Father-Daughter Dance

This is one of my favorite pictures of my father and me. It's how I'll always remember him. We're doing a polka at my wedding, and it's one of the happiest times of my life. I'll never forget it.

How my father loved to dance! He should have been Fred Astaire, sweeping his Ginger Rogers, my mother, across ballroom floors. Instead, he spun paint brushs across walls and ceilings and drapped wallpaper in rooms other people would dance in.

He danced when he could. At weddings, he never sat down. Women always wanted to dance with him. They would come up and ask him to dance when my mother would tire. He never did, and he seldom refused. His delight in dance was too great to say no. Polkas, waltzes, fox trots, the Indiana hop - he knew them all. My mother never seemed to mind. She understood him. It was the dance, not the woman that mattered.

Maybe there's a ballroom in heaven, and he's dancing tirelessly there. Oh how I miss him!

Go Red

February is American Heart month, and Greensboro kicked off its GSO Go Red campaign on Friday in Center City Park. The kickoff was supposed to have been on the 5th, but bad weather prevented it. Yesterday's event went off without a hitch, although it was a bit chilly.

The Heart Association's campaign is near and dear to my heart - literally. As a person who has had a mild heart attack and now has a stent holding open one artery, research is important to me. Hubby has an artificial valve, so heart research is doubly important in this family.

I urge anyone who reads this blog to support the American Heart Association and give generously to its cause. Many people don't realize that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women in the country. With all the publicity about women and breast cancer, most people think that breast cancer is the greatest problem women face. Not true; its heart disease. So, do all you can to stay heart healthy. East right, exercise, know your numbers: cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglycerides. Keep them low and stay healthy.

Today was the Greensboro celebration of Chinese New Year at the Cultural Center. It's the year of the tiger, and the colorful Lion Dance welcomed the new year in. Chinese music and dancers entertained an appreciative audience, and a Chinese buffet was available for lunch. It was a great opportunity for very colorful photos.

Greensboro is filled with interesting activities. Next weekend is the Seafest at the Natural Science Center. Children will be able to see creatures that live in the oceans, and taste exotic seafood. Should be a fun day.

The Bachelor

Okay, did Ali make the right choice leaving Jake and going back to her job? We'll find out next week when she calls him in the Caribbean. Why do I watch this show? Guess it's the romantic in me. Every woman wants to find her prince charming I suppose - we all love the fairy tale.

Took a little road trip today. I've wanted to see what IKEA is like, so hubby and I gave my new car a test drive. We made a brief stop at Bass Pro Shop on the way down. We need a full day to really explore that place. Bass boats are way beyond our means, unfortunately, not to mention the fact we don't have a car that will pull a boat. I always envisioned us fishing when we retired. That's a vision that probably won't come to fruition - like so many of my dreams.

IKEA is quite a place - huge. We wandered through it, but didn't buy anything but lunch. The meatballs are good. I did come home with a couple jars of ligonberries, but that's all.

Stopped at the Toyota dealership in Salisbury where I bought my car. I had forgotten to take my cd's out of the Alero when we got the Prius. They were waiting for me. The ride home was uneventful.

We're in for more winter weather tomorrow. I doubt we'll have book club. The members are older (I'm the youngest), and they won't want to drive in bad weather.

I have my next real estate assignment, as well as three photo opps that are coming up. The polar plunge out to be fun to see. There's also the Chinese New Year festival and a Seafest at the Natural Science Center. Gives me fun things to do.

Weight Loss

I put the strawberry picture up to remind me of what I have to look forward to in the spring. Have to have something delightful to look at since it's gray and gloomy outside. We missed the major blizzard, with its two feet of snow that blanketed Baltimore and DC. We were fortunate to just get rain and keep our power. That's enough winter for my taste. After all, this is North Carolina!

Grandchild spent the night last night. She went to bed easily, but woke up at 1:30 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep. I sat next to her bed, rocked her in my lap, and finally gave up at 3:30 a.m. and brought her into our bed. It was deja vu - her mother used to climb in bed with us when she was little.

I picked up a book at the local used bookstore - Julia Cameron's, "The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size." Perhaps it will help me get started on taking off the weight that I've re-gained. Her theory, and I feel she's right, is that there is an underlying emotional cause for over-eating. Cameron asks the question, "What if I gave myself food for thought instead of food itself?... If I can write about something, I can handle it - and often with grace." How right she is.

One of my main ways of dealing with issues in my life is to write about them. I've kept a journal for many years, working through the problems in my life. That's what this blog feels like - my journal. I guess it is, although, like my journal, nobody reads it. That probably has more to do with the fact that I haven't told anyone I'm blogging. I keep wondering if someone will accidentally stumble upon my musings, but there are so many blogs out there that the odds of that happening seem pretty slim.

There are a lot of weight-loss blogs on the Internet. Starting one of my own seems kind of silly. It makes more sense to continue my "Daily Reflections," and see if by chance someone comes across it. Should I decide to write with a definite audience in mind, then I'll have to focus more closely on what I write. Then too, I'll have to carefully censor what I write. I do that anyway in case I decide to open my thoughts to friends and relatives.

There's a lot of dumping of thoughts on Facebook, but the posts are short and sometimes silly. There isn't room for reflection, but it isn't designed for that. FB is a social networking site, and it's been fun seeing what people are up to. I've enjoyed re-connecting with old friends and classmates. The blog, however, is where I can probe more deeply into my own thoughts, questioning what is making me tick.

Right now, however, my ticking is running pretty slow and I think I'll go take a nap.

The Ground Hog

Our local ground hog, Woody, did not see his shadow Tuesday, so spring is on its way. But...you'd never know it today. We've had snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet, and are due for more snow tomorrow. Yuk!

This has been a week for getting in touch with old friends. My former roommate and I found each other on Facebook, and talked on the phone for a long time. It was as if the years had rolled away and we had just seen each other a few days earlier. Now we're planning a reunion in Gatlinburg in the fall. We hope to get a couple more of our friends to join us.

I almost have to laugh at President Obama's latest request. He's asking people to turn off their TV's and get their news from newspapers. He contends that cable TV is inaccurate and biased. Could it be that he is smarting from the criticisms he has been receiving from both the conservative (Fox) and the liberal (CNN) media? What makes him think that newspapers are any less biased? The man is lashing out at people who don't agree with him. He just doesn't get the fact that people don't like his policies, and even the liberals are beginning to see him for what he really is - an extreme left-winger whose agenda is socialism. In Obama's mind only government can solve people's problems. The more the government can control, the better. Amerians do not want government controlling their lives. It's far too invasive as it is.

On the conservative front, there is a Republican senator who is holding up all of Obama's appointees. Normally, I would agree with the senator, but this time he is holding up appointments so that his state, Alabama, can get lucrative defense contracts. That's wrong. It's okay to hold up appointees if you don't think they're fit the position, but not because of pork for your state.

Ice On The Way

We're expecting freezing rain tomorrow. Yuk! I finally got out of the house today after spending the whole weekend inside. I do have to go out in the morning. I'm supposed to shoot pictures of the groundhog at the Natural Science Center. Sure hope the roads aren't too bad. Nobody can drive on ice. Groundhog won't see his shadow tomorrow.

Other than that, I don't have much to write about tonight. Hubby has been under the weather with a bad back. I had to go buy him a heating pad today. That and Tylenol seemed to help.

I read three books in the past three days. The last one, "Home Safe," by Elizabeth Berg was about a woman my age learning to deal with her life after her husband dies. The setting was Chicago (Berg lives in one of the suburbs and knows the area well). Reading about the city made me a bit homesick. Our weather this weekend has been very much like Chicago. I need a new book to read. I have plenty - just need to decide which one it will be.