The Peanut Butter Sneak
Desy has to take pills every morning, for her thyroid. It's easy to give her pills because she loves banana. I just slip her pills into the banana and she takes her bite of banana and gulps it down, pills and all. But Rusty doesn't like banana, and now he needs a pill morning and evening until he gets over his little bout with ailing. Rusty loves peanut butter so I've been taking a spoonful of it and wrapping it around the pill. The pill is pretty big and it's got a shiny, smooth casing. So far, he's taken his bite of peanut butter without spitting out the pill, but each time I offer it to him, he's a little slower to take it. He seems to be very suspicious as to why he's getting peanut butter a couple times a day when he usually doesn't get much peanut butter at all. Today I took a bit of hamburger and wrapped it around the pill. He still looked at me suspiciously and instead of grabbing his treat and swallowing it as usual, he took it very tentatively. Either is really suspicious of what I'm doing, or he's lost his appetite for sure. I think he's suspicious. He did eat breakfast. And he ate the hamburger treat, without spitting out the pill. But he didn't gulp it gladly as he usually would. It makes me wonder.
Super Hype
Since I live in Steeler territory (sort of, --some people in our area are Browns or Bills fans instead, they are all three relatively close to Corry,) and I listen to WJR in Detroit where the Super Bowl is to be held this year, I hear a lot of Super Bowl related stories and remarks lately. Some of the stories reach far out to get a tie in but if they expect to fill one whole week with Super Bowl talk, they’re going to have to scrounge a lot of peripheral stories to fill the time. In the last few minutes, I was hearing about a parking lot which has been opened for the Super Bowl, and I missed what they are going to do with the space after the game is over. I think my mind fatigued out and thought its own ideas instead. It’s only Tuesday. I’ll probably tune out a lot between now and next Monday morning.
Super Hype
Since I live in Steeler territory (sort of, --some people in our area are Browns or Bills fans instead, they are all three relatively close to Corry,) and I listen to WJR in Detroit where the Super Bowl is to be held this year, I hear a lot of Super Bowl related stories and remarks lately. Some of the stories reach far out to get a tie in but if they expect to fill one whole week with Super Bowl talk, they're going to have to scrounge a lot of peripheral stories to fill the time. In the last few minutes, I was hearing about a parking lot which has been opened for the Super Bowl, and I missed what they are going to do with the space after the game is over. I think my mind fatigued out and thought its own ideas instead. It's only Tuesday. I'll probably tune out a lot between now and next Monday morning.
Tiring Them Out
There is something about having company in the house for a couple days that seems to tire my dogs out. We said good-bye to our company today just before two o'clock and came back into the house. Both dogs went to their beds and slept through their dinner times and just got up now when I woke them to go outside before I turn in for the night. Then they were hungry! I hated to feed them so late at night because it could cause problems for me during the night. But I didn't like to think of them being hungry through the night, even though I knew it wouldn't really hurt them to be a little hungry.
Doing New Things
When I finished teaching my first year and the kids went home for the summer, I sent an end of the year letter home with them and told them to keep on learning during the summer even though they weren’t doing structured lessons in a class. I asked them to make an effort to do 5 new things during the three months of summer. I made up my mind that I would do that, too. Five new things.
That was fun for me and I decided after that summer to make it an ongoing goal in my life. At first I decided to do as many new things each year as the last two numbers in the year. So, in 1977, I aimed to do 76 new things. My kids were wondering what I would do as we got to 2000. I wondered, too. But, then I tried to do new things to match my age.
Last year I went into a major tailspin and it took so much effort to just stay balanced that I didn’t try to keep track of new things nor did I make it a project to read the Bible through in a year as I had done for many years. It’s too bad I didn’t keep track of the new things last year because it was a year of many, many new things for me.
I’m not sure how hard I’ll work at new things for this year, but I’m thinking I should at least pay attention and list the new things I do. Maybe I won’t get up to 69, but maybe I can get 50. It’s easy, though, to not pay attention to what is new and forget to list it.
I did a new thing today. I painted a little game character with my grandson. He did two while I did one. I was more meticulous than he was. It was a very tiny little man and I couldn’t see the details as easily as he could. I think we had a nice time together, though, working on painting the little figures.
Yukon Gold
I've seen Yukon Gold potatoes at the grocery store before but I never bought them. This last time, I bought five pounds of them. I can't say that I really notice a different taste to them, but they are a very yellow potato and this bag of potatoes was reall y nice. There was very little waste to them. I wouldn't object to buying them another time.
Sunday Dinners
When I was a child, Sunday was always a special day and dinner on Sunday was always special. Mom was always happily busy early Sunday morning, doing the preparations for dinner. She would have the meat on to cook early in the morning or have it roasting in the oven while we went to church.
When I was a young wife and mother, I tried to do this for my family. It makes for more work in the morning before leaving the house for church, but it was so worth it when we were returning home something after 12 noon. Dinner, a really good dinner, could be on the table in half an hour or less.
It's what I often miss now. I don't do this for myself very often. When I'm sharing the noon meal with my friend, I really enjoy Sunday dinner, but she has a life of her own, and a son who lives about an hour away and she frequently spends time with him, --understandably. So, I don't always have Sunday meals with her.
I thought about these things this morning as I was up early and getting the Swiss steak on to cook for our Sunday dinner, since I have company this weekend. How much I enjoy being able to cook a nice dinner when I have family home.
Tubing at the Peak
This afternoon we went to Peek'n Peak, our local ski resort, to go tubing. It was a beautiful, sunny day, --too sunny and mild at first. It was more fun to be towed up the hill than to slide down the hill, because the sun made the snow soft. But after a while, as the shadows moved across the slope, the snow hardened again and people were sliding down the hill smoothly.
I didn't try to do the tubing. I watched and took pictures for a while. I've posted a few of them on Flickr. It was interesting to watch the attendant methodically attach each person's tube to the tow bar. That wasn't an easy job. If the person jumped into the tube before they got the tube close enough to the tow line, he had to use a lot of muscle to get them close enough to hook them up. I don't think he enjoyed his job very much.
My family really enjoyed their time on the slopes and came back to the car with rosy cheeks. I made significant progress in reading Inkspell.
Buy and Switch
I have done this several times. I see a product which I want to buy, I chose the one I want, I pick it up, purchase it and when I get it home, it's not what I thought I was picking up. Two examples. I wanted old fashioned oatmeal. I reached for old fashioned oatmeal. When I got it home, it was quick oatmeal! Not what I wanted at all! And the shampoo! What a selection I had to choose from. I finally narrowed the choice down to kiwi or green apple fragrance. I decided I wanted the green apple. I put it on the shelf in the bathroom before I realized that the green apple shampoo had turned into cucumber/melon! How does that happen? I'm sure it will wash my hair as well as the other but I really liked the idea of green apple aroma. I'm using up the quick oatmeal but I really like the old fashioned kind so much better. Could it be the tri-focal shift that's getting me confused?
Relief!
After a couple of restless days, each one a little more so than the one before, Rusty is now relaxed and acting like his old self. I kept wondering what was bothering him. I didn't realize it was a physical problem. And, he was really good in the vet's office. He let Dr. Lyons do what he needed to do without giving him a problem. However, he did not want to get weighed! When they tried to get him to step up onto that scale platform, he balked. I had taken a couple of peanut butter bones with me, in case he would need a treat to reward good behavior. I placed one on the far side of the scale and he went onto the platform to check out the treat, but he wouldn't eat it. But it got him to do what we needed. He weighed 80 pounds, so he's holding steady . He looks like he weighs more than that. When the vet was examining him, Rusty seemed very nervous, but he didn't snarl or snap at the doctor. Rhombus was that way, too. She just recognized that Dr. Lyons was the boss and he was going to help her when she needed help.
After the Vet
The vet says Rusty had elevated temperature and an intestinal problem. He gave him a shot and pills that I start giving him tomorrow. He says I did the right thing to get him in for help right away; I wasn’t wasting his time. Amoxicillian. The reason he wanted to spend so much time outdoors was because his skin was hot and he wanted to cool off. He hadn’t eaten at all today, except two doggie treats, but right now (6:45) he was very hungry and is eating his food with gusto. What a relief.
Warming Up!
Our temperature is up to 34 degrees now. That's feeling balmy!
I'm concerned about Rusty. He just wants to hang out outside, even lying down in the snow. He is very restless and was trembling for a while. Right now he's out there in his pen, barking. I can't let him do that for very long. I have discovered a wound on his head, right on the top where that lab dome is. I called the local vet and I'll take him there at 4:30. I wonder if he has some infection. I'm very nervous about this. It's not easy taking him to a vet by myself, but I've managed it before.
The Hidden Bonus
The bonus for me in doing the shoveling by myself today is that I was right out there working when the trash collectors went past. I month ago I put out a couple of empty cardboard barrels for them to dispose of for me, but they left them. I thought they should take them, so I was surprised that they didn't. I took them back from the curb, back by the shrubs and thought that probably I could figure out a way to burn them. But the weather hasn't been good for doing something like that, so there they still sat.
When the men got to my place, I asked them why they couldn't take the barrels and they said there is no problem about taking them. They could do it. So I quickly toted them to the curb and they picked them up and threw them on board their truck. That's a really good bonus for me! Although, I was thinking it should be kinda fun to put shredded paper in them and light the paper. Maybe that would be too much fire for me to deal with. At any rate, I'm glad the barrels are gone. That's one less chore for me to deal with.
Since I knew I had to do the job by myself after all, I put my best effort into doing it and the activity warmed me up sufficiently. I got tired, but I wasn't cold. The temperature warmed up by four degrees, so it was much warmer than it had been. I'm sure the sunshine helped a lot and it was only cold when there was a blast of wind.
It's Sunny, --but . . .
The sun is shining and it looks so good outdoors but my whole driveway is plugged with snow. And it's really cold out there. I went out to clear my driveway and this time I couldn't keep my hands warm. The snow is two feet deep. It's heavy and what's more, it sticks to the shovel. I made a little path to my car and started to clear it off. Then I realized that the job seems too big for me. I decided to give in this time and call for help.
But . . . when I called the man, the only one I know who plows driveways, he told me that he took his snow plow off his truck! "Why?" I gasped. "Well it's sunny now," he said. "Who would want their driveway plowed now?" ME! And his real reason for taking off the plow? "People would think I'm crazy running around town with my snow plow on when it's sunny like this!"
See what happens when you let what people might think influence the way you do your work. You let people down. I checked the temperature and discovered it's 14 degrees. No wonder my hands were cold. And, I just saw a man drive up my street with his snow plow on his truck. Too bad I wasn't out there to flag him down and see if I could hire him. I guess I'll have to head outside again.
Weather Again
As I read more about the Alberta Clipper, I found that since it doesn't go anywhere near a large body of water, like the ocean, it only drops two or three inches of snow and it looked like the farthest it goes is just to our area. This must not be the Clipper because we got about two feet of snow today. It came down thickly and steadily for most of the day. I'll have to dig out tomorrow. There didn't seem to be much point in trying to dig out while it was coming down so hard.
The little birds were active at the feeders all day today. Since I sprinkle bird seed on the porch steps, there are some birds that check out the porch, looking for food. The wind was blowing the snow over the porch and covering even that seed. I laid my snow shovel down on the porch and dropped a handful of seeds into it, for the birds. Later I peeked out and saw several little birds eating from the shovel. I tried to get a picture but they kept an eye on the window in the door and when I'd hold the camera up, they would fly away. I tried to get a picture from the living room window but the screen with so much snow blown against it kept me from getting a good shot. It's surprising that they watched the door so carefully but didn't pay any attention to the living room window which looks out onto the porch from another angle. Even if I didn't get a good picture, I got to watch them for a while and that was nice.
Dad's Aunt Anna
While I was practicing the piano music today, I was remembering my dad's Aunt Anna. Aunt Anna was an accomplished musician. She played piano in a music store where people would come in to buy sheet music and they would want to hear what it sounded like before they bought it. They would have Aunt Anna play it for them. What a challenge that would be for me!
One day Aunt Anna visited us. This didn't happen often. She lived far away, in Freeport, which I know now is, by car, about 10 - 15 minutes away from where we lived but in those days, it was considered to be far away. I didn't live in the days of the horse and buggy but I didn't realize how much of a novelty cars were when I was a kid. We didn't get to visit with our far away relatives very much.
So, one day Aunt Anna was visiting and Dad asked her to play Glow Worm for him. Glow Worm was, I think, a four page piece of sheet music. Dad loved it and worked on it often but never did master it. (Neither did I.) Aunt Anna was not familiar with the music. She took it from Dad, and read through it, start to finish, then went to the piano, settled herself and played it perfectly!!! I'm still amazed at this expertise because it didn't come to Dad or me. But thinking about that memory has prompted me to start paying more attention to the music I am playing. If I take a bit of time before I begin playing and just read through it a little, to refresh my memory, I play it better. And, I'm finding that if I know there is a trouble spot and I work on that spot for a few minutes before I begin the piece, I do it better, too.
Aunt Anna was a pro!
Victory of the Martyrs
The film, The End of the Spear, has just been released. It tells the story of the five young missionaries who were murdered by the Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956. I remember living through the news of that terrible day. We were students at Nyack Missionary College at the time and the news hit us hard. We thought it was the most terrible thing and we mourned their loss deeply. But it wasn’t long till we began to see God’s hand in it. Because of the loss of the five young men, there were many, many young men and women who determined to step up and take on their task. It took a lot longer to see how God was working in the hearts and lives of the Auca Indians but He was and today members of this tribe are joyfully serving God.
One man is quoted as saying about that time 50 years ago, “We were seen back then as savages. The devil blinded us. We were always killing . . .I can’t explain how different I feel now.”
This ties in with the testimony of David Thompson, missionary doctor at Bongolo Evangelical Hospital in Gabon, Africa. His parents were murdered in Vietnam in 1968, during the Tet Offensive. He has said that he was very angry when he first heard the news. He questioned God abut the purpose of his parents death and three times he heard the Lord say to him, “Do you trust me? Then thank me.” Now we know that as a result of the Thompsons’ deaths, the Monong people group grieved the loss and responded by turning their lives over to Christ. Today they are a strong Church.
We do know that God knows best, but so often we only see the here and now hurt and loss.
What's in a Name?
Once when I was visiting as a hospital volunteer, I met a woman whose name was Irene. We got to talking about the meanings of names and I found that she was very interested in names, words and crossword puzzles. "My name means peace," she told me. I told her that I'd heard that. She continued, "Well, my husband's name was Frederick, and that means war. There we were, War and Peace," she said. We had a good laugh together. "That sort of rings a bell," I told her.
Alberta Clipper
This morning the weather was so beautiful that I seriously considered trying to burn the branches that we piled up in late fall and then the weather turned bad. I took the scrap paper and the matches outside to get started. But, no! The weather was already changing. It was beginning to turn very cold, the wind was picking up, and the ash bed in the fire ring was completely frozen. I couldn't stir it at all! No burning in the fire ring today. When I came back indoors, I saw that big snow flakes were falling. The weather really has changed, in just a few hours time. Then I remembered that I had read in the morning newspaper that an Alberta Clipper is coming through. It looks like the weather forecaster got it right!
A Tentative Tip
This idea I am working with lately may not be a sure thing, but it's certainly worth a try. In the last several months, my right knee has been talking back to me when I get up from a seated position or climb out of the swimming pool at the Y. Then last Friday, a friend who has had a knee replacement told me that she has been faithfully doing the knee exercises that her doctor told her to do. Knee exercises? What?
She said that they are simple. Before she gets out of bed each morning she is to lie flat on her back and with her legs straight, she presses her knee firmly against the mattress, almost like trying to bend her knee backwards. I decided that it was worth a try, because, I remember the very simple, easy exercises my mom was given to do to build up her muscle strength during her recovery from heart surgery. She had gone down to the point where she couldn't walk alone, but simple things like moving her legs back and forth in bed, bringing her heel up toward her body, really built up her strength and she was walking again. I thought it was so lame to assign her such slight exercise. What good could sliding her foot back and forth on the bed do? But I was so wrong. It was the beginning of building her strength again.
Since Friday, I've been doing that knee exercise, and I feel sure that I feel the benefits already! I thought I'd tell you about it, just in case you may benefit from a simple little exercise, too.
Odds and Ends
Today I've been doing odds and ends, --picking up clutter, tidying up, a little bit of laundry, some vacuuming. It's disappointing that I can put energy into these activities and then it doesn't really seem like I've done much of anything. I think I'm not putting my energy into the right thing.
I just made more Friendship Tea. I know that doesn't show at all, that I've done anything. But I'm sipping tea now, while I'm working at the computer, and it certainly hits the spot. When I'm done here, I have to deal with a few more bills that have come today. Bills that are unpaid and stacked in a pile take up a lot more energy than checks in an envelope waiting to be mailed.
Today is a beautiful day. It's calm and peaceful and the weather is like early April!
Mixed Emotions
A gathering together for a funeral service certainly brings out mixed emotions in a person. Betty's funeral service was this afternoon. I wasn't sure that I could attend it. My emotions are still so very near the surface and apt to spill over from my own memories.
I met Betty when I was a student teacher, assigned to the Columbus Elementary School. She was the sixth grade teacher and also principal of the school. She was tall and thin, dignified and very much in command. When she spoke, students listened. She loved order and discipline. I was in awe of her.
Through the years that followed I knew Betty as an acquaintance and then when my husband became the pastor of the Columbus Church, I got to know Betty more personally because she was a very active member in the church. Betty was an integral part of the Women's Fellowship, usually taking the office of vice president for the group. I always admired the way she used her abilities and the way she was comfortable with friendship. Betty began her physical decline two or three years ago and we were really saddened when she was no longer able to participate in her usual activities and could no longer attend church services. On Tuesday, she died at the age of 88. Her funeral service was this afternoon.
Our church sanctuary is rather small and it was packed to the point where we had to open the overflow room on the side. When I went in, about ten minutes before the service was to start, there wasn't a big choice of seats. I walked into the overflow room looking for a place to sit and there was Jeff, a classmate of my boys, already seated, and smiling at me. I sat with Jeff. We sang from the same hymnal. I felt like I was sitting with one of my own sons. He sang bass beautifully. At the close of the service, I thanked him for sitting with me and he told me that he felt honored to sit with me. What a nice thing to say! He invited me to sit with his family during the dinner that followed. There were so many people to meet and talk to. The conversation and laughter rose to a higher and higher level as people finished their meals and gave all their attention to talking. It's such a good emotion to share good conversation and laughter with friends you've not seen for many years. I was glad that I went. I went alone, but I didn't stay alone. I felt wrapped in love as I headed home again.
It was very sad to go to the funeral service but it was very happy to be enfolded in love as I met and talked with people I haven't seen for a while.
Change
Like most people, I am not entirely receptive to change. I like routine. I like things I can depend on. For many years I lived happily with very little change. Oh, my children grew up and went to college, moved away from home permanently and their lives were full of change as they finished college, found their mates and married and began their families. These were happy changes.
My life remained, in many ways, the same. I often pondered this thought as I walked Rhombus and Desy. Morning and evening we would walk and I would think how routine and safe my life was with the only changes being happy changes.
However, in the last five years, my life has been touched with many unhappy changes. I won’t elaborate on that. I’m not wanting to do a "pity me" article. I just want to consider the fact of change and how the older we get, the more we have changes that we can’t control and don’t like. I suppose it’s no wonder that older people object so strongly to changes in the organizations or churches in which they are members. Surely those are places where they ought to feel safe from change. They’ve found refuge there for many years, and they feel frightened and unhappy when everything changes around them.
It’s the personal changes that affect us the most, the ones we can’t do anything about. This morning as I washed my hair, I was thinking about how much I’ve changed in the last 20 years. I used to have very thick hair that I had to use a brush or heavy comb to keep tidy. I can’t remember when I first started drying my hair with a hand towel instead of a big bath towel but it’s been a long time now. Virginia, who cuts my hair tells me that I still have a thick head of hair, but I know that she’s probably saying that my hair is thick in comparison to others my age whose hair has thinned more than mine. I like being able to dry my hair quickly now and not having to be tied to a hair dryer for a long time. But sometimes I wish my hair hadn’t changed so much. It won’t do me any good to kick up a fuss about my hair not being as thick as it used to be. But if I was in an organization which had the power to change how thick my hair is and they wanted to make me have my hair thinned, I could kick up a fuss or I could quit. I’m beginning to understand a little better why some people drop out of things they been members of for years, because it just isn’t the same any more. They want the power to control change.
A Little Brown Egg
Today I worked on a little, brown, hen's egg. I've thought and thought how to word that and the way I did it seems to be the best way, to me. It's the egg that's little and brown and it's a hen's egg. I have no idea what kind of chicken laid the egg, whether it was brown or white or red. The egg is very small for an egg, so I'm pretty sure it was a pullet that laid the egg. I made a lot of foundation lines to show off the brown color of the egg. It's a golden brown. I put a band of red hearts around it and a big star in the center on the front and back, and lots of little red embellishment lines. Then I finished it off in a deep turquoise dye, and it looks so dark that it could be mistaken for black. It's a handsome little egg. I love holding it in my hand. I love the feel of it. I'll probably take its picture soon.
Speaking of which, I posted a few more egg pictures to Flickr. And, I finally finished the painting I've been taking my time about. It's not really a photographic copy, but there's lots of things about this picture that I like. I think I'm still growing in my understanding of painting. I hope so!
My Piano
I just came across my records about the age of my piano. It was made in 1918. I always think I'll remember that date but I never do. I have it written in several places and then forget where I wrote it. In 1995 when I was having it tuned, Ron told me it still holding its tune very well and he thought the full sound it makes is better than that of a spinet. He thought he we should keep it. He did tell me this year that my piano isn't easy to tune. Somehow that didn't surprise me. It's not a spring chicken any more, --to bring in a silly metaphor.
What I Saw
Yesterday when I left the pool after Aquarobics and headed for the locker room, I saw a bobby pin on the floor in the hall. A bobby pin! I haven’t seen one of those in ages.
When I was a girl, bobby pins played an important role in hair care. Not only did we use them during the day to hold our hair back away from our faces, but we formed tiny pin curls to set out hair and night and one or two bobby pins would anchor them in place. We would also use bobby pins to hold curlers in place, before the advent of brush curlers and plastic stick-pins. Those pins could sometimes scrape and poke the scalp and were often very uncomfortable. Come to think of it, bobby pins could poke your scalp, too.
A bobby pin could be used to mend broken parts and sometimes they were used to pick a lock. However, it was more likely to be a hair pin that was used on locks. That’s another thing you don’t see much any more.
It was such a surprise to me today to see that bobby pin on the floor.
What I Saw
Today when I left the pool after Aquarobics and headed for the locker room, I saw a bobby pin on the floor in the hall. A bobby pin! I haven’t seen one of those in ages.
When I was a girl, bobby pins played an important role in hair care. Not only did we use them during the day to hold our hair back away from our faces, but we formed tiny pin curls to set out hair and night and one or two bobby pins would anchor them in place. We would also use bobby pins to hold curlers in place, before the advent of brush curlers and plastic stick-pins. Those pins could sometimes scrape and poke the scalp and were often very uncomfortable. Come to think of it, bobby pins could poke your scalp, too.
A bobby pin could be used to mend broken parts and sometimes they were used to pick a lock. However, it was more likely to be a hair pin that was used on locks. That’s another thing you don’t see much any more.
It was such a surprise to me today to see that bobby pin on the floor.
Quote
Robertson Davies was once asked the question, "Where do writers get their ideas?" He responded, "Where do spiders get their silk? It’s the same idea." I think that’s a pretty good answer.
Tureen Dinners
It must be a regional thing, to say that we're having a Tureen Dinner. It's just a dinner where everyone brings something to share. Sometimes the announcement will say, "Bring a dish to pass." which doesn't say whether there should be something in the dish or not, but it's implied that there would be food in it.
I think that Garison Keilor refers to these dinners as Covered Dish or Hot Dish dinners, because quite often the women bring casserole meals. They are easy to make and taste good and there's enough for lots of people to eat.
What I took to the dinner didn't fit the "Tureen" concept, because I took my No Bake cookies and a dish of baby carrots to munch. We had several "Hot Dish" foods, --macaroni and cheese, baked beans, baked corn, and some other rice, cream soup, chicken, shrimp combinations, and the desserts were fabulous. Bev brought angelfood cake with a fluffy whipped topping-pistachio pudding frosting and there were other desserts and some breads.
I'm sure there are other names that this kind of dinner could be called but one more that I can think of is "Pot Luck." Although no one is assigned what they should bring, it usually works out that we have a nice variety. But once, at a mother-daughter dinner where we each brought a Covered Dish, there were quite a few people who brought deviled eggs. We were beginning to think that most of our meal would be deviled eggs. However, when the room began to fill up, there were more people who brought a nice variety and we had a great meal after all.
Dinner with the XYZ Gang
After an evening of really nasty weather, I woke up this morning to a much better day. It's bright and sunny today. I'm getting ready to go to our senior group's monthly outing together. Today it's a tureen dinner at the church. We try not to schedule anything that would require much travel in January or February because of the uncertainty of the weather but today we're having really nice weather. I was thinking of making something which would let me use some of my frozen strawberries but I couldn't find a recipe that I have all the ingredients for and I didn't want to go out grocery shopping this morning. Intead, I'll take no bake cookies. I like them a lot and have most of my latest batch in the freezer. They are already ready to go.
The Dream
Part of my dream this morning was about school again. I was doing recess duty outdoors and I looked up and a lot of the kids were perched on the window ledges along the back of the building. Some were on the first floor level and some on the second floor. I was afraid that someone would fall and be hurt, and at best, there was a problem because they shouldn’t be doing that at all! I started to yell at them, I was deep in the playground, quite far away from them, that they should get down from there right away. I yelled and yelled and they just sat there. Then the principal came out and I thought he would make them get down. But he just stood there on the stairs and didn’t say anything. I yelled to him, then, that he should get those boys down from the windows. He still did nothing. I walked up to him then and he said he couldn’t hear what I was saying. I figured that if he couldn’t hear, the boys hadn’t heard me either. No wonder they didn’t move. So I talked to them now that I was up close and told them that there were two reason I wanted them to get down from there, one was because of safety, and come to think of it, the second reason was also because of safety. I was thinking that they might fall to the ground and get hurt, or possible break the window behind them and get hurt that way. But I didn’t explain. Then I told them that they looked like a row of fat birds perched on the window ledge. (They were bundled into bulky snow clothes.) They thought this was hilariously funny and while laughing about it, they got down from their inappropriate perches. I was thinking how often humor will ease a situation and solve a problem. I felt good about getting them off the ledges without any accidents and everyone was laughing when it was over.
The Dream
Part of my dream this morning was about school again. I was doing recess duty outdoors and I looked up and a lot of the kids were perched on the window ledges along the back of the building. Some were on the first floor level and some on the second floor. I was afraid that someone would fall and be hurt, and at best, there was a problem because they shouldn’t be doing that at all! I started to yell at them, I was deep in the playground, quite far away from them, that they should get down from there right away. I yelled and yelled and they just sat there. Then the principal came out and I thought he would make them get down. But he just stood there on the stairs and didn’t say anything. I yelled to him, then, that he should get those boys down from the windows. He still did nothing. I walked up to him then and he said he couldn’t hear what I was saying. I figured that if he couldn’t hear, the boys hadn’t heard me either. No wonder they didn’t move. So I talked to them now that I was up close and told them that there were two reason I wanted them to get down from there, one was because of safety, and come to think of it, the second reason was also because of safety. I was thinking that they might fall to the ground and get hurt, or possible break the window behind them and get hurt that way. But I didn’t explain. Then I told them that they looked like a row of fat birds perched on the window ledge. (They were bundled into bulky snow clothes.) They thought this was hilariously funny and while laughing about it, they got down from their inappropriate perches. I was thinking how often humor will ease a situation and solve a problem. I felt good about getting them off the ledges without any accidents and everyone was laughing when it was over.
Morning Thoughts
I had busy, pleasant dreams last night and woke up thinking, "Turn to hymn 29, To God Be the Glory." I expected that I would be singing that song when I got up. But when I got my feet out on the floor, I started singing my own song. Yesterday I had become aware that I’ve been saying things to myself about my aloneness and that probably isn’t the best thing to keep saying. Suddenly this morning I was singing to my own tune, "I am loved and I’m doing OK," and this astonished me because I wasn’t expecting those words. And the next words were, "That may not be right, but it’s not all wrong." As I headed for the bathroom, I nattered around with variations of those words and then began the song of the morning. "Everybody loves a lover, I’m a lover. Everybody loves me, yes, they do. And I love everybody since I fell in love with you!" Isn’t the mind interesting? Sometimes we don’t really know what’s going on in our minds until we start writing, --or singing our own song!
The Nose
Yesterday after I fed the dogs, I fixed my own meal. After Rusty had eaten his food, and been out in the pen for a while, he went upstairs for a nap. I decided to have salad with tuna. I put the lettuces into the bowl and cut up some purple onion. Then I started to open the tuna can. Before I had the lid completely off the can, Rusty was bounding into the kitchen. I am sure he smelled the tuna. I pour off the liquid for the dogs and they LOVE it. The sensitivity of a dog's nose is absolutely amazing.
Pen Pals and Distance
Talking about Pen Pals has reminded me about my pen pal experience. I don't remember how many pen pals I had but it wasn't as many as one of my friends was telling me she had, --100. I probably didn't even have 20. We didn't corresponde for years and years as some have done. I would love to be in contact with some of them again and see what's been going on in their lives all those years.
But what surprises me is that one of my pen pals actually lived less than30 miles from me and I never met her until we were both in college at Nyack. I thought she lived far, far away. I had no idea how close she lived to me. When I finally realized, as an adult, how near she was, I couldn't help wondering why my parents or her parents didn't make any effort to let us get together. I'm sure she didn't know any more than I did how near we lived to each other. Those were the dim, dark ages when distance was much greater than it is today.
When I was in one of the very early elementary grades, I told my parents that my teacher had asked us how far away we'd traveled. They were very interested in this. "What did you say?" they asked. "I said that I've been to Pittsburgh," I replied proudly. My parents were chagrined. "Pittsburgh! Child, you've been to Gary, Indiana. That's a lot farther away than Pittsburgh!" Going to Pittsburgh was a big deal in my mind, and very far away. It was probably around 20 miles. It took all day to drive to Gary, but in my young mind, Pittsburgh was the big deal.
Morning Thoughts
This morning I
woke up with the thought in my mind of being able to tackle a task and get it
done without being at the mercy of waiting for all the pieces to come together
right away. It seemed like I was waiting
to find some pages of written material that I couldn’t find when suddenly I
knew that I could open the computer and print them out again. I hadn’t thought of that before. If it didn’t work at first, I could do it
over again and I didn’t have to just wait.
I’ve been
thinking of “do-overs” lately. It seems
to me that even I am affected by computer games where if it doesn’t work the
first time, we start over. Why isn’t
life more like that? When things start
going wrong, why can’t I just cry out, “Do over,” and begin again? Some things work that way, but for the big
problems in life, it’s not like that. We
have to take the botched plan and live with it the best we can.
I suppose that brought
on my waking thoughts of not waiting for the pieces to come together in order
for me to complete the work. When I got
up, I started to sing good morning to the dogs.
As we were coming back indoors from the dog pen, the real song
came. It was from the third stanza of
And Can It Be. “Thine eye diffused a
quickening ray, I woke; the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off and I was free, I rose,
went forth and followed Thee!” It’s
probably my favorite part of that song.
It is an exultation! The way the
music rises in arpeggios adds to the feeling of exultation.
I think I can
see the connection between my thoughts of do-overs and this beautiful hymn
which reminds us that Christ came to release us from the bondage of sin and let
us have a new beginning in Him, the best do-over of all.
My Mailbox
I think I have always loved getting mail. When I was a young teen, I wrote letters to Pen Pals whose names were in my Sunday school paper and once I had my name in the Pen Pal column. We wrote funny letters to each other, beginning, "How are you? I am fine. Hope you are the same." How long ago those days were!
When we lived at Warrendale, we were about two blocks from the post office and received our mail at the post office. There was mail delivery at the post office twice a day and, Oh, Joy!, I could walk to the post office morning and afternoon and check my mail.
Now I enjoy getting e-mail every day and I'm not nearly so tied to the mail box beside my front door. I also have a mail box at church. It's just a square box in a grid of many boxes and it's there for me to receive messages from people who want to contribute information to the church newsletter. I check that box frequently but seldom find anything in it.
But Sunday night, there was a surprise in my mail box at church! Two slices of Sally Lunn in a plastic baggie were waiting for me there. I knew immediately what it was and who had put it there, though she hadn't mentioned to me that she was giving me a sample. We had talked on-line about how she was going to make Sally Lunn from a recipe book her daughter had given her. It sounded like something her family would enjoy. And, to my delight, I got to enjoy it, too! I'm thinking a surprise like that is the best kind of mail!
Thanks, Renee!
Waking Up
Every morning when I wake up, I have a song running through my mind. If I don't notice it right away, I find I'm singing it within 10 minutes. I usually am not sure what prompts that particular song and sometimes I really wonder why it's that song that comes to me. Recently I was thinking that it might be interesting to me, or maybe instructive, to keep track of the morning songs. Maybe there is a trend that I could identify.
In light of that, I've noticed that on Saturday I woke up with the song Joybells in my mind. I sang it a lot during the morning. I didn't wake up feeling joyful but it's what I'm aiming for, --to be joyful. The song says that living for Jesus puts the joybells in your heart. It was a good theme for the day. On Sunday the song was from Sesame Street, What Do I Do When I'm Alone?. Hmmm. Sundays I'm not all alone. I spend the morning and evening with people. Odd that I would have that song in my mind on Sunday morning.
This morning was a totally different theme, --Safe In the Arms of Jesus. I always perceive that song as a funeral song. I did have somber thoughts in my prewaking state. That song had to come from my dream state. When I get away from the death connotation of the song, I know it's a lovely thought, to be safely protected in all of my day.
Wonder what tomorrow's morning song will be.
Dinner for One
My Dinner
January 14, 2006 Since I didn’t cook dinner for myself last night, I knew I’d better do that today. So I fixed myself some sauerkraut with cut up hot dog, (not the dog treat kind), and mashed potatoes. I had a nice meal but I have a lot of sauerkraut left over. That’s the trouble with most meals that I make for myself. I have a lot left over.
Anti-Procrastination
Anti-Procrastination
I decided that I’ve let it slide long enough. I had to cut Desy’s toenails this afternoon. She doesn’t like it one little bit, but she is compliant. I got out one of the hot dogs that I bought last week especially to use as a treat for a time like this. I cut it lengthwise four times then chopped it into small bits. I gave her a treat and then clipped a nail. It worked fine until I clipped too close and drew blood. She didn’t like that very much. Neither did I, really. I hadn’t meant to hurt her.
While I was clipping and giving her the little treats, Rusty decided to cozy up to us, wanting his share of the treats, too. This put him almost into my face, since I sit on the floor to trim Desy’s nails. But he waited patiently for his treat when I would give one to Desy.
When I was finished and gave Desy half of what was left, dropping the pieces into her dish, he got excited and pawed me, as labs have a tendency to do when they want something. He has paws of iron and that didn’t feel very good, but not really harmed. I was trying to get him to bring his dish closer to me so I could drop the handful of hot dog bits into it. All he understood was that I had a handful of treats that I was going to give him and he was trying to figure out what I meant for him to do. I’m glad that chore is finished. I always plan to not let it go so long till I cut them again. I hope I carry through with that plan this time.
Goofy Accident
Goofy Accident
Yesterday morning after I candled the wax off my latest Pysanky egg, I decided to varnish it right away. My varnish is old and the lid won’t go back on the can because of the build up of old dry varnish. I tried sanding the edges of the lid but I couldn’t get the groove cleared out and I can’t get the lid back on. Therefore, the varnish keeps getting a thick skin on top of it.
For the last couple of weeks, I have gently pressed on the thick top skin until a little bubble of varnish came through in one of the weaker spots. I know it’s just a matter of time till I can’t use it any more at all and I’ve already bought the replacement varnish. But, I like to use things up as much as possible, so I’m still pressing the skin of the varnish and using it that way.
Then this morning, I pressed my luck too far! I thought I was pressing gently but my finger went through the skin on the varnish, --dramatically! I guess I don’t know my own strength! My finger went through the skin with a great swoosh and varnish shot high into the air and doused the sleeve of my sweater. It’s a sweater I really like and didn’t want to ruin with paint of any kind. I varnished the egg and then tried to clean up the mess.
I used paint thinner on the sweater sleeve, my black and white sweater. Then I worked detergent into that area and rinsed it well. Then I worked hand lotion into the area because I’ve discovered that when I get the varnish on my hands, when I finish wiping the varnish off and use hand lotion, it takes all the stickiness away. I hope I’ve been able to rescue my sweater. I’ll know soon.
Did I throw the rest of the varnish away? No, of course not. I’ll probably be able to use it for another week or so, but I’ll do it very carefully!
Egged On
I was egged on to do something on my last list, --things I should have done. I blew out my four Pysanky eggs, and then instead of running the sweeper, I took pictures of the eggs and posted them to my Flickr stream.
I thought of another thing I should have done. The bank! I have some business to do at the bank and I totally forgot about it till this evening. Now I have to wait till Tuesday.
Should'avs
Should'avs. I don't think I've ever seen that word spelled before. Maybe it's really should'a. As in should have, said real fast. Things I should have done.
I think I can make a list of this. I hope it's a short list!
- Mailed the phone bill that I got ready for the mail yesterday
- Done something outside because the weather was so nice today and it's supposed to be getting cold again tomorrow.
- I could have washed the car, or just gone for a walk.
- Run the sweeper this afternoon. I can still do that this evening.
- Finished the painting I started before Thanksgiving!!!
- Blown out my Pysanky eggs. They are accumulating again. I now have four ready to blow out and one more that I'm working on. It's in the red dye as I type this.
- Cut Desy's toenails. I can still do that this evening, too.
- Made a better dinner this evening. I can do that tomorrow.
Joking Conversation
At Aquarobics this morning, Pat told us that her son-in-law told a blond joke. Before he told it to her, her stated that he really doesn't like blond jokes but this was especially cute. She asked if maybe he didn't like blond jokes because he is blond. He grinned and said, "Maybe."
Here's the joke: Two blonds were standing on opposite sides of a river. One called to the other, "How can I get to the other side?" The blond other blond called back to her, "Don't be silly! You are on the other side!"
After we laughed at the joke, Mary Ellen said that the joke didn't have to be about blonds. It could be about Senior Citizens. She decided that she could change the joke all around and make it about two senior citizens standing on opposite sides of the street and trying to have a conversation and then one asks . . . .
In the end Mary Ellen advised Pat that the next time she see's her son-in-law, she should say, "I have a good joke for you. Two senior citizens were standing . . . ." Maybe he'll like it better than the blond joke!
Finished
My waiting is over. I told you that my insurance/financial advisor would be prompt at returning my call. He called in good time and gave me the advice I needed. We are going to set up a time later this month when I've received all my tax records when he can look over the records with me and see that they are ready to go to the CPA for making out the income tax. I don't have to put all the paid bills into chronological order. I do need to organize the house repair bills. I'm done with a big part of that sorting and organizing! What a relief! All that concentration on financial matters has put a cramp in my brain.
I finished up the second newsletter. I gave up on some of the calls that weren't returned. I brought the news to completion. It's too late to deliver it today, but I'll take it to the church office tomorrow.
I really want a celebration now that I have these tasks finished today. I'll have some supper, watch some TV and try for a time of reading to give myself a treat. My brain cramp is easing up!
Moving On
I did move on, though I'm still waiting for those phone calls. I decided to start to organize my financial papers, starting with reconciling the bank statement. That went very nicely and then, giddy with success, I decided to put all 12 bank statements in chronological order for last year. Although I had filed them in good order, I found it very confusing as I went through them. I didn't always staple the reconciling statement to the bank statement and it turned out that the reconciling statement was printed with the date I worked on it rather than the closing date of the bank statement and that threw me off for a little while. It doesn't take much to confuse me about things like that. Eventually I got them all in order.
Then I looked over all the medical statements about my allergy shots from the doctor's office. They were also filed in good order, except that I have nothing from January. Did I really go all month without getting allergy shots last January? Unlikely. I'm thinking, though, that those records aren't especially important for my tax purposes.
Then I moved on to the various statements which have come in the last several weeks which tell me to file them for tax purposes. That's where confusion hit me big time. I put in a call to the insurance man who has been advising me financially. Did I get through? Of course not! That would be too easy, wouldn't it! I know he'll call me back reasonably soon, unlike the other calls I'm waiting for. However, I'm just hoping I can remember exactly what I need to ask him. Sigh. With all these communication systems going for us, why does it take so long to get through to the people we need to talk to? So, even while I'm moving on, I'm still playing the waiting game.
The Waiting Game
Today the temperature is mild and the sun is shining. It's is so like March weather! I just hope the plants won't start growing too soon. It would be a good day to be out and around, perhaps just going for a walk. But I have placed several phone calls and of course people aren't home this glorious morning. But now, I feel that I have to hang around for a call to be returned. I waited most of yesterday for two calls that never did come. I'm almost ready to give up and just go ahead and live life without hanging around for those phone calls.
Be Flexible
I really had my heart set on finishing the second church newsletter today, but then it turned out that if I wait one more day, I can include some last minute news item of interest to everyone. So, I'm waiting till tomorrow to get that latest news. I'm already really late with this newsletter. What's one more day going to mean? I think it's important to be flexible.
New Phone Book
This morning when I went to the porch to get my newspaper, the new phone book was there beside it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there last evening when I went to bed. I was up pretty early this morning. I wonder when it arrived.
My husband always took charge of the new phone books. He had a two page list of phone numbers which he used a lot. At first he would write all the special phone numbers in the front and back of the new book, then when he got to using the computer, he had his list in the computer and would print it out, with any corrections, and glue one page in the front and one in the back. He loved to organize information.
I have his pages together in the front of my phone book. It is in need of revision but I don't have the same interest in keeping records that he did. It was a surprise to receive the new phone book this morning. The old phone book and the old list was working OK and I wasn't ready for a new one. Perhaps I'll take some time soon and set up my own list of frequently called phone numbers for the new book. Perhaps. But not today.
The Little Poinsettia That Could
I've been meaning to tell you about this. I have a poinsettia that I've had for three years now. I've had it in an east window, facing the street. Just before Christmas, with no special lighting treatment, that poinsettia started turning its very top leaves red. Little by little they reddened and now they look like a regular poinsettia in bloom. I was really surprised! I've taken it's picture and have it posted on my Flickr stream. I also have the pink poinsettia that my church family gave me posted there. It doesn't look pink in the picture. It looks, to me, as red as the little red one. And I have a picture of the front bedroom, which faces east, where I have the windows lined with plants. I put notes with that picture. When you open that picture to its larger size, there are little square boxes that show up. Put your cursor over the box and it shows a caption telling you what the plant is. I hope you'll be able to take time to see these pictures.
The Hurrier I Go!
Today has been a busy day for me. I had my usual morning, --taking the
Aquarobics class. It was a really good one today, with the instructor
who really makes us work as we do the exercises. We need her extra
push to help us get the most benefits from the routines.
Then came Hospital Auxiliary and I had to do my duties as secretary.
That means, take the notes during the meetings, type up the notes onto
the computer when I get home, and print out two copies, (one for me and
one for the president), and then write an article for the Hometown page
of the local newspaper and get it ready to take to their office
tomorrow.
And, this evening, I had Artists' Guild meeting. Already I was tired.
But, I'm the person who is supposed to write the report of the meeting
for the newspaper, so I felt that I had to attend. This organization
has a secretary who does a fine job of taking notes, but does not make
a report for the newspaper. Somehow I became the designated writer of
the report. I wish I had one of those for Auxiliary. Oh, wait. There
is one of those. It's Me! That made a lot of writing responsibility
for me today.
I rested a while this afternoon and then had supper before I started to
work on the Auxiliary notes. I thought I should be able to do that
chore in just under an hour. Snort! Writing the minutes was no
problem. Printing them was a HUGE problem. I needed two copies of two
pages. Three of those four pages printed like a dream. The fourth
page was a nightmare to print. The printer malfunctioned. I should
have tallied how many times I had to command the printer to print the
page/s. It kept doing strange things with the paper. I used up the
last of the ream of paper I'd been working with. I had to go upstairs
and get a new ream of paper and get it opened up. The printer grabbed
that paper in an uneven way and jammed it. It was a really bad jam. I
didn't have a clue how to get the paper jam cleared up. I've never had
such a jam. I was out of time and had to go to the second meeting.
The jam was waiting for me when I got home. I still didn't know how to
clear it. I knew I'd have to get out the printer manual and check it
out. I'm so surprised that the manual was where I thought it would
be. That just doesn't fit the picture of how this task was going. The
manual told me what to do and it worked beautifully! From there, I was
able to print the last page, and write the report and get it printed.
Now I've taken this break and I'll write up my notes about the Artists'
Guild meeting. Then I'll have both reports ready to take to The
Journal in the morning.
But I still have to download the picture of the new officers and get
that sent to The Journal. That really ought to go smoothly!
Hungry Desy Strikes Again
I've mentioned before how Desy is so hunger driven that she'll get into cupboards and bags to find food. Yesterday while I was out buying apples, she was on the prowl again. Mind you, she'd had her usual breakfast and it was only an hour or two later but she was driven to scrounge around for herself.
I've learned that she can get that cupboard door open so I don't store anything on those shelves that she can get into as food. She hasn't yet opened cans or chewed through metal lids or glass jars. So, there's nothing there on those shelves that she can eat. She tried any how. She tipped over an unopened bottle of salad dressing. It didn't break, so no harm done.
But, unsatisfied, she didn't stop there. She went to the entry way and got into my Aquarobics bag and got out two small bars of soap, the kind you get at motels or for samples. She crumbled them to bits! I assume that she didn't really eat any, or at least not much. There were soap crumbles all over the floor in front of the downstairs bathroom. There is no food in my Aquarobics bag, and she didn't really want the soap, but that didn't stop her from messing around.
I'm just about ready to leave for church and I think I've puppy proofed the house before I leave. I think so. I hope I don't come home to another surprise where Desy was hunting for food. Poor hungry Desy. I wonder if her thyroid meds aren't strong enough right now.
Sunshine on a New Day
How nice to see sunshine on the snow on this beautiful, calm Sunday morning. It doesn't feel so cold when the sun shines. I feel renewed once more. Today is my day to host my library friend, Carolyn, for dinner. I have the meal started and the table ready with my new blue candlesticks, gift from my daughter-in-law. Having company for a meal puts energy into the day, for me. I have a reason to employ my domestic skills as I used to do all the time. It's hard for me to really get into planning and preparing a good meal when I'm the only one here. I really do enjoy having company. The sunshine is making this special occasion more special for me.
Using Old Calendars
I looked it up on the Internet and found that this year's calendar is the same as the one used in 1978, 1989 and 1995. I have saved a good many of the nice calendars that I had in the past for exactly this reason, --to get them out and enjoy them again when the year was compatible. One of the ones I have to take down this year is a calendar from 1983 with pictures of Narnia done by artist Michael Hague. It's from the book, Prince Caspian. I did enjoy using this calendar and I am sorry to take it down but I'll put it away for the next time I'll be able to use it again. Another had humorous pictures about chocolate and was done by Boynto.
I went into the attic this afternoon and got out three calendars that I can use this year. Two of them are Avon calendars and one is a Norman Rockwell. For many years I used to buy 10 calendars that Avon gave out each year and I'd give them to my family and some of my friends. They always had such pretty calendars with special themes, like quilt patterns or flowers. I don't know if Avon still makes a calendar each year or not. I wasn't able to get the calendars any more when my new Avon lady didn't get the calendars to give out and she didn't want to buy any for me. They were really nice calendars and I was sorry to see that chapter come to a close. Now I can reuse two of those nice old calendars.
Curious Sight
It's snowing again today. We are glad to have snow again instead of that dreary, dismal rain we had most of the week. So, we have several inches of snow, not much. I was driving to the plaza to buy some apples and grapefruit from the fruit truck that is there every two weeks. As I drove along route 6, I saw a man with two snow shovels, working in his driveway. He was holding one shovel in each hand. He was using them as a snowplow, pushing the snow ahead of him and out of the driveway. It looked to be hard to control both shovels at once like that. I don't think I'll try that. Using one shovel as a plow is as much as I want to attempt. It was a curious sight.
Comfort Food
It's been cold here today. I guess I enjoyed the milder temperatures over Christmas week more than I realized that I had and now I'm not used to the below freezing temperatures again. I've been wearing layers of clothing and often it is enough but this evening, I was feeling really cold and I began to crave cooked chocolate pudding, warm and comforting.
After thinking about it a while, I decided that it was worth the effort to make some. So, I used corn starch, sugar, cocoa powder, milk and eggs and cooked up some comfort. It was worth the effort. Actually it didn't take much of an effort. The microwave has made something like cooked pudding really easy to make.
Sled Riding
When I was a girl and lived on the side of a hill, it was across from a really big hill which was part of the Bair Farm. They owned a lot of property. Bence Bair pastured horses, and sheep in the pastures on the hill. I suppose there may have been cows, too, but I don't much remember them. In the winter, the animals weren't in the pasture and we were allowed to go sled riding there.
It was a long haul to get to the top of the hill. Often we just went half way up the hill. Our first couple of trips down the hill would be rough till we got the trail broken in. My sled was Trail Blazer and I loved to go down the hill to break in the trail first, because, "My sled could do it!" "We" was my brother and I and our neighbors higher up on the hill we lived on, Nancy Pearl and Mary Ellen. I don't remember what their sleds were, but I'm wondering if possibly my brother had a Flexible Flier. I think one of us did and I vaguely remember that we discussed which of us had the best sled. They seemed to be good for different purposes, --like mine could blaze the trail and someone else's sled was faster.
I think it took us a long time to get all our snow clothes on and trudge up the hill. We didn't get a lot of down hill time because it took a long time to walk back up the hill after our trip down. But we thought it was worth the effort.
Chores
Just saying the word chores makes it sound like a duty, a grind. That's how I'm tempted to think about chores but once I get started doing them, my around town chores, I feel really gald about getting them done. Today's chores involved paying bills, going to the post office, the library and dropping off things I'm getting rid of. Next week, or even tomorrow, I could have more of those things to do, but for today, I feel good that I made myself dig in and do the chores. It's not such a bad word after all!
First Things First
As I was getting up this morning, thinking about making the bed first, I was going over all the things I should do "first" to get my day started. We're told that we should do the important things early in the day while we are alert and energetic. But there are so many firsts, --devotions, breakfast, pet care, newspapers, etc. And then I remembered one of my friends or family members saying to me, "You can't do EVERYTHING first!" I have been through this dilemma before. I don't remember who said it to me or how long ago, but it's a saying that's right up there with "It's not over till it's over." I'll just have to take my important "first things first" activities one at a time, the same as the rest of the world does. I'll work at fitting them into my day neatly, if not first.
Diligence
I frequently feel the call to diligence. I really like the feeling of being on top of things, getting things done that I should be doing. Oddly enough, I have discovered that while I am being diligent in one area, I’m apt to let some other important thing go undone. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of the things that my internal critic tells me I should be doing, but while I’m keeping those things under control, I’ve been getting out of whack in my sleeping patterns. I should have been to bed about an hour ago. What was I doing? Practicing piano music! And I enjoyed it, too. Even though it was late in the evening and I didn’t get to it all day, I really enjoyed the effort I was putting into getting the mastery of these pieces that I’ve been practicing. But now, I’ll soon be heading to bed and hoping to practice tomorrow morning instead of late at night.
Dark and Dreary
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Resolutions
Today I am hearing a lot about the making and breaking of New Year's Resolutions. Many people seem to think it's just a joke. You decide to lose weight and/or get more exercise, or to stop smoking, or something else really hard. People make these resolutions in late December and break them by the third or fourth day into the New Year. So, of course, it's a joke. Many people stop even trying to make resolutions, for just these reasons.
But I really do like to have New Year's Resolutions. Perhaps it's more appropriate to call them goals. I don't attempt the really hard ones like losing weight. I try to make some realistic goals and even if I don't get through them in a year's time, I can probably get them done another year. That's like my resolution to read through all my journals one year. Who know how big a job that would be? So now I'm maybe three fourths of the way through the notebook journals. I didn't include the small book journals. And now I've found another huge packet of my letters to Mom and Dad that will take some time to read through, and they are rather like my journals. But I'm still working on it. I'd have gotten farther along with this delightful task if I didn't read other things, too. Last year I read 53 books that I kept a record of. If I had not been reading those books, that would have allowed more time to read journals.
Another thing about my New Year's Resolutions is that I don't make them till several days after the New Year has started. That turns out to be a very good idea for me because usually the beginning of the year is filled with people and activities and it isn't the best time to try to work on new ideas or projects. If I planned to start something new but didn't get at it for several days, then I'd feel that I was already falling behind. By mulling over my plans the way I have, I don't feel that by now I've already broken my resolve. I'm still gearing up and I have time to plan for things I'm really sure I want to do.
I'm not settled about most of my resolves but one thing I can mention that I really want to do is to practice the piano at least 4 hours a week. I really think this won't be hard for me to do and I will enjoy doing it and profit from it. Last year, I did very little about new resolves. Perhaps I made a resolve to live through 2005 to the best of my ability, do what I could, and learn to accept solitude. Last January was too raw for me to think much about any real plans, but I'm ready this year to take some small steps again and try to enrich my new year with good things.
Saying Good-bye
I just discovered something this morning about saying good-bye to my family. It is dreadfully hard for me to say good-bye here at the house and it's hard not to feel empty and lonely. But this morning, my son and family were going to a local store before they left for their long trek home. They invited me to go along to the store and they'd drop me off at home before they headed out. It was so much easier to say good-bye while I'm hopping out of the car than while I'm just hanging around the house. Maybe the next time family is hear and leaving, I'll ask them to drive me downtown and back and hop out of the car and wave good-bye. It's odd that it would make any difference but it certainly did make a difference.
It was really great to have family here for the Christmas-New Year's week.
Back to Work
Since I'm retired, I don't go back to work tomorrow or the next day, but I understand a little of what my working friends feel because my Christmas-New Year's Holidays will be over and I'll be going back to routine without family to cook and bake for. I've heard from a number of people and read it on message boards that going back to work tomorrow is not something they eagerly anticipate. They've enjoyed the days off so much and would like to have more of them, but holidays don't last and they've become part of our past already.
I hate to say good-bye to my family but I do know that when they are able, they will be coming back again. Meanwhile, there's e-mail and phone calls and I'm thankful to be in touch. There is blogging, and message boards, and books, and painting and newsletters and more things to keep me gainfully occupied. I'm glad that I do have chores to do and some fun things, too.
SAD -- Seasonal Affective Disorder
This morning WJR is airing a segment about SAD --Seasonal Affective
Disorder. Some people have "winter blues" and this isn't the same as
SAD, but it's a matter of degree. People with SAD have trouble getting
up in the morning and crave food more. They overeat and put on weight,
--along with other difficulties of mood.
From what I'm hearing, I'd say that I don't have SAD. I love to have
the light longer each day and it is easier to get up early in the
summer when it's light so much earlier, but when I have to get up
early, I can do it without too much trouble. This morning, I'm still
tired and sleepy, but that's more because I got to bed so late last
night and was up so early this morning.
Even though I don't have SAD, I'm looking forward to having the light
longer each day. You don't have to have SAD to really enjoy the
daylight.
Christmas Joy List
These thing were happy things for me this Christmas. I hesitate to
make a list because I'll probably leave something out that should be
included. But I do like to make lists and I know these things helped to
make my Christmas a really good one. I'll not list them in any special
order, just as I think about them.
- There were no snow storms.
- On Christmas Eve eve, l went to lunch with a special friend and she and I had a good talk and good meal.
- On Christmas Eve special friends invited me to their home for dinner and I had a great time with them, too.
- I loved playing the piano with Frank Dodd at the organ for the Christmas Eve service.
- I loved having family come home and be with me for the week.
- I loved being able to bake especially for my family.
- I received some very, very special gifts. (I hate to overuse that word, special, but it really describes so many of the things and people that made Christmas very happy for me.)
- It was joyful for me to get the piano tuned and play/practice music and prepare for playing the piano at church.
- I received a pink poinsettia from my church family! It came one day when I was varnishing my Pysanky eggs. I had an egg partly varnished in my left hand and the fingers on my right hand had varnish on them. The door bell rang. The dogs got all revved up. And I had to answer the door, keep the dogs in the house, accept the beautiful plant and not get varnish over anything but the egg. I managed, but it wasn't easy. It's a beautiful plant.
- We made more progress in getting rid of things that need to be "flung" and we got more work done on the inside of the house. My son put up a fan/light in the dining room, and new lights in the kitchen entrance way. Great progress.
- It was fun seeing the beautiful Christmas lights on homes around town when I had to be out in the evening.
- Christmas cards brought some very dear messages to me.
Welcome the New Year
We had a very lovely evening as we celebrated the end of the old year
and the beginning of the new year. We joined with friends for a while,
ate snacks, played games, worked a jigsaw puzzle and had good
conversation. Then we came home for the last hour and got ready for
bed. We gathered around the TV and watched the ball drop, then very
quickly the household quieted for sleep.
This morning as I put up a new calander, I thought about all the new
year's I've had and how hard it is to get used to the new number of the
year. I think it's been easier in the last five years to remember the
new numbers than it used to be when I was deeply involved with my
family and school. I usually remember the new year number but I often
have to question what day of the month it is.
I'm working on my New Year's Resolutions. I like to list a number of
things that I really want to do and work toward achieving that success
through the year. I don't always succeed in the coming year, but
some of my resolutions get completed in the following years. Two or
three years ago I made a resolve/plan that I wanted to make a Christmas
Egg Tree. I got that done this last year.
Turtles move slowly but they get to the place they are going
eventually, at least I think so! I'm even slow about thinking up the
plans that are important to me. 
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