UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS

Chain-O-Lakes 
State Park

When we were growing up, we heard many subtle--and not-so-subtle--messages.

Today I want to explore some of those sayings we heard over and over, but only good ones. Positive ones. Like these:

• every cloud has a silver lining (1912 song)
  
• keep your sunny side up (words from a popular song-1920s)
• never give in (Winston Churchill's famous message-1941)
• find a 4-leaf clover, have good luck (1927 song)
• look on the bright side (no particular era)

Did you notice? Every one of these has a built-in assumption: that there's a good thing going--somewhre. Even Churchill's "never give in" assumes that we might be entertaining just walking away and letting the chips fall where they may; but he says, "Never!"

I'll be #1 to admit--sometimes the first reaction I have to a situation that throws me for a loop  is, well, to put it nicely, negative. Can I see the good in a bad situation?

For example, let's assume bad news came in the mail today--say, a notice that my electricity is going to be cut off due to non-payment of my bill. Really!?! Not true! I yell. Not true! And I know it's not true because my utility bill is on automatic payment with my bank. And with the city. Hard to find my sunny side or the bright side, or any old silver lining. Because my first reaction is to yell--and that elevates my BP several notches, my heart rate increases, and my fists are clenching and unclenching at an alarming rate.

(Only slight exaggerations in that paragraph, folks. Not to worry.)

Or what about this: Severe thunderstorms forecast for today, starting at 10 AM and continuing through 2 PM--high winds--damaging hail possible . . . . And there's supposed to be a bright side here? I don't think so. Yes, I know we need the rain--but high winds bring down limbs; and hail damage--with our cars sitting out on the street (not much off-street parking in this neighborhood) we'll be looking at insurance reports, repairs, perhaps renting a car--you get the picture.

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Like the leopard, I doubt that I'll change (all) my spots, but I can have a go at some attitude adjustment. Some of these suggestions are going to sound silly, but read through them and you may find that some resonate with you.

• dial back on instant response mode until I get the whole picture
• talk to somebody else--get a second opinion
• and while I'm heading down a dark, nasty rabbit hole, stop reading past the headlines when news comes up on my phone (headlines are disturbing enough, never mind the details)
• find some "good news" options--CNN has a weekly feature called "The Good Stuff"--and it's nearly guaranteed to get you thinking positively about life in other places
• look for books written by people who can laugh at themselves (Erma Bombeck was superb at this and she wasn't the only one)
• other books that may be worth a smile/giggle/guffaw come from folks who make their living making people laugh; last year we read Betty White's autobiography--short little stories (only a couple of pages) and always with a laugh along the way

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So if you're feeling short-changed in the four-leaf clover department, look for smiles elsewhere.

And remember, you don't have to laugh all day long. Or even every day. Your goal should be to get out in the light of day. While you're at it, smell the roses. Or the espresso. Or the herbs in the neighbor's garden. "Lighten your day"--in more ways than one.

I'll join you!

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

Note: Today's photos were taken by Jan Roser at Chain-O-Lakes State Park in northeast Indiana. Thanks for sharing, Jan!

Chain-O-Lakes
State Park

 HELLO, SUMMERTIME!

how about a picnic?

Did you do something wonderful to welcome the new season? 

We thought it over, here at Thursday Child's, and came up with . . . FOOD!

Summertime Food is an animal of a different color/stripe/shape. We look for these feelings:

• is it cool?
• is it tasty?
• can it be made in practically no time a-tall?
• will the recipe make enough to keep us in this Whatever-It-Is for more than one sampling?
• is there enough to share (in case we can get out in our 100-degree Heat Index)?

We found some things we thought you might like--not all are food, though, so you'll have to adjust.

basket without a handle
simpler to make

 On the Food Scene:

• How about chicken salad? It's quick to fix, if you limit the ingredients to chicken, mayo, and pickle relish. Serve on crisp leaves of Romaine, toast, tortilla chips, or just eat it barefoot. (For those too young to know, that means, "as is," with nothing on it. Or under it. You can still wear shoes and eat chicken salad.)
• And if you don't have a roasted chicken on hand, use canned. Works great!
• Are you a fruit lover? Lots of go-o-o-od fruits in the markets these days. I love the look of a watermelon fruit basket, but don't want to put in the effort to make it. I'll eat what goes in it, though, in a heartbeat. Just grab some grapes (any color, so long as they're seedless), berries (we like blueberries and raspberries), whatever cherries are ripe now, whisk them through the running water, drain on some paper towels, and you have what folks put in a watermelon basket.
• We made some fudgsicles! Not hard at all, and some take only 4 ingredients. One recipe called for some minimal cooking. I won't print the recipe here because we started with a recipe from the Internet, had to make some adjustments to fit our current ingredients, and ended up with a product we both like but would adjust again when making it another time.
• If you want to find a recipe online, type "homemade fudgsicles" in your search engine. You'll probably get a ton of possible goodies.
• We've already decided to make the berry-yogurt frozen dessert--also made into bars or "sicles"--we'll report on those when we get to them. In the meantime, we have 10 more fudgsicles taking up space in the freezer.

Lifestyle Changes:

If your lawn is suffering like ours, and you get out the sprinkler to give it a soak, consider standing close by and letting the artificial rain soak yourself. Looks goofy but feels wonderfully cooling! (If you care about what the neighbors think, do this after the sun goes down.) And while you're cooling off, remember how much fun this was when you were a kid.

Our greatest summertime tip is very simple: Slow Down. Our Heat Index is holding around 100 degrees . . . anything more active than a tortoise is probably too fast. (I wouldn't be surprised to find tortoises just sink back into their shells and wait for the heat to pass.)

Remember the old song? "Summertime, and the livin' is easy." Let's go with that.

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

COLORFUL LANGUAGE

Don't get excited--nothing untoward here. Today, Thursday's Child is going to look at some colors in language. Ready? 

But first, if you have a box of crayons--any brand, any number--you might want to get it out and look at the contents while we tiptoe through the list.

Here are some common American English phrases that use colors:

Beet Red - color of one's face when embarrassed

In the Red - bad news for your bank account

Yellow through and through - you didn't want to be that!

Out of the Blue - never saw that one coming!

Feelin' Blue - not a good place to be

In the Pink - much nicer than feelin' Blue

Green around the gills - something upset you

In the Black - the way you want your bank account to be

White Knight - everyone needs one of those sometimes

Browned Off - not quite a full-on fit/tantrum

Brown Nose - you definitely don't want one of those!

Black out/Brown out/White out - we've got them all sometimes, when the weather goes wonky

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Hope these reminders tickled your memory a bit. One of these days, we'll look at some songs that deal with colors--so put your thinking caps on!

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

 BAD DAY? STAY TUNED....

If you've ever had a really bad day--what a friend of mind calls a crap-sandwich day--then you might find some relief with a visit from Thursday's Child today.

Let me say first--yes, I, too, have bad days--always have, probably always will. BUT! They're not the end of the story. They just happen. To you. To me. To everybody. (Don't let anybody try to put one over on you and say they never have a bad day. Just smile, pretend you didn't hear, and change the subject.)

So if we all recognize that bad days will happen, no matter how we hold our mouth or what little sayings we tell ourselves to chase away the bogies or where we go to hide in the dark under a big cover until it all goes away--never mind all that. There are actual things we can do to make a bad day less bad. Ready?

LIVE - go ahead with your usual life; on a bad day, you'll no doubt have bumps in the road, winds that pick you up and toss you around, rain that never stops, no matter how much you pray (remember Noah? 40 days and 40 nights? what we have is a drizzle to his troubles). And you'll discover--and billions of people before us have discovered--that the road will smooth out, the wind will die down, and the rain will stop. Maybe not all at once. Maybe not for several more crap-sandwich days, but it will all go away.

• You have to trust me on this one--I've lived long enough to have it happen many, many times. The technique is: Hang in there!

LOVE - yep, even on a bad day, you can find something to love. A movie on Netflix? A book you got for your birthday and wanted to start but stuff got in the way? The new dog who came to live with you because you know you have enough love for it and that's what it needs right now?

• Here's a thought--go through a drawer or box of your stuff that you haven't looked at in, oh, these many moons/years/decades--don't do anything with it, just look at it. If it's not a bunch of cool stuff you like "just because," then leave it and get out another one. Eventually you'll find something--a love letter from a friend, a dried up bunch of flowers from some little guy or gal in your family who thought you could use a pretty posy, one earring (left from a pair) that recalls a special event where you lost the other one, or maybe even an old diary or journal you'd forgotten about, and when you start reading it, you're transported back in time to who you were all those years ago.

LAUGH - it doesn't have to be a true bad-bad-bad day; it can just be a day when you'd rather not be checking in at the hospital for a 15-minute procedure that will take up most of your day (due to leftover anesthesia in your system). On such a day, here are some humorous (in my opinion) thoughts to get your brain on another track:

     (Sign on the window when I checked 

     in for the above 15 minutes of 

     oblivion)

• “My mother always used to say: The older you get, the better you get, unless you’re a banana.”
  —Rose (Betty White, on The Golden Girls)

• “I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them.”
  —Phyllis Diller

• “You know you’ve reached middle age when you’re cautioned to slow down by your doctor, instead of by the police.” —Joan Rivers

And if you're so inclined, here's one you can share with your grandchildren:

    Knock, knock.....

    Who’s there?

    Water.

    Water who?

    Water you doing telling jokes right now? Don’t you have things to do?

But if all else fails, go back to bed and get up on a better day.

Blessings,

Thursday's Child