Making Memories by Liz Flaherty

I cut up oranges for the orioles and put out sugar water for hummingbirds. I have thistle seed hanging for finches--although I don't have any finches; do you? We buy suet cakes by the boxful and put them out most of the year. Because I've aged into watching birds, I don't mind this, but I'm looking out at the side yard right now and although the grass was recently cut and looks velvety beautiful, there are a million dandelion stems sticking up out of it. 

So, my question is, why don't birds like dandelion stems? It would be so handy if they did, not to mention cheap. Of course, if they liked them, there would end up being a politically motivated shortage of them and they'd no longer be either handy or cheap. 

A week ago Friday, our granddaughter, who lives in Texas, and her boyfriend, who lives in Kentucky, stopped in Peru on their way to Chicago to a wedding. We spent two hours with them eating B & K hot dogs and filling our grandparent hearts with love and laughter and hugs that filled all the right spaces. 

Today's Second Saturday and the Visual Arts Festival downtown Peru. The schedule's below and there are events all day long, including both visual arts and music. Artists in every medium appreciate your support. 

It's been a nice kind of week, hasn't it? The sun has shone and it hasn't rained for several days. The breeze has been just that--a breeze, as opposed to gale-force winds. According to my phone, all that stands to change today, but I'm thankful for the days past. Of course, I was complaining about the heat the minute the temperature climbed relentlessly into the 80s. No one listened when I complained, but I didn't let a little thing like that stop me.

This is also garage sale weekend, especially including the community one at the fairgrounds. 

If you've been through Denver, you know State Road 16 is...interesting...right now. But the baseball park is more so. I love going through there--very slowly!--because it's fun to see the boys of girls of summer out there. The parking lot is filled and then some every game night, and DeAngelo's is brightly lit and busy. In days when I so often feel as if absolutely nothing is the way it used to be (or as good as it used to be) seeing that crowded, happy place most definitely is. 

While I think all the years of your life are the best ones, none of them are any better than the ones you spend sitting on bleachers. Whether you're watching sports, listening to music, or cheering on a quiz bowl, those hours become beloved memories.

I'm rambling today. Sometimes thoughts come together and sometimes they don't. The "don't" happens to all writers, I'm sure, but the smarter ones probably keep it to themselves. Yeah, well... 

Tomorrow, we're going to sit on some lawn chairs and watch a grandboy play soccer. It'll be like bleachers days, making memories. I hope you have a good week. Be nice to somebody. - Liz 

 

Keep Hunting by Liz Flaherty

Sometimes you just have nice things happen. Isn't it great when they do? Yeah, I'm going to do the Pollyanna thing again. And, please, feel free to join in. I've read recently that blogs are dead--please, no!--and I don't think they are, but commenting isn't very healthy anymore. I miss that. But, anyway...Pollyanna...

On Thursday night, we went to Ole Olsen and saw Drinking Habits in the dinner theater performance. We got to sit with friends, catch up with friends we hadn't seen for a long time, eat a delicious meal from Club 14 and laugh so hard that my stomach hurt. (That could have been the turtle cheesecake on top of that delicious meal I just mentioned, but I'm not going to admit that.) 

The play will be on tomorrow and next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (matinee). If you don't have your tickets yet, call 765-472-3690 and leave a message or go to https://www.onthestage.tickets/ole-olsen-memorial-theatre Don't miss it...don't even be late. I was singing that right there--did you hear me? No? You're welcome.

Then, last night, my daughter Kari and I went to Beef & Boards in Indianapolis and saw Hello, Dolly. Even without me singing along (I think they were okay with that--what is it with people and my singing?), the cast did a great job. Once again, the food was good and the service was great. We made new friends at the table next to us and someone thought Kari and I were sisters. I mean, maybe they didn't really think that, but I accepted it gracefully anyway.

One day this week, it was 70-some degrees, the kind of warmth that sits gently on your skin and lets hope dance around your soul. Admittedly, the wind blew that warmth all over the place, but it still felt good. Still smelled good. Still made me think spring really is here somewhere, greening up the grass and inviting color to pop joyfully out of the ground. 

Three of our grandkids have had birthdays in the past 10 days--one of them is today. Their birthdays always make me think of them when they were little--Tierney only a few weeks old napping on Duane's chest and them snoring together; Fionnegan at five in Ireland, laughing so hard when he and his dad jumped out from behind a post; Eamon not yet old enough to walk, solemn-faced, bobbing his head with the music. The joy of those memories makes my eyes a little leaky but my heart so glad.

On Facebook, I saw where two scared little boys knocked on someone's door and received the kind of help frightened children everywhere should get without even asking. It would be better if children weren't frightened at all, but when they are...when they are...we need to fix it. My thanks as a nana to the person who protected them.

Sunrise was orange this morning. The colors in the sky are so amazing this year. I think I probably say that every spring, but this time, I really mean it. And next time, I will mean it even more.  

There is much to mourn in the world, much to generate anger (and many to proliferate it avidly), much to create the sadness that does its best to squash that dancing hope. 

But there's still the orange, still glorious music, still stomach-wrenching laughter, still people who protect children. As Eleanor H. Porter wrote in Pollyanna, “... there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”

Be glad this week. Seek out the orange, thank the givers and the doers, sing along (it's Brandi Carlile and me this morning--I think she's probably a little better), laugh hard, find the joy. Be nice to somebody.