1. Never swing high enough to touch the sky! (Always be attached to something.)

2. Never jump off a speeding truck! (When things look bad, hang on.)

3. Never try to run and jump on your bike seat when you're over ten! (Don't over-estimate your abilities.)

4. Never use a blender without the lid! ( Duck when things hit the fan.)

5. Never drop a sewing machine on your finger! (Don't hurt yourself.)

Sometimes life gives you the Fickle Finger of Fate!

Have a wonderful last weekend of a very hot July, Streamers!!! ~~~ Love & Hugs, Rita B

Hello, Sreamers! 

I just returned from giving blood at the American Red Cross blood drive at our church.  This is my second time to donate blood in many years.  Every time I give blood --- which is after every 56 days --- I'm going to tell everyone so as to encourage myself and others to donate. 

Only 2% of the U. S. population donates life-saving blood!  If you can give, please do!!  Summertime, when the blood banks are low, is when the need is the greatest.

Thursday always find me in the hospital working in the cozy cafe for visitors and staff. Some people come in once, twice, or more in a day --- looking for a meal or snack. Maybe a fresh pot of brew. But sometimes they want more. They want to talk.

I try to keep a smile going because the hospital staff is usually tired and the family and friendly visitors are worried or stressed. It's easy to spot the ones who want to talk to someone, so I lend an ear, with an occasion "oh, yes" thrown in between the talker's breathes. Some have been up all night or drove a long distance to be with someone sick. Even with all the new confidentiality laws, I let them talk.

A couple of weeks ago, a elderly lady came in, dressed in sweats, and sporting a top-knot of white unruly hair. She was gregarious enough, explaining that her older brother was there and how he didn't know her because he had Alzheimer's. But he did know that they loved each other and she could always get him to eat. She told me about her brother's son, who had lost his wife, forcing her nephew to rear his three children alone. Since she is unmarried, the lady tries to help them all including her brother.

As I listened intently, with only adding that they were very lucky to have her around and able to help them, she seemed to relax a bit. After she got her food, she left, only to return in a few minutes with a small album of family photographs. She wanted to show me everyone, names and short bios, and I did my best to be attentive and wait on other customers! It was like she didn't realize what was going on around her while people ordered sandwiches and stuff over the top of her head! I could tell people were perturbed with her hogging one end of the counter.

In the entire day, it only took a few minutes of my time to make someone feel better. That's one reason I enjoy being retired so much --- I now have more time to listen.

In driving around, I've noticed in some areas my XM Satellite Radio is blocked out. It's obvious what the problem is because I'm always surrounded by a forest of huge trees! Those massive leafy wonders can block out the man made rays as well as the sun's rays. How incredible is that?

I've always found trees to be beautiful and majestic, but the more I learn about these creations, the more I am in awe. As a child first learning about everything in our world, trees were just there with shade, food, homes for animals or a limb to climb. But in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge had forbidden fruit which Eve and Adam could not resist. Also, in the Garden of Eden there was a Tree of Life which gave eternal life. So even the everyday trees surrounding us come with mystery.

Knowing how hard a large tree works to clean the air of pollutants and its ability to sequester more carbon dioxide is enough to convince me of their power. They even help purify our water. We should be covering the earth with these magnificent workers for the environment! If we did, our air in many places would be cleaner. I'm always smiling when I see mature trees are saved or planned into the design of any new development.

We can plant them too --- Bartlett pear, pine, flowering crabapple, oak, cedar, crape myrtle --- or we can help them continue to grow in all the wild spaces of the earth.