Celebrate!

Merry Christmas, folks!

Thanksgiving update

Thanksgiving was nice. We had company from the trip to the Wigwam until last Saturday, and we all managed to get along. It used to be, I would dread something like that, but this year...We even had short-notice company a couple of times, and I didn't retreat to either the bedroom or the computer room. I guess I'm growing up!

Three of our kids were home; two were in Chattanooga, and the grandkids were with them. At Christmas, we anticipate all seven being here at once. I'm already working on baby-proofing the house!

I'm trying to think of ways to make the Christmas visit even more relaxing. I figure I'll plan a menu--I have a friend who does that--and try to stick to it, as well as a schedule. Some of my children still have no concept of the amount of time that is involved in something as simple as shopping or going to the gym, so I figure I'd better schedule that stuff ahead.

The bazaar will be over this Friday. Probably until then, I won't do anything in the blog line rather than read other folks' stuff, although I have a post in mind I might get to this week. This is the week of prayer for foreign missions in our denomination, and I heard a marvelous testimony on Friday that I've already shared a couple of times. Just wait, it's coming.

Love to all, and God bless.

Wigwam Village

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

The above lines are from the poem Hiawatha, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. My dad used to recite it to me as a child. This weekend, David and I spent the night in the wigwam of Nokomis, at Wigwam Village in Cave City, Kentucky. Well, actually it may not have been the wigwam of Nokomis, but it surely was a wigwam.

We had been by the Wigwam Village motel in Cave City several times in our married life. I even knew a woman who had stayed in the motel, when she went to Bowling Green to visit her son at Western Kentucky University. We had sometimes talked about staying there, but it seemed the occasion had never arisen.

Last weekend, we arranged to meet our children, Ann and Daniel, halfway between our home in Kentucky and theirs in central Tennessee. We decided Bowling Green might be a good meeting place, and David suggested we book a wigwam. What the heck, I thought, why not!

It was after dark when we got to Cave City, and for a while we were afraid we wouldn't find the motel, but we did. It was probably also the coldest day of this winter to date. You of the far north who read this don't know Kentucky cold, and you from the south haven't experienced it recently enough to appreciate how cold it was last Friday night--dropping down to the 20's, at least, and maybe even lower.

The office at the motel was closed when we got there. Folks had to register at the owner's home. He met us at the door wearing a coat and gloves. I went inside to sign paperwork and found his home very well heated, despite his winter get-up and his little daughter sitting curled up under a blanket on their couch. We got the key to our unit and went to explore.

When we entered our wigwam, it was cold. Bone-chilling cold. There was a big steam radiator in the room, but apparently it hadn't functioned recently. Instead, the interior of the wigwam was heated with a 1-foot square space heater. The thermostat was set at 58, and I don't believe it got much over it all night--sometimes I doubt that it ever had been there. We had a double bed, one chair, a small table, some open shelving, a small bathroom, and a television. That was it. Not even two chairs, not even a Gideon Bible. Slightly underfurnished, in my opinion.

Let me tell you something you probably already know. Linoleum floors get COLD in the winter. Did I mention there was no carpet? Let me tell you something else. Commode seats in unheated bathrooms are cold, too! Neither of us even wanted to think about taking all our clothes off to take a shower, so I have no idea if there was hot water.

After taking a look around the room and checking out the television--yes, there was cable! Thank goodness!--we went out to find batteries for the remote and to warm up with ice cream at the Dairy Queen down the street. Then we came back to the room, got every blanket we could find and piled them on the bed, put on our long flannels and hopped in. We didn't get out again until the next morning, when the sun woke us up. No alarm clock, no telephone, but we weren't sleeping soundly enough in that cold room to stay in bed very long.

With the exception of the lack of heat and sparsity of furniture, it wasn't a bad stay. I would go there again, especially with children. There is a certain charm to sleeping in one of those little round rooms. I would want to go when it was a little warmer outside, though--like at least in the 70's!

If you go to Wigwam Village, ask for Unit 13. I know there are batteries in the remote--David duck-taped them in before we left. Don't look for a refrigerator, but your drinks will stay cold without one--they'll chill well enough on the floor. And watch your head when you go to the bathroom--David whopped his at least once!

Love to all, and God bless.

More prayer requests

Ya know, maybe I ought to start a blog with just our prayer requests on it!

Both of these requests are for my "children". These two folks, though not born to me, are so dear to me that I consider them my own. I hope that you are blessed with folks like that in your lives, too.

The first is Jenn, our third daughter. Jenn has her own blog, and she has posted information about her situation there. Jenn and her family are in need of prayer right now for a number of reasons. Please pray for them.

The second is Chao (Sam), my second son. Chao is a nurse in Lexington. He has been our friend for at least four years, and I have "adopted" him, since his family is in China. Chao and his wife, Ting, have a precious little boy, Alex. Alex is four years old and has been diagnosed with autism. Currently Alex is living in China with his grandparents in order to attend a special training program there. Chao is living in Lexington, and Ting, his wife, is living in Montana, where she is doing medical research. Chao just got back recently from a visit to see Ting. They "visit" regularly with Alex on the computer--thank God for things like Skype!

Chao just learned that Alex has pneumonia. His immune system is extremely weakened, and they don't know why. The medication they are giving him to treat the pneumonia is making him sick to his stomach--just not a good situation in any way. Chao is very worried about his precious son. He told me he would be willing to give his whole immune system to Alex, if it would make him well, and knowing how Chao feels about Alex, I know he would do it.

Please pray that Alex will be healed, that this family can be reunited, and pray for Chao's parents in China, Rue and her husband, who are taking care of precious BaBa so far away from his parents.

I am thanking you in advance, as I know you are folks who know the power of prayer. Love to all, and God bless.

Prayer requests

Hi, folks. You all know that I believe very strongly in the power of prayer. Today I have two specific requests, and I would appreciate your prayers for these two items.

The first request is for the healing of my cousin, Libby. Libby is the closest member of my family to me right now. She lived with our family for a couple of years when I was little, until her marriage (when I was eight or so), and then lived near us for several years after that. Since then, she has been a very important person in my life. She was (and is) my go-to person, the first one I call when things are rocky in my life. She is a devout Christian, one of the most welcoming people I know. She has opened her home to my family and friends on many occasions. We are always invited to her house for the holidays--any of the holidays, from Christmas to the 4th of July.

Right now, Libby is in Baptist East in Louisville with an undiagnosed digestive ailment. She was in ICU for a day or two, but has been upgraded to a regular room while they do testing to see what is wrong with her. My specific request is that they find the cause of her inability to digest food (and that they are able to treat it!). Please pray for Libby, her precious husband, Dexter, and the rest of their family (six children, numerous in-laws, grandchildren, and a great-grandchild).

My second request is for Daniel and Annie (my son-in-law and daughter) as he attempts to gather the paperwork necessary to apply for his permanent green card. We consider Daniel a very special part of our family, and we want him to be able to stay near us in this country for as long as he wants to do that.

Thank you in advance for your prayers! Love to all, and God bless.

He LIKED it! Yay, Kenny!

Some of you may know the commercial starring little Mikey, who would eat anything. That's the reference in the title, although it has nothing to do with eating.

I have a friend named Kenny who has an artificial eye. I have known Kenny for years, and I didn't know this about him until this summer. Most of my loyal readers know I work at the hospital as a "pink lady" four or five days a month. The last day I worked, the day before Halloween, the hospital gift shop was selling all their Halloween stuff half-price. I had a look at the junk and found one item I really liked. It had been a hot seller, and there were only two left in stock. The woman running the shop said the kids really liked this particular item. I bought one, intending to give it to one of my sons-in-law (which I did).

I took it back to the front desk and showed it to the lady I was working with. She laughed at it and asked me who I was going to give it to. I told her--she thought that was pretty cute. As I sat there, I thought and thought about the poor leftover item back in the store and decided I had to have it too. When I told her what I was intending to do with it, she said, "You wouldn't."

Well, tonight when we were at church, David asked me, "Don't you have something for Kenny?" I sent him back out to the car to retrieve the item. He came back in and handed it to me. I went over to Kenny and said, "I have something for you--you might be able to use it sometime." He took one look in the bag and laughed and laughed.

Okay, so you're wondering--or maybe you're smart enough to figure out already--what was in the bag. A sticky, gooky artificial eye.

Kenny's wife came up then and shared this story with us. Another man who attends our church also has a glass eye. He had been a basketball coach for a good portion of his adult life. One night, he felt the refereeing of the game had been pretty biased against his team. Towards the end of the game after one particularly bad call, he walked out onto the court, plucked out his false eye, and handed it to the ref. "Here. You need this worse than I do." Then he walked off the court.

Love to all, and God bless.

I finally voted for a winner!

It's been years since it happened--I used to say that the one way you could be assured your candidate would LOSE the election was to get me to vote for him/her. I was a lot like the character in Doonesbury who would go into the voting booth, and you would hear the sound of a flushing commode. That's me--I kept flushing my vote. Folks, I even voted for Ross PirRow!

But THIS year, we all got it right. Not just me, but America! I loved reading Mrs. All Roro's comments about the election. It's great to know that born-again Christian evangelicals weren't ALL swept up in the McCain/Palin madness, that I wasn't the only one who believed in Obama.

Congratulations to all of you who voted--as our friend in LaGrange used to say, "You done good!" Love to all, and God bless.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, dear Jennifer,
Happy birthday to you!

Curious George and I hope you have a good birthday. As you hear so often, "your card is in the mail!"

It's a mystery to me!

Yesterday, I got to spend a nice, quiet day at home. That doesn't happen very often, folks, despite the fact that I'm retired. The only thing on my agenda was a trip to the grocery store, since we had run out of bananas and were almost out of pop. (The bananas I could do without, but pop--that's a different matter.)

I finally got around to the place where I was ready to go to the store. When I looked in my purse for my keys, they were not there. I took everything out of the purse--every blessed thing. No keys. Nowhere, no how, no keys. My little suede pouch was missing, too, but I wasn't concerned about it. I only use it to hold nail clippers, and I had seen them on the couch. I went out and looked in the car, to see if by chance I had left them there. Nope. There was the slightest possibility that we might have driven to church with them in the trunk--nope, they weren't there either. Phooey.

I waited for David to get home from work to ask him if he had any idea where they were--like maybe he had pocketed them in the car, or he had seen them in some unusual location. Nope. We tore up Jack in the living room, even to the point of tilting back the hide-a-bed to see if they were there. Nope. I told him perhaps they were with the prescription I had filled on Wednesday, since I wasn't sure where it was, either. We located the prescription, out in the kitchen, but no keys. No keys on any flat surface, anywhere in the house. After walking around like beheaded chickens, I finally said, "Let's go to Orient Express and eat supper. I'm too flustered to try to cook." So we did. And no, we didn't find the keys there, either. (Of course I wasn't looking for them there.)

This morning I went out into the kitchen after David had left for work to fix my breakfast. I saw my purse sitting on the table, where I had left it. For some reason (now, I'm not sure what it was), I looked in the purse and saw the little suede pouch that I keep my nail clippers, mirror, and lip balm in. That was weird, since it had been missing the day before. When I picked it up, there were my keys. I was astounded. I had very carefully looked in that purse the day before, and neither the keys nor the pouch had been there. I figured David had located them before he left for work, and stuck them in my purse as a surprise.

With that in mind, I went to exercise class, to K-mart, to the podiatrist, and to the grocery store. Then I took home the small roast and au gratin potatoes I had gotten for David as a reward for finding the keys. I waited for him to come home.

When he got home, I asked him where he had found my keys. Here's the mystery, folks--he didn't find them. He figured they had been in the purse all along. I know they hadn't. Where they came from, I have no idea. I wish they could talk, so they could tell me where they went on their "explore". I guess I'll never know.

I hope all your mysteries have as pleasant outcomes, even if they leave you, like me, wondering what the heck happened! Love to all, and God bless.

Rahab the Harlot

This is one of my favorite characters, probably because I like the feeling of saying something like that in church. Rahab the Harlot. Well, actually, this is not a photograph of Rahab, but of Miss Kitty (the actress Amanda Blake). I don't think it EVER occurred to me as a child that Miss Kitty was, in fact, a harlot! There was a reason she lived over the saloon, there was a reason she dressed the way she did, there was a reason the cowboys kept going upstairs, there was a reason there were a number of fancy bedrooms upstairs...

This is a busy couple of days for me in my retired day-to-day existence. I went to a hospital auxiliary meeting this morning, got there early to chat and trouble-shoot with the bizarre committee and stayed late to help a volunteer who was working the front desk by herself. Now, other than cooking supper and washing choir robes, I'm finished with today's stuff.

Tomorrow, I have to give the Bible study at WMU on poor Rahab. For those of you who aren't familiar with her, she was (according to some Bible manuscripts) an innkeeper in the ill-fated town of Jericho. She hid some Israeli spies from the Jericho militia who intended to put them to death. In reward for her hiding them and subsequently helping them to escape from the walled city by letting them down over the wall with a rope, she and her family escaped the carnage following the fall of Jericho. I'm not sure what my focus is supposed to be on the Bible study, but I've always admired the fact that God was able to use someone like Rahab to do His work. Her job was not honorable--we would consider her a major sinner--yet she was important to God's plans for His creation.

There are more appointments tomorrow afternoon--Retired Teachers' Association meeting, flu shot (and possible chest x-ray), and the Tuesday night English class. I predict tomorrow's supper will be nothing fancy, maybe even something at a restaurant.

Take care, folks, remember that God can use you no matter what your occupation or background is, love to all, and God bless.

Bittersweet

Without a doubt, this is my favorite part of fall. When I was little, my dad sometimes had to travel from one small town to another on banking business. Often on his way home, he would make a point of driving through the country and searching for bittersweet, this lovely orange berry you see in the picture. We had a brown pottery vase that had belonged to his mother, and he would put the bittersweet in that vase. Now that Dad has been gone over twelve years, it is memories like these that kept him here with me. On top of my refrigerator is that brown vase, containing bittersweet that David and I bought several years ago somewhere in Illinois. I have not been able to find it locally, and boy, do I miss it. Almost as much as I miss Daddy!

Love to all, and God bless.

Happy Birthday to You!

Well, if your name is Everett, an especially happy birthday to you! We tried to call you while ago, but you weren't home. Daddy and I decided that was a good thing. Daddy's off to bed pretty soon, so I guess we'll just wait and call tomorrow. Your card may get there tomorrow, too--at least I mailed it on your birthday!

My firstborn, or as Lois Lauranne says, "My starter child", is 36 years old today! This is hard to believe. I know he's been out on his own almost as long as he lived at home--maybe longer--with a few summers during college back at the house. His room is no longer his room--it's the computer room. Still, the stickers all over the door say "A boy once lived here." Actually, they say things like, "The Guard belongs", Wildcats, Hardee's is Smurf turf!, Support Sheriffs' Succession, 4-H Member...

There used to be even more reminders of this being his room, such as the posters all over the place, the official tack from Governor's Scholars...Now I have to look pretty hard to find anything (other than the stickers on the door) to find any evidence of his time here. Until I go to the basement, and see the trophies, books, toy soldiers, other wonderful evidence scattered around, even the special shirt that says something about having to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince charming! I guess somewhere a princess is wasting her time kissing frogs, because she hasn't found our boy yet!

It probably isn't very adult to call a 36-year-old man a boy, but that's the way we mamas are. We just refuse to accept the fact they've grown up. I guess I'm still waiting for him to ride his bike home from one of his "explores". Bubba, I love you. You're still my little boy.

Good night to all, and God bless. (And if you know Bubba, give him a holler.)

How do I waste my time? Let me count the ways...

1. I spend entirely too much time every day back in this room on this machine. That is my number one time waster. Half the time I spend checking emails, opening each and every one (well, on one account anyway), skimming it to see if I've already read that story, deleting, going to the next one...Not a lot of meat in very many of my emails. Just a forwarded story or Happy Sister's Day or some such thing--How often does that National Girlfriends' Week come around, anyway?

2. The second big time waster is playing games on this thing. I have found a very simple form of mah jongg on the AARP website, something ridiculous like Mah Jongg toy box, I believe, is the name. The game has the audacity to list the record high score (which isn't mine) of 15948. I have NO IDEA how anyone could score anything like that! My own high scores rank up in the 8000's. But I keep trying, not because it's that much fun, but because I can do it, and it's addictive. Enough said.

3. When I'm not playing that idiot toy box game, I'm playing either mine sweeper or spider solitaire on here. Not particularly brilliant, is it?

4. When I'm not doing that, I'm in the living room on my end of the couch, with the tube turned on (something with a plot, please, nothing educational or hard to follow), and all my paper junk spread around me. That usually consists of today's (and sometimes yesterday's) newspapers, the day's junk mail (which usually includes some sort of interesting catalog), one or two more important papers (such as the bank statement or a bill), half a dozen magazines, a couple of library books, at least two Bibles (the read-the-Bible-through-in-a-year version and the larger-type NIV version I got for Christmas last year), and a couple of puzzle books (sudoku and secret-word wordsearch). Somewhere in that mess is my knitting du jour, which right now is circular dishcloths. I'll knit a while, watch a little TV, do a puzzle, look through a catalog or magazine, start my Bible reading, go back to the knitting...not always in the same order--I'm not OCD, for Pete's sake!

And that's how I spend my days at home. When I'm out of the house, it's a different matter! I guess I ought to go back to work.

Love to all, and God bless.

A hurricane? In Kentucky?

I've always felt reasonably safe from the threat of hurricanes way up north here, way west here--well, anyway, away from the coast. It takes us at least 12 hours to get from our home to the nearest beach, and many of the hurricanes that cause such havoc don't affect us, unless it's as rain. As a matter of fact, when we were in Chattanooga visiting with family and heard predictions for Gustav and Ike, I reassured my SIL that he was in no danger from hurricanes where he lived in Nashville. The nature of hurricanes was such that all the damage took place near the coast, and they pretty much "petered out" as they came inland.

Folks, I was wrong. If you don't believe me, check the news for Louisville and northern Kentucky. We had gale-force winds all day on Sunday, and over 100,000 people in Louisville are without power! I haven't tried to contact Louisville family yet, but I will...I am concerned, since a lot of the power outages seem to be in the Bardstown/Fern Creek area. I know that the family there will be watching out for each other, but you might want to pray for them. The latest I heard, it may be two weeks before power is fully restored.

Imagine this scenario: Your children are home from school on an unplanned vacation (this is the second day of no school in Jefferson County), and your electricity is out. Okay, during the daytime you can send them outside, but what in the heck are you going to do with them at night? And how are you going to feed those teenagers? Thank God that the infrastructure in this country is a little sounder than that in Haiti, where you see folks fighting over bottled water and whatever foodstuff that manages to get into the country, but still inconveniences are going to exist for quite some time. And help is not as readily available as it is after some storms, since this storm was so widespread. Utility companies from the tri-state area are really swamped, especially considering that some of their crews had been deployed to the coast.

No, we don't have near the damage that they had in Texas or Louisiana, but we are tasting a little of what those folks are going through. Georgetown and Lexington were spared the brunt of the damage, but even here in town--I was driving up town yesterday to attend a meeting and saw a tree that had fallen on a house on South Broadway. Not just a branch off the Bradford pear, but a whole tree. In Lexington, a huge branch broke off a tree near Henry Clay's home on Richmond Road and fell on a passing car, injuring the driver badly enough that she was taken to the hospital. And in Shelby County, a child was killed when a tree branch hit him outside.

Nobody told us anything other than to be careful when driving high-profile vehicles. Nobody told us to stay indoors until that danged hurricane blew through. Nobody told us to stock up on canned foods and flashlight batteries. The Louisville radio station that I listen to regularly was asking for folks to call in if they had seen a supply of flashlight batteries anywhere. You can understand that from now on, when a hurricane is predicted, we are all going to be watching the weather channel just a little more carefully, to see if it is going to "hit" Kentucky!

Take care--stay warm, dry, and fed. Love to all, and God bless.

Update: The Louisville folks are doing okay. They have power now; theirs was only out for two nights. Thanks for your prayers! We love you, and God does, too.

Friendship Thursday

We started our Friendship year off today. There were five of us who rode together to Lexington to take charge of the nursery. On our trip over, we speculated about the number of babies who would show up. Since most of our babies last year were about to start walking, we were pretty sure they would be "moving up" to the toddler nursery. As far as we knew, there was only one little baby who would be there--we had a three-week-old at our last session in May, so we figured he might be back.

I had hoped to take pictures of all the little ones as they got settled into their classes and to give those pictures to the parents at a later date. Our first little girl to show up was Yuna, who had been in our baby class last year. Yuna seemed a little shy, but I did manage to get a picture of her.

And then the bus from Shawneetown (UK student housing) showed up. Just like last year, all our Chinese moms came at once. And just like last year, all their babies started crying at the same time. Not just crying, screaming. It was bedlam in the toddler room. There was NO WAY to get pictures taken--we were too busy trying to get tags onto diaper bags, to convince mothers that their children would be okay, and to attempt to convince the babies that they would be okay. I think some of them bought into that, because a little later in the morning, there were actually times when you could hear some of the musical toys, or maybe even a word of conversation among the workers. Not often, mind you, but occasionally.

Across the hall in the baby room, nine babies showed up. As I remarked to one of the workers, I don't know where those babies came from! She was surprised that at my age, I still didn't know where babies come from and offered to explain the facts of life to me. Oh, the facts of life--I have those down pretty much pat, but the facts of life as related to babies at Friendship--I SWEAR, there was no more than one pregnant woman coming last year, and I believe she was the one who gave birth to the three-week-old who was at the last session! I don't remember one other bulging belly! Normal nine-month pregnancies I understand, but how the internationals can conceive and give birth over a three-month summer vacation is beyond me!

The new crop of babies are delightful. One little fellow spent his first hour in the nursery nursing. He finally decided to let mommy go to her class. After she left, a worker remarked that he seemed pretty happy. Another one said, of course he was--he had been eating for an hour! We call him Henry I Ate, sort of a take off on Henry the 8th--get it? Probably pretty weak joke, but I'm tired. It's been a long day.

I think all told, we had 22 babies and toddlers. They tell me at one time, they kept all the little ones in the same room. I know that would be absolutely impossible now, and I wouldn't even want to try. Oh, and lest you think the five of us handled all 22 children with no help, that wasn't the case. I'm not sure how many workers we had, but it was enough that each cryer had his/her own worker--it looked like there were almost as many workers as there were children.

I hope you had a good day, full of God's blessings, and that you're enjoying each and every one of them, even the ones that cry! Love to all, and God bless.

Blessed all over the place!

Tonight was one of those nights when a person's blessings really become apparent. Those of you who know me, know that organization is not one of my strong points. I had recently panicked, due to a couple of fairly major tools being lost.

One was my address book. One year my sister-in-law Ruth gifted me with an address book, in which she had written all the family addresses and phone numbers. This was a terrific gift! Over the years, I had kept that address book updated. Then one day, I lost it. I was in a panic. I bought another address book and quickly wrote down everything I remembered and had in other spots. Then of course, I found the first book.

Within the last three or four weeks, I had mislaid the newer book, which had all the current addresses in it. That, in and of itself, was fairly serious, since I couldn't send birthday cards, get-well cards, and the like. It really became a problem for me, though, when my cell phone died for lack of a charge. I had many of the family phone numbers stored in the cell phone!

I had conducted several fruitless searches, trying to find that darn address book, all to no avail. I tried to go on with my life, but it was hard. I couldn't check up on the kids, for instance, since I didn't know their phone numbers off the top of my head--bummer. Then another disaster struck--I lost the check book! Of course, this was much more serious than misplacing the address book. For one thing, the phone bill was due, and I needed the check book to pay it! It had only been gone a couple of days, but all the same, I was really worried. I might actually have to clear up my mess on the couch, in an attempt to find it!

Tonight I was vainly searching through the paid-bills folder in an attempt to see if the check book was in there with the BOA bill I had last paid. No luck. I decided to attempt to separate and organize all the loose receipts, which I told David would be a lot simpler, if I only had some paper clips. He jumped up, took off for his desk downstairs, and came back with three or four. I needed more, so I suggested he look in the "junk drawer" by the refrigerator. He came back in, smiling. "I didn't find any paper clips, but maybe this will make up for it!", and he pitched me my address book. I was really glad to see it!

Then I commented, "I would imagine that the check book is with the BOA bill, wherever that is." Again, up he jumped, stalked out, and came back, smiling and waving the check book. "Wherever did you find that?" He replied he had seen the bill laying on a footstool inside our bedroom door, so he checked, and there was that pesky check book, hiding underneath!

So, like I said in the title, God is just blessing me all the place tonight! Now I'll go pay that phone bill, put those other papers away, address a couple of birthday cards, and get on with my life. Love to all, and God bless.

English lesson

Tonight we were discussing tools and their purposes. It was a lot of fun to try to explain some of the things that were there. For instance, there was a toilet plunger. Some of you know the Shel Silverstein poem that makes reference to a plunger. Need I say that the students thought I was really funny when I acted that out?

Another thing that got a lot of laughs was the duct tape. Garnett said it was one of the most important things in a US tool box. Of course we didn't have enough Spanish (or Japanese or Ukrainian) to explain the old US maxim, "If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape." But we could show them a few things, and Garnett was able to explain a little bit of stuff, like how her guide in Ecuador had used duct tape to keep Garnett's too-big shoes from sliding around on her feet. I told them people even made dresses out of duct tape (note to self, try to find a picture for next week), but that it was really good for loud kids and illustrated how you could put a piece of tape over their mouths.

Like I said Tuesday, I love ESL. Good night to all, and God bless.

She's still a teacher

My friend Garnett called me last week about "helping" a friend with her ESL (English Second Language) class for adults. I told her I'd be glad to help, as long as all that entailed was sitting in the classroom while the other woman taught. Okay. That lasted one night.

Tuesday, I taught a class solo. I have the very beginning students, those who know enough English to tell me their name and where they are from--maybe. Other than that, their English is still better than my Spanish (which is the only second language in this particular class). Last week we worked on "Hello, my name is_____." We also worked on the alphabet. Again this week, we worked on "Hello, my name is_____." And the alphabet. Only this week, I kept getting more students.

We started out with 4 or 5, but by the time the class was over, there were 9 in there. Class started at 7 (actually a few minutes after that). A supervisor came in for a few minutes and seemed to wonder why I hadn't started yet. I told her we were on Hispanic time. She understood perfectly, laughed, and left. Like I said, several others came in as the class went on. About 8:10, a second supervisor brought in the 8th student and said, "I promise, no more new people." This fellow had been in another classroom, but the instructor had quickly gathered that he wasn't ready for her class yet. The supervisor said, "He needs to be in your class." I said, "Are you sure?" He replied, "Oh, yes, he needs to be in this class." Do I need to tell you I loved it? It wore me out, but I LOVED it.

By the end of the evening, I had committed to teaching on Tuesdays all the school year, I guess. Tonight at church, my friend Macy caught me and asked me, "Do you want to help me teach ESL tomorrow night?" I didn't hesitate very long before I told her sure, as long as she was doing the teaching and I was just sitting in the class...Maybe I should have thought that over, since that was what I did the first time.

A few of my family members who read this blog are going to recognize the person in this next little bit about ESL. Garnett told me she was going to teach a combined class on Thursday night, since Gary had been pestering her for quite a while to bring his tools to class and teach the students the names of all the tools. She and I both looked at each other and laughed--let's just hope that Garnett is the one who actually teaches the names of the tools. Otherwise, I don't know if anyone will be able to understand a word they say.

That's enough for tonight--Goodnight to all, and God bless!

Medals in perspective

Like several of you, I've been watching Olympic coverage this week. Today while blog browsing, I found a reference to this chart that puts a different slant on who is ahead in the medal count. I know we are all rooting for our own country to be ahead, but after watching the opening ceremonies and seeing all those countries with only a handful of athletes and a coon-dog's chance of winning anything, it's NICE to see the big powers down toward the bottom of the list!

And yet another picture...

Grandpa David and Granny Susan are enjoying some bonding with their new grandson. We just wish they lived a little closer, so that we could hold and rock him a little more!

Did anybody want to see pictures?

This is Cohen, about three hours after he was born. His granny really does love him. He didn't have a lot to say about her, though. The red hair and eyes in the background belong to Cohen Preston's Papaw, Preston.

Somebody new

Thought you might like to see Cohen Preston Brown, 7 lb 10 oz, 19.75 in long--born this morning at 8:23 am. Mother, Cohen, and all concerned are doing fine. His picture is on the Brown Famile blog. Every good and perfect gift cometh from above. Thank you, Lord! Love to all, and God bless.

Praise God

Praise God for answered prayers! I just spent almost 40 minutes talking to Ann over the internet. She is safely back in Hyderabad. Her adventures in Bangalore can be read on her blog. Thank you all so much for your prayers and love for her. We do appreciate them!

Love to all, and God bless.

Update on me

Aaarghh! It's Popeye Susan, back for round 2 of piratehood! Only noticeable difference between this time and last time is that someone forgot to put Miracle Grow on my list, to try to grow some decent veins for IVs, and I had to have five sticks. So you might say it's Popeye Susan the Porcupine! Anyway, the sedation was effective, and I'm in a completely laid-back mood, ready to spend the day relaxing. From what I could see before he got the patch on my eye, things are probably going to be really good in this eye, too. Thank you for your prayers!

Love to all, and God bless.

Update on Ann

As of 5 am on Sunday morning, Ann was all right. We haven't heard anything since then. They were scheduled to stay in Bangalore (or that area) until Tuesday, I believe, so, as far as I'm concerned, there is still some danger for them. Thank you for your prayers so far, and please keep them up! Love to all, and God bless.

Prayer Requests (at this time, 3)

1. Right now, my baby Annie is in Bangalore, India, with her husband, Daniel, visiting Daniel's great-uncle. If you have been keeping up with the news, you may know that there have been a number of bombings in Bangalore this week. Please keep Ann and Daniel (and their family) in your prayers.
2. Tomorrow morning, at 8:00, I am to check in to the Surgery Center in Lexington for my second cataract surgery. I am not particularly anxious about the surgery, probably because the news from India is occupying my mind, but I would appreciate your prayers for a successful surgery.
3. On August 4, in the morning (I forget the exact time), our daughter, Lydia, and her husband, Geron, will become the parents of their second child, a son. Lydia had some life-threatening complications with the first delivery, but the doctor does NOT expect the same thing to happen this time. (As they say, forewarned is forearmed.) Please pray for them and for little Cora, who will be going through some big changes!

Thanks to all of you, and God bless.

Pictures from Extreme Build

Yes, I learned another lesson...

What lesson did I learn? I learned it's probably not a good idea to leave your purse on the chair across from you in the restaurant when you stop for supper. Despite David saying (he says) that we mustn't forget to take the purse when we left, we got all the way from Mt. Vernon to the exit right before the Kentucky River (let's say at least 30+ miles) before I realized we had, indeed, forgotten to take the purse when we left.

The staff at Hardee's had left it right where I had left it--we could see it from the parking lot. The manager told me when we came in that it was "right where you left it!", and it was. She said she had kept her eye on it the whole time. David was relieved to see it in place--he said he would stop worrying about someone copying all the credit-card numbers, etc. I tipped the person handsomely (or at least I thought handsomely) and we got on home.

Other than that, our second trip to Whitley City for Extreme Build went very well. David is sound asleep in his chair, with Tru TV on in the background, and I'm thinking about unpacking the suitcase and going to bed. Good night, love to all, and God bless.

Extreme Build

Some of you know that David, Everett, and I spent the last week (Sunday to Saturday) building a house in eastern Kentucky. We worked with a program very similar in nature to Habitat for Humanity, only this was backed by the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship. It was a great, great experience, one I've NEVER been involved with before, and one I'll be working with again, Lord willing.

Some of the things I learned:
1. Having only one good eye makes it hard as heck to navigate rough terrain, especially when carrying floor boards and other construction materials.
2. Even when it gets to be almost 100 degrees in the sun in the afternoon, mornings are still cold and damp.
3. Covering one's self with whipped cream and jumping in bed with a person makes a tremendous mess. (I didn't do it, one of the youth from Texas did it to their youth pastor. I heard there was whipped cream all over the world.)
4. Despite what they tell you at the front desk, you don't have to wait until 11:30 pm to see the moon bow at Cumberland Falls--a good portion is visible at 10:00.
5. G2 and Propel are not the same thing--Propel has a lot less carbs, if that sort of thing is important to you.
6. If you leave bananas in plastic bags in 95 degree heat, you won't believe how fast they ripen!
7. The hotel maids in small towns won't take the tip money you leave for them unless you specifically tell them that's what it is--too honest, otherwise.
8. When you work from 7 in the morning until nearly 6 at night, it doesn't matter if it is the premiere season episode of Monk, you can't stay awake that late.
9. If you "lose" your keys in the ignition of your car, it's best not to lose them with the ignition on, especially if they are going to be there all day.
10. Always be sure the lid is up in the portolet before you sit down, especially when you've been trying to avoid going in there all day long.

I may learn another couple of more important life-lessons tomorrow, since David took another personal day tomorrow to go back down and help finish things up. I may be doing more tomorrow than going to the hardware store and asking for "two of these, one of these, and one of these that goes all the way around (a broken part)".

Love to all, and God bless. Oh, by the way, if you're looking for pictures, don't even bother. I don't think I had the camera out of the case the entire time I was there--too many other things that needed doing. And if you'd like to read more about Extreme Build, you might check Everett's blog.

The 4th

Our Fourth was pretty pleasant. David and I slept in, then went to Louisville to Libby's for the mitral valve birthday party. That valve is 9 years old this year! When it was time to return thanks before the meal, Jim acknowledged the mitral valve, as well as his "seizure-versary"--it's been a year, and as far as we know, he's been seizure-free for the whole year. Then there was Faye's successful surgery on the 3rd--she wanted to talk to me on the phone, and she sounded really good. We had a pretty good turnout--three of Libby's six children were there with their spouses and in-laws, as well as three grandchildren, two grandchildren-in-law, and a great grandchild, plus the usual assortment of in-laws and out-laws that show up at that little house.

Changes are in store. Next year, Libby and Deck will be living somewhere other than the little house, so the mitral-valve birthday party will have to be held somewhere else. Change is always hard, but as long as folks pretty much stay the same, change of location is really minor. It's fun to hear the family talk about what they want out of the house when the folks move--one grandchild has asked for the living room floor. Can you imagine? She wants to make a table out of it! Funny, but true.

In case you wondered (like anyone would!), the stealth brownies were not a big hit. Since they were chocolate, I left them in Louisville. It wouldn't hurt my feelings at all to hear they ended up in the garbage. One thing that could be said for them, no one could guess what was in them; another thing, they were moist. This year, rather than having a cook-out, we had a taco bar and a potato bar. That went over pretty well. But me, I couldn't imagine the gathering without hamburgers, so I brought a tray full from home. They were a lot of fun to make, something I believe folks would enjoy doing with their kids, and they tasted good, to boot!

Almost enough about the Fourth--we did see some fireworks, some of God's doings, and we heard plenty of pop-pops, as Cora has named them, in our neighborhood when we got home.

The rest of the weekend seems to be going pretty smoothly. I'm in here on the computer, and David is watching (through closed eyelids) some sort of organ/church music program. Later this afternoon, we are going back to church to "practice" for a program of patriotic music out at Dover Manor. Mr. Mac, their resident "chaplain", asked our choir director if she could get the program together, and she said sure. That's at 3:30, so I dare not get comfortable, lest I go to sleep and we don't get there.

I hope everyone's firecrackers went off without a hitch! Love to all, and God bless.

Fourth plans thwarted...

Dang. I was planning to make "firecracker" cookies for lunch tomorrow--a simple sugar cookie-type recipe, as well as I can remember, but with an added secret ingredient. However, I've lost my recipe! And all the ones I found when I googled firecracker cookies were NOT the one I was looking for--they were just cookies that looked like a firecracker because of their shape or decoration. That's not what these cookies were. Does anyone remember them, and does anyone have the recipe? Love to all, and God bless.
Update: I made some stealth brownies, just a minute ago. I thoroughly enjoyed licking the spoon--hope other folks enjoy them!

What's going on?

Well, folks, it's been a while since I actually wrote about current affairs around here, hasn't it? For the last couple of months, David and I have both been dealing with health issues. David dropped a car door on his toe almost two months ago, and the swelling is just now going down (after two rounds of antibiotics). It took almost three weeks before I could get him to the doctor--you know men--but when he did, it was a pretty quick diagnosis that the toe was broken and that infection had set in. The doctor also told him he had to stay home from work until I said he could go back. That was a pretty good feeling, to be in control for a change. I only got to keep him home two days, though, since he and I both decided it was looking better after the second day.

That was all the improvement he got from the first round of antibiotics. It was at a stand still until about two weeks ago, when he decided to get the antibiotics renewed and have another go at it. Now the toe is starting to look more concave than convex, so maybe healing is happening.

After the broken toe, our next excitement (which really wasn't all that exciting) was my first cataract surgery. That went with no hitches, other than having to wait what I considered too long for a twenty-minute surgery. Then there were the little inconveniences of having to sleep with a patch over my eye, and no good adhesive that would not tear up my face when I took it off. (And NOW that it's over, I remember that I have sleep blindfolds somewhere in the house! They would have worked just fine, and don't think for a minute that I'm not going to get one out before the next surgery!) The correction from the surgery was terrific. I am working right now with no glasses, something I guarantee I couldn't have done prior to the operation.

One little bit of excitement that happened that first week after the surgery...We were asleep at 2:00 when our phone rang. Our niece was calling from Lexington--the truck had been towed. She had borrowed our truck to drive to work while her car was being repaired. (That wasn't a bad inconvenience, since I wasn't driving anyway.) After she got off that night, she had gone to a friend's apartment to watch a movie. When she came out to drive home, no truck was there. The apartment complex was really quick to tow "unauthorized" vehicles (ones without parking permits), and the parking permit she had used was expired. She went to pick up the truck, but the towing company would only release it to the owner, who was sound asleep at his house 20 minutes' drive away. And since David wasn't sure whether the truck was in his name or mine, I had to go with him. Guess who wasn't happy to get up at crap o'clock and ride to Lexington. When we got to the towing company, niece came around to my side of the car to talk to me, and David said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Interesting night. We were home by 3, but David had to get up for work at 4:30.

That same weekend, we went to Chattanooga to see the grandbaby and her family. That was a great visit. We do love those folks! We spent a lazy Saturday down there, playing with the girl and her folks. On Father's Day, we went to church with them, which was really nice. We enjoy being with them and their church friends. We ate lunch with the other grandparents--the church had a barbecue for all attendees and their guests--and enjoyed watching Grandbaby eating cake and dill pickles.

The week following that, we got word from Chattanooga that the other grandfather had had a heart attack, the Saturday before we ate lunch together on Sunday! He was placed in the hospital on Tuesday after a stress test showed the heart attack, and then ended up having a quadruple bypass that Thursday. Daughter called me to come down and help watch the little one for her.

Not only was Pawpaw in the hospital, but daughter had a health scare of her own. She is pregnant, and a routine ultrasound discovered a possible problem with the baby. She had an amniocentesis right away, and was told she needed to take it easy for the next couple of days. I went down and helped out. By the time I got there, she had already started hauling the current little one around. (Daughter is not a person who likes to be idle.) I was able to help out, though, when we went to the laundromat and caught up about 20 loads of wash! Oh, by the way, I drove myself down there and back, and everything went just fine! (Of course there was no night driving involved.)

Current state of affairs down in Chattanooga: The first round of tests on the baby came back showing a normal boy. Grandfather is still in the hospital, still on a ventilator as far as I know, and things are not back to normal down there, so prayers from you prayer warriors are still coveted.

This past week, we got to go to Nashville to visit our other daughter and son-in-law, which was another great trip. Daughter and I shopped a while on Saturday. Then the four of us joined another couple and their almost-2-year-old for supper at a Persian restaurant. That was a lot of fun--good food, even though it wasn't my normal fare. After the meal, we stood around outside the restaurant chatting until we were all hungry again, and we ended the evening at Baskin-Robbins. Hey, what happened to the 31 flavors? I only remember about 15 at that store, and my favorite, some sort of chocolate raspberry truffle thing, wasn't among them. Anyway. The next day, the other three folks got up and went to church. I stayed home due to a digestive disturbance--probably that Persian food! I got over it after a good nap, though.

Now we're home. I spent yesterday afternoon at the hospital doing volunteer work. Nothing is scheduled for today--I can spend the whole day just being retired! and maybe finishing Sujatha's sweater. Tomorrow is Senior Day at Kroger's, so I'm trying to come up with a list of everything I've been craving. Also, there's a possibility that a bunch of us will be getting together for lunch tomorrow, at a restaurant in Frankfort. We had a similar gathering for supper at Casa in Frankfort on Tuesday of last week, and spent four hours laughing ourselves silly, so I'm looking forward to a good time at this gathering.

I hope all is going well for you. Love to all, and God bless.

A sign I'm FINALLY growing up...

Which is your favorite, summer or winter? That question came to me this morning in an email. I immediately answered "winter". I just don't like the heat of summer. As I tell folks so often, you can always add another layer of clothing or a quilt or afghan or something to warm you up in the winter, but you can't take enough off to cool you down in the summer.

Today at lunch, I remembered what I really like about summer--seasonal fruit. I had the wonderful blessing of growing up in a home where fresh fruit was available in the summer--not just the bananas, apples, and oranges that grace my kitchen table on a good day, but peaches, blackberries, raspberries, nectarines, and strawberries, my all-time favorite! When we first moved into the house my children remember as Granny's house, there was a strawberry patch next door--the whole lot next door, to be more exact! And, as I remember now, those were, without a doubt, the BEST strawberries ever. Not only did we have those strawberries available to us (for a price of course, but much less than what they are now), but about two blocks away lived a woman who made her summer money selling blackberries and raspberries!

I loved the month of June because of those berries. I can remember on several occasions being sent to Mrs. Shockey's house to buy blackberries or raspberries, then bringing them home for Mom to "fix". Fixing was no big deal--wash them, add sugar, put them in the ice box--the same way she "fixed" strawberries, except the strawberries were also sliced. Then after supper, while we were sitting around watching television, Mom would go out in the kitchen and come back with a bowl of berries for everyone, sometimes with ice cream but often, just the berries. Without a doubt, that was my FAVORITE summer food.

Yesterday, I went to Kroger's to buy bagels, bread, and bananas, the three B's--and you thought it was Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, right? Anyway, I also bought a pound of strawberries. Today at lunch, I washed some of them, cut them up, and put some Splenda on them. Then I ate them, right away--no waiting for that syrupy liquid to gather in the bottom of the bowl, just down the hatch.

And what does this have to do with growing up, you may ask? Weeeelll, until today, I waited for Mom to fix them for me! (Or I got them out at a restaurant or at someone's pot luck or something.) Finally, today, I realized that Mom wasn't going to be fixing my berries any more, and if I wanted to eat them, I needed to fix them myself. So, see? I'm getting to, finally, after 61 years, be a big girl!

Love to all, and God bless

My addiction

I really don't mind admitting that I have an addiction to a certain web site, Rocks in My Dryer. I just love to read this blog, especially on Wednesdays, when the host does something called "Works for Me Wednesday". There are so many interesting little hints on there. I'm not sure exactly what is involved in "posting" your hint on her blog, but last week almost 275 folks figured out how to do it and left their helpful hints.

Some of those folks have posted before, so I sort of "know" about them and their families. It's interesting to see how they are doing, from one week to the next. Many of them are Christian, quite a few are stay-at-home moms who home-school, and many are trying to save money in interesting ways. Once a month, they have a themed day when everyone is supposed to put in an idea that goes along with a certain theme, such as beating summer boredom. And sometimes there are days when folks pose requests for help rather than suggestions. It's kind of fun to read a request, think of a response, look at the comments, and realize someone else has had the very same thought you did!

I'm afraid I spend too much time reading Rocks in my Dryer, but I sure don't mind recommending it as a way to beat summer boredom!

Love to all, and God bless.

Request

If anyone knows anything about the following folks, please let me know. It's been WAY too long since I heard from them!

1. Bubba
2. Beck
3. Jennifer
4. Annie

Love to all, and God bless.

Here's an update: I had a good long chat with Annie last night, maybe a record chat for both of us (over an hour). It was nice to talk to my baby girl! I also talked to Bubba for a while--he seems to be doing well too. Love you all.

Fun for the family

David and I have a busy Saturday. Right now, he is fixing the bathtub faucet, which has been dripping since yesterday when I took a shower. I almost called him at work--I had tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't get the thing to stop dripping. He told me (after he got home from work) that he had the same problem after his shower the day before--it just wouldn't stop. He would have to put washers in the faucet.

Today, being Saturday, he has a little free time on his hands (very little, actually), so he is going to work on the faucets. First, he had to find his plumbing supplies. When he went to the basement and looked on the tool bench, they weren't readily visible. So he moved a small quilted travel bag to look under the bag. "Gee, this is heavy." He opened it and found that one of our daughters (probably the one who is here more often) had assembled a small plumbing repair kit for him. Great! Of course, once he had shut off the water and disassembled the faucet, he found that the size washer he needed was missing. That and something or other else that he needed...which meant a trip to the hardware store.

He headed out the front door and casually asked me if I were interested in going with him. Gee, I really love to go to the hardware store! (Never have enjoyed it, as a matter of fact) But at least this one has the advantage of being next door to Salvation Army's thrift store. So I agreed to get dressed (it is 12:00, mind you, and I know I should have already been dressed, but...) and went with him.

When we got to the hardware store, we found the parking lot was taken up in part by a motorcycle rally of some sort! If you know David, you know that next to me and his family, he probably loves looking at motorcycles better than about anything else in the world. Hooray for him! (Next to shopping at hardware stores, looking at motorcycles is on my list of things I hate) BUT along with the motorcycles, they also had a rummage sale! Not only was there one with the motorcycles, there was one over by the storage building display and one in front of the hardware store! All right! Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

I headed for the storage buildings and started looking through boxes on flatbed trailers. There were some small Hispanic children there (along with their mothers) who were also looking through things. We spent a few minutes pulling stuff out of boxes and showing it to each other and exclaiming about how wonderful it was (it really wasn't), and then we found some books. If there's anything I'm a sucker for, it's children's books. I didn't see anything that grabbed my attention right away, but one of the little girls found an I Spy book. She was really excited, since it had numbers in it. She didn't know about looking for the other little pictures, and she got even more excited when she discovered that part of the fun. We went from the beginning through the page with the 6 on it before I left her to her fun. I do hope her mom bought the book. I imagine she would, though, since she had been watching us and smiling. Even her little siblings were getting involved, trying to find things. Like I said, fun for the family.

Well, pretty soon we need to quit our morning activities and get dressed up a little. We are going to a golden wedding anniversary celebration this afternoon for Kate and Quint, good friends from church. After that, we are heading to a wedding; April, the little girl who grew up next door to us and is now 32, is getting married, and I promised Lydia I would take some pictures.

Everyone, have a good Saturday--love to all, and God bless.

He is still HOT.

Maybe you don't want to know this, but I think Indiana Jones (also known as Harrison Ford) is still about as hot as they come.

David and I had a date this afternoon, first one in quite a while where I got to pick what we did, and went to see the new Indiana Jones' flick. I LOVED it. It wasn't perfect, but boy, was it fun. I found myself easily staying awake through the whole thing and smiling through almost all of it. It was great fun, campy, good guys winning in the end...Just plain wonderful.

If anything ever happened to David and I had to pick a new man, one that looks like old Harrison Ford or old Sean Connery, either one, would suit me just fine.

If you aren't under the age of 10, treat yourself to a good time and go see that movie. Love to all, and God bless.

It's funny.

Do you feel the need to laugh? Enjoy these. Love to all, and God bless.

The Sixties

Yes, folks, I was a child of the sixties. Read more about that wonderful decade here.

Good night to all, and God bless.

Was my face red!

This morning I walked into my Sunday School class and found the teacher telling another member how nice of me to have done what I did. I didn't know what she was talking about, of course, so I asked her what she meant. She replied, "To give the flowers in the sanctuary in honor of all the mothers." What did I say then? "Crap."

Here's why. Mother's Day has always been a special day in my life, since I was little. Mother and Daddy were married on May 11, and Mother's birthday was May 13. Often, Mother's Day came in the middle of those two days. Daddy always made a big deal of Mother's Day, getting corsages for us, taking us out for a special meal...

Fast forward to Mother and Daddy's 50th anniversary. Daddy died Tuesday, May 7, four days before that anniversary. Mother had a heart attack the night Daddy died. On Saturday, May 11, she was in the hospital. David had a dozen long-stemmed roses delivered to her at the hospital, "For my million dollar baby", which is what Daddy always called Mama. The following day was Mother's Day. We took the flowers to church in honor of their almost-50 year marriage and her 75th birthday, the following day. A couple of times after that, we provided the flowers. I decided that would be our tradition.

And this year, I plum forgot. Talk about embarrassing, especially after reading in the bulletin that I had provided the flowers. Guess who is going to bring a bouquet next week! And please, please, please don't let me forget next year!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there, and God bless.

Soon, soon you will see

This was a line from a play I was in in 1962, my freshman year in high school, called "The Summons of Sariel". I played a young blind child, maybe about 10 years old. My first line was, "How much longer? How much longer before we get there?", to which my guardian angel responded, "Soon, soon you will see." I should probably go into some detail about the play, since it played a significant part in my high-school experience. It was a one-act play for competition. We competed at both the regional and state levels, and received solid superior ratings at the regional level. (We didn't do as hot at state, probably because the cast was pretty upset at the gym class, who had been sitting on our set and had dented our wonderful columns.)

Because I was a pretty good-sized freshman (5'6" or 5'7"), the main consideration for my angel was that she should be taller than me. Fortunately, she was also a good actress. Sariel, the title character, was God's angel of death. He sat on a throne with those fore-mentioned columns on either side of him. Almost off stage on either side were a good angel, one of my best friends, and an evil angel. There was a lot of banter between them concerning the fate of the other characters: me, the child; a young mother who had attempted suicide, an old woman, and a woman who had been in an accident.

And here follows a bit of the plot: each of the characters had been summoned by Sariel because of a close brush with death. Some of us (me for instance) would go on to afterlife (we assume Heaven), while others would be returned to life on Earth. Sariel was the only male in the play. He was also my best friend's brother, a fantastic actor who later went to try his fortune in Hollywood. His costume was splendid, made of the finest velvet casket lining! (One of the girls on the backstage crew was the daughter of the local funeral-home owner.) Lots and lots of the best times I had in high school involved drama, and Sariel was the start of it all.

Anyway, back to my line--I hope it is going to come true! I went to the ophthalmologist about two weeks ago and learned I needed cataract surgery. I knew my vision was getting worse, but didn't really know the cause. Today, I went to see him again as a preparatory visit for the surgery. I was in the office two hours--that's an hour and a half longer than I think I needed to be there, but at least everything is done now, including some laser surgery that he felt needed to be done as a prophylactic measure. I have the actual cataract surgery on June 9, very early in the morning, and then a follow-up the next day. This will be for my left eye. I asked the doctor today when was the soonest he could do the right eye, which also needs to be done, and he said two weeks after that. So it looks like the month of June I'll spend getting these cataracts fixed, and then I'll be able to see again! Which will mean, I hope, that I will be able to drive at night and in the rain, neither of which I want to attempt now. Hallelujah!

Well, folks, take care--I hope your vision is at least 20/20, and the prospect of cataract surgery isn't looming in YOUR futures! Good night, and God bless.

Of yes you CAN go home again!

I never lived in Gatlinburg, but I have surely spent a lot of happy time there! My folks always went to Gatlinburg for vacation, from the time I turned 9, I think, until they couldn't make the trip anymore. As a matter of fact, I took both of them on their last trips down there. We often stayed in the same motel, Cox's Moonwink Motor Court. It was a collection of little mismatched cabins, and I think we stayed in all of them. Mom knew the cabins so well that she knew exactly what she needed to take for a stay, a toaster, a coffee maker, her electric skillet; she didn't need an iron or an ironing board, because Mrs. Cox would loan her one. She also knew she could use one of the grills there for hamburgers or steaks, but I imagine she brought charcoal lighter. There were probably other things she didn't need that she left at home, but those were the ones that came immediately to mind.

Our routines down there were pretty consistent. On a nonevent day, we would get up, eat breakfast, head down the street to the swimming pool (this motel had what they called 'pool privileges'). Then we would come back to the cabin, get dressed, and head downtown for lunch (meals were cheaper then than at supper). After lunch, we'd go back to the cabin. Mom and Dad would sleep; we would go back to the pool or head downtown to one of the many miniature golf courses.

On an event day, rather than go downtown for lunch, we might head up into the mountains for a picnic. We really enjoyed this, especially looking for bears--and we saw lots of them back in the 50's and 60's. We must have hit each tourist attraction in the area one year, going to Tuckaleechee Caverns, Christus Gardens, Hillbilly Village and some sort of little Frontier Town in Pigeon Forge--that was before Pigeon Forge became the shopping mecca it is now. We would go over the mountain to Cherokee at least once, and we would stop at a teepee beside the road and have our picture made with the old Indian who posed there. We even went to Franklin, NC, one summer and panned for rubies! That was a terrific experience--lots of mud and the excitement of actually finding some gemstones! Daddy kept our haul in a small box in his sock drawer for years, beside the stale menthol cigarettes left over from directors' meetings. I remember getting five bumper stickers one summer, but other than Tuckaleechee Caverns and Christus Gardens, I have no clue where they came from.

Early vacations often involved going swimming in a mountain creek. We would put on our bathing suits, climb into the car, and drive about 15 miles out the Little River Road so that we could "swim" in the creek. The first year, Daddy drove quite a distance looking for a place that was deep enough for swimming. When he finally stopped, he told us we could wade, but he didn't think the water was very deep (maybe knee deep for him). Was he surprised when he was soon up to his chest in that cold, cold water! Mama and I would sit on a little water fall and let the water swirl around us (we called it a water fall, but it really wasn't--more like a cascade). And of course Mama had to collect her rocks. She was notorious for picking up rocks that interested her. I don't think she really cared what they were, but she enjoyed finding rocks to bring home. Once on a trip out west, her traveling companions threatened to weigh her every time she got back into the car to try to keep her from weighing them down! After we had as much cold water as we could stand, we got back into the car, sitting on beach towels, and drove back to town to change clothes.

We always ate supper "at home", then went downtown to walk around. We loved to watch the people, so often we would end up sitting on a park bench beside the sidewalk and watching the show, all the people who were on vacation just like us. We would watch the candy makers at Ole Smokey Candy Kitchen (they had the best taffy logs) and the stick candy makers at Aunt Mahalia's (their stick candy was best). The candy cooks would come out with free samples of warm taffy or little warm stick candy canes. We would go through all the "junk" stores (no t-shirt shops back then), maybe play a game of miniature golf, buy some post cards, and head home. The last thing we would do would be to buy a caramel apple to eat as we walked back to the cabin.

We never failed to see someone we knew while on vacation, and twice, we ended up inviting friends from home who we ran into on the street back to our cabin to stay with us! I don't know how we did it, but one time we had four adults, three teen-aged boys, me (I was in college), and a two-year-old staying in a three bedroom cabin. Another year, there was a vacant cabin at the Moonwink, and our preacher, his wife, and their two children moved in, right across the drive from us. Those were two great years for the kids and the adults.

Gatlinburg was such a safe place, parents had no qualms about allowing their kids to go downtown by themselves. Mike and I spent a lot of days wandering around, reading tabloids in the drugstores, playing miniature golf...One summer we went downtown and I had to go to the bathroom. Rather than go back to the cabin, which really wasn't that far, we rode the Sky Lift--I knew there was a bathroom at the top.

When we are in Gatlinburg, even now, I feel like I've gone home. Gatlinburg is more familiar to me and less changed than my hometown. Oh, there are changes... Lots of the places have disappeared. There are almost no miniature golf courses on the main road now. Lydia can't take her babies to bunny golf. T-shirt stores have taken the place of souvenir shops. Mama's ritual trip to The Cliffdwellers now involves riding way out of town, since they moved off the main drag. We didn't even get there this year. My children and grandchildren will not get a chance to visit Christus Gardens and see the eyes of Christ follow them all around the room. Nor will they be able to take their spouses to visit Xanadu, the house of the future. Restaurants where my family ate regularly have closed. I miss the good rolls at Hobey's Copper Still.

But even though things change, they still remain the same. Gatlinburg still seems to me to be a safe place. I would allow my children (age 10 and up) free range to go downtown and see the sights all by themselves (well, at least as long as there were two of them going). The Sky Lift still goes up the mountain. The candy makers still perform in the store windows. The Mountain Lodge fixes a great breakfast and lunch. Arrowmont still has beautiful things in the window to see. Looking for folks from home is still fun, even if there isn't enough room in our motel room to put them up. And it's still fun to go over the mountain to Cherokee.

Home is a place in the heart, anyway. Good night to all, and God bless.

Another surprise

UPS came to my door today bearing a package. Surprise might be an overstatement, since I had known this package was coming. However, I was surprised by the contents. It was a really neat stuffed monkey, Curious George, who is riding what looks like a unicycle with training wheels. When you squeeze his hand, there's a pretty good musical rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel", while George rides back and forth on his little bike. I was very pleased to see George could handle the carpet with no difficulties. After several rides around the living room, now he's ensconced on the bottom shelf of the teakwood table, waiting to delight someone else.

Thanks, Jennifer and Jamie! You know what I like, all right! Love to everyone, and God bless.

Gift

I got a nice little surprise in the mail today, a lumpy letter addressed to "Mommy". I love lumpy letters! Anyway, my little girl had made me a valentine at her school and sent it to me, all the way from Nashville. Thank you so much, sweetie. I really appreciate it! I'm going to go find a piece of yarn, and make a necklace so that I can wear it to choir tonight.

I hope you all get lots of nice surprises, too. Love to all, and God bless.

Updates

I get a little weary of clicking on different websites only to learn they haven't been updated since the last time (maybe last month!) I was there. I don't know how you feel, but I bet it's about the same. So rather than chastise my faithful few, whoever you are, I figure I ought to act rather than speak.

How are things going here, you might ask. How are we spending our time? I have a simple answer for that second question--sitting in the recliners and watching basketball. No, it really doesn't matter that there is neither a Kentucky team nor a SEC team still in the tournament, the television at this house automatically tunes itself to basketball. It doesn't matter that UK lost in the first round (hey, it was a miracle that the team even made the tournament, admit it!), nor that Chris Lofton, who should have been playing for UK in the first place, couldn't win the big title for TN, nor that now UNC has a chance to break KY's record in total tournament wins, nor that UCLA (who had the audacity to call the beloved Hilltopper's mascot a pregnant Elmo) is making the gap of total wins even wider, that despite the fact we trained their coach, UL couldn't pull it off...we're still watching the basketball games. (Or at least one of us is...)

What else is going on up here? Not a lot. This past week, I did a couple of stints of volunteer work at the hospital "emptying bed pans" (or at least that's what I told one of my coworkers at Friendship). The second stint, my coworker didn't show up, so I didn't bother to take the refreshment cart around. I felt guilty for a couple of minutes when the nurse called from ICU, or wherever she was, asking if "the cart with the crushed ice and soft drinks" was going to come around...for a couple of minutes, I did feel some guilt over that. Only a couple of minutes, though. I get a chance to redeem myself tomorrow, since this is one of those months when we have both fourth and fifth Mondays. But I probably won't run the cart, since my coworker is going to be gone...and I do hate that hair net.

Friendship was quieter than usual this past Thursday. We had a pretty significant rain coming down when the bus drove over to Cooperstown, UK student housing, so three of our renowned soloists in the art of operatic crying were absent. Another mom said they had called for a back-up ride but it never materialized. This week, we will be on spring break. I hope someone tells those ladies before they go to wait for a bus that doesn't show up.

This week I have the volunteer stint tomorrow followed by a coming-of-a-new-age party at Casa for one of the DTA members. That should be a pretty good time. I've already had an email asking if I was going to be there--of course. It's one more day I don't have to cook! Tuesday, I have an appointment for my "pedicure" with Dr. Rodes, not a day before it's due. Wednesday, the ad hoc shower committee is meeting to see how we are progressing toward a social event later in the month. Also, my faithful Pancho is going to be here to "clean" the house again. David asked her today if she knew how to run a vacuum cleaner, which brought a laugh.

Speaking of vacuum cleaners, I have a real aversion to ours, all three or four of them. Back when I was a child, I guess I must have been spooked by one or something. Anyway, floors have NEVER been my favorite part of the cleaning process. Look out--the following is a blatant plug for the vacuum I don't own: I remember when one of the ladies in my mom's circle of mothers bought a new silver pig. That vacuum was the talk of the town! Ladies who just barely knew this woman were quick to call her and ask to borrow that silver pig when they were going to be entertaining. Mom even borrowed it on several occasions, until she got her own. It was the thing for several years. I didn't understand why, back then, but now I'm sure that it has to do with the fact you aren't pushing that heavy machine around, rather just pushing the little nozzle part. I don't remember who got Mom's silver pig when we divided the contents of her house, but I do know it wasn't me. I have a big red jackass (one complete one and several others that we cannibalize for parts) that takes a man's strength to push around. I sort of feel like Roseanne. I'll vacuum when Sears invents one you can ride--and in my case, it better be a zeeter, with a zero turn radius.

Okay, now you know what we've been up to and what our plans are for the immediate future. I might suggest that if you haven't posted in the last couple of weeks, you go out and do the same thing! Love to all, and God bless.

Family recipes

People have been blessing me with memories lately. Just this morning, I read a post from my cousin Linda, who remembered spending the weekend with me beau coup years ago. I know it was before 1964, for sure. We spent an afternoon with my Grandmother Sleadd, in her little upstairs apartment near the school in my hometown. "Apartment" might be a stretch--it was probably a bedroom and bath, with a little bit of a kitchen.

Linda remembered Grandmother teaching us how to make a lemon meringue pie, and that it was the best lemon meringue pie she ever ate. That would be true, for sure, because Nanny did make the best lemon pies in the world! The "teaching" part, though--unfortunately for David and the rest of mankind, unless Linda learned, that was a huge overstatement. I know I didn't learn how to make that pie, and now the recipe is gone.

As far as I know, Grandmother's recipes weren't written down, more's the pity. They were recipes she knew by heart, so she didn't need the references. And, as is so true of many of our family recipe treasures, you decided how much of an ingredient to add based on "until it looks right", or "about this much". Unfortunately, there are no measuring cups with those measurements on them!

I do have a transcript of my mother telling me how to make hot-water cornbread, another of Grandmother's specialties, and how to fry the best (as far as I'm concerned) chicken in the world. I've not had success at either of those endeavors, but David can turn out a pretty good facsimile of the hot-water cornbread. He got his recipe, written down, in a cookbook from Shelby County, KY. That seems to be the origin of the recipe, as far as I can tell, at least that part of the state--Shelby, Franklin, Anderson. I haven't found hot-water cornbread outside that area.

Well, now I'm hungry, not just for that food, but for those two much-loved cooks. Love to all, and God bless.

Have mercy. My grandbaby thinks she's a rock star! Apparently being the mother of a budding Mariah Carey is hard on a pregnant woman, though. Thanks, Geron, for sharing this on your blog!

Enough

As I said yesterday, I have entirely too much time on my hands, which is what led to my discovery of this humbling post. I guess this woman agrees with the apostle Paul--she has learned how to be content. Love to all, and God bless.

Delightful Easter craft

Yes, I'll admit, I have entirely too much time on my hands. Otherwise, how in the world would I have located this treasure? I will also admit that I do not intend to attempt this, possibly because I don't own a dremel.

If you are wondering why I have too much time on my hands, it's simple: While I was waiting out the inevitable at Kroger's this afternoon, an announcement was made that UK's regular basketball season had come to an end. (Being the stalwart UK fan that I am, I chose not to stick around and watch, especially when Georgia had a double-digit lead within the first five minutes or so.) So now, rather than sit with my spouse and scarf down Fritos while we watch yet another SEC team bite the dust and kiss their season good-bye, I am surfing the net. Once again, 'nuff said.

Love to all, and God bless.

What? Another holiday?

Happy Pi Day!

It's March 12!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!
I am so glad that my mama had me!

And happy birthday to everybody else who was born today. Love to all, and God bless.

We're recovering, and I'm in withdrawal.

I miss BawBaw. I didn't know how much I'd miss him, but miss him I do. Today when I looked outside and saw all the snow, I wondered if BawBaw had boots. I told David it would be fun to take him out into the snow. Then I pondered that thought about a second and said, "Well, it would be interesting to take him out and see his reaction; then if he liked it, it would be fun to take him out in the snow."

Things we know BawBaw likes: dirty rice (some of the time), vanilla soy milk (all the time), apple juice (once in a while), corn pops, Kix, a mixture of the two, granola, peanut butter on crackers, chicken McNuggets--yes, I'll admit, we broke down and bought McDonald's one night, French fries, noisy toys...

Things BawBaw does NOT like: baths, having his pants changed, the idea of going to sleep, apples and bananas in any shape or form, backing up in the car, having his clothes changed, stuffed animals...

Things we know we like (no, make that love): BawBaw and his family. Thank you, Lord, for letting us keep this precious little boy in our home.

Love to all, and God bless.

How's it going?

Let me put it in a nutshell: I'm definitely not planning on having any more children any time soon.

Love to all, and God bless.

One night down, three to go

A little three-year-old sweetheart was at our house yesterday, from 9 in the morning until 12 last night (actually overnight, but his daddy was here then). We had a good day for the most part. He played pretty happily, but he was aware that his mommy and daddy weren't there, especially when it was time for otherwise routine things like diaper changes and baths, and especially at the times when "Grandma Susan" thought he ought to be taking a nap or going to sleep for the night. Grandpa David and I enjoyed watching him playing with toys, and he was more than willing to snuggle up with one or the other of us at times. It was interesting to watch how he handled being told "no", how he took out his frustrations by pitching toys around, and how much fun he would have doing things like rearranging all the pots and pans in the cupboard or all the cans in the pantry. But guess what? Following a little one around all day can wear you out!

We have another go at it tonight, after he comes home from preschool/day care, and then again on Wednesday and Thursday. It's a really great experience--I recommend it to all who are considering another child!

Love to all, and God bless. A special birthday wish to my dear brother today, if he is reading. Love you, Bob!

Fun Times A-Coming!

This should be a good weekend coming up. Monday is Dexter's 90th birthday, and the folks are having a party tomorrow. Lib says that after this one, he doesn't get another one until he turns 100! Seeing that he is in pretty darn good health right now, 100 isn't out of the question. On the subject of birthdays, I heard on the news of a lady who turned 24 today--pretty impressive, when you realize that her driver's license, if she has one, says she's 96! We're going to Deck's party tomorrow, taking a 3-milk cake that I ordered last week. I hope we're taking one 3-milk cake. I have to be really careful with my order, since last June I ordered a 3-milk cake and ended up with 3 being baked!

The Nashville kids are going to be coming up this weekend for the party, and then they are staying over for church on Sunday. They plan to leave as soon as early church is over. I'd like to talk them into staying a little later, but understand that they need to hit the road, if they're going to get a good rest before work on Monday. David knew a little old lady in Whitley County who occasionally had family visitors from Detroit. She could never understand why they had to leave early on Sunday morning in order to get back for work on Monday. I don't guess the sweet thing had ever been out of the state of Kentucky and had no concept how far Detroit was from her home, bless her heart. (By the way, I guess you know the meaning of the phrase, "Bless your heart"...)

This weekend (Sunday) also starts our babysitting gig with our "grandson" Baw Baw. We'll be keeping him while his daddy works and his mom attends a job fair in New Orleans. I went to Big Lots today and bought a few supplies--sippy cups, Elmo place mats, jigsaw puzzle, bubbles, a ball, two kinds of cereal...The checker asked me if I had a spoiled grandbaby at home. I told her no, but that I did have a little fellow who was coming for a few days, and I thought I needed to put some new stuff in the toy box. I also sorted out the books in the living room and left a bunch that I thought he might enjoy. He isn't much for stories and I was reasonably sure he wouldn't be interested in the Greek myths or child's anthology of poetry. I think he'll like what's in there, though. Now I have to put away one of the sets of nesting blocks and bring up the building blocks from the basement...

I have a question for anyone who cooks for little people: What should I fix for Baw Baw's school lunch? He goes to a preschool in the morning, then stays in daycare until about 4:30 or 5. His daddy said they had been taking leftovers from supper, and his mom (who worked near the school) had been going over to heat the leftovers in the microwave at lunch time. Well, it's a little far from Georgetown to Lexington to do that, so either Baw Baw is going to have to eat cold leftovers, or Tooz is going to have to think of something else to feed him. Apparently he isn't a big fan of sandwiches--can you believe it?--but he does like fruit and vegetables. If you have any ideas, please comment.

I still have some things to do to get ready for our weekend and next week, so I'm signing off for now. Love to all, and God bless.

Why monkey mama?

Seeing as how there's nothing on this site about monkeys, a person might wonder from whence the name Monkey Mama's News came. It all goes back to my first computer experiences, in the early 90's, I guess. I was teaching a particularly squirrelly group of fifth-graders at the time and often called them my monkeys. Hence, I became, to myself anyway, Monkey Mama.

A couple more monkey tie-ins: Probably the first big word I ever managed to read on my own was orangutan, which I pronounced orange utan. (Yes, spell check, I know utan isn't a word, but I don't care.) It was in the guide book to the Cincinnati zoo.

And finally, I just love stuffed monkeys and coconut monkeys! And sock monkeys, and Curious George, and gibbons, and I always wanted a chimpanzee. I even knew (for a short period of time) a person who owned a pet chimpanzee. She managed the laundromat in my hometown, and brought her chimp to work with her. I remember watching it ride around in a cart. It was wearing a little dress and diaper, and I thought it was the cutest thing!

So now you know. Love to all, and God bless. (And by the way, it snowed again today in Kentucky.)

Wonderful weekends

David and I have had a couple of great weekends lately. February 16, we traveled to Mt. Vernon, Illinois to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of our best man and his wife. It was a great trip, although southern Illinois is NOT my idea of beautiful scenery. That is, unless you enjoy looking at oil wells and flooded corn fields. But the folks we visited were terrific folks, and they have been happily married for 13 years longer than David and I, which is very inspiring.

This past weekend (February 22), we traveled to Chattanooga to visit the Princess and her mom and dad. It's been almost two months since we last saw our little granddaughter, and you had better believe we have missed her! I was just talking to my cousin Lib. Lib said it was a shame we didn't live closer to the Princess. I told her I believe I could see that baby every day, and I wouldn't get tired of her! They change so much in just a few months' time.

Our little granddaughter is so helpful. I do not remember any of my three children being as obedient or helpful as this child, especially at the tender age of 18 months! She starts off her day by "putting away" her pacifier (she pitches it into the crib), and then clapping for herself. She puts away her toys (or at least makes an effort), puts away her shoes, puts away pot holders, puts trash in the trash can...Absolutely a wonderful helper.

Sunday morning, her mama left her at the house with Grandpa and Granny (who she calls Bub-baw and Bubbi). She was already dressed this time, so I didn't have to pick her up by the seat of her little white tights and bounce her up and down to get her the rest of the way into them. We puttered around getting ready for church. Just as we were about to head out the door, grandbaby grabbed a little bowl of cheerios from me for her diaper bag. The lid came off the bowl, and cheerios flew all around the living room. Grand hopped down and started picking up cheerios to put in the trash. She ran into the kitchen, popped the lid on the garbage can, dropped in a handful of cheerios, then peered over to look into the can. What did she see? A banana peel! She grabbed it and pulled it out. She had been watching grown-ups peeling and eating bananas, but still hasn't mastered that skill herself. Apparently, she also hasn't learned that the PEEL is NOT the part you eat! I came in and took the peel from her and then gave her some fresh banana. She had several pieces ("Mo, peese"). When she was satisfied, she put her piece of banana into her little Dora chair and started to sit down on it. Fortunately, I stopped her before she got banana all over the seat of her dress.

I tell you, you have to watch that child like a hawk. It's a job I relish.

Good night to all, and God bless.