83 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 5-30-17”

  3. After Donna’s stories, Chas, I will be amazed if it is done in a day
    Just got back from a meeting. Folks are very frustrated with this and that. The person who had the meeting is from the US and he did a great job of listening and emphasizing. I felt that he truly heard what folks had to say.

    Liked by 5 people

  4. Good luck, Chas

    I’m awake early wondering how to get my laundry doors off, as I can’t seem to do it. I’ll try again later. I watched another video.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Photo is of some of the many jacaranda trees now in bloom all over LA. Were awash in purple this time of year.

    This is an apartment building across the street from where my friend Carol stays. If you could peek around the street corner to the left –where the 2 people can be seen — you’d see the HOL of the Hollywood sign looming above not far away and just up the hill.

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  7. DJ, I made a suggestion for you (on another subject) on the weekends R&R, and I don’t know if you saw it (it’s still the last post on the thread).

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  8. DJ, If it is bifold doors, slide one side open, there should be a notch where the “hanger” thingies will slip out. Lift up the doors and slide them out. Gravity is what makes them stay in place. If nothing else, where the delivery guys bring the new ones they can take the doors down.

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  10. So you all know that I am taking a Boundaries Sunday School Class. Sunday we discussed the Law of Activity. We have to take the first step and the next and the next and God knows where we are headed but sometimes there are detours that prepare us for where we end up. The whole class was in agreement that I need to take the job offer and see where I end up. EVERY SINGLE PERSON in my life is in agreement on that. I haven’t received the final offer yet, but I am going to hold my breath and jump no matter what.

    THE LAWS OF BOUNDARIES

    The Law of Sowing and Reaping: We are personally responsible for our own actions and the consequences of those actions.

    Law of Responsibility: We are responsible for our own feelings, actions, and behaviors. When we take responsibility for someone else, we keep them in an immature state. “Guard your own hearts”

    Law of Respect: We need to learn to hear other people’s NO. We can’t have everything the way we want it. We need to be merciful people and give respect to others. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.

    Law of Motivation: Boundaries are about gaining control and fulfilling what we created for LOVE. They are also about freedom and what we again were created to do with it-taking responsibility. Are you giving for the right reasons? Are you saying yes because you are free or because you’re a slave? Are you rescuing? How much resentment do you have? Are you carrying a grudge because someone is mad at you? There is a need to understand the difference between separation and Individuation. Learn the process of Leaving and Cleaving. Boundaries are not about getting your share in life. It’s about enhancing relationship, wise use of the love you have, to benefit life and relationship.

    Law of Evaluation: There is a difference between hurt and harm-allowing others to experience pain helps them see that the hurt is their problem, not ours. We do need to be sure we are not causing harm. When we get ready to confront someone else, we have to evaluate the effect it will have on them. Whether it would actually harm them. Just because there is uncomfortableness – a sense of pain- doesn’t mean something good isn’t happening. Pain may be required for change.

    Law of Protection: Being reactive means letting someone else define and direct who we are and what we want to do. Proactive means freely choosing what we do, what we love, what we want and what we stand for. We don’t have to be reactive (yelling and screaming and throwing words or things). We can believe deliberate and move forward based on our own values. Define your own behavior on the basis of what you love.

    Law of Gratitude: Envy is seeing the good as that which we do not have. The opposite is gratitude. What I have is enough, for now. We can desire things we do not have, but we need to be grateful for what we do have. That allows us to move toward our foals from a free position, nor from a driven position, believing we won’t be OK until we get more. If you did not have everything you need at the moment, you would not be alive and breathing.

    Law of Activity: Whatever we find in our lives, we must take ownership for and cope with it rather than passively avoiding the issues. There must be initiative-don’t wait for someone else to do something (like apologize). Take the first step regardless of “who is at fault.”

    Law of Exposure: Internal boundaries need to be visible and communicated to others. Keep boundaries in the light. People have to say “ouch” in order to let others know they have been hurt. People are not mind readers. It produces better relationships to tell your associates what bothers you, what you would like to see happen, or what you feel.

    Paraphrased from “Boundaries With Kids” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, Zondervan Publishing, 1998

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  11. It was breathtaking to drive around LA last week and see them. The purple seems so much darker and royal purple than in the past but maybe I don’t remember. Even my daughter, who doesn’t normally notice details like I do, commented on it.

    Another friend pointed out, however, jacarandas are best planted where you don’t have to walk through the sticky spent flowers on the ground!

    Liked by 3 people

  13. Good Morning! Fun day with the grandkids and daughter yesterday. They all tried their hand (err feet) on the slackline their Papa put up out back…fun to watch them try to keep their balance!
    That is a most beautiful sight DJ…do they have a scent? How I recall the scent of the orange blossoms in Florida…absolutely heavenly!

    Liked by 3 people

  14. Chas, welcome to torn-up bathrooms. After the girls moved out, my husband began some work on their shower, taking the doors off to clean it and to fix a bit of a leak in the seal of the doors, so their shower has been unusable for weeks. Last week, friends from church came to help in our own bathroom, including removing the toilet tank so we could remove the wallpaper that was too close behind it. So we had two full bathrooms that were briefly down to one working toilet and two sinks!

    We were also painting our bathroom, and it ended up taking the equivalent of three coats (the “matching” paint turned out to be a little bit darker, and it wasn’t one-coat coverage), and of course the shower rods couldn’t go back on until all the coats were finished and dry. I found a way to get a shower anyway (since we have a handheld showerhead), but my husband went a full week, Sunday morning to Sunday morning, between showers.

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  15. Yes, those trees are gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them. I remember bird-of-paradise and bouganvilla (sp?) but not those.

    Ah yes, the scent of orange blossoms. One of my favorite childhood memories from Phoenix. One time as an adult I was back at the right time to smell them and made a mental note that return trips should be at that same time (the ocotillo were also in bloom, with their vivid red flames) . . . but alas, that was the last time I smelled them, and I have not been back in Phoenix since my mom’s funeral in fall 2003. 😦

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  16. Yes, there’s a downside to the trees — you don’t want them in front of your house or you’ll have sticky, purple remnants to clean up after they begin to shed.

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  17. I saw the buildings and thought, “That has to be California.”

    My memory of Spring flowers in the desert is of the oleanders and the gardenias. My mom planted some gardenias in a box under the living room window of the house where I grew up. After she died, my oldest brother took care of them. We also had oleanders as a fence row in the back.

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  18. Peter, I was always afraid of oleanders (still am, a little). Apparently as a little girl I was allergic to them, or Mom believed me to be. But we were also cautioned quite strongly about how poisonous they are. There was a “fence” of them at the very end of our block, where we would cross the street to go to school, and I kept my distance. People have been killed after being thrown from cars in auto accidents, surviving the crash but landing in oleander bushes and dying from their poison, and also by eating honey that bees had made from oleander bushes. Only now as an adult can I see their beauty, but I can’t imagine having a plant in my yard that (1) has to be pruned and (2) has limbs that can kill you if they stab you. It would be like pruning poison ivy, only worse.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. When I first saw the picture, I thought it was Charleston. I don’t know a place exactly like that. And Charleston’s trees aren’t purple. But they are filled with wisteria and it is purple.

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  20. Hello, Wanderers! It’s nice to wander into Donna’s area and see those beautiful flowering trees.

    It’s been such a quiet time in my neighborhood. I think the graduation parties have all ended. Someone had an estate sale over the weekend so there was some early traffic with those who wanted first pickings. That was around the corner, and I wondered why people were parking on the street so early. I thought maybe there was a funeral. I guess there already been. Except for the church attendees at my husband’s church, and my immediate neighbor’s I hardly know anyone on our street and connecting streets. That strikes me as a bit sad. I guess if I had a dog to walk, I might get to know a few more.

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  21. I have an oversized mattress pad given to me by Karen that I need to take to a commercial laundromat. I have never been to one. Is there anything special I need to consider or be warned about? I keep learning new things all the time.

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  22. Having a dog really does help in getting to know your neighbors.

    I managed to get one door off, one more to go. The last instructions I read online helped by describing how to grasp the doors and which way to push. The have pins in the bottom and top so you have to disengage those. And my doors are very heavy, thick wood, not lightweight.

    With all the heavy overgrowth cleared back from behind my new fence now, the dogs can get a much better view of the squirrels racing along the power lines 🙂 Tess stands out there, staring up, her head cocked, waiting for their morning appearances now.

    I could sure use about a month off just to work in this house. But it’s back to work today. At least I have an easy story lined up to write and another story for tomorrow when I’ll have to work mostly from home due to the washer/dryer delivery. Sure hope they fit, I really couldn’t find anything smaller.

    If they don’t, I’ll be joining Janice at the laundromat.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Donna, I’m rarely homesick for California, but you’ve done it to me today. That is a gorgeous picture. All the more reason to look forward to coming out for my niece’s wedding next May.

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  24. Take plenty of quarters–more than you expect– and a good book. I don’t mind going to the laundromat and love the efficiency of taking over five washers and dryers and getting the whole task finished in 2 hours.

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  26. Quarters, yes. But I think a lot of the places have change-makers, right?

    Got the second door off. Now let’s hope that’s enough wiggle room …

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  27. Lots of poisonous plants in our yards. Not a lot of deadly ones but they are there. Daffodils. Lily of the Valley. Rhubarb. Yew. Rosemary. Mullein. Juniper. If interested, check out the poison garden.

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  28. I have a whole backyard to design now. Our cyclical droughts complicate it. But I want to get some color back there that is low maintenance.

    Along with jacarandas, I do love all the classic old buildings that still stand throughout LA. Carol’s in a particularly charming neighborhood.

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  33. Rock rose, agapanthas, lavender, coreopsis–all colorful, drought tolerant, spreading and dog resistant, as in they are unlikely to destroy them once they’re established.

    Agapanthas attract snails, but Tess and Cowboy should be able to make short work of them–extra protein in the diet!

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  34. I love agapanthas. We can have them down here. We cannot grow lavender because it is too wet. I regret not going to Oregon last year to see the lavender fields.

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  35. I almost forgot to confess what I did at our church picnic yesterday. As we were leaving, as far as I know everyone was outside, and our hostess was sharing some of the meat with us, letting us take home some grilled burgers. My husband, married daughter and her husband, and the hostess were at the bottom of the steps when I came out last . . . and realized just as I pulled the door shut that completely out of habit I had locked her door as though I were leaving our own house!

    Fortunately a hidden key saved the day . . .

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  36. Jacaranda trees are beautiful! We just have tall lilac bushes (which are also pretty, but not so majestic). I have a couple of mock orange shrubs – apparently their blooms smell like orange blossoms. Very pretty.

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  37. Idaho state flower. Philadelphus Lewisii, syringa, similar to mock orange. Easy to make new ones so I am spreading them around my yard. Though the goats enjoy eating them.

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  44. I think this must be bonbon day. Perhaps because I did lots of planting yesterday and five hours of weed eating. This morning, I am spending a lot of time waiting for eleven year old to do his assignments. Now we will do our reading and get out the door for a while. Mowing today.

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  45. Our state flower is the columbine…very pretty, variety of colors, delicate in appearance. One would think our state tree would be the aspen, but no, it is the blue spruce…go figure….oh and the state bird…lark bunting…I don’t believe I have ever seen one here!

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  50. Of course the real test is jumping through all the hoops to take the test.
    Fingerprints
    Certification of License History from Alabama
    Florida Application

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  52. I like mumsee’s black-and-white sand garden idea.

    I’m not personally crazy about cactus but have seen some pretty & colorful/blooming drought-tolerant plants around.

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  58. Oh, now I see why mumsee didn’t go for 100 on the weekend thread.

    DJ- In Arizona in the old days, people would put gravel painted green in their yards to make it look like grass. Very popular, and doesn’t blow away in the wind as sand or get spread around as easily by animals. And cats won’t use it as a litter box.

    Cheryl- I never heard of trimming oleanders. We just let ours grow. When I moved away in 1979 they were 10 or so feet high.

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  59. I like all the plants michelle listed as well.

    I spotted the panther again jumping from my new back fence into my neighbors’ yard.

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  60. Green gravel? We have seen lawn painters out here — and artificial turf (one person in the neighborhood got some that has little sparkles in it so it looks like it’s just been watered).

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  63. NM state flower is the yucca. Certainly not one to cut and bring inside.

    Today begins the summer grandchildren shuffle. We pick up grandsons age 12 and 9.

    Still have not caught up on the blog.

    Peter L., will put August 11 on my calendar. We will look forward to it.

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  64. Indiana state tree is the tulip poplar, which has a very pretty and interesting green flower. Our flower is the peony, which happens to be in bloom everywhere right now, including our backyard. Our bird is the cardinal, the bird that has the most states. I think it should be the great blue heron.

    Here are the state birds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_birds. There are only about six of them I haven’t seen. I’ve seen quite a few within the state listed, like the scissor-tailed fly-catcher in Oklahoma and of course the birds of all the states in which I have lived (Arizona, Illinois, Tennessee, and Indiana). Arizona officially has the cactus wren, but unofficially it’s really the roadrunner–they just didn’t want to look like copycats after N.M. chose the roadrunner. I have seen both birds and love both.

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  66. We have a couple of lilacs and a mock orange. Both smell wonderful when in bloom. Those trees are so beautiful, dj.

    My grandson, who just graduated, has been working putting in new bathrooms. He loves this work. He said figuring the plumbing is like doing a puzzle. He is a helper, but does much of the work and has learned so much. He told me almost all the customers are older people. Putting all that strength and energy to use has been good for him and the customers.

    He will work part time at that while in college this fall. He is getting ready for salmon fishing right now, having bought his own boat. He has gone salmon fishing with his dad, since he was seven.

    He has been learning much from these jobs. Including tax concerns.

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  67. I didn’t realize until I went to that listing of state birds that the seven states with the cardinal are all contiguous states. They must be more common in this region, and they are showy birds. It’s funny that Arizona didn’t want to copy New Mexico, but state after state said, “We’ll choose the cardinal” and it didn’t bother them how many other states already had. The western meadowlark and the mockingbird, the robin, goldfinches, and various bluebirds are also represented more than once. Chickens even get on the list twice, which I think is funny.

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  68. Missouri’s state bird is the Eastern Bluebird, one I don’t see often, and I live in the eastern part of the state. I see an indigo bunting occasionally at the cave, and lots of robins, blue jays and cardinals, besides the sparrows everyone sees. Once in a while we’ll see eagles in the winter, and lots of hawks on road signs.

    rkessler- better pencil in August 10 as well, just in case.

    Jo- you had mentioned once that you’ll be around this area sometime this summer. Is that still the case?

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  70. Saskatchewan’s provincial bird is the sharp-tailed grouse – I just call them stupid chickens as they fly into windows and slowly cross roads. Our flower is the prairie lily (basically a tiger lily).

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  71. It looks like the western meadowlark comes in second, with six states. (I didn’t remember it had so many.) Why did no one claim the eastern meadowlark? (I don’t understand why they are considered two different birds, actually. They’re virtually identical, and I imagine they might actually be a single species.)

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  78. Why, thank you, mumsee. I appreciate that and you know, I guess the brothers were just off their game today. Must have had their minds on Jeapordy or some such thing. Really too bad for them. And how about that Donna? Could have been hers with just a bit of patience. And Victoria? Must have gotten tangled in those pink flip flops.

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  80. Just got back from the big city with the boys. Transformers all the way home. Now the Lincoln logs are out and being built.

    Mumsee, hope you make 100.

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  81. Daughter’s MIL is still in rehab. She is going to live with them full time when released. Many changes coming in their household.

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