Thoughts

thoughts

I'm sitting in a hotel room tonight wondering where life will take me. I got the room to get away from everyday distractions to sit and think and plan..but all I have done is remember .I remember...

dancing as a child..using the leaves and branches and flowers of a tree as giant fans and dancing with eyes closed to music only my soul could hear.usic that caused everything else in my eight year old world to fade away..I could feel my feet moving in made up steps and nothing else mattered but "being in that moment" I was so happy.

The the last time I remember being me.

The rest of my life has been filled with roles and masks I wear to be who people need...some good..like mother..some masks you put them on and they melt into who you are and bring some happiness and you are that person ,just not *only* that person.

Some masks or roles are created from taking on the judgements of others...the classmates that taunt and call names, the critical parent that labels you worthless.These too become part of who you are after so long..even if nobody else sees it but you ,you still at some point start labeling yourself with these negative things.

As life goes on, you are so busy changing masks and roles depending on who you are interacting with that they become layer upon layer until that original person,that original "happiness" is forgotten on the surface level

But the heart remembers

Now I am at a time in my life that with each changing role...no longer a needed daughter...no longer kids at home(my younger daughter is moving out) ...I am now finding out that my soul is returning to that little girls need to dance to her own music.

So I am starting a journey to rediscover my music again..who I am and why I am here and what I want....what is my happiness?

well it is late..just some thoughts..probably sound like a crazy lady. Can anyone relate to what I am saying?

Think back....what was your happiness?

Why Are Some Plants Called Weeds?

That plant is a weed.
This may sound like two minutes with Andy Rooney but I just don't agree with this term. If a plant looks pretty and it has some quality that makes it useful, then why is it a weed.

What is a weed?

The chicory plant has a pretty little flower and some people use it to make tea. Isn't the bright yellow flower of the dandelion similar to a marigold or some little yellow daisy? You can make wine from dandelions. That's good isn't it. what is grass. It just lays all over the place and looks plain old green. I guess cows can eat it. I don't think it's a weed but I think it acts like a weed. Grass tries to overpower everything else. If Creeping Charlie tries to do that, we call him a weed.

Do weeds have some exclusive property that we can use to define them from other plants? Are those other plants just "plants" or should we call them "non weeds"?

When my wife "weeds" the flower garden, she will constantly ask "is this a weed?" Does it really matter? My response is always the same. "If you like it - leave it there. If you don't like it, pull it out."

Milkweed - wow, poor plant got it right in the name. This plant with the fun little seedpod is home to the much admired Monarch Butterfly. The monarch needs this plant to survive. Children love to open the mature seed pod and blow the little parachutes all over the place. We are intent on eradicating it because it is a "weed". I don't know what makes it a weed.

There are some plants that I guess we would all can safely be called a weed. Poison Ivy comes to mind first. I can't see anything good about this plant. This one can go away forever as far as I am concerned. A couple of god doses of this plant have it on "My weed list".

There are some very interesting names for weeds. The mouse eared chickweed. Does this really sound like a weed" It sounds like something we should see on the farm. Another similar name is "lamb's quarters". It belongs to the "goosefoot family" It just does not sound like a weed. More farm type plants - try "field horsetail" and "wild oats". Sounds like they should do well together.

Don't forget the "european frogbit" Now you really must wonder about that name.

I like the masses of purple loosestrife I see growing in ditch banks but I guess it is a monster in disguise. It gets out of control and chokes out everything. Maybe that makes it a weed.

I guess St John's Wort and Cypress Spurge don't sound that good to me. Maybe I will add them to my weed list.
Now this one really makes me wonder. I looked up Common weeds of northern United states and Canada. Where is the thistle.

That mean bristly plant wasn't to be found in the list of weeds. It must be a good plant I guess but I can't imagine why.

I want to talk to the guy that made that list of weeds. I just don't think he has it right!

I think I'm going to call Andy Rooney and see what he thinks of this whole weed deal. I bet he could provide a very interesting response.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

About the Author

Tom is retired and finding increased interest in home gardening (sparked by planting one hibiscus plant).He has started a plant resources website at http://www.plantstarter.com

A Funny Memory

I was thinking of mom yesterday when they showed a news story about a tornado and it reminded me of when my mom and I were in a tornado. Then I was scared but looking back she was so funny. We were in Circleville, Ohio shopping and doing her usual all day errand runs. Mom bought specific things at specific grocery stores and other stores. We would leave to do her grocery shopping at 10 am and not get home til 7 pm. So anyway we were driving along and it had been a thunderstorm kinda of day. So I look up and the sky is an eerie Orange. I notice at a stop light that everything is quiet..no sound at all. I said mom something isn't right. That sky looks weird. I’m going home. We’ll come again tomorrow. She wasn't too happy about that. But I was insistent because my kids were home alone. They were older, teens actually but still something just felt weird. So we start to go home and are just about to drive out of town when the tornado sirens go on. I look up and headed towards Circleville over the trees is this big tornado. People were stopping their cars jumping out and running. Since we were right by a shopping center I pulled into a local convenience store on the corner and most of all the people running ended up in there including us but first..My mom decides to fight the tornado .I stop the car in the lot and I tell her get out run to the store and I started to do just that but nope not mom. She’s tying her scarf on her head. Meanwhile the twister is closer and huge chunks of stuff (found out later it was smaller pieces of a mobile home) are flying past. I yank open her door and tell her to come on. She finally has the scarf on so gets out. See, mom had this thing about scarves, she had to wear one every time she went out. Usually she's tuck it in her bags (that's another story) but if it got windy she would put it on. I said mom "come on!"

"Well I had to get my scarf on Connie! It's windy out here and my hair will get messed up!"

"Mommmmmm it's windy because it's a tornado come on!"

So with a final tie to the scarf now on her head she gets out. People are at the door yelling for us to hurry. We are almost to the door of the store and I think she’s right behind me but then I'm at the door and people are still yelling "hurry"! I look behind me and she's at the car with the door open again. By this time the cars in the lot and the ones left on the street are rocking back and forth and some are starting to lift up off the ground. My mom meanwhile is leaning across the front seat!

“What are you doing!!!" I run back to get mom who is oblivious to the fact that the car is lifting up. Turns out in my haste I had left the keys in the ignition and she realized it and had gone back for them. Now the people are screaming at us to get inside. We were the only ones not inside. The tornado is seconds away. I grab moms arm and physically pull her out of the car and towards the door asking her if she's lost her mind. " NO she says" I was just trying to make sure nobody stole your car!" Mom!! Believe me NOBODY is thinking about stealing cars at this moment. They are all inside trying to save their ass!!

So we are almost to the door again and the damn scarf lifts up, is yanked off her head and flies flat and straight like a board across the lot and she STARTS CHASING IT SHAKING HER FIST AND CUSSING OUT THE TORNADO. ARGGGG. I grab her again yelling “forget the damn scarf!" She said "well I paid good money for that and it's my favorite"! And she GETS MAD AT ME for not letting her go after it. I finally get her in the store and we race to the back room with the other people. WHAMMMM. The building starts to shake, the cooler glass is rattling, the glass in the front door starts buckling and my mom God love her says “What was THAT?" Everyone kinda looks at me and then her and says it’s a tornado! After a few minutes it was over and we went outside. The tornado had skipped our little building after setting down beside it and tearing things up, it had gone back up and crossed the street and hit the shopping center. Half the center was destroyed. All the houses behind it had their roofs ripped off, cars and semis in that parking lot were on their side and on top of each other. Everyone said we were blessed because nobody was hurt and the tornado didn't flatten our little building like it did some of the shopping center and houses. It's true we were blessed but I know another reason that twister skipped us..It just didn't want to mess with my mom anymore! Up until a week before she passed she still told people about that tornado and she was STILL mad about that scarf saying "well I could have got it if you'd let go of me" lol.

My memory of that day is mostly of mom in my car, lying across the seat, trying to get the keys from the ignition, with her feet hanging off the ground not even aware the car is about an inch off the ground and the nose was lifting up even higher while she was in it. Kinda funny now :)

I don't understand this. Do you?

I am shocked at a recent news story I just saw. Here is the background..Man beats 5 month old baby breaking his bones while the mom stands by watching and does nothing. The parents look young maybe 17 to early 20’s. Now the man is going to prison..GOOD but the woman who sat there and did NOTHING to protect her child gets three years’ probation and NO prison at all. WHAT???? I think she is just as guilty even if she didn’t actually hit him. I know this man obviously is an abuser so maybe she was afraid he would turn on her but for me that is not an excuse. I have been in an abusive relationship. I understand the fear but there is no way I would have not protected my child. In fact, I probably would have killed the man. Back then my abuser had me brainwashed that I deserved it and in my fogged thinking I thought he would never abuse the kids. When I saw the first sign he did while I was at work, I called a friend and we snuck out with basically what I could wear or carry so I really don’t understand how this woman can stand there and watch..see with her own eyes this man beating her five month old and not do anything. And I don’t understand why she basically gets off Scott free.

On a better note this was all a couple years ago and she just got sentenced finally and in all that time the child is ok and with a safe foster family. She lost custody thank goodness.

What do you think? I would love to hear your opinion. I’m open minded and can appreciate other viewpoints on this.