Zany

Cockamamie. Goofy. Sappy. Silly. Wacky. Foolish.
Buffoonish. Clownish. Clownlike.  Humorous. Madcap.


I hope to be all of these before my time on earth is over. 


And speaking of over, my alphabet series is over. 


Crazy, huh?

Youthful

Hahahahahahahahaha!


Well, I am in the youth of old age.

Xenophilic

Now here is a word you don't see every day...xenophilic.I admit it is a stretch, but hey, there is not much else you can do with the letter X.
So, on to xenophilic. Guess what it means. Yep, you are right! It means 'loving everything.' That about says it all for me! Because I do love everything. It's such an honor to be alive, here, on this earth, at this time. I am so glad. Even when I am not happy about the particular circumstance of my daily life. Even when I am angry and not handling the anger at all well. Even when I am afraid or worried or frustrated or stressed to the max. I can always, always, always, reach down to the very core, and sense the absolute, undiluted, unfettered joy at being alive.
Xenophilic. That's me.

Happy Spring...Hodgepodge!

You can see the originating post at From This Side of the Pond, using the link to the left...

1. Sunday was the first day of spring. So they say. Ahem.

What is your favorite outdoor springtime activity?

Strolling through a field of daffodils on a bright, sunny day!

2. Who would you want to come into your kitchen to cook dinner for you?

 Dead, Famous: Julia Child, because she is such a compelling figure. I'd just love to have her regale me as she cooks, and then sit down to savor it all with her.

Alive, Famous: Ina Garten, not only for her food, but for the way she giggles. 

Dead, Not Famous: My grandma, because she is my gold standard of familial love, and I can still smell her cooking in my mind!

Alive, Not Famous: My children, because it would mean they were paying attention to what I've been trying to teach them.

3. When did you last fly a kite?

A couple of summers ago...hmm, too long!

4. What topic puts you to sleep faster than anything?

Polysomnography :-)

5. Which flowers do you associate with specific people, places, or events?

Roses remind me of my mom, because they're her favorite. 

6. What significant historical events took place during your elementary school days?

Vietnam War (my big brother was in the Air Force, over there) assassinations of MLK and RFK, first man on the moon, detente with the Soviet Union, Watergate break-in...

7. Do you swear? Do you pseudo-swear? (You know crap, shoot, friggin'?)

Try not to, but I do slip up here and there.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

I heard this the other day: My job is not to be perfect, my job is only to be human.

Wistful

Let us now sing the praises of being wistful! 'Wistful' makes regret sound poetic. There is an aching beauty in 'wistful.' Surely I have plenty in my past for which I could muster regret. Yet when I assign the 'wistful' label to any of it, I find myself in a curious state of self-comfort. Perhaps it is delusional, but I'll take wistful over regretful any day. 

Valorous

Valorous is just a fancy word for brave.
I admit that I don't always feel brave. Some people think I am brave to have moved 4,000 miles across the ocean to another country. It felt more like an adventure than a scary thing for which bravery would be needed.
So, is being brave a matter of feeling afraid but going ahead anyway? Or can being brave sometimes just be a matter of seeing that life is an adventure? Embracing the mystery of life calls for a certain amount of bravery. We can't always know what lies ahead. Indeed, life would get pretty boring if it were always predictable. It's a good idea to shake things up a little from time to time.
In that sense, I'd rather be brave than bored.

Ubiquitous

Of course I am everywhere.
And, since I have traveled almost 9,000 air miles in the past couple of days, I actually feel ubiquitous!!

Transcendent

Why not just admit it - I AM TRANSCENDENT! And I don't care who knows it. And I doubt anyone will disagree. If they do, then they don't know me very well.
The fact is, we are all transcendent. We are all more than mere mortals, on the soul level. We are all special. We are all unique. We are all children of God. That's what makes us transcendent.
If I can live one day in a transcendent state, I will count my life as a success. For when I am able to do that, then I know I will have learned what it means to be truly alive.

Sensible

To have the quality of acting with care and thought for the future is no small feat. I have often in my life been called upon to be an apologist for being sensible. I carry an umbrella when the forecast calls for rain. I wear comfortable shoes when I will be walking a lot. When driving, I scan the road ahead for potential hazards. So many times, I have chosen the sensible, practical course of action over the impulsive, risky one. I can't really think of anything else to say about this. Maybe I will later.
Maybe not.

Mardi Gras Hodgepodge

This week's questions, from This Side of the Pond (see link at left) have a Mardi Gras theme!

1. The season of Lent begins on March 9th this year...do you participate and if so, in what way?

I don't give up anything for Lent.

2. Traditionally pancakes are eaten on the day known as Shrove Tuesday which is the last day before Lent (March 8th this year). So....butter and syrup? Blueberry? Chocolate chip? ewww, no thanks!! What's your pleasure when it comes to eating pancakes?

I like thinner pancakes. If they are too thick, they taste only of flour to me. So, I'd go for a crepe, and there are so many ways to enjoy a crepe, I couldn't begin to choose! Probably some kind of fruit....

3. Spring is coming. (It is coming, right?) What's your favorite springtime flower and do you suffer from seasonal allergies? Two questions I know, but they're lightweights.

Spring is here, in London! My favorite springtime flower is the hyacinth. I just love the scent. I feel pure happiness when I catch a whiff of hyacinth.  

I think I am allergic to the blooming of certain trees.

4. "Our opinion of people depends less upon what we see in them than upon what they make us see in ourselves." Author unknown. Agree or Disagree? Why?
I both agree and disagree. I agree because often something I don't like or disagree with about another person has its counterpart in my own weakness/fault/character flaw. Of course, it is easier to see it in someone else, and not own up to in myself. So, when someone bugs me, I ask myself what it is in me that is triggering this feeling.
On the other hand, I disagree, in the case where I admire and/or look up to another person. They may have a trait, or behave in some way, that I aspire to have, or do. In that case, what I see in them is more important to me than what they make me see in myself.

5. Since it's "March" and also the season of Mardi Gras....have you ever been in a parade? What's the best parade you've seen? 

Many decades ago, I would walk in the annual town parade as a Girl Scout. 

I think the best parades are the hometown little parades, with the local bands, and dignitaries waving at the crowd from open-top cars. Where you pull up a piece of curb, with or without a lawn chair or blanket, and wait in the warm sun for the drum majorettes to twirl their batons, and the fire engines to blast their horns.

On the other hand, one memorable parade I attended was the Tall Ships in New York City for the Bicentennial, July 4 1976.  Even though I was a baby, I remember it! Okay I was a "baby" in the figurative sense. Let's just say I was old enough to drive, and leave it at that.

6. You would jump up and down and shout for joy right now if someone told you___________?

I am waiting to hear whether our kids are being accepted into a school in Switzerland, where we are moving this summer. I really, really hope they have room for my kids. That news would put me over the moon!

7. How clean is your car on the outside? Inside? Is there junk in your trunk?

I don't own a car right now, as we decided to try living without one while  in London. 

But I like to keep a clean and neat car, offset, of course by the fact that my kids don't share the same sensibility.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
I'm so excited to be going to Florida for a long weekend, to attend my niece's wedding!

Reluctant

When you don't want to do something, it is difficult to get started. But, what about the times when you're thinking "I want to do this" but you still find it difficult to get started? Why be reluctant in this case? More often than not, the answer is: fear. And, more often than not, the fear is of: the unknown.
Reluctance is a signal from your Higher Self to examine your motives, listen to the fear, and accept the fact that pushing on ahead is going to get you past the fear.
It's as if you are standing on the edge of an abyss. Of course, you are reluctant to take that first step. You are wise to be reluctant! But, what if the outcome were assured? What if you knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that when you took that first step, you would either find solid ground (miraculously) beneath your feet, or (even more miraculously) you would find that you had sprouted wings and could fly?
Would you be reluctant then?
Or would you take a leap of faith?
Replace reluctance with faith.
Because the outcome is assured.

Quixotic

Quixotic = impractically idealistic. I decided long ago to look at the world through rose colored glasses. I would rather remind myself that some person who is irritating me, or did me wrong, or did something "bad"...whatever.....is indeed a child of God in the end. It helps in the forgiveness process to always remember this final fact. If that makes me quixotic, so be it.

Peaceloving

To be peaceloving also implies that one is peace-attracting. Conversely, it could be averred that a peaceloving person also attracts the opposite of peace. In other words, if you create what you defend against (as some claim), you are at the same time attracting the opposite of what you love in order to turn the opposite around. This is my way of processing the goings-on in myself of late. I have been decidedly un-peaceful. Sure there are lots of (external, ephemeral) reasons for that. Yet, isn't the essence of serenity (which is by its nature peace-loving) that you are accepting of all circumstances no matter their character? That you achieve and maintain a sense of calm at your center, no matter the storm swirling about you? I suppose that ought to continue from the external all the way to the internal storm. Thus, at the very center of my core, I am peaceloving, and peaceful, despite the tempest in my teapot. Moreover, the unrest could be the reason I am able to be at peace in the center, as it is a process, a conscious effort, to go the peaceful place that I love, again and again. It's like coming home. It's always there, even when I am roaring about and flapping my wings and fussing over all manner of unimportant things that bug me.

Optimistic

If life feels jolly rotten, there's something you've forgotten....

Neighborly

I regard this as an "aspirational adjective" because, even though in general I am helpful and kind, I could be more so. I strive to be a good neighbor, although I think I could be more friendly in terms of reaching out to my neighbors. Something to work on.

Misunderstood

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood." From time to time, I find that I am misunderstood. That's okay, because what others think of me is none of my business. My priority is to understand. It's also important to be clear, of course. That eliminates some of the misunderstanding straight away. But there is always the fact that people see what they believe. So, if people decide something about me, and it is not rooted in understanding but in their own beliefs, there is little I can do to rectify that. Nor should I.

March! Wednesday Hodgepodge!

Visit From This Side of the Pond, using the link to Wednesday Hodgepodge to the left.


1. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's birthday so I'm wondering...do you like green eggs and ham? Okay-how about this instead...how do you like your eggs? Or don't you?

Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do!! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat!
And I would eat them with a goat.
And I will eat them in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
They are so good so good you see!

 

I like eggs so many ways! I guess a fluffy herb-and-cheese omelet might be a top choice.

2. Is March coming in like a lion or something less ferocious where you live?

As a matter of fact, March came in like a fox! I was awakened yesterday in the wee hours by the cry of one of the vulpine creatures that skulk about in the dark around here. 

Weather wise, it's been c-o-l-d, tempered only by the sight of forsythia, daffodils and other early bloomers. Not too bad.

3. Do you work better or worse under pressure?

 

Oh, better. But not so much better that I create undue pressure by waiting til the last minute to get something done. Well, maybe I do that a little.

4. March Madness-are you a fan? It's college basketball in case you're wondering. And if you're outside the USA tell us-is there any sort of 'madness' taking place during March in your part of the world?

 

No, and none.

5. Under what circumstances do you do your best thinking?

 

What a thought-provoking question! I think I do my best thinking when I am in a quiet, peaceful place, by myself, and I am well-rested, reasonably well-fed, and caught up on my to-do list. Er, scratch that. I think I do my best thinking when I decide I do not have to be in a quiet, peaceful place, by myself, well-rested, reasonably well-fed, and caught up on my to-do list in order to do my best thinking.

6. What item of clothing from your wardrobe do you wear most often?

Underwear?

7. Do you use sarcasm?

I try not to, because I think there are kinder ways to be funny, and clearer ways to express discontent.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

 

This morning I decided that my word for the day would be 'prognosticate' but I couldn't foresee the circumstance in which I would be able to use it in a sentence. Voila!

Loving

True, 'loving' is an adjective. But, even more, it is both a noun (gerund form) and a verb! I think it might just qualify as one of my favorite words for that very reason.
Loving is, after all, in my opinion, the reason we are here. We are living to be loving, and we are loving to be living. Without loving, what am I?

Kissable

Kissable....well, that's because I'm so sweet. 'Nuff said.