Reverie In Grey

It was one of those I do not know how to manage days for me... quiet day at the hospital... most patients just wanted a few moments of time with me for prayer and then they needed to rest.And I was puttering through my brain trying to drain up old memories that would help me to answer questions like; who are you, why do you do what you do; do you know the impact you have on other people. Lots of questions. Answers? Hah!

The workday over, I headed out to my car. Windy, cool, rainy... I just wanted to get to the car, go home, and close my eyes for a while. Before I started across the street I looked down and saw that the shoelaces on my right foot had come undone. I was not about to take the time to stop and tie them right there. I headed down the block and, of course, there was a polite young man standing on the grass next to a car to my right and he just had to say, "Excuse me, your shoe is untied."
"Thank you," I replied, and kept walking, block done, I walked across a fairly quiet Martin King Way street.And all the time I kept saying, "why can't people mind their own business." The good side of me kept reminding me that the young man was trying to be helpful. The other side kept muttering words which definitely do not have to be repeated here.
I got to my car, fumbled around for a few minutes trying to find my carkeys. I really tried to keep my blood from reaching the boiling point. The rain and wet kept me cool on the outside... inside????

When I got home to Bellarmine and got out of my warm, wonderful car, I had enough energy to smile and shake my head. Coaches and the football squad... sunshine, rain, snow... there they were and this old dog had to admit that they brought my whining to a halt... Thanks, guys, ffor helping me to learn a little bit more how to be real...
















BRRRRRR!

The Glories of Autumn

I love this time of year. The pretty flowers of Spring and Summer are delightful and I enjoy the warmth of the sun. The opportunity to turn inward in Winter is a necessity for me, but my very favorite season is the joy of Autumn with its colors and harvest.

This picture was taken at Gig Harbor High School. Each Fall this courtyard is my favorite spot at work.

My favorite holiday is Halloween with its chance to play dress up and its opportunity to remember those who have gone on ahead. Last Saturday my husband, son, and I spent the day decorating for Halloween.

Here is my breakfront in my kitchen with my pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns.
Here's the witches in the dinning room with my son's considerable cobwebs!

On Sunday we rewarded ourselves with our annual Autumn drive. Last year it was Greenwater. This year we went on a crisp sunny drive over to Key Peninsula all the way to Penrose State Park and Far A Way. We’ve decided that Penrose will be a destination next summer with the children.

We took our dog Loki with us who enjoyed a long walk down a forest trail, away from a loud foursome who were sharing a picnic lunch and the echo the bowl of Penrose provides. They were not young people, but rather four retirees who haven't lost their sense of play, but didn't realize their antics were spoiling the silence of place.

My second favorite holiday is Thanksgiving when I can celebrate my family with a holiday that Hallmark has not been able to commercialize since Thanksgiving is about the emotion of thankfulness for all that we’ve been blessed with.

Here is our dear friend Jon cooking our turkey in Ilwaco last year. That bird was the best I’ve ever put into my mouth and he and his wife Jo are now our designated turkey cookers. They were already designated family.

Here we are last year sharing our Thanksgiving meal in Ilwaco.

This year we will have much to be thankful for. My mother has survived two bouts of infections and my husband has so far survived a work closure. And best of all we will have a new member of the family whose arrival will occur any day now!

Ode to Interns: Young, Dumb, New, and Shiny

As our local high school and college students kick off the new year with academic realities and job dreams, I find myself waxing nostalgic for my old days as a young intern at KCTS, Public Television in Seattle . Fresh out of college, quite poor, with a dead end copy center job, no employment hopes on the horizon (it was ’91 and the economy stunk), I felt I needed more work and life experience. I desperately wanted to work at KCTS because I loved public television. So when an unpaid, part-time internship came up for grabs, I jumped on it.

I was the oldest intern applicant, mostly computer illiterate, and vastly uneducated in television (I was an English major). But after FIVE long interviews (grueling for a job that doesn’t pay you a dime), I got hired to work on two locally produced shows: “Seattle Week In Review” (a political show) and “Serious Money”(a financial show). I knew little about either show or their topics, but KCTS and I took our chances on each other.

So, I went to work at my stupid day job and did afternoons and all day on Friday for my intern gig. The fun parts: learning new things, researching stories, coordinating guests, taking care of the guests in the green room on tape day, pitching the show, talking to viewers, and going on a couple of shoots. The lame parts: fetching, fetching, fetching, MANUALLY rewinding beta tapes, logging shoots, and typing.

Friday was the best day though. I got to dress up (in my limited and worn clothing repertoire). I treated myself to taking two buses to work instead of sloshing through the rain on my mountain bike to and from the U district, since I needed to look nice and pick up pastries for the show’s guests. First up was Week in Review. My producer told me that it was my job to make sure the guests didn’t argue before the cameras rolled, so I’d say inane things if that happened (“Another donut hole?”). I got to work with former local boy turned author and NY Times writer Tim Egan and his wife, Joel Connelly of The Seattle P-I, and local conservative pundit and personality John Carlson (who rode to the taping on his motorcycle), among others. The volunteer make-up artist was Bob Newman who played Gertrude on JP Patches. For Serious Money, most of the guests were corporate types in suits and were mostly the same. There was also a commentator (like a local financial Andy Rooney type—can’t remember his name) who taped on Fridays before Serious Money. My job was to type his script onto a diskette to feed into the prompter. One morning I couldn’t get the damn computer to work and screwed it all up and butchered it. He did not like lateness or less than perfect typing. Oh, I can still hear that man screaming today (I hid in the bathroom).

Despite it all, I walked away with a couple of pieces of advice that I remember (and practice to this day). Here you go you fresh interns from one who has been there:

1.The show’s host, Barry Mitzman, told me: “If you learned one thing from working on my shows, it’s this: start a 401K ASAP and save!”

2.Bob Newman (a.k.a. Gertrude): “Life is short—wear more red lipstick.”

3.If you want something bad enough, do it (even it means you look stupid). Stupid will pass. A dream won’t.