Decoration Day …

was the original name for Memorial Day.  I probably knew that in elementary school but I certainly didn’t remember it.  I like it better.  Sure, I know that memorial means we remember and honor those who died while serving in the U.S. military.  But if you look at the history of Memorial Day you might agree.  Decoration Day originated in the years following the Civil War.  By the late 1860s various people began holding springtime tributes to the countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers as well as praying.  From History.com:

Major General John A. Logan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On May 5, 1862, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.”While Decoration Day was originally intended to commemorate only those fallen during the Civil War, after World War I it changed, evolving to honor American military personnel who died in all wars.

Parades, often including military personnel and members of veterans’ groups are a traditional part of celebrations.  Others visit cemeteries and memorials, decorating the graves of veterans and loved ones.

I suppose both names are fitting (but I’m still partial to Decoration Day).

Many thanks to the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  Many thanks also to the families of the fallen; their sacrifice is no less great.

They said what?

You can tell I’m grasping for blog ideas when I pull something like this.  However, I genuinely like to hear what other people have said on different subjects in the past.  I won’t claim to agree with all of them, but hey – food for thought anyone?  Count your blessings, I’m only including a few here; I have 8 pages of these in a Word document!

“If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.  But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.  And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I hate to disagree with him but based on my personal experience I’d say my grandfather had no good in him.

“This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” ~ the Dalai Lama

Nice.  I’ve always felt closer to God outdoors, especially at the ocean or in the mountains.

“A Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt.  He said, ‘I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart.  One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one.  The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one.’  The grandson asked him, ‘which wolf will win the fight in your heart?’  The grandfather answered, ‘The one I feed.’ ~ Unknown

Anonymous wisdom is sometimes the best.

Instead of giving money to fund colleges to promote learning, why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything?  If it works as good as the Prohibition one did, why, in five years we would have the smartest race of people on earth.” ~ Will Rogers

I’ll bet it would work too.

This one’s for you, my online friends:

“The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My very favorite quote is by Spider Robinson, an author I found by accident several years ago.  I promptly devoured everything he wrote.  This is my signature line for my personal email account.

“Shared pain is lessened.  Shared joy is increased.”

So true.  I hope y’all are having a good week.

 

Work environment is a big deal

We’ve all read or heard stories about hostile or toxic work environments.  When you must spend the majority of your day, five days a week (or more) in the workplace I think it should be as pleasant as possible.  No one I know wants to work.  Well, some of the attorneys I work with might be an exception.  They truly seem to love what they do. 

I’ve been blessed to work in mostly good places throughout my career.  Sure, I’ve griped about micro-managing supervisors, low pay or lack of benefits – who hasn’t?  But overall?  For almost 30 years I’ve worked in offices.  Most of them were comfortable, some more than others.  Some of my bosses were memorable. 

There was Ruth, the first attorney I ever worked for – when I had no idea how to be a legal secretary.  She was a great mentor!  Later, there was Marty, a deputy attorney general who didn’t want the “newbie” secretary.  But we clicked quite well.  He used his contacts to get me help with my divorce.  In that same office I worked for a man whose name escapes me.  Probably because our personalities clashed like cymbals.  Eventually I came to BigLaw where I felt completely out of my depth.  I learn quickly though and almost 15 years later I’m one of the most senior secretaries (in terms of longevity anyway).  I’ve worked with L the entire time and also with B for most of those years.  Add in the two associate lawyers I support and I have a substantial, sometimes stressful workload.

BigLaw’s work environment is alright.  (We won’t talk about their policies this time.)  The office is light and pleasant.  Sometimes the climate control gets wonky – or I suppose it could be the menopause kicking in.  And the coffee’s free!  I enjoy my job.  I like the people I work with, and while I’ve had many opportunities over the years to change jobs, I’m still here and still mostly happy about it. 

I like to think I contribute to the positive work environment.  Some of you readers know a bit about my sense of humor.  Well, one way I try to lighten the mood in the office is I post a cartoon on the fridge every day.  To make the cut a cartoon has to either make me laugh out loud or cause me to go “Huh?”  Think Gary Larson’s The Far Side.  Or Sunny Street by Max Garcia.  I shared these two recently.   I double dog dare you not to smile! 

Another way I’ve found to elevate office spirits is my toy collection.  Yeah, I know I’m 56 years old, and yes I still have a toy collection.  What’s your point?  Attorneys I don’t even know have stopped at my desk on their way to somewhere else and played.  Some attorneys have brought their children by to visit.  It’s good clean fun for everyone!  And warms my heart.

The collection has sort of evolved.  Some of the items are branded with the firm name, others came in the gift bag Grammy gave me when she visited last summer before my surgery.  The happy face mug originally held a floral arrangement I received as a thank you from a summer associate last year.  If you look close you’ll see a souvenir bottle in the back with a very faint outline of the Space Needle.  I got that on my first wedding anniversary when Hubs and I had dinner in the restaurant at the top.  Watching people do double takes or slow down as they walk by to take it all in is the highlight of my day.  So here you go – enjoy some virtual frivolity: 

Finis

I was going to write about the actual Mother’s Day celebration at our house Sunday but I think I may have overdone this whole plot line.  Suffice it to say it was pretty darn awesome.  And then there was this moment with our youngest grandchildren.  I was a happy bubbe let me tell you!

Mother’s Day – Continued

 My pre-Mother’s Day celebration continued into Friday when my daughter (yes, the same one who sent the fruit and balloons) arrived at my office around lunch time.  I was still hard at work (ha!) when they arrived so I went up to bring them back to my floor so I could finish up.  When I got up there K handed me a clear terrarium-style vase thing with a Darling Orchid inside.  Yes, that’s the actual name.  It’s quite lovely with soft white petals and a spongy moss base.  It has a place of honor on the shelf in front of my desk between the lucky bamboo and the violet.  K brought her best friend along and I played hooky for the afternoon.  We went to the Market where we indulged in pieroshkys (I thought of you Grammy!  We ate in the same little park!).  Then we wandered into and around the Market.  In the almost 15 years we’ve lived in Washington K had never been to the Market!  That surprised me but once I started thinking about it, I realized I rarely get to the Market on my own.  Usually it takes out of town family or friends coming to visit to get me there. 

After visiting a couple of shops with Asian art and lots of jade we got sidetracked by the bakery.  Then while passing the seafood counter K spotted the Balloon Guy and wanted a motorcycle so we headed over there.  We didn’t have a real plan and following our nose we wound up at The Great Wind-Up – the shop Grammy and I enjoyed on her visit in March.  There was sooo much laughter while we were there and K found two wind-up turtles she had to take home.  One of them did a little boogy woogy when you wound it up!  And then she bought me this: 

Go ahead and click on it so you can read the smaller print at the bottom.  And here’s the back: 

Check out his dance steps; all he’s missing is the top hat! 

When we had laughed ourselves silly and annoyed the proprietor long enough we moved along.  We stopped at the herbal shop next door, but it couldn’t really follow the toys and we didn’t stay long.  We were considering heading back to the car when I spotted another tee shirt shop which of course we had to visit.  One of the most enjoyable parts of our day was reading aloud the snarky or provocative tee shirts we found. 

Fortuitously, the tee shirt shop was two doors down from The Great American Fudge Factory!  I needed a break so we went in and examined their handmade candy apples.  This one is my favorite; I think it’s called Tiger Tails or something.  How awesome is this?

I wish I could have seen how they did that! 

And since they also sold ice cream I got to sit for my break and nom on some yummy goodness! 

Successful day all around!

Mother’s Day – the first

It started Thursday at work about 12:30.  The receptionist called and told me they had a delivery for me.  “For me?” I mumbled, around the mouthful of lunch.  When she confirmed it was for me and not one of my attorneys I thanked her and said I’d be right up.  Strange.  I never get deliveries. 

Want to see what was waiting for me?  Oh sure you do!  Not that I’m bragging or anything.  Well okay, I guess I’m bragging a little.  Take a gander at this beauty:

 

That’s a scrumptious, fresh fruit bouquet from Edible Arrangements!  Skewers of apple, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple (cut into heart shapes!) and strawberries!  And there are grapes hiding in there too.  Some of the fruit was dipped in chocolate! 

The whole arrangement was wrapped in cellophane and tied with curly ribbon.  Trimming the entire thing were these:

My phone’s camera didn’t do these justice.  There were three mylar balloons:  the one you see here with the writing, along with two stars, one pink and one green.  They’re adorable and now they’re tied to my lamp at home!

Happy Mother’s Day to me!  Plus?  The office really enjoyed sharing the fruit!

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

 

For all the moms out there - I hope you have the most wonderful Mother’s Day!  I wish these were real, and in your hands right now, but please enjoy them virtually. 

 

 

 

 

Tunnel Vision

Recently one of my best online buds posted a poem on her blog.  Cool and quirky, just like Dana (waves – Hi Dana!).  Well, it reminded me of my old poetry, wasting away in a Word document somewhere.  I thought I’d posted one of my poems and after searching my archives I discovered I was right!  Twice!  This one was fun to write, but I really liked the visual I got from this one.  I could see a rom com including a similar scene.

Of course I had to ask myself why I haven’t I posted another poem?  I didn’t have a good answer for me so I guess it’s time to post another poem.  Before we get to that however, a little background about Seattle might be helpful.

Modern day Seattle sits atop olde tyme Seattle – seriously – take the Underground Tour next time you’re here.  That tidbit is just for color, it really has nothing to do with the poem.  But (and here’s the segue you’re looking for) also under downtown Seattle is the transit tunnel.  Multiple bus lines use the tunnel, keeping at least some of the traffic off of downtown streets.  The following should make a little more sense with that background.

Tunnel Vision
(September, 2003; rev’d 11/03)

Metro motors down Fourth Avenue
in the early hours
before the sun has warmed
            the city, and 

through my grandson’s eyes,
            wisps of steam,
            escaping the underground bus tunnels
            become extraordinary.

“Is it a dungeon?”
Eyes wide, he looks to me for truth.
Reluctant to spoil his fantasy,
            I hesitate…

Then nodding, I fold away the Times,
            and tell him tales of hidden castles,
            brave, valiant knights and
            fire-breathing dragons.

Disclaimer:  I had one college level English class eons ago.  As a result, most of my poetry is sort of free flowing.  It likely does not fit into officially recognized or accepted styles for writing poetry.  If you’re the type to point that out then just don’t, m’kay?  I know it ain’t perfect; but it’s just for me and I don’t care.  Thanks, and have a great day!

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Superlative is defined:

1: of, relating to, or constituting the degree of grammatical comparison that denotes an extreme or unsurpassed level or extent

2a : surpassing all others : supreme

  b : of very high quality : excellent <superlative work>

3: excessive, exaggerated

 

Okay, so it wasn’t the BEST EVER.  But it certainly falls into my recent top 10.

 

How was your weekend? 

Hair Raising

It was time.  No, really.  It. Was. Time.  Time for what you ask?  Okay, so you didn’t ask.  I’m gonna tell you anyway.  It’s my blog and I’ll write if I want to!

Yesterday I went under the scissors for the first time in probably close to a year.  Well, not counting when my daughter gave me a quick trim a few months back.  My first professional haircut in a very long while. 

I’m not one of those people who spend big bucks for an elite salon style.  Great Clips all the way.  When we moved from the farm I was forced to leave behind my regular shop and while there was a Great Clips in my new town, I only got to try it once before it closed.  The next nearest Great Clips is one town over which isn’t that far really, probably about a 15 minute drive in non-rush hour traffic.  I wouldn’t mind trying that one if we were already over there for some other reason but I didn’t want to make a special trip after work in the midst of home-bound commuters.  Nuh uh, no way!  The freeways here at rush hour are definitely NOT rushing.

What’s a girl in dire need of a trim to do?  Okay, the “girl” is stretch I suppose.  What’s a woman to do etcetera.  Happy now?  In any case I remembered my across-the-street neighbor telling me about a place she had her hair cut.  Daisy (not her real name) had long, white hair which she kept in a lovely up-do all the time.  Then one day she appeared with her hair whacked off above her shoulders!  It was a drastic change but it looked nice on her.  She’d had it cut and permed at a little shop not five minutes from our mobile home park.  So last night after I got home and fed the dogs I walked across the street and knocked on her door.

Prissy, her dachshund raced as fast as her tubby little body would allow to bark at me through the porch railing and I scratched her under the chin while chatting with Daisy about hair.  I wanted to be sure I remembered correctly and she confirmed it.  After a little more conversation Hubs and I headed for the salon. 

There were two stylists on duty, both with customers when we entered.  I wrinkled my nose at the distinctive smell of permanent wave solution.  The wait wasn’t a long and once I was in the chair and draped, the stylist ran her hands through my hair asking if the color was my own.  I have brownish hair with natural blonde streaks that get lighter during the summer.  I told her it was and when she asked about the wave I told her it too, was natural.  She went on and on about how lucky I was (I know) and then asked what I wanted. 

This is the tricky part.  I can describe what I want, I can even picture it in my head.  I can’t understand it for someone else.  I have to trust that they can envision what I am describing.  The first time I have anyone cut my hair it’s nerve-wracking, especially now that I’m growing it longer.  I explained that I did NOT want to lose my length; just a bit of a trim to remove the dried ends.  Going on, I talked about cleaning up the layers because it was way past getting bushy.  I wanted to tell her that I did NOT want a mullet!  But since she was a younger Asian woman I wasn’t sure how that would translate.

She sprayed my hair to dampen it (I know!  I omitted the single best part of having a professional haircut – the shampoo!) and started to work.  It took a really, really long time.  I have very thick hair and she did a thorough job – separating, clipping aside layers of hair and scissoring precisely.  What makes it worse is I have to take off my glasses so I can’t even see what she’s doing.  There’s nothing that makes me cringe faster than hearing the scissors snipping away and not being able to see what’s going on – especially with a new stylist!

Once she finished cutting and checking for stragglers she started blowing it out.  I have used a blow dryer (with defuser) exactly once in the last six months.  At least six months.  I just don’t dry my hair because well, it DRIES my hair!  But the brushing and even the heat felt so good I just let her go.  By the time it was done I was glad I had.  One blow out won’t ruin my hair forever and it looked so cool straight!  She smoothed on a lotion called Biosilk or something and explained that it added shine.  Whatever.  It smelled divine and my hair felt INCREDIBLE!  I paid the exorbitant bill of $16, added a hefty tip and we went off to grab dinner. 

Where my bestie bartender friend raved about my hair and made me one of her signature drinks!  Yum!  The perfect ending to a long, totally exhausting work day. 

And now I have a new salon!