Posted on in Aging, Covid 19, Music, Social Distancing

Just Breathe

Who would have thought last St. Patrick’s day that we would still be fighting pandemic on the 13th of July? Perhaps until someone you know catches the virus people do not take this seriously. Granted many catch it and recover. However, some go home from the ICU in wheelchairs and some in beds, having to learn how to walk again. Our daughter was tested and got a positive result for Covid 19 last week. Stunning. So now we wait.

“To wait, biblically speaking, is not to assume the worst, worry, fret, make demands, or take control. Nor is waiting inactivity. Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief. To wait is to ‘rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him’ (Psalm 37:7).” Max Lucado

I wait. I pray. I try to remember to breathe. And I post, asking you to pray for her immediate family (2 adults, 2 teens) and ours (2 seniors with underlying health issues).

Max Lucado wrote ” Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief.” I have found it increasingly difficult to stay focused on God through these four months. The monotony of repetitive actions gets to me: (Didn’t I just change this toilet paper roll? Didn’t I just fill these same prescription boxes?) Changing the wall calendar page has gotten startling! How did we get from March to mid-July?

Many believers have told me they believe that this world-wide pandemic is a massive effort by the forces of darkness to separate us from one another and from God. The level of warfare I have experienced has me leaning that direction.

Hebrews 12:1-2a (NIV2011)  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

NOW I have my work cut out for me! Throw off not casually get out from under, but THROW OFF everything that hinders. I have changed up my devotional time. There are days when I let the Bible app read to me in an attempt to immerse myself in Scripture. Morning Prayer, devotional writings, whatever feeds my weary soul.

If I read a chapter of Proverbs a day, I am finished with the book in one month. Psalms can be broken up into just about 5 chapters a day. I have gone so far as to break up Psalm 119 into days as it is VERY long for reading in just one sitting – at least for me! Fix my mind, fix my eyes, fix my ears upon the Lord God Almighty. The hymn below was written by Helen Howarth Lemmel, a woman from Batavia, Ohio! Yep, that is where I live. 🙂 The chorus is sung more than the hymn in most churches. Too bad they leave out the verses! Here is a quartet from the continent of India who do a wonderful arrangement of Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. I pray you will.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Cooking, Nature

Summer Walk

When I took Lucky for a walk at Sycamore Park (see Playing Michael Q. Powell) I made certain we went near the water. She was not interested in swimming, though I did put her feet in at one point. Discovered a flower or two I was not familiar with. Bob and I recently discussed Matthew 6:28 “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow…” Some translations read flowers or wildflowers. These plants remind me not to be anxious. My Heavenly Father knows all things that I need. He wants me focused on His Kingdom and His righteousness before all things. Seems this plant might be called Wild Petunia?

Wikipedia teaches that common chicory is also known as blue daisy, blue dandelion, blue sailors, blue weed, Bunk, coffeeweed, cornflower, hendibeh, horseweed, ragged sailors, succory, wild bachelor’s buttons, and wild endive. This is where we get the term describing someone’s eyes as cornflower blue. This plant is in the dandelion family!

Cornflower with a busy bee!

Growing along the sides of the road this always announces summer to me. I remember my mother teaching us that people used to roast the roots and use them to extend their coffee supply. It is caffeine free, but is supposed to taste like coffee. Can’t say I have tried it. It is still used and often known as New Orleans coffee.

Saw this thing below and thought, “What in the world?” Before I could look it up on the internet, I noticed a similar growth in my front flower bed.

Last spring I had some garlic in the kitchen that was beginning to sprout leaves. I decided to plant it where I could watch it. A friend had told me that if I plant it in the fall I could harvest my own garlic the next year. Granted, I chose a different time of year because the garlic presented itself ready to grow. Learned from Leslie Land at https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/advice/a18057/growing-garlic-460709/

“I spent most of my gardening life cutting off the flowering scapes of hardneck garlic so they wouldn’t draw energy from the bulbs. Then I read a story about a garlic growing guru who said it didn’t matter a whit. Well, it isn’t really much bother. Tender young scapes are delicious and older, curly ones look wonderful in the vase.” I never knew ANY of this! Perhaps I should have picked that “scape” at the park? Nah, leave it for someone else to notice and wonder about.

Keep looking around! Never know what you might discover in plain sight!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Nature

Bursting With Activity

The side garden is a busy place right now. It does not matter if I visit at morning, noon or evening, the milkweed is cluttered with bees, beetles, ants and aphids.

This photo only shows a portion of the milkweed. The fragrance is heady this time of year. Early evening carries one of those “knock you down” perfumes. We have seen a few monarchs flitting about. Have found no evidence of caterpillars yet. There seem to be tiny white/cream eggs on the underside of the leaves. They hatch so tiny that until I see actual holes in the leaves I cannot be certain we have newborns.

Until then, I enjoy the busy pollinators.

Even the bachelor buttons are humming with bees. Made me wonder how much pollen these plants produce? Do the bees run out after a few days? Seemingly not.

Looking this idea up on the internet I found these facts! “Very fond of milkweed blossoms, bees will desert other flowers when these are available. The plants provide a good nectar flow. Bees discard the pollen.  Assuming enough plants are available, milkweeds can bring a good crop of honey.” says https://www.beeculture.com/milkweeds-honey-plants/ Oops. I was only thinking pollen not nectar. Our bees are mixing it up between those two plants!

Will keep you posted as the milkweed gets taller and taller. Bob says it is taking over the garden. Jumps the rock border and tries growing out in the yard, where it is promptly mowed down. We started the seeds several years ago and have been rewarded with caterpillar feeding, raising and releasing after chrysalis.

Posted on in Covid 19, Humor, Just do it

More Humor From a Friend!

For me, it would be much more than 20 seconds!!
That is Hilarious!!
Made me laugh out loud!!

Hope you are staying in and staying well! PLEASE wear a mask. Please. Just spoke with a neighbor whose wife has MS. She gets an infusion twice a year that basically kills her immune system. If you passed her on the way to or from the infusion you would not know. If you sneezed on her before her white cells grew back, you could kill her. They have two young boys. Please, wear your mask!

I like the nurses who remind people “If you think a mask is an inconvenience, you should try a ventilator!” My husband was on a ventilator once. It is frightening and more than uncomfortable. In fact, it is so bad they have to put you in a medically induced coma to tolerate it.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Nature

Playing Michael Q. Powell

Walking the dog on a trail I had only taken once before on a night walk, I was startled and delighted to see an Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly, I think! I have been following Mr. Powell’s site for quite some time. His photography is amazing.

This photo was taken with my iPhone 8+ and the new dog on a leash in the other hand. I was delighted to capture this. And I immediately thought, “I am playing Mike Powell!”

Then I spotted one I could not photograph as it was too jumpy. It was a delightful almost turquoise. Have no idea what kind of damsel or dragonfly it was. Wished someone else was with me to capture the image.

We left that area and headed back to the car. And voila! There was another sort!

And another shot of same one. I even captured the shadow of it’s wings 🙂

Mike! Come help me in Ohio!!! Absolutely NO idea what this one is. I was walking near the east fork of the Little Miami river. It was a humid morning and the dog kindly cooperated while I took photos. What a champ!!

If you are interested in dragonflies and damselflies I cannot recommend a better site than https://michaelqpowell.com. He is a terrific photographer who also writes well. He is quite fun to follow. At least until he gets to the snakes.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Memories, Music, Nature

Sweet Peas

Why are these important to me? First of all, my husband had this stone wall built to make it easier to garden on this portion of our hill. As you can see it is quite steep. Before we had the wall built I had started sweet peas from seed. I was delighted when they sprouted and bloomed for a couple years. When the men came to build the wall I asked if they might be able to save the sweet peas. They said yes. I failed to tell them where I wanted them to transplant the vine. Turns out they placed it smack dab in the center of the garden. As you can see the vines came back just fine! This year I decided instead of trying to train it I would just let it go over the wall.

But why is this flower memorable to me? Well, a dear friend told me about them. When I spotted them growing along a portion of the road we travel to get home I decided to try my hand at growing them.

Becky Sommer was my friend at school from at least 1959 (when we are pictured next to each other in the class photo). She is a highly talented artist whom I have always admired. Her parents were Dwight and Maria.

Dwight and Maria were married for 69 years before she passed at age 93. Her family was Russian and she was one of 8 children. She bore 6 children to Dwight. “Her creativity was expressed in her artwork and poetry, participation in Cincinnati’s Green Thumb Garden Club and All Saints Episcopal Church’s Altar Guild, flower arranging, and bringing style and warmth to her home and family.”

Dwight was music teacher at my cousins’ elementary school! He passed at age 98. “He was a gifted and beloved music educator at Elmwood Place School until his retirement in 1976. Dwight was so well loved and revered that 21 years after his retirement, the music room was dedicated to him. He continued to teach, mentor and follow the musical careers of many of his students until well into his 80’s.”

So besides being Becky’s parents why were these folks so meaningful to me? First off, Dwight drove me to high school along with Becky and maybe one or two others for years. Our high school was on his way to work. By playing our local classical radio station on the way to school he introduced me to a broad array of classical music!

When I joined the Episcopal church in 1965 who did I find there but the Sommer family! I had an immediate feeling of connection.

Maria once told me that when she and Dwight were dating he brought her bouquet of sweet peas. Evidently, he picked them on his way to see her. So growing them seemed like something I wanted to try. I know she had some flowers in her backyard, but don’t remember her growing them. I also remember she had terrible arthritis in her hands in her later years. I remember visiting once and being shocked to see braces on her wrists.

Still, why this strong connection to my friend’s parents? Well, when my family of origin blew up in 1968 I needed a place to live for a few months until my classes began at the University of Cincinnati. The Sommer family took me in. Maria had a huge old gas stove with a side drawer. Times I was upset she would sit me down for tea. Pulling out the crackers she stored in that drawer (being always warm the drawer kept them dry), she would fix me jelly on warm crackers to go with the tea. Then she would let me talk if I wanted to talk or just sit and compose myself. Cannot remember a better example of Christ’s love and compassion in my entire life, except maybe Mary Dirkse. She is another story for a different time.

I think Maria would approve of these vines hanging down from the stone wall, especially when the humidity leaves huge drops of dew on the flowers and leaves. Wish I had a nifty drawer to keep my crackers dry!

I know these folks are worshiping God on high. I pray their children and their children’s children follow Christ as closely as they did while here on earth! May I, too, live out their example while I walk the earth!

Posted on in Faith, Memories, Spiritual growth

Freedom to Love Others

With all the racial unrest I felt it was time to express myself. When I was in first grade, Sharon McCreary’s house burned down. She lived near us. I urged my parents to invite her family for dinner. It was a no go. Her family was black.

We lived in Kennedy Heights, which at the time, was noted to be the most integrated neighborhood in the United States. I could not comprehend why we could not invite the McCreary’s for dinner. My mother was known to be a terrific cook and these folks were in need! Many years later I connected with Sharon. It was sweet to talk with her.

I always attended integrated schools. When I was in high school I was in the minority as a White Anglo Saxon Protestant. We were outnumbered by Black children and Jewish children. It gave me a chance to understand firsthand the dilemma of being a minority. I also learned how very different the Black culture was from how I was raised. And the Jewish culture bewildered me. I even visited the Temple on Plum Street around the time of one classmate’s Bar Mitzva or Bat Mitzva. (Coming of age ceremony.) It is a lovely building, but I almost asked where the cross was. Caught myself just in time before the question left my lips. I was/am so totally given over to Jesus that even at that age I could not comprehend not having Him in my life, or theirs.

In middle school Jackie Gibson gave me a 45 of the Duke of Earl. It was a great song and occasionally shows up today. He was a great fellow though a bit arrogant. He was also constantly teaching the entire class new dance moves whenever the teacher left the classroom. A nice Black fellow. There was a saying that it was better to live near a nice black family than white trash. I did not really understand the saying. I thought people were people regardless of color.

Cecil Williams was one of my favorite friends from school. He always had a kind word and seemed a gentle soul. He was Black. He lived with his grandmother nearby. Her front yard sloped down into a V and then back up to the house. She had a terrific garden with many hanging objects. I so wanted to go in her garden and into her house. I was never invited, but would have loved that. I heard years later from Sharon that he died very young.

I worked for a while at a residential rehab center for women called “Having the Courage to Change.” Lucretia and the gals were fine once they realized I was not a White do-gooder. I was hired as Lucretia’s assistant, taught a Bible study class and mentored some of the women. There were mostly Black women, but Brown and White women, too.

Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28 (NRSV)  There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. People were enslaved regardless of color at that time. We know that was not the case in American history. Can we learn to love regardless of color or ethnicity? Can we accept that just as we are forgiven by God, sinners saved by grace, so are others? Do we understand that different people have different experiences within the same society, just as within the same family?

Galatians 5:1 New Living Translation says: “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” I want to be set free and stay free to love each person who comes in to my life. I admit I sometimes have difficulty with the neighbor that totes his gun while walking his dog and threatens other dog owners. That seems rude. Yet, I am asked to love him. Some sections of the society say I must only love the ones who look like me and think like me. 1 Peter 2:8-10 (NLT2)  And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.  But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.  “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” Perhaps He considers us royal Dukes and Duchesses.

No, I have not accomplished this kind of love. I pray the Lord will continue to grow me in acceptance of others, even others I do not agree with. Show us Lord, how to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Help us to be Your hands and feet on earth. You said they would know us by our love, not by our judgement of others. Help us to fulfill Your words, I pray.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Humor, Nature

Lucky Dog!

Okay, so it turns out they had to pull eleven of her teeth when they brought her to Ohio. She evidently had tried to chew her way out of her “coop” for years. Just now she is able to be given crunchy kibble. We are still wetting it with some water for her and mixing with canned food. Eventually we will serve it dry with a little canned food and then, hopefully, just dry.

So the name debate has been “Sweetie” because everyone says she is a sweetie. But Bob doesn’t want to go to the door and holler, “Sweetie!” Then we moved to Lucky. Thought about Gummy Bear since she gums her food (though she has molars). Seemed a little mean. Bob thought up Chewbacca and called her Chewy. Grandgirl #1 taught us that Chewbacca was a male. So we have been tossing around Lucky and Chewy for a day or so. I think Lucky is the winner.

There is just nothing quite like watching TV with a soft beagle ear on your leg!

Robert has bordered on pet portrait here, don’t you think? She is starting to like him best. If he goes out to empty the compost she cries at the door. If he doesn’t come back soon enough she howls!

When we kenneled her recently to go the store together we could hear her barking in the house. When we returned she about flipped her tail off completely she wagged so hard!

She was bored the other day and brought me her leash out of the basket by the door. Yes, I took her for a walk. She can be beagle stubborn. If she does not want to go inside I have had to pick her up and carry her a ways. This old lady is getting a work out, not only increasing my daily steps, but lifting 20+ pounds with some regularity. Sometimes I just scoop her up to remind her she is mine and I want a cuddle.

Yep, I am a happy camper with this lovely beagle. Even though it means I swelter outside in nasty humid, hot Ohio summer weather. Oh well, I own plenty of dry clothes!

As my sister-in-law said even after you pick a name there will be pet names that might change day to day. So Lucky is a sweetie who may never know her name exactly, but she is learning some commands. In just one week she has gained our trust and grown our love exponentially. She is a keeper

Posted on in Amazing Creations

Here Comes the Corn!

The saying here is that if the crop is good the corn should be “knee high by the 4th of July!”

Well on the way as weather here has been brutally hot but also brutally HUMID with almost daily rain and humidity factors in the “miserable” rating.

Summer marches on! The above photos were last Saturday. The below photo was Wednesday morning.