THE MAGIC BANK ACCOUNT

I’ve been absent this page for weeks and I’m still engaged in time consuming commitments. Much of it has to do with the building project in Oregon and some time out for friends and appointments, and downsizing here at home, before heading back on the road with Jim. Downsizing my email was also on the list. I’ve got at least three months of emails unanswered or waiting to be deleted. Aha! Light at the end of the tunnel. I ran across this email that I received from a friend and thought it worth blogging.

It is called The Magic Bank Account:
The author is unknown. It was found in the billfold of Coach Paul Bear Bryant, Alabama after he died in 1982.

Imagine, a magic bank account that you had won; the prize in a contest:  Each morning, your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private account for your use. However, this prize has a set of rules:

#1. Everything that you didn’t spend during each day would be taken away from you.

#2. You may not simply transfer money into another account.

#3. You may only spend it.

#4. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400 for that day.

#5. The bank can end the game at any time and say “game over”. It can close the account without warning and you will not receive a new one.

What would YOU personally do?  You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right?

Not only for yourself, but for all the people you
love and care for. Even for people you don’t know, because you couldn’t
possibly spend it all on yourself, right?

You would try to spend every
penny, and use it all, because you knew it would be replenished in the morning, right?

ACTUALLY, This GAME is REAL
Shocked ???
YES!

Each of us is already a winner
of this *PRIZE*. We just can’t seem to see it.

The PRIZE is
*TIME*

1. Each morning we awaken to
receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life.

2. And when we go to sleep at
night, any remaining time is Not credited to us.

3. What we haven’t used up that
day is forever lost.

4. Yesterday is forever
gone.

5. Each morning the account is
refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time WITHOUT WARNING…

SO, what will YOU do with your
86,400 seconds?

 Those seconds are worth so much
more than the same amount in dollars.  Think about it and remember to
enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than
you think.

“DON’T COMPLAIN
ABOUT GROWING OLD.

SOME PEOPLE DON’T GET THE
PRIVILEGE!”

GOTTA GO. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS ADVICE AS MUCH AS I DID.

QUILTING SURPRISE

Opening the mail these days, I find more advertising than personal news. But, then, surprise! My adopted daughter, Karen, was published in Quilters Newsletter, a magazine I wrote a beginning writers piece for in 1976.  It didn’t pay much, in fact, it may have paid nothing, but the thrill was indescribable.

Here is Karen’s story that she sent me:

My husband retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2001 after serving for 20 years. To show my appreciation, I decided I would make him a quilted wavy U.S. flag wall hanging. I decided to use curved piecing to make it. He was thrilled with this idea. We went to my fabric stash to pick out the fabric. I cut out all the curved pieces using one template shape. Then the challenge began.
I tried to sew them together on the sewing machine and got so frustrated I gave up. I told him I was sorry; I tried but it was way too difficult for me. Years went by and as I made other quilts he would ask, “What about my flag quilt?” I’ve never been one to give up easily, so I thought, let me try one more time.
Guess what? I did it! I was so proud to have challenged myself, I decided to enter the quilt in the local county fair without him knowing. I talked him into going to the fair to see how my other quilts did. When he saw a red, white and blue quilt, he asked, “Isn’t that like the quilt you’re supposed to make for me?” When he saw the name and quilt label, he turned to me and gave me the happiest smile and biggest hug. I told him it didn’t win a ribbon. He said, “It won Best of Show to me!”  I’ll never forget the look of excitement on his face.Please challenge yourself and be patient. Just think, eight years later, you too can have a finished quilt for someone you love.

Karen is a great quilt artist. She’s a multitasker with, home and family, work, pets and many challenging projects.  She is proud of her quilt, but I’m proudest of all to be surprised by her accomplishments via a prestigious National Magazine. What a thrill!   Smooch!

SURPRISES COME IN ALL FORMS

When you get to a venerable age, surprises are not too common. Its fun to surprise someone, and to be on the receiving end can be very special. And it happens more around the holidays it seems.

It was a busy day. The kids painted cookies, played games and worked puzzles.

 

 

 In our family, only the kids get gifts. They look a little weird under our funky little tree. 

And then the surprise.
Good friends, Norma and Jose Tapia sent us over a full chili verde dinner for our whole gang. I don't know how Norma, who cooked this wonderful feast,  knew that my favorite Mexican food is chili verde. Her home made chili verde is to die for. She sent the chili, the rice, her fresh refried beans, like nothing I'd ever tasted before; And, the tortillas and jamaica, a hisbiscus flower drink that is typical of her families traditions. Oh, my. We were in food heaven.

You can't imagine the flavors and the oohhs and aahhs. Then, when we were all practically comatose from eating too much,, my daughter picked up the camera and caught the stragglers at the table:

THANK YOU NORMA, JOSE, ANTHONY AND ABIGAIL.

SURPRISES ON THE ROAD TO HOUMA

We left Golden Meadow and headed for the “big” city of Houma. Via the internet, we found J. & N. truck stop, a place to water, gas up, dump your tanks and wash the vehicles. Jim chose the scenic route, a narrow road that follows a marsh and ends in the very small town of Du Lac where we wanted to try much touted seafood dishes at Schmoopy’s Restaurant.

Our first surprise was running into an insurance check point on a stretch of road that gives you no place to turn around. What a novel idea. We chuckled some, and decided it was a dang good idea. With 15 years on the road, Jim had never seen an insurance check point.

Our second surprise was this gorgeous pristine marsh. Jim likes little used back roads. Thirty miles of twisting curves and little traffic allowed us to enjoy the marsh plants and birds free of any human intervention, it seemed. We saw no garbage, plastic bags, old bottles and tires anywhere, the marsh as nature intended it to be.

What a treat. The pictures don’t do it justice because sitting high in the motor home gives us a better view than standing on the ground.

We pulled into the small town of Du Lac and headed for Schmoopys, a restaurant touted for its good fresh seafood. The haphazard gravel and dirt parking lot was full without any obvious place to accommodate a motor home and “toad.” Some guy said, “You could park it out back if that red pick-up wasn’t in the way.” The pick-up in back of Schmoopys was taking up a lot of room but slowly and carefully Jim managed to squeeze by. When we got upstairs, (this restaurant is on stilts) this guy came out of the kitchen with a big smile and welcomed us heartily. He told us he watched us from above. It was his pick-up. We learned later, he was the boss.

I rarely order anything deep fried but when sampling new cuisines, all rules are suspended. I made a complete meal out of appetizers, all of which were deep fried. Home made crab pups, filled with crab, creamed cheese and a bread stuffing; mini crawfish pies with a Louisiana roue made of celery, onion and green pepper and a flour & oil gravy; and bacon wrapped oysters battered and fried. Delectable, every one. Jim is fond of bisque and declared it delicious. His meat pie, also an appetizer, was much like a cornish pasty and tasty. People thought I was a bit strange, I guess, taking pictures of our food. For me, oysters are best raw, except for these, the best cooked oysters I’ve ever tasted. He had other menu items I’d never heard of. I wanted to try them all. If you get a chance, go to Schmoopys.

We traveled through several small towns and stopped to buy a greeting card at a Dollar General where we got another surprise. The clerk below tested my one dollar bills. Whaa? She told me she had accepted a counterfeit ONE DOLLAR BILL? I couldn’t help but chuckle and asked her if I could feel it and take pictures. She consented but didn’t think it was near as funny as I did. She complained that she had to “eat” it.

The back of the bill was much too bluish in color. It felt like real money linen, though.

The front looked very authentic. I guess copy machines and kids got away with a minor theft-my guess. But, a one dollar bill?

When we got to J&J, they no longer wash trucks and motor homes. It started to rain. Who knows, maybe tomorrow we won’t need a car wash.