Acts of Kindness

Life is beginning to settle into a better routine in this house of recovery. AM is feeling much better, needing less pain medicine and feeling more alert. I have sort of figured out how to get the kids to their multiple activities and keep this busy household running. I am only able to do this because of all the help and love that has been showered upon us. The refrigerator is filled with food prepared by friends and family, the mailbox overflows with get well wishes, people drop by to check on us and offer whatever help than can give. One day I mentioned that I had forgotten to buy ketchup (my grandson's vegetable of choice) and a few minutes later a neighbor stopped by with a giant size bottle of ketchup. AM complained of the toes on her broken foot being cold and another friend is knitting a special sock to fit over her cast. We feel blessed and are full of gratitude for the love and kindness we are experiencing daily.

Rest

I am home. It feels good to relax in my own space for a little while. A good friend is staying with my daughter tonight.

Daughter is doing better. The new mix of pain meds is helping and she is going five hours between pills now and has been able to get some sleep the last two nights. That makes all of us feel better. She has had some weird, drug-induced dreams. I don’t think you can seek too much meaning from dreams that involve narcotics. One of her meds lists as a side effect “May cause trouble with thinking clearly.” We can attest that this is true. She can think clearly later. For now we are just grateful for pain relief.

Pain & Blessings

The picture posted yesterday is the post-op x-ray of my daughter’s foot. She really was screwed. It took two metal plates and ten screws in her ankle to get the bones stabilized enough to heal properly. She came home from the hospital a few hours after surgery yesterday. Last night was a very long night. Her pain medicine just wasn’t doing the job and she wass in terrible pain most of the night. We talked to the doctor this morning and he added a few new meds to increase her pain relief. Hopefully she will be able to sleep tonight.

There are blessings in this ordeal. We are very aware of the love and prayers of many friends. We have had lots of offers of help. We know we are not alone and there is a host of folks ready to do whatever they can to help.

Another great blessing is special time with my grandchildren. They are so concerned about their mom and have been so sweet and helpful. Since mom has been drifting in and out of her drug-induced haze the past few days, I get to hear the daily reports of their adventures at school. That has been fun. Last night as I tucked the almost ten year old in she wanted me to hear her prayers. She prayed a prayer of thanksgiving. “Thank you, God, that my grandma can be here to support us in our time of need while my mommy is sick.” I could only say Amen.

A Long Wednesday

I am staying at my daughter’s house for the next several weeks. She needs a bit of help running her busy household while her broken leg heals. She will have surgery tomorrow to put in screws and metal plates to stabilize the bones while they heal. Until the bones mend she will not be unable to put any weight on her right leg. She can’t drive. She cannot go up or down the stairs. She has three children who are in an assortment of activities. Fortunately she has many people who love her and are willing to help. She will recover and be able to do it all again, but not now

We sometimes forget how fragile this life can be. All is well, and then suddenly something happens and the world turns upside down. Her plans for the next three months have changed, but she will recover. We are grateful that it is just a broken leg.

Ooops

“Mom.” My daughter’s voice on the phone tells me something is wrong before she says anything else. “What’s wrong?” I ask. “ I’m in the hospital. I broke my leg. It hurts a lot,” is her answer.

It was a beautiful morning and she had been out on the Chesapeake Bay in a small powerboat taking pictures of a sailing race. She was having a wonderful time when all of a sudden she stepped wrong just as the boat hit a wave. She slipped and fell. There was this overwhelming pain and when she looked at her foot it was pointed in a direction that feet are not meant to point. The little boat sped back to the marina where an ambulance was waiting with pain medicine. It is a bad break, two breaks in the fibula and one in the tibia. After x-rays the leg was realigned which reduced the pain some, but she is still very uncomfortable. She will require surgery next week to put screws and plates in to stabilize the bones until they heal. Until then she can’t put any weight on the leg. She is staying with me tonight. We will think about how to get her home tomorrow. Tonight she needed her mom and her Percocet.

Suspicious?

I rode into Washington D.C. today to enjoy an exhibit at one of the art galleries. Several large signs along the highway said, “Report any suspicious activity. “Call 800 ***-****.”

What should I be looking for? Just what might I see along the road that would something I should call in?

14

Fourteen years ago today a baby girl was born and immediately took up residence in my heart. This little girl, our fourth grandchild, has grown into a beautiful, talented and loving young woman. It is hard to believe that she is in high school this year. The time has gone so very quickly. She has been bitten by the theater bug and loves acting and all things surrounding theater. She has just landed the role of the wicked witch of the west in a community theater production of The Wizard of Oz. That will be such a fun role to play. She dreams one day of becoming a make-up artist for Hollywood stars. I believe she can achieve whatever dream she set her heart on.

Happy birthday beautiful girl. I love you!

9/11

This morning my husband stopped in the grocery store on his way to work when the store’s speaker came on, “It is now 8:46 AM. It was at this moment six years ago that the first tower fell. Remember.”

The announcement caught him off guard. It was a very emotional moment as he did remember. This date will always be remembered. We were all changed.

Hello Fall, Good By summer

Suddenly my schedule is getting very full. The lazy days of summer play and travel have been replaced with a calendar full of meetings, classes and volunteering. The busy schedule is of my own choosing and the activities are things I think are important and fun, but I guess it’s time to refocus my thinking from the beauty of Yellowstone to the activities of today.

Here is one last set of pictures from our trip. The animals that fill the park are always fun to see. We saw hundreds of bison, lots of varieties of birds, a wolf, some coyotes, an elk, some otter and some cute little wooly bears. These are just a sample of the many creatures that fill that great park.

For Sarah

My young friend Sarah left for China while we were on our Yellowstone vacation. She will be there for the next year teaching English to Chinese college students. While we were visiting shortly before she was to leave on her big journey she asked that we do one thing just for. “I want to see a picture of the Grand Tetons like the Ansel Adams poster I’ve had on my wall for years. Take a picture for me and put it on your blog so I can see if it is as pretty as I think it is.” Well, Sarah, here is your picture. The Tetons are awesome. Words are inadequate to describe these magnificent mountains. They rise up from the sagebrush prairie like giants. Early French Canadian trappers named the Tetons. The word teton means breast or tit. The trappers thought these mountains looked like three giant breasts rising high into the sky.

Sarah is a wonderful person and a great writer. Read about her adventures in China on her blog.

Waterfalls

Waterfalls and rivers are a big part of the scenery in Yellowstone. The two biggest are the Upper Falls and the Lower Falls that flow into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This canyon is very deep and very narrow. I am told a river flows along the bottom of this deep canyon, but I did not see it. Seeing it would have required that I go to the very edge of the overlook and look straight down the steep wall of the canyon. I just couldn’t get closer than ten feet from the edge. I was pretty sure I would fall to my doom if I got any closer, so I just enjoyed the view from a few feet away. The walls of the canyon are a beautiful yellow stone, hence the name Yellowstone.

As we drove or walked through the park we came upon many beautiful rivers and falls. The pictures are of Lower Falls, Upper Falls, Lewis Falls, Kepler Cascade, Gibbon Falls and Tower Falls.

Why are waterfalls such a glorious and mesmerizing sight?

Geyserland

The symbol of Yellowstone is Old Faithful, the geyser that goes off faithfully every ninety-two minutes, give of take fifteen minutes. Old Faithful is located next to three hotels and is surrounded by bleachers. As soon as one eruption has finished a prediction is posted for when it is expected to blow again. About fifteen minutes before the predicted time the bleachers fill with people waiting to watch it go. People filling the bleachers are just as predictable as the geyser’s eruption. When it erupts a great gush of water shoots about a hundred feet into the air for about two minutes. As soon as it quiets down the bleachers empty again. We watched old Faithful several times from different vantage points. It is an awesome sight, but actually it is not as awesome as some of the other geysers. It is just more predictable. We were lucky enough to be there when Castle Geyser erupted. Castle erupts every thirteen to eighteen hours, give or take four hours. When it blows water shoots into the air for about thirty minutes, followed by steam that pours out with the noise of a jet engine for another thirty minutes. Water cascades down its sides like a waterfall and rainbows glisten in its mist. I loved Castle Geyser. The fact is there are thousands of thermal features all over Yellowstone. There are colorful pools of boiling water, bubbling pots of mud, steam vents and geysers scattered everywhere. Looking down the Firehole River Valley you see geysers steaming everywhere. They are evidence of the fact that the entire park is sitting atop and old volcano that is still working not far below the surface causing geysers to erupt and release the pressure built up below. The old enormous volcano erupts every six hundred thousand years or so. It has been six hundred-fifty thousand years since its last eruption.

The pictures are of Old Faithful, Castle Geyser and the view looking down the Firehole River Valley.

Lake Yellowstone

We spent last week at the Lake Hotel in Yellowstone. It was a wonderful place to relax and to enjoy the beauty that is Yellowstone. The hotel was built in 1890 and has recently been renovated to its 1920’s grandeur. That means that the small rooms were clean and recently decorated. It also meant no TV, no Internet, not even cell phone service. We were disconnected from everything except the world of nature that surrounded us. Each morning I would look out our window and see the lake. Every time I looked it was different as the light played with the color of the water and the wind changed the patterns in the waves. Sometimes it shone like a mirror, other times it was rough with waves blowing across its surface. During the day we explored the trails around the lake. We saw multitudes of birds including white pelicans, woodpeckers, osprey and an eagle. Otters swam in the water. There were deer grazing nearby and a herd of bison passed in front of the hotel. One evening we sat by the shore and looked up at the stars. I have never seen the sky so clear. The Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. It felt like I could reach up and touch the stars. In the evening after dinner we sat in the grand lobby. There was a piano playing old, familiar songs. Some people sat near the piano and sang along, others danced. People sat around tables and played games or visited as they sipped their drinks. I read my book or enjoyed the company of people sitting nearby. It felt like time had gone backward to another more gentle time.

The pictures above show the view we saw from our dinner table and a view of the hotel itself.

Tomorrow I’ll post more pictures and more memories.

Happy Interruptions

“Sue, I’m in labor and I have to go to the hospital. Can we bring Barak over?” It is one A.M. We have just been home three hours from our big trip to Yellowstone and I need to sleep. “Of course, yes, bring him. I’ll be waiting,” I reply. I meant to get a good night’s sleep, then unpack, do the laundry, go to the grocery store, catch up on my blogs, and post about our wonderful trip. Instead I curled up in my big chair with eighteen month old Barak and rocked him until he finally fell back to sleep. He wasn’t sure why he had been awakened in the middle of the night and brought to my house, but since he was awake he wanted to play. He finally fell asleep again. Rocking a sweet baby boy is not a bad substitute for sleep. He is so warm and cuddly. At four-thirty A.M. another call comes to say they are going to do a Caesarian. Pray for us. I pray. Barak wakes about seven and curls into my lap for his morning bottle. After a little cuddling he is ready to play. Dad calls about eight to tell us they have a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Mom and baby are all OK. I spent the rest of the day trying to keep up with a happy toddler who gets into everything. It is hard to do anything else with this little guy to need all of my attention. I told him he has a new baby sister. Poor little guy. He has no idea how much his world has just changed. Dad finally came to pick him up and take him to the hospital to meet his new sister. His gramma is driving in from out of town and will be there for the next few nights.

Tonight I will sleep.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the grandeur of Yellowstone.

Home

We have just returned from a week in Yellowstone National Park. What a beautiful pace! I have many wonderful memories which will be the fodder for future posts, but right now I am too tired. after a long travel day.
I did read your all the comments on my last post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on senior sex.

Sex

Last week The Washington Post had a front-page article that said, “Elderly Staying Sexually Active.” Well, duh, maybe next week they can publish a study that says the elderly still enjoy eating. Elderly is defined in the article as anyone over the age of fifty-seven. Why would anyone assume people quit enjoying sex just because they have gotten older? I just don’t understand why this article seems to report surprise at the behavior of us old folks. Now, I haven’t done any scientific research, but I can share a lot of anecdotal evidence that indicates this report is correct.

I remember talking with my mom during a visit to celebrate Mom and Dad’s fiftieth anniversary. She smiled sweetly and said to me, “Honey, when you’re eighty, it takes longer, but we have more time.” I blushed and she grinned and said that she just wanted to give me hope for the future. Since we are now nearing seventy, I find that a happy thought.

Several years ago a young co-worker of mine learned my husband and I were celebrating our fortieth anniversary. She asked if it would be OK to ask me a personal question and I said sure. She wanted to know “How do you kiss the same man for forty years?” She blushed when I replied, “All kinds of ways, Sweetie, All kinds of ways.”

An older co-worker, a seventy year old widow, once told me, “You know I sure would love to have the chance once more to have a night of wild sex. I miss sex.”

I remember a sweet little old man who came into our doctor’s office every month to get his testosterone shot. He always came on a Friday so he would be ready for the weekend. One day he came in for his appointment and I asked if he were there for his usual shot. He looked down and said, “No Ma’am, I think I got me the clap.”

How about you? Have you got any good anecdotes to support the conclusion of this article?

For another point of view on this article check out my daughter’s blog.

Lunch

Both my daughters are members of BNI, a business networking organization. This group has lunch together every week and tries to help one another make their various businesses succeed. It is an interesting and varied bunch. The thing they have in common is that they all have a business and are trying hard to make it successful. There were bankers, accountants and photographers. I met the owner of an art gallery and the owner of a hair salon. My older daughter owns an Abrakadoodle franchise and runs art camps and various other art education programs for children. My younger daughter is a columnist for the local paper and also for a local magazine called Suburban Scene. As part of their meetings one of the members gives an infomercial about their business and another member shares something about their personal life. Today my daughters decided to team up and tell something about their personal life. They brought me for Show& Tell. "This is our mom. We brought her because we figured if you met her you could figure out why we are the way we are." I told a few cute stories (Not the embarrassing ones) and everyone laughed. it was a lot of fun
Has anyone ever brought you in for show & Tell?

Now a shameless plug for my daughter. She maintains a blog for the magazine that discusses life as a single person living in suburbia. Her topics range from dating problems when you have three kids at home to how to eat a healthy diet when you are cooking for only one. She would love to have more readers and more commenters. She would especially like to have older singles participate. check her out at Suburban Singles.

School

This is the first week of school in my town. My grandkids are excited to be starting a new school year.

This picture is dated September 16, 1946. It is a picture of me on my first day of school. I started nearly a month later in the year the kids here are starting their school year. Notice my little school bag. I never owned a backpack. I don’t remember ever having homework until I was in high school. Of course I wore a dress. Girls wore dresses. I hated my shoes, but my mother was a firm believer in good supportive shoes for children. No sneakers or flip-flops for me. I walked to school, about 2 blocks to Lincoln Elementary. I loved kindergarten and my teacher, Miss Simmons. Our classroom had a big fishpond built into a bay window alcove. It was made of tile with a wide bench around the top. I used to sit there and watch the fish. The playground was at the foot of a small hill. One day I ran down the hill straight into the merry-go-round and got a bloody nose when I hit it. My mom had to come and take me home. I went to school all day, but I always walked home for lunch. My Mom was always home to fix my lunch before I walked back to school. My older brother was a crossing guard. He took his job very seriously. He would stand with his arms held out to prevent us from crossing until he deemed it was safe. Then he would say, “There are no cars in sight. You may cross.” I was very proud of him.

What memories do you have of your early school days?

County Fair

Last week my grandson and I went to the county fair. We rode the carnival rides, played some games of chance, ate meat on a stick, and wondered through some of the barns to admire the different animals. It was a fun end of summer thing to do. He fell asleep on the way home and my mind wondered back to another day at a county fair.

It was August 1959. I was eighteen years old, a new high school graduate planning to start nursing school in the fall. I was dressed and waiting for my date to pick me up and take me to the Los Angeles County fair. I was a little nervous because this was a blind date that had been set up by my mother and my date’s mother. They taught school together and thought we should meet. He arrived and I was relieved that he was not ugly. He was six feet tall and had a cute little nose. At the fair we wandered through several of the exhibition tents. The only exhibit I actually remember was a vacuum cleaner display that sucked up metal balls and then shot them out in an elaborate track of turns and drops. I don’t know why that vacuum cleaner made such an impression. Later we rode on several carnival rides. I noticed his collar was folded funny and reached over and straightened his collar. After going through a fun house I felt a little wobbly and he reach over and took my hand to steady me.

Forty-eight years later I am still trying to straighten his collar and he still taking my hand when I feel wobbly.

Starry Night

Last night we joined a group of friends for an evening of star gazing on a quiet beach on the bay. My husband the astronomer brought his telescope and as evening fell we looked through the telescope. I saw Jupiter with four of its moons circling around it. Then he turned the telescope to the moon. I could see the craters and mountains on the moon. It was amazing. After we all had time to enjoy the wonders of seeing the heavens through the telescope we spread our blankets on the sand and lie down and just enjoyed the night sky. As we lay on the sand more and more stars became visible. We found several constellations. The ancients must have had very good imaginations to see dolphins, flying horses, and bears in the patterns of the stars, but those same stars named so long ago are the same stars we saw last night. The Milky Way was visible stretching all the way across the sky. When we pulled out the binoculars we could see a gray patch that was the Andromeda Galaxy, a whole other galaxy full of billions and billions of stars. We saw several shooting stars falling to earth. Pondering the vastness of the sky and universe it demonstrates is an awesome and humbling experience.

“The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Psalm 19:1

Shark Teeth

Millions of years ago there was a warm shallow sea teeming with sharks. As the eons passed the sea receded and became what is now the Chesapeake Bay. The sharks died and their teeth became fossils that embedded themselves in the cliffs lining the shores of the bay.

Yesterday we spent the day enjoying the beach on the Chesapeake Bay. It was a perfect beach day with sunshine and soft breezes. The shallow warm water was teeming with laughing children. The sand contained the fossilized teeth of those long gone sharks. My nine-year-old granddaughter sat in one spot and quietly collected hundreds of small shark teeth. It was a peaceful Zen-like moment for her. The other children used strainers and fingers to sift the sand and search for teeth in a contest of who could find the biggest and the best tooth. One beach-goer had found a large tooth, about two inches long, and the kids were all hoping to find another big one. Most teeth were small, but the search for fossils made a day at the beach an exciting history lesson.

What places do you take children where they can have a wonderful day of play that includes great lessons in nature and history?

Happy Boys

For the past few months my beloved has wanted to buy one of the new hybrid cars. He hadn’t quite been able to justify the expense of a new car until this past weekend. A brilliant idea struck and he is now the happy owner of a shiny red Toyota Camry hybrid. It has all sorts of wonderful gadgets run by its computerized engine. He is so excited trying to figure out just how it all works. It’s Christmas in August for him.

The brilliant idea that justified this expense is our eighteen-year-old grandson. He will be starting classes at the local community college in two weeks and really needs a car to get back and forth to school. This boy is now the proud owner of our old ’92 Ford pick up truck. It is already dinged up and is a very manly looking vehicle for this handsome young man. It is Christmas in August for him too.

Isn’t it wonderful when you can find a wonderful solution to justify getting the new thing that you want!

Treasure

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” This photo taken after lunch today is a picture of my heart and my treasure.

Heat

Yesterday was hot. The temperature here reached 102 degrees, breaking the record for that date. Walking out of the house felt like stepping into a steam bath. A thick haze that made it just miserable outside had replaced the sky. I retreated into my cool air-conditioned house and wondered how people survived before air-conditioning.

Actually I do remember hot summer days before air-conditioning. My grandparents lived in Texas and every summer we loaded up the car, left California, and headed into the heat. We always stopped in Needles, California at the edge of the Mojave Desert. There we got a big burlap bag that was designed to hang in front of the car’s radiator. It was filled with water and when the wind passed through the water bag and cooled the car’s engine. We didn’t want the radiator to boil over in the desert. Dad also rented a window cooler. It was a device that hung in the passenger window. It had a water tank that the wind passed through and blew cool, moist air into the car. It all actually worked rather well.

We arrived in the sweltering heat of the Texas summer and ran into my grandmother’s kitchen. She had a large fan in the window with a shelf built in front of it. The shelf held a block of ice that was replaced daily. The fan blowing over the ice kept her kitchen quite comfortable. The rest of the house was like an oven. We had fans that moved the air, but it was always hot. I remember wonderful summers spent in the hot backyard. We drank enormous amounts of iced tea and Dr Pepper. We ate watermelon fresh from the field. My cousins and I played and ran through the sprinkler. The heat was just part of life. The picture was taken in Texas when I was eight years old. In the back row are my grandparents and Aunt Dot. My parents are in the middle row flanked by my two older brothers. In the front row is my cousin Kenny and me.

Wake

While we were coming home from our trip to the salt marshes in Cape May our boat was hit by the wake of a bigger boat with a careless captain. We were pitched back and forth pretty hard. Our captain was angry and said it always made him mad when people went sailing through life without ever thinking about what they were leaving behind them. “People should be careful about their wake!” was what he said. I immediately thought of another song sung by the Four Bitchin’ Babes that talks about leaving something beautiful in our wake.

When we had our will done a few months ago the lawyer said the one thing we needed to do now was to write an ethical will or a legacy letter. It is not a legal document. It is a letter of what you what you want to tell your family, the things you want them to hear from you one more time. I’ve been trying to think of what to put into such a letter and I just don’t know what I want to say. Should I just recount some good stories and memories? Should I just tell them how much I love them? Should I talk about faith and hope? What kind of things would you want to hear in a letter from someone you loved? Is it important to write such a letter? Haven’t I already told them all the things I should say?

 "For Carolyn" by Pat Crawford Brown:

 When we were small and ocean waves were high

I'd run across the sand and call

"Please!  Wait for me!"

you waited patiently without a sigh

then hand in hand we'd face each wave

oh, we were so brave back then

do you still wait beyond the wave

and can you hear my rhyme?

if so, I'll wait here on the sand

I promise to be brave

just tell me when it's time

and hold my hand

 "Something Beautiful" by Christine Lavin

 As sad days go it was a bad one

she died way too soon

her friends and her family gathered

like rings around the moon

everybody had a story

how she touched each life

she was a mom, a sister, an aunt, a volunteer,

a grandmother, friend, a wife

her poems and watercolors

were lovingly displayed

beach scenes and summer dreams

 never fade

outside a breeze was swirling

the stars across the sky

inside the grief washed over us

as we said good-bye

    But she left something beautiful in her wake

    as our spirits sink, our voices break

    her work remains for us to see

    her paintings and her poetry

    she left something beautiful here on earth

    we mourn her death, but celebrate her birth

    she’s on a journey we all will someday make

    and look, she left something beautiful in her wake

As bad days go it was a sad one

flowers ringed the room

cousins greeted cousins they haven’t seen

since that wedding back in June

but it was June of 1990

amazing how time flies

we never seem to get together

unless someone marries or someone dies

Remember all those baby pictures?

they’re those teenagers over there

we secretly are thankful no nose rings

or spiky purple hair

they do not remember us

but you know, that’s OK

it's enough that we are here

and reconnecting today

    She left something beautiful in her wake

    they quietly cry, their young hearts ache

    her children’s children, her legacy

    with her paintings and her poetry

    she left something beautiful here on earth

    we mourn her death, but celebrate her birth

    she's sailing where waves never break

    and look, she left something beautiful in her wake

        We have all gone home now

        back to the working grind

        I can't help but think about

        those things we leave behind

        As I sit in traffic

        pound the steering wheel

        inch along this highway

        pray my soul will heal

    You've got to leave something beautiful in your wake

    as you sail on for heaven's sake

    leave something good at the end of each day

    to help us through, light our way

    leave something beautiful we can share

    to make us glad that you are there

    you may drift off course and make mistakes

    but you can still . . . 

    Leave something beautiful in your wake

    keep your spirits up, whatever it takes

    leave something good at the end of the day

    to help us through, to guide our way

    give us something beautiful we can share

    to make us glad that you’re still there

    you may drift off course, and make mistakes

    but you can still leave something beautiful in your wake

    leave something beautiful in your wake . . . 

Language

All professions have a language of their own. Recently my friend John the truck diver had a fun post about trucker lingo. Mark the Webmaster demonstrated some computer lingo on his blog. I was a nurse for many years and speak fluent medical language. Our foster son was a skateboarder and I could understand skate. My first language though is mother tongue. I am a mom. I say the things mothers say. I once heard a song at a concert of the Four Bitchin’ Babes that demonstrates my language well. I know you all understand mother tongue. We’ve heard it all our life.

Mother Tongue

By Camille West

You barely touched the broccoli on your dinner plate
Well, alright just one bite and you can stay up late
Don't tease the baby; you'll make him cry
Because I'm the mother, that's why

chorus
Don't fight
I've got eyes in the back of my head.
These are things my mother's mother's
mother's mother said
I learned the language when I was very young
Lately I've been talking in
the mother tongue

Take off your muddy shoes Put the cat down
Here's a tissue; blow your nose Put the cat down
What did you say? Where'd you learn that?
Come back here when I'm talking
Let go of that cat.

chorus

Behave at your Grandma's
Be good when I leave
Wipe your nose again-- no, not your sleeve
What's on your cheek? Let me get it
Don't have a fit
It's just a little mommy spit

Cape May

We have had a lovely four days in Cape May, New Jersey. Cape May is the oldest seashore resort in the nation, and it is just adorable. It is full of old Victorian homes, most of which have been converted into bed and breakfasts. There is gingerbread, spindles and froofery on all the houses. Just walking around and looking at all the old homes and gardens is a delight. The beach is beautiful and there are many cute little shops and boutiques to browse through. Wonderful restaurants are everywhere. One evening we took a carriage ride around the historic district and learned all sorts of interesting stories about some of homes and the people who built them. The town has a genteel, peaceful spirit that is very soothing.

Our little bed and breakfast had a wonderful front porch where we ate our delicious breakfast and enjoyed our afternoon tea. The porch was my favorite place to be. I sat and rocked and read my book, but found the parade of passersby to be distracting. There were so many interesting people to watch, so many stories to make up about each of them.

My beloved is a birder. Cape May is one of the top birding spots in the nation because it is a major resting point during the spring and fall migrations. There are as many flocks of birders as there are flocks of birds during those seasons. Summer is the wrong time of year for prime bird watching, but we watched anyway. We took a boat out into the salt marches surrounding the harbor. It was amazing. The gulls were nesting there and we could see thousands of nesting birds and their chicks. There were nesting osprey and herons too. One island was covered in white egrets. It was beautiful. Dennis identified over forty species of birds, including four new lifetime sightings. He was a happy man. In the picture, if you look carefully in the grass, you can see one of the gull chicks next to its mother.

The dolphins swimming along the shore also entertained us.

I think we took everything you suggested we bring, except the bacon. We didn’t seem to need any bacon. Thanks for all your suggestions.

We are packing for a trip to the beach. What do you think I will need at the beach?

New Day

To loosely paraphrase Psalm 30:5, “Wallowing may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” I am feeling much better today. Thank you all for the positive energy I felt coming through blogland.

This morning I went to the pool and worked up a sweat in my water aerobics class. After all that exercise I went to lunch with a friend and we planned a baby shower we are giving for a friend next week. Just to make sure I would be feeling better I had a pedicure and had those ugly post menopausal chin hairs waxed away. Then I spent the afternoon helping a frail hospice patient and his wife get to a doctor’s appointment and then to the pharmacy. I got home just before a magnificent thunderstorm arrived. My beloved and I sat on our front porch and watched as the storm delivered much needed rain along with some powerful thunder. We enjoyed a quiet supper together. I am feeling the joy of many blessings and the dark shadows have retreated for another day.

Hole

Maybe it’s just fatigue because I didn’t sleep well last night. I really don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve fallen into a dark hole full of gloom today. My life, like everyone’s life has been full of loss, hurt, betrayal and broken dreams. Such things are part of living, but today I feel I’m surrounded by all those hurts and losses that I thought I had moved beyond. I know I should be counting my blessings. I just don’t want to right now. I want to wallow a bit. It seems I really haven’t moved passed all those bad places. I just seem to be circling around them and occasionally I just fall into this hole. I know this a temporary stop. I have a good life full of more than my share of blessings, but for right now I just need to sit in this hurt until God pull me out of again.

Cars

Daughter number one stopped by last weekend to show off her new car. It is a white VW bug convertible. The car just suits her and has been named “Doodlebug.” Seeing her in it made me think about the car our family owned that just suited us.

When our girls were teenagers, just starting to drive, we decided to buy a bigger car, maybe a van. One day my husband and father-in-law decided to go see what they could find. That afternoon they brought home our new family car, a bright, fluorescent orange twelve-passenger van. When the girls saw it they ran into their room and cried. “How could we do this to them? That was the ugliest, orangest vehicle they had ever seen. It was embarrassing. They would never be seen in that thing!” I was quieter, but, well, it was just so very orange. They did eventually get in, but they lay down on the seats so no one could see them. My husband loved it. “It’s great! I can see that orange van anywhere in the parking lot. We’ll never have to remember where we parked.” The orange van gradually made its way into all of our hearts. In the age before seatbelt laws it could hold the entire church youth group on its outings. Our girls learned to love driving the orange van. They and their friends went everywhere in that car. When I got to drive it carloads of teenagers would honk and wave at big orange. Perhaps it’s just as well that I don’t know all the memories that were created in that van full of teenagers. All four of our children learned to drive in that orange twelve-passenger van. It was a wonderful car.

What cars have you owned that just suited you?

Two Potters

We saw the New Harry Potter film last night. I was feeling a bit out of the conversation because I had not yet seen it. Good movie. Was I the only one to notice the resemblance between the unlikable Professor Umbrage and Laura Bush? Both of them devoutly follow their misguided masters.

The other movie I saw today was “Miss Potter.” I loved it. It is the story of Beatrix Potter, the author of all the Peter Rabbit stories. She was an innocent, protected spinster of the nineteenth century who managed to become a highly successful and wealthy author. It is a sweet love story. It is the story of a courageous and successful woman. I highly recommend it.

This morning I went to traffic court with my granddaughter. She was involved in an accident earlier this year and was hoping to get reduced fine and traffic points by going to court. Court can be a scary place so I went along for moral support. Actually I went because I love to people-watch and this seemed like a good place to watch people. The courtroom was filled with an interesting array of folks. They were young, old, black, white, brown, well dressed and not. We waited for about thirty minutes before the judge finally appeared, thirty very silent minutes. Most folks just stared into space with an expressionless face. Some picked at their fingernails. A few brought books and spent the time reading (That is what the granddaughter did.) Everyone looked ill at ease. The judge finally appeared and gave us instructions. You can plead guilty or not guilty. Do not give any explanation unless he asks. If you are charged with speeding it is not an excuse to say that you were just moving with the traffic. It does not matter if you were just passing to go around someone. It does not matter if your speedometer was broken. It is irrelevant if you were just trying to around an unsafe situation. The only question is were you driving faster than the posted speed limit. There are no excuses. Granddaughter was the third case called. The judge asked how she pled. “Guilty,” she relied. He asked, “Were you cooperative with the officer?” “Yes sir,” she answered. He ruled “Probation without judgment.” That meant she had to pay the fine but was assigned no points on her record. We walked across the hall where she paid her fine and we were free. She was very relieved.

Feet

Yesterday I saw the podiatrist. While he was talking to me about arthritis, tendons, arches and bunions I began to think about all the places these feet have taken me.

During the 40’s and 50’s they helped me skip through a happy and carefree childhood.

In 1961 they walked me down the church aisle to marry my beloved. His feet have been walking by mine every day since then. The rest of the 60’s they walked the floor with crying babies and chased running toddlers around the house.

The 70’s were a time of standing on sidelines and exploring the world with growing children. These feet walked on the beach and through the woods. They escorted children on field trips to museums and zoos. They walked all over London leading my children to see places they had never seen. These feet also walked miles of hospital corridors tending to the needs of the many patients who need care over the years.

The 80’s came and my feet helped me to stand and cheer as I watched each of my children march to “Pomp and Circumstance” as they graduated into adulthood. Then my feet once again walked down the church aisle and led me to the pew where the mother of bride or groom was to sit. I again walked the floor with babies and chased toddlers, but grandmothers don’t walk and chase as often as young mothers.

My feet kept moving during the 90’s. The hospital corridors changed to the halls of a doctor’s office. The grandchildren grew and my feet once again escorted children to the zoo and to the park.

Then came the new millennium. My feet, along with the rest of me, retired and quit walking to tend patients. I began to explore the world and these feet walked across the glaciers of Alaska, the beaches along the Southern Ocean in Australia and through the rainforests of Costa Rica.

These old feet once again took me to auditoriums where “Pomp and Circumstance” was played and I watched as my grandchildren began to graduate into adulthood.

My feet may hurt, but I can’t complain. They have served me well and taken me far.

VBS

We are half way through our week of Vacation Bible School. The kids are having a wonderful time. The church building is filled with laughter, giggles and children running around in wet bathing suits. The theme this year is based on water park adventures. Every evening the kids play water games with wading pools, Super soakers, garden hoses and water balloons. There are crafts and lots of high-energy songs. I have been in charge of the Bible stories. We teach with lots of interactive fun and get a bit wet while telling them stories about Jesus and God’s love. In the picture I am showing them how to step into living water. The kids filled the planter boxes with living water from a well while getting themselves thoroughly wet. I am not known for being observant, and just a few minutes before class my helper noticed the planter boxes had holes in the bottom. We grabbed some plastic tablecloths and made pool liners for our “river of life.” It worked fine. One more adventure in learning.

Hymn

Yesterday morning we sang a hymn at church that I had never heard before. It said so well what I was feeling after the wonderful weekend at Women of Faith that I thought I would share it with everyone. So often in my religious journey I have heard words that exclude people and are hurtful to those who have found a different understanding of faith. These lyrics seem so very inclusive. They speak to me of a loving God who wants us to love and to not judge.

“Help US Accept Each Other”

by Fred Kaan

· Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us;
Teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.
Be present, God, among us, and bring us to believe
We are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.

· Teach us, O God, your lessons, as in our daily life
We struggle to be human and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people, for all, not just for some,
To love them as we find them, or as they may become.

· Let your acceptance change us, so that we may be moved
In living situations to do the truth in love;
To practice your acceptance, until we know by heart
The table of forgiveness and laughter's healing art.

· God, for today's encounters with all who are in need,
Who hunger for acceptance, for righteousness and bread,
Bring us new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on;
Renew us with your Spirit; God! Free us, make us one!

WOF

I spent the past two days with 16,000 girlfriends at a Women of Faith conference. It was exhausting and wonderful. It is difficult to explain how inspiring it is to be in an arena full of women who share my faith in God. The weekend was full of stories that made us laugh and made us cry. The music was awesome. I get goosebumps at the memory of 16,000 women singing “How Great Thou Art.” There was an extremely funny story about mammograms. (You hear stories at a women only event that are never told in a mixed audience.) It included a song in praise the underwire bra. I will never again hear Josh Grogin’s wonderful song, ”You Lift Me Up,” without laughing. It was a weekend full of acceptance, friendship, unity and love. It was very good.

What events inspires you?

VBS

This week I have managed to gather together a canoe, a big bag of gummy worms, badminton net, kid’s wading pool, several small buckets, a big plastic tub, some plastic fish, a clothesline, several bed sheets, a shower curtain liner, and a broken video camera. This obviously means it is almost time for Vacation Bible School. Lots of people put in lots of work to make this week of fun and learning about Jesus happen at our church. The kids always love it, and the adults are always glad when the week is over. My job this year is to decorate the Bible story room each evening. The assortment of goodies is the collection of props we will use to help make the lesson come alive and be meaningful for the young children who will be there.

Did you go to Vacation Bible School when you were a kid? What memories do have if you did?

Birthday

Today is my father’s birthday. He would be 103 today. He has been gone for sixteen years and I still miss my daddy.

Mom and Dad met on a blind date. Mom and her cousin Cleta Mae were going to go out with Harold and William. Mom was to go with Harold, Cleta Mae with William. When the young men came to pick the girls up, Mom made the instant decision to switch dates. Harold was a tall, skinny thing, but William was just her size. She noticed that he had a nice little behind and she liked the way he filled out his pants. They were married for fifty-seven years.

The picture is my handsome, young father.

Hot

The temperature reached 100 degrees here today. It is hazy, hot, and humid, one of those miserable triple H summer days. The newscaster was asking everyone to conserve energy so I did not cook dinner. It was the perfect night for a big salad. We did go to Cold Stone for ice cream. Half the town was there. The other half of town was across the street getting an Italian Ice from Rita’s.

What do you do to stay cool on hot summer days?

The future, the past

I thought of this picture today while attending a funeral. The picture was taken our last night in California. Our daughter and her children are watching the sun as it sets into the Pacific Ocean. I look at the picture and see the future, my children, looking at the end of what has been. We did lots of looking into the past this trip, but when I look at my grandchildren I see my future. I think it is important for them to learn about their roots and to hear the family stories. They are blessed to come from a very long line of love. I hope they draw strength from these roots that will sustain them as they journey into whatever their futures may hold, and that they will have strong wings that let them soar.

The funeral today celebrated the life of a gracious eighty-seven year old lady. Her children and grandchildren spoke of her great love. There were tears and there was laughter as they looked into the blessings of the past. But these young people all know they were loved. They have a rich legacy that will sustain them into the future. They are a lucky family.

Julia, you were a loving lady. You will be missed.

On this Fourth of July I thought I would celebrate the freedom of expression by telling you about our afternoon in Venice Beach.

Venice Beach has to be the best place I’ve ever been for people watching. There is no dress code. Everything is acceptable. Freedom to be whoever you want to be is completely OK in Venice Beach. Along with the other tourists who had just come to gawk at the parade of characters there were many young people with multi-colored Mohawk hairdos and multiple piercings. They were dressed all in black. The majority of them were using skateboards to travel. One fellow was dressed all in loose white cotton plus his helmet, kneepads, and elbow pads. He was roller blading down the boardwalk while playing the guitar. Aspiring musicians were everywhere. They were armed with earphones, pleading with people to stop and listen to their music. In the picture you see Salty Salt, an about to become famous hip-hop musician, selling his CD to our daughter and her kids. Venice Beach is also known as Muscle Beach. There is an outdoor gym with weights and exercise equipment for public use. My favorite characters were the hefty men with oiled bodies strutting up and down for us to admire. One was dressed in a sparkling silver Speedo and a large brass medallion. Another had a tee shirt wrapped around himself as loincloth. It was wonderful to people who were so sure that were beautiful. I can testify that that opinion was not shared by any of the members of my family.

I love people watching. Where have you been to see such a parade of humanity?

While shopping in a posh shopping center in southern California we came upon this line. It looked out of place. Why would people be camping out in line on an upscale street? Obviously we were not aware of the desperate need people had to be among the first to own an iPhone. Although this would be a more pleasant place to wait in line than many other places, it still seems a little crazy to me.

Did you wait in a long line for an iPhone? Have you ever camped out in line to buy something wonderful? What is worth waiting for days in line?

Family

For me the best part of our trip to California was time we were able to spend with my brothers and their families. The last time I saw them was at my mom’s funeral four years ago. It was such fun to sit around and visit and laugh and cry together. We kept saying, “Do you remember when?” and the wonderful thing was that we did remember. The kids kept saying, “I never heard that story. Who was Lance? Who was Emma Jean?” It was fun to see our children and grandchildren getting to know each other and learning all sorts of family stories. Family and family stories are precious.

The pictures are of me with my brothers and of us with some of our children and grandchildren.

Home

I'm finally home. The time in California was wonderful! The trip home was long and hard. I'm too tired to think now, but I will post soon about our great trip.