TToT: Happy Days Are Here Again, #10Thankful

A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

–Eleanor Roosevelt

I watched a Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelt clan: Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor.

I had heard of them all, especially Franklin and Eleanor, but I enjoyed learning about the history. My mother mentioned she didn’t know what to do with me becoming all political all of a sudden, but I assured her that was never going to happen.

I simply wanted to learn about the people themselves, what times were like back then, and how we got here. All the political stuff wasn’t my main focus. I payed more attention to the polio that Franklin was stricken with. I wanted to know how disability was handled in those days and how he made it all the way to the White House.

Then there was his wife and all the social activism she took part in and the work she did for women’s rights. I was planning a post on feminism for mid week, so I was particularly interested.

TEN THINGS OF THANKFUL

“Your cares and troubles are gone. There’ll be no more from now on.”

—

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

This was a big song in the early thirties and when FDR ran for president, after the crash of the stock market in 1929 and the subsequent depression throughout the thirties and leading up to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

The Happy Days song was a theme song, a slogan used for Roosevelt’s campaign. At one point, during the documentary, there is one of the first actual film and media clips on record, at least one of the first to appear in the documentary anyway. Franklin’s little granddaughter is the one to deliver that line, which was cute even all these years later, but although her grandfather would bring his country out of some extremely terrible times, the slogan “Happy Days Are Here Again” wasn’t exactly the case and wouldn’t be for more than ten years.

World War II and the Cold War and so on. It all just got me thinking of when we’re ever really happy, as whole countries or as individual citizens, but that doesn’t mean that gratitude is not the place to start.

The psychological benefits of gratitude closely mirror those of meditation

American Thanksgiving, I wrote my

1000 Speak post (the link was open for a whole week),

and then there was yet another shooting outside a Planned Parenthood. What a week.

Ten Things of Thankful:

For my country and my province.

Yeah, Canadians are known for their modesty, most of the time, but lately we have been in the news for many acts of good will and open minds and arms.

Most notably, since being top story in the news around the world, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pledge of 25,000 Syrian refugees accepted into Canada.

The deadline is now at February, but at least we’re doing something and taking action to offer our doors wide open for anyone who wants to start fresh.

But also…Christmas in October.

terminally ill Ontario boy celebrates Christmas early in hometown

and

Ontario brothers capture incredible photo after bravely rescuing bald eagle

For the chance to share a valuable male perspective on feminism.

Purple: My Interview Wit Garry Atkinson

November 25th was International Day For the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I am very interested in feminism and write about it as much as I can here. It’s important to me and often somehow it gets twisted into something it is not. I want to change that.

The interview I did, is one man’s point-of-view on what feminism means and what it means to be one, to him personally.

After fifty years, Gloria Steinem is still at the forefront of the feminist causehttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/road-warrior-profiles-jane-kramer?mbid=social_twitter

For something to look forward to in 2016.

A little taste of what I might be getting.

I love a good concert and I chose the lawn “seats”, so I really hope for no rain that day in June.

I consider myself lucky every time I see another of my favourite bands live. It is the best feeling in the world, when the music I love surges through me, the performers so close.

For an invitation from a lovely group of fellow writers and bloggers.

I have been gradually building these blogging relationships with this particular group of bloggers from

the TToT.

Well, they hold a big Google Hangout vidchat, as they call it, and they asked if I wanted to join them.

I liked having a place and people to talk about writing with and I told them about my travel blog. Maybe they will be kind enough to offer some feedback at some point.

http://www.theinsightfulwanderer.ca/

I am new to Google Hangouts, but they were patient with me, even when I hung up accidentally.

Oops.

🙂

It is nice for me, after so many months of reading and commenting and interacting, to get to put voices to the names. It will take me a few weeks to get a handle on exactly whose voice is whose, but I will get there soon enough. It’s just harder because I can’t keep track of who may have joined or left the chat because I can’t see the separate little windows on the screen.

For a very special 60th birthday celebration.

All the family came together on the final Saturday afternoon of November, to celebrate the best husband, father, and grandfather (PA) we could possibly have.

For some very special 60th birthday cupcakes.

Who doesn’t love cupcakes? How could anyone not be thankful for cupcakes?

🙂

I have a cousin who makes cakes and she does all sorts of designs and flavours.

I can’t see them, but I can feel the fondant.

For my brothers.

I am just lucky to have them, all three of them. Whether it’s when one carries my bag out to the car for me and gives me a ride home, to all the times he and the other two make me laugh, to the amazing father’s two of them are to my niece and nephews.

My older brother and I had a nice conversation, which isn’t always so easy in the group with everyone there. He was telling me about how his job is going. He is a photographer and Studio Manager.

Think Global

He has been there for ten years and he is well known in his department for his talents, his hard work, and his integrity. I was happy to listen to him tell me about what his duties include and what an important and reliable part of the team he actually is at that place.

For goodbye hugs.

I am always a little sad when my niece and nephew are leaving. I love our byes at the door. It’s only one month until they will come back, next time for a few days, just after Christmas. It’s like we have Christmas twice in our family. Who wouldn’t love that?

My nephew holds onto me with his little gloved fingers and I say bye again.

For small businesses, locally run, such as my cousin’s hair salon.

I did an interview with her last March and November 28th was Small Business Saturday.

Keep Calm and Get Your Hair Done: My Interview With Alaina From Glow Hair Studio

I think it is important to balance out the giant corporations and brans with the people who work so hard to offer quality options, products and services, in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

For two of the most generous parents anyone could ask for.

That is all. They are just great to everyone they meet, especially their children.

I’m thinking this Christmas might not be so bad after all. I wasn’t quite myself last year around this time, but despite everything, it may turn out alright – happy days once more.

The only time i ever heard that old slogan, until I realized where it originated was when Brandon and Kelly got back together on Beverly Hills 90210.

Yeah, well for those of us who were huge fans of the young adult nighttime drama back in the nineties, it was a big moment. I remember how happy thirteen-year-old me was when my two favourite 90210 lovers were finally reunited, after two years of will-they/won’t-they.

🙂

What can I say? It got me through dialysis and that lousy year. Life gets more complicated as you grow older and it’s harder to find the sort of pure happiness you used to feel as a kid. This exercise in being thankful helps.

“I am angry every day of my life, but I have learned not to show it; and I still try to hope not to feel it though it may take me another forty years to do it.”

–Louisa May Alcott

TToT: These Lackadaisical July Days

“As long as this exists, I thought, this sunshine & this cloudless sky, & as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?”- Anne Frank, Nov 1943

TEN THINGS OF THANKFUL

Last week my brother used the term lackadaisical, seemingly out-of-the-blue. Leave it to him to think to use such a rarely utilized word.

He used it for something else, but I have been thinking about it ever since, all this last week. I like it and it seemed to fit a lot of what life’s been like around here.

July is nearly at an end and I have felt unwell this week, mostly physically, but really I see something lacking, in myself. I am in a bit of an energy slump and in a hurried mood to write this and try for some sleep. I will motor through the TToT this time. Though I have developed an outline for these whereby I try to follow days of the week, this time I think I will simply speed things up a bit.

This does not mean I don’t have enough things to be thankful for. The above quote by Anne Frank is one with the greatest perspective and appreciation, even in the worst of circumstances.

If Anne can live by that quote, I can certainly tell you of ten things I am grateful and thankful for.

For the effort shown by bloggers to caption photos.

I owe a special thank you to:

Thankful Me

and

Heels and a Toolbox,

for their consideration and willingness to make it so I can enjoy visual TToT’s, as well as the written ones.

For the pleasant surprise and the thrill of discovering a truly wonderful book.

There has been so much talk about the author of the American classic To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, releasing Go Set A Watchman. This release has been in the news since being announced last winter. I had my doubts and still do, about the ethics of this book, which I’ve written about before, but I read it and I am glad I did. I don’t call it a sequel, as so many are determined to refer to it as. I don’t know what all the real story surrounding it’s discovery and publication is. All I know is my curiosity got the better of me this week. (My review of the story is still to come.)

I was blown away. I am thankful that a book can still produce such feelings in me. I am thankful for Harper Lee and her beautiful words. I am grateful that this book is getting to see the light of day. It deserves to be read…just one book lover’s opinion.

For a break in the middle of summer, a little cooler than average July day or more than one actually. I just can’t stand humid summer temps.

For another excellent evening attending

A History For Today

and its thoughtful speakers.

For a copy of this week’s speaker’s memoir,

The Hidden Package,

which was given out with admission and our tickets. This was a lovely surprise.

For the opportunity to get my book signed after the talk.

For yet another signed book to add to my recently begun and growing collection.

For soothers.

🙂

No, not for me. They don’t make everything better forever, but for an infant they are magic. This afforded me a few more moments of calm with a sweet little doll in my lap, so her mother could eat.

For raspberry cheesecake cupcakes.

For Decade Adrift. It’s the name of the beautiful music my brother creates out of thin air. Where once there was no beautiful sound, he produces something worth sharing. This song offers a glimpse into his heart and soul. He may think that sounds silly, but I know him better than that. It’s the truth.

Passenger – Let Her Go

Milestones and Siblings

I’ve reached 1000 followers on this blog.

Yeah yeah. I know. Most bloggers, including me, say that they don’t care about that.

They care a little. I care a little.

For years nobody was reading anything I wrote. Now some are, at least some of that 1000 are.

Then April 10th was International Siblings Day and I did not write a tribute or message about my siblings on the day, but I have been thinking about siblings, thinking a lot.

I spent the day yesterday with my siblings, my father with some of his, and my niece and nephew…well, I watched them play for hours.

The fact that siblings grow up, move away, and grow apart is hard for me to accept sometimes.

I watched my siblings, my father and uncles, and my niece and nephews. I thought about how deserving of that relationship my other nephew is.

I thought about how siblings can be far far apart physically, but still remain close, or living nearby and as far apart emotionally as possible.

Or distance can keep them apart and things are just never the same.

My father’s half-brother is visiting from Germany.

The “half” part matters little. The connection is not half anything.

I watch them and I think again about siblings.

Circumstances keep siblings apart and it takes effort to come back together again.

I had forgotten what he was like, since I saw him five years ago.

Things started to come back to me, about how generous he was in hosting us, when visiting Germany in the late 90s.

He is outgoing and friendly and fun.

The language barrier gets in the way some, but he speaks enough English to get by.

It is too bad he is the one who speaks English. Languages have never been my thing, but it makes you want to conquer that obstacle.

The brothers are off to visit their sister.

Life is unpredictable.

It’s hard for me to grasp the fact that they all had a whole lifetime before I ever existed. I can’t fathom that and it makes me wistful.

From Germany to southwestern Ontario, to near to Canada’s capital, Ottawa.

Time and space can separate those connected by blood, but those gaps must be bridged. Time doesn’t slow down for anyone.

On visiting my aunt last month I felt this most acutely. She is my connection to her mother, my oma, and meeting her, ten years into my own life and fifty or so into hers was a blessing in my life.

As time flies by, opportunities slip past, past me and past them. We all know that.

I didn’t want to leave her that March day and now the siblings pose, arms around each other, holding on tight to whatever time they have left.

But they never know when that time together might run out, for any of them.

I wish I could slow this process down, for them and for myself too. I wish I could freeze it in still.

No language barrier can get in the way of love and family.

I watch the newest generation and it seems like they have all the time in the world, all the time to learn and grow and be siblings.

I think of my 1000 blog followers and what importance that holds, the milestones that mean the most. I think of the importance siblings have in my life.

It helps me to keep life in perspective and to remember what’s truly important to me.

I would be nowhere and nothing without my siblings. I love to see all the siblings around me. I want us all to make time for each other, to appreciate one another, and to never forget that we started out together, we know each other like no one else does or ever will.

Yet sibling relationships are all different. Some take time to grow.

It’s a unique and special connection that a sister or a brother has or is to the others.

All the realities of growing up and drifting apart don’t matter, they won’t matter in the end, when the end comes.

He brings my niece and nephews gifts from Germany, my uncle does. He toasts me, our beer bottles clinking and I’m glad he’s here.

I am lucky to have him and the others in my life, in my family, forever and no matter where we all live, where we all go, might end up at.

Hope everyone can have a day like I had, parents and siblings, aunt and uncles, niece and nephews. Gather family around and don’t let them go.

Not everyone can say they’ve had a day like I’ve just had, but make the effort. You won’t regret that you did.

Special thank you to every one of my blog followers. You read my words and I thank you for that.

Thank you to my siblings, for all the support you’ve shown for this blog and for me.

Blog Hop

Today I am participating in something called a Blog Hop. I was invited to take part by the gentleman whose bio is below and I thought it would be a good way to be a part of something and to build relationships with other bloggers. Sharing others’ writing is as important to me, or even more so than my own writing. I rely on it from others and I believe in showing the same kindness you are looking for from other people.
I will share his information and then speak about my own writing. I will finish up with the bios of two other bloggers/writers. It was supposed to be three, but like others before me I could only find two. Oh well. Better that than none at all.

Max Ivey is the owner of the Midway Marketplace, a company specializing in the sale of new and used amusement equipment and related items. He draws upon his own personal experience in the amusement industry along with that of his family that had operated traveling carnivals for three generations.

While totally blind, I perform this service with the help of family and friends many of whom I have met online. I also write a blog spotlighting the amusement industry and equipment I have for sale. I also write about my experiences as a blind person with blogging, podcasting, social media networks, youtube videos, and google hangouts. I believe that nothing is impossible with the right attitude and help from your friends.

I can be found online at:
website www.mr-midway.com
the midway’s blog http://midwaymarketplace.com/the-midways-blog-2
face book https://www.facebook.com/Mr.Midway
twitter https://twitter.com/mistermidway
google plus https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MaxwellIvey
***
What I’m currently working on:

I have a lot of things on the go these days, but mostly I am working on establishing a blog which represents who I am and what I want others to get when they read my words. I am also working on the novel I began last fall and I hope to get more work done on it in the future. I am constantly writing something somewhere. I am always looking for things to write about on Herheadache.

How my writing differs from others of my genre:

I believe everyone puts their own mark on any creative project they are working on. My writing comes from my own unique perspective and out of the experiences only I myself know. I hope my voice comes out through my writing and speaks to the reader as to a little of what can be found inside my head and in my own heart.

Why I write what I do:

I have learned if I want to be heard I must speak up. The best way I have learned to do this is by writing and sharing my words. I write to get through the ups and downs in life. I write to make sense of what is happening all around me. I also write to let others know something they might not otherwise have known.

How my writing process works:

I see the world a certain way and the things I go through and the stuff I observe around me filters through my own personal view. I write from the heart, is all I can say. If it interests or impacts me I write about it. If I want to speak up on an issue I write it down. I am always taking things in around me and then I sit down at the keyboard and let the words pour out of me. It’s often rough and raw and I hope it’s also real.

Thanks Max for asking me to join in on this. I hope my small link in the chain helps to build a long chain of bloggers helping other bloggers to get their name and their message out there.

***

Now here are the two lovely ladies I have invited to follow after me in the blog hop. One is an accomplished author and blogger. She has a lot to deal with in her life, but that only serves to make her voice all the wiser for it. Secondly there is a young woman who works hard to selflessly promote authors and their livelihoods. She does it all, from what I’ve observed, with grace and determination.

Joey is 32, disabled, an indie author and part time student in her last year towards an honours degree in Health and Social Care. She loves to write and is at the moment working on her eleventh and twelfth books, as well as preparing her seventh book for publication. She started writing when she was medically retired from her job at the age of 19. Her first book was released in 2005 and after a brief time away, her second one was released in 2011. In addition to writing books, she also enjoys reading them and can often be found resting in bed with a good book, a cat and an ukulele.
Links:
http://www.joeypaulonline.com/ – blog
https://www.facebook.com/BugBooks – FB
Photo is attached
—
~Writer, Student & Musician~
~Writer of 10+ books~
~Student @ The OU~
~1/3 of The Rocking Dodars~

I am Brittany, I am 19, and I run Brittany’s Book Blog. I am a full-time student, studying music education. I am also a full-time blogger and reader.