Another "Four Sisters" Poem

(Here's another poem I wrote about the same four sisters. This is in a totally different style, about a hat they all like to wear.)

Hat Trick

I like the way that
I look in this hat.
I'm stunning,
Don't you agree?
The trouble is,
Well, gee whiz,
The hat isn't yet for me.

Every Sunday for church
I see Annabelle perch
The hat on her
Flowing brown tresses.
I'd love to wear it to my class
But I'll have to let it pass,
Though it looks better with all my church dresses!

Nancy went in style
To her piano recital,
The little hat
Proudly she wore.
I'd have played better somehow
With the hat on my brow,
But I'll just have to wait some more.

There's to be a birthday bash, you see -
Miranda's wearing the haberdashery.
She'll look regal nibbling her cake.
I could probably win a prize
With the hat above my eyes.
How long will this growing up take?

Serena is my name,
And, well, the day finally came
To wear the cunning little hat
I so adored.
So I'm sitting on my bed
With the hat upon my head -
And I'm bored.

Does Housework Make a Home?

I was thinking about housework the other day (cause that's more fun sometimes than doing housework!). I am trying to decide what the proper balance is. I mean, I want to have a neat, clean and tidy home, and that just plain takes work. But honestly, I don't really mind the work. There's something very satisfying about tidying up the house. One of my favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder quotes, from the Missouri Review article on farm wives, is "Our homes can be as pleasant as we care to make them." That really resonates with me. Just like everything else, how pleasant we make our homes is a choice we make. The problem I have is the sheer amount of things there is to do, so many details, all needing to be done over and over and over again, with no real end in sight. I am blessed to be a stay-at-home mom, which means I am pretty much my own boss. Sometimes I'm a slave driver! I tend to think of absolutely everything that could ever be done and think I must do it all at once. Sometimes, no matter what I'm doing I feel guilty, because I think of something else I should probably be doing more. Or no matter what I accomplish, it doesn't seem like enough because of all the things I have yet to accomplish. That's no way to live. My husband has been slowly teaching me a better way (well, he doesn't teach slow, but sometimes I'm a slow learner). I still have one of my monster "To-Do" lists that I left laying around one busy, busy day. When I went back to find it later, I saw that my husband had penciled in "**TAKE A NAP**!" right in the middle of it! It made me laugh, and I kept it to remind myself that sometimes I can get so busy doing things FOR my family that I have no time to spend WITH my family! Now that my kids are grown I can honestly say that when they reminisce, they never mention how super clean and neat the house was. Instead their fond memories are of things their father and I did with them - not for them.

So I am trying to find the balance. After all, as someone has said, "We are human beings, not human doings." And as the Bible says, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. So I have decided to give myself permission to do just that. When I am washing dishes, I try to enjoy the feel of the warm water and the time to daydream or sing. When I am visiting with a friend, family member or neighbor, I try to concentrate on the conversation, not the undone work. If I am reading, I try to relax and take it in. If cleaning the bathroom, I think of how pleasant the bathroom will be when I am done. My home can be as pleasant as I care to make it. Part of what will make it pleasant is the little joys and freedoms I partake of, and part is the work I put in to cleaning and caring for it. I believe enjoying each equally is the balance I have been seeking.

Ten Thousand Villages Part II

Took another trip to He, She and Me and used my gift cards for a Ten Thousand Villages purchase. As you can see above, it is a bud vase, made of polished onyx. It is so pretty! There were also apples and pears in onyx, smaller in size (the size of a real, small apple or pear). There were a million things I wanted - I'll definitely be going back.

Ten Thousand Villages

I went to a little shop locally called "He, She and Me." It is a delightful shop, part customized clothing, part coffee shop and part showroom for craftsmanship from all over the world. A great deal of the very artful displays consists of merchandise from Ten Thousand Villages. This is a way for true craftsman from every corner of the world to sell their art for fair market value. The variety and beauty of the items is truly amazing. The craftsmanship is impressive. And the prices are very reasonable. With each item comes a Romance Card, telling a little about how the item is made. There is jewelry, scarves, candle holders, vases and teapots and baskets, musical instruments, planters, stationery, journals and photo albums, pictures made of straw, Faberge eggs and stacking dolls from Russia, and on and on it goes. I bought a little paperweight, made of a river rock from Vietnam. The artist puts 8 coats of varnish and iron oxide, with each coat taking up to a week to dry. Then he painted the koi and covered it all with a clear coat. It's so smooth and unique! Going to the shop is like visiting an art museum, only with pieces you can actually afford to buy. Especially since I got gift cards to the shop from my youngest son for Mother's Day!

Bella

My son got me a movie for Mother's Day, called "Bella," that I had never heard anything about. But I have reason to trust my son's taste, so that night my husband and I watched it. It was wonderful, and I can heartily recommend it. I can't tell a lot about it, it is better if it unfolds naturally, but I can say there is a young man who is a very good soccer player, until a tragedy occurs, and there is a young woman who finds herself pregnant, to her dismay. Then a story unfolds that is worth the telling. There are two small things that took a moment to get used to. One was that even though this is a movie without foul language, it does have a lot of conversation in Spanish, so you have to read the English if that is all you speak. Also, it does jump around some, but you quickly get oriented, and it is somewhat necessary to the story.

Another thing, though not a flaw, is that this is an adult movie. Now, by that I do NOT mean what passes for "adult" now - i.e. for immature jerks who ought to be old enough to know better. Instead this is a story for real adults, mature, responsible people. There is no sex, bad language, or cruel behavior. It does have real love, family, and compassion. But still it is not for children. If you choose to watch it with a spouse or friend, I think you will be glad you did. Then, after you watch it, google it and read some of the interviews with the writer or actor, which will reveal things that enrich it even more.

Mother-Daughter Banquet

I went to the coolest Mother-Daughter banquet I've ever been to recently! The small, rectangular church fellowship hall was transformed by rich tapestries, colorful cloths, candles, flowers, scarves and rugs into a Persian banquet hall for The Feast of Esther. Young girls in colorful, flowing costumes glided and twirled about the room, visiting booths where they could create crowns for themselves, paint their or their mother's nails, and don pipe-cleaner tiaras. There were games stressing poise and beauty, as well as a hilarious beauty contest where more than one normally mild-mannered woman showed off some amazing dance moves! Soon the women were seated at long tables surrounding the girls, who were shown to low tables with large pillows to sit on. Two hard working husbands, pressed into service as manservants, served trays of grapes, flat bread, feta cheese and olives. There was challah bread in baskets, and salad. The water goblets were kept filled from crystal pitchers, and bowls of a delicious apricot chicken and rice dish were thoroughly enjoyed. After the meal, as dessert was served, a young girl began telling the Bible story of Esther. As we enjoyed our sherbet and soft fig cookies, we also participated in the interactive story, cheering for Esther and Mordecai and booing so the name of Haman, the villain, could not be heard.

Everyone had a lovely time, and I was especially impressed since I knew who had done the work and what a small budget they had. They cooked the food themselves, and used sheets and rugs and scarves from home for the decorations. It was such a lovely, girly day. This was a true labor of love, and I was pleased to enjoy it with my mother.

Ode to Spring!

Since it is spring, I thought I'd share
photos of the largest butterfly I've ever
seen! I promise to post more soon, but I
got heat exhaustion mowing my lawn
(some spring!) and even though I have
a dozen posts swimming around in
my head, I've felt too puny to commit
them to (cyber)paper - soon, tho, I
promise!

Childhood Sweethearts

Someone (I can't remember who!) suggested we post pictures of ourselves and our honeys when we were little. I thought that was a sweet idea, so here we are. I am about a year old. I thought it appropriate that I had a spoon in my mouth! And judging from that smile, I'll bet it had a bit of chocolate on it. My husband is around 3 or 4 - isn't he handsome?!? We got married young (I was barely 18 and he'd been 20 for 3 days!), but we've been married nearly 30 years, so all those people who thought we were TOO young can quit worrying - we're still crazy about each other! I would love to see other people's childhood photos!

When Are Bugs Pretty?

No one thinks flies are pretty?! I'm shocked. I mean, look at the little guy, with his huge red goggles, his shimmery blue-green hide, and his little hook to hold on with! Though, to be honest, if he had been on my kitchen counter I'd of whacked him without a second thought. For me the demarcation line is inside versus outside. I've always been an outdoors girl, and I marvel at the beauty of all kinds of unusual things. Snakes, for instance. My mom says there's something heathenish about my fascination with snakes. But have you ever really looked at, say, a coral snake? They are really gorgeous. We have large indigo snakes here too. Once my young son was leaning against a tree by the pond and felt something on his leg. He looked down and there was a 5-ft. indigo climbing him! He did a frantic little panic dance and the startled snake dropped off. Evidently he'd never seen a tree behave like that.

I find many spiders and other unpopular creatures to be beautiful too. My sister and I loved ants when we were little and were always trying to make homemade ant farms, with moats around them. An awful lot of ants drowned themselves rather than stay with us! Maybe it's from growing up in Florida where you either get used to things or stay nervous a lot. We always did a lot of camping, so when we went swimming or canoeing, it was usually in a pond or lake, and there were often alligators nearby. Mostly they leave you alone, especially if no one has been feeding them. Unless they've been fed, alligators are pretty shy of people. I did get to swim with a manatee once, back before it was illegal to touch them. They have hides like elephants and faces only a mother could love. We have oodles of lizards and frogs. We watched quite a drama in our bathroom window one day. We heard what sounded like a girl screaming and ran to find the source. There were 3 frogs on the outside of the screen, but there was the glass of the window kind of trapping them. They were what was screaming! A snake was crawling up the screen, wanting to eat them. While he was trying to pick out the juiciest looking frog, a tiny spider started sidling sideways toward him, ever so slowly. Finally he reached the snake's head, climbed on and bit him right between the eyes! The snake jerked, then fell from the window. So the little spider saved all those frogs! Sort of made me think of the story of the mouse saving the lion.

I love watching all the little dramas unfold as long as the creatures are outside where they belong. Even birds, which are so beautiful and fascinating flying free, I've had no luck with inside. Once we had a parakeet named Midnight. It was basically psychotic. I figure it was because it was caged. Another time we came home to find a peach-faced lovebird clinging to our screen door. Someone's pet that had escaped, we thought at first. My son made a pet of it, and at first it was adorable. It would sit on his head and sing and act all innocent. Soon, though, it became an attack bird, refusing to allow anyone in to his bedroom except him - and then, it turned on him too. We came to realize that it had probably been booted out by it's original owner in self-defense! I use to like squirrels, too. Until one got down inside our bedroom wall! So, if any bugs could read this, the moral of the story would be - stay out of my house! The bugs in the pictures I posted were all found outside and left to live and let live, except the red and black one that I trapped in my kitchen! He was left in a jar to be admired until he expired.

Does Anybody Know What Bugs These Are?

Here is a fly up close. Down a bit I said he was pretty, but here you can see that he is.


This one has a smiley face on his derriere!


I know what this bug is - a pesky fly - but he's still pretty!


Here is one that looks like a fighter jet:


Does anyone know what this bug is? He's not only beautiful, he matches my kitchen!


These were all in Southwest Florida. Anybody got a clue? I don't!

Memorial

Today I went to Ruth's Memorial at the nursing home. They have one every month to remember those that passed on in the previous month. I thought there would be 2 or 3 maybe. There were 13. Friends and family gathered in the chapel, a woman sang some beautiful songs and a minister prayed, read scripture and spoke "words of comfort." There was a time to share memories of your loved one, and I took that opportunity to remember Ruth, and to thank the caregivers that had helped make her final year so wonderful. Several of them told me how much Ruth had meant to them as well. Afterwards there were refreshments someone had taken the time to make, and we all visited. I met some of Ruth's friends from "the lunch bunch." I was very impressed once again by the staff. They obviously consider their job a ministry. Actually quite a few them are volunteers. What they do is such a blessing. Every time I've ever been there, they are invariably cheerful, efficient, kind and compassionate, and professional all at the same time. It would be nice to be so well cared for, and then remembered, by such a group when it is my turn to be old!

In getting ready for the memorial, I sorted through Ruth's pictures so I could take some of her for the memory table. Of course, I walked right out and forgot them on my own table! But the process made me thoughtful. It is really weird going through someone else's memories. Some of the pictures were of our mutual family, but many were of people I didn't know, but who were important enough for Ruth to keep their photos all these years. It would be nice to know who they were. One thing I have begun doing as a result is to organize my own photos and label them clearly. The other thing is sorting through everything I own, deciding what is really important enough to keep. After all, some day it will all belong to someone else. Do I really want to dust it until then? And there was one last result of all of this. As the minister said today, how do I want to be remembered? After listening to what people had to say about their beloved departed, it seems we write our own eulogy through lots of small, thoughtful things that we do day by day more often than by one monumental achievement. The one characteristic most people seemed to admire about their loved one was some variation on the theme of, "She was old and sick and blind and alone, but she never complained!" Something tells me that takes a lifetime of practice through smaller hardships, don't you think?

A Portrait of Four Sisters

(And now for a poem of more recent vintage...I wrote a picture! This poem is meant to be a portrait of four young sisters I know).

Annabelle is a red, red rose
Heart-shaped face
Small, straight nose
Petite in stature
Dainty dreamer
Quiet with a sweet demeanor

Nancy, All-American Girl,
Long, blond hair
Exquisite pearl
And rose complexion
Tall and graceful
Vibrant look of intelligent reflection

Miranda, mischief in her eyes, and
In her glance, romance
Snub nose, artistic hands,
Laughing lips
Tossing back her chestnut hair,
Her eyes dance

Serena, small and blond
With large, expressive eyes
Vivacious, fond
Of giggling, of playing,
Bubbly, effervescent
Little dimpled darling

Four sisters form a sweet bouquet
Rose and Pearl
And Mischievous Girl
Little One so full of fun
Blossoming forth, together they
Dance with joy in the warmth of the sun

Trees!

I was looking through some things and found this poem I wrote when I was a kid, maybe 13. I thought I would share it - hope you like it!

Trees...big, gangly, shy trees,
Little, gutsy, green trees,
Tall, old, wise trees,
Friendly trees, Mean trees
Trees that tower, trees
That shower leaves upon a
Dreamer who loves trees, trees, trees!

Planting and Growing Roses

For those of you who have always heard that roses are too hard to grow, I have good news for you! They really don't take nearly as much work as is rumored. I plant roses in Florida and have had very good luck with them. I thought maybe I could share a few tips and possibly increase the rosebush population! I think the most important thing is getting the right kind of roses. In Florida, the best kind is fortuniana root stock roses, grown in pots. They are grown specifically for Florida's soil and climate conditions, so they are hardy year round, regardless of rainy season or dry. A garden center or nursery is more likely to carry the right kind than the local hardware store is. At our local garden center they cost about $20.00. This may seem high, but they are guaranteed for a year, and I can attest to how beautifully they grow and bloom.

Once you've decided on which rose bushes you want, you've got to find the perfect spot to plant them. They really need at least six hours of sunshine a day directly on them. If you plant them where they will be shaded all morning by your house, or half the afternoon by a tree, they won't do as well. Ours went crazy once the tree in our front yard was taken down by Hurricane Wilma! I miss our tree, but one of the roses is about 8' tall by 8' around now, so it is practically a tree itself! Also, your roses need to be 4' apart. That way they get air flow, plenty of sun, and they don't share any mites, mildew or black spot as easily!

Water the rose thoroughly with root stimulator. Next, dig a hole 12" deep and 24" wide. This is very important. The roots get lazy and won't grow in to the surrounding soil if it is too tightly packed. If you dig a big enough hole, the roots will have room to expand easily and will be strong enough to go further. Mix the following ingredients well, in a wheelbarrow: One cubit foot of of organic compost, one cubit foot of Black Cow Manure, one cubic foot of the soil you are planting in, out of the hole you dug, one cup of bone meal and 1/4 cup of super phosphate. Mix well with a shovel or hoe. Fill the hole half way with the mixed soil. Place one hand across the top of the pot and turn the rose upside down. Place the other hand on the bottom of the pot and remove your rose carefully. Put the rose in the middle of the hole and make sure the soil around the rose is level with the top. Don't cover the stem and graft. Fill the hole with the mixed soil. Water slowly, then fill again if needed. Now you may want to place a mulch mat tree ring around the rose to help with weeds. On top of that, you can put decorative rocks if you like. We put paving stones around each rose in a pattern as well, as more protection. We like mulch or a pretty ground cover between the roses, but of course you can always do rocks all around as is popular. If you don't want to do these things, at least make sure you don't let mulch, grass or weeds get up close around the bottom of the rose. The rose will like to drain well and not be smothered with anything.

About three weeks after planting, you'll want to begin fertilizing. I use Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Care. It is a fertilizer and insecticide all in one. I pour a capful of the granules around each rose bush every six weeks or so, and it works really well. One time when things were very dry, I got some mites on the rose leaves, and I had to spray a fungicide on them, but that killed them and I've never had them again. Other than this, I water them if it isn't raining enough, and deadhead them. And of course, pull any adventurous weeds that get past all my barriers. As for deadheading them, the old way of cutting back to the first branching out isn't necessary. I snip off the old rose right behind the neck, and the bushes bloom much more prolifically then they ever did in the past. If there is ever a cane growing under the graft, I snip it off right to the root, but otherwise I only prune to shape a little. If a branch grows out across the path, I prune it at an angle so the new growth will go up, for instance. Sometimes the bush will be covered with roses, then they will be spent, so it kind of ebbs and flows that way, but different bushes bloom at different times, so I truly do have roses year round. I hope you'll try it too. The world can always use more roses!

Goodbye, Ruth

My husband's Aunt Ruth died Saturday in Hope Hospice. She came to live with us a year ago when her husband of 61 years passed away. She stayed five months until her care became more than we could provide. Then she went to reign as the Belle of the Nursing Home for another 8 months. She was a funny, sweet, feisty, generous lady and we were blessed to get to know her better. She loved Nascar racing, and thought Tony Stewart was wonderful! She worked at the telephone company all her life, but to her dismay, realized she no longer understood how to use the telephone. She loved music, flowers, getting her hair done, and eating anything sweet. We had to track her down to visit her at the nursing home. She was always off doing something fun, and when we did find her she was full of stories about winning at Bingo, ("I won a quarter! Big deal!" she'd grin), going out to eat, watching musical performances, attending church services and making new friends. ("There are such nice people here!" she'd tell me). Ruth was generous all her life and even at the home she was always trying to give her things away to the other residents or use her Bingo winnings to buy candy for the staff. She loved new experiences and refused to live in the past. "I won't worry," she told me frequently. "Worry causes wrinkles!"

When Ruth was going to go in the nursing home, she told me she hoped they would offer dancing lessons. Well, now she is in her permanent home - and I'll bet she's dancing!

A Blessed Resurrection Sunday to You All

A New Appreciation For Water

Recently our son was replacing the water pipes to our house and had to turn off our water for 24 hours. I had some jugs filled with water and tea, some hand sanitizer, and I was prepared. Or so I thought. But as it turns out, I had no idea I used so much water during the course of one day! I had some water for drinking. But even if I wanted to make more tea, or powdered milk, or lemonade, I needed water. I had prepared a way to cleanse my hands, but when I went to prepare lunch, I couldn't rinse the strawberries or the celery. Preparing dinner was going to be interesting also. No boiling of anything! Of course I couldn't wash dishes, or do laundry. I couldn't wash the car, either, or water the garden. I couldn't even really work too hard in the garden, because I would get very sweaty and dirty and want a shower. Exercising could get pretty sweaty, too, come to think of it! As each hour in the day passed, I seemed to think of a new use for the water I didn't have. When my husband got home and took me to Wal-Mart to buy some jugs of water to flush the toilet with, I couldn't help thinking of the many other countries where water isn't so easily obtained, let alone clean and safe. I've been surrounded by abundant water all my life, to swim in, bathe in, drink and enjoy in any way I wanted. But after this experience, I won't soon take it for granted again.

Prince Charming 30 Years Later

In the years when we were raising and homeschooling the children, I use to secretly think that being at home when I was sick, surrounded by all the work I should have been doing and the children that still needed tending, was a bit like my husband going in to work, setting up a cot by his desk, and trying to recover. Instead, when he was sick, he could stay home, lounge around watching t.v, and concentrate on getting better; sick pay would take care of the expenses, and his normal work was at least "out of sight, out of mind." Even though my husband and even my children helped out as much as they could, I still sometimes felt just a little bit envious.

Recently, however, my husband and I each took a turn at the flu, and I discovered a new perspective on the whole thing. When he was home sick, my work load did not increase at all. Actually, it may have gone down. He wasn't hungry, so I didn't have to cook, and for the most part I was free to lounge around with him, just keeping up with the basic tasks. We saw some really excellent movies and had some leisurely conversations. He wasn't the least bit demanding, and since I felt fine, I just enjoyed having him home. Almost like a little mini-vacation.

Then I got sick. I was too miserable to enjoy myself, but other than my miseries, I had no other worries. He, however, now had to go in to work. Coming in after a full day, he fixed me whatever I thought I could choke down, fixed his own dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. My restlessness and coughing made sleeping difficult for him, but the next day he had to get up, fix his own breakfast and pack his own lunch, make sure I was all settled for the day, and head off to work again. On the weekend, he did the shopping. All of this he did, and more. He thought of so many little things to comfort and cheer me, and he treated me with such kindness and compassion, even when I know he was exhausted.

He took such wonderful care of me that I have now recovered. Things are back to normal, which means I take care of him, he takes care of me and both of us feel well-cared for. But I just want to say Thank You, Honey. This past week when I could only gratefully and wretchedly take without giving much back, you showed me once again that you are my Prince Charming who makes living Happily Ever After a reality!

Gardening in Florida

Ruminate Beyond the Parameters

Isn't it ironic that "think outside the box" is now a cliche? It's so easy to get doing the same things, looking at things the same ways, that even our terms to warn against it become a part of it. Now, there is nothing wrong with the tried and true. Sometimes you need to hang in there, go with the flow. You can't always be reinventing the wheel. But have you ever stopped and thought about how many invaluable inventions started out as something else? In a wonderful little book by Don Wulffson called "The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle," I found story after story of things we all use every day that were basically invented because the person who came up with them was at a dead end with their original idea. Instead of beating their head against the brick wall, they looked for a window, and ended up giving us all things we now can't live without. For instance, did you know that cellophane was originally meant to be a stain-proof tablecloth? Of course, it was too flimsy for a tablecloth - but perfect as a food wrap. The flashlight began life as a novelty item called an electric flowerpot. No one liked them and the inventor had a bunch of unusuable stock. So he removed the center cardboard tube consisting of a battery at one end and a light at the other, and began selling the "Portable Electric Light." Yes, he got rich. And there's the indispensable, common paper cup. An inventor actually came up with a vending machine that dispensed a cup of chilled water for a penny a cupful. No one was interested in paying for water (the poor guy was ahead of his time!), but people were interested in staying healthy, and everyone drinking from a common dipper was not a good way to do that. Soon the inventor met a rich man willing to invest, not in the water vending machine, but in the cups! There are many other examples that teach us not to give up too easily. So the next time life hands you lemons, what are you going to do? How about making invisible ink? Cleaning your garbage disposal? Making lemon merengue pie? Lightening your hair? After all, not everyone likes lemonade!