We are all but visitors here.
And at times during this visit….. we are lucky enough to know really good people along the way.  Family, Friends, Soul Mates.

And if we really pay attention, we are also lucky enough to have connections with beings other than the human variety.

I love this.  All of it.
The beautiful joys of life.

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are. – Marianne Williamson

The other day, someone said to me…”Well, that’s not really something you need to put on your bucket list.”

And that got me thinking.  Of course, about bucket lists.  First and foremost, I don’t have a bucket list.  But if I DID have one…. it should probably be my very own.  You know.  Each person should decide for themselves what should be on their bucket lists.

But I think this has been tainted by popular culture.   When most people speak to their bucket lists… they talk of the spectacular, the daring, the harrowing, the arduous.   But I don’t think these things are THE things for me.

For example.  Climbing Mt. Everest.  Bungee Cord Jumping.  Sky Diving.  Crossing the Sahara Desert.  Going somewhere far, far away, and doing something far off.

I think if I had a bucket list, it would be simpler, and much closer to home.

And now that I think of it….  I do a lot of these things already.  Let’s see…..
I’d like to go to a roadside diner, and arrange 16 sugar cubes in various and intriguing geometric patterns and sequences. While humming.
I’d like to explore my back yard and find 8 things of wonder.  Smaller than an breadbox.
I’d like to draw cartoon characters with big feet and no ears.
I’d like to learn how to do the hula hoop.

I recently tried the last one on the list.  I think I cracked a rib trying that old hula hoop thing.  It has been almost six days, and it still hurts to move.

Perhaps I now know why I don’t have a bucket list.  They belong to the courageous, the brave…. and the coordinated.

“Adventure is not outside man; it is within.” – George Eliot

There is a new Superman movie out.
I love Super Hero movies.  But dang it…. they’ve already made about a bazillion Superman movies… and Spiderman movies… and Batman movies.  They’ve gone full circle to Ironman, The Green Lantern, Fantastic Four…. heck…. everybody.  They even did The Incredible Hulk…. TWICE.

Yep.  They’ve done ’em all…. except for my favorite.

Aquaman.  I love Aquaman.  He swims with dolphins, and mermaids, and such.   I think it is because I like to be in water so much.  I swim every chance I get.  I have flippers…. for feet.

I doubt they’ll make an Aquaman movie though.  Filming underwater is…. difficult to say the least.  So as far as the movie goes……  I guess I won’t hold my breath.

And… speaking of movies.
A friend of mine went to the new Superman movie.  He noticed what looked like a spider sitting in the seat next to him.
“Hey little buddy…..Are you a spider?” my friend asked.
Much to his surprise… he heard a small voice peep out…. “Yes.”
“Well then…..What in the heck are you doing at the movies?”
The spider turned his little head…. with all eight eyes… and replied, “Well,  I sure did like the book.”

“Amazement awaits us at every corner.” – James Broughton

If Flowers were Singing Stars……

These would be the classifications, I think.

Classical / Opera
Rose.  Violet.  Iris.
Country Western
Petunia.  Lily. Daffodil.
Rock-n-Roll
Begonia.   Crocus.  Jasmine.
Rapper
Two Lip.  DayZeee.
Easy Listening Bubble Gum Music
Pansy.

“Truly to sing, that is a different breathe.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

Alpacas look happy to me.  And Kind.
Personally, I have never met an Alpaca I didn’t like.

They hum, you know.
Happy, Kind, Humming Alpacas.

Annnnnnddddd…… They like to go on picnics.
On any given day…… One will say to the other… “Hey.  You want to go on a picnic?”
The other replies…. “Sure.  Alpaca Lunch.”

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama

Throughout the ages… people have asked….”Why do we dream? What purpose do dreams serve?”

There are scads of theories out there, as to what dreams really mean.  And….while many theories have been proposed, no single consensus has emerged.
We spend a heck of a lot of time dreaming, as I’ve come to find out.  Considering the enormous amount of time we spend in a dreaming state, the fact that researchers do not yet understand the purpose of dreams seems a little lame, as far as I am concerned.

I mean…. we can put a dude on the moon.

What exactly is a dream?  By a definition of terms….. a dream can include any of the images, thoughts and emotions that are experienced during sleep. Dreams can be extraordinarily vivid or very vague…. and as we all know…. they can cover a wide range of emotions.

Some researchers suggest that dreams serve no real purpose.  Bull crappy, I say.

Others believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and physical well-being.  Now that’s more like it.

Sigmund Freud’s theory of dreams suggested that dreams were a representation of unconscious desires, thoughts and motivations.

Another theory suggests that dreams are the result of internally generated signals, and suggests that dreaming is “…our most creative conscious state, one in which the chaotic, spontaneous recombination of cognitive elements produces novel configurations of information: new ideas.”

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Some people think dreams are a part of telling the future.  Others suggest they are formed by our past experiences.

People have “assigned” symbolism to dreams.

Like… “naked” dreams.  They are supposed to meant that you are feeling vulnerable, or feeling like you might be caught off guard.  “Falling” dreams mean you are feeling out of control or overwhelmed.    It goes on and on and on.

I’ve always heard that if you  see calm, clear water in your dream, it means that you are in tune with your spirituality. It denotes serenity, peace of mind, and rejuvenation.

Okay.   With that in mind…. I had a dream last night.  I was climbing some craggy, rocky mountain, and I got to a place where I had to get in the river to keep going.  It was storming.  Thunder and lightning  were crashing everywhere.  So, I get in the water and start swimming.

The wind is blowing, it is dark, and choppy.  Great.  Now I realize the waters are infested with alligators, and suddenly I have to swim holding this large galvanized garbage can.  Through dark, jagged tunnels…

Now could THAT be ANY further from clear, calm waters?

Okay.  The next thing I know, I am standing in a parking lot with Mary, her niece Heather, and Heather’s kids.  We are trying to decide where to eat dinner, and I am twirling car keys in my hand.  We agree on YarYan’s House of Chinese Food and Pancakes.  It looks like an IHOP with a big dragon out front.

End of dream.

Tired and exhausted from all of that… I  realize I have to pee.  It must have been the sound of all the running water in the dang dream.  I get up to go to the bathroom.  It is pretty dark…. and I am bleary eyed at four in the morning.

All of a sudden, I see a squirrel run across the bathroom floor. Whoops.  Still dreaming.

I woke up and jotted it all down.  I don’t know what it means…. other than I am sure Sigmund Freud never met me.  Probably a good thing for old Siggy.

“I don’t use drugs, my dreams are frightening enough.”  – M.C. Escher

Her entire life…. she believed in life.  And love.
So it was…. that Lilly hoped and prayed that Prince Charming would come along.  One day.
Yes. She would kiss him…. and he would turn into a wonderful, incredible, amazing frog.
And they would live together…. happily ever after… there in that pond.

And that is what fairy tales are made of.

“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”  –  William James

There is so much to appreciate about one another.  We are all so very unique…. but simultaneously…. so very much the same.
Those are the things that really give me cause to wonder.

I do wonder.
A flower does not choose what color is comes to be.
Neither do we humans.
And when we all can begin to realize this about one another,  we will finally begin to see each other’s beauty.  Without labels.  Without predefined names and conditions.

So many good things to see.

“Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.” – Albert Einstein

I was working outside this evening.
I kept hearing little humming noises.  But I couldn’t pinpoint the source.  And then I figured it out.
I listened very closely.  And THEN…. I could make out the words….
“Roxanne.  You don’t have to put on the red light
Roxanne.  You don’t have to put on the red light.”
And I spotted two little bees…just a singing away.
I said.. “Hey there little fellas.  I can tell by the song you are singing that you are fans of The Police.”
The one little bee shook his head and said…”Well.  Not so much.  In fact… we really just like …. STING.”

“Be yourself. Unapologetically.”  – Kesha

On June 11, more than a century ago, a woman named Jeanette was born.  I like the name Jeanette.  It was my grandma’s name.  And it is my sister’s middle name.  At any rate, the year was 1880.

Jeanette was born…. of all places…  near Missoula, Montana.  Her Mom was a schoolteacher …… Olive Pickering….  and her pop was a Canadian immigrant.  He was also a carpenter, and rancher, and his name was John Rankin.

Jeanette was the oldest of six children including five girls, one of whom died in childhood.

Now… as a child, little Jeanette gained a reputation for doing things most other girls didn’t.   Yeppers, indeed.   She often helped ranch hands with machinery, and once single-handedly built a sidewalk to help her father rent a building.  Way back when.

Jeanette continued her way of  doing things that “girls” weren’t supposed to do…… her entire life.  As it turns out, she grew up to be the first women elected to Congress.

Sure enough.  Elected in Montana in 1916 and again in 1940. After being elected in 1916 she said, “I may be the first woman member of Congress but I won’t be the last.”  (She got that right, I’ll tell you.)

A lifelong pacifist, she was one of fifty members of Congress who voted against entry into World War I in 1917, and the only member of Congress who voted against declaring war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Her entire life was filled with working and doing and being…. a better person….  making things better around her.

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973)
Peace baby.  Peace.

“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.” – Napolean Bonaparte