Grandma Snapp played the piano most of her life. My Grandfather was a preacher. Grandma played the piano. My mother, their only daughter for 21 years, was made to lead the hymns standing on a soapbox.
In her last years Grandma Snapp drummed her fingers on the table. That made my mother crazy! I always imagined she was perhaps playing part of a piano piece?
When I turned 65, I found myself unconsciously drumming a rhythm with my fingers. When I realized what I was doing I wondered, do I do it because Grandma did? Is it hereditary? I am not a pianist. The rhythm seems comforting.
iPhone will let you set your vibration signal. I have mine set for incoming calls. Guess how I set mine? Yep, same rhythm! Find it under ringtone, custom vibration.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
-Luke 12:19-21 New Revised Standard Version.
When I was a child my mother collected Betty Crocker coupons points from flour and box mixes. When we had saved enough points we could order things from the Betty Crocker catalog. Researching this article I realized that is likely where she ordered my baby spoon from!
When I was a young teen we had a Home Economics class. The teacher told us to to choose an everyday flatware pattern based upon our preference of design and how easy it would be to keep the pattern clean. My mother let me use her coupons to order this spoon.
Yep! I still have it. The design is great to get frozen hard gelato out of the container! 🙂
When we were in Ireland we were fascinated by the multitude of stone walls. The land is so rocky that those smart people used the stones to build with. Walking in a village one day the roadway was lined with stone walls on either side. I noticed something shining out of the wall. I pulled on it and much to my surprise was the item below!
At first glance what does it remind you of? I could not have been more shocked!
Side by side you can see they are not identical, but I was shocked to see the similarities! Was someone walking to work eating and finished their food? Decided to store the fork for later? Then forgot where it was? I will never know, but it became one of my found souvenirs. The tines are a little bent but I treasure it. I do not value it over my Lord. Unless He fills me and guides me with His Holy Spirit I am as useless as a fork stuck in the gaps of a stone wall.
We lived near a firehouse when Emily was small. We often talked about fire trucks and the ambulance. She insisted it was an “Ambliance.”
When we went to the zoo we saw the “Efalant.”
The delight and challenges of toddler language!
At the grocery Jeff made me nuts one day. Sitting in the cart he kept asking for “Woo Bea.” I kept telling him if I could only understand him I would gladly buy that. Finally, I got it!
Barq’s Root Beer
Many, many years later we took Jeff’s son for a walk. We had him in a stroller because the walk was about a mile in length and he was quite small.
Photos by r m dutina
He could not wait later that day to tell his Dad he saw a “Cowpidar!” I love those chubby knuckles!
We traveled to Ireland to celebrate my belated 60th birthday. When we went walking the first morning my ears immediately perked up to the lambs in the distance. They were crying and as they did it pierced my heart. I could not help but remember that I am under the care of the Great Shepherd, no matter what continent or island I am walking upon.
In the Old Testament God is called the Shepherd of His people.
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters” Psalm 23:1-2
In the New Testament Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10:11.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
As we meandered through the lanes of Glendalough I could tell by the cries we were getting closer and closer to the lamb. Then we turned a corner and there it was! Bob caught this tremendous photo of it on the hillside. There were other ewes and lambs around it.
r m dutina
Right after he snapped the photo I busted out the laughing as the lamb sneezed, and then rolled a bit down the hillside. What a sense of humor my God has!
Did you see this on the news? Head first down the hill. Watch at the end for the log rolls! I laughed out loud! At about 31 seconds it seemed as if the caption should be, “I just hate when I get snow in my ears!”
If you get a message about video taken down, click on suggestion about YouTube and after the short ad you can see the video. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Learning to speak well is sometimes nurture and sometimes nature. When I was growing up one of Mom’s favorite TV shows was “Kids say the Darndest Things,” hosted by Art Linkletter. I can remember my sister coming home from Nancy’s house once. Nancy had a brother quite a bit younger than the girls. Paula quoted him as rushing in his parents dinner party shouting, “Mom! I’m blooding! I’m blooding! I can see the bleed!!” He eventually grew up to play professional baseball.
When our kids were young I used to write the funny things they said on pieces of paper and slip it in a drawer. It was so much fun to find those papers later and reminisce.
Emily was introduced to bagels when Great Grandma Pat and Aunt Ra came to visit from Queens. She was also learning that dogs differ in kind and have various names. For a while she referred to beagles as bagels.
Adults can speak silliness, too, me included! When the kids were young we often crossed the Little Miami River over a bridge with steel grating on the deck. It made a racket when we drove over it. At ages 4 and 1 year I did not want the kids to be startled, so I would always warn them, “We are going over the Woo-Ba, Woo-Ba bridge!” That was the sound of the car traversing the grating. As they got a little bit older I added the fact we were crossing the Little Miami River. Once right after crossing the bridge, Jeff asked, “Where’s my bridge?” Many times in his life this child has given me pause. It took me a bit to realize he often called his sister, “My Emmie.” Yep, he wanted the location of the “My Jeffie” bridge! No competition there!
We went to the beach with Grandgirl Lizzie when she was very young. As usual the typical beach town had flamingo signs here and there (although there were never any flamingos in that part of the USA). Lizzie decided they were better named “Falingos.” Sort of make you want to dance, doesn’t it?
When you were a kid did your parents let you order the Sea Monkeys advertised in almost every comic book of that era? Not mine. I might have had an ant farm once, unless that was my children? Can’t rightly remember. I did however have jumping beans. No idea where I got them, but they did jump. The ones that did not jump the kids in the neighborhood called duds. Now when I look up jumping beans on the internet they seem rather nasty and are not beans at all! Wikipedia, the know-it-all of earth, says Mexican Jumping beans are seed pods inhabited by the larva of a small moth. (Had she known, that would have made my mom say a resounding, “No!”)
Here is an entertaining two minute twenty-two second video coupling a Rube Goldberg set-up with time lapse photography and basic bean information.
This morning I woke up with agitation. I told Bob that packing and moving was a nice distraction from the pandemic, but now what? I was agitated and bored with all of this isolation and waiting to see who gets ill next. (My daughter has Covid for the second time and her entire family is infected.) The recent horror of politics is over for a few years, now what?
I had difficulty concentrating during my morning prayer time. I told the Lord “I am tired of doing this.” Almost immediately I realized this IS my life right now. So I need to make the most of this freezing rain, isolation, between was and is to be – this present moment is when my life is. Here. Now.
I have been using a new-to-me app called Calm. They provide meditations, music, ten minutes of relaxation (new daily) and BEDTIME STORIES. The stories are great and I rarely hear the end of a story! Recently I copied this quote from Calm: “The beginning is always this present moment.”
When I first read that I had to tell myself to soak that in. Live that out. The beginning is always this present moment. Quiet that jumping bean-like behavior. Be still in the shade of God’s Glory. Rest. “Oh Molly, be still. Rest, absorb, receive.”
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1 NIV
In a little while I began writing this blog again. Thank you to all of you who follow these ramblings! I am always amazed when Word Press shows me how many folks are following and where they are all over the world. I realize I am not the only one bored with the whole Pandemic and isolation situation. Praying perhaps what I write helps you to smile and occasionally to calm down.
The daylight is lasting longer each day now. I noticed I no longer need a flashlight or iPhone light for the dinner walk. Our dog is so goofy. She will not do her business in our yard, day or night. We must walk her each time. It is not all bad. I have been outside more than ever during this wintry weather. Sure hoping in new house she will just go in the yard. Maybe she will not recognize it as home at first and we can break this habit?
She is still a shrinking violet. Maybe I did name her wrong. She is timid even around us and we have lived with her since June! When we started wrapping the china in newspaper and bubble wrap she hid for the entire experience. My sister gave us some herbal aids. Guess I should have dosed her for that episode. It did not occur to me until the next day 😦
So one day Jeff and Rowan were coming over for Rowan’s birthday. She sometimes wants to nip company. I decided to give her some hemp drops for dogs from my sister. Not certain they helped as she started to get anxious at pizza time so I put her on a leash. Here was a laugh though. When I went to feed her dinner she actually drooled on my hand. That NEVER happens. As I walked to the sink to wash my hands I had to wonder, “Did she have the ‘munchies’ “?
Says 1/4 dropper full for her weight, but no markings on dropper!
“While traveling on the road of God’s will I hit a dip in the road and got jostled off the path. The dip occurred where the Lord asked me to do something, but fearing His will I inwardly said, “No!” Francis of Assisi was familiar with me when he called himself “Brother Ass.” I locked my knees, dug in my heels and soon resembled a stubborn donkey that must be pushed, pulled and cajoled to be made to move. Blind to my disobedient nature and still pouting before the holy ways of the Lord I decided if He really loved me, we could compromise on another way.
“I stepped onto the Treadmill of Debate, a perpetual conveyor belt going nowhere but in circles. Fearful and resistant to God’s will I asked, “Why?” and presented Him with all of the “What-ifs” and “If Onlys.” I formulated brilliant reasonings for resisting His ways, deluding myself and dropping further and further away from His light.
“Until I accepted His will, relinquished my ideas and gave all things over to Him I could not continue on the adventure of serving God. As usual, when I actually arrived at the point of resistance it turned out to be so unlike what I had imagined might occur, that later I wondered why I was so silly and donkey-like not to yield immediately in trust to Him. My efforts to control led me onto a futile treadmill going Nowhere. God’s mercy urges me to let Him direct my steps and enjoy His fellowship in the Now Here.
“Help me to trust You more, Lord. I want to live present to You in the Here and Now for in this experience alone is my salvation. As I begin to err, thank-you for taking me off the highway and into Your discipline. You truly are “able to keep me from falling and to present me without blemish before the presence of Your glory with rejoicing!” (Jude 24)”
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 