Winter Formal

Molly and Renton!

The men!
Molly and the ladies!
Firestone High School 2.21.09

Last night Molly and her friend Renton, attended the Winter Formal at the high school. They had a great time and so did their great group of friends. I feel so fortunate that Molly has some really great friends. They give me a lot of hope for the future.

Welcome Home, Winn

Well, we finally did what we have not been going to do for at least four months. We got another dog! Yikes, what were we thinking! Actually, he is pretty perfect! We started out looking for a labradoodle. Let me tell you, they are as scarce as hen's teeth and more precious than diamonds. I actually considered buying a puppy, and a very expensive one at that. My very wise elder daughter (actually I have two very wise daughters) said (and I quote...) "Mom, you'll end up rescuing another dog. It's just the kind of people we are." Well, she was right. After tracking down leads on labradoodles, that ended up fruitless, David (my sometimes wise) husband suggested we look at other lab hybrids. There are a myriad to choose from. We decided on a "boxador" or a "blab" because we love the two breeds. We were lucky enough to find one at our city pound. We went and looked and now #31 has a new home....and a new (but old) name.....Winston. Winny is a winner today. Hope all the other numbers find their new homes too.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

One of my favorite pics, Egypt 2007

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!'”

Robert Browning

I hope the next twenty are as much fun as the first. I love you.

Happy Valentine's Day!

February Thaw?

We're in the middle of a thaw. We were just in the heart of one of our largest snowfalls ever. In Akron, we missed the January record snowfall by 0.5 inches! I think the grand total for January snow in 2009 was around 41." Today there are patches of green (brown, really) in the neighborhood yards and the roads are clear. Water rushing down the gutters sounds like spring. But, DON'T BE FOOLED! February thaws are not what they appear. Life can be like a winter melt. People you know can be like one too. Unpredictable. Messy. Unsure of their season. Sometimes you feel they live to make your life a misery. You can't change them. No matter how nice you are, they are still their same old baffling, blustery selves. Sort of like a February thaw--just when you think the ice is finally gone...SURPRISE! It's back again just like those boots and gloves you thought you could finally put away for good. Winter will leave when it is darn good and ready. There is nothing we can do to hurry it, rush it, or make it go away. I have discovered that people are like that too. You can't hurry them, rush them, or even make (some of them) go away. You can't blaze them with the truth when their heart is cold. You can't make them change when they prefer to live a rigid, frozen existence. So what do you do? You learn to live with the winter. More importantly, you learn to live with the uncertainty of spring's arrival. You trade snow boots for muck boots, you learn to mop up dirt two or three times a day instead of once a week like you did before the season (and the people) changed. Lastly, I think, you learn to tip your hat to winter's bitter chill. To smile and say, "I see you, I know you're still there, but I'm looking past you and I'm moving on. To spring.

Imago Dei

The sacred Isle of Iona, Scotland

...We are born in the Image of God. Today's prayer is from the service at Fairlawn-West Church. It is too beautiful not to share. It is from the tradition of my roots...a prayer in the style of the Ancient Celts.

A Mid-Winter Prayer

From the rising of the midwinter sun to its setting
Scatter the darkness with the light of your love, O Shining One.
Make me short on mean thoughts, long on offering words of comfort.
Make me short on being driven, long on paying attention.
Make me short on focusing only on my own, long on looking beyond.
Make me short on obsessive lists, long on spontaneous acts of kindness.
Make me short on mindless activity, long on time to reflect.
Make me short on tradition as a habit, long on re-discovery and re-owning.
Make me short on rushing and tiring, long on walking and wondering.
Make me short on false festive jollity, long on stilling and rooted joy.
Make me short on guilt, long on being merciful to myself.
Make me short on being overwhelmed, long on peaceableness
as I set forth this day.
from the Celtic Wheel of the Year by Tess Ward

Beginning with good old reliable......

I like old things. Houses, furniture, clothes, husbands (just kidding, David.) I like to recycle things and keep them a long time. The older I get, the less interested I am in new stuff. We are planning to buy some new living room furniture. We have been planning it for several years. I just can't seem to find anything I like any better than what I have now. We just visited a furniture consignment store that opened near our (old) house. What a rush! I loved it. I didn't find anything I wanted, but just to know it's there to visit and prowl through....! Just the thought of looking through that stuff makes me giddy. I was reading my (old!) brother's blog about used cars and it made me think of ours. We have 4 great used cars. That's really David's department. As long as it gets me where I'm going safely, I'm pretty open to anything. We currently own: a 2003 Honda Civic COMPLETE WITH SUN ROOF (Martha), a 2001 Saturn wagon (Kate), and 1997 Ford Escort (David), and a brand new (old) 1999 Ford Escort. The '99 Escort will make its big debut this summer after Molly gets her license. She and Kate will then wrestle in the grass to see who gets the new (old!) car which by then will have new tires on its (old) rims. We love our cars! I love the low, monthly payments because new car payments can get (old!) fast!! Which makes me think....I'm not sure I have anything new! I eat off of old china, I use my grandmother's flatware, I rest on my mother in law's old couches, my kids sleep in my old childhood beds, my dining rooms tables are used, my favorite clothes are vintage, I think my towels once were moms...OH, WAIT! I do have one new thing. Several years ago David and I bought a new queen sized bed. It is awesome...pillow topper and all. We had a group of (old!) church people over for dinner and I was showing them the new bed. Since we used to sleep on a double bed, I was telling them the pitch the salesmen told me...about how a double bed was really the size of two crib sized mattresses, and that the queen would have ever so much more room. Then I said the most classic line ever....." I never knew what a difference six inches would make in bed".... I'm not sure who was laughing the most after that...unless it was David :)

Original Children

My niece, Jessica, just wrote in her blog about her "original children." That phrase stuck with me. I like that phrase.....original children. One of the largest commonalities in our family, if not the largest, is our children. It really doesn't seem to matter how many legs they have. Four is almost as good as two. I realize that may change some, now that Ross and Caleb are here, but for the most part we love the dogs, cats and the kids in sort of one big lump. I think to say we are dog lovers is kind of like saying the titanic was a rowboat. Even the cat defectors in our family love dogs too. Even if they don't own a dog nowwwwww...well, they're just preparing for a dog in the future. David and I have had our share of dogs. Mostly the rescued kind. The pitiful, miserable, pull at your heartstrings ones. We have had Magnum, Kahlua, D-O-G, and faithful Tighe. All older and abandoned labs who have gone to dog heaven (if you don't know about dog heaven, read the book by Cynthia Rylant.) Now we share our life with Maggie. When Tighe was alive, she wasn't certain about her job. Now that he's gone, she gets it. She's the bed warmer, the couch sitter, and the yard watcher. She is the lady of the house and the other lady of the house's abiding companion. She's the reason we're looking for another one and the reason we haven't gotten one. I figure one day we'll be out somewhere and a new Maggie or Tighe will worm their way into our hearts. Until then she'll stay our only, original child.