Okay my chance to babble this morning...

I know some of you are probably thinking, oh where has the Grand Poobah been as of late. Well...seems I have a lot on my plate right now. No, no, nothing bad, for no one is sick, etc., I'm just involved a in myriad of projects (what else is new) and simply can't keep up anymore.

I look at my Google inbox, I look at my forum and I see so many unanswered or hurried replies to people and I'm just frustrated with myself. I keep thinking of all these wonderful folks coming to me and wanting my help and I have kept them waiting. I feel so bad and needed to sit down this morning and apologize for my absence and thoughtlessness. Trust me, it was not and is not intentional. This website is my lifeline!

We all go through periods were everything seems sort of jumbled. You feel overwhelmed and wonder, how the hell am I ever going to get caught up? You get to the point where you simply shove everything aside and think, well tomorrow. Unfortunately that tomorrow becomes another tomorrow and then another week goes by and good lord, an entire month has slipped away. Sigh!

So this week, slowly but surely, I am catching up with my email correspondence, doing some research for people and checking out the new posts, here. Oh please, please, please know that each and everyone of you is important to me and I DO love getting your letters and I DO love having new members join our wonderful little (maybe not so little anymore) group. If I haven't replied to you in a timely manner, it's not that I didn't care and I will try and make it up to everyone starting today.

I guess I have to sit back and make some changes and make some hard decisions. As I stated above, I am involved in so much; that's just the person I am, but I began weighing the pros and cons on my reality scale this week and said, whoa woman, something has to give and it certainly won't be my WWII website, forum, documentary, visits with my veterans, etc., etc. But Tuesday evening when I meet with my parks and rec board (I am chairperson), I am seriously thinking of stepping down and handing my position to another. While I don't want to waste your time with my droning, I feel it's important for all of you to know what else is going on behind the scenes.

Ah, thanks for bearing with me, but I'm sure others have gotten involved in community work have been members of boards, etc. It's a lot of work and I have gotten a lot of joy from it, but it's also a headache and consumes so much of my time. Let's face it, there are too few volunteers. Too many people offer to help, but when the time comes around, they are nary to be seen, so I wind up doing so much of the work myself and it's consuming me. I got so frustrated and overwhelmed on Tuesday, I had to fight back the tears; I was having a meltdown. So unless something changes for the better and I get more assistance from my board members and the community, I am calling it quits.

You have to put your efforts into what gives you the most bang for your buck, and I ain't talkin' the almighty green dollar. I'm talking about putting your heart and soul into something, knowing that it's touching people and making a difference and being appreciated. You can't spread yourself too thin, for sooner or later something else suffers and that's where I am right now. So when Tuesday rolls around, I need to get this off my chest and address my board members. I have a strong feeling that no one will WANT to take over my position and sadly, we will wind up dissolving our non-profit. I don't know, but I know I can't keep going in my current direction. It's taking it's toll on me. I can see and feel it.

I'm still running my computer company and taking care of my web clients, repairing Window computers and working with my local community ads, info and event cable channels. I enjoy the work and will keep doing what I'm doing.

I got back to writing my children's book, The Story of Q, which was quietly waiting for me to pay attention to it once again. I started dabbling with it a few years back and other then adding a few words every now and then, it also fell by the wayside. However I am writing like a possessed fiend this week, thanks to my buddy Karla, who inspired me with some beautiful watercolor illustrations. She is an artist extraordinaire and her latest venture was into the world of watercolors. She wrote to me a couple of weeks ago after I had commented about her gorgeous displays on Facebook, and said, hey, send me what you have so far and let's see if it works. Well, it did and not only is she the right illustrator for me, our collaboration fueled my imagination and not only did I add chapters, but went back added some depth to what I already had. Yes, I'm a happy camper and if this keeps flowing through my blood the way it has over the last two weeks, then the completed story will come to fruition within the next month.

Of course I have my perennial and vegetable gardening to keep me busy. I did a major overhaul of my English garden earlier this spring, and that took up a large amount of my time in April and May. It was a lot of work, but needed to be done and I'm so glad I put the time and effort into it. By doing a LOT of work right now, it saves me time and effort in the long run. I am providing some pics for you of my August gardens, so you can see the fruits of my labors. Yes, another labor of love. It is therapeutic.

Well, I guess I have rambled on for too long, but trust me, I needed to do this, this morning. I felt I had to address you and keep you in the loop. I do feel better having done so and I thank your for putting up with my absence and today, my running of the mouth.

Love and hugs to all my long time members and to all my new members. Honesty has it rewards.

Marion's Oasis. This is my front yard. Yes, there is no grass!

More...

Good news. I finally caught up with my correspondence. I spent approximately between 12-15 hours doing so. Can't tell you how good that feels. It's as though someone has lifted a huge weight from my shoulders. Whee!

1) Wow, Marion - your garden looks awesome! Like the forum, it shows a lot of work!

2) I know about the "Sure, I'll volunteer"-and-then-nothing thing. My wife was our school's PTA vice president and later president in Albany, Ga. Lots of promises and little show time.

3) I think the decision you are making is a hard one, but necessary. You can only do so much, and your plate(s) are very full! My wife was very happy when she stepped back from things that were taking over her life because others wouldn't lift a finger.

Yes, so you have seen it first hand. You are right, difficult decision, but I have to face the facts.

Oh BTW, thank you SO much for replying to me. It's gets lonely around here, for there's very little communication anymore. It ain't like the old days, is it? Remember when there were constant chats with the veterans and others. God, how I miss those days. It was such a joy. Now the only way I get to chat with others who are interested in WWII, is via Facebook. What can I say. I hope you are right about the new infusion of blood to our forum. Maybe we can get some of that spark back. It's wonderful having two-way conversations!

It is nice to have conversations here. Facebook may have been the killer, however. I check on the WBG forum every now and then and they are suffering from the same quiet times. Several of the members that still poke in there every now and then tell me the same thing - chatting is now done on FB.

While it DOES have it's merits, it okay for a quick chat, but it's not a forum and there are no topics/categories, etc. You can't keep track of anything, so if you go back later to try and find something, well forget it. It certainly doesn't take the place of a real, live forum.

You are Exquisite! And so is your garden!

Jean