Tattoos

Tattoos

Let's get this out of the way at the beginning. I don't have a tattoo and have never had the desire to get one. However, I know that many people do have them. In fact, it seems like everywhere I turn there is a person with a tattoo--multiple ones in fact. I wondered if my perceptions were right, so I consulted Statistic Brain to see what the actual numbers might be. Here are a few of the statistics. (These are for the US)

Percentage of all ages that have a tattoo--14%
Percentage of 18-25 year olds with a tattoo--36%
Percentage of 26-40 year olds with a tattoo--40%

So you can see from these numbers, in the under 40 crowd, more that a third have a tattoo. It didn't give statistics for those of us over 40, but from my experience, tattoos were not so popular in our youth which has me wondering about the whole process.

While I appreciate the art I see in many tattoos, I still don't understand why you would get something on your body that is essentially irreversible?  I understand a wild haircut or color because your hair grows out, or maybe a henna tattoo, but not an ink tattoo. I've heard that they can be removed, but a bit of research suggests that is not as easy as it sounds. Removal can be expensive, be very painful,  produce scars, and may not be successful. So in my mind, I still don't quite understand the tattoo mind set.

I am a planner and cautious person by nature. Not the sort of person even in my youth who would have gotten a tattoo without a lot of research. That research would have led me to problems with removal which would have deterred me right away. But if I made it past the permanence issue, I don't think I would have ever been able to decide what the tattoo would be. What would I want for the rest of my life? I thought about both of these issues recently when we were on a tour with a young woman. She had a very nicely done tattoo of Miss Piggy on her shoulder. I'm not sure why she chose Miss Piggy, but I can imagine she liked the humor and strength that Miss Piggy symbolized. But in 10 or 20 years from now, will she want a cartoon pig tattoo her shoulder? I wonder if she thought about that?

A few years ago, when tattoos were becoming popular, I had an interesting discussion with a nurse that worked in veteran's hospital. She said many of the men in there had tattoos, and every single one of them was sorry that they had gotten them. That was one of the things from their youth that they wished they could do over.

On the other hand, one of my friends got a tattoo when she turned 50. For years, she said if she made it to 50 she would get a tattoo. She got a phoenix on her back to symbolize all that she had made it through in her life (and it was a LOT). Her tattoo, I understand a little better. She had a lot of life experience behind her decision.

So what do you think? Do you think tattoos are here to stay or the youth of today will regret their tattoos when they are older?

Thankful Sunday--February 1, 2015

I am thankful for my heated mattress pad.

For Christmas Ward got me a heated mattress pad. I didn't think I really needed one, but he did. Every night he would watch me go to bed, curl up into a little ball, and shiver. Well, yes I did that, but I eventually warmed up.

But now when I go to bed, it is warm and I love it. I turn the pad on when I go to brush my teeth and the bed is warm a little later when I climb in. The heat is subtle and can be different on either side of the bed. The wires are very thin so I can't feel them and no plugs are in the way. Ward made sure he got the low voltage variety for the extra safety it affords--a necessity with all of the cats we have around. And as an added bonus, we can keep the thermostat a lot lower at night and still remain very comfortable. That's an energy savings for sure.

Now here's the interesting part. Ward, who never seems to be cold, loves it to. For that and the cozy comfort that it provides for both of us, I am thankful.

Living

I heard something the other day that has given me a lot of food for thought. It came from my sister-in-law who has been battling an aggressive, rare form of cancer. When she was first diagnosed the doctors measured her survival time in days to months. A year was an outside chance. And she has outlived every prediction as she will soon be coming upon two years since her diagnosis. The cancer has been brutal, but she manages to keep going and "Enjoy the Heck out of Life" or Ethool as she has abbreviated it. She inspires everyone not only because she makes the most out of her life daily, but also because she is very open with her discussions on the difficult subject of life and death. Here is something that she shared recently.

  "Last year I was celebrating survival. This year I am celebrating life."

A seemingly simple statement, but one which I found complex upon a second look. I have no great words of wisdom for you about what she said because I think this is something that each one of us has to interpret in our own way. However, I just noticed that I used an important phrase for me at the beginning of this paragraph--Second Look. I enjoy doing my Second Looks and I think they are a good place to start as I learn how I will do more than survive life. I will celebrate it.

What little things do you do in your life that make you happy? How do you celebrate life?

A Second Look--January 28, 2015

Snow, more snow, and again more snow. That's what the weather's been like for a couple of weeks now. We're not having more snow like some of my relatives in New England--measured in the double digits, but it seems like every couple of days we have some kind of frozen precipitation. Because of that, I haven't gotten out much to see what's been going on in my yard. However, I did have some drama today right outside my window.

Recently, I've started to see a few starlings at the feeders and saw another one today. While the starling was eating, a hawk swooped down trying to catch it. The starling immediately flew into our glass door trying to get away, but quickly recovered and flew away from the hawk. The hawk returned to the sky and circled again. And that's all I saw. I don't know the fate of the starling or the hawk. I'm not sure I want to know. While I totally understand the natural balance of predators and prey, I don't really like to watch this action happen. Another time I'll tell you about a hawk after a young rabbit in our yard. I'm not sure how that one turned out either. I stopped watching after the first time the rabbit escaped.

Here a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

I don't know the fate of this starling.

Stream from a hike we took last weekend.

The backyard during one of the snows.

White-breasted Nuthatch

After a morning snow, we had blue skies yesterday afternoon.

Getaway, Part 2

Friday I told you that my husband and I were going away to a mountain cabin for the weekend. I was really looking forward to it and had romanticized what it was going to be like while at the same time was worried that it might be like another National Lampoon vacation movie.

Well, as with most things, it was somewhere in the middle. Yes, we actually did forget our box of food, but remembered it when we were within a couple of miles of our house. And yes, it did snow, but not as much as anticipated and we were not trapped in our cabin. But all the same, we had a good time on a much needed getaway.

Here are some snapshots from our weekend.

On the way there we did a little sight seeing. The first stop was a religious shrine. It had many outdoor statues and mosaics to see. And as with most religious works of art, they were beautiful.

Next, we took a short hike to some waterfalls. Although the fast moving stream below them was not frozen, the falls were.

Our goal was to arrive before dark and we did.

It snowed that night and the next morning we took a walk to check on the roads. We found them in pretty good shape.

 

The temperatures had warmed by afternoon, so we went out to find three covered bridges in the area. We found all three and had fun exploring while we were looking for them.

As the sun went down, we headed back to the cabin...

to eat, drink, be merry, and work puzzles.

This afternoon, we're back home to find the cats taking turns sleeping on my coat that I left behind. I'm going to have to snatch it away before the next snow comes tonight. They aren't going to be happy.