Thankful Thursday

Well, this has been quite the week. Let’s see where my areas of thankfulness are.

·         I’m thankful that my mother-in-law’s funeral went pretty well. She was a big gospel fan, so her sister had picked out a song from her favorite group to be played over the sound system. Frances’ father was a minister named Ernest & part of the lyrics talked about “my earnest prayer.” I had to smile – I guess I’m strange like that.

·         I was thrilled to have some of my family represented at the funeral – three aunts, daddy & Amy, and a cousin.

·         I’m not always about the food (ok, maybe I am always about the food), but I’m so thankful to whoever made the chicken & dumplings for the meal after the service. And that chocolate cake with the Hershey bars.

·         Dr. M & I really enjoyed the Daddy & Amy B&B – the beds are comfy, there’s free wifi, and the food is great!

·         On our way home yesterday we took a detour to Roan Mountain. Love those blowsy, fluffy, over the top rhododendrons!

So, what are you thankful for today?

A Different Kind of Music

Endeavor, Lino Tagliapietra, Columbus Museum of Art

A Different Kind of Music

I was listening to the Sultans of Swing
bopping my head to the beat of the music
(mostly to the beat anyway).
They were deep in conversation,
ignoring the fairly excellent
musical stylings of the Dire Straits.
Their eyes were intent on each flying finger.
I wanted to eavesdrop, but all I heard
were explosions of color flung from
their silent finger ballet.
We so easily sling verbal arrows at one another.
And I’m sure they could have been shouting
at each other with those fingers,
but from my table?
It was all a rainbow.

Daddy's wife Amy (which makes her my step-mother & the only mother I have now unless you count various mother-aunts) got her master's degree after her children were grown and then taught at the NC School for the Deaf for many years before she retired. We were out eating pizza when she & Daddy saw a couple of folks signing to each other. I wasn't rude & didn't turn aroud to look, but I could imagine the scene... Then Daddy started singing along with the Dire Straits & that distracted me. Wouldn't it distract you too?
 
This is a Magpie Tale and a One Shot Wednesday. Please go to those sites to read other offerings.

Grace Filled Jam

Brian Miller is stirring the jam this week & has instructed us to write a poem based on our favorite song. I like music, but often sit in silence rather than listen to it. And in my car I listen to books (music just makes me want to ram people with my car). So in thinking about what song to consider for the poetry jam I kept thinking about Amazing Grace since church music is one pretty consistent thing in my life. But I decided to wait to see what kind of music they had at my mother-in-law’s funeral first. Of course one of the hymns we sang was Amazing Grace. Did you expect anything else?

Grace

What is grace
but the thing that
makes a family?
Your father’s eyes
fill and overspill
as he gazes upon his love,
that final caress
of eyes and heart.
And I witness this
moment because
my blind eyes
were opened
that long ago night
and I accepted the
gift of unmistakable
miraculous grace -
the gift of you.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers …Philemon 1:4

Go check out the other jammers here - I think it should be pretty interesting this week!

2011 Project 365 – Week Twenty-Six

Thanks to everyone for your condolences. We’ve been doing pretty well, considering. This week is all about flowers – as you might imagine since it’s June & we’ve spent part of the week in North Carolina.

Sunday, June 19^th

We got Father’s Day carnations at church today. I was glad to think of my father while I carried it around (um, not that I stopped thinking about him when I sat it down. Although of course I don’t think about him all the time. I’m shutting up now.)

The daisies are blooming pretty well now. They make me smile.

Monday, June 20^th

We still think it’s hilarious that we have a red-wing blackbird that visits our yard.

And the woodpecker feeder attracts more than just woodpeckers.

 

The Tax Time Pig is honoring fathers this week.

These flowers are at the Tax Time Pig’s house – gorgeous!

Tuesday, June 21^st   

Dr. M has been laughing at this sign that went up shortly after our really bad hailstorm in May. Clever marketing, I think.

He passes this yard every now & then. It’s like that old poem, “back to back they faced each other, drew their swords & shot one another!” Or is that just me?

Lovely!

Wednesday, June 22^nd

The weekly squirrel was kind of keeping it on the down low this week.

Dr. M took this picture on his way to class. Love the yellow.

Campus deer.

Thursday, June 23^rd     

Wednesday evening Dr. M received the call we’d been expecting that his mother had passed away. Thursday morning when I went out to my car I saw that one of our lilies had finally bloomed. It was such a sign of hope & life that it brought both of us to tears. And like the proud parents we are, we each took a ton of pictures of it.

The next morning this guy had bloomed too, but since it was 5:30 in the morning we didn’t get a picture.

Daisy explosion!

Here is the State of the Bug – frazzled from trying on 5 different dresses to wear to the funeral.

Friday, June 24^th

We made it to NC in time to go to the family viewing at the funeral home. There were some, um, interesting, family moments, but it was good to be with all of them for the most part. When we got back to my dad’s house I wandered around the yard taking pictures (yes, this is what I usually do down here).

Saturday, June 11^th

The funeral was in the morning, and although we weren’t sure it would, everything went smoothly. The service was nice, with just a hint of honky tonk gospel (Dr. M’s mom was a southern gospel groupie). I think that Dr. M enjoyed talking to people he hadn’t seen in years. And we laid his mother to rest in the same cemetery that holds her parents. When we got home Dr. M was reminded that life just continues on no matter what. I’m glad I’m not trying to feed these guys!

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants.

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful for the life of Frances, my mother-in-law who flew away today. She had her flaws (lord help the green bean that ended up on her stove), but she gave me the gift of her son. She never resented me & seemed thrilled that I was in Dr. M’s life. We got along really well.

I’ll miss her country style ham and pies. I’ll miss the “grab bag” of the spare bedroom home shopping network loot (you never knew what you might get for Christmas). I’ll miss her and Dr. M’s dad arguing like the old married couple they were. And I’ll just miss her.

Goodbye Frances – thanks for being a wonderful mother-in-law!

For our families: Dr. M & I will be travelling to NC early Friday morning. 

Claris

On Sunday I interviewed Claris -
a small woman I wave to in church.
I asked: where did you live?
And: how did you come to be here?
She has over 70 years of wisdom
and in her answers I fell into
another world, another path
to this place we now share.
Every picture tells a story.
Let’s listen before the picture
is all that we have left.

This is a Magpie Tale.

Monday Miscellany

I'm writing this on Sunday because my boss is back after two weeks on vacation & I imagine that I will be expected to work tomorrow. Not to mention look at vacation photos (he went to the Grand Canyon & is a pretty good photographer so I won't be suffering too much). Anyway, Dr. M & I took a journey to Chili's & one of the local Meijers stores today & there was a whole world of miscellany in just that one trip!

Example #1: Before we even got out of the car at the restaurant, Dr. M's phone signaled a text: "Happy baby daddy's day LOL." Is there something I need to know? Hmm? He often gets random strange texts from unknown persons - at least this is his story & he's sticking to it.

Example #2: Everyone in the Meijer's was just roaming around ceaselessly in a daze. None of us could find anything & we were all looking up toward the aisle signs hanging from the ceiling. Why wasn't the kleenex with the other paper products? Where did they keep bathroom scales? Where are the granola bars? After I passed one lady twice I asked her if she thought she was in an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Example #3: Look what I bought! A year's worth of dusting in one box! You think I'm kidding, don't you?

Example #4: Dr. M brought this lamp to our marriage.

In fact, he believes he's had it since 1979. It's been on all my desks for probably the last 15 years or so. And, finally, we decided it was time to get a new one. We decided to just throw caution to the wind & get something completely different:

Well, the shade part is different anyway. Heh.

On a more somber note, Dr. M got a call last night saying that he should plan to go visit his mother pretty soon. His family thinks that she is in her final decline. We're still not sure of the time frame, but he's going to get down there sometime next week. I wrote a poem about this waiting in tension earlier this month (here).

Happy Father's Day!

I hope all you fathers out there have a great day! Moms too! And people who are not parents! Heck, everyone should have a great day - I insist!

Specifically, however, I hope that this particular father gets to spend a lot of time doing this:

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

2011 Project 365 – Week Twenty-Five

One of the political blogs I read has a “who won the week” feature. I think that this week it’s safe to say that woodpeckers won the week. Squirrel fail! Sort of. Note: to see more squirrel & woodpecker goofiness, check out Dr. M’s blog post here.

Sunday, June 12^th

Not content to find one covered bridge (see it on last Saturday’s post) we meandered around today looking for two more. First, we found this. No, those are not hay rolls.

Then, success!

 

Monday, June 13^th

Dr. M took this really cool cardinal picture. They are so elusive! If you even think about picking up the camera they’re outta here.

The squirrel of the week. He really did try his best.

After not being very satisfied with his efforts he tried to gnaw the thing loose so he could attack it in private.

Obviously he did not succeed. Here’s a downy woodpecker enjoying a treat.

Tuesday, June 14^th  

Dr. M took a meander on his way to school and found this humble burro giving him the stink eye.

Blue heron!

Wednesday, June 15^th

A new woodpecker – a red bellied woodpecker.

Thursday, June 16^th     

It was foggy on my way to work on Thursday…

Our wildflowers seem to be doing pretty well.

Here is our cypress vine. Note how cute and innocent it looks.

This is the cypress vine from last August. It was the vine that ate our garage door!

Friday, June 17^th

This is the State of the Bug. It’s a Fail – I was trying to get a picture of my new highlights. I should probably have gotten out of the car. {Lisa - note the first of my scars from getting stitches - under my left eye. This was from trying to carry my little red rocking chair up to my grandmother's porch. Bare feet. Gravel drive. Lack of fine motor skills. Rocking chair runner to the eye. Ouch! I was probably around 3.}

Dr. M took some pictures of our garden – we have zucchini, peppers & tomatoes this year.

Woodpecker enjoying a treat.

The squirrel, sulking.

Saturday, June 18^th

Two more sort of fails on the highlighting. The first one is with the flash. The second one is without. You decide what color my hair is!

I decided to take a few pictures of our daisies. I do believe we’re going to have a daisy explosion here directly!

Go to Sara’s blog here to see the blogs of all the other Project 365 participants.