May days

 We relished some time away on a Virginia farm this month, and while there,

a visit to the D-Day memorial in Bedford, the American community that lost more men per capita 

in the Normandy landings than any other.

We've enjoyed time at home loving the coolish weather, rainy days,

and spring flowers, especially our knock-out roses.

The end of May signals the end of the school year, and Not-so-Little One, her

friend and I enjoyed our fourth annual end of year 

celebration milkshake at the counter of a local diner.

This year I volunteered in her 2nd grade classroom each week helping with 

learning centers.  It was sad to say good-bye to a wonderful class. 

I loved being with them and it became my favorite day of the week.

Hollow Hours

May is a busy month so we had only six at our book club today. It actually was good to
be small for a change, and everyone had a chance to talk. Our discussion was lively.
The book, Peace Like a River was by Leif Enger, an excellent writer.

It was unusual and full of surprises and pithy one line sentences.

 Mr. Enger is a marvelous story teller. There were layers upon layers in his story, 
but they were understandable and not confusing. 
It was a book I could pick up after being away from it, and be right back in the story.

The book took place mainly in the early 60s. There was a murder, a fugitive, and a warm, loving,
very tight family. "Exile has its hollow hours" was one of many observations about life.

We met at fellow blogger Rhondi's* house, and enjoyed a cream tea and her love of blue and white.

It was a wonderful, relaxing afternoon with good friends and I recommend you look for the book!
It was the first time I got a book on my iPad (and phone) from the library.
It worked OK, but I still love paper pages! 

*Rhondi and I read each other's blogs for awhile before we somehow discovered
we lived about two miles apart. After she invited me over for tea,
we became "in person" friends and I invited her to join our book club.
The rest, as they say, "is history!"

open windows

We don't open windows much here in the south.
Conditions have to be just right, which doesn't happen often.
But on the rare Goldilocks day, when it's not too hot and not too cold,
the pollen is gone and humidity is low, I love to throw open the windows.
The scent of fresh air fills the house, and I'm immediately taken back to my childhood.
In the Chicago suburb where we lived, no one had air-conditioning.
We kept the windows open all summer long, with a single fan in a downstairs window
to help pull the hot air out of the house during a heat wave.
(How we would beg our dad to let the fan blow inwards so it would
 blow on us, but no, he always faced it outward, and yes, at times
a slight breeze did come in the upstairs windows as a result,
but we still begged.)

The sounds of outdoors filled the house -- people talking, cars passing,
kids playing hide and seek, while crickets lulled us to sleep.
And it always seemed cooler on those hot nights
to sleep with our heads at the foot of our beds.
Maybe we were just trying to get closer to a window, hoping for a slight breeze.

Isn't it interesting how a simple open window
can transport us to another time?

SaveSaveSaveSave

to floss or not to floss

Just shy of 46 years old, the Gardener's wedding band got stuck on his swollen finger. It had been there all those years except for the recent surgery. G's finger swelled in the night due to a bug bite on his knuckle. There was no way we could get that ring off.

We tried a few things and of course nothing worked. Then I recalled a you tube video I had seen––I can't remember why or when––but it was fascinating to see a method using dental floss to remove a ring from a swollen finger.

I maneuvered the floss under his ring with a plastic needle and then started winding the floss ever so tightly around his finger (which we had soaked briefly in ice water.) This may be the hardest medical thing I've had to do for him as it was so terribly painful. A little dish soap aided, and bit by bit, pulling the floss from the top the ring advanced further and further down his finger until off it came!!

I don't recommend anyone use this method. I just share the story for the amazement of how something we see or hear about in passing can years later become something vital to us. I attribute it to God's loving providence and care. The finger is healing nicely and the ring will go back on soon!

A recently discovered photo when the ring was only 16 years old.