Where Can We Find a Coyote?

When I read this Garfield strip this week I thought Odie's grandma probably lives in Orlando!  We have Coyotes.  They're all over the place.

They don't bother humans but they do eat our house cats and this gets on our nerves.  Naturalists tell us to keep our cats inside and leave the coyotes alone but that's hard to swallow.

We Central Floridans also have wolves and foxes running around our urban areas.  But no cougars.  Unless you count those older women who date younger men.

We have plenty of those.

Central Florida Coyote in the Back Yard

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Thanks for My Promised Land

Fifty years ago  I lived on South West 1st Court, in Plantation,  Florida,  just west of Fort Lauderdale.   The address is important because there wasn't much west of 1st Court.  Further out was swamp land. Some folks were saying it wasn't livable, that if you built a house out there, it would sink.  Others were saying it's "The Promised Land."

And then one day the city of Plantation actually had a land grab.  Hundreds of people showed up to race for free lots.  You just had to grab the flag in the middle and it was yours!   We didn't participate because that wasn't the kind of Promised Land we were looking for.

My Promise Land has always been about relationships.   

One of my ministers, Reverend Jayne, preached a powerful sermon this Thanksgiving morning.   She talked about "The Promised Land."  Mostly about how difficult it was and is to get and to keep.

It was true for the Israelites and it's true for us.

Ferguson

Today, I'm thankful that, in some ways, I've reached my  personal Promised Land.  I have this great life with Dave and our abundant friends and family and  I still have important work to do.  

The work is hard because relationships are hard.  But, of course, there is ultimately the Promised Land.

When Jayne gave members of the congregation the opportunity to name what they're most grateful for today, two men named their wives.

That was my Dave and Jim Armstrong.  How cool is that?


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Winnie the Pooh Causes International Incident

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."  -  Quoted from the not too bright but extremely loving Winnie the Pooh

I love having readers all over the world because I occasionally have the opportunity to be an international problem solver.

You've probably already read about how officials of the small town of Tuszyn, Poland have been meeting to decide a new patron for a Children's playground.

 When several people suggested "Winnie the Pooh,"  who, according to his song, is a "willy, nilly silly old bear," officials became concerned and conducted an investigation.  Why?

Because everybody knows Pooh doesn't wear pants.  They concluded that he was "a hermaphroditic, nudist bear created by a disturbed old man."  By the way, A. A. Milne was 44 years old when he began writing about the world's most lovable bear.  (You may like Teddy better, but he too is pantless. )

Who else can they choose for the children's playground?  There's Daffy Duck and Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny and several other beloved stuffed animals/cartoon characters - but none of them wear pants. 

OK.  Here's my offering.  Go with The Pillsbury Dough Boy.  Most everybody in America knows that he was recently given a tiny pair of blue jeans by a grateful roll loving family.  I love that grandma says "it's about time!"  Maybe she's from Poland.  


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Lost in Shangri-La

In the last couple of weeks I've read two books depicting important, sensational (at the time,) events in our history that I did not know existed.  The first was The Orphan Train.  It takes place in the late 1800s to around 1920 when trains  took orphans from the streets of New York and shipped them to farms and factories in the Mid West.  Not just a few, but over 200,000 children.

And now I've just finished reading Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff.  This is a true story about two soldiers and a WAC who were trapped in the jungle in New Guinea in 1944 - and their incredible rescue.

The woman was beautiful.  They were badly injured in an airplane crash; they encountered natives who were still living in the stone age, and all kinds of folks risked their lives to save them.

When they finally arrived back in the United States they were world famous, especially Margaret Hastings.

Margaret and Native Children

I loved the two Filipino medics who volunteered to risk their own lives by parachuting into the jungle and then hacking their way - for days - to the spot where the three were stranded.  If not for the medics, two of them would have died at that time.  Yes, Margaret was a dame with great gams but those gams were badly burned and full of gangrene.

I loved the interaction with the natives.  Natives who were primitive to the extreme but complex.  Yes they were cannibals.  Yes they went to war just for fun. - but they were happy.

Toward the end of the book I realized that I know a couple who spent 30 years in the mission field in that same area long after these events took place.  I hope the missionaries moving into that part of the world changed the native's lives for the better - but I'm not sure.

Lost in Shangri-La is a non fiction"man's book."  It has 58 pages of index notes in the back and lots of black and white photos.  Even I loved the detailed description of the eventual plane/glider set up they used to save the group.

An  exciting read, indeed!


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Wendy's

I've mentioned before that my choice for a "last meal" would be Wendy's chicken sandwich (the big fat one, not the one dollar special,) with fries that I would dip into a big ol' Frosty.

But, for the last few years I haven't been to Wendy's.  Not because it's not good for me but because Dave can't handle it.  He's not opposed to the food, it's the ambiance that gets him.  He can't handle the looks of the place.  Wendy's restaurants are pretty much beige, square boxes.  As an architect and artist, he is not amused.

So I 've been in solidarity with Dave and just hoped for a miracle some day so that I could have some decent chili.  And then the miracle happened.  A couple of months ago they tore down our neighborhood Wendy's.  What next?  This week the brand new architecturally interesting Wendy's was unveiled from behind the fence.  What a change.

We're going as soon as the crowd thins.


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A Circle of Wonen

Because we're living so much longer a new phenomena is taking place.  It's not all that unusual for women in their seventies to have mothers who are still living.  Two close friends (who are in their seventies) recently lost their moms.  One was in her late 90s and the other was 102.  It's been interesting to see how my friends have grieved over the loss of their moms that they've had for 70 plus years.

On our recent cruise we became friendly with a couple from south Florida.  Her mother had just died at age 99 and she was feeling some anger with her mom for "giving up" before she reached 100.   But we know that anger is a part of grieving.

We women need each other.  I lost my mom as a child but one of the best things in my life is women friends.  I don't know how I could cope without them.

One of these friends recently read the following to others of us.  I believe every word and I hope to have close women friends until the end.

A CIRCLE OF WOMEN

A circle of women can provide a container for emergence in a way that a woman alone, or even a one-to-one relationship cannot.  Intimate relationships and friendships can break or at least be greatly strained by life changes.  But from the combined wisdom and energy of a small group of women who are committed to hearing each other a continuity and trust can develop that can be relied on over the long term.  And, witnessing each person's direct knowing of her truth, we can be empowered to love our own.  


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Aruba

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego,
baby why don't we go,
Jamaica.  -  Kokomo, The Beach Boys

Three weeks ago we spent the day in the capitol city of Aruba....Oranjestad,

Some folks might see this as a dream come true, the epitome of a tropical paradise of beaches and shopping, but I live in the epitome of a tropical paradise of beaches and shopping so I'll say it was "pleasant."

Aruba is noted for luxury shopping.  But, as you know, I'm not a shopper.  We cruised around in "the big pink building."  More jewelry stores than I'd ever seen in one structure.

The big pink building

In one store I tried on a ring just for fun.  Dave said "let me buy it for you."  But I lovely replied:

"Are you crazy?!"

Later on we boarded our ship to sail to another paradise.  But Dave and I enjoyed the ship as much as the ports.  I love Holland America's nickname.

For the Newly Wed and the Nearly Dead.

Because Dave and I are kinda both.


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