Reblogged from Andrew's blog....:

Sounds frighteningly familiar, does it not?

I mean really.  Look at the fat body, and the disproportionately tiny wings.  It just looks impossible.  And yet it does.

As it turns out, the idea that a bee is not really engineered to fly is folklore.  A myth.  A rumor.  And it began at a dinner table–as a lot of untruths do–in 1930′s Germany as a conversation between a biologist and an aerodynamics expert.

The aerodynamics expert, when queried by the biologist as to the ability of a bee to fly with such disproportionately small wings promptly launched into mathematical equations about why the bee shouldn’t be able to fly.

In his theory, he proposed that a bee’s wings would not generate enough lift to fly likening them to a fixed wing aircraft.  But a bee’s wings do not create lift that way, but are more like a helicopter.  They vibrate their wings up to 200 beats per minute which  creates enough lift to not only fly, but hover and zig zag from flower to flower on their pollen collecting journey.

And thus, when we make observations in life, we don’t always see everything we need to to draw correct conclusions.  We are often mislead by what we see because we do not consider all the possibilities.  And like the bee’s wings, often what seems impossible can be solved by using a different approach if only we open our minds to all possibilities.

Hands that clap for joy!

Hands that find delight in throwing leaves…

Hands that help block sound…

Hands that make joyous music…

I forgot in all the chaos with my brother that when I set the alarm on my phone, the default for some reason is PM.  So imagine my shock when I hear my husband say to me at 5AM, “You missed your flight.”  I shot out of bed with a scream that brought all the boys running down the hall.  Not a great start to a day that was already a litany of stressful events.

I had the fastest shower I think I’ve ever taken in my life, dressed without paying any attention to what I was doing (and later had to ask someone if my lack of attention in this aspect could be detected showing through my lightweight pants–which thankfully the answer was no) and drove like a maniac to the airport, arriving at 5:38 (the airport is normally a 30 minute drive) with wet hair, no makeup and looking generally crazed and disheveled.  They were able to get me on a 6:30 flight that would get me in at 12:23.  I texted my nephew to let him know, grabbed a cup of coffee, went to my gate, sat down, and tried to fight back an attack of complete hysteria.  The woman sitting next to me stuffed a tissue in my hand and nodded a kind smile to me while I scrolled through the 21 ranting texts from my brother.

An hour and a half in Charlotte allowed me to get a grip, so to speak.  Once on the plane I struck up a conversation with the gal next to me and ended up talking the whole five hours.  I make note of this only to highlight the fact that when she asked me why I was traveling to California, we began to talk about family.  As we did so, we found we had much in common when it came to this topic.  My heart considerably lighter, I left the airport feeling much better about my journey.

It was an incredibly long day and by the time we loaded the safe it was too late to make it to Rosamond.  We regrouped and decided that we would spend the night in Bakersfield, and continue to Rosamond in the morning after I met with the attorney.  I had originally planned to meet with the realtor at 10 but now had to change it to 4:30.

Once in Rosamond, the boys got the trailer hooked up to the truck, and I watched them drive away with the most peculiar feelings of sadness.  I got in my car and headed back to Bakersfield, crying most of the way without even knowing why.

As I drove back through Bakersfield, I stopped for a quick lunch, and then a trip to the Triple A to sort out vehicle DMV issues before driving to Woodlake to meet with the realtor.  Meeting with the realtor was very productive and I’m grateful that he was able to be so accommodating to my constantly changing schedule.  As I drove back to Bakersfield though, the gloom and exhaustion set in and I found that what I really wanted was to drive back to L.A. the next day and see if I could change my flight to a red eye Saturday night instead of waiting for my Sunday flight.  Saturday morning didn’t find me in much better spirits, but my friend talked me into a trip to L.A. just for fun.

Bentley outside Saks

Ferrari outside Saks

So, we headed south and spent the day in Beverly Hills observing the crazily wealthy way of life there.  A quick tour through the shoe department of Saks Fifth Avenue can always put a smile on a girl’s face no matter what’s going on!  How can anyone look at that shoe and not grin?  (Especially when they see the price!)

We then headed to a store called Anne Fontaine that my friend likes, where we were served champagne to celebrate her upcoming birthday (the girls there are amazing!).

After that we visited a chocolate shop.  Who could be unhappy after an afternoon of crazy shoes, champagne and chocolates?  Dinner with another friend and her husband once back in Bakersfield and I felt revived.  Sunday I drove back to L.A. where I once again was seated next to, and had the most amazing conversation with another gal who echoed family sentiments back to me.

Really, what are the odds that on both flights I get seated next to someone who could identify with me?  Or that I could identify with them?  I feel like God handpicked my seat mates, knowing how I was feeling and what I was going through.  Or maybe what they had been going through.  Bruce, you were right.  I missed that flight for a reason.  My friend talked me into staying for a reason.  Even though the trip was in some ways the most stressful one yet, I not only had the amazing support of my existing friends, both readers, internet and blog friends as well as personal friends, but God added to that number two more amazing women from my flights.  Thank you to all of you for your support.  Every one of you is a gift from God.  I know this, beyond the shadow of a doubt.  And I am learning that sometimes if I wonder where He is, then I am not looking hard enough, because He is always there.

Peony

Filed under: Beauty, daily post, faith, Floral Fridays, flower photography, Flowers, Inspirational, Live, living, macro photography, Photography, Post of the Day, postaday Tagged: beauty, faith, Floral Fridays, floral photography, Flowers, Inspiration, outdoors, Peony, Post of the Day, postaday, satchel paige ]]> http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/floral-fridays-5-18-12/feed/ 20 allthingsboys DSC_0967 DSC_0962 _DSC4084 DSC_0928 2 DSC_0895 2 _DSC4098 _DSC4076 _DSC4059 http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/apologies/ http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/apologies/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 13:02:57 +0000 allthingsboys http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/?p=2371 Continue reading →]]> For some strange reason, I cannot access my admin pages from my computer.  So my apologies, but Floral Friday cannot happen until I can do this from my computer.  Strangely enough, I seem to be able to access from my iPad and iPhone.  I’ve tried to post photos from my iPad before, but they wouldn’t load.

If anyone’s got advice, I’d love to hear it!

Hopefully he glitch will be fixed soon!

I’m having a tough morning.  I trying to get things together to go west again.  In my last post I had to get a tax ID number for my dad’s estate.  That done, the last thing I was waiting on to open the account was to get his last paycheck reissued.

Kern County, it seems, stopped payment on the last check that was issued October 31, 2011 almost immediately.  I assumed it was because he died on October 26th, and they were going to prorate it.  In any case, I didn’t get my court papers until a week or two ago, so I could not have done anything with it anyway.

So I called the county to ask them to please reissue the check, and I am surprised, and HUGELY annoyed at what their response is.  To explain it, I will have to back up a little.  When I first found out he died, at the urging of a friend, I called the county to inquire about his death benefits.  He had been divorced for 10 years after all.  Unfortunately, he did not change his beneficiary.  His ex-wife (who is not my mother, but his third wife) was named as beneficiary.  I was informed that they sympathized with me, that they see this kind of thing happen all the time, and that there is nothing they can do.  If the member does not change the beneficiary, then that is that.  Then she said,

“But don’t worry.  It’s only $3000.00 that she is entitled to.  She is not entitled to anything else.”  I was still mad.  I know in the scheme of things that is not a lot.  After all it could have been 50K.  But still, I’m the one paying for the funeral, the cremation, the newspaper notifications, the lawyers and maintaining all the loans.  There is also my brother who is, suffice it to say, not well and cannot cope with any of this.

So, when they return my phone call this morning, it is to tell me that the last paycheck, the money he got when he was still alive, went to the ex-wife as a benefit.  Come again? I ask.  It was added as a death benefit.  Excuse me, I say, but how can it be when it was money that he was paid while he was ALIVE!!!!!!

It just is, she says.  I was mad.  I was upset.  Most of all, I was wondering why my dad did not take care of these things while he was alive.  Did he just not think about it?  Or did he think about it and felt like I did not deserve any help when he passed, but all of the sorrow and the troubles?  My brother was left his checking account.  O.K.  He needs it more than me.  But this was too much.  I’m the one who was there for him in his sorrows. I’m the one who consoled him when my brother broke his heart.  I’m the one who visited him and begged him to come live nearer to us.  I am his daughter.  I want to make peace with this, but I feel like I didn’t count.  So many times I find doing the right things feels like you don’t count.  It shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks, but I wonder what people think when they only see the surface stuff.  You know, I wonder if they are thinking, “Hmm, he left her brother the checking account, and the ex-wife the other benefits.  She must have been a heartache to him.”

Deep down it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.  But it’s hard to swallow when I see people at the bank, or talk to these people on the phone and I can hear their thoughts so loudly–practically screaming that I’m a suspicious sort.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3, 5-6

At the bank, the woman who helped me said you could go on the internet to the government website and apply for one, and that it only took a couple of minutes.  She was willing to do it for me, but I needed to make sure the attorney’s office hadn’t already done this and I needed to make a couple of phone calls, so I told her I would take care of it and get back to her.

Let me preface this first by saying that this was the second bank I’d been to.  The first bank regarded me  warily, and was even less enthused when they realized the paperwork was from another state.  IE, they did not want to help me even though we’ve been customers there for quite some time.  I left with my feathers pretty ruffled.

So, I went to my husbands office which was close by and used his computer to get the tax number.  As I’m reading and inputing all the pertinent information, I get to the bottom where it asks me for a credit card, and a payment of 238.00.  Say what????

Upon further investigation, I see that I am suddenly not on the government website.  Very clever.  I still don’t known if the site is a scam, or just a business praying on people who don’t know they can get the information for free.  I’m glad I didn’t have to find out.  I went back to Gov.org and got the tax ID number for free.

I can’t for the life of me figure out what these people are thinking, besides the fact that they must not have a life.  What has happened to our society?  These are the same people who spend their waking hours developing viruses because they have nothing better to do. The scam artists of the internet make it a scary place to be as well as making it tough to figure out who the good guys are.  Too bad there is not a way to turn the scam back around on them.  Maybe one day someone will figure out how to do that.  For now, extra vigilance is the order of the day.  Be careful out there.

Little guy was on my windshield, so I snapped a photo.  :-)