Behind on Inventory

I have felt down the past two weeks, ever since the Orlando shootings. 

I need to get back into the practice of grateful living. I have been feeling stuck lately, and I don't know why.

-Spent Father's Day in Michigan, and it made my dad truly happy. Went tubing in the St. Joseph River, just like 1983. Took Monday off and took a long walk on the beach (five miles) and later took my mom shopping.
-Went to a block party on my street. Barbecued west Indian chicken, pleasant chatter, volleyball, water balloons, trampoline, and salsa dance lessons on the lawn. Every walk of life present--white, black, Indian, Hispanic, truck drivers, college professors, music producers, dentists, engineers, house wives, preachers.
-Haven't killed my garden yet.
-Still running. Keeping it steady with 3-1/4 miles, no injuries.
-Went to a Cuban restaurant with Larry.
-I still love cooking.
-Went to a company picnic at Victory field and enjoyed some beer, hotdogs, cookies, baseball, fireworks, and the downtown Indy skyline.
-Enjoying a new book on my Kindle: "Where'd you You Go, Bernadette?"
-Enjoying my commute with books on CD--currently "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" by Bich Nguyen.

Beginning with her family’s harrowing migration out of Saigon in 1975, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner follows Bich Nguyen as she comes of age in the pre-PC-era Midwest. Filled with a rapacious hunger for American identity, Nguyen’s desire to belong transmutes into a passion for American food – Pringles, Kit Kats, and Toll House cookies. More exotic-seeming than her Buddhist grandmother’s traditional specialties, the campy, preservative-filled “delicacies” of mainstream America become an ingenious metaphor for her struggle to become a “real” American. Stealing Buddha’s Dinner is also a portrayal of a diverse family: Nguyen’s hardworking, hard-partying father; pretty sister; wise and nurturing grandmother; and Rosa, her Latina stepmother. And there is the mystery of Nguyen’s birth mother, unveiled movingly over the course of the book. Nostalgic and candid, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner is a unique vision of the immigrant experience and a lyrical ode to how identity is often shaped by the things we long for.

Wondering about my life lately. Do I need to be in Indy? Where would I rather be? Perhaps another era has passed--nieces and nephews have somewhat outgrown me. I am glad to have had them the past five years! 

Ashes

After the Orlando mass shooting on June 13, I felt myself spiral into heaviness, helplessness, and hopelessness. I see their smiling faces, read their stories, and feel the loss of the dreams that they never got to live. They were just ordinary people who wanted all the things that everyone wants--to celebrate life by dancing with friends, to possibly meet someone to love who will love them back, a place to be themselves.

Weekly Inventory 6/5/2016

Monday 5/30: Memorial Day. Went to Forest Park with Larry.
Tuesday 5/31: Back to work. Back home. Cherry trees died. :(  Learning to get over loss a little better now. Indy 500 guests left house in great shape. 
Wed 6/1: New roommate: Jeffrey. He's quiet and keeps to himself. I like it. Great run and work out!
Thur 6/2: Met up with a friend I haven't spent time with in three years. Got over some past stuff.
Fri 6/3: Great run and work out! Another weekend begins! Larry comes over. I make grilled cheese. We watch another segment of CNN's "The Sixties" on Netflix.
Sat 6/4: I start a new book I really like: "Girl on a Train." Go to a really fun party at Michele's house--porch party--all my favorite people. Lots of laughs and great talks as the party goers thinned out. I love these people! Michele, Eric, Brian, Deb, Patrick, Larry!
Sun 6/5: Sunlight and breeze coming through the windows of breakfast nook. I enjoy coffee, buttery toast. sweet strawberries, and tangy grapes, and my book, and relish the freedom once again--my own house, my own food, my own schedule! Later get out my caulking gun to fix "everything in the world." Arm Chair Bob Villa aka Larry is skeptical that I shouldn't use caulk on the things I am caulking, and I show him the tube: "ALL PURPOSE." Go for a long-ish bike ride. I still don't like riding much anymore. :(

Are You for Real?

I somehow get thousands of hits on this blog, even though I've only shared it with a small handful of friends, as in maybe five people.

I get hits from every country imaginable.

If you are reading this, will you comment, so I can follow your blog too?

Or are you just spam bots, collecting demo info on me?

Good luck trying to spam with advertisements--what I write about, money can't buy!

Really, if you are real, who are you?

Thanks!