Fiona and Twig

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Guest Post...Privet and Holly

Hello!

What an honor to be guest posting

for my dear friend Anne, one of the kindest
and most inspiring bloggers I've had the
pleasure of knowing since I first stumbled
through this blogging door.

One of the greatest gifts that I have received
from blogging is the recognition that no
matter our age, stage or geography, we are
all connected. I have either walked in your

shoes, will walk in your shoes or want to
walk in your shoes!

I wrote this post at the very beginning of
my blogging journey and I invite you to
walk it with me, once again, as our sweet

Anne takes a much-needed blogging respite.

Anne, I often see myself, in you....

Suzanne

Privet & Holly

Visit me at www.privetandholly.com

My niece ~ loving what she sees!

You, yourself, as much as anybody
in the entire universe,
deserve your love and affection. ~ Buddha

I saw

myself

today

As I drove around

suburbia

I saw myself

in the woman

coming out of the bank

and the mall

and the library

I saw myself today

in the woman

walking with her little son

in the park

Then I saw myself
again

in the young woman

wearing business clothes

high heels click-clicking

down the aisles

on her lunch break

at Target

I saw myself today

The little girl skipping

out into the school yard

sunshine on her face

back pack and a smile
that
was
me

I saw myself

in her grandmother

arms open wide as she

greeted her in

the car pick up line
that
was
me
too

I saw myself today

in the college-age baristas

the laughs and banter

behind the counter
at my favorite coffee shop

I saw myself
as well
in the couple

waiting in the
pharmacy at Walgreens

my husband's aged hand

clasping my own

Everywhere I looked

today
I recognized myself

now

the past

the future

And I whispered
a blessing
of love and
affection
to
each one.

Have a wonderful
week ahead!
I hope to
see you
soon.

images: click on each for attribution

*****

Dearest Suzanne...thank you SO very much for providing me with this wonderful
post. Your voice is one of reason and wisdom, and I am so very thankful to count you
among my friends.

Life plods along here on this end, hoping to return soon.
Miss you all.

Love,

P.S.

Wishing you all a very blessed and fruitful Lent

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

An Odd Little Thing...

Re-posted from January 2010.

I'll be away for a bit longer, please enjoy some old posts

I'll be pulling up from the F&T archives.

*****

I've always been a little "off".

Those who know me best will attest to this fact,
and for those who do not, well....strap yourself in, the funhouse ride is about to start!

Is weirdness learned behavior?
Is it by nature or nurture, or a combination of both?

Whatever the answer, I am in possession of more than my fair share of
idiosyncratic behavior, some of which dates back to my childhood.

That's me and my mom.

We both look normal enough, but those are the ones you gotta watch out for,

everybody knows that.

Ever since I was a tiny little thing, I've had to raise my feet up every time

I go over railroad tracks. I'm not sure why,

but I'm fairly certain that some heinous tragedy will befall me if I do not.

Same for those Emergency Broadcasting System tests.

As soon as they announce it, I have to run to the nearest bed, chair or sofa and

make sure my feet aren't touching the ground until the test is over.

I'm fairly sure I've saved y'all from a national nuclear catastrophe

more than once with this particular move.

Awwwww, ain't I cute?

You'd never suspect what oddness lies just beneath the surface!

Here's another.

Somewhere along the way during my childhood, it became a matter
of grave importance that the phrase

"Hot diggity dog" MUST be followed by the words "it's a junkyard."

Hey, waaaaaait a minute....that one's not so crazy after all! ;-)

Definitely prophetic, wouldn't ya agree?

Oh, yeah.
That's me. Sad to say.

I'm not sure what's more pathetic, my ensemble or my rockin' curly hairstyle.

You're probably asking yourself, just how does one attain such perfect ringlets?
Look closer, I'm wearing pink, spongy curlers. The SHAME!

Not enough for ya?
Behold, child abuse in action....

Not sure if you can make it all out clearly, but that's me.

Wielding a sword.

In curlers.

And a hair net.

Out in public!

And all documented for posterity by my clearly sadistic mother.

And she looked so sweet in that first picture, didn't she?

My weirdness extends to my pets.

Havok

Belle

Winnie

I've always given my animals middle names,

as well as the baker's dozen assortment of quirky nicknames, too.

Let's just do the middle names today, shall we?

Winnie came to us as a Winnie. She already had her name, as she was a shelter kitty.

For some reason, she promptly became Winnie Bagel,

I'm guessing because it sounds so much like Winnebago. Not so weird.

Then there's Belle.

My husband already had Belle when we met, but she too came with the name.

Very princess-y, and a name seriously devoid of personality.

I'm a big fan of Indian food, and there's a great South Indian dish known as Bhel Puri.

So, no brainer! She will henceforth and always carry Puri as her middle name!

And lastly, we have Havok.

Whenever I call the dogs, because we live on over 4 acres, I tend to summon them as a unit...

"Havok and Belle! Come, Havok and Belle!"

Ooooo, you guys are gettin' good, you already guessed it!

Havok's middle name is "AndBelle" !

And yes, my husband does look at me

with the same askance, bemused sense of "whaaaaa?" you guys

have plastered across your faces this very moment.

I've got enough weird to fill another post or three, so don't worry,

I'll follow this one up with some of the better stuff in the days ahead.

This was just a whet-your-appetite sorta deal here.

In the meantime, what's your particular brand of weird?

I, for one, would LOVE to know! ;-)

comments disabled for this post

Monday, February 28, 2011

more time away

hey there

'member me?

i'm going to be taking a bit more of a break here,

but just wanted to check in and let all of you

oh-so-kind souls

know that i'm okay.

really.

life just hit me a bit hard this past month,

and it's still packing a bit of a punch.

just gimme another week or two....i'm tough. sorta.

i'm working on lining up some really amazing guest bloggers for you,
and will be re-posting some of my most popular posts
that you might have missed the first time around...

so i do hope you'll pop back in.