Author: Maria Johnson

Meet Rose

rose

I think I must be walking around with a frown or a distracted look that begs some kind of intervention, or maybe that’s just how I feel on the inside, but I can say with certainty that dear little Miss Rose put an end to that in a hurry.

I went to the post office during my lunch hour and had the pleasure of watching her in action while I waited in line. It’s a small town post office, the kind where everybody knows everybody else. There’s only one clerk at the counter, and Miss Rose not only had to engage her in a long conversation, but she also demanded to talk to everyone working behind the scenes, too.

I looked at my watch.

Nobody cared that I was looking at my watch.

When Miss Rose finished spreading her cheer, I posted my letter and tried to get out of there quickly, but of course, the only way to do that was to run over her, so instead, I walked along with her and held the door for her. She thanked me and smiled, and I had to smile back because, well, I know better than to be rude. That’s when she caught me in her web.

“Would you like to hear a joke?”

How could I resist?

“I’d love to hear a joke,” I said, and for that moment, I really did love hearing her joke. It was cheesy. And dumb. And I’ve heard it a dozen times, but it made me laugh out loud as only a cheesy joke can.

That’s all the encouragement she needed, so she regaled me with two more jokes. I laughed at those, too. That’s when I asked her if I could take her picture. I want to be this full of life when I’m that age. I explained I’d probably write about our encounter and that seemed to delight her.

When I was done, she said she had one more thing for me, a hug. So crusty old me got a hug from a random stranger. I’m not even cootified by the thought of it.

Rose got me good with her jokes. So good, in fact, that the joke’s on me. I thought I was doing her a kindness, condescending in my busy lunch hour to listen politely to an old lady. It didn’t occur to me that I was the one who needed that hug.

Let somebody hug you today 🙂

 

25 things I love…

another thing I love: sunsets
another thing I love: sunsets

I’m in a listy mood.

  1. chocolate
  2. pizza
  3. cozy sweaters
  4. loud music
  5. soft music
  6. fluffy clouds
  7. fluffy socks
  8. the smell of burning leaves in the fall
  9. snuggling
  10. moonlight
  11. thunderstorms
  12. wild surf
  13. piña coladas
  14. getting caught in the rain
  15. kitschy songs from the 70’s
  16. laughter
  17. surprises

I ran out of stuff. I never said I could count.

Write On!

McDonald's

My favorite deep purple over-stuffed chair beckoned me. The pizza guy just delivered my favorite pizza…extra cheese, onions, and garlic. Mmmmmmm. Who has two thumbs and ain’t afraid of no garlic?

Me!  And my high school BFF, Martha, who happens to be doing some really cool things with literacy. Apparently, she also really likes french fries.

Read her blog, A Reel Cool Summer, buy her books, and follow her writing prompts to get your kiddoes writing!

I’m a good girl, and followed her prompt for Week 13 although I think there’s a typo there. It’s to age 50, right?

Thru age 5:  Mom or Dad can help you write down your favorite animal, color, and food.  And the name of a person you love and your favorite book.  My purple guinea pig reads The Cat in the Hat while Bego and I eat pizza!  What’s your silly story, little one?  PARENTS:  Just because very young children can’t actually write down their stories, doesn’t mean they can’t make them up.  Have your child dictate a story to you.  Write it out or type it on your computer and have him or her draw some illustrations for it.  That’s a fun activity for both of you!

A_Reel_Cool_Summer_Cover

Hey Geeks! Identify this!

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I admit that when I see that top bumper sticker a part of me gets really annoyed. Some snark wants to make it’s way out, but I squash it and just roll my eyes.

So when I saw this bumper sticker and noticed there was a second one under it proposing more of the same tired rhetoric, I had a different knee-jerk response. You see, I noticed, from far away, that the Cross had been replaced with something that looked kind of like a cross but wasn’t, and my dander got up.

And then, I got up close enough to see this epic call for peace.

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Can you name all the universes represented here?

 

what are your dreams?

So the internet has been abuzz over this amazing little film about Giving.

If you haven’t seen it, you must have been hiding under a rock. Here’s your chance.

But tucked in behind all the hype, I discovered this gem. Check it out.

I dream of one day returning to the land where I was born. Even if I’m 81 and deaf 🙂

 

Five Sentence Fiction — Flowers

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It was raining, yet she stopped to buy some roses from the street vendor. They probably weren’t very fresh. Then again, neither was she. She’d gone without this treat long enough.  Her yearning for the past didn’t disappear just because there were no flowers in the present.

 

~~~

read about five sentence fiction here.

the Catholic Weekend trainwreck returns

The whole gang is here…Capt Jeff returns to the helm, and brings along Steve Nelson, formerly of Papua New Guinea. We also have the resident diva, Lisa Hendey, who shares about her upcoming adventure to Rwanda. I have to say, I am looking forward to seeing her updates on this exciting trip which will coincide with the CNMC in Boston!). Maybe we’ll be able to have her join us via Facetime. Ha.

Angela, Billy, and I play nice too. It seems like we always have something to talk about, especially since Lisa wrote a letter to Pope Francis and asked him a question. Don’t you love Lisa?

What would you ask the Pope?

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: An Unusual Point of View

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Unusual. Challenge yourself to rethink your ideas about what subjects are appropriate, and then challenge yourself again to find an unusual perspective on your subject.

This picture is a selfie, a reflection of my front yard off the glass storm door. Every time I walk through this way, I adjust the American flag that we fly proudly on our front porch. The wind blows into the corner and tends to catch the flag and flip it once, sometimes twice, around the post before I notice it and straighten it up again.

I do this week after week until it’s time to retire the flag for the Boy Scout Troop at our church, and we put up a new flag.

I don’t think it’s a great picture from an aesthetic point of view. I’ve taken better. In fact, I was playing around with reflections all week trying to come up with today’s post, but I picked this one after I spontaneously posted this #gratefultweet on Twitter:

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I woke up in a reflective mood. It’s been a crazy week with news of war, and in spite of rhetoric, sometimes artfully deceptive, but mostly absurd, I feel no more hopeful than when all of this started. It stings to be talking of war on yet another 9/11 anniversary, one that is now doubled as a reminder of unresolved Benghazi questions.

I was going to let today pass with just some private reflection. Prayer. A visit to the Adoration chapel at the church down the street from where I work.

But then I thought, no. I like this picture; I’ll post it today. I like that the flag, though caught in dim light, it’s color starting to fade, is the focal point. Though everything behind it may seem colorless, you can see I’ve played up the colors in the flag.

I searched for the meaning of those colors and found this explanation:

“The colors of the pales (the vertical stripes) are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice.” from usflag.org

I like that, and my prayer is that we always exhibit those qualities as a nation.

 

 

Why pray today?

Screen Shot 2013-09-07 at 8.21.25 AMI bounce around here with silly pictures of giant bananas, reflections on fruit, adventures with wild chickens on the side of the road. You’d think I don’t want to be serious. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

We are living in perilous times. As in, this is the time in which we live, and it is perilous.

Pope Francis’ call for a day of prayer and fasting seems well-recieved. Let’s hope it’s more than an illusion, though I think it is indeed impactful. I’m hopeful that his personable style has drawn people to him in a manner that makes then receptive to his message — Christ’s message.

I’m out of my league here discussing politics and how this transcends politics…so I’ll point you to one (of so many) articles that can do this topic justice, because God knows, we need Peace, and it’s much more than not dropping bombs on a country.

Check out what Kathryn Lopez writes at Catholic Pulse, “Has Anyone Wept?”: Pope Francis and the Call for Peace.