Journal - September 30, 2007

How does that calendar roll so fast?


Yesterday was Homecoming for 1st Granddaughter! WOW!
We went to the Homecoming Game and saw her march in the Band of the High School - just the fact that I put Granddaughter and High School in the same sentence makes my head swim.


I then put ALL NIGHT in a sentence with 2nd Granddaughter and I see that they are both in those wonderful BE-tween years!


I love my Grandchildren. That said - I miss them alot! I loved their hugs when we visited on Friday night and look forward to celebrating the next Birthday event on the Sunday of choice for The Birthday Diva.


Funny story here: One Grand is all about pink and the other is not! They too are as different as night and day when it comes to life. But inside they both have hearts of gold and their smile can brighten any day... I want them to know in that smile I see the HOPE of the future in their eyes and I hold that smile in my heart each day...


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I went out on the deck this morning and the surface was cool beneath my feet. There was a hawk in the tree above; birds at the feeder; a clear blue sky; the reflection of a fading moon; dog on a lead; and the sounds of birds chirping everywhere; the coffee in my hand was hot and the robe was warm. In my mind and heart I will hold that very real moment close as I finish up the last details of a project that have taken so many moments like that away from me.


I strive for balance. I try to also be aware of the moment. I love boundaries and have always had trouble when they become blurred. I like to know what is my job and then try to do that with clarity because at the end of the day that is all I can review as my part in making this blue sphere rotate.


In the boundary realm I realized a long time ago that I am not responsible for the actions of others - I am only responsible for my reaction to them. As I observe others I see that boundaries are a good thing... for me. Maybe others too, but they have not come to that point in the sentence and I just wait....
In the day to day I work with and for DREAMERS and they have their place in the world - BUT - in order to achieve that dream the rubber has to meet the road somewhere and mixing reality with dreams is a lot harder on the worker than on the dreamer...


Which brings me back to BALANCE!

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Did I ever tell you that I also collaborate on projects with the "Mud" of "Fiber Meets Mud"?


I do not watch as much DIY TV as he does but I love to watch carpentry shows SOMETIMES.


(if I controlled the clicker we would be watching chick movies, National Geographic, and the cooking channel)


So today when he came to me in my cave and said he was taking my advice about the current building project, I was at the same time flattered and frightened. We chatted about it and we are OK and on the same page.


I may have missed my calling I should have studied either architecture or a biology but that is a story for another day!

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Did I mention that Jackson has a relative named Houdini!

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breathe
breathe
breathe

breathe

breathe

breathe

breathe

breathe

breathe

breathe



EXHALE

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GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD

How do you summarize 35 years?

A home made card for a hand made love - - celebrating 35 years of marriage is a very humble point in the day to day and makes a person take account of how in the heck the pages of time rolled so fast.... September 22, 1972 to September 22, 2007.

Please NOTE: There were pictures in the spaces between the paragraphs... they did not follow the blcok copy effort and are lost to the ether!

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Once upon a time you would tie one on and go off to the world… a complement would be answered…. My wife got that for me… Ties today mean two things… we are attending a beginning or ending, those events that tie the world together…





One fall day we tied the knot and our life has not been the same since… and for that I am eternally grateful and humbled.





Once upon a time we would tie one on and trip the light fantastic – dancing and drinking until well past any reasonable time of the night…





Now we enjoy a night cap of tea and comfort of the leather and healing balm of hot water….





We are tied in the aging race of aches and pains, but we still tie our shoes and away we wander, with our wonder dog Jackson…




Speaking of Jackson, Jackson harldy looks like a Lab to me – he just looks right and like love in fur… fun and happy and free of shoulds and woulds and coulds…. Just love.



Tying one on these days means a whole different thing to us….



Today we tie on hoodies and slowly tie our shoes and life - don’t get much better than that…



That just about ties it up… My little story of tying one on, but wait, there is more fun to be had…



You have recently tied on the strings of cooking and I have no words to explain what a relief that is to me…



I talked of humility and how love makes you humble… here is the Akan Dwennimmen - Horns of the Ram a symbol of strength (in mind, body, and soul), humility, wisdom, and learning.



Kinda sorta ties into your love of sci-fi




What would our story be without talking about moving from here to there Euclid – VA – Germany – OH – IN – IL – OH

And the best lesson you ever gave the progeny was to tie it on – pat it – and say everything will be OK….

And so as we tie another day into our string of life I vow again to love you for better or worse, and because we have internet that allows for other venues

Here is a sweet vow from the Hindu world

…Yes, we are partners. I am yours and you mine. ...Let us share the joys. We are word and meaning, united. You are thought and I am sound.
May the night be honey-sweet for us… (which of course I have edited to say what I want)

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AND SO IT SEEMS WE ARRIVED TO THIS MOMENT BY LIVING AND LOVING THE LAST MOMENTS THOUROUGHLY....

We celebrated the day with hanging out together. We walked the dog together several times... had lunch at an overlook I found while working one day... visited the bookstore and shopped like crazy... rested.... renewed.... went to see a crazy movie that had story lines from other classics woven into it "The Wendell Baker Story" and dinner at the National Exemplar which is always good.

And so we get going on more pages of life.... Autumn is a sweet season and my favorite one of the year... It is such an experienced season and such a good time to review and restart your journey - - - much better than January my personal hibernation month!

A thought for the next season:

THE DREAM LASTS LONG AFTER THE DANCE IS OVER

OK off to the daily grind.... blogging in the morning is a whole new way to pray...

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME
ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD

How do the walls in your house get thick?

OR THE PECULIAR WAY WE LIVE

First you put furniture in the room

Then there is the lamp or table

Then a basket on the floor for decoration

Then near the basket you take off your shoes
Or
The dog lays down in his bed
Or
You leave the papers there
Or
The project you were working on last week is placed next to the basket which already has shoes, papers and the project laying there. Now you are a good 4-5 feet away from the wall – that my friend is how the walls get thick. You vacuum around them and ignore the space between them and the wall. Humph!

How do kitchen counters get thick? First you have 36 or so inches of counter space. You have a bowl of fruit – then a bowl of fresh harvest – a cookie tin – a toy from the dog – a bag of beans and all of a sudden you cannot even put a cutting board of any dimension on the counter top…. Humph!

So that is how your walls get thick. I noticed that the yard boundaries get thick too! Lawn furniture – decorations – then there is the assembly of used or to be used pots – a hose – some fallen sticks and all of s sudden you are trimming 3 feet from the border because you have stuff on the grass… HUMPH!

So if this is apparent to me – maybe this is the time to de-thicken the walls – put things away and get a little straightness in my life again… Once upon a time I called this clutter – now I just see it that I started a sentence and left it hanging in mid air unfinished!

So maybe this weekend I will unthicken things. Maybe. Fall beckons so the outdoors will be rearranged and with the change in the season so will the indoors. It is just odd that so much collects around the edges of life.... but I guess that is pretty standard... for me... collecting things around the edges.... even the hips collect things! HUMPH!

Thank you Emily and John

One day, earlier this summer, I was pretty upset because the local deer population ate my Sunflower plants. There was something so VanGogh about picking sunflowers that it was not even rational to consider elsewise.

So John and Emily planted some seeds in a small wading pool by the deck. I have watered them religiously and have cared for them each day. Today the gift was given to me. Sunny flowers. Taller than I am. Brilliant yellow. Happy making for a Sunday.

Oh and of course Jackson! He makes me happy too and he left them alone to grow which was a good thing.

I thought I might have socks to show you. But recovering from exhaustion is hard work. Watched two movies from the couch - Man of the Year with Robin Williams and Relative Strangers with Danny DiVito. They were both good and I stayed awake for both and rested while I watched them.

Jackson and I walked each day and that feels good to do again - I miss my walks when my work overtakes my life... Serious thinking ahead about the balance that I wanted when I took this job... Balance needed - it will be reevaluated October 7th...

Sleep beckons.

Prayers for those that wait and watch and weep this night.

Thanksgiving prayers for those things that make our days so extraordinary that without them we would not be who we are.

Thanks for the quiet moments of this weekend and the beauty in nature that renews the soul.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME
ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD

A MOST Unusual Day

I got home on Saturday morning when I left for work on Friday morning. 16 hour days are not on my list of things to repeat. I have been good about trying to leave on time give or take an hour. The major event season will be over after the first week of October. I will adjuicate life after that.

I napped in the mid-morning and still had plenty of day left to accomplish some errands. I chatted with my two Ohio daughters this midday and my grand-daughter who had just finished a Soccer game - lost by one point - which is good for anyone playing in this heat!

It was an unusal event - I cooked dinner while it rained. I wore a sunviser to keep the rain drops off my glasses! I know I was a site - but hey - It is Saturday and you can be as you will on Saturday. You could hear the trees saying "Please do not stop raining", but it did. Tomorrow is Sabbath.... most deserved.

I have become intrigued by sock knitting machines. Very new on the learning curve. I can with focus and normal working days - hand knit a single sock in a week. The machines knit them in little over two hours - two socks. What a concept. Still some hand work - but you always have handwork on socks! If you are interested in seeing one - type Gearhart in the YouTube video search screen and you can watch a machine knit socks.

When we were first married DH and I saw regular knitting machines - they were interesting too. Such fun things out there for the retirement years. I can hardly wait. I will pick my toys carefully in those days of play.

I chatted with my daughter in Chicago - she works in a hospital and brings home all kinds of sickies. She works with kids on the off time - whom I often consider germ factories! I know why she is sick - her environment breeds germs.... By the time we got off the phone she was better - - - hydrated and her blood was flowing better because of the pepper she spiced her chicken soup with...

OK - time to consider sleep - tomorrow I will consider taking apart more pots of flowers... Tomorrow I will take pictures of the sunflowers that my granddaughter planted for me when the deer ate the ones in the garden... the soccer playing - dancing diva is also a bird watching gardener! Hummingbirds were dining on the sunflowers - that site will keep me going for a long time...





GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME
ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD

Looking for the Eb and Flow of Life

During this common time I am seeking to find the pulse of life again. Slow and rythmic. Eb and flow. I have started being more aware of surrounding which helps me focus. Tonight I tapped into a great eb and flow of life: Laundry - it gets dirty - you wash it and put it away - - - how much more eb and flow is that - - - when the kids were younger and I had mountains to conquer daily, I would pray for them as I folded the laundry - - tonight I prayed for me and the mister!

Someone suggested I read and sing the hymn: Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Here are the lyrics...

"Leaning on the Everlasting Arms."

What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms.

refrain:
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms;
Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlastingarms.

refrain:
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms.


refrain:
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

OK so if you need a visual think about sitting in the lap of the big statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial...

Off to hum a few bars of everlasting arms.... leaning.. knitting... leaning in the everlasting arms!





GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME
ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD