Monday Memories: When Is My Birthday??

The summer I turned five my mother went to register me for kindergarten.  I am sure she did it with a sigh of relief; I am the youngest of five and I imagine there was a sense of impending freedom.  As I understand it, the conversation with the nice teacher at the registration desk went something like this:

Nice Teacher: Good morning Mrs. Reed, I see you are ready to bring us your last one.  What is her date of birth?

Mother: Good morning.  Her birthday is June the sixth.

Nice Teacher: Thank you.  Now, let's get this paperwork filled out.  Did you bring a copy of her birth certificate for us?

Mother:  Yes, here it is.

Nice Teacher: Very good.  Thank you. 


Nice Teacher:  Uhm.  Mrs. Reed, when did you say her birthday is?

Mother:  June the sixth.

Nice Teacher:  You mean June the eighth.

Mother:  No, it is June the sixth.

Nice Teacher:  No, it is June the eighth.


Mother: I think I know when my children's birthdays are; it is June the sixth.

Nice Teacher: Mrs. Reed, according to this birth certificate, it seems to be June the eighth.

Mother: Red-faced silence.


Over the years we have celebrated it sometimes on the sixth, sometimes on the eighth, and once on the tenth (or was that the twelfth?).

Then there was the dreadful eighteenth birthday.  No one said anything, so I assumed that everyone was planning a big surprise party for me.  My boyfriend at the time (not Mr. Marvelous) (Thank you, Lord, for delivering me from that one!) (and all my family just said a loud, hearty, "AMEN").  Where were we?  Oh yes, my boyfriend at the time was traveling, but he sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  Mother and one of my sisters came home from shopping and we had this conversation:

Mother: Oh, what beautiful flowers!

Me (smiling): yes, they are, aren't they?!

Mother (looking through them and smelling them): Is there a card?  Who sent me these??

Me (not smiling): My boyfriend sent them.

Mother (confused): He sent me flowers??

Me (not smiling at all): No, he sent me flowers.

Mother (really confused): Oh, well, why did he send you flowers??

Me (REALLY not smiling): Maybe because it is my birthday and I turned eighteen today?!

Mother: red-faced silence

I don't think that really qualified as a slammed door to my bedroom, I think I just closed it a little harder than usual.

She did hurry to the store at that point to get a watermelon (that's another story).

Ah, birthdays!

It's a family joke now, and I don't worry about offending Mother by telling this story because Mother and computers....well, let's just leave it at I don't worry.

But whenever it may happen to be (and I think it was the eighth), thanks Mom!  Thanks for putting up with carrying me for nine long months when you had four other monkeys to deal with.  Thanks for the long nights during those early years.  Thanks for putting up with me when the hormones hit (and boy did they ever!).  Thanks for the years of patience, the kindness, the love, and the heritage of faith.  Thanks for persevering in teaching me the Word of God, teaching me to pray, teaching me my catechism (painful process though it was!).  Thanks for teaching me to be a lady, a wife and a mother.  Thanks for all of it.  Whether you remember my birthday on the actual day or not, you are the world's greatest Mom!

Yeah, that's me at five. 

Happy Friday!

What's on your agenda for the weekend?

A little work?

Enjoying the fruits of that work?

Maybe some time to stop and enjoy these?

 Perhaps a relaxing time cooling off in the "Porch Pool"?

  Whatever it may look like for you, enjoy it!              

God's peace to your homes.          

About Lettuce

It was a challenging winter for Mr. Marvelous.

1. There was the back injury (a dislocated rib) that had him down for six weeks in November and December.  
2. That was followed by a bout of mycoplasma pneumoniae.
3. Let's not forget the knee injury on the ladder.
4. Interspersed between all this was his regular and routine bouts of sinusitis which usually turns into either bronchitis or pneumonia (it's a toss-up each time). 
5. He had to go to Wisconsin on two separate occasions for work
6. Oh yeah, it was one of the hardest, longest, coldest winters that this area has had in quite a while.

Normally winters are hard for him because he can't get out and work in his garden.  This year, even if he had wanted to, he wasn't in very good physical shape to do much.

I did ask him to start some lettuce for me under the grow-lights in the basement.  I figured that would accomplish two things.  It would let me have some lettuce for salad, and it would let him get his hands in the dirt a little bit.

So one January evening when he was feeling moderately healthy, he went down in the basement, got out the aluminum pans and the potting soil, and planted some lettuce seed for me.

See? These really are not just for lasagna

We turned on the grow-lights and waited.

We faithfully watered the pans and waited.

We waited.  And waited.  And waited!  And nothing happened.

Finally in late February, Mr. Marvelous gave up on the lettuce and started some other seeds.

By the way, have you priced potting soil lately?  It's ridiculous!  We can't afford to waste it, so when seeds don't germinate, we dump the dirt back into the bag and re-use it for other pots.

By April we were noticing something peculiar in amongst some of the seedlings. We giggled a bit.

We even started finding some in the bag of potting soil!

Then we looked around the garden where we had transplanted some things from the pots.

I guess it finally germinated.  We have a lovely crop now!

Now if the tomatoes and cucumbers and carrots would just hurry along.....

Walkabout Wednesday: May Totals and Stargazing

I am pleasantly surprised to be able to tell you that I had NO pedometer glitches in the month of May.  My grand total for May was one hundred thirty-six and ninety-eight one hundredths of a mile.  That's 136.98, but as usual it feels like more when I write it out.

That takes me to two thousand four hundred six and ninety-nine hundredths (2406.99) documented miles so far for this trip, which puts me right about at the Palomar Observatory (link to Wikipedia article).

Given my propensity for star-gazing, are you really surprised that I stopped there?! 

Photo from UCSD.edu

Have you ever wondered where Steven Spielberg got his idea for R2-D2?  I'm pretty sure it came from this telescope!

The Palomar Observatory (link to CalTech website) is operated by CalTech University.  Construction was started in 1938 and it took ten years to complete since a World War happened right after it was started.  The web page to the CalTech article has a wonderful feature here for star-gazing nerds like myself to be able to "use" the telescope from home.  Very nice of them, and VERY much appreciated by me.

Here are a few pictures of the view from the telescope.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Photo Courtesy of NSF.gov

Photo of the Andromeda Galaxy courtesy of Scriptphd.com

The Pleiades Constellation  Photo: NASA and Palomar

There are a lot more images available here if you are as fascinated by them as I am. 

The View From My Kitchen Window: June 2, 2014

My dishwasher is on it's last few washes.  I don't want to pay for a new one, so I only use it to wash my jars before canning.  That means that everything else (and I do mean everything) gets washed in the sink by hand. 

It is not really a big deal to me to wash my dishes by hand.  Most of the time.

My mother used to do the same thing.  I remember how she would prop a hymn book in the kitchen window above the sink and sing her way through doing dishes.

Last Wednesday I was getting ready to wash dishes and remembered my Mom doing this.  Then I remembered that the pastor was teaching the book of Ephesians that evening at church.  I had wanted to re-read the book before going to church.  So I did this.

Thanks Mom!

We're moving on to Philippians this week. 

I'm looking forward to washing dishes this summer!

Monday Memories: A Shooting Star

I had four wonderful Grandparents and I treasure the heritage they have passed on to my siblings and my cousins and me.

One year my sisters and I got to go spend several days with my Granny and Grandaddy (my Dad's parents) in Weaverville, North Carolina.  It was a fun place to go stay.  Their home was so close to one of my Aunt Janet that we could walk down the street and around the corner and be there.  Between Aunt Janet (the "fun" aunt) and Granny and Grandaddy, we were spoiled rotten that week.  Even better, there were cousins to play with ~ as long as Scott didn't get too close with that snake he had!

One evening Granny needed to check on a friend and take her a meal, so we all piled in the car to ride with them.  It was late at night ~ probably after 6:00 pm! ~ and I was sleepy.  Grandaddy told us to watch out the window and we might see a shooting star.  Right on cue, one went streaking across the sky.  It was the first shooting star I ever saw, and I have never forgotten that moment.  I'm not sure whether I was more excited about really getting to see one, or if my Grandparents were more excited that they got to show me the first one I ever saw.

Now every time I go out at night to look at the stars and hope to see a meteor, I think about my Grandparents and what a gift from God they continue to be to me and all their grandchildren.  I hope and pray that I will be that kind of grandparent to my own one-day grandchildren. 

Happy Friday

I forgot to warn the pastor how I pray for pastors.  I suppose I have forgotten to warn any pastor other than my Dad how I pray for pastors.  So if you are a pastor, this is your warning.  Among other things, one thing I ask for my pastors is that they would allow God to speak through them.  Even if this means that the sermon is changed at the last minute.  I am rather specific in asking God to give these men the wisdom and discernment to know if He wants them to preach on something other than what they have prepared....even if it is the last minute.  I ask Him to give them the courage and boldness and humility to ditch their notes and allow God to speak through them. 

I have not seen this answered in a last minute fashion very often, but on Sunday night our pastor said that he believed that God wanted him to preach on something other than what he had planned.  At the last minute, he ditched his notes and prepared a sermon from a completely different part of Scripture.  He did it with courage and boldness and humility as an act of obedience to God's call.  He told us that he had no idea why God wanted him to do that, but that he had to obey.

John preached a terrific sermon on Jude 24-25.  He gave some background and talked about God's glory.  He reminded us that the response to God's glory is worship and living a life that is directed toward that glory.

I love these verses.  They are stitched on a baby blanket as a gift from my middle brother to our precious Judah.  They are one of the benedictions that my Dad frequently uses.  They are a prayer.

And I think I know one reason why God asked John to preach on these verses on Sunday.

This is the prayer that I am praying over my dear cousin Danny and his wife Jody.  I share this with you for two reasons.  First, I would ask you right now to pray this with me for Danny and Jody.  Secondly, I am praying this over you.

Take a moment.  Quiet your mind.  Still your heart.  Hear these words and receive them as a gift directly to you from God.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

Happy Friday!                         

Some Before Pictures

I have two brothers and they are both pretty amazing men.  I refer to them as "Rock Doc" and "Tree Doc".  One is a geologist who writes books ~ some of which I have read and a few of which I even understood.  Somewhat.  The Tree Doc states that he is more of a tree-mortician, but we won't get into the sibling semantic squabbles.  The point is that he does tree work for a living and as a result has (drum-roll, please) the much-longed-for wood chips.

We asked him if he could possibly spare a load, and boy did he ever come through.  He sent one of his men to our home with a dump-truck loaded FULL of wood chips.  We were so excited! 

Well.  He TRIED to send one of his men to our home.  You see, our house is perched up on top of a hill.  The road up our hill is not a municipal road, it is a private road.  Because it is not state or county built and maintained, those pesky regulations about incline don't matter.  So it is very steep.  Remember Junior's attempts to get home in the snowstorm?  When the young man started the dump truck up the hill, he got stuck less than halfway up.  He tried; he really did, but that poor truck just couldn't do it (I think someone forgot to feed the squirrels that morning) (If you are family, you understand that oblique statement).  So he backed down the hill and tried again with a running start this time.  Nope.  Could not be done.  I checked with the neighbors and we decided that he could dump the load at the bottom of the hill.  We have a nice, large grassy area off the right-of-way and as long as we don't interfere with Sandra's flower garden all is well.  So the very nice young man dumped a load of wood chips and headed back to work.

Well.  There we were.  A load of much desired wood chips.  At the bottom of the hill.  No worries. Remember?  I have Little Red(neck) truck and two Mr. Marvelouses (that is the plural, right?).  Guess how we spent most of Memorial Day weekend? 

I missed the opportunity to take a picture of Wood Chip Mountain, but I did get before and after pictures of how we used them.  Now that the story is finished, here are some pictures of our Pre-Wood-Chipped-Garden:

This year's front garden peas

 This is where the sweet potatoes are going

The Spring Potato Crop

 This is how it looks when I stand over by the grape vines.

Pretty bad, isn't it?

 We can't make ourselves get rid of these daisies

 ARTICHOKES!!!

Over by the chicken pen we mowed down the non-productive blueberry bushes.

We'll try melons over there this year

 Here are all our favorite squash plants.  Remember them?

 We had some left-over hay for the tomato plants.

Have I mentioned that Mr. Marvelous planted SIXTY tomato plants this year?!

Help!

 Cucumbers.  I have to be careful not to trip over them when I am hanging out clothes

 We finally got the beans planted.

 And more beans

 This was going to be the second artichoke bed.

Somehow it has become the second squash bed.  Hmm.

And that's what we have had so far.  Stay tuned.  We got it looking a whole lot better.

Thanks to my amazing brother!

The View From My Kitchen Window: May 22

Honesty Time.

Sometimes my kitchen window looks like this.

Sometimes it looks a whole lot worse           

In the heat of the summer, when I am trying to keep the power bill down, it looks like this during the day-time.

I should lower the blinds all the way, and by August I probably will, but I have to have some kind of day-light and woodsy view!

In the evenings we pull up the blinds, open the doors and windows, turn on the fans, and thank God that this is not one of those years when we are already hitting up to 100.  That's when we see things like this.

This is not a reflection of anything through the window, it is just the reflection of the evening sun on the leaves of the tree.  I'm not quite sure how God did this, but I do enjoy seeing it.

Then there is this one:

Leave a comment if you think you know what caused this!

Heroes

I need to make sure that you understand that I am not telling this story because I think that Mr. Marvelous and I did something nice.  I am telling this story because of what GOD did and how HE responded to a conversation and a prayer.  I simply want to share HIS glory with you.

There is a woodchip pile at the bottom of our hill.  My sweet brother sent it to us.  That's the subject for another day.

Monday morning (are you catching that it was Memorial Day?  Good) Mr. Marvelous and I drove The Little Red(neck) Truck to the bottom of the hill to load up chips to put on the garden.  As we were getting ready and going down I was talking to Mr. Marvelous about how much I want to find ways to put our faith to work.

We got to the bottom of the hill, dumped the bins and buckets by the pile, grabbed the rake, shovel and pitchfork, and looked up.  There on the road was a car and a motorcycle stopped.  That's unusual because the road is a fairly busy, curvy, hilly two-lane US highway.  We realized that the car was having some trouble and the motorcycle rider was trying to help him push it to the side of the road so Mr. Marvelous, being Marvelous, went to help.  I kept an eye out for on-coming traffic and they started pushing.  With the help of a few local heroes (the local Fire Chief, one of his volunteers and a deputy sheriff), we got him safely to the side of the road and then had a little country gathering.

Mr. Marvelous and I figured that things were well in hand so we finished loading wood chips and headed back home.  As I got into the car, I noticed the back seat of the young man's car seemed to have a set of Army ACUs.  Hmm.

We came home and got the chips unloaded onto the garden.  Some good friends came over for a quick visit and some chicken talk and helped us out with our egg overload (!).  After they left, we started back down the hill.  When we got there we discovered that while the motorcycle, the Chief, and the deputy had left, the young man was still sitting in his stranded car.  This is Alabama and even though it has been an unusual year weather-wise, Memorial Day is still hot around here.  So we loaded him up and brought him home.

It turns out that this young man is in the Army Reserves.  He was on his way home to Atlanta from Texas when his car died on him. 

We brought him home and did our best to take care of him.  Mr. Marvelous Jr. happened to be home, so instead of having to sit in the living room with two boring old people while he waited for his family to come and rescue him, he got to sit and visit with someone his age who shares common interests (well okay, I don't think he is a huge fan of bagpipes, but they were able to talk guns and military).

God answered not just one but two prayers of the day.

He gave us an opportunity to live our faith.

He gave us a real-live-honest-to-goodness hero to bring into our home and honor on Memorial Day.

You may not have the money to spring for a meal for a group of soldiers, and you may not find one stranded by the side of the road.  But if you see one, it can't hurt to give them a smile, a thank you, and especially the reassurance of your prayers for them and their families.

As my Dad would say, "If you are going to pray and ask God for an opportunity, be sure to be ready because He will send it!"

Monday Memories: Heroes

It is hard to know how to write about my heroes.  I have a lot of them. 

I thought about doing a week of posts with different categories. 

I thought about just doing a roll-call of different heroes that have influenced my life. 

So many good writers and videographers have written so many things that are so good about heroes.  If you go on Facebook today you will see some heart-warming posts.  If you go on Youtube you will see some fantastic videos which hopefully will include some Lee Greenwood and Charlie Daniels.

I went to some dictionaries to look for a good definition of the word.  If you know me at all, you know that I almost always prefer the definition I find in my old printed Websters (one of the best High School Graduation Gift I was ever given ~ certainly the one that has lasted the longest).  However for this word I prefer the definition I find on Wikipedia.

Characters who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self-sacrifice—that is, heroism—for some greater good of all humanity.

Stop and think about that for a few minutes.  

A collage of images runs through my mind as I think about this definition.

Images of soldiers and of Arlington Cemetery. 

Images of firefighters rushing into buildings as everyone else runs away.  Carrying out the injured.

Images of policemen rushing to a scene of violence or holding a child in their arms to protect them from harm and comfort them.

These are the heroes who are willingly risking their lives every day.  They have wives, husbands, children and parents who support them, encourage them, and share them with us.

There are other heroes of course.  

There are the doctors who work long into the night to comfort and help the sick and injured; the marathon surgeries to correct deformities and injuries, or to remove cancers.

The nurses who care for patients whether the patients appreciate their care or not.

The teachers who work year-round to encourage indifferent children (and parents!) to learn.

The pastors who preach the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully and serve their people tirelessly (oh the stories I could tell you about that!).

Some heroes are fighting other battles, like my cousin Danny and my sister-in-law Nancy who are battling against cancer and its effects.

There are the unsung heroes who work tirelessly from before sunrise to long past dark to care for the children God has given them.

Look for heroes today.  You probably won't have to look far to find them.  Be grateful for all of them and for their families.  

Look for ways that you can serve them.  Perhaps just a smile and a heart-felt "Thank you!".  Certainly your faithful prayers for them and their families.  

Heavenly Father, thank you for these men and women who work so hard to reflect Your grace and mercy to the rest of us.  Thank You for their willingness to serve You by serving us.  Thank You for their service.  Watch over them today Lord.  Protect their bodies and their souls.  Comfort them, strengthen them, encourage them.  Please give them the wisdom and the grace that they need to get through each day.  Help us to remember to be thankful for them.  Help us to remember to pray for them.  Help us to remember to find ways to serve them and to show our appreciation for their service.  Guard their families while they are away serving us.  Comfort their wives, husbands, children and parents.  Most of all dear Lord, help us to remember that they are a picture of the work that Jesus has done for us through His death and resurrection.  In HIS name we pray.  Amen

Happy Friday!

I hope you find time to get out and smell the flowers!

Kitty Withdrawal

This is Gracie.

Mr. Marvelous belongs to her.  

This is their combination of Captain Morgan and Smaug.  

Last week Mr. Marvelous got sick.  He spent Thursday working at his home office and Friday moving between bed and recliner.  Saturday we went to the doctor.  He was given some antibiotics.  Saturday night his "good" knee suddenly and inexplicably started swelling.  By Sunday he couldn't walk without using a walker (and even that was challenging).  Therefore, he spent all day Sunday and Monday morning going between the bed and the recliner. 

Monday we went to his wonderful orthopedic doctor ~ Dr. Matthew Davis if you live in the Birmingham area and need a really, really wonderful orthopod ~ and Dr. Davis was able to fix his knee.  The fix was painful (draining a LOT of fluid), which meant that Mr. Marvelous spent the rest of Monday and all day Tuesday not being very active.

All of this was rather frustrating for my active gardener who is already fussing about being behind in gardening for the year.  

Gracie, on the other hand, has been in hog kitty-heaven.  She has had her human around all day every day for several days.  That has meant that her human could spend all his time doing what humans are supposed to do all day every day.  Spoil the cat! (as if she isn't already).  She has spent almost all her time curled up in his lap and following him as he moved from place to place.  When not doing that, she is coming to inform me that I need to be doing a better job taking care of him.  I'm not kidding; that cat scolds me if I am not doing what she thinks I should be doing for Mr. Marvelous.

All that ended today.  Mr. Marvelous is much improved and in spite of Gracie's best efforts, went back to work.  Bad human! Bad Daddy!!

Withdrawal is painful and Gracie couldn't handle it.  So she spent the day in my lap, trying to get into my lap, wrapping herself around my neck (and shedding into my mouth), crying to get into my lap....well, you probably get the picture.  

Hopefully she will calm down tomorrow.  However if you don't hear from me this week, you might want to send someone to make sure I haven't been smothered by kitty-affection!

Full Moon!

I am fascinated with the night sky.  I wish my photography skills were better; one day I am going to take a class.  Until then, I will just keep on taking pictures.  And being glad for digital photography so that I can shoot 30-50 pictures for every 10 that I keep!

Here is what I saw as I walked from the front walk, to the back steps, to the downstairs back porch on Tuesday evening.

Not a great picture, but I love the weird effect!

The View From My Kitchen Window: May 12, 2014

I cleaned my kitchen window the other morning especially for you!

One of these days we will trim some branches.  Just not today!