SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME

Howdy, it's been awhile and don't I know it. So I'll parlay all the busyness of moving into a no-fail,  good excuse and send a note here now at this year's end.

Listen, I used to be a New Year's Hooter Tooter too. Dressing fine and strutting out was incredibly demanding. Weeks were spent just planning what to wear.

Here, in stunning 

black and white,

my legs like these, commanding pose.

Naked sling-back shoes would finish off the look and your frozen stubs for feet by evening's end or morning's start. 

All that primping

just to step out in the cold.

But sweethearts, it's really fine to be right here as I am today, warm inside this home I love so much. Older age has proved its worth and no kidding, saved my life.

To you, my very best

and to all of those who cherish

you as well.

And remember,

<

save the last dance for....??

                                                                    Until next time,

                                                                                        BloggerToots.Elaine

                                                                                                                  

Grandma Big has, No Kidding, MOVED TO TOWN!

Moving Day,

with a cast of thousands.

Who hasn't had a Moving Day where once the movers come, the Greatest Race on Earth begins?

Daughter Christine had coordinated trailer rental to order up the smoothest move for everyone and everything involved.

Muscle guys Jason and Noah,

even 6-year old Jaxon,

sprinted items out the door.

And if then housemate Karen hadn't done a rescue days before, gathering and packing all the this 'n that's I hadn't handled, I'd been banished to the woodshed, all good will gone out the door.

When time to bag up cold stuff, I dumb-stared into the frig. Something big was going on having little left to do with moving on. But I didn't have the details till just now...

I was entering a something that required I come Home: Home to all the richness one inherits when your soles are planted on new ground turned and freshly tilled.

And what if there are dreams to seed, especially those I put aside  because I'd "gotten old"?

This could shake things up a lot...the Earth could move!

I Feel the Earth Move

Carole King

Now I'm living close to kin. I imagine them as the "Darlin', Babys" of the song, who wouldn't melt "when they look at me that-a-way, Ah ah ah"...??

Jaxon takes the lead,

Ava throws a

melting glance.

In no time at all, we were there.  

Those speedy moving Muscle Guys had delivered certain items early on, and placed them all so perfectly! I was awed. What used to be a There had been transformed into Here!

Honor be given to the

~Cast of Mighty Characters~

Thank you oh so much!

Jason and Christine

Noah (that's me holding him up)

Jaxon

Ava 

(temporarily unavailable

for autographs.)

                                                                                        Till next time,

                                                                                             BloggerToots.Elaine

                                                                                                                                                                                    

BOWLING BALLS and ECSTASY

If you dare add more excitement to your life, consider BOWLING...

My parents lived out decades clobbering pins with marbled ball projectiles, leaving an estate of shining trophies.

Evidence of  practiced skill

was everywhere you looked.

Back in the day for me as well, the, ahem, *celestial* Stardust Lanes was scene to a new enriching friendship, alive and well today -

With dear friend

-Reba-

Wise at barely two, daughter Christine deemed her lap the most trusted in our ladies league. Already then, the kid was smart.

Flash forward now to a recent Sunday with the clan at Sun Ray Lanes, celebrating birthdays, one of them my own.  Munching friendly Sun Ray pizzas, family gathered 'round when time to open gifts.

. 

Amidst little great grand daughter's intrigue with birthday flashing Sketcher shoes, I unwrapped mere papers, oddly clipped to these:

"Coupons" from grand daughter Leah

and her mother, Christine!

Beneath them was a check from Christine, the payee line still blank.  The 'mere papers' were photos of what looked to be a duplex, and a very large one at that. 

All my innards were in tremble mode by now.

Christine filled me in on its high ceilings, cabinets tall and perfect for my height, and I could no kidding hardly speak when asked if I might like to live there. And by the way, an appointment had been made to see this very place at three that afternoon!

By four o'clock the dream became reality: A lease was signed and deposit check received by a kind and friendly owner.  The key was in my hand for this ...

~Home Sweet Home for Grandma Big~ 

I'm on the lower,

with family mere minutes away.

Isn't it so wonderful? So remember, stepping into certain alleys ain't all bad and could even bring an ecstasy divine. 

When your heart

is in your dream,

no request is too extreme.

            Jiminy Crickett



                          Keep the faith,
                                                  BloggerToots.Elaine

AND WHAT ARE YOUR DISTRACTIONS?

I'm absolutely sure I love to write. I was just as sure I'd write a post tonight, then present it to the world (that be you). For the record, at 8:40 p.m. on October the 4th, this surety seemed, well, as if assured. 

To free up courage, style and verve, I even moved the laptop somewhere new. It only took a little while; I'd never known verve was so accessible.

But then came the unthinkable. The cursor, little devil that it is, darted into

Credit: cysy.com

All morals shot, I had lied to me again.

Credit: thischarmingmum.com

But know what? I'm going to post this anyway, just as it is, at 1:00 a.m. on what used to be tomorrow. And the next time tell the truth before we start.

In the meantime, how are you distracted in your life from something that you love to do? What puts you back on track again? Believe you me, I'm open to advice and a lot of FB pathos (that's pity, btw).

                                         Here's to staying true, on course,

                                                         BloggerToots.Elaine

                                                

COINCIDENCE, OR??

Held victim to a habit of continuous redrafting, the June 30 blog had lived in limbo for awhile, and out of this, there's something has me wondering. What if those many editing visits to the absolutely must haves - writing table, tall windows, soothing view - worked the same as if I'd used a vision board?

The plot thickens. While still working on that would-be blog, I accepted an invitation to sit two lovely cats. The kitties were sweet and so was the cabin-like home's attached porch:

And gee, a table, just fine for some writing.

Tall windows, soothing views.

What would you make of this, coincidence or otherwise? Granted, the table isn't Shaker yet it served as reminder that what I'm choosing to absorb by way of focus and feeling can duplicate itself in ways I'd hardly dream up on my own.

And, one more thing: After adding the woman-in-kimono image to the draft, I "happened" on an episode of *M.A.S.H.*, precisely at a scene where Hawkeye was dolled up in his kimono, too!

I'm glad to have you here with me to play with possibilities. The job I see ahead is staying grounded in whatever aids this quest for space, space that is sweet Home for Grandma Big. 

For now, let's celebrate 
the summer! 

Credits: Paloalto.patch.com

                                     
                                 You are a blast to me!
                                                                                                   -BloggerToots Elaine-                              
    
                                    
                                                   
                                                                                 
           

ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVES!

Flash back with me to the '50s, when I'm six feet tall at fifteen, a little freaky in its time - for a girl. Of course there were nicknames -

 Lofty Tofty, Long Sam, Shorty (the worst), Amazon (better), Long Tall Sally (ducked back in the alley), 

Jolly (thanks to a pea growing giant).

Some even claimed I could hunt bear with a switch.

AND THEN THERE ARRIVED

SKINNY MINNIE

She ain't skinny, she's tall, that's all!

Being easily spotted led to classmate serenades of Minnie's measurements on my behalf or sometimes a run at...

Bony Moronie

she's a stick'a macaroni!

But oddly through these, I felt a little more affirmed. If skinny was okay, pubescent brain cells could safely fantasize how Minnie's boyfriend made room for both skinny and tall. Whatta guy, what a possibility.

Here and now, I'm in a once-in-a-lifetime 72 inches at 72 years event, rewarded through glimpses of a former self transformed in the many tall and self-assured women of today.

And yes, I'm still questing for Home and, like anything else, what's inside has to fit, literally and metaphorically, right? So here's my heart in furnishings, the absolute must haves, for this Skinny Minnie Grandma Big:

A WRITING TABLE,

the very soul of me.
Easy, simple Shaker style.

Drawer for pens, notebook and
scribbled notes I'll never read again.

Crafted by Grandson Noah from 100 year-old Douglas Fir !

Custom made at proper height, lots of leg room.

TALL WINDOWS,
soothing scenes.

Those fishies? Nice touch,
a kimono size long please.



Perfect Chair

for writing, multi-adjustable!

My Lightness of Being for old bones,
I love all that you are.
(by Work Smart, mid back ergonomic chair)  

 SO WHY NOT 

                                          Till next time,
                                                                                                   stay in love with yourself.                                                      
                                                                                                               BloggerToots Elaine                                                             
                                                                                           
                                                                                          

                                                                                                      

A CAR, SOLAR FLARES and THE RAPTURE

Hi, old tardy pants is back. Awhile back, I wrote about how much it helped to "drill it down", to what's real and matters most, when lost in a snit of "I can'ts". It helped me gain new perspective, a nice breather when afraid. 

Today the drilling down says I have to get a car. So here on in, I'll be teeming with expectancy to carve out something more than being carless. Stay tuned...

Now moving on, let us open our hymnals to the page on solar flares. Yes, they're on the increase and some reports are pretty chilling (wasn't that an oxy moron's dream?).  

But wait...what if this intensity is portending earth's near end times? Will this include The Rapture?  Where everyone who's nice and well behaved gets taken up with little chance to pack?

Parting with these  could be hard.

I'm not so much about preparedness, my living style attests to that. But I just might store some things away just in case. You never know, a person might come back here lots and lots of times.

Just barely being neutral nice, I suspect I'm staying here.  So in times such as these, one can't be shy when asking for what's real and matters most: