The Hills Are Alive With the Sounds of Music

The Hills Are Alive With The Sounds of Music

Yes indeed – the hills are very alive with the sounds of music – with songs they have sung for a thousand years!!!!!!
Do you remember Maria (Julie Andrews) at the start of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, “The Sound of Music” as she ran free and wild in the hills, singing with her magnificent voice about how the hills felt and looked to her?
Well, not everyone is fortunate enough to live in a country such as Austria where these hills and flowers abound all over the place. But I bet if you get in your car and take a little drive somewhere – almost anywhere outside of a big city – you can find such a field and feel just as free and alive as Maria! For flowers, hills, and music are some of God’s great gifts to us. They are free, cost nothing to enjoy, and will bring to you the sweet fragrance that is also part of God. This is why Maria felt so free in those hills - she was full of “the spirit” which is God. And the Love that travels always with “the Spirit”. It’s infectious. Perhaps if more of us could just close our eyes, visualize those hills, the flowers, and the music we would always be full of life, love, and spirit instead of downcast about things which are not going right in our lives.
Can you imagine a world without music? All kinds of music. I can’t. It would be quite desolate, I think. For music affects each one of us profoundly. Perhaps to the young fellow on the street of a poor urban area – perhaps he is listening to Rap through his ear phones. And those down in New Orleans, even as Katrina blew through, and especially in the aftermath – perhaps they were listening to New Orleans type jazz. For others regardless of where they are, maybe it was orchestral music – the magnificent sounds coming from a symphony hall with great acoustics which fill us with the incredible sounds of the classics written by those inspired to reach all the way to the depths of our souls. God lives there, you know, and God loves the classics. As do I. With all of the great pieces of music written by our most inspired musical geniuses, surely there is a classical piece that will be of special appeal to you – you need only search for and find it.
Can you imagine a world without flowers? Again, I can’t. For flowers bring the color, dance, and whispering winds into our lives. As beautiful as “arrangements” can be, there is none that can compete with the wild flowers grown by God, watered by His tears, and spread in endless fields for us to gasp in amazement as we behold them.
Can you imagine a world without grass and hills? I wouldn’t want to see a completely flat terrain throughout our planet – it would do little to inspire me to climb my own personal hills and mountains as I journey through life, so that I am glad for these on our terrain as we view and then try to climb them, either figuratively or literally.
I used to think it was Sir Edmund Hillary when asked why he climbed Mt. Everest who replied “because it is there”, but I have since discovered it was somebody before him whose name escapes me, but the important thing is that somebody did say this, and no other explanation is really needed.
Because it is there. Why must we cope as well as we can with our personal problems? Because they are there. There cannot be a human in the world who doesn’t have some kind of problem with which they must cope, from the babies who are trying to learn how to crawl to the very old who are often measuring each step they must take with great precision and care because walking has become so difficult for them. To the young person in love who must decide if he/she is the “right one” for me, to those contemplating surgery for some illness who must ask themselves – is he/she the right surgeon for me at this time. Everyone is coping – even God copes. In fact, I believe He copes most of all though he also copes best. He must cope with so many things going on throughout His universe at once that it boggles the mind that he does it so perfectly that everything keeps on humming along. We could take some pointers from Him, in fact. But mostly just remember that we all must cope – because the problems are there. For those who insist on sticking their heads in the sand, the problems will continue to multiply – nothing goes away all by itself and disappears completely
Not even a Black Hole in the Universe. Though we can’t see them, they are there. In fact, one may have had everything to do with the origin of the Universe – astrophysicists and cosmologists are still looking into this. The Universe is utterly fascinating even to a lay person such as myself who really knows little about Physics because it is a physical manifestation of God, and like God it is awesome and perfectly balanced. We will some day understand, I believe, how God made the Universe, but we will never be able to comprehend – why. God allows us into his Mind as far as He chooses, but at that point we reach an end because we are not meant to understand All that there is about God.
Pure Spirit, pure Love, pure Energy – God is the Infinite, Perfection, Total Wisdom, Complete Love.
And while we are here, He has given us the hills and the sound of music. Let us revel in them and enjoy the fact that they were created for us.

If Winter Comes

If Winter Comes

“….If winter comes can spring be far behind……”

No, I didn’t write that line, the English Poet, Shelley, did. But here is my question for Percy (that was his 1st name) – is there such a thing as winter refusing to make way for spring? It certainly feels like it this year.
A friend of mine wrote me awhile back that it sounded to her as though the winter we were having on the East coast this year of 2010 was more like the ones she remembered as a child.
Well, I’m older than she is, and I remember some pretty severe winters, but not any that had snow in the month of February every other day, and some of the snowfalls very deep. In fact, I got so tired of shoveling my driveway and front walk this year that I decided to splurge and make one of my grandsons very rich by enticing him over to do the really heavy stuff, then grossly overpaying him simply because he was my grandson, and what’s more he had the biggest shovel I have ever seen which made the job go more quickly than it would for most.
Where else other than in the chair at Goldman Sachs, perhaps, can you make $40.00 an hour by lifting a simple shovel again and again? Of course, there was a difference. My grandson lifted snow whereas at Goldman Sachs I feel at times they have been shoveling manure in the faces of the American people - what do you think?
So when there was another snow forecast just yesterday that didn’t materialize, I patted my jacket pocket where I had forlornly placed another $40.00 and breathed a sigh of relief. Also, I checked out the can of Blizzard salt I still have left and realized that I wasn’t going to have to return for another 40 lb. bag which would have been my 4th this year.
Of course, we have yet to get through March, today being only the 4th, and you can never tell. March has been known for a long time to be a great month for a monster snowstorm so I may yet have to haul in another 40 lb. bag of Blizzard and further enrich my grandson before this winter finally bows out sometime in May!
To keep my spirits up, I have been very busy ordering flowers from my favorite online store, QVC. You can get just about anything there, but I have been specifically looking for flowers to be planted in the spring this year. I have ordered 12 miniature rose plants, and just this morning added to that 6 lavender shrubs. Now that I’m older, I’m not as keen to dig in the ground as I once was so I am also thinking large pots that can hold these and that will be easy to move around - with some help, of course, because if the pots are very large that means a lot of dirt and peat moss – heavy stuff to move around the deck and front yard. What I like best about both of these items I have on order is that they will not be sent here until the planting season for my area of the country makes it safe to plant them outside. Also, I like the fact that the miniature roses come in a variety of colors with very little scent so they will not attract the Japanese beetles. I learned my lesson in that regard years ago when I fell in love with some absolutely gorgeous Queen Elizabeth roses at a local Nursery, loaded up, was thrilled with the way they grew and multiplied until July came around. All of a sudden it looked as though I had been attacked by a hoard of locusts, the air was so thick with something, and I watched in horror as not only the roses but all of my plants and shrubs were literally eaten alive by this “thing”. Turns out they were Japanese beetles attracted from miles around by my heavy-scented roses. The following year I dug up the roses and replaced them with flowers that had no scent, but it still took me almost 5 years to “get” the offspring of the beetles that had grubbed their way into the ground the 1st year and sprang to life every July to again eat all of my flowers, and then spawn some more. Finally I got rid of them, and I learned my lesson regarding Queen Elizabeth roses. Unless you are prepared to not just spray and keep re-spraying heavy scented roses and all of the surrounding ground within about 2 acres of them – you will have to decide whether you want beautiful scent or will just settle for color . I have since chosen the latter.
The other flowers coming, lavender, I will have mailed to me around the same time in May. These come in pink, white, as well as purple. I can picture exactly where I shall plant these which will finish my “new look” outside for spring, summer, and fall this year. Both lavender and roses will be in bloom by June and last through October. Being perennial they will, of course, come back year after year bigger each year than the last – just my kind of gardening. In huge pots they can be moved on an outdoor dolly wherever I choose to put them year after year. Now, how’s that for an octogenarian who does not love wallowing in weed control. In pots weeds are far easier to contain or eliminate altogether than in the ground.
So Percy – get over it! Winter has been here since November this year, and I am more than ready to see it go. Spring to me is like a ravishingly beautiful very young woman – the kind we would all like to look like. I’m ready more than usual eagerly awaiting her arrival this year – bring it on! Spring may be when a young man’s fancy turns to love, but for me it’s when my senses, all of them, turn to the incredible renewal of life in the plant world – one can make it a personal Paradise, and I intend doing just that.

I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty!(with apologies to West Side Story)

I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty (with apologies to West Side Story)

I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty, and witty, and gay
And I pity any girl who isn’t me today –
I feel charming, oh so charming
It’s alarming how charming I feel
And so pretty that I hardly can believe I’m real!..........

Ah, Natalie Wood! You were so very pretty! As a child star and as a young adult – what in the world happened to you on that boat anyhow!!!!

Well, Natalie didn’t make it to old age, but I like to think if she had she would still be oh, so pretty!

Quick flash to Audrey sitting on the couch watching 5 foot 10 inch, 115 lb. models strut around in beautiful clothes and accessories on QVC and HSN! Sigh! Oh, so pretty!!!!!!!!!

You get hooked, and think – well, that could be me too if only I had that top, those pants, that dress, that necklace, earrings, bracelets! Oh so pretty!

You definitely don’t bother to remember that you are not 20 years old, nor 5 feet 9-10 inches, do not weigh 115 lb. – in short, there is absolutely nothing similar between you and the models on these shows except that we are all female and want to be pretty!

You toy with the idea that real prettiness comes from the inside and the outside IS what it IS – you really can’t change it, and at almost 80 years of age (hey! I still have three and a half months left at 79 – let’s not rush things!) there is no way you are going to look like those models on screen. Nor are you Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind as Scarlett O’Hara – hardly an ugly duckling!

Still, wouldn’t it be nice to own one of those outfits where you could pretend to be “oh, so pretty!” Maybe even 3 or 4 outfits to be even prettier – wouldn’t it be nice to have so much money that you could buy this one, and that one, this too, how about that, oh shucks! Just buy them all and feel virtuous by giving some away – that’s the ticket!

This, my friends, is how you become addicted to 5 closets full of clothes plus 2 garbage bags full of clothes you are discarding and taking to your church in which poor people can also feel pretty for a dollar or two, or maybe even nothing.

It’s really fun to dress up as you wished you could have as a little girl in your mother’s best clothes! I never got a chance to do that because even if it had been allowed, and it wasn’t, already at the age of 10 I would not have been able to fit into my mother’s clothes. No, you’ve got it wrong! It isn’t that I was too small for them, it’s that her clothes were too small to fit me!!

So now at an advanced age I am getting to stand in front of a mirror trying on a whole bunch of clothes I don’t need so that I can “make believe” I am Nat Wood, and I’m so pretty!!!

And if you don’t think this is great fun, well, guess again! It is no matter how you look in the clothes you bought. They’re all yours, all you have to do is pay for them! And you can play dress-up forever!

But deep down inside a tiny voice is fighting to be heard. And it’s saying, Audrey! Don’t buy another thing. You want to feel really pretty? Take that money and start helping a whole bunch of people down and out who just need a helping hand up so that they can feel worthwhile to themselves and others. Sit down and write a check NOW to one of these people or animals. And then another, another, and another, and before you know it you will have spread some joy where there was none, and given someone hope that somewhere someone cares about what is happening to them. And when you’re finished doing that, call your children and find out who would like to go to lunch –a super burger? (Lionel) A steak? (Anthony) – an eggplant sandwich? (Lillian). Then find out which grandchild would like to have lunch with Grandma – steak (David) 2 cheeseburger’s at McDonald’s (Elena) salmon and pasta (Emily), come on Olivia, Daniel, Audrey, Jon when you’re here visiting – and don’t forget the chicken nuggets brought home to Gabi.

Isn’t all the above much more satisfying than to have another package delivered to your door with another price tag hanging from it, to put where? Wear when? More than enough already!!! Not needed!!!!

And so, Natalie, I will leave you dancing in your new dress in front of the mirror – where you look a whole lot better than I ever could. And I shall dance inwardly at the smile I have brought to someone’s face, or the contented sigh from some shelter dog licking his chops because I have supplied him with his daily bowl of food, the medical care and schooling I was able to give a child in Zambia with the big grin of thank you on her face – all over – everywhere I can reach to bring a moment of happiness and feeling pretty to lots of living creatures including both humans and animals. And THAT makes me feel very pretty indeed! It makes me smile and laugh and these add to my prettiness as can nothing else as I connect with other people.

And you will feel very, very pretty if you reach out in whatever ways you can to other people. Better than if you are adorned with diamonds from head to toe. These may make you glitter, but they won’t really turn you into Cinderella at the ball! An act of kindness, however, will.

So – go for it – and watch West Side Story again, or if you’ve never seen it, see it for the first time. Look how pretty Natalie Wood looks in this movie, and look who’s dancing alongside of her!!!! Why, that’s you!!!! And you look oh so pretty too – because you have reached out and touched someone, and now God is smiling at you. Can’t beat that, can you!

What to Write Today




I could write today about the capture of the No. 2 Taliban leader in Afghanistan, but I won’t. If you want to know about him, it’s all over the front page of the New York Times.

I could write today about the rising stock market that always cheers me up as I’ve a few assets to my name, but I won’t. You can read all about the Market in the Times Business section too.

I could even write about how antsy the nominees for the Oscars are since that show was moved back 2 weeks from the time it usually airs so as to not interfere with the Olympics, but I won’t. You can watch those on Channel 4 this evening. Same with the Westminster Kennel Club Dog show, although I did pick the winner of the Hound group last night when I saw the whippet and realized that I had never seen one that good before. Let’s see what he does tonight when he competes with the 6 other Group winners for Best in Show – I haven’t seen them yet.

I could write about a lot of things but they’re all things you can watch or read about whenever you wish.

Instead I want to write you about my flameless scented candles that I have in the living room all set with timers that turn them on at an hour for which I set them until they go off by themselves about 5 hours later. Unless I have errands to run, a hair appointment, am scheduled to baby sit with my youngest grandchildren, take Hugo to the groomer’s or any one of dozens of things I do in the afternoons after I come home from my 5-6 hours of intense physical labor at my job, the first thing I do when I come in my house is to get out of my dreadful looking uniform, take off my shoes and throw on some thick old socks, a warm sloppy sweater and leggings, plunk myself down with a drink of iced tea, turn on TV to listen to Mike Francesca drone on most of the afternoon about baseball, football, or some other sport in season, close my eyes for about 10 minutes before picking up one of 2-3 books I’m alternating reading, and wait until about 5 in the afternoon when ta-da!!!! Eight different candles placed in strategic spots so that I can see and enjoy them turn on spontaneously. I feel then as though I am in a very special place that I wouldn’t trade for all of King Solomon’s gold and money, and that if I could just gaze at the candles as they flicker, scent the room with their delicate fragrances, and cast gentle shadows on the walls, I could be totally at peace and serenely happy never moving again, or at least not for 5 hours until the candles, like dancers exiting from a stage, go off until 24 hours later when they repeat what they do day in and day out, evening in and out too. They are set to go on just as daylight is ending and twilight is taking over. They look completely different in the fading light, then different again in twilight, and finally reach the peak of their perfection once blackness settles outside my windows. Four of them are on my window sill along with some favorite pictures of family members I love. They are all different in color, shape, size, and fragrance, but they are similar in their complete beauty, how they reflect on the photographs as well as the large bay window as though to say, “hello! Welcome to our daily and nightly show. We will enchant and soothe you. How much we are able to do this is entirely up to you, in your mind and heart.”

Meanwhile, four other flameless candles, totally different from those on the window sill are aglow on my round coffee table. Sometimes I hear the opening bars to Swan Lake and imagine a ballet being played out in front of me. Sometimes I watch the candles through half-slit eyes and imagine all kinds of animals I miss and have loved. Sometimes I can even make out the face of a person long gone from this earth, but always I feel as though I am floating in some kind of paradise that I can only find in this room with these candles surrounding me – an enchanted place I have built just for myself and my dog, Hugo, who is generally snuggled in my arms sound asleep as I gaze around me and stroke his head stretched on my arm. Hugo and I are in heaven, and I want to hold this picture, this place, this scene of serenity and love forever.

Eventually I decide to move. I come back again and again to my seat with the candles as they cradle me, and I know that nothing bad can happen because, you see, they are flameless and function with simple batteries. Hugo and I are completely safe. The room is noticeably warm even on very cold days as well as delightfully cool in summer. And though it looks as if nothing is happening at all, I assure you that I am dreaming, dreaming, dreaming even as the candles flicker calling to me, and all is right with my world.

One, Two, Three Strikes-You're Out!

One, Two, Three Strikes You’re Out!




Well, here we are again almost at the start of a new baseball season. In fact, Spring training for pitchers and catchers starts this coming week when they must report for duty. The balance of the teams called “position players” don’t report until the last week in February, but then everything starts in earnest.

For me it’s the happiest time of the year because I am getting ready for another bang-away season for my team, the New York Yankees.

I know – everyone hates them except for Yankee fans. Their Front Office spends too much money on well established players, snagging the best every year. The Yankee fans are too arrogant and nasty to those who root for other teams. Everyone on the team is paid too much giving them crowing rights over top players on other teams. On and on it goes. I’ve heard it all – and then some – a million times.

None of which can take away from the sheer joy of hearing the cry, “play ball!” especially at the start of a brand new season where anything can happen, any team can come out on top, and most of the pundits are proved wrong again and again.

My youngest son is a die-hard Yankee fan as is my older son. The younger one has already predicted that the Yankees will only come in 3rd in their division this year. This before a single ball has been thrown in the new season that hasn’t yet started! What did I just say about pundits? Well, he may not be a household name, but my Anthony IS a baseball pundit. He can tell you batting averages and who does what all over Major League Baseball – not just the Yankee stats. His dream job, I guess, would have been to have been a baseball statistician, if not an actual player, but instead he is chugging along in the IT world at a major cosmetic company even as he and his friends hurl friendly, and sometimes not so friendly baseball remarks to one another all day long while attending to company business. Of course, I’m half-way kidding because yes, they are working at what they’re supposed to be doing, though interspersed with their paid jobs, baseball talk zooms around as fast as a Mo Rivera fastball, and that’s pretty darn fast! Lots of opposing players are still trying to hit it and most of the time, except when Mo is having an “off day” they come up empty.

So with the Super Bowl having been played and decided, we now are about to start on the REAL national pastime which is BASEBALL! And in spite of the fact that some people have picked my team, the New York Yankees, to come in 3rd – I kind of like the look of that World Series trophy and a No. 28 (they’ve won it 27 times to date) for the New York Yankees in the year 2010!