It's A New Year, Fiscal-Wise

Actually, it feels like more of a new year in this season than after Christmas.  The rainy season has just begun after a belated start during which I had to water my flowers every day to keep them from burning in the scorching sun.  Now I can relax as by the afternoon each day, it becomes overcast and thunderstormy.

I've got lots of plans on my plate - plans for improvement food wise and budget wise.  We're trying to save money as quickly as possible, barring a few necessary purchases, "just in case".  I want to spend less on food in these days of inflation, and I need to be more creative, not to mention I actually need to cook more often......a task I do not enjoy after working all day.  I think I'm going to befriend my crock pot a lot more closely since that appliance offers a lot more carefree cooking.

Meanwhile, I went out yesterday morning and took some pictures of some of my favorite flowers.  Without further ado, for those poor souls who still peek in here to see if I have posted at all, here they are:

First a few shots of a bee on my lavender Crape Myrtle (Mirtle?)

I can't seem to write in between the photos, so I'll just describe them all from here.  After the 3 bee pics is a close up of Black and Blue Salvia.

Next, my purple Buddleia, which does well, and then seems to fade.  Maybe it's not meant to hang around all year.  Sigh.  

After the Buddleia is a pretty Caladium leaf.

Then a close up of a Chenille flower, which dies back at the first major cold front in the winter - and comes back in the spring.

Next - I'm not sure if this is a coral vine, since I have another vine that looks nothing like this that is supposed to be a coral vine.  Whatever - it is for the butterflies and in the winter, when it blooms profusely, it has lavender flowers and then a more mature reddish flower, in two stages.

Of course, my favorite color of Lantana - the brilliant orange and red native species.

Brand new milk weed bulblets that are waiting to burst into red flowers.

Porterweed, which is a favorite with bees and butterflies every morning.  By afternoon, most of the little flowers have fallen off and the stalk is getting ready for next morning's blooms.  If you look carefully above the purple flower on this stalk, you can see little purple dots where flowers will grow next.

A miscellaneous purple annual - some sort of lavender, I think. Can you tell I like purple?

My pretty little Sensitive Vine flowers - they are like little bright lolly pops.

Two pictures - one close and one farther away - of a shrimp flower.

And finally, a Sunflower tree or Tithonia Diversifolia, which basically grows if you break off a stick of it and throw it into the ground.  It has grown so large that I have to move it to another spot if I can.  It was an experiment that went all too well.

And that's it for my flower photos update.  Tomorrow - rake the back yard from all the trimmings I've done (and will continue to do all summer as everything grows like a Stephen King monster) - and then mow the parts that are still roughly considered "lawn" - very roughly.    This will be followed by a trip to a local horse farm where I can pick up 50 lb bags (call 911!!!) of horse manure FREE!!!  And my hubby thinks this will be fun.....thank God.  I'm going to have fabulous butterfly plants all summer - and then, watch out come September, when our veggie growing time begins.

I have to build another 8' by 12' raised bed and fill it with dirt and  -  FREE!!!! (not the dirt) horse manure.  Then I'm going to grow lots of veggies this winter......my favorites?  Green beans and tomatoes - my two great successes this past year.  My heavens, did we have spaghetti sauce or WHAT?  The green beans didn't grow very well, so the few green beans that popped out every few days went immediately into my mouth raw before even making it into the house.  They tasted SO GOOD I long for one now - but not one from the store or frozen....no - one of those fresh from the no-pesticide veggie garden ones that were looked after by my own greedy, loving eyes........

I'm Not Dead

There have been times in the months since The Big Change at work - new bosses all around - that I have WISHED I had passed on to glory, a.k.a., heaven, but corporeally?  I'm still here.

I have not felt like writing at all because I've either been totally bummed out, exhausted or wanted to write about my job itself, which isn't too smart - so I wrote nothing.

Well - I've had a week off.  My husband had a conference to go to in Naples, FL, so off we went.  We stayed at a beautiful beach resort and I lolled around our room and/or the beach for 4 days.  It was quite literally - heaven.

I downloaded my first e-book on the iPad I inherited from hubby, who bought a newer Acer iPad type thingy.  I read the entire "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel.  Although it was a bit hard to follow at times because, for the sake of the loveliness of the prose, sometimes it wasn't clear who "he" was in various conversations - but after awhile I noticed that it always turned out to be Thomas Cromwell (which is the subject/hero of the historical novel).   She painted a very vivid picture of Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and other assorted Boleyns - and most of all, a very human Thomas Cromwell.  If you look him up in an encyclopedia or on the web, dry history states that he was a brilliant self-made man (he was born a commoner - no nobility) who rose like a shooting star to power as Henry VIII's go-to man.  Cardinal Wolsey had that job first, but as with many Medieval tyrants, if you made a wrong step you didn't just lose your job, you were imprisoned in the Tower (read damp, mildew, disease, filth, rats, etc.) and then you were either beheaded (this was the nicer way to go if the King felt a little remorse over killing you) or you were hung until almost dead and then, while alive, cut down and laid out and drawn and quartered - your belly was cut from ribs to crotch and all your internal organs were pulled out. 

What absolutely astounded me - and would astound me about anyone who takes their chances in such a dicey game - is that once someone fell from power and was murdered, there was always a likely person or really, many likely persons, in line to take their place.  The pull of power and riches and fame must have been the drawing card - but when you see what happens to the losers (and they were all losers - no one pleased the king for more than a few years), you'd think there would be few willing replacements.

Then there is the whole debacle of Henry VIII, who tired of having a docile, plump middle aged queen (Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the famous Ferdinand and Isabella of Columbus fame) and wanted a male heir for his throne.  I did not realize that Henry VIII's father, Henry VII (not much imagination on names) was the first Tudor, who seized the throne by battle with Richard III, a Plantagenet.  The Tudor dynasty only lasted  until Queen Elizabeth I, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's fiery little daughter - a total of 118 years.  The absolutely ridiculous nonsense Henry trumps up in order to get the Pope to annul his 20+ year marriage to Catherine is laughable, except an entire country was held in thrall while Henry came up with new slants on his basic idea, each more ludicrous than the last.  Until he split England off from the Roman Catholic Church, which upset the people of England very much, but who cares, right?  There was no divorce, but, evidently, annulments were not all that uncommon.  The reasoning is that some trumped up condition would be thought of so that the Pope could rule that the "marriage was never valid".  Most annulments were done within a short period of time - an "oops, made a bad mistake" of maybe at most a few years, but not the over 20 that Henry and Catherine had shared.

Henry had his share of dalliances with the nubile young "ladies-in-waiting" of various royals living in his household.  I believe Anne Boleyn was a servant of Queen Catherine, Henry's plain and pudgy wife. 

Looking at this story from the distance of about 6 centuries and the status of women in the West today, it is hard to imagine actually wanting to get involved with a king of that period.  Women had no rights of their own, so in order to prosper, have pretty things and an easy life, one had to court nobility, and one had to be nobility in the first place, to do that.   Anne Boleyn was well educated, intelligent, sharp witted and, of course, avaricious and ambitious. She was also very attractive, vivacious, very flirty and basically, full of herself.  You'd think she'd have been smarter in her choice.  Actually, she wanted to marry a member of the nobility, Henry Percy, but the king did not give his permission - and this was supposedly before he was attracted to her.  It was Cardinal Wolsey and Henry Percy's father who really nixed the match - the Boleyns weren't high enough nobility to rate marriage to a Percy;  and maybe Henry VIII was behind the whole thing because he wanted Anne.  In any case, she wanted to marry Percy, but when that door was closed to her, she aimed for the very top.  Anne's sister, Mary, had been Henry VIII's mistress for a while, and when Anne saw how he dumped her and the affair didn't benefit Mary in the least, it actually tainted her reputation - Anne decided for marriage and nothing less.  So she was coy and flirty and got Henry all hot and bothered and then said, "I'm a virgin and want to remain that until my marriage."  She drove him to defy the Pope and split from the Catholic Church - and also to murder a lot of people she didn't like or who didn't like her.  What she forgot was the risk - don't give the King a male heir that lives - end up with all the others in the Tower.  When he got tired of her, he didn't waste time.  The day after she was beheaded, he married Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth.

If I were a woman in the early 1500's  in a Western country (God forbid anything else), I would have chosen a nunnery I think.  I bet they were relatively clean, peaceful and no royal machinations could screw up your life.  I have a feeling, though, that you had to be more than a commoner to make it into an abbey as a nun.  So, basically, if you were a female commoner, you stayed a female commoner.  Not so, a man.  Unusual, very talented and driven men like Thomas Cromwell could rise above their humble births.

So let's see, what was the idiocy that Henry VIII tried to convince the Pope to believe (and everyone else in England and the civilized world)?

The main point was that since there was a  passage in the Old Testament,  Leviticus 20:21  "If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless."  Catherine was married for 5 months to Henry's older brother Arthur, who died without having sex with Catherine - there was something wrong with him, but it's hard to figure out what from sketchy records of the time, although in Spanish documents it is claimed he was frail and weak and other documents say he was a full head shorter than Catherine, who was already short.  The OT verse means not to marry your living brother's wife - a.k.a., adultery, but our bright boy Henry thought it meant any kind of brother, even dead - and that marrying Catherine according to this passage meant he had committed incest.  To be fair, when Arthur died, Catherine was a widow for 6 years until Henry VII died.  At that point Henry VIII, at least 6 years younger than Catherine, obtained a special grant from the Pope to marry his brother's widow - so you did need permission from the Pope to marry someone who had already been married into your family.

No one read the Bible back then - not Old Testament or New Testament.  The Church jealously guarded Bibles - only priests or bishops had access to the actual Bible, as opposed to prayer books.  The Church also was the sole decider of interpretation - there was no Bible Study, so to speak. So Henry was totally unaware of the verses in the OT that tell brothers to marry the widows of their dead brothers so that the dead brother has someone to carry on his legacy - or something along those lines.  This was Henry's attempt to prove his marriage to Catherine had never been valid.  No one agreed with him, no one followed his logic, but of course they all told him he was absolutely right and they agreed 100%.  It's either that or the Tower and a gruesome death.  If I had been of the nobility of that time, I would hope that my family would have stayed as far away from the court of the King as east is from west.  Once you were noticed by the king, you had to play the game of puckering up to kiss his royal behind 24 hours out of the day, and you never voiced an opinion that differed from his.  It was hard keeping up, because when he changed his mind and did a turn-around, everyone else had to have that same miraculous re-think.

For years, while Henry chased Anne Boleyn around the castles, the Pope - poor Pope Clement, who really wished he had never become Pope and who didn't want to offend anyone, and was in a tough spot, being the prisoner of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, kept putting off making a decision.  As a matter of fact, Pope Clement never did approve or disapprove of Henry's annulment from Catherine.  Clement didn't want to upset Ferdinand, Catherine's father, King of Spain and he didn't want to offend Charles V, Catherine's nephew, who held Clement hostage. There were suggestions of, 'why don't you just take a second wife like they did in the OT', except Henry would have none of it - he wanted a legal male heir to carry on the (cough, choke) glory of the Tudors - an heir that no one could challenge after Henry VIII was dead.

As we all know, Henry eventually gave up on the Pope and decided he was his own pope in his own land, and he separated the English church from the Roman Catholic Church.  At the time this was absolutely unheard of - the Catholic Church had been around for 1400 years and no one defied them before.  Perhaps if there had been a stronger Pope at the time, one who would have invaded England, Henry would not have proclaimed himself the head of the church in England.  If you think that Henry agreed with the other Reformists, like Martin Luther, you are wrong.  Henry wanted everything the same - he just didn't want the Pope or anyone else telling him what he could or could not do. 

Since I am a Christian, I think I see the hand of God in history, especially from this distance.  I believe that those people we would really look up to and honor are never the wealthy, the famous, the ones that everyone notices.  So there are no books written about historical nobodies, but I'll bet if there had been, the stories would have been a lot better - maybe not so much entertainment value, but perhaps some integrity.  Henry, in spite of his own agenda, performed God's agenda - the first major split of the Roman Catholic Church, so that the Bible could become a commonly read book that everyone could access. 

So.....I give this book, "Wolf Hall" a 2 thumbs up - very well written, even if the subject matter reminded me of the insanity of government both in the past and, of course, today.  I can see how human nature just has not changed one iota - it's still the same game, except, thank God, you just lose your job, not your head or your giblets.

The Aftermath

I'm wearing Carpenter Jeans today.  They have lots of pockets and loops.  I may invest in a few pairs.  My job can involve sitting at my desk and imaging or cleaning up computers, or preparing an image for the server.  It can also - and often does - entail getting under desks to see if wires are plugged in properly, putting my hands in dusty places to check things, etc.  In short, I can't dress up to go to work, so Carpenter jeans would be just fine.  I can wear a more attractive top, but pants that can get dirty and take a bit of a beating are necessary.

I don't think I'll ever leave my desk again without my radio AND my cell phone, so - lesson learned.  

The nice things that happened yesterday?  Yes, there were nice things.  A young man I work with who is very much a mans' man, not a softy at all - asked me if I was upset and proceeded to try to comfort me.  When he could see I was crying (I hate to admit I did that at work, but the older I get the it seems the less strong I can be), he came over and stood next to me in my chair and put his arm around my shoulders and patted me a bit, trying to make me feel better.  Knowing this is not his normal modus operandi made it so nice.  It was very touching to me.  

My other young coworker, our department secretary, brought a bag of jelly beans in and tried to give me copious amounts of sugar, knowing I LOVE that now and then, and that I love jelly beans.  She tried to save my butt by texting me and calling me on her cell phone, but she did all she could in that area.

At the end of the day before she left, she gave me a hug.  She also told me that things weren't as bad as I imagined.  

I do have a tendency to beat the living poo out of myself when I do something I know is downright stupid and I have NO excuse whatever.

So today will be better - onward and upward, folks.  

Oh- and the last nice thing.  The boss lady herself, after we were alone and everyone else had gone home - it was my late day.......said she knew I had been upset, but that I had to find a way to remember things.  She also wanted me to know that during the busy day she had not spoken to me, and it was not because she was angry, but because she was so busy.  She didn't have to say any of that - she didn't want me to think she hadn't spoken to me because of any hard feelings.  

I was able to apologize and explain that I had no excuse and I knew it - and I'd certainly carry my radio and cell phone from now on - AND put a calendar on my phone with beeps to remind me of meetings AND signs at my desk.  

So the day ended not as bad as I made it out to be yesterday and I did indeed go to bed within an hour of coming home.  Today is a new day and the saying, "this too shall pass", has proved true.

Boy do I wish I had nine more years under my belt so I could retire!!!!  Nine more years before I ante up 30 and can say, "sayonara" to the full time working world.  

You know what else?  I had been so distracted lately that I had not prayed through the Our Father on the way to work in a few weeks - think I'll catch up on that this morning as I drive.  

Hope everyone out there is having a wonderful Wednesday, which is ALWAYS better than a Tuesday.

Tuesday

Tuesdays are usually not good days for me at work.  Monday is ok;  after all, I've just had a weekend off.  But Tuesday, so far from next weekend and a reminder that I have to do this again for 3 more days......somehow it just usually doesn't go well.

Today was the king of bad days.  For the past few months, we've had a dynamic new boss who is revamping our entire department and the way we operate - a much needed change.  I admire this boss a great deal - she is nice, she does not make anything to do with work personal, and she is fair. 

So what's the problem you say?  Well, at 55, I must be aging fast.  By the way  - the boss lady is just about the same age - or older than I am, but she is a juggernaut, a hard worker, very dedicated and on top of everything. She also has a Master's degree and has taken leadership training.  Me?  I'd love to be home growing veggies, trying to fix up our house, reading, homemaking, etc. 

Five years ago after a great upwards run at my job, where I had been in an important position for over 9 years, pretty successfully, everything changed.  A new director came on board at that time and his secretary wanted her own people, not to mention the outgoing boss left things a bit messy as far as rules go, for which I was held accountable.  Not very fair, but that's often the way it is. 

I was placed in a department where I have been woefully inadequate for a long time.  I've learned quite a bit, but I don't have the technology background to enable me  to grasp more complicated things quickly - I don't have the frame of reference.  I was put there by the director because it was the only other job on location that had the same salary grade. 

So, I'm getting older, I feel less than equal to my job - and for five years nobody really cared because our department was ignored and no one really cared what we did.  That sounds like it might be nice, but it was a downer and a discouragement, and the stress of knowing I not only wasn't equal to the job, but couldn't learn what was necessary unless I went back to college (an idea that horrifies me)......wasn't fun at all.  There are some courses I could take within my system that would allow me to understand things better but - get this - the main one is taught by my husband's ex-wife.  I don't think I could take that course....I would be too uncomfortable.  So... I was the dumb one in the department.  Still am to a certain extent.

So - onboard comes Ms. Dynamic - she wants me to learn all I need and has made workers from another location available to teach and demonstrate in between their copious work load.  I have learned a lot more and have been treated like one of the team, someone who has strengths and can do more with training.

Today there was a meeting that I knew about, scheduled for when I arrived for my shift.  I got there, evidently said, "are we still having a meeting?", which I don't remember, and then promptly moved on from the answer, which was affirmative - and went to try to get some of my work load whittled down.  I'm not working as fast or as accurately as would be liked - and I'm trying very hard to do better.

I think I'm just getting tired of working, tired of constant changes where one never knows how one will fit in after all is said and done.  And these changes are probably going to happen again in a few months, with yet another new boss. 

I forgot the meeting completely.  I went off to do a work order in a different part of the campus - and if that isn't bad enough, I forgot to carry my radio OR my cell phone so I could be contacted.  I have a tendency, when carrying radios, wires (I work in technology), tools, my keys, directions for certain fixes - of leaving something somewhere and having to retrace to see, where I left it.

I need a tool belt or a fanny pack or pants with lots of loops to hang things on, I guess.

So on top of missing the meeting, they called me on the radio - no response because, of course, my radio was on my desk.  They tried texting and calling me, but of course, my cell phone was also on my desk.

When I made it back to my building about 45 minutes later, my boss was coming out of the room where the meeting had been held and  said quite disapprovingly, "where were you - we tried to contact you....etc. etc."  She did not raise her voice or even sound angry - just disgusted maybe and disappointed. in my performance.

Me?  I was mortified, so embarrassed I could have willingly been sucked into the earth and felt better, not worse.  I don't believe in making excuses when there are none and the whole fault is mine.  There's no one else to blame, no traffic detained me, no emergency took precedence over the meeting - I just plain forgot completely.

 Rest of day?  Tearing up from a total feeling of absolute mortification, fear that I'm losing my mind and my working edge, fear that I'm getting senile - you name it.

So after making it through a full day feeling like I'd be happier walking into traffic, I'm home, taking a Xanax and going to sleep very soon - this day needs to be done for me.

Praying the Our Father

I stumble with prayer a lot of times, wanting to cover all the bases and not leave anything out.  I realized one day while reading the Gospels that Jesus taught His disciples the perfect prayer.  I was originally taught, being a Dispensationalist, that this prayer was more appropriate for the age of Israel and not for the Church, but I have come to think differently.  It is the perfect prayer.

First, you direct the prayer to your Father in heaven.  You can say, "Our Father", or you can say "My father".  I like to personalize it and improvise to make it mine every day.  So, while the basis stays the same, the improvisation, personalization changes as needed.  For instance:

(Our Father Who Art in Heaven) - "My father, who lives in heaven, who lives perhaps in all the universe or multiple universes and all the dimensions"...

(Hallowed be Thy Name)..."Your Name is above all names;  you are above all, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, You are eternal and beyond human understanding"

(Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven)..."Father I don't know if the Rapture is an accurate Biblical teaching, but I pray that Your historical agenda be accomplished, that the return of Your Son is coming very soon, and that Your will be done on earth in spite of man's negative volition.  You make the evil do your will even though they are convinced they are winning against You, like Hitler, like Nebuchadnezzar.  The harder they weave their webs, the more they are carrying out Your eternal will.  May Your will, the perfect will that does not take evil into consideration, be done on earth within my lifetime......when Jesus returns."

(Give us this day our daily bread)..."Give me this day what I need to accomplish Your will, whatever those needs might be.  Take care of my physical needs and those of my loved ones.  As bread is basic to life, so the Word is basic food for my spirit - help me to recall Your words and Thoughts as I move through the day."

(And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us)..."Father I confess my sins of.....(fill in the blank)....and I ask that You enable me to forgive those who try to hurt me, who are against me.  As I forgive, I will be forgiven.  If I have not forgiven anyone, then I am not cleansed from sin and sin will separate me from You."

(And lead us not into temptation)...."Father protect me from those things that will bring me down, cause me to fall away from Your plan for me and the happiness that entails.  You know what my tendencies, my Achilles heel is - protect me from that temptation."

(And deliver us from evil)..."Father this world is growing darker and darker with unbridled evil.  Protect and deliver me from the darkness and those that revel in it."

(For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forevermore.  Amen)  "Father - it all comes down to You.  My life, my eternity, everything I am and everything I have or will have.  I pray these things in Christ's name.  Amen"

I know that was long and somewhat tedious.  Maybe it isn't all correct Biblically, but God knows the heart and He can discern what I mean.  Every day it is somewhat different, different words might be used or different ideas, but the basic parts of the prayer cover everything.

What more could we want other than - our needs met, protection from temptation and evil, our sins forgiven and for Jesus Christ to return as ruler.  Everything is covered.  

If I pray this on the way to work each day, the day is indescribably better than if I do not. 

The Most Beautiful Video EVER

This has to be the absolutely most beautiful video I've seen yet.  "O Come O Come Emmanuel" plays in the background - instrumental, while the video plays out showing Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay in Bethlehem.  It makes me cry it is so very lovely.  Joseph tries so hard to secure a place for Mary to give birth - and finally, he has to settle on an animal enclosure.  If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you happen to like the hymn, "O Come O Come Emmanuel", do yourself a favor and watch this - I've watched it about 10 times and after I post this, I'm going back for more.  The best part about it all?  It's true.  Jesus did come and He did live to show us His way, and He did pay the price for our sins in His death.  The human race need not fear death - He has conquered sin and death.  And it all started by God allowing Himself to be limited to the body of a human being, from birth to death.  

What a miracle.   My mind cannot encompass the whole idea.  I am in awe of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Great Freeze

It's not even technically winter yet!!  It's still December 13 and winter begins on December 21, officially.  I know not many people will feel sorry for us South Floridians, but feel free to feel sorry for my flowers, my plants and the critters that are here and may not be able to withstand freezing temperatures. 

It's been a lot of years since South Florida has had temperatures like this before Christmas.  And back then, I didn't own a back yard full of butterfly and hummingbird plants, most of which determinedly like warmer temps.

So tonight, when I get home from work, my husband and I will take the blankets and sheets (pretty much the sum total of my "linens") that I folded and left on the porch from last weeks cold weather(why put them away when more cold temps are coming??).....unfold them and attempt to drape, pin and tie them over my large and small vulnerable bushes.  We have to get out the ladder so my husband can throw a sheet over the top of the trellis. 

It's supposed to be very windy tonight - so others in the neighborhood could be watching my sheets fly by in spite of whatever we do to keep them in place.

I love cold weather.  I love when it gets into the 50's at night.  To us, our critters, the wild things and the plants - that's cold enough.  You get a little cozy inside, you have some hot chocolate, you maybe go for a brisk walk to enjoy the cool air - and you sleep with the windows open to get that crisp, sweet air flowing over you as you put a few extra blankets on the bed.

I do NOT love it when it gets into damaging temperatures.  The farmers down here have lots more at stake than I do.  I may not have enough blankets to put some extra on my bed because they'll all be in the back yard.  It sure looks funny when the bushes are all covered up.  I'm not taking the sheets and blankets down tomorrow morning either - it's going to be just as cold tomorrow night, so the bushes get to huddle in the sun tomorrow with their "coats" on. 

I wish I could just press a button and a giant dome would rise up out of the ground just in front of our fence on both sides and keep going until both halves meet in the middle.  Voila - house and yard in a bubble.  Or just yard.  Then we could control the temperature, much like a greenhouse - and we wouldn't have to fumble around in the wind on ladders with sheets, blankets, safety pins and clothes pins. 

I can hardly wait for January, when it is normal for us to get a few extreme cold fronts.  The fact that it has begun in December does not bode well for the rest of the winter. 

Christmas Lyrics

My husband has an endearing/sometimes annoying habit (mostly endearing) of picking a song - usually Christmas or Amazing Grace or Home On The Range or Oklahoma - his repertoire is quite limited.  He'll sing the tune of the song, but put another song's lyrics in instead.  So, We Three Kings tune is sung, but the lyrics are Amazing Grace - and he embellishes and adds/subtracts his own words as substitute to the established lyrics.  In short - he is a music rule breaker.  But I happen to think it's quite clever - we are made for each other, after all.

Yesterday, on the drive to downtown Miami, we got in a boisterous exchange regarding the lyrics to "Let It Snow".

My husband thought that the couple in the song were walking somewhere outside in the snow together, which is patently wrong - he cannot have listened correctly to the lyrics.  And so we started.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful,
And the fire is so delightful"
 

"I don't think there's a fire outside unless they're homeless people, sweetie."

"Sure - they could be walking home after being somewhere that there WAS a fire."  

"No," I say, "it's a present tense fire, not past tense."

"You're such a literalist" he says.

I toss off the thought that she should not be letting her boyfriend drive home in the snow - he'll get in an accident.  Especially since the song was written in 1945 and the roads were usually windy two lanes (no super highways back then).

My husband says, "How do you know they're not married?" 

I say, "Because he's going home after their date.  If they're married that's pretty strange behavior."

He says, "Maybe they're at his house and SHE has to walk home." 

Me - "Oh - that couldn't be in the 1940's.  That would go against all conventional ideas at the time of the roles of women and men.  It would be improper for her to go to his house, and he could never let her walk home alone in a storm - you know that.  What a dumb idea!!  And even if there was a lout in the 1940's that would behave that way (and I'm sure there were), it would not be a feature of a widely known, popular song.  The song would reflect the better mores of the time, not the worst ones."

He reluctantly agrees.

He finally got me, though.  "How do you know he's driving a car home?  Maybe he's walking?"

Aha.  Let's check the lyrics

"And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!

It doesn't show signs of stopping,
And I've brought some corn for popping,
The lights are turned way down low
Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!


When we finally kiss goodnight,
How I hate going out in the storm,
But if you really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.


The fire is slowly dying
And my dear, we're still goodbyeing,
But as long as you love me so,
Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!"

Darn.  He's right - there's no mention of a car.  He's probably walking home in a small town.  Sigh - the small towns of 1945 before huge thick ribbons of bland, banal highways connected everyone everywhere.

But they're not married, obviously.

And she's not walking home, it's him, of course.

And they're not walking together (he thought since she was holding him tight all the way home he'd be warm - that they were walking together.  Really clueless.)

My husband has some wonderful talents, but musical ability, both tonal and lyrical, is not one of them.  But he sure keeps me laughing and we sure have a great time discussing these oh-so-important subjects.

Miami River Cruise

I know I haven't written here in a while.  I could say I've been busy, but I haven't been any more busy than usual, really.  The actual truth is - I wasn't motivated enough to post about anything.  I even went on a brief vacation to Myrtle Beach.  When I go through the pictures from that lovely interlude, I'll post about that. 

Today, hubby took me on the Miami River Historic Cruise - an early Christmas treat.  I love history and although there is very little left of old Miami along the river, I like to imagine what it used to be like.  Those are my favorite stories - about the early Miamians who had a jungle around their house and panthers in the back yard.  It must have been beautiful, but buggy, at least in the summer.

Without further ado, here are today's pictures from the cruise up and back down the Miami River. 

The picture at top is all that is left of some Indian Chieftain's palace or worship center from 2000 years ago.  It is the Miami Circle, right at the meeting of the Miami River and Biscayne Bay.  This must have been the only cleared area for miles and all around it must have been jungle.

Below is what is at the mouth of the Miami River and Biscayne bay today.  I guess it's beautiful in it's own way, but I always prefer nature and the original way things were.

Below - the Miami Skyline - pretty impressive if you like city skylines.

Above - what is left of a wall created for a big Bicentennial plan that fell short.  This wall is just at the north entrance of the Miami River and Biscayne Bay.

Above - Julia Tuttle's house.  This is what was originally on the North side of the Miami River and Biscayne Bay.  It was part of Fort Dallas.

The building above was slave quarters in the same area on the north side of the Miami River mouth.  In the 1830's William English built a plantation here and these were the slave quarters.  Later, during the Seminole Wars it became part of Fort Dallas.  Today this building resides in Lummus Park along the Miami River.  You can see the picture below on Flickr.  It is not my picture.

Above and below - Fort Dallas in the early 20's

Above is Sewell Park - a little piece of land on the Miami River that looks like it should.  The land back of the river slopes up on a limestone shelf - interesting in an area that is characteristically flat.  This is called Sewell Park after E.G. Sewell, a four time mayor of Miami.

Two photos up - the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami next to a much more modern building.

Above is what the original dredge marks along the Miami River look like from 100 years ago.  that is limestone and the dredge cut right along the edge to both widen and deepen the original shallow river.

Above shows some rare greenery along the Miami river.  The little hillock looks interesting among the trees - wonder where it led?

Above - original Miami River edge - at least the rocky part.

I  cropped out the city looking edges and just left the trees and the old house.  It's a commercial building today, but it looks like I imagine the old river might have looked before all the greenery was bulldozed.

Above - the Miami River Inn bed and breakfast.  It's the only bed and breakfast in Miami.  I cropped out the bottom of the photo because it shows what is across the street from both old wooden buildings that comprise the bed and breakfast:

Above is the uncropped view of one of the wooden houses.  Sigh.

Above - a canal that leads to an Indian cave - yes, a small cave - that is next to Sewell park, but is on Indian land, so it is not open to the public. To the left is a piece of a brochure about the Miami River, specifically about the "Indian Cave".

The piece of land above is more inland.  It is the original site of the tower shown below in the old postcard view.   It was called Car Dale Tower.  Look at the clothes on the ladies - it must have been the 1890's - that's ancient history in Miami.

An old dingy along the river.  It's seen better days, just like the river it's on.

Two photos up - a very small condo of three stories, facing the river.  Each had different color closed curtains, so I thought it made an interesting picture.

Under that photo is a scan from a book called,"Highways & Byways of the South", published in 1904, so the picture is earlier than 1904.  I believe a Seminole Indian is one of the peole in the boat and it is coming down the Miami River from the Everglades.  Below is a map of the Miami River up to the point of the "Miami River Rapids which is indicated by the small number 18 on the far middle upper left of the map.  The rapids are where the original boundary of the Everglades were.  From the Everglades, the river dropped about 6 feet gradually and that difference made the rapids.  Remember, you have to click on the image to see a larger view of it - this is true of all but the old images in this post.  Unfortunately, some of the old pictures I've copied from web sites do not enlarge when clicked on.

Above is another scan from the same book as above.  It shows a man about to enter the rapids.  You see how shallow the river was.  It didn't have very solid banks in some places.  This man is just coming out of the Everglades and heading to the coast.  The rapids, such as they were, are in front of him some feet away.

Above is "Musa Isle", another attraction that once existed along the Miami River not far from the original entry into the Everglades.

Below is one of the only remaining WWII training buildings left.  It's in pretty bad condition and so are the old docks.

I did take other pictures, but they are pretty much all the same story - "progress" in the form of development.  I love to imagine what it must have been like from the remaining records of early settlers.  Dirt roads, jungle like growth everywhere, lots of wild animals - and the beach, river and ocean clean and pristine, unpolluted by chemicals and sewage.  

Looking South at the mouth of the Miami River, which is pointing west.  I think the house is Brickell's - lots of jungle like growth.  Look into the distance - just more of the same.  It must have been wonderful right on the beach.  Today this whole area comprises the Miami skyline (picture above).

Above is an early view of Miami Beach, South.   A little different than today's Art Deco area. 

Above is the Miami river on the left, in 1913.  Already by that time, the Miami River canal was being dug and dredged.

Just contrast the pictures above with my photos - just a little different, isn't it?  It's like any big city - like Manhattan - it's very difficult to imagine the original. 

Oh - and if you are curious about what Manhattan was like before the white man came - this is a fabulous web site where you can look at any address in Manhattan and see what it was like - literally at that spot - before 1620.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving day.  This afternoon it was a bit dreary out and rainy.  I would never have thought to go outside to photograph anything, but, as I was typing on my computer I glanced out my window and saw.......a hummingbird darting near my Cape Honeysuckle bush.

I think it was a female Ruby Throated, since she had no ruby throat.  That's about the only kind of hummingbird you see in South Florida in the winter (they are migrants here) - that I know of. She - or her kin - has been here before.  Last year, to be exact.  There was a tiny female Ruby Throated last spring who was so tired she was resting with her eyes closed on a branch in our yard.  Even though she was resting, she rocked side to side a little bit, kind of like a child with ADD who can never sit still.

We have lots of bushes that hummingbirds like.  The Spot Breasted Oriole loves the same things.  While he chews the whole flower to get the nectar, the hummingbird pokes her long beak into the center of the flower to sip.

I'm going to have to keep a sharp eye out because I know there are lots more critters out there than I ever see.

For instance, after I came back into the house, I happened to glance out the same window again - and I noticed a "flower" on the bougainvillea that didn't match the colors of the other flowers on the same bush.

I got a closer look and knew it was an unusual and beautiful moth.  Back out I went to photograph.

I'd like to say I got a good photograph of the hummingbird, but I did not.  I can prove she was here, but the photo is from way too far away and is blurry as well as shot against a too bright background.  But I've got time and patience and I'll be looking for her every day now that I know she's here.  The photos of the moth came out MUCH better.  Here they are.  Remember to click on each to "embiggen" them.

Yup - you can tell it's a hummingbird, but that's about it.  I'll be watching for her and for better photos!!

A beautiful Io moth.  Above - wings closed.

I touched her/him - and he opened his wings so I could see his "eyes", meant to scare off predators.  After that I left him alone, not wanting him to feel in danger here.  How beautiful!!!  I love the fuzziness of the head area.