All I ever needed to know...

All I Really Need To Know
I Learned In Kindergarten
by Robert Fulghum

- an excerpt from the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten

All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:


Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if
all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about
three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments
had a basic policy to always put thing back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you
are - when you go out into the world, it is best
to hold hands and stick together.



© Robert Fulghum, 1990.
Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, Villard Books: New York, 1990, page 6-7.

Chaos!

Well folks, it has been brought to our attention that we've been slacking on the Internet upkeep! Surely most of you know the chaos that had ensued before Thanksgiving. Mike is doing well after being in the hospital for 5 days. He has good days and bad days. He is taking precautions that seem to be helping...
We had house guests right after he arrived home. They also spent 5 days here! We had a big family dinner celebrating November birthdays with pie & all the fixins on a Friday. The next day (one week after the hospital trip) we went to the Fabulous Food Show here at the IX center. We recommend going at least once if you're at all into cooking. We were in attendance at the 1st Guy Fieri show. Which was really fun! There were samples to snack, tips & treats to be shared... someone described it as trick or treating for adults! Sue met Chef Michael Simon and is now a big fan of the Cleveland native... and St Eds grad we might ad! A good time was had by all that weekend... and we've just been busy ever since! We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We hope everyone is having an enjoyable Christmas season of decorating, shopping, wrapping and baking! We hope that all of you take time to enjoy the season and remember what it is all about, amongst all of the chaos... take time for Peace, Joy and Goodwill...

Been a WHILE!

Wow has it really been since February! Well folks... we've been busy! This year has been filled with 80th and 50th birthdays since then... which involved house guests... estimates for things around the house... WHERE ARE MY NEW WINDOWS?! Yard work ... house work... found a very old friend on face book... not that we chat on that very much... think that was March! We've noticed certain things being home owners... Dad always said "there's always something to do" and of course Dad was right! Well it seems that in spring and summer you prepare for fall and winter... and vice verse... Dad forgot to mention that one! Well we did put aside any do it yourself major projects for this summer... we have a couple of windows on order, thats the major project this year! We've been doing the minor things like repainting some of the trim, shifting a gutter away from the drive way... who would point a gutter right at the drive anyway! Duh! Landscaping of course... Sue has her alarm set for every Saturday at 8 am to listen to Angelo Petitti and has learned a lot! We've started shopping more at the West Side Market... again Dad was right! Its amazing how many years it takes to realize that something your parents told you was correct... We've tried a few new Breweries this summer... Great Lakes and Willoughby... We drove past the Erie Brewing Co yesterday coming home from our "new" ball park for this year.. Jerry Uht in Erie, PA. Where we saw the Erie Seawolves play the Bowie Baysox... which brings us to sports... we've been able to see a lot of baseball, minor league of course, between the Crushers and Captains... etc... Thats all for now folks! Now Get out there and DO SOMETHING!

The smell of spring...

Many people associate the coming of spring with buds appearing throughout the land... green things popping up in the yard... the absence of snow and the onset of rain... the red red robin going bob bob bobbin in the yard... birds singing... while we truly appreciate these as signs of spring. Lovely visual signs! One must not overlook the smell of spring! This hit us gently this morning at 4am... as our wonderful Ollie bumped into the window cover trying to see who/what was smelling up his back yard! Le Pew! Normally we've no clue what Ollie is spotted so early in the am... but this time there were 3 skunks playing and chattering in the yard... luckily the aroma was not that bad... none the less... folks the smell of spring is in the air! Le Pew...

By the way... who without looking it up can name Pepe Le Pew's girlfriend's name?!

The Rental

Ok you waited long enough! The surprise rental was a Chevy HHR... like fire engine red! At first we did not like driving it... but it truly grew on us! Even Dad said it had a nice ride... yep DAD! This being the year to possibly replace the 1994... the HHR is in the running now... hmmm was it really an accident that we had that rental???

Have you sent your guess on the rental car yet? Another hint... 2011 will be the last production year for this "car".

Are you staying warm? Not long ago almost all 50 states had snow... did you know that? Do you know which state did not? If you said Hawaii... you would be wrong! At any rate the investment of insulation has been paying off... but one of our new years projects is to add more to out unfinished upstairs. Its not a glamorous project like finishing the garden room... but none the less it must be done! What kind of projects are you working on this year? Our list is dwindling down this year... we need to regroup and save for some of the bigger projects... and or sketch out more details... This year we will have to repaint the side doors... there will be landscaping work to do... and perhaps some other things we hope they're all minor... Sue would like to do a bit of purging and reorganizing... and then have a garage sale! She has decided that the winter months are a good time to purge cabinets and closets, price things and box them that they will be ready to sell when the weather improves! Woo hoo!