Gritty Snow Rules

Learn the snow rules that every good Gritizen should know. Click HERE to visit Gritty City Woman to find out!

It's Cold Outside

And Then


the Wind came

Snow Driving: How's Your Neighborhood Doing?

South Sound: How's the driving going in your neighborhood? Are you seeing these around?

This picture came from the University Place Patch. This morning our roads were terrible. I suspect that will be the case again tonight. Sigh....

Cold Days...Warm Moments

The times are always going through their changes, aren't they. One day I can be up, the next day, down. Nothing to do with not taking the appropriate medications. It's a mind limiting thing... leads to procrastination, hiding, depression. Or, I can work a little differently. The glass does not have to be filled with castor oil; mocha expresso will bring a smile to my face and warm my heart.


After all,every now and then I can admit to myself that I am a wonderful human being and I do make mistakes. And those mistakes can either lead me to freeze up, not try again, just plain give up. Or I can decide to take responsibility for my mistake, reflect on what I did, and learn what I shall try the next time. In other words,
life can either look beautiful or ugly, depending on how I choose to look at it.

For example the thought that the Dr. Martin Luther King Library might close just breaks my heart. So many wonderful people go there. The staff is so kind to me. I have found so many precious books, compact discs, and dvds there... Just sitting there and people watching gives me a deep sense of being really close to folks.

So... I am going to let my desire to keep MLK known to every human being I can and encourage folks to write the librarian director and let her know MLK needs to stay open. Here are the names of the board memebers and the phone number for the administrative offices:
http://www.tacomapubliclibrary.org/Page.aspx?nid=34

I walk down the stairs at Orton Hall this cold grey Monday morning and look, beautiful pieces of work created by Bellarmine High School students. Wonderful!


For every challenging experience, there is the hard, cold side, and the exciting, warm side.








Keep warm...

Tacoma In November

I took advantage of a break in the weather and ventured into the very heart of this Gritty City to walk around and take some pictures. It was cold and the wind blowing in from across the water added a bite to the chill.

The dead leaves on the sidewalk skitter in circles as the cold wind rips through the streets and alley ways. Few people are out and about and those that are, have their coats zipped up and their shoulders hunched up trying to stay warm.

You can hear the wind as it rushes up from the sound past the old city hall clock tower. You almost get the impression that the clock is just too cold to tick.

Across the Foss, the Tide Flats are hard at work despite the windy cold.

Enough is enough! I'm ready to warm up and there is a Tully's in front of me! A hot cup of coffee before I head back to the house is just what I need.

VW

Why I Love Tacoma's Parkway Tavern

Check out my little love piece for the Parkway Tavern on Gritty City Woman. Share your fave watering holes and beer, HERE or on GCW. Happy sipping Tacoma!

A Natural Man

Back in the eighties I used to go walking in Seward Park in Seattle, compact disc swinging merrily in my portable cd player and, with Lou Rawls singing to myself as I briskly moved through my two and a half mile walk, the affriming lyrics of the song, "Natural Man."

Much older and wiser now... I see that the lyrics of this song catch a lot of my present dreams:

"So when ya see me walkin', won't you notice that proud look in my eyes
My feet are on the ground and my soul is searchin' for the sky

'Cause I want to be happy and free
Livin' and lovin' for me
Just like a natural man
A natural man
Just like a natural man
My feet are on the ground
My soul is searchin' for the sky
Like a natural man
No more 'Yes, sir'
No more 'Yes, mam'
Huh, 'cause I'm a natural man
I'm a natural man"

In those few sweet, soulful moments Lou Rawls summed up the desires that African American people have had for five hundred years..."

As I listened to Lou Rawls singing via my Itouch during my moaning and groaning and sweating at the Family Y in Tacoma Thursday, November 18th, I felt affirmed and challenged... affirmed because more and more I am respectfully taking responsibility for my choices... because I choose to rather than because I am commanded to and challenged because I want to help every person I meet to confidently do the same when working with me or working with/for any other human being.

Smiling as I worked out at the Family Y, I played Natural Man again and again.