Being a mom is one of the toughest, most rewarding roles there is.
This drawing hangs on the wall in my computer area in my office. It was drawn as a present for Mother’s Day to my mom from one of our dearest friends, Hal Thomson. We used to have what we called, “The Thomson Wall” in my parents’ home, filled with wonderful drawings for all occasions from him. I was too young to fully appreciate him and his wife, MaryEllen, as ‘artists.’ They made their living as commercial artists, but he loved to draw and she did bronzes. I remember a rabbit she created. I simply loved them for the people they were.
I may, or may not, hear from our son today. My guys don’t make a big thing of commercial ‘holidays,’ birthdays, or other days when people are EXPECTED to do something nice. They are both of the opinion that it’s what they do EVERY day that counts. My husband sent me flowers at work too many times to count ‘just because,’ making my co-workers envious. Our son will stay up very late across the world from us to talk via our conference call program where we can see and hear each other, talking and laughing real time. They both make me feel special when I least expect it. :0)
I’m feeling a bit hostile about being older than dirt this morning. I was fine until I started trying to find a May Day image and had to scroll nearly to the bottom of the page until I found an actual “May pole,” or any mention of it – and this was from the Encyclopedia Britannica!
Another small thorn was as I was trying to spell “encyclopedia” I remembered Jiminy Cricket from the Mickey Mouse Club singing it – and STILL need to sing it in order to spell the word correctly – “E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A!”
AND – I always wanted a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica or The World Book when I was a child. I was a pain in the rear about it to my parents, having no concept of how much money I was asking them to spend. I never got either, of course, and by the time I might even CONSIDER buying it for my family, the Internet had been born and most people had switched to using IT, rather than any other source, and had given up phone books, maps, and other things, as well.
It doesn’t MATTER that I never participated or saw anyone dancing around a May pole. I guess that I just never thought about the whole idea “going out of style – or even mention” I think the idea is a pretty one, so I’ll just think about it today, quietly, trying to get my nose back in joint.
I just had the BEST Christmas present – I got to talk to our son via the conference call program. We had a wonderful talk. I got to see him smile and laugh. I’m feeling HUGGED right now. :0)
I hope you’re having a nice Christmas at your house. It’s 20 degrees here, but it’s supposed to get to 38 this afternoon! Woo HOOO! Since my husband is taking a nap, I’m trying to be a responsible adult and get things a bit more organized in the office. I am behind on my online bookkeeping – with November’s information sitting beside me in a folder. I’ll try to get that taken care of today. I’m also officially changing calendars today.
2022
As you can see, I’m very messy. This, though, and my kitchen calendar, together, keep me straight on our obligations, accomplishments, etc. Each year I tell myself that I’ll actually USE the lines on the calendar, trying to be neater, and then I degenerate into my normal messy state…
2023
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We are eating normally today, even though it’s Christmas. With all the kind people who love us and don’t care about our lack of willpower, we have devoured pumpkin bread, Mt. Dew Cake with Pineapple, and a box of chocolates, among other things. We are full as ticks and are both ready to TRY to tone it down some.
Minions
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This is DAY 163 of daily yoga. Yesterday I held the plank pose three times at a count of 30 each. I hope that 2023 brings me more flexibility, more strength, more balance, less pain and stiffness, and less of me. :0)
The U.S. Sun
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Enjoy today with warmth, love, and lots and lots of hugs!
I hope that you have been good this year and can hope that Santa fills your stocking tonight with goodies that will delight you all year long.
Gift giving is over for us now, having given the presents I made and other gifts to family and friends. My husband and I get each other things all year ’round, whenever we find them, so have agreed not to exchange gifts at Christmas. Our son is across the world in Thailand, so it’s just the two of us this year. We’ll probably talk with him via the conference call program he has set up for us tonight or tomorrow. Happily, we’ve come through the unseasonably cold weather for Arkansas just fine. We’re still dripping water in two sinks, but I think we’re though the worst of it now. It’s 16 degrees now and a high of 29 is expected this afternoon. Break out the swim suits!
Last night we got an email that UPS had delivered the part for which my husband had been waiting to hopefully fix the air compressor in the shop. When I looked at the proof of delivery, it said, ‘left on the front porch.’ I looked, but no package was there. My husband drove down the driveway to look for the package and also check for mail. There was a plastic bag with a package in it tied to the arm of our robot. (Apparently, our ‘front door’ has moved from our house to the bottom of our driveway.)
He went out to the shop early this morning to turn the heat on in the shop. He went out awhile ago to start working on the air compressor. He came right back, saying, “I think it needs more time.” I encouraged him to wait until after lunch and reminded him that we aren’t under the gun for any reason on this and that he can take his time. We’ll see.
My good friend Kay called to see if we had ‘been blowed off our hill’ last night. We assured each other that we have gotten through this uncivilized weather with no problems thus far and hoped we were past the worst of it. She and her husband, Bud, suffered badly previously, having a pipe burst, flooding their kitchen and dining area. They had to have all that replaced and it cost a fortune, as well as being traumatic. This time we’re both lucky. :0)
Amber
Abby
Our animals have been very grateful for a warm, dry house and plenty of food and water, too. Our cat usually prefers to sleep in the garage, but she hasn’t balked that we kept her inside the past two nights. She took over one of Amber’s beds, turning over on her back, spreading out as much as possible, and daring Amber to come near. Amber wisely chose to sleep on one of her other beds.
I hope Christmas Eve finds you healthy and happy, surrounded by as many of those you love as possible.
I’ve been a reasonably ‘good girl’ this year – well, mostly. Sometimes.
I know your priority is to try to fill the requests in the letters of all the good little girls and boys who are anxiously waiting for your visit Christmas Eve, and that’s as it should be.
If you find you have a bit of time and energy left, though, I would very much appreciate your consideration in fulfilling these requests –
Please help those I love to be healthy in the coming year. As you know, things have been stressful for them and they need a bit of extra help to be able to do all the things they would like to do.
Please do what you can to help those who are suffering. Maybe just seeing you fly over an extra time or two would give them hope and strength.
Please encourage us to tone down the rhetoric and remember that we are all in this world together. We need to listen more and talk less.
I really don’t need presents. I have everything I need, except maybe an extra hug or two. I realize I’m asking a lot, but we need help, especially now.
I really enjoyed yesterday. I reached out to two long-time friends, asking if I could come over for a bit. Nora got right back to me, saying, “YES!” so I jumped into the truck.
Our schedules just don’t mesh, so we hadn’t seen each other in a LONG time. It doesn’t diminish the love in any way – life is just more complicated these days. (She works full time and I’m with my husband full time.)
I was surprised to learn that she is now working from home full time. I don’t know the logistics of it, but I’m delighted that she doesn’t have to spend all that money for gas, or worry about getting to and from Ft. Smith if the roads are bad. She is also having a roof for her patio constructed so that she can enjoy having outside in the mornings. This is a real quality of life issue for her. She’s tried various other more temporary roofs, but with our gusty Arkansas winds, they have blown down or completely blown away. Now she’ll have something that will last. :0) She apparently liked the tote bag I painted for her and complimented the card I painted. Since she is a pastel artist, I’m really happy that she is pleased with my efforts.
We ate lunch and then I heard from another friend, Carla. She said she was out and about, and wanted to come to our place around 4pm. I went scurrying around, making sure she had a comfortable place to sit, a clear place to put down a drink, the bathroom was clean, etc. (That’s what I get for being a slob.)
She brought what is called a “Kaleidoscope Rose.” Isn’t it stunning? I’ve never seen one before. I THINK that this is done very carefully with dyes on each petal to create this. However it happens. I think it’s gorgeous. She also brought chocolates that I am trying my best to stay away from. :0)
She liked her personalized tote, too, laughing at one of the quotes about car racing. (She and her son have a stock car.)
So it was a beautiful day, catching up with two ladies who mean the world to me, getting hugs, bringing up my spirits. What a lucky lady I am!
One of my favorite things is Christmas lights. They get me into the spirit of the holidays like nothing else. I found some pics of towns in Arkansas that are celebrating in style that I’ll share with you over the coming days.
Part of the Christmas decorations on the square in Greenwood, Arkansas
I’m slow to get into the spirit this year, for some reason. This morning our son sent a picture to us of part of the decorations in Thailand –
Christmas in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Yesterday I started getting presents together for my friends. I’m mailing some and then giving others at various times, so I’ll get things together based on when and where they’re going. I’m also going to try to get started with Christmas cards. Maybe some Christmas music…
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.
Having a happy day already. I’ve chatted with several friends and relatives this morning, reaching out to share our love and wishes for a happy celebration today. I’m feeling very lucky to be in a warm, dry house, husband sleeping in his chair in the living room, getting ready to start cooking, and feeling surrounded by love. Absolutely priceless. :0)
Even though the world has essentially ruined Halloween for me, I still love seeing Ray Villaphane’s pumpkin carving, wonderfully creative handmade children’s costumes, and terrific displays with skeletons. I have wonderful memories of Halloweens as a child, and that will have to suffice.
We don’t have trick-or-treaters at our house because we live on the top of a ridge line up a steep gravelly driveway. The few kids that DO trick or treat nowadays are smart enough to go to the wonderful neighborhoods where the houses are closer together and most people have their porch lights on in welcome, enabling them to quickly gather goodies.
Dierk Schaefer photo-flickr.com
The ‘goody’ I wanted when I was a kid was a chocolate bar. When I got home from the gathering, I quickly went though everything to see if I had been lucky enough to get one.
historymaniacmegan.com
The only thing we were warned about was the possibility of a razor blade being imbedded in the middle of an apple. I didn’t worry, even if I DID get an apple, because to be honest, fruit was the furthest thing from my mind on Halloween.
Things are starting to come together on the Christmas cards I’m trying to paint. I’m trying to do stylized Christmas trees. I used bleeding tissue paper for the ‘leaves and branches’ part. Today I outlined the ‘tree’ with 3-D white paint, added a star on top and painted part of the ‘trunk’, for these are ‘live’ Christmas trees – the ones you can plant when the holiday is over.
I’m letting them dry now and will see what they look like tomorrow.
I carry my dad with me everywhere. He’s always with me.
He wasn’t one to say much. He was embarrassed by displays of emotion. He gave me the gift of humor. He used it himself to ward off the bullies at school who tried to make fun of him because one of his arms was shorter than the other and his hand was mangled and pretty much useless from a fall from a horse when he was three. People can’t laugh and bully at the same time.
He taught me to strive for your dreams, taking chances. He brought his wife and two kids from Long Island NY to Tulsa, Oklahoma in order to take a job in advertising in a small company. He not only did well in that job, but built his own independent advertising agency, eventually winning a lifetime achievement award from the American Advertising Federation for his unique contribution to Tulsa radio advertising. He went from barely scraping to never having to make a cold call to a client the rest of his life. His ads are still played on the radio from time to time in commemoration.
He taught me to think creatively as I watched him come up with new ideas to sell products, then cut his own ads on his tape recorder in our home, then sell them to the client. Even though he only had one hand that worked properly, I have 5 oil paintings from him – three landscapes of trees, and ‘personality’ portraits of my brother and me, where he captured us as children. I also have two small wooden ‘dogs’ he carved, plus an ‘engagement ring’ he carved for my mom.
He taught me a love of learning by sitting in his chair on the weekends, pouring over big books on geology and archeology. He would have loved to go on digs, unearthing bits of ancient history, and tried to explain to me what the different layers of rocks meant.
When he went with me to school when I was getting my Master’s Degree and asked him to be my “celebrity’ guest speaker on a lesson on listening intelligently to advertising, he made me cry when at the end of the presentation, he told the class how proud he was to be my dad.
I am so lucky to have countless memories of both of my parents, to know that they loved my brother and me, sacrificed for us, and wanted the best for us. I wish everyone had both parents – or failing that – people who loved them and taught them what was important in life.
I wish you a happy day, a happy celebration, a quiet, calm day.
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Yet another rainy day here in Arkansas. After today, we’re supposed to have something appear in the sky that lights everything up and warms the air. I’m interested to see what that is. Maybe we can find and plant some tomato plants either Monday or Tuesday!
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I have Easter memories swirling.
Fuzzy SOFT pink angora sweater that made me feel very feminine for the first time a hundred years ago. Sweet rabbits my parents got for the family as pets – we named them “Welsh” and “Peter” Rabbit. Dyeing Easter eggs. Hunting for Easter eggs with a big basket. Eating Easter eggs. Then, many years later, Dyeing and Hiding Easter eggs for our son, plus for my students at school where I taught. Beautiful services. Soul-filling songs.
“Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart… filled it, too, with a melody that would last forever.” ~ Bess Streeter Aldrich
“From Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.” ~ Emily Matthews
“Let the spirit of love gently fill our hearts and homes. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness.” ~ Unknown
“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” ~ Burton Hillis
“A hug is a great gift – one size fits all, and it’s easy to exchange.” ~Author Unknown
I had the BEST afternoon yesterday visiting with two friends I don’t see often enough.
Carla had a new bunny she name Wilhelmina. She is much like the sweetie above. Carla said she thought the bunny was 7 to 8 weeks old. I sat on the couch and Carla brought her over to me. While Carla and I were talking, “Willy” hopped from one end of the couch to the other, found a cord she really wanted to chew on on the table next to the couch, hopped all over me, sat on my shoulder and sniffed my ear and melted my heart. She was SO cute. SO soft, and SO captivating. She was bright, curious, and sweet all rolled into one. She was sneaky, too! I had covered the cord that intrigued her with a Kleenex box. She gradually moved the box off the cord so she could try to chew again. :0) The small pot I mosaic-ed (is that a word?) for Carla will be used to try to grow kale for Willy and one other rabbit Carla has.
My friend Nora has a small, criminally cute yappy white fuzzy dog named Belle. Belle barked at me for about 5 minutes, and then finally decided I wasn’t trying to rob the house or hurt Nora, so she settled down and let me pet her. She sat in my lap while Nora and I visited, moving continually to try to stay the center of attention. Nora grows her own herbs, so she was happy with the pot I made for her.
It was wonderful to relax for a bit, enjoy catching up with what is happening in the lives of two people who are so important to me. Though I don’t call, text, or visit enough – or tell them often enough – I HOPE they realize how much I love them.
This afternoon is going to be wonderful. I’m getting to visit with two of my favorite people, two ladies who mean the world to me, and it’s been too long since we got a chance to catch up. I’m taking them some presents, hoping they will brighten their day.
As usual, we always MEAN to see them, talk to them more often, then life gets in the way. I’ll try to make up for that a bit today.
I told you that my Lunch Bunch friends couldn’t meet yesterday. I was disappointed, but hoped we could meet sometime early next week or something.
Today two of our friends came to our house to exchange gifts and visit. It was the greatest gift. We really got to talk after exchanging gifts, sharing some things we hadn’t mentioned before. It was truly wonderful. I’m so lucky to have met these people and shared friendship and love for over 20 years now.
Even now, as I type, I’m a bit teary over how lucky we are.
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