Food Storage

There are tons of flowers on the cucumber plant. We will be eating fresh cucumbers soon!

A yellow pepper and the leaf lettuce should be ready to eat in a few days. The cantaloupe I planted this week have sprouted. The mango tree is loaded with almost ripe fruit. Yummy!

A Favorite Old Photo

This is amazing! Rik is vacuuming my room! Do you see that smile? What a great brother!

To see more of the old stuff CLICK HEREhttp://picasaweb.google.com/wendy.myhir/OldFamilyPics

Fear is the Joy Killer

Fearing pain intensifies it.

Fearing loss robs our joy.

Fearing failure assures it.

Pain comes, loss comes, and sometimes we fail.

Fear deserves no power. Deny its strength and it dies.

Love comes, joy comes, and often we succeed.

Expecting success provides it.

Seeking joy we create it.

Embrassing love intensifies it.

Just Another Day in Paradise

It has been raining all week. Rainy days are great. The sound drowns out the noise of the world and it makes the air smells clean. Rainy days are peaceful and soothing. Hawaii rain is warm. It is comfortable to just stand there in it. Sometimes it is just a fine mist that you can barely see. Something about the rain comforts me. I love it.

Today the sun is back and everything is green, lush and beautiful. If you turn your back for a few days the jungle takes over the yard. The ground is still wet but I had to mow.

The cucumber plants have made some serious progress in the last couple weeks. Hopefully soon we will have some to eat. The last time I planted these they were delicious. After a few weeks of steady cucumbers to pick and eat the plants died. I am not sure what happened. I have a couple theories so I am trying again to see what happens. The lettuce is also making some good progress. It took me some time to learn how to grown a garden in the desert. That was challenging, but I figured it out. I thought it would be a piece of cake here in paradise. I was mistaken.

The island climate is a challenge to the traditional garden. I used to wonder why people had plants in pots all around their houses. Why not just put them in the dirt? I think I might understand a little now. The dirt is full of things that like to eat plants. The pots are a shield from the creatures that like to eat the yummy things. The pots also help with drainage. It is wet here and mold is a problem. The potting soil is also easier to grow in than the red dirt we have here in Ewa Beach. The red dirt has too much iron and some plants don't like that very much.

Spring flowers are my favorite - tulips, daffodils, lilacs. These flowers don't grow in Hawaii. The climate is all wrong for them. I really love tulips. Simple, sleek, elegant - Bright vibrant colors -Tall and strong. I miss the tulips. Tulips have almost no smell, but the smell of blooming lilacs is so distinct and powerful that even the memory of it evokes memories - my grandmother's house in South Dakota , picking them in an empty lot in St. Louis, our one spring at the Church in Louviers. I only have to remember the smell and I am there.

Cognitive Distribution

A friend shared the idea of Cognitive Distribution with me a few days ago. I had no idea there was an actual term for it, but that is what this blog is an attempt at. I want to take the ideas in my head - good, bad and otherwise - and release them into the world. I want more ideas, better ideas, and would like help improving the ideas I share here.


So, please comment on what I post. If something I write makes you think tell me about it. I won't post it for others to read unless it is ok with you.

Spring Cleaning

Life is too cluttered, too much stuff, too much paper, too many things, too much undone, too much mess. My mind is too full, too many thoughts without a home, too many ideas with no action, too many dreams unfulfilled. It is time for some Spring cleaning.

When I was 19 everything I owned fit into my car. I couldn't see out the back window, but it all fit. That's freedom!

I am dizzy with distractions. My head whips right. What is that over there? My head whips left. There are things to see and do and think about everywhere. I need focus. Maybe even blinders to keep my head looking forward and my feet moving on the path.

I emptied out my purse, I cleaned out my backpack, I cleaned off the table next to my bed. I emptied and organized the bathroom. I even cleaned up the icons on my desktop.

Organizing my mind is next. This is where the real work begins. I need a good plan. Take all of those swimming thoughts and ideas and put them in some sort of order. They need to move through the flow chart from idea to plan to complete. I have often said "I have too many things going on. I need to let something or a few something go so that I have more time for what is important." That does not work. When I let something go and open up a window of time and energy, something else immediately flies in and fills the void. It is not possible for me to have empty mental space. I am a busy person. I am good with that. Time to stop fighting reality and figure out how to work with it.

So, here is what I think I can do. I will make some sort of visual chart for myself with all the things I spend time and mental energy on. I need to determine where they rank in importance to me and then assign a % of my time that matches their importance. From there, I make myself a schedule. Right now I only schedule appointments. If there is no specific time and date for me to remember, I don't put it in my calendar. I need to make "appointments" to do those things that I want to do and honor those appointments just as I do those I schedule with other people. Right now I make a "to do" list but don't assign days and times to do each task. I start the week with a list, but not a plan. It is time for a plan.