"Oh, the Places You'll Go!" By Dr. Seuss

I first discovered this book while I was nannying. I loved it instantly. So did the little two year old girl I nannied. She picked it over and over for her just-before-nap storytime. Katie bought me a copy while we were on our trip, not knowing how much I like it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"Congratulations!

Today is you day. 

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

"You have brains in your head. 

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

"You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, 

you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

"And you may not find any 

you'll want to go down. 

In that case, of course, 

you'll head straight out of town.

"It's opener there

in the wide open air.

"Out there things can happen 

and frequently do

to people as brainy and footsy as you.

"And when things start to happen,

don't worry. Don't stew.

Just go right along.

You'll start happening too.

"OH!

THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

"You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

who soar to high heights.

"You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.

You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.

Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best.

Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

"Except when you don't

Because, sometimes you won't.

"I'm sorry to say so

but, sadly it's true

that Bang-ups

and Hang-ups

can happen to you.

"You can get all hung up

in a prickle-ly perch.

And your gang will fly on.

You'll be left in a Lurch.

"You'll come down from the Lurch

with an unpleasant bump.

And chances are, then,

that you'll be in a Slump.

"And when you're in a Slump,

you're not in for much fun.

Un-slumping yourself

is not easily done.

"You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.

Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.

A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!

Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?

How much can you lose? How much can you win?

"And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...

or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?

Or go around back and sneak in from behind?

Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, 

for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

"You can get so confused

that you'll start in to race

down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace

and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,

headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...

"...for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or No

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

"Waiting for the fish to bite

or waiting for wind to fly 

or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil, or a Better Break 

or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants,

or a wig with curls,

or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

"NO! 

That's not for you!

"Somehow you'll escape

all that waiting and staying

You'll find the bright places 

where Boom Bands are playing.

"With banner flip-flapping

once more you'll ride high!

Ready for anything under the sky.

Ready because you're that kind of guy.

"Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!

There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.

And the magical things you can do with that ball

will make you the winning-est winner of all.

Fame! You'll be famous, as famous can be,

with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

"Except when they don't.

Because, sometimes, they won't.

"I'm afraid that some times 

you'll play lonely games too.

Games you can't win 

'cause you'll play against you.

"All Alone! 

Whether you like it or not,

Alone will be something

you'll be quite a lot.

"And when you're alone, there's a very good chance

you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.

There are some, down the road between hither and yon,

that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

"But on you will go

though the weather be foul.

On you will go

though your enemies prowl.

On you will go 

though the Hakken-Kraks howl.

Onward up many

a frightening creek,

though your arms may get sore

and your sneakers may leak.

"On and on you will hike.

And I know you'll hike far

and face up to your problems

whatever they are.

"You'll get mixed up, of course,

as you already know.

You'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's

a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

"And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

"So...

be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Alli Van Allen O'Shea,

you're off to Great Places!

Today is your day! 

Your mountain is waiting.

So....get on your way!"

-Dr. Seuss

"War and Peace"

Heather bought me this beautiful book for Christmas. I was so excited because I love beautiful books! If only all books came looking as if they'd been published more than 100 years ago! The mahogany binding and gold-edged pages are accented by a delightful story. I enjoyed reading it before the fireplace, or out on the front porch of the Yellow Cottage when the weather began to get warm. As history will show, I am not very kind to my books. I take them everywhere. This book, however, I was not letting out of my house - or at least, not off the front porch...

...So I was very glad to find buried in my stacks of books another copy which I kept in my truck so that I could take it anywhere. The most dangerous place being the barn. There are some wrinkled pages from getting wet; the edges of the pages are slightly browner than they were when I began to read it - I'm surprised that they don't smell like horse, grain and hay; pages 117-278 just tumbled out onto the office floor the other day.

I enjoyed Tolstoy's book immensely. It is a story of love in the midst of war; a story of the survival of a nation and the people who fought for their country, and those who tried just to survive the war. 

There is romance, betrayal, forgiveness; a dual between two men that were once friends; great battle scenes and beautiful parties; it is threaded with tragedy and hope; an officer rescues a damsel in distress.  There is, history, some philosophy, and a little theology. 

It did take me a very long time to read it all, but I didn't forget what was going on as is sometimes easy to do with lengthy classics. Tolstoy's descriptions made it easy to see and remember each scene.

I was so excited to find a fairly recent version of the movie War and Peace. I must confess that I did watch it when I was only 3/4 the way done with the book. But I am watching it again now that I have finished the book. 

A Creative Bone

A few months ago I discovered that I have a creative bone somewhere in my body. My mom tried to find it when I was a little girl and then gave up when I pasted two pictures on a page in a scrapbook without even adding any stickers and called it done. Crafts take sooooo long and there is not enough time in the day to do them when horses need to be ridden, friends need to be played with, and books need to be read.

Pinterest has been a great area of inspiration. I found this and I liked it so much that I wanted to replicate it. So I went to Michael's and bought glittery alphabet stickers for a little over $1, and found a little black frame. Then I dug through all of my old photo prints from Photography 101 and selected a background photo.

 

I put them all together...

And made my own "Count Your Blessings" board.

It is standing on my dresser where I can see it every day. It matches my bedroom and is also a good reminder for something that is so easy to forget sometimes.

 

 



 

What I've Been Up To

I'm sure you're all wondering what I've been up to since my great migration across the continent. Well, I have been very busy. We took Katie to school on Sunday and summer officially ended.

On Monday I helped fill the void that my sister's absence left by helping in the dining hall. I was very useful...

In the last week I've been brushing up a little on piano...

I've taken several walks, enjoying the bright, sunny days...

 I've jogged a little, when it wasn't too terribly hot...

Hunting for a job has been my primary activity these days... 

No luck yet...

 Oh! And I've also been relaxing with a little light reading.

Road Trip in Summary

Friday we drove to Murrieta and spent the weekend with Sarah. We went to see Katie and Mikey and meet little Isaiah. 

Sunday we met my friend Meredith for breakfast in Old Town Temecula at The Gambling Cowboy. Then we drove to La Quinta to meet the Gromans for lunch. It was so good to spend the week with family and friends that we hadn't seen for awhile. 

I found a deal on hotwire.com for a bed and breakfast in Utah. We had a lovely room in an old house. In the morning we had homemade granola parfaits for breakfast before we set of for Zion National Park and two days of hiking.

The outside of the house we stayed in.

Day #1 of hiking.

Day #2 of hiking. We hiked up to Angel's Landing - which has one of the best views in the park.

This is me, already exhausted before we were halfway up.

My view as I was catching my breath. This is the path that we had taken so far.

Taking some breaks along the hike to take pictures in the cool rock formations that we passed.

"Your safety is your own responsibility. Fatalities do occur." - Translation - if you fall, you die...don't fall.

"Are we there yet?" "Yes! Finally!"

We stopped in Nebraska at a roadside coffeeshop and discovered a barn arranged as a museum to remember the original settlers of nebraska. Behind the barn was a real sodhouse, arranged as it would've been in the 1860s. There was also a buffalo and an indian riding a horse made out of barbed wire. It took about 3 miles of barbed wire to make each one. It was a nice little break from driving.

It seems Nebraska was our "history state." We stopped in Grand Island to visit a living history museum, which ended up being quite extensive. It began with a beautiful park.

Then we walked through the gate and into the year 1862 of Railroad Town, Nebraska. Only two of the buildings were built new. Most of them were just moved from various towns to create the museum.

The stationmaster was a man whose father had once worked in the very same train station - back when it was in its original town. He was very knowledgeable about the trains and effects of the trains in towns and uses of the trains and different instruments in the station. We talked to him for about a half hour. 

We drove pretty much straight through the rest of the way to Guelph. We pulled into the driveway at about 11:30 Friday night and surprised Daddy and Mama by arriving a day early. 

Pictures from the fair!

Here are the pictures I promised from the fair. Katie and Hannah had fun on the rides. 

 Here is the traditional carousel picture I was sure to take for Mama.

 Here we are watching a show. It was nice to sit down in the shade. It was such a hot day. Jack is trying to find Hannah who is hiding in the stroller.

 Meeting the horses.

"Go East, Young Woman, Go East..."

The Great Trek has begun. Katie arrived in Oregon on last Thursday. We spent a fun day Friday in Olympia visiting Uncle Steve and Aunt LaNea, Uncle Tom and Aunt Sherri, and our dear friend Smores. Of course, we had to go shopping, and we found some great deals.
Friday night we went to the drive-in movie in Dallas for a girls night with Heather. Saturday I went to Heather's house for a few hours to hang out while Katie spent the day with Grandma Bonnie. Grandma Bonnie made dinner for all the family who were able to come celebrate Katie's birthday on Sunday. Inside all of the fun were many good byes that were rather sad. But early Monday morning, we said good bye to Grandma Bonnie and Bill and began the first league of our journey - Grass Valley, CA. It took a few hours of loading and unloading, arranging and rearranging the back of the pick up, but we got it in - dresser, night stand, bike, and a few other things too. :) The road south was a little heavier than the poor truck was expecting, but it made it safely to Grandma Morrish's house Monday night.

Tuesday was a relaxing day, which was lovely after our previously busy last few days. Katie and I hung out with Grandma and Jack for most of the day. For dinner we met Kevin, Kris, and Dresden; Adam, Leslie, Hannah, and Elijah; and Melissa, Charlie, and Jack at the park for a celebratory picnic dinner for Katie's 19th birthday!

The fair opened on Wednesday and we all enjoyed the animals and the food and the shows. Katie had fun with Hannah on a few rides. As a grand finale of the rides, Katie and Charlie rode one of those that flip you upside down. I have pictures, but I haven't loaded them onto my computer yet, so they will come soon. It was a very enjoyable day and so great to spend it with our cousins and grandma in Grass Valley.

We drove to Redondo Beach today and had dinner with Alan. It was so fun to see him! Christmas was the last time we all saw each other, so we all had a lot to talk about.

Well, that's all for now. More to come in a couple days...And with pictures, I promise.