A Fair Day
School is almost over for this term and the kids are doing fun things now. Today was a fair day. They brought in booths and buildings made of vinyl that were inflated. They were things like a dunking booth and a slide shaped like a ladder firetruck and a booth to jump in. I didn't spend much time watching the kids but I saw that they were having great fun, even though there were long lines waiting at each of the play areas. The kids also had their lunch outside today. Thursday will be their last day of school.
Lunch
jI had lunch with a friend today at The Gingerbread House, a quaint little restaurant out a ways from town. It's an old farm house that has been set up for patrons to eat in various rooms which are ornately appointed. DiAnn and I ate in the room off to itself where the walls have been painted with murals to represent a walled garden. I loved being in that room and gazing at the painted flowers and water fountain and the gate in the garden wall. I could look out my window and see the Holstein cows grazing in the pasture land.
We had a very unhurried meal and chatted about lots of "this and that." It was a very special lunch, with a special friend, in a secluded indoor garden spot. Oh, and the food was great, too!
Dealing With a Problem
I've been ailing over the weekend. I thought it was just allergies but now it seems a little more than allergies. However, a big part of the problem is allergy related. I think I'm in the stage just before getting better, --I think. I don't have much voice right now, but surely very soon now, I'll be back to normal. Don't you hate it when it hurts to talk?
A Quote`
Madeleine L'Engle, in the book, Walking on Water, says, "We are all asked to do more than we can do."
I know this is true. I am finding this to be true more and more lately. Some times I wish it was not true. Sometimes I'd just as leif go with the comfortable routine which I've developed and found to be tried and true and relatively easy. But being asked to do much more than I feel comfortable with does stretch me to growth, and I admit that I do like to see growth in my life and abilities. And yet, I like comfort. It's good that I don't always get to choose. I might choose comfort more often than I should.
A Nice Day After All
The day got off to an unpromising start for a picnic or a hike, with cool temperatures and some rain. We ate our picnic lunch indoors at the dining room table. In the afternoon, the sun came out, the rain stopped and it became warm outdoors. We decided to go look for a geocache, the one at the park that we'd tried to find earlier this year but ran out of time and had to give it up till later. Today was later.
We decided to take all four of our dogs with us. The problem we could see happening would be if my dogs got too excited about seeing other dogs out for walks in the park. But, I had the head harness for Rusty, so he would be well under control, and if I was handling Desy, I could keep her under control. As it turned out, Lyn walked Rusty for me and we had no problems from the dog. They all enjoyed the hike immensely.
We thought we knew what path to follow up the hill but we still had to diddle around a bit to get it right. The path was a very muddy and very steep horse path. Everyone else took the hill at a good steady clip, but I began to flag. I pressed on but it was a stiff aerobic exercise for me and just before the top of the hill, I had to stop and rest for a couple of minutes. When I got to the top, I knew that I couldn't go back down that steep, uneven path.
While the others found the cache, I skirted the edge of the golf course and headed back down the hill with Desy. When we got to the edge of the road, the woods was too thick for us to get through. We had to walk a little ways through the golf course and then we could walk down the paved road to the park and join the others. The road took us a good piece out of our way, but it was easier for me than sliding down that muddy, steep path would have been.
I didn't get to see the cache, but I had a good time any how. We all had a good time and the dogs had an especially nice time hiking in the woods with us. None of them minded that steep, upward trail.
Brag Blog
I just got to see my daughter-in-law and two grandsons from Maryland for a couple hours. As they were leaving, to head home again, Samuel told me about his special honor. He gets to have lunch with the principal because he was the top reader in the fourth grade. He was very proud of this achievement and I was proud of him, too.
NJ
Happy Memorial Day
I know we think of memorial Day as a holiday and greet each other in keeping with a holiday, but it's actually more than a holiday. It's a somber remembrance of those who have served our country in protecting and defending us. Many of them died in this service. In our home town, we have a special service for veterans, commemorating their gift to us. It's held at Mead Park and our high school band plays patriotic songs for the service. If I was home, I'd be going to the service. I hope it will be a fine day tomorrow, for the outdoor service to honor our veterans.
Dinner At Church
Our family had dinner at church today, following the morning worship service. It was a very nice family time. There really is something about having meals together that helps people bond. I also enjoyed seeing all the cute children at this church. These little ones are fun people. Oh, yes, the meal was good, too.
Graduates
This morning's Valley News Dispatch carries a feature story about the All Star Class of 2005. A panel of judges chose 30 graduates from this geographic area and their pictures with their interviews were in today's paper. Although I knew none of these young people, I found this article to be very interesting.
The interview asked questions about their favorite things, the last book they read, their hero, the best advice an adult gave them and quoted something they had said. The one I liked best was a boy who answered the question about his favorite food, "Anything that my Grandmother makes." What a good answer!
I was amused by another boy who said that his heroes are John Paul II and Spider-man. I wonder how those two go together.
It was an interesting article featuring these talented and enthusiastic young people.
A Real Trip
While I was driving to my son's home today, I went in and out of rain numerous times. Sometimes it rained really hard. During one of those times of hard rain, I noticed that the car ahead of me was towing a boat. It seemed funny to me to see so much water pouring into the boat instead of the boat riding the water. OK, little things amuse me.
The Yard in Bloom
Yesterday I kept looking at the first Iris bloom and I almost didn't notice that the columbine has also started to bloom. The lupin is sending up a bloom stalk. I have several nice lupins and I'll enjoy seeing their blooms soon.
I saw my first gold finches wearing their bright yellow this morning. I wonder if they notice that their feathers change colors for winter and summer. They must notice, surely. But maybe not if they don't see color. And how does that work? They don't get their summer apparrel out of a closet. Nature is wonderful.
Rainbow
Late this afternoon I received a phone call. The caller told me to go outside and look at the rainbow. I'm glad that she called because I love to see a rainbow and I certainly would have missed it without Sheila telling me about it.
It was a very big rainbow and seemed to stretch over our whole town. The rainbow is God's promise to us. What a beautiful promise. A rainbow always lifts our spirits.
Dismantling a Door
Today I spent about an hour trying to take the hardware off an old door. First I took off the hinges. There were six screws holding the hinges on the door. Four of the screws came out rather easily. One was a little harder to get out and the sixth one was very hard to get loose. But once I got the screw loose a little, it came out easily. I'm still dealing with the door knob. I have the screws out of one side of the knob plate, but not on the opposite side. I finally had to give it a rest for a while. Those screws are rusted in pretty tight. I'll try again after while.
Iris
My first Iris bloomed today. I've watched the fat, flower buds come up through all those green leaves and grow higher than all the foliage. I knew there would be blooms by Memorial Day. I was pleased to see that this morning the first bud has opened into a beautiful bloom.
A Request
I painted a rock with daisies for my friend Iola who operates the greenhouse where I get my annuals. When her great grandson saw it, he was very impressed. He really likes stones, Iola says. He asked his grandma to please ask her friend to paint a stone for him.
I wondered what kind of flower he would want on his painted stone. Wait till you hear what he wants!! He has asked for a painting of a spider web with a spider! That's not at all what I'd expected to hear.
Yes, I'm going to try to honor his request. I'm starting to think spider web! I hope I can do it for him. I wonder how young he really is!
Being a Cut-up
Now that I had the glass removed from the big window panel, the next step was to cut up the wood into manageable sections so that it could be burned. I looked for a saw to get to work on the cutting.
I remember when I was a girl that I watched my dad sawing wood. He used a steady rhythm and sawed through the board with apparent ease. I've watched my husband saw wood, with the same ease of motion. I thought it would be easy. It wasn't!
I learned that there must be a saw for every kind of wood and I should probably have an education which would help me know which saw to use. I started my work using the wrong saw. But then I started using a bow saw and it did the job pretty well, but it took a lot of muscle power. I couldn't keep the saw going with smooth even strokes the way my husband and dad did. I usually had to stop and rest a bit before I got the board sawed through, and then I never ended with a clean, even cut. The very last bit broke away with a jagged edge, but it didn't matter because I'm just going to burn the wood.
I also learned that when it feels like I'm sawing on a nail, I really am. At first I thought there were no nails in this sashwork, but then I discovered that there were nails along one side. I discovered this when I met with great resistance and there was a screeching noise. Then I looked closer and discovered that there really was a nail there. I learned that I have to pay close attention to the tools.
I hope to do better the next time I'm cutting up the wood.
Work Is Waiting
I got a lot of work done yesterday but of course, I couldn't complete the job. It was a big job. I should be able to finish breaking up that smallest of the window panels by afternoon. Right now, the work is out there waiting for me. Some work is very demanding and insists on being cared for immediately. But some work is like my chores of today. It just waits there for me to get busy with it when the time is right for me. My work is waiting for me today.
A Smashing Success
Today I was smashing windows out of a very old sash panel. It's hard to explain what these panels were (there are at least three more of them to work on) but they've been around for ages, and have not been in use for somewhere around 10 years. My husband had thought he could use them to make a greenhouse for me, because he knew how much I enjoy gardening. But he was never able to do it, and I have no idea how he had thought he would do it. Without his input, no one else knows how to do what he had in mind, so it's up to me to get rid of them.
The trash collectors told me that they wouldn't take any window panels with glass in them. One of my sons told me how to carefully smash the window panes.
I put down an old sheet, then a thick pad of old newspapers. I put the window on that and covered it with an old sweatshirt and broke the glass with a hammer. Then I carefully picked up the paper and slid the broken glass into a collection box. The trash collectors will take a box of broken glass.
This old sashwork had 21 panes of glass. I really hated to break all that glass up, but it was no good to anyone. There were no takers for it, so I set to work smashing. I have successfully gotten all that glass out of there without any serious harm to myself, --just a couple tiny glass slivers in my thumb, but I got them out easily.
All that bending and hammering and heaving that big sashwork of windows around was good exercise. I'm still building up my muscles. I can say with good conscience that my work today was a smashing success!
Live and Learn
Actually, I probably should have already known this. I was working with one of my bigger than my fist rocks and planning to turn it into a little house when I decided to fill in a couple of places on it with wood filler putty. I've done this before but I haven't used this can of wood filler for over a year. I wondered if it was still good to use. It took a while to stir it up and then it seemed a bit crumbly so I worked a small bit of it with my hands and pressed it into the hollow areas I wanted to fill. It is still useable but it now dries very fast.
I'm having trouble getting it off my hand! It's just spattered over the heel of my palm and on the tips of my fingers a bit but it is annoying. I know it will wear off soon but now I wish I'd been wearing latex gloves. I'll remember that next time I use wood filler on a stone. OK, maybe I'll remember. I'll remember if I do it any time soon.
Tuesday Chores
This morning I did my around town chores. Every week there's these kind of chores to be done and it seems like it takes a push for me to get into getting them done, but I feel so good when I've finished them.
Today's chores were to take more things to the Salvation Army's thrift store, drop off books at the library and take new ones out, get gas in the car and in the gas can, take another letter for the Columbus Church to the proper person, and then at the end I bought some groceries.
I thought I was buying gas in the can for the lawn mower, but it turned out that we got the Checker started today and we needed that gas for the Checker. The guys from the garage brought a battery for it and the engine turned over right away but wouldn't really run. I suspected that it would need gas, after sitting unused for so long. The guys put the gas into its tank and it started right up! So, the old car is one step closer to being sold. At least, it's able to be run again.
I feel more satisfied when I'm able to get things accomplished and I can see some progress made.
Raniy Days
We had a good long stretch of dry days and I got a lot of important yard work done. And now we're having rainy days again. We're having a gentle, whispering kind of rain, with occasional bursts of pattering rain. It should be good for all the plants which are getting their early growth. The rain is also good because even though it's on the cool side, it won't be freezing as long as there is rain. That's good for the plants, too.
Garden Mistakes
This morning's newspaper carried an article about new gardener's mistakes. One of them is to put plants into the ground before the ground is warm enough. The article is geared to our area so it says that it's too soon to plant before Memorial Day. It says that people get lulled by a few nice days and think it's OK to plant but even though the air is warmer, the ground warms up much more slowly and won't be warm enough until after Memorial Day.
It's true that we do get really eager to get our plants in the ground around this time. We did have a few fairly warm days last week and I got a lot of yard work done, but I didn't plant my tomato plants yet. I put most of the annuals into bigger planters but not into the ground. I'm still eager to get the tomatoes planted but I'm holding back until after Memorial Day. I don't want to make that mistake.
The Sweater
Today, while cleaning out drawers, in addition to the name tags, I found the little sweater. I hadn't realized that I still had it. It belonged to my little toy poodle who was part of my life many years ago. I couldn't believe how little the sweater is. For almost 20 years now, I've owned bigger dogs and I'd forgotten how really tiny the toy poodle was.
Just for kicks, I held the sweater up to Rusty, my big dog. Rusty's head alone was too big for the sweater. I pushed it over his nose and it almost fit his nose. Whata huge difference in size there is between Rusty and the toy poodle.
Name Tags
When I went to college, one of the things we had to do was sew name tags in our clothing and our linens. It was a sort of tedious process to sew those little tags onto everything. Marlin and I were engaged then, and his mom wasn't much into sewing, so I helped do his name tags, too. I don't recall that we needed those name tags as much as we were led to believe that we were, but maybe I'm just forgetful.
Today I went through another drawer and there I found a whole string of my husband's name tags, and a couple zippers. I thought I could put the zippers aside to give them to a thrift store, but I couldn't give the name tags there. My husband would be the only one who could have used those name tags.
And then I realized, there are two more people in our family with that same name. Of course, they may not have a need to have name tags in their clothing, but then again, maybe the one going to college in the fall could use them. At least I know who to give them to.
Thistle
The thistle is not dead. I looked at it closely this morning. It may not grow as big and strong as it would have if it hadn't been moved but it looks right now as though it will survive the move. It is raining this morning. That will be good for all the plants which have been set out lately, as well as the thistle.
Gone and Almost Forgotten
Yesterday a small crew of workmen came to the school playground and felled two of the big old maple trees at the edge of Pleasant Street. They dropped the trees down the hill into the playground. It took much of the morning and afternoon to lop off all the leafy branches, saw the trunks into manageable sections, haul them out of there and grind up the tree roots. All that's left to remind us of the trees is two squares cordoned off by yellow tape where the trees used to be. Already that place looks like there never were any trees there.
Scraping the Pan
I never set out to teach my dogs that the scraping of a cake pan means special crumbs in their dishes but they learned it nonetheless. Desy has always been an "in the house" dog since she was a puppy and has been familiar with the scraping of the pan all those years. But Rusty lived outdoors all his life until we adopted him three years ago. But he learned about scraping the pan almost instantly.
This morning Rusty had gone back upstairs to nap in the entry room to my husband's study. I decided to put the last couple pieces of cake into the freezer and after doing that, I scraped the crumbs from the bottom of the cake pan. I thought I'd give Desy her share of the crumbs right away, since she was there with me in the kitchen as soon as I started scraping the pan. I planned to put Rusty's share of the crumbs into his dish, which I had set up high so that Desy wouldn't finish his breakfast. He could have his share later, when he would feel hungry.
Before I finished scraping the crumbs together, there was Rusty in the kitchen with me, looking eagerly expectant for his share of the crumbs, now. There they were, the older dog, who has known about scraping the pan all her life, and the younger, bigger dog, who has relatively recently learned about it, sitting beside each other, eyes focused on my every move, waiting patiently for their share of the cake crumbs. I didn't try to teach them that, but they learned the drill from the first time they heard the scraping of the pan.
Zinnias
I forgot to mention zinnias in my top ten favorite flowers. I just saw an envelope of zinnia seeds that I've saved from another year and was reminded. I should get those planted! Also, balsamina, --another favorite.
And of course, I haven't mentioned the daisies, Shastas, Gloriosas and oxeyes. And cone flowers! Can't leave those out. Oops, I forgot to mention lupine and columbine. Wow! My top ten flower favorites has become very crowded. I think they'll all fit in that category if you don't count them. If you've been counting, my list is in trouble.
Favorite Flowers
I'm never really sure what my mom's favorite flowers were. I often thought of peonies when I thought of Mom and flowers because she had four or five big bushes of them in our lower yard and I know she liked them a lot. But she had other flowers, too. I think she had pansies when I was a girl, and I know she liked impatiens, begonias and coleus when I was a young mother.
I would be hard pressed to say what my favorite flower is. There are so many that seem special to me that I really couldn't limit my choice to one favorite. The fuchsia is one of my top ten, and others would be nasturtiums, portulacca, hens and chicks, alyssum (because it smells so sweet), marigolds (because of their bright, sunny colors), dianthus, poppies, tulips and daffodils. But then I think of a few others that I really like to see, and of course, there's the African violets that I have indoors. I love to see early spring violets outdoors, too, but I don't have any growing in my yard.
I'm glad that God created flowers for us to enjoy.
A New Thing
Today I did a new thing. I built a planter out of bricks. I didn't mortar them together. I just piled bricks, three bricks each side and two bricks high, alternating the pattern so they are more solid. I filled the resulting square with new soil and planted a yellow daisy in the center with four dianthus, one in each corner, and a white alyssum between each dianthus. Then I put one "hen" near the daisy. I think it will be a fine flower bed and I can dismantle it easily, I think, if I ever need to do that.
I have planted all the things I brought home from the greenhouse except four purple alyssum, and two flowering kale. I love this nice weather!
Lawn Mowing, Again
I can't mow the lawn now. Well, I suppose I could mow some of it and probably will some time today. But now there are English daisies growing through the side lawn and I just can't mow them all down. They don't last that long and they are very pretty. This is such a pretty time of the year. I shall wait till their blooming period is over and then I'll mow that part of the lawn. No problem!
Gummy Bears
I meant to mention a couple of weeks ago that when I went to the softball game, one of the moms there pulled out a plastic bag of gummy bears to snack on. She offered them to her friends and told them how much she loves gummy bears. She keeps them on hand at all times because they are such a great snack. She said she was on her third five pound bag of gummy bears since the beginning of this year. I thought that was a lot of gummy bears! But then, if she is very generous with them, they would go pretty fast.
Rose Shoots
Today I decided that the rose bush was really dead and I started to dig around it to dig it up. I almost dug a moat around it and was trying to pry the root loose, without any success, when I discovered live shoots coming up from some places near the root. So I stopped prying at it and filled in the moat with new soil. I hope that I didn't destroy it with my zeal to get rid of it. My back door neighbor, Carolyn, told me that what I did will probably be really good for it.
Meanwhile, the thistle has been hanging in there, sort of. The very center of it looks like it could possibly be still alive.
Tureen Dinner
I was invited to the Mother-Daughter tureen dinner at Columbus Church last night. It was a bit late, considering that Mother's Day was two weeks ago, but evidently there were complications which led to the postponement of the event.
It was nice to be back with the group of women again, friends I've known for almost 15 years.
The best food at the dinner was the cheesy potatoes. Everything was good, of course, but the cheesy potatoes is what I liked best. Judy, who sat beside me, liked the potatoes best, too. She decided to have a second helping of the potatoes instead of having dessert. I thought that was a good idea. However, I didn't take a second helping and I skipped dessert. I'd had enough food, but the cheesy potatoes were the best. Memorable!
Careless Again
How do I do these careless things? It just comes naturally, I guess.
Today when I realized that some of my plants needed more water, I went to the outdoor spigot to get water. I took my work gloves off and laid them on the hood of the car there in the driveway. And forgot all about them.
When I went to the women's dinner at Columbus at 6 o'clock, I just got into the car and drove off. I had gone through the intersection below our house when something big and brown blew off the car on the passenger's side. A few yards farther, another big brown thing blew off. They looked like leaves. How did two huge leaves get onto my car there? There were no big leaves near the car. And then I realized. My gloves! I looked back on the road and sure enough, there were the gloves!
I had to go around the block and pick up my gloves so that I wouldn't lose them. Once again, I'd been very careless, but then I did notice what happened and I was able to get the gloves back right away.
Not Hopeful
This afternoon I was looking at my transplanted thistle and it looks awfully sick right now. I gave it more water, but it has been through a dreadful shock and it may not make it. Well, I tried.
By the way, Spike didn't make it either. It had been too crowded, and too dry for too long. I may have saved a small portion of it but it's not looking very hopeful just now either.
But other plants are doing fine. That's good.
A Crazy Thing to Do
I did what many people think would be a crazy thing to do. But I don't mind people thinking I'm a little crazy, as you can tell, because I'm going to tell you about this crazy thing I did.
There was a Canadian thistle growing at the very edge of my sidewalk, an inappropriate place for it to grow. However, I know how pretty they are and some birds really love the seeds. I couldn't let it grow there at the sidewalk where people pass by all the time. So, I dug it up carefully and planted it near the bird feeder outside of the dining room. I hope it grows there. It seems like it's got a good start. The birds enjoy those thistles and I like to see them enjoying them.
Careless
Writing that word careless brought back an ancient memory. When I was a girl, there was a woman in our church whose name was Mrs. Careless. She was in the age group with my grandma, and all the women in their "class" called each other simply by their last names. My mom's age group used first names, so she was friends with Viola, Ethel and Sarah, but my grandma was friends with Careless, Harter, Campbell and Fenn.
Careless had a grown daughter named Cecelia, who had a mental disability, and lived with her. Everyone called her what I thought was Sea. It was probably Cee.
In the long ago time when the Careless family got their name, careless meant without care. It was a good name, but that's not what it meant to me and I always thought it an unusual name, but in time, it just became, to me, Mrs. Careless herself.
But that's not what I intended to write. I meant to say that I got careless this morning and when Rusty didn't eat his breakfast, I forgot to set it up where Desy couldn't get it. When I went upstairs to get ready for Aquarobics, Desy took advantage of my absence in the kitchen to eat all the food in Rusty's dish. I knew better. I knew she would eat it if she got the chance. I just got careless!
Did You Know?
Did you know that setting a car battery on cement will drain it and kill it? That's what my back, back door neighbor, Rich, told me. It must be true. The battery that I put there awaiting the people from the garage to come put it into the Checker for me is now totally dead. The charger doesn't do a thing for it. Of course, it may have been that dead before I put it out on the driveway for them. Moot point, I suppose. It was on cement inside my husband's tool room. Whatever caused it, I now know it's unuseable and we have to get another battery put into the Checker before we can try again to start it. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the guys from S&H to come with a battery.
Broken Tool
Today while I was digging weeds out of the strawberries, I broke the tip off the trowel digging tool. It was a real solid tool and it was marked with inches to show how deep to plant things. It was such a sturdy tool that I thought it would last for years. I must have pried a weed against a rock and the tip of the trowel broke off. Now I'll have to go out later this evening and buy a new sturdy tool. The old ones are useable but they will bend and I can't dig in hard soil with them.
Hens and Chicks and Ants
For quite a few years now I have had hens and chicks growing in a cinderblock near my currant bush. I filled the holes with soil and planted a few hens and chicks in it. Each year the plants multiplied and now they covered the the entire top surface of the cinderblock. However, this year, something strange was happening to them.
Upon close inspection, I discovered that a colony of ants has moved in there. They were dumping fine sandy-like soil all over the hens and chicks. How do they do that? There is no sand in that area yet the soil that they were depositing over the hens and chicks certainly seemed sandy.
This morning I took my dandelion pulling tool and pried all the hens and chicks from their cinderblock home. I shook all the soil out of their pointy-petal tops and moved the cinderblock from its place and turned it on its side. It's good that I did it early this cool morning. The ants weren't very active yet. I didn't have any trouble with the ants as I would have if it was warmer and they would have swarmed to the surface to see what was happening to their home.
I hope that by afternoon they will have vacated the cinderblock. I can get all the soil out of it and relocate it to an appropriate spot. I can put new soil into the holes in the block and replant the hens and chicks. They were getting too crowded any how. This should be good for them.
Meanwhile, I can put some of my larger stones over the ants' hole in the ground. They aren't hurting anything there. I hope they won't migrate to where I move the cinderblock and hens and chicks.
Visitors
Yesterday and today I've had two young visitors in my home, just waiting here for a little over an hour till their mom gets out of work. When they came on Monday, I was finishing up some painting on a rock with roses on it. They loved the idea of painting on rocks and immediately asked if they could paint rocks, too.
Today they painted their rocks. Eric painted a ladybug, a turtle and a bird. Kaylee painted a rock purple and put on it a yellow smiley face and gold swirls. Another little rock looked to her like a clown hat and she painted it yellow. Tonight I varnished the rocks and they'll be ready for them to take home with them when they come again on Thursday.
Tying Up Loose Ends
Today I did a number of things that I've been putting off, --just tying up loose ends. I had to be out of the house to get my allergy shots so I combined several other chores with that reason to be out of the house. I started out with voting, as today is our primary election in Pennsylvania.
Our big race in our town is for District Justice. Our current Justice has been in office for 20 some years and is retiring at the end of this year. For a while we had 11 people running for her office. Not all of them made it to the actual election day. Some made mistakes on their petitions and were not on the ballot, but they decided to be write-ins. There were still quite a few names to chose from that made it on the ballot. It will be interesting to see tomorrow morning who was elected to run for office in November.
I collected an armload of books to give to various people and delivered them this morning.
It feels good to have these little things taken care of.
Frosty
This morning I saw that there was frost on the roof of the car in the driveway. I brought the tomato plants indoors overnight, so they were safe. I had the other plants sitting under foliage under the trumpet vine. I went outside and looked at them from the sidewalk and they seem to have been protected, from what I can tell. It's just 38 degrees right now, but the sun is shining brightly and I'm in hopes that it will be warmer soon.
Cold, Cold Game
I'm not really very knowledgeable about keeping warm at open air games. I won't go to the high school football games when it's snowing! I got much too cold at the game I went to years ago while it was snowing. It wasn't much fun. The field was covered with snow and the yard lines were obscured. They did fireworks at half time and looking up into falling snow to see the fireworks was very strange. I decided right then that if it snowed, I wouldn't go to the game, I would listen to it on the radio.
This was a cold game but it didn't snow! I could have used a blanket or two in addition to wearing my winter coat. I could have worn gloves! Fortunately it all went smoothly and we won. After Central batted in the top of the 7th, the game was over because we were ahead by a few runs. It was a nice win. It was the last home game of the season. I'm glad to be home out of the cold now.
Do I Really Want to Do This?
I've been planning to go to the girls softball game today and should leave for it in just a few minutes. But do I really want to go to it? I love being at the game, but the weather is not very warm today. The sun has begun to shine this afternoon, and the rain has stopped. But the air is cold. It would be more cozy to stay home and do indoor activities. But I think this is the last game I'll be able to go to. Our girls have ended first in their division and they'll be going on to play-offs. But play-offs aren't played in our town and I won't be driving out of town to watch them. I'll listen to the games on the radio then.
So, do I really want to go to this game? Yes, I think I really do. I'll wear a winter coat and go in spite of the cold air.
Cheerful Birds
Why is it that birds cheer me up? This morning wasn't the first time. A number of times I've been feeling a bit down and then saw a beautiful bird or heard a beautiful bird song and it lifted my spirits immediately.
This morning when I realized it was raining again, I started to feel down because I feel that I should be keeping after the yard work and I can't do much in rain. Then I looked out the door and saw two robins out on the sidewalk. They were so bright and cheerful, not minding the rain one little bit. They were obviously delighted with the day. They live outdoors, and they didn't care about the rain. I can stay indoors and paint rocks. I have no reason to feel down because of a little more rain.
Once again, perky, cheerful birds lifted my spirits. It is a beautiful day, whether it rains or not.
Growth
Everything is growing by leaps and bounds just now. We should inspect the plants in our yards daily to enjoy the growth that is taking place so quickly that it seems we should be able to actually see leaves sprout and fill out if we just stood there and watched for a while. Branches which were bare just a short time ago now have green leaves or blossoms. Suddenly there are buds coming up through the Iris leaves. The clumps of green foliage in the flower beds that I've been wondering what they were now are filled with bluebells! Funny how I couldn't remember what they were but knew that they were something I liked last year.
It will soon be time to mow the lawn again. Everything is growing at a fast pace.
Puzzled
When I was getting our things out of the trailer before I let it go to another home, I found a number of gallons of windshield wiper fluid. I set them out at the side of the driveway by the house. The liquid was blue. In fact, the name of it is something Blue. That was a month ago.
This week I discovered one gallon of the blue stuff was clear as water, not even a tinge of blue. Today, there is only one gallon of the stuff that is blue and all the rest look like water. I wondered if someone was playing tricks on me, dumping out the blue stuff and filling up the jug with water, but I thought that was highly unlikely. No one has been messing around with my stuff, so why would they do that now?
This afternoon, I opened one gallon of liquid and smelled it to see if it was still washer fluid or if it was now what it looked like, --water. It was definitely washer fluid. I'm puzzled. How did that blue washer fluid lose the blue color? Why does it now look as clear as ordinary water?
Guessing
Sometimes I like to guess things, and then I wonder if my guesses are correct. Yesterday, when Carolyn was dealing with a clerk about buying a tall floor lamp, I got a strong impression that the clerk, wearing a nametag that said Suzanne, was an artist. Maybe it was because we had just come from viewing the art display at the gallery in the public library that I was thinking artist. We'd just been talking to two other artists and I was very aware of artistry around me.
Carolyn decided to buy the lamp but it had to be taken apart to fit into the car. We said we'd look around the store while that was being taken care of. During that time, I asked Carolyn if she thought that Suzanne had the aire of an artist. Carolyn was noncommittal. "Well, --maybe," she said, I suppose to just go along with me.
Still later, when we were still dealing with getting the lamp, I asked Suzanne, "Are you an artist?" She looked very surprised to get this question, but then she smiled and said, "I like to draw and paint." That would make her an artist, the way I see it. She said she's painted murals on her children's bedroom walls, and she used to really like to draw but she doesn't have much time to do so now. I remember the feeling. When I was raising my family, I had very little time to paint or draw.
I felt good about guessing correctly that Suzanne is an artist. There was something about her that told me she was artistic.
At the Library
Before today, I hadn't been to the Warren Public Library for some years. It's a beautiful library and I loved going there, but it is an hour away from here. The library building is beautiful in itself but it's made even more beautiful with the paintings that have been selected to hang on the walls. It has a great selection of books, too. The children's section of the library is especially inviting, with many plush animals draped over shelves and displays. There is a jungle effect with artificial flowers. The computers have fish scenes as screen savers.
While Carolyn took out a library card, I just waited. The man in line wanted to use a computer. While Carolyn filled out the application form, he showed his library card to get set up on a computer and the librarian told him that he owed 50 cents. He said that he'd forgotten to bring the book. While the librarian turned to look up some record, I told him, "Renew the book!" Then I asked him if it was a good book. He said it was, --The Last Juror, by Grisham. When the librarian turned back to him, she returned his 50 cents and said she'd renewed the book! I think maybe she heard me.
It was fun to be at the Warren Library again today.
Friends Think Alike
We were planning to go to Warren today, to the art show which is being held in Warren Library. We planned to leave about 10 AM. When I got up this morning and started to get ready for our outing, I suddenly wondered how to dress. Was Carolyn going to dress casually, or dress up? If she wore something dressy and I wore casual, I'd feel out of place. We hadn't discussed that aspect of our trip.
About 9, I called her and asked her this question, and I discovered that she was wondering the exact same thing and was about to call me.
We went casual. We agreed on that easily.
Painted Stone
This is how I painted the nice big, round stone I found when we hiked through the untamed area the other day. Right now I have it in one of my small flower beds. I probably won't leave it there long. It would make a nice door stop, but it's varnish protected for outdoor use, too. The two leaves in the lower, left forground are real plant leaves.
More Rocks
This evening my back door neighbor told me she planned to make a trip to the greenhouse to pick up a few more plants. I asked to go along with her. I had painted one of the rocks I had picked up there on Wednesday and I wanted to give it to Iola.
During the spring flower season, Iola seldom takes any time away from the greenhouse but this evening her daughter had persuaded her that she could look after things and she'd gone out to dinner with friends. I didn't get to give her the gift personally as I'd hoped.
The cart of stones was still there in front of the greenhouse and I picked out several more to bring home. The big one that I'd admired was still there and this time I determined that I would be able to lift it. I had help getting it into the car, but when we got back home, I brought the wheelbarrow over to the car and hauled my rock to my front flower bed without any assistance. It's a fairly big rock that the "trencher" sheared off so that it's like a hemisphere. I've parked it in the empty spot in my Shasta Daisy flower bed by the driveway. I'm very pleased with my big rock.
Sunny and Warmer
Get your weather news here on the blog today! To my surprise when I got out of Aquarobics, the world had warmed up again. It's up to 50 now and feels just great!
After Aquarobics I stopped at Walmart to get a few things. I checked out their outdoor flowers while I was there. I enjoy looking at them. I saw that a number of them were badly touched with the cold overnight. The clerks told me that it hadn't been freezing overnight but a lot of the plants there can't take it below 40 and last night it got very close to 32. They told me that they've been covering all the plants every night but it doesn't save some of them.
I took all my new plants back outside after all. I think it would be a fun job to work with the plants in a store.
Post Script
I'm still not ready for that iced tea that's waiting in the refrigerator! Last night I had hot cocoa again and remembered my ninth grade essay. One of our assignments in language class was to write about our favorite food. I quickly settled on hot chocolate and homemade bread and butter. Sometimes after Sunday evening church, we would have that for our "midnight snack" which we always had long before midnight. What special taste sensations that combination provided! Last night I only had the cocoa, --no homemade bread here or I'd have had a slice with my cocoa. My cocoa was good enough to remind me of my long ago choice of favorite food.
Still Cold
If it didn't freeze last night, it came close! It was 36 degrees here when I looked about an hour ago. I brought all my new plants indoors last night. I think it was a good move to do so. I may leave them indoors all day, unless it warms up a lot!
Will It Freeze Tonight?
Yesterday I brought home six tomato plants as well as a variety of annuals. Today it is so cold we have to wonder if it's going to freeze tonight. My back door neighbor isn't taking a chance. She's bringing in all her tender plants that aren't in the ground. She's planted very few tender annuals at this time. She's got a lot of perennials that are now growing and should be OK even if it does frost tonight.
I shall bring in my tomato plants and maybe I'll bring in the two boxes of flowers, too. I hate to take chances with losing them.
Make-up Game
I saw that the girls softball game was scheduled for today at 4 at home and I decided to dress warmly and go to the game. It was announced in the newspaper that there would be a game this afternoon but it wasn't on the calendar. It turned out to be a make-up game.
The game had been rained out some time ago and they called it off with Villa batting, players on second and third. And that's exactly how today's game started. The score was already 9-4 in our favor. Villa got three runs in their inning and then when our girls came to bat, they got three runs. In the bottom of the fifth, our girls got enough runs to put them 10 runs ahead of Villa, so that was the end of the ballgame, because of the mercy rule.
I was ready to head for home because even with the sun shining brightly, the air was very cold. It's nice to know that our girls won the game and it was really good to get back to my warm house.
Did I Say Fickle?
I'm talking about fickle weather! The last two days have been really beautiful. It's even been too hot to work outdoors in the afternoon. Last night before I went to bed, I made up some strawberry-kiwi iced tea to have on hand today.
Now this morning it's so cold we need to have extra layers of clothing on again. I don't feel much like drinking iced tea. I'm making hot tea instead. Maybe tomorrow it will warm up again and I'll have my strawberry-kiwi iced tea then.
Bird Feeder Guest
Today my bird feeder has been visited by a couple of birds which I hadn't seen before. They are beautiful birds, a lot of white down the front with a big triangle of bright red. The rest of their feathers are mostly black with some white markings. I think they are rosebreasted grossbeaks. The female seems to have entirely different coloring according to the book I was using. I didn't see any birds at the feeder which looked like the pictured female, but there were two of these brightly colored birds which I thought were hanging around sort of together. One was on the bird bell and wouldn't let the other get any seed from there. Apparently they were two males and one was more dominant than the other. They were a lovely sight to behold.
Greenhouse Tales
While I was talking to Iola in the greenhouse today, I saw a flash of movement darting across the gravel floor, heading into the outdoor sunshine. It was a little bird, running through the greenhouse!
Later Iola told me that birds just love it in her greenhouse. They love to make nests in her hanging baskets. When she catches them bringing in grass to build their nests, she takes it apart because they make their nests in places where it's inconvenient for her.
One year, though, she'd been daily watering a hanging plant when one day suddenly she discovered there was a nest in it with eggs in the nest already! She said she had no idea how she'd missed watering the nest because she hadn't even realized it was there. Once she discovered the nest, she watered the plant very carefully from the other side so she wouldn't harm the nest.
When the babies hatched she enjoyed seeing them sticking their little heads up above the rim of the planter. She thought that she would see the little ones learn to fly but that didn't happen. They flew out of the nest and out the window one day when she wasn't right there watching and she missed seeing them venture out into the world.
Meanwhile, the birds keep coming into the greenhouse, looking for cozy, safe places to nest.
Getting Flowers
Today I went to the greenhouse to pick out my annuals. That's always such a fun time. I wasn't able to get the yellow daisies that I usually put in the big planter in front of the one flower bed, but I did get two Gerbera daisies and they may do almost as nicely.
I got the usual standards, --petunias, alyssum, flowering kale, marigolds, lobelia, dianthus. I also got verbena, which I haven't tried before.
And, I found more rocks! Iola had just had to have the water pipes replaced (after 61 years of use) and they had dug up a lot of rather big rocks. I looked through the rock pile and brought several of them home to paint. One is just a big rock to put in with one of my flower beds. There was anotfer big rock that looked like it would be pretty if it were washed off but it looked like it was just a bit heavier than I wanted to wrestle with. So, now I have lots of rocks to paint. The bigger than fists, roundish rocks are harder to find.
Early Morning Assembly Line
I finished getting the church newsletter ready two weeks ago. Today I was part of the group who put the newsletter together. We do it assembly line style. Two people collated the pages, one person stapled the pages together, two people folded the edition in half, two people taped the edges shut and one person put the address lables on. We did almost 300 newsletters and it took roughly one hour. I remember when we did this with four people. How much longer it took! We had a good assembly line going this morning.
Rose, Thou Art Sick
I've had a rosebush at the edge of my Iris bed for many, many years. The roses on this bush were yellow when the bush was new. Then one year a strange thing happened. There were no yellow roses. The roses were suddenly red roses. I couldn't believe it, but there they were, --red! From then on, the roses were red. They are a soft rose, like what I think a rambling rose is.
I've been told that the yellow rose was grafted onto a wild rose stock and one winter the yellow rose didn't make it but the hardy root stalk took over and sent up the wild roses. For a while it didn't bloom every year but put out a lot of foliage.
A number of years, I almost decided to cut the bush down and dig up the roots. But then I'd see the buds forming and I'd get soft hearted about it and let it live.
But this year, the bush seems really dead. There isn't a leaf bud on it anywhere. Today I cut it back severely, right down to the ground. If it doesn't send up any kind of growth in the next couple of weeks, I'll see what I can do about digging it up. It might be a big job. I hope it will grow, but if it doesn't, it's given me yellow, then red roses for many years. I have that memory.
Warm Enough?
After having so much cold weather, we are now having really warm weather. It's hard to keep working outdoors in the afternoon when it's as warm as it now is. So, now I'm taking a break, till the sun isn't beating down directly on us. It's very pleasant to sit here in the cool dining room and sip strawberry-kiwi iced tea. This is probably a good time to paint rocks.
Mrs. Gotrocks!
Before my daughter-in-law and the girls left for their own home this morning, we went to find the latest geocache which was hidden in our area. Apparently it was hidden just a few days ago. We followed an ATV trail through a very untamed area to Harecreek where the girls found the cache.
I found a lot of rocks that will be good to paint into houses. I so much enjoy painting rocks to look like little houses, but it's hard to find rocks of a good size and shape. The first one I found will be really good for turning into a doorstop that looks like a mound of flowers. The girls helped me carry the rocks to the car, and even picked out some more rocks which they thought would be good for painting on.
I felt sad to wave good-bye to them when they left, but I shall work in the yard for a while, and when I am tired, I will begin painting my just right rocks and turning them into interesting works of art.
Mrs. Gotrocks! That's me!
Lawn and Garden
Today I got a lot of lawn and garden work done. I finally mowed the lawn. It only needed it around the edges so it was easy to zip through the whole thing. It does look better now that it's neatly the same height.
My youngest granddaughter helped me with the gardening today. She planted a row of onion sets. I just wish she could be here longer and watch the onions begin to grow. That's a lot of fun. I'll have to tell her about it when the onions start growing.
Softball
Today we went to the high school girls' softball game. I had gone to their game last Thursday and it was so evenly matched that there was no score right up to the top of the 9th inning. It was a well played game but our girls lost by one run after taking the game to 9 innings. Usually the softball game is over in 7 innings.
Today's game was nothing like last week's game! The opposing team was not at all skillful and the game was a rout. It was really bad! The final score was 24-0 and the game was over at the end of the top half of the third inning. They put the mercy rule into effect. If one team is ahead by 15 runs the game only goes 3 innings. It only goes 5 innings if one team is 10 runs ahead. I can see why that rule is helpful.
It was a perfect afternoon for a ball game. I'm glad we got a chance to go to it. It was nice to win even though it wasn't an exciting game.
Apple Pie
I had a piece of apple pie for dessert after my lunch. It wasn't just any apple pie. It was a pie that my granddaughter baked and especially brought a piece for me. It was a grand piece of pie baked by a granddaughter for her grandmother. Scrumptious. I hope it's the first of many, many more to come. (What is the reward for a job well done? More work! teehee)
Beautiful Day
It's been a beautiful day. The sun was shining but it wasn't too hot, nor too cold. Flowers are blooming. Beauty was all around me. Most of my family was able to be in touch with me. I have company tonight and tomorrow will be full of blessing and activity. A beautiful day, for sure!
Once Upon a Mother's Day
Many years ago when all my children lived at home, it was Mother's Day and my mom and dad planned to be with us, but first they wanted to go to services at their home church. They lived 130 miles away. They would arrive at our place around 5.
I decided that I would have the big meal of the day after they arrived and we would have a light meal at noon, instead of our usual Sunday dinner. Then I got the bright idea, from Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving, to try toast and popcorn for a light lunch. I thought it went togther remarkably well and everyone seemed to enjoy the unusual meal. My parents came later in the afternoon and we had Sunday dinner after they arrived.
To my surprise, I have since heard from my children that I used to give them toast and popcorn for Sunday dinner. They said it as though it was something we had every Sunday, when in fact, we had it only that once. Isn't that strange?
I'm thinking about that because today my friend Carolyn had to work at the library in the afternoon and we didn't have time to have a nice meal together before she went to work. So we arranged to have dinner after she got off work at 4. And then I started to remember our toast and popcorn Mother's Day dinner of long ago.
Baseball Season
The baseball season has been going on here at Concord Street for a couple of weeks now. Neighborhood kids gather in to the school playground and play baseball or practice to hone their skills. They have lots of fun there in the school playground.
The only negative thought I have about it is that they bat the ball toward our house. Every year during this season I find baseballs in my flower beds or under my porch. Very occasionally a ball will bounce off my car. As far as I know that hasn't happened so far this year.
They have never broken one of our windows, and for this I am very grateful. Also, they have been very careful about searching for their ball in my flower beds and have always been very respectful with me. When I find a ball which they couldn't locate, I put it aside till I see the kids playing again and then I take the ball out to them. Even though there is no name on the ball, they usually know whose ball it is.
When the trailer was taken out of our driveway a week or so ago, there was a baseball on the ground under it. It had been there a long time and was damp and dirty. I wiped it clean and when the kids were playing again, I took it over to them. "That's Jordan's ball," they told me. This amazes me, that they would know.
I tell the kids how much I appreciate that they have been so careful of my flowers, and they smile happily at me. I am glad that the kids here in my neighborhood are such nice kids.
A Difference From Morning to Night
I surely thought this morning that I'd not get any outdoor work done today but how wrong I was. By late afternoon the rain had stopped and the sun was warming the earth. I didn't mow. I'll save that pleasure for next week. But I spaded a nice edge to the front part of my little garden. Then I weeded strawberries for a bit. That's such a hard job because the strawberries have migrated to grassy areas and I'm trying to get it in shape before they start to get serious about growth and blossoms.
Then I moved to one of my newer flower beds and lifted all the border stones and dug out the grass and weeds from the edges. While I was doing that, my back door neighbor came over to me, saying, "Happy Mother's Day!" She had dug out a couple of primroses from her beautiful flower beds and gave them to me. I added more soil to the bed I was working in and planted them in that bed. It looks really nice without the weeds and grass at the edges.
I shall never get all my weeding completely done but each bit I do makes the beds look better, so I keep at it. Wouldn't it be too bad to have all the work done and not have anything to do? This way, I always have some useful thing to do outdoors and it's really good for me.
Fickle as the Weather
It's hard for me to believe this. The sun has come out, the temperature has warmed up considerably. I've got to get outdoors and get busy! I really need to work out now because I'm sated from the product of my baking! I only made a half recipe of cinnamon rolls, but that's still a lot. I had to eat a couple of them while they were still warm.
I've fixed a plate with a sampling of the rolls and the Rocky Road Bars for my neighbor. I've packaged some for the freezer and a few more I've sealed for freshess and put away for tomorrow. I've really missed baking. I've got to plan to do more baking. It's a kind of therapy for me as much as art, gardening and writing.
Baking Warms the Day
I used to have the routine of baking on Saturday morning. It cozies up the day and then there's a treat to look forward to later. It's still cold here but the rain has stopped. If I bundle up, I could probably get some more weeding done.
Meanwhile, I have been listening to The Man With a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes and baking. First I mixed the dough for cinnamon rolls and then while the dough was rising, I made Rocky Road Bars, --a cookie bar with chocolate chips, nuts and miniature marshmallows. When they were done, I shaped the cinnamon rolls and soon they will be ready for the oven.
The house smells wonderful and the kitchen is cozy warm. If I don't decide to give some of my baked goods away, and if I don't have company to help me eat them up, I can put them into the freezer to keep fresh for another day.
Good Old Weather!
Weather does not permit the mowing of my lawn! It is raining again. I wonder if I could possibly put off mowing until the first week of June. That probably wouldn't be a good idea for this year. I should get to mow the lawn sometime next week. It's certainly not urgent that I mow today. But I do regret that I won't be able to continue the weeding projects today, unless the weather changes by afternoon. For now, it's housework for me, and perhaps some baking. It's a good morning to bake. The heat from the oven would feel good on this damp, cold morning.
Weather Permitting
Tomorrow, weather permitting, I will mow my lawn for the first time this season. Last weekend, my neighbor, George, got the mower ready for me. My lawn isn't as much in need of mowing as some are but there are places here and there where the grass is much taller and could use a good mow. This is early for me to be mowing. Some years the first mowing has been in the first week of June.
By the Side of the Road
Today I was thinking of the poem that was written by Sam Walter Foss, The House by the Side of the Road.
"Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by . . ."
I was weeding my curbside flower bed and I became very much aware of the race of mankind going by. Many friends and neighbors drove by and waved. One friend was walking and stopped to talk.
It was a good way to be in touch with people and still I got a lot of the flower bed weeded. It's good to have friends. It's good to be a friend.
Fish Bowl
Yesterday when I was taking some more musty files from the cellar, I noticed a small fish bowl sitting on a shelf. I had completely forgotten it. I thought we'd gotten rid of it long ago.
At one time we'd had a goldfish but we soon discovered that those little fish bowls aren't nearly big enough to actually keep a fish in it. It probably holds a little less than a quart of water.
I brought it upstairs to wash and clean it thoroughly. I plan to fill it with my Pysanky eggs and use it in a colorful display. It will be better to showcase the eggs in it than to try to make it a home for a fish.
What Was I Thinking?
I went outside to work this morning and left my crossword puzzle on the little bench beside the computer, in front of the dining room window. I should have known better. Rusty, the drooler, came to look out the window while I was out and he slobbered on the puzzle! I should have known that would happen.
No harm done, I guess. I put the puzzle up in a high place and let it dry out. The paper is a little puckered but the puzzle is fine and I can still work on it. Why didn't I remember that Rusty would be looking out of that window?
Invasive Plants
When my friend gave me three little pots of oregano, he didn't tell me how invasive oregano is. I planted them at the edge of my garden area, near my neighbor's garage. Maybe he didn't know how invasive these plants are. I didn't begin to realize it until it was too late. Those three little pots of oregano have spread into a huge mound of oregano and it has sent new plants springing up the whole length of the garage.
Today I spent some time digging up the big mound of oregano. What a tough job! The roots are dense and matted together. It takes a lot of effort to get the spade to slice through the roots. When I get a chunk of roots out, I have been putting them into a big plastic bag to compost them separately. I think they very likely could continue to grow if I put them into the main compost barrell.
I didn't get even half of that big mound dug up. But, if I rest a while and dig at it again tomorrow, and tomorrow, it will certainly make some inroads on that spreading oregano.
To rest a little, I weeded for a while in the strawberry bed and then I called it quits and came indoors to rest, --at my computer.
Good Morning
It certainly does look like a really good morning. The sun is shining even though the air is cold. Maybe today is a day to get some outdoor work done again. Working outdoors usually makes me feel good. I get tired, but it's a good kind of tired. Sunshine does something good for us.
A New Word - Dubiety
Main Entry: du·bi·ety
Pronunciation: du-'bI-&t-E also dyü-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -eties
Etymology: Late Latin dubietas, from Latin dubius
Date: 1750
1 : a usually hesitant uncertainty or doubt that tends to cause vacillation
2 : a matter of doubt
In my sorting through clippings and files today I came across a poem that had the words "piety and dubiety" and I thought dubiety must be a poetic made up word. I looked it up to find out about it and sure enough, it is a word.
It was a new concept to me as well as the new word, --piety and dubiety. They do go together in a way, I suppose. Piety is dutiful observance of religion. So the poet was thinking that we should be delivered from duty and doubt. Maybe I should have saved the poem, but I didn't. Now all I remember is these three words that represent twin hindrances to enjoying a meaningful Christian life.
Deliver me from piety and dubiety.
Happy Birthday, Girls
Today is the birthday for Desy and Blaise, my dog and my son's dog. They are 11 years old today. Though they are littermates, they really don't look like it. Desy is a lot smaller and her hair is longer. She is also going gray before her sister, so she looks older. She ought to get some special treat today. She's very content, though, just to live here with me. She's sleeping at my feet right now.
Happy Birthday, Little Ones. We've been so glad to have you as part of our family.
Tell Me Why
Why is it that when I decide I want to take a soaky bath, relax and read, and decide not to take the phone into the bathroom with me, I get a phone call. There I am immersed in water, immersed in a book, and there's that phone ringing. I know there's no point in trying to hop out of the tub, grab a towel and race to the phone. That's an accident about to happen. But, it's really difficult to ignore a ringing phone.
The rest of the bath time, I wonder, what did I miss? Should I cut this relaxing time short and go return the call?
This morning, I made the right decision. I didn't hurry. When I checked the phone, I discovered it had been a telemarketer calling. No offense intended to anyone who might do that job, but I'm glad that I didn't scramble out of the bathtub to get the phone for a telemarketer who will surely call back whether I answer the phone or not.
Today, A Black and White Day
Today was a better day for me than yesterday. Today I did some of the things I should have done yesterday. Today I took time to be an artist. I worked in graphic arts, --the black and white stuff--pencil, and pen and ink. I wanted to get out the oil paints again and set to work but I decided it would be a good idea to work on a sketch of what I wanted to paint. I really enjoyed working like that. Now I have several almost finished pictures propped on furniture around my dining room. One ink drawing is ready to be framed. I love looking at these pictures. Seeing them inspires me to do more.
I'm doing a pencil drawing of a mountain stream with big rocks and towering trees. I'm nearly finished doing a picture of my pink African violet which is really flourishing right now. I've drawn it in ink and I think I shall finish it with colored pencils, to show the richness of the green leaves and the delicate pink of the blossoms. It will have the quality of an illustration in a book. I hope the color won't ruin the picture.
Why do I do my best work in black and white when I love color so much?
Another Great Quote
"I am an artist. I am here to live out loud."
Emile Zola
I need to be a little bolder! I need to live out loud!
We're Tough
Yesterday morning it was really cold, probably around 32 degrees. It was snowing, hailing, and raining, fluctuating back and forth between the three. Cold. But it is May. So, what do we wear when we have to go out to our cars, the store, or to do chores or whatever? It's May, so most of us wear our light jackets and go ahead and shiver!
I did it, too. I wore a sweatshirt under my light jacket when I went to Aquarobics. Three out of five of us wore jackets. The other two were sensible and wore their winter coats. I don't think any of us has put the winter coat away yet but it's still hard to give in an wear it when the calendar says May.
Quote
From A Life of Mindful Creativity by Ellen Langer
A woman once visited Henri Matisse in his studio and after examinig a painting he had just finished, declared to him, "The arm of this woman is much too long." His reply was quick. "But madam, you are mistaken. This is not a woman, this is a painting."
Neat, eh!
School News from 1977
I was looking over an old classroom newsletter from when I taught fifth and sixth graders about newspapers. This class named their paper Conelway Newsbreak. The paper was hand printed on a mimeograph ditto and then run off for the kids, their parents and other teachers to have a copy. It's printed in the purple ditto ink. Here's a sample story from the October 1977 news.
Switching Classes
by V. P.
The fifth and sixth graders at Conelway School are switching classes for the first time. I like switching classes because I spend more time walking around. I like it. When I get one teacher mad I can go to another class before I get clobbered.
-------------Amusing, eh! This was not one of the pupils who routinely got teachers mad. I have pleasant memories of this student.
Argh! Weather!!!
This morning, about an hour ago, the scene outside looked quite promising. It was bright and sunny, although it seems to be cold out there.
Five minutes ago the sky became very dark. I'd have to turn the light on in here to make it bright and cheerful again. Then suddenly a steady shower of little snow pellets came falling from the sky. It's coming down hard and it's all slanting to the east, not a straight downfall. It's coming down fast. The porch steps are completely covered and the lawn is starting to fill up, too. I don't know when I've seen snow like this. It's really strange. Maybe it will stop as suddenly as it started.
No yard work today again. This is definitely the third snow on the daffodils. The weather can get nice any time now and do it with a clear conscience. Meanwhile, I'm wondering what to think about May!
No Nap, Marigolds, and Creativity
I usually take at least a short nap on Sunday afternoon but because of the Association Meeting, I didn't nap at all. Now I'm really tired and sleepy. I may be able to get to bed early tonight.
I have a number of things lined up for tomorrow. One of them is to transplant the marigolds that we planted several weeks ago. They are growing well and I think they need to be set into individual growing cells.
We hope to look at the lawn mower tomorrow evening and see if it needs any help to work well this coming mowing season. It looks like I should be starting to mow my lawn some time this week.
I have an interesting book from the library now, on being an artist. Basically, all you have to do to be an artist is to do art! But, this author says, there are ways that we can be more creative. I love to feel the creative juices flow. I'm hoping to read some good tips to spark further creativity in my life.
Association Meeting
Today was the Association Meeting for the church my husband had pastored. The association asked to have it there at Columbus, in honor of and appreciation for Marlin. They invited me to come especially. I knew it would be very difficult for me, but I went to it because I knew the people really wanted me to be there.
It was hard. The people needed to tell me things about their special memories and their love. Maybe I didn't really need to hear them right now, but they needed to say them and I needed to let them say them. I know how much he was loved and I feel good in those memories. But sometimes I need to not think about them every minute. I don't want to forget, -- I just don't want to feel really sad every minute. I feel like that's worded awkwardly but I think you probably understand what I mean. I can deal with these feeling on a deep p