Mom, to prepare for next spring color, I planted a bed of Shirley Poppies in your honor. I’ve always loved the crepe paper poppies for sale on Veteran’s Day, but never realized they were based on the same flower.

The inside of the seed packet says, “This packet is dedicated to those men and women who fought for the allies during the two World Wars.”

Just goes to show you never know what you may find if you take a closer look.

I used to be a runner and a backpacker; now I am a gramma who hikes a lot, camps in a popup camper rather than on the ground, and rides my bike with my grandkids.

I used to sew most of my clothes. Now I teach my grand kids how to hem and embellish their jeans.

This bike seat cover used to be my friend Susy’s sweater. When the old cover on my bike seat wore out and I found myself sitting on foam, I first whined to my man that I needed a new seat. But then, I instead reached into my bag of felted sweaters and fashioned a new wool cover. Cushy and absorbent: everything I need! Kind of like soakers for grownups.

According to polls, most of us people-of-a-certain-age will be working for many years to come out of need. But if we all keep figuring out new uses for old stuff, maybe we’ll stay entertained, keep our brains and bodies active, and discover that if we economize even further, we may not have to work till we’re eighty.

Some are marked with a card or phone call, while others require gifts, purchased and or handmade.

In case the cards/gifts/phone calls/Skype chats don’t arrive on schedule, or before there are more additions to the family calendar, here are felicitations for you one and all, in the order of appearance. Key below.

1. Bill & Fran’s wedding day, August 19 (link shows bride and girls, minus new hubby)
2. Tessa birthday, August 20 (link to FB pics for those who have access to seeing them)
3. Andrew birthday, September 5
4. Marie birthday, September 14
5. Eamon birthday, September 21
6. Skyla birthday, September 26
7. Larry birthday, October 10
8. Casey & Skyla anniversary, October 11
9. Don birthday, October 14
10. Don’s & my anniversary, October 19
11. Bill birthday, October 30

Here the lawns are already lush and green, you can hear a cardinal (the bird!) singing while sipping your morning coffee, and mold grows like it has been lovingly cultivated. The sun is a huge red ball at dawn as seen through the permanent scrim of humidity.

The people here are kind and generous, and I am the one with the accent.

And mechanical and metal fatigue may be endemic, because a lot of things seem to be falling apart in my hands like the brand new deluxe caulking gun I bought to do some work around my mom’s house. And the  compressor on her minivan’s AC the day she began to need it. And this corkscrew I located in a drawer wanting my mom to have a little sip of tempranillo while soaking her tired feet in a fragrant footbath.

Even my hairdryer and flat iron are failing me so I’m going with the crazy out of control curls I wore when I last stayed here, in high school.

These are small challenges compared with my mom’s new job of keeping her man alive while he sojourns in ICU, for nearly a month now.

My posts will be tempered for awhile by my experiences at my temporary new address in Illinois. But we’re not screwed, yet!

I may have imagined such a night, but I couldn’t have scripted it any better than it happened.

It’s true that you just can’t make this stuff up.

We got a call the night before Dillon was asked to report to the major league game in case they needed a back up 1B player.

A sold out night game versus the Giants in Scottsdale Stadium meant that tickets were iffy. 11 of us converged anyway (some of us from about two hours away) with hopes of getting into the game, even though we knew our player probably wouldn’t make it into the game himself.

Dillon’s request for tickets didn’t get processed and the clerk at the will call window didn’t have anything for us. Following a brief discussion between the manager and the staff, the very accommodating Giants people just handed us some bleacher tickets and told us to enjoy the game.

Once inside, we scanned the field and couldn’t believe he was actually taking BP at that very moment, so his dad and I dashed over against the backstop. Watching Manager Mike Scioscia watching our boy swing it was like a feature film playing in my brain.

We got a little bit of parental love: glove bumps, the megawatt smile and a couple seconds of that good old baseball small talk, and then he disappeared into the dugout.

With most of his immediate family present (missing brother Casey in California and sister Marie in Prescott), his girl Addison, and his childhood buddies from Prescott (Wes, Jeff, and Jay), we squeezed into the distant right field bleachers where we had a great long view of the dugout.

Another baseball parent (thanks Carolyn Berg!) was sitting above the dugout and gave us updates on where he was standing along the rail so we could watch him watching the game.

In the top of the 8th, I didn’t see him leaning on the railing where he’d been through the entire game … looking down near the on deck circle, I spied a guy about Dillon’s size wearing a helmet, holding a bat.

Never mind what was happening on the field, which the rest of the 10,000 plus spectators were following. Our group, surrounded by a sea of Giants fans, were watching, waiting, holding our collective breaths … and then we saw him step up onto the field, do his signature pre-at bat move: the bat held in both hands raised high and then stretched behind his neck. Then his name was announced.

You won’t read a description of what happened next on MLB.com as there’s only a mention of the Angels picking up 2 hits in their defeat; Chris Pettit‘s early in the game is the only one noted. You will spot his name if you take a look at this wire account that didn’t make it into our hometown newspaper since the game ended too late.

If you’re a family member on FaceBook and want to see what happened when he singled to right on a 1 in 0 count, you can watch this video that a wonderful Giants fan recorded and sent me. Thank you Robert. Sorry, if you’re not a family member, it’s got privacy settings on it so you won’t be able to see it.

It won’t be written about anywhere else, but for us it was as good as it gets. Your kid batting 1.000 in the majors. For a day.

And we know it’s official because the bench coach gave Dillon the official score card.

I love you this much: a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

After a delightful winter spent doing repair projects and painting with hubby at a property we have listed for sale, I’ve mostly worn the same paint-encrusted duds five days a week. I look forward to scrubbing the primer off my hands and fingernails, changing clothes and getting out of town for a couple of days.

Two friends from our Ravelry Prescott Knitters group (waving at Allee and Emily!) and I are going to the game and meeting up with my very own Angel, Dillon (minor leaguers don’t start for another couple of weeks, so he gets to attend a game with me as a spectator, which has never happened before in either of our lives!).

First stop, Tempe Yarn & Fiber and then on to Tempe Diablo Stadium to watch the Angels and maybe get to say hi to a few of the players we’ve met over the past couple of years in the minors.

With two huge knitting projects finally off my needles (both of which were started and worked on at other ball parks over the past two years) it’s fitting that I cast on something brand new to start this season.

Here are the first few rows of Featherweight Cardigan, by Hannah Fettig, anchored with baseball stitch markers, of course.

Play ball!

P.S. Here are some photos from the day at Tempe Diablo.

I DO have a knack for names, and when I saw Google’s visual tribute today, November 8, the name of the man who discovered X-Rays popped instantly into my head. And, what timing.

Due to his insatiable appetite for things inedible, we’d been sitting vigil with Chester throughout the weekend. The “Sean Connery of dogs” (as he is called at the kennel where he boards when we are away) just had lab work and a set of x-rays earlier this morning and is under now the care of his doctor at Prescott Animal Hospital.

Chester will likely live to see another day, and many more we hope. Thanks, Dr. Cameron Dow and Mr. Roentgen.

Social networking became the trendiest way to stay connected in 2008. As a result, clients in many industries are seeking VAs with proven expertise to manage their social media presence. As a hot new niche market, it’s natural that training programs have sprung up for VAs who want to offer this service.

This phenomenal growth of a new medium has me asking some questions:

• Just because you use social media, does that qualify you to charge other people to let you handle their social networking activities?

• Who decides what the standards are when you are representing another person? I think this raises some ethical dilemmas. For instance, can I represent you, by posting links to your newest blog posts and responding to all your Twitter DM’s, forwarding to you just the ones I think you’ll want to review? If so, how does someone chatting on LinkedIn, know if they are really talking to the person they are addressing or to an assistant? Should I limit my VA services to profile creation on your preferred SM platforms and then turn the job over to you for handling day to day posts?

• If I am a client contracting with an assistant to manage my social networking communications, how do I know if this assistant is aware of protocol if I don’t know the protocol myself?

• At what point are you entitled to describe yourself as expert in a media that is still in its infancy?

Jennie Cromie wrote 8 Surefire Ways to Tick Off the Twitterverse. Jennie’s “twittequette” is a good place to start whether you’re a VA looking for work, or a client trying to figure it all out.

By the way, Jennie’s piece was published on Twitip, which is another in the lineup of fantastic blogs by Darren Rowse, and can help you begin the process of refining your understanding and use of Twitter.

Among the training options for VAs who want to add this niche to their services list are:

www.vaclassroom.com, which offers a Social Networking training component. Craig and Kelly Cannings own this company, which provides training in such areas as Affiliate Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Web Analytics, Blogging, and, yes, Social Media Marketing.

www.virtualassist.net/blog/category/virtual-assistant-training, where you can find help and support in many areas, whether you are a VA or a client looking for VA services. Andrea Kalli is the publisher of www.virtualassist.net and has written extensively on how to use social media for business. She offers training and support in many services, including social networking. Here is just one article that Andrea has written, which includes a link to a class she presented for fellow virtual assistants: How to Use Twitter for Business)

Speaking of this, here are some relevant posts from elsewhere in Loosely Speaking:

Calendar of Events for Bloggers and VAs
Eligibility vs. Suitability for Your Profession
Interested in Becoming a Virtual Assistant? Here’s Your F.A.Q.
Are Social Media today’s biggest time suck?
Unintended Outcomes (of Social Media)
From Bulletin Boards to Brightkite: How we stay in touch
Loopt, Brightkite Invites: I’m Confused!?
Tapping the Power of LinkedIn

Let’s just say it’s nothing to brag about, since it has taken me a VERY long time to get there.

What I DO want to share is how I will spend that $100 check from Google.

My first $100 is going to go to my local Community Supported Agriculture program, Whipstone Farm. I’ve written before about participating in Community Supported Agriculture, and my husband and I want to enable another family to enjoy the benefits of weekly deliveries of locally grown, organic, DELICIOUS produce when the harvest starts up again in April.

To be clear, we have already committed to purchasing both our own and a second share of the 2009 growing season. One share is enough to feed a medium-sized family a week’s worth of vegetables.

If you are interested in helping support CSA’s, you can visit some of the links following this post to learn more about the concept.

Oh, and I want to make this clear, too. Google’s Adsense Program has very specific rules and regulations and I don’t want any dubious “help” with this achievement that would violate their publisher guidelines.

I’ll announce it here the day I reach my $100.

Speaking of this, read these related posts:

Pizza Perfection

Give a Care, Give a Share

Community Supported Agriculture in Prescott

Prescott Farmers Market

The things they left behind:

1. 5 hot dogs
2. 8 working squirt guns
3. Redecorated basketball court
4. lavender button-down shirt: doesn’t appear to fit anyone in the family… (pictured)
5. Crabtree & Evelyn bath products (pictured, still plenty in the bottles)
6. black tee shirt (pictured)
7. plastic storage bag for travelling toddler-sized crib mattress (pictured)
8. Axe bath product (bottle near empty, but, still…)
9. 3 loads of sheet & towel laundry
10. 2 funky old lawn chairs
11. bag of corn tortillas
12. 88 photo memories of the things we did
13. a green plastic thing (pictured)
14. an empty fridge
15. a quiet house
16. 2 tired, but lonely grandparents

It ended way too quickly. Call or text us if you recognize and want to claim any of the left-behinds.

And, please come back soon. We love you.

While in Tucson we met a delightful couple from Grenoble, France, who were also guests at the Inn we have stayed at many times this Spring (Read more about the Sam Hughes Inn).

Our conversations with Alain & Pascale were challenging but lively, and after we told Alain the results of the final game over breakfast the next morning, he presented us with a bottle of French wine, saying “pour la victoire!” (or something like that: I hadn’t attempted to speak French in about 40 years and who knows what I conveyed in my halting efforts!?)

Even MORE Great news for Arizona: they’re the #1 seed in their divisional bracket when the NCAA field of 64 gets underway Friday.

Interestingly, they are the only #1 seed who isn’t also hosting a tournament. That means our boys head off to Ann Arbor in a couple of days to square off against Eastern Michigan (#4 see in the bracket), Kentucky (#3), and Michigan (#2, and host of the tourney).

Unfortunately, our family won’t be in the stands for this event, which starts Friday, May 30 and should wrap up by Monday, June 2. C’est la vie, vraiment?

After that, 16 teams will advance to the “Super Regionals,” locations for that as yet unknown. However, these games will all be televised by ESPN, so that no matter where our boys play, we’ll be able to watch the games when they are played June 6 – 9.

After that, 8 will remain standing to face off at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, June 14 – 25. We have been told that it’s about impossible to find a place to stay in Omaha, but, to be sure, if our boys make it that far, we will head off to Omaha and hope to find a place to sleep no matter where it is. (Mom, can we commute from your house near Chicago?! N_____, can you call your cousin Marg Helgenberger and find out if we can borrow her place in Omaha???)

Go ‘Cats. Merci beaucoup Alain et Pascale.

For us grownups and parents, we’ll receive announcements in the mail and tuck a little something in an envelope for the grad-to-be, along with our congratulations on his or her achievement.

For the grads, it’s a time of self awareness, exhilaration, and acknowledgment. Or maybe not the last one for some.

Moms and dads everywhere cross their fingers in hopes their grads will take the time to compose genuine expressions of appreciation to those remembered their special day.

Guest blogger Hazel Bowman helps you grads figure out just what to say in those thank you notes. Read on.

Attention Grads: Don’t Forget to Write!

From the time we were small children, we were taught three of the most important words that we would ever use in our every day vocabulary – “pleaseâ€? and “thank you.â€? What great words to learn. They’re never out of date nor out of vogue. In fact, you are judged by your ability to say them – whether in your personal life or throughout your career.

No where is the value of the word “thank you� more important than in a personal handwritten note. With graduation almost here, it’s quite likely that the graduate will receive a gift. Though unlimited in variety, as a rule of thumb the closer the giver is to the individual, the more elaborate the gift. Such kindness is to be rewarded with a thank you note.

A sincere note of thanks expressing enthusiasm (whether or not it is felt) should always be sent promptly, using expressions that are most natural to you. The note does not have to be long in length but should convey your appreciation for the giver’s thoughtfulness on such a commemorative occasion.

If you’re not too sure what to say in writing your note, here are some examples to help you get started:

Dear Aunt Carol,

I can’t thank you enough for the check you gave me which will go a long way in helping with my college expenses next year. As I plan to live on campus which is only a few hours away from where you live, I’m hoping that you can come and visit me on occasion when I start classes in the fall. You’re one of my favorite aunts and I would enjoy showing you my dorm in addition to giving you a tour of the university. Thanks again. You’re the best!
Your loving niece,
Cathy

Or

Dear Uncle Curt,

What a great duffle bag you gave me for my graduation! How did you know that I plan on taking a three week summer tour through Europe before delving into the academic world of hard study and homework? Did mom tip you off? It’s perfect for not only my trip but also all the times I plan on going home with dirty laundry stuffed in it for mom to wash. (Don’t let her know that – I plan on sweet talking her into it.) I really appreciate you thinking of me on my graduation day. It meant a lot.
Love,
John

Hazel Bowman is the publisher of PrescottWeddings.com and is a recognized authority on etiquette. Her alter-ego, “Miss SOS,” helps brides sort out thorny situations prior to their wedding day, and is regularly asked to address college seniors on business etiquette and protocol.

In fact, Miss SOS is available to speak at your company or business. In a world where our coworkers and clients are as likely to come from the other side of the globe as the other side of town, changes both subtle and radical are necessary in our manners. Miss SOS’ fun interactive presentation provides advice and guidelines relevant to our business lives today. Topics include: office decorum, business calls and introductions, entertaining and networking, cyberspace courtesies, and conducting business out of your home. To learn more, contact Miss SOS at PrescottWeddings@cableone.net.

Speaking of this, here are some related articles previously published at Loosely Speaking:

• More on Thank You Notes as Expressions of Appreciation
• Thank You Notes: do you or don’t you?

I was asked about my profession last week, while I was lying on a gurney, just before being sedated for a “medical procedure.”

Used to having to explain my industry, Virtual Assistance, I was surprised when the person who asked knew all about VAs, since he had apparently been reading the Tim Ferriss book. He, the medical person, not Tim Ferriss, then said he would like to get my business card.

Lacking foresight, I had forgotten to grab a handful of them to bring with me into the surgical setting and I had no pockets in that hospital gown. Opportunity lost!

My questions:

1. Am I the only one who hasn’t read The Four-Hour Workweek? And, if you read it, what did you think? Want to loan me your copy?

2. Should I follow up with this person from my medical experience? I am not sure of the protocol for a situation like that! Who knows what I said while under the effects of the amnesia drug used to sedate me?!