Tikkun Olam

I researched the history and origins of the popular Hallmark holiday Mother's Day , and found some interesting information about it.  It was started by a West Virginia women's community organizer named Ann Reeves Jarvis in order to improve sanitary conditions and lower infant mortality rates.  After her death, her daughter Anna began celebrating a special day to honor mothers--her mother, specifically--and thank them for all they had done for their children.  It mushroomed out of proportion to her original intentions and was officially declared a national holiday by president Woodrow Wilson in 1914, to be celebrated the 2nd Sunday in May. Although it's commercialized, I'm for any excuse to get together with family.  The best I could do way over here in Colorado, so far away from my kids and the rest of the family (my sister, my sisters-in-law, mother-in-law, etc. who are all out of state), is speak to all my kids, and 3 of my grandkids.  My kids sent me last ...

There is nothing like anticipating the month of May as the beginning of Spring, and with it new blooms, budding trees, planting beautiful flowers and yummy vegetables in your garden--in short, the annual beginning of new life.  NOT.  I live in Denver (nuf said?).  For those who are not in the know, it can snow in Denver any month of the year, except maybe July. This year, today, May 1st, it snowed.  The temperature was 27.8 degrees .  The snow began after 3:00 a.m. here (I got up to go to the bathroom--I'm of that age) when I went to look out of the bedroom window.  It was just starting to precipitate, and the walk beside our townhome which winds itself around the complex looked slightly damp. I should have taken a picture of our patio covered in snow, but I'm just a bit blase over this.  On the one hand, I was really, really hoping for warm weather--and then we had some, over this past weekend, the last weekend in April.  It was over 70 degre...