Canterbury Jumbles
Canterbury Jumbles are cookies. I found the recipe in a Diane Mott Davidson mystery. I made them for New Year's and I thought they were wonderful. I made them again this afternoon and I still think they are wonderful. I'm having family company tonight and tomorrow and Friday and they will enjoy the cookies, too. They are basically a chocolate chip kind of cookie dough and they have coconut, raisins, nuts and chocolate chips in them. Some of that stuff is healthy, right? The raisins and nuts!
A Safe Place
Did you ever put something away in a good, safe place, and then discover that it's such a safe place you can't find it again? I do this periodically. A couple of years ago when my husband was working at wiring on the porch, he took the light switch plate off the switches in the entry way. Then when he didn't really finish the wiring project, he didn't replace the light switch plate. So I put it away somewhere safe. Since then I've painted the entry way and filled in the holes and I could put the plate back on, ---if I could find it.
So today before I went for groceries, I went to the hardware store to get a replacement. It is a special plate with two circles on either end, one above the other and two ordinary slots in the middle. The two end switches control lights on the porch and just below the switch is a little light which shows you if the porch light is on. There were many different combinations of circles and slots on the switch plates at the store, but none like the one I need. I even looked in a catalog there. The clerk recommended another store, but I think the best bet is to look harder to find the safe place I put it in.
Dreaming Again
My head is filled with dream memories this morning. While it was one of those "can't get ready on time" dreams, it had enough twists to it that I didn't wake up feeling bad. It was completely opposite. I feel really good and even energetic now that I'm up.
In my dream I was at a summer camp, away from home. I was scheduled to teach some one person something, I don't know what. I couldn't get ready for it. I hadn't taken enough clothes with me and I didn't have clean clothes. This made me go to several different places in search of my clothes. I ended up running to get back to my appointment with the woman. Running! Great long strides and I wasn't winded at all. But it wasn't fast enough so my mind put me on a bicycle, which also wasn't fast enough, so it turned into a motor bike, complete with vroom, vroom sounds.
I never made it to do what I was supposed to do, but I woke up feeling empowered to get my tasks done today. I feel like I can race through the day with great long strides and manage all the things I must do. I love the feeling I had when I was running!
Pleasant Evening
I've spent a pleasant evening of watching some taped TV and doing Pysanky while I watched. I was watching Matlock and then Columbo. My husband joined me for a little while toward the end of the last Columbo. He was surprised at the low price of the sherry and root beer that Columbo paid for at the airport. I reminded him that these reruns were originally made years ago. I don't know how many years, but prices were much lower then than now.
I have discovered a pleasing combination of dyes for my latest eggs. I've been doing first yellow, then red, then orange, and finally blue. The finished combination is one I really like. When I try to use new combinations of colors, I'm often disappointed when I wipe the wax off because it isn't pleasing. Sometimes the colors just don't go together as I thought they would. When layering the dyes, they seem to be affected by each successive dye bath and the end result isn't sharp and distinct. I have eggs that I've spent hours putting on an intricate design and then they don't look attractive because I used unfortunate color combinations. But I'm learning.
Today I tried out an interwoven circle design that I feel that I invented for myself, but actually it's hard to invent new geometric designs. I know it must have been done before. One of the most enjoyable parts of Pysanky is wiping the wax off and finding what the egg really looks like under all that waxy build up.
The Rains Came
The rain started at noon. It began with a few gentle spatters. And then those drops got together and partied. It's been raining steadily ever since. I think it's actually an April shower, even though it's just a bit early. It may be my imagination, but I really think the grass is much greener since the rain started. It seems to me to be a brighter, stronger green. Is that possible, in just four hours? I'm all for it, if that's what the rain is doing.
Do-less
It's not a word, really. Do-less, or perhaps doless, but that doesn't look right. Every once in a while, years ago, my mom would write in her letter to me that she was feeling do-less today. She didn't know why, just a vague sense of not wanting to do anything. Do-less.
I've had days like that but today isn't one of those days. It's pretty much the opposite. I have so many things I want to do that I don't know where to start. While I'm working one thing, I keep thinking I should be doing another thing.
I've taken care of a couple of important tasks this morning but there are many tasks crowding my time, each yelling, "Me first!" So what do I do instead of working in the yard before it rains, or sewing the button on, or any one of several other things? I sit down and write about it. It helps me get my head straight!
Now I can get up and DO!
Crocus
Several years ago I bought about 15 crocus bulbs. I always enjoy seeing them in the spring and now they have multiplied to many more than 15. I tucked them into the ground here and there, some right in the lawn, some near some flower beds. Linda gave me more bulbs a year ago and I planted them along the front walk.
They were starting to bloom by the time we returned from our week away. Yesterday my back door neighbor and I looked at them together and I commented on how beautiful they are this year. I have purple and white, the giant kind. This year they are gorgeous. It's cool again this morning and I think that's best for them. I think it will keep them in bloom longer. I think this fall I'd like to buy more crocus bulbs and plant them at the edge of the maple tree where I can see them from my computer each morning as I look out the window.
I love spring mornings!
Yard Work
A little over 10 years ago when I first started doing a lot of work in the yard, I was only able to work about 15 minutes at a time at the beginning of the season. Little by little I've built up strength, and Aquarobics has helped with that a lot. Today I was able to do an hour for my first work in the yard this season. I feel tired but I feel really good about the work I got accomplished.
I got several of the front beds cleared out, but of course there is still the side beds and the back beds to go. What I discovered today is that even though the real plants were sleeping in their winter beds, the spurious plants were vigorously growing. Rake away the mat of leaves and there underneath are thriving weeds growing up faster than the bulbs and perennials which are just beginning to peek through the soil. No wonder we can't get ahead of the weeds!
It's supposed to rain tonight so I may not be able to do much in the yard tomorrow. But it's still early in the season, --it's just that we get so eager to get the yard back to order again. Winter takes its toll!
Another Cute Story
Today after Aquarobics, as we were dressing to go home, Marge told us, (most of us are of retirement age and older) "If I every marry again, I won't marry a farmer, --or any man whose job is weather related." She was laughing as she said it. Marge is always full of good humor.
What's this about? Apparently none of our weather has been very satisfactory for her farmer husband. "It's either too hot or too cold or too windy or too wet," Marge said. Her cousin, who is also married to a farmer added, "Or too dry!"
Marge concluded, "Before I ever marry again, I will ask, 'How do you feel about change in the weather?" I think she must have been hearing a good bit of complaining lately!
Cute story
Our pastor was telling us last night that the door handle of his '89 Ford Pickup Truck broke and he got tired of getting into the truck from the opposite side and sliding over so he made inquiries about replacing the handle. He was told it would cost $50. He said that was more than the truck was worth so he knew he would have to look elsewhere. This meant a trip to the junk yard, which really excited him because he just loves to go to the junk yard. He had to wait till his day off and then he finally was able to go look for the door handle. The owner at the junk yard told him to look for an old vehicle that was pretty beat up because he would like to be able to sell the whole door if it was in good condition.
Pastor spent some time, very little time actually, looking for an old beat up truck, and lo and behold, there deep in the junkyard was an '89 Ford truck, same as his. The door was all beat up and in fact, the inside was was even worse so that all he had to do was open the door and unscrew the handle and it was his. He was a little disappointed that he had found the perfect handle in such a short time. He'd have liked to have had to look around a little longer. He asked the owner how much he wanted for it. He said that four dollars would be enough. Pastor said that he felt so happy to have spent time in the junk yard, and finding exactly what he wanted that he gave the man $5 instead of four. It was the first time a man had tried to haggle with him for a higher price instead of a lower price.
On the way home, he started to wonder about a key to open that door. At home again, he decided to try the key he had for the original handle, and wonderful surprise, it worked perfectly. He was elated.
His wife told us that it takes very little to make him happy. He told us that she often says to him, "You are very happy in your world, aren't you?"
I think that's wonderful. I know because I'm very happy in my world, too. (Make of it what you will. It works for me!)
I forgot my towel when I went to Aquarobics but I was able to borrow one from the Y, from their pile of towels which are left behind and they launder and have available for people like me. I'll launder the towel and return it on Wednesday morning when I go back. I was very happy to have the use of the towel so I didn't have to drip dry! I am happy in my world.
Another Edition Is Ready
I am the editor of our church newsletter. I usually have it prepared to be printed by the 25th of the month. This month I'm really late because I was away from home for one week and couldn't collect news and people didn't send me their news.
I've always threatened that if I couldn't find enough news for the monthly newsletter, I could just make it up. We always laugh about that and I do my best to "spin straw into gold," instead of making it up when I have only little things to write about.
Last night, I actually did what I threatened. I made up some news! Since the newsletter will reach the people on or just before April Fool's Day, I made the front page news an April Fool's article. I hope the people will be pleasantly surprised and not annoyed by it. But I didn't have enough real news to fill out the newsletter this month. My cover story is about an unscheduled meeting that was called with short notice for the first Thursday in April. Then I had people of the congregation who never do special music sing solos and duets. Some gave readings in a meeting which lasted two and a half hours. Everything about the meeting was unusual. I wonder if anyone will be fooled.
Plans for a New Day
I am hoping that tomorrow is just as fine a day as today has been. The weather was perfect today. If the weather is like this again tomorrow, surely I can squeeze in a little time to work in the yard. I need to rake the leaves out of the flower beds. Plants are trying to grow up through the dead leaves. I should clear the way for them.
But first I will have to get my allergy shots and do the work out at Aquarobics. Then a work out in the yard would be in good order.
Simple Pleasures
I am eating a wonderful, most delicious apple, not Delicious, but great tasting. It's sweet and sort of zesty, and cold and crisp and I am enjoying it immensely. It's making me think of a simple pleasure I've enjoyed long ago. When I was a child, we always had a snack after we came home from evening church. Often we had a bowl of cereal before bed and always called it a "Midnight Snack," though it was long before midnight. However, it seems to me that Sundays were different. One of my favorite snacks on Sunday nights was homemade bread and butter and a cup of cocoa. That was a late night snack worthy for a king. This apple that I've just finished eating was every bit that good. I'd tell you what kind of apple it is if I could spell its name. It is a Japanese name. The apple is really big and a golden green color and the taste is, -well, it's delicious!
My Neighbor Died
My neighbor died this morning. She was elderly and she had been very sick all this week so it was to be expected. Still, now that it's happened, it's brought a sadness to our community. She was a good neighbor. We got along well.
Her daughters said that often in conversation, their mom would say, "Wait," and then tell them something she thought of. She had told them before she died how she wanted them all to get along together and take care of each other, things they already knew, really. And just before she slipped away, she said, "Wait!" And the daughter said, "No more waiting, Mom. It's time now."
It's hard to let someone go, to give them permission to die, but in this case, the daughters believed that it was a blessing of God to end her deep suffering. Another friend told me at the beginning of February that when you really love someone who is suffering so much, it is out of love that you let them go. Part of me understands this, but part of me sees only the loss. Today I see the empty house and I am sad.
A Poem
Color of Joy
(A poem I wrote in November of 1993)
I looked for joy at the beginning
And it was rainbow hue,
With sparkling tones and brilliant colors,
A freshet with the morning dew.
I looked for joy when life was settled.
It was a rosy hue,
A trickle with the morning sunshine
Much calmer than when joy was new.
I looked for joy when it was evening
And it was silver blue,
A steady stream of twinkling star beams
Reflections from past joys I knew.
Thus joy is there for all occasions
With ever changing subtle hue
Intensity that rests within me
Participates in all I do.
At Home
One of the nice things about being home again is that when I go shopping, I meet people I know in the stores. Granted it does slow a person down to talk to a friend in the aisles of the grocery store, but it certainly does give me a good feeling to see the smiles on friends' faces when we exchange greetings. I want to always have time for friends!
Getting the Work Done
What a beautiful day this has become. The sun is shining brightly. The spring things are growing! I'm getting my work done. I've just finished going through the week's accumulation of newspapers. That took a chunk of time! I've worked on the church newsletter and have some ideas for a few entries for it. I shall finish it this weekend. Maybe I'll take time for a walk. Life is good!
Easily Fixed!
My husband came home from getting his hair cut and when he knew that my lens had bailed out again, he said he would take me to get it fixed right away. Gratefully I grabbed my coat and we went.
Teri, who works at the doctor's office, is a friend from church and she took care of my problem right away. She really knows how to fix glasses. This time she used a longer screw to fasten the frame together, and she also used a dab of glue which should make it last longer. She made one more adjustment so that the glasses will stay in place better and I won't have to push them up when I read. It's been a concern to me that my lens will fall out while I'm in the Aquarobics class and I can only imagine the fun it would be if that would happen. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack! I'm sure this would be a difficult task.
So now I can get back to the rest of the tasks which I thought I would be doing this morning.
Unexpected Task
I have many little things to do today, to catch up with things I couldn't do while I was away. I have plans to do a little grocery shopping, to work on the church newsletter, to brush up the Sunday school lesson, as well as to do some things around the house.
But now these things have to take a back seat to the new chore which has popped up. Actually, it popped out. While I was reading the morning newspaper, the right lens popped out of my glasses. I have my old glasses to wear as a back up, but they pull my eyes. I have to get the glasses fixed, right away.
Home Again
We got home last night at 11:15. The weather here is much cooler than in Maryland. We still have rags of snow lying around, but it is much warmer here now than when we left last Sunday.
Before I left home, I watered the plants well. Then we turned the heat down and I hoped that the plants wouldn't need as much water with the heat lowered. But last night I found the soil in the flower pots completely dried out. I went around with the watering jug, giving them water before I went to bed. One little violet was so dry that when I poured in water, the soil broke loose from the side of the pot and the whole plant floated in its block of dry soil for a few minutes, until the soil could absorb the water. I think the plants will be OK in the long run, but they certainly did dry out.
Now as I write, I am looking out the window at the blooming snowdrops by my archway path, and across the road at the dirty piles of snow where it was pushed away from the parking lot at the school. There is a lot of yard work to do to get ready for sprink planting, but today is cold and rainy and I have lots to do to get ready for tomorrow.
Travel
I used to travel in the summer to visit my grown and married kids. I traveled many miles, -Just me and my dog, Rhombus. Although I am timid about driving in places where I don't know the way and have to rely heavily on maps, I did OK and arrived to my destination safely. Then as I got older and had to be in high density traffic situations, I just couldn't handle it any more.
We are getting ready today to head home and I'm thinking about driving and what it would be like to attempt the trip alone. It's hard to grasp that just ten minutes away from where I am right now the roads are not roads at all but high speed highways. I could drive around town here but I'd have to use high speed highways to get from here to home, so I can't plan to make the trip alone any more.
That's too bad for me but I want to be safe. I can't always inconvenience someone else to take me for long trips, so it's easier to stay home. I have many things to keep me busy at home. I love having my family come home to me, but I do enjoy visiting them, too.
Dream Trace
I suddenly remembered a scant trace of a memory of last night's dream. I had changed my name to something beginning with A so I could be at the head of the class list of names. I think I changed my last name to Abraham, and if it wasn't that, it was something very, very near the beginning of the As. I thought there were a lot of advantages to having a name that starts with A. What a silly thought!
Taking a Walk
I have to cut back on walking during the winter because of all the snow and ice making walking conditions very difficult. Therefore I haven't had much of a walk for a few months now.
Last night the weather was beautiful for taking a walk. It was threatening to rain and a few drops fell now and then but it wasn't too cold and it didn't hinder our walk at all.
We walked on a bike path near the airport and watched planes approaching and landing. It was very pleasant. The parking garage across the way was all lit up and looked beautiful in the night. It's odd how something so common as a parking garage could appear to be so beautiful all lit up in the evening darkness.
I wish I could take a walk every day.
The Need for Books
I've been thinking. Do you have any idea how much I need more books? Ahem! Our book cases are bulging. I don't have literally "to be read piles," but I have books that I plan to read some day in almost every book case. Why did I buy two new books? Why do I want to go to the used book store? There is within me a deep seated need for books.
Book Store
Today I got to go to a book store. I saw a number of interesting books that I would like to read. After browsing a while, I decided on two that I would buy, cozy mysteries that our public library doesn't carry. One is a Diane Mott Davidson book about Goldy the caterer, and the other my favorite dog writer, Susan Conant. That book is The Wicked Flea. I'll save these books to read at home. It's a cozy feeling to know that I have them to look forward to.
Weather
Weather is always a topic of conversation. I've had a little contact on the computer with people back home and we start our conversations by asking each other about the weather. How does the Baltimore weather compare with the weather around Erie?
While we were a little colder than I expected it to be here in Maryland, our home town was still getting snow. Today the weather is warmer but in our home town, it's still pretty cool, though warm now compared to what it's been for the last couple of weeks.
Today we had a little rain. My friend says it looks like it will rain some time today in our home town. As long as there is weather, we will always have at least one topic to talk about.
The Classroom
It's kind of funny that an hour and a half in the third grade classroom this morning could bring back the whole teaching experience again. I was just a visitor, sort of a fly on the wall. I was not introduced to the class nor did I get to talk to any of them but I watched and listened carefully.
There are certain types in every classroom. There was the girl who is quick to ask for permission to hand out materials to the class. In this case it was a basket of popsickle sticks with students names on them. She gave each student the right stick. The students put their stick into the proper place to indicate if they were carrying their lunch or buying lunch and which was their choice from the menu for the day.
There was the quiet girl who really knows the answers, even the most difficult. There was the class clown who really knew almost none of the answers but wanted desperately to know them, to contribute and be accepted. There was the slow poke who found so many things to do before settling down to work. Actually, there were several of these.
Latisha was in the back, almost as far back as I was. She seemed to know what was going on and be able to participate but she was also doing her own thing. She raised her jersey in the back and slid it down over the back of the chair. Then she put her jacket on and there she was, pinned to her chair.
There was the child who would rather read his book than pay attention to everything that was being said. In my classes, I had a tendency to be lenient with this type of student, because, they really do know the material and their minds go on faster than the pace of the rest of the class.
I liked visiting the classroom again.
I Can Spell Rottweiler!
I did it! I learned how to spell Rottweiler. I couldn't find it in the dictionary but today in the newspaper, I saw an item about a dog biting a boy. I read the article and there was the word I didn't know how to spell. Rottweiler!
The dog was a pet. The boy was seven years old. He tried to lie down on the dog while the dog was chewing a bone. Big no-no for many dogs. I am sorry for the boy. It must have been a painful bite. I am sort of sorry for the dog. He didn't know how much he would hurt the boy.
Rusty seems to have a great deal of sense about who to be rough with and who to be gentle with. He is very smart. He's also very laid back about food. He will gently take food from a child's hand, -and mine, too, thank you very much. I don't think he'd ever lose it and bite a child, but I hover to make sure.
Owning a big dog is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. I'm afraid the boy will remember this traumatic experience all his life. I wouldn't want to own a Rottweiler.
visiting the school
This morning I visited Samuel's classroom. The teacher had said that it would be fine for me to come, so this was the day I went. It was a new experience for me, even though I taught third grade for a number of years. This is a different school in a different state.
Samuel and I walked to school and it was a gorgeous morning to be out for a walk. We go past a house with a really high wooden fence. This one is higher than my head and I'm 5 feet tall! The house behind this fence has a deck built around two sides of the upper level and two black Labs are almost always patroling the deck. One is much bigger than the other but they are both good sized dogs. The smaller of the two barks at us the most. They wear spiffy red collars and look quite dashing. Beautiful animals.
I had to go to the office and sign in. Too late I discovered that the child's name and my name were both supposed to go on one tiny segment of a line. Since we have 12 letters in our last name, they wouldn't both fit there. I used two lines. I seem to always have to be different. (Samuel's last name is the longest one in the class. Where other kids' full names are printed out on things, he has his first name and last initial.)
We were early in the classroom. The teacher greeted me and told me where I could sit and then she went back to her "morning work." Samuel bustled around the room a few times, getting himself settled to his liking. Kids began to drift into the room and they too got settled, some right away, some like Samuel attending to various little things.
At 8:30, the P. A. system came on and we all stood to salute the flag. Then there were announcements, a student tribute to Billy Smith, and a bit of classical music was played, written by Antoine Devorcek. (sp?)
Finally at 8:45, the first class began. It was a language arts class in which students looked at a list of words and used one or more of those words in a sentence. Then another student would try to extend the sentence by telling a little more about the idea of the sentence.
I left the class when they started their reading for the day, an expository article which they were going to read and talk about. When Samuel is home again, I'll have this classroom and pupils in my mind more clearly as we talk about what happened at school today.
Water
All my life, while I was growing up and living at home, we were short of water. We had our own well but it didn't have lots of water coming into it. We had to be very careful or the well would run dry. We had to skimp on the use of water, -for everything. Dad built a cistern to hold rain water for use in the bathroom and some of the laundry, but when it didn't rain for a long while, we had to be careful about the use of that water, too. There were times we had to haul in water.
To this day, though I haven't had to live with use of water restrictions for many years, it still hurts me to turn the water on and let it run. I've been thinking about this now because the water in the hot water spigot comes out icy cold when it's first turned on. A good bit of water runs uselessly until the water is hot. How many gallons are wasted this way? I only guess at this time since I didn't measure it, but it seems like many. I still hate to see precious water running down the drain without being used to some purpose.
Warmer Weather Today
I didn't bring my winter coat with me because I expected Maryland to be much warmer than where I live in the snowbelt in Pennsylvania. Up until today, I didn't want to stay outdoors very long with my spring jacket and not my winter coat.
Today it was my turn to walk the three blocks to school to get my grandson, the birthday boy. I was surprised at how warm it became today, after it being cold all day yesterday. The world was alive with birdsong. The walk was very pleasant.
Samuel was happy to see me and we talked about school things as we walked home. He did his homework at the kitchen table while I peeled apples for Waldorf salad.
Adopt Me, Please!
My two dogs just love being out in the yard here. It's big yard with what to me is a big fence around it. But, I've been corrected about the size of the fence. It's only 3 feet high. That's big to me. It's big enough to give them the freedom to roam around and investigate the perimeter and not get out. It gives them freedom that they don't have at home. They want to go outside often throughout the day. Even Desy, who usually wants to be by my side, wants to be outdoors at every opportunity. She especially likes to go outside with Rusty.
I can just imagine that when it's time to go home at the end of the week, both dogs will want to be adopted here so that they can enjoy the freedom of the yard, --and the wonderful curiosity of the cats. The cats are still a great curiosity to them but they both have come to accept the cats as part of the household and not to be fussed at. The freedom of the yard would be worth having to be kind to cats. But probably, I'm hoping so, they would really prefer to go home with us, the people they've adopted as their own.
Feeding the Birds
Bill has two very nice bird feeders outside the kitchen window. They were both empty. I wanted to be able to watch the birds so I talked to him about getting some bird seed. He had some bird seed in the garage and filled the feeders. The birds didn't discover the food yet yesterday evening.
This morning there are little birds at the feeder. There is also a gray squirrel. A squirrel can scatter the seed in very little time. But it's hard to keep the squirrels away when they know you've put bird seed out.
In the comics recently, in the Arlo and Janis comic strip, Arlo looks at the squirrel in his bird feeder and complains about it. "Something has to be done about this," he asserts. Then he goes and buys more bird seed! That would be my solution, too.
Birthday Boy
Our birthday boy was 9 years old today and he's been so excited. Do you remember your 9th birthday? I don't remember mine and I wasn't writing a journal then, so I have no record of how we celebrated that birthday.
Samuel was excited from the minute he got up this morning, --a wonderful excitement. He wore his birthday badge to school. He got a birthday cupcake at school. His friend's mom baked cupcakes for the entire class in honor of his birthday.
After his birthday dinner at home, he followed clues to find his birthday gifts and then he spent time playing with them. He thought his birthday cake was beautiful. It wasn't hard to give him a special birthday.
not a friend
There is lovely fenced in yard here at my son's place and the dogs love being out in the yard exploring. However, next door to our yard there is a pet that is not going to be a friend to our dogs, our cats or to me. I can't spell this dogs breed and I can't find it in the dictionary. Rotwieler?? It's inside of a high chain link fence and it's chained in the yard. I've been told that it can run and jump right over the fence so it has to be chained. It does not like the cats, for sure. Rusty and he do not like each other and snarled and fussed at each other till I brought Rusty in. (Not long!) Desy goes her separate way investigating the yard and does not pay any attention to the other dog. I'm glad that he's on a strong chain.
New Friends
Three kitties live at my son's house. It's their home, too. We brought our two dogs. They are part of our little family now and travel with us. Rusty is very excited by the cats. He doesn't know what to make of them. The cats don't know what to make of him. They are starting to get to know each other. I hope we don't have any spats but maybe we will have to before they get used to each other. By the time they get used to each other, it will probably be time to go home.
Travel
We were traveling today, from our place to Maryland. As the night came down and the lights went on in the towns and villages, I started wishing, like a kid, that we were "there" already. Then I started to look at the homes we passed when we went through the little towns. Some of them were really beautiful homes but I just got a lonely feeling when I thought about going into one of them, looking for a cozy room. Others looked more inviting. I wasn't sure what made one house make me feel lonely and another one inviting. Maybe it was the kind of lights in the windows.
New Mercies
The hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness has the line, "Morning by morning, new mercies I see." There is something about morning that does lift our spirits. We tell each other, "You'll feel better in the morning." And usually we do.
I see with how much joy my pets greet the morning. They always wake up with joy and energy for the new day. They greet me with the same joy every morning. "Here I am," they seem to announce. "Here you are. Isn't it wonderful!!" and they dance around and dash down the stairs.
And they're right. It is wonderful! My heart greets the day joyfully, too, (after I am fully awake). Merry Springtime, everybody!
Conversation
I went to a funeral service today. There were 20 people attending, for a widower, 87 years old, -a man who had been quiet and reserved, keeping to himself a lot. Before the service started, I got into a conversation with Sue.
Pretty soon the subject turned from mourning to our pets. Sue told me about her pet, Luke, a Dalmatian. One year Sue's niece made cow ornaments for the Christmas tree. She made the cow from dough, baked and varnished it and had fixed a hanger to the ornament. One day Sue discovered that the ornament was no longer on the Christmas tree. A search showed the hanger for the ornament lying near the dog's bed. And that's what happened to the cow. It was eaten by a Dalmatian
Another time, Luke the Dalmation took a small jar of honey from the table and licked it completely clean. She wondered how the big dog got it's big tongue into the narrow opening of the honey jar. (Maybe bears are really big dogs at heart.)
About this time, we had to stop talking because the service was beginning. For a couple of minutes we were having a rather animated conversation for such a somber situation as a funeral service.
Finishing up the Egg
The last step in doing a Pysanky egg is carefully blowing out the contents of the egg. I think this is probably my least favorite of the steps in the process. Years ago one would make the tiny holes in the ends of the egg and then blow it out with their lung power. But I use a product called Aunt Marge's Egg Blowing Tool. It is a black rubber bulb with a sharp point on the end. You puncture the egg, insert a long metal rod and stir up the egg so that it will flow freely when you blow it out. Then you make a tiny hole in the opposite end of the egg and gently pump the rubber bulb which forces the contents of the egg out of the egg. Many a slip occurs during this last step of the process.
And that's a lot of the reason why I don't like this step. It's so easy to break the egg while doing this process. I usually don't blow out an egg until I've done about 4 or 5 of them. It takes roughly five minutes to empty an egg, so by the time I'm finished with 4 or 5 eggs, the muscles in my arm are really tired. This morning, I've blown out three eggs and have one more waiting. I'm taking a break and resting my arm before I blow out the final egg. I think it's a very pretty egg and I'm hoping it will go as well as the first three. I usually start with the egg that I like the least and then progress to the one that I think is the prettiest, so that I get practice on the ones that it wouldn't be so hard to lose.
One thing about doing Pysanky, ---Eggs break easily. If the egg breaks, it's no big deal. You get another egg and start over. When I give the eggs away, I tell the people, If you break this egg, don't feel bad. Just tell me and I'll give you another. Pysanky is an art that's satisfying to do at any time, but especially so at this time of the year.
memory of old friends
I woke up this morning thinking about dear friends from my past. Thinking about Helen brought back memories of joining the choir. It was almost 14 years ago that my husband was called to his ministry at the church five miles down the road from where we were members. I was teaching a Sunday school class and singing in the choir and it was decided that I would finish the quarter teaching my class and then I would attend the new church with him. And, of course, I would be joining the choir.
Therefore I started to go to their choir practices so I would be ready to sing with them when the time came. My husband knew everyone already but I knew no one. It was intimidating to me as I walked in and everyone looked at me. It wasn't many people but still, all eyes were on me and I was uncomfortable and didn't know what to do.
Then Helen took me under her wing and invited me to sit with her and got me the music I would need. How I appreciated Helen, my first friend in the new church. Helen also eased the way for me to join Hospital Auxiliary.
I never got to visit Helen in her home but I was told that on lonely nights, Helen would play her piano and sing hymns long into the night. Her neighbors loved to hear her.
The whole congregation and indeed, the community, was sad at the news of her death. I'll certainly never forget the way she reached out to me to make me feel at home and ease the discomfort of being the "new kid on the block."
Collections
The Showcase section of Thursday's newspaper had an article about a Flora Gill Jacobs, who collected doll houses for 59 years. She acquired so many of them that she opened a museum to show them off. She also collected dolls and other toys. Now at the age of 85, she is going to acution off 35 doll houses, 45 other buildings and 100 dolls on June 19. Her collection has become extremely valuable, "worth a fortune," one expert says.
Kevin Cuneo, who wrote the article, told about his own interest in a spoon collection, until his wife said that he had enough and that if he brought home any more of them, she would put them into the silverware drawer with the rest of the spoons. Then he started collecting flo blue dishes, - which take up more space than spoons. Many of us enjoy collecting something.
I've always loved doll houses but have never had enough space to have a doll house. I played with someone's doll house when I was a child, but I can't remember whose it was. I enjoyed looking at the doll house that Mr. Ward built and thought it would be great fun to build one, too. I picked up some plans to build an inexpensive doll house, but when I tried to get started, I found that I couldn't understand the blueprint and my husband was too busy to help me. I gave it up.
I have a friend, Irma, whose children bought her a doll house when she was nearly 80. She had great fun collecting furnishings for her little house. Another friend's high school daughter bought an old doll house that was in much need of repair and furnishing. What a fine time she and her mother had fixing it up.
That's pretty much the extent of my experiences with doll houses. After reading the article about Flora's many doll houses, I started to think again about the appeal of the doll house. I even started to look for an area where I could put one if I'd find one that I could buy. However, I have collected elephants and so far, with the exception of one huge stuffed elephant, they are very much easier to find space for. I think I should think of a good place to display that collection and just enjoy looking at other people's doll houses.
Morning
It's so nice to get up in the morning in daylight. The world looks cold and shivery outside my window. I've been looking at the car parked in my neighbor's driveway at the edge of our yard. It's covered with a skift of snow. I've been reading and answering my mail and I look up every now and then at the world outside my window. Suddenly I realized that the snow that was plastered on the driver's side window has melted away and the glass is clear. The sun's rays are melting the snow on the glass even though it is cold out there.
I've been doing some more Pysanky. I was reading that all Pysanky is based on geometry because the first thing you do is divide the egg into sections. Most of the traditional Pysanky designs are geometric. There are some traditional animal designs, though, deer, lamb, fish, and a spider. The spider is pretty geometric, though. I forget what the spider means but it's something good. I remember that years ago the Ukrainian people chose a site for a new home by whether a spider would spin a web there or not. I'll have to read that over again soon.
I have three eggs varnished now and I can blow the egg out of them later today. I'm glad that I have Aunt Margie's Egg Blowing tool. Even then, it gets to be tedious, but I love to have those finished eggs!
Not a Starling
Today I went to lunch with a church group and I was fortunate enough to get to sit beside Mr. Baker, a man who is well versed in the knowledge of plants and birds in our area. I told him about the really black bird I'd seen at my feeder and he said off-handedly, "Oh, that's a grackle."
My first guess had been that the bird wasn't a starling, but I didn't know what else it might be so I decided it possibly could be a starling. I'm sort of pleased to know that it wasn't a starling. Grackle, I think, is not a pretty name like starling. Starling makes me think, little star. But the bird's name has nothing to do with stars. Grackle sounds like a rasping sound. But the name surely has nothing to do with sounds. I rather liked the black bird which seemed a little lonely There were no other birds like it that I could see.
A Like-Hate Relationship
It's spiders! Spiders have terrified me since I was a child. I have come to the place where I don't mind them as long as they are far away from me. I can't say that I find them beautiful completely, but I've come to see that some of them have a bit of beauty about them, and they do have a purpose.
When I was a grade school teacher, I did a study on spiders and would teach about them during the month of October and we would decorate our room for Halloween using spider themes. One that I liked was to frame a piece of tissue paper and the pupils would make their spiders to live on a web that they drew on the tissue paper. These would be displayed in the windows and I thought they made an interesting and attractive display.
Why am I thinking of spiders now? Well, the day that I saw the big, black bird with the long yellow bill, which I'm pretty sure now was a starling, I saw a jet black spider, as black as the bird huddled at the edge of the feeder. The spider was in our cellar on the wall above the clothes dryer. Most of the spiders we have around here are shades of brown, except for those fat black jumping spiders. Jumping spiders aren't as big as this spider which was about the size of a quarter. I eyed it warily. I didn't mind it being there if it would stay there and never come near me. But where does it go when I can't see it?
I kept my eye on it the whole time I was getting the clothes from the dryer and I do believe it kept its eye on me! It seemed to shrink smaller and smaller, pulling its legs in closer to its body. I think it was wondering about me as I wondered about it. "What will she do about me? Where will she be when I can't see her? I don't mind her being there if I could be sure she would leave me alone."
The next time I went to the cellar, the spider wasn't there. But where did it go? Will it come upstairs? How much time has it spent in the darkness? Where did it come from? And, why was it jet black when most of our spiders are brown?
Creation Miracle
The little flock of birds is still around, just outside my kitchen window. This morning I see that my back door neighbor has put out a really big, hanging feeder that seems to be full of sunflower seeds. There are more birds there under her feeder where seeds have fallen to the ground than there are at my feeders. That makes lots of birds for us to watch.
I got out one of my bird books this morning, to try to discover what birds are visiting here. It's so hard for me to identify birds. I don't see well and they don't hold still. I'm pretty sure that most of our birds are sparrows and probably common sparrows, but they aren't common at all. They are works of art!
And then I started thinking about how easily they fly and flit around. It's got to be one of the miracles of creation that gave birds the gift of flight. I can't imagine a world without birds and yet I wonder how God imagined a world with birds. I'm grateful for birds and the way they bring beauty to our world.
Oh, I know they can be messy, but I remember, "Where there is no ox, the stall is clean." I'm glad that we have these little creation miracles visiting us. I missed them during the winter when they went somewhere else.
Reading about Catering
I've been reading Diane Mott Davidson's book, Chopping Spree. It's a cozy mystry in which the main character is Goldy, a caterer. Throughout the story, Goldy is always cooking and baking, trying to make new recipes, preparing for the events she caters. I've always thought I couldn't be a caterer. I still think so. There's so much to do to have everything prepared, transported, and served on time, and at the right temperatures.
This afternoon I was making a new recipe for a dinner for my friend, Linda and her two children. Linda and I had looked through the Pampered Chef cookbook that my daughter had sent me and Linda picked out the Reuben Classic and said she'd like to try that. Today was the day. I had the ingredients assembled and I was ready to get started. The problem was the time table. How much time would it take to get the ingredients together and ready to bake. It took half an hour to bake, but how much time to get to that point?
And, what else should I fix? While I chopped and stirred and spooned out and all those good things, I thought about Goldy and what it must be like to be a caterer. I was glad I was preparing dinner for five and not for a multitude of people. Goldy spends most of her day working with food. I spent several hours this afternoon.
(Oh, yes! The dinner was very successful!)
Unrest at Aquarobics
Today Marge locked her keys in her car before she came in to Aquarobics class. She got out her gym bag, but somehow left her keys in the car. She had two sets of keys, she said, and both were locked in the car. It was her first time to do this stunt and she was very upset with herself.
We all tried to think of ways to help her get her keys out. She called her husband right away but he didn't answer the phone and she had to leave a message. Then it worried her all during Aquarobics. Would her husband notice that there was a message on the phone? Would he get a key to her? What would she do if he didn't bring her a key?
Several others offered to take her home to get the key. She was up tight because she had an appoint at 11 to get her hair fixed 9 miles away and Aquarobics wouldn't be over till 10:30. This wouldn't give her much time to work on the problem.
She joined the class for a while, then left and checked at the desk to see if there had been an answer. No. She rejoined us but left early. She was finishing dressing as we trooped back into the locker room. "I don't know why I'm hurrying," she said. If the key wasn't there, there was no point in hurrying.
In two minutes she was back in the locker room with a big smile on her face and the car keys in her hand. Her husband had picked up the message and brought the car keys and left them at the desk. All's well that ends well.
Meanwhile, it had prompted the rest of us to remember times when we, or a close friend or relative had locked our cars with keys in them. There were lots of interesting stories. I heard one fragment of a story, "and the car was in the car wash!" That brings many possibilities to mind, all of them embarrassing and troublesome. And, if you never locked your keys in the car, you feel you shouldn't admit it because it's like asking for trouble!
Night Thoughts
As I settled into a cozy nest of sleep last night, I realized that I usually make a brief analysis of my day's activities. What did I do that was important? What should I have done differently? What made me happy? What should I plan for tomorrow? Then I pray about these things and drift off to sleep.
Last night I was thinking that it would be interesting to me to keep a written record of these thoughts for a week and take note of what direction I am taking. But that would keep me awake longer. The thoughts of the moment sometimes have to be that, just for the moment. Not all thoughts hang around for a long time. And that's a good thing. Most thoughts have to fly away to make room for the new thoughts which are crowding in. Not all thoughts are important enough to find a roost and stay a while.
This looks like another really fine day, --snow and all.
Feeding the birds
What fun it was for me to have so many birds come to my feeder outside my kitchen window today. All winter long, no birds came. I had the food ready for them but they were elsewhere. Today they came in small flocks, about 20 or so at a time.
Once I looked out and there was one lone bird. It was a big, black bird with a long yellow beak and it was huddled on the narrow ledge against the feeder. Every once in a while it opened and closed its mouth several times in succession. I would have thought crow but it was too small to be a crow. Maybe it was a starling, but I am really not sure. Then it ate a few seeds and flew up into the tree.
My husband says we got about 16 inches of snow today! I'm glad that some birds found food at our house. It is such fun to watch the birds at a feeder.
Our Storm
Our snow storm continues today. School was dismissed just after noon. The snow comes down steadily and the wind is from the east.
To my surprise, the chipmunk did come back to the feeder today. At one time he was busy grabbing his kind of seeds while the flock of little birds was there. Both birds and chipmunk ate from the feeder together. Later a beautiful red cardinal ate beside a brown sparrow, without fussing over territory. Maybe a storm brings out the best in the wild creatures, just as hardships bring out the best in us.
I'm keeping an eye on the feeders to make sure they don't run out of seed while the storm continues.
More Snow
Yesterday our snow was gone but there was still icy places on sidewalks because the air was very cold though the sun was shining. Yesterday I watched the chipmunk stuffing his cheeks with the seeds of his choice and the little birds underneath the bird feeder busily picking the seeds off the ground.
Today the chipmunk will probably feed from the seeds he's stored in his burrow but the birds don't stock up on food the way the chipmunk does. I wonder why the little birds come back to our area so early, before the winter snows are completely finished. I know they have their ways of keeping warm and finding food, but snows like this are on them.
I heard birds singing a few minutes ago, but I don't see many of them. There's a good thought, --singing in the snow storm. Stay warm little birds.
For the Birds
While I was making dinner this evening, I looked out of the kitchen window and saw a chipmunk sitting on the edge of the birdfeeder, stuffing his face with seeds of choice. He had fat little chipmunk cheeks.
There were a lot of little birds underneath the feeder, picking the seeds off the ground. I'm not good enough at bird recognition to tell what birds they were. They were sparrow like, but I thought they were bigger than I expect sparrows to be. They were busy and satisfied under the feeder and didn't challenge the chipmunk for the choice place to eat. When the chipmunk left, they flew up to the feeder. I thought they could have taken on the chipmunk and chased him away,but they didn't try.
Not My Imagination
I have had to have allergy shots every two to three weeks for years and years. Usually my arm feels the effects of the shot for several days. Recently I discovered that if I get my shots just before I go to Aquarobics, my arm doesn't get sore. I thought I might be imagining this but since I thought it worked, I decided I would just keep on getting my shots before the exercise class.
Today, after waiting 45 minutes to be called back to get my shots, I confessed to the nurse that I really want to get the shots before Aquarobics at 9:30 because the exercise seems to keep my arm from getting sore. And she said, "Oh, yes. Moving your muscle like that after a shot is so much better for it than going home and resting it!" So I wasn't imagining it. And now I'm wondering, why didn't any medical person ever tell me that all those years when I was getting the shots? Why did I have to stumble onto this information on my own? Oh, well, I'm glad I know it now.
Dream
I dreamed last night that I brought home a fuzzy, fluffy, little white puppy. It was so full of life and energy. Every time I forgot and let it loose, it would take off running. I would call it back to me, clapping my hands and calling it Stevie. That wasn't its name but I couldn't remember its name and that name would be on the tip of my tongue. I woke up with a good feeling. I liked the puppy, but I'm glad that I don't have to break in a new puppy right now. It takes a lot of training to get a puppy used to living in a house.
Yesterday when I realized that I hadn't put my shoes into the shoe bag where I keep them, I was thinking how glad I was that neither of my dogs chew shoes at this time in their lives. Maybe that's why I got the puppy in my dream, but he didn't chew any shoes. He was just a cute, peppy puppy.
The Painting is Finished!
Carolyn came again this evening to take a digital photo of the painting I've been working on. She brought her tacking tool and helped me put the picture into a frame. She took the photo of it and sent it to me by e-mail and soon now I'll be able to have the photo here for you to view.
Carolyn encourages me so much as she lets me know that she can see growth in my painting ability. You can guess how good this makes me feel!
We're working now at getting pictures ready for the Spring Art Show And we're doing fund raiser note cards. Two of my ink drawings are being used for this years set of cards. That's encouraging, too!
How I Learned to Do Pysanky
I first got interested in Pysanky when our Women's Fellowship group had a dinner and invited Dewey Mayes from Warren to demonstrate the Ukrainian Easter Egg art. Dewey is Ukrainian and has been doing these decorated eggs since he was five, and I think he's a little older than I. He told something about the origins of the decorated eggs and then showed us how to draw designs in wax on the eggs, dye them, and finally wipe the wax off to show the beautiful egg that was made.
I was hooked! I knew I wanted to do this. That Spring our community was offered a course in Pysanky at the Smith Education Center. I enrolled.
I learned to enjoy not only the finished product but the various steps in making Pysanky. I love the feel of the cool, smooth surface of the egg, the smell of the beeswax, the build up of wax as I progress from one step to the next.
Before the wax is melted off the egg to reveal the beautiful design that was created, the egg is completely black. The wax turns black as it's held in the candle fire in the kistka (the drawing tool). Finally, the egg is held near the candle flame and the wax melts little by little and is wiped off the egg. And there is the beautiful and colorful egg! Dewey told us that this step of the process reminds us that God can take a life that seems to be marred and destroyed by sin and transform that life into something beautiful and colorful. It's a great object lesson.
Weight Resistance
Yesterday was the day for my itchy dog's weekly bath. The medicated shampoo is supposed to help her get relief from the itchiness. But of course, she hates to have a bath. Even after all this time of doing the drill, she hates it. Even though she must feel better afterwards, she hates it.
She hates it but she's very compliant. I have to order her several times to get into the bath before she actually does, but she does do it herself. That's a good thing, because she weighs 63 pounds and it would be difficult for me to lift her. But it's not just 63 pounds, actually. It's 63 pounds of resistance, which must be something like the wind chill factor, where it's actually much colder when the wind is blowing. I'm sure Desy is much heavier when she is resisting than when she is just standing there.
Has science ever measured the weight of resistance?
I'm Back!
I haven't been able to get to Bloghorn since last Sunday or Monday. I've had help in getting my blogs posted from another computer. I haven't been able to read anybody else's blog. I searched help places to try to get back to my blog. Finally today I called AOL technical help. I found that it as a privacy problem. Bloghorn has raised its security settings, the tech help told me. Then he told me how to change my computer settings. Now I'm posting this blog from my own computer. I've always hated to make phone calls of this nature. I get really stressed when I have to call for help. In the light of how much the man helped me and the call wasn't upsetting in any way, it would seem that it would be easier for me to make such a call the next time. I don't know though. It's a problem deeply rooted in me. I wonder if a telephone bit me when I was a kid.
Geraniums
Saturday morning as I listened to the garden program, I was interested to hear what Art Drysdale had to say about taking cuttings from geraniums. It made me think that it would be better to just buy new plants instead of trying to start new ones from old plants.
He said there is a virus in the soil that keeps geraniums from blooming in the heat of summer but that commercial growers have a way to get around this. He said that it's already late to start new plants from the old ones because you need to root them carefully in vermiculite, which will take about 6 weeks, and then plant them in individual pots. After they get several new leaves, you cut that off and reroot it over again to get a really healthy plant that will bloom in the heat of summer.
Taking cuttings from geraniums may not be as easy to do as I had thought it is.
What Day Is This?
March 13, 2004 Saturday
If you tried to judge what time of the year it is just by looking out the window, you would think it is December. I'd say we have at least half a foot of snow now and it's still coming down. I don't know if this counts as our St. Patrick's Day storm or not. It's just lots of snow, not a storm. This snow, though it's deep now, shouldn't last very long.
It looks like it would be a nice day to take a walk in the snow and think long thoughts. If it isn't slippery underfoot, I'd like to try that today. There's something about walking alone in a fluffy snowfall that is an aid to thinking. I think it may have been a snowfall something like we're having today (thought in a different month) that Prime Minister Trudeau took his walk in the snow and decided it was time for him to retire from politics.
(I just see two boys on bicycles riding down the hill. After they were out of sight, the snow plow went through. Spring and winter are mixed together today!)
Time for Easter Eggs
Friday evening I decided that it is past time to get back to working on Ukrainian Easter Eggs, (Pysanky). All my dyes are stored in the cellar and the rest of the tools needed are in a little tin box in the cupboard in the dining room. One of the nice things about doing Pysanky is that it requires very little by way of equipment. I have three kistkas, small, medium and large, a small cake of bees wax which I've been using for a long time. When it gets too small to use. I have a new little block of bees wax to replace it, but that will be a lot of eggs from now.
I started with a very familiar pattern because it's been months since I worked on Pysanky last. I made an egg with the "48 Triangles" pattern. It's one of the most simple designs and can look very striking. The second egg I divided into eight sections and worked simple designs in each quadrant of the half egg and then dyed it blue. The 48 Triangles are red and black with white divider lines.
I learned to do Pysanky about 6 years ago and I've practiced it often until last year. I always stop doing Pysanky when I spend lots of time gardening and then try to get back to it by September. But last year, I got busy with other activities and didn't get back to it until Friday. Now that I've started, I should be able to finish at least a couple dozen before Easter.
Intelligence in Dogs
My daughter sent me two "football trappers" for our dogs. They are rubber footballs with a mid section where treats can be tucked inside and the dog must chew and chew to get the treat out. My dogs love these treat toys. Right now, we don't know where one of them is. It's been tossed around and carried here and there and is probably hiding underneath some piece of furniture.
I wanted to give another treat but you can't give one dog a treat toy and not the other. Then I remembered that I had one, what I thought was a big, tough bone that would take a lot of gnawing. I had the answer. Give Rusty, the bigger of the two dogs, the bone and the other dog could chew on the toy. That worked for a while. Then Rusty finished off the bone! But he saw that Desy had the football toy and he wanted his.
But Rusty didn't take the football from Desy. He could have. He's much bigger than she. Instead, he came to me and told me about it. He does this by putting his paw on my leg.
There is a story about this, too. We taught him to tell me when the teakettle is boiling so that we don't burn up any more teakettles. We put the water on to boil, go into another room, forget about the teakettle and don't hear it. Rusty has very good hearing and should hear it and alert us. He paws my leg, I go turn off the teakettle and give him a treat. He learned this trick very well and then transferred this knowledge to suit his own purpose. Since it works for him when the teakettle boils, why shouldn't it work for him if he feels like he wants a treat or is hungry? And, of course, it does work quite well that way.
While Rusty was trying to get me to give him a treat toy, too, Desy came out to the kitchen, leaving the treat toy in the living room. I said to him, two or three times, "Desy isn't using her football any more. Go get hers." All the books say that dogs can't understand sentences like that, but I believe that dogs who are talked to a lot do understand a lot more than people realize.
And Rusty did understand! He took in what I was saying and then turned and ran into the living room. I followed, to see what he would do. He went right to the football and started gnawing. Rusty is probably the smartest dog I've owned. We rescued him two years ago from the dog pound. He'd been beaten, starved and abused by his first owner and needed a new home. He'd been in the pound for 37 days while the police worked to settle the legal issues concerning him. They had taken him in order to save him. He was skin and bones. We brought him home for a one hour trial to see if he could live with us and fit in. We never took him back. He was meant to be our dog. We don't know how old he is. It may be 3 or possibly 4 years. How quickly he has learned my ways and people language. And, I've learned Rusty language, too!
Pictures
I was looking at snapshots I took of my flowers last spring and summer. I loved the one of my arbor at the height of summer. The contrasting darkness behind the white of the arbor excited my interest to try to make a painting of this. But I think my ability hasn't reached this level yet. I'll work on something easier next and keep this in mind for painting in the future.
Healthy activities
On Tuesday when I got up I was feeling like my old self again. I was terribly miserable over the weekend, --with the coughing and sneezing and breathing problems. But Tuesday, I was better! I felt so good that while I waited for the dogs to come back into the house in the morning, I started to do some jumping exercise. And then, I hurt my back. I just wrenched a muscle while I was jumping, but I had to spend the rest of the day doing things to comfort my back. I had to take pain pills, get out the rubbing ointment, lie down and rest a lot, sit and move carefully. "Did you ever hear of warm up exercises?" my husband asked me. "Oh, yes. That's right," I had to admit. "I should have done that, shouldn't I?" Thursday morning I again felt really well and healthy. While I let the dogs out into their pen, I didn't do any jumping. I did slow gentle movements and felt wonderful.
Finished the Painting
Tonight, March 1l, I have finished the painting which I started at the beginning of February. It has given me much satisfaction to work on this painting. Carolyn, who gives me art advice, came and gave me final advice on Wednesday. She liked the cat! I like it, too. There wasn't much to do today to finish it up. I only spent an hour or so putting the final touches on the painting and then I signed it. Carolyn has a digital camera and she said that she'd be happy to take a picture of the painting and help me get it on the computer so that others can see it. I hope we can do that some time soon.
Difficulties
I've had such difficulties today in getting to my blog. I keep getting bumped off and get a page that says the blog site has moved or is no longer in existence. I'm doing this as a test. Here's hoping!
Trouble
I've been having such trouble getting to my blog since last night at 10. This afternoon I could open it a couple times but then it would revert to a page that said the blog has been moved or is no longer in existence. Now it all looks different here. I wonder what's going on. I hope I get this figured out soon.
The Broken Rings
I took my broken wedding/engagement rings to the jeweler on Friday. The metal broke where it was bonded together, at the under side of the rings, at my palm.
Ted, the jeweler, looked at it speculatively and shook his head and made a sound that conveyed to me that it wasn't a good thing. "Oh, No!" I said. "Is it terminal?"
"No," he told. "I can fix it. But you've had this ring in chlorine." He said was the kind of break that comes from being in chlorine and there is another place on the rings where it's apt to break also.
The only place I have it in any chlorine is at Aquarobics, at the Y. That would do it, he told me. He said that there's more chlorine at the Y than water and it's very hard on gold jewelry.
Now I know that I should wear it during Aquarobics so when I get it back, I'll leave it home, in a safe place on the little elephant's upraised trunk in a cupboard.
Weather Changes Fast
I'm stuck at home today, still trying to deal with this coughing and sneezing, etc. So, when I should have been at church, I was sitting here looking out the window thinking what a gorgeous day it was. The sun was shining. Outdoors looked so inviting. I was wishing I could go outside instead of being stuck in the house like this.
I watched the people leaving the Lutheran Church just down the street from our house. They seemed to be enjoying the beautiful day.
Then just a few minutes ago, I looked out the window again to discover that it was raining. It's clouded overhead and the rain was wetting everything down. I hadn't noticed the change coming. Already it has stopped raining but it's still dull and cloudy and everything looks damp. It must be a foretaste of April. I think rain is good at this time of the year. Our water table can use it. We like sunshine better, but rain is good, too. It's still a good day and now it's easier for me to stay indoors.
Old Pictures
Recently when I was looking for a specific picture, I found a number of old photos and slides that were worthless. Some were too dark to see anything. Some were hopelessly blurred. "Why didn't we throw these away?" I wondered. Is it just the packrat syndrome? Or is it something deeper, like not wasting anything?
I have here before me a Polaroid photo of a house set back away from a city sidewalk. It is a well kept, white, clapboard house with an attached garage and a wide driveway. There is a little white dog, a little more than a speck of a dog, standing in this wide driveway looking at the photographer. On the back of the picture, written in red ink, in a neat hand that I think is not my writing, Nov. 31, 69. We did not have a Polaroid camera at that time, so the picture had to have been given to us.
I search this picture for clues as to whose house this may have been. It's not a house that we lived in. It's not the home of a close relative. There is a number on the house. It's on the front of the house beside a window. The entrance to the house is in a small addition to the house and faces the driveway. The number is very small and I can't really make it out but it may be 209. I have no idea whose house this is or why I have this picture.
I think about throwing this picture away, just as I did the blurred or too dark prints. But though I've moved it closer to the wastebasket, something holds me back from tossing it. Why don't I throw this unidentified picture away? Is it the hope of being a detective and finding the answer? Is it the little white dog in the driveway, standing there watching what is going on in his territory? Is it the fact that a good picture should be kept because someone might want it some day?
Whatever the reason, the picture is safe for today, but one of these tomorrows, it might make it into the waste basket.
Seeing Dad Through His Stories
My dad once told me that when he was young his mom baked a cake and he wanted a piece of it right away. When he asked his mother for a piece of the cake, at first she said no, that he would have to wait until mealtime. He suggested to her, "If I would die before mealtime, you'd feel pretty bad that you didn't give me some cake." So she gave in and let him have the cake.
The next time she baked, he tried it again. But this time she responded, "Oh, No! You didn't die the last time! That won't work this time!" And he didn't get cake until the whole family did.
Dad enjoyed telling this story of how he'd thought up this persuasive way to get an extra piece of cake, but how he could only use it on his mother once.
Another time he told me about his driving curiosity about the toy drum that he'd been given. "What makes that sound in the drum," he asked his mom. Her answer was short and to the point. "Nothing. There's nothing in the drum." He couldn't believe that. After a while, his curiosity got the better of him. He took the drum outside somewhere and broke it open. He was very surprised to find that in truth, there was nothing in the drum. His mother was telling him the whole truth. His mother was not amused to find that he'd broken the drum to find nothing.
Once when one of my grandsons broke a glass while visiting my mom and dad, my dad told him that when he had broken a dish, his mother had given him a spanking for breaking it. "Of course," he admitted, "she might have spanked me because I took the dish outside and buried it instead of telling her about it." I think his sister told on him.
I liked hearing Dad's stories of those long ago times when he was a boy in a time before there was me. It gave me glimpses into what he was like at that time.
Routine or Exciting?
It happens every spring, as routine as day following night, but every spring when I notice it happening, I feel great excitement! It is really still winter but the spring flowers have started to grow. The blanket of snow has just melted away and there under that blanket, snow drops are blooming! The daffodills are starting to grow. All the bulbs I planted last fall are poking sharp pointy leaves up through the ground. Their pictures on the packaging were so pretty. I'm really eager to see them in bloom. It will be a few weeks before they will be in bloom, but the blooms are really on the way. This spring routine is exciting to me. Come to think of it, so is morning! Another new day, a gift from God!
Ruth Finds Love
Ruth had known Irwin Crane a long time before he asked her to marry him. Irwin was a widower. They had worked together at the Kurtz Chair Factory and they both went to the same church. She didn't want to get married. She laughed when she told me this. I think she was a little bit proud of her independence.
One day, Irwin got sick at church and had to leave. He was the transportation for several other people. He asked Ruth if she would take those people home for him. After she took them home, she decided that she would check on Irwin. She found him desperatly ill. She kept trying to get a doctor for him, without success. Thinking that a doctor would hospitalize him when he treated him, she asked him to stay at her place until he could get to a doctor and she would care for him. To her surprise, he accepted the invitation, the doctor didn't put him in the hospital and he stayed at her home one month!
By the time he was well and went home, she missed having him around and decided to accept his proposal of marriage. Ruth was 71 when she got married. She and Irwin were happy together until his death. I knew them before he died. I thought they'd been married forever. I was so surprised to hear the story of her courtship and marriage and find that they had only been married since she was 71.
A Visit with Ruth Crane
I visited Ruth Crane in March of 1980. Ruth was a widow whom I met after I moved into town. She lived only a few blocks from us and was a member of the same church we attended. She was 79 years old at the time of our visit.
At first we talked stiffly, not knowing what to talk about. I tried to set the pace and started talking about things that interested me, but then I was doing all the talking. I decided to hold back and sit in silence if need be, because I didn't make this visit to hear myself talk. She did begin to talk more, and then she invited me to have a cup of tea with her. I followed her into the kitchen and that's where she relaxed and began to open up and talk to me, as she boiled the water and set out tea things.
Although it was night, her kitchen seemed airy and sunny, maybe because of the predominance of yellow. Her tea cups, sugar bowl and creamer were white glass with delicate pink flowers painted on them.
When I commented that I hated to do dishes, she laughed and told me that she did, too. It brought back a memory. As a young girl, she was painfully shy. One day her mother sent her to the neighbor's house to borrow some soda. She begged her mother to allow her sister who was three years younger to go with her. On the way to the neighbor's house, she made a bargain with her sister, Edna. She would do the dishes when it was Edna's turn, if Edna would ask to borrow the soda.
She laughed as she told me this but I was feeling sorry for the painfully shy person who would do the dishes to avoid asking a neighbor for soda. I thought I was shy, but this was more shy than I. Her story continued. Edna asked for the soda and the neighbor replied that she didn't have any but suggested that she ask another neighbor. As it turned out, that neighbor didn'thave any soda and suggested that they ask a third neighbor. Ruth really laughed at this point and said, "I had to do a lot of dishes."
If they had company at meal time, she tried to arrange to sit beside her mother because her dad was hard of hearing and she couldn't whisper to him to ask what she wanted so she'd have to do without it because she was too shy to ask outloud for something to be passed to her when they had company. Mama paid more attention to her and could hear better.
Ruth felt that she was still a rather shy person, but not nearly as shy as she had been as a child.
The teakettle was steaming soundlessly as she worked and talked to me. She got out cupcakes and cookies from the freezer and warmed them in her toatster oven. She got out two tiny saucers for our tea bags. Hers was once a lovely piece of China but it had a great chunk broken off of it. She said it was a favorite of hers as it had belonged to her brother. She had broken it accidentally but continued to use it.
Next time, I tell you have Ruth fell in love at the age of 71. Stay tuned!
Watching the World Go By
This morning I'm feeling different, --not entirely better, but different. I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things and do my usual Friday routines. But first, I'm just sitting here at the the computer, staring out the window, watching the kids gather in for school. The rain last night did a good job of washing away snow and it must be much warmer this morning. Kids are wearing light jackets as they hurry up the street past our place.
I wonder about the way the kids are dressed. I think perhaps the temperature will drop during the day and they may not be warm enough when they are coming home.
It's time for me to stop watching the world go by and get bacl on the treadmill of life and be a participator instead of a watcher. I am feeling better!
Day's End
It's been a quiet, relaxing day which I enjoyed as much as I could, but since I'm "under the weather" with coughing and breathing difficulties, it wasn't always enjoyable. I would have enjoyed a more "up and at 'em" kind of day.
I read a long time, mostly from my '79-'80 journal. I was very disappointed to see that I frequently would write about stressful times I was having, and how concerned I was about the outcome, and then I would write again days later and never mention how the situation turned out, and I don't remember what really happened! How could I forget so completely these situations that caused me great anguish as I went through them? There's a lesson here, for me! What looks like a mountain today may be in fact a mole hill after I've gotten past the situation. I can trust God more and just know that it will OK.
It's raining tonight, after a mild, almost warm day. The snow is shrinking away and only piled up heaps remain. The rain is a gentle, almost musical tapping outside my window by the computer. I'm enjoying the sound. It should wash away the dirty snow. Tomorrow's world should be fresher, and maybe even greener.
Good night.
Good quotes
Habits are soon assumed, but when we endeavor to strip them off, it is like being flayed alive. --Cowper
It is not how much we have but how much we enjoy that makes happiness. --Spurgeon
The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. --Johnson
(Cowper and Spurgeon are well known, but I copied this Johnson quote long ago