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IT'S NEW YEAR'S EVE...

Happy New Year, Everybody!

Please celebrate responsibly; Don't drink and drive.

*today's images from google*

Always looking forward, PJ

What's Up For Wednesday

I know you enjoy shopping now and again. And I'm

pretty sure you enjoy 'thrifting' too.

We've never had the chance to spend time together

doing either, so I thought I show you more of the

things I've actually purchased from Etsy over the

years. The following is just a small sample:

DeniseBlack (I bought a bunch of these when I was bald. Remember my baldness?)

DebsCrossStitch (I buy her cards regularly. She cross stitches all kinds.)

DaffysLanding (I asked for and received this for my 51st birthday!)

CookieBits (Cute pop-up cards)

CinnamonSticks ( I bought rings that bear my husband's name and those of my two children.)

Catnip8 (For my vintage medicine tin collection.)

ByEmilie11 (I got a big bunch of these on sale and looooooove them)

BluePearls (Labels - essential for the OCD organizer in me.)

BlueBellBazaar (One of my favorite all-time vintage etsy finds)

BayMoonStudio (I found funny buttons in this shop for many people.)

AbundantCuriosities (Bought this for my brother because my mother used to wash his mouth out with it when he was nasty...back in the early 60's. I'm thoughtful like that.)

AbbysRelics (Love me some vintage!)

I'll show you more another time. Please check out these stores and the many others over at Etsy.com. It's my favorite kind of shopping: while wearing pjs, in my recliner, my beverage of choice at hand.....

Thank you for buying vintage and handmade.

Always looking forward, PJ

A Truth For Tuesday

Today's truth is part way down the page...

“If you just reach out, you’ll find wonder at your fingertips.”

Author Unknown

And lucky for me, if I just reach out, I'll find A WONDER at my fingertips. He goes by "The Source" and today is his birthday.

Please join me in wishing the man who literally makes everything in my life possible and WONDERful a very wonderful day!

Always looking forward, PJ

A Memory For Monday

"You know those days when you've got the mean reds.... The blues are because you're getting fat or maybe it's been raining too long. You're sad, that's all. But the mean reds are horrible. You're afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don't know what you're afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don't know what it is." ~Truman

Capote

, Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1958,

PREFACE

A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that develops for no apparent reason and triggers severe physical reactions. Panic attacks can be very frightening. When they occur, you might think you're losing control, having a heart attack or even dying.

Panic attacks typically begin suddenly, without warning. They can strike at almost any time: when you're driving, at the mall, when you're asleep or in the middle of a business meeting.

They have many variations, but symptoms usually peak within 10 minutes and last about half an hour. You may feel fatigued or worn out afterwards.

One of the worst things about having a panic attack is the lasting fear that you'll have another.

They typically include any number of these symptoms:

• A sense of impending doom or death

• Rapid heart rate

• Sweating

• Trembling

• Shortness of breath

• Hyperventilation

• Chills

• Hot flashes

• Nausea

• Abdominal cramping

• Chest pain

• Headache

• Dizziness

• Faintness

• Tightness in your throat

• Trouble swallowing

THE MEMORY

Below is a picture of one span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Lovely, n'cest pas?


For the past 21 years I've crossed it more times than I can count, having lived first in Maryland (on the main land) and presently in Delaware (on the Delmarva peninsula).

There are two spans which rise up to a gentle arch at mid-bridge and take what I like to think of as "a left turn" when you're headed from the mainland to the peninsula.

So, it's a 2 mile long, high bridge with a pronounced curve. Not my favorite thing, to be sure, but not something I've ever avoided, either.

One of my favorite bridge features is on the span that goes from mainland to peninsula. It's this lovely 'cage' construction. You can't help but feel safe when you're caged in. The other span doesn't offer this feature. :(

On Saturday, March 5, 1994 (I remember it because it was my birthday), I departed an IBM marketing seminar I'd attended on the peninsula to go home to the mainland. This involved crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on the span with no 'cage' feature; at that point in time, it was about 30 minutes from my home.

The bridge sees its share of traffic on the weekends because it leads to many beach resort towns. There are three lanes that go from the peninsula to the main land; I always drive in the middle lane.

I was just beginning to climb the gentle rise towards center bridge when suddenly my heart began to BANG in my chest, I began sweating profusely, my limbs went totally limp....and my foot could no longer depress the gas peddle. The car began to move slower and slower, traffic hosed up behind me, horns blew. I had all I could do to keep the car within the confines of the middle lane. It was only as I began to pray that I realized I'd been holding my breath, scared to death.






I prayed in short phrases, forcing myself to breathe, made it to the top of the bridge arch, my car moving at less than 10 mph. Once I could see the other shore, I was able to drive once more, albeit as slow as a turtle. The entire time, my heart continued its BANGING and my chest hurt like hell. As strength returned to my limbs, they began to tremble.

I stayed in the right-hand lane all the way home, trying to smooth out my breathing and ease my stress. When I reached my house about 40 minutes later, my chest hurt as though someone had kicked it hard, repeatedly.

For years afterwards, I lived in fear that I'd have another attack. Whenever possible, I would have someone else drive across the bridge for me. Living with the limitations that fear imparts stinks.

It's been 16 1/2 years and I've never had the experience again, but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't cross my mind briefly each time we cross the bridge.

Always looking forward, PJ

Sabbath Peace

"..So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them."

John 19:16-18

"God speaks to you and me through the cross of Christ, showing us what we are like.

Have I ever had in my heart any of the pride of position that was in the hearts of the high priests?

Have I ever washed my hands of some responsibility, as did Pilate?

Have I partaken of the brutality of the Roman soldiers by taking part in a cruel conversation?

Have I been a little dishonest like the politicians or fickle like the mob?








Have I injured an innocent person either directly or indirectly? Or have I ever stood by while others were being hurt physically or slandered--and done nothing?

Let us not miss the meaning of the crucifixion by blaming it on ancient figures and failing to see that it is our human nature that stands at the foot of the cross.

This is from Forward Movement

(1944)

.

*Images from Flickr.com*

Always looking forward, PJ

Christmas Day 2010

It's Christmas Day and I can't think of a better time to

stop and reflect on this piece, first told by Dr. James

Allen Francis at the First Baptist Church of Los

Angeles in a sermon, "Arise, Sir Knight. It was

delivered on July 11, 1926 to the National Baptist

Young Peoples' Union and has often been erroneously

attributed to anonymous authorship.

ONE SOLITARY LIFE

He was born in an obscure village, the son of a peasant woman.

He grew up in another village, where he worked in a

carpenter's shop until he was thirty. Then for three

years he became a wandering preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He

never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to

college.

He never visited a big city. He never travelled two

hundred miles from the place where he was born. He

did none of those things one usually associates with

greatness.

He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public

opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He

was turned over to his enemies and went through a

mockery of a trial.

He was executed by the state. While he was dying, his

executioners gambled for his clothing, the only

property he had on earth. When he was dead he was

laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is

the central figure of the human race and the leader of

mankind's progress.

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that

ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the

kings that ever reigned, put together, have not

affected the life of man on this earth as much as that

One Solitary Life.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Always looking forward, PJ