a lost art

     I was reminded recently of the impact a simple note can make. 

Several years ago I wrote to a family I did not know well, to encourage 

them about something sad we had in common. I never heard from them, 

nor saw them again. But because of what we share in common, 

I often think of them and wonder if they ever received the note.

     But one day, the father of the family sought us out at church. 

We didn't even know if they were still at our church. He remembered that 

note all these years later, and had been wanting to thank us, and to let 

us know how much it had meant to them that I had written it. 

     Lesson to be learned: no feedback means nothing. Just do what 

you know you are to do, and let it go from there. 
God does His work, using your little part.

     Yesterday was National Handwriting Day. It seems a handwritten letter 

or note is almost a lost art. Do you still write handwritten things? 

My hair stylist told me that her daughter's biggest thing about getting 

her driver's license was doing her signature correctly. Not parallel parking. 

In fact, she begged her mom to teach her cursive so she could 

do a proper signature. No, they hadn't taught it in school.

Random five in a day

1. I posted this flower on IG this morning and my cousin commented that it 

reminded her of my mom. Sure enough, it was a rose that was at my mom's 

bedside her last days. It stayed gorgeous until she died, and we drank in its beauty. 

It's just four years ago at this time that I was at mom's bedside 

each day as she made her transition to heaven.

2. After affirming my cousin's thought on IG, I did a few errands, 

including a trip to Ald* where just inside the door was

a huge bunch of beautiful roses for sale, including some 

the color my mother loved. I grabbed a bunch at only $3

and considered it a smile from God.

3. Earlier in the morning I glanced out the window 

and counted a record-breaking eight deer strolling

and grazing through our back yard. We usually see seven,

and sometimes wonder if they don't just live in our woods.

4. I've been hooked on PGTips tea for years and have a cup every afternoon.

The Gardener used to bring boxes of it home from his regular trips to England.

But now it's easier to find it here. Except for today when 

it wasn't at the shop where I usually find it. They did have this Yorkshire tea. 

I wonder if you British readers recognize this box or brand. 

I've had my first cup and it's pretty good; 

I'd say a bit similar.

5. My favorite day of the week is the one where I volunteer in

my granddaughter's 2nd grade classroom. They've been doing a

unit on Fairy Tales and have spent some time exploring different 

(some very different) versions of Cinderella. Long ago, when

I was 17, I won a talent contest doing a rendition of 

"Prinderella and the Cince," which included acting out the punctuation.

So, without the costume, I read my version in class today and they loved it.

But, by the way, they did not know what a talent contest is.

removing water and building banks

On a cold, very gray day, grandson and I traipsed into our woods

to check out his dad's jon-boat stored there. We'd had a lot

of rain since we last looked at it.

Sure enough, full. 

Mucky water.

This sweet boy wanted to clear it out for his dad.

We discussed how this would work, and how

we might stay dry and fairly clean in the process.

We just happened to have the perfect size buckets for the two of us.

It was hard work but we both worked equally hard and

our mission was accomplished.

We came inside and got warm, read a chapter of Narnia,
and then got busy arranging a H. Depot store. 

Next we purchased supplies at HD and then built a log cabin bank.
Three rooms, three windows, and a fenced parking area.

I savor these times. The grandees are growing so quickly.

Joining in with Mosaic Monday.

the sounds of music

I close the door to our den so I can open the closet behind it. I reach in and turn on our 30 year-old JVC cassette (yes, cassette) player, then turn on the attached 20 year-old single CD player, turn on the speaker connection, go across the room and turn on the speakers in the bookcase, go back and insert a CD, press play a few times, and then return to the speakers to adjust the volume. Then I close up the closet and reopen the den door. All that to listen to a CD. We have another small "boom box" kind of CD player but the sound isn't good, and the radio reception in our house, for some reason, is lousy. None of these options is audible to any good degree in other rooms since our house is not on the "open plan." 

So life here is silent way more than I'd like. We mainly resort to our phones or iPad

 for streaming music. The music often follows me from room to room in my pocket. 

So on my Christmas list went "something to improve the music situation at our house." 

And our wonderful kids got us what I call "Gizmo," instead of her real name.

A small black tower that has such great sound, 

it carries beautifully throughout our entire downstairs. 

We are enjoying beautiful music filling our home. 

And when we ask for the "oldies"

the music brings memories, as you all know.

Since the Gardener and I have been buddies since we were 18, 

we share many of those memories.

A song comes on and we just glance at each other and

know what we are remembering!

"It was a shared experience––a singular thing that had unfolded in a 

golden sliver of time long ago…. Joe was crying, at least in part, 

for the loss of that vanished moment but much 

more...for the sheer beauty of it."

 (Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat)

the exchange

There's a freshness in our house.  A"burr under my saddle" that has confounded my sense of well being ever so very slightly for years is now gone. Certainly it didn't take over my life, but when I walked through my house something nagged at the back of my mind.

I'm sure you who are "house people" get what I'm saying, how you know something's not quite right. Several years ago we switched our living room and dining room around on a trial basis. When we moved the chandelier, things became serious. We have loved the new arrangement and the expanded space when we have a crowd--or even just a handful--around our extendable table.

It was the corner cabinet that was the culprit of this burr. First of all, to go way back, it used to be wood toned that I stained when we bought it unfinished. Later I painted it white, which I have loved, and thought the white made it seem more "built in." A friend told me I'd eventually regret that decision. Not yet. But to have a cabinet of china in the living room, and an antique "secretary" with bookcase in the dining room just didn't seem right. To move them would be an ordeal. Both, excellent storage pieces, would need emptying and strong men to move them.

I think this looks like we're painting.

I got more serious right after Christmas and spent some time with a photo editing program. I removed the secretary from a photo of the living room and inserted the corner cabinet. I was afraid of all the work if it didn't end up looking right and I just didn't know. So I needed a visual, and to prove to the Gardener that it might be OK.

I am blessed with a patient man who also loves house stuff and likes changing a room around and trying to improve things. He squinted at my rough photos and said, "Yes."

We chose to do "Project Move" late one afternoon after a very busy day that included taking down Christmas decorations and the tree, taking it apart, and stuffing it back in it's storage container in the corner of the attic (my job as the Gardener's 6'6" frame does not fit in the corner of the attic.)

What a job! We didn't actually carry the furniture, we rather found a way to dance with it, twisting and turning, hugging it, using every muscle in our bodies. We were one strong man with a bad back, and a silly, determined older lady who has danced with furniture more than once. But as soon as that corner cabinet arrived home in it's new spot I gave a small screech of delight. She was where she belonged.

It all seems right now. The after story is that as I cooked supper that night I felt so tired that every muscle ached. And I felt cold, as I sometimes do after overworking physically. I began to chide myself for being so stupid to think I could still do all of that in one day. Then chills set in in earnest with full blown body aches. Still thinking it was overwork, I headed to bed and slept for the next 24 hours, interrupted only by trips to the bathroom. The stomach flu. What a conundrum.

Joining Five on Friday, with my five photos.

doings

 Back-to-back guests for dinner this past weekend 

brought a festive warmth to our house.

Old friends. We spoke of the blessing of friendship over many years.

 It was easy to use the same table setting. 

Dishes out of the dishwasher and back on the table.

 

The second night was a more casual meal but required 

64 items on the table not including serving things,

or dessert dishes and coffee cups.

 A very fun cookie decorating and ornament painting party took place
another day.  My DIL is a brave one to host 16 2nd grade girls
with a few young siblings tossed in the mix and

more toppings than at least I could have imagined.

The annual school Christmas concert. 

I loved their costumes.

 The grandees enjoy special Christmas things at Grandma's house.

And how I love having them come over.

Things will be less busy the rest of the week and we enjoy quiet nights at home.

The anticipation we feel in the culmination of all these 

festivities, lights, food, music …

is the coming of the Christ child, the Savior.

That's what we celebrate in our family.

 Rejoice!

this is your life

 We celebrated the Gardener's birthday soon after Thanksgiving.

Anticipating our small family gathered around the table I came up with what I

think is one of my better ideas for a sort of game to play while we ate.

As a child, I learned a lot about my parents' lives through stories they told 

around our dinner table. I thought maybe it was time for our grandchildren 

to learn more about their grandpa's interesting life.

I formulated questions about his life and wrote them on small pieces of paper,

folded them up and put them in a bowl.

For the little non-readers, I printed small photos

for them to ask Grandpa about and put a smiley face on the outside

so they would know which ones to pick.

During dinner we passed the bowl of questions around, 

and enjoyed listening to the answers.

One question was about ice skates. In college the Gardener was

skating with a girl (not me) and showed off by jumping over a pile of brush.

The crack as his ankle broke echoed over the ice and he ended up in 

the hospital for four days and missed the rest of basketball season.

Littlest one, now 3 1/2, insightfully commented,

"I guess it's not so good to show off."

a tale of two stables

When the boys were teeny and we were preparing to move to Africa,

I bought a stable-less, plastic nativity set to take along with us. Even though

cheap, the details were lovely, and we have continued to use it

now more than 30 years. We've added a wooden donkey and camel.

Over the years I've made stables out of bits of wood but none of them survived,

or they were cast off in moves.

The gardener keeps a running list in the "back of his mind" of things he may

like to purchase if he ever saw them and the "price was right." 

Likewise I've had "stable" in the back of my mind because the grands, 

who love to play with it, always ask why there is no stable.

Eventually I found a basket that would work, but it was awkward at best.

I dropped off things at a local thrift shop the other day. It's very 

popular, tucked into a little house, and on this day it was crowded. One almost has to 

wait in line to move to a different section. I was drawn to a set of blue

willow dishes, but of course didn't need them. As I was about to turn away, my eyes

rested on the shelf above and there it was. The perfect size-to-scale stable.

Mary and Joseph were missing but there were two kings, 

a shepherd and two animals, and they do look "vintage."

The vintage? 1930s. Perfect.

For, my grandchildren love to say, "Everything is old in your house, Grandma."

Mary and Joseph seem a bit more comfortable here.

With my five photos. I'm joining Amy's Five on Friday.

a Christmas week

 There are times weeks are so jammed full I can barely remember all that took place.

I'm always thankful when I've remembered to take a photo or two.

This week: an early Christmas with family visiting, a birthday celebration,

a visit to a beloved old friend who read me some of her poetry,

recovering from minor plastic surgery on my face (!! yes, rid of more of those atypical cells),

a birthday celebration of the life of a babe taken to heaven,

time with grandchildren, and ending the week 

with an amazing concert by Kristyn and Keith Getty. 

If you like Irish music, look them up! 

It's been wonderfully cold and rainy. 

About the best winter-like weather we get in this part of the country.

In the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan,

earth stood hard as iron,

water like a stone …

(Christian Rossetti)

Joining with Mosiac Monday.

simply simple

No words today, simply joining with

Mosaic Monday.

Five nuggets from an old photo

I have a nifty iphone scanner that works quickly and adequately. I've been scanning 

our mom's photo albums from the years we were growing up. 

Even though many were taken with her Brownie camera, the quality isn't too bad. 

Some are a bit blurry, but the memories are as clear as looking 

through a freshly polished windshield.

One advantage to putting old photos on a computer is the ability to zoom in. 

This was my brother's 4th birthday. Oh the things I see that 

pour memories back into my heart and mind:

1. It's after dinner, and the Bible is at my dad's place. He always read Scripture to us after dinner.

2. The brown radio…our only media in the house. (My parents chose not to have a TV when we were growing up; we read instead I guess.)  The radio came to a chair by our beds when we were home from school sick so we could listen to "Beulah" or "One Man's Family" stories on the radio (precursor to soap operas I suppose). But every night, at 5:45 we were quiet while our parents listened to Lowell Thomas and his 15 minute news broadcast. I don't know if it was before we ate, during, or after.

3. The corner of the kitchen counter where the radio sits … twirling before school (KG) in my new red corduroy jumper, I slammed into that corner and punched a triangle into my eyebrow, just missing my eye.  

4. My grandmother, mother, and I all have shelves to the right of our kitchen sinks. But what on earth does my mother have on her shelf? It looks like a bunch of bottles. I can't imagine what they are. 

5. Lastly, a sink full of pots, pans and dishes. My mother taught me to CAYG--"Clean As You Go" when cooking dinner. But I'm guessing back then, with four kids, a dog and a husband to deal with, her kitchen probably wasn't as tidy as I remember it being as she got older.

                                                                The following year's birthday.

As always a bonus after the five: the Angel Soft clean-x box is in a lot of the photos, as is Buffie, our collie dog. Mom's  Kitchen Aid with that ugly plastic cover on it, made of the same stuff as brother's bib, and her wedgewood-looking blue and white cookie container on top of it. Did we have cookies around all the time? No, but this is two days after Christmas so most likely it's full of sweet things.

mystery vase

Wandering through small towns as we love to do,

small and large shops antique or junque shops draw us in.

We stop at a corner shop; it looks large, but old, old.

No pretty cracked plates or pitchers in the windows.

We walk the dusty aisles, floor boards creaking under our feet.

Lots of old equipment it looks to me through the dim light … maybe a farmer
would know it. Of course we make our way through it all to the back.

You just never know what you might find.

Something catches my eye in a dark corner table loaded with stuff.

No price of course. I offer 50 cents. Probably generous.

And I have used it over and over.

I call it my character vase. 

Squatty and a bit wide. Perfect.

I used it with a TJ's amazing 3.99 bouquet at our Thanksgiving 

table (with some of our own late garden gerber blooms added).

Can you guess what it is?

Joining with Mosaic Monday.

mixing seasons

I wish I had been in reach of my camera at our last book club.

These few taken after it was over will have to give you a glimpse into enchantment.

Our hostess outdid herself in setting a table that was a wonder to gaze upon.

I soaked in every detail. The book, Finding Jupiter, had a winter theme,

and Christmas too, so she combined that with autumn in a subtle, brilliant way.

There were many little things on the table that were significant to the 

story--some we got right away and others she explained to us.

What I appreciated was how she expressed how much she loved preparing the table.

(We all brought the food--such as scones, sweet bread, muffins, cheese, etc.)

I love going to casual get togethers at friends' homes, but I also

like feeling honored when someone prepares in a very special way.

 And our hostess did just that on a beautiful, late fall morning.

Sun streamed in the windows, reflecting the warm colors of autumn
leaves, and danced on the glittered objects on the table.
All while we drank tea and discussed our book.
We all left feeling like "we'd been somewhere."

Joining in Mosaic Monday.

a rare hodgepodge wednesday

1. Share one of your happy thoughts here: Looking forward to the holidays after a long hot summer and election season. Family coming, friend gatherings, and quiet moments at home … all 

are things to be happy about.

2. There's a Chinese proverb that says, "If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap, if you want happiness for a day, go fishing." What say you? It doesn't take much to make me happy: a walk in the woods … a ride over back roads … a bike ride … playing with my grands!

3. Where do you go to decompress from the world around you? 

Water does it--lake or ocean, or the mountains.  Even home--with a cup of tea and a good book.

4. What song never fails to make you happy? It's hard to choose. Music is soothing and 

often brings joy, but what popped into my head immediately 

was the 2013 Ph*rrell Williams "Happy." 

It's a real "perker upper."

5. Today is National Fast Food Day.What's the last fast food you consumed? If you were putting together your own version of happy meal what would it include? Fast food has it's place, 

I suppose and possibly our most recent may have been a Chick-fil-a piece of chicken 

on a recent road trip. My own happy meal would include an apple, cheese, nuts, olives, 

a piece of very dark chocolate and a bottle of water.

6. In a few sentences tell us why you blog: I started blogging to give me an outlet for 

writing and expressing some thoughts after my father died 11 years ago. 

I love both photography and writing so it was a good combination for both. 

What I didn't realize initially how I'd come to appreciate the community 

that you find with other bloggers. 

7. List seven things you're especially grateful for today: 

Each and every day I'm thankful for my relationship with God and His daily grace; 

my gentle, very tall husband; the heritage of my family,

 the internet to keep in close touch with friends and family; 

my loving boys; grandchildren; and our freedom.

8. Your own random thought: 

Relief has come with cooler weather finally arriving. 

Some rain would be wonderful, but meanwhile the early

darkness settling in calls for candles and coziness. 

 Joining in with Joyce's Hodge Podge Wednesday.