Writings by Diane

A few months ago, I, along with everyone else, fell in love with the movie Inside Out .  I also appreciated that one of the main story points was it is  okay to feel sad, sometimes it’s an emotion that cannot be avoided. It was nice to see a movie not sugar-coat tough emotions and show that memories can be shaded with a blend of feelings. I thought the writers were so clever to materialize emotions into characters that kids could understand. Again, I was overwhelmed by their inventiveness that there are little beings living in the main character’s brain. As I watched these colorful characters on the screen, I had a nagging reminder of a comic strip I had read growing up. It was in the British  comic book called The Beano .  Not to be confused with the natural remedy .  The Beano comic book has been going strong for over 60 years in Great Britain. When I arrived home, I looked up these characters. The cast that started me doing comparisons was The Numskulls ...

I have been very encouraged with the recent news stories about store Santas working with kids with autism.  The first story I heard was about an event that Autism Speaks manages called Caring Santa . They have a Santa that will provide the families an opportunity to have their children with autism has a picture with Santa without the fear of stares if their child has a fit to due over stimulation. When one boy didn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap, this kind hearted St Nick joined the boy on the floor and the boy’s parents were able to capture a memorable photo. The other story that really touched my heart was the boy who told Santa that he was afraid he was on the naughty list due to his autism. Again, the sage behind the Santa costume told him that he was in no danger of being kicked off of the nice list.  He told the boy the truth—his autism was not to be judged and that was just who he is.  Rightfully so, this encouragement has been shared over 500,000 times on Facebo...

In the past few weeks in the news there has been the saga of HitchBOT . It started as a social experiment to see how many people would pick up the hitchhiking portable robot and take it across the country. HitchBOT was a passenger all across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. The two professors and creators of HitchBOT decided to drop it off in Boston, MA and see how far it could go, its destination communicated through its screen was San Francisco, CA. Unfortunately, HitchBOT was not allowed to record the image of the Golden Gate Bridge. After two weeks, it made it to Philadelphia PA where it was torn apart and left in pieces on the street.   However, the story does not end there. A group of inventors named The Hacktory from Philadelphia saw this news story and did not want the conclusion to be that people only want to destroy things. They reached out to the Canadian inventors and offered to help repair HitchBOT.   Another item that has come about is PopeBot...

Months ago, as I was driving, I happened to noticed that Canyon Hearing Aid Center was torn down to make way for more parking for the next door convenience store. For some reason, I felt sad about this new turn of events. I should have been accustomed to this type of change of landscape.  Being from Las Vegas NV, I had seen many hotel and casino buildings disappearing off the face of the earth. For instance, I remember watching on television the implosions of the Landmark and the Sands Hotels. Years ago, I had been a guest at the Landmark , which was a fanciful building, true to its name. I also visited the Sands ’ kitchen facilities  when I was attending UNLV .  It was somber to see history be turned into dust.  At least these implosions made way for construction of larger hotels, supplying jobs and eventually more tourists.   Maybe the reason I was saddened by this destruction of Canyon Hearing Aid Center was that someone lost his livelihood. This land w...

Driving home from work, I was preoccupied with my usual thoughts—how slow traffic was moving, when would the traffic light change, what was that song that was playing on the radio? Isolated in the vehicle, I am in my own little world. As I turned onto Ten Mile, pinned on a light pole was a large cardboard sign. Written on its pink background were the words “You are beautiful.” Usually in my travels, the signs are the mundane—speed limits and street names usually clutter the scenery.  Sometimes, an advertisement will break up the monotony.  After reading this sign, I noticed that I was smiling. My thoughts lightened in my mind as they drifted to how it was a sweet idea for someone to pin this simple but truthful saying.  I also noticed that there was a website underneath the encouraging statement—so it was a clever advertisement after all! Nevertheless, these kind words struck a chord with me. How many times do we hear, “You are not good enough “or “You are too f...

For the longest time, I thought tending for roses was an extremely difficult hobby. After all, there are competitions for cultivating the most perfect flower. It wasn’t until I grew rose bushes of my own did I find that I could handle them and really enjoy the experience. Also, to me, the caring of these lovely flowers is a metaphor for life. When we first moved into our house, our front planter section had gone many transformations.  Unfortunately, it became a bane for living flowers.  Pansies, lavenders and hyacinths shriveled up and died a few weeks after being transplanted.  Just when I thought of raising a nice batch of river rocks in the front planter, my husband suggested planting roses.   At first, I was a bit hesitant, nothing seemed to flourish there. My husband assumed me that roses are hearty flowers. Then I remembered visiting the Julia Davis Rose Garden in Downtown Boise ID  and these roses seemed to thrive in the desert heat. Also, the...

A couple of weeks ago, my father passed away. Though he was in his eighties and lived a good life, it was hurtful to receive the phone call. He was a great father and grandfather and I miss him terribly. A few days later, I was in my bedroom, waking up from my afternoon nap. Usually, I’m not an advocate of nap time, but the past couple of days I hadn't been sleeping well.  I had been grim and teary eyed. These siestas were my way of supplementing my rest. A box fan was in my open bedroom window. I looked out at the sunny afternoon sky and wondered how could it be such a nice day after what had happened.   I turned on the television, looking for something to break up the heavy silence. A small object moved outside my window and it caught my peripheral vision. I looked out the window and saw a huge, electric blue dragonfly. It was hovering by the fan, its iridescent wings beating furiously. Its globe-like eyes seemed to be staring intently at me.  I watched as it dar...