Gratitude

Another this and that kind of day September 28, 2021

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I have nothing much in my head at the moment but I need to come up with a post to meet my daily goal commitment. Besides the discipline of putting something down on paper is actually good for me.

I guess it’s not really fair to say I have nothing in my head. I’ve been reading, trying to work my way through the burgeoning stack, and it has been disappointing. The just-finished read was a collection by an author I normally like, for the most part. The collection was disappointing because all three books were short on story and long on attraction. Lots and lots of time spent aware of each other. It’s boring listening to the same basic thoughts over and over again. A good story with some meat on it makes me happy. Anyway, I can’t even tell you the name of the collection because it’s been removed. The minute it was over.

Currently I’m reading a romance somewhat similar but at least it has a healthy story line running right through the middle of it. It isn’t a very long book either so there isn’t room for it to be plumped out with over the top attraction angst.

Courting Calla: A Christian Romance (Dixon Brothers Book 1)

CALLA VAUGHN has spent the last three years desperately trying to get her life in order so that she can go back to culinary school. No matter how hard she works, though, she feels like she is just treading water and can’t see any way out of the hole dug for her by a con artist who stole her identity.
When flowers she sends to her best friend with a dinner invitation accidentally get delivered to IAN JONES, she decides to cook him the best meal he’s ever had. By the time she admits that the flowers were never for him, he is as convinced as she is that God orchestrated the mistake in the first place.
All that’s left is to tell him the dark secret about her father’s widow. She waits a little too long, though, and is carted off to jail for questioning on felony charges before she gets a chance.
Will Ian understand her situation, or will the deception surrounding Calla destroy any trust he has in her?

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Work has been taking up a lot of my thinking time too. I won’t bore you with the details but a new software program on one of the sites I frequent is still under construction even though it is in full use. Navigation seemed impossible on one task. Today was a good day because the sticky issue has finally been resolved. Another file closed, at least it looks like it from my current point of view. Fingers crossed.

That’s mainly it for my day.

The weather was warm today, in the 30’s C and it should be like that again for several more days. I’m happy for the chance to experience a little more warmth before the bitterness of winter sets in. The illusion of summer is gone though, with darkness quickly falling hours earlier than it did on the longest days. The leaves are turning color and falling faster than I’d like. I’m sad to see the end of summer this year. It’s gone by much too quickly.

There have been bright spots, though, lately. Chatting with friends I haven’t talked to in a while.

There are always things I’m can be grateful for and they over-shadow the sadness whenever I let them. At this moment I’m choosing to see the good things in my life since it looks like I’m digging myself a bit of a hole with all this talk of melancholy over summer’s demise.

Tomorrow’s another day, and it’s looking better already since one dreaded work task has been successfully completed.

If I’m going to squeeze in a bit more reading before lights out I’d better get moving.

Happy Reading to you.

I love this awesome harmony. September 24, 2021

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Mark Lowry is the author of Mary Did You Know , has had a long and popular singing career. He has an off-the-cuff let’s-sing show from his home “studio”, it’s on his YouTube channel and many other platforms. Tonight his special guests have just released a new project. The group’s name is SouthBound and the album is SouthBound.Live.

This in an impromptu concert and many people, including me, are loving it.

I enjoy this so much I must share. These energetic guys are singing many of the songs off their new project. I have to have this.

Mark has just hit a million subscribers on Facebook and he loves reminding us. Everyone of them love him too.

The upbeat songs in this concert touch hurting hearts in the most amazing way.

Enjoy.

I am enjoying for the second time tonight 🙂

This and that September 10, 2021

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A little of this and a little of that, again tonight… just because I feel like it.

My daughter asked me to check through family pictures this afternoon, she was in need of photos taken with a particular family member. It needed a big chunk of time to find anything after this many years.

I did find a few that fit her needs. But that’s not all I found. There was one I’ve been thinking of lately that always makes me smile. I think it represents my personality fairly well.

I would never have dreamed of taking such a picture but my son-in-law thought it was a great idea. Since I was oblivious to what he was up too, I couldn’t even change to a more lady-like position.

Fine tuning the stove installation.

I have no idea, anymore, what precisely was going on but whatever it was I was the only one small enough to reach. Now that it’s been awhile, this is one of my favorite pictures. Yup, that’s me, climbing on things.

So, this brings me to another favorite picture and I think it kind of goes with my picture. We are like two peas in a pod when it comes to one or two things. That’s my assessment anyway.

We were looking for evidence of her visit a few months after I moved here to Manitoba, back in 2013. At least I was looking through photos. My daughter is already in British Columbia ready for the memorial service tomorrow and needing memories.

Mabel aka Granny, was amazing. Facebook, Face time, emails, messages, all that good stuff right up until the end. This was 85 years young at the time.

Checking Facebook with her morning cup of tea.
Making memories with three of her many great-grandsons
Trusty stylus in hand, emailing someone in the family.

This is my favorite picture of her. The pose says it all.

My next favorite thing in this picture is the stuffed snowman on the hearth. It’s a wind up music box. It plays “Cold as Ice” while it swings around. Makes me laugh every time. I have no idea why I think it’s so funny but after a dozen years I still think it’s hilarious.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I love my mother-in-law like a mother/friend. I’ve been separated from her step-son for 17 years and in spite of it all, she understands and the two of us are still close. She has room in her heart for all of us and I appreciate it more than I can tell. Not everyone can love without choosing sides. Actually, the whole family is good at loving this way. I feel truly blessed.

♥♥♥♥♥

Rest in Peace Mabel. You are a special lady and we all love you.

I can be at peace with her passing because I know I will see her again. Sooner than I might wish, the way time flies by.

My last email to her ended with the chorus from an old Rusty Goodman song about heaven.

Look for me, for I will be there too
I realize, when you arrive, there’ll be so much to view
After you’ve been there ten thousand years, a million, maybe two
Look for me, for I will be there too

This and that August 24, 2021

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This is another one of those days when I’ve got nothing. Nothing to write that is. Most of the stuff on my mind isn’t appropriate for this post.

I’ve been closely following the debacle that has stunned the world. It seems we have been content to close our eyes to things and just coast along hoping someone else would take care of us. It will take some major courage to get the world out of the tough spot we find ourselves in. Our guys had the courage in WWII, I’m not sure how it could happen exactly but I’m sure our guys and gals could successfully rise to the challenge this time too.

The other news type thing on my mind is the whole covid situation. A fourth wave seems to be showing up in the last few days. Just when restrictions loosen up the infection rate starts rising again.

Along with that concern, we have a family situation where we need to find a isolation spot for teenage boys coming home after a lifetime overseas. I want to have them with me but there is one difficult hurdle to overcome. Other options may work out but if they don’t I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it work out well for them. We will have to wait and see how it all turns out.

In regard to books, I can’t find it again but I was reading a book collection that was a retelling of fairy tales. Red Riding Hood and Cinderella were the first two. From my point of view they were really bad. I couldn’t bring myself to even read them. I removed the book from my device without taking note of the title. I wanted to share it with you and thought I could easily find it again but … no such luck. Maybe it’s better that I couldn’t find it. Kinder.

The sky is a heavy grey all of a sudden, I think another storm is supposed to roll through tonight, dropping some more rain. It’s funny, we had been having drought conditions and they were predicting a long hot summer. The prediction has changed, we are supposed to have more rain with cooler temps for the rest of the season. Winter shows up here the end of October/early November usually.

It will be interesting for our newly home teenagers, they have not experienced real winter before. It will be all new. They are excited and looking forward to it, I do know that. I don’t think they have seen snow and if they have it would have been a brief thing. Both of their parents have experienced full on Canadian winters and the kids have grown up with the stories wishing they could visit us in the winter. Their time has come!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

How could they not love it?

Story prompt – Angel

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This story prompt is courtesy of Sunday Scribblings

Be an angel and bring me a coffee, will ya.

Thanks, you’re an angel.

It looks like angel is a word we use flippantly, much like the word love. In most cases the way we use it doesn’t really mean anything of any significance.

Wouldn’t we be shocked if there actually was such a thing as an angel?

Some of us must think they are real. There are movies, TV shows, sermons preached, and even books written about angels. With a little research into the ways they are portrayed I can tell I’m behind the times. I didn’t know there was a spin off of Buffy The Vampire Slayer called Angel. I wasn’t into a lot of TV back then and it looks like I was missing out.

There were other angel shows and movies I did notice, though, (Touched by an Angel, Twice in a Lifetime, Angels in the Outfield to name a few) and I have to say I enjoyed them immensely.

Then there are books, maybe movies too, where there are angels of both stripes, both good and evil, doing battle in heavenly places. This Present Darkness: A Novel by Frank Peretti is one of them.

Speaking of evil and angels, there is one story I’ve never been able to forget.

It happened in a primitive foreign country many years ago. A team of nurses and their helpers were accosted one night. They heard the war cry of a band of men who wanted to rob, torture, and kill them. They were terrified. Inexplicably, the band of men stopped, looked, and fled. They were faced with a circle of giants standing guard around the nurse’s compound.

It sounds hard to believe but I’ve heard stories similar to this more than once through the decades. Different time, different place, same story. I love to think that someone bigger than me could send his angel armies to protect me in drastic circumstances.

Again, we bandy about the idea of a guardian angel as liberally as we do the terms angel and love.

What if we really do have a guardian angel watching out for us?

If it is true, just think what life could have been like without them, without someone catching us all those times we should have crashed and burned.

I can think of a few times I should have crashed and burned but didn’t and I’m grateful beyond words.

There is a verse in the Bible …

Psalm 91 verse 11, it says “He shall give His angels charge over you. To keep you in all your ways“

I believe and I’m grateful for my guardian angel.

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I couldn’t have planned it better. One of my daily emails had a book suggestion with a reference to angels. This saved me from having to find a picture for this post. I was having trouble finding one to do justice to my guardian angel. I will use this book cover to dress up the post instead.

I’m not sure how the angel angle works out in the Dead Man’s Journey story, not having read beyond the first few pages, but as the character in the opening paragraphs prepares to go for a run he senses an angel presence. Guardian angel.

On further thought: there is another book where I know for sure angels, both good and evil, are part of the story. Frank Peretti has written many books involving heavenly beings and this is one of them. This Present Darkness.

I’ll use a separate post to share more about this book.

They say the veil is thin between this world and the next. I believe that is true. We are not alone on our journey. God and his angels are looking out for us, more than we realize.

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I hope you like the books.

This and that July 18, 2021

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I’ve discovered it’s best to date these things. They all merge together otherwise. Indistinguishable.

It’s warm out there! That the biggest thing on my mind at this moment. Usually it starts to cool off a little by 7 PM but not tonight. I went out to do some watering and quickly changed my mind. Later.

The highlight of the week was last night’s family Zoom call. Most of us live thousands of miles apart. We enjoy one another but we are not good at staying in touch. In all honesty, I’d have to admit that would be a gross understatement. Since we’ve committed to a Zoom call once a month, we are doing much better at connecting and we are having a lot of fun. The next call is going to fall on my birthday, how nice is that!

So, the other thing on my mind this week was tied up with a comment I made the other day about a writing project I had in mind. I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time but even more so lately. It seemed like it was time to do something about it so this weekend I did put some hours into it and wrote something. In the end, I didn’t use any of it.

I’m surprised about the level of unexpected relief I felt.

Part of the impetus for this writing project was to have a place where I could fill the need to rant and rave once in a while. I couldn’t do it here, didn’t want to do it here, I felt like it would spoil everything.

Anyway, I created another space, wrote an introductory piece with a small rant at the end, and struggled with getting the site set up the way I wanted it. No matter what I did nothing was going right.

By the time I decided to give it all up and deleted the new blog, my rant had lost it’s steam and I felt a lightness I didn’t have earlier.

Sometimes it’s healthy to visit the dark places but sometimes it’s not. There already is an over abundance of negative self-talk going on in my head I don’t need more. It feels healthier, for the most part, to stick to the lighter side of things in my communications with the world.

Part of my reason for wanting a place to rant was to work my way through some of the life long issues that surface from time to time. Writing and talking can be very therapeutic.

The subject of my short rant was acknowledging, for the first time, that my parents were selfish, immature teenager/young adults making unhealthy decisions and choices without a worry over whose life would be negatively affected. I can’t believe that they would unthinkingly do what they did.

While it was healthy to face this truth, I could see that to camp on the negative side of my life, while creating content for a new blog on a regular basis, would be injurious to my emotional health.

I’m so glad I’ve got that all figured out.

Maybe for future needs, I can work through the issue in my mind and then reduce it to a short paragraph. That should take care of everything

There is one more truth recently discovered but I’ll save that topic for another time. It’s a very encouraging truth. I must share it with my brothers.

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Currently I’m reading book one in a three book collection.

A Family to Love by Cindy M Amos and several others

Skinny Ranch Romance – Cindy M. Amos
When a hometown parade explodes with violence targeted at obese onlookers, District Judge Ilie Walton is forced to team with former classmate Traynor Henning for a trial reduction program for the victims. None too pleased over the partnership with Tray, Ilie claims to remain blind to his Zach Efron good looks in the name of justice. As the fence lengthens and the pounds melt off volunteer participants, Tray’s devotion softens her resolve, launching a romantic partnership. When new evidence emerges on a cold case involving a death at their senior class party, Ilie insists that justice prevail, though it threatens to sever their tenuous relationship. Tired of bearing the guilt, Tray faces off with his buddy Rex about what really happened that day in his boat. When the cold case turns red hot, will Ilie stand with the hardworking rancher—or do justice and reconciliation take two separate paths?

The scales of justice possess keen discernment, yet love never needed a final verdict to overcome.

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This is the one recently finished

Dearly Loved: Second Chance Christian Romance

The lovesick daydreams of Meredith Ambrose’s teenage years for neighborhood heartthrob David Steller have faded into uncomfortable memories-until he lands in a hospital bed in her unit where she works as an R.N.

David came to the Northwest to look her up-he just didn’t plan on their reunion occurring with him on a gurney. Can he prove he’s really changed after all these years? (Christian romance)

Happy Reading!!

Happy Mother’s Day

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s a day to be grateful for Mothers, We all had one or we wouldn’t be here, that’s reason enough right there, to be grateful. Life is a precious gift.

Giving life is not an easy thing and wanting to do it more than once can seem like insanity. Those of us who are not firstborn are grateful Mom was excited about a new baby and seemed to forget the down side to the whole process.

If the pregnancy/giving birth thing wasn’t enough to discourage her, the terrible-two’s and potty training surely should have done it. That alone tells us why mothers need to be appreciated. For a week or more at least, never mind this business of only one day.

If we are truly honest, it’s a wonder some of us made it past childhood. You know who you are, don’t try to hide.

We are grateful for moms who gave us life and loved us enough to let us keep it.

Photo by Secret Garden on Pexels.com

Love you Mom!

So much wisdom, so much empathy

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This is a deeply touching interview filled with wisdom, understanding and empathy. And hope. So much hope. I have to share.

I hope you find it as comforting as I did. In these difficult days we need to hear voices filled with wisdom and hope.

Rick Warren has experienced unbelievable pain. Toward the end of the video he shares what it was like to live through it. He puts heavy emphasis on living through it.

This interview is posted by a gifted podcaster Carey Nieuwhof. He knows how to ask questions that will mine the depths and bring out the best in his guests. Always a blessing to the listener.

May you feel as blessed as I do right now.

Well, that was fun.

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It was fun.The other day I was telling you all about a visit I was going to be making in a couple of days. The story prompt was Tooth. I was recounting my lifetime of trials and tribulations with teeth and dentists and how I wanted to call it quits and have them all pulled (the teeth, that is) and be done with dentists. Unfortunately for me he had differing opinions and refused to help me out.

Moving on from teeth, I was telling you about this aggravating skin condition I self diagnosed as psoriasis. It’s about impossible to get rid of and so I had no plans to do anything about it other than find ways to live with it.

I hadn’t seen a doctor in a decade or so. Mainly because doctors in my area are rarely taking new patients and I didn’t really want to see one anyway. What was the point unless I had something either life threatening or needing an intervention of some sort.

Out of the blue everything came together and in short order I found myself with a doctor, and my worrywart kids were happy. You will have to read my tooth post here for the rest of that story.

So, yesterday I was back for my second visit. On the first visit, a getting-to-know-you, taking-a-history, type of visit, the young doctor was pleased to find I had low risk factors for all of the usual serious diseases. When I pulled up my pant legs to show him the semi-angry red patches covering my shins he was smiling even bigger.

Pretty soon he had his camera out,snapping pictures from every angle, making plans to contact his dermatologist friend.

It turned out, maybe I was wrong in my diagnosis. There is another possible condition but it would take a biopsy to know for sure,

That’s what yesterday’s visit was all about.

My doctor and a student intern were having a good time. It was like the doctor found a bone with some meat on it. Routine visits can be so boring. It’s nice to have a little excitement every now and again.

It was fun for me too. I’d never seen or felt anything quite like that before. It was up close and personal because I was sitting up, on the exam table, and had a bird’s eye view of the whole thing. I wasn’t sure if I could watch but it wasn’t bad at all.

After picking the optimal site, he was very organized, getting his equipment all in place so things would go smoothly. He preferred a long needle for freezing because it was thinner and less intrusive. He poked many places making sure it extended as far out as where the stitch would go to cover the hole he made. The freezing was interesting. It was built to burn at first and then when it quit you knew things were frozen.

To take the sample he had this pen-like thing, (flat with no point,) probably more like a miniature post hole digger. He turned it until it cut far enough through the layers and then gently pulled it out, hanging on to a pea sized piece of flesh. They popped it in a small jar of liquid to be sent on it’s way. Pulling the skin together to cover the hole was challenging. Slippery and elastic, it didn’t feel like cooperating. I think he did a little x thing to make it hold. I’ll have to have a look tonight when I change the band-aid,

A good time was had by all.

Now we have to wait and see. He says it will take awhile. If it is what he thinks, it will be a little more treatable than psoriasis, that’s good news.

I asked if there was anything great going to come out of this. Like a cure. He’s says no. It’s an autoimmune disease.

I already know basically what autoimmune is but looked it up anyway to make sure I have my facts straight. After reading the descriptions I am determined to be content. What I have is a nuisance but it could be so much worse. Some of the diseases they listed sounded really scary. I’m grateful to have it as easy as I do.

I’m grateful too for young doctors. They haven’t had a chance to become jaded. They are still exploring and hopeful.

It was fun to learn new things.

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On a different note…

Currently I am reading and enjoying a great book that is still a bargain,

Hannah’s Hope (The Red Gloves Book 4) 

Amazon quote:

Raised in a political family, 15-year-old Hannah Roberts lives a lonely life with her wealthy, unaffectionate grandmother while her parents work abroad.

As Christmas nears, Hannah learns a shocking truth: the man she believed was her father is not her parent after all.

In an effort to find answers, she begins a desperate search for her real father, Air Force pilot Mike Conner, who she discovers to be the man of her distant childhood memories.

Local politicians and the city’s newspaper catch wind of her quest, and the entire state joins in Hannah’s hope that she’ll find her father before Christmas.

Happy Reading y’all

A little this, a little that, at Christmas

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This is story prompt Sunday. The word was Jolly. I feel happy and jolly, but totally pulled a blank when it came to anything jolly worth writing about. It’s not a great day for book suggestions either so it will be a this and that kind of a blog day.

I’m good with it. Many thoughts are busily floating through my mind at the moment. As usual, I don’t have any of this planned out. It will be another lets see where we end up post. I’m currently feeling upbeat and I’m pretty sure the post will sound that way too. I don’t want to take a chance with the good vibes I’ve got going on.

I will admit, briefly, that the lead up to this week was anything but jolly. There were a number of emotionally charged things going on and it all brought me to a place where, for days, I just wanted to cry. I couldn’t figure out why. I thought maybe if I gave in to the need the pressure would ease. There were no tears, so that idea was of no value. One thing did help, I counted up all the stresses over the previous week. That explained a lot. Once you get past a certain number a melt down is inevitable.

I worried that a lock-down covid Christmas would only make things worse. Thankfully the opposite happened.

It all began on the 21st when things started out sideways. My daughter-in-law talked about a video call at 4 pm, my eldest and his family. When it didn’t come at four as suggested I thought it wasn’t happening after all. Part way through a piece of blueberry pie my cell phone rang with a video call. No time for primping. I can laugh about it now.

Our whole family gets along well and has a lot of fun together but, scattered all over the country we don’t see each other very often. None of us are good with phone calls either. When we do talk though, it goes on for hours. After three hours I’d seen most of the house and talked with everyone in the house. It was just what I needed.

The next night we had scheduled a full family Zoom call. The first one we’ve ever had as a group and it was four hours of awesome. Nothing fancy or spectacular just the simple joy of being together and seeing each other. I think a few grandkids and a spouse or two may have checked out after awhile and left us to it.

I think part of the reason we were all fully in the moment was the recent loss of an extended family member. It reminded us of the fragility of life. Some of us are not getting any younger and the sudden, unexpected passing could have been any one of us. It sounds like we are going to commit to regular monthly visits while we still can. Just not four hours long. I’m couldn’t be happier about the promise of more visits.

Christmas Eve I delivered gifts to my daughter’s family in the city. I didn’t plan to stay long with covid restrictions in place but I was there long enough to see most of another family Zoom call with the extended side of the family. They enjoy each other immensely too and it was a treat to experience their interactions.

I enjoy all of the families my kids have married into. I feel very blessed. Most, if not all of us, find it easy to allow others into our family circles and it’s awesome.

So, aside from conversations I had fun with gifts this year.

I usually just give the teen-aged boys money. I’m a lousy shopper and I want them to be happy. I fully intended to use that method again this year but at the last minute changed my mind and ordered something. It wasn’t a new thought, I’ve been wanting to do it for awhile now but waffled.

I gave them a family Christmas card explaining that I decided to spend their money for them, the gift would be arriving before the 31st and it is a secret. I know they will love the gift. In the meantime curiosity is driving them crazy. It’s a good thing I’m not with them or they would be dragging it out of me. Anticipation is a good thing sometimes.

Included in the bag with the card was a couple of big bags of variety junk food, flavored chips, and three books. Big books.

Several years ago when their cousins (my other grandkids) were visiting I gifted them with a couple of full bags of books. My goal was to find stories they could get hooked on and from there develop a love of reading. I had selection help from a nerdy, teen-age book-lover sales clerk so I knew the options offered were good.

I held back three books (all part of a series with stand alone books) waiting for them to be in need of more reading material. Middle boy is the book lover, boys one and three – not so much… not yet anyway. The distress over the thought of such long books was hilarious. Their dad said he would give oldest boy fifty dollars if he read the whole 600 pages. (If dad was serious about the reward I think I will make a contribution to the incentive. Must check it out.)

Their reaction was no surprise and I didn’t take it personally. Reading is such an important skill, I wanted to do my part to provide tempting reading material. One day they will find a book they love. Aside from that, it gets easier with practice so any book they read will take them in the right direction.

I know they will be happy with the gift when it arrives, It will have them forgetting all about books, I’m sure.

I was unsure how I would feel about coming home to an empty house at this time of year. Usually I would stay with them for a few days to make the most of the season.

Once in a while, when I return from a family visit, grief at being alone will hit me like an unexpected tidal wave. It didn’t happen this time. I think there were several reasons. My emotional tank was refilled with the many hours spent with my family. (virtual works for me.) At the same time someone was praying for me. A friend mentioned I have been on her mind lately and she’s been praying for me even though she had no idea what the need was. I can still feel the comfort of her prayers wrapped all around me. I am grateful beyond words.

It was in answer to my prayers too. Earlier in the week I had cried out to God in my despair and he answered me. (there is a bible verse that says it like that). The change was so dramatic it feels like a miracle.

So, that’s my story. It has been an unexpectedly good Christmas and I still feel good.

(I hope the same for you)