It would seem obvious what Trinity wants to celebrate her 2011Christmas.  

30 Days of Thankfulness

(I began this list on Thanksgiving and want to share it with you)

Day 1:  I am thankful for my long and healthy life.  Sometimes I feel as if I’ve lived through many different lifetimes….when I was in elementary school 1950-1960; my high school years 1960-1963; going to college at CSC in Greeley, Colorado and UT in Austin Texas and then USL in Lafayette, Louisiana (1963-1966); my first marriage, being a new mom with a tiny daughter, traveling overseas going back to college (1966-1975); living on country acreage outside St. Martinville, Louisiana and  watching my daughter grow, writing stories for the newspaper, driving a tractor, farming pecan trees (1975-1982); leaving Louisiana, marrying my 2^nd husband, the birth of my son, buying a house in La Porte Texas, teaching school then owning my own business (1982-2007); and retirement in Arkansas.  Throughout all these ‘lifetimes’ I was never sick or in the hospital (except when I got my tonsils out or when my babies were born), always healthy and always throughout this long and healthy life there was, every Thanksgiving many things that I was Thankful for.

Day 2-I am thankful for home.  In my many years I have lived many places, some rented, some owned, some apartments, some houses.  Today I live in a house, owned, with 2 acres of yard, nestled in the trees (that hold deer and owls and rabbits, box turtles, mice, raccoons, possums and armadillos--a list of the wildlife I have actually seen) with my closest neighbor a church that is mostly quiet except on Sunday and sometimes Wednesday night, centered within 20 miles of 3 different super Walmart stores, 3 different towns, where I am able to find almost anything I could ever need, a whole state away from the Gulf coast and hurricanes, with sushi available whenever I have a taste for it and outside we have a garden and a lawn so big we need a tractor to mow it and inside, high speed internet and a computer system wherein most of my friends live.  What more could I ask?  I love my home…my family lives here!

Day 3 – I am thankful for my husband Mike.  He is talented and clever and full of knowledge and a unique ability to figure out the solution to any problem.  I never need complain about Mike not doing any housework.  He was well trained by his mother and by his past wives …that someone has to do the work and sometimes that someone is him.  When something needs to be done, Mike does it.  I could make a long list of things about Mike that I am thankful for…the fact that he always wakes up early and makes the coffee before he wakes me, that he does all the mowing and never tries to get me to do it, his relationship with our son who lives here, the way he drives, the fact that he knows all about plumbing and electricity and has had practice with painting and with making things from wood.  Is it any wonder that I am thankful for my husband Mike?  It almost seems thankful isn’t a big enough word.

Day 4 – I am thankful for my children.  I will always wish that my daughter and my son had a better, fuller life, that they’d been able to travel more widely and meet more people and that they’d been exposed to more ways of doing things and seen more of life….but my best wishes for my daughter and my son are just one more way that I know I am thankful for them both.  I am thankful that my daughter, although she is an adult with a family and friends and problems and joys of her own, stops sometimes and tells her mother that she loves her.  She doesn’t forget me.  I am thankful that my son although he is an adult, helps out with things that need to be done, cooks deliciously, steps in to lend a hand when things are too heavy or too much hard work, occupies himself without looking to me or my husband to keep him from being bored living in the country with no place to go…and he, too stops sometimes to tell his mother that he loves her.

Day 5 – I am thankful for my grandchildren of which I have at least six-the oldest two are both adults and both of them have spouses and both of them have children of their own.  

My oldest granddaughter has a daughter.  I know she is a busy housewife and mother, but she never forgets to tell her grandmother that she loves her.   She makes sure that I am able to see lots and lots of pictures of her daughter (my great granddaughter) and she always makes me welcome when I come to visit her and her family.  I am grateful for my oldest grandson.  He has his troubles and he has been restricted to living at home, unable to travel, with problems working and going to school…but no matter how distant he seems to be from me, when I am able to see him he always throws open his arms to me and I see him go out of his way to make sure I get to see him and visit with him and meet his significant other and his son.  And he, too makes sure I am able to see pictures of his baby boy so that even though I cannot hold or cuddle the little man I can see him grow and get teeth and haircuts and learn to walk.  

I have two granddaughters, children of my step son…and I love them both and am thankful for the two of them.  Those two girls come to visit us in Arkansas and they stay as long as they can and they let me get to know them.  We have fun together and when I am able to go see them in Texas they are both glad to see me.  I am thankful for those two angel babies.  

I have two grandchildren, a son and a daughter of my step daughter…and I love them both.  The boy is older, just now in high school but no matter that the two of us might seem far apart he always comes to see.  When I am there to visit and he always has a hug for me and he is never bothered by me and takes his time to show me who he is and what he is up to.  The girl is the youngest of my grandchildren only now getting ready to start school.  She is a doll of a baby and I have gotten a new lease on life watching her grow up and get teeth and learn to walk and to talk…and now she is a chatterbox who always seems to know just who I am and have plenty of hugs and kisses and chatter that she saved just for me. 

I am thankful for all my grandchildren (including two children of my foster daughter, the nephew and the niece of my two step children,  neither of whom I know well, but the boy is cheerful and sweet and smart and when I see him he tends to treat me as if I surely belong to him…and the girl…I really have never seen much of the girl since I saw her once when she was newborn, but I will always know who she is and what makes her my granddaughter).  And because I have grandchildren who have children of their own, I have two great grandchildren, a boy and a girl …and I give thanks for them, too.

Day 6:  I am thankful for family and friends.  I am from a large family.  And many of those in my family I count as friends.  By the same token, I have friends who are so close that I consider them family.  It is a comfort to me to think about each one and to hold onto the memories that make us close.  Some people I meet and immediately feel as if I have known them all my life.  Others I have known all my life and never cease to be amazed at how our friendship seems to be always wonderful and new.  My life would not be the same without the family and friends that are a blessing to me.

Day 7:  I am thankful for the love in my life.  When I forget to count my blessings, somehow the love rushes in to fill that void and make me realize how much I am loved.  I love that!   And for that I give thanks!

Day 8:  I am thankful for my memories.  My lives have all been good ones and I am happy to think about each one of them and to see and touch all the goodness over and over again.  Maybe all my memories are not good ones, but from even those bad ones I am able to wrest something that makes me thankful.  The memories I hold of my family who has gone before me are precious because I cannot make any newer ones.  I am thankful that I can look back and relive those precious moments through my memories.

Day 9:  I am thankful that I am happily retired.  Now I can do a few of the things I always meant to do and never did.  Now that I don’t need to wake up at a certain time, I find I enjoy mornings.  My days are not filled with pressure or stress to do it, so I find it a pleasure just to walk down to the mailbox every day.  At night there is no worry to keep me awake so sleeping is just that, sleep, nothing more.

Day 10:  I am thankful for my parents.  My Mom is now deceased and my Dad is 92 years old.  I have always had the best parents of anyone anywhere.  My Dad always worked hard and took care of us, bringing home his paycheck and his lessons that have kept me from having to learn everything ‘the hard way.’  My mother always worked at home taking care of us and teaching me how to take care of housework and homework and all of it with a smile and a hug...and a laugh.  Together they made my life fun!

Day 11:  I am thankful for my siblings.  I had but one sister who is now deceased, but I am still thankful for the two of us growing up together.  I am thankful that she and I were able to live close to one another much of our adult lives so that I was able to know her and her family and friends.  I have four brothers, one older by 3 years and one younger by 3 years and one younger by 10 years and one younger by 20 years.  I am thankful to have been able to grow up with them, to know them as babies, to have had the advantage of their wise advice and learned knowledge.  It is such a blessing to think of each one of them and to be aware of what each one has given to me. 

Day 12:  I am thankful for my sisters in law.  Each one of my brothers has found and married a wife that is perfect for him and I am thankful for each of those sisters in law.  I could say that I am thankful that they have kept my brothers from bugging me, but I’d be joking because I truly wish I was able to see more of my brothers and would never be bugged.  I would insist though that each brother bring his wife because I want to see the wives just as much as I want to see the brothers and the two of them together will be perfect!  This year one of my brothers has agreed to host the family reunion of my maternal Grandfather…and he has asked each of his siblings to lend a hand.  I am really looking forward to the opportunity to be able to be around my sisters in law more often and more closely than I have been before.  Those gals, each one have the most wonderful children, too and have given me the best nephews, the nicest nieces in the world!

Day 13:  I am thankful that our family takes the time to hold a reunion every year.  I think the first official one was in 1979, over 30 years ago…and before that, I remember family get togethers at Thanksgiving and at Christmas and when my grandparents celebrated their 40^th and 50^th wedding anniversaries.  Over the years our family has grown unbelievably, and I am so lucky to be able to know my cousins and to know their children and their grandchildren.  My life is richer and fuller because I was able to visit everyone and to get to know them all at the family reunions.  My family tree is not one written on paper, it is a living, hugging, laughing, game playing bunch of people that I am thankful to know because we have had our reunions

Day 14 – I am thankful for modern technology that lets me communicate…my computer, the internet, facebook, my blog, my pages of pictures.  These things let me share with family and friends without actually traveling to where they are.  My digital camera lets me take pictures and put them up online almost immediately.  IMing allows me to talk (type) to anyone, anywhere.  My Yahoo voice lets me stay connected to my father’s computer so that I can talk to him every day, stay connected for hours on end and talk whenever we want to talk.  I’m thankful to have been there watching as the computer grew from a calculator to a game machine into a computer system…that after awhile had memory and then a hard drive and a faster and faster cpu and finally the internet.  Now I can share through my computer with anyone I want to…and the printer and copier and fax and voip telephone are all taken for granted, just a part of my wonderful life. 

Day 15 –  I am thankful for email.  I’ve always been able to use the mail.  I will always be thankful  for the pony express of history and our growing USPS that has made me able to stay in touch.  And now I am thankful to be able to stay in touch via email!!  My postal mail seems to be in trouble now, as if it has outlived its usefulness and that saddens me.  Without the postal service, we would not have boxes that give an address so we can collect our mail. There would be no working laws that make it a federal offense to read someone else’s mail or steal from the mail or the mailbox.  Postal workers are trained to keep privacy, give true certification, validate deliveries, and deliver the mail without fail.  What will we do without our postal service workers, especially the ones who deliver our mail honestly and efficiently.  (RIP Uncle Carl!) Lately all I get is ‘junk’ mail, but I go collect it every day and I am able to do so thanks to my mail deliverer.  

(I got a brilliant idea one day…when I get junk mail that contains a business reply/no postage necessary return envelope, I simply replace the ‘junk’ into the return envelope, mark it “not interested in your offer” and sometimes “please remove my name from your mailing list” and return the envelope to whoever sent it to me.  I don’t think that one person doing it will have much effect, but can you imagine everyone everywhere doing it?   That would keep the postal service in business and not needing to close down so many locations and it would make the corporations have to pay the bill.) 

For important things (or silly junk) that help me stay in touch every day, I’m thankful for email! 

Day 16 - I am thankful for imagination.  My imagination has taken me everywhere, to the places I’ve been before, to places I will never visit, allowing me to meet people and have a dream to follow all of my life.  I am thankful not just for my own imagination, but for other people’s imagination as well.  Without someone else’s imagination I would not be able to see the pictures they paint or to read the books they write.  My life might seem dull or boring or humdrum, and without imagination it might just be that, but with imagination my life flows and sparks with excitement and thrills with fun and danger.  Imagination, mine and anyone else’s fills my life and makes it well worth the living, no matter what it might seem to an onlooker!

Day 17 -  I am thankful for those who have gone before me.  I miss them sorely, but cherish the time that my people were there with me.  My sister died in 1993.  She was not yet 50.  The cause was listed as a systemic heart disease…meaning her heart was injured over time and gave out.  She wasn’t able to get help and slipped away kneeling beside her bed as if praying.  I will never forget our childhood together, laughing, fighting, colluding, disagreeing and loving one another through it all.  I am thankful that she and I were able to live close to one another much of our adult lives so that I was able to know her and her family and friends.  My sister had lots of trouble dealing with all the changes and scarey surprises that went on in her life.  Toward the end of it, she joined a Mormon church and she explained to me that her inner belief had always coincided with the Mormon belief in service to one’s fellow man.  She said that finally she was able to see how she could manage, looking for help from others when she needed and always giving back in every way that she could.  I watched her find a love for her life and a joy in being able to make contributions to the lives of others and making it her life’s goal to take care of herself and be strong in order to care for someone who needed help more than she did.  I didn’t’ realize it until she was gone, but by learning to do the things preparing her own life to be better she was in reality making herself ready for death.  I know she is in a better place.  One of the odd things about my sister was that she was always cold and she wore a coat even in the summertime.  When she came to visit me I had to tell her to leave my thermostat alone then bring her sweaters and blankets to make both of us comfortable.  My immediate thought when I heard she had died was “she is warm now!” 

My husband’s step father, my father in law died in 1996..  Everyone called him Gadget.  I will never forget him or cease to be grateful for having met him and lived close to him.  I count him among my best friends.  My mother in law had asked me to come stay with him for a few days so that she could go to the eye surgeon to have cataracts removed.  Later I learned that eye surgery takes more than just a few days…but at the time, the very day I arrived my father in law came home from the hospital where he’d gotten medical therapy for prostrate cancer.  He was sicker than I had ever seen him before and I called my husband that night and told him that as soon as he was able he should come because I didn’t know if my father in law was going to get better or die.  I didn’t’ mean to be right about him dying…he lasted 3 weeks after that and tried hard but in the end his breathing slowed and finally stopped.  I will treasure his sharing his last days with me forever. He was my mentor.  I learned little things and big things from him.  In particular I learned a personal religion, I learned patriotism, I learned how to fire a gun and fix a fishing pole and use a paintbrush and hammer a nail.  I Iearned what is important in life and what is not and how to tell the difference.  Odd that I was able to talk heartfelt to someone so different than me, but wonderful!  I am thankful.  

My mother died in 2005, not so long ago.  My mother will be precious to me always.  I do remember being a bit of a sassy brat during my teenage years and can still hear her threaten to ‘call me a dirty pig’ or shame me into knowing that it was easier for her to do something herself than have to argue me into doing it..  During those very same teenage years, looking back, I realize that my mother taught each of her kids how to fend for themselves without us realizing it.  When it came to kp duty I had one thing that I was responsible to complete, be it setting the table, making the salad, washing the dishes or cleaning the kitchen.  When I was on my own, it was almost as if I ‘knew’ stuff without ever having had to learn it…until I looked back and understood my mother had taught me, one thing at a time until I knew it all.  Even now when I look I see in myself and in all my mother’s children the legacy she nurtured her whole life.  I feel her love for education and learning, her appreciation for scenery and seasons, her willingness to make bread from scratch or plant a garden or take a class just to broaden her life experience.  My mother’s belief in Jesus was the most amazing thing about her.  I will never forget when she told me that she had been born again and I realized that she was not telling me that in order to convert me…she was telling me out of a joy that she had found and wanted to share with me.  My mother always loved me.  Late in her life she had a stroke and it was very difficult for her to learn how to walk and talk and read and write all over again.   She worked hard, trying to accomplish it…but spent her final days in a nursing home because she needed therapy every day so she could learn to take care of herself.  I quickly learned that people in a nursing home are neglected and left to be lonesome.  But not my mother!  Her big family came often to see her!  My dad never missed visiting her for more than a day. One niece of mine went almost every day and brought her kids and never missed a Sunday going to church with my mom, her grandmother.  My mother played bingo and sang in the choir and never missed Wheel of Fortune on TV.  But when I went to visit her she would sit by me and hold my hand and I would know she always loved me.  The last time I saw my mother, she wanted me to come to her room and when we got there…she told me to open a drawer and inside it was full of sweet treats and candy bars where she’d spent her ‘bingo token winnings’ at the nursing home store  open on Friday.  I laughed and told my mom, “I don’t eat sweets” and she just told me to close that drawer and open the bottom one.  It was full of chips.  

I can list others who were a part of my life and who died…Homer who was my daughter’s grandfather, my first husband and his mother.  My Grandpa Nagel and my Grandma Nagel wait for me in heaven.  Grandma Mary, Grandma Maude were part of my growing up.  And, as well were my Uncle Tex and Aunt Denny and Uncle Narb and my Aunt Georgene.  I will always remember my young friend that everyone called Little Joe, also Daniel who was my Boy Scout helper when I was a den leader, and Big Dave who started out as a business acquaintance and grew into a friend also Susie’s husband Eurice James whom everyone called Tiny.  I must mention Uncle Eilert, Uncle Ralph, Uncle Wilmer, Uncle Herb, Aunt Leila, Aunt Verna, Aunt Helen, actually two Aunt Helens have gone now…and Aunt Virginia and my Great Aunt Ruth, all of them gone, but always remembered as a part of my childhood, my growing up, my life.  I will remember Uncle Bob and Uncle Earl and Uncle Lefty and Aunt Mert and Aunt Aileen.  I am thankful to have known each and every one of them.  Each one has had meaning in my life giving much to me and teaching things to me that I will forever be thankful for.

Day 18 – I am thankful for working outside on sunny days…like today.  It was cold last night and the night before and I know that winter is here, because the leaves that were a wall of color, reds and yellows and browns last week are gone leaving mostly bare branches reaching for the sky.  Today, though, dawned bright and sunny and it feels so good to go outside and feel the chill while my husband and I clean the yard of the debris of the leaves and the vines that took over the trees in the summer months.  We built a fire and the smoke smells good, reminding me of days when we buried foil wrapped potatoes and other surprises in our outdoor fires and let them cook while we as children worked outside.  It feels good just to breathe the air and soak up the sunshine.  I read today that sunshine is full of Vitamin D.  For the Vitamin D and for the way it makes me feel, I am thankful for the sunshine.

Day 19 – I am thankful for having lived in Louisiana.  I’ve lived in most of the states because my father, who was a pipeliner and still is, moved from place to place all during my childhood.  When I was a third grader we moved to Mansfield, Louisiana where the pipeline warehouse was located.  I was  amazed  with the differences between that place and every other place I had lived before  and will always remember playing different games on the playground.  Where I used to play ‘red rover’ and London Bridges in Louisiana we played ‘pickin up paw-paws’.  There were different songs in music class and different things we memorized and different stories I’d never heard before although they were traditional there.  Everyone spoke with a different accent and thought my ‘yankee’ accent (though it came from Kansas, and was not very Yankee) was cute.  Even the food was different.  I remember one time in the lunch room they served what looked like spinach, and I loved spinach, and me not eating sweets, traded my dessert for everyone else around me’s spinach.  Turned out it was mustard greens, tangy and sharp and I went to an old fashioned school where they told me I needed to clean up my plate when I ate!  I went home and told my mom they were trying to kill me.  But I’ll never forget the food I loved, so different, the biscuits made with buttermilk, the chicken fried steak that melted in your mouth, grits for breakfast, and rice and gravy!  Delicious.  I always wanted to go back to see if it was like I remembered  and when I was nineteen I was able to go to Lafayette with my older brother and go to school at USL.  I loved it there, the accents, the joie d’viere, the music and dancing, mardi gras, everything was different, especially the food.  I lived there for nearly 15 years and grabbed the chance to learn to make a roux and smother steak and peel crawfish and shrimp.  I miss the crawfish every Christmas.  I miss boudin for breakfast and the stuffed shrimp and crab for dinner.  Mostly I miss the gumbo.  Do you eat okra in your gumbo?  I do!  And I will always be thankful that I lived one of my lives in Louisiana where I learned how to eat and how to love life and to enjoy the living of it.  Now I celebrate mardi gras listen to music I find pleasing, smile before anyone else has a chance to smile first and I sing loud and dance as if nobody is watching.

Day 20 – I am thankful for my work experience, although now that I am retired and may never use it again, every job I ever had was an experience.  I’ve worked for an insurance company and 2 lawyers,  one in a private practice and another who was the District Attorney.  I was the photographer and reporter for a weekly newspaper and during the time I was there, the circulation increased from 24 to 32 pages and some of the photographs I took belonged on the front page!  I worked as a teacher, a librarian, a school nurse, an office assistant and was in charge of detention while I was a substitute teacher.  The best ‘job’ ever was owning my own business-a computer supply and repair store.  I loved working with the public most of all!  My real job was keeping books and filing for licenses and permits, purchasing and taxes.  Sales is what I loved most, waiting on customers.  And now I am retired from work and have a garden and a deep freeze and I am thankful for that work experience, too!

Day 21 – I am thankful for coffee.  I’m thankful that I put cream in my coffee.  I didn’t always drink coffee, but when I came to Louisiana in 1964, the people made it seem as if I was missing out on something by not drinking coffee.  So I tried it.  The “French” homes I visited had a roasting pan full of water boiling on the back burner of the stove and a little Cajun drip pot sitting in it.  When I’d come, they’d all gather around the table and the hostess would put coffee grounds into the pot and some of the boiling water, pour demitasse cups half full from the coffee pot and we’d all drink a cup of coffee.  My French friends would use sugar, and lots of it, filling their little spoons with sugar and dumping it into the little cup until the coffee almost reached the top.  If they used milk, it was invariably canned milk and only a drop.  I tried drinking mine black, but the coffee was so strong I could barely down the couple of swallows in the cup.  I’d pour milk into my cup until it was filled.  That was easier for me to swallow, but the Cajun French people teased me and called what I drank ‘coffe milk’…as if to say I put a some coffee into my milk instead of milk into my coffee.  (I never said a word about the amount of sugar they put into their coffee cups.)  My American friends in Louisiana used a brand of coffee called Community.  No other coffee has tasted so good to me!  And when I was overseas in French West Africa, I was really glad I took milk in my coffee!  That is what introduced me to café’o lait.  Nothing better!  And that was what made the tea with cream in it when I Iived in England almost familiar and something I was willing to taste.  Nowadays I wake up to the smell of dripping coffee and drink coffee every morning.  There’s no better way for me to start my day and I start each day being thankful.  Mmmmm.

Day 22 – I am thankful for the ‘universal language’.  No matter where I go or who I encounter, I am able to make someone understand what I am saying and I can understand what they want to say to me.  I remember stopping in Zurich during one arm of my flight overseas to Senegal.  The people at the airport understood English and helped me find a cab to go spend my layover there in a hotel.  At the hotel they also understood English and helped me bill my husband’s company so I didn’t need to pay charges, not even the cost of a babysitter coming to watch over my sleeping six month old baby in my hotel room while I went on an excursion.  I was excited about seeing Switzerland and at the desk they gave me a voucher so that when I needed to spend money I could just put the charges onto the voucher.  The hotel door man told the taxi driver to show me some of the sights and he did.  He didn’t understand English, but he did take me to see some wonderful places and stopped at a department store for me to buy souvenirs that I charged on my voucher and I ate a sandwich at an outdoor care and chaged that too.  When I got back to the hotel, the cab driver wrote on my voucher and I went back to my room with only about an hour to change mine and the baby’s clothes (I had heard that it would be hot in Senegal, but in Zurich it was very cold!) and and return to the airport in a taxi.   At the hotel when the doorman put me into the taxi to the airport, he gave a voucher to the cab driver to sign, so I know the trip was paid for, but at the airport the taxi driver started telling me something in a language that I did not understand.  I told him every way I knew how that I didn’t understand, while I tried to handle checking my luggage in and showing my temporary immigration visa and my passport  and my ticket where I needed to….although everyone seemed to speak English when I arrived, when it was time for me to catch my flight out, I could not find anyone who spoke English.  Finally a girl who was passing by stopped to tell me that what the cab driver was yelling at me about was that I had not paid him and he wanted his money.  I tried to explain about the voucher to the girl, but she just walked away leaving me to deal with the cabdriver without help.  I said as clearly as possible that I had no money and that he had been paid by voucher, but he just kept on yelling at me and standing in my way so I could not go down the hallway to join the other passengers at my gate.  Worried, I said to him that all I had was American money…and would you know it, all of a sudden that man knew how to speak English enough to say “I will accept American money.”  I gave him the last $7 I had…and apparently he could see that was all I had, because he walked away then and let me go on.  I determined right then that I was going to learn, if not to speak to people in their own language, at least to communicate.

Now I can point and make hand signs and use English words that are nearly the same as those in other similar languages to make myself understood.  I have learned to count to ten in French, Spanish,  Norwegian and I can say yes and no and the magic words  please and thank you in several more.  When I am learning a new language I find the word to learn first is the American equivalent of okay.  And when I don’t understand I use the universal word ‘annhhhh?’ 

Day 23 – I am thankful for smiles.  Universally everyone understands a smile.  Smiling has gotten me by in both familiar and unfamiliar surroundings.  Smiling has gained me peace, stopped argument and disarmed the most argumentative combatant.  When I see a new face, I try to be the one who smiles first.  It might not help, but it has never hurt.  I don’t’ always win, but no matter what my opponent smiles back at me. J

Day 24 – I am thankful for the hard times in my life.  It is not easy for me to explain, but if it weren’t for having to make do with only what I had, I would not have learned to be careful and use things wisely.  The hard times in my life have made me a stronger person. I think I heard it expressed best when someone said that the Good Lord never gives you more than you can handle.

Day 25 – I am thankful for tears.  Again it is not easy to explain, but if not for sorrow, joy would be less joyful, happiness less happy.  It does not matter why I cried, there was always an end to the tears and a realization that life goes on.  Tears have washed away my pain. Blissfulness might not go on forever, but neither does sadness.  Tears have helped me to move past whatever it was that made me cry.

Day 26 -  I am thankful for Sundays.  This item actually needs no explanation.   Sunday is always a time to be at ease, a time to listen, a time to pray, a time to dress and wear my hair in whatever fashion makes me feel good about myself.  Sunday is a time to drop worries and stop struggling.  Sunday is a day to rest and recuperate and prepare for the week to come with its next Sunday.

Day 27 -  I am thankful for argument and controversy.  I know that sounds like a mistake, but it’s true.  I like the discussion with someone from on the other side who doesn’t believe the same as I do.  I like to hear the arguments that either convince me to change my view or to hold my belief more strongly.   I think it increases freedoms for all of us.  Not all answers are black and white.  Sometimes there are things for which there is no real answer.  Sometimes there is more than one answer because there are more things than just one facet of a controversy involved.  We don’t live on a flow chart and if-then statements don’t cover the topic.  Controversy has aspects that need to be considered.  I think listening and talking add to my own knowledge and understanding.  I love hearing someone else’s point of view. And I am thankful that we don’t all of us see things exactly alike.

Day 28 – I am thankful for my little town.  It’s just a crossroads really, but on one corner of the cross roads there’s a bank and on another a gas station with a convenience store.  That’s not all, here’s the post office and an independent grocery store (with gas pumps out front, but lately they have stopped selling gas and most of the employees seem to be related to the owner.)  Behind that a car wash and a mechanic’s shop that sells tires and batteries and and a mechanic who does a thorough inspection and gives a valid estimate.  Down the road, the 8 united Bismarck churches have a resale store where local volunteer salespeople share the jobs and split the earnings donated back to the churches.  On that road, there’s a little beauty shop and a fire station and an ambulance office and a Mr. Fixit with a welding shop on the corner.  Across from our cooperative telephone company offices, is a little local golf course.  On that road, Bismarck has apartments, a kennel, more storage rentals and a hardware store and a fruit stand.  Behind the bank, on the other side of the road there’s a flea market, the world’s largest homemade ice cream making machine and a farmer’s market and behind that a hamburger restaurant that purports to sell the best hamburgers available in Arkansas.  (We know better…the best hamburgers in Arkansas we make at our house and not for sale, but we’ll give you one if you come to lunch!)  Behind the convenience store there’s a restaurant, a buffet that sells fried catfish and pizza.  Across the street there’s a dollar store where you can get a little of this and a little of that and some you name it if you need. Further down a Mexican food restaurant  and a Laundromat and a Storage business where you can store things in locked units or leave your boats and motor homes under rented roofs.  Or go down the other direction to another Laundromat…in front of the gas station with the little store and restaurant inside where you can pay your fire station dues, drop quarters into a gaming machine or buy soft serve ice cream with flavors!  We mostly buy the watermelon or the butter pecan.  Back at the crossroads there’s a flower shop and an antique store.  There’s also a book store that sells mostly religious books because it is housed in a church building, but they sell other things like a gift shop…fiction for children with morals and happy endings, bookmarks, book lamps, wrapping paper and ribbons, pillows and decorations, candles and air fresheners and printed tee shirts.  The crossroads lead North to Hot Springs and Garland County, South to Arkadelphia where the land is only 100 feet above sea level, East to Malvern, the seat of Hot Springs County and West is the town of Amity where there are horse ranches along the mountain roads and houses high up overlooking the pastures and some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.  I love my little town of Bismarck and its location over 500 feet above sea level.

Day 29  - I am thankful for hard work that makes you sleep soundly all night and wake up refreshed.  I’m thankful for the aches that make me know I am alive and encourage me to exercise and stretch.  I am thankful for the feelings of accomplishment that hard work brings.  I am thankful for hard work.

Day 30 – I am thankful that this list has reached its end.  I could go on and on and on and never stop listing all the things I am thankful for.  It has been fun for me to stop and think and write about some of the things that are on my mind, that make me praise the Lord.  If my list was any longer than 30 days though, I would not have room on my blog to put  pictures.  Now that I see this 30 days of Thanksgiving is written to its end it feels good to me to have done it and I am thankful.  

After a long hot summer...

Today the temperature started out in the mid 50's and rose to the heat of the day to 83 degrees farenheit. The leaves have not started to change colors yet and are almost all green...but the summer was hot and dry and the leaves turned yellow and brown then in mid August it rained and the green came back. I planted a garden last March. Sonny did the tilling for me and I put in six tomato plants...and they made hundreds of tomatoes. Mike was making Salsa and Pico d' Gallo and putting it on everything he ate in addition to a slice or two of tomato...but then with the heat, the tomatoes, though still making, got smaller and smaller and finally in August turned red about the time that they were about a half inch in diameter. Since the rain, though, the plants seem to have come back, flowered and again I have lots and lots of tomatoes on the vines! I can't wait to see if they come back to the way they were in the spring before the winter weather comes.

Right now outside, it's a cool 78. We left our windows open all night last night, chilly though it was and open again most of the day. The breeze through the back door makes everything smell wonderful. I think the cool weather fresh air bug bit Sonny because he got up early (and I do mean EARLY. My clock said it was before six a.m.) and cooked Mexican breakfast burritos with chili meat, scrambled eggs and cheese for the 3 of us. Delicious. A wonderful way to start this day!! It went perfectly with a cup of coffee.

I talked IM to my dad today. He was gone for a good part of this past summer, traveling across this country with my oldest brother Gary and his wife Judy. Dad flew to Delaware the first week in July. The 3 Maggards together drove to Canada and to Minnesota and to Salina, Kansas in August and back to Trophy Club Texas then down to the Houston area and back up to be at the wedding of Gary's youngest Son in California. Justin and his new wife Valerie said their vows on September 10th and Dad got back home about the fifteenth and Gary and Judy stopped here at our house on the way home last week. Mike and I got to see all the pictures. Justin and Val made a beautiful couple and it was great to see recent pictures of their four other children with their families, especially my new nephews and nieces. What a wonderful trip it must have been. I have loved seeing the pictures!

Justin and Val said their vows on September 10


Later I talked on the phone to my daughter. Eva left me an IM asking me to give her a call because she'd lost her cell phone and needed it to ring so she could find it. When I talked to her she told me that she plans to go to Trophy Club to visit my Dad, maybe leaving for there early tomorrow morning.

Because the temperature was in the hundreds most days this past summer I seem to have stayed inside the house and I have not had much to write about in my blogging. Mostly I when I have been on my computer I have played games or chatted IM with my family, my father, my daughter, my cousin. I love being retired but sometimes for me to write my perspective down for someone else to read becomes boring and tedious. That's not what my blogging is all about. Better to not write down anything at all.

The Cat took over the computer chair.


There were some things going on. I renewed my driver's license and I voted at my local precinct. We paid our personal property taxes. We refinanced our house and changed our homeowners and auto insurance to a new company. I have a friend who is getting a divorce and I testified for her as a character witness. On Saturdays Mike and I have been driving around going to garage sales, looking at the scenery, getting lost then finding our way home again. Always it seems like there is something to get done.

Mike (if you remember he had surgery on his knee last March) has improved and his walking is almost back to normal. It IS back to normal if he is fresh, but when he gets a little tired or he stays on his leg too long he has a slight limp but I don't very often hear him complain about any pain.

The gentleman farmer, Mike is able to drive his tractor and to mow the lawn once again.

I heard from my adopted grandson today. Jason sent me a note to say he is living in Virginia going to an Army school there. And the good news is that his wife Kaili is pregnant. I am not sure about her due date, but he bragged to me that in two weeks he will go with her to find out the sex of the baby. It was really good to hear from him. I wrote to him regularly while he was working in the Army in Iraq but as soon as it was time for him to return to the US my writing lagged until today when I was surprised to see his name on the return address in my email.

And now that it is suppertime I am off to fix hamburgers for the three of us. The burgers we make here at home are so good that we seldom pick up any at the McDonalds or Burger King anymore. Even the burgers from our local cafes are not as good as the ones we make here at home. And since we bought a case of hamburger early last month and have it packaged in our freezer, we are able to eat plenty of burgers. Good thing we love them. Good thing we three think burgers are the perfect food to serve to company when someone comes to visit. Come over. You'll see.

Summertime

INDEPENDENCE DAY
Today begins the long weekend to celebrate the 4th of July. Earlier today when we went into Bismarck things were already starting to look like a holiday. The FFA had a booth set up in the Valero parking lot selling fireworks. The Dollar General had a sale stacked out front with cokes and chips and kites and swim gear. Joe's shaved ice trailer had a long line of folks waiting to get a snow cone and the Valero Crackerbox store was doing a booming business. Every gas pump and nearly every parking space had a car in it.

It looked like lonesome town at the 'Bag a Bargain' store though. Shannon told us yesterday that today would be her last day at that location. She opened a little store in Glenwood and is closing down the Bismarck location. Her grand opening at the new store begins tomorrow...July the 1st. We'll miss seeing her on the few occassions when we'd stop by to grab some flavored coffee or a can of almonds and exchange gossip. Good luck in your new venture, Shannon and your family!

TODAY IS THURSDAY, JUNE 30

Today, June 30 is Jacob Maggard's birthday. He turned 34 today. I've known my nephew since the day he was born. He was named after my father's father, my grandfather Jacob Joseph Maggard. When he was young we called him JJ. All these years foreverafter, I remember his birthday as if he were one of my own children. Jake will always be special to me. The picture above was taken Christmas before last when The Jake Maggard Family stopped by to visit us in Arkansas on the winter vacation trip they took to Missouri to visit his grandmother. Jake has a wonderful wife, Carrie, and two kids, Lauren and Brennan. I hope they enjoyed their visit here and that they'll come back again when they have a chance. We certainly enjoyed having them! Happy Birthday, Jake!

More Summertime Fun!

Mike and I just came in from the swimming pool. It isn't big, but the cool water is a grand way for us to cool off from the summer heat. I find it relaxing and the exercise feels good to me when I get in and paddle around or just use the skimmer to clean out the leaves that blow in. I am procrastinating the cooking of our supper while I write, as if there is some hurry to get it done now!  I have not written here for several weeks.

Our granddaughters came to visit us this summer. On June 4th we drove half way to where they live in La Porte, Texas and their Mom met us so that we could bring the girls back to Arkansas for a visit. Two weeks.  The first few days were easy. Chloe eats Ramen Noodles and would eat them every meal if given that option, so ramen noodles it was. We bought a case of the ramen before she arrived and we taught her how to fix her own bowl of soup boiling the water in the microwave!  For Trinity it was macaroni and cheese from a box. Easy enough. Before she arrived we bought a case of Kraft Cheesy Macaroni. I always fix it for her because she is too young to cook, but it's an easy dish to make, and Trinity is always there looking on, wanting to help, no matter what you are doing. I usually find Trinity right under my feet...

On the first day, the girls were busy checking everything out, deciding which side of the room to sleep on, which drawers to call dibs on and looking to see if the makeup was still in the drawer and if there were clothes in the closet that could be used for dress up. They checked to see if there were shovels and buckets so they could dig in the sand next to the church's parking lot. And they fought over what they'd watch on tv. That last one was easy. Mike settled it by saying that each day one girl would be in charge and if the other wanted to watch tv she'd have to watch what the girl in charge wanted to watch. It was easy the first day...but it wasn't long before the two girls figured out ways to irritate one another over what was on the tv screen, changing the channel to something neither wanted to watch just to irritate the one who was not in charge of the remote that day.

A Walk in the Woods

When we moved into this house, Susan, the lady who owned the place before us had left a pair of black rubber gardening boots. I always would use them when it was rainy and wet or when I wanted to walk thru the woods and liked to think that no rattlesnake would strike me through them. One day several month ago while walking through Walmart in Malvern I saw the rubber boots had been marked down. When I looked, there were two pair left, a red pair of ladies boots in my size and a black pair of men's boots in Mike's size. That had to be a sign from Karma!!! And needless to mention from that minute on I had three pairs of boots.

The second day here the granddaughters wanted to go for a walk in the woods! Simple enough...I found a pair of thick sox for each one of us and the smallest boots went to the smallest girl and I got to wear Mike's boots. Nobody's boots really fit but we were safe from the snakes. Lucky for me, we didn't see any snakes of any kind and it was pleasant in the woods, cool and inviting. The cat came with us and Kayley entertained us all running up a tree and out onto a wobbly branch and never falling. We walked all the way down to the creek...I say the creek, but it has been so dry that the creek could barely be called anything but a ditch. I got a wagon and would have filled it with rocks to fill the holes in our driveway, but we didn't bring a wagon and the rocks were too huge for us to carry. We saw poison ivy and there were hawthorne trees with thorns about two inches long. We had to step through vines that hung from the trees and over the dead fallen carcases of trees that looked like they had been down for a long time. We saw nests but could not decide if they belonged to birds or to squirrels. There was one huge nest down by the creek, in the crook of a tree that was huge. It'd be hard to guess what kind of big bird made that place it's home. When it was time to start back, Kayley the cat led the way and showed us some paths we had not seen when we were going. We were back home unscathed in no time. After that, Chloe and Trinity fought every day over who should wear the red boots even though there was no reason to wear them, but the two pairs of black boots were never worn again.

TIME FLIES WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN

There seem to be lots of things for little girls to do in Arkansas in the summer. Chloe spent much time watching television or playing a game on her cell phone. She has learned how to read music and she found some sheet music in the piano bench and picked out several songs on the piano, nearly memorizing one, she played it so often. She used my computer a lot and for awhile, until she figured out that Mike's system was easier for her to use, whenever I'd get up from my computer desk she would immediately sit down. I know Chloe takes advantage of me when she has a chance, consistently treating my things as if she has a license to them, digging in every drawer and using things she knows I would not say yes to if she asked first, but apparently she knows exactly what she can get away with and that I love her. She consistently blamed Trinity or denied knowing anything about it when I'd ask, "Who did that?" and regularly told on me to Mike. She never admitted to anything that was not true even though the truth was obvious and she never let up on me that I should make myself responsible to provide what she wanted. And she gets away with it, too!

Both girls have a favorite restaurant...the Chinese Buffet. So we ate at one of those in Atlanta on our way back home from picking them up. Never enough for the two of them, again we at at the Chinese Buffet in Hot Springs. I think the girls like being able to choose what and how much they want on their plate, and they both seem to like the ice cream for dessert. Chloe ate two helpings of ice cream. Trinity didn't though because she ate lots of fruit and pudding for dessert before she ate her ice cream. Neither one can pass up sprinkles on their ice cream though.

We went shopping at the Mall afterwards. Even though it was not much fun to watch while they looked at everything there, I walked with Chloe and Trinity while Mike lagged behind nursing his bad leg. I mentioned that there must be lots of great malls in Houston where she lives, but both girls told me the tiny mall in Hot Springs was the best mall in the whole world. Chloe wanted shoes...high heels, spikes. I told her there was just no way. When she went off to tell Mike how thoughtless I am, he mentioned to her that she could maybe have some platforms, high heels, but easier to walk on than spikes and helped her to find the shoes she wanted that would pass her mother's inspection. She ended up with 2 pairs of shoes, one she could wear often, and one she will wear only rarely, but nice shoes, both pairs. She didn't want anyone to help her! She's not a baby, you know! She did put up with Mike looking on--he was the one with the credit card.

I stayed with Trinity. Earlier that day we'd gone to a resale shop in Bismarck and she picked out a dress she  loved. It was her size, and so was a pair of yellow crocs so she got them both. When Chloe got new shoes, Trinity wanted shoes too, but worried that she might spend too much money. I helped her a little to find a well made shoe that looked good too. I told her that if she found a pair that fit but was a little too big she could grow into it and save money by wearing it a long time. I told her to buy some shoes she could wear to school.  I had sturdy leather sports shoes in mind. Shows what I know! In the end, she found 2 pairs of fancy flats, one white pair and one black pair that were adorable on her feet. When we got home she put the white ones (actually I made her put the white ones back and buy the same shoe but in a bone color) away to keep them from getting messed up, but she could not resist wearing the black ones when we were going to go out somewhere even though she had other shoes. And she always kicked whatever shoes she had on her feet off while she walked down the hallway and left them there until I either picked them up or collared her and made her pick them up out of the pathway.

Chloe didn't get far away from eating Ramen noodles regularly, but she did like it when we had hot dogs and hamburgers and french fries and waffles and she worried a lot about her 'diet' and the fact that she weighed the same thing every day when she'd check herself on the scales in the bedroom. Apparently it's a time in her life when she feels 'cool' worrying over her weight. (Maybe next year I'll show her my sphagmometer and she can take her blood pressure every day and worry over that!)

Trinity was absolutely amazed at homemade waffles. She could not believe how simple it was to get those little boxes pressed in the waffle from the waffle iron! Apparently that was something that she'd stopped to think about and had not been able to figure out. She has a varied appetite and loves to think that things we cook are special for her. She went grocery shopping with Mike and 'talked him into' buying some cottage cheese and some mixed fruit--her favorite. Unless you count chili which is 'her favorite' or maybe her 'favorite' is chocolate milk'. I've heard her say it is and I've heard her call blueberry pancakes her favorite too. While Trinity and Mike were in the grocery store, I took Chloe shopping at Stagg and Cato where she tried on several shirts and actually bought one. So when we got home that evening Chloe tried on her new clothes and Trinity ate cottage cheese with her 'Pops'.

Trinity isn't as quiet as Chloe. She wants to go and do all day long. She wanted to take a bath or a shower every day but Chloe wanted to 'skip it' as often as was possible. Trinity wanted to go into the trees every day, but for Chloe, once was enough. Trinity wanted to go outside and pick flowers and put them in a vase. Trinity wanted a net to go catch butterflies in the daytime and fireflies at night. Trinity wanted to help Mike mow on the riding tractor. She wanted to help with the cooking. She wanted to feed the dogs and run and play with them. She wanted to go to church on Wednesday night. She wanted to go along no matter if we were going to go pay the telephone bill or go someplace special...not because she wanted anything. She just wanted to go and do.

Every evening Trinity wanted to take a walk outside before it got too dark. She wanted to check every night to see if the fireflies were out. When she was in the shower a mirror to see what kinds of 'hairdos' she could make with the shampoo in her hair. She wanted to dress up. She wanted to change her clothes several times a day. She wanted to help with the laundry. I got a game of Scrabble for Mother's Day and taught her how to play and after that she asked me over and over if she could play that game. Trinity found a book that I'd tried to read to her last year and wanted me to listen to her read it aloud to me. It's my favorite book (really!)so I listened to her read until she got tired of reading and decided she wanted to color instead. I could go on and on. Sometimes Trinity got whatever she wanted and sometimes all she got was distracted.

One of the things that Trinity wanted to do was pop firecrackers. The last time she was here was on the 4th of July. (Fireworks are not legal where she lives in Houston.) We had a few leftover bottle rockets and sparklers. In the evening after she was sure there were no fireflies and it had started to get dark, she'd ask me to light a bottle rocket. When I did, one of our neighbors somewhere would start popping firecrackers from somewhere on the other side of the woods. How funny that was! And it piqued Trinity's interest to see if whoever it was would do it again the next night. I have to admit it surprised me, but sure enough, the next night was the same...one of our neighbors started popping firecrackers on the other side of the woods! One night Chloe came out to see what was going on, and she liked watching the bottle rockets, too. She watched while I lit some other things too, a little roman candle, a 'bug' that sent sparks all around in a circle, a little pyramid that was full of all kinds of colors, and she was greatly disappointed that there were no sparklers left for her to hold.

On Thursday after the girls had been here visiting for about 5 days our old Dog Gypsy Died. It was a sad day for all of us. Gypsy is almost the same age as Chloe and has always been 'hers'. Trinity loves Gypsy too and always paused to pet her and hug her neck and talk to her. Gypsy always loved both girls. It was sad, her passing, but in the evening we had a little funeral for her to make it easier. We painted her name on a cement tile shaped like Texas and brought it with us down to where the dog was buried. When we had laid the stone each of us said a little prayer for the old mama dog that she would be waiting for us when we get to heaven. Gypsy left behind a litter of two puppies who are now about 3 years old, so it was not so hard to bear as it would be if we'd lost our only dog.

The 2nd week the girls were here Sonny and Mike put the swimming pool up and filled it. It isn't a big pool, maybe 3 feet deep and big enough around that you can take a couple of swimming strokes before you hit the other side, but it is a way to cool off. Trinity loves it and wants to go swim two or three times a day. This year Chloe loved it, too. I did laundry a couple of times a day and still the girls would have to dig up something else they could swim in because the thing they had worn last time was still wet or was down in the dryer. Both girls would stay in the water until they started to shrivel up...calling it cold when they first got in and hating to get out when it came time.

One day Mike2 had to go to the doctor in Amity. On the way back home we had to pass the little Exxon convenience store on Highway 84. That store sells soft serve ice cream and everyone loves their butter pecan. It was expensive but when we stopped there I bought four of them, one for each Mike and one for each girl. The Mikes both ate theirs the same evening, but I noticed that the girls ate some and saved some for the next day. And Chloe saved hers for longer, only eating what she wanted and saving the rest in the freezer, she made it last quite a long time.

Sunday, June 18th was Father's Day. On the 17th we took the little granddaughters half way back home and met their mother (and her mother Debby) who picked them up to bring them both back home again. We met at a Denny's restaurant, so we enjoyed a final meal together before we parted ways. I know the girls missed their two little brothers and that the boys were happy to seem them back home again. It is taking me forever to get around to cleaning up and straightening out and putting away and remaking the bed and all the things I should do after our 'company' leaves, but it's summer. There's no rush. As soon as I get all those things done I'll very likely be missing them and wishing they'd come back to visit us again.

Today is Eva's birthday...

My daughter, born in 1967 celebrates a birthday today. It feels odd to me to have a child so old that her children, my grandchildren have both given me great grandchildren, but that's the way it is. I still want to celebrate the day, though, and help Eva to have a Happy Birthday!

I remember some of her birthdays. I remember her first birthday. We were living in Norway, and all the little Norwegian girls came over in their national costumes when I invited them for cake and ice cream. They didn't understand all my English, but the did seem to understand that it was Eva's birthday and that they would be singing and dancing and eating cake. I think in Norway a first birthday is very special. I do know it was wonderful to take pictures and remember that day.

On her 2nd birthday Eva lived in England and since it was spring there we went to an animal park where she saw lots of mommies with their new babies. Her favorite was the goose mother, but I think that was because it made her laugh when the goose daddy ran at her spitting and hissing and her mom picked her up and swung her out of range! She petted a baby lamb and helped to feed a baby piggy with a bottle and we had a picnic at the park. After a whole day of running and playing and a three hour ride home, Eva slept all the way home and started jabbering full sentences telling everyone about the animals she had seen.

Eva celebrated her 3rd birthday with her Grandma Irene, going shopping and coming home with a bushel of new clothes and shoes. Always very picky about her wardrobe even when she was just a baby, Eva loved being able to pick out exactly what she wanted that day. She piled up a lot of loot and back home celebrated with the usual singing and blowing out of candles. She made her wish for a special dressup dress that she had seen but didn't ask her Grandma to buy for her that day and asked for sox and panties and shoes to match! More clothes!??!

Other birthdays passed in a blur. I remember one where her cousin Jana was there and we went to see a movie at the theater and another when she went over to Jo Faulk's house and ate homemade ice cream and one where we had a crawfish boil with the Graczyk family. Eva was old enough to peel her own crawfish, third grade, I think, probably eight. One birthday was a swimming party. Eva took to the water like a fish when she was just a toddler. I remember seeing a sign at the pool party she had that said a child her age should be accompanied by an adult. I rather think that if anything had gone wrong, Eva would be more likely to rescue me, the adult than I would have been to have rescued her!

When Eva was about 11 she wanted to go to the skating rink and to invite some of her friends. I think that was the day she got her very own roller skates. She has been a great skater ever since. I'll have to ask her if she ever gets a chance to skate now that she is an adult. I don't think she has any roller blades and she's always lived in a rural area, so I don't think skates or roller blades are very practical but I never really asked to find out for sure.

When she was about 12 Eva wanted to take ballet lessons in New Iberia with the girl who lived next door. It was expensive, but her parents were flush enough to afford the dance lessons and the ballet clothing. Eva decided that she'd had enough of that in only a few months though. A lot of practice goes with being in a dance class, and there's a lot of new things to learn. Eva was a newbie and the other girls had been in dance for years.

Eva always wanted a pony. Once on her birthday we took her to a place that offered horseback rides, but she wasn't satisfied because all the horse did was to walk slowly around and around in a circle. When she was in the 7th grade she decided that it was better to have a friend who had a horse than to have a horse of her own...and all she had to do then was tell her friend with the horse that she'd take care of the feeding and brushing and exercising for a day voluntarily. It was just about then that Eva decided that she didn't want surprises for birthdays any more and that she'd rather tell me what she wanted me to buy for her. And it was just about then that Eva wanted money instead of a present so that she could spend it herself. When she was a senior in high school we bought her a car and I think she might rather have had money then, too because the car was the only drivable one we could afford and I remember she needed to add a quart of oil every time she filled it up with gas.

Sometimes as an adult I have been able to be with Eva on her birthday and help to celebrate the occasion, but it hasn't been very often. After awhile a parent starts sending presents or cash to the grandkids and starts giving no more than a telephone call to say happy birthday. Speaking of that...I think I will call Eva and tell her "happy birthday!" today.

Gypsy died today

June 7, 2011

Our dog for over 12 years, Gypsy, died today. She was a city dog for the first nine years of her life, with a fenced back yard as her home until we retired to Arkansas in 2007. Half Timberwolf, half German Shepherd, it was as if she found her 2nd springtime when she came to the mountains and saw winter snow for the first time. Her first year in Arkansas, Gypsy went into season, mated with 2 black labs and leaves behind her litter of two females, Red and Blue. It was a dog's life for Gypsy, but I think, to her, it was a good life, well lived.

Joshua brought Gypsy to our house the first time we saw her. He and Brandi had been living in Lafayette. One night a runaway car had bashed into his parked car, totaling it out with damage. The police could do nothing about finding the person who'd done the damage, and to make things even worse, when Joshua called work to say he would be late because his car was not driveable they fired him on the phone. Then the people he'd paid for one of their half timberwolf half Shepherd puppies called to tell him the dog was ready and he could come and get her. So our house in La Porte became home to a Josh, his pregnant wife Brandi and their six week old puppy.

Time passed and when Chloe was born, the dog learned to love the baby and the baby learned to love the dog. One of Chloe's first words was Gypsy.

The dog got big fast, and each of us spent some time training her to sit and wait and not to jump on anyone or push. She learned to sit in the chair for tall people to pet her and to lie down on the ground for the baby to pet her. She seemed to love us all and pats seemed to her to be better than a dish of food. She had good times when we'd feed her several times a day, one of us thinking the other one of us had not fed her yet, and she had bad times when she'd have to beg for someone to fill her water dish because it was so hot in Houston. She loved the attention when we were in the back yard in the spa or cooking on the grill or just sitting and talking outside.

Time passed and Joshua moved out, leaving the puppy who had by now grown into a dog with Mike2 to become his pet. More time passed and Sonny (Mike2) moved out and could not have a pet where he moved so Mike and I kept Gypsy and took care of her. There were times when Gypsy would bask in the love of her old masters, Joshua and his little girls always went to visit Gypsy when they visited us. And Sonny moved back into the house and started feeding Gypsy again...but mostly she was our dog, living in our back yard, seldom leaving unless Sonny would take her on a leash to walk the neighborhood or unless she was able to open the gate and escape. She knew where her food dish was, though, and she always came back home. Our biggest fear was that someone would be afraid of her and hurt her, but she was shy when she got out and when anything startled her, she'd make a beeline back to her gate.

Gypsy was a sweet lady. She would stand still to be brushed, She always sat waiting until someone told her it was time to eat from her food dish. She loved to play ball and a big old soccer ball was her favorite. She loved water and being wet. She was a terrible digger in our back yard, looking always for a cooler spot deeper in the ground. There was a trail around the bottom of our fence where she walked every day, killing all the grass. And once, she became friends with a dog that moved in next door and it was almost as much as we and the next door neighbors were able to do to keep the holes under the fence from ever getting big enough for either of the dogs to crawl into the other dog's yard. That was life for Gypsy for nine years.

Then we moved to Arkansas. We had planned to move Gypsy with our last load going to Arkansas, but the insurance lady said we could not leave the house abandoned in Arkansas so if we wanted to keep the insurance, we needed to move in there. Sonny moved in and Mike and I brought Gypsy to stay with him.

On the day it was time for her to go, we'd gotten a huge u-haul truck and to fill with our household goods. Ranzy had come over to help. Steven had loaned us a dog cage and Mike and Ranzy were discussing whether Gypsy would fit inside, she was so much bigger than Steven's dog. They called her over and put her on a leash and led her to the cage and she went right in. They immediately carried the cage out and loaded it into the back part of the Isusu that I was going to drive. Gypsy didn't argue. I decided I was going to leave that very instant whether my car was fully loaded or not. I wanted to get on the road for the 7 hour drive to Arkansas to get the dog to her new home as soon as possible. Gypsy was an angel. I got hungry and thirsty and wanted a bathroom break, but Gypsy just stood and looked the whole time, never crying or making a sound, putting up with my driving and throwing her about in the crate. I stopped once in Atlanta and Gypsy waited patiently for me to do my business and get back on the road. When I got to the house in Arkansas, though, and she saw Sonny come out, she was ready to get OUT of that cage and she was really glad to see him. She knew she was his girl!

At first, in Arkansas, Gypsy was tethered. She was pretty bad about tangling up her cable, though and we were bad about wanting her to have plenty of rope to tangle. We wanted her to be able to move over our big back yard. Finally we put up a fence wire around the back of the house so she'd have a fenced yard. It was not a very stable fence, but Gypsy never tried to get out. We might have stayed with that fence forever, but Gypsy went into season and howled and cried and lured a couple of black labs to come inside the fence. One lab was young and sprightly and he leaped the fence in a single bound, no problem. The other old lab was broad shouldered and had some white hair around his face and he didn't jump the fence. That wily dog would go all around the bottom of the fence pushing on the wire until he'd find a place that had enough slack him to squeeze himself underneath. Needless to say Mike and I chased the dogs off when we'd see them. That young dog would jump and run and disappear as soon as we'd open the door. That old dog, though, nothing made him move. I yelled and told him to go home and threatened him with the broom and nothing seemed to matter to him. All I could do was bring Gypsy inside until I'd see him leave (and see the spot where he knew he could get under the fence). I'd fix the places where that old dog got in, but he was back the next night, until after a few days Gypsy went out of season and the labs quit coming to 'visit' her. A little while later we had a chain link fence installed around the back yard, and I never saw those black labs again (although I think they live not too far from us.)

That was in the fall of our first year here (2007) and winter followed. It was a beautiful winter. When we heard it was going to snow Mike called his brother Danny and told him that if he wanted to get here before the roads iced over he should make the trip that very day. The first night of Danny and Pam's visit, Gypsy cried and moaned and howled and tried to dig in under the back porch. Danny's wife Pam said that she sounded like she was in labor. Mike said it was too cold for her and that she was scared by the snow she'd never seen before, so he made a place for her to come inside to the sun porch. The next morning I was up early, but not as early as Danny. When he saw me awake, he said, "I hear more than one voice in that sun room."

When I went to look, surprise! Gypsy had a squeaky little puppy nursing. Just one. How cute it was all tiny and sweet, all black. Gypsy was proud of it, too and didn't seem to be worried about all of us coming to look and touch. She seemed to be wanting to show it off. That night, again inside, this time with her puppy, Gypsy was once more whining, but I thought that perhaps her labor had been hard on her and that she was not comfortable being a new mother. That wasn't it. She was in labor again. The next morning was just like the one before. Danny, up early, when he saw me awake told me that he thought it sounded like there were two puppies. And, sure enough Gypsy DID have two puppies. A whole day apart, both of them looked like black labs almost twins, it was hard to tell the difference or to know which one was born on Saturday night and which one on Sunday. At first that was their names, Saturday and Sunday. Later on, though, Mike got them two tiny little collars, one red, and one blue...and then we could tell them apart and it's almost needless to say that we named them, one Red and the other one Blue.

Gypsy was the best puppy mom ever. She took wonderful care of those babies. She was a hoot, though. We put her outside with her babies and set up a nice new clean plastic garden toolbox, big enough for her to get completely inside and out of the rain and shelter from the wind...but Gypsy, having always been an outside dog and being part wolf was not happy with that situation. She'd drag those puppies out of that box and put them onto the dirt. Once it rained, and Mike had to go outside and get the puppies out of a low spot Gypsy had dug before they drowned when the hole filled up with water. Finally Mike solved that problem by filling the bottom of the toolbox with dirt...then she was happy to keep herself and her babies inside and out of the weather. And the puppies grew fast. At first I could hold them both, one in each hand, but it was just a matter of months and I could not pick both of them up at once, they were too heavy. Gypsy seemed happy when we started teaching them to sit and not to jump on us or to come up on the porch unless we invited them. They have been terrible, like their mother, though, chewing everything and digging holes. And they pestered Gypsy so that after awhile Mike and I began to notice that "Mom" was a very strict mother, snapping and growling and threatening them when they would gang up and pester her. The pups wanted to play, but Gypsy was getting old and she made them play with each other while she watched.

That was the beginning of us seeing that Gypsy was old. Last winter we let her up on the porch because she walked so slow and the cold and snow seemed to bother her more than they had the year before. And her teeth seemed to bother her so we started giving her canned dog food. We kept on feeding her puppies the dry food and they were really jealous of Gypsy and tricky as ever, they'd do their best to get her food away from her so they could share it. Red would run to the fence barking as if someone were here...and if Gypsy would be tricked into going, too then Blue would grab Gypsy's dish. Gypsy usually ignored Red and Blue when they were pestering her, but toward her end, she seemed to be losing her patience.

When I would go out to see the dogs, Red and Blue would come up to meet me, but Gypsy didn't make the effort. Stayed mostly by the back door to the lower level as if hoping that Sonny would come out that door to talk to 'his girl'. She was in the shade there and I suppose the cement there was cool. Today she wasn't there. She was under the porch at the door on the end of the house, the one that leads out of the laundry room. And when I called to her she didn't even look up and I knew she was gone to wherever old dogs go. I'll miss Gypsy. She was sweet and gentle and pretty and always tried to mind and earn pats trying to be whatever you wanted her to be.

She's left behind two offspring, both of whom seem to exhibit some of her characteristics. I wonder if a dozen years from now I'll be lamenting Red's or Blue's death and saying that dog was just the best!??!

I told Mike and Mike told his granddaughters and his son that Gypsy was gone. They buried her down toward the front of the property near where the big tree uprooted last month during the bad weather. This evening Chloe, her sister, and the girls' grandma and grandpa went down to the site and placed a cement stone shaped like the state of Texas with the word Gypsy painted on it. Each of us asked that she now rest in peace, blessed her and spoke of what a good dog she had always been.

That dog Gypsy was just the best!

Norma celebrated her 85th birthday on May 20

I wanted to put that information in the title because 85 years is a 'biggie' of a birthday! Norma is my mother-in-law.

Also of note, it was predicted that 'the rapture' and the end of the world was going to come about on May 21st of 2011. Not much change here at the old homestead. I guess Mike and I and Mike2 were not taken up into heaven because we three are still here.

Gary, who works here sometimes as a handiman was here, too. He came on Friday to finish some cement work on the step from the garage into the house. Before the work, the step was high and narrow and very difficult for Mike to master on his crutches. Gary widened it out, doubling the width of it and he made it taller putting a layer of ceramic tile atop so that it looks now like a tiny little patio. Mike had gotten a rubber mat to lay down on the floor of the garage, too, to make it less likely to be slippery (which it was when he would park the car inside the garage during the winter and the snow would melt and drip onto the garage floor.) The mat fits just right from the garage door up to the new doorstep. We'd planned to roll the mat out onto the upper deck to shade the lower deck below and make it more weather proof (and maybe catch the snow so that we would not need to sweep the balcony off after a storm) but we didn't do that. I'm not sure if we are planning to make a change later when Mike is better able to walk without crutches or if we'll leave the mat on the garage floor. It looks so nice out there now that I look out and think about doing some spring cleaning so we can enjoy the garage more. Mike2 and I have not played darts out there even once this year and already it is half way over. I have neglected my rocking chair out there!

I talked to my 11 year old granddaughter on the phone today. She told me that Pops is going to come down and get her as soon as school gets out so she and her sister can come visit us--she says for the whole summer. I think right now she is anxious to get out of her house and kick back without her two baby brothers to take care of or hide from. I also think she does not realize just how much she is going to miss them or how much they will grow and change while she is gone.

If my two granddaughters stay for the whole summer that's all right with me. If they only stay for a few weeks, that's okay, too. I know it's hard not to miss home even when you are having fun. We usually put up the swimming pool on the cement under the car port and go swimming most days. We usually go out in the evening and catch fireflies, put them in a jar so the girls can see them blink in their bedroom when the lights are out, then let them go the next morning then go out and catch them again the next night. We try to do some traveling and sight seeing. The girls love to go eat at the Chinese buffet. We have gone to play miniature golf and we have gone digging rocks and we have visited the local resale shops. One girl loves to sit and watch tv in her pajamas all day long and the other girl loves to stay outside as much as she can digging in the sand or exploring or playing with the dogs. We have netflix and Wii and plenty of movies. And this year I have new rubber boots and a new wagon.

I hope we find the time to drive further up into the mountains and visit some new scenery this summer. Arkansas and the Ozarks are a really beautiful part of the country and there is much to see. There is a theme park and a water park... Magic Mountain and Crystal Falls only about 30 miles from here. It is always hard to say what we will decide we can do and our budget is slim as usual, but no matter, we always have fun. Grandkids are so different than kids or step kids, though. Who'd have thought it would be so. I guess I forgot to remember that my grand kids see me as grandma and their parents saw me as mom.

Now I have great grandkids! My oldest granddaughter is already 23 and has a little girl who has celebrated her 3rd birthday. My oldest grandson is 21, not married, but he and his significant other have a little boy one year old already learning everything and thinking he can do anything. I hope I am able to see more of them this year. Last year I only saw them each once. My daughter (their mother) is having marital problems, and it looks as though she may get a divorce. I used to have it all figured out--when you see your daughter, you get to see your grandchildren, too. Years later I thought when you see your daughter, she takes you to visit her kids and you get to see your great grandkids too. Now I am not sure how it is. The situation does make me feel more sympathy for my own mother. I am her daughter who, married with a daughter, divorced and remarried and brought home a new husband with kids of his own, stepchildren as well as a son with a father different than the father of my daughter. My mother never complained or seemed to give me any unwanted advice. Me, now, I am old and seem to regularly say the wrong thing or see things from the wrong perspective or remember things incorrectly. Complain? You betcha! Give unwanted advice? Very very likely!

Portal 2: End Credits Song 'Want You Gone' by Jonathan Coulton [1080p HD]

This is the song 'Want You Gone' that plays all the way through during the Portal 2 credits at the end of the game! I heard the song before the game was over, but since I already had heard some of the computer voice songs of Jonathan Coulton in the original Portal game, I already knew, play the game right...and escape. The dots between playing and escaping are the hard part. This song will be running through my mind for a long time into the future...new music to adorn my sad little life.