26 November 2008

A Thanksgiving Epiphany

[first get the tune to “Oh Happy Day / When Jesus Washed My Sins Away” going in your mind] “Oh happy day, Oh happy day, my blower sucked, my blower mulched, my blower bagged all my leaves away . . . Oh happy day . . . !”
For the last few weeks, I’ve been looking out the window at my withered up garden waiting to be put to bed for the winter, at a flat of blue and yellow pansies waiting to be transplanted by the mailbox, at four bags of bulbs waiting to be buried so that next spring will prove that something was planned ahead of time . . . and then there were ALL THOSE LEAVES blanketing the front and back yard. Just thinking of it was paralyzing, until yesterday when we discovered that our Black and Decker “hay” blower can also vacuum!

What a feeling of power to watch piles and piles of leaves disappear up a big plastic cylinder—filling one biodegradable bag after another with perfect bits of mulch that will cover our county's walking trails—I felt so . . . so green!
It was such a great feeling, that after clearing and pitch-forking my garden, I covered it up with a beautiful "quilt" of the colorful confetti! My sense of accomplishment is worth every Advil I’ll have to take to get out of bed to make my Cranberry Jezebel sauce for Thanksgiving dinner!

23 November 2008

"Books, Like Friends, Should Be Few and Well Chosen" Samuel Johnson

Top 12 Recommendations
(still life-impacting since 1972)

The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
Something More (Catherine Marshall)
From Fear to Freedom: Living as Sons and Daughters of God (Rose Marie Miller)
Abandoned to God: The Biography of Oswald Chambers (David McCasland)
Turn my Mourning into Dancing: Help for Hard Times (Henri Nouwen)
Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster)
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (Richard Foster)
The Good News About Injustice (Gary Haugen)
The Middle of Everywhere: The World’s Refugees Come to Our Town (Mary Pipher)
Orthodoxy (G.K. Chesterton)
God is the Gospel (John Piper)
. . . okay a Baker's Dozen . . .
Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
(my earliest self-read favorite in 1963)

15 November 2008

Thankful for Simple Gifts

I'm warming my toes next to the fireplace, enjoying the first cheery fire of the season, sipping Ginger tea, and thinking how yummy it feels to be home. I might just close my eyes for a little cat nap . . . but then I remembered a picture I snapped in September when I visited Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. I rememeber thinking how lovely it was to be sitting on a covered patio sipping coffee and eating beignets with my daughter and new son-in-law. At the same moment I looked over and saw this cute little Asian man, perfectly at rest amid all the clanking dishes, touristy conversations and sidewalk musicians. Taking a few moments each day to come to rest and enjoy simple pleasures, fills our lives with riches that can't be taken away and shouldn't be taken for granted.

06 November 2008

Love You Rainor Shine!

At first I thought this was a picture of Rainor's recent incident with Vicks Vapor Rub, but on closer examination he was just stomping around in a few rain puddles--at 15 months, life is full of new discoveries every day! This fall, we've been hanging out every Monday while Anna is in school, but tonight we're having a sleepover . . . hopefully heavy on the sleep since he's been sick all week! We read one "[k]" after another, danced with The Wiggles (I'm gonna have to investigate those four Aussies), and were mesmerized on Netflix Instant by Hopla (a Flemish-Belgian 3D cartoon for infants). Speaking of dancing, I gotta getta video of this little guy's moves--he dances like a beatnik* --I think he has inherited Pops' dancin' machine gene! I really should be snoring right now,but I keep reflecting on my 17 year-old nephew's Facebook status last week: "Even my worst days ain't that bad." Amen, Andy Rose!

* Beatniks were before my era. A cool 50's youth culture.Wore berets and turtle necks. Hung out in coffee shops playing bongos and reciting poetry (and experimenting with marijuana).Pre-dates the hippie movement by about 15 years. Alen Ginsberg and Jack Keruoac were beatniks. So was the character named Maynard G. Krebs on the 1960's Dobie Gillis Show...
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