Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Making Lots of Changes

As you found out yesterday, I will be going back to work. First, I will be going for training at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches (Oldest Town in Texas) which is about a half hour drive from home.

The first change we are making is in our routine. We have already been working on that: early to bed and early to rise. (If you were wondering why NBC changed Jay Leno to 9:00 p.m. Central Time, now you know: to accommodate seniors going back to work!)

Baseball - which is my favorite sport - is very accommodating. Here in Central Time Zone, it generally comes on at 7 p.m. , sometimes at 6 p.m. , as long as The Astros or Rangers are not playing on the West Coast. Of course, Houston Astros are very much "out of it" as far as playoff season is concerned.

Football - probably my least favorite sport, mostly because I have trouble understanding it - goes on forever. I am not sure whether that is by the clock or by my mental attitude. This is really too bad, because Hubby likes football and even played it in High School and College.

Basketball - even though I played it in high school - is again not one of my favorite sports. I think it has to do with their clock. Why, when there are only a few minutes on the clock, are there several time outs, causing the game to continue for another half-hour or so?

So, watching sports is something Hubby may have to curtail and that will be hard for him because he is such a fan.

I like to read the morning newspaper to find out what is going on and be up-to-date, so now I have to read the headlines and only have time for the stories I really want to read, the horoscope and the comics. (I'll have to read the rest of the paper in the evening.)

We used to have apples and cheese when we first awakened but now we will have our whole breakfast first thing.

We were able to catch an afternoon nap which gave us a second wind but I don't think I can do that at work!

I do workout in the morning and so, I must still do that! I exercise, not only to lose weight, but to boost my energy. So, I cannot give that up.

So, here we are, with less energy than we had when we were younger, extending our sleep time to keep us up and at 'em.

Oh, yes, this is for those of you who did not figure it out yesterday when I said that now I will become a Sutton . . . Because I will be counselling, I will be joining the four immediate members of our family who do that (currently at a higher level than I).

Wish us well. There will be big changes for Hubby as well as me. He is my backup, you know and no one has better support in my projects than I do! A great Hubby maketh a great wife!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Molly and Me

Hubby and I are about to turn our lives around considerably!

I got a job! I will be counselling/mentoring young women ages 18 to 21 (who have a child or are pregnant) with a goal of them getting their high school diplomas (at a Pregnancy Help Center). I start my training this Thursday and today we went to get acclimatized at the University in Nacogdoches where the training is being held.

Perhaps I better get used to a college environment, because in addition to two rounds of 10 months work, I will be receiving two years' full scholarships.

Me working? Me back in school?

Times are "a changing" and there are a lot more older students in colleges and universities now.

Funny thing: I was telling Hubby that my original thought when I was about 13 was to be a Social Worker. So, here I am.

We were given the tour by a final year student, Molly, who did not seem the slightest bit fazed that a senior might be joining her ranks. When I left, I felt like I belonged there.

Sorry you didn't get to meet Molly - and my guess is that there are lots of young people just like her - because it would make you feel pretty good about where we are headed.

The program that provides this opportunity to me is Americorps, which was founded in the Clinton Administration and is very much in high gear today under Mr. Obama.

I told Molly I was a little nervous about - for instance - if a person her age would feel strange if I were to extend my hand to shake hands.

She smiled, "Oh, not at all". So, I did extend my hand so she would know how much I appreciated her giving us such a royal tour.

At SFA (Stephen F. Austin) University, in the administration building we were in, there are real restaurants like Chic Fil A and Starbucks! And Molly told us there are movies for $1.00 admission! I saw a room full of computers where you can just walk in and work on a project! There was a big container of Hershey kisses in the reception area.

Driving back home, I was thinking about a lot of things. I just found out officially that I will be doing this. Of course, I worry about being a senior in a young people's world.

I think you would be surprised at how well we were treated on campus - first at the guard house by the Campus Police and then by Molly and the crew at the information desk. Each person we passed had kind smiles for us.

I think I have a lot to learn, but I also think I have a lot of support from family.

For those of you who have read Bumpy Road To Texas, I think you will understand when I say I may have finally become a Sutton!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Scrap Pink - This Saturday - Two Vacancies!


Pink Ribbon (Discursive Design) by kretchy13

Because of an unfortunate accident, there are two openings for this event on Saturday. The day will go from 9 - 9 and there will be lots of cropping, great potluck food and prizes. Call Sue Knox, herself a Breast Cancer Survivor to reserve at (936) 632-5444. (Scrapbooks & Memories, Denman Avenue, Lufkin, across from Century 21 Bryan Real Estate. ($15.00, which goes to the cause, covers your day.)

SCRAP PINK: Saturday, September 26, 2009

Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure to benefit breast cancer research. To participate in this all day Scrapbooking Crop, Call Scrapbooks & Memories at (936) 632-5444.

Pink Ribbon (Discursive Design) by kretchy13

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Today's post is a story I wrote about 14 years ago when I was a member of a writer's group in Port Hope, Ontario. You can find it at Fido and Fifi.

http://fido-and-fifi.blogspot.com

The photo, posted with special credit is just like Bobo. I hope you enjoy this fiction which I so seldom write. ~ Thank you, Martha Sutton

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Good Bye, Dear Friend

Our good friend, Harry Farmer, left this world last Friday at age 95.

Harry (on the left with Hubby on the right) was a snowbird from Illinois who starting attending our church a few years ago. Over the years, we were able to get to know Harry and become friends with his family in Texas.

Of course, being from Illinois made Hubby feel even stronger about this special man. Perhaps Hubby likened him to his own father. Harry loved all the hymns and knew all the liturgy and prayers. He always had a smile and was so proud of all his family.

One year when Harry left to go back to his own home for the summer, he said to Hubby,

"Well, if I don't see you here again, I'll see you at the gate."

As we go through life, we don't really meet too many people like Harry. If we did, it would be Heaven right here on earth!

Good Bye, dear friend!
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Friday, September 11, 2009

Remembering 9-11 Through An Immigrant's Eyes


Where were you? Were you on the road, were you at work, were you at home? Where were you on 9-11-01 when the unthinkable happened?

Do you remember George W. Bush sitting, talking to school children when a person came to tell him we had been attacked? Yes, that's right, The President was talking to school children!

Do you remember that it was Tuesday morning early and it was the most beautiful day you could ask for . . . the sun was shining and the sky was clear . . . clear except for those hideous images on every channel - even the music channels - on television sets everywhere.

Hubby and I were finishing packing for a drive up to Terre Haute, Indiana for his College Reunion at Rose-Hulman. We saw the planes as they purposely crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. We saw them crash into the Pentagon and we saw them crash into a field in Pennsylvania.

They missed their target when they went down into that field . . . why? Because passengers overtook the attackers! There was a man who called on his cell phone to alert us and asked the operator to tell his wife how much he loved her. Others called from their offices to also say, "Good-bye".

Was that when we realized it might be a good idea to always have cell phones with us? Even if it is just to say, "Good-bye . . . I love you"?

I was not yet an American Citizen and I felt quite panicky. We were about to get into our car and drive on public highways to go north.

Please understand something about a Canadian who grew up in Toronto. My Father always said that if we were attacked, we would drive north. Well, when you live in Toronto, that makes good sense! If you have enough gas and you just keep on going, you will be in sparsely populated places where nobody thinks about attacking because there are not enough people there . . . and there are no tall buildings. There are lakes and trees and grass and weeds and wildlife . . . nothing anyone would think about attacking.

(For those of you who might not know, about 80% of Canada's population lives within 200 miles of the border with United States of America. So, you don't really have to drive very far to be in a safe place.)

So, having grown up with this mentality, I was having to re-think about what a person would do when they thought they might be attacked. And, make no mistake, Hubby was thinking about Houston and the ship channel and the oil and that we are pretty close to that. Hubby was very anxious to get on the road.

We had a passenger car, not a truck bed with an extra can of gas. We did put lots of water in the trunk and then, I said,

"Oh, oh . . . I better have my papers - my "Green Card" - because I am not even a citizen!"

So, we put together some documents and a few things like you would have in a box for a storm warning and we drove off up the road.

Along the road, we would stop for gas and wait in long lines each time. As the day wore on, the stations were running out of gas to pump!

I called my neighbor and I guess she was watching TV because she told me she was praying for us and gave me this fine piece of advice:

"You watch everything around you! You make sure you know who is beside you and who is behind you!"

Then her daughter, who works at the TV station called and asked about the gas situation.

We called to Rose-Hulman to ask if they were still having the reunion. The answer was, "Yes".

So, we were very careful to stop to get gas more often than we normally would and when we stopped, we turned on the TV in the hotel room immediately.

We called back home and found that our grandson, David who was living in New York was fine and had just left one of the buildings before it was struck. We knew where everyone was.

My fellow Canadian, Peter Jennings - also not yet an American himself - stayed on the air all day and took calls from his children who reassured him they were safe. He wept just as everyone else was doing. It was a day never to be forgotten. A day when someone who hates us so bad did the unthinkable.

Back then, I did not have all the Americana I have now and I recall us stopping in one town and going to a Hancock's fabric store where they were fashioning red, while and blue ribbons and affixing safety pins to them. I bought some ribbon and some pins and made some.

The next day, we made it to Robinson, Illinois. That is Hubby's hometown. We stopped in to visit cousins Bette and Shorty Clements just before heading down the road Keith used to take to get to college when he was a student. When we told him there were no American flags to be found, Shorty (a decorated Veteran) came out with a small flag as we were leaving. He opened the back door of the car and set it on the back deck so you could see it through the window.

You don't forget gestures like that . . .

When we got to Terre Haute (High Ground), we found that almost everyone had made it to the Reunion. Some had to rent cars as planes were grounded.

On the Friday, there were special services across the county and church doors were unlocked. We went inside a church Keith had attended when he was in College and we read Psalm 91.

In October, 2003, I was approved for American Citizenship, having passed the examination with 100% as I had challenged myself to do. We had an amazing party at our church with 150 people coming and going. The Community Band played patriotic music and it was the most amazing celebration ever! I was actually sworn in early the next year in a private ceremony in Houston.

So, I do not take today lightly and I do not forget all the work I did to become an American Citizen. (By the way, I am able to have dual citizenship so I am also a Canadian Citizen as well.

There is a song sung by The Men Of The Deeps called My Father's Immigrant Eyes. I guess that is how you are reading my account of my experiences on 9-11: through an Immigrant's Eyes.

God Bless you and God Bless America!

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow the flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plaque that destroys at midday. ~ Psalm 91: 5, 6 NIV
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Monday, September 7, 2009

If You Want To Watch The President's Address To Students, Here's How!

***The text for President Obama's Speech to Students has now been posted at http://whitehouse.gov ***
On Tuesday, September 8 at noon Eastern - 11:00 a.m. Texas (Central) time, if you want to, you can watch the President's address to the students of the nation.

If I have posted it correctly, you can watch it here. Or, you can go to

http://www.whitehouse.gov

or

You can watch it on TV at C-Span.

I know I am just a Yonge-Street-Texan (a Canadian-born who became an American citizen and lives in Texas) but, by golly, I cannot believe the bruhaha about this speech.

Mr. Obama IS the President and what the heck do people think he is going to say to the students of our nation? If we are going to censor the President, then perhaps we are not the Home of the Brave and the Free.

What do people think Mr. Obama will say to the students? I think he will welcome them to a new school year. He will tell them that studying hard and paying attention in school will get them more opportunities in life. He will wish them all the best for this new school year.

What on earth do people think he would say to students sitting in classrooms?

Perhaps you should find out live tomorrow!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Everybody Should Cook Chicken Today!

Well, at Hubby's recommendation, I just finished reading Leon Hale's blog today. It is about cooking chicken, at his wife's beckoning. I think Hubby wanted me to read this so he could feel a kinship with Leon Hale as he helps cook chicken for our dinner tonight.

We've invited a gal to dinner and we have the chicken breasts - skinless and boneless - just like The Hales - in the 'frig. They should be ready to cook now.

We even purchased a stock pot the other day: yup, a simple stock pot - not to be confused with "crock pot".

We have all the ingredients and spices - pretty similar to what Leon and his "Partner" (wife) used.

We have chicken stock, cooking onions, baby carrots and various spices ready to do this. I think we will simply cook it on the stove although Leon's Partner did place theirs in the oven.

Another difference is that The Hales used a cookbook and my recipe is in my head. (Uh oh . . . )

Yes, I will be encouraging Hubby to wash his hands many times as Mrs. Hale did her husband.

In not too long or stressful a time, we will have a delicious chicken dinner to serve for dinner. We'll put it in the 'frig till this evening when we'll place it on a pretty platter and have a side salad in another bowl. (Yes, we will serve dessert.)

So, in case you were wondering, that's what we're having for dinner.

Of course, all this is Richard Simmons approved. That would be the difference between the Hales' dinner and ours. I am still about 18 pounds from goal which is miraculous (for me) and yes, this recipe is a simple variation on Richard's Sunday cooking meals.

So, what are you having for dinner tonight?

(As an aside, columnists and bloggers traditionally do not refer to their spouses by their names or as husband or wife, hence, Leon's "Partner" and my "Hubby".

To read any of Leon Hale's blogs, just go to the link in the right sidebar of this blog and click on Leon Hale.