The Glass is Half-Full

This is a face I don't see anymore - except in my memories. That of my little brother Michael. Today would have been his 46th  birthday - but this senior picture is how I will always remember him because he was taken from us just a couple years after his senior year. I don't want to dwell on the sad details - because there are many and they can still all these years later bring me to tears. Because today is his birthday, I want to write about the many gifts he bestowed on those that he loved. Bernard Michael Bowen was the youngest of five. The rest of us have names that start with the letter K - but Michael from birth was going to be unique. Named for his paternal grandfather, whom everyone called Barney. No one called Michael, Barney, until high school when many were adopting nicknames. His friends would jokingly call him Barney! And like nearly everything else in his life, he seemed to smile and shrug it off and go with the flow. He played, and loved, football. And so

I know I don't look, or act, old enough but Dick Clark was a huge part of my childhood and adolescence.  I watched American Bandstand on Saturdays throughout my school years. I loved to dance and I could watch and dance along with the 'really groovy' dancers on the Bandstand. It was my view into the latest music, dance moves, and fashion! I could see what the girls from the big city of Philly were wearing and try to adorn myself in something similar in the big suburbs. Next to Seventeen magazine, it was my best source for fashion!! Now mind you this is 'back in the day' when most homes only had one TV. And I don't think ours was color until the mid-to-late 70s. So, I would have to announce to my four siblings that it was my turn for the TV at 12:30 when the Bandstand came on. You can imagine the number of times actually sibling warfare broke out - you know name-calling, pillows flying, arms flailing. Often times we'd end up laughing. And then later the

Wonderful Wally. Damn dog. W-a-l-l-a-c-e! Good boy. Where the hell is Wally?  No Wally!!  I've said all of the above to Wally, our pure bred mutt, in the last three hours. It's not that I'm psychotic it's just there are days when this dog drives me crazy. Today is one of those days!! Don't get suckered in by his cute face and sad eyes - don't do it! He's a sneaky not-so-little pup. He looks innocent, but he's not!! While showering, I give fido a Kong filled with peanut butter to keep him busy. Well, today, I must have taken too long or he didn't have enough in the Kong, because in the living room were the remnants of a bagel thins package (there had been three left), the banana bunch minus one and some paper towels. Ugh!!! I have been occasionally letting him romp in the hood. Playing with his best buddy Murphy or the new dog next door Anna, and he usually comes home within half-an hour. Today, I let him out to chase the ballsy bunny in ou

Like the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games has reached beyond it's genre - young adult fiction. And the movie seems to have especially gone beyond. I went to see it on Friday night. I don't usually like movies that have been made from books that I've read and loved. Exceptions are the Harry Potter series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and now Hunger Games. The common thread seems to be the action that is alive on the page is so much better on the screen where you can see it played out. I truly cannot wait to see the next two movies. What is missing in a movie is the thoughts - it's hard to portray what someone is thinking unless you have a narrator. I felt it missing in the Hunger Games - Katniss' thoughts are a large portion of the book and while they did an admirable job with some of the relationships the movie could not really convey all that the heroine was thinking. I still prefer a good book - but the popcorn at movie is better!! If you haven'

     I drive a mini van. That is probably not a surprise seeing as I'm an overly involved mother of three. It's almost required - I mean imagine a farmer primarily driving a Smart Car or a Mini Cooper. Those vehicles would not be up to the jobs the farmer would need done, right? Now imagine an overly involved mother of three primarily driving a smart car or a mini - they're not up to the jobs I have needed done.  I have been the car pool mom, field-trip mom, camp transportation mom, shuttle to-and-fro mom and assorted other 'moms' that required seating for seven. My van (or vans since I've had more than one) have held passengers singing songs by Pete Seeger, Barney, Raffi, Hilary Duff, 98 Degrees and many others. The van has seen Chinese fire drills, games of 20 questions, whispered secrets, giggles and many other games or sounds of children. Lately, all of that has changed - the songs are usually by bands I don't know with lyrics I don't occasio

I stopped blogging for awhile. I know some might think that I was being lazy, or overly-involved in some community or school venture or in the middle of some really good books or projects. While all of those are true, that's not the main reason. I stopped because it felt strange to be somewhere and have someone refer to something I wrote. It was like they knew a secret about me (though secrets are not usually published on the Web) that I hadn't shared with them. Though in reality I had shared because I wrote it on the blog.  Truth be told, I don't know who reads this - I have a smattering of followers but a lot more readers. Blogger lets me see how many page views for each posting and I can even tell the referral site. The most I have had for any post was 152 and I've had readers from as far away as New Zealand (thank you Gretchen) and Alaska. Most readers are referred through Facebook. I know that if I were more diligent, I could market the crap out of the blog and

It's a great image isn't it? Picture it - a mother bear, overheated and sweating, growling bearing her teeth while swatting at what ever comes in her way. It may not be the image I want related to me most times, but recently it's one that seems to fit! Someone messed with my cub and I am one pissed off Momma Bear!! I have had to take a chill pill - in this case a few deep breaths and a couple hours mulling over how to respond. Because I didn't want the person I would be swatting at to go on the defensive. I just wanted him to go down!!!  I'll let you know the result.             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For a totally different picture of this Momma Bear, one of her cubs is about to leave the den. She's been through this before when her oldest cub left the den for the woods at Wabash, so she has been fooling herself into thinking that the second cub would be easier. Hell no! Many times lately this Momma Bear has had to retreat to her private den to

There are times when someone in my family misplaces something and then I often hear, "Mom/Kathleen, do you know where my ____ is?" Ironically I usually do where the wayward item is - and I chalk this up to my uterine locating device. It's something most moms possess - and most moms use on a daily basis. It's one of the mysteries of the universe (or not) how women/mothers are able to locate items thought to be lost. For good.  There can be no other reason than that women possess some sort of location ability that men, boys and girls do not. I have deemed it the uterine locating device (ULD). My children have learned to take it seriously - asking me to use my ULD to find their missing item(s). However, I have learned that it only works in my own home - or if we're vacationing in our home-away-from home. Now, I just wish it could find my motivation!!!