Wow!  Didn't realize I hadn't posted since mid July.  Now we're looking at mid October!  Some years ago I was working for several different newspapers.  One of the stories took me to a cancer Survivor's Weekend.  It sounds trite to say that it was a life changing event but it truly was.  These were some of the most amazing people and having them together collectively, their energy was an almost tangible force.  A few years after that, through a series of circumstances, I ended up homeless.  Time passed and I got the floor beneath my feet again but there are still a few looming challenges.  Someone once said that charity and altruism are truly born of individual need,  perhaps because we understand in some way what it's like to walk in the shoes of another, or because we know of a time when we didn't take the time to understand and wish to in some way make amends.  I have never had breast cancer but I have lost friends to various forms of cancer.  And I have seen chronic disease that has no cure rob others of their quality of life.  I work with a great organization that today affords me the opportunity to set some of my own goals and target challenges.  It is called Tomboy Tools.  Through them, I own a Pink for a Purpose hammer that I hope will someday help me bang the nail on a home of my own.  In order to move toward my own goals I am partnering them with the charitable contribution that Tomboy Tools will make to breast cancer research.  For every Pink for a Purpose hammer that I sell ($14.95 ea.) they (Tomboy Tools)  will contribute $1.00 for breast cancer research (http://www.TomboyTools.info/ShirleyLoomis).  It is my goal to sell 25,000 hammers by 12/31/2010.  Please help me reach my goal.  Everyone can use a hammer and even if you have one, you can probably use another one.

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July 13, 2009 (Monday)

Happy belated 4th to all of you.  I found this 4th to be especially wonderful.  A few of us got together and built a float for the local coffee shop.  What a great time!  And my Tomboy Tool Pink for a Purpose Hammer was there!!!!!!!  I know I sell them but what a great little hammer that is!  Just the right weight and since it holds the nail for me, there is much less likelihood I'm going to ruin my thumb by whacking it!!!  It was a 2.5 mile parade path and we had a blast.  In my town the 4th is always when you see people you don't see for the entire rest of the year.  Walking the parade route I learned the one sees them ALL in a very short span of time!  May you have celebrated good things, good people, community, and values that need to be fostered and protected with the same or greater pleasure as I found in this year's Independence Day.

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June 5, 2009

It's really starting to happen! Power tools and I are actually getting somewhat comfortable with one another, with the end result of our relationship proving useful!  Ladies (and unskilled men) if you think it, you truly just might in fact be able to do it.  Living near the coast I've picked up driftwood over the years and finally am in a position to turn it into comforts for my home (never will I be as skilled as my brother but I can live with that).  It's so nice to look around and see things made with me own hand that are made of materials saturated with memories.

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Since we're wrapping up the first quarter of 2009 it seemed that now was a good time to begin another journal.  The other one had the look of a big run-on sentence and was getting on my nerves.

By the way, to those of you who stop by and leave beautiful graphics with your posts, thank you.  From time to time I have to scroll through the comments and delete a lot of them (after saving them) because they just make the list far too long and unwieldy when the number of comments starts getting up there.  Just wanted you to know I've enjoyed them even if you don't see them posted indefinitely. --- Regards. 

March 19, 2009 - Thursday Evening

     Spring is coming to the Massachusetts coastline and with it spring cleaning and cleaning house are coming to my life and lifestyle!

     When I posted this journal I titled it as such since part of the reason I came to this site was because there were some disorganized pieces of my life that I needed to reassemble; one of which was my connectedness to others beyond the confines of my travels to and from work.  In so doing, I now hear regularly from some of you who are far removed from the path I just mentioned (in many ways).  You have spurred my creativity and industriousness.

     Having raised my daughters myself I was always mindful of the multifaceted roles women play in today's society.  To that end, other than the physical challenges posed by getting a tad bit older I have tried to keep the view of my life subject to only the definition I wish to give it, meaning it does not necessarily need to conform to standard definitions.  Interestingly enough, some of those of you who randomly stop by to say hello or send emails have defined your worlds in very non-standard ways as well!

     A year or so ago I started to teach myself the use of power tools.  It's an interesting thing, being a woman and firing up a compound mitre saw all by yourself shortly before turning half a century old.  The scream of the blade leaves a lasting impression inspite of all the times hearing men in the family do the same thing in workshops.  Now a couple of years later, it's almost becoming familiar to me.

     I have a little pink took bag that I use as a purse and as such have become a little recognizeable at my local Home Depot.  This past weekend I saw a contractor's truck and he had just the set up I needed for my little red truck.  Not being terribly good at math I got the picture in my head for what I wanted, bought the wood and just started to cut and build.  Is it perfect?  Of course not!  But am I pleased with the end result?  You betcha!

     Kind of like a lot of things in life you might say.  Not perfect, but still perfectly suitable!

February 22, 2009 - Sunday evening.  It's been sometime since I was on this site.  Thank you to those of you who stayed in touch.  As always, it's good to hear from you.  It seems more of my posts tend to be on sites other than my own.  Those of you who wish to do so, take a peek at my latest venture:  http://www.PiratesCoveMarineServices.com.  I built a site for a friend of mine.  Had the good fortune to do a little commercial graphics work as well.  Now if I can just get myself to sit still and finish the book that I promised my mother would be in a publisher's hands by last Christmas (gosh I hate missing deadlines --- especially when it's my own darn fault). 

Again, the light in my life went on, illuminating the cobwebs of the past and I could hear my ex-husband’s words coming to the fore of consciousness..."When are you ever going to learn that you don’t see the world the way other people see it?" 

Thankfully, as I turned 50 I realized he was oh so very very correct and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Most of my peers had melt-downs at turning 50.  Me, I tried to join AARP before I was eligible.  Always the practical one, I thought there must be a pretty considerable benefit to such large numbers so I wanted to get in on that!  There is much I’ve not yet explored on this site but it’s a huge online commuity so the composite knowledge and life experience has got to be tremendously varied and valuable, at least to the individual as is my own to me.

Well so much for my ramblings and today’s posting.