February 28, 2009
How to Care for your Dance Shoes
As many of you know, I do a lot of dancing. I wear a variety of different types of shoes depending on the type of dancing I am doing. But the care of the shoes is basically the same.
After dancing in your shoes, remove them, but do not store them immediately. If you are at class or a dance, put your shoes in a protective bag to carry them home safely. But don’t stop there! After you get home, take your shoes out of their carrying bag and set them out to air dry. This may take a day or so. Remember, you probably got hot and sweaty at class and so did your beautiful, expensive dance shoes. Let them air dry between wearings and this will prolong their life as well as prevent “uggys” from growing in them. Then you can store them in their box or back in their shoe bag until it is class time next week!
And every once in a while, wipe them down and polish them up. You will enjoy wearing them even more.
February 27, 2009
Unchained Melody
Tonight, while driving to class on a dark, hilly winding road, I had the radio on as usual. It was just before the John Tesh Show and the station started playing a classic. It was “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers. Wow, I have not heard that song in a long time.
I know you have heard it; it was the “potter’s wheel” song used in ”Ghost”. These are some of the lyrics: ”Oh, my love, my darling I’ve hungered for your touch a long lonely time. And time goes by so slowly and time can do so much. Are you still mine?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-idDbIfGvw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O1gzG4LjjY&feature=related
I think it is one of the greatest, most romantic ”slow dance songs” ever! I turned the volume up as high as I dare and enjoyed the dark winding drive up over the mountain, down one ridge, back up another ridge of the same mountain, and finally down into another winding road until I reached my mid-mountain destination at the end of a long snaking fir tree encased cul-de-sac.
All the while, I was listening to the words, thinking of their meaning, feeling the unparalleled mood of this most romantic song and unable to remember exactly the last time I slow danced. I mean really slow dancing. Dark room, music encasing us, held close, cheek-to-cheek, head on his chest, his head on mine, our hands entwined, madly, crazy, falling head-over- heels in love with someone special as he falls in love with me. That is a dance that I’ll be at someday in the future…. hopefully the not-too distant future.
February 26, 2009
Fluffy February Snow
Fluffy Snow by PDXFirefly
We had snow again last night, and it is my favorite kind of snow. Big, fat, fluffy flakes fell all over. The reason it is my favorite kind of snow is because the ground is warm enough that the snow doesn’t stick to the streets, sidewalks and driveways, but it sticks on the grass and bushes. It gives the appearance that everyone has shovelled their walks and drives and streets and looks very neat and tidy yet extrememly beautiful. This particular snow looks like someone sprinkled large sized cotton balls all over the bushes, grass and any cold flat surface. Since we are tired of being cold here in the NorthWest, we hope this is our last snow of this season.
February 25, 2009
Ash Wednesday
“Ash Wednesday” by Carl Spitzweg: the end of Carnival.
Today is Ash Wednesday — the end of Carnivale and the beginning of the Lenten season. The word Lent comes from the idea that the days are now begining to ”lengthen”. And here in Oregon, that is only good news!
Lent is the 46 days prior to Easter — 40 days if you do not count the Sundays – and is actually determined by the date of Easter. Now…determining the date of Easter… that is a complicated and interesting formula which I’ll go into in a later post.
For more than you ever thought you wanted to know about Lent go to these two web sites! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent and http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/lent.htm
February 24, 2009
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras Masks by PDXFirefly
Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday and it is the day before the Lenten Season begins with Ash Wednesday. This year Mardi Gras is Tuesday, February 24, 2009.
New Orleans is the North American city most famous for it celebration of this time and Mardi Gras actually begins on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6 culminating on the Tuesday before Lent begins. The colors of Mardi Gras are jewel-toned purples, greens and golds.
The food of Mardi Gras is anything you want to eat before the austerity and fasting of lent begins. In some countries, Mardi Gras Tuesday is also referred to as Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday because one is to use up the ingredients that you are not to have in the house during lent –and those ingredients mixed together make …pancakes!
So, if you don’t feel like cooking, and want to give the children and yourself a new “family tradition”, then make pancakes together on Shrove Tuesday and wear purple, green and /or gold!
February 22, 2009
Stamp Prices
Did you hear that the USPS is loosing money and therefore increasing the price of stamps –AGAIN!
The price increase will go into effect on Monday, May11, 2009. The price will go from the current $.42/stamp to $.44/stamp, a 2 cent increase.
So you have time to use those $.42 stamps you bought for Christmas but didn’t send.
If you have some of the “Forever” stamps, they will be good even after the increase, as they are to be good “forever”, no matter the price of stamps! By the way, did you know that you can purchase stamps at Costco?
February 20, 2009
The New Kid on the Block
I have come to the realization that I have led a mostly peripatetic life. It comes with the territory of being a Flight Attendant, but my moving around has been influenced by more reasons than that. Some of my moves were the result of duty (to country and spouse), others were made by choice (move to another home), and still others were caused by circumstances outside my control.
The downside to this life style is the inherent difficulty in establishing close, lasting friendships in each location. Oh, I tried and succeeded in making good friends everywhere I have lived. It is just that I now believe that the friendships were far more important to me than they were to the others who were natives of a particular place. I have come to this realization because of events around my most recent move –the one to the Portland area. I had what I considered to be several very close girlfriends that I cherish in the Midwest. Over the past 16 months I realized that : I am the one that initiates the phone calls to “see how everyone is doing”; I initiate the emails; the same with Christmas and Birthday greetings. I don’t even get newsy little emails from them anymore. Caveat: there is one friend who continues the contact so I guess she is the one true friend!
And now that I have moved from that place, and they are still there, they go on with their lives. It seems to me, I have had no effect on them and they they don’t care to make the effort required to keep up our relationship. It is sort of like they are thinking, “OK she’s moved, she gone, lets turn our energies toward those that are here where we live”. What they do not “get” is how difficult and lonely the move to a new place can be. They cannot be faulted for this because they just do not have any experience in moving –having lived most of their lives in the same town, some in the same house, but always within the same circle of friends. But it would do my heart a world of good to hear from them now and then.
They had an established group of people that they saw effortlessly on a regular basis. I may have been a vital and welcome member of any one of a number of groups, but I was still the newcomer. I had no real history with the members or with the group. No matter how long I was with a particular group of people, I was still the newest member…. and sometimes that was the same as being an outsider. Not a fun place to be, even if the others are kind and loving toward you. And then I move -again- and they go on with their lives as before and forget about me…or so it seems to me. Maybe that is why I put up a facade — to protect my inner vulnerablility. The pain of separation again — in the back of my heart — not wanting to get hurt — not wanting to feel those emotions of — here it comes—not being good enough for them.
And now I find myself in that same place …again. The place of “a different place”, a different group, the newcomer, the newbie, the one who needs to have the ” corporate culture” explained to them, the outsider.
Yes, people are kind to me, but I still want to cry sometimes (and not because of their kindness). I want to cry because it is just so tiring, trying to be outgoing and upbeat and reaching out to others all the time. Others have no idea what I am going through. They are in their own little worlds– safe and doing the same things they have always done with the same people they have always done them with. No room to include an outsider. They find it much easier to talk to the people they already know instead of making the extreme effort to get to know someone new and to include her in their plans.
I think I’ll eat worms and die!
February 19, 2009
Marlene’s Prom Dress
My Mother was the second to the youngest of seven children. Her oldest sister, my Aunt Mickey, had a beautiful daughter, my cousin Marlene. Marlene was a lot older than I was and they lived in a rural area that didn’t have a large department store. Because of this, they would come and stay with us for a few days every once in a while so they could go shopping.
When Marlene was a senior in high school, she came down alone for a “shopping visit”. She and my Mother went to the best store in town shopping for formals while I was at school learning my ABC’s. I didn’t mind that I wasn’t allowed to go on the shopping spree, because I was given a private fashion show when I came home from school that day!
They had purchased three beautiful dresses, but I was so taken by one of them that I can only tell you about the one! I can still picture Marlene, blond, voluptuous, and beautiful standing in my Mother’s kitchen wearing the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. This confection had a chocolate-colored satin, strapless, heart shaped bodice. The ankle length skirt was made of layers and layers of tulle —pale pink tulle over pink tulle over more tulle. Pink and brown. It was a beautiful princess gown and Marlene looked beautiful in it. Talk about eye candy! I wanted to try it on but they wouldn’t even let me touch it with my tiny primary school fingers. But I think I did finally touch it carefully.
I have a confession to make. I was so taken by this gown that my whole life I have searched for one like it. Maybe that is the reason that whenever I go into a department store, I have to stop by the formal section and ” just take a look” . All my years of shopping have never turned up one like it; but that doesn’t mean I have to stop searching! Then the question will be, what will I do if I find one similar?!!!
February 18, 2009
The Best Gift I Ever Gave
This post is the direct result of the recent phone call with my high school boyfriend. That conversation brought up many memories that have been dormant for years. One of them is about a Christmas present I gave him.
He was an excellent football player — a tackle if I remember correctly. Anyway, the team owed much of its success to his talents on the field and those feats were recorded in the local newspapers. And so…for two years…I cut out every article I could find that had his name in it. The articles I missed, his Mother supplied for me. I assembled them in a beautiful brown leather scrapbook and had his name embossed in gold on the cover. I wanted it to be a special remembrance of a special time in his life. I hope it was. And now looking back on it after all these years, I think that was the best gift I ever gave to anyone. I wonder if it has survived the years of moves, marriages, and earthquakes?
February 17, 2009
High School Boyfriend
Photo by Alicia*
I spoke to my high school boyfriend tonight and am unable to sleep for the barrage of memories that are rolling around in my mind. So I thought I’d put those thoughts on paper.
He was the best dancer in the school and we attended all the dances together — he must have spent a small fortune on corsages for me during that time. And, just for the record, and in case he reads this, I loved everyone of them and kept them all for years, dried out as they were, around my bedroom mirror. He knew that I loved carnations and so that is what most of them were, except for the beautiful phalaenopsis orchids he gave me for our senior prom. He looked so handsome in his dark tuxedo. I remember trying to get into his immaculately clean car with my big skirt; and at the restaurant, they had to move the table out so I could slide into the booth with all that dress. It is a beautiful gown …I could have fit into it more than 20 years later….. I never wore it again…but I still have it and I still love it.
I am trying to evaluate the relationship that we had; and after deep thought, I have come to the realization that we were really very good friends. I liked him a lot. In fact, he was my best friend and we had a lot of fun together.
And now that I have written down some of these memories, maybe I can go to sleep.
February 16, 2009
Portland Firefly
This beautiful painting came from:http://www.streetmorrisart.com
and the artist is Robin Street-Morris
it’s titled Firefly watching II
I have been asked how I got the identity of Portland Firefly. The first part is easy… Portland is my new home and PDX is the three letter code for the Portland Airport. Rather fitting for a former Flight Attendant, don’t you think?
The next word — Firefly — is a bit more convoluted. I love fireflies. I love their clear blue-white light. I love that they twinkle and sparkle. As a small child, when I would go to bed, I would often be reaching up into the air and grabbing at something that my Mother could not see. I did this most nights. Always trying to catch the little lights that she never could see. She would ask me what I was doing and I’d tell her that I wanted to catch the little lights. “Help me Mommy. Don’t you see them? They are right there.” She never saw them and she never helped me catch them. To me they were fireflies and I loved them.
I want to be a clear sparkling light and to be an inspiration to others and to encourage those that need it. We all need some encouragement in our lives and what is wrong with a sparkling firefly to guide us?
February 13, 2009
Pearson Air Museum
Last week-end, we went to the Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Washington. Yes, Portland Firefly traveled to a nearby state to look at airplanes!
It is a compact musuem with many interesting restored vintage aircraft. There are interactive exhibits and the price of admission was reasonable. They even have a flight simulator you can try out! I think it would be a good winter’s day outing for any family. And there is a very pretty park nearby where you could picnic when the weather warms up a bit.
February 12, 2009
Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is this Saturday, February 14, 2009.
If you plan to buy balloons for your sweetie, you can get them today or tomorrow and avoid the rush, as the mylar balloons will stay inflated for weeks.
If you want to make your own valentine, get the supplies at a local craft or dollar store.
I notice that Papa Murphy’s has heart shaped pizzas available this week … might make a nice, fun, easy dinner.
A local restaurant is having not only the expected Valentine Dinner special for two, but a special Valentine’s Day Brunch. Brilliant marketing! Start off Saturday morning right!
February 11, 2009
Jesus Christ Superstar
The rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar played here in Portland over the Christmas Season where the lead of Jesus was played by Ted Neeley who starred not only on Broadway but also starred in the movie. The 1973 movie, Jesus Christ Superstar, was filmed “on location” (as they say) in the Israeli wilderness during the 1970′s.
The scenery is magnificently minimalist and part of the cast is dressed in “contemporary garb” while others are dressed in the garb of the times. While this costuming may seem disparate it actually makes perfect sense. This rock opera was controversial on many levels especially considering the time it debuted.
I have always been impressed by the music with its atonal screaming rock rifts balanced by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s magnificent melodies. Ted Neely made the most of Tim Rice’s lyrics with his beautiful rock-raspy voice. A recent viewing of this classic made me aware of other things as well.
I was taken by the depth of understanding of the situation that the lyrics portrayed. Not only in a spiritual sense, but also biblically true, as well as politically accurate. The humanity of the characters was made evident through these wonderful lyrics but it is the melodies and atonalities that bring out all of the shadings and the subtleties of the characters. This is one of those movies that only seems more remarkable when you see it for the second, or third or fourth time.
The reason I am writing about this movie now is because “Second City”, Chicago’s Comedy Club, opened on 2/10/09 a satire on “Jesus Christ, Superstar” called “Rod Blagojevich, Super Star”… I bet it is hysterical!! http://www.secondcity.com/news.php?id=940
Rent the original movie at your local movie rental store… and don’t forget the popcorn!
February 8, 2009
Moon over Cathedral Rock
February 5, 2009
“We’re Going To Be In The Hudson”
You have to click on this link and listen to this tape. It is unimaginable. It is the verbal exchange between Capt. Sullenberger and the Air Traffic Controller for Flight 1549. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4777243n.
Flight number 1549 is permanently retired; no other flight will ever have that flight number again; the flight from La Guardia to Charlotte on January 16, 2009 (the next day) was changed.
Crew Interview of Flight 1549
Katie Couric, left, interviewing the crew of US Airways flight 1549 at Charlotte-Douglas International airport in Charlotte, N.C. The crew, from left to right, are Flight Attendants Donna Dent, Sheila Dail and Doreen Welsh, the pilot, Capt. Chesley Sullenberger and Co-Pilot 1st Officer Jeffrey Skiles. (Aaron Tomlinson/CBS The Heroes Of Flight 1549
Katie Couric previews her upcoming 60 Minutes profile of the pilot and crew of U.S. Airways Flight 1549, which crashlanded in the Hudson River without a single loss of life or serious injury. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4771144n
Don’t forget to watch the interview of the crew of Flight 1549 which ditched in the Hudson River on Jan 15, 2009. The first televised interview will be this Sunday, February 8th on CBS, 7:00pm. The interview with Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and his crew will be shown on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Trust me, the ENTIRE crew deserves prise for getting everyone out alive.
Here is the link to Garrisson Keillor’s song about the ditched flight: (lyrics | listen | download mp3) .
Sunday February 8, 2009 7:00pm on CBS
Celebrate Oregon’s 150th Brithday!
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There are many celebratory events that will be happening – not just that day – but throughout the summer. To see what they are go to www.oregon150.org .
Family Day at the Capitol
February 14th, 2009
11 am to 4 pm
State Capital
Salem, OR
Join Oregon 150 and partners at the State Capitol to kick off sesquicentennial celebrations!
Governor Ted Kulongoski, Senate President Peter Courtney and Speaker of the House David Hunt will be making sesquicentennial comments in the Capitol Rotunda and helping everyone to a a 6-tiered cake large enough to feed 3,000 people! Musical entertainment and performances on the Capitol Mall from Radio Disney, the Just For Fun Singers (80 person singing ensemble) and others. Oregon 150 partners are invited to participate by representing their city, county, tribe or organization. Blacksmithing and wagon wheel demonstrations, historic building tours, gift bags for the first 500 children, pictures with the Gold Pioneer, along with participation by the Siletz Tribe, candle making, and square dancing. Oregon geological and historical exhibits will also be on display.
That evening you can dance the night away at the :
Sesquicentennial Soiree
February 14th, 2009
8 pm to midnight
Treasury Ballroom
Portland, OR
February 4, 2009
Oregon Statehood Stamp
Oregon Statehood Stamp 1859-2009
Oregon’s new 42-cent commemorative stamp was available for sale beginning Jan. 14, 2009 — exactly one month before the state’s sesquicentennial. An official First Day of Issue ceremony celebrating the stamp’s release took place in Portland. The new stamp is also available throughout Oregon at all of its Post Offices on Jan. 14th, 2009. Beaverton artist Gregory Manchess’ oil painting depicts the rugged Oregon coastline in the design used for the stamp.
February 3, 2009
Free Breakfast
I don’t why but Denny’s is giving away free breakfasts today until 2:00pm.
The free meal is only for a Grand Slam Breakfast and there is no carry out. Works for me!!!
February 2, 2009
Electric Guitar
The church that I attend has a small band that plays during the services. It consists of a drummer, keyboard and three guitarists and is accompanied with back-up singers. This adds another dimension to the service and I enjoy the music. I enjoy many types of music and every once in a while my soul cries out to hear some rocking guitar riffs with their soul-piercing squeals and vibratos. It is probably a throwback to the time of my son’s guitar lessons. Sunday, the young man who plays the electric guitar was on his game even if it was the early morning service. He did not disappoint and his considerable talent made me realize again just how varied and diverse we all are; yet all have something positive to contribute.
February 1, 2009
Wilderness
I am in the wilderness waiting for the gates to open to the land of milk and honey.
Happy Birthday!
The month beginning January 3rd is one that sees our family celebrate the birthday of six of our members. All are now one year older and each celebrated in very different ways.
Happy Birthday to all!!!!!
