Pink Leader's Pontifications

18 October 2009 @ 10:57 pm

Race for the Cure, MD 2009

So, first I must say that this past week I've been sick as a dog. woof woof. No, it's not H1N1 or the seasonal flu (no persistent high fever, dry hacking cough or body aches), but some respiratory infection affecting my lungs, sinuses, and even ears. I even got a "Man, you look awful!" comment from coworkers on Friday. Certainly not feeling my best
But this Sunday morning was the 5K walk/race for the Cure for Komen MD. Thanks to my many wonderful supporters I raised $1000, which has me pretty surprised and very grateful. So I was torn between being committed to the walk and not wanting to kill myself in the rainy and windy cold weather forecast for the walk. Our instigator Tara brought up the idea of doing the walk in the Columbia Mall instead, which would satisfy the 5K portion of the walk and leave out both the wonderful large group solidarity and the nasty weather. After weighing our options, we decided this was the best path for us.

I am sorry to my contributors and hope they won't mind, but this morning instead of heading to Hunt Valley we headed to the Mall at Columbia and did 5 laps around the mall, with very little window shopping along the way. I found a free pedometer app for the iPhone that counted a lap as .75 of a mile, thus we did ~3.75 miles with taking the stairs (for a change of view) to change floors twice during the walk. We wore our shirts, kept to a good pace, and even saw another set of ladies in their walk shirts doing the same thing. We talked about friends, about cancer being the number one killer in dogs now, treatments, options, and quality of life. It was not what I was hoping for, but it was wonderful just the same doing good with amazing friends. I even remembered to grab my red, gold and black arm band for Courtney from Pennsic to wear in her honor.

Posing by a nice window display

My faithful walking partners.

I do hope to do it again next year depending on the schedule, and will hope for both better health and better weather.

Tags: adventure, honor

Mood:

accomplished

6 comments | Comment

29 September 2009 @ 11:10 pm

Chivalry or Courtesy

What is the key to a most chivalrous prize that is given? How do we define the different behaviors we witness, and what is worth emulating? There seems to be some confusion amongst both fighters and spectators, so I'm curious how you define these...
( poll )

Tags: honor, poll, sca

Mood:

curious

17 comments | Comment

24 September 2009 @ 11:34 am

Race for the Cure, Part 2

Okay, first of all, big thanks to all my supporters and those who are supporting others. I get a little welled up each time I get the notice that a donation has been made. Y'all are the best.

Second of all, I tossed Thuggs with Juggs in at the last moment not really being serious about using it as a team name. Apparently you guys like it. FREAKS! I'll have to put it to the rest of the team, but I just don't see Tara or Deb as very thug-like. Otherwise the PowerPink Girls are in a distant second, which does give us a pink name, so I heartily approve. Again, subject to team approval... The suggestion involving the word Udderly has been stricken from the books, but not my memory, as I ain't nobody's moo cow.

Currently The Rack Pack has a slim lead in the poll for the favorite existing team name. I'm surprised that Tits 'n Giggles didn't get more votes as that was the one that had me snorting with laughter. Ah well.

You can still take the Team Name poll if you haven't already.

Tags: adventure, honor, poll

Mood:

amused

4 comments | Comment

22 September 2009 @ 05:36 pm

Race for the Cure

So thanks to Tara for the suggestion, I've made the commitment to walk 5K for the Race for the Cure on October 18th. I'll be on a team with Tara/Aryanna, Deb/Siobhan, and hopefully Beth/Keilyn and possibly others. With all that has happened this year, I can't not, and it'll be far more fun with friends.

You can go to my page and make a donation if you want to help. I'd really appreciate it. Please note that since this is for Komen MD, that 25% of the funds will go to research, and up to 75% of the funds will stay in Maryland to help ladies affected here. If you want to support someone walking the 3-Day, Tamma is walking 60 miles in 3 days starting on Oct. 30th in Tampa.

But obviously if we're going to do this team thing, we need a clever name. And that's another place you get to help.

Poll #1461249 5K KomenMD Team Name
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 29

Which possible team name do you like best?

View Answers

Amor Vincit Omnia
3 (12.0%)

Chicks for a Cure
0 (0.0%)

Medieval Chicks
0 (0.0%)

Not A Lost Cause
3 (12.0%)

Thuggs with Juggs
10 (40.0%)

Pink Lassies
0 (0.0%)

Power Pink Girls
9 (36.0%)

Of these already existing teams, which name do you appreciate the most?

View Answers

Tits 'n Giggles
1 (3.4%)

The Rack Pack
10 (34.5%)

Supporting the Girls
6 (20.7%)

Saving Second Base
6 (20.7%)

Pirates of the CUREibbean
2 (6.9%)

O'Boobies
0 (0.0%)

Hakuna Ma-Ta-Tas
3 (10.3%)

Cougars for Boobers
1 (3.4%)

Got a clever (not crass) suggestion for us?

View Answers

I think I might need to make a donation to the team whose name gets the highest percentage of votes from the poll as being the funniest/most appreciated. Some of them are just so darn funny, and sometimes if you have to laugh.

Tags: adventure, honor, poll

Mood:

hopeful

6 comments | Comment

15 September 2009 @ 03:52 pm

grace

Patrick Swayze is known from Dirty Dancing to Ghost, Roadhouse to Point Break, for his toughness, poise, good looks and grace. He made many an 80's girl heart throb, and deluded us into thinking that we too could find a gentleman who was tough and a good dancer. I've seen clips today from all sorts of his activities from acting to dancing. Many thanks to

stitchwhich for those two lovely clips of him dancing with his wife. The first gave me goosebumps.

While he did many fine movies, one in particular is my favorite: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.

( Read more... )

Tags: honor

Mood:

sad

7 comments | Comment

24 July 2009 @ 06:24 pm

Lotus comparisons

This morning our fourth and final lotus blossom of the Summer bloomed in all it's glory.

A week ago we lost the fairest of the fair. As I sat admiring the flower this morning some parrallels struck me. Let's start with the obvious, for it is lovely as was she. Her favorite color was pink and on the first day the blossoms are a gorgeous shade of pink. It smells nice, not overpowering, but sweet and delicate. They both have a heart of gold. Each lotus blossom takes a week or two to form and is only with us for a brief time, but completely worth the wait. The large leaves of the lotus provide shade and shelter for the fish and frogs and other fauna. And finally the lotus can be surprisingly fierce. Much like roses have thorns, the lotus has rough bumps on each stem forming a serated edge to cut out anything not working in harmony with it.

Or I could be a bit nuts. Regardless, I wore all pink today, from my scrunchie to my shoes, in Courtney's honor.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: honor, pictures, pond, via ljapp

6 comments | Comment

22 July 2009 @ 06:10 pm

Bethodist words

"My friend, according to the book, This parting is temporary
Your essential being isn't really gone
Were you scared on your last journey, did you suffer long in darkness?
Will you greet me when it's my turn to pass on?
It's impossible not to be saddened as you meet the eternal dawn

So Goodbye my old friend
I hope that if I see you again
You will recognize me past physical array
They say we walk into the light
And all souls as one there unite
So I know it's just goodnight when I say
Goodbye my old friend"

Goodbye My Old Friend
Beth Patterson
Caught In The Act

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: bethodist, honor, via ljapp

2 comments | Comment

20 July 2009 @ 04:52 pm

...

You are so very much missed my dear. Still difficult to accept that you are gone.

Tags: honor

Mood:

crushed

3 comments | Comment

04 March 2009 @ 10:52 pm

Peace

I'm back home from a quick trip to Long Island to honor Great Uncle Bob. It was great to see my parents and meet many remote family members. We spent Tuesday night visiting with family, listening to Mom play Bach on her ukulele, embroider a bit, and chat up Elaine's sister Louise about the Plimoth jacket project and the embroidery.

This morning I enjoyed breakfast with my parents, showing them pictures of the home renovations, and we hustled off to the service. A very lovely service for Robert E. A . Lee at St. Peter's Church in Baldwin, NY with familiar ceremonies, hymns, and a touching sermon by his daughter Rev. Sylvia Lee-Thompson. After the sermon, the hymn of the day was sung by my Dad's cousin's, Uncle Bob's daughters. I had to catch it on video and I am glad I did, as it was wonderful:

The accompanying notes said "Soli Deo Gloria" is a round that the Lee Family has sung for years. Elaine Lee learned it from some German women she heard singing it on Jones Beach. Barbara, Peg, Sigrid, and Sylvia did a touching version of the song for their father. We rounded out the day with a brief graveside service- including taps on the trumpet and sailors from the Navy to drape, fold and present a flag to his family on behalf of his Navy service in WWII, and more family visiting back at Uncle Bob's house.

Each moment was sweet and touching, and I am sad for my dad's cousins who have lost their father and grandfather, and who mourn in his absence. But for me each time tears threatened all I could think of is the good he has done in his 87 years, and that his joy in reuniting with his wife in heaven helps balance the loss of being with his family here on earth. But I am blessed with enough distance and admiration for a fine and generous man.

Tags: family, honor, music

Mood:

peaceful

6 comments | Comment

27 February 2009 @ 04:28 pm

On the Great Depression

Here is a link to my Great Uncle Bob's essay on The Great Depression; his memories and lessons learned might help us all in the times to come.

Tags: family, honor

Mood:

thankful

Comment

27 February 2009 @ 03:17 pm

Robert E. A. Lee

I received a note from my Dad that his Uncle Bob (Robert E. A. Lee) passed away early this morning. He had apparently been battling some form of cancer (not sure where) and since the chemotherapy treatments weren't having the desired effect they stopped them. He had been under Hospice care, but has now been reunited with his wife of 56 years who also succumbed to cancer in 2000.

Great Uncle Bob, my paternal grandmother's baby brother, wasn't someone we got to see and interact with often, but all interactions were positive. He is an excellent storyteller, and had the wisdom to keep records of communications, and also interviewed some from his generation to have taped conversations and reminiscings of the past. I do remember listening to his voice on a tape player as we heard him draw a memory out of my grandmother (his sister) or my grandfather.

He also sent the best Christmas cards. Always unique originals that he had drafted and printed out. This year he reminded us that Christmas is the gift, not about the gifts. A couple of years ago he compiled some of his and his wife's letters when he was stationed in the Pacific in WWII, and their ponderings to each other to share with us as we pondered the current conflicts. It was very striking. The year our Lost Cause CD came out, I sent him a copy for Christmas, and he sent me back a copy of his book Dear Elaine. It was a media swap, and I am embarrassed to admit that I never got around to reading Elaine and her friend's letters over 15 years. I need to rectify that.

Uncle Bob was a great writer, to me anyways. I loved finding little surprises about my heritage in his book Mathilda's Journey written about his mother, my Great Grandmother. It is a unique look back at the immigrant nature of her parents, growing up during the turn of the century, becoming a teacher for children barely younger than herself, being a mother, grandmother, matriarch. I was interested to read that his most recent book My Wings at Sunset is finally his own memiors of his life. The life of a WWII Navy pilot, who spent the rest of his life in communications. Whether as an author, in radio, tv, or the movies, he devoted his life to communicating to others, primarily his passion and Lutheran faith, but also the stories of human interactions and how they enrich us all.

I definitely need to order his latest book.

He was a generous man, filled with joy and laughter, kindness, and patience. I miss him already.

Tags: family, honor

Mood:

crushed

2 comments | Comment

11 November 2008 @ 11:31 am

Veterans Day

"On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain." -President Eisenhower, Veterans Day Proclamation.

Some of my fellow coworkers and I gathered at the flagpoles this morning to honor the veterans, listing those names of faculty and staff who have served, and remembering the countless other veterans world-wide of many conflicts who "sacrificed the flower of their youth" for our country.

It can't be said often enough- Thank you.

A POW flag flies under our flag at the Honolulu Memorial to the fallen and missing from US Pacific wars in the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific in Puowaina crater.

Tags: honor

Mood:

grateful

1 comment | Comment

10 November 2008 @ 04:05 pm

Thank you

After a wonderful weekend, I spent last night downloading pictures from the camera, and putting them on Flickr, but I was easily distracted by programming on the TV in preparations for Veteran's Day tomorrow. I watched a show on the Smithsonian Channel about the Vietnam War and Memorial called "Remembering Vietnam- The Wall at 25". I thought it was very well done, not just talking about the war itself and highlighting various veterans' experiences, but also their reception upon return, some veteran's struggles to integrate back into everyday life, and how the memorial has been helpful and healing. I loved the highlight of the various items and notes left behind at the memorial and how archiving them has become a full-time job for a vet from Vietnam. I also watched the end of Saving Private Ryan on TNT.

It reminded me that I haven't been to visit the various memorials since my middle school trip up here from Greensboro. It is truly a shame that I haven't seen the new WWII memorial, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Wall, etc. in the 10 years I've lived here. I adore the art museums and need to take time out for them too, but perhaps owe it to those who have served to honor their sacrifices by paying homage to the memorials. Obviously tomorrow is going to be insanely crowded, and I have to work, but soon I should schedule time to enjoy those. I didn't miss the USS Arizona Memorial, nor the Punchbowl Cemetery when I was in Honolulu, so why should the local memorials receive less of my attention?

Regardless of where I get in the future, I do want to take the time to thank those who have served and those who serve. Freedom is not free, and I appreciate your service and sacrifices.

Tags: honor, tv

Mood:

grateful

2 comments | Comment

03 November 2008 @ 04:57 pm

(no subject)

Oh dear. May she rest in peace, and her loved ones know she is still with them.

Tags: honor

Mood:

sad

4 comments | Comment

23 October 2008 @ 11:35 pm

wdydwyd

Why Do You Do What You Do?

Inspired by

silverstah 's post

click images to biggie...

Tags: embroidery, hair, honor

Mood:

contemplative

7 comments | Comment

10 October 2008 @ 10:22 am

RIP Peter Collingwood

I read in my email this morning that Peter Collingwood shuffled off his mortal coil yesterday.

Non fiber folks probably won't care, and I certainly never had the honor of meeting the man, but wow has his research and teaching made a huge difference. He's the author of the Techniques of Tablet Weaving, the most comprehensive resource on the subject. He's also the author of the Techniques of Sprang, one of the only books out there specifically for this subject. He's written other books on Ply-Split Braiding and Rug Weaving that I don't own. I'd heard that if you ordered a book directly from him he'd automatically autograph it for you. He's contributed so much to our understanding of these techniques, and I am saddened at his loss.

I am at least content to know that he was 86, and that his passing was peaceful and in his workshop.
Wouldn't we all love for our last minutes to be spent surrounded by our passions?

Tags: books, honor, sprang, weaving

Mood:

sad

3 comments | Comment

07 December 2007 @ 03:18 pm

a date which will live in infamy

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

On this day 66 years ago, around 8am local time, or 1pm Eastern time, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Empire, ushering the US into the second World War. It was a ruthless, and brilliant attack, tactically sound but with astounding repercussions. Perspective is very important, and I liked that the video watched before visiting the USS Arizona Memorial tried to give both perspectives, US and Japanese.

The USS Arizona Memorial was built in place above the wreck of that battleship. They say that the memorial sags in the middle to show our initial shock and defeat, but ultimately rises on each end showing Americans resolve and ultimate triumph. The attack on Pearl Harbor did indeed serve as a rallying point for the US. New battleships were built, more troops were enlisted, a bitter resolve fueled all Americans toward victory over the then Axis of Evil. My grandfather was not able to enlist, so he served in the way he could, by helping to build new battleships up in the Great Lakes. It is rather astonishing to think of the effect that Pearl Harbor had on America and Americans then, that even 9/11/01 hasn't had on Americans now. Is it the difference between the seen and unseen enemy? There was a war already afoot for us to join instead of starting one. But I'm getting way off topic...

While many cemeteries have headstones for each of the fallen, the USS Arizona Memorial has a single but towering marble listing of those over one thousand Navy seamen and Marines who remain entombed in the USS Arizona. She leaks oil still, as if crying for those trapped within.

There are many unknowns from many conflicts. The great Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington, Punchbowl Cemetery has an entire large section of unknowns from the Korea War, and unknowns from Pearl Harbor surround Ernie Pyle's headstone, and are also sprinkled about the crater, all over the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Please take a short moment today to honor the many, known and unknown, who have given the ultimate sacrifice that we may all live as we do now. Remember the sudden attack and America's ultimate response. Remember that no peace is permanent without vigilance, and thank the vigilant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now for a minor whine...

Yesterday I took a sick day and stayed in bed practically all day. I was awake from 10-11am checking email and sending in a sick notice, but I was in bed. I got out of bed to make myself some lunch around 3pm, but ate it in bed, and napped more until about 7:30pm. And I think I could still use a nap. I wish this sickness would cease.

Tags: honor, politics, whining

Mood:

contemplative

2 comments | Comment