Morning Glory Failure

Can you find the morning glory?  Not so glorious this year.  Out of all those vines we had - hmmm- maybe 3 blooms.  But do we cry?  Goodness no!  We just keeping on planting our Morning Glories. Maybe next year.  (Thank you to Pete the Cat.)

You Poked My Heart

Ok you guys. I love this youtube video so much!  Sorry if you have seen it before.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sKdDyyanGk

Warm Showers

Warm Showers guests from Portugal, Laura and Susanne

Warm Showers is an website (and an organization) that connects long distance bicyclists with people to offer them overnight housing with, of course, a warm shower which is the height of luxury when you are biking long distances.  The hosts may offer other services such as a bed, camping space, kitchen, washer and dryer.  Food is usually appreciated as bikers are always hungry.  Whether hosting international or local it is always a great experience.  Some states and cities are peppered with Warm Showers hosts while other areas have very few.  The people who use Warm Showers hospitality are usually considerate and interesting people and it's always great to listen to the stories about the roads they have traveled.  They remind Cal and me of what a wonderful time we had going across the country.  And we are always a little jealous.

Life Lessons from Spider Solitaire

I'm not a gamer.  My brother is.  He's 10th in the world in something...or other.

The last time I played competitively, it was with my children and it was apes throwing bananas at each other.  I think they exploded and you had to change the angle and velocity of the bananas to hit your opponent.  I figured it was good for their math skills and it didn't hurt for my kids to hurl a few exploding bananas at their mother.  Heaven knows I wanted to throw a few at them.  But I digress.

The one game I DO play in moments of boredom or anxiety is spider solitaire. I'm not very good at it and I don't win very often and I am not competitive enough to really want to win.  But as the game plays out, it teaches me important life lessons, the most important of which is that life doesn't make sense.  It's good to be reminded.

Spider solitaire breaks all the rules of logic that I learned as a child. It is not fair nor is it politically correct.  I have no idea or control of where or why all the fours or sixes or jacks disappear, but somehow, the game must be played out with or without them.

In spider solitaire two wrongs can make a right.  Wow.  That blows my mind. It's so wrong it's painful. Sometimes it's called strategy, sometimes it's called stupidity, and sometimes I get a glimpse of the mind of God as I lay a red five on a black six on purpose to expose a few more cards.  To someone watching the game, they would ask why I didn't put the red five on the red six that is right in front of me, and goodness sake, are you crazy?  I think God gets a lot of that.

I can lose or lose worse. I can win easy or hard.  And still it has little to do with how I played. Sometimes eeking out two completed piles from a deal with no 10s be as satisfying as a win.

The version of spider solitaire I play on my desktop gives options that I may have missed so each hand is a mini game in which I play "Did I miss any options." I can't control the deal, but I can make try to find options to play cards.  It's the one thing I CAN control. That and deciding what to DO with the options...  But even then, I lose.  Often.

Spider solitaire becomes my Serenity Prayer when I get locked in black and white thinking or declare martial law on my world.  Spider solitaire has its own logic and it's not mine.  And that's ok.  I BELIEVE all the cards are there and in FAITH, I play my game.  In GRACE, I win or lose.  But there is one thing that puzzles me still.  Is Undo cheating?

Thoughts on Happily-Ever-After

Happy-Ever-After?          by M. Meuzelaar

Cinderella

When reality hit

she was found unfit

for the station in life she had reached.

Though her prince loved her well,

history will tell

she's the first queen they ever impeached.

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red

took to bed,

paranoid for the rest of her life;

So full of fear

that a wolf was near,

that she slept with a serrated knife.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Did Jack repent

every cent he spent

and regret his financial success?

He's on the run

now he's had his fun

pursued by the IRS.

Sleeping Beauty

Can a kiss awake

a big mistake;

and a life of misery begin?

With marriage a mess,

you'd think he would guess,

some princesses like to sleep in.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

These Victims of Crime

lost no time

and justice was swift in the making.

Soon under arrest

was the golden haired pest;

The charges were "Entering and Breaking."

Cold Weather Poems About Cats

OPEN  LAP  SEASON

In December,

we are hunted

by a lap cat.

Rather fat.

Summer laps

are tolerated

and reserved.

Preserved.

But on frosty days,

We are stalked and eyed

for a proper fit.

If we sit.

How frightful!

How delightful.

Warm Spots on the Earth

Like cats, we

seek warm spots on the earth.

Sunny window sills,

and silent car motors--

unlikely places

where we can rest

secure,

with eyes closed.

You,

my friend,

have been my warm spot

on the earth.

Saw this transport on the way to Michigan.  I drive a Mini Cooper
 and could appreciate the faceoff between the mini and the stretch.