Family Gathering

This evening we are going to the Arthur Park with my mom and all her kids and grandkids. We try to do it every year with one of the siblings taking their turn to be in charge. This year it is my sister Millie's turn. She is making some kind of chicken breast and potatoes and the rest of us are all taking  a side dish. I am trying a new recipe that I got from my sister in law. It is a very simple peach cobbler. Hers was so good! I hope mine turns out ok. It is still in the oven so I don't know. We are going to take ice-cream to go with it. Here's the recipe for it if somebody happens to read this blog and wants it.

Peach Cobbler

Melt 1 stick butter

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

Mix together like cake. Put in the bottom of a 9x13 pan and top with:

2 cups fresh peach slices

! cup sugar

1 1/2 cup water

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees

I did not use the whole cup of sugar.

I started this post on Sunday and have not gotten back to it until tonight and it;s already Thursday! 

good grief!

 It has been a busy week. On Monday I went with Elmer to his appointment with his oncologist. He seemed pleased with Elmer's progress and said that he was releasing him to his surgeon's care.

I made tomato sauce for the very first time on Wednesday. I ended up with 6 pint jars and 11 half pint jars. That should last the whole winter. My sister LaDonna was also at our house on Wednesday. Her twin boys love to play here and since school is starting next week there won't be very many more chances.

When I was gathering tomatoes I was surprised to find a bird's nest inside one of the tomato cages. I had not been able to see the whole plant before because of the squash plants that had covered it up. 

When I went ti gather tomatoes I just peered through the leaves for flashes of red. This time I could actually see the whole thing and besides the bird nest there was also a pumpkin hanging over the top of the cage.

Today I was watching one of my grandsons. He kept me entertained the whole day. I did manage to get my laundry caught up and gave the upstairs bathroom a good scrubbing even though he was here.

I have been sitting out on the porch swing and although it is getting quite dark I do not want to go back in. The sounds of the evening are so peaceful. Elmer is not at home however and he would probably not like me sitting out here in the dark so I will go back inside.  I watched a spider build a web tonight and despite the chills going though my body I was still fascinated by the sight. Another interesting sight I saw was this brown walking stick with four green legs.

Stages of Life

As I write this I find myself frustrated with a loved one who is not acting or reacting as it were to a life situation. In exchange, I am acting badly because at this time this person seems like he/she doesn't think about anybody but themself. in defense of their attitude change is hard and accepting that change can cause frustration, irritation, the why mes and how come I can't have what I want.
It has caused me to stop and take a look at my life. We all go through different stages of life and we all react differently in those stages. The stage of life with babies and toddlers can be just as tiring and frustrating as it is rewarding. Who doesn't love those sweet baby kisses and cute little first words and steps. At the same time which one during that time doesn't long for just a smidge of peace and quiet, a house that stays clean for longer than or even just gets cleaned, and most of all sleep, please, some sleep.
Then there are the years of school age, the frustrations of homework and can I go to their house; everyday! Or perhaps it's nobody likes me and the teachers hate me!
I know that some people wouldn't agree with me but I loved the teen age years. By then you can have long intelligent conversations with your kids and I loved the house full of giggling chatting teenagers!
There are the stages when your parents look to you for guidance instead of the other way around. It is extremely hard to be the parent of your parent. It hurts to see them no longer have confidence in their world. How does that even happen? I know for my mom that a lot of that happened because she can't hardly hear anymore and so feels very left out of everything.
I know that the Bible tells us that there is a time and a season for everything but I know that I sometimes wasn't very gracious about some of those seasons. I ask God's and my family's forgiveness for that and pray that I can receive the ones coming on with graciousness and thankfulness. I pray that I can be more understanding of those around me, whatever stage of life they're in.

The Scents of Summer

It is easy to see the signs of late summer everywhere. Sunflowers have bloomed and the seeds in the heads are ripening. Every evening, the barn swallows are gathering on our power lines. I'm pretty sure the numbers are from 200 to 300. It is a very interesting sight even though it makes me sad because I am never ready to give up summer. When I was a kid it seemed that the summers went on and on for a deliciously long time. It seemed like tomatoes were ripe almost as soon as school was out and we ate them all summer long. Now I know that wasn't true, but scents of summer are definitely smelled in out house right now. Yesterday, I made tomato paste for the very first time and the aroma was amazing. I couldn't believe how many tomatoes it took for not more tomato paste I got, but I will definitely do it again if I get enough tomatoes. I loved doing it. I used 15 pounds of tomatoes and ended up with 2 1/2 pints of paste. Unbelievable!

It kind of felt like I was taking care of a toddler yesterday. I was dog sitting for my niece's dog because they were away for the day checking out colleges. The dog had so much energy and was constantly dancing around looking for somebody to play with. He was pretty good at begging for food too.

I had taken him outside for some exercise and we came across these toadstools. Of course he dad to so some investigating.

Today I made pickle relish. It wasn't nearly as long a process as the tomato past but I enjoyed it too. I ended up with 17 pints. I had been shopping with Beth and when she bought some pickle relish, I told her, "I could make that for you" and so I did!

 I've raised some different cucumbers this year but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. They are called cucamelons. They look like miniature watermelons but are actually cucumbers. I've checked online but I've not found any recipes yet.

Today is a pretty special day. Ive brought Cathy to the cancer center for her very last radiation treatment. I'm so excited for many reasons. but most of all because it won't cause her pain anymore.
God is good!

My Happy Place

I love sitting on my porch swing to eat breakfast, to read a book, to relax or just sit and watch the traffic. It is indeed my happy place! I noticed that it needs to be weather coated. I bought some throw pillows for it and I'm planning on painting the chains. They are getting rusty.
Today has been a good day! We went to church and heard a really good message. The worship was good too. I love our church. I always feel so close to God there and I love to feel His presence.
After church we went to eat at Black Dog with Beth and Emily. It was Beth's birthday and she wanted to eat there. It was our first time and while I loved the casual atmosphere I wasn't totally in love with the food. It was kind of like Famous Daves but not a chain and honestly I didn't like the food as well. After lunch we went to Menards and let Beth pick out a fire pit for her birthday. From there we went to Sam's Club and stocked on some things that we always but there. Now we are just at home being lazy.
I heard a locust for the first time for the summer this afternoon. Somebody has told me that when you hear the first one there will be frost in six weeks. That makes me really sad! I love summer and I am never ready for it to be over.
We had a good day yesterday too. Elmer decided that the bushes needed to be trimmed so he went out and started. I had to prepare some invoices that I do for a small private company, so I did those and got them in the mail then went out and helped him. Everything was pretty wet since we'd had rain for the last several days but I did manage to get one of my flower beds cleaned while we were working on the bushes in between picking up the mess for Elmer.
After we were one with that I ran uptown and let Beth's and her friend's dogs out.Then I came home mowed the yard and did a few things before I had to run back up town to pick up my sister Millie from her job and take her home. Millie is Amish and a caregiver for her husband who had a stroke about nine years ago. He can't work regular hours so Millie pick up odd jobs where she can to make money. She also writes a column in several newspapers. I like to help them out when I can. To end the evening Elmer and I went out to eat with his brother and wife at a steak place in Champaign. Like I said it was a good day.
I just came in from the yard and this is what was happening. I so wish I had a really good camera with a powerful lens.  This is the second Sunday afternoon that we have had swarms of dragonflies in our yard. I've was sitting out  there watching them then all of a sudden there was a humming bird flying in the midst of them as if he wanted to join in. Then here comes another one and they are both scolding at the dragonflies. Finally the hummingbird sat in a tree staring at them for a few minutes before he came flying right at me, hovering there in front of me as if to say can you believe this?! Seriously I'm not making this up! My yard is a fascinating place right now.

Today's Thoughts

Today’s thoughts are just random ones throughout the day because it is so quiet here at work. It has been rainy for two days and I don’t  think anybody is interested in buying outdoor furniture. Here is a picture of some of our product.

My book suggestion for the day is “An Affair With a House” by Bunny Williams. I have enjoyed the restoration photos, antiques, gardening pictures and advice, menus and recipes. It is so beautiful!

I dislike when somebody gives me a fake smile. All teeth and nothing else. If you don’t feel like smiling at me don’t; just be honest but don’t give me fake!

Well, I had a nice surprise! My sister Ferne came by and wanted me to go to the Mexican restaurant with her. I told her that I couldn’t leave but we could get carry out and eat here so that is what we did. It made the time go by a lot quicker.
Well, I left work early so that I could bring Cathy to her radiation treatment. She only has one more left after today. I am so happy for her but I am sure that I can't even imagine how glad she is! sitting here I see people from all walks of life coming through. Men and women, both walk through here and many are smiling even though I'm sure life isn't easy for them at the moment.
Ok even though it was slow at work today I have been pretty busy. My morning started around 6:00 AM. I got some laundry started and started getting ready for work. I had to be in Arthur by 7:30 so Beth cold take me to her friend's house, show me which door to go in and introduce me to her dogs so I can walk them tomorrow. It is usually my granddaughter Shae's job to do it when they are gone but Shae and Annika went with their dad to Iowa to their great grandmother's birthday party. So I managed to get some laundry washed and in the dryer, started the dishwasher and straightened up a bit before I left.
After I got back from taking Cathy to Decatur, I ran over to Mid-State Tank where my husband and I cleaned all the offices, restrooms and break room.While we were there my sister Louise called and wanted to meet us in Sullivan to eat at TNT , a local pizza place. Now I'm finally at home but Elmer went to the neighbors to do their chores for them since they left for the weekend.

Google Gotta Love It

I got a brand new range about a year ago and I've been trying to keep it spotless. It has a steam clean feature and I was excited to use it but I lost the manual. Since I didn't know how to use the steam clean I always had to use the self clean option even when it was just a little soiled. I kept thinking about it but never once did I think to check Google. I use google for everything but never thought about it for this until this morning I thought to check and sure enough there were the instructions! But what was even more ironic when I turned on steam clean the instructions scrolled across the screen. Good Grief! If would have just tried I would have found that out a long time ago!

Trauma and Reality

Have you ever had something traumatic happen in your life that you continually try to push away and pretend it didn't happen? Ever since Elmer has been diagnosed with cancer and is now done with radiation I can go for days knowing that it's happened and yet it seems that he's doing well. Then I'm going down the road and that ice cold streak of fear goes through my body again and it's all too real! My wonderful hard working husband who's never known a lazy day in his life and was never too tired to finish a job he had started or a chore that needed to be done now has a list that seems to stretch on and on. When I come upon him and he's just sitting there resting or laying down sleeping its sends fear into my heart. I want him to rest and I tell him not to work so hard but when I see him do it voluntarily it's almost more than I can handle.
When this happens I know that I need to stop and talk to God, give it all to him. It's too heavy for me to carry. He has to do that for me and I know that He wants me to give it to him.

A Day at Home

My verse that I loved today was from Psalm 27:4 The one thing I ask of the Lord- the thing I seek most- is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in his temple. 5 For He will conceal me there when troubles come; He will hide me in his sanctuary.  He will place me out of reach on a high rock.

My song today is: In Your Light by Bethel Live.
I don't get very many days at home but today I actually did. I made the most of it. After my devotions I finished reading a book that I had started. It was pretty good but I didn't necessarily agree with all of it. It was called The Barista by Elijah G Clark
I did some weeding and all of my laundry. I cleaned up the house, drank lots of coffee and just generally had a peaceful day. I listened and danced to some praise music and had fun. While I was working I listened to an audio book by Ted Dekker. It was thought provoking as most of his books are.
We noticed tonight that the days are already getting shorter. It makes me very sad. I love summer and am not ready for fall. I don't like being chilly and after last winter I am rather apprehensive about facing another one! Oh well I should just enjoy the beautiful weather we are having and not worry about something that is not even here!

Swarm of Swooping Dragonflies

Elmer came in from the outside and told me there was a bunch of dragonflies outside so of course I had to go check. There was probably around 20 dragonflies out there just swooping around in circles, up and down, around and around. I guess they were eating some kind of infects. I stood out there watching them for a long time. As long as I stood still they got closer and closer. I tried my best to take a video but it was impossible and they never kept still enough for me to get a picture. It was a fascinating scene. Later on there was an even bigger swarm on the other side of tbe house and there were birds chasing them.  Do birds eat dragonflys? Hmm, guess I'll have to do some research. Here is a picture I found online

We had a nice Sunday. We didn't go to church as early as usual because the friends we usually have coffee with were not there. It was a great service today. After church we had lunch at Hickory River and then did some shopping before Elmer dropped me off with Emily. We had a shower to go to this afternoon so Elmer took our car and went on home. After I got home we were just lazy:). When I was done watching the dragonflys I started reading this book.

It's a fun relaxing read.

Creating a Bond

Today as I was mowing I was thinking about how good it felt that Elmer and I were sharing the duties  of lawn care.  I realized that we don't have to go on dates,(although that is important) to grow closer. What we need to do is spend bonding time together; to form a team to live this life together. God created husband and wife to share life in all forms. We don't have to be joined at the hip every moment of every day but we need to be joined in our heart and mind. When we have young children it is often difficult to get away on dates and we are often too tired to even spend a big chunk of quality time together. However. just sharing child duty or shopping for groceries together, helping each other with household duties can create a bond.
Bedtime even when we are too exhausted for anything else:)is a time for discussing things that your kids don't need to hear or sharing stories about your day. I remember thinking during a busy day, while taking care of my kids, that Oh I can't forget to tell Elmer about this or that. There were many times of telling him stories about my day and laughing hysterically about something that probably wasn't really that funny but just talking to another adult who understood more than a few word felt fantastic!
Creating a bond with somebody or something allows you to feel close to that person or thing even when you're not together. This is probably a wacky example but I used to help my dad with his swarms of honeybees. They are such fascinating creatures. They are a very industrious, intelligent insect creating honey out of pollen. Anyhow to get back on track I spent a lot of time creating a bond with honey bees and to this day when I'm mowing the yard it makes me sad when I mow over one.
I think that is how our relationship with God needs to be too. We need to spend so much time getting to know him and talking to Him that even when we are not consciously praying to him we still feel that bond with Him. When something comes across our path that doesn't agree with His teachings, we will feel it because of that strong bond.
I love when Elmer and I are both at home when maybe he is working outside and I am getting things done inside and yet it still feels like we are right beside each other. There is hardly a day that goes by that I don't put my hand on his arm when we are settling down to sleep and I tell God thank you for giving me such a wonderful husband to love and cherish. That ritual started when I was thinking about the wedding vows; to love and to cherish, one day. I told God that I know I love Elmer but do I cherish him. Cherish to me means to go above and beyond  love and I wasn't sure that I was properly cherishing my husband. I asked God to help me figure that one out. When I started consciously trying to find new ways to"cherish" my husband it created an even stronger bond between the two of us.
If you're marriage is not as close as you want it to be ask God for help. He is definitely on the side of saving a marriage!

The Awful C Word

I have gained a new respect for my sister-in-law Cathy! She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and had a lumpectomy on November 19, 2013. She has been through chemo and now radiation. Those two things in and of themselves are no picnic in the park but I had no idea of how horrible some of the side effects are. Both treatments caused unbelievable suffering for her and she's had several other random things happen during all of this that were very unpleasant. Through all of this, she has continued going to work everyday, sometimes as early as midnight, except for a few days due to Drs. orders that she had to stay at home. She has 3rd degree burns under her arm and has extreme pain, her job is very physical and includes using that arm but her concern is that her family needs her financial help from that job and she dare not lose it, so she continues on. She has been there for her family through all this. I know that if all this would have been happening to me I would not have been able to face it with the courage she has. I am so glad she will be done with radiation very soon! Although I wish she would't have to have had the treatments, I treasure the time we shared on the rides back and forth to Decatur. I have gotten to know her in a new light and I am impressed with the person I have come to know.
My husband was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in the midst of Cathy's treatment so between the two of them I have made many, many trips to Decatur in the last year. My husband has completed his radiation treatment but is still living with the side effects. He is not a complainer either but I have been able to see that it is difficult for him to keep up with his life in the way he would like to. He too continued going to work and as soon as we could tell that he could handle it he went to treatment on his own. He left work in time to to make his appointments and then headed back to work after. His throat still bothers him a lot when he eats and his energy level is still way down but he still continues doing everything he can and more than he should. I don't know what I would do without him in my life! He is such a giver and helps me in so many ways that I can't even begin to count.I have always seen myself as a very independent person and tend to think I can do whatever I need to do on my own but when I look back on our married life I realize that most everything I have done has been done with his help and support. God has truly blessed me with a soul mate!
I am here to tell you that i knew that Cancer was a horrible disease but I had absolutely no clue how horrible! May God be with those who are experiencing it and those that love them enough to stay by their side.

I So Long

I so long 

to be somewhere

far far away

far from here

in some romantic

far away clime

somewhere beauty

knows no time

I so long

to wander around

to get lost 

and not be found

I so long 

to explore

anywhere I drift

Anywhere I soar

I so want more 

than what I see

out my window

when I drink tea

I love my home

Oh, yes I do

But I want to roam

Far, far away

BG