from the mixed-up files of a middle-aged mind

(Saturday, June 24, 2006) I spent several hours today on what is frankly a death watch for my dear friend J~, so her daughter P~ could get away for a spell. I first met them both over 20 years ago when P~ was in the U of U hospital with a horrible bed sore. She has been wheelchair bound since her senior year in high school, when a single moment of idiocy on the part of the driver of the car she was in--yes, we should all be MADD--changed her life and that of her family forever. P~ recovered from that and many other bedsores and has actually been in relatively good health, when you consider the average life expectancy for a paraplegic is usually diminished. Her mother, J~ has been caring for her for some 25 years. Only somewhere along the way the lines became blurred between who was caring for whom. J~ is such a tiny woman. But it's true what they say about great things coming in small packages. She loves you with her whole heart and I've never heard her say an unkind word about...

Dear Jolly Porter (whom I've never met), Que je suis jalouse! I long to return to France, and most especially to see Paris. I was so close...just a mission boundary away. But I beg to differ about one thing. I found the French eventually warmed up to Americans, as long as the Americans didn't speak French like a Spanish cow. But that was so long ago...and times have changed. Loved the beautiful photos. I could almost taste the baguettes, the créme fraîche and the smoke-filled rooms. The art and the architecture are so fabulous! So, as a display of my gratitude, I am going to return the favor. When I return from Finland (in September) I will post the photos just for you. I can't promise a witty travelogue; so the photos will have to do. I hope they'll be worth the wait! Ametiés, Compulsive Writer

One of the desires of my heart is to write a book. I want to share what extraordinary beauty I see in the everyday lives of the most amazing of women. They may live next door. Around the corner. Across town. Or through the back fence. You might pass by them in the grocery store and you may or may not even notice them. But to me they are remarkable. The book will likely never happen. But random excerpts will be posted on my blog from time to time to pay tribute to some of these my sisters who make my world a better place. M is for Courage I first met her probably a decade ago. She had moved into a home she owned in the neighborhood and she invited us--including our four children to Sunday dinner. I have wonderful friends, but only a few are brave enough to request the invasion of my entire family. But M~ did so warmly. And on more than one occasion. Certain moments of your life are so horrible they etch themselves into your memory for eternity. February 14. I am frantically baking and f...

May I recommend--for your camping pleasure--the lovely Payson Lakes campground area? I hadn't been there for years. So I forgot how beautiful it is. Payson Lakes Campground, Group Site B Yesterday (and the entire night and day before) it stormed. My FIL, preparing to turn water into fire And the storms continued after I arrived last night. My niece--also my hero--who took her two little girls camping in the rain all by herself My niece's daughter, in proper rainstorm attire. Note my child in the background wearing swim trunks and bare feet I lay awake all night in the cozy truck bed counting most of the night. One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand five... I have been painfully afraid of thunderstorms since I was a child. We rarely had them in Oregon, but every summer I would travel to the family ranch in Randolph, Utah during branding season, which seemed unmercifully to correspond with summer thunderstorm season. And I was sc...

Serendipity! Trying all day to find the right words to thank Georgia... For her lovely visit. (After all, she wrote a poem .) For teaching me at dusk to enjoy the honeysuckers by my doorway. For sharing a part of her story with me. For being a beautiful person. For a wonderful book with a beautiful message. (Which, unbeknownst to her, connected me to my great great grandmother and reminded me to be a better person.) For being a friend before we ever met. For the anticipation of a future exchange--honeysuckle for scented geranium. Mmmmmmmmm. But everything I write sounds schmaltzy. Spontaneously, I drop by Reams--I rarely shop at Reams--to pick up a couple of things. At the checkout counter, I recognize the song softly playing over the loudspeaker: " Georgia on my mind ." Thanks Geo.