April Plans & March Updates!

I'd like to start this post by pointing out that I am not crazy. I have the professional opinion of two psychologists on that. Admittedly both balked when I asked them to put it in writing. . .

That said, here is my plan for April! I joined napowrimo and committed to writing a poem every day in celebration of National Poetry Month. I also joined nablopomo (don't you love these names!) and committed to doing a daily blog post for April. Seriously, they said I wasn't crazy. Really. Anyway be sure and come back in April and read my daily posts & I'll update you on poem status. Or I'll give up and hide my head in the pillow and cry.

March One Small Change: My change for March was to quit drinking diet coke. I did pretty good. I did have a coke a couple of times but I just bought an individual bottle, not a six-pack and I'm still committed to not drinking it any more! It was kind of difficult because I really like the taste and I think I was having diet coke cravings. Anyway I'm proud of myself for doing this and mostly sticking with it!

April One Small Change: I have one small bad habit. I tend to use more water than necessary. When I do dishes I let the water run when I could turn it off, same thing for brushing my teeth and washing up. So for April I'm going to use less water. I feel like this will be easy but I suspect it's going to be hard to remember. I think I'll make a sign to remind myself!

March Libraries & Reading: I went to the library four times. One visit was to a new branch, North Natomas. I read nine books in March.

U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton Latest alphabet mystery series
Call the Dead Again - Ann Granger British country mystery
Nothing Was The Same - Kay Redfield Jamison Jamison's account of her husband's death & the differences between grief and depression
Borderline - Nevada Barr Latest in mystery series
The Places that Scare You - Pema Chodron Accepting what happens, ways to deal with life and not become angry and bitter
The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien Ok if you don't know what this is about there is no hope for you! I've read this, I don't know, maybe 20 times and I never get tired of it.
When Things Fall Apart - Pema Chodron More on dealing with life . . .
Sometimes in the Open: Poems from California's Poets Laureate - edited by Bob Stanley Poems (bet you wouldn't have figured that one out)
Socialnomics - Erik Qualman Using social media in business

A Few Thoughts

I went for a walk today. I don't have any pictures to share though, just a few thoughts. I met a man during my walk. He stopped me, said hello, told me quite a bit about his life and asked me for money. He had clearly been drinking but he was polite and I felt sorry for him. I don't carry my purse with me when I walk so I had no money to give him. He told me he needed it to take a bus ride back to Santa Monica. I don't know if that was true or not. The odds are high if I'd given him any he would have bought something else to drink. I still wish I'd had some to give him.

I've been kind of feeling sorry for myself the last couple of days. It feels a little trite to say that he made me realize how lucky I am but he did. Yeah my life could be better right now. But I'm lucky. I have people who love me and care what happens to me and I didn't get the impression this guy has anyone. I was out walking because I wanted to be, not because I had no choice. I see a lot of homeless people around Sacramento. I also see a lot of people ignore them and treat them rudely and I'm not sure why they do that. Fear maybe. Or maybe they really don't care. They have busy lives and no time to talk for a minute or smile at someone. I'm not the most outgoing, friendly person around but when someone talks to me I don't ignore them. It doesn't matter if they are pushing a cart full of bottles or trailing secret service guards, it's rude to ignore someone who is speaking to you.

A lot of things matter in life but I think what matters most in our relationships with other people is kindness. One of my favorite stories is The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke. If you haven't read it, click on the link and read it. It's a short story and won't take you long. The "moral" is at the end: "Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me."

You can take it as a religious or moral lesson or just take it to mean that we're all human and no one should be treated as less than that. I don't know. I don't have any answers to the problems society faces. I don't think I'm really any nicer than anyone else. I was brought up to be polite so I'm polite. I'm just sad tonight because I'm thinking about that man and wondering where he'll sleep and hoping he gets enough to eat. Life is sad sometimes and I guess there isn't always a good solution. But I still think kindness matters. I suppose you could say if I'd given him money and he'd bought more liquor that wouldn't have been a kindness. I disagree though. I think the kindness is in acknowledging him and helping if possible and letting him make his own decision. So next time I walk I'll bring a couple of dollars with me. And yeah, in case you wondered, I'm a bleeding heart, naive, gullible, liberal. I'm good with that though.

Musical Monday

Silent Sunday

Aren't these pretty! I went to Trader Joes Saturday and they had bunches of daffodils for only $1.29 each. I bought 3 bunches because I thought they looked so pretty.

A few pictures

Some pictures from my walk yesterday. I think that I live in a very pretty neighborhood!

A lot of the curbs have little flower gardens planted in them. I don't know if the people that live near them do it or if the city does but I think they look pretty. I had to stand in the street to take this picture. Fortunately no one ran over me.

Here's another curb. I think this is lavender.

There are so many flowers blooming all over!

I had to wait for the train to go past. I like watching the trains - I don't know why. . .

A view down the railroad tracks.

I like this corner. It's planted with a bunch of bushes & trees and looks sort of like a jungle to me. It's really cool to walk underneath it!

More pretty flowers by someone's house.

Another Exciting Library Visit!

I went to a new library last week and forgot to post about it! This is the North Natomas branch. I have to admit that before I went in I wasn't expecting it to be anything special. You have to watch those pre-judgments though! It's a very nice library inside. It is open and airy, has lots of seating, bunches of computer stations, and overall a really  nice feel. It was late afternoon when I went and there were a lot of school kids inside but it didn't feel crowded or noisy. I think it's a great example of a newer library that's comfortable and easy to use. I love tiny old libraries but I also love new ones like this. Ok, I admit it, I just love all libraries! Anyway . . . I had gone there to get one particular book but, as usual, found many others that I needed. Writing this is making me want to go back!

By the way in case you think I'm a little odd with this visiting libraries thing I'd like to point out that there are other people in the world that do the same thing. I know this because I personally know one of them. Admittedly I gave birth to her and may have had some influence on her actions but it still counts!

Since I'm sure you're all wondering, here is the list of the Sacramento County libraries and my visiting status. The names in red are branches I've already visited. There are 28 libraries and I've been to 9. I want to visit them all by the end of the year. I'm pretty sure that shouldn't be a problem.

Arcade Library
Arden-Dimick Library
Belle Cooledge Library
Carmichael Library
Central Library - the 1st one I went to!
Colonial Heights Library
Courtland Library
Del Paso Heights Library
E.K. McClatchy Library - this is my neighborhood branch & my favorite! 
Elk Grove Library
Fair Oaks Library
Franklin Library
Galt-Marian O. Lawrence Library
Isleton Library
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
McKinley Library
North Highlands-Antelope Library
North Natomas Library
North Sacramento-Hagginwood Library
Orangevale Library
Rancho Cordova Library
Rio Linda Library
Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library
South Natomas Library
Southgate Library
Sylvan Oaks Library
Valley Hi-North Laguna Library
Walnut Grove Library

Some Thoughts for Today

I was looking for a quote yesterday and found this page with a bunch of funny and not so funny sayings. I thought I'd share a few today:

• Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
• You cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic, and then give in.
• Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.
• You shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.
• Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
• Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
• There is a fine line between genius and insanity.
• Dogs have owners. Cats have staff. (Yeah I definitely know that!)
• If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
  
• If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.
• It takes only a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.
• Never wrestle with a pig: you both get all dirty, and the pig likes it.

And my favorite (although I'd prefer champagne to a martini):
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, your body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, "Woo hoo! What a ride!"