August 6, 2022 · 6:27 am

More on Moving Away

Half the Collection About Women

I sank even deeper from frantically boxing up books I wanted to keep and carrying the heavy boxes into the spare room, lining them along the wall. I could not possibly take 500+ books with me. I bagged up most of them to donate to the Shepard’s Inn and Goodwill. Each day I was soaked with perspiration and exhaustion. I couldn’t accept the help offered because I had to choose which books to keep.

I woke at midnight with pounding heart palpitations. Message: no more carrying super heavy boxes of books. I adjusted my routine and carried piles of books into the room, over and over again, then boxed them.

The following midnight my guide came to me with a message. ‘Stay calm. This move is meant to be. All will be well.’

For 2 years I looked in the South Hill area for an apartment to rent. The only one I found had 40 other applicants waiting in line ahead of me. House maintenance dragged me deeper and deeper. I just couldn’t keep up with taking care of all the little things than need attention. I loved my home but could not manage the work involved to upkeep it any more. The City even sent a notice to me-cut your grass or we will cut it for you. Not beneficial to me, I knew.  Thankfully, I found someone to take care of cutting the grass regularly. That was one less job to drain my energy. That brought me super high again.

The buyers came with the inspector. I liked them immediately! This house needs young people to fill it, but more than that, a joyful energy came in the door with them.  I couldn’t have chosen a better fit for the house if I had hand-picked them. As we chatted a little bit, I was even more impressed and pleased. I liked meeting who was moving in to take over the house. The house is more than sticks and stone, it deserves good people. Another high.

The Captain and I returned to our normal routine but it took him nearly a week to trust me again. Then his desire to be stroked and petted overcame him and he leapt up onto my lap nuzzling me with his face. He even climbs around my neck and rests on my shoulder.

It continues. . . . . .

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August 5, 2022 · 10:10 am

Today, the Reality of Re-locating Set In

Before the Packing. . .

When I came out from my bedroom early this morning, it hit me! My walls are naked of my cherished paintings and hangings. My several bookcases are empty of the books I hauled around for the last 20 years, some even longer. It must be true! I am moving away! For the last couple of weeks my life has been a Coney Island Roller Coaster-the biggest one from the good ole days.

I’ve gone from super high when my house sold for more than the asking price to the deepest pits when I learned that the senior apartment a found had overnight changed from one that fit my budget to one that didn’t. I love the area of Farmville, Virginia. Now, oh, my! Was I going to be homeless because, according to statistics, I have a low income? Near panic set in! I knew I could bunk with one of my friends, but why chance losing a friendship? It would only be a band-aid answer to an open wound situation anyway.

To make matters better, I found the perfect home for the Captain with a friend who would bond with him and I was sure, vice-verse. Then I tried putting him in the cat carrier after my friend Charlene talked to him, explaining about my move and being unable to take him with me. He understood and noticed the changes in the house i.e. boxes beginning to pile up. That made matters worse. He fought me, paws swinging out, yowling at me. He got away and ran away only to return at suppertime. He only came to the bowl when I was out of reach. I waited a few days, this time I closed the sun room door and scooped him up in a beach towel. Since he wouldn’t fit in the carrier I slipped him into a box on the front seat of the car. Got his food bowl and popped the trunk to put it in, and the Captain popped out! And ran away. Whew! I gave up. Put this business on the back burner and returned to packing up my books.

More to come. . . .or as long as my sanity holds out!

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July 10, 2022 · 1:43 pm

Ten Things of Thankful

Photo by Dimitri Kuliuk on Pexels.com
  1. I am thankful that Lisa Tomey is a happy newlywed and wish her and husband thousands of blessings and when they are used up, thousands more.  I love happiness and I love weddings-someone else’s.
  2. Rain, rain, rain. I love the rain…soft and gentle, hard and pounding.
  3. Hugely thankful that my house is completely decluttered.
  4. Super thankful that the photographer came to take photos of house for sale.
  5. Supremely blessed that he adjusted my thermostat from Celsius to Fahrenheit. A thousand blessings to him and then a thousand more.
  6. So thankful that I have begun to pack up the few belongings I’m taking with me.
  7. So thankful I have found an area I want to live in. Farmville.
  8. So thankful I have found The Woodland.
  9. The Captain will be going to a home he will love and be loved.
  10. I am surrounded by true friends.

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July 4, 2022 · 12:56 pm

Prayer for the 4th and Everyday

Divine Spirit

arlene s bice

2022.07.04

On this day of rejoicing and celebrating the birth of our nation

Please lay you hand of love and light on the shoulders of the growing number

Of discontented men and women with minds full of hate and anger

Instigated by an evil one.

Let them see and feel the blessings of a lightened heart

Where love dwells for their neighbors, no matter how far away

Let their weight of hatred be lifted, changed to kindness and compassion

For those who are different from themselves

May you shine your love and light upon the many who lack the ability

To open their eyes to see the joy of loving and forgiving

Let them bond with those leaders who walk with truth and goodness

Divine Spirit, help our country and all who dwell on our land.

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June 30, 2022 · 6:13 am

From: What it is to be a Woman- Women Marching

Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

women marching© arlene s bice

i watched the huge masses of women

gathered together

around the world

they protested the usurpation of their rights

fending off the danger of a new administration

ignoring the constitution that supports

our country and progress

women kicked to a lower rung on the ladder

by leaders fed off their powerful positions

voted in by many of these very same women

arrived by car, train, or plane

walkers filled streets, sidewalks, and mall

shoulder to shoulder, politeness reigned

with silent power of consideration

each overflowed with peace and energy.

*January 2017 there were 675 marches worldwide,

over 4 million marchers according to the Women’s

March on Washington official website.

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June 29, 2022 · 4:25 pm

From: What it is to be a Woman-poem by Jyoti Wind

Image by Sarah Richter from Pixabay =thank you.

To Be a Woman© Jyoti Wind 

Generations of servitude,

always others first.

Here we stand

learning boundaries,

saying No,

feeling good about

having choice,

standing in our power,

inspiring sisters

to do the same,

learning new ways

of being in the world

than what was given.

Turning to ash

the ways of our mothers,

inviting our daughters

to surpass us.

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June 28, 2022 · 7:41 am

From: What it is to be a Woman-Tubbs

Image by Sabrina Young from Pixabay-thank you

Something to think about …(C)Sandra Butler Tubbs

Mrs. Rosalind Gertner (Lakewood New Jersey High School Social Studies Department Chairperson, white and Jewish) wrote this in my 1967 yearbook:

“A young woman with your brains and of your race has a very hard line to walk between two worlds. I’ve seldom met anyone with your ability to do it successfully – My best wishes go with you – affectionately, Roz Gertner.”

Thank God for allowing me to grow and flourish among so many wise and wonderful people. At first I thought Mrs. Gertner was ignoring the recent mid-sixties Civil Rights victories. She, like my father, Deacon William Butler, knew that those laws were only tiny baby steps toward a better direction.

My father once said, “Laws don’t change people’s hearts.”

Because of my father, Mrs. Gertner and others, I have survived and thrived on that very hard line Mrs. Gertner described in 1967.

I am ready to begin conversations with red, yellow, black and white about how we humans can start taking steps to be who God wants us to be – you know, loving, kind and considerate to each other.

To my friends and family, we all are part of God’s family, so let us start helping others to be part of that family and to take bigger steps toward the healing needed in the United States and the world; and let’s let God’s love shine through each of us to each other.

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June 27, 2022 · 10:19 am

From: What it is to be a Woman anthology- Gardner poem

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Never Underestimate a Woman ©LaVerne Carlo Gardner

life as a female

growing up in the south

was not always easy

was not always fun

there were many roles

there were many duties

from child to woman much too soon

from adolescent to caregiver much too young

must take care of family

little time to be a teenager

little time to date or socialize

there was one way out

education

become self-sufficient

independent

there were happy times

family gatherings

weddings

birth of children and grandchildren

social events

there were sad times

death of childhood

death of parents

death of marriages

death of friends

death of lovers

death of a child

but through it all I prevailed

the strength of a woman

should never be underestimated

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June 26, 2022 · 9:03 am

The Tree of Woman from What it is to be a Woman

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

The Tree of Woman© Lynn Szostek    

Roots, shoots, fruits

A woman thou art these

From tiny seedling rooted deep

Grown tall and strong, a tree

With branches reaching far and wide

Stemming from her core

They find the sun and catch the rain

And sway through any storm 

Though leaves may change and some may shed

A branch may break or bend

Just when you think her time is done She blossoms once again.

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June 19, 2022 · 5:38 am

Ten Things of Thankful-Fathers

Father
Stepfather
  1. I’m thankful to have had two wonderful fathers. Albert Bice who shared his genes with me, the ones that loved books, learning, and creativity.
  2. The same father who believed in honor, duty, and who planted the seed of family roots. He gave me the basics and the desire to learn who they were, then left me to it.
  3. Thankfully, my stepfather was a wonderful man who accepted responsibilities, received the love of my mother and gained a family.
  4. The same stepfather who improved our daily lives and walked me down the aisle on the big day.
  5. Thankfully, my son Bret became a super Dad to two wonderful daughters who turned him into a grandfather.
  6. Thankfully, my son Ralph became a loving father to a wonderful daughter. He waited a long time for the privilege.
  7. To their father who did the best he could with what he had to work with.
  8. Thanks to my grandfathers who I only came to know through genealogy.
  9. Thanks to my great grandfathers who impress me deeply with their lives lived. They fought in the Civil War and survived.
  10. To all my grandfathers who came before,  two who fought for our country in the American Revolution; even earlier; one who came on the Mayflower; one who came from Cornwall, England.

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