(Is it cloudy or can you see the alpenglow atop Rainier?)

I’m glad you are a nurse and educator. What did you teach, kLA? Also, have you a spunky pug?

Threads with posts numbering in the hundreds, Star. Any way we look at it we’re occupied : )

Joan GC, I bet you have a great imagination and thinking about what would make you, your family and the world happy —not a real indulgence. At the very least you develop YOU to a greater extent by entertaining the prospect and “noodling” it around in your head. You have so much going for you. What’s Next for JGC? How about What Else? Besides, we’d like to keep your smile around a while :)

You are going to Ireland? I bet you’ll do just fine with the transition as you are bright & sharp, but very hard as you said to be far from your kids. Cell phones and computer monitor with a camera — Oh, Happy Technology! I wish you the Best. Soon?

So important to remember pre-union times, i agree Frank. History++++++

So important to remember Pre-Union times. I’ve worked in the healthcare field for 29 years and both employers had unions. The cost of being a member? Ya, I could gripe about that. But I don’t. As a union member, challenges you may face: the seniority-driven bumping process; the peril to the newest employees when there are layoffs (even the threat of layoff is psychologically traumatic); and everything to do with contract deadlines: who-will-blink-first between bargaining employees’ representatives and management’s reps, the anxiety of the strike vote, preparing your family for lean times, and the emotional scars people can carry. That being said, the current union I’m in works hard to improve relationships/communications with management, my wages through this last contract are set to a schedule (okay by me), the employer pays for part of employees’ health benefits, and there is a grievance process. I am glad to have benefited by union membership.

Say more if you don’t mind.

“Do you know of any other career where a woman barely more than five feet tall can intimidate everyone?” Judith - Yes, I do! As an educator. Let me tell you a real life story… My childhood memories are not full of background details, but my mother’s aunt Edna Corinne Cooper could do just that. She lived in Chicago and taught inner city kids at the same high school for over 40 years. Some students towered over Miss Cooper, who was diminutive and lean. By nature her face appeared stern, her brow rising up frequently as if she was accepting an invisible challenge. Around the holiday table I heard stories from my father of troubled times on the South Side where she worked. But Miss Cooper spoke to us quietly about her students’ efforts and pranks, not once commenting on the dangers she and the families faced in the neighborhoods and Projects. When she spoke all eye’s around our table were drawn to her. She often paced a story of a child so that we didn’t know what was coming next. Often looking inward, her wrinkled face only give away snippets of the emotions held within. The conclusion invariably would come with a laugh so throaty that even I could tell Miss Cooper was giving our family a glimpse of the true humanity she had in abundance. I could just see the gleam in her eyes under her aged, sagging eyelids. I know she intimidated folks, Judith. She did me! But Miss Cooper masterfully captured the students’ attention, and quietly gave them lessons about Life and Dignity that were received as if she were a coach with a 6-foot frame. I wish she had known that the kids really hungered for her teaching as if she was amother with a ladle of nurishing soup. But of course she did! She saw it in their guileless eyes every day. Much later a grown student shared with our family, “Yes, Miss Cooper was my favorite teacher. So many times I’ve wanted to thank her for what she’d done for me.” There he was: polite, neatly dressed, laugh lines around his eyes; wealthy in spirit and challenged by his circumstances of poverty. Today I’d like to thank that gentleman for being a reflection tall of Miss Cooper’s love.

Friend always, deal?

How lovely, Frank. Cadeau wrapped in faithful friendship. :-) From above, “You both” — something to share with you at HerTube: The Lost Art of Letter Writing, 5th post. Perhaps you sensed it, Frank. :-) :-0 ;-)

It’s great to read this upbeat piece today. For me… If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain. –E.D.

Wineapple - how splendid! She would love it and I do. There’s a poster here who’s name makes me smile. Have you, too, seen “Honeychild”? I hope the White Heat is good. Will look for that. Oh, I did get the 2007 Jane Eyre movie on DVD - all four lovely hours!

Please resist your inclination to vilify the excellent word liberal. Find other slights the unicorn to rein.

Morning, Frank. Getting any rest? Have you been to the market for pears and apples? Your thoughts don’t have words every day They come a single time Like signal esoteric sips Of the communion Wine Which while you taste so native seems So easy so to be You cannot comprehend its price Nor its infrequency. –E.D.