Back in Town!!!

Portillo's

Garrett's Popcorn

Need I say more?

Thought for the Day

Someone said,

The Revolutionary War was fought

because there was taxation

without representation.

They should see it now

with representation!

Candy Sale: Day One

The first day is always my favorite.

We have high spirits, yet undampened by the rain or snow.

There's potential to be reached for.

And, we are not yet tired of sharing every day with the same three people.

Most of all, though, I love the first day because we have a great place to go!

This town is up in the mountains.

In fact, a ski run comes right into town.

Skiers race down the mountain,

pop in for a bite at a restaurant,

then snap on their skis and go at it some more!

Beautiful!

This town is also very diverse.

We met people from Georgia, Alabama, China, and England today.

Many others from around the world own second and third homes in the area.

And, It is a popular vacation spot for die-hard skiers,

students on Spring Break, the uppity-ups, and many more.

Due to this broad range of clientele,

the shops and people are armed with an even broader array of merchandise.

Items range from intensely beautiful to astoundingly weird.

Let's see...We started at the Alpaca Store.

They had scarves for 20% off! What a sale!

That would be 20% off of $169. Gulp!

Then there was "Olive & Tweed."

Very cute, quaint, and quintessential Park City.

The town moose...

Fully clothed, of course.

And we just HAD to stop at the "Cowboy Store."

T-shirts for all of the tourists.

(My favorite)

I actually might jump on that bandwagon!

The town-wide mantra is plastered everywhere, it seems.

And, Ewwww........WHAT is THAT?!?!?

I cannot confirm that this sweater is actually taken from a real owl.

It may only be synthetically designed to look that way.

Although why you'd want to look like an owl is beyond me!

Of course, if you have beady eyes...

Oh, whoops! We're supposed to be Candy Selling! Yep, better go!

Opening Day!!!

This is the year. I can tell. The Cubs are gonna win it all!

As a Cubs fan, I have to say that at the beginning of every year, and I have to believe it. That’s what we Cubs fans do.

There is no logical reason to being a Cubs fan, so please do not try to apply reason to the matter.

And, as a Cubs fan, I have to be a die-hard. There is no other kind. We do not have championships or great years to look to. We just love the Cubs, and we love cheering for them!

I started cheering for the Cubs by listening to the “Pat & Ron Show” on WGN Radio. It made the games truly enjoyable. For three hours in the afternoon, I was fully entertained with baseball trivia, personal banter, and the emotional roller-coaster of a dyed-in-the-wool Cubs fan, Ron Santo.

This came in very handy during long, hot days mowing grass, or pulling weeds at the Motleys (for those in the know there). Time went by much faster on summer evenings…cleaning by myself, or working in the garden, as long as “the game” was on. Baseball was always there for me.

Of course, it rarely lasted into September, but that is a discussion for another day.

The truth is, I love the pace and rhythm of baseball.

It is so fun watching the game, cheering for an occasional good play, eating good food, chit-chatting with family and friends, holding out the white “W” towels, and enjoying a beautiful summer evening.

So, today is the first day, the first game, and the beginning of something beautiful. Spring is here & summer is coming! It’s baseball time!!!

Baseball time is here again

You can catch it all on WGN

So stamp your feet and clap your hands

Chicago Cubs got the greatest fans.

You’re singing now …

Go, Cubs, go

Go, Cubs, go

Hey, Chicago, what do you say

The Cubs are gonna win today

Didn't Know That!

I just found a great story behind the hymn, In Times Like These.

Did you know that it was written in the middle of World War II? I didn't know that.

Living in the war-torn world of the early 1940's, Ruth Caye Jones was busy about her work as a housewife, when she came upon the words to this song. She felt they must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit and she just wrote them down as they came to mind.

In times like these you need a Savior.

In times like these you need an anchor.

Be very sure, be very sure

Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.

Refrain:

This Rock is Jesus, Yes He's the One.

This Rock is Jesus, the only One.

Be very sure, be very sure

Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock

In times like these you need the Bible.

In times like these O be not idle.

Be very sure, be very sure

Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.

In times like these I have a Savior.

In times like these I have an anchor.

I'm very sure, I'm very sure

My anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.

With all of the trouble in the world and at home today, this song seems even more appropriate. It brings to mind Psalm 46.

¹God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

²Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

³Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. (Well, Think of That!)

¹⁰Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

¹¹The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. (Well, Think of That!)

God is so Good!

Nonsensical Thoughts

I dropped my mirror this morning, and, like any good mirror, it broke to pieces. That's supposed to bring bad luck, right? Well, the only bad thing that has happened, I think, is that I've been quoting this line from Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott.

The mirror crack'd from side to side;

"The curse is upon me," cried

The Lady of Shalott.

Actually, it's a good poem, but everyone around me is tired of this line, I'm sure.

Torn in Two

I love this poem, because it says perfectly what is in my mind.

Many times, I go back and forth -- the city or the country?

Only for me, it's Chicago, not Manhattan.

Give Me the Splendid, Silent Sun

by Walt Whitman

GIVE me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzling;
Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe and red from the orchard;
Give me a field where the unmow’d grass grows;
Give me an arbor, give me the trellis’d grape;
Give me fresh corn and wheat—give me serene-moving animals, teaching content;
Give me nights perfectly quiet, as on high plateaus west of the Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars;
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers, where I can walk undisturb’d;
Give me an away, aside from the noise of the world, a rural, domestic life;
Give me to warble spontaneous songs, reliev’d, recluse by myself, for my own ears only;
Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again, O Nature, your primal sanities!
—These, demanding to have them, (tired with ceaseless excitement, and rack’d by the war-strife;)
These to procure, incessantly asking, rising in cries from my heart,
While yet incessantly asking, still I adhere to my city;
Day upon day, and year upon year, O city, walking your streets,
Where you hold me enchain’d a certain time, refusing to give me up;
Yet giving to make me glutted, enrich’d of soul—you give me forever faces;
(O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my cries;
I see my own soul trampling down what it ask’d for.)
2 Keep your splendid, silent sun;
Keep your woods, O Nature, and the quiet places by the woods;
Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your corn-fields and orchards;
Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields, where the Ninth-month bees hum;
Give me faces and streets! give me these phantoms incessant and endless along the trottoirs!
Give me interminable eyes! give me comrades by the thousand!
Let me see new ones every day! let me hold new ones every day!
Give me such shows! give me the streets of Manhattan!
Give me Broadway, with the soldiers marching—give me the sound of the trumpets and drums!
(The soldiers in companies or regiments—some, starting away, flush’d and reckless;
Some, their time up, returning, with thinn’d ranks—young, yet very old, worn, marching, noticing nothing;)
—Give me the shores and the wharves heavy-fringed with the black ships!
O such for me! O an intense life! O full to repletion, and varied!
The life of the theatre, the huge hotel, for me!
The sound of the steamer! the crowded excursion for me! the torch-light procession!
The dense brigade, bound for the war, with high-piled military wagons following;
People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions, pageants;
Manhattan streets, with their powerful throbs, with the beating drums, as now;
The endless and noisy chorus, the rustle and clank of muskets, (even the sight of the wounded;)
Manhattan crowds, with their turbulent musical chorus—with varied chorus, and light of the sparkling eyes;
Manhattan faces and eyes forever for me.