Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mom has a birthday in a day or two and will be one year older.  I bet you thought I was going to say how old she is.  Not me.  Mom is forever young in a lot of ways.

Mom teaches us to enjoy work.  Work is therapy. Work is a healer.  Work gets your brains back in your head after too much play and fun.  She is right.  Thanks Mom for encouraging me as a child to enjoy each accomplishment by telling me to "see how nice it looks now?" after a weeding a row in the garden or cleaning a room.

Mom says routines help when things hurt too badly to bear.  There have been a few times in her life when she experienced that, so she knows what she is talking about. She has instructed us to keep at the routines of living and loving to soften the hurts.  "Time is a great healer." she says.

Mom takes care of her friendships.  She isn't very organized about remembering birthdays but she more then makes up for it with spontaneous phone calls or gifts or invitations to her house.  I live across the nation from her but I can tell this is happening.  She tells me what  she and her friends have been doing...anything from going  out for coffee to taking walks in the wild life refuge.

Mom loves my dad with all her being.  They are quite a team.  They've been married for almost 50 years and they are more in love than ever.  Oh, they fuss at each other and they "fetch each other up", but more than that they think together.  They still have dreams to fulfill together.  They do projects together.  They pray together.  They pray for all nine children and spouses and grandkids and great grandkids every single day by name.

Mom is still busily trying to read every good book there is in the world. And she's working on a quilt for each grandchild.  Ask her sometime which one she is working on now. Oh, she'll try to tell you how imperfect they are and all that, but don't be fooled by that.  The quilts are coming out splendidly.

When Mom was in high school her interests and skills were evaluated to give her direction in choosing a college and vocation.  She rated highest on lawn and garden design and care.  Well they hit the nail on the head there.  Her gardens and lawn are perfection.  I wish I could see them, again.  One of you Idaho camera people could take a bunch of pictures for us, you know.

  Her children shall rise up and call her blessed.  That's straight out of the Bible, Mom, so you can't scold a word to me for doing this. I love you, Mom.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Sunday Evening Picnic

We had a picnic last night at the Ojibwa Park with our two nieces from Sahth Cahrahlahnah.  They take a lot of ribbing for their drawl.  But, they pass it right back so it is okay.  

They brought a real watermelon for us.  Let's have none of your wimpy, seedless tastless versions. This is the kind of watermelon on which you use the largest knife you own, simply because of its size. The only logical way to eat it is to cut it in nice wedges and eat it outside so that you can drip on the grass.  It was truly a tasty picnic watermelon. 

Elv wondered if we would want to picnic without facilities and have good privacy or would we like to have a few facilities and sacrifice privacy.  We picked facilities and ended up at the park with nobody else there anyway. We were a crowd all by ourselves. We had a yummy supper of haystacks and Strawberry and Blueberry Delights besides the melon.  



I don't know what this is about.  But these two were a team.

Clown Cousins

This took a long time. 

But we finally ended up with this little moment of no open mouths and all open eyes, sorta.

Another one of the clowns I live with.

The whole gang.

The big boys had fun making this thing go round fast with the girls on board.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

This Day In June

~ Havilah Glory was born this morning in Thailand to Dru and Lisl Lattin.  The name is creating some interest and exclamation in our world. Is it my fault for naming Lisl such an unusual name...maybe I started something? Aunt Eva called me when Lisl was three days old and said, "Don't you dare change her name...they got used to Todd (the name she chose for her oldest son) and they'll get used to Lisl's name, too!" I'm with Eva and Lisl here; because the name Havilah is beautiful.
~ Today I picked the first respectable amount of strawberries out of the garden. Pies!
~ VBS is in process this week.  For the first time in many years the Native American children from the reservation nearby are coming each day.  If just one of those children finds the Lord from a seed sown this week; it will be well worth the hustle and bustle they create at VBS.
~And the rain continues.  We haven't had such a lush June as this in years. The lawn needs mowing every week even on sandy soil in Hayward.  

Friday, June 17, 2011

God Will Take Care Of You

 We found this glorious iris blooming with the others yesterday.  The rain had weighted the one stem of it down to the ground. Yesterday there was one white iris in full bloom and two buds on the same stem. By this morning another bud opened into this huge flower.
   The funny thing about this white iris (Lacey Snowflake) is that nobody remembers planting a new rhizome in our iris patch behind the house. And we would be delighted to know of any of you remembers giving us rootstock for a new iris. From where did this beauty come? I have decided that if God can give us a surprise beauty of this size and richness in the flowerbed; He can supply need in the rest of our lives in the same generous proportions without any extra help from us whatsoever. Praise The Lord. The verse I woke with this morning was: Praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise.



Thursday, June 16, 2011

What's Happening At Home

 Since the fabulous front loading washer is no longer functional we have been doing the laundry outdoors with the help of this old relic.  It is really quite efficient.  I can get the whole huge laundry on the line and drying in about 2 1/2 hours. Working over the open washer grabbing at the socks that need turning and scrubbing a little more soap into them for whitening is enjoyable to me. After years of pulling graying whites out of the front loader and no way to make a difference; I am no longer literally locked out of controlling how long the whites stay in the washer. Someone called while I was washing the other day and hoped that I wouldn't eventually digress to the wash board.  I won't.  We are planning to replace the automatic washer, but not a front loader please.
We've been doing the laundry with this faithful old Matag washer.

Sewing dresses this week.

Amy's "new" serger that made our sewing project just fun.
 Amy had saved up a little money and decided that she wanted a serger.  So we found one listed on Craig's List.  We took the day off to fetch it from over by "The Cities".  We sewed up four dresses in the last two days, all with lovely finished selvage (or selvedge) edges.
We had the whole table set up in machines.  The hemmer was a joke. Does anybody know how to run one?
A huge white iris blooming with the others this year. 
     And Brad is getting paid to eliminate the rodents around here. That's because we are tired of sharing our house with them. Frances counted six (6) squirrels playing in a tree near the house this morning. If you are one of those folks who believe squirrels to be cute critters to watch; please come and get as many as you like. They're free for the taking.
   

Friday, June 10, 2011

How Did That Happen?

Despite best efforts, and convictions, and plans, things happen. Here's an example.
   We found out that Brad has never had the MMR series of immunizations. He is twelve years old.  How did that happen?  He has had the chicken pox immunization, of all things, and polio, and HIB.  But not the MMR! I could care less about the chicken pox vaccine, but we DO care about getting the MMR series. I'm the lady making noises about people riding on the backs of those of us who get immunizations.  I'm the mom who makes herself obnoxious preaching to her grown children to get their children immunized. So today Brad, big boy that he is, got a shot in the arm...actually a shot in each arm.  He now has the current d Tap, and the first of two MMR shots. We are to return within 60 days for the second one.
    Here's your reminder, moms, to get those children's shots finished up. I'll say this for our goofing up: Brad never whimpered a bit. :)

Lake Superior Winnowing

Elv and I parked the Jeep by the shore in Kitch-Gami park in Duluth last night.  It was about 48 degrees and the water was a grey green color in real life. I wondered why the camera picked up the blue that we couldn't see. The seagulls thought we were bringing hand-outs and kept watchful eyes on us to be the first to respond. If we had thrown them food they would have squawked and squabbled noisily with one another till the last crumb disappeared.  But that's not why we were there.  We were on a date and in the mood to sit and watch the waves.  I had my camera.  I am always on a hunt to get a good picture. I have taken hundreds of them and only a handful are really good, and even those, I am not sure of.  Elv's comment about the waves, wind, and seagulls was that it was soporific.  At any rate, when life gets too busy to have time to sit and watch the waves; you know something has to change. Watching the waves helps us sort the important things from the chaff of our  lives! I would recommend it to anyone; but especially to those folks who believe that they have more important things to do than to watch Lake Superior waves.  Nobody's work is SO important that they can't take an hour to watch waves, a running river, or the wind playing over the hayfield. What a waste to build mansions and businesses and never really  live in them or reap the benefits.  

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Just Some Notes On Life At The Stone House


 ~ We had a few days of hot summer, but the northland cool weather has returned.
~ Yesterday we put up a worktable in the sitting room down stairs under the AC for scrapbooking.
~ And we took down a big, old bookcase in the process of making a   workspace. Charlotte has dreams of painting it white and having a place   for books and things in Benny's room.
~ And we have plans to take about four big boxes of books and                                                                       dishes to the Salvation Army used shop.
                                                      ~ The girls and I cleaned a rental house today for Select                                                                                   Industries. It was hard work but the pay is good.  And the house is                                                                 much cleaner.
                                                      ~ Tomorrow I get to clean a very old, rustic log cabin on Lake Windigo.                                                         I hope to take Amy along and see if she will draw it for me again.
                                                      ~ All the trees are green, and I saw baby zinnias when I watered the                                                                garden this morning.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Accepting Criticism

I am still learning about this.  You'll notice I had used the carefully chosen phrase "constructive criticism".  I don't care for criticism, to be honest with you.  I have always worked very hard to conduct my life and manners in such a way to avoid criticism because of my aversion to it.  Which has been a huge problem to overcome.  Elv will still tell you that I don't do well with it. I have at least learned to listen to criticism with my ears and my heart open to get from it what I can use.  It still annoys me immensely to be approached about something I had especially taken care to do correctly. I know that no one likes to make a mistake but I am fairly certain that I have an overdose of pride in this area.
I have found a lot of consolation in remembering that other people make mistakes, too, and that we all are allowed to be human and need improvement. I try to not take criticism quite so personal so to speak and keep in mind that I should at least try to make the connection between what I said or did and what caused the issue to merit criticism. In other words, I try to hear/see it from his or her point of view and not be quite so stuck on what I consider to be the truth of the matter. Mom used to say to me, "Arla, you need to hear how you just sounded."  And my siblings, family and friends now still tell me that in a lot of different ways. So I think I have made some progress in working at trying to hear and understanding how the other person is feeling or where they are coming from in their actions and words.
I have this theory that because I am a people pleaser and permissive and rather impressionable I tend to think that others should give me the same amount of latitude that I in my laxness give to them.  When they don't, I feel extremely crushed and misunderstood. I am learning that maybe there are times I need to confront as well, and then it helps me to have a better attitude when I am confronted. Sounds weird, I know, but there is something in this for me.
Most of all it is important to remember that we all deserve death except for what Jesus did for us on the cross.  The song  Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross really speaks to me in those times I make mistakes.  If you really pray that; you will find opportunity to take your sins and faults to the cross with a lot more clarity and humility.  It helps everything.
The bottom line then is: to WANT to learn.

Chipmunks Again

It was exactly one year ago to this very day that I posted about the chipmunks in the ceilings of our basement bedroom.  The running, somers-sualts. back flips, slides, and squeaks  over our heads began very early this morning around 2 AM.  Words like infestation amd pestilence come to mind. Brad shot many chipmunks last summer. Did they reproduce during the winter? So I have asked Elv to bring home a new box of Bounce dryer sheets tonight.  We'll get them out of the house at least that way, but we're going to set rat traps and be done with those critters altogether, we hope.
Then there's the strawberry patch. You can't beat the chippy's to the patch.  They prefer the largest fruits partially ripened. Therefore we shall have to be entirely rid of the critters before strawberry pickin' time.Wish me all the best in the earthly battles of this week.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Graciousness

I just read Lucy’s blog again and was brought right up short…again. Her honesty always encourages me. She seems to have found the way to be honest and completely human without making us sort through the laundry so to speak.  I think of a lot of things to blog: feelings, ideas, frustrations and struggles, but I don’t really feel comfortable in the end to share them on blogspot.
I suppose I am overreacting to the no-holds-barred-tell-all that happens sometimes in the world of Facebook and Blogger. And the result is that I tend to come across as a “surface” person. And I am not. But I’ll admit that it is really easy to slide over the real stuff of life and simply talk about the daffodils.  It’s less bother and there are fewer words to eat and apologies to make.
Two years ago when I started blogging; I made a commitment to be an encourager and a helper in all that I posted. And I think I have been a little anxious to not feel too vulnerable on the one hand or preachy on the other. I really do want to aim better at what I started out to do in the beginning.
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer each one. Colossians 4:6
PS I’d be open to constructive criticism, as well. :)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Accomplishments

   Today has been a good day of getting things done.  Things other than what I had hoped to get done but that turned out to be okay.  First I was going to plant garden.  And we hoped to buy a few patio brick to replace the winter's crumbling of bricks. The garden needs to be tilled up yet before we can plant, too, and that remains undone.
   Our day started with Elv's boss bringing in several gallon bags of venison, four large white onions, dried red jalapeƱos, organic beef broth in the cutest little cardboard boxes with pour lids, and empty jars. To date I have 15 jars of venison stew meat in the process of being canned. Sure hope he enjoys it.
But I needed jar seals first, and a few groceries. But before that I had to go to the bank and cash a house cleaning check.  So Brad wanted to go with me to get his yard work check cashed.  And Frances wanted to do returns at the library, and Amy went along to coach me in my garden seed shopping. She said that it was really Jenny's job, but she'd go ahead.  "Jenny isn't here!" I testily reminded her. We bought seeds, onions sets, and red bark for the flower beds.
   Walmart didn't have the right patio bricks at all, and neither did Hardware Hank's garden center. I didn't even bother checking at ABC lumber by that time.  Which meant that I had a few dollars to spend at the local Salvation Army used shop.

   The used shop shopping was highly successful.  This is the time of year when the cabin owners come up to the big vacation land over Memorial Day weekend to clean and rejuvenate their second homes.  They take lots of perfectly good furniture, and household goodies to the used shop and buy new stuff.  It's a bonanza for the likes of the Grabers!  We found new throw pillows, bed sheets, a lovely "vintage" (don't laugh) candlestick holder, picture frames and doilies.  We left a lot of stuff there that we would have enjoyed, but enough money and time spent. We left a few things for the rest of you.
   From there we stopped by McDonalds and the girls bought 2 sundaes and 2 Caramel Frappes. Yummy iced coffee! Brad didn't spend a dime all day.  He has a 22 in mind. "I figure it might cost $150.00," he announced and has a bit more to save yet. Brad can happily not spend money, period.
   What we didn't do and should have done is shopped for Tilly, Lisl's new little girl who is about to be born.
   I almost forgot to mention the biggest accomplishment for the day. The writers group mailing is about to arrive in my snail mail box and I had nothing to contribute to it.  I have been praying about that and each time I pray I am reminded about the story I had been writing chapter by chapter. Okay, I get the point. Sat down today and the next chapter got itself on paper, I mean on the computer Word document, just like that! Too bad they all aren't that easy.  The hardest part is knowing good and well it may never be publishable. At least the writers in the group will tell me what's wrong with it and even maybe what's good about it, we hope.

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