Wordless Wednesday

Monday To Do List

Wouldn't it be great if every Monday started out with a to do list like this? What do you suggest we add on?

Go Turtles, Go!

This past week we spent time with our grandkids at a cabin "up north". The weather was perfect and the water was warm. The grands got in lots of swimming, kayaking, knee-boarding and fishing. We had awesome campfires and of course, s'mores!

One day we drove into the nearest town to get ice cream. We saw some signs advertising "Turtle Races" on Thursday morning. You can imagine how excited the kids got! They decided we just had to check it out.

Thursday morning came and we headed into the little town of Battle Lake. The Turtle Races are a great fundraiser for their Community Center and its activities. We got there about 30 minutes before the races were scheduled to start. Already there was a line of people buying tickets. (It cost $2 for each race.) Hoola Hoops were available for use to help pass the time and there was music blasting--quite a party feel to it. After 30 minutes of selling tickets, there were still people lined up to buy them.

Finally all tickets had been sold and the races were about to start. When the tickets were purchased the organizers kept one of the two tickets so they could draw numbers. If the ticket you held had one of the numbers drawn you could go pick a turtle. (I don't know if there was any strategy to picking a turtle to race. Some races were won by a bigger turtle, some by a very small one.) Six or seven numbers were drawn for each heat.

                                      The turtles look like they are ready to race!

The turtles were placed on a center circle and had to "race' to the outer circle and cross it. The "fastest' turtle to get there won the heat.

 

You can see that there was quite a crowd to help cheer on the contestants and their turtles. When the announcer told them to start, some contestants yelled at their turtle, some pounded the pavement, some just watched in amazement.

Each of the grands got to participate in two races. Unfortunately none of our turtles had much speed or sense of direction! They weren't too disappointed though because the winner of each heat got a DQ certificate for a small treat. (We had already promised them lunch at the local DQ after the races.) They each had to have their pictures taken with their chosen turtles.

It was good clean fun for all ages and helped raise a lot of money for a good cause. Everyone there had fun whether they raced a turtle or just came to watch. I'm thinking if we ever need to raise some funds this would be a fairly simple way to do it. (I don't think the turtles minded too much. ☺)


 

Wordless Wednesday

 

                                                     This lucky lady is getting a massage.

40 Years Of Happiness

I have been fooling around with photography for the last year or so. Reading everything online that I can. Taking advantage of free workshops and snapping anyone who will put up with me and my camera. I've posted some photos on Facebook and gifted some friends with my photos.

So I was pleasantly surprised to be asked by a fun couple to photograph them this summer. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary. (Actually we are celebrating our 40th in October and I have two other friends who were also married in 1973--must have been a good year!)Anyway we found a great location and I had a blast shooting the two of them. Some serious portrait shots and some very fun and somewhat whimsical shots.

They stopped by today to pick up the digital prints. Judy told me that as they were driving this weekend they played a little game of "highs and lows". They were thinking back over their 40 years of marriage. She and her husband Al could come up with many, many highs but only one low. (The death of their parents.) Isn't that just so sweet--and really pretty remarkable! What a wonderful testament to these two and what a wonderful role model they are for all married couples. To remember all the good times and not dwell on the bad times. I predict they are going to have lots and lots more great years together. I hope they are going to share this with their son and daughter-in-law.

40 years...I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. When Jerry and I got engaged my future in-laws were celebrating their 25th anniversary. I remember thinking "How could anyone be married to the same person for that long?" Now we are  way past 25 years! But you know the saying, time flies when you're having fun! Jerry and I will have to play the high/low game. It will be interesting to see what we come up with...

A Little Stress Management Story

Here is an interesting story author unknown...

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"
Answers called out ranged from 8 ounces to 20 ounces.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. "In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. "As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. "

So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. "Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!"

Life is short so let Gathered From The Garden LLC help you manage your stress. We've got some wonderful Bath Teas, Massage Oils and Aromatherapy Lotions to help whisk away your cares.Check out our website--it's stress-free! ☺

 

Wordless Wednesday

Win the Day

Ever have a day where there is so much going on you almost don't want to get out of bed? Maybe you couldn't sleep because the to-do list just kept swirling around in your head? Then you have got to read this post by Justin and Mary. They explain what it means to "Win the Day." How to manage your to-do list on the crazy-busiest of days. It sure makes sense to me!

 

The 30,000 Days of Your Life

I used to worry about all kinds of things, but I can remember the moment when I calmed down. I had just moved to San Francisco, and one night I couldn’t sleep so I was on my laptop. I read something online that said “There are 30,000 days in your life.” At first I didn’t think much of it, but on a whim I tabbed over to the calculator. I type in 24 times 365 and — oh my God, I’m almost 9,000 days down. What the hell have I been doing?

So that’s how 30,000 ended up on the cheat sheet. That night, I realized there are no warmups, no practice rounds, no reset buttons. Every day we’re writing a few more words of a story. And when you die, it’s not like “here lies Drew, he came in 174th place.” So from then on, I stopped trying to make my life perfect, and instead tried to make it interesting. I wanted my story to be an adventure — and that’s made all the difference.

Drew Houston MIT commencement speech CEO Dropbox read the speech here.

Yikes! I just celebrated my 60th birthday. When I figured out how many days I've used up, it scared me! I felt just like Drew...what have I been doing?  Has it been interesting? Has it been worthwhile? Has it been an adventure?

Taking stock I realized it has been some of all of that. I was a teacher for over 30 years. Hopefully, my students feel our time together was worthwhile.

I've been to Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Florence and Naples. I've traveled to Canada, Mexico and whale-watched in Alaska. I've cruised the Mediterranean. I rode a bus to Florida as a college freshmen over spring break with my best girlfriend.(We've had lots of fun adventures!) I trained for and ran a marathon in May.

It has been especially interesting to watch my children grow up. They have become totally interesting people and all of them have very interesting occupations. I look forward to seeing my grandchildren become adults. It has been interesting and challenging to learn how to blog, become a photographer and run a small business.

A perfect life? Hardly! I've made lots of mistakes and wish I had some do-overs. I figured out I have about 9000 days according to Drew's calculations. Sounds like a lot, sounds like hardly any time.
He says every day we are writing part of our story. There are so many chapters left to write in my story and I want them to be interesting, adventurous and worthwhile. I need to take some time to think about how I want those ending chapters to read...but not too much time. The clock is ticking...!