Category: Blog

On April 8th, we lost James. He’d had a stroke 2 years ago and had been struggling with his health ever since. He was in a lot of pain at the end and the difficult decision to put him into hospice had been made. It was the right decision as he passed the next day. He left this life surrounded by friends and music – exactly how he lived. I’m sad he is gone, but relieved he’s no longer in pain.
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It’s always fun to find one of my photos being used and correctly attributed. Here’s a big list of some I’ve come across lately:

• Federer returning to the court
• FAQ: I’ve Been Benched and Have No Pay Stubs. Can I Change My H-1B Visa?
• No retirement for Roger Federer after Wimbledon early defeat
• Bulgaria’s Dimitrov collapses against Wawrinka in Madrid
• Grey Public Transit? Quebec City’s Funiculaire
• How to Use Social Media to Rally Supporters
• World Tour Finals whets the appetite for 2014
• On Dry-Stacked Stone Walls
• Intensity soars in race to the O2
• 7 Texas Abortion Bills That Didn’t Get Filibustered
• US Open Becomes Proving Ground for Supreme Men’s Number 1
• Report: Red Light Cameras Stop Crashes – really stupid picture!
• Marinko Matosevic Moves Up
• Kim Clijsters – doing what I can to help tourism
• Williams and Li are the last standing – Ha! I love that picture of Serena and love that someone used it
• Researchers Explain How Anti-Abortion Legislation Threatens Women’s Health
• For the First Time in a Decade, Say Hello to a National Bill to Expand Abortion Rights
• Inverdale’s Bartoli Remarks Underscore Troubling Trend
• Race, Real Estate, And Oak Park
• James Blake Loses Match, Retires After U.S. Open
• A Blue Texas? Democrats Think It’s Possible
• Zombie Ants Invade Brazilian Rainforests
• Tennis Nipple – so proud. So proud. (And yes, I know it’s just a photo nabbing service, but still.)

Aaaaand…I’m bored now.

Shortly after I made my post last night, I received this email from my aunt Sheilah:

I think overwhelming joy is not an everyday occurrence, but little joys can happen often, sometimes more than once in a day, sometimes even in the midst of sadness. Something that makes you smile is a little joy, perhaps a phone call, watching a squirrel working on a nut, a beautiful day with clear air, blue sky, pleasant temps and a light breeze, a spectacular sunset, learning something new, time with friends, finally
completing a dreaded job, knowing you have done something to help someone . . . Perhaps it just takes the minute to realize that this is a joy.

And she is right. My brain and thought processes are very black/white or all/nothing. In thinking that way, I was probably expecting/wanting/putting too much pressure on the idea of joy being this super wonderful blissful orgasmic experience. Is joy just a simple smile and taking the time to enjoy that smile and the feelings that accompany it? Is it as simple pausing and reflecting for a moment when something good happens? Or even just stopping for a moment and noticing what’s around you instead of plowing right through? If I hadn’t been open to exploring, would I have walked right past that mirror in yesterday’s post without giving it a moment’s notice? If I hadn’t had eyes open today, would have never seen this today?

I was driving to a garden center to look for a tree to plant in my back yard and, as I approached a stop sign, I looked up and saw this huge bird on a street light. (I think it was a vulture? I’m not sure.) The bird was just hanging out and looking around. I pulled over, rolled down my car window and took this shot with my cell phone. The bird hadn’t moved, so I got my point and shoot out (didn’t have my big camera with me), got out of the car, and snapped a few photos. All this time, people drove by looking at me like I was nuts. None of them stopped and even tried to see what I was looking at with such interest. Why not? I’d like to think that if I saw someone taking photographs of and staring at something on a random street corner, I’d slow down enough to try and figure out what held their interest. At any rate, I was glad I stopped to share a moment with this creature.

kefuoe commented on the previous post:

I used to wax philosophic about how I’d realized that what I craved more than the happiness of getting things was the contentedness of not wanting anything. That was really easy to do in my living situation at the time (as a Peace Corps volunteer in a hut in a village), but I found it so much harder when I returned to the states and everything I saw and heard was telling me what I needed to do (more often buy) to be a happy and fulfilled person.

As someone who constantly caves to the “buy buy buy” marketing, I agree. I our society, things and food are often linked to the promise of happiness. We all know that buying or eating that special something won’t truly bring us joy (at least, not of the lasting kind), but it’s amazing how quickly one can forget that when faced with yet another advert or “super bargain!” After, all, right after I published yesterdays post, I tweeted a link to a Breaking Bad box set. The purchase of which would momentarily make me think joy was on it’s way – boxed up and shipped directly to my door. Could it be that simple? Would the pain of looking at my credit card statement later undo that moment of happiness? Does one have to consider that later moment? Is there math in finding the balance to give one the greatest amount of joy?

Thanks to my mom pointing out that I was mentioned in a comment on this post, I now own this wonderful book. It’s amazing to see how both different and similar life is around the world. The contrasts can be as startling as the similarities are comforting. Thanks for leading me to this book – I’m sure I’ll notice and be given new things to think about each time I pick it up. You can read more about the project on aday.org. I bought my copy on amazon.com.

I set this site to use a comments plugin from WordPress and…I guess it’s not working properly. I had no idea there were pending comments nor did approving them for display work. So…um…Sorry to those who have commented recently!