Teacher Debbie Moon’s first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, ‘I know all about Adoption, I was adopted.’
‘What does it mean to be adopted?’, asked another child.
‘It means’, said the girl, ‘that you grew in your mommy’s heart instead of her tummy!’
I’m feeling pensive this morning, full of memories – swamped by them, actually – making it difficult to get much done yet. We’re having yet another gray day, but it’s already 55 degrees. Yesterday I was able to lop off some weed trees in the back. The loppers are heavy, though, so I can only spend a few minutes working each time. A good friend of mine suggested I get a small, battery-powered chainsaw. This is a great idea, except I’m a bit hesitant because all the weed trees are on a rocky slope and it’s easy to lose my footing. I really don’t want to fall with a chainsaw. So, I think I’ll continue doing what I can with the loppers for the time being, and then see if I can get my husband involved with the larger chainsaw we have. We’ll see.
Yesterday we did another session on cutting evergreen branches that were encroaching on the driveway. We took Amber in the back when we drove down to get our mail and put the trash can in the back of the truck. We stopped on the way back up and let her out so she could play while we worked. We now have the worst of the branches cut off now. Anything more we do is wonderful, but not crucial to our being able to get down – and back up again. (One year it took us two weeks with our chain saw to clear the driveway enough to drive the truck down.)
Amber
Abby
Amber just made me laugh out loud. I heard a “Meow!” and said, “Abby, do you want to go out?” Amber came right over, walked up with her upper half in the chair with me, smiling and snuffling my ear. I told her that I KNEW she hadn’t meowed, and she just smiled more, if possible, trying to get up into the chair with me. I finally got up to let both Amber and Abby out, meeting my husband at the front door, who was there to do the same thing. Well-trained humans!
Today I’m planning to bring a couple of Christmas presents downstairs and get them ready to mail. The post office has said we need to mail even earlier than usual this year in order to be sure our stuff gets to the people we love in time for Christmas. Maybe this will help me get into the spirit of the holidays. I’ll also try to get started with Christmas cards.
A quick shout-out to Carol, a really nice, talented lady I met yesterday online through the blog. We’ve emailed back and forth a couple of times now and have a lot in common. It’s nice to know we’re not alone in our situations, and I look forward to getting to know her better. :0)
The Ft. Smith National Cemetery now honors over 16,000 veterans. Before Christmas, volunteers come to the Ft. Smith Convention Center to put red bows on wreaths to decorate the headstones as you see here.
I’ve done this twice with my good friend, Carla, whose husband is buried here.
There were lots and lots of tables set up in a huge room. Other volunteers came with long poles on which wreaths were hung. They would pile them on the tables for us. Then others would come by with piles and piles of bows ready to be tied onto the wreaths. As we worked, still more would come to take the finished wreaths to waiting trucks for transport to the cemetery.
Christmas music played in the background and volunteers sang along or talked to the others at the tables. It took several hours, as you might imagine, to get the bows on 16,000 wreaths, but the feeling of love and warmth in that room took my breath away. Carla and I laughed and talked, hugged from time to time, took some breaks, and met other really nice people.
There is a special time for people who have loved ones in the cemetery to put a wreath on those headstones in a more private setting. When that has been done, volunteers put a wreath on all the others until all are decorated. As you can see, the finished product of the efforts is impressive.
After the holidays, the wreaths are gathered by more volunteers. The bows are removed and stored in huge boxes and the wreaths stored on poles for next year. It’s a beautiful way to honor our vets for their service. A very special time for me to help Carla honor her husband.
My sister-in-law creates this gorgeous display each year – a beautiful way to show off her collection and get into the Christmas spirit at the same time. She sent me these pictures, and she said it was okay if I shared them with you.
This is a close-up picture showing me that she includes two figurines in her display that I have sent her at various times over the years. It makes me feel that I am with her, and that’s a really nice thing.
I’m trying to get into the spirit at my house, but I haven’t really caught the bug yet. I think the first thing I’ll do to start feeling the season is get two packages ready to send to two special people for the holidays. I’ll also prep to send Christmas cards.
My friend Marsha sent me some beautiful stories I’d like to share. Here is one of them –
_______________
Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once Talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the Contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was:
1. A four-year-old child, whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old Gentleman’s’ yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, ‘Nothing, I just Helped him cry.’
It’s sunny and supposed to get to 67 degrees F. today! I’m going to try to spend as much time outside today as I can, enjoying the glorious day and trying to get more accomplished in the yard. My plan to ‘chop-a-few-evergreen-branches-each-time-we-drive-up-the-driveway’ project is bringing success. We aren’t killing ourselves and the driveway is getting clearer. This is a several-days project because our driveway is 650+ feet long and steep. Hopefully, we won’t have to worry any more than usual about ice and snow storms this winter.
Blowing more leaves in the front yard will have to wait until we buy a new leaf blower, but I plan to cut down a bunch of weed trees across the back today. This will be a many-day project, since we have a LOT of weed trees and using the lopper gets to me pretty quickly, but I can get started with it today.
I’m
These weed trees are obscuring our view of the valley behind the house. I love to watch the seasons change, pretending that we own all we can see. :0) As you can see from these pics, I have my work cut out for me…
The morning fog has already cleared to a large extent, but I wanted to share the feeling with you. You can’t see the valley that we can usually enjoy behind our house. We can LOOK at it, so we consider it ‘ours.’ :0)
More fog, but this photo also gives you an idea of the ‘weed trees’ that I’m trying to cut down a few at at time. They’re taller than they look here, and when I lop one off, it falls on me no matter where I stand. Not heavy, though, just irritating, and a little of this work goes a long way.
This morning we’ll gather our trash and drive the humongous trash can down to the bottom of the driveway to leave it for emptying. We’ll get our mail, and then make a quick trip to town for some supplies and maybe look for a new leaf blower. On the way back up the driveway, we’ll try to get more evergreen branches cut down so they won’t encroach on the driveway so badly. (I don’t know how long it would take for things to grow back as they were before we built our home over 35 years ago, but I don’t think it would be long.)
Hida Tool
It looks like I have today and tomorrow before we’re due for heavy rain Wednesday and Thursday. I think I’ll tackle the weed trees and see if I can reopen our view a bit.
Cold, gray rainy Sunday here – 39 with a high of 42. Ugh. We’ll have ‘breakfast’ for dinner tonight and spaghetti tomorrow.
Suave Yards
Yesterday I did Pass #2 on blowing leaves from the front yard. I got almost finished and the leaf blower started making bad noises. I looked, but didn’t see anything caught anywhere, anything loose, etc. My husband came out and looked at it, saying it sounded like “bearings were giving up” and that we would probably need to buy another one. This one has lasted a long time. We’ll probably take a look tomorrow and see what we can find.
Yesterday was DAY 142 on my daily yoga practice. I have changed to multiple short plank poses, rather than trying to hold one longer pose. I did six 10-second holds yesterday. I can increase either the time, the repetitions, or both, trying to get the most benefit from the pose on trying to get stronger. My husband and I share the same exchange each day – When he says, “Are you going to ‘yoge’?, and I answer, “Yes,” – he says, “Good on ya.” (Still not a ‘habit,’ or something I feel I NEED to do, or an activity I would MISS if I didn’t do it, but it has definitely become a ‘determined effort’ each day.)
Scottsdale Pet Hotel
Other than cuddling, playing on the computer, listening to music on YouTube, reading, cooking, etc., my plan is to vacuum the first floor tiles and carpet. My husband did this in our truck the other day, replacing the seat cover with a new one, and says he vacuumed up the equivalent of two dogs. :0) I’ll probably do the same today. If there were an award for shedding, I think Amber would definitely be in the running.
Stay warm, safe, and dry today with someone you love.
Yesterday we lopped off more branches in the driveway as we came up from Lunch Bunch. Later I brought in the deck chairs and tables from the deck to store on the porch for the winter. These two, plus yoga, were my exercise for the day.
I also ‘slow-rolled’ the heavy, tall green planter from the corner – where the wood isn’t as strong as it might be these days – to the middle of that side of the deck. I’m not sure what else I’ll do to get the deck ready for the winter – it’s too cold for pressure washing – and I’ll probably switch to something of higher priority first.
Honda UK
Since we’re going to get rain tomorrow (and several days next week) I may do the 2nd pass with the leaf blower in the front this afternoon. I would like to at least get things to look like a ‘nice scattering of leaves’ rather than ‘Mother Nature dumping on us.’ I would also like to start cutting down weed trees in the back, but that can be done a bit at a time, between bouts of rain.
The last day to order packages of 6 hand-painted Christmas cards is December 10th. Free shipping in the contiguous United States. Please click on the links to be taken to Etsy to order. Remember that the post office is urging us to mail early this year.
I’ve never seen this quote by Kahlil Gibran before. I really like it. :0)
I wish the world a kindness pandemic – where each person feels a real need to be kind to everyone. I want it to start with me and infect people in rings that spread all the way across the planet. I hope there were no vaccine for it and that, once you are infected, you can’t get rid of it. Let it snow!
I’m looking forward to Lunch Bunch today even more than usual. Due to Thanksgiving last week, our restaurant wasn’t open for our lunch last Friday, so it’s been two weeks since we met. I want to find out if Linda has moved to the retirement place and what else is going on with everyone.
It’s actually warmer this morning than it has been. It’s 51 degrees F. already and is supposed to get to 60 this afternoon! Woo HOOO! I’m hoping to be able to continue my yard work, though I haven’t decided what I’ll tackle yet, if the weather is cooperative. We’re supposed to have light rain off and on during the day and a strong cold front coming through overnight, so it’s still a roller coaster here.
It’s funny. I’m reading After Sundown by Linda Howard and Linda Jones. It’s about a CME (cornonal mass ejection) bringing their world to a standstill with no electricity until further notice and all the things that derive from that. This morning I checked the news and read about solar storms possibly affecting our power grid in a minor way. Eerie.
And with that, I’ll wish you a happy, stress-free day.
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