Disqus - Latest Comments for RayJ

Re: EncoreBuzz.com: Get a little cocky

RayJ — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:35:45 -0000

Barry Palmer - Get a little cocky????

Re: Review: “Dark Shades of Blue” is a didgeri-don’t

RayJ — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:42:36 -0000

Again, having Kathleen review music is a stroke of genius for the Nashua Telegraph! Whoever is making decisions at the Telegraph is showing that they have their finger on the pulse of the nation and the world.
First, those who review music should know music, to the root.... Kath's background is musicmusicmusic! She DOES know of what she speaks.
Second, the blog format is internet-based communication - accessable to those who are in tune with the 'real' world - not the Faux Newsworld generated by those who worship the dollar each moment... We may just get a real opinion here at the Telegraph.
Thanks, editor - and Thanks, Kathleen!

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:22:33 -0000

Wouldn't be surprised if single moms and newly single moms top the list of income tax paying females in our country. Marriage as a personal commitment seems to have tumbled to a low, and relationships are hard to maintain in the child-world of today. I love your writing, and your clear view of those around you. The Nashua Telegraph is rolling into the future, and Kathleen is touching all the right topics for moms...

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 07:27:42 -0000

Don't worry about others issues, I sent cartoons to a newspaper's editorial page and received death threats... Just can't worry too much about hurting feelings of those out there. Educating and your opinions are being expressed in your blog, and some do not like either.

Not that you have vast amount of time for reading books, but my boys were raised beside a book called 'Ages and Stages' - not sure if it is the one by Charles Schaefer and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo... These books amply explain the progress children make as they age, and can really help exasperated parents get thru those trying (or wonderful) times. And Janice - I hope you realize the power of 'getting out of the wind' during tantrums, withdrawing and detaching from the ravings of a headstrong toddler, who's job it is to find their own power in the world...

I found some online guides to the same information on 'stages' at a website: Familyfun.com - it is a fun calculator, easy to use, and fairly accurate, although it is not the only such reference.

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 07:53:12 -0000

Brutal honesty time. What is the average woman's clothing size sold in America?

Size 14.

And those women are fully able to find men who love them for themselves, if they desire to.

Has anyone taken a good look at the 'average' man available today? Waist: 44 inches!

Rude is the description for anyone asking "when the baby is due" to any woman.

However, a woman's feelings can be crushed by rudeness, and nothing I can say will end that. Except maybe this:

My wife died from using available weight-loss products. I did not ask her to lose weight, in fact, I loved her unconditionally. She learned her fear of being overweight from society and Wall Street.

I only hope the other women in my life examine WHY they care about being round, rather than how best to lose that weight.

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:20:12 -0000

Dam good job, Kath!

Bet you didn't know you would get graded on this, but you passed with flying colors...

You were the tired/happy/proud/sad/disgusted/confused/sexy/single mom of the year!

And didn't even know how delicious the cake tasted... Or maybe you do, but it may take 20 more years to decide your favorite flavor.

We have all had the thoughts you wrote down. This is why there is a burgeoning business in bronzed baby shoes in New Hampshire - we just want desperately at times, to hang on to that little gift. We wish to stop the clock, turn it back, smell/touch/hug/snuggle that little friend who now turns and walks away so capable and strong...

Love has many faces. This has been just one.

As usual, thank you for your gift today, Kathleen.

Re: NashuaTelegraph.com: Web Notes

RayJ — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:35:28 -0000

Unless you are a physician, gathering data while preparing to cure an often-fatal affliction of a child born to a single mom, "not knowing" is how your curiosity will be answered. Adoption agencies legally protect paternal privacy, against the howls of those who demand to know.

Suppose your curiosity (and rudeness) is answered with "Oh, Daddy will be out of prison in ten years." You will not "move on", unless you mean with the next rude question. Privacy is a right. Maturity will teach you exactly why.

Child-like questions are expected from children, and may be answered in loving simplicity. Prying or thoughtless questions deserve any fitting response a mom deems necessary. The expectation of a perfect nuclear family is a recent societal anomaly. The truth is far removed from that expectation, and still is only the business of those who live their lives as they choose. Those individuals bear the responsibility of bringing up those little loved ones, they deserve a huge ‘hats off’, and their children deserve a loving pat on the head as they pass…

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:42:35 -0000

I appreciate your leaving your email, and will respond to you soon. I am large, a bit hairy and thrilled you are trolling the local papers hoping for some friendship. Let's take this off-line and see what develops. This girl has a toddler, I don't!

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 08:33:19 -0000

When I was baptized full-gospel evangelist at 19, I did so for what I got out of the jesus in the bible - that being his throwing the money guys out of the temples... That resonated in me, and has continued to over the years, following any news story outing deviant behaviors of 'religious' folk. I am now nearly religion-free. I have noted that all gods of the past are dead and expressly archaic, and feel our current gods will meet the same fate. What people hotly embrace to the point of murderous fanaticism eventually is oddly quaint, then – dust. What remains is family, love and caring. Except for the money guys – they have crept back into the temples… Happy Holidays!

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:16:40 -0000

Just get a box for Mama - 'Baby box, Mama box' haha

When you are both done with the boxes, pack yer extras, and take them over to yer mom's garage....

Then when Ebay calls, have mom wrap and ship... problem solved.

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 04:22:46 -0000

Today, I feel proud for having rushed down to the post office with a package of holistic body and soul cleansers from Marin county. This blend of California cleansers should help with the distressing feelings you are having, as a registered evildoer. We here in the Bay Area had felt the shadow fall across your aura, sensed the bitterness and greed nipping at your chakra...

First, boil some water... then add some Cinnamomum camphora, Ocimum basilicum and some Cymbopogon nardus.

Soak and pray that the USA does not nuke Iran for it's oilfields...

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:37:57 -0000

Kathleen, I hope you lose the weight you wish to, but in my eyes you are already a winner, no matter what!

Ohhhh - BABY!

Re: NashuaTelegraph.com: Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:20:59 -0000

Kathleen - what you just described is called - prayer.

Not that selfish, disgusting, 'make a deal with ya, god' stuff that seems to come from the media-whore evangelistic TV 'preachers', not the 'gimme this-gimme that' sophmoric wishes from immature teens.

I read in some book once, I think it was an English King-James version, buried in all the midrashic confusion, that all god wanted was thanks...

Re: NashuaTelegraph.com: Blogs

RayJ — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:15:57 -0000

Being a grandpa, I get to feed them anything I want...hahaha

Also, from the viewpoint of a grandpa, I know that toddlers are grazers and will eat enough over time to get everything they need nutritionally from their many and varied meals. What is viewed as 'picky' by parents just might be a worried parent's point of view, and less of a problem than you might be imagining... If the parent is expecting to win a war of wills with a toddler, they have already lost the battles. Just present a variety of interesting food for two years, and the toddler will be happy and healthy.

This opinion certainly won't get me published in 'Feast', so blog on, parents....

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

RayJ — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:01:16 -0000

It's incredible that parenthood allows people to become travelers in time and space...

I also find it wonderful that you can relate your ability in the written word - you are gifted. I hope the paper appreciates you as much as we readers do.

Being a parent does allow us to look at a two-year old and see junior high, and their possible kids in a flash of introspect.

Lucky for us, we also can see that the child is NOT the parent, that the world the baby is growing into is not the same world we grew through. You had a different parent culture than your daughter does, different in every way – with only a touch of the parenting traps imposed by the last generation during guest shots.

I believe your daughter will have quite a different experience in junior high than you did. Sure, she might not like being at school, rather than at the beach, but she may be an ‘A’ student – and not enjoy having to go home in the afternoon, too.

This is what I believe to be the beauty of this world, the many colors and textures of living each day without being sure of how each will unfold. And we, being humans, being self-aware – get to see life from all sides.

You are gifted, as you not only see the tapestry, but are able to chronicle it, and re-paint it for us in your own colors and brush-strokes.

Re: NashuaTelegraph.com: Web Notes

RayJ — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 03:18:01 -0000

Daphne Moon...

You, being an ardent supporter of Kath's blogging, are a fine human being. I have read you from afar, and feel that I know you...

I love your responses, and know you are a good friend to Kath. Keep up the good work, Daphne, Kath needs this support, what with this wonderfully busy daughter just bathing her with her presence and cuteness. It's always nice to have an adult around to talk girl-talk after a long day of sweet baby talk...

You have the ability to melt the miles and just seem like you are available, right around the corner...

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

RayJ — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:46:12 -0000

As of this writing, Kathleen is now sleeping at the newspaper office, having been out-sourced by her daughter... "and close the door, mom - byebye"

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:12:08 -0000

I have been out there.

I was zooming along, working on a thirty-year happy marriage, and oops, she died. We kinda knew she could, what with a heart-lung replacement being done, and indeed, eight days after the surgery, infection overcame her.

Which left me - in my fifties and single. And everything had changed. Everyone lied. Everyone was ten years older than their picture. The women I was meeting seemed older than I was, but they weren’t, they were my age. After a couple months, it was old – I wanted to quit. Those Match.commers were all players, it was a meat market. These people I was talking to had been through it, they had heard all the lines. I was the fresh meat, and it was already getting old.

Then luck entered the picture. Someone answered my ad, and I finally had a nice dinner, and a pleasurable hike. And that’s why I started out on this dating thing – I wanted a person, a date, someone who would look at me with new eyes, and ask questions, and just care. The meat market has faded, and although she doesn’t like sushi, or hiking, for that matter, life has become better, richer, and more fun. Don’t be afraid, you don’t have to marry anyone right now, you have a lot to offer. And you may get sushi, and a movie…

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:08:02 -0000

The best you can do is teach moderation and selection, as the Madison Avenue gang is out there, constantly touting poison as health food.

We provided the hippy/healthy role model, yet our kids now eat cr@p and smoke...

I weep, yet I will live long enough to watch those same kids have kids, and watch that old wheel come 'round again...

BTW, you are a great mom!

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:10:22 -0000

While some adults fret about this object of pleasure, most children don't spend too much time on the subject. Unless the binkie has gone missing...

If you look around you, most adults do not still carry their binkies around - unless you start obsessing on the possibility that 'binkie replacements' are everywhere... What about those Starbucks cups? Or maybe the cigarettes - how about the all the bubble gum and pencils getting chewed between meetings? And what about.... Oh, sorry, I believe the subject was binkies - stop the worries, just love those kids!

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

RayJ — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:21:20 -0000

Seems like she would fit right in at work, here... boring, repetitious mind numbing work - Send her resume immediately!

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:19:07 -0000

Some have to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and find the guru, some never reach and find the answer...

You have, and you will take the truth with you into old age.

That you can share the lesson with many is also a blessing.

The paper did themselves an enormous service hiring you, as you are able to reach out and invite others to share the intimacies of motherhood.

Kudos!

Re: NashuaTelegraph.com: Web Notes

RayJ — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:28:00 -0000

OK, Kath -

Here's a bit of the answer - go out in the woods with your daughter, walk her thru the leaves and frogs. Take her to the water's edge, swing from a branch. Run through the afternoon shade of your mom's trees, pick the berries, show her how to fish. You will re-live the childhood of your youth, reclaim some memories and give her a whole new appreciation of her mom and that quality time she can pass to her daughters...

Oh, and Daphne - whatever your reasons to preach, the goddess was not pleased to find she was a guy...

Re: NashuaTelegraph.com: Blogs

RayJ — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:39:18 -0000

V is coming out there to see you, I will send Autumn a copy of Photoshop...

Has she learned about the video setting on the digital camera???

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:26:15 -0000

I thought I better jump in and make a comment, since the last blog enumerates 104 comments... Evidently, all but 2 had to be deleted...

OK. You touched on my favorite toddler subject - wishing I could remember EVERY SINGLE cute thing they say or do. We would be enthralled and captivated each day of our lives if we had that universal remote control in our possession.

I 'lent' a video recorder to my son, who has his own toddler, and I don't care if it gets peanut butter in it - just so I have some unabashed cuteness captured for as long as I can keep the images and sounds.

At no other time in their lives are kids this charming and innocent. Just being near them as they work each day is magnificent in its clarity and ingenuity - what a beautiful (and fleeting) world-view they have. All too soon they find out the realities behind all that magic - but hopefully, before it all gives way to maturity, we adults are changed forever by seeing with through their wide eyes for a little while.

Thanks, Kath!

Re: The Mother of all Blogs

RayJ — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:46:05 -0000

Charming story, Kathleen - we enjoyed the same - but you were not here... darnitall.

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

RayJ — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:35:50 -0000

You amaze me - AND you applied your daughter's first tattoo - YOURSELF! Hey, Andrew left a home-made tat-gun in the garage when he left home, I bet you can find some ink when she is a teen, and really go to town on her...

Then you can both go break-dancing at St Looie de G! Bring the congas!

Awesome weekend!

Re: Nashua Telegraph Blogs

RayJ — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:50:13 -0000

Hmmm, you could always have ANOTHER...

Re: Party of 1

RayJ — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:59:47 -0000

Whoa!
Single women -
Great music -
Not wanting to sit alone -
Who would have ever thought???
And here I have been waiting in bars to meet 'em...

Re: First day at school

RayJ — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:03:54 -0000

MommaKath -
You may just forgive yourself in thirty years, dear...
Ack!

Re: The Breakfast Club has left the building

RayJ — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:42:53 -0000

THANKS, Kath...
I counted up DECADES on my fingers - it's my 40th Class Reunion this year...
'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' that someone else's reunion 'Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing'. This 'Chain Of Fools' remembers 'Itchycoo Park' as if it were 'Sunday Mornin''... So, 'Foxey Lady' - I 'I Thank You' for 'The Weight' you have laid 'Down on Me' with your blog...

I'll just be 'Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay '...

Re: A Christmas miracle

RayJ — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:04:22 -0000

oh jesus, halleluia

Re: Baby gets some ‘ligion

RayJ — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:37:28 -0000

Just drove by the beach on the way to work.
Yup, Autumn - it's in California.
And maybe in the sky...
Thank you, Don...