The Creative Spirit

Hubby thanks all of you who phoned or emailed your birthday wishes to him yesterday.  Each one brought a big smile to his face!

Our favorite Chinese restaurant offers a free birthday buffet, so that's where the birthday boy chose to go for lunch.  We ate so much, we weren't hungry when it came to suppertime.  That's the bad part about buffets....not knowing when to stop eating!

We didn't make plans, so we tended to errands, like picking up our meds at the pharmacy and stopping at Wal Mart for the usual walk-through.  The afternoon still had hours to fill, so we drove to the nursing home to visit hubby's first cousin on his mother's side.  She is 77 and has Alzheimer's.  She was so happy to see us.  First thing, she handed me her notebook so I would write down that we came to visit her.  Otherwise she wouldn't remember.
 

Look at what I can do....
not what I can't do.

Even though her mind doesn't remember one minute from the next, she still knows by heart how to crochet a  pattern of stitches and when to change colors of yarn to maintain the pattern.  She chooses yarns that go together nicely.  On the floor beside her recliner sits a stack of crocheted pieces.  When hubby told her it was his birthday, she told him, "Pick whichever one you want and take it with you."

Visits to nursing homes are something we all need to do more often.  They give us a glimpse of what our own situation may be someday.  Just between you, me, and the tree, I'm not sure I want to reach that ripe old age.  It ain't what it's cracked up to be.  Anyone who thinks it is, hasn't seen it up close and personal.

The birthday ended with a little party here at home.  Holy monkeys, does the fuzzy one ever love vanilla ice cream!!!

Birthday Message

Winter white is what I saw when I pulled the bedroom curtains apart this morning.  The raindrops at bedtime transitioned into snowflakes.  The streets are slush, our outdoor thermometer reads 40 degrees, the couple inches of snow won't last long. 

Many were the years that we dressed up in warm clothes and battled bad roads going to work.  When I think back to some of my solo drives in white-outs and ice, I know there were four hands on the steering wheel.  A person has to live through the harsh working years before being able to properly appreciate the cuddly indoor days like this.

I think of our home as an art gallery.  Every window is a picture frame.  Mother Nature is in charge of changing the animated pictures at Her whim. 

There's a birthday in our house today.  I'm thinking the new snowfall is a birthday card sent down from his relatives in Heaven.  That might be stretching the realm of possibility, but who's to say. 

Our little family of 3 celebrates our birthdays for at least a week before, and at least a week after the actual day.  We reminisce about birthdays past, especially like the one 26 years ago today.  I got gutsy and planned a walloping surprise party, invited around 150 friends and family to help celebrate, readied enough food to feed the army, only to watch the white stuff fall aggressively, hour after hour all day long, until roads were impassable with 12-15" by the time the party was to start.

I vowed to myself never ever as long as I live to plot another surprise party.  My good intentions flopped, my heart was broken, tears fell. My efforts were curtailed, the party failed.  Was there a message from heaven involved that time?  If there was, I never did figure out what it was.

From Your Girls

Water Puddles

Old habits never go away. 

First thing this morning when I saw the water puddles, my mind started singing....."It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring.  He went to bed and bumped his head, and didn't get up till morning!"

An Afternoon Moon

Yesterday I was antsy.  Just couldn't settle myself down to do anything here at the house.  When I announced my antsiness, hubby chimed in, feeling the same way.  A half hour later our vehicle was taking us south out of town to check out a craft show and from then on we jig-jagged our way down gravel roads looking for the unfamiliar.

The bucks are in rut now, so our binoculars brought a few trophies close up so we could better see the size of their racks.  We stopped to watch them eating in the harvested corn fields, mingling together on a quiet afternoon.  It seems to me the bucks 'dumb down' when they're in rut.  They're so preoccupied with the ladies, that they forget their vulnerability to the hunter's aim.

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, new time, when hubby said, "Look at the moon!"  How cool.....an afternoon moon.

This was the moon an hour later.







Both of us get a kick out of sky watching.....we look for the first star to come out at night, the dippers, the sun getting up in the morning, the sun going to bed in the evening, silhouettes of buildings and tree lines, scary clouds, big puffy white clouds, airplane tracks, the moonrise and the moonset. Incredible intrigue is right above us if only we lift our heads to see.

One Sunday morning.......

...... an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin.  Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt and boots that were worn and ragged.  In his hand he carried a worn-out old hat and an equally worn, dog-eared Bible.

The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city.  It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen.  The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and fine jewelry.  As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him.  No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him.  They were all appalled by his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.

As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor.  "Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask Him what He thinks would be appropriate attire for worship in church."  The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.

The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat.  Once again he was completely shunned and ignored.  The preacher approached the cowboy and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."

"I did," replied the old cowboy.

"And what was His reply?" asked the preacher.

"Well, sir, God told  me that He didn't have a clue what I should wear.  He said He'd never been in this church."

This is my wish for you:

Comfort on difficult days,

Smiles when sadness intrudes,

Rainbows to follow the clouds,

Laughter to kiss your lips,

Sunsets to warm your heart,

Hugs when spirits sag,

Beauty for your eyes to see,

Friendships to brighten your being,

Faith so that you can believe,

Confidence for when you doubt,

Courage to know yourself,

Patience to accept the truth,

Love to complete your life.

~Unknown

John, or Jack

In Hebrew, John means, "gracious" or "merciful."  Apostles, saints, popes, kings, celebrities, artists, sports stars, writers, and U.S. Presidents have worn the name.  John Adams was our 2nd U.S. President, John Quincy Adams the 6th, John Tyler the 10th, and John F. Kennedy the 35th.  Astronaut John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth.

John Deere, John Doe, Johnny Appleseed, Johnny Cash, John Boy of The Waltons, and the Dear John Letter all pay tribute to the name in different venues.  When we sign our name, it's said we sign our "John Hancock."  Three irreplaceable Johns were John Wayne, John Candy, and "Heeee're's Johnny!"

Jack is the easy-going nickname for John, which has been a popular name among the English speaking for centuries.  Scads of phrases and nursery rhymes include Jack, like......

• Jack, Be Nimble
• The House that Jack Built
• Jack Sprat
• Jack and Jill
• Little Jack Horner
• Jack Frost
• Jack O'Lantern
• Jack of All Trades
• Jack-in-the-Box
• Jack the Ripper
• Jack the Giant
• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
• Panama Jack
• Monterey Jack Cheese
• Crackerjack
• Flap jack
• Jack hammer
• Jack knife
• Jack rabbit
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit
• Jackpot
• Jumping Jack
• Phone Jack
• Hijack
• Black Jack
• Boot Jack
• Lumberjack........and the best one of all......
• Jack Z.......(hope you're reading this!!!!!)

Church Suppers

Last evening we met our friends at a small country church, where the men, women, boys, and girls of the congregation passed bowls of food around our table and poured us bottomless cups of coffee. 

Living in rural America like we do, provides and blesses us with old-fashioned church suppers.  This particular one draws repeat customers because the food is delicious and is served family style.  They pass the bowls around the table, take all you want,  just like it used to be at home when we were kids.

It was comical when we recognized one of the young boys serving our table.  He carries a family resemblance that he can't hide.  His face lit up when we guessed what family he belonged to.  Is there anything sweeter than children who look just like their parents!

We consider ourselves blessed to be able to look ahead to events, like this annual church supper, with dear friends.  Special occasions are the bookmarks in the book of life.  No matter what our days in between bring, we still have these special days to look forward to.

All four of our plates were heaped after two generous helpings of real mashed potatoes, gobs of gravy served from pitchers, meatballs, corn, green beans, coleslaw, and biscuits with butter.  Young boys served our choice of homemade pumpkin or apple pie.  We visited with the strangers sitting next to us, but they really weren't strangers at all.  Life is the same for them as it is for us, and conversation came easy. 

The first snow of the season fell in our area yesterday.  About mid-day, hubby called me to the kitchen window, "Come in here, it's snowing!"  There's significance to personally witnessing the first snow fall.  Kinda like seeing the first robin to arrive in the spring.  Once we see it snow, well, then it's no longer a shock when snow falls after that.

Today's calendar is open, so hubby put on a warm jacket and went outside to winterize.  I just saw him buzz by the front window on his John Deere lawn tractor.  I'm pretty darned lucky, because I don't have to do any of the home maintenance.  He takes care of all that, and I'm just along for the ride.   

Supper is in the crock pot.  So far as I'm concerned, the slow cooker is the neatest invention, second to the Internet.  For the last how many years we have relied on the crock pot to have meals ready for us after work, and now we plug it in and let it prepare our meals in retirement.  Slowly cooked food is tastier, as my mother used to say.

"Joy is what happens to us

 when we allow ourselves

 to recognize

 how good things really are."

  ~Marianne Williamson

Clinging

One has to live moment to moment, neither thinking of the past, nor thinking of the future, nor clinging to the present.  Enjoy the moment while it is here.  When the moment begins to disappear, as everything will, let it go. We have to stop clinging to our past.  The past has got to die.

Every day things are different, yet we cling to our fixed ideas.  If we live with fixed ideas of how we think our life ought to be, our life dies to the situation that really is.

Mallards and McDonald's

We took jackets along but didn't need them as we mosied our way along the lake, watching the Mallards  and listening to their continuing chorus of quacks.  Were they talking to us?  scolding us?  or warning us?

Hubby made a few casts off a jetty on the other side of the lake, but a fellow fisherman said the wind was in the wrong direction for the walleye to bite like they did the day before.  Fishing and catching are two separate sports.  Hubby filled his limit, even though he didn't catch any fish.

My trusty book of crosswords entertained me, while the fuzzy one sat on my lap and soaked up every second of her day away from home. Before heading back, we ate BLT Chicken Sandwiches at McDonald's and ordered a plain hamburger for the mutt.  She just loves 'em but spits out the pickle! 

Today's schedule has a couple out-of-town appointments, the first of which is in one hour.  I'd best finish my cup of coffee, shower, and be on my way.   

Ta-ta.