The MSM is out of control.  Apparently nothing is safe from their lust for “breaking news.”   Prince Harry was withdrawn from his tour of duty in Afghanistan because getting a story is more important to news organizations and gossip blogs than a person’s safety or privacy or . . . anything.   I guess Drudge Report got more advertising revenue and more readers because of his role in breaking the news.  The fact that the news put Prince Harry and the other soldiers in his unit - and really all soldiers - at risk wasn’t important. 

It’s bizarre, really.  Reporters can be censored or even lose their job for uttering words that some might find offensive, and yet when they report information that endangers people, it’s considered “news” and it’s okay.  In the minds of the MSM, the “right to know” trumps decency, kindness, consideration, and common sense much too often.

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I come from a big family, and by the time I buy birthday cards for my husband, my children, their spouses, my grandchildren, my siblings, siblings-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles - and then I add friends from the neighborhood, friends at church, coworkers at school, and other friends - it adds up to a lot of birthday cards over the course of a year.   I typically buy birthday cards at the grocery store or a department store as an “add-on” when I’m there shopping for other things.   After doing a little bit of math, I figured that at a minimum of $2.50 per card (and often at least a dollar more), that adds up to a conservative estimate of a couple hundred dollars a year just for birthday cards.  I knew there had to be a better way to purchase birthday cards without resorting to those cheap looking cards that come in boxes at the discount stores.

After surfing the internet, I found a source of personalized birthday cards online - Cards Direct.  Did you catch the “personalized” part of what I just wrote?  These aren’t your standard buy-at-the-grocery-store birthday cards.  These are personalized cards.   You can select the exterior design of the card (like my favorite one pictured above - and there are lots of exterior designs to choose from), and then you decide what is printed on the inside.  Cards are a wonderful and inexpensive way to let people know you care about then, and I’m glad I discovered a way to make the cards I send even more special.

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This has been one of my favorite poems ever since I first heard it many many years ago.  Maybe because it’s almost unbearably sentimental, and it makes one wonder what happened to Little Boy Blue:

Little Boy Blue

The little toy dog is covered with dust,
  But sturdy and staunch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
  And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
  And the soldier was passing fair,
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
  Kissed them and put them there.

“Now, don’t you go till I come,” he said,
  “And don’t you make any noise!”
So toddling off to his trundle bed
  He dreamt of his pretty toys.
And as he was dreaming, an angel song
  Awakened our Little Boy Blue, -
Oh, the years are many, the years are long
  But the little toy friends are true!

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
  Each in the same old place.
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
  The smile of a little face.
And they wonder, as waiting these long years through,
  In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue
  Since he kissed them and put them there.

~Eugene Field, 1850-1895~

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I can be such a sap.  The second girl (Elena?) that was eliminated from American Idol tonight was sobbing, and by the time she sang her farewell song, “Hopelessly Devoted To You” I was sobbing right along with her. 

I’ve been watching American Idol for several years.  I usually don’t pay a lot of attention to contestants’ names until they get down to the final twelve.  Still, though, Elena’s tears got me going tonight. 

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I spent last week in NYC.  I went there to attend the February Institute at Teachers College of Columbia University.  Classes were from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. each day. Once classes were over and we had done our homework for the next day (and sometimes before we’d done the homework), we headed off to soak in every ounce of NYC experiences and sightseeing that we possibly could.  I doubt if we could have fit in another activity.  It was an extremely full week.  Here are thirteen of my favorite things about the trip.

(1) The beautiful and intricate architecture of the old buildings - all over NYC.  I loved looking at those old buildings.

(2) Wicked.  It was a wonderful Broadway show at the Gershwin Theater.  It was totally delightful.

(3) Shopping in Chinatown for purses.  They made it a seem like such a cloak and dagger experience, although since every tourist knows about them, I’m sure that all the police officers do, too.  It was a hilarious experience, though.

(4) Jersey Boys - another Broadway show.  This one was about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - wonderful music and great show!

(5) The Empire State Building.  It was my first time to see it, and I loved it.  We lucked out in being there at a time when there were no lines.  We were able to go right up to the top  and walk around in the wind and cold of the observation deck.  I thought of “Sleepless in Seattle” and “An Affair to Remember” and just thoroughly enjoyed it.

(6) Meeting my niece at the Empire State Building.  She’s a nanny in NYC,  has a degree in Musical Theater, and she didn’t think twice about hopping on the subway to meet me at the ESB and then going with me to have dinner with some of my teacher friends.  It was just cool to see family when I was so far away from family.  Does that make sense?

(7)  The snow storm on Friday morning.  It was wonderful waking up to the beautiful snow on Friday morning and then walking through the falling snow with about 6 inches of snow already on the ground to get to our Friday morning classes.  I learned that the northerners who come to the south and make fun of us for shutting down because of a little snow don’t have room to talk.  Lots of things shut down in NYC because of that snow last Friday.

(8) I especially love the fact that our flight home was not cancelled or delayed because of the snow.  Although earlier flights had been cancelled, ours went home right on time.  While NYC was great, I was ready to sleep in my own bed and see RT again.

(9)  A. - one of the session leaders at the institute.  We started counting how many times she used the word “like” -  it was in the hundreds on any given day.  She was very knowledgeable and likeable, but her speech had a definite Valley Girl bent.  At one time she said we were going to talk about mini-lessons, and she declared: “I love them!  I LIKE THEM A LOT!  They’re really good!”  (I know that is EXACTLY what she said because I started writing down exact quotes once I realized what a treasure trove of bizarre quotes she was providing us).   Anyone who becomes orgasmic at the mere mention of mini-lessons was someone who held our interest and provided lots of material for discussion.  My roommate was particularly adept at imitating A., and we spent one evening in absolute hysterics laughing and talking about things A. had said and done in class.

(10) Staying at the International House in NYC.  Great place to stay.  Very much like a college dormity - bare bones type lodging, but clean (except for the shower curtain) and the atmosphere of having people from all over the world staying there was really fun.  Plus they had a great cafeteria with wonderful food.  That saved us a lot of time and money for our other NYC adventures.

(11)  Being in the audience of the Late Show with David Letterman.  It was a fun experience.  RT and I watched the show when I got home, and he said it was about the worst show he’d ever seen.  The jokes weren’t funny and the guest was boring.  However, the experience of being there in person was lots of fun.  Plus, there’s a clear shot of me in the audience - so I have that tiny claim to fame.

(12) Riding the subway and seeing that yes, people are people are people.  In general, the people we met in NYC were friendly and helpful - and several of them went way beyond the call of duty to offer assistance and information when we needed it.

(13) The airline employee in the Nashville airport who told us about the best view of NYC:  “It’s out the airplane window when you’re leaving NYC on your way back home.”  While I can understand why people would want to live in a city like NYC - there are so many wonderful experiences available there - I can’t imagine living there myself.  It was crowded, it was noisy, and bags of garbage were everywhere.  I was grateful to return to my country home in Tennessee.

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This is a photo taken in the 1960’s when we lived in Ellijay, Georgia.  My mother made matching robes for all the girls in the family, and she also made matching robes for all the guys in the family.  Somewhere I have the photo of all the girls.  Here’s the photo of the guys in the family: my older brother, Terrell; my father, Charles; and my younger brother, David.  My goodness, but my father was a handsome man!  And Terrell and David were both cute kids - and have, in turn, become handsome men.

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Ha!  Don’t you love that title?  I found this photo on one of my disks.  These are all photos of me as a child.  The top left photo is of my brother,Terrell, my sister Janice and me when we lived in Wilmore, Kentucky on the campus of Asbury College where my father was going to school.  The top right photo is of my mother and me in the parsonage at 333 South 9th Street in Griffin, GA.  It was taken when my father was in seminary in Atlanta and was serving a three church charge (Midway, Sunnside and Vaughn Methodist Churches) in Griffin.The bottom photo is of me and my first grade teacher, Mrs. Landrum, at Fourth Ward Elementary School in Griffin, GA.  I LOVED Mrs. Landrum.  We’d have reading groups at the round “reading” table, and she’d put a little adhesive star on our foreheads when we read well.  I remember skipping out to the playground simply giddy with delight because I was sporting my reading star.  I had Mrs. Elder for second grade, and I don’t really remember much about her except there was a cloak room adjacent to the classroom, and it was a scary place.  Mrs. Giles, my third grade teacher was wretched.  That wasn’t a very good year.  For some reason, I have totally blocked out fourth, fifth and sixth grades - the grades I completed when we lived in Ellijay, Georgia.  I don’t remember those teachers at all, although I do remember some of my adventures at school.   I love these photos.

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Friday morning when I woke up in my room at International House in NYC, I looked out the window, and this was my view.  There was a park outside my room - and the tower of a church beyond that.  It was snowing fairly hard, and there was a screen between me and the view.  So the picture is not good quality.  However, it is enough to remind me of what it looked like, and I’m glad I have it.

I made the obvious mistake of taking a brand new camera with me. I had no idea how to work it, and the manual that came with it didn’t help much.  I DID finally figure it out, but it was towards the end of the week.  So I ended up with only six photos from the trip.

I hope you can tell how beautiful the view was.  It was in Manhattan and yet when I looked out the window I saw a lovely garden with walking paths and old buildings with incredible architecture beyond.  It was almost magical looking.

The second photo is a little clearer - I have no idea why.  It was taken from the same window within a few minutes of taking the first photo. 

Anyway, I love these two photos because they remind me of an enjoyable trip.

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When I was young I didn’t pay much attention to skin care.  I wish I had.  I hate to admit that I loved going to tanning beds.  It just felt good, and so every spring I would go to a tanning bed to get a good tan before beach trips.  I would also spend time lying on the beach and soaking up the sun.  I knew it was bad for my skin, but I loved the way a tan looked, and I loved the feel of the sun on my skin.  I was even heard to say more than once that a mild sunburn actually felt good.  YIKES!  What was I thinking?  Fortunately, I didn’t take tanning too seriously, and so I only did it for a few weeks each year.  So the damage to my skin was not as bad as it could have been.

Sometime in my thirties I started being a little more careful about my skin, but it really wasn’t until my early fifties that I realized that my naturally good skin was no longer so naturally good.  I had to do something.  I started trying various skin care products.  I tried just about everything - from expensive department store brands to products that could only be ordered online to inexpensive discount store products.  One system required about 30 minutes in front of the mirror every evening doing all the cleansing, toning, masking and moisturizing.  It was crazy.  Some worked well and some did absolutely nothing for me.

Now there’s Borba which has excellent skin care products.  There’s a Borba blog, too.  I enjoyed surfing around the Borba blog and reading all the skin care information available there.  BORBA nourishes your skin - both from the inside and from the outside, and all BORBA products are dermatologist tested and recommended.

Right now, BORBA is offering a special promotion for website visitors who spend $100 or more.  The promotion changes each month.  So click the link to find out what is offered for this month’s promotion.  Oh yes, Borba has skin care products for men, too. 

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RT has been writing poetry again. This one is about his mother and dedicated to his mother, Lillian.  I think it’s beautiful.

Sunflower Mountain

In the early morning sun
hands worn thin by time
and soft by the love
of giving and doing
for others

Pour sunflower seeds high
from a rusty coffee can
onto a weathered plank
atop a worn old cedar post
all dressed in clematis
planted years ago by those
same loving hands.

In moments one small
seed at a time is
given a brief flight
from feeder to limb

Some are stored in
crevices and cracks
while others are cracked
open and fuel the next
flight.

One by one the
sunflower mountain is
made low
As a reminder
that those who neither
sow nor reap
are cared for by those
who share
the love of heart
by the gifts of their
hands

Copyright 2008, RTJ

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