At 16

Once upon a time, you liked matchbox cars, toy tractors, scooters, and sandboxes. You loved playing in the woods, running the creek, and feeding sugar cubes to the horses. You told elaborate stories of kings, soldiers, and monsters, and made your own swords out of sticks and limbs.

You loved the ocean, rolling in the waves and yelling at the top of your lungs. We built sandcities, big and elaborate. I thought you would be an architect, or an engineer. You loved crabbing on the pier, walking through the old places on the island, and telling ghost stories. You loved ice cream from that special shoppe.

Nowadays you love long hair, video games, computer games, playing the guitar, and acting in your school's improv club. You love your Itouch, and texting on your phone...all the time. You love driving, and dancing, and wearing a fedora.

You are 16 years old today. You are kind, funny, sweet, loving, and what a wild ride you have taken me on. At two, you literally climbed curtains. At four, you took apart the vacumn cleaner... and the VCR... and the TV. I sat on my bed and cried. At seven you read "real books mommy, not those baby books", and did math problems at an amazing speed. At sixteen....you're still my baby. Smart, witty, bright, fun...love. Love in its purest form. Happy Birthday sweet boy.

"Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood, we find a delightful creature of a boy."

An October Night

The wind whispers

A wary warning

There was plenty, still

Early this morning

These primal urges

Are hard to fight

An unholy diet

A dark appetite

The pavement scrapes

With scuttling leaves

I'll pull the drapes

And hope to deceive

The moon suffocates

In ominous clouds

Shut off the lights

Heartbeats too loud

Then the neighbor's gate creaks

But its not the wind

That seeks to feast

On fearing humans

Red brake lights

A car crawls by slow

The shadowy shapes

Of my dark doorstep know

That the empty window

Of my house lies.

The horrible truth

Lies deep inside

Everything tonight

Could have just been dandy

But now the demons have wrath

Cause I ate all the candy!

Happy Halloween!

poem by Charles Audette

Under Old Great Trees

I remember this place, from my childhood, this long road under old great trees. My sister and I would run there, in and out of the trees, picking up acorns, and berries, and leaves of scarlet and gold. My mother and her sister would gather pecans on the nearby farm. Thanksgiving would be here soon, and pecans were needed for pies, cakes, and other southern staples of the season.

I dreamed of this place last night, and Judy, and Mama, and Aunt Elsie. I don't know what took me back there. But for a time, I was there again, under the old great trees.

"I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees." C.S. Lewis

October

"A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air."- Eric Sloane

Dry Spell

I wish I could be one of those cool bloggers, who manage to write something creative, funny, or witty, even inspirational, on a regular basis. You know, the ones that can blog almost daily, or at least weekly? But, I'm not. My blogging seems to come in spirts. Almost as though I have to be in the mood to sit down and write. Shoot, its been 3 months since my last post. Thats quite a dry spell. I suppose I just haven't been inspired, or in the mood. I still love to follow my favorite blogs, I've just been poorly attentive to my own.

So, here's to another go at it...Let's see....

Summer has been very nice so far. I'm working three days a week at the shelter and decided to take off summer quarter from teaching at the local college. I've been to the beach, have worked a bit on remodeling the cottage at the lake, puttered about in the yard and my garden, enjoyed time I could grab with my children. None of those things seem so exciting to blog about. Hopefully...maybe... I"ll get around to posting pictures from our beach trip.

Where, oh where are my creative juices??

Road to the Cross

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:2-12

Today...remembering...imagining....

Hello Legs

Its good to see ya...I think.

Today is the first day, after the long cold winter, that I'm pant-less. I've slipped on a cute new spring-y dress, a pair of cute flats, and a layer of self tanner on the legs. I'm hoping no one at work really thinks this is a cruel April Fool's joke, that I'm bearing my lily white legs. But...spring is in the air, its a beautiful day, temps are suppose to be near 80 here in Georgia. What's a girl to do? Wear pants, on a day like today? Oh no...goodbye drab winter sweaters, slack, and jeans. Hello self tanner, legs, and skirts! Spring has sprung!

I'm hoping you celebrate spring this weekend. If the weather permits, pull out your spring wardrobe and your Easter dresses. Have a blessed Passover, Good Friday, and celebrate Easter.

I Love Her

"Don't get hung up on the size. If you feel bad about yourself because a 12 is what fits, take a sharpie and write 6 on the label."

Stacy London

What a great idea! Seriously, for me right now, Stacy is a huge comfort and inspiration. Whenever I watch What Not to Wear, I feel like there is always a way to look good, regardless of how I might be feeling about myself at the time.

For the last couple of weeks, I've tried to change my eating habits, with the ultimate goal of losing weight. In the last couple of years I've put on about 20 pounds. Thats 20 pounds I could not afford. I don't feel good, I don't look good. So...with summer right around the corner, which means swimsuit weather, I really need to get back into shape.

Just as important as weight, are the health issues for me. I know there are certain foods that really affect me in how I feel physically, foods that seem to have an adverse effect on my body. I know that products with flour make my tummy hurt, certain grains make my tummy hurt, sugar gives me a headache and makes me feel very sluggish. Food products that are high in starch, high gluten, high carbs, make me feel bad, physically and even affect my mood. Trouble is, I love that stuff...pasta, potatoes, rice, yeast rolls, and anything sweet I can get my hands on...chocolate, cake, cookies, candy. But...I must stop...for my sake.

I'm trying hard to "be good" and stay away from those foods I should not eat. For the past couple of weeks, I've eaten high protein, lots of salad veggies, very little fruit. I've seen a big change in how I feel but not in my weight. Hopefully that will come in time. My next task is to head to the gym. Exercise needs to go along with diet. Years ago I was a runner, power walker, and routinely did step aerobics. But now, at my age, and with a bum knee (thanks to all those years of running) and back issues, I need to find a different routine. I'm thinking about a personal trainer, at the gym nearby. Someone who understands the needs and conditions of a middle aged woman.

Meanwhile, Stacy makes me feel good. She reminds me that I can still be beautiful...that true beauty comes from the inside and only brightens up whats on the outside. No matter my body shape, I can still look "Shut up!" beautiful. And....if I really want to be a size 6, all I have to do is change the label.

Every Once In A While

that special time comes along. Those times that seem to surprise you, times so special that you know you are experiencing a "once in a lifetime." Times when you are able to be with the people that matter most to you in the whole wide world. Times of honor, and fun. When family gathers together to celebrate, and cheer, and support, and just "be," for you know these moments don't come along just any old day.

You cut up, laugh, and act silly.

You savor being there.

Maybe do a little line dancin'...or boot scootin.'

And you visit beautiful places...awesome and dreamy.

And for a time, you enjoy summer...in February. Even in Nashville.

And, you catch up with old friends, who have become old legends. "Whisperin' their way through songs, carving out a musical career.

Old friends who have become old icons. Like Bill Anderson, and Little Jimmy Dickens.

But best of all, you get to experience your daddy...appearing on the stage...at the Grand Ole Opry. Stealing the show, no less.

Old radio men never die...they simply appear on the Grand Ole Opry. Congrats Daddy!

Dreamin'

Of Spring....and a new garden

and favorite places...

and garden parties...

and new babies

I need Spring.

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

Malachi 4:2

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some skipping.

A Birthday Remembered

Today is your birthday. We would have chatted on the phone, you would have eaten cake, and opened my package I sent to you. We would have laughed and joked about growing older, yet still being young and beautiful and full of life. You left us way too soon, and I miss you. But, now I rejoice for your new birth in heaven, for your new and healthy body, for your youth, your health, your vitality there. Sing sweet sister, sing, for your song is a new one.

"Arise my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come..."
The Song of Songs

For Haiti

"Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

Its the faces that stay with me....

"No, I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm. I will come to you." John 14.18

Singing and Praying at Night in Port-au-Prince

by David L. Wilson for MR Magazine

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 13 -- Several hundred people had gathered to sing, clap, and pray in an intersection here by 9 o'clock last night, a little more than four hours after an earthquake had devastated much of the Haitian capital. Another group was singing a block away, on the other side of the Hotel Oloffson, where I was camping out.
I couldn't make out many of the words. "Alleluia" was the refrain for some of the hymns the group at the crossroads sang. A minister was preaching to the other group about Bondye ("God") and kretyen ("Christians"). The congregants replied with bursts of song.
There were frequent aftershocks. With each tremor, the singing stopped and the singers wailed; after several minutes the hymns would resume. Many of the people in the streets had lost their homes, but even those whose houses weren't affected sat outdoors for fear of what might happen if they were inside when the aftershocks came.

Earlier in the night I was listening to the singing with a young Haitian American at the hotel. "Haitians are different," he said, referring to the singing. "Its a sense of community."

They were remarkably in tune with each other...The beautiful music continued through the night.

Snow Day!

It started that night...

Sunrise on a snow day...It was cold. It was quiet. I felt like the only person out that morning.

Quiet reflection. Thankful for a snow day, a holiday from school.

The view of the country church over the hill. Winter is the only time we have the view of her steeple.

Bunny Tracks!

A winter garden...

Snow Birds...

Shelter...

Having fun...

Hoping Hoping Hoping

Our weather service is calling for snow for our area tomorrow. I'm so excited!! I LOVE snow! If its going to be this dadgum cold outside (it was 14 degrees at my house this morning) then pleeeeze let there at least be snow!

Snow is a real treat, an unofficial holiday, an O-fficial fun day in our part of the world. We rarely see snow in Georgia, even in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, where I live. When we get word of it heading our way, most of us get downright giddy with excitement. Today our grocery stores will sell out of milk and bread and any kind of soup fixin's. Schools will send home "just in case" notes on where to tune your dial for school closings.

Snow! Snow! Lovely snow! Won't you join me in crossing fingers and toes, and wishing big for snow in Georgia tomorrow!

Can you tell I'm in for a major disappointment if it doesn't...............No, don't even speak it!