Hula Baby: A Borrowed Babies Blog

(This is actually a "Kate Has a New Toy" blog...)

Remember, a while ago I learned that I could upload videos from YouTube onto my blog?

Well, since my brain was never encouraged to develop its "techno" muscle, that's as far as I got. Although I now have a camera (Have I mentioned my LRDC?) that allows me to take my own videos, I thought that I would have to upload/download -- I don't even know the difference -- them to YouTube before I could put them on my blog. But guess what...

(Turn up your Volume)





This is My Sunshine Jordyn, doing the hula to "Junk Food Jump" when she was a little over two years old, and totally uninhibited. My Awesome Husband Greg was the videographer, using his very first digital camera...We're talking floppy disks here.

Being technologically-impaired as I am, I thought we'd just have to hold on to that camera for the purpose of watching the little 15-second video clips he'd recorded. Putting them in the disk drive of the computer didn't work; they just wouldn't play properly.

Then today, I guess because I'm physically exhausted (Greg ran a 10K this morning in 85 humid degrees and it completely drained me!), my brain must have kicked in...I had an idea!

Would I possibly be able to transfer a video from a disk onto my hard drive? If so, would I be able to actually view it?

I think this post adequately answers those questions!

Watch for more old "Adorable Kids doing Cute Stuff" videos in future posts!

Hydrangea: A Photo Blog...

...A day-by-day look at the life of one beautiful blue hydrangea. I may be off by a year or two, but I believe it was 2001 when my sister, Karen (whose name is practically synonymous with "Beautiful Flowers"), gifted me with this plant...



"Blue Hydrangea," June 2009 (Kate's LRDC)

First, my "Hydrangea Haiku:"

Gorgeous clouds of blue
Delight the soul of my eyes.
Beauty just because.



June 3 & 4...Just enough color to capture my attention as I returned from the mailbox.




June 5 & 6...Color beginning to diffuse!




June 7 & 8...Definitely more than "a Whiter shade of Pale." (Procol Harem and Willie Nelson)




June 9 & 10...Getting ripe for the pickin'...



June 11...Sorry, Hydrangea. (But thank you!)

You Know What I Love? (A Morning Prayer)...

"Rhododendron from a Bathroom Window," May 2009 (Kate's LRDC)

...The dreams I have when I wake up extra early, drink a couple cups of coffee as I read in the chair by the window, then close my eyes and fall back asleep.

...That kind of sleep when I'm really just awake enough to know that I'm sleeping, and it feels sooooooo good.

...The feeling of an entire day spread out before me, when it seems that anything is possible, and that it will all be good.

...Being the first one in the house to wake up -- like I'm the one who's responsible for everyone else, and I am fully equipped to handle that job!

...Knowing that no matter how messy and cluttered it is, this house is Home.

...Realizing that later on, when it all begins to feel like Too Much, there really is someone else who's in charge.

...Knowing who to thank for all the things that are beautiful, in spite of all the things that are not. (Amen.)

The "Book" Group...

"The Intimate Book Group," l-r: Frances Moore, Mary Elizabeth Kiester and Marilyn Brenneman, May 2009 (Kate's LRDC)

Well, I've blogged about books a time or two, and I know I've mentioned my "book group" at least three times -- on each of these ladies' birthdays. This October will mark 20 years since I first attended the book discussion group at the Southwest branch of our library. That branch no longer exists, and Marilyn and I are the only two remaining members of the original group. But since first, Frances, then Mary Elizabeth joined us, and since we stopped meeting at the library and began meeting at one another's homes (probably more than ten years ago), we truly have become an intimate book group...

We're a book group where it doesn't even matter if you've read the book; there'll be plenty of other things to discuss. (Sometimes so much so that we barely have time to mention what we've read!)

We're a book group where, even if you don't like what you've read, you'll love the snacks. And you'll never leave hungry!

We're a book group where, if you happen to walk past the door of the little sitting room where we now gather, you'll be asked if you'd care to join us -- and we don't even care if you can read!

Truly, this group has become so much more than a book discussion group, it's hard to describe. And hard to believe how long we've been getting together -- mostly once a month (Occasionally we go a bit longer, if someone can't meet -- We rarely get together without full membership present!) -- to talk about books, families, trips, joys, troubles, recipes -- sometimes even politics and religion!

I love reading, I love books (and I have plenty of them that I haven't read!) and I really, really love these ladies! Together they are one of the blessings in my life for which I am most grateful!

A Limerick Inspired by Nature (and My LRDC)

"Bean Sprout," June 22, 2009, Kate's LRDC

I spotted this cute little bean,
Its complexion a delicate green.
It clings to its stalk
Like a verdurous flock;
Such a lovely and promise-filled scene.

My Dad

Photo of Dad at Kure Beach by Kris Karlek or Karen Branson. Kate added by Kate (MSN Paint).

So it's Father's Day again. The second one since Dad's been gone. He's been with me all day, though. I can feel him, and I just know.

I have so much I am thankful for -- that I have others to love, and who love me. But I'd still give just about anything to see my dad again. To sit next to him with my arm across is shoulder like this. It wouldn't even have to be the beach. The back stairs would be just fine. I'd love to hear his voice and see him smile. I have so many things I would tell him -- Would have told him the last time I saw him, if only I'd known it was the last time...

Oh, I know he knows all of it anyway. I just wish.

I miss you so much, Dad. Happy Father's Day.

A Father's Day Blog for Papa Leo...

Hilma and Leo, Summer 2008 (Photo by Greg Fischer)


Papa Leo has been "Papa" Leo, since I first met him. That was a long time ago, when Meagan was just a baby. Leo is Greg's step-father because he married Hilma 19 years ago this summer. But he's Papa Leo because of the way he just naturally fell into the title role.

This is what the family looked like the day of their wedding:



Front, l-r: Dominic, Ali, Dawn (holding Brad) Hilma, Deb, Andrea.
Back, l-r: Tara, Kim, Meagan, Kate, Greg, Leo, Erin, Lew.
(Original photo taken Summer 1990. Blurry reproduction made by Kate's LRDC June 21, 2009.)

Since this picture was taken, the "step" family has grown by a few husbands and three great-grandchildren. And Leo has a daughter of his own, Cindy, who has two children, but they're not in this photo.

Also at the wedding, but not pictured is a large collection of brothers, sisters, in-laws and nieces and nephews from both sides of this "blended" family. If I could, I would interview each of them, and I'm sure this post would be a wonderful testimonial to the kind of person Papa Leo is!

It's impossible not to love this kind, generous man who is always ready to go along with whatever makes other people happy. Through the years we've all received beautiful gifts that Papa has made with his awesome carpentry skills. But the true gift he's given us is the love he shares with this family.

Happy Father's Day, Papa Leo! We love you, and wish you a wonderful Father's Day, because you are a wonderful father!

Happy Father's Day to My Awesome Husband Greg

My Awesome Husband Greg Masquerading as My Awesome James Thurber, June 2009 (Kate's LRDC)

M y life would be so very different without you in it.
Y ou are that nagivational thingy -- whatever you call it
-- that keeps me on course (sort of).

A lways ready -- and mostly willing -- to fulfill my every desire...
W hatever I did to deserve you must have been good! (Wish I could remember what it was so I could do it some more!)
E ven though you'd never guess it from the way I act sometimes (okay -- most of the time), I truly do appreciate the wonderfulness of you!
S ometimes I shudder when I let myself think about what I might have become, if not for your love and strength...
O ne of those crazy ladies who just walks around striking up conversations with complete strangers in public places because she doesn't have any place else to be?
M aybe I would have joined the circus, probably as a clown/acrobat or something.
E ventually, though, our paths would have surely crossed...Probably at the circus one night, where you, freshly broken up from whatever other relationship you may have gotten yourself into, would have come, seeking to lighten your heavy heart. (Isn't that what the circus is for? I never really knew.) Our eyes would have met, and I would have fallen off the tightrope right into your lap...You can't fight Destiny, you know!

H ow fortunate for us, though, that we didn't need to waste time on all that stuff. (I could have been hurt!)
U seless to ponder such things now.
S omehow, even though we were only 11 years old when we first became aware of each other, our fate was sealed.
B ut I can only speak for myself, really...
A ll right -- I knew that my fate was sealed!
N o one else would even come close to being the answer to my dreams, although it would be ten more years before we made it "official!"
D amn! I must have been psychic!

G ood times have far outweighed the bad since then.
R egardless of the occasional messes and confusion we (I) may have created as we got on with the business of living, there is one thing on which I am absolutely clear:
E very day we've shared has been a pixel in the "big picture" or our lives, and as such, has been necessary -- and precious.
G etting this far with you as my partner has been a remarkable journey, and I am very much looking forward to the rest of it!

I love you, and am so grateful to have you, MAHG! You are the best husband -- and the best father to our two amazing kids -- that I could possibly have imagined -- had I been given the privilege of making you up!



(Our kids: Dominic, Meagan -- and Joe -- Father's Day 2009 (Kate's LRDC)


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, MAHG!

Sweet Dreams of Clouds and Teeth

(Isn't that how that old Eurhythmics song went?)

You know how I've said that I like taking pictures of clouds with my LRDC? Well, I suppose, then, it's only natural that that should become the subject of one of my Wild-Assed Dreams...







Yep. I was out taking cloud photos -- just me and my LRDC -- when all of a sudden an alarm went off in my head. Or maybe there actually was an alarm -- you know -- that alarming buzzing sound the TV makes when they want you to know that you should seek shelter immediately because there's a tornado in your backyard?

Whatever...Whether it was in my head or in my ears, I heard an alarm, and I looked up in time to see a gigantic triangular (i.e., funnel-shaped ) cloud with a huge exclamation point right on its chest heading directly toward me!

Then the scene changed...

There was my Dazzling Daughter Meagan. She had come home to reclaim her old retainer, which she had left in one of the bathroom drawers something like 18 years ago. When I told her that I had just recently cleaned out those drawers and had donated her retainer to Goodwill, she did not display the wrath for which I had braced myself. Instead, her [beautiful, huge brown] eyes filled with tears as her lower lip began trembling. I didn't know what to do, so I just woke up then.

Oh -- She doesn't need that retainer anyway...




(Meagan Smiles, 9/22/07, by Karen Branson)

In Praise of Elizaberg

(Photo of sun and clouds, Kate's LRDC, June 2009)



I have been on a reading binge lately...Mostly books by Elizabeth Berg (shortened to "Elizaberg" for convenience's sake by my sister, Melissa, because Ms. Berg and her books were the subject of so many of our frequent messages to each other.)

Melissa has read everything she's written, but I, thankfully, have only completed about half the list. (I'm glad I'm me, because I'd be really sad if I had no more Elizabeth Berg books to look forward to...But she'll either have to start writing faster, or I'll have to start reading slower so that that doesn't happen!)

So many times since I have begun writing this blog I have found myself at a loss for words to describe something -- Something I had seen, something I had felt or heard. And although I may not have written it, I have often thought, If only I were a poet!

That is how I feel when have finished a book that makes me close my eyes and clasp it to my chest as I lie back in my chair and sigh, Thank you! I try to imagine all of the wonderful things I will tell people that will make them want to read the book, too, because you just can't keep something so good to yourself! Unfortunately, all I can come up with is, "This book was just awesome!" (I've said that so often, believe me -- I'm sick of hearing it myself!)

True to Form (which I have just finished) is one of those books. But, Aha! This time I dogeared pages that contained Elizaberg lines I could quote later so that perhaps you would be able to understand what I'm trying to say!

For example:

I take in a huge breath and look at the sky as hard as I can. I feel like I'm trying to eat it with my eyes. I wish there would be certain things you come across and you could say, ok, that's one. Put that away for me to pull out later just exactly as it is now. My dream is for me to be a poet who could make things like this sky come to life for someone else. If you see a sunset and try and describe it to someone in normal words, all you can say is, 'Boy, I saw a great sunset last night.' But if you are a poet, you give it to someone to feel for themselves. Like you make a little seed of what you saw, they swallow it, and it blooms again inside their own heart.

Right there -- the Number One reason why I love Elizabeth Berg...If I were trying to share something wonderful with her, and I told her that I just couldn't find the right words, she would know exactly what I was talking about! (Although she seems to have found the perfect words to say what she wanted!)

I have read about ten of her novels, two books of short stories, and am currently reading a book she wrote about writing; but I have yet to come across a collection of her poetry that has been putlished. I hope that someday I will. I'm sure she has written poetry, because I imagine that there is a little bit of every character she has created in Elizabeth Berg herself. (What am I saying? Her novels are poetry!)

In True to Form, the poetic young hopeful is 13-1/2 year old Katie Nash, who made her debut in Berg's first novel, Durable Goods.

...Whenever I start a poem, I feel like my heart is about to break. Because of all there is, because of how every single thing can have such a pure beauty that aches to be known. I take a deep breath, and then all there is is the scritch scritch scritch of my pen, trying to say something so true. What if it works? Then when I read it again, the little voice inside will say Yes. Yes. Yes. And there will be this rare excitement that makes me bend over myself with pleasure, then rise up smiling, my fingers pressed over my mouth as though to keep things from bursting out. I am lucky on the inside.

I couldn't believe how much I could relate to such a young heroine. True, she was created by a 50-something woman, but she was so real -- and so lovable -- that I instantly felt this overwhelming tenderness toward her -- as if she belonged to me.

It is beautiful outside, the kind of day where the sun touches you like mothers touch their babies' cheeks. Your breath rides in your chest like a slow-swaying hammock, and your eyes see in the rich way: Yellow isn't yellow, it's butterscotch; the red on the roses is velvet. On days like this, you wish everything would slow down; you wish time could stop for a while. But of course that never happens. When a good thing comes along, time is like a flirty girl lifting her skirt and running away, laughing over her shoulder at you...

I couldn't have said it any better myself. Not even close!

(Sigh.)

Since You Asked...

Maybe it's just me...

Does it seem like there's one question you get asked more often than any other -- perhaps the same question every day?

For me, it's "Seriously -- What were you thinking?"

Well, I think I may have some answers to that question...

What was I thinking when (once again) I loaded the dishwasher "improperly," allowing the spoons to spoon, and placing the coffee pot over the water sprayer?

I imagine I was thinking As soon as I'm finished with this, I can dig through my big box of decorative trims to see if I have something I can incorporate into the curtains I'm going to make for the living room...

What was I thinking when I left a huge pile of decorative trims in the middle of the bed, instead of putting them back from whence they had come?

I was probably thinking Oh -- My Awesome Husband Greg's gone to the Post Office. Now would be a good time for me to dance in the living room!

What was I thinking when I ignored the water that got splashed behind the faucet on the bathroom sink?

Well, I know you thought I was thinking So what's the big deal? It's just a little water. I'm going to leave it there for someone else to clean up. But in actuality, I was thinking I wonder if there's anything made with nuts and dark chocolate in the cupboard...


What on earth was I thinking when I yelled "Stop!" as you approached a yellow light with the full weight your [huge] foot on the gas pedal?

That's easy...I'm pretty sure I was thinking Oh My God! He isn't going to stop -- We're going to die!!!!

And what was I thinking when I ignored your "suggestion" that I could roll up the garden hose and hang it back on the hook after you had pulled out of the driveway?

Another no-brainer...What do you think of whenever you see a garden hose? Snake!!! (Now why would I want to touch that?)

And finally...

What was I thinking when I spent more time than I was ever alloted running up and down the stairs to edit posts and make adjustments to my facebook wall?

Obviously, I was thinking This is so very important -- I must get it absolutely right so that the gazillions of people who read my blog and check my wall don't get the wrong idea...

Well, I hope this has helped clear some things up for you. Have a wonderful day now...


(Photo: Greg returning from his run 6/7/09, Kate's LRDC)

On the Road Again...

"These Shoes are Made for Running," a mirror-image photo

made by Kate's LRDC, May 2009

When I first began writing this blog back in September, one of my first posts was about running ("Jogging," 9/14/08). When I wrote about it, I was no longer doing it, due to my Oxygen Deficit Disorder. And while I waxed nostalgiac about my early days of running, I didn't think I was actually going to miss it, as long as I was able to get out and walk -- and continue clogging, of course.

Now, some nine months later, I can honestly say that I haven't missed running. I'll admit that I was pretty upset for a while (during my blue-fingers phase), thinking that I might have to give up walking and clogging...or else learn to incorporate an oxygen tank into those activities; but I barely gave a backward glance at that other activity in which I had once so obsessively participated.

Recently, however, seeing my young (like I used to be -- and I do miss that!) neighbors heading out for (but more often, returning from) their morning runs, and reading their (http://www.rayfieldrambles.blogspot.com/) -- and others' (http://www.thetypingmakesmesoundbusy.com/) -- blog entries about running (including marathons!) has made me acknowledge a pang or two. I even began to wonder if I remembered how to run, should the urge ever overtake me...

And actually, it turns out that I do remember! This has nothing to do with speed and grace, mind you. I'm simply saying that I can remember what makes running different from walking. The main difference, of course, is that in running, there's a moment (for some of us, a very brief moment) when neither foot is on the ground. (Do not confuse this with flying; you'll only be asking for trouble.)

Yes, one day last week, feeling fairly confident that indigo fingers are now part of my past, I actually alternated between having one and none on the ground for a while. (Feet, that is.) And you know what? Having no feet on the ground actually felt kind of good! (Nothing like flying, of course --but for me, almost as dangerous, since gracefulness is also part of my past.)

Ahhh, the memories. Wonder if I'll ever work my way up to another marathon (the last one being October 1981)? Well, you know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words...

"After the Marathon," October 1981, Bell Isle (Detroit)

I don't think so!

6/3 -- If Today is Your Birthday...

...If today is your birthday, you have a close-knit (pun intended) group of friends who are wishing you the very best kind of day. See...?

[Some of] The Moa Boas: Hilda, Julie, Leslie and Helen, November 2008

Carol, Dec. 2009




...and don't forget this one!





...If today is your birthday, you also have one kind-of-crazy-but-not-in-a-scary-way friend, who is also sending you her heartfelt good wishes...

Kate, Nov. 2009

(Her head may be screwed on a little funny, but her heart's in the right place.)






...If today is your birthday, you are one of that priviliged group of friends who have proclaimed themselves "The Moa Boas," and seem not to care what anyone thinks!



...If today is your birthday, we couldn't have possibly been friends for as long as the calendar says we have -- we look waaaaaaaaay too young to be that old! Oh well...



...If today is your birthday, years don't matter as long as you have friends -- And I'm so happy to be one of yours!

Happy Birthday, Julie!

You deserve a completely wonderful birthday --

Enjoy your day!

Cloud Gathering -- A Mystery Blog

"Cloud" May 2009, Kate's LRDC

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I mean, what do you see when you look at this cloud? To find out if you think like I do (which my horoscope once said you probably do not, but I don't care -- I love you anyway), then read to the end of this post, where the answer will be revealed...

Remember the other day how, in blogging about my Little Red Digital Camera, I mentioned that I had been taking a lot of pictures of clouds? Well, that is the honest truth. I have no idea how many photos I've taken since that LRDC and I have become constant companions, but I am pretty sure that the largest portion of them have been pictures of clouds. I don't know why, but I seem to have suddenly developed an affinity for those fluffy guys!

I guess that's okay, as long as I'm not driving all over the country, chasing clouds with ill intent. (I mean that the clouds might have ill intent, not me; you know -- like tornados and such.) Of course I realize that I'm no better than those crazy people who do that if I'm trying to snap pictures of clouds while I'm driving. But -- confession time -- ever since I've begun looking at clouds from both sides now (whatever that means, Judy Collins), I just can't keep my eyes off of them! Which means that I'm not always watching where I'm going, even though my vision may not be obscured by a camera...

So I apologize to all of the people whom I have endangered by this thoughtless behavior, and I promise to try not to think about clouds (or my sweet little LRDC) any more while I'm driving my car.

At least I know that God still loves me, because look at that picture -- He offered me a bite of his donut!