May 31, 2004 9:36 A.M.

A Creative Way to Waste Time

�The Picture Bridge� is an arts and crafts style bridge built in the early 1900�s across a small ravine in the gardens of the Ritz Carlton Resort Hotel in Pasadena, CA. My daughter and family were staying there while attending a conference in March. I visited them there and took this picture. Each of the main roof arches displays a hand painted depiction of a scenic area in California.

PAGE ONE:

I am sitting here watching a golf game, which is taking place in Louisville, Kentucky. (Any time I see something on TV, which originates from Louisville, it has my undivided attention. Well, at least if it shows outdoors shots.) They are under heavy storm conditions, and the tournament has been temporarily halted because of tornado warnings. During this hiatus, a golfer being interviewed made the following comment. �Let�s see if I can find a creative way to waste time.� Sometimes I feel that my whole life since retirement is endeavoring to do just that. Occasionally I am successful. Much of my time, I feel is unproductive. Often it feels like I am just marking time. I never dreamed I would have such a struggle with this season of life. I am learning, however, that I am not alone. I have recently found several others who are working through the same problem. Which brings another �caught phrase� to mind. I caught this one while viewing Oprah one day. She was showing video clips of her trip to Africa last year, where she was seeking creative ways to invest some of her resources in helping needy children on that continent. She spoke of being able to empathize with many of the conditions in the people�s lives, not only because she came out from roots of poverty herself, but�as she put it, �I discovered that all pain is the same.� That phrase leapt out at me. �All pain is the same.� She simply meant, that the stranger in Africa, or any other place, does not suffer differently than we do. I am a quote-catcher. My mind seems to have a net that catches words forming a phrase which �speaks louder than words��in the midst of what someone is saying. I �hear� a thought, and I try to hang onto it until I can get somewhere to write it down. Sometimes it slips through the openings of my net. This is a distracting habit, because I often cannot keep my mind on the conversation, and I miss the whole of it. All because I am focusing on a certain part. I ruminate on the �caught-phrase� and try to extract its treasures in order to preserve them.

PAGE TWO:

Isn�t she lovely! This is my oldest grandchild. She just went to her first prom, last Saturday. I took over 100 photos with my Minolta digital. I started snapping before she had her hair done, afterward putting on makeup, dressing in her �Belle� gown of spun gold, greeting friends; and I finished with them driving off in the limo. I will spare you the dozens of photos, but here are a couple of them.

PAGE THREE:

Next Saturday I am leaving for a three week stay with my daughter. She is going to be receiving medical treatment in Reno, NV and has asked me to accompany her. Since it is outpatient treatment, we will have some time to do a little sight seeing. I hope to be able to take photos of Virginia City, Tahoe, and other scenic locations to share on this page.

I don�t plan to update the journal during that time, but�who knows? I am taking my laptop and will try to get on-line at least a couple of times during the trip. But I most likely will be shut down for the next three weeks.

PAGE FOUR:

Just a comment on the photo above of the kids in the limo ready to leave for the prom. When I took this, I was standing across the street. There were many parents milling around because there were seven young couples meeting at Katie�s home to have pictures made and then depart in one long stretch limo. I framed the car door in my zoom lens, pressed the digital shutter half way to focus but not far enough to take the picture. There were a couple of parents standing right in the door with their cameras. I waited until the second they moved out of the way, and with the kids still smiling for the other cameras, I snapped the picture. It appears that I was close-up. But I was all the way across the street, just waiting.

Maybe my �quote-catcher� will be alerted to something I want to write about before I leave for Reno. But if I do not check in before I go�I will be storing thoughts and images to share with you when I return.

Talk to you later!

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