Mother Nature

I did not have an opportunity to plant my flower garden this year.  Hopefully I can get some bulbs in the ground for next Spring.  However, Mother Nature supplied wonderful color for me all season long.  In fact, I am still seeing examples of her glory and splendor.

The colors have been wonderful.  I have seen tons and tons of what some people might call weeds that have bloomed more beautifully than flowers that have been planted and cultivated.  I have seen wild roses, honey suckle, black eyed susans, all types of daisies, sweet peas, dog wood, butter cups, morning glories, and many many more.

And, I expect to see beauty in the leaves that are starting to turn. 

It just goes to show, there is really beauty in nature.  Beauty in everywhere you look and see the small blooms.  The sweet smell of yellow jasmine, and honey suckly.  I love seeing the flowers bowing in the wind.  They cover the sides of the pond and the trail down to the creek.

Take time today to thank God for the beauty around you.  Imagine, He created it all with the spread of His hand.  He did not have to go to Home Depot, Lowes or Sherwin Williams for color swatches or plants.  He made them from scratch!

Mary, Ruth and the Rooster

Time again for another story from the past.  When my mom was a little girl, she had a friend named Ruth.  One day Ruth was over for a visit. 

In the country, the foundation of most houses was made up of stumps that had been dug up and placed for the foundation.  They would try to find wood that termintes would not eat.  When the stumps were placed and leveled, they would then build the frame upon them.  This way, the house was up off the ground. 

If you were able, you would purchase bricks with which to build a foundation.  However, that did not happen often.  Same process was taken though, regardless.  The bricks were placed and the frame was made.  The house was built up off the ground.

Usually, the house was raised up enough that one could crawl under it.  Dogs slept under the house.  And, most days, chickens would be loose in the yard and would run in and out from under the house.

Well, Mary and Ruth were outside playing.  They liked to make little toad houses, stick dolls, playing with the cats, etc….  Well, there was one rooster that was particularly mean.  He was always patrolling the yard to keep his hens safe.  Occasionally, he would harass the children by chasing them.  (Like most animals, if you run from them, they will chase you.)

This day, the rooster decided he did not like the looks of Mary and Ruth.  So, he decided to chase them.  Roosters can look really mean.  They have spurs on their feet with which they can cause damage.  Roosters can also cackle and sound rather fierce.

Well, Mr. Rooster took aim on Mary and Ruth.  Mary and Ruth ran towards the house for safety.  Mary made it to the door before Ruth.  The rooster got between Ruth and the door.  So, she took off around the house.  Mr. Rooster ran under the house and met her on the other side. 

You get the idea, Ruth running for her life and Mr. Rooster chasing her doing the high step.  Mary was standing with the screen door open yelling for Ruth to hurry in the house.  Ruth, was in the running mode and never quite made it to the steps before the rooster. 

I am not sure how long this went on before my grandmother took things in her hands and scared away the rooster.  All I am sure of is that it would have probably won a prize on America’s Funniest Videos if it had been taped. 

Not long after that attack, Mr. Rooster found himself dressed and eaten for dinner!

Dogs and children

I have come to the conclusion that dogs are a lot like children.  Now, don’t confuse that statement with the idea that people treat their animals like children.  Both statements are true.  Both are some what related.  But, dogs can act like children without being treated like children.  And, I am sure there are some dogs that are treated like children that want to just be dogs.

Where am I going with this?  When Ranger was a very small pup, I bought him his very own bed.  It really was just a huge oversized pillow.  The minute I brought it in the house, he fell in love with it.  He would drag it around the house and stretch out and sleep in modern comfort.

Lately, that pillow/bed has been looking ragged.  I have repaired it more times than I can count and it still dribbles little pieces of filling.  Oh, he still drags it around and puts it where he wants it.  He takes all his treasures to his bed.  That bed is his “place” of comfort.  Now when he sleeps on it, he falls off of the sides.

So, today, I decided to get Ranger Dog a “big boy” bed.  I went and selected one that would fit his growing body.  It is soft and plush and just the right size…(Like Goldilocks).  It has a nice dog paw on it and one side is that nice sueded material.  This one is the type that I can pull of the cover and wash it. 

Well we brought it in and opened it up.  He jumped on it and laid down.  Then, he got off of the new bed and ran straight to the old one.  I guess it smells better or feels familiar or something.  Hey, somewhat like a kid with his favorite “blankie”.  And, to top it off, he was more interested in the box that it came in than the bed itself!

I also bouth him two new squeekie toys.  I am so glad that I did not pay a lot for them.  They are already missing pieces parts.  The snake’s tongue has been severed.  The doggie’s ears have been chewed off and his hair is missing.  I bought them because I thought they would be durable.  Hey, kinda like the kid with the Barbie that starts losing pieces parts as soon as the package is opened!  Or like the toy car with pieces parts that get gone before you get out of the car with it from the store!  (My niece had a Barbie whose head never was right after the first five minutes.  Her head was forever on backwards.  It was the one I always had to play with when we played.)

Now, Ranger is checking out the new bed.  He is giving it a sniff and giving me a look.  Now he is testing it by putting a foot on it.  So, maybe he will take to the new bed after all.  I guess he will if I take away the old one.  But, I don’t want to tramatize him!  LOL

Hate

Today, in church, we learned about hate.  It seems that a lot of the Psalms are laments to God because of horrible things that had happened to His children.  We were taught that we should lift up our pain to God and allow Him to take care of the “transgression”  You should not waste your time hating anyone. You simply name the person and the “transgression to God and He will “handle it”.

Now that does not mean that you do not hurt.  That does not mean that you feel put upon or wronged.  It simply means that you can let God handle it.  Psalm 137 is an example of that type of thinking.

The minister said that gives a different twist on the new testament saying of Christ to pray for your enemies.  If you pray to God, He will note your lament.  Remember that revenge is God’s and His only.  He will avenge you.

Then you can work on forgiveness.  The longer you carry your hurt around in your heart, the harder it is to give it up and forgive.  Again, forgive does not mean forget.  Does not mean you have to be “friends” with the person(s) who faulted you.  Does not mean that you kiss and make up.  It means that you let go of the hate and let God take care of it.

So, name your hurt, name your transgressor, name your hate, and then let God take it over.  That way, you can begin to heal.

Wanting to be a boy.

There is another thing that I have in common with another member of the family.  Both of us wanted, for a while, to be a boy.  In my case, I had two older brothers.  For the longest time, I thought I was a boy.  My problem, I could not pee off the porch.  I was really upset about that!  I finally figured out that I wasn’t a boy.  Now, I am so glad that I am not.  I am, however, to this day, a Tom Boy at heart. 

Once, when my brother and his wife came to visit, we were surprised to find that one of his little girls had decided she too, wanted to be a boy.  I am not quite sure why she decided such.  But, I would think it was because she idolized her wonderful daddy so much.  So, she wanted to be like him.

For the entire time they visited us, this child stated adamently that she was not longer a girl but was indeed a little boy.  Everyday, she would get up and dress herself in shorts and t-shirt.  Then she would go into the bathroom and stand in front of the mirror wetting a comb and parting her hair (like daddy).  Then, she would go about her business for the day.

If anytime during the day she happened to see herself in the mirror and her hair was not wetted down and parted, she would do the process all over again.  We knew it was a phase and she would grow out of it.  We thought it was cute and she was certainly prescious.  No one made fun of her decision although we were all curious as to why she decided she wanted to be a boy.

Her decision to be a boy, although similar to mine was totally different.  Her decision was based on the fact that she loved (still does love) her daddy so much, she wanted to be like him.  Daddy was a boy.  So, to be like him, she too had to be a boy.  What is that phrase???  “Imtation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

That makes me think about two things.  One is how wonderful a father my brother must be that one of his children wanted to be “just like daddy” so much that she wanted to change her gender.  The other, How wonderful that his same child has gone into the health care field…”just like daddy”.

There is one other thing….We should all try to be just like our heavenly father.  My brother is wonderful, strong, caring, loving, spiritual, encouraging, accepting, and grace filled.  He has raised three wonderful young women who are on the way to making more wonderful and loving families.  Each of these children know a father that is important in their lives.  They each have taken characteristics from him into their own lives.  Should we not do the same from our own heavenly father?

Rain

Today, we woke up to rain.  That can be a blessing or a curse depending on how your outlook is.  Me, I like rainy days.  It’s something about them that just speaks to me.  I guess it is because when we were kids we usually got home made vegetable soup and cornbread on rainy days.  Also, we would get some type of wonderful pie, cake or cobbler.  Why?

On rainy days, it is hard for people who live on a farm to get outside and work in the field.  So, my grandmother would spend the day inside.  She would put on a huge pot and make vegetable soup.  While cleaning the house, she would stir the pot and add vegetables.  Sometimes there would be meat included if there were any leftovers in the refrigerator.  She would also make a huge pot of rice to use as a base in the bowl for the soup.  Then, she would make some cornbread.  The best would be the dessert.  My farovites were either pumkin pie or apple crisp. 

There was nothing like getting off the school bus in the afternoon and running towards the house and bit hit with the wonderful smells of those things cooking.  I guess it means comfort.  And, we all need comfort.

Riany days also mean curling up with a good book or watching totally mindless TV.  It means a good cup of tea and maybe something sweet.  It means cozy.

Sometimes though, rain can mean the opposite.  Even though it might be welcome to help abate or ease the drought, it can mean being trapped.  Mr. Greenhouse feels that way.  When he has a day planned, it is hard for him to adjust to inside tasks when he really wants to be outside.  He paces.  He fidgets.  He looks at the weather on the PC and makes noises.  In a word, he is restless.

Ranger Dog….  He doesn’t much care for rain either.  He wants to be out running.  He wants to sniff stuff.  He loves to roll in the yard in the sunshine.  He is not the type of dog to curl up on his pillow and sit in front of the fire.  He is a lot like Mr. Greenhouse.

They are both out on the front porch right now.  Mr. Greenhouse is trying to clean the bimini for the boat.  Ranger is trying to amuse himself by running the length of the porch and tossing his toys.  They are both like caged animals. 

Like I say, rain and rainy days can be a blessing or a curse.

Cindy gets a pedicure

I think I might be one of the few people in my immediate family to ever have a pedicure.  I probably would not have ever gotten one except my neighbor talked me in to having one.  Now, I am looking forward to the next experience.

I can see why people talk about getting peidcures now.  It was an absolutely wonderful experience.  I honestly did not know what to expect.  And, I was a little embarassed to have someone else “taking care” of my feet. 

First, you get put into one of these massage chairs.  (I would have paid just for that….It was wonderful!)  Then, your feet are imersed into warm aeromatic water.  While your back is being massaged, so are your feet.  I was so mersmerized that I could barely hold a conversation. 

There were hot towels and aeromatic balms.  I got to pick the color of polish I wanted my nails painte.  My heels were rubbed with some type of pumice.  Toe nails were buffed.  Cuticles were trimmed.  It was heaven.

One thing I think about is how Jesus had his feet washed.  I can only imagine how much he enjoyed and appreciated the attention given to his tired and sore feet by the maiden who dried them with her hair and them applied the aeromatic balm to them.  I would have rebuked the Disciples too for saying something about how much they could have sold the balm for. 

I don’t have to walk everywhere I go like Jesus did.  I am not in the arid desert with only sandals on.   I did not have grime and yuck on my feet from walking miles and miles. Yet, I enjoyed the experience and can relate to how it must have felt to Him.

The End Of Summer

As I sit at my table, looking out at the bird feeders and hearing the bird songs, I feel a little sad because the end of summer is nearing.  Of course, there is always the excitement of the new season.  Fall is one of my favorite times of year.  But, it is kind of sad saying goodbye to warm nights and hearing all the various songs of the crickets and cicadas and other humming insects.  (all except mosquitos….I am glad they will go away for a while)

Thinking about summer makes me remember summers in the country.  Wait!  I am in the country now.  I am, however, talking about the summers of my youth.  We were really lucky growing up in the time and place that we did.  Of course, we had sadness and illness and worries.  I would hazard to guess they are not as great as the ones felt today.

We had loads of acerage to run over.  We had tons of time to play.  We did not park ourselves in front of the TV and watch shows all day long.  Mom would get us up and feed us breakfast and pretty much shove us out the door. 

My brothers were famous for building tree houses, forts and stuff.  I remember one time they dug trenches in the field and pretended they were in fox holes fighting like on Rat Patrol.  They would throw corn cobs at wasp nests and see who could ge away without being stung.  They would take pole and tackle and go down to “old broke” (old brook) and fish, bringing home fish to be scaled and fried. 

There were no X Boxes or hand held gadgets to keep us busy and sedintary.  We were constantly on the move.  Often coming home for lunch (dinner in those days) and heading out again until dinner (supper in those days).  We would be covered with dirt often looking more like orphans during the depression.  But we were happy, healthy and tired from being outside all day long.

We had chores but also had tons of free time.  We had to amuse ourselves and each other.  I don’t think there was a part of our property that went unexplored.

Later, my brothers got summer jobs with Cousin Bob either picking or handing tobacco.  They were paid for their work.  They were fed lunch.  They came home tired and content.  Our Cousin Bob had a passel of boys so my brothers fit right in.  What were two more mouths when you have 8 or 9 already. 

Cousin Bob was rumored to have a still or access to one.  He was also a deputy sherrif.  And, I suspect that is why our grandfather got away with running the booze for the local house of ill repute during the 1920’s and 1930’s.

I tired to keep up with my brothers as much as I could.  I was a real Tom Boy.  Since there was such a difference in ages between me and them, I was often left behind.  Who wants their little sister tagging along anyway?  So, Buster and I became fast friends.  That is unless he needed to go fishing with my brothers. 

I used to pretend that I was on Sky King, or My Frien Flica.  We watched Saturday morning westerns on the Six Gun Theater.  Or Jungle Jim or Tarzan on Saturday afternoon.  Those were probably the only things we watched during the day.  The rest of the time, we were trully outside doing something.

Sometimes our grandmother would play with me a little.  She taught me how to ride a bike, how to climb trees, and many other things. 

Then, there was watermellon and home made ice cream and home  made pies and cobblers.  Cake every Sunday morning for breakfast. 

I guess the best thing was the freedom.  No one was worried that someone somewhere would drag us off and do horrible things to us.  The only time we had to worry was when the chain gang came through to clean out the ditches. 

We did daring things and stuff that would have probably scared our parents.  But, they did the same thing when they were young.  We did not have someone on the nightly news saying that children were being abused or missing or killed.  (I am sure it happened….but less often than it does now)  We felt that we could explore the whole world and often did. 

My one wish is that today’s children could have that same sense of freedom.

Technology

Monday afternoon we had a thunderstorm pass through.  There was one particular lightning strike close to the house.  It sent Ranger Dog, Mr. Greenhouse and me running for cover. 

When we got to the house, we found that several circuits had tripped on our electrical panel.  And, HORRORS! the wireless was down.  I found it to be a minor inconvienence for me.  But, Mr. Greenhouse was lost!  He had internet withdrawal and no way to satisfy his craving!

He called BellSouth.  They said that they would send us a new wireless “thingy”.  They would even overnight it to us.  However, it was too late on Monday for us to get it the following day.  We had to wait until Wednesday.

Mr. Greenhouse dug through all types of boxes to see if he would be lucky enough find another wireless “thingy”.  No luck.  He was relegated to actually reading the newspaper to find out the latest news.  Imagine, not being able to have the world at your fingertips.

All day today, he kept looking for the UPS guy.  He wanted to get that wireless “thingy” as soon as possible.  He wanted it hooked up and running before another day went by.  Honestly it was like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus!  He actually met the guy at the driveway!

Well, we are back up and running.  YIPPEE!  Yes, I missed my internet friends.  But, while we were down, I read (more than I usually do).  What I enjoyed was watching the birds.  We have “travelers” coming through that are either going to weather here or will be going further south.  I also got a new bridfeed from one of my friends.  It is a ball that the bird have to hang on to to get food rather than sitting on a perch. 

The birds are really fun to watch.  Now, that fall is coming and winter is not to far away, they are bickering with each other about who gets to eat what.  They all line up on the banister of the deck and on the feeder arm that attached to the railing.  The Chickadees are yelling at the Wrens who yell at the Nuthatches.  It is really quite amusing to watch.

Then, Agnes sneaks up on the deck and has her choice of “food”.  That is if she can catch them.

Mr. Greenhouse has not gotten his internet “fix”.  He feels like he has saved the world because he is back on-line.

Hope in the House of Blues

We have a series each year at our church during September.  It is called Hope In The House Of Blues.  It is one of the favorite series that we have.

Today, Mike Farris played with our band.  He also shared with us and then played a song for us.  It was great!

We got his CD, Salvation in the Lights,  at the end of the service.  It has a bunch of spirituals that are wonderful.  I would recommend it to anyone. 

Today we focused on tears.  On asking God when He is going to answer our prayers.  Lament is one of the things predominant in the Psalms.  However, we should always “Hope” and look to God for answers.   God will listen to our unhappiness.  He never leaves a prayer unanswered.  Some times the answers are not what we want or we hear “wait”.  But God will always be there.

I would recommend that you listen to the POD Casts from the services if you want to hears some really good Blues during the month of September.  Simply log onto Lakeforestchurch.org and follow the directions to the on-line services.