 

I'm sure that many of you out there do the same.  

It has become a little easier to go through things and sort. I've been using these questions:

1. Do I need this?
2. Do I want this?
3. Do my kids want this?
4. Would anyone want this?

If all answers are no, it goes into the trash.

Do you have a system that works for you?