The Blind Leading the Blind

NO, I am not dead. YES, I had my birthday last week and turned 64. NO, the house has not sold. YES, the housing activity is picking up, according to our realtor. YES, I'm still totally trusting the process and timing of everything. YES, there is always something to keep me busy (like weeding and mulching this week). YES, YES, YES. Always more YESES than NOES.

Now, let me tell you why I got so excited today and immediately became jazzed about posting it.

This was the image I posted yesterday on my Shutterchance (SC) site, from when we were in Brussels, Belgium, last July, 2008. I mentioned that it was my favorite of all the statues/fountains I saw in Brussels but I couldn't find out what it depicted or who sculpted it. Several commenters thought they were meterologists, checking on the rain/humidity!

Then a commenter from South Africa, who has a Dutch wife, told us what it is: "Postuurke van Den Blinde" or Parable of the Blind. THEN I was able to Google it and found out that it's based on the 1568 oil painting of Pieter Bruegel of the Parable of the Blind....depicting the blind leading the blind. The sculptor of this fountain in Brussels is Jos de Decker, and in this link, you can see how small it is.

The beauty of the Internet and of blogging is that the world really is at our fingertips! It just amazes me. Okay, yes, it's sometimes like the blind leading the blind, I know, but more often than not, you can find the information you want within hours, if not minutes!

BTW, if you wonder if I'm still alive or what's happening, please check me out at my SC site, where I am more faithful in posting. It doesn't give my whole life'e story but it does give you snippets of what's happening.

Now I will go check out YOU! I promise....

Hello and Good-Bye

Before we get too far away from Mother's Day....

Lucky me, I got to start the day with Nicholas because he was with me for a Saturday overnight. We awakened to a glorious, sunny day on Sunday and he asked, "G'ma, can we go out into the woods?"

You don't have to ask me twice! As I see him sitting in this new fallen tree (the old one was cut down), I see how much he has grown since our early days traipsing around. The traditions remain, like taking the blanket for lying down to just listen to the sounds...and sharing apple slices for our snack.

These are eternalized moments for me. As we were meandering around and exploring, looking for wild berries and burls, it dawned on me that this could very well be our last outing in the woods here. The house has not yet sold but it could be any day now.

So we talked about how special this place has been over the years and how many friends we have made. We never needed to name the trees (as my mom used to do at the family cottage). We just called them Friends.

What I will never forget more than anything is how Nicholas would find the tiniest of treasures and say "G'ma, take a picture of this!" It's like he, too, wanted to "eternalize" the moment.



It did come time to say Good-Bye. And we did. Funny thing is we weren't even that sad. We both just took it in stride and said "Thank You, Trees. Thank you, Friends."

Nicholas will be 9 in July. I'll be 64 in June. No matter what age, we criss-cross paths of comings and goings, of Hellos and Good-Byes. Passages of time. Moments of moving on.

And that particular moment we DID move on...to Amy's house to celebrate a fabulous day of "eternalized moments" with the larger family. Dennis had just arrived from LA on Friday to STAY...a one-way ticket! Before they celebrate their one-year anniversary on June 1, he is now here to live! Mark was with us, too, for cards and an incredible dinner cooked by Dennis and Nicholas. It was quite a memorable Mother's Day for me.

No sooner do we say Good-Bye to some friends, we get to say Hello to others. Good-Bye, woods. Welcome to Atlanta, Dennis. And Happy Mother's Day! I hope YOU had a great day, too.

YES, NO, YES

NO, I did not fall off the face of the earth. YES, I am alive and well. NO, the house has not yet sold. YES, I have finished scanning and listing my hundreds of sheets of USA stamps (see last post).


Now I am working on a lesser project that will go fairly quickly since I don't have to scan every sheet. I have hundreds of Souvenir Pages (SP), like this one, from 1972 - 2008...a SP for every stamp made by the USA. I will sell the pages in Lots by each year. Someone will buy them for their own collection or to sell individually on eBay. If I had the time, I'd scan and list them all myself, but that's too much effort right now. I'm not a glutton for that kind of punishment. Let someone else have the fun.

I also need to sell all my First Day Covers (FDCs) as a Lot as well. Someone will have fun selling them individually. eBay can be so much fun, if you have the time and the right material. Seriously!



Now, switch gears for a second...if you aren't faint of heart or one quick to disillusionment! A month or so ago I noticed that the shower in the master bath was not draining properly. So I went to Home Depot to get something like Draino to unplug it. But I first talked to a gentleman there who told me he prefers NOT to use chemicals on such nasty problems. He told me to start first with this nifty little gadget, called Zip-It, and see if it would do the trick (click to enlarge). And it was CHEAP. Under $2!

Do you think it did the trick???

So, now that you know I'm alive and well and basically finished with the BIG project of these days, please put out lots of Good Energy to the Universe for the sale of our house. Every day, as I finish more and more stuff, I am releasing it to whomever will buy it.

My rule of thumb: always surround any NO with as many YESes as possible.

And now in the next days I will come catch up on YOU and what's happening in YOUR life. So sorry it's been so long....

At Face Value

# 741 GRAND CANYON Sheet of 50 2c MNH Stamps 1934.

That was the title of one of my recent sheets of stamps I listed on eBay. Did you get it? It's Scott's catalog #741 of our USPS sheet of 50 stamps from 1934, mint, never hinged, with a face value of 2-cents each. Since I start all my stamp auctions at face value, this auction was listed at $1.00. It ended selling for $11.02 plus S&H.

That got me thinking of face value. When we say we take something at face value, what do we mean?

The definition of face value has to do with the apparent/written value of something as opposed to its market value or real worth right now. Based on this definition, the face value of this sheet is $1.00 but its real value is $11.02.

So if I take YOU at face value, or you take MY SITUATION at face value, is it our way of reducing each other to the most objective, lowest common denominator without the added drama of our subjectivity? Is it in our best interest to see at face value instead of with our penchant for judgmental assessment? Or do we perhaps NEED to judge things in order to give them more worth than their face value?

I'll just let that hang there for awhile.....

In the meantime, I've been selling things on eBay like a mad woman (which I already mentioned a couple posts ago!). Today my 110th eBay auction sold and I've sold 13 books thus far on Amazon.com. What's left is mostly philatelic stuff from my years of collecting. I can't take it with me, so I'm selling it. I'm lucky it still holds value...not only its face value but more. The nice thing about stamps is that you know what price to start at (since you can use stamps even from 1934 at their face value!)...and assume it'll only go up, if the stamps are old and scarce. The scarcer the better!

In between the listing and selling is the packaging up and mailing, which I actually love. The whole process from beginning to end is so ME.

At face value, you can safely say I'm having fun! For what it's worth, I'm very grateful to have a way of adding nickels and dimes to the coffers for when the house sells. Nothing new to add on that end of things...not yet. Maybe once I'm finished with eBay, the house will stop holding its breath and will say "Come buy me...for what I'm worth!"

It's HERE!

After several consecutive days of rain and very cold weather, SPRING has finally hit us here in Atlanta!

So I have started to take walks again around the neighborhood and am seeing things again as though for the first time. For some reason, this past winter was a lot harder than usual...maybe for everyone around the country?

With camera in hand, I am enthralled by what happens at this time of the year. It's a sermon unfolding before our very eyes...that as surely as the night comes, it will pass and daylight will arrive. As surely as Winter's breath clutches us, Spring's freshness will release us and set us free.

Let's go fly a kite! This kite has been in this tree for years, weathered by everything that comes its way. I can't help but think it'd much rather be flying!!! I know I would...right this very minute!

On a house-selling note, activity has been very slim, but I've actually been glad because I'm working hard every day to get stuff listed and sold on eBay, Amazon.com, and Craigslist. So far so good, especially on eBay. Who knew that all those duplicate sheets of stamps I bought years ago would be sold now! Once everything is listed, and relisted (you get two times for the price of one, you know), I'll breathe easier and then will start paying attention to the house selling. Ultimately I am confident the timing will be perfect for all concerned!

In the meantime, I will NOT forget that SPRING IS HERE!

It's a ZOO

Just when I think I'm getting my hands wrapped around something, another project presents itself in the same breath. And that's how it's been for several days now...maybe weeks.

One moving van has come and gone (was that really a week ago today!) and what's left has been moved and reorganized to make this house still presentable for selling. Nothing to add to that except that one lady has come back with a measuring tape to measure every room. That sounds promising except for the fact that her husband still needs to see exactly what she's measured!

Apart from that, I'm like a mad woman, scanning and taking pictures of everything I want to sell on eBay, Amazon.com (lots of books have already sold), Craigslist, and the flea-market and consignment stores. Do I really have that much stuff! (sigh) I've decided I definitely want to travel light into my next life!

In the meantime, I take care of Nicholas all weekend and look forward to some good grandma time.

BTW, any takers on the thumb toys above???

Lil' Kicker #2

Just when I thought there were no more sports to try for awhile, along comes flag football for the Big Boy! And wouldn't you know, it's the one sport he REALLY gets! Soccer was okay; baseball was better; swimming wasn't competitive and too much like fun; but FOOTBALL is like...SERIOUS BUSINESS!

Nicholas, age 8-1/2, has now had two games, both of which I was able to attend. Luckily the games are indoors because today Atlanta had its first snow storm of the season. No problem. We all got there and back without a hitch, even though several schools are closed for tomorrow.

The center of attention...well, MY attention, that is.


Here in the foreground, he PAYS attention. Really, he does.


And somehow he always weasles himself in next to the coach's side, eyeballing the next play!

Today Nicholas was the ball-hiker on offense. At first he side-hiked the ball but throughout the rest of the game, he did it through his legs like a pro. So cute! See the size difference in these boys, ages 8-10! Not to worry though because he's one of the fastest on the team!

And even Donica was there today with her video camera and this YouTube for show-and-tell (keep your eyes on #2 because in the first play, he captures the flag!):



YAY for YouTube! If this works, this is my first attempt at posting a video. HA! An old dog doing a new trick...showing a new dog doing an old trick. I love it.

Here's a small photo album from the last two games (20 images). You know how we feel about kids and team sports: it's a valuable life experience, for all of us!