another unexpected mishap
once
while singing and dancing in my house
another time
while playing extreme family badminton
yet again
after lots and lots of walking and hiking
and
this time
while
running on the ice with the kinders
then
limping to the doctor for a boot
it’s only a matter of time
and i’m sure that
i’ll find
a new happy and healthy activity
to challenge me
but i’m going to
keep the boot this time.
—
“my optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.”
-henry rollins
“i cling to the optimistic belief that the haphazard and the hopscotch,
the creature that sips among many flowers,
may actually come up with something… ”
-b. leithauser
—
hopscotch on sidewalk at postman’s rest park
ann arbor, mi usa
50 years ago this week
we were in the midst of a detroit riot
we have come such a long way
still have a way to go
but here we go.
—
“since its founding, detroit has been a place of perpetual flames. numerous times the city has suffered riots and each time the city has burned to the ground. the city’s flag acknowledges as much.
speramus meliora; resurget cineribus:
we hope for better things;
it shall rise from the ashes.”
― charlie leduff
detroit free press – 1967
“two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars.”
-beck
—
in honor of international mud day
—
image credit:Winter Window, pastel, 8″ x 8″, 2002 © B.E. Kazmarski
cold, morning rain does little but make one anxious to reach their destination, even if that is work or school. this innovative student solved the problem of hands free walking on one such campus morning in 1969. “U-M engineering student gary keck of detroit is too unconventional to raise an umbrella. he wards off the morning rain with a stylish sombrero. ole!”
—
“optimists are neither in denial nor naïve about challenges and difficulties in life.
they simply attend to and acknowledge the positive.”
– eric kim
—
credits: oldnews.aadl.org, ann arbor townies
a trio of kinders, a ring of keys, a door to our classroom….
—
“optimism is the key.”
-will champion
norma and her therapy dog, ringo on the road.
Norma Bauerschmidt, who decided to take a cross-country RV trip instead of undergoing cancer treatment has died at the age of 91.
More than 400,000 people have followed Norma Jean Bauerschmidt’s journey with her son and daughter-in-law on her “Driving Miss Norma” Facebook page. Her final stop was San Juan Island, Wash. San Juan County Coroner Randall Gaylord said Bauerschmidt died Friday, Sept. 30.
When 90-year-old Michigan native Norma Jean Bauerschmidt learned she had a large, likely cancerous mass on her uterus, she wasn’t going to waste any time with what she saw as debilitating treatment. Instead, she spent her final days experiencing as much of the world as she could.
Bauerschmidt, a native of Presque Isle, died in her motor home on San Juan Island, Wash., on Sept. 30 at the age of 91, but not before she’d traveled more than 13,000 miles in an RV, sleeping in 75 different locations in 32 states.
In that time, “Miss Norma” became in internet sensation, with more than 482,000 people following her travels via a Facebook page set up by her daughter titled “Driving Miss Norma.”
Her story has since gone viral, appearing on CBS News, BBC, Huffington Post and NBC’s “Today Show.”
Bauerschmidt’s decision to refuse treatment was made just two days after her husband, Leo, passed away. While sitting in an OB/GYN office talking about treatment options, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, a doctor asked her how she would like to proceed.
According to Facebook, Bauerschmidt, a tiny woman at 101 pounds and under 5 feet tall, looked the young doctor dead in the eye and with the strongest voice she could muster, said, “I’m 90-years-old. I’m hitting the road.”
And that’s what she did. They did, “what they don’t teach you in medical school,” and hit the road on Aug. 24, 2015.
While on the road, Miss Norma experienced many things for the first time. Big things like riding in a hot air balloon or on a horse, to little things like getting a pedicure or having her first taste of key lime pie, oysters and fried green tomatoes.
She was hosted by the U.S. Navy, the Atlanta Hawks, the Georgia Aquarium and the towns of Winthrop, Mass., Marietta, Ga., and, according to her Facebook page, what felt like the entire state of South Carolina.
Miss Norma also visited the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Walt Disney World and Yellowstone National Park.
She began hospice care after arriving in the San Juan Island town of Friday Harbor in August, according to the Associated Press.
A celebration of Miss Norma’s life and a memorial tree planting is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 7 at 4:30 p.m. at Friday Harbor’s Overlook Park.
“Our families, friends, and the many thousands of former strangers have lifted us up and kept our spirits high,” a message from Miss Norma’s family reads on Facebook. “We continue to be overwhelmed by the kindness and love that has been directed our way.”
—
credits: mlive.com, brandon champion, pittsburgh post gazette/ap
“keep on going and the chances are
you will stumble on something,
perhaps when you are least expecting it.
i have never heard of anyone
stumbling on something sitting down.”
– charles kettering
“sadness is but a wall between two gardens. “
-khalil gibran
—
image credit: google images
sitting by the river
relaxed and thinking
this may not end well.
yet hopeful.
—
‘hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism.
it is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense,
regardless of how it turns out.’
– vaclav havel
I didn't have my glasses on.... 