All this in the wake of ridding himself of Type 2 Diabetes and about 50 pounds. He is getting younger and more prolific by the day. Two more novels almost done. Very proud of him.
If you could dream the perfect man for a daughter you love, if you could order up qualities you’d want your daughter and the children they’d have to enjoy their whole lives through and a personality that was made to bless and challenge and delight the whole family, if you could choose a man of character and one with as much wit as wisdom, if God would have just written across the sky, “Oh yes. I created him to be in your family,” the choice could not be more perfect than Dave Powers.
[Picard, Data and Worf are attacked and pursued by Kolaran natives]
Picard: I think it’s time to try some unsafe velocities.
Dave Powers. I still remember the first time I heard your name. It echoed around in the halls of my heart along with a spark, me wondering, “Would Tara ever be interested in a guy like him?…” {WOULD SHE EVER!!! was the answer!} Before ever even meeting you, before ever even laying eyes on you, your name just sort of plopped into my mind and if wishing you’d love Tara could have had anything to do with it, then no wonder it happened. I still love that you were born the very day Dad was proposing to me. As you said yesterday, in the way only you can, “God was hookin’ a sister up!” He was. He was looking down the road, knowing what we’d need.
For I am of the persuasion that the children we get are as much used by God to form us and train us as we are in their lives, And you, son-of-my-heart, are a shining example of it. You are courageous and bold and have invited to me to go places I never would have gone, didn’t even think I wanted to go and sometimes have been crazy-uncomfortable. Most of it, I wouldn’t trade. Some of it I am waiting for the day I can say, “Oh we can laugh about that now…” Haha.
I wouldn’t trade you for anything, though, Dave and since the day I met you and for the months we spent getting to know you before you and Tara met and then after, I always knew you were meant for greatness and that I would one day say, “I knew Dave Powers when…” I just didn’t know I’d get to hang out near the path you are walking so closely. You were born to make an impact and you are blowing up the universe. You were born to terrorize the devil and you annihilating his strongholds. {throwing in some DP-talk there}
[In the attempt to find an alternative exit, Picard intends to blast with a shuttle through the inner shuttle bay doors and fly through the Scimitar]
Data: Do you think this is a wise course of action, sir?
Picard: We’re about to find out, Data
I love you fiercly. I chose that word very purposefully.
&
I believe in you to inifinity and beyond.
Picard: Captain’s personal log, supplemental. We’re heading toward Federation space at maximum warp. The crew has responded with the dedication I’ve come to expect of them. And like a thousand other commanders on a thousand other battlefields, I wait for the dawn…
I’d stand to the death with you. Because you have done that with me.
You are such a great daddy to our little Hunter Magoo!
Praetor Shinzon: Were we Picards always warriors?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I think of myself as an explorer.
Praetor Shinzon: Well… were we always explorers?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I was the first Picard to leave our solar system. It… caused quite a stir in the family. But… I’d spent my youth…
Praetor Shinzon: …looking up at the stars, dreaming about what was up there; about…
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: …new worlds…
And for all your giftings, for the strong anointing on your life, for your natural abiliies and Holy Spirit-empowered insight and works, for the sensitivity you have with people and your way with words, because you can capture a conversation with one or with hundreds, though you have a voice that does not quit and the power of God rides into a room on it, and you can lead and protect and empower thousands of people, and even because I believe God is calling you to not only bring the Church together in unity, but He is making a way for you to impact governments and jurisdictions, and because I will never ever forget 2 years ago when He told me He would not let your foot slip – for these and many other reason, I know you are a great man, destined for amazing opportunities.
But I am most thankful and love you best for loving my daughter, for raising Hunter to be what God has called him to and for joining this imperfect family and calling us your own. When you’re just “ours,” it is lovely.
Lt. Tasha Yar: Captain, so far we’ve obeyed every order, no matter how far-fetched it might have seemed. But if we’re to risk the safety of the ship and crew, I think we have to ask you for an explanation.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I understand your concerns, Lieutenant; and I know that if I were in your position, I would be doing the same thing – looking for answers. But you’re not gonna find any, because I don’t have any to give you.
I know it is difficult for you to understand, but we have to take the ship into the very center of the phenomenon and create a static warp shell. Now this will put the ship at risk.
Quite frankly, we may not survive. But I want you to believe that I am doing this for a greater purpose, and that what is at stake here, is more than any of you can possibly imagine.
I know you have your doubts about me, about each other, about this ship. All I can say is that although we have only been together for a short time, I know that you are the finest crew in the fleet; and I would trust each of you with my life.
So, I am asking you for a leap of faith – and to trust me.
NOTE TO HF LEADERSHIP: You can trust him, his heart. I do.
“The blue hour comes from a French expression, l’heure bleue, which refers to the period of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. The time is considered special because of the quality of the light at this time of day. The blue hour is considered especially flattering for people with blond hair in photography and is often also when the smell of the flowers is at its strongest during the summertime.”
I can’t remember the blue hour anywhere else I have ever lived, even though I am sure it was there. And some say it cannot be experienced with the naked eye, only by camera. But here in Colorado – I have seen it, touched it, breathed it and taken it in. I see “the magic hour” sky as a blue with such great depth, such varied levels of intensity and such deep saturation that it stops me in my tracks – whether I am in the yard inhaling the pungent, floral scent of the early evening flowers or walking a country road or leaving Target with bags on each arm. It just arrests me, intoxicates me. The blue hour with a full, bright moon completel…dazes me (I slipped away for a moment…).
It isn’t actually an hour long, this richly saturated moment in time. It is fleeting and may only last 20 minutes, during which it is ever changing and kaleidescoping across the sky in breath-taking beauty. But when it happens? Oooohhhh-la-la ~ it puts me in a mood. Mesmerizing.
The twilight mood
L’heure bleue is…Suspension in time. I am not young, but I am not old. I am not running from anything, nor to anything. It isn’t sad, but it isn’t grasping for happiness, either. It’s not event, it is a moment, a sense. It is breathing the atmosphere. It is floating in the ocean as if you belong there. It is standing on the summit after a long climb as victory strength surges through your body. The blue hour is a feeling. It is a sound. It’s a taste. It is the rhythm of your breathing, the steady pound of your heart. It is the fleeting memory flash, recognition flickering, then passing quickly. It’s coming to consciousness, then fading again just before your mind can become overloaded. It is an emptying out, a filling up. And voices from another room, muffled, but sweet laughter. L’heure blue is a mix of the darkest sleep under heavy quilts and the brightest morning with a gentle breeze on a sheet-covered sleeping porch. It’s angelic choirs and total silence. It is knowing you’re loved and knowing you love. The blue hour is beauty. The blue hour captures me, it holds me. I am suspended when the hour is blue.
THE PERFECT SONG FOR THE BLUE HOUR~
This song from “The Big Easy” starring Dennis Quaid and the pre-surgically-enhanced Ellen Barkin (sung here by Dennis, Bonnie Raittt and Aaron Neville), captures my l’heure bleue mood beautifully, perfectly, maybe. This is a summer’s eve drive under the heavy-romantic blue-hour sky. Twilight. This is the song of l’heure bleue. Oh, yes.
NOTE: This song is my brother Joe’s favorite because it is about “the smell of morning in a rainy land,” Louisiana. We lived there as kids and Joe carries the bayou in his heart. He very sweetly shared this song with me not long ago and I am loving it. But it is his. It is only on loan to me. And you can’t have it, either. But close your eyes aand listen to this… Thanks, Joe-Joe.
WASN’T SUMMER VACATION THE B E S T WHEN WE WERE KIDS??
Are you ready for the summer?
Are you ready for the sunshine?
Are you ready for the birds and bees,
the apple trees,
and a whole lot of fooling around
Three months of…nothing. Three months of everything! Summer was so great. I loved those last days of school: cleaning out my desk and hauling my No. 2 pencils home where they would be used for meaningless pursuits and drawing whatever I felt like. Time off from school!
I liked school. But I lived in anticipation of summer.
Pictured: Left, The dog just hangs out; Right, I snapped this quick shot of a sedum in my backyard. Then I saw grandbebe playthings in the background and realized THAT is really the beauty of summer…
Summer as a kid…
…Where I would spend inordinate amounts of time reading, playing with friends, acting out plays with siblings, watching baseball, playing jacks, organizing neighborhood projects, making homemade macaroni and cheese or pork and bean sandwiches (which were delicious-take my word for it) and listening to music. I loved basking in the sun and speeding around on a bike at twilight. I loved driving around with the windows down and small dipped cones at the Dairy Queen. Collecting fireflies in jars was fun, hopscotch on the sidewalk was normal and a brand new jumprope begged to be used. I skipped-a-rope and hula-hooped on long summer days.
Summer was never boring because if I’d said I was bored, my chores list would have been increased. So I kept busy and it was fun. And wow, I miss it. Don’t you?
Are you ready for the summer?
Are you ready for the hot nights?
Are you ready for the fireflies,
the moonlit skies,
and a whole lot of fooling around
Shouldn’t we all get a three month vacation when the sun is shining and the birds are singing and the pool is glistening? Shouldn’t we all get so much time off that when the fall comes around again and the lined paper goes on sale next to the argyle sweaters, we are thrilled to throw ourselves back in to it?
No more pencils, no more books
No more teachers dirty looks
No more math and history,
Summer time has set us free
My red onions against the puffy-clouded, Colorado-blue sky. They are simply statuesque, very sculptural.
MY ADVICE:
During my workaholic-super-achiever days, I’d get to the end of summer and realize that, as an adult, I’d “missed” summer. Because even though we don’t get them “off” from all responsibilities more like when we were kids, I still had definite ideas on what “summer” should be, simple things…Like homegrown tomatoes, dinners of grilled steak and corn on the cob, big bowls of potato salad and ice cream in the backyard. I’d think of summer as being how many glasses of iced tea I’d enjoyed on the patio after a long, hard day in the yard or garden. I’d wish to have read a book, a really good book that had taught me something new and to have stayed outside until that last shred of light was gone on countless summer evenings. And yes, there should have been at least one miserable sunburn.
And for too many years, come Labor Day, I would look back and realize I hadn’t done any of those things. Or way too few.
See the bee in the middle picture?
So my advice to you? My advice to me? Plan now. Make your list and check it twice. What will you have to have enjoyed by Labor Day to know, that even though we are all grown up and have jobs and lives and responsibilities, you also had your “summer vacation”? What are those things for you? It will be like a Bucket List for Summer. Let’s call it, hmmm….a Sandbucket List. I will get mine started….(o, there will be more)…
My Sandbucket Summer List (the beginnings) ~
Lemonade on the swing, as many times as possible, in the evenings, on the patio (real lemons, yes, please)
A little getting-dirty-in-the-garden everyday – at least try to make it everyday
Fresh-brewed iced tea every time Tara comes over (because we are the tea lovers)
Sidewalk chalk art days with the grandbebes
Reading stories to the grandbebes on the patio swing
Roast marshmallows in the chiminea
An outdoor movie night
Slow walks around the neighborhood after dark
Fast walks really early in the morning
Fast drives over country roads (with the top down on the Mustang, of course!)
“Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind….” Song: Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft
So there you have it. My Sandbucket List for right now. I will keep adding. Get your pen and paper out and start making yours. Tell me what you’ll be up to!
Are you ready for the summer?
Are you ready for the good times?…*
I am now!…Jeanie
*LYRICS: “Are You Ready for the Summer” from the movie classic, Meatballs (1979) starring Bill Murray.
Adrian Brodey. And Bryce Dallas Howard (little Ronnie Howard’s daughter).
Joaquin Phoenix. Tredessa wants to marry him. As this character.
It isn’t a horror movie, but it will get your blood pumping.
Over time, you come to understand and empathize with the thought process of the villagers.
Because being blind doesn’t mean you can’t see.
See it for when Ivy stands in danger, holding out her hand, knowing that Lucius will save her.
Because everyone has secrets, everyone has been broken somewhere. Heartache is part of life.
Because our monsters keep us all within limiting boundaries until we get the courage to venture into the unknown.
And because of this scene on the porch:
Ivy Walker: When we are married, will you dance with me? I find dancing very agreeable. Why can you not say what is in your head?
Lucius Hunt: Why can you not stop saying what is in yours? Why must you lead, when I want to lead? If I want to dance I will ask you to dance. If I want to speak I will open my mouth and speak. Everyone is forever plaguing me to speak further. Why? What good is it to tell you you are in my every thought from the time I wake? What good can come from my saying that I sometimes cannot think clearly or do my work properly? What gain can rise of my telling you the only time I feel fear as others do is when I think of you in harm? That is why I am on this porch, Ivy Walker. I fear for your safety before all others. And yes, I will dance with you on our wedding night.
Seen it? Do it again. Haven’t? What on earth? Netflix it now!
Gemma with her 1982 collector’s doll that her fabulous grandparents (us!!) found at a garage sale last week!!) and with Sandy-the-family-dog, who is way less shaggy now, but is still, in fact, actually “Sandy!”
The sun will come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow ~ there’ll be sun!
Gemma wanted an ANNIE! Party
She LOVES Dora, too but Annie won out. She plans to play Annie onstage someday and is hoping Poppa will reprise his role as Daddy Warbucks. She is learning all the words to all the songs and does interpretive dance to the soundtrack. And she has naturally curly red hair. Could it be anymore perfect?
Gemma/Annie with her daddy and with her mommy.
Even though Gemma’s mommy and Aunt Stormie were getting ready to fly to New York, we found a little time to gather and bat around red balloons, eat lots of good food including fruit skewers the grandbebes made. There was a wrapping-paper-wad war instigated by Rocky and a silly-string attack which paid him back. The birthday girl’s mommy made her an Annie red dress and curled her hair up tight. The little were girls trying on all of Gemma’s new shoes and gardening boots, and of course, there were bubbles.
Just thinkin’ about tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow ’til there’s none
Gemma stayed in character pretty much the whole party!
Poppa sang “Something was Missing” from Annie-the-musical to Gemma and they danced together. Gemma performed several numbers herself, especially shining on “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” with her old-time bucket.
Gemma is three. And she is sweet. And she is sunshine. And she is joyful and has a very upbeat outlook on the future. She smiles easily, she is kind and sweet and she gives big hugs and lots of kisses. Always ready with a song, GemGem delights us all everytime we get together. And she is the epitome of the classic Annie song, “Tomorrow.” No matter what happens, “Aw, it’s OK,” you’ll hear GemGem say.
When I’m stuck with a day that’s gray and lonely
I just stick out my chin, and grin and say
Gemma wanted a strawberry cake. Buttercream icing.
I love you Gemma-roo! You’re Nonna’s sweet puddin’. I love your face, I love your blue eyes, I love that curly red hair and I just LOVE YOU! Oh, yes, I do!
Happy Birthday, sweetie-pie. You keep on singing, baby-girl, and dance and jump and twirl! Ok? Never ever stop dancing. You were born to dance us into happy. So go, twinkle-toes!
Remember ~ I will love you for always. I love you today and I’ll love you tomorrow. You make the sun shine in my sky!
“I woke up in love this morningI woke up in love this morningWent to sleep with you on my mind!” ~The Partridge Family
The Pay-off for the Diaper Days
We did Mother’s Day a week late. My children make everyday Mother’s Day, though, naturally. Nevertheless, I got flowers and CDs and hugs and kisses and eye cream that will erase every wrinkle guaranteed and other stuff to make me pretty. I got the colorful new dishes I have been wanting – all sorts of them and a shopping spree already with one daughter and another to come with another and handmade stuff and an orange ring to die for and this <SO neat> cool-cool-cool hook rack made with heavy-duty outdoor faucet handles (each unique in color and design) for the pool area, and time with my grandbebes and a big family meal surrounded by the people I love and a cool case for my iPod Touch and flowers and plants and shrubs for my garden and more. time.
Time in a Bottle
{Sigh}…I love time.
There is nothing more valuable than some one giving you the gift of their time. Nothing. So, my kiddos gave me theirs and they stayed late and were loud and it makes me happy. There was dancing and merriment and videos of the olden days when the kids were little and singing and prayer and love and kisses and grandbebes jumping from the stairs and on couches and into pillows. There were ping-pong-gun games which did not pan out because the balls just sort of blopped out instead of actually shooting, which was probably safer for us all, anyway.
We were also celebrating birthdays with Tara and Stephanie, so it was a wonderful occasion of good stuff. Eighteen of us, together just to love and honor one another.
“Do dreams come true? Well if they do I’ll have youNot just for a night, but for my whole life through” – David Cassidy
Birds of a Feather
But the pièce de résistance? The thing that wowed me most?? My kids did my second-favorite Partridge Family song, “I woke Up in Love this Morning.” YES! They did! Sooooo sweet and hilarious. They had a little fun with it. They didn’t do it like last time, during which they pre-recorded my FAVORITE P-fam song, “It’s One of those Nights.” With that, they sang it and then taped themselves lip-syncing so it would be truly Partridge family-ish, a little off and marvelous!
This time, they just gathered in the family room and sang it live looking at pieces of paper with the words. But I? STILL. LOVED. IT!! And I will now share it with YOU!
The daughters: Jovan, Tredessaa, Tara, Stormie and Stephanie. The sons: Dave, Tristan and Rocky
Mother’s Day 2010 Patridge Family Cover: I Woke Up in Love this Morning
Blast from the past ~ Mother’s Day 2008 Partridge Family Cover: Yes, Love (It’s One of those Nights)
My kids have made life great. The babies they’ve given me are making it divine!
Gemma, Hunter, Gavin, Guinivere, Averi and Baby Amelie Belle
I woke up in love this morningWent to sleep with YOU on my mind!
Thanks, kiddos! I L O V E this! Keep covering the Partridge Fam for me, ok-ok-ok???
“The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it Roundtine.”
Rocky and Jovan were at The Denver Zoo Monday and they saw a familiar face. Rocky finally summoned the courage to go meet the guy. It was Steve Hytner, whom we know and have often quoted from the Seinfeld series, Kenny Bania.
Somehow in the excitement of meeting a big-time TV star, Rocky didn’t think to ask if he’d pose for a picture with my granddaughters, Averi and Amelie. I mean – why wouldn’t he want to be seen with those beauties? Especially if he knew to whom he was speaking. I mean it was Rocky. Rocky Rhoades who once auditioned for the movie Indian in the Cupboard. Come on.
But honestly? The whole family is star-struck via Rocky and we didn’t even see him! Just know the guy who did.
