The Audio Drinking Companion - Rum- is the name of the song as far as
I can tell, found it on itunes. I couldn’t find a better song to go with our
cocktailing cat - bacardi lover - you be the judge. Lock up the liquor cabinet,
he’s worse than a teenager on spring break- we call him tiny evil and I think
he is a cat in a dogs body.

Death is a part of life…. it’s after they are gone that many loose hope and loose touch. I lost my best friend to cancer 5 years ago, it was a painstaking, ugly and just simply put, no fun at all.

In March, I lost a colleague, that became a friend, he added a bright light in my work day. Last week, our very good friends wife died. I am not going to go into an entire sob story here, but if my recent experiences can help someone, or if someone is grieving and my little pieces of advice can help, this post is worth it.

I am going to begin with my friend 5 years ago, after she was told she was now considered “terminal”, which by the way I found out while putting my 16 year old cat to sleep, I had to add that drama-sorry. I spent as much time with her as I could, stopping in daily to help her as she got weaker and less mobile. She said to me one day,

“crack open some beers, give me a cigarette and let’s talk about me dying, no one will talk to me about it and I am scared.” We talked at length, she knew I had no answers of the process, she knew I believed in the afterlife and spirit world, I am confident that on days when the weeds are getting out of control in my garden that she is out there, tisk, tisking me. She just wanted to talk, she just wanted to say it out loud and hear the words.

Now, onto my friend that passed in March, he was my colleague, I ran his dispatch schedule, we talked daily 10-15 times, he endeared himself to me quite quickly and I became quite fond of him. I knew of his family through him and our many conversations, speaking of his wife and kids, he beamed from ear to ear. I met his wife only once, and didn’t get much of a chance to speak to her at the wake. I recently wrote her a small note and hoped that I had the correct address. I wanted her to know what a nice man she was married to, and how when he spoke of them, he did with passion & love. Last night, as we sat with our neighbor who lost his wife last week, my phone rang, and it was my friend’s wife.

She thanked me for my note and said she had to go look up my number and call, the card and my “words” meant the world to her. She asked me if I had time to just “talk” to her. She wanted to hear stories of her husband, she wanted to talk about him, she wanted to remember good things, hear good things. Finding comfort in talking, I shared my stories with her, we laughed, and we cried a little too. Something she said, sparked me to write this post. She told me, no one seems to be around now, 16 weeks has passed, and no one wants to talk about it, or him, as if they are afraid. 16 weeks is not along time, especially for the one’s who have lost someone, this is still fresh and new and as if it happened yesterday.

This is it, we are as a whole, afraid to talk about the unknown or the uncomfortable. Yet, there is controversy all over the blogosphere. So, finding a voice in this type of situation is what really helps people that have lost someone. After they are gone, don’t stop communicating, don’t stop talking. If someone close to you has lost someone, don’t be afraid to ask them how they are doing, or ask them to share a story about that person.

My neighbor sat last night, and talked, he talked of his wife and things they used to do when they were young. He told us of her favorite dinner, of her mean cat and he just talked. There is something to this and the grieving process, I know it in my bones, I don’t have a phd or even a bachelors degree, but I do know human compassion, this helps people heal. It’s all about reaching out, taking the time to stop your daily routine, and see if you can not help someone through a difficult time.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone, even if you don’t know what to say, let them talk!

Bird Poo Facials, really now - who thought this up?

Before I go on a tangent here about this latest and greatest salon Au Jus, I have to share a story why this headline captured my attention.

Some time ago, my son at around age 5, could not stop the tears of laughter coming out of that little body when my niece uttered the words “bird poo,” since that is what splattered all over the windshield, this has been an ongoing family catch phrase for going on 11 years now.

No matter the mood of either one of them, if you sputter the words, “bird poo” and each one of them will break out into a fit of laughter. Sort of like my brother-in-law when he tells the snail joke.

What did the snail say to the turtle when he got a ride on his back? Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, who, by the way just broke out laughing when I called to verify the joke.

Dumb, I know, but still and all, we must find laughter where we can.

Bird Poo facials, now let’s think about this for a moment, would you be comfortable with this? At around $200.00 a pop, or would that be a plop?

It makes me wonder, who was the first one who drank a cow’s milk, or ate that first chicken egg? Say silk, silk, silk.. now tell me what does a cow drink? ……………if you said milk.. think again - a cow drinks water! Oh the mind games these days!

What would prompt someone to splatter bird poo on their mugs? How do they get the bird poo? Is this collected in an aviary? Would you want that job? How much does that job pay? Do you collect it in tupperware or a plastic baggie? Is fresh bird poo better or are they freezing it like they do embryo’s? Is bird poo from an eagle better than that of a hawk? What about the little birds, house wrens let’s say, how much bird poo does it take to create an entire facial from them?

Should we compensate the birds somehow? Or do we just think of them as bird brains? If it was a human, you know somehow they would want to be paid.

The questions just keep coming, I just can’t believe that the old brainiac mind of mine didn’t come up with this little ditty way back when the splatter hit the windshield.

A day late - and $200.00 a plop shorter, what will the next big seller be?

Post Script - the drawing accompanying this crazy post was done in all charcoals

I just ran across an interesting post regarding Classified Ad’s for your blogs - Flugpo

I decided to give it a try and see how the traffic is and if it works.

Looking for housing, jobs, personal ads, or anything for sale. This appears to be a great venue for getting your product or services noticed.

I will be curious to see how the traffic to the site is from here, and will report back. The ads are free, so in my opinion it is worth the try.

Check out what the buzz is all about.

With their bobbles, bracelets, braids, and a record breaking about of tattoo’s among them, we have seen them come to life on screen.

Captain Jack Sparrow & Captain Barbosa captivated audiences and created a spur of eclectic dress and dreadlocks.

There are a variety of pirate ranks, I’d like to focus on the captain, they are either elected or rule by force.

Captains had to keep a sensible order, and if they failed, the punishment for the one’s that were elected was not nearly as devastating as that of the one that ruled by force.

Sensible order - what is that in this day & age?

We need to be our own Captains. “ Captain of My Life by Dillinger“

I found myself loosing control of sensible order when I became quite detached from the basics of life, while I was trying to figure out a situation that was beyond my control, a situation that was beyond my scope of rational thinking, the bottom line, was there were no answers for me. I didn’t control the situation, I was only in the mix and I needed to regain my position as Captain of My Life.

If you find yourself on that sinking pirate ship, grab your life raft, it’s a simple vessel, which are the basics of life, love, happiness, harmony & trust. It could be a hand that is reaching out to you, that you can’t see through the fog, or someone’s words of encouragement that are getting lost in the choppy waters.

If there is no sensible order in your life, remember - you are your own captain.

I sketched this sexy woman pirate on an old recycled wine box that my husband found on his recycle run. This was done with both graphite and paint, first I sketched in the sexy pirate, and added the colors of the sea behind her. I left the upper left section with it’s natural wood grain to give the effect of the sky next to the sunset.

It’s a treasure box for any pirate fan!  This treasure box now belongs to Hannah…Happy Birthday