Wales

Finally I am able to log on, and I must tell you a little about our trip to visit our daughter, son-in-law and GRANDDAUGHTER. (We had this trip planned before all the move-in-a-hurry stuff.) So we went to Wales. Beautiful, green, wet and bucolic. Sheep dot the hillsides. My daughter calls them polka-dots. We had a ball. We were right at the ocean- Atlantic or Irish sea, I'm not sure, but we walked along the 'boardwalk' every morning. We also walked the streets of the town, and along little lanes outside of town. Personally, I thought that was wonderful. There were daffodils everywhere, most probably planted, but honestly, many looked as if they grew there wild. I didn't see many tulips, but I did see a lot of grape hyacinth and pansy's. What struck me the most was,as usual in that part of the country, the old stone buildings. We got to visit a farm where the new owners are restoring the farmhouse, and then will be turning some of the other stone buildings into guest houses. Some wouldn't think it fun to visit such a quiet area, but I sure would. I could easily spend weeks roaming the back roads and fields there. In fact, I could have stayed much longer with my daughter and been happy for weeks just playing with the granddaughter, since of course, the most enjoyable part of the trip was playing with our her. She always looks very concerned when she watches me, I think she confuses me a little with her mother, so she is trying to figure out just what I'm trying to pull. On the other hand, she adores her grandfather and he returns the favor. When he is holding her in his arms it is obvious that she is his grandchild, she looks just like him, yet she also looks just like her dad and just like her mom. She is a beautiful child, and I am so glad we went to see them.

Skills USA

I dearly love to watch young people grow into themselves.  Last week my dear friends took me to see the awards ceremony for Skills USA.  Their daughter was a participant.  I quite enjoyed myself as I watched young people in high school and college win awards in areas as diverse as carpentry and plumbing all the way to culinary arts and robotics.  There were more than 14 pages of categories, I know, because my friend was on page 14 and wasn't in the last group receiving awards.  It was fun to watch the winners come back in with tool kits and cooking implements which they won along with an award that may take them to national competition.  I used to be very involved in youth theater, and have spent some time with the high school choirs.  Not every child is, or should be, college bound.  However, every child needs something to be interested in, somewhere to put in their time.  Someplace that will help them grow into a complete person.  Watching anyone, especially youth become more is very gratifying.  Even more gratifying is to grow yourself.  Continuing to take classes, learn new skills, new language, a new instrument,  all these things make us smarter people, more interesting, and capable.  It has been awhile since I took a new class, maybe it's time again.  

We also need people who can do the plumbing, be the chef,  create the beautiful pieces of furniture.  I have had the jobs you get with the college education. I have also had the jobs you get by working with your hands.  I had a lot of fun working with my hands.  Don't be too quick to dismiss a skills career, it might be more gratifying than the college-degree educated career.