Everything turned out exactly, positively, as expected.

You don’t hear this very often.  And if you do hear it… maybe you should take it with a grain of salt.  Does anything ever turn out exactly as we expect?

Sure, things can go very well… or very poorly… depending.  But unless you are a clairvoyant, or a time-traveler….., you can never…. entirely…. expect every sequence of events.

Okay.  Okay.  Let’s say you baked a Bacon, Spinach and Cheddar Quiche.  And it turned out swimmingly.  Yummy.  Perfect-o Mund-o.  But did everything really go as you expected?  Did you really mean to crack that third egg, and have a few of the shells fall into the bowl…. only to have to fish them out?  Or when you were frying the bacon, did you expect the telemarketer to call you while things were a-sizzling?  Probably not.

Or…. let’s say you coach a football team.  You won the game 21-6.  Super duper for the good guys.  That was the result you were looking for.  But did you expect your quarterback to throw two interceptions?  Or for your offense to fumble the ball on the 15 yard line late in the fourth quarter?

You see.  Most everything has an unexpected “thing” at some point or another.  And… these have a few universal names.  Whether it is in the kitchen, on Wall Street, in computer technology systems, or in the operating room.

They can be recognized immediately, by the words coming from the person’s mouth.  You know.  The person who is telling you about the “unexpected thing.”

……  “We have hit a little snag.”  … …. “There’s been a hiccup.”  …… “We came to a little stumbling block.”  .. …. “We hit a bump in the road.”

Yes indeed.  The old SNAFU.  They always sprinkle sugar on these sayings… which are code words for “screwed up.”

To complicate matters more… when we expect things to go a certain way… we have a tendency to count our chickens before they are hatched.  I have learned…. never, ever… . to count your chickens until the yolks are sunny side up in the frying pan.

So what is my point?  Well.  Life just is.  It is…. as we know it.  We can try our best.  Always put our best foot forward.  But there are times when we will trip, and fall.

As the incomparable Doris Day once said… “Que Sera Sera.  Whatever shall be, shall be.  The future is ours to see.”

So very true Doris.  The future is ours to see…. once it gets here.  The Quiche turns out.  The Team wins.  Or not.

So…..  expect what you will.  But remember what I told you about the chickens.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”  ― Søren Kierkegaard

Tonight, I have a story about a grasshopper.  As you may have already gathered from the photograph, it doesn’t end very well for the grasshopper.

But it is not a sad story.  This was Gary.  He lived a long and wonderful grasshopper life.  He had the greenest of green grasses… with no busy sidewalks or city buses blowing exhaust on him.  He lived out in the country.   In the fresh air… and the wide blue skies.  Gary had an entire Grasshopper Family to love….and be loved.

One day, he and his brother Melvin, were out playing leap frog in the yard.  This is a fun and easy game for grasshoppers, I’ll tell you.  Not only are they good jumpers, they have wings and can fly as well.  So Melvin and Gary were having a good game of Leap Frog.  All of a sudden… out of nowhere… a big glass Miracle Whip Jar swooshed down from the sky above.    The jar… at the hand of the 6 year old farm boy…. scooped up Melvin… with one giant surge.  Gary narrowly escaped.

Gary would only see his brother one more time… about an hour later… inside that jar stuffed with dead grass and twigs.  Melvin held up a little handwritten sign… which he held up against the glass.  It read… “Bake me a cake.  Put a file in it.”

Of course… Gary had no homemaking skills whatsoever.  Indeed… a poorly crafted escape-plan by Melvin.

Gary hopped back that way… after about an hour… but the jar was gone.  He had found some scraps of Lil’ Debbies on a picnic blanket… and had hoped these would somehow help his brother.  But.  To no avail.

He never saw his brother again.  (Well…he saw photos of him in the family album… but he didn’t see him again in the flesh.  Or whatever material grasshoppers are made of.)

There are many other great stories throughout Gary’s life.  Certainly. Most of them….  less traumatic than this one.   He was a terrific musician, and could really play a mean tune when he stridulated by rubbing his hind leg against his forewing.  Ode to Joy was his favorite song to play.  That, and Old McDonald.

Gary lived to be the ripe old age of 12 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days.   He left behind a wife, and 73 children… all who loved him very much.  However, his death is being investigated by the Grasshopper Police.  They found chicken feathers near his body.  Evidence of Foul Play.  This is Bugging the Police.
“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
― Shannon L. Alder

A couple of weeks ago… I was having a conversation with some friends.   We were talking about our dogs and such.  And then.  And then…

As it went… one of them asked me if I believe in Angels.  I said, without hesitation…. “Well HECK yeah!”  Probably not the best response in reference to angels.  I should have said “Heavens, yes.”  At any rate.

It just so happens that I do believe in Angels.  Or whatever you want to call them.  Some people say they are “Spirit Guides” or “Spirits Passed” or “Ghosts” or “Otherworldly Beings.”  And on and on.

So… of course… I am not smart enough to know how all of this works.  While the human brain is quite an amazing structure, most of us mortals remain unaware of the larger universal occurrences.  We simply don’t know.

On the other hand, theories abound.  I feel pretty strongly that energy continues on.  Scientifically, this is proven.  It is constant.  Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but can change form.  This is the Law of Conservation.

I think it flows all around us in all different forms.  We simply can’t see it.  Sort of like if you have a huge glass vat of light, fluffy, pinkish-white cotton candy, and you drop a pingpong ball in it . Then you seal the vat, and turn on the wind tunnel whip-digit-thing that makes it go around and around.  Now, you KNOW the pingpong ball is in the container, but it all spins around and around so fast.  Every once in a while, you get a glimpse of the ball.. ….. you may even hear it hit the sides of the glass…. but you can’t grab it, or touch it… nothing.

That  is sort of how the angel thing works… or spirits… or ghosts.  Like Cotton Candy and the PingPong Ball.   You see…. here lately… my Mom has been seeing a little girl standing in the corner of her room during the night.  And last night…. she said that my Dad was there with her too.

She really doesn’t have any reason to make this up.  In fact… I’m not even sure she could make it up.  So I believe her when she says she sees this. She knows it as plain as the nose on her face.

And just because WE can’t see it… doesn’t make it untrue.

But like the pingpong ball… others of us… only catch a glimpse…. IF anything at all.  The universe is cotton candy, I’ll tell you.  Cotton Candy.

By doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.  — Peter Abelard

Tonight  I got home late from an old friend’s birthday party.

We switched on the TV before turning in for the night.

And… in just a few moments of viewing the television… I learned more than I could ever imagine.

Evidently… it is the Discover Card who offers Frog Protection.  This should make an awful lot of frogs happy.

I have new found knowledge  that there is a Bacon & Cheddar Soup which WILL fill you up.  It is Chunky.  I guess that is supposed to help.

Old McDonald was not very good at spelling bees.  E-I-E-I-O

Yoplait Yogurt is creamy, smooth, and craved by the entire family.  Who knew, really.

Something that Fiat is offering has 157 Horsepower, and it can free up you right hand.  I am not sure what this means… but it also has to do with skateboarding… somehow.

Arby’s has the meats.  Darth Vader said so.  In a nice voice.  This does not make me want to get Arby’s Roast Beef…. however…. I did try to find Stars Wars on Netflix.

And…..You are supposed to ask your doctor if Crestor can help you.

So…. there you have it.  TV is filled with quite a bit of information…. no matter what any one says.   Deciphering that information is an entriely different matter.    Maybe the Crestor can help.

Tonight, as I ventured out about the yard, with my camera in hand… it happened ONCE again.  I heard a little voice.  I couldn’t quite make it out.  Then suddenly, I was surrounded by ALL that is Seusical.   Yes, there were red fish, and blue fish, and green eggs and ham.

I began to see the unimaginable… and hear the strangest of things ….. all in rhymes.  It might have frightened me… but I was too curious for that.

~:~::~::::~:::~::::~:~:~:~~~~:~:~:~::~::~:~:~~

So I looked to my left, and I looked to my right.
I was startled a bit.  But I stood there despite.
I heard it again, a voice from the bluest.
It sounded so small… it sounded so truest.

Then off just beyond my shoes and my laces….
I spotted there…just off twenty paces.
On the wings of a bush, so wispy and fine…
Stood a little seedling and it started to whine.

“I’m going to do it… I’m jumping from here.
I shall sail on the wind and I’ll do it… No Fear.
I’m the seediest seed, on this dried up old limb.
So while the sun’s still up….. I”ll go before dim.”

It seems that I waited to know what to say…
But that seed spread it wings and it floated away.
High to sky on the heaven’s good breath.
I was back all alone…. just after it left.

:~::~::::~:::~::::~:~:~:~~~~:~:~:~::~::~:~:~~

I thought it best… at that point….. to continue walking.  I am keeping this one to myself.

“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”   —   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In the morning, as I slurp down a healthy dose of coffee…. I can flip on the TV…. tune in to the day’s news… fire up some fried eggs and oatmeal.   At night, I can sit at the counter and pay bills, while I listen to Pandora radio.  All of these things are luxuries.  Luxuries of having a home.

There is an awful lot to be said for having a place to call home.   A place where you can go at the end of the day, and know that is exactly where you belong.

I have had a lot of different homes in my lifetime.  Probably more than some folks… and certainly fewer than others.  Nonetheless, I have always had somewhere to go.  To rest my head at night…. and wake at the light of day.

For that I am thankful.

There are so many people in this world…. in this country….. in our very own communities…. who don’t have a place to call home.  For this… I am sad.

Most every place… every city and town… will be scattered with quite a few homeless people.  And then there are those who have a “place” but it isn’t very fit… for man nor beast.

Thankfully there are people in the world who truly care about this.  There are many individuals and organizations trying to allay homelessness.

Here in Preble County, we have the likes of the HIT Foundation, and that Mary Bullen …. try to figure out ways to alleviate homelessness and facilitate better housing.  For this… I am glad.

We all know… at our deepest of deeps… that home is the best place to be.  All creatures.  Great and small.  Give a dog a blanket, and he will curl up in it…  bring his favorite bone there… and make it his very own.  Give a toad a toad-house, and there he will sit, and sit…. until he croaks.

Shelter. Safety.  Family.  Home is where the heart is.

Yes… everyone deserves a decent place to live.  I am so very thankful for mine. (And our little toad… in HIS little Toad-house.)

As a sidebar.  We have Frog Protection.  I’m glad for that too.     Yes, I did say Frog Protection.

“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.” – Charles Dickens

I believe in a lot of things.  I also have surmised, that just because we believe in something…. doesn’t necessarily mean that someone else’s belief is right or wrong.  They are all just that.  Beliefs.

I believe in right of each individual to pursue freedom, and happiness.  I believe in the warmth of the sun, and the smell of fresh rain.

But.  A few nights ago I wrote… so…. it is…. back to the Horoscope thing… sort of.   I don’t know how much weight I actually put in those daily horoscope readings.  I guess if anything…. I would consider them more as a “heads-up” rather than an absolute prediction.

Because this much I do believe is true:  I whole-heartedly trust in the scientific mechanics of the Universe.  That grand clockworks of our solar system and beyond.

Oh you know….. the very mathematics of how the planets each have their own orbital path.   How each one has a certain weight, mass, equatorial surface gravity, velocity, orbit periods, etc.    Not to mention, all moons, and the stars.

And… at any one given moment in time, all those heavenly bodies line up in such a certain and distinct manner, that never before, and never again… will they all be in that same exact combined and comprehensive position.

It all keeps spinning and working, exactly as it should…. despite our obtuse human efforts to screw it up.

How does this relate to the Horoscope thing?  Well… Astrology is the study of those stars and planets… and what influence they may have on human lives.

Things like I mentioned before…. the position of the sun, stars, moon and planets at the exact moment of any one-given-person’s birth…..  are said to shape their personality and affect other divinations.

While many people read their “Horoscope” in the newspaper…. right next to the “Funnies Section”….. there is no single unified theory or practice of astrology.

I am telling you this though.  It has been going on for a long, long time.  Ancient cultures all practiced their own forms.  And, as a result…. some were combined and evolved into today’s common western astrology. (Like the Sun-Sign-Funny-Papers kind.)

Eastern cultures continue to practice their own forms of astrology: Chinese, Vedic and Tibetan astrology are among the most well-known.

So, again, I cannot say if there is any merit to this or not.  But millions of people have been doing this for a whole-lotta’ centuries.

Some believe, and some do not.

I believe in the scientific mechanics of the universe.
I believe in the magic of a coffee bean.
And I believe it is all connected.

“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.” – Unknown

Baked Alaska.  There you have it.  For whatever reason, things just randomly pop into my head.   And then I fall into this whole sense of wonder, and curiousity… about whatever that thing is.

Hence, tonight’s topic.

Here in the good ol’ US of A… we are pretty focused on food.   I guess many cultures are.  But here it seems… we have to claim rights to everything.  Everything needs a name… and the “where” it came from is not left for specualation.

It is mostly cities that do this.  The Philly Cheesesteak.  New York Style Pizza.  Chicago Style Pizza.  Tex Mex.  San Francisco Sourdough Bread.  Boston Baked Beans.  Oh, it goes on and on.

But it seems at the state level, the claims are more for production purposes.  Florida Oranges.  Idaho Potatos.  California Raisins.  And such.

So… what was that popped into my head?

Baked Alaska.  Now… what other state has anything about it cooked?  Fried Florida?  Granulated Georgia?  Wilted Washington?  Roasted Rhode Island?  NO.  No, I’ll tell you.

But leave it to Alaska… to come up with this one.

I would have blamed it on Sarah Palin…. but then it would have been half-baked.

I can’t say that I’ve ever tasted this dessert.  I had to look it up to see what it is.

So… in case you didn’t know.  The dish is made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake…. or Christmas pudding (whatever the crap THAT is)…..  and THEN….. it is topped with meringue.

Put it in an extremely hot oven for a little minute.  Just long enough to firm the meringue.  But DON’T melt the icecream.  Ha!
And here is one for the ages…..   February 1 is Baked Alaska Day in the United States.  Who knew.

You sure don’t see this on menus anywhere… any more.  Probably….. for good reason.  It sounds like something Alice would make for the Brady Bunch.

Now… if I still ate sugar… and dessert… I think my choice of the choosiest would be either Pennsylvania Pie… or Kansas Cake.   If they existed.

One thing to remember though… is this.  No matter the dessert… it is someone’s favorite.  Somewhere.    People love desserts because they are delightful… and sweet.

Sort of like us.  People like us when we are delightful… and sweet.  So try not to lose the Baked Alaska in you.

I got a lot of messages about last night’s entry.  “Polly… what is THAT supposed to mean?” And on.  Well, I’ll tell you… sometimes I talk in DeCoder Ring.  If you don’t have your DeCoder Ring handy… things just won’t make sense.

I have found this with daily horoscopes too.  My Mom, who is nearly 91… likes to hear her Horoscope every day.  So I read it to her.  And mine as well.  Some days… it is extremely difficult to understand what your Horoscope may be telling you.  So, to help some of you… who have NOT found your DeCoder Rings…. I have decided.. from time to time…  to read and TRANSLATE your Horopscopes.
Randomly… we will start with today’s Horoscope for Aries.

You may be focused on a certain trajectory, Aries, but today you could run into complications based on overlooked issues. Be aware of the people around you and how your actions affect them. You don’t necessarily need to change your direction, but you might need to make a couple modifications along the way in order to keep everyone happy.

My translation for you Aries.  It says you may be focused on a certain trajectory.    Now… here is what a trajectory is… for those of you who may not know.  As the dictionary explains…  IT IS “the path followed by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces.”

Your horoscope goes on to tell you that you could run into complications based on overlooked issues.

SO.  The best I can tell is this:  If you are in the middle of the desert…. and a boomerang is headed your way, and your are trying to pay attention to where it is going… once it passes you by… don’t quit looking.  You see… if you over look this… it will crack you on the back of your dang noggin.

Your stars tell you that you don’t need to change your direction… just switch things up a bit.   The translation:  DUCK.

In life… in most situations… it is smarter and better to DUCK!  Honest to goodness.  Just standing there will have you take one on the chin…. and the next thing you know… you are face down in the sand… with a mouthful of the grit.

Finally… the last sentence… all of this in order to “keep everyone happy.”

Here is one thing I have learned… . ….with or without my Zodiacal Citations.

“You can’t keep everyone happy.”

And finally… if you don’t believe in Horoscopes… I’ve added a religious twist.  The patron saint of Happiness is  Beatrice.   She was born in Morocco in 1424.  Morocco is home of the first Boomerang made of Cedar, from the Cedar Forest in Middle Atlas.  Seriously.

And if you don’t believe me…. it just solidifies my earlier reflection.

You can’t keep everyone happy.  So duck.

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

It has been said… “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Tonight, here is my 1000 word essay on Why Little Mice Like Trucks With Big Wheels.

It has nothing to do with wheels of cheese…  it isn’t as simple as that.

Nothing is as simple as it seems on the outside.  Yet… on the inside…. is where simplicity is finally found.

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
― Jack Kerouac