National Wear Red Day ~ tomorrow

Coronary Heart Disease is the #1 killer of women in the United States.  Since 2002, the first Friday of February has been designated as National Wear Red Day® in the United States.  Men and women are encouraged to wear red as a symbol of their support of women’s heart health.  I plan to wear a bright red shirt like this one.  Will you join me?

Ya gotta have heart

If you're interested in why I'm supporting this Wear Red Day, take a look at what was happening in my life ten years ago, in February of 2009, by clicking on either of these two
Ya gotta have heart links.

Blogiversary ~ twelve years

Nancy bought this cake for her twelfth blogiversary in June, and I saved the picture to use today.  I've been blogging since January 30, 2007.  Sometimes I've even managed to post about it on the right date.

• 2007 ... My first post was about Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.
• 2008 ... Missed my "end of January" blogiversary by a day.
• 2009 ... Completely missed the day because I was sick.
• 2010 ... Nailed the day with a blogiversary post.
• 2011 ... Went to church and remembered my blogiversary.
• 2012 ... Scheduled post for "1:30 AM" to match the 1-30 date.
• 2013 ... Forgot it again, maybe because I was healing from this.
• 2014 ... Remembered on my seventh blogiversary
• 2015 ... and on my eighth blogiversary.
• 2016 ... Nothing.  On 2-2-16 I posted about hippos and children.
• 2017 ... Remembered my tenth blogiversary, an important year.
• 2018 ... Posted TWOsday without once thinking "blogiversary."
• 2019 ... Today's post was scheduled back on Nancy's blogiversary.

And that, dear hearts, is how I managed to post on the right day this year.  I planned ahead, way ahead, months ahead.  And once again, I scheduled it to post at 1:30 AM to coincide with the 1-30 date.  Having composed this in early June of last year, I have no idea what will be happening on this date more than seven months later.  We shall see.

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.

In my case, blogging is more like:

I blog, therefore I am.

Does that sound familiar?  The "comments" part of this cartoon is only correct for social media like Facebook and Twitter.  I have found comments from other book bloggers to be mostly positive.

Friday Five ~ thin places

"Friday Five:  I spent about 24 hours at one of my holy places last weekend," wrote Monica Thompson Smith of RevGalsBlogPals.  "That leads me to ask: what are five of your 'holy places,' aka 'thin places'?"

1.  The bend in the mountain stream where bedrock poked through the grass in my backyard (1965-1984).  My stream was a bit smaller than the one shown above, but similar.  Even sitting at my kitchen window facing that direction felt like being in a thin place.

2.  The tiny labyrinth at the foot of Lookout Mountain where I took this photo on a warm September day in 2009.

3.  Meditating in my green chair at home.  I'm sitting in it now, as I type up this blog post and remember thin places.

4.  Sitting quietly or rambling around the lake at Lake Junaluska, NC.  I went there every summer for many years until I retired.

5.  Almost anywhere I'm relaxed enough to be still and fully immerse myself in the moment.

Wednesday Word ~ seenager

Seenager ~ a new word for today.  "Seen" may come partly from "senior," but mostly I think (for me, at least) it comes from having "seen it all" over my almost eight decades.

Even though I have all these things (some of which I may have wanted as a teenager), most are now beside the point.   I'm not interested in bars or the whisky store, for starters.  And the best part of being old and retired is getting to stay up reading as late as I like, since I can also sleep as late the next morning as I please.

The Skye Boat Song

When I posted the pun about running with bagpipes on Monday, Helen mentioned in a comment, "We always sing the song 'Speed Bonnie Boat' as a lullaby in our family."  I looked up the tune and have been listening to it all week.  And humming it all week.  In other words, it became an earworm (a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing).  I also looked up the lyrics and discovered the official name of the song is "The Skye Boat Song," which begins with "Speed bonnie boat."  The verses I've found posted online don't always appear in the same order, but here's one version.

[Chorus:]
Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclouds rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare. [Chorus]

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head. [Chorus]

Many's the lad fought on that day,
Well the Claymore could wield,
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Culloden's field. [Chorus]

Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come again. [Chorus]

Listen to it sung here.  The place these lads fought was Culloden.  The date was April 16, 1746.  It seems an unlikely lullaby, when I think of the words, though the tune is soothing.

The Skye Boat Song, the best-known Jacobite song, describes how Bonnie Prince Charlie was disguised as an Irish woman and rowed over the Minch strait to the island of Skye to hide from the British soldiers.

Two TWOsday ads

I like to play Solitaire online.  Yesterday, I looked up the tartan for the Campbells of Argyll clan so I could show the pattern and colors in a blog post.  Today, as I played Solitaire, up popped TWO ads from a company wanting to sell me a kilt.  Specifically, the two identical ads showed me a kilt made from the Campbells of Argyll tartan.  Coincidence much?  No, I don't think so, either.  I am getting concerned that Big Brother (and Big Business) knows more of the who, what, and where about me than I like.

A wee visit to Scotland

This morning, my friend Barbara posted this terrible pun on Facebook, saying, "This is something that you should enjoy!"  I don't know whether or not she meant that for me (I'll ask her later), but it fits.  I am, after all, the punster who has been covering the bulletin board by the elevators on my floor with groan-worthy puns.  I'll probably print off this little mouse in a tartan (or is it a hamster?) and post it, too.

Anyway, I left this comment on Barbara's Facebook post to say I do enjoy the pun:

Aye, it's right up my alley.  Or should I say, "It's right up my loch"?  A loch is a lake, over there in Scotland, like Loch Ness.  My kilt would be made from the tartan of the Campbells of Argyll, from whom I'm descended.  Want to see the tartan?  Here 'tis.

This blue-and-green color pattern, with a little yellow and white and black thrown in, is something I would actually wear.  I like blues and greens.  I probably have more blues and greens in my closet than any other colors.

And here's a picture of Inveraray Castle, the principal family seat of the Dukes of Argyll.  See how easily I can get lost when I start meditating on these things?  From puns, to Scotland, to kilts and tartans, to castles, and now, one more thing.  The music, of course!  For my purposes, it only makes sense that I share "The Campbells Are Coming."  Click the link to listen to the music, played on bagpipes, which is where we started up above.  Remember?  Here are the words to the chorus, from the Wikipedia article which has all the verses, as well:

The Campbells are coming, Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!
The Campbells are coming, Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!
The Campbells are coming to bonnie Lochleven.
The Campbells are coming, Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!

Oh, you noticed "bonnie" in there?  Yes, I was a bonnie wee lassie when I realized my name was a word.  According to various sources, "bonnie" means "good" or "attractive."  Was I always "good"?  Of course not!  I'm no longer a wee lass, either.  But maybe it was my name that has made me feel more Scottish than the French, Irish, and English that's also in my genes.  Tell me about your family history.

I had to come back and share this photo I found on the Inveraray Castle site.  I didn't see it earlier because it's on the page about how to get there, and I won't be going there any time soon.  Probably never.  Isn't this a great view?