56th.....

And so Dave and I celebrate another year....I found the perfect anniversary card MONTHS ago and it greeted him first thing this morning.....

...his card was sweeter and since conditions seemed right we did sign on the "dotted lines". We went out to dinner at The Pasta Tree, a local restaurant in business for more than 40 years. I'd been there once before  but it was a new experience for Dave and we both enjoyed our meals. We took our "table cloth" and added more memories to it, this year in green ink....running out of room!

Our waiter brought a special dessert to share and so, we toast to 56 years in the rear view mirror and look forward to more memories to add in 2024.

Sky?

I walked out of the building at 6:45 this morning and was greeted by grey. After two days of blue skies this was a bit of a "shock" to the system.

I took my short walk around triangular Gilman Park across the street and then back toward the building. Bradford Avenue was in the soup.

I used to look out the window from our condo in Port Washington and enjoy the fact that Lake Michigan changed day by day and even hour by hour depending on the light This morning's walk was a reminder that views change no matter where you are.

There weren't even any birds singing this morning and they usually make a real racket in the bushes and trees along my path. I guess they decided to sleep in.

 

Again Looking Up.....

I bundled up for my early morning walk and left the building at 7:30 (I overslept!). As soon as I exited the Eastcastle property and closed the gate behind me I looked east toward the lake and was taken by the morning sky.

These clouds covered the sky from one horizon to the other. Bare tree boughs, white puffs with blue peeking through. I have no idea what they are called but it was simply a lovely way to start my day. Thank you Mother Nature!

A Seasonal Favorite.....

A few years ago I found this melting snowman in my Christmas stocking.....and he has been a favorite ever since! I love finding his little box in the big holiday storage bin, taking him out, and beginning the fun annual "project...making a new snowman for my kitchen divider every morning. He begins the day looking like this:

However, he soon begins to lose his enthusiasm and starts to droop and look like this: 

And the following morning we have complete surrender:

So I get to begin again and each time my snowman looks just a little different, taller, or a bigger head, or his hat tipped differently. This really is one of my all-time favorite gifts!

Another Recommendation.....

Yesterday I finished another excellent book. This one was labeled as young adult, but I found it somewhere in our Eastcastle library so decided to give it a try. I'd heard people talking about it awhile ago and have been trying to broaden my reading perspectives. So I sat in our comfortable living room chair, turned on the table lamp and opened the cover.

A few hours later I pulled myself away to stretch my legs and get ready to go down for dinner. It wasn't easy to close the cover.

The next day I picked the novel up with my morning cup of coffee and finished within an hour. I am a fast reader and this book kept me interested enough to want to quickly turn each page. The author painted a clear picture of a family living, working and loving in a less-than-ideal part of the city. Her words made me stop and think and look at situations with a different level of understanding....maybe.

A few quotes jumped off the narrative:

"Brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you go on even though you're scared." 

" Once upon a time there was a hazel-eyed boy with dimples. I called him Khalil. The world called him a thug. He lived, but not nearly long enough, and for the rest of my life I'll remember how he died. Fairy tale? No. But I'm not giving up on a better ending."

 "And at the end of the day, you don't kill someone for opening a car door. If you do, you

 shouldn't be a cop."

In our America 2023 so many books are banned and this one is on the list. Many schools have decided that it has too much violence and profanity and gives the reader an anti-police message. While I agree the book portrays the story with a gritty realism it does just that....portrays reality for many Americans.

And my humble opinion it doesn't hurt a high-school student or better yet an adult to get a dose of the reality that is, perhaps, very different than any they have known. The Hate U Give shows a side of America that we may not be proud of.....but it is one side of America.