On spam mail, chain letters and Facebook hearts - An unexpected Valentine's Day conversation

In my e-mail today, there were three chain letters, each promising something wonderful if I passed them on, and dire, deadly consequences if I didn't.  On my Facebook page, there were a half a dozen notifications that I had received a heart, a hug or some other token of love that would be counted and recorded as soon as I accepted it.

Both the chain letters and the Facebook apps suggested that I should send the same back to the sender, to let them know I cared. 

I used to get annoyed by chain letters with their thinly veiled threats for not passing them along to others whom I knew wanted them as little as I did. But now I see them differently.  They are requests to know that we matter.

So many of us live in a world where no one on our street knows our name (or perhaps ONLY our name.)  At work, we are replaceable if we choose to leave, or expendable if the company's accounts deem us unnecessary or too expensive.

Online, we may have hundreds or even thousands of "Friends" and "Followers", but most of them would barely notice if our Facebook or Twitter accounts shut down tomorrow.

So now, probably more than ever in history, we NEED to know that someone reads our e-mails and responds in kind to wish us luck or love or prosperity.  We NEED to see those heart (or hug) counts on Facebook to feel that someone out there, beyond our little world, cares about us.

Those often annoying, sometimes irritating requests are really a way of saying "Do you know I'm here?"  And more importantly, "Does it matter?"

So this Valentine's Day, I have a suggestion.  Spend some time over the next few days to let the people in your life (online and in person) know that they matter to you. Send them a note, write them a message or send a virtual card.  Buy a box of those $2 for 20 kiddie Valentines and give them out to your coworkers or neighbors.

And this is the hard part:  do it all without keeping count or demanding that they pass it on or return the favor.  The world can be a lonely, scary place these days.  Maybe this February 14th we can all make a dent in that.

Happy Pink Saturday!

A 101 Year Old Happy 4th of July - For Pink Saturday

It's not red, white and blue, but it is a piece of history.  It's a 101 year old 4th of July wish -- a postcard I found it yesterday, in a big box of papers and maps and postcards in a shop called Uncommon Objects in South Austin.

There's no postmark, so I have no idea where it was written...although I did find a mention of a Flora, Texas

But whoever Beulah, Uncle Charlie and Mamma were, they left us a perfect message for this holiday weekend.  And I'd like to think that they'd be tickled to know that their wish from so long ago is being shared with all of you now.

So Happy 4th of July to all...and Happy Pink Saturday to my friends and family.  And to Mamma, wherever you are, thanks for the card.  I hope you caught up with Uncle Charlie.  And thanks for sharing it with all of us, Beulah.

The many shades of pink....

Did you know that there are a least (at most?) 32 words which contain the work pink? Well, 31, if you leave off pink itself. Some of them I know, most I had no clue about...so here's the list, along with my personal guesses about the meaning of a few of them -- and dictionary definitions for those of you who simply must know the real meaning.

firepink - I think this is a new color dreamed up by the fashionistas on South Beach ("This season's hottest look will be firepink feathered skirts, topped with..." 

firepinks - The plural of course, always in a sentence with the most improbable combination of colors or patterns...as in "Consider mixing bold zebra stripes in aqua and orange with your firepinks"


(In reality, at least beyond my own, firepink is an alternate spelling for a wildflower that is, surprisingly, usually quite red.) 

Thank you, U.S. Forest Service for this lovely red "firepink"

pink
pinked


pinken - This is the missing brother in the classic children's bedtime poem/fairytale "Winkin, Blinkin and Nod"   After a falling out with the other brothers over the distribution of royalties for their first gig at the Garden (as in the Enchanted, not Madison), Pinkin changed his name to Pinken, and started his solo career as a singing tour guide. Unfortunately, he had incredibly bad luck in picking locations and travelers for his tours, and after the "Real Housewives of New Jersey Luxury Tour of Iraq and Afghanistan" turned out to be an epic fail in late 2009, he disappeared into obscurity, eking out a living delivering singing telegrams and waving down hungry motorists while dressed in a chicken suit.

(As an aside, after their Garden debut, brothers Winkin, Blinkin and Nod shot to the top of the nursery charts, and have graced the walls, blankets and sleepers of babies ever since. No one, however, can sing their theme song well.)

pinkened - A past tense verb used to describe a meteoric fall from imminent success by making a really dumb choice at the worst possible moment. 

pinkening  - A common slang term for shooting yourself in the foot.  Active verb. 

Image from www.elfwood.com

The real meaning?  This was disappointing...it is "to become more pink"  wow.....

After that let down, I think I will let the rest of you play.

Send me your best, most creative definition for any of the remaining terms on this list.  Post it on your blog and send a link.  Pictures count for extra points.  And just for fun, I will give a random player a surprise gift from sunny but sooo chilly right now South Florida. 

pinkens
pinker
pinkers
pinkest
pinkey
pinkeye
pinkeyes
pinkeys
pinkie
pinkies
pinking
pinkings
pinkish
pinkishness
pinkishnesses
pinkly
pinkness
pinknesses
pinko
pinkoes
pinkos
pinkroot
pinkroots
pinks
pinky

Happy Pink Saturday! 

PS...My favorite holiday movie is "Christmas in Connecticut" -- as a writer, I can soooo completely identify with the main character!

Backyard dreams for Pink Saturday

For the past few months, my husband has been working hard on our backyard. There was tons and tons of decking, covering over half of the yard. And it was all rotting, so up it must come.

He's done a lot of it already...and teh rest is in progress.

But even before the first board was removed, I started recreating the space in my head...

1) It will be green and rich and shady, to make it perfect for an early morning breakfast or a late afternoon cup of tea.

2) It will be welcoming, with comfortable places to sit and secret spots of beauty to discover.

3) It will look as though it has been there for years, growing and becoming. No neat rows of perfectly spaced identical plants.  Nothing that would be called "landscaping" or "shrubbery."

4) But most, most most of all, it will be a place where fairies and other magical beings will feel at home. Where the mere fact that a visitor hasn't seen them is not enough to convince anyone they aren't there.  Instead, they will say... "Was that a glimpse of a wing just around that tree?" Or perhaps,   "Did I see an odd sparkle among those flowers? "


For now it's still in the dream stage.  There are piles of wood, and some still to be removed.  Then there is the ground to level, and plants to buy....

But it's on its way! And that is good enough for now :-)

Happy Pink Saturday!

Pink Saturday....looking deep inside

What do you see in the picture?  A sea shell? A conch shell, maybe?  What else?  Is it anything else?

Do you see a home?

Do you see a specimen from the sea?

Do you see one of G-d's most elegant creations?

Do you see the colors and the way they gently blend into one another...pink to white to cream to gold to grey...no lines...just a soft flow from one to another.

Do you see the textures -- can you feel them in your imagination...smooth as silk inside, soft ripples, pointed spires....

Do you imagine it to be a certain size...it's just on a table here, so there is no frame of reference. Is it small enough to fit in a child's palm?  Or large enough to need a table of its own?

There are difference in light and shadow, too...

And then there are the things you feel about it...does it bring back happy memories -- or sad ones?  Does it make you want to plan a visit to the beach?  Or does it remind you of the shells you have in your home, and a trip is unnecessary?  Or is it something exotic, something you cannot imagine finding out in the "wild" on a beach?

Is it still "just a sea shell" or is it all the things you see and feel about it?  

Now take that lesson, and apply it to people.  Are they just what you see at first glance, a single thing?  Or are they, really, the total of their shapes and colors and functions and voices and the memories you have of other people like them? Can you see the subtlety in shades of skin, accent, the curve of a cheek, the use of language and the way they move through the world?  Can you see beyond rough protective spires, an exotic origin, or size, to get to the beauty within?

Can we look deeper?  ...

Happy Pink Saturday!

Peace to us all for Pink Saturday....

Clockwise, from wind chimes: Wiccan beltane, Buddhist nuns, Muslim girl in hijab, Christian Minister, Hindu bride, Jewish woman in Tallit

We're all in this together, this thing we call life.

Most of us want the same things.  Peace.  A healthy and happy family.  Good kids.  A warm, dry and safe place to live. Enough food on the table. Love. A chance to worship as we believe is right.  We are all so much the same. And yet so wonderfully different.

It really doesn't matter whether we put on a hijab or a tallit or a robe...and when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter how we address the Creator, whether in words or song or one name or another.  Our paths are different, but the mountain top is the same one.  We have just been placed on different roads to get there.

Today, on this anniversary of an act of hate, carried out by a few individuals, let's spend time remembering that we all...

Cry
Laugh
Sing
Smile
Grow
Love

If someone else's customs seem strange, ask questions.  If their words sound foreign to your ear, listen with your heart.  If they look different, ignore their clothes or their skin colour and look at their eyes. You'll recognize the kinship there.

And the next time you're tempted to say "They all..." about another religion -- or you feel that it might be better to remain silent when someone else heads that way -- remember that it's your sister or your brother who is being hated. And speak up, in love, for peace, for every member of our human family.

A joyous and peaceful September 11th Pink Saturday to you all.

Pink Saturday Winner!

And the winner is.....

Luluslovlies!  I will be shipping her gifts out later today or first thing tomorrow a.m.  I was going to post a photo of the giveaway, but I decided I don't want to spoil the surprise :-)  So once it's been received, I'll share the photos with everyone.

Thank you, gentle readers!  Looking forward to playing again soon!

A pink-wearing, card-carrying independent woman...and a Pink Florida Giveaway!

Heading out for a day of snorkeling 

I love wearing pink...pink t-shirts, pink skirts, pink hats.  I even carry a pink purse. But for some reason, people find that surprising.  I once had someone ask me if I objected to pink electronics!  "Why would I?" I asked. "Well, you're so self-sufficient..."

Huh?????

Sure, I love my career as an Search Engine Optimization specialist -- I'm a geek at heart, and this job lets me spend my days in front of a computer, tweaking code and content to make pages rank better on Google, and convert visitors into customers.  It's fun!

And I'm well educated.  And willing to stand up for my beliefs.  I can hold my own in a discussion with other professionals, or defend my viewpoint in a debate over a Torah passage, the right way to train a dog (with praise and treats only), or the role of meditation in a healthy lifestyle (essential!)

But why would any of that mean I shouldn't like pink?

I think there is a misconception, and it's apparently a popular one.  It kind of goes like this.

1) Pink is a girl's color
2) Girls are traditionally and generally ineffectual, fluffy-headed and not really able to take care of themselves.
3) So strong, intelligent, capable women cannot like a color associated with "girly-things"  In fact they will be offended if they receive pink gifts.

Hogwash! Let me clear this up right now!

I love to wear pink!  I am NOT offended by pink electronics, pink accessories or pink just about anything!  Probably half of my closet is pink stuff.  The other dominant color is purple.  Probably another "girl colour" I should find offensive. Too bad!

I am happy to be female.  Happy to be intelligent and self-sufficient.  Also happy to have a gentleman open a door, pull out a chair or bring me flowers.  It is possible to be all of that, and more. In pink...or blue or purple or green or black....

A trivia fact: In Victorian times, pink was considered a man's colour.  It was too intense, they thought, for women to wear. And according to some, the practice was revived in the 1920's...

In Western culture, the practice of assigning pink to an individual gender began in the 1920s. From then until the 1940s, pink was considered appropriate for boys because being related to red it was the more masculine and decided color, while blue was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty color, or related to the Virgin Mary. Since the 1940s, the societal norm was inverted; pink became considered appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued into the 21st century. 

                                                                     From the Wikipedia  article on "pink"

So pink it is! (Although, as I write this on Friday, I am wearing a long turquoise skirt and a top with nary a bit of pink!) Interesting....

Now for the Pink Saturday give away...

I have a pretty little tropical bowl (pink, of course!)  I am filling with trinkets associated with Florida.  I will send it to a reader who tells me in why they need a piece of Florida. :-)  It will be a random drawing, done by my door-opening, chair-pulling-out gentleman of a husband.  International readers, you are welcome to play as well. :-) The drawing will be done on Monday, so you have until then to get your comments in. I will send it to the lucky winner on Tuesday.

Happy Pink Saturday! 

100 Things That Make Me Happy

Lovely, sweet-scented pink roses -- just one or an armful

I was reading Karen Ruby's blog, "A Meaningful Existence" and saw her list of 100 things that make me happy.  What a wonderful exercise to remind us of things we love, things for which we can be grateful, and things we may be neglecting or need to work on adding to our lives.  So here is my list...please create your own, and then send me a link.  I would love to read everyone's list...

This is also my Pink Saturday post for "How Sweet the Sound", because I've added photos of the things on this list that are pink...a little color amid the words!

A hug from someone I love
Walking on the beach at night
Singing along with a favorite song in the car
Being greeted at the door by my cats and dog
Waking up to a view of trees
Windy days
Having time to sit at a café and read without watching the clock
Working on my art projects

Image from candyland22

Scrapbooking
Figuring out what's wrong with a line of computer code
Finding a great new mystery writer
A new book from a favorite writer
Listening to live jazz
Getting a REAL letter in the mail
Getting a flower/flowers from someone
Cottage gardens

Learning something new that changes my view of other things
Moments of spiritual connection
Seeing someone I love across a crowded room
Kisses
Berry season
Houses with tons of natural light
Foggy mornings
The smell of fresh cut grass
Clean sheets

Image from architheque

Handmade quilts on a bed
British comedy
Well-worn wood furniture (primitives)
Old books
Old book stores
Long walks in the city
Long walks in the countryside
Seeing cows in a field
Gardenias
Watching a butterfly flying
Photographing the details on old buildings
Country fairs
Quaint old cottages

Image from Avignon-et-Provence

Quaint new cottages
Curving, hilly roads
Wide roads with lots of green
The first few notes of the overture before a show
Being backstage when the overture starts
Slices of crisp green apple and sharp cheddar cheese
Holding hands
Waking up with the one I love
Rearranging books on a shelf
Cooking without a plan
Cello music
Jazz quartets
Following a fish around while snorkeling and pretending I'm a fish, too
Poetry that does not rhyme
Wearing soft cotton clothes
Laying on the grass and watch the light change through the leaves
Seeing pictures in clouds with my kids
Flying a kite
Seeing old people holding hands
Finding just the right word for something I'm writing
Keeping up on my blog
Waking up after having a good dream
Playing a good game of tennis
Questions that really make me think
Being a mom
Being married to Lance
Petting the soft fur on my puppy's head

Her tongue is pink!  So it counts! 

Going to a football game or baseball game
The smell of spice, pumpkin or autumn-scented candles
Stepping on crunchy leaves
Having a cat on my lap while I read
Having a challenging new assignment at work
Getting rid of things I do not need
Finishing all the laundry and seeing the clean piles
Making a pie with a woven top and seeing it come out of the oven
Finding a good new blog to follow
The feeling of long silk skirts against my skin
Buying pretty shoes
Having a clean, organized purse
Really getting into a prayer-mindfulness
Getting a difficult yoga position right
Seeing the message in a Torah portion (which may not be the one others see!)
Cool evenings
Snuggling under the covers to go to sleep on a chilly night
Putting on socks when my feet are cold

Wearing soft hoodies
Having extra money in the bank at the end of the month
Going out for breakfast
Al fresco dining for any meal
Getting a new lip gloss in a really pretty shade
Candlelit dinners
"Blue time" (twilight)

Going to silly, tacky tourist traps





Fresh air while I sleep
Watching snow fall while cozy indoors
Starting a new journal
Going to the Farm Show & petting all the cows
Walking in Mount Gretna, Pa after dark
Having a my kids and their friends all in the house
Watching a ballet
Daydreaming films scenes or dances while listening to music
Getting "lost" while driving and turning it into an adventure

There is much to be said for knowing what makes us happy...the simple things, the big things, the silly things, the profound things.  Make your list.  Post it somewhere you can see it.  Share it.  Check in with yourself now and again to make sure you're spending the time you need to keep yourself happy.  

Pink Saturday, Number Two

A delicate pink flower, floating with a handful of other flowers in a birdbath, not meant for birds at all. A tropical breeze, the scent of gardenias in the air....and all around us, butterflies. Surely the stuff of fairy tales...but we were there, butterflies floating through the air all around us.  Magic.  Proof of G-d in the world.

A showy hibiscus, perched just at eye height.  One of the largest, brightest pink blossoms I've ever seen.  Perhaps it was jealous of the lovely butterflies and wanted to make sure it was noticed. 

My pink Saturday gifts to the rest of you.  I will take a look at your blogs on Sunday, after Shabbat. In the meantime, a joyful, peaceful, renewing Sabbath to all, however you observe it. 

Pink, Pink, Pink!

My Pink Saturday post didn't post!  Resending/reposting it today!  

The post below was supposed to go up on Saturday.  I set it to automatically go up, because Saturday is the Sabbath (Shabbat) for me.  No blog writing, no computers. But the autopost didn't work...so here it is, late.   Hopefully next week will be on time!

Today is the first day I'm participating in Pink Saturday. It's a weekly celebration from How Sweet The Sound, a wonderful art blog. 

Given the name of the blog, how perfect is it that the picture comes from one of the sweetest places on the planet, Walt Disney world. 

Just outside of the parks, there's an area called Downtown Disney.  And one of the shops there is all Legos!  I love Legos!  But when I was growing up, Legos came in only a few colors...red, blue, white, black and yellow.  Green, too, I think. Other colors existed, but only in the kits, and then for only a few special pieces. But it wasn't until my daughters were born that I saw Legos in pink and purple...what are considered "girls colors."

I wasn't sure at first whether to be excited that "our" colors were finally included, or insulted that someone might have thought that Legos had to be pink and purple for girls to like them.  I settled on being happy, because studies have shown that kids who play with Legos are more successful in math, language and science. And if it takes pink and purple Legos, so be it. Besides, it gave us more colors to play with!

So when I walked into the store with my kids, imagine my joy in finding not just boxes of Legos, but giant clear bins filled with Legos, including the lovely pink ones!  So here is my tribute to Pink Saturday and the fun of Legos. Happy Weekend, everyone!