Just say "No"

I was reading, "Always work on your strengths." And I thought. "No"

"No" I'm done. "No" I don't want to work on my strengths or anything else for that matter. Hey, I'm as good as I'm going to get. No more "working" on strengths, higher power, self-improvement. If this isn't good enough then I'm doomed anyway. There comes a point in life where you just need to accept what is, and this is my point, this is it. It seems as though I have spent several hundred years "working" to improve myself in someway or other.

I've improved my reading, selling, prayer activity, creativity, adventure quotient, parenting skills, meditation time, cooking, dressing, weight loss, make-up arts, toenail care, spirituality, romance, and others too numerous to remember. Over and done! I just said "No."

I'm happy as I am.

Happy Birthday to Jerry; our very own survivor. Either Jane won't let him go or somebody up there doesn't want him. Either way happy 7-0. I read in an article about inherited health woes, "Family history can stick to you like old gum to a shoe." Ain't it the truth.

I noticed in photography that waiting for the right light is a lot like waiting for whales, you have to be patient.

Do you have a nest? Is there an improvement book for a "proper" nest? I have three; my main nest by my couch sitting place and two mini-nests, one at bedside the other by the computer. Nest are lovely things. Everything at your fingertips; nail file, scissors, lip-balm, reading material, usually three or four books, a newspaper or two, appointment book, to-do-list, hand lotion, letters that need attending to -- someday, current photograph of The Connorman, and in my case; cigarettes, ashtray and lighter.

Nests are such comfortable places, all organized and efficient. Safe places, everything resting so quietly until needed. Fun places for making plans and dreaming. Nests are busy places for napping, reading, writing, thinking. Nests can be used for mental exploration, map reading, education, communication.

What would the world be without the solitude and wonderment of a good nest.

I finished the book Norwegian by Night in my nest. What a wonderful book, I recommend it, but I particularly liked this quote, somewhat shortened;

"...the eternal dialogue for meaning and purpose and expression, a compulsion to render the world explicable." vs "..letting it be, letting it move through, submitting to silence, to come to terms with humanity as it presents itself, an ever expanding capacity to face what comes next, to see it clearly."

One an act of will vs the other, a process of life.

Page 19, Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller about an old man on the lam with a young boy he can't communicate with, each with their own demons to carry. A smart, funny, sad, interesting thriller of a book. Each character was smart, funny, sad, interesting and some were very scary.

Another quote from a book I'm reading, in my nest, recommended by the birthday boy, The Semi-Attached Couple, free on-line written a long time ago. In the novel this poem is attributed to an author Hannah More, I don't know if this is a real author or a figment of the novelist imagination, but the poem is good:

"Since trifles make the sum of human things
And half our misery from trifles springs --
Oh! let the ungentle spirit learn from thence
A small unkindness is a great offence."

Wishing Jerry a happy birthday.
Cathy a get well soon and please make it to Greenleaf.
Thinking on what to bring to Greenleaf Thanksgiving dinner.

Two heritage recipes

Great Grandmother Foster's White Cake

1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup milk
2 1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla

mix as usual for a cake, bake 350 for 30 minutes

Great Grandmother Foster's Jam Cake

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
3 eggs
2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda in 1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 cups blackberry jam

mix as usual for a cake, bake 350 for 45 min

I'm done, not much happening in my nest today.