A Snowy Monday Morning

It is in the wee hours of Monday morning the 23rd of January. There is a gentle snow falling outside with a recording of a roaring fire in our fireplace on the TV screen, I am trying to convince my mind to stop racing so that I can fall asleep. It has been many months since my last post… I sound like I am in the confessional. The fall came and went with very little fuss as I remember so we then slid into Christmas. I faced this holiday season with some trepidation: Brian had been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and Jenni had broken up with Nick after dating for a year. Jenni thought that this holiday season would be a perfect time to join Jenny Craig, which is a strict diet plan. Both situations meant some extra planning on my part but that is all part of being a Mother. Of course, Georgia would be joining us for Christmas again this year along with my Dad and after a very long absence my sister Liz. I was delighted that everyone would be together; Georgia at the age of three years was very much improved over past years. Last year she cried for over six hour’s non-stop it was maddening. This year she found a spot in the bedroom and made herself comfortable without bothering anyone. The addition of Liz was a delight she brought back the feeling of the years before Mom died so she was a very welcomed bonus. This year was the best Christmas I have experienced in over four years, my life seems to be divided into before and then after Mom died. We all spent Christmas day at Carl’s house it is where the rest of the in-town Crouse family came together for our family celebration. The day after Christmas, we went to New Jersey to spend some time with Gary’s side of the family.

There has been some family news: Jeff  Spies passed the New York Bar- I think that it is one of the most difficult Bar to pass in the Country so thumbs up to him next Jessica is the first Grand-child to be engaged to be married. The wedding is to take place in Pittsburg in the beginning of September. I am very excited; this wedding will be a joyful celebration and a welcome diversion. Mom would have just been ecstatic, she always loved a party. My only stumbling block is that Gary has a football game scheduled for the same day, as Jessica’s wedding. He said that there are only five home games and he does not want to miss one.

Liz told me that Eric, (Ph.D., vice president for behavioral health services)

recently got a promotion at work, I am unclear what his new position is and I was unable to find any articles on the Web- however congrats to Eric for his promotion!

Gary has spent the entire fall and now into February redoing the basement. The floor is painted a very nice “Sedona” orange- not sure if that is a color but that is what the color reminds me of. He is also trying to put the bathroom back together, wainscoting paneling with carpeting on the floor of the bathroom and laundry room. Gary ran into the same problem he had over thirty-five years ago. While laying carpeting in his last bachelor pad he measured backward and he repeated the same mistake. I thought of this misstep but I kept my mouth shut… oh well we laughed about it.

Brian and Jenni have been very busy in the New Year. Brian is having a One-man Show in April, which is a very, very, big deal. The show will be featuring his work on Fracking, which is occurring all over Pennsylvania. Fracking deals with taking gas out of the bedrock; this process is a very environmentally destructive process.

He has been very active in student activities at PAFA, the Buddhist Center, making some money doing portfolios for the graduating students and he will be holding a seminar teaching the photography of “portfolios” to fellow students. Jenni has begun her training for the “Iron Man” which will be held this coming September in Madison Wisconsin. Gary and I will be in Madison to cheer her on- I cannot wrap my head around running a race for over fifteen hours: swimming, biking, and then a marathon. How can people push themselves to that degree…? I am speechless. Jenni is so excited and I want to be excited but I just cannot understand.

I myself am still struggling with my own demons. I get so mad inside. I just want to take a pill that would make me happy and content. I sit in this chair day after day. I have been working on a piece I hope to post soon so I will hold my tongue until I can express my feeling in a more concise manner.

What is on my mind

I have a question.  Who is worth more, who deserves to be rich, who determines a person’s worth or value.  Why do some people have so much more than others do around him or her? I give just two examples and they are extreme but I hear so often that if you don’t have wealth that you don’t deserve it, you didn’t work hard enough. Well let me know your opinion because I don’t understand how the world works. Many would say I am just a naïve woman how could I know anything…it is over her head she just doesn’t get it there is a system and we few who know how to play the game we get “it” we deserve “it” all.

Person #1  If you have one man or woman who spent their time plus energy to learn a job that requires them to get up at 5am 6days a week working  doing back breaking  manual labor until the sun goes down with sweat rolling down their arms along with using their wits to solve multi layered problems that arise during the work day worth less, more or the same as…?

Person #2  Who maybe a Doctor, Lawyer or Business man or woman that gets to work by 8am working against the dilemmas’ thrown at him by the necessity of living in a Cosmopolitan area fighting alongside all the hordes of people that have all the problems that come with the daily commute.  Plus stress that goes along with many jobs that entail working closely and depending on the cooperation of many people working together to get your job done…?

Who gets to choose that your life is going to be made easy by having health insurance, food on the table, a roof over our heads, and then the luxuries of life? Some people say, “I worked for “my money” why should I give it away or share it with others if “they worked harder they would be richer” well that goes back to what YOU ARE WORTH. If you are overpaid for what you do then you are just giving back to society the money you were over paid. Why can’t more people think that way about money? Don’t we all deserve to fly “first class” rather than being shoved into cramped boxes… next time, you fly just turn around and see how many other people are uncomfortable!  We all deserve- a  “healthy” life, “honorable” liberty, and the pursuit of “equal” happiness.

After two days at the Grand Canyon, we moved onto Zion National Park, which was as breath taking as the Grand Canyon but just not as huge. The rocks and their colors are etched into my memory forever but I am delighted that I was able to capture so many pictures. The video is from the Emerald Pools the lower pools path

One day of a delightful vacation

It is the 23rd of September and I sitting in the lodge just off the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is very difficult to give a description of the Canyon you just have to see it in person, so many people me included looked at pictures and movies of this  Wonder of the World but it doesn't do it justice but I have included a video of my own.