The Three Day Fish Rule

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. Benjamin Franklin

Leftovers in our house don’t get eaten very often and are generally thrown in the garbage disposal or trash. We’ve considered starting a compost pile, but we have so many animals like raccoons, skunks, deer and pack rats, that they would probably run us out of our house if we created a food source for them.

I watched an eagle soar past the house several times today looking for food. It is not an unrealistic expectation that there could be food here. Our neighbor lives in San Francisco, but travels to Klamath Falls about once per month. I usually know when he is in town because I see a parade of hawks and eagles flying overhead. On his visits here, he goes fishing in his boat on the Klamath Lake. After he cleans his catch, he leaves the carcass on a stump behind his house.

I decided to get creative with leftovers in our refrigerator. Today’s gift was to take the leftover salmon and place it on a stump in my yard. I’m not sure if the eagle will be the lucky recipient or some other animal, but that felt better than putting it in the garbage. Even though we won’t eat three-day-old, smelly fish, the eagle will see it is a delicacy.

In Giving,

Robin

Lost or Exploring?

Almost 10 years ago my friend, Jana Stanfield, told me she was making major changes in her life. She and her husband divorced prompting her to move to Bali. Through her organization, The Caterpillar Society, she had been taking groups of women on trips to other countries and just decided to take a risk, sell all of her belongings and set out on an adventure. Since then she has bounced around in Thailand, Cambodia and many other countries. Throughout her exploration, she has done so much good in the world helping orphanages, empowering women and with muscular dystrophy.

The song that she wrote before she left on her journey describes her feelings about her move:

I’m Not Lost, I Am Exploring
Written by Jana Stanfield and Jerry Kimbrough

If I Could Look Down On This Path I Walk
From Somewhere Way Up High

I Could See The Crooked Road That I Have Come

I Walked A Mile With Sorrow

I Walked A Mile With Joy

And Now I’m Less Afraid Of Either One

For Every Tear I’ve Cried
There’s A Smile That I Have Earned

For Every Mile I Walk There’s A Lesson I Learn

I’m Not Lost, I Am Exploring

Life Is An Adventure Worth Enjoying

Though I May Not Know Where I’m Going

I Am Not Lost, I Am Exploring

I Am Not Lost, I Am Exploring

Some People Choose To Live Their Lives
On Quiet Avenues

While Others Find A Place In The Parade

Some Like Me Are Seekers

We Take Less Traveled Roads

Believing We Can Find A Better Way

And Though I Get Discouraged
I Won’t Be Turning Back

I Have Joy As My Compass And Faith As My Map

I’m Not Lost, I Am Exploring

Life Is An Adventure Worth Enjoying

Though I May Not Know Where I’m Going

I Am Not Lost, I Am Exploring

I Am Not Lost, I Am Exploring

All Of Us Are Headed For The Same Destination

So Why Not Blaze A Travel That’s Got Imagination

You can listen to a sample here: 

Jana emailed me that she will be speaking and giving a concert in Portland, Oregon. She asked if I would invite the National Speakers Association Chapter members.

Today’s gift was to do that, plus email other people I know who would enjoy Jana’s “heavy mental music.” I hope they don’t get lost and can explore with Jana.

In Giving,

Robin

Chips and Salsa Anyone?

Name the actor that these statements describe:

• About his company he said, “In a way we are really effective recyclers. We take the money and give it back. In thirty years we earned over $400 million, all of which we’ve given to countless charities.”
• Company’s tagline: Shameless exploitation in the pursuit of common good.
• Early in his acting career, he was often mistaken for Marlon Brando. He claims to have signed around 500 autographs reading, "Best wishes, Marlon Brando."
• Chosen by People magazine in 1990 as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world.
• Racecar driver and drove in all of the movies he was in.
• “What could be better than to hold out your hand to people who are less fortunate than you are?”
• Married to actress, Joanne Woodward for 50 years until his death in 2008.
• “I am an extreme believer in luck and the extraordinary role that plays in our lives. Good luck, bad luck or medium luck.”

Movies he starred in:

• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• The Sting
• Road to Perdition
• Cars
• Message in a Bottle
• The Color of Money
• Cool Hand Luke

• “One in three customers buys my products because all the profits go to good causes and the rest buy the stuff because it is good.”
• “We are such spendthrifts with our lives. The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I'm not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.”
• “You can only put away so much stuff in your closet.”

You probably had guessed that these statements are attributed to actor, Paul Newman. In Christmas 1982, he bottled his homemade salad dressing in wine bottles and gave the gift to his neighbors. He said, “The business started as a joke that got out of control.” Imagine his surprise when they knocked on his door wanting more. That is how Newman’s Own began. He didn’t want or need the money so all the profits are given to charities.

Today’s gift was to buy Newman’s Own Pineapple Salsa. There are lots of choices for salsa, but it feels good to buy something that I know the proceeds are given to charity.

In Giving and Eating for Charity,

Robin

Lost in the Store

My sister, Terri, has always had boundless amounts of energy. Even though I was an energetic 10-year-old girl when she was born, trying to keep up with her was exhausting. Terri was constantly in motion. She would rock back and forth on the couch when watching Sesame Street or Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood on television.

Shopping with her became a game of hide-and-seek. When she ran through the doors of the store, she took off like a rocket. Our neighbor was not vigilant at keeping track of her when she took her on outings. One day I was driving downtown and my friend Susan said, “Look in the window of Rahall’s Department Store. There is a little girl posing like the mannequins!” It was Terri.

Then there was the time that Granddad, Terri and Mom were shopping at K-Mart in the Beckley Plaza Mall. Granddad held Terri’s hand tightly as she pulled him over to the toy section. He turned to show her a Drowsy Doll and Terri disappeared. When he found her she had climbed onto the clothes rack and was standing on top of the round glass display. He coaxed her down and then they both realized they’d been gone a long time. They began looking for Mom, but couldn’t find her. A sales clerk asked if she could help them find something.

Terri said, “Do you know where everything is in this store?” The sales clerk said, “Yes,” and if she didn’t she could ask someone else. She said, “What in particular are you looking for?” Terri replied, “If you know where everything is, tell me where my mother is!” After stifled laughter from Granddad and the sales clerk, she asked what my mother looked like and what she was wearing. The three of them were reunited.

In the grocery store today I was reaching to pick up a can of olives when a man turned around with a bewildered, lost look on his face. He is a board member where I previously worked. I asked what he was looking for and he said, “Green olives that are pitted.” I told him that he was looking in the black olives and pointed to the shelf with the green ones. Today’s gift was to relieve his stress by finding the pitted ones for him. He wasn’t sure if his wife wanted the ones stuffed with pimentos, so he still had to call and ask her, but at least he wasn’t lost in the store.

In Giving,

Robin

Giving More Than Receiving

Conae Carpenter, a single mother, adopted Molly in 1993. The adoption agency advised her to abandon the process because of Molly’s disability. However, Conae could not imagine this beautiful child going to an institution for mentally disabled people. When she made the commitment to raise a medically fragile child she was fully aware of the care Molly would need. She works in special education helping children just like Molly.

Until recently, Conae has been able to meet her bills while caring for Molly. However, because of budget cuts she is being laid off from her job. Also, the constant physical effort required to care for Molly has led to the deterioration of Conae’s health, resulting in fibromyalgia, crushed disks in her back, a pinched spinal nerve, and damaged knees. Conae had a total knee replacement several weeks ago. Five days before her surgery, the weight of heavy snow caused a tree to crash through the roof of her, nearly paid in full, mobile home. The insurance company declared it a total loss.

A friend sent a video of Conae and Molly to me. My friend’s daughter, Heidi, said Conae is an amazing woman who tirelessly gives to others. So, Heidi organized a fund raising effort to help her get a new home.

Today’s gift was to give a donation to Conae’s housing fund. Heidi said, “Conae is always giving more than she has ever received.” I hope to meet this special woman one day.

In Giving,

Robin