A Game of Cards

I don't have an idea of what to write about but John sent me this meme and it got me to thinking about card games.  I know very little about them. The only time I ever played cards was on family vacations at the lake.  We would go up to the Lodge and a bunch of us would sit around and play cards.  When we first started going it was one game and then later we learned another one and played it for awhile.  Funny thing is, I can't remember what the names of the games were, nor the rules.. What I do remember is the people who played.  My mother, of course she of the "Ruth can't wait to get up there and gamble" fame as stated by her older sister,  My uncle Harold (the older sister's husband) Morrie, Joe, Maryjane, Paul, Bob, and a myriad of other who stayed at the resort.

There were also a lot of people who sat around the outside and watched or got in and out of the game.  Funny thing is though it wasn't about the gambling. It was more about the sociability. Bets were never high and you won about as much as you lost.  You wouldn't get rich or poor because of playing cards -- basically it was just to have fun.

Some people, being more competitive, had to win,  It was more fun to beat them because they made such a big deal out of losing but by in large they were not as much fun to play with.  We just enjoyed each other and being together at the most beautiful place on earth. Or at least one of them.  We could fish, and swim and take road trips and have a wonderful time and then enjoy our friends.  That was heaven. And we didn't even know it...oh I imagine that Mom and Ginny did because they both cried for about 30 miles as we left.  I didn't because I had to drive.  Want to know where - here is a picture.  I think my cousin Loren took it.

Sometimes friends from the lake would come to visit us or we would go to visit them and we would play cards. Again not for the card playing but as a vehicle to enjoy each other's company and to have a grand old time.  I miss those days.

A definition of Bullying

AJ Betts

Looking at this picture you would think that this youngster didn't have a care in the world.  But looks are deceiving.  On Monday morning I read one of the first posts on Facebook about his suicide. It linked to an article from KCCI. He is the fifth student from that school to commit suicide in the past five years. Something is wrong at S. E. Polk.  Something is wrong in a lot of schools.
Bulling which leads to suicide is murder.  Plain and simple - murder. Just as if you took a gun and killed someone. This school has an epidemic of this happening. It cannot be excused. I must not be "swept under the rug" -- The Principal cannot speak about it.  Perhaps because he has not stopped the climate of bullying in his school.  Is he culpable?

A bright young 16 year old who had helped others to get through their own rough spots and helped them to not commit suicide but in the end he could not help himself.  The others in his school who found out he was gay and decided to persecute him by bullying him with words were just as guilty as if they had taken a gun and shot him.

A young man in this society fueled with hatred from all sides (particularly from many so called Christians) who has been taught that he is not worth much by those around him in his peer group does not stop to think what his actions will do to his family.  They can love him but sometimes he cannot see that because his peers have taught him that he is not worthy of love. Sometimes it looks like it would be easier to just end it all.

He did not know that others who never met him would read about this death, would listen to his mother talk, would look at his picture.  He would not know that we would find this story heartbreaking. That we would care, for him, for his family and his friends.  He would not know that others were also hurt by barbs from people. Not about the same things but any time anybody puts someone else down for any reason it hurts.  The death of a thousand cuts was a particularly nasty way of torturing a person to death.  Bullying is also a torture which can lead to death and today when I read AJ's story it came to me that what those bullies did to him was like that nasty torture and that it was murder. I will mourn for him and for all those who died because of being bullied.  If you want to learn more click on the stop bullying button on the right.

And I hope that somebody will force the school to do more to address the problem.  Are they afraid of the students that they allow them to engage in this type of behavior. Or are they just so unconscious that they do not know what is happening in the halls of academia. Principals and teachers who allow bullying to happen are also guilty of being accessory to murder.

I suppose some people will disagree with this conclusion but Wikipedia defines Murder as - " the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human, and generally this premeditated state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide ..."  Bullying fits all of those requirements and plain and simple it is murder and should be prosecuted as such.

Molly on Monday

Molly here,

It has been another lazy week.  B G is in a "reading" mode and is reading a lot.  It has been really nice weather so we could sit on the back porch while he reads and I sit on his recliner (which still needs fixing) and watch him.

A couple of times men came into the yard.  B G said they were meter readers.  I barked at both of them  It is my yard and I am protective of it.  One time I was actually outside when he came the other time we were on the porch.  I let them know that I knew they were there.  B G made me come inside and thanked me for my alarm.
Sometimes I sit up in the chair.

There is always something to look at.

But mostly I just sit and sniff the scents the breeze brings to me.

B G took pictures of Jon's Prairie garden.  There are purple flowers growing in it. We don't know what they are but they are pretty.

The close ups are kind of fuzzy.

One day we had a big rain storm.  I got up on B G's lap to watch it.  I like to be there when we have "weather" (He likes it too.)

One day I was in my boudoir having a nice rest on my queen sized bed and B G came in with his camera.  He said I had to pose for my "public."  I think it was rude of him to bother me but what is a lady to do?

First I stretched out.

I tried to ignore him but he would have nothing of it.

He had a talking to me.

And I looked for a way out but there was no escape.

Not in any direction.

So I posed.

And posed.. Isn't my room nice.  It used to be B G's but I took it over.

I am bored of this and need some more beauty rest.

Pardon me while I nap.  Have a nice week everyone.

Woof!

Sunday

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."

~Albert Einstein

Don’t be fooled by my beauty—the light of my face comes from the candle of my spirit.

Rumi

 "This is the pathless path. Where the journey leads is to the deepest truth in you. It is really just returning to where you were initially before you got lost." - PTM

Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it.

~John Templeton

"Compassion…means feeling the feelings of somebody else in a visceral way, at a level somewhere below the level of the head; most commonly compassion is associated with feeling the suffering of somebody else and being moved by that suffering to do something. That is, the feeling of compassion leads to being compassionate."

—Marcus Borg,

 The intellect is a beautiful servant but a terrible master. Intellect is the power tool of our separateness. The intuitive, compassionate heart is the doorway to our unity.

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.

~Friedrich Gottlob Koenig

 You have the power in the present moment to change limiting beliefs and consciously plant the seeds for the future of your choosing. As you change your mind you change your experience.

~ Serge Kahili King

Something Yummy for Saturday

Ma's Cottage Pudding (Submitted by Ellen Cole, 1972)

The size of the pan, the degree of the oven and the cooking time were not in the recipe.

1/4cup     Butter 1/2cup     Sugar 1              Egg, well beaten

1/2cup        Milk 1 ½ cups    Flour 2 ½ tsp       Baking powder

Procedure

1   Cream butter and sugar.

2   Add egg.

3   Sift flout and baking powder.

4   Cream butter and sugar.

5   Alternately add milk and flour to creamed mixture.

350 degrees - 35 minutes until the cake tester comes out clean

9x9 pan

You might try a lemon sauce with it.

Lemon Sauce (Submitted by JoAnn Cole Peterson, 1972)

2 cups         Water 1 ½ cups    Sugar 3T               Flour 3T               Lemon juice

Rind of lemon 2       Egg yolks 3 T   Butter

Procedure

1   Cook water, sugar and flour until thick.

2   Add egg yolks.

3   Cook.

4   Add lemon juice, rind and butter.

Found For Friday

Lake Kickapoo, TX

A redneck with a bucket full of live fish, was approached recently by a game warden in Texas as he started to drive his boat away from a lake. The game warden asked the man, "May I see your fishing license please?" "Naw, sir," replied the redneck. "I don't need none of them there papers. These here are my pet fish."

"Pet fish!?!?"

"Yep. Once a week, I bring these here fish o'mine down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for a while. Then when I whistle, they swim right back into my net and I take 'em home."

"What a line of baloney....you're under arrest."

The redneck said, "It's the truth, Mr. Gov'ment man. I'll show ya!

We do this all the time!!"

"WE do, now, do WE?" smirked the warden. "PROVE it!"

The redneck released the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After a few minutes, the warden said, "Well?"

"Well, WHUT?" said the redneck.

The warden asked, "When are you going to call em back?"

"Call who back?"

"The FISH," replied the warden!

"Whut fish?" asked the redneck.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

We may not be as smart as some city slickers, but we ain't as 

dumb as some government employees.

   Two good ol' boys walk into a restaurant. While having a bite to eat, they talk about their moonshine operation.

Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. After a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress.

One of the boys looks at her and says, "Kin ya swallar?"

The woman shakes her head no.

Then he asks, "Kin ya breathe?"

The woman begins to turn blue and shakes her head no.

So, he walks over to the woman, lifts up her dress, yanks down her drawers and quickly gives her right butt cheek a lick with his tongue.

The woman is so shocked that she has a violent spasm and the obstruction flies out of her mouth.

As she begins to breathe again, that good ol' boy walks slowly back to his table.

His partner says, "Ya know, I'd heerd of that there 'Hind Lick Maneuver' but I ain't niver seed nobody do it!"

 I was visiting my niece last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.

"This is the 21st century," she said. 'I don't waste money on newspapers!  Here, use my iPad."

I can tell you this... That fly never knew what hit him!!!   

 A group of women were at a seminar on how to live in a loving relationship with your husband. ... The women were asked, "How many of you love your husband?"

All the women raised their hands.

Then they were asked, "When was the last time you told your husband you loved him?"

Some women answered today, some yesterday, some couldn't remember.

The women were then told to take out their cell phones and text their husband: "I love you, sweetheart."

The women were then told to exchange phones and to read aloud the text message responses.

 Here are some of the replies:

1. Who is this?

2. Eh, mother of my children, are you sick?

3. I love you too.

4. What now? Did you crash the car again?

5. I don't understand what you mean?

6. What did you do now?

7. ?!?

8. Don't beat about the bush, just tell me how much you need?

9. Am I dreaming?

10. If you don't tell me who this message is actually for, someone will die.

11. I thought we agreed we would not drink during the day.

12. Your mother is coming to stay, isn't she??

 As I was lying around, pondering the problems

of the world, I realized that at my age I don't really give a rat's rear anymore.

.. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.

 .. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water, but is still fat.

.. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years, while

 .. A tortoise doesn't run and does mostly nothing, yet it  lives for 150 years.   And you tell me to exercise??

I don't think so.

 Now that I'm older here's what I've discovered:

 

 

1. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of  it.

2. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes and all-bran.

  

3. I  finally got my head together, and now my body is falling apart.

  

4. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.

  

5. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.

 6. If all is not lost, then where the heck is it ?

  

7. It was a whole lot easier to get older, than to get wiser.

  

8. Some days, you're the top dog, some days you're the hydrant.

  

9. I wish the buck really did stop here, I sure could use a few of them.

  

10.  Kids in the back seat cause accidents.

 11.  Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

 

12.  It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.

  

13.  The world only beats a path to your door when you're in the bathroom.

14.  If I were supposed to be able to touch my toes, they’d be on my knees.

 

15.  When I'm finally holding all the right cards, everyone wants to play chess.

16.  It's not hard to meet expenses . . .   They're everywhere.

 

17.  The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

 

18.  These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter... I go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I'm "here after."

 

 

19.  Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.