A Feeling of Newness . . .

There's a bit of spring in the air. And a spring in my step.

I've begun to ease into our new lifestyle -- at a new, slower pace -- and it's beginning to feel good. Actually, GREAT!

I'm back into some things that I've always found to be precious...but always told myself, I didn't have (or deserve) time for "now."

I'm reading again. For pleasure. (Did I hear a gasp?) With only the crackle of the fire in the woodstove, or maybe a bit of classical music playing quietly in the background, I'm luxuriating in the pages of books. And I'm lovin' it! A good friend recently recommended "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (by Shaffer & Barrows) and it's delightful. I just finished Carol Ann Lee's The Winter of the World. I've got a huge pile of books I want to read. Can't wait.



I'm giving myself permission to knit and rughook. I'm working again on Dean's rug (actually, it'll be a wallhanging) and it's great fun to see the progress! Here are the rooster and the bunny.













I've started this sweater for our daughter-in-law in this delicious yarn; it's baby alpaca, wool, linen in a very soft terra-cotta color.










We're going to the opera! I'm so excited -- we have a "Live from the Met" theater in nearby Ellsworth. To celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary, we have tickets (Al's such a good sport!) for this Friday evening's encore performance of Thais. (O.K., admittedly this one won't be really live!) Then, I'm seeing Madame Butterfly with a friend in early March. I haven't seen an opera in about twenty-five years, have started listening to opera much more, and I am prepared to be thrilled.

I've rediscovered my love of cooking and baking. And I've tried canning for the first time ever! There's nothing like homemade blueberry or peach jam, and there are LOTS of vegetables and grains that I've found surprisingly yummy. I try at least a couple of new recipes each week. Granted, much of this is due to the contagious enthusiasm and creativity of two other women in the kitchen -- our daughter, Bethany, and our daughter-in-law, Laurelyn. They've inspired me to explore some wonderful new flavors and fabulous new recipes. (Disclaimer: You know you have way too much time on your hands when you actually spend part of a morning sorting, hole-punching, and filing all of those printed-out recipes into a nifty new notebook---WITH DIVIDERS!)

I spend a good deal of time watching the birds. This week, they've become incredibly active --- perhaps it's the boding of spring. I won't delude myself into thinking we're done with the snow quite yet. But I do know that within the next few weeks, we'll put the chickadee house and its webcam out in the yard! Last spring, while still in NH, we thoroughly enjoyed closely following Mr. and Mrs. Chickadee and their 7 little hatchlings; Al wired the webcam to our TV and we'd check in on them constantly. With all the chickadee activity here in Bass Harbor, we may need to put up several nesting boxes.

Tiny patches of dirt peek through the ice and snow in the driveway. Tiny buds bedazzle birches. The air smells clean. Each new day holds such promise. Life is good.

Reacquainted with an Old, Yet New, Friend

Recently, I received an e-mail from a friend with her new e-mail address. She sent it to everyone in her address book and all of the addressees were neatly listed in blue. I quickly scanned the list and spotted the e-mail of an old, dear friend with whom I'd lost touch.

I eagerly sent him an e-mail and hoped for a response.

The response I got was unexpected. And shattering.

He did indeed send me an e-mail. In fact, we sent many back and forth that day. Across his seven e-mails, it became increasingly apparent that something was wrong. Some of the writing was clear and cogent as I'd always remembered his writing. But interspersed, within each e-mail, were bursts of foggy, nonsensical language. At first, I thought it was a horrible joke. But with each subsequent communication, the pattern continued and my suspicions bloomed into a hideous bouquet.

My dear old friend has Alzheimer's. And he invited me for a visit. I desperately wanted to see him and knew I should pray boldly. Would he really remember me? I reread his e-mails and searched for glimmers of recognition. Did he really know who he was writing to? I phoned his wife the next morning and the plans were made. Yes, things have changed, she said in a small voice.

And a wonderful visit it was, indeed! My friend greeted me at the door with a familiar twinkle in his eye and a strong, healthy bear hug. He and his wife hosted me for lunch and we visited for nearly two hours. He asked about my husband, both of our grown children, and wanted to know about our grandchildren, too. There were moments of hazy confusion but his wife and I chattered nervously, our rapid words beacons in the conversation.

At the end of our visit, we hugged and kissed again and planned for my return in the not-too-distant future.

Upon arrival home, I wrote another e-mail. I thanked my old friend for a wonderful visit.

And so far, I've received two e-mails in response. Small pools of clarity. Jagged chards of tangled words.

For now, I'll wade in the shallow pools and step carefully over the broken glass.

So Long, Mr. Daschle!

Come on, Tom! Is our United States tax code really that hard to make sense of?

I do not understand how folks holding public office and hoping to hold even more prominent national level public office can be arrogant enough to think that they can get away without paying their federal income tax in full. Can they possibly think it would never be uncovered?

And then there's Nancy Killefer. And I still can't believe that the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner nominee got confirmed.

I'm flummoxed.

An Amazing Opportunity

I'm an investor and I'm smitten. Surprised? No, it's not Wall Street.

We're closely following the business development of a group of women in Bolivia. Here they are. They are craftswomen who sell their wares at market on Tuesdays and Fridays to support their families. They needed cash to buy more raw materials. We've invested in their business.

For Christmas, our daughter, Bethany, and her husband, Jon, gave us a gift certificate to KIVA. It came in an e-mail with the enclosed message:

Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad!
In the spirit of less "stuff" and more *good* in the world, here's $50 to invest and reinvest in small entrepreneurs around the world. We hope you'll enjoy finding a business owner who speaks to you!
Much love,
B&J

We were intrigued but didn't really do much investigation until earlier this week. Wow. I went to the website (link above) and voraciously explored the fascinating biographies of small business people all over the world. A single mother in Bolivia asked for $300 to increase her inventory of shoes for her shop. An older man, a livestock dealer in Tajikistan, applied for a loan of $4000 US to purchase several purebred sheep for his business. And on and on.

The loaned funds are administered by micro-financing businesses (partners) all around the world. For each partner, you can access a full disclosure with lots of data about how many loans they've made, total amount loaned to date, percentage rates of paybacks and defaults. It's quite an amazing program -- worldwide, more than $57 MILLION has already been loaned.

Also, as investors, we get updates on the business/entrepreneurs we're supporting. KIVA fieldworkers go out to get updates (which are published online) and to collect loan payments. We are kept abreast of the payback progress. As our money is repaid, we can choose to take it back ourselves OR reinvest in another entrepreneur.

To date, this week alone, more than 5600 new lenders have joined, more than 1500 entrepreneurs were funded, and 1 loan was funded every 30 seconds! Amazing!

Here is another business partner of ours. She's 23 years old and has a small photography business in Lebanon. She needs $ for a new camera so that she can grow her business.

Want to make a REAL difference? Whose business might appeal to you? Go find out! Make an investment.

Give a gift certificate to a friend or family member. And, thanks SO much, Beth and Jon!

Good Day Sunshine

Wow. Another ah-ha moment. Not working full-time seems to give me more time to think...and thinking CAN (but doesn't always!) lead to interesting insights.

I need sunshine.

I understand that that's not terribly profound. But the long, dark days of winter are waning...and I'm THRILLED! AND I find that more light, especially natural light, makes me feel happier. Energized. Rarin' to go!

I've spent the last several hours in our home office, bathed in sunlight. I had to get a few things done for work (yup, my paying job) and then got a few more things done that involved time online and use of the copying machine. Going into the other rooms, even the kitchen and living room, even briefly immediately set me on edge.

The sun doesn't shine into those rooms the way it does here in the office. And when I spend ANY length of time in those rooms, I'm all about putting up the window blinds, and putting on every available light --- but it's still not enough. Just plopping down in my favorite living room chair can make me feel a bit down. Hmmm...

Believe me -- I'm not trying to overdramatize here. But it's quite an interesting realization. Maybe we need to invest in a couple of those full-spectrum lights.

Guess we'll never be living in Seattle!

Snips and Snails and Puppy-dog Tails

I'm in heaven.

Actually, I'm in Corning. Spending time with Mike, Laurelyn, Graham, and Dean.

O.K., mostly with Graham and Dean. I admit it! I'm smitten! Grandmothering is the BEST!

Graham is now three years and three months old. He still loves books --- all the time, over and over. And snuggling with him on the big, cushy couch reading book after book after book is the B.E.S.T.

Yesterday, I had a few errands to do so I took G with me. First we drove to the Post Office. (Back home, Papa and Grandpa were trying to thaw frozen pipes with a hairdryer.) Then I took G out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant---it was a fun place to spend some time together over corn chips, guacamole, rice and beans. Then we went to Walmart and Sears to pick up a few things --- including Candy Land! Graham is the perfect age for the legendary game.

Finally, the public library -- Graham insists on wearing his "library backpack" from the car all the way to the circulation desk. He dutifully takes out each book, one at a time, and proudly slides it into the return slot. Off we head to the children's room where thousands of books await us! Graham is a kid in a candy shop ---- he pulls book after book off the shelf, carefully considering each one. Sometimes, he just looks at the cover; other times, he opens the book and checks out a few pictures. One of the books he slides off the shelf looks familiar; it's one he already has at home. He says, "I have this book. I'll leave this one here for someone else." A glimpse into his tender heart.

Dean, now 10-1/2 months with 5 teeth, continues to be one of the most engaging babies I've ever known! Catch his eye and you're BOUND to get a huge toothy smile and a deep dimple. Melts my heart. Every time. He's just learned to clap his hands and is so pleased with himself! So, that's led to LOTS of Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake; he LOVES when I roll his arms faster and faster and faster and he giggles until he can barely catch his breath. What a delight!

Graham hit a milestone this week. He can rhyme! Of course, by now, he's probably heard thousands of books, so he certainly was well-primed. We visited the PBS website, Graham on my lap, and played a number of rhyming games including Super Grover in 'The Nick of Time' and Elmo Rhymes. Then we moved on to another game or two that had him matching words with the same beginning sound. His favorite was Oscar's Bumper Cars. Oscar does have quite the attitude and it's not lost a bit on giggling Graham!

Dean's walking more and more, too. His current record is 12 steps. He'll furniture-cruise and then confidently get his balance, flash his toothy grin, and bound across the room, arms outstretched as he staggers toward me. Does he know I'm Grandma? Heck, yeah! I'm pretty sure of it.

We are so blessed to have such beautiful, healthy, loving grandsons. It is such a spectacular treat to watch them be raised so wonderfully and lovingly by our son, Mike, and our daughter-in-law, Laurelyn. They are amazing parents. And we are especially blessed to have so many opportunities to be present in the boys’ lives. The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren? A little piece of heaven.

What Type are YOU?

When I was little, our pediatrician was Dr. Margaret Armstrong. She had a thick German accent, a ruddy complexion, very flat-soled shoes, and she always carried her medical bag when she came to the house. Yup. She came to the house. To give us our inoculations. I. hid. under. the. bed.

The dust bunnies weren't such a bad alternative to a shot in the arm. Man. I hated shots.

Mom would bribe me with ice cream. Candy. And anything else she could think of to get me out from under the bed.

But here I am...50 years later. And I donate blood. Regularly. I don't really remember when I had the big transition to pulling up my big-girl-panties and hefting myself up onto the donor table. But I did it. Dr. Armstrong would be proud.

There is such a great feeling when you donate blood. And in the last few years, I've been donating platelets. It takes a bit longer, but it's a painless process and I get to watch a DVD and just lay there for about 90 minutes. It's pretty darned nice. The nurses bring you heated blankets if you get chilled. Pretty niiiiice. And there's often warm chocolate chip cookies waiting for me in the canteen.

I recently joined the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross Blood Services for Northern New England. I'm quite excited! In Maine, we need to collect 300 units of blood EVERY weekday to meet 95% of the need for blood in the 39 hospitals across our state. And those needs are similar across the country. Day in. Day out.

Our son-in-law is alive today---ALIVE---because of the generosity of blood donors. And more and more often, I learn from a friend that they are also alive because of a tranfusion (or 2 or 3 or more) that they've had. Pretty powerful.

Are you a regular blood donor? Could you be? Even if you think you're not eligible because of your travel history, or because you're a cancer survivor, or because you take a certain medication, you might STILL be able to donate blood. A number of regulations have changed in recent years and months. It's important to check. Go to the American Red Cross website and look for information about eligibility. (Go ahead. Now. I'll wait.)

In 2009, I hope that each of you who can possibly donate blood WILL donate blood. You can help to save a life! Find a blood drive near you. Soon. You'll be so glad you did!