Today is just about as perfect a day as anyone could hope for. It's sunny, but not hot. Comfortably warm, about 73 degrees, with a gentle breeze. If you close your eyes you might think you're in Hawaii.
It turned out to be quite a busy month of May.
We had a delightful poetry party with our online group, thought up by our one and only party planner, Leigh. She is great, always creative and cheerful. Especially fun were the limericks made up by some of our own talented members. Years ago I used to like to write rhymes and wrote a couple children's stories in verse. Also had a couple published in poetry books.
Mother's Day at my house was a barbeque. My grand-daughter's husband is the official barbeque griller. Family get togethers-that's what are important. We've had too many crowded restaurants on the holidays and want to give them a rest.
Besides those events, the Nightingales had a very interesting meeting and heard about cadet nursing in the 40's, by a nurse who trained through them. She had pictures and even kept her cap. We all agreed the uniforms of the cadets were very nice looking. They must have been a great help to the military.
Next on the agenda is my grandson's graduation from college. We're all very proud of him. He's going on for a combination Masters/Doctorate in chemistry. Wow!
Well, back to work.

Nurses Week and Mother's Day

Nurses week is almost here and soon after is Mother's Day. It seems to me they have much in common. They both are about caring , protecting and about hard work. A friend of mine and I would celebrate Nurses Week by going out to lunch together. One year her husband bought us both small corsages to wear on our dresses. I thought that was very nice of him. He often showed his appreciation for his wife and that was nice to see. That girl had a lot of sadness in her life, but I'm trying to remember the good times, mostly the times in nursing school.
Speaking of sadness, I went to a funeral a few days ago, of a nineteen year old boy. His mother also is a nurse. I keep thinking no-one should have to die at nineteen. What a tragedy for the parents, the siblings, and the friends. I didn't really know the boy, but I knew a couple of his brothers and wanted to pay my respects by attending the funeral. When tragedy hits others it does remind us of what we have in life, what is important. It's not all the money or things we can accumulate, but the loved ones here with us now. The Irish had it right when they celebrated the person's life in the Irish wake.
My friend is no longer here with us to celebrate Nurses Week, nor is her husband, but I'll celebrate it without her and think of her and all the other nurses I've known in my lifetime, then I'll celebrate Mother's Day and think of my mother and all the other mothers I've known in my lifetime. I hope everyone will take time to celebrate the lives of their mothers and of any nurses they know.

New life

Spring is in full bloom here in Virginia. Daffodils and tulips adorn the front of houses and along the roadsides. Virginia is beautiful in the spring. The redbud bushes and flowering trees are planted along many highways making it almost a pleasure to drive for miles and miles. Spring and the flowers bring new life to the world.

Soon Easter will be here and it's time to begin to color eggs, find something nice to wear on Easter day, to go to church, have Easter dinner with your familes and celebrate the day.

Easter in the Christian religion is the celebration of when Christ rose from the dead and the Easter egg has become a symbol of new life all over the world. It is interesting to read about the way different nations use the egg to celebrate Easter. Some countries paint the eggs red to symbolize the blood of Christ, some have very elaborate painting. Most people in the U.S. color the eggs solid colors and might decorate them with pictures or various designs. It's a memorable thing for parents and their children to do together. Our family, like many others,
fixed Easter baskets with colored eggs, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and pretty
ribbons. Children learn from traditions and hopefully keep them alive.

The Shamrock

The shamrock has been used to symbolize Irish pride. The three leaves of the shamrock, it is said, was used in St. Patrick's time, to symbolize the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as three persons in one Godhead. This is at the core of the Christian religion.
Being partly Irish by heritage, I find Irish history interesting. I read recently that St. Patrick was captured and enslaved as a young boy and taken to Ireland to tend the sheep. Eventually he made his way back home, but later in life, as a priest, came to Ireland to preach Christianity and convert the Pagans.
The Irish have many sayings, blessings, poems, authors and have given much to the world. They have long been known as having famous authors. A few are: James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift, and on and on. More recently there are the Irish dancers on tour and singing groups. Angela's Ashes is a book that people of Irish heritage should like to read.
Many of the settlers in NYC became policemen and firemen and many lives were saved by these brave men and women.
As you wear your green, eat your corned beef (or Irish bacon), and cabbage, drink the green beer and watch the parades, find something to read about Ireland and the Irish in America.

What is love?

When I was a young teenager I asked my mother how I would know when I fell in love. Her answer wasn't very helpful as I remember. She told me I would know. Well, I didn't. There was always a question in my mind. Was it love? Was it infatuation? A crush? Some sort of obsession?

Science has studied love and attraction and come to some conclusions as to why a certain person might be more appealing to the opposite sex, etc. Psychologists talk about the father and mother complexes. Astrologers see it in the stars.
But what is love? And what sort of love? Certainly there is the love of a mother or father for their child. Love of humanity. Love of nature. But I'm talking about the love between man and woman. And is it really love or is it a mating game?
And why doesn't it always last?

I'm sure there are many stories around how someone knew he/she was in love.
If anyone wants to tell a story, you can comment here.
Happy Valentine's Day. Ann

I am privileged

Today I feel privileged to have witnessed a great historic event in the history of our United States, the inaugeration of the first black president. Regardless of our political standing, this day will go down in history. I was the daughter of a southern mother and northern father, neither of whom were very politically minded. I grew up in the north. When I was a little older I saw a few things that shocked me and never forgot them. I was very happy to hear our new president emphasize the need to be one united nation.
I was also privileged to have been born toward the tail end of the depression years, hear about days gone by in the old south, about the rise of Hitler, about unions and then World War 11. There were some terrible times in history, but I feel privileged to have been around to hear first hand about them. There was industry moving south and then to Mexico, competition from foreign countries, wars and skirmishes, the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam and most recent the problems in the Middle East. I feel privileged to have been around for parts of history that we would like to have been erased. I have been privileged to have known very fine people and read wonderful books. If I'm very, very lucky I'll be around to write about some of the things I
can remember. Most of all, though, I'm privileged to be an American.

New beginnings

Well, the holidays are over and people are beginning to get back to their usual ways of life. Some are still dieting, others have given that up. I never promised myself to stay on a diet because I know how terrible I am at that, but I did decide to try to eat sensibly. That means less sweets, generally.

I had a wonderful beginning to the new year. I received a check for a short story I wrote called "Cooling Off the Fireworks." It's published in the new Love Stories Magazine. Right now the magazine is by subscription, but soon will be on the stands. I'm wishing it lots of luck. I like writing short stories, but most of what I've written is not about love, but other topics. I have written a few about nursing subjects, sold two of them and would like to try to sell more if I could find a place to send them. I hope short stories comes back as a popular form of publication. I remember my mother spent many an hour reading short stories from women's magazines. I used to like Redbook Magazine with all its stories and it was a great place to try to sell what you've written. Other women's magazines used to sell more short stories, also. With today's economic problems, it's anyone's guess what's to happen.

Well, have to get busy catching up after the weekend. I'm going over a story I wrote.