Feelings

Tonight, my littlest one came to my room crying and sad. I picked her up and she put her arms around my neck and hugged, and wrapped her feet around me. I put in our bed and tucked her as she said, "Thanks." I sang her her song and then went back to what I was doing. She blew me a couple kisses before she drifted off to sleep.

So many feelings in life. They may be an abstract concept but they are very real. For instance, I really wanted to say "There are so many feelings in life" but after all these years, having had Mrs. Wanda pound it into my head during English that you can't start sentences with "there is," "there are," or "there was" because they aren't subjects, I still can't do it. Such a simple thing, but the effect is there.

Feelings can uplift and strengthen or they can drag us down. Some of the best feelings I've felt are love, friendship, hope, happiness, joy, etc. and it doesn't get much better than having little arms around your neck. The diversity of feelings never ceases to amaze me. What would life be like without feelings? Would there be any meaning to existence? I don't think so.

I'm glad for the feelings I've experienced, even those I didn't enjoy at the time I felt them such as sorrow, despair, hopelessness. Without the comparison the good wouldn't seem as good. So, I will continue to throw myself into each new day, intent on experiencing feelings to the fullest, wringing out every last drop to make the experience more full.

Character

"Character is simply habit long enough continued." -- Plutarch

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." -- Helen Keller

"Everyone has the obligation to ponder well his own specific traits of character. he must also regulate them adequately and not wonder whether someone else's traits might suit him better. The more definitely his own a man's character is, the better it fits him." -- Cicero

"You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one." -- James A Froude

"People seem not so see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Most people say that is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character." -- Albert Einstein

"Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike." -- Theodore Roosevelt

"Character, not circumstance, makes the person." -- Booker T. Washington

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig." -- Woodrow Wilson

"We are what we seem to be." Willard Gaylin

"Our lives teach us who we are." -- Salman Rushdie

A simple Google search will reveal all kinds of quote on all kinds of subjects. If only we had a Google search engine inside us that could perform the same service. I remember taking a class from SLCC, it was a college success class and I remember the professor using the analogy of a worker inside our brains who had the job of retrieving, managing, and filing things for us. It would be interesting to interview that worker of ours to see what logic is used for putting things where they are put. Is part of that logic reflective of our character? It makes me think of the country song that says "It's the little things, that make me love you so" and the chorus says "Those little things you do that make me love you/They're all I need to make my dreams come true/And you know what tears me all to pieces/Is the way you tell me that you love me too." (It was hard to type that without singing it to myself in my head as I typed). Anyway, it's the little things that show our character to those around us.

As Emerson also said, "What you are doing thunders so loudly in my ears that I cannot hear what you are saying." It is the things we do that say who we are. The good news is, if you don't like what you are portraying, it's always possible to change it, one little thing at a time.

Frisbee

Frisbee has been a favorite past-time of mine since I was a teenager. Maybe because I always had fun playing frisbee and always had such good company when I played. I remember playing with my brothers out on the street in front of our house. I didn't even mind too much when I almost took my eye out on a branch in Lafaye's orchard when I had to jump over the fence to retrieve the frisbee. We'd play "500" with the return missionary friends who were visiting, although I wasn't the best at that. We even took a frisbee out in the sand for one of my birthday cookouts and I think it's still out there. Jeff used to play very patiently with me (I've not always had the straightest throw) and Trent and Joshua used to play Frisbee with me after I'd get off work my first year in college.

Needless to say I have good memories of playing frisbee. I still enjoy playing and I've found a new companion to enjoy it with me.

Frasier is always excited when I get down the Frisbee and we head out the door. It is a great way to give him exercise. He's got his eye on the Frisbee right there and is ready to go.

This is the gravel piles the City keeps a half a block east and north of our house. I do like living on the edge of town. Even if I don't throw the Frisbee over the gravel piles, Frasier will usually detour over at least one on his way back to me.
As you can see, he takes some detours on the way back. The above picture, I had actually thrown the Frisbee over the big pile in the middle, but going over one pile wasn't enough for him.Here he is returning from a bathroom trip at the corner of the lot. The first couple times after we head outside he takes the Frisbee with him to do his business before he brings it back. He makes it so easy on me. I throw the Frisbee, watch him chase it down, often hurtling over the top of the gravel piles, and then when he's on the way back, I bend over and hold out my hand and he brings it right to me, even if it means he has to circle me a couple times to slow down. Frasier knows how to make me happy.

Here's a link with more pictures of our Frisbee trip today.

https://picasaweb.google.com/hyamiranda/Frisbee?authkey=Gv1sRgCOqp14nZnYaaRg&feat=directlink

"Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different." -- Katherine Mansfield.

I still love quotes. Someday I'll have to put all my quotes together in one place.

Interesting-what does it say about you?

I was yellow.

http://www.careerpath.com/career-tests/career-quiz/

I was an organizer.

http://www.careerpath.com/career-tests/color-test/

My turtles and fish

I have to say that I love my turtles. I could watch them all day. My favorite thing is to feed them by hand. They are actually pretty good at not biting me.

Of course, we know that if children hold something close enough for them to bite onto, they don't let go until they are out of the tank and then they go flying. The turtle was none the worse for it's 5-6 foot flight and landing on a wood floor. It tucked in its shell and the kids gathered around, and then, they scattered as he came out and started crawling.

We like to supplement their diet with feeder goldfish. It's best to buy the cheapest fish possible because they typically don't last long, with the exception of our 6 remaining goldfish. We also have "the monster fish" which is a large plecostamus.

Painted turtles are spread, with different varieties, across the US. They are aquatic and do great in the water as long as they have a basking area to sit on. They are fun to watch when they are hunting. I still can't believe how fast they are.

They are very inquisitive, very interactive, and have very good eyesight. They'll see me in the kitchen and start scratching at the tank when they are hungry. Of course, they decided to be camera shy.

Here is a link to more pictures in my online album. https://picasaweb.google.com/hyamiranda/MyTurtlesAndFish?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvq0pyV-ImQKA&feat=directlink

Quotes

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." Hellen Keller

"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit." E.E. Cummins

"Excellence is not an act but a habit. the things you do the most are the things you will do the best." Marva Collins

"Make voyages! -- Attempt them! -- there's nothing else..." Tennessee Williams

My thoughts- truth comes from many sources. Sometimes we see it when it comes, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we need to see it from one place because we won't see it from another. The search for truth is an ongoing journey that can be as exciting as we want it to be.

better late than never

So, I've been typing the bedroom the last 3 1/2 days instead of working in the office which is right off the living room. Why, you may ask? Well, to avoid interruptions, kids and dogs that can push the door open, TV, Internet, etc. Anyway, I've been sitting on the floor with a lap desk, working away, thinking to myself, "This just doesn't seem right, I need small desk or something so I sit on the couch. What did I use last time I was working back here?" Today, as I sat on the floor ready to work and shift and fidget again for hours of uncomfortable typing while sitting on the floor, I looked across the room, and the lights came on, or maybe I should say someone finally came home. Literally right across the room from me is my piano bench. It's probably been sitting there the last few days smugly laughing at me every time I fidget or adjust my position, wondering how long it would be before I figured things out. Better late than never, but that piano bench could have reminded me a lot sooner. :)