1. I love the incredible variety of friends my life has been graced with. (Ages, backgrounds, locations, etc.)
2. I love the way they help me keep balance and perspective in my life.
3. I love that they have invited me into their lives for a lifetime or a season.
4. I appreciate their feedback on everything from what to wear or not wear to how to deal with major life issues.
5. The opportunity give and receive that they offer me is so life-giving.
6. Knowing that there is usually at least one person I can talk to when things are overwhelming me.
7. Sharing food, laughter, tears, and history making my life the richer for it.
8. Going on trips with them, such a fun thing and way to more deeply connect! I love that so many of my friends love to take trips together!
9. Being graced with enough friends that at times I do not keep in touch with them all as I should.
10. Having friends that extend grace towards me for my shortcomings such as #9! :)
TO MY FRIENDS: You are a blessing in my life and you are God's love extended to me in the flesh at those times when I need that! Sometimes we need Him to be flesh and bones.
A hug, a smile, a word, or an ear to listen. Thank you!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Thanksgiving List
So, I will name one thing or perhaps a person and list all the reasons I am thankful for it or them.
This week it is fall weather.
1. I love the brilliant, clear blue skies this time of year.
2. I love the lower humidity.
3. I love the smells in the air. Drying leaves, backyard fire-pits and wood stove smoke.
4. The start of wearing sweaters, jackets and boots, and sometimes hats.
5. Waking up to a chill in the air, bundling up in a robe, and really relishing that morning cup of java!
6. Chili, apples, and baking.
7. Walking, biking, and hiking in the lower air temps and humidity. I can breathe!!
8. It's still warm enough many days to wear flip flops, but cool enough to wear a robe in the morning and a sweatshirt in the evening.
9. Knowing that this is the time before all the holiday rush and a chance to catch your breath allowing you to mentally prepare for the holiday season.
10. The way the cool/warm days and chilly nights and morns ease you into the coming winter weather.
11. The hope that those plants that will shortly be dormant, "going to sleep" for the winter are dropping seeds and preparing to rest so that next spring new life will issue forth after a long winter.
So there's my list. I welcome any comments.
This week it is fall weather.
1. I love the brilliant, clear blue skies this time of year.
2. I love the lower humidity.
3. I love the smells in the air. Drying leaves, backyard fire-pits and wood stove smoke.
4. The start of wearing sweaters, jackets and boots, and sometimes hats.
5. Waking up to a chill in the air, bundling up in a robe, and really relishing that morning cup of java!
6. Chili, apples, and baking.
7. Walking, biking, and hiking in the lower air temps and humidity. I can breathe!!
8. It's still warm enough many days to wear flip flops, but cool enough to wear a robe in the morning and a sweatshirt in the evening.
9. Knowing that this is the time before all the holiday rush and a chance to catch your breath allowing you to mentally prepare for the holiday season.
10. The way the cool/warm days and chilly nights and morns ease you into the coming winter weather.
11. The hope that those plants that will shortly be dormant, "going to sleep" for the winter are dropping seeds and preparing to rest so that next spring new life will issue forth after a long winter.
So there's my list. I welcome any comments.
Friday, October 1, 2010
My First Blogger List: Pet Peeves
I am the queen of lists.
Just ask my family. And our past sitters. And anyone I did ministry or worked with.
Heck! Ask Fred! Although I am getting better. I don't add things into my list that weren't originally on it quite as often! You know you do this too if you even remotely have performance motivation issues!
I'm going to try to do a Thanksgiving List once a week and name one thing I am thankful about and a list of "whys" and reasons that I am thankful for it.
However THIS list is a list of Pet Peeves:
1. People who do not use their turn signals
2. When I say "Thank you" to a fast food drive-thru window attendant and they act like they're doing ME a favor by taking my money and doing their job and never even acknowledge my presence.
3. People who do not trim back their shrubs and trees that overhang the streets and sidewalks that I walk on.
4. People who say that "his barks worse than his bite" as their dog lunges at me on my walk and they struggle to hold him or her back with the leash.
5. People who drive too close to me when I am walking. (There! Got all the walking ones out!)
6. When I love, love something whether a grocery item or a clothing or beauty product item or whatever and they discontinue it, stop stocking it, or replace it with a "new and improved" version.
7. Being put on hold and being made to jump through hoops in a voice menu.
8. talking to someone who is either answering their phone, checking their phone, or getting ready to and then using their phone, but never says "Excuse me" or " I'm sorry I do need to take this". Just hold up a sign that says "You are not my priority right now, but when I'm talking to someone else in person, I'll be sure to call or text you."
9. The way so many products are encased in plastic so that you have to use a sharp object to get it open at the risk of impaling yourself with the sharp object or the jagged edges of the plastic you've just attempted to cut open.
10. Why would there be some clothing items that merchandisers decide to make in "petite" but not in "tall"? So, I guess this pet peeve is "height bias".
11. Talking to someone who I can tell is already thinking of and formulating their response and not really paying attention to (the rest of) what I am saying. (I KNOW I have done this and THAT'S a pet peeve as well!)
12. Waiting in a checkout line forever and then another checker opens up just after I've placed the last item from my cart onto the little conveyor belt.
I am guessing there are plenty of you that have your own pet peeves and would love for you to share them with the rest of us if you want.
Just ask my family. And our past sitters. And anyone I did ministry or worked with.
Heck! Ask Fred! Although I am getting better. I don't add things into my list that weren't originally on it quite as often! You know you do this too if you even remotely have performance motivation issues!
I'm going to try to do a Thanksgiving List once a week and name one thing I am thankful about and a list of "whys" and reasons that I am thankful for it.
However THIS list is a list of Pet Peeves:
1. People who do not use their turn signals
2. When I say "Thank you" to a fast food drive-thru window attendant and they act like they're doing ME a favor by taking my money and doing their job and never even acknowledge my presence.
3. People who do not trim back their shrubs and trees that overhang the streets and sidewalks that I walk on.
4. People who say that "his barks worse than his bite" as their dog lunges at me on my walk and they struggle to hold him or her back with the leash.
5. People who drive too close to me when I am walking. (There! Got all the walking ones out!)
6. When I love, love something whether a grocery item or a clothing or beauty product item or whatever and they discontinue it, stop stocking it, or replace it with a "new and improved" version.
7. Being put on hold and being made to jump through hoops in a voice menu.
8. talking to someone who is either answering their phone, checking their phone, or getting ready to and then using their phone, but never says "Excuse me" or " I'm sorry I do need to take this". Just hold up a sign that says "You are not my priority right now, but when I'm talking to someone else in person, I'll be sure to call or text you."
9. The way so many products are encased in plastic so that you have to use a sharp object to get it open at the risk of impaling yourself with the sharp object or the jagged edges of the plastic you've just attempted to cut open.
10. Why would there be some clothing items that merchandisers decide to make in "petite" but not in "tall"? So, I guess this pet peeve is "height bias".
11. Talking to someone who I can tell is already thinking of and formulating their response and not really paying attention to (the rest of) what I am saying. (I KNOW I have done this and THAT'S a pet peeve as well!)
12. Waiting in a checkout line forever and then another checker opens up just after I've placed the last item from my cart onto the little conveyor belt.
I am guessing there are plenty of you that have your own pet peeves and would love for you to share them with the rest of us if you want.
I am siting outside on our screened porch watching those giant black and yellow bumble bees swirl around the Mexican Petunias just outside our porch. They are languid yet somewhat frantic if that makes any sense. They are "languidly frantic" or "frantically languid".
They are drifting around in the October sunshine out there as though it is going to be summer forever and yet they seem to know "the gig is up"!
It's as if their internal body clocks know that there's only so much time until they'll be oh-so-dormant and they are trying to store up as much nectar or whatever they do as fast much as possible before the first killing frost.
I also haven't seen the hummingbirds as frequently this past few days.
The other birds aren't at the feeders as much now that their young are mostly grown and on their own.
It's as if everyone, at least the above-mentioned critters, but me is ready for the next event, the next season...in the year, in their life. I love fall, I do not love St Louis winters!!! Wait! I feel like I missed spring and summer!I also am keenly aware that part of the reason that this year and its seasons passed oh so fast is I was preoccupied with caring for my dying parent and that sort of takes your focus off of the everyday passage of time.
Well, the seasons are changing and I will with them, I just at times am struck by how unprepared I am for what's next. Then I think, " I don't have to be all prepared, I just need to continue to practice being in God's presence and HE will prepare me and my heart and mind and soul as well as all the swirl of life's ebb and flow around me.'
Then I get flooded with this peace.
It's sort of like I'm languidly approaching the frenzy of the world and the days ahead. I like that!
They are drifting around in the October sunshine out there as though it is going to be summer forever and yet they seem to know "the gig is up"!
It's as if their internal body clocks know that there's only so much time until they'll be oh-so-dormant and they are trying to store up as much nectar or whatever they do as fast much as possible before the first killing frost.
I also haven't seen the hummingbirds as frequently this past few days.
The other birds aren't at the feeders as much now that their young are mostly grown and on their own.
Mama Flicker (woodpecker) feeding her young.
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| You'll need to click on this photo because Blogger won't show the whole picture for some formatting reason, but if you click on it you'll see the whole thing. |
It's as if everyone, at least the above-mentioned critters, but me is ready for the next event, the next season...in the year, in their life. I love fall, I do not love St Louis winters!!! Wait! I feel like I missed spring and summer!I also am keenly aware that part of the reason that this year and its seasons passed oh so fast is I was preoccupied with caring for my dying parent and that sort of takes your focus off of the everyday passage of time.
Well, the seasons are changing and I will with them, I just at times am struck by how unprepared I am for what's next. Then I think, " I don't have to be all prepared, I just need to continue to practice being in God's presence and HE will prepare me and my heart and mind and soul as well as all the swirl of life's ebb and flow around me.'
Then I get flooded with this peace.
It's sort of like I'm languidly approaching the frenzy of the world and the days ahead. I like that!
Monday, September 27, 2010
One, Just one, of my fears
Well here it is. I am afraid of aging poorly. Yep. That's it.
I am truly hoping and praying that I yield to God and age gracefully in all areas.
I want to have intergenerational relationships all over the world and across the socioeconomic board.
I want to stay functional physically and if that is not God's design for me, then I would like to grow to gracefully accept limitations to my abilities.
Anyway, I have watched the aging process up close and personal over the past decade of those friends and relatives older than I am and have seen it done well and embraced and done poorly and a life of some sort of bizarre denial and isolation or bitterness.
What I see as contributing factors to aging well are:
1. Attitude. Attitude. Attitude.
2. How narrowly or broadly focused your worldview and interactions are. (Self-centered, or other-centered?)
3. A living, growing, breathing faith. Not letting ourselves become comfortable or narrow-minded about our beliefs. After all, He is the Living God! We should seek to be just as alive and active and for our faith to follow suit.
I am truly hoping and praying that I yield to God and age gracefully in all areas.
I want to have intergenerational relationships all over the world and across the socioeconomic board.
I want to stay functional physically and if that is not God's design for me, then I would like to grow to gracefully accept limitations to my abilities.
Anyway, I have watched the aging process up close and personal over the past decade of those friends and relatives older than I am and have seen it done well and embraced and done poorly and a life of some sort of bizarre denial and isolation or bitterness.
What I see as contributing factors to aging well are:
1. Attitude. Attitude. Attitude.
2. How narrowly or broadly focused your worldview and interactions are. (Self-centered, or other-centered?)
3. A living, growing, breathing faith. Not letting ourselves become comfortable or narrow-minded about our beliefs. After all, He is the Living God! We should seek to be just as alive and active and for our faith to follow suit.
(That's my mom on the left, me, and Helen, my mother-in-law in 2008)
Now in the midst of this post I want to include something that just came to me in my email and I posted it on facebook and sent it to a few friends. It spoke to me in my grieving the loss of my mom in July and the challenge of participating in the caregiving of my mother-in-law who is in the hospital with another broken hip. THis is one more in a long list of fractures and breaks over this last decade. Can you say strength training, walking, calcium supplements, a daily dose of a little sunshine, and if needed (for an osteoporosis diagnosis), bone-building medication?!
So, I want to leave you with this article and this NPR music link of Mavis Staples singing a tune written by one of the Wilco guys.Now in the midst of this post I want to include something that just came to me in my email and I posted it on facebook and sent it to a few friends. It spoke to me in my grieving the loss of my mom in July and the challenge of participating in the caregiving of my mother-in-law who is in the hospital with another broken hip. THis is one more in a long list of fractures and breaks over this last decade. Can you say strength training, walking, calcium supplements, a daily dose of a little sunshine, and if needed (for an osteoporosis diagnosis), bone-building medication?!
Article Link
Song Link
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=130051633&m=130055478
[An Add-On as of September 30th] :
This came to me in my email just today (September 30) and I thought it appropriate to add to this post.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sonya and Dora finally meet!
So we met Josh and Mis and the kiddos for lunch at Fuddruckers and brought Dora who had finally arrived home yesterday.
As you may recall Dora was a Ty Beanie Baby purchase form a truck stop in Alabama on our way to the beaches of Florida a couple of weeks ago. She went everywhere with us and I sent photos, texts with pics and videos home to our granddaughter, Sonya, of Dora's adventures with us on vacation.
Somewhere in Southeast Missouri on our return trek home we lost Dora!!!
As near as we can tell here is the most likely scenario.
Dora was in one of her usual perches in our car, sitting on top of the vent on the dashboard on the passenger side.
As you may recall Dora was a Ty Beanie Baby purchase form a truck stop in Alabama on our way to the beaches of Florida a couple of weeks ago. She went everywhere with us and I sent photos, texts with pics and videos home to our granddaughter, Sonya, of Dora's adventures with us on vacation.
Somewhere in Southeast Missouri on our return trek home we lost Dora!!!
As near as we can tell here is the most likely scenario.
Dora was in one of her usual perches in our car, sitting on top of the vent on the dashboard on the passenger side.
Sweet, trusting Dora...
As we ventured through the cotton fields in the Boot-heel, I kept shooting pictures of them for Sonya to look at later. (One of those fields is where I scarfed this particular piece of cotton that Dora is holding.)
Anyway, I had to open the window once or twice to get off a decent shot without "window scum" .
It is our humble opinion that Dora exited the safety of the car through the open window on a trajectory that was below my eye level as I was wildly photographing yet one more cotton field.
Sadly she was not missed until after we had stopped at a rest area and only upon starting to leave there did I cry out, "Where's Dora?!?!"
After tearing our fully packed vehicle apart, searching the entire grounds of the rest area and leaving my name and contact info with the rest area greeter (who I might add was horrified at our negligence!) we had to head on down the road towards home.
After several stops at truck stops and small towns Fred had me pull into a Starbucks with WiFi in Cape Girardeau and we found an identical Dora online via Amazon and promptly ordered her! (We have secretly been awaiting her arrival and had already dubbed her "Dora's evil twin sister")
So today was the long-awaited meeting of Dora and Sonya. I'd love to report that Sonya was overcome with joy and excitement, but truthfully, she seemed somewhat shy and embarrassed. It just took a little time for them to warm up to each other. Then they were fine.
And here's one more shot of Dora on the trip to Florida and one of her sunbathing at the beach.
It's important to provide adequate sun protection for her on the beach even though her skin is naturally darker because of her nationality.
Anyway we hope that (this) Dora survives the "baby crocodile" (that's Sonya's name for her little brother, Teddy) and the Buddies (the puggles) at Sonya's house and that she and Sonya have lots of adventures together.
Plastic Horses and Bulls
Yesterday Fred and I went on a wonderful bike ride on a trail at the Route 66 Park near Eureka right off of 44. Really a sweet ride. I never thought to take any pictures of it to post. However, I did get a picture with my phone of this horse statue on a really nice little horse farm just outside of Eureka after our ride.
Okay, okay, so I did think at first it was one of the real horses and was so impressed by how perfect it was.
I guess the theme yesterday was statues or stuffed livestock. This is in the little waiting area at Guido's on the Hill. I wonder if he lost in the bullfight and ended up here!
Okay, okay, so I did think at first it was one of the real horses and was so impressed by how perfect it was.
TORRO, TORRO!!
I sent both of these animal pics to Josh and Missy to show Sonya, but I'm not so sure they did. It was kind of weird, but then so are we and Sonya already knows that!!
Below is a picture I took at the little city market in Springfiled last week on my mini-retreat there at Mike and Becky's home. I just thought, "too cute" and sent this to Missy as well. I really hope my daughter-in-law and Josh have unlimited text and multimedia!
As I sat sipping coffee in the little city market this was the view out the window and I was fascinated by the clouds through the windows and all the lines and angles.
One last picture, also from my phone was taken one morning last week before I left when Fred and I were on our morning walk.
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