The hoots of life...

June 21st, 2009

The first day of summer has dawned cloudy with thunder in the distance. Actually, the last one was a little more than in the distance. :-) Last night I fell asleep to it. The storm moved to the south of the house where the lightening was clearly visible from the windows on that side of our room. It obviously hasn't moved since then or it's cousin moved in on it's heels.

And now it rains.

It rained almost all day yesterday... it's wet around here. As it always is when it rains, the mosquitoes were pretty thick in our room when we went to bed. I was just relaxing when Ellie said, “Do you hear that mosquito?” Even though I grumbled, I turned on the lamp and she smashed it. “Hm,” she said, “It was full. Now there's blood smeared on the wall.” What's new? ;-)

And a little later, I was just about drifting off to dreamland when I heard a high whine buzzing around my head. I jumped up and snapped on the light. Tried to smash it but missed. It went upstairs to Ellie but she never saw it. I left the lamp on for a few minutes, hoping for a second chance (“come on, Mrs. Mosquito... come die! I'll make sure it's painless...”) (it's pretty bad when you start talking to mosquitoes). But the second chance never happened and I woke up this morning to a hand that has an itch and a bump. :-P Oh well. :-) There are a lot less mosquitoes in our room than there are outside!

Life has been keeping me extra busy, it seems. I sewed a couple dresses for Cilla and Ruth the past few days. It's so nice to get them done before we leave on the trip. Mom also made a dress for Ruth... it's absolutely gorgeous. Cute pattern... kind of an A-line skirt that's very full. It fits beautifully.

Hannah and I have worked with the flowers, lately too. Thankfully, they are all planted and ready to flourish in the summer season. There is a local lady who has greenhouses and sells many plants. It's late in the season so she is about ¾ of the way sold out (believe me, until she told us that, we thought she hadn't sold hardly anything... that lady has a tremendous amount of plants in those greenhouses!). Anyway, we bought some pansies and some other plants from her to plant around the place. There are some annual flower beds that were nearly empty. Nice to see them filled up at last. :-)

Ellie and I recently read a story out loud to the family (actually, Jesse and Mom were our main listeners :-)). Does anyone else out there enjoy reading out loud? When it's a fast paced story, I really enjoy it. :-)

Last night, I was sitting in our room, getting ready to type a letter to a friend when I spotted an owl landing on a post in the garden. I rushed for the camera and managed to get several pictures of him. I kept walking slowly closer until I was about 30 ft away and got some good closeups. It was great fun. It isn't every day that I get to take an owl's photograph. :-)

We're planning on leaving in about a week so we're trying to get everything done before we hit the road. Mom has a list made up of things she thinks should be done and there are some things that are getting crossed off already. :-)

Life is short. In reality, we haven't much time. Even if we live to be 100 years old or more, we still don't have time to waste. And while I say that, I can see a person reading this and thinking of 'wasted time' as pleasurable time. Not so. :-) Yes, there are things in life that aren't pleasurable that need to get done. :-) But not all of life needs to be duty and pain. They say the secret to life is not to seek things you enjoy but to enjoy the things you have to do. That sounds cliché but it's true.

There's also another side: something I have seen lately is how people fill their lives so full of work and duty and 'good' things that they aren't enjoying themselves at all. They could be enjoying themselves. They don't have to do all they are doing. To me, that sort of a life is a wasted life.

What brought these thoughts on? My Dad's cousin suddenly passed away recently. She was young... in her early 30's at most. She had a husband and two children, ages 8 & 4. I don't think anyone expected her to die. Perhaps she thought of it somewhat, since she had been ill. But even when you're sick and you think death, it doesn't seem real... somewhat remote. No, I don't believe she expected to die.

It was a bit of a shock to me to hear of her death. We never knew each other that well but one of my earliest memories was of her holding me. I think I was about a year and a half old, crying because I had fallen down and hurt myself. She picked me up and told me it was okay.

It's a sobering reminder of how very short life can be.

Please pray for Terri's husband and children. And her parents, my Dad's uncle and aunt. Terri was their only child.

Today, we went went to church in Endeavour. It's not a very big church but almost everyone in the area attends the church, including most of our neighbors. ;-) In fact, our nearest neighbor is the pastor. :-) He's a hoot. You should hear him tell a story! He can turn anything into a knee slapper. :-) But he's shown himself to be a very serious, tender hearted man, as well. He and his wife have three kids and a farm that has almost everything imaginable on it. He wants to get a camel to fit into the menagerie but he hasn't found one yet. :-)

I have been taking quite a few pictures lately but so far I haven't been anywhere with a good internet connection to post any. Hopefully, I'll get a chance before long because the ones I want to post are adding up quickly. :-)

Here's a random question: Can you get addicted to Saltines?