While Grandpappy Happy and I were having dinner in a local "family" restaurant , sitting at a table near us was a family of four mother, father, son and daughter.
The kids were either texting or playing a game on their phones and the father was talking to someone on the phone and the mother was just sitting there. I couldn't help but think " the family is "together" but completely dis-connected". I also thought what a good time it would be for them to visit as a family.
I personally think that today more than any other time we need to build our family relationships and have a genuine interest in each other.
Our children inherently crave our love and attention, they also need our guidance. One of the best ways to give them that is to communicate with them.
I know it may seem old fashioned, but meal time is a perfect time to visit with the family. You may ask yes, but what do you talk about ?
How about who you saw during the day, or what you did at work or school or maybe on the way to or from there.
It might be something you saw, an example is one day Grandpappy Happy and I were driving somewhere when we had to stop for a red light, there was a man on the side of the street with a sign that said
" HUNGRY" There was a van ahead of us at the light and the driver jumped out of his van, opened the back and took two sandwiches and a cold drink out of a cooler and ran it over to the " hungry" man. Then when the light turned green drove off to where ever he was going.
I thought what a compassionate thing to do.
You may not see anything like that, but perhaps something that you would like to share. You might think nothing interesting ever happens to me, well maybe what you see or do is interesting to someone in the family. You know it's the little things that can bring us together, it doesn't have to be a big thing.
The important thing is that we are "connected" as a family and friends.
Ask yourself how well do I really " know" my family.
I am not opposed to all the electronic things we have today, I think they are wonderful but I do think being "connected" as a family is more important .
That's my thought, what is yours on the subject ?
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Missed Opportunity
A while back I was pushing a grocery cart down one of the main isles in our local grocery when all of a sudden from a side isle zooms a cart out, almost hitting my cart. A boy probably about 10 or 11 was pushing it, his mother was right behind him and seeing what happened, she looked at me shrugged her shoulders and just grinned.
I thought what has happened to common courtesy which makes life more pleasant.
First of all the boy should have known better than to be "zooming" a cart in the store where he could have hurt someone and the least he could have done was be polite enough to say excuse me.
His mother had a perfect opportunity to have taught him common courtesy ( which he should have already known) but she missed the opportunity.
On another day Grandpappy Happy and I were coming out of a store and a mother with a little girl probably about 5 or 6 were walking ahead of us, the little girl saw us and she waited and held the door open for us.
We of course praised the little girl for being so thoughtful and polite and praised the mother for teaching her daughter common courtesy. I believe when a child learns things like that at a early age, they will always practice what they learn through out life, it just becomes part of who they are.
It is amazing how small common courtesies add pleasure to our lives.
I wish we would all be a little more thoughtful of others, it makes life so much more pleasant.
I thought what has happened to common courtesy which makes life more pleasant.
First of all the boy should have known better than to be "zooming" a cart in the store where he could have hurt someone and the least he could have done was be polite enough to say excuse me.
His mother had a perfect opportunity to have taught him common courtesy ( which he should have already known) but she missed the opportunity.
On another day Grandpappy Happy and I were coming out of a store and a mother with a little girl probably about 5 or 6 were walking ahead of us, the little girl saw us and she waited and held the door open for us.
We of course praised the little girl for being so thoughtful and polite and praised the mother for teaching her daughter common courtesy. I believe when a child learns things like that at a early age, they will always practice what they learn through out life, it just becomes part of who they are.
It is amazing how small common courtesies add pleasure to our lives.
I wish we would all be a little more thoughtful of others, it makes life so much more pleasant.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Setting an example
When my daughter was a very little girl ( not old enough to go to school yet)
I had a bad habit of calling someone that I thought did something bad or made me angry " an ole sum bi..h" I guess I thought it didn't sound as bad as the usual statement.
One day we were visiting my mother-in-law, she and I were having a cup of coffee and visiting sitting at her round kitchen table, when all of a sudden I realized my little girl who was skipping around the table and quietly singing a song which was " sum bi..h, sum bi..h, sum bi..h,
sum bi..h, ooole sum bi..ch.
I quickly told her it had not been nice of mommy to call people that and she should never call anyone that, and that mommy had been wrong to call people that. Well let me tell you that incident broke me of calling people bad names or using bad words.
I recently read a poem the jest of which was what someone learned while their mom thought they were not looking. And it drove home to me how vitally important it is that we adults set a good example for children. We all KNOW that we should be an example, but are we ??
I may be old fashioned, but I remember the good role models we used to have and I hope we will all try to be good role models for young ones. What better way to show them than by setting a good example ?!
What do you think ?
I had a bad habit of calling someone that I thought did something bad or made me angry " an ole sum bi..h" I guess I thought it didn't sound as bad as the usual statement.
One day we were visiting my mother-in-law, she and I were having a cup of coffee and visiting sitting at her round kitchen table, when all of a sudden I realized my little girl who was skipping around the table and quietly singing a song which was " sum bi..h, sum bi..h, sum bi..h,
sum bi..h, ooole sum bi..ch.
I quickly told her it had not been nice of mommy to call people that and she should never call anyone that, and that mommy had been wrong to call people that. Well let me tell you that incident broke me of calling people bad names or using bad words.
I recently read a poem the jest of which was what someone learned while their mom thought they were not looking. And it drove home to me how vitally important it is that we adults set a good example for children. We all KNOW that we should be an example, but are we ??
I may be old fashioned, but I remember the good role models we used to have and I hope we will all try to be good role models for young ones. What better way to show them than by setting a good example ?!
What do you think ?
Friday, March 9, 2012
Color Colorado
Come visit Colorado with Grandma Joy, Grandpappy Happy and the grandchildren.
Denver is the capital of Colorado.
It is called the " mile high city".
If you climb thirteen steps up the capital building you will be able to see exactly one mile above sea level.
The National Western Stock Show is the world's largest rodeo which is hosted in Denver. Here the cowboys drive cattle down the street.
Colorado has lots of natural beauty.
The well known Pikes Peak mountain is one of them. It is 14,115 feet tall.
Some say from the top you can see
four states.
Today you can take a Cog Train to the top of Pikes Peak. A cog train uses a gear, "cog wheel" to power the train.
It can climb much steeper grades than is possible with a standard locomotive with friction type power in most trains.
In 1893 an English Professor from Wellesley College, Katherine Lee Bates took a horse drawn wagon to the top of Pikes Peak and was so impressed with the beauty of our country, she wrote the song
" America the Beautiful ".
Can you sing " America the Beautiful "?
It is a beautiful song about how beautiful our country is.
Zebulon Pike was an Army officer and explorer.
Pikes Peak was named for him after an 1806 expedition he led up the mountain.
The Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park has the steepest mountain descents in North America.
The drops average 43 feet per mile through the entire canyon.
Garden of God has beautifully formed red rocks.
Among them are Balanced Rock, which teeters on top of another rock, and steamboat rock which resembles a steamboat.
The minerals in the soil is what makes the pretty colors in the rocks.
Mt. Evans Highway is the highest paved highway to drive, from 8,700 feet to 14,240 feet at the summit.
In Denver the temperature can be 90 degrees, while at the top of the drive it can be 40 degrees.
The city of Boulder owns Arapahoe Glacier. It may be the only city to own a glacier.
A glacier is a river of ice. The ice melts and Boulder City uses the water.
Royal Gorge Bridge was the highest suspension bridge in the world until 2003 when China built the Beipanjiang River Bridge.
Royal Gorge Bridge is still the highest one in North America. It is 955 feet over the Arkansas River.
The Colorado mountains are known to have some of the best skiing in the world.
John and Jeffri love to ski.
Grandpappy Happy likes to take Leslie and Evan on a sled ride and build snowmen.
The gold rush of the 1850s brought lots of people to Colorado.
After the gold and silver mines were gone, the towns that sprang up as a result of them, became ghost towns.
There are many ghost towns in the mountains of Colorado.
The U.S. Mint in Denver produces half of the coins distributed in the U.S.
First an engraver has to engrave what is on each coin before it is printed.
The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, is an accredited college for the education of officer candidates for the U.S. Air Force.
The Colorado state flower is the Rocky Mountain Columbine.
It comes in different colors, but Colorado adopted the color blue-violet with a white cup and yellow center.
The state tree is the Blue Spruce.
Colorado school children voted to name it the state tree in 1892. But it did not became the official tree until 1939.
The state bird is the Lark Bunting.
The males are black with white wing markings during the summer but in winter they are grey-brown like the females.
They migrate into Colorado in April and fly south in the fall .
Colorado state insect is the Hairstreak Butterfly. It is small, only 2 inches in width. It has purple wings with black borders, orange accents in the corners and blue on the underside.
The state reptile is the Western Painted Turtle. It looks like it has been painted,
especially it's under-shell, feet, neck, head and tail. The colors are yellow, orange, red and gray.
It lives in ponds, lakes and calm water with muddy soft bottoms.
It hibernates in the winter.
The Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep is the state animal.
They are named for the big curved horns that the males have, and for their agility and perfect balance.
They live very high in the mountains.
They are a grayish-brown color.
Grandma Joy and Grandpappy Happy always stand and place their hand over their heart when the American flag passes to shoe respect and love for what the flag represents.
The Colorado flag has a blue background.
The stripe in the center is white with a red c with a golden circle.
The Barbie doll was created in Denver by Ruth Handler in 1959.
Just about every little girl in America wanted a Barbie doll.
The Eisenhower Tunnel is 11,000 feet high and is the highest auto tunnel in the world.
It is fun to visit the Dinosaur Beds in Colorado and see all the old dinosaurs and plant and insect fossils.
Colorado has 26 species of dinosaurs .
Native Americans were the first residents in Colorado.
At Mesa Verde National Park you can see homes which the Indians built from
1 AD. to 1300 AD.
You can visit the ancient Anasazi Indian Cliff Dwellings.
Many had to use ladders to enter their homes.
Four Corners Monument marks the only spot in the United States where four states come together in one place. The marker is the exact spot where you can stand in all four states at the same time.
Visiting other places is always fun, but there's no place like home.
If you would like to buy this or any book in their series, each book is $ 4.95 plus shipping & handling
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Thank you
I want to thank all of you for your comments on my blog and website.
I really enjoy reading them and appreciate hearing from you.
Since I last posted my computer got a terrible virus which wiped everything out of it.
I now have a new computer but I have to scan all the books I have finished into the new one ( thankfully, I printed each book as I finished it) which hopefully won't take too long.
Then I can add new books to the site. And now I can answer or reply to your comments personally. So as they used to say " keep those cards and letters coming folks" :-).
I really enjoy reading them and appreciate hearing from you.
Since I last posted my computer got a terrible virus which wiped everything out of it.
I now have a new computer but I have to scan all the books I have finished into the new one ( thankfully, I printed each book as I finished it) which hopefully won't take too long.
Then I can add new books to the site. And now I can answer or reply to your comments personally. So as they used to say " keep those cards and letters coming folks" :-).
Saturday, January 7, 2012
New Years Resolution
Most of us have started out the new year with our " New Years Resolutions" and I hope we can keep at least most of them.
On behalf of the children in our country and every country I ask you to add one more resolution, and that is to spend some or more time with a small child.
Our children, perhaps unknowingly crave the same things we do, attention, recognition, praise and love. And yet we "adults" are so busy seeking what we feel we need that we sometimes forget that the little ones need those things too.
It is a proven fact that young children learn quicker and better from birth to age 6 or 8 years of age than any other age. They develop " life habits" during those formative years and it's up to us to teach them "good" life habits, like the desire to want to read and learn helpful and beneficial things, and to treat others the way they want to be treated.
Some say "oh, they are too young to learn". Well I'm here to tell you that is just not true. If you don't believe it just watch how fast a little one learns that if they throw their toy on the floor while sitting on your lap you will pick it up, and they have learned a new game.
I recently saw a You Tube of several small Asian children playing guitars in concert, they were so small the guitars looked enormous in their little laps. And the music and harmony that came from those little ones was astounding ! Someone may say how did they do that ? I'll tell you how, someone took the time to teach them. And they were incredible.
Unfortunately we give children electronic and mechanical games and toys and they learn perhaps more from them (and not always good things) than from us.I'm not opposed to those kind of toys, I just think the children need more human relationship.
So please resolve to spend some time with a little one, playing a game or reading to them orperhaps teaching them art or music or just taking a walk and enjoying nature.
Our little ones truly are gifts, so lets show our appreciation for them by giving them a bit of ourselves and letting them know we care.
Next time I will give you a couple of hints on how to teach a child while spending time with them.
Keep in mind, I am just an old grandma who loves children and what I give you is what I call " horse sense" or just old fashioned common sense. I do not claim to be an educator.
Until next time show kindness,
Grandma Joy
On behalf of the children in our country and every country I ask you to add one more resolution, and that is to spend some or more time with a small child.
Our children, perhaps unknowingly crave the same things we do, attention, recognition, praise and love. And yet we "adults" are so busy seeking what we feel we need that we sometimes forget that the little ones need those things too.
It is a proven fact that young children learn quicker and better from birth to age 6 or 8 years of age than any other age. They develop " life habits" during those formative years and it's up to us to teach them "good" life habits, like the desire to want to read and learn helpful and beneficial things, and to treat others the way they want to be treated.
Some say "oh, they are too young to learn". Well I'm here to tell you that is just not true. If you don't believe it just watch how fast a little one learns that if they throw their toy on the floor while sitting on your lap you will pick it up, and they have learned a new game.
I recently saw a You Tube of several small Asian children playing guitars in concert, they were so small the guitars looked enormous in their little laps. And the music and harmony that came from those little ones was astounding ! Someone may say how did they do that ? I'll tell you how, someone took the time to teach them. And they were incredible.
Unfortunately we give children electronic and mechanical games and toys and they learn perhaps more from them (and not always good things) than from us.I'm not opposed to those kind of toys, I just think the children need more human relationship.
So please resolve to spend some time with a little one, playing a game or reading to them orperhaps teaching them art or music or just taking a walk and enjoying nature.
Our little ones truly are gifts, so lets show our appreciation for them by giving them a bit of ourselves and letting them know we care.
Next time I will give you a couple of hints on how to teach a child while spending time with them.
Keep in mind, I am just an old grandma who loves children and what I give you is what I call " horse sense" or just old fashioned common sense. I do not claim to be an educator.
Until next time show kindness,
Grandma Joy
Friday, December 23, 2011
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Hello Everyone,
First I must apologize for not being more attentive to my site this year.
My reason is that I have been so deeply involved in creating new coloring books that the time escapes me.
I will really try to be better in the new year about posting more often.
I am happy to say I now have 22 1/2 books completed. When I finish Kansas
( which is about 1/2 complete) and do Oklahoma I will have all of the states west of the Mississippi River finished and 5 eastern states. My goal is to have all 50 states in coloring books completed by the end of the new year.
I decided to not promote the books until I have all 50 states finished. however if you wish to buy a book before I start "promoting" them, you may get one directly from me. Refer to the list on my blog.
One of my other goals for the new year is to learn how to respond to the wonderful comments you send about my site. I enjoy reading your comments and appreciate getting them , but I have to learn how to respond to them. So much to do and so little time.
Keep coming back to visit ,as I will be posting new books and more comments.
I wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR
First I must apologize for not being more attentive to my site this year.
My reason is that I have been so deeply involved in creating new coloring books that the time escapes me.
I will really try to be better in the new year about posting more often.
I am happy to say I now have 22 1/2 books completed. When I finish Kansas
( which is about 1/2 complete) and do Oklahoma I will have all of the states west of the Mississippi River finished and 5 eastern states. My goal is to have all 50 states in coloring books completed by the end of the new year.
I decided to not promote the books until I have all 50 states finished. however if you wish to buy a book before I start "promoting" them, you may get one directly from me. Refer to the list on my blog.
One of my other goals for the new year is to learn how to respond to the wonderful comments you send about my site. I enjoy reading your comments and appreciate getting them , but I have to learn how to respond to them. So much to do and so little time.
Keep coming back to visit ,as I will be posting new books and more comments.
I wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR
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