I took a drive this afternoon, just to see if the wild flowers and desert blooms were under way yet. I wasn't disappointed. It is still early but the flowers are peeking out. The cacti are showing signs of a beautiful bloom this year. We haven't had a lot of rain but last week's downpour helped.
My husband drove me, and his mother, out toward Wickenberg, and there were some great wildflowers blooming alongside the highway.
Ann, Lon's mom, is a beautiful wildflower in full bloom, too. We are lucky to have her gracing us with a visit for about a month, and hoping she'll decide to stay permanently.
Bullet finished his second week at Westworld and did very well with more ribbons and lots of peppermints. I took a bag of apples to him on Thursday and offered him one. He literally turned his nose up at it, as if to say, "I only accept peppermints now!" Is it my imagination or is the horse spoiled? He's a wild flower of a different kind!
Why do people put words in "quotes?" (and, I'm being sarcastic with the use of the word quotes; read on) I've never understood it! It is overused, overrated, misunderstood, abused, and quite frankly, stupid. Use quotation marks [ “ ” ] to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language. Quotation marks also set off the titles of things that do not normally stand by themselves: short stories, poems, and articles. Period. Or, should I say, "Period." See what I mean. "Stupid." And, to make matters worse, some individuals will take it a step further, when they are actually trying to quote someone else, and MISQUOTE, using quotation marks! If it isn't an EXACT "quotation," lose the quotation marks. Of course, there are always the thieves who don't use quotation marks, purposefully stealing others' material to use as their own. Plagiarism - a different topic for another time.
I don't know if English grammar and usage have been tossed aside in school, or people are just lazy. Oh, and that's another point - the word "quote" is a verb, not a noun. "Quotation" is a noun. More importantly, to the best of my knowledge, there is no such word as "quotate."
A very good friend of mine recently made a valid point - the English language has been dumbed down almost to the point of no return. I'm not quoting her, but that was her point. Language can be such a beautiful thing, and we misspell it, misconstruct it, yes, we dumb it down to nothing. We are lazy. It doesn't take that much effort to write a decent sentence. "Duh."
I'm in a beautiful place this week, Monterey, CA, and have had plenty of time to THINK without interruption. That doesn't happen very often any more.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." I saw this posted on FaceBook this week. I don't know who the original author was, but it rings true. Ideas are abstract thoughts, yet to be realized or demonstrated in reality; events are facts happening in reality, not neccessarily good or bad, although they might be one or the other; people are actors, good or bad, and discussing them is typically called gossip. Nothing good comes of it, and it doesn't solve anything.
Discussing ideas is problem-solving at its core; discussing events is after the fact and usually solves nothing, although it might avoid repeating history; discussing people usually is secretive, hurts feelings, and makes enemies, real or imagined.
Often it is difficult for people to truly discuss ideas, or brainstorm, because agendas get involved, they want to involve events, and/or people, and who did what to whom, and it digresses into less than brainstorming, or problem-solving. Mediation is about ideas, not about events, legalities, or who did what, and that's why I like it, have done it as a professional for many years, and recommend it.
In today's world, we could use more ideas, fewer events, and people? Well, I won't comment on that. That's a very personal perspective, and each person is entitled to their opinion. People, whether in a family, a community, a nation, or as the world community, should consider trying to open their minds to ideas, and stop focusing on events, and ignoring individual actions and the gossip that follows. Many times, individuals need, desperately crave, attention, and will do anything, positive or negative, to get that attention. If their attempts are ignored, and ideas are the focus, then eventually, just maybe, this world will become a place in which we all want, and can continue, to live together.
We are on our way home, to a new chapter; exciting times. Lots of ideas, looking forward to events, and hoping all the people in our lives will be open to the ideas.
What a week! I know I'm not the only person on the planet trying to get taxes done, needing to work whilst doing so, having a list of "other to-dos" to do, including a software upgrade, in order to get taxes done, and so on, and so on. As I said on FB recently, "the clock always moves faster..."
My topic of discussion this week, relevant for my clients, is that of title searches, why we do them when transferring property into a living trust, and the interesting things we may find there, unbeknownst to us previously. Us, being the trustor, and the drafting lawyer...
It very well may be that, at some time in the past, a person had reason to sign a document pertaining to an investment, or other encumbrance on their real property, that actually was something more than they realized, like a Joint Tenancy Deed transferring an undivided one-half interest to someone else, that they did NOT intend to transfer. When the encumbrance was paid, the Joint Tenancy Deed was not extinguished, or otherwise released. Big surprise, when a cursory title search, just to be safe, turns this beauty up, along with subsequent mortgages that should have questioned the Deed. But, no, it is just sitting there, minding it's own, very important, business. Tracking down the joint tenant holder to obtain a reconveyance, after twenty-some-odd years is a task in and of itself, if anyone wants to wake that sleeping giant. What to do? Well, it all depends, but the lesson is that it IS important to check title on real property from time to time, and not just assume that all is well.
Which dovetails to my earlier blog, WYSIWYG in Estate Planning...you have to LOOK, in order to see, often times. Most people don't look at their estate plans very often, if at all. Review, people, review. It really isn't as painful as it sounds, and can actually be enjoyable, if you like your lawyer! What a notion. It's like spring housecleaning, in a way. Clean out the cobwebs, make room for some new stuff, clear the clutter from a long, cold winter!
It is spring, after all, and what better time for all sorts of fun activities! My horse, Bulletproof, is doing well.
