David Rivas from Bear Valley Springs took this beautiful pictures the poppies in the hills above Arvin (a small town by Bakersfield). Our air quality is so poor here, but the poppies do well despite this. I find it depressing even seeing it in this picture. Those up in the mountains have much nicer air.
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| Picture by David Rivas of Bear Valley Springs Poppies above the town of Arvin |
I had my class with Carol Bradshaw. No one else showed up. I was surprised Wayne wasn't there and texted him. He didn't put it down and had workmen there repairing his roof. He said he would be there next week. So Carol showed me a project I could work on. She suggested I take a contour drawing I have of an animal and do Zentangle type of designs inside. So I am looking at those I have done. We worked on drawing rocks. She crumpled a paper and showed how I could see a Rocky Mountain ridge or a rock. She also brought smooth river rocks and coarse ragged rocks suggesting I use sand to bury them slightly using a cookie sheet to hold the sand. The other thing was her using mats of different sizes and throwing or placing them on the the rocks to create a piece I would draw.
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| Take crumpled paper and draw the angles you see I haven't drawn this yet. |
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| Take a cookie sheet with sides, put sand on it, then river rocks. Then draw what you see I haven't drawn this yet. |
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| This was my second attempt with ragged rocks |
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| This was my third attempt with ragged rocks |
What I have to have for next class on Tuesday is just the outline of the rocks. I'm going to do the river rocks in the sand for that.
Barbara and I went for the last chance to get the 1/8 of one cent sales tax dedicated to our libraries on the June ballot. This was a very harried experience because it was difficult to get a second on the motion to put it on the ballot. Eventually 3 out of 5 board members agreed to it. The problem is that they took a poll and the results were 60% in favor of the tax. This requires a 66 2/3 percent approval and the pollers feel it would not pass easily. The part I didn't understand is why they only asked Republican women who are likely to vote in this poll. So the people taking the lead in favor of the library feel they have a lot of work to get it passed, but they are determined.
I needed to get my car in for service and finally got it done. The big item was new tires. Ugh! Well at least everything is working. I found out a couple of things. Don't let your key fobs be by each other because they will drain each others batteries. By the way, the same goes for the car. I used to leave them in the car, since it was in the garage, but the keys and the car battery drain each other. I found both these out through experience.
Janet and I met at Mexicali's. Janet and I are realizing that our relationship is very important to both of us. So even though our politics are almost polar opposites, we don't want that to get in the way of spending time together. We have both been through a lot and have been support to each other during these times. It meant a lot. We have events planned in the near future that we both are anticipating with some involving Barbara.
I received a notice that my phone can be upgraded. This is every two years. I was worried with some problems I was having. Now all is okay again.
Here are recent pictures of two of my great grandchildren. As they grow, their individuality comes out more. So sweet! They are so well loved!
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| Nylah really does have a beautiful smile! |
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| Kason looks tired! |
The following was taken from an article on the role of the chaplain in the Navy. The part I copied is about the factors that influence how a person copes. This is universal and worth noting. The title was
Chaplains Help Provide Perspective on the Grieving Process, from navy.mil in response to the attack on civilian sailors in the Washington Navy Yard, September 16, 2013. 12 were people were killed and eight wounded.
"Grief is always painful, and sometimes it is pretty straightforward and understandable; sometimes it can be complicated and confusing. For example, if one's ninety-year-old grandmother died peacefully in her sleep, a family would naturally grieve her anticipated loss. However when death is sudden or unexpected, traumatic, senseless, and out of sync with life's natural order, grief can be complicated.
There are certain things that can affect how we grieve:
-How close we are, emotionally and geographically, to the person who died.
-Our belief system and view of death can both influence the grieving process.
-What kind of support we experience from our family, our community, our faith group, and others important to us while we are grieving.
-How we cope with other significant life events, including the death of others we are close to.
Chaplains can help support an individual as they begin the process of grieving. They offer perspective and insight to help an individual understand the difference between grief associated with an anticipated loss and grief associated with a sudden, unanticipated loss.
They can also help validate what an individual is experiencing throughout the grieving process and the time often needed to process one's grief; this includes the fact that there is no set time frame when grieving. Every individual is different".
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I finished reading The Bible. It took me a couple of months. The amount of time I dedicated to it daily varied depending on other activities I had going. I believe it was an interesting thing to do. I have heard
many of the stories, songs and poetry, though I think the sources varied. It was fascinating to read from front to back.
The next one to read will be the Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible).
My friend Mike has done a lot on my family tree. I've also gotten more pictures from my second cousin Simy. Mike watches Ancestry on PBS and had just seen one on Dustin Hoffman. He felt his situation was very similar to mine. The short I watched of it, seemed very familiar. Simy found family who also died in the Holocaust. She also has family who went to live in Israel. My cousin Steve was contacted soon after moving to California by a man with the last name of Gamarnick, the original family name on my father's side through his father. He worked his way up a company there and has since died. What is interesting, and I can only speak for me, is that I was not interested in exploring this when I was younger. So I wonder if that is a result of approaching death and wanting to understand where I came from, but only recently. I do want to hear the stories now. In the past, I found it boring.
I found a pictures with my uncle Eli (who was a physicist) and me and another with my Aunt Shirley, my daughter Ronda and me. This was probably around 1981. They have both since died. They both were very special to me and I miss them.
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| My and Uncle Eli |
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| Aunt Shirley, Me and my daughter Ronda |
That is it for the week. I hope your week went well and this next week goes well too! Rachel
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