gifts from afar

I was awestruck as I unwrapped a birthday package from my sister. First of all, packages

 that come in the mail are always a treat. And then the unwrapping adds intrique

 and beauty to the whole experience. I love this color theme! And the gorgeous oversized mug 

just makes coffee (or soup!) an even better experience for my senses.

I am given journals because people know I love to write. I keep a house journal,

 an idea journal, a sketching journal, a journal about stories my parents tell, 

a journal about daily life, and have made "altered" journals ... and, ETC !

This states a good reason to journal ... or blog!

catching rays

My great grandmother always looked stern to me. Of course we know why people in those days didn't smile much––to hide their not-so-pretty teeth. I've often heard what a hard life my great grandmother had. She lost her husband early and raised a large family on her own. Her grandsons held her in highest esteem. I wish I had known her! I find this photo fascinating. Look at her shoes. Her hat, dress, etc. My take on it is that she is getting some rays (though not that much of her body is exposed) while her grandson, my uncle, sits on the porch and reads. All her grandsons read a lot. The other idea is that its a Sunday morning and they are waiting to go to church, since she's a bit dressed up and he is in a suit. I just love this little slice of life!

I read once that if elderly people spent 15-20 minutes in the sun three times a week it would reduce the number of fractured hips by 75%. Maybe she knew what she was doing, as to the best of my knowledge she never broke a bone!

still standing

I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of some glorious old houses in a small Pennsylvania town.

Some larger than others, all old, but all wonderful to my eyes.

Interesting porches seem to be a theme; they were certainly needed in the days 

before air conditioning. (These houses probably still don't have central air.)

      A feast for my eyes, taken through the car window, on a cloudy day.

Sharing today at Mary's Mosaics on Monday at Little Red House.

fit for a queen

I just got in from a family wedding out of town. Nothing could be more refreshing today than to spend a couple of hours catching up with friends as they celebrated the beginning of the "countdown to my birth day." (aside: sometimes I think birth days should be celebrated by the mothers; one time I even sent a card to my mom in that regard.) One friend, called Robin on this blog, had just returned from five weeks mostly in England and brought some Stuff (capital "S").

We ate very special, oversized cookies (made to be broken into perfect pie-shaped pieces) in a beautiful tin celebrating the queen's jubilee. We each had a royal napkin. And Robin remembered us all with a treat of Marks and Spencer organic fair trade tea.

I even calorie-splurged with a cold dark chocolate drink on this over 100 degree day ... I think my first of such deliciousness! (thanks LG!) I felt sort of like a queen. But most of all, it was just such a treat to be with dear friends. It's so much fun to grow older together.

Prinderella

Believe it or not, I won a talent contest when I was newly 17, telling the story of "Prinderella and the Cince." I stood sideways in rags or a princess gown, depending on parts of the story, interchanging consonants and acting out the punctuation. Strangely enough I can still say much of the story from memory.

Little One, now four, is into all things princess right now. It seems, at least when I'm with her, that her favorite thing is acting out the stories. Some days it's Cinderella, and other days its Rapunzel.

Of course Prinderella Cinderella always brings back memories of those long ago days. When I showed her this picture her eyes widened a bit.




The last time we babysat she was already in princess attire and ran upstairs to get the "glass slippers.""I promise, Grandma, we'll only tell it two times." (Not that I was complaining, but we have done as many as six reviews of the tale at one sitting.) And after all, this grandma gets to be: prince, gairy fodmother, stegly upsisters, the princes' courier, and sometimes mouse turned into coachman. Phew! It can be exhausting! But such a reward when the glass slipper fits! We're all smiles and twinkles in eyes!

(look how her feet have grown in a year!)

repeat performance

I do seem drawn to patterns, or repeats. I love to photograph a row of chairs, 

or that kind of thing. So here are my notecards for this month. All mosaics I 

made for past posts, and all sort of "repeats" of the same image. 

Spruced up a bit to make them a bit more like notecards.

I think they would be fun cards to write a note on.

My,  even in these you can see a trend in colors I favor! I guess I can't help myself!

You will enjoy a visit to Vee's A Haven for Vee  to view other sets of photo notecards.

summer crepes

The hotter it gets here in summer, it seems the more vibrantly the crepe myrtles bloom. 

At least they like the heat. I was struck by this scene outside the facility 

where my mother lives. Crepes are nicely framing the gazebo in a lovely pink!

Connecting to Pink Saturdays at How Sweet the Sound.

stretched

 As I lay on the stretcher, my surgeon stopped by to say hello and give me a "here we go." A scrub cap was jauntily perched on his head, and his blue scrubs were partially covered by a bright yellow rubber apron. He held two bottles of Coke and showed off his way of using the two bottles against each other to pop the lids off. A cool spray hit my face from the fizz.

When we returned to Africa for a summer, emergency surgery was not in our plans. But here I was ... my appendix apparently was acting up. Since I needed a hysterectomy, I asked him to add that to the surgery. "Two for one, or something like that." Only one recovery. But definitely faith-stretching.

There is a whole lot more to this story that I won't go into, but top in my memory is the word "peace." I was not too sick to be fearful of surgery in a small African (city) clinic ... not knowing what to expect or how my recovery would go. We had knocked on the door of the American embassy late the night before and "dashed" someone a case of coke to type and cross match my blood so we could line up potential donors if I needed blood. An older nurse among our colleagues there was going to assist the surgeon, and watch out for me afterwards. We were as ready as we could be in a rush. To this day I remember so very clearly the peace that filled me as they wheeled me under the big lights in a sterile-looking "operating theatre." I had the greatest sense of my heavenly Father carrying me in His arms to my surgery. And staying the whole time.

This week marks 25 years since that momentous experience. Tears still come when I think about the peace I felt. I often share it with friends when they go for surgery. It was tangible. It was real. It was truth.

one tomato, two tomato ....

 The abundance of tomatoes in our kitchen was amazing when I walked in from work tonight. 

Each day the Gardener harvests more. We give them away, eat them, cook them, 

and enjoy them. I think it is our best crop ever. These photos were taken at dusk. 

They are so cheery!

See Mary's Little Red House for more Monday Mosaics!

tip top toes

True confession: I've never had a pedicure. I'm behind the times. And I'm not even sure when it all got so popular. I was given a manicure gift once, and my nails stayed pretty for about a day and a half.  (Most nurses are too practical to get manicures.) I know girls go for "pedi's and mani's" as a sort of girl bonding thing, and this week my time arrived. A friend who lives in Europe, after being here a month, was heading back. Three of us decided to get pedicures before going out to to a little farewell dinner together.

I was overwhelmed by the chemical "scent" when I first entered, but soon got used to it. When the staff learned it was to my first pedicure, collectively, their mouths hung open. Really. I was much chattered about in Vietnamese. Picking the nail color was a challenge. When I went to the chair, I got the guy, the water was way too hot at first, and the remote for the chair massage thingee  kept falling on the floor. But after I settled in, I actually started to enjoy it. (I'll take a foot rub any day!) We talked and talked and laughed.

They gave me blue paper flip flops since I was wearing sandals, and I shuffled out of the shop when we were finished. Awkward. I had meant to try and find some flips at the dollar store. And when I looked for some to show off my fancy toes the next day, I realized there may be a reason I no longer wear them. I used to practically live in them. The reason is a thing called "aging."

My piggies may look a tad more fashionable than when I do my own toenails, but the jury's still out about whether I would have a second one. It is a fun thing to do with others, but its a bit pricey for me. Later we huddled in the parking lot trying to get a shot of our feet, laughing as we tried to keep our balance, while keeping our clothes out of the way and getting a good group "toe" photo. Since I told the flip-flop tale, you can guess which feet are mine, but if you hadn't heard that, as a reader of this blog, would you have been able to guess my feet by the nail color?

freedom

America:  home of the free, because of the brave.

On this record-breaking day of heat, I'm joining Mary's Little Red House for Monday Mosaics.

watch out

Some time ago the hospital gave me a watch for working there 20 years. It was nothing fantastic and I've already had it at the watch doctor once. It seems to keep time when it feels like it. Any many times it's not in the mood. So the Gardener was thinking I needed a new watch for my birthday. Which got me thinking about how I am a watch-wearer. But I don't think I know many other women who do wear watches. Even nurses I work with seem to prefer cell phones or wall clocks. Are watches out of style? The photo to the side is proof that I have always worn a watch as long as I can remember. My mother also, even now, wants a watch on her wrist every day. Maybe for me it's a control thing ... always needing to know the time.

I was at a department store the other day and heard a mom ask as sales lady what's "in" for teenagers right now. And she pointed the mom to the watch counter. Not quite the watch counter I'm used to. Huge watches, decorative in all kinds of ways ... Then I remembered a younger woman sitting next to me in church last week wore such a thing. So, I guess I got my answer about what's "in." They are fun, but probably not practical enough for me.

So I'm taking an unofficial survey. Do you wear a watch?

snips

A few snippets from my sister's camera when they visited a beautiful estate somewhere on 

the west side of Florida. All I did was fashion them into a little mosaic. 

I can't even remember how I did it, but it may have been dragging 

them into a Word document, just for something different! 

Have a good week ahead!

Linking to Mary's Little Red House for Monday's Mosaics!

Love at first sight

This little guy or girl, stayed in this position for close to 20 minutes or more. The two seemed mesmerized by each other. We figured out later that Live Bunny had a large tuft of fur in his mouth. Maybe he/she thought Frozen Bunny was in need of a little more. I came out this close to catch the image with my cell  phone and his/her eyes flickered but still no movement. True love! When he finally left, the tuft remained behind, but was gone the following morning.

summertime at the card party

I decided to celebrate summer at Vee's monthly Card Party.
I wish I lived in this house. I don't even know who does, it's just up in
a small Pennsylvania town near where the Gardener grew up.

The Gardener's tomatoes...from a previous growing season. We're not quite here yet this year.

Rest in the mountains. Yes, that's the spine of a Jan Karon book.

Homegrown by a friend. These all were in previous posts, but I don't remember where. 

Vee gave me the idea of looking on Fli--r  for my old photos, and it was sure easy! 

Then I doctored them a bit with an "urbane" look at picmon-ey.

Join the fun at A Haven for Vee.

small daily joys

"She spoke of the duty of being ready to welcome happiness as well as to endure pain, and of the strength that endurance wins by being grateful for small daily joys, like the evening light, and the smell of roses. and the singing of birds. She spoke of the faith that rests in the Unseen Wisdom and Love like a child on its mother's breast, and the melting away of doubts in the warmth of an effort to do some good in the world." (Henry Van Dyke, in the 1800s)

Joining with "Think on These Things" at With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart.

thinking about fathers

As we approach Father's Day, I, of course, am thinking of my father, now in heaven. He's pictured here with his firstborn daughter. Look at the joy in his eyes. He was separated from her the first month of her life. The night she was born, he hopped on an overnight train to arrive in Chicago early Sunday morning, where he preached his very first sermon in his new church. I'm not sure if my sister came late or early, but the timing of her arrival was interesting, I can't imagine the stress this young minister must have been under--to go through labor and delivery with his beloved wife, meet his new baby, and then begin his career the next morning 800 miles away! A month later, when baby and mother had gotten settled in their new relationship, my father proudly brought them, again by train, to their new life. There was no parsonage. That first year they lived with different families in the church. Times were sure different then. My father always worked hard, spent little, and gave sacrificially. Rather than spending anything he inherited, he put it to work to make more. He never made a great salary and did not have a "retirement package." But as a result of his hard work, my mother is provided for as she lives into her nineties. As the Gardener and I care for my mother, we are grateful to my dad for his wisdom in thinking about the future. What an example he continues to be for us! 

caught on camera

I was passing a window in a small restaurant recently and marveled at the view. 

I snapped the photo so quickly as I walked, I was amazed at how well it turned out. 

It's beauty to behold and made it's own little mosaic! 

Outside on the patio, further eye candy.

See Mary's Little Red House for more Monday Mosaics

and if you were to look inside ...

... some of our windows you might see glimpses of ...

 ... nothing new ...

... nothing special ... 

... but dearly loved ... 

... passed down through generations ... 

... or delightfully discovered ... 

... and tucked inside them all ...

... stories to be told !

the view inside

Inside looking out or outside looking in, windows are a way to go deeper. 

They frame a familiar world we can see, or a world we can only guess about. 

My go-to window in our house is in the dining room. 

I see it from my chair at the kitchen table, and from it I have a general view of the comings 

and goings of the neighborhood. 

This favorite window of mine includes the Gardener's first Christmas gift to me when we were seriously dating teenagers ... two green glass vases. (He's always had good taste.) The little lavender vase is from a friend who has been with me through much of the "stuff" of life. And the little angel a gift from a former neighbor. One Valentine's Day I woke in the wee hours of morning, looked down at her house and into her kitchen window. The light was on and the priest sat with her at the table. I knew her husband had died. I got up and started cooking. It's just one of those little reminders of a piece of life.

The "Etching from Ecuador"--how I love this little piece of glass that moves with house currents that I don't even notice. Such a reflector of light that makes its way into an amazing number of places in our house. I had a hard time taking it's picture it moves so much. It never tires of finding the smallest piece of light to reflect!