A Prayer
This morning I read a prayer which has been attributed to St. Francis. It is included in Jan Karon's book about Mitford, Light from Heaven.
Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give Your angels and saints charge over those who sleep. Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ. Rest Your weary ones. Bless Your dying ones. Soothe Your suffering ones. Pity Your afflicted ones. Shield Your joyous ones. And all for Your love's sake.
That covers a lot of territory. Jan has her character, Cynthia, say, "I'm always moved by his petition to 'shield Your joyous ones.' " She says that joy is a fragile thing and the Enemy is bent on stealing it from us.
Joy is often a trembling, fragile thing. Though it is on the list of the fruit of the Spirit, it probably does need to be shielded and preserved by our Heavenly Father.
Limitations and Waiting
Sometimes I am very surprised at my ineptitude or lack of strength. I try to have a very can-do attitude and usually this attitude gets me through some really tough tasks. I have hammered and sawed and lifted heavy objects and climbed ladders and though it took me longer than someone stronger than I, I have often finished the task and felt proud of myself.
Today I had to replace the light bulb in the fixture over the bath tub. At first I had no idea how to do that. It's well over my head and it's not a convenient place to use a step ladder. I solved the problem by standing on the edges of the tub, straddling it. It didn't feel completely comfortable, but I was extremely cautious. Then I had to pry the cover off the light fixture. That didn't turn out to be as difficult as I expected. From there, it was easy to get a replacement bulb and have the light working again. That was a job which was a little bit demanding. My husband would have done it for us if he were still here. I've never had to replace that bulb, but today, I did it successfully.
But some of the things that are left to me are really beyond my strength or understanding of how to do them. Sometimes explanations show me the way and I learn how to do the task. But some tasks are too heavy for me. It's important for me to realize which things I won't be able to do no matter how hard I try to lift them or move them. My strength is not equal to the task. Then I have to wait for somebody bigger, stronger, smarter than I, or someone to work with me and help me move that immovable object. Sometimes it's hard to wait.
Art Show
I spent a little time at the Art Show again this afternoon. It is gratifying to hear people say that they like my work. They like my pen and ink drawing of "The Smiling Squirrel" best of my entries. In a way this surprises me. My artist/librarian friend, Carolyn, assured me that I should enter that picture. I did so with mixed feelings. It's a rather busy drawing and a tree and its branches and background leaves with this big squirrel sitting on a branch and it's smiling. Quite a few people have told me how much they like the squirrel picture. Lynn told me so, too, but she said that she has mixed emotions about squirrels because it was a squirrel that chewed the wiring in their home two years ago when they weren't home and started a fire that burned their home to the ground, taking with it their pets and all the art that she and her husband had in the home. But she liked my picture any how.
The Robin and the Chipmunk
In my front bird feeder, I just put sunflower seeds. I used to put the mixed seeds but that feeder is directly over flower beds and the spilled seeds would grow up into what I would call weeds. So now, I just put sunflower seeds there and if they get spilled, the plant that grows is a sunflower and not a weed.
Because it's all sunflower seeds in that feeder, it's a special attraction to the chipmunks, who love to stuff their faces and carry off the treasure to their storage room.
The other day I looked out and saw a chipmunk in the birdfeeder, and to my surprise, a robin flew down and chased it away! At first the chipmunk tried to fend off the robin but the robin was very aggressive and kept divebombing it and the chipmunk quickly gave up and left.
What was that about? Robins don't eat sunflower seeds. Why did the robin not want the chipmunk to get the sunflower seeds? Or was it something more? Do chipmunks bother robins' nests? Maybe it was just an "I don't like chipmunks" kind of deal. I wonder.
Another Lovely Morning
This is indeed a lovely morning. It's cool outdoors but just right for getting outside work done. It's not too hot to work and it's not too cold if I'm wearing a jacket.
I'm still feeling encouraged by the empty spaces I'm freeing up in the garage and cellar. This morning I carried my flower pots up to the garden and they are ready for the new plants when the weather is warm enough to bring them home. I think today I will get the onion sets planted.
Tonight is the opening night of the Spring Art Show. It's always a really fun thing for the community. It's so heartwarming to see how many really fine artists we have in our community.
Action
Rennie has been here this morning, loaded his pick up truck with things he can salvage and will be back again this evening for more. I put a picture of his loaded truck on my Flickr stream. Already the garage looks so much roomier. I can walk around in it freely now.
Rennie told me that his mom was a seamstress for a couple of department stores in Erie and had worked for 30 years. She accumulated sewing materials, like my husband accumulated things he would never use. When she died, his dad said that they should get what they wanted from her things and he was throwing the rest out. At that time, they had to pay to dump stuff in a land fill and they took load after load and dumped it. There were whole bolts of materials along with all the other sewing scraps. Because they had to pay for it by weight, each load was weighed and they kept track of the total weight. It added up to over 7 tons! It was an enormous task.
I wonder how many tons I've gotten rid of. I wonder how many tons I still have to deal with. I can't guess!
Morning
Isn't it nice how morning often brings a sense of renewal? I feel that renewal this morning. It's another cool morning with the thermometer registering 39 degrees. I think there was no frost last night. The sun is shining brightly and it looks like we'll be having a really good weather day. I have things to look forward to today with the promise of getting help for my heavy work. And, today I take four pictures (three paintings and one ink drawing) to be hung for the art show which starts tomorrow night.
I'm going to have to mow the lawn sometime soon but I think I won't have to do it today yet.
I hope you have a good day today, wherever you are.
Auction Preparation
When I was submitting stuff at the auction on Tuesday, I told Tim that I probably wouldn't be bringing anything this coming week because I am pretty much down to the heavy stuff and I will have to wait till I have someone who will help me. He said he would stop by the house and give me advice and load heavy things into the truck. Wow! What a great offer. So, I said, yes!
Today I worked really hard to get everything I wanted him to see out where he could see it. I also dragged a lot more stuff out to the burn ring. I stopped burning stuff while Carolyn and I had a bite to eat, --corned beef and cabbage. Then while I waited for Tim, I went back to burning old wood again. The fire was blazing up high when this bright red, fire police, little, pick up truck pulled up at the curb by my yard. My other friend, Carolyn, and I were both there at the fire. We both thought he was stopping to tell me that I shouldn't be burning stuff in my yard.
I went to greet him and hear what he had to say, and I found it was Tim! He had just come to look over my stuff. He showed me what he thought would sell and then he told me that there is another fellow who works at the auction with them who does some clean up work for scrap metal and what he can salvage. He said he'd tell him about my need and maybe he'll come look it over and make some kind of deal with me that he'll get rid of the heavy stuff that is just junk. This has given me so much hope. I really feel better tonight about getting this clean up project taken care of than I've felt for a long while. If this guy doesn't want to do the job, Tim says he will ask around and find someone who will. So I really do feel hopeful.
Meanwhile, I have another great pile of trash at the curb for the dear garbage men tomorrow! Things really are starting to look up. Hurray!
Frost and Sunlight
It did get cold overnight. We had a pretty heavy frost this morning and it's still laying on the grass. My neighbor had to scrape his windshield for a long time before he got his vehicle on the road this morning. I've put my scraper brush away for the season. Apparently I did it too soon, however, I do have a scraper in the car and that will probably be all I'll need now. I hope I won't need it much. Now the sun is shining brightly. It's making the frost sparkle and the frost is melting. It might be on the cool side today, but I think it will be a nice day.
Jenny's Story
Tonight at the Hospice Volunteer Dinner, I sat at a table with Jenny who told us this story. When she was a girl, her mom was always baking wonderful things and most often, she was giving lots of her baked goods away. She especially remembered one day when she came home from school and the house was filled with the aroma of baked bread. She was so hungry! Her mom put a loaf of bread in a brown paper bag and sent her with it to a neighbor some little distance away. While Jenny walked to her destination, she was smelling the wonderful aroma of the fresh bread, and she was so hungry. She picked a little hole in the bottom of the crust of the bread, and little by little she picked out bread from inside the loaf and ate it. When she delivered the bread to the family, it looked fine, but when they sliced into it, it was hollow! Everything was fine that night when she got home again but the next day when she came home from school, her mom met her with a stern look. She'd found out about the hollow loaf of bread and she hadn't baked a hollow loaf of bread. Things weren't so fine for her that night, but she still thinks it was too much to ask a hungry child just home from school to deliver a fresh loaf of homemade bread to a neighbor some distance away.
What Happened!!?
Yesterday I finished getting the brush out of Phina's tulip bed and felt so happy to see the tulips down there. This morning I looked down at the tulips to admire them again, and not one tulip is showing. I knew I hadn't harmed them. I wondered if they were lying down against the ground or what. I walked down for a closer look and discovered that each tulip has been picked!! Each stem was plucked right down where the stem comes out of the leaves. I wondered if the deer had gotten them, but when I realized how long the stems were when they were plucked, I think a person did it. I wonder if a child picked them to take to school. There are two tulips still in bud which were not picked. Someone stole all that beauty from our neighborhood.
Still Working
It was another dull day with little sunshine and lots of chilly air. I decided to keep working! In the afternoon I went into the garage again and cleaned out debris from the south wall by the freezer. I can't help asking, "Why did he keep that?" Maybe some of thos things were good when he piled them there, but they have been piled in a heap for over 30 years and now anything that was good to begin with is rotten and horrible. I have another really big pile of debris pulled out and piled by the side of the driveway in preparation for the Thursday trash pick up.
Then for a break, I went to the neighbor's place which has been empty for about 3 years now. I pulled the old dead growth and leaves out of the beautiful tulip bed. There are also some purple hyacinths growing there. I like the place to look like someone is taking some care of it and it's not totally abandoned. The tulips are a beautiful red and the deer didn't get any of them! Many of my tulips have deer bites taken out of them but they did leave me some. I like looking down at my neighbor's tulips now. They show up so well without the old growth cluttering around them.
A Little Story
A critic once eloquently spoke to a group of people who were admiring a painting which was hanging on the walls of an art academy. In strongest terms of disgust he pointed out what he claimed were its faults of perspective, its unreal chairoscuro, its impossible colors. Then he said, "See, the miserable artist has even presumed to try to paint a butterfly, and everything about the insect is wrong. Look at this wing," As he went closer to show more clearly the blunder in the work, --the butterfly flew away!
by Magee Pratt, written in 1901
Softball Game
I went to the high school girls softball game this morning, in the cold, drizzly weather. I've been wanting to get to a game. I used to go when two girls in our church choir were playing and I really enjoyed watching their games. Here in our town, we usually have trouble getting all the games played because of the wet, cold weather that we often have in Spring.
I didn't go for the beginning of the game. I wore my winter coat and took an umbrella and I arrived at the bottom of the fourth. Our team was ahead, 4-0. It took 40 minutes to finish the game. I was really ready to come back home. It was a damp cold that reached me even inside my winter coat. I'm glad I went to the game. I'm glad that our team won.
Auction Results
I got the auction check a few minutes ago. $13.65
Teehee
I knew I wouldn’t get rich. I was thinking maybe around $5. I didn’t take all that much and what I took wasn’t valuable, and I knew it. So I got a little better than twice as much as I thought I might!
It's better than just throwing the stuff away.
Dryer Lint Story
I mentioned before that I was told that birds like to use dryer lint to line their nests. When I mentioned this to a nature loving friend of mine yesterday afternoon, he told me this story. A pair of robins are building a nest in his pine tree at the edge of his yard. He had been keeping an eye on her and decided to help her out. He took dryer lint from the last load of clothes and when she wasn't in the nest, he hung it at the edge of her nest.
It made her mad!! She got that lint out of there but good! He said he found bits of dryer lint scattered from the pine tree to the barn, but I can't tell you how far that is. I know it's not very far, but it's not really close to the tree either. Maybe it's a couple hundred yards.
While he was telling me this story, the robin was taking bits of chaff from the yard to make her nest. He had put down new topsoil over the boggy areas and had spread grass seed and then covered it with chaff to keep it protected while it gets started growing. She was taking as big pieces as she could manage and then coming back for more. We wondered if maybe she resented that he'd put the lint so close to her nest.
Dark and Early
I'm really tired this morning but I feel great about getting so much accomplished yesterday. I was able to get all that old wood burned up and out of the way. We are supposed to have rain over the next few days and yesterday was a perfect day for burning stuff. When the fire was burning high and I wanted to keep an eye on it, I worked in my little garden patch, spading and getting weeds out of it. It's not wonder I feel a little stiff this morning.
I'm up while it's still very dark and early because it was Rusty's turn to wake me up this morning. Desy has had to get up in the night two nights now. She slept through last night but Rusty was doing that "horking" trick he did some months ago. It was so close to time to rise and shine any how that there didn't seem to be much point to go back to bed. It's really dark outside, though.
They're Gone!
What a great relief, those strange wooden cutting board look alike things are gone! I took a couple to a friend who knows about stuff like that and asked for advice and he said, "Get them all out to the curb and let the trash pick up take them. They aren't any good." And that's what I did. I got back home before the trash collector came and I put them all out to the curb. I kept working till they did come to pick up the trash and then I tied up the last bag of stuff I was collecting and got it to the curb, too. There is now another little section of my garage that I can walk into! It was choked with sawdust and old wood and that's all dragged around to the fire ring now, and most of it is burned. I'll still be burning for a while, though.
I tend to get depressed over the size of the job ahead of me. I've burned and burned stuff last summer and I've given things away and thrown things away and there is still so much out there that I think it will take me all this summer, too. My back door neighbor came over and saw the progress that I've made and was very impressed. But I said that I wish I could know that I've done half of the job that needs to be done. And she said, "Oh, NO. You aren't half finished yet!" She looked around in amazement at all the boxes and piles of strange things stored there that have to be disposed of. "You're going to have a really big garage when you get this stuff out of here," she said. "You won't know what to do with it."
Still Working
I decided to keep looking for junk to pitch until the trash pick up comes today. At first I wasn't sure what to tackle first. I started in the cellar, then went to the entry way and started there, but soon moved to the garage againl. I saw so much burnable wood that the trash pick up doesn't take and then I discovered that it's finally a perfect day to burn stuff. There's hardly any wind to speak of. So I got the fire going in the fire ring. At last I am burning that stuff that I couldn't burn at the end of November when the weather turned wet and cold.
So now I am working mainly in the garage, pulling out old useless wood that had been stored there. Finally I emptied a big box of wooden somethings from cabinets from the factory my husband worked at for many years. It was full of saw dust and these things that look sort of like cutting boards but were probably fronts for shelves or something like that. I stacked them in the driveway by the house and then picked up the empty box, only to find another box underneath that is full of the same things! I almost cried. I don't know what to do with these things. I hoped the bottom box would be something easier to deal with. If I could be more creative or better skilled to work with wood, I might be able to make something from these cutting board lookalikes. But right now, I just feel helpless about it.
Tomorrow Is Trash Day
I have spent time this afternoon working in the garage again. I've pulled out a lot more trash for the pick up tomorrow. Some of it was easy to make a decision about. Some I needed a bit of advice as to what it was and whether it should be pitched or taken to auction. A neighbor stopped by and gave me some much appreciated advice. I am now getting to the point where I will need help in lifting boxes down from high shelves, and of course, more advice as to whether it's trash or maybe someone will want it. You don't want to know what kinds of things have been saved that should have been tossed immediately instead of storing it to be trashed later.
Another Hit
We've had another visitor to the geocache. This man is from Erie and was with a Corry friend. He found the cache without any problem but there was a little problem in getting the container out of its hidey hole. The string came free from the duct tape. We used pliers to get it out and using fresh duct tape, we fixed the problem. It was fun meeting these people.
Seeds and Roots
I got some yard work done yesterday. I hadn’t thoroughly cleaned out all the flower beds. I had taken most of the leaves out of most of them but there were still places that needed some early spring work. I worked on my big pot of hens and chicks, and also cleared out the new bed I put in last year near the front steps. I’d piled up bricks to form a square and filled it with soil. I planted some hens and chicks in it and also a few other things. I was trying to pull out a clump of what I thought was grass when I suddenly realized it was dianthus. I was glad I had not gotten the roots out of the soil. It’s such a pretty flower.
In the early evening I got to work in the garden again. The oregano has started to grow again. I had pulled a lot of it out last year, but there is a good bit of new growth there now. While it is so new, it was easier to get it pulled out. Of course, I only got a fraction of the stuff pulled out so far, but I should get back to it soon. I only hope that I really am getting the roots out.
At our luncheon at church yesterday, we planted marigold seeds in a pot, as we had done last year. They were such fun to watch grow last year. I was happy to do it again this year.
For the Birds
When I got my hair cut last Thursday, Virginia, who cuts my hair, had some dryer lint hanging outside near her bird feeder. I asked her about it and she said that in the latest issue of Birds and Blooms there had been a tip about putting your dryer lint out for the birds to use for their nests. It sounds like a good idea. I've been taking some of my lint outside and it's disappearing. Perhaps it's blowing away, but maybe birds are using it for their nests.
Spring Planting
Today is the day for the montly luncheon at the Columbus Church. In addition to the meal, we will be planting marigold seeds in containers to bring home with us and watch grow. I had such good success with my pot of marigolds last year. I'm eager to try the project again. It's not quite time to plant such seeds outdoors. However, if I had onion sets and if I spaded up a bit of ground, I could plant them, --or peas! Those things don't mind cold weather, but most bedding plants do. They have to be kept indoors until the threat of frost is past.
Third Hit on the Geocache
Last night after dark it looked like there was flash of lightning that lit up the darkened room. No thunder though. Then it did it again. I looked outside and saw two people with a powerful light checking out the geocache in my yard. This morning, I checked the website for our geocache and read that Tprints had found the cache last night, on the way home to Erie from Warren. I think they had been out doing other chaches during the day. They said it was an easy find but very creative. My son told me that someone might come after dark. He was right!
Stage Fright
For all of my growing up years and even as recently as seven to ten years ago, I would get very nervous about playing the piano for special music, like accompanying the choir for a more difficult song. I am so grateful that I finally learned how to pray about the matter and give it to God and accept a great measure of deliverance from that burden. I've been playing with enjoyment for several years now, probably more.
Today I played for the congregational singing in the sunrise service and I enjoyed it completely. Of course, playing for the congregation has not been a big problem for me as far as nerves goes, but what happened after the service is what makes me chide myself about letting nerves ever have an influence on me. (As if I could just ignore them!) Before the breakfast following the service, I had gone out to the car to get another armload of things I'm giving to others, so I looked like I was coming into the church for the first time. Someone said to me, "Were you here for the service? I didn't see you." That's a big teehee because there I was up front at the piano. How nice to know that I wasn't calling attention to myself unduly. And what an inspiration for future piano occasions. People aren't paying that close attention to the music, most of them, and they don't even know it's me or whether I'm doing well or poorly, so, down with nerves! For the record, I played well today, (she said modestly). True modesty admits a job well done if it was so, and admits mistakes if that's what happens. True modesty doesn't pretend to be something it's not. Now, I haven't achieved the level of humility which I'd like to reach, but I can admit that I played well. The special choir song in the 11 o'clock service went really well, too. I am sorry to put it away now that we've sung it for this season. I really enjoyed playing it.
Holiday Greeting
When I left WalMart this morning, the greeter person, this time being the good-bye person, said, "Happy Thanksgiving." Then she was flustered and embarrassed at getting the wrong holiday. I told her that it was alright, because, I will remember to be very thankful come Easter morning.
Second Hit
After I went shopping early this morning, I went to work in the yard again. It’s a beautiful day here! I got too tired yesterday afternoon to finish picking up the raspberry canes that I’d pruned out of the patch. I started with that. It took at least several trips to the curb to get the area cleared up. I also sawed a couple of limbs off the lilac bush at the corner. They were sticking far out into the path that I have to take to get back into the raspberry patch from that side of the patch.
As I was going through the yard carrying the lilac branch that I had just sawed off, a man was heading into my yard from the sidewalk. He paused and said, "Are you familiar with geocashing?" I laughed and said, "Yes." He told me that he’d been here before but couldn’t find it that time and when he got home and was thinking it over he realized that it had to be something to do with the log that was hanging down from the tree. I asked for his name and just as I thought, he is indeed Shrecky.
As I took my lilac limb to the brush pile, Shrecky told me that he’d come prepared to have to dig through the peanut butter! Ack! I’m glad he noticed the string hanging down before he did that. He found it easily this time.
What fun!
Early Morning Shopping
I was up early again this morning. It's becoming a habit with me. When I was young, morning came much too early for me. I never woke up wide awake and wanting to get up. Now I wake up and know I'm not going back to sleep so I might as well get up. I have been turning the light on and while still in bed writing in my journal for about an hour and then getting my day started, and it's still very early.
This morning, after the writing and the morning routine with the dogs and getting my own breakfast, I went shopping. I didn't need much. I wanted to get new sneakers because my everyday sneakers are going to be my gardening shoes now. I've learned that it's easier to get in and out of WalMart if I go in the neighborhood of 7 AM. Today was no exception, but for the fact that many of the aisles were clogged with stacks of merchandise to be shelved. I only bought four things but it was hard to get through the aisles because of the problem I already mentioned, and the fact that there were lots of employees bringing out more merchandise in carts and also shelving the products. But there weren't very many customers. I'm glad that my shopping is done for today.
Geocache at Home
My son set up a geocache right here at my place and I'm so tickled! When I first learned about this hobby, I suggested a place where I could have one, but at that time he thought it might not be a good idea in case the people coming didn't get true readings from their GPS and they would "invade" neighbor yards, or even tramp through my flower beds. However, we've gotten a pretty good feel for how this hobby works and it really seems like these people are very considerate about the way they search for the hidden object and they don't mess up or destroy property. So now I have one on my own property and I'm really excited about it.
The first person came last evening, while my friend and I walked to the Dollar Store for me to get some shampoo. My backdoor neighbor told me about it when I got home. I had explained to her what was going on for I knew she would notice if people came looking around through my yard. As we got back home, she called to me to tell me that someone had been looking for the hidden cache. And, she said, he never went near the real place. He looked around the bird feeder and back porch and under it and in some of the flower beds, but not at the place where the cache is hidden.
Now I'm trying to keep an eye out for when he comes back. I want him to find it!
Morning Work
This morning I finished up the work that I can do on the trumpet vine. There's still a couple really high branches that could be lopped off, but I'm hoping that when they green out, they won't send out too many shoots toward the house and get their tendrils under the siding. It's easier to trim it back when it's dormant but it can be done later in the season, too. When the branches get too close to the side of the house, those vining tendrils can be really bad for the siding. I hope all that sawing toned up my muscles more.
Response
Brenda, Mary Lou, my husband left me with so much to deal with. For years when I would ask him about throwing things away he would tell me, "If we move, I’ll throw a lot of that stuff away. But until then, I’m going to keep it because I might be able to use it some day." And he kept saving more. And I have my own stashes. Now I see how he never was able to use and I know it will be the same for my stuff and I have to be realistic about it. Also, I see how much work I’ve put into this project and how I still have at least half of it to go, so I know I have to redouble my efforts. I do feel an obligation to the future.
Still Going
How could I keep on finding more and more stuff to dispose of and yet not make much of an impact on what I hope to achieve? I felt like letting down a little this afternoon but then I found the inner reserve to push on and do more work. I dropped off another box at the Salvation Army this morning, one of my before Aquarobics errands, and already I've started another collection to drop off there. I do like the look of certain areas where I've been working, but there are still so many things that I don't know what to do with, or I'm not quite ready to discard them. But I'm getting there! Something that I save today I may be able to discard by Saturday or one day next week. I wanted to take a break this afternoon, but so far, I'm still going!
Early Start
This morning I got quite a bit done before I headed out the door. I did get the sagging shelf on the broken bookcase mended and have it in the entryway and I've been organizing to store things on the shelves. I also mended an article of clothing which I've been putting off for a couple of weeks. And that's in addition to the usual morning routine.
Then before I went to Aquarobics I did four around town errands and still got there at least ten minutes early. One of the errands was to deposit my income tax refund check in the bank. How neat that I got the refund back already.
I was going to prune a few more branches from the trumpet vine after Aquarobics but it started to rain as I headed home, so that project is on hold for a little while.
Pruning Time
This has been a truly beautiful day! This afternoon I set to work pruning the trumpet vine. This vine has turned into a mighty monster. What a hard job this has been. I have had to use a bow saw to get the thickest branches cut. I still don't have the really high stuff cut away. I've been on a stepladder but was afraid to climb to the tip top of it. I may have done all I can with it, but there may be a few more branches which I can get out of there. It's impossible to kill a trumpet vine by pruning like this so I can be a drastic as I can manage and it will do it good. I started on the raspberries but didn't get very much done there. Still, I have a big bunch of thorns to drag to the brush pile later this evening after I've rested a bit. It's good to get the work done.
Spring Fling
I did something this morning that I’ve wanted to do for months but was too timid to get started. I called Cox Auction Barn and asked about bringing some boxes of things over for them to get rid of for me. They sounded encouraging, plus, they take consignments on Tuesdays only and this is Tuesday.
I knew I wanted to do it before I talked myself out of it, so I called my library friend, Carolyn, and asked her if she would go with me to take the things to the auction later this morning. She was very willing to help me and not only went with me but came to the house early and helped me sort through things, and get the car loaded up. We eliminated a lot of boxes of junk, and took 9 boxes of things to the auction.
The auction will be Monday night. I don’t expect to get rich from this but I hope these things will be bought so that they won’t be thrown away. Taking things to the auction is a new thing for me.
Now I have to get the trash that we pulled out put together for the Thursday pick up. So far, things don’t look a lot better, but at this rate, it’s got to make a difference soon.
It’s so nice that I should work outdoors this afternoon.
Happiness Quotes
"It's always been a theory of mine that when we become sorry for ourselves, we make our misfortunes harder to bear because we lose courage and can't think without bias."
Elinore Pruitt Stewart
"Even in the darkest hour of the most trying times, there is work to do for Jesus and that work will bring the comfort that we need. We will have His hope, His love, and something to do."
Pastor Don Jones
"Success does not make a person happy, because when a person succeeds in an area, then he starts looking to see who is doing 'it' better than he. He wants to know what others think of what he has done.
"To be happy, we must learn to be satisfied in God and with who we are. When God has taught us this lesson, then He can let us be successful."
A. W. Tozer
Hyacinth Accident
When I was working in the flower beds that cold day last week, I saw that I could dig out one of the runner roots of the trumpet vine. I used the space and hacked and pried it out and with a tug got quite a bit of it out. But to my dismay, as it let go, something that I'd done broke off a hyacinth stem. It had little buds all the way up the stem and here I'd gone and spoiled it by breaking it off.
After a while I got to thinking that maybe if I took it in the house and put it in a glass of water, its blooms would open up any way. I meant to do that, but when I went indoors, I forgot to take it with me. I went out into the night to look for it when I remembered but it was too dark to find it. In the morning I found it where I'd laid it on the driveway just behind the car. I took it indoors than and put it into water.
It took several days, but it actually bloomed! Every bud along the stem opened up beautifully. I was pleased.
Clippings
Yesterday in my work to clear out things that I don't look at or use, I found an envelope labeled that it had clippings from the cookbook. I assumed that it contained recipes that my mom had collected from a newspaper column called The Cookbook. It was her handwriting on the envelope and it was with some the embroidery patterns that she had given me when she could no longer see to use them. When I opened it, I found that there wasn't a recipe at all in the envelope. It was all clippings about family and friends that had been taken from newspapers. They were all very old.
Some things were about friends. My engagement, shower report, and wedding write up were there. I discarded those since I have my own copies of them. There is an article with a picture of my brother with the group that was preparing to leave for basic training in the army. One clipping was of our former pastor and his wife, the Rev. and Mrs. R. E. Ellenberger. They were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
The rest of the clippings were obituaries, mostly of family members. Most of them were names that I recognized as being our family but I had never known them personally nor anything about their children or where they might be today. I was very surprised to find the obituary for my grandma, Katherine Baker. It was very short. Another surprise was that people were invited to go to my aunt's home, I think after the funeral. I never knew what happened after the funeral because I cried hysterically at the funeral service and was sent home with a neighbor and put to bed with a cold cloth on my forehead. I was in the fourth grade at the time. I've since learned that psychologists think that that is the time when a child begins to understand about death and feels the trauma of a death most deeply. It certainly was for me.
Sorting through the clippings took some time away from the work, but I'm glad to have found them.
Bilbo
I've been listening to the audio of The Hobbit. Everytime I hear about Bilbo, in my mind I see this pampered black cat, sleek and beautiful and then I have to replace it with my mental image of a Hobbit. Wonder why I'm seeing that beautiful cat!
Oh, My!
I just made a trip upstairs and I saw yellow splotches on three of the stair treads. I thought I'd stepped in something a put a stain on my stair carpet. But why only three of them. Then I tried to brush it away, and it stayed there. It was sunshine! Has it really been that long since we've had sunshine that I didn't recognize it? It didn't stay long, but I know it will be back.
Dull Day
I've been to the store and back again. It was really easy to shop at 7 AM. The parking lot was almost empty. The aisles were empty. When I needed someone to help me get the 50 pounds of dog food into the shopping cart, I had to go hunt someone and ask him to come help me. He was very willing to help. When I checked out, I asked for someone to put the dog food into the trunk for me. A young girl, without her coat, went out into the biting cold with me and hoisted the bag easily and dropped it into the trunk. It's still in the trunk. I will either gird up my loins and do it myself, or I'll wait till someone stronger than I is near and will help me. At least it's here at home when I need it.
Driving home again, I realized what a dull day this is. It's high time for the sun to shine, but it isn't. It's cloudy and the light is dim. For me to work on my painting or read something, or practice the piano, I'll have to have the light on. I wish we could have sunshine today. It's cold again this morning. It's 28 degrees. But it's not raining or snowing, so I think that's very good.
Getting the Job Done
I have been feeling that I need to keep at the task of downsizing, -get rid of things I don't need, one way or another. I've thrown some things away and have sorted some other things to give to people who will use them. I am really liking the idea of "less is more."
I got another armload of books and magazines ready to give to the public library yesterday and while the urge was hot, I took them to the library and dropped them off. Carolyn was working and we got to talk a little. I asked her if she'd like to go out to dinner and she accepted the idea eagerly. We went to a restaurant nearby and then came home and watched the latest Pride and Prejudice movie together before she went home. She gave me some good tips about improving the latest painting. There are things to do to make the standing cow look better. I'll be working on that soon. If it makes as much difference as I hope, I'll take another photo of it.
Today, I'll get back to looking through books and try to get bookcases better organized.
Little Weather Joke
I went to the bank when it opened at 9 this morning, before I went to Aquarobics. I thought I could get in and out quickly since it was so early in their day. But I was wrong. There was a line up waiting to get to the teller. Granted, it wasn't a long line, but there was only one teller working the line and the person she was helping was in need of a good bit of time. When I joined the queue, the man ahead of me turned to say, "Good morning," to me. I responded and added, "It's a ducky morning!" because it was raining, a good steady rain. He said, "We really need this rain." I thought he was serious, but how could he miss that we are practically floating in water around us right now. Then he added, "It will make the grass green and then I can mow." Aha! A little weather joke.
I asked him how long he has to mow and he said three and a half hours. He has riding mower and mows three acres where he lives near Spring Creek. I don't think he's really eager to get at the mowing yet but it made a cute little joke.
Another Painting Finished
I've been working on a painting of a farm scene from a picture that I have of the Skulton area where we lived in the early 60's. The picture was very distinct but it still appealed to me to try to make a painting from it. I had it nearly finished but needed to do some refining of the cows and the pasture in the foreground. I worked on it again last night while I listened to an audio of The Hobbit. This morning when I got up and looked at it, I decided that the cow's muzzle needed a few more touches, so I got out the paint again and did it. I'll take a photo of it and post it to Flickr. I intend to show this picture at our Spring Art Show at the end of April.
Give Up the Coat
Today I took my husband's overcoat to the Salvation Army. It has been hanging on the hall tree. It was, in a way, a symbol to me, --a symbol of protection, I think. But, it's been unused since he's gone and as it has been pointed out to me, I might as well give it up and let someone get some use out of it. Some of the things I gave away weren't quite as difficult to give up. Very slowly, I'm getting things cleared away. Nobody ever said it would be easy.
Energy Levels
Does energy level affect mood, or is it the other way around with mood affecting energy level? I wonder. It's hard to have high energy level and put a lot of effort into my work if I'm feeling down about a problem in my life. Yesterday was a hard day for me and though I was tired, I was too tensed up (but not with energy) to rest. I got to bed early last night, slept well, and this morning, my energy level is back up again. I should be able to get something accomplished today.
One of the things that affected my day yesterday was getting another one of those dumb sales calls for someone trying to call Marlin. I hung up the phone afterwards and burst into tears. I know they don't know, but it seems like they should know. It feels like they aren't paying attention and they should. How many lists has my husband been on? My friend told me last night that her husband has been dead four years and she still gets phone calls for him. Doesn't it ever go away?
I hope my higher energy level lasts though the day and I hope my mood will be upbeat all day, too.
Water Supply
Our town's water department is flushing the fire hydrants tonight and last night. Our town is divided into four quadrants, called wards. I live in First Ward. Two of the wards were flushed last night and ours and another one will be flushed tonight, from 9-1. The water in our homes will probably be reddish, due to the stirred up rust particles. We've been told that we should not wash clothes because they may get stained. We are also supposed to not use our hot water because it will draw rust particles into the hot water tank and will last in there longer than just one day. We are all hoping we'll get the water back to normal quickly.
Pysanky Display
Our public library staff has asked me to put some of my Pysanky eggs on display. Yesterday I took a great many of the dyed eggs and some display props for them to use and my eggs will be displayed in a special case near the entrance of the library. They weren't ready to arrange the display when I took the things to them, so I didn't wait. Some time soon, I'll go to visit my Pysanky display. I was very pleased to be asked.
'Snow Joke
They said we would get snow, and that's what we have this morning. The snow started falling last night. The grass is well covered again today. This is so late to have this much snow. We've had worse in many years past, but it isn't the norm for April 5. Now I really have to let the yard work go for a couple of days.
Colder but Not Too Bad
Today started out pretty cold, 29 degrees. There were wisps of snow overnight but that was all. I bundled up in a winter work coat and hat and went out to rake leaves out of the flower beds. I was working energetically so I was warm enough. After I'd been out there for about an hour, my back door neighbor came over and told me that it was too cold to work outside! However, I knew that if the weather is colder or snowier tomorrow I won't be able to work out and those little plants are growing under that bed of leaves. They want to be free. They need to be free.
I worked a couple of hours outside today and with what I did yesterday afternoon, I got three very big bags of compost to haul to my friend's compost pile. There's still more for me to do, but most of the beds look pretty good for beginning spring. But I couldn't burn up the brush or tree branches. It's much too windy. Maybe I can do it by the end of the week. If not, I'll hope to do it some time next week.
Working in the Yard
This afternoon was my first real opportunity to work in my yard. The weather wasn't good before I left on March 24. Apparently there were a good many nice days to work in the yard while I was away. I put in about a half an hour this morning before I went to get my allergy shots and on to Aquarobics. Then I had to go to Hospital Auxiliary to be their secretary. When I got home this afternoon about 1:30, the weather turned nasty again! It had been mild weather all morning. Suddenly it started to rain really hard.
When it quit raining, I did go out and do some more work in the flower beds, but I didn't get a lot done. I cleaned out a couple of beds and randomly did a few other specific areas, like freeing the chives from the tangle of old leaves. I hoped to get at least a little more of the leaves raked from flower beds in the late afternoon, but when I went outside again, it was raining again. I brought in my rake and spade. If the weather turns out to be what has been predicted for tomorrow, and the days following, I won't get yard work done till much later in the week.
Meanwhile, the plants are trying to grow under their thick bed of leaves.
Not a Guest
For 10 days now, I’ve logged onto someone else’s computer as a guest. So, when I got home, I booted up my computer and logged on as guest! I had to log off and log on again in my own name. I’m not a guest any more.
I’ve posted a few more Flickr pictures from my trip. More to follow another day.
Home Again
It is good to be home. My plants fared very well in spite of not being watered for 10 days. I had turned the heat down and I think that the fact that the house was cool helped them to not get too thirsty. Also, I went around watering them heavily just before I left for the vacation days.
I was happy to see the crocus blooms in my yard but I also saw that there is a lot of yard work to be done. All the flower beds have to have the leaves raked out of them. Things are beginning to grow and they want to see the light of day, not hide under a blanket of leaves.
I've been told to expect snow on Tuesday. I thought it must be an April Fool joke, but it's not. I hope it's just some few flakes of snow flying about and it will soon be over. We are longing for the warmer weather.
Heading Home
I'm on the last leg of the trip now. Three more hours of travel and I should be home again. I do this last part with just me and Desy and Rusty, but they don't help with the driving or answer my questions. I know they will be delighted to get back to their own place again. At first they will just sleep and sleep to get settled into routine again. I slept in this morning, because of the time change. It wouldn't have been sleeping in if it weren't for the change in time but it put me a half hour behind because I couldn't tell from my internal clock what time it is. I'll get used to the time change soon.
I shared the truffles with family members and still have some left for me. I was surprised to read on the bag that a serving size for the truffles is three! I thought one a day would be correct, but then, I'm not selling them. I will only eat one a day. At the store they were selling them for 39 cents each. Would you rather have a postage stamp or a truffle? OK, I know, if you're sending a letter, you'd better have the postage stamp. Can't mail a letter with a truffle. But if you're really wanting some chocolate, you can't eat a postage stamp!
I'll soon have the car loaded for the trip home. I'm so ready to see my own yard and flowers and get back into my routine. All my house plants will need to be watered and I hope they made it through their drought. I've had a wonderful time with my family and have good memories and pictures to take home with me. Now it's time to head for home.
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