Thursday's Thought for the Day....

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to 

go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, 

alone with the heavens, nature and God.  

Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be 

and that God wishes to see people happy, 

amidst the simple beauty of nature."

Anne Frank (1929 - 1945), Holocaust victim, diarist   (from Gratitude - A Journal)

Thursday's Thought for the Day....

A Monday Memory....

The news is reporting today that the A&P supermarket chain is filing for bankruptcy.  The company’s formal name is the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.  Formed in 1859 as The Great American Tea Co. it was renamed to its current form in 1869. So not only does it feel like it's been around forever, it nearly has!  But for how much longer, who knows.

If my memory serves me correctly, it was in an A&P store in Brooklyn that my Dad had his first job. That would have been around 1930!  In those days, as he recalled, food items did not come prepackaged.  He would have to measure out the sugar and flour, and weigh up the potatoes and other produce.  After fetching and assembling what the customer required from the various shelves and barrels, he would then wrap the items up using brown paper and string.  Often, he would then have to deliver the packages to the apartment of the customer.  There certainly was a lot of hard work involved those days if you were a store clerk!

Growing up, I recall my Dad liked to bag all of the groceries himself as they came off the conveyor belt.  He didn't care for the way items were carelessly tossed into the bags by the store staff.  He preferred to "double bag" the brown paper bags provided and properly assemble the items, being careful to place heavy items on the bottom and frozen foods together.  He got it down to a science, really, and I watched carefully in order to learn from him.

When he became a "Senior Citizen" my Dad took great delight in shaking up, so to speak, the cashiers. If the total on the receipt came to something like, $23. 17, he would hand them $25.33. Then he'd stand there, grinning from ear to ear, watching them try to make out why he had done that and how much change they had to give him.  (This would have been back in the "late 70's, before the registers did all the figuring out!) If my mother chided him for doing it, he simply laughed and said it was one of the few perks of being old.  

I suspect he would have liked today's supermarket systems, where you can "self check" all your items, then simply swipe your credit card, bypassing the store staff completely and exiting quicker.  

Except he would have left without his mischievous grin!

Friday Fotos.....

Afternoon Tea, courtesy of room service, Durrants Hotel, London.

Assorted sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, sweets.

Pure. Heaven.
(and so worth cheating on the diet for!!)

A partial view of my gorgeous lavender patch.

Gathered bunches, hung to dry in the utility closet.

I'll use the dried buds to make sachets.

What a glorious scent!

Wishing everyone a safe and sunny weekend!

Thursday's Thought for the Day....

Wednesday's Wisdom....

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. 

Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It

Oh how true this is!  Daughter #1 and I have just returned from a six day visit to London.  

(Actually, it was more of a shopping expedition than a visit.)  

Walking up and down the streets, in particular Oxford Street, we encountered people from, literally, around the world. From Korea to the Middle East, Italy, France, Spain and the Scandinavian Countries, it was like the United Nations en masse.  

As I started to pay attention, noticing people as they went along in the shops and restaurants, I could see that people have far more in common than we often realize.  Parents, growing impatient with little ones struggling to keep up with them.  Mothers and adult daughters, enjoying lunch together.  Construction men, leaning on their shovels and keeping a lingering eye too long on the young, and sometimes not so young, women passing by.  Husbands and wives holding hands while window shopping.  Pedestrians ignoring the flashing red light while crossing the busy road. Young people tapping away on a cell phone, unaware of the world around them.

There are so many activities which seem to be universal.

But I don't realize these things if I stay safely tucked away, in my own little corner of the world. Mark Twain is right - traveling to other states and countries gives us the opportunity to see that most of us hold the same simple wants and desires in life.  

To love and be loved, to laugh, to succeed, to be with family and friends.  

Our insides are the same, even when our outsides appear different.  

Travel enables me to see that first hand.

Friday Fotos....

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend!

May God bless and protect all those who are working around the clock to keep us all safe 

and the families who support their efforts.

Thursday's Thought for the Day....

"Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen.  Keep in the sunlight."

 -Benjamin Franklin

Wednesday's Wisdom....

Have we got it backwards?

Instead of just telling women how to protect themselves from sexual assault, shouldn't we also instruct men it is a CRIME, "Don't do it" and "NO actually means NO"?

Instead of just telling kids who are victims how to avoid or stand up to bullies, shouldn't we also tell the bullies to"Stop it"?

Instead of just telling police officers they need to be nicer to the criminals, shouldn't we also tell the suspects to "Stop committing crimes" and "Follow the instructions of the police when confronted"?

Instead of automatically blaming teachers for a student's poor academic performance, shouldn't parents first look to see what their child is doing or not doing?

Instead of blaming others for our problems, shouldn't we first look at what we are doing?

When I was growing up, in the fifties and sixties, a simple "Knock it off!!" from an adult stopped a lot of poor behavior right in its tracks - whether at school, home or at an event. 

No discussion, no excuses. Just stop it.

Harsh? Maybe.  But it certainly worked.  

Then came the seventies and eighties.  A much softer approach, much discussion, etc.  

Better? In some ways, but not a complete success.

Perhaps the pendulum needs to swing back a little.  Perhaps it's true what they say -

Middle of the road is where it's at.

Perhaps its time to balance "understanding" with a little "tough love."

....end of rant.