Life and Fish Tacos

  Outstanding    “My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view -- A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold A tapestry to feel and see , impossible to hold .”   --Carol King, Tapestry   On a cold February day in 1965, a little fella was born to Bob and Lynda Bird of Menomonie, Wisconsin. They named him Tim, and Tim had an older sister by a year and a couple of weeks, Tammy.   After Tim, came Steve, Kevin, and Amy, and the family was complete. Tim grew up rough-housing and watching the Packers with his brothers, sisters, and many cousins. A day in the life of Tim, as a youngster, consisted of getting up each day, dressed and ready at 7:00 a.m., helping out with farm chores, taking the bus ride to and from school, and enjoying after-school activities as well as church events--a normal upbringing in all respects with the added bonus that Tim was an exceptionally hard worker, who never q...

   “The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” --Andy Rooney      We stood there looking down at her. She sat there gazing up at us. She had tried and tried to make it to a standing position, having wet herself in the process, and we tried to boost, support, and lift her. Until this morning, we had always managed to get her 90 lb. body moving. Today, with a finality that shook us to the core, she laid back down. It could not have been more clear. She wanted us to know she was done trying.    Earlier that morning, we were discussing what we thought was the slow demise of Dharma’s back legs. A trip to the vet the week before determined that our 13 ½ year old Lab-Doberman was suffering from gradual nerve deterioration in her spine. For the last couple of years, she had become slower and weaker, but she figured out how   to acclimate herself to her old-age problems. She could still pull herself up onto the couch, and still loved...

  Wait, what is that ?? Is it dead? Oh my gosh, it’s SLEEPING! As I stood out in our wildflower garden, my sightline expanded and adjusted to the patch of zinnias before me. Not just one solitary bumble bee, but 20 or more, tucked up into the petals of ALL of the zinnias, ALL of them, sound asleep. It was an early autumn morning nearly a year ago, with just a little chill in the air, but otherwise calm and pleasant. I reached out my pinky finger and gently brushed the furry back and translucent wings of one of the bees, giving him a little “pet”, if you will. He responded, stretching one of his velvety back legs behind him. Startled, and a little bit afraid of getting stung, I pulled away and stood back. He groggily settled himself again and went back to sleep.             What had just happened? My life had been changed in an instant—well, my knowledge of bees certainly had, and I could not get that image out of my mind. Aro...

  Take yourself back to your 8 year old self. Close your eyes. Imagine a castle with high walls as transparent as glass, the main entry guarded on each side by towering crystal dragons. Imagine that you live here! A medieval knight in armor stands at the ready to guide you into the castle’s magically gleaming courtyard. The floor beneath your feet is the purest white. Off in the inner reaches of the castle you catch a glimpse of a diamond sword embedded in an imposing crystalline stone. Your quest is to make your way to that sword and claim it as your own. From somewhere in the background comes the sound of singing. You turn, and there before you is an exquisite princess. She leads you up a daunting staircase and you wonder where on Earth you could be going, until you reach the top, which opens onto what seems like a mile long pair of giant slides. She challenges you to a race down this vast, steep slope.  Sound good so far?  Oh, I should have said, “Put on your warmest...

  “What is it, Lassie? What’s happened?! What? Over at the Harrington Place? A fire? Ok, Girl! We’ll go get the sheriff. Good Girl!” Together Timmy and Lassie race to help put out the dangerous fire raging on the other side of the mountain. Timmy & Lassie, Shaggy & Scooby, Charlie Brown and Snoopy--there is no end to the legends that are born from a boy’s relationship with his dog. This past weekend another famous duo, “Gary Bird & Dharma Dog” (and I) made a visit to the Larson house in Spring Valley, where Kaye Bird’s sister, Nina, introduced us to their new “grand-puppy”. “Buttercup” (as in Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride) is an 8 week old cocker spaniel. She doesn’t know it yet but she is going to grow up to be a gorgeous dog. Most of her is a soft cream color, with complimenting butterscotch velvet ears and butterscotch freckles on her muzzle. Her person is Elliot, who is eleven years old. Even though she has only lived with him for a day at the time of ...

  Do you have a Bucket List? The other night my husband, Gary, and I sat down and  watched the 2007 film, from which this famous question was born, The Bucket List , starring Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, and Sean Hayes. I had never seen it before. It is billed as a comedy, and although we found ourselves chuckling at certain moments, it was not slap-stick or sidesplitting. What was supposed to be one of the funnier scenes was when Carter, Morgan Freeman’s character, fulfills his dream of driving a 1961 Red Shelby Mustang with white racing stripes. He and Edward (Jack Nicholson) end up at a race track, Carter with his Shelby and Edward in a 1970 yellow Dodge Challenger. They are racing around the track and it’s a thing of beauty to watch…until they get overly-excited and out-of-control. They WRECK these iconic, classic cars. Oh my stomach! Yet the film was endearing, and left us with a lengthy discussion afterward about goals, dreams, and our need to know we’ve squee...