Flower-y Prose

I've been thinking about flowers. Especially wildflowers. Don't they have the prettiest names?

Blackeyed Susan.

Forget-me-not.

Dutchman's Breeches.

Bachelor's Buttons.

Morning Glory--my mother used to say, "morning glory--the Glory of the Morning!"

Dogtooth Violet.

Of course, there are many more. Spring beauty. Mayapple. Wild geranium. Snapdragons. Jack-in-the-Pulpit. I'm sure you could add to the list.

Then there is Queen Anne's Lace, with the little blood-red floweret in the middle. I had always heard that it was named for Henry VIII's wife Anne Boleyn, and the "drop of blood" was hers because he, well, beheaded her, you know. But wikipedia says it is for another Queen Anne, and the blood was from when she pricked her finger with a needle while making her "lace."

Such quaint names. Such pretty things. How wonderful our Father is, to have created flowers, not only for their usefulness, but for our enjoyment. The fragrance of the wildflowers is generally more delicate than that of their domesticated cousins. Your nose has to be "tuned in" to enjoy them. But what a delight, walking through a wood or along a roadside in the springtime, to catch the fragrance, then to look for the culprits, off the beaten path!

Evidently, flowers are important to people in general. Every state has its "own" flower. When my mother was in school (1930's), the state flower of Indiana was the zinnia. Somewhere along the line, they changed it to the peony. Or, as my grandmother, along with most country folks, called it, the "piney." She was so proud of her "piney bushes" in May. Flowers are even "national" sometimes. The Japanese have their Chrysanthemum throne. I'm sure there are others.

So, I've just been thinking about flowers. Maybe you can take a few minutes and think about flowers today, as well. And don't forget to thank your Father for sharing!

Darn cute.

...if I do say so m'self.

I was asked to make a couple of aprons for the church coffee shop, for the girls to wear at Sunday morning donut-time, and Wednesday night cafe. I used the same pattern for each, McCall's 5825.

Here we have a cheery print, reminiscent of coffee beans (?), and trimmed with a yellow swirly-pattern, like steam from your favorite mug:
Then I made one in a coffee-brown with white polka-dots, trimmed in red pindot:
Please do not tell me how much it reminds you of Minnie Mouse.

These are expertly modeled by Blackeyed Susan, whom I grabbed barely out of the shower to model these. I promised her I wouldn't show her face. (this disclaimer for my family, who for YEARS made fun of the fact that I cut off people's heads in all of my photos.)

I am also teaching tonight from the book A Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. My subject is Simplicity.

Let me quickly disabuse you of the notion that I was chosen to teach this because I Have It All Together.

Nuthin' could be further from the truth. But God has a sense of humor that way, doesn't He? As Charming says, "God is so BIZARRE! But then, would you want to serve a God that wasn't?"

Food for thought...

Little Bits

Forget-me-not pointed out that, even though I have been home from vacation for eleven days, my blog says that I am still "incommunicado." Truth is, I've just been busy.

Gotta tell ya', I am grateful today to be posting. Friday night, Alvin Fernald and I were sitting on the couch, watching tv, and he said, "the computer's smoking." He ran across and unplugged it. I hoped the whole CPU hadn't melted together in some nuclear-meltdown-thing, but we took a moment to thank the Lord that Alvin had noticed it. If we had been in another room, the house might have caught fire. Thank you, Lord, for guardian angels!

(by the way, Charming fixed the computer for $39.95-plus-tax. I love that man!)

Saturday didn't go as I thought it would. My plans for a quilt outing with my dear sister-in-law Robin had been scratched, and as Alvin was in a softball tournament and Blackeyed Susan went with Forget-me-not to said tournament, I figured to Spend The Day decluttering. No such luck. My day was a steady stream of Company, including my brother, whom we needed to do a major catch-up with. So, nothing much got done, but did a LOT of visiting.

Sunday night plan was fireworks! Our city's major week-long festival always ends with fireworks. Although you can go to the biggie meet-up place complete with porta-potties, we chose to go to our neighbor's church parking lot, where neighbor-husband's band was playing, cheap hot dogs to be bought, and the Church Bathrooms available. Good stuff. We've been before. But never before where the Sky Opened Up and looked like it would never stop. You know the kind of storm, where you are as dripping wet as you could ever get? Yeah, that's how it was. We tried to wait it out, but had to give up. It rained for quite a long time after that, tho' I thought I heard the fireworks display about 10:15 pm. But by that time we were dry and warm and KFC-bucketed and happy. And home.

Another instance of God's grace: In the car, driving home, Heat seemed like a good idea. But we found out the heater wasn't working. How cool to find that out in July, so you can get it fixed before you need it?

Other stuff is going on. I'm making two cute-as-pie aprons for the coffee shop at church. Quilting a quilt. Getting ready to teach the Ladies on Wednesday evening. Johnny Tremain and Lily are back home after two weeks away, so we'll be seeing their four kids. Charming has been off work for six weeks today. Tempers are shorten-ing due to the extended change-in-routine, but the Lord is teaching us about living Day to Day.

I hope I'm learning. It doesn't seem so, but I really want to bear the fruit of the Spirit in my life.
Don't ask my kids if I've done so. I may have, but I don't think it shows yet. So there's More Work to Do.

Oh. I forgot all about vacation and all the other cool stuff I've been thinking about. I guess I'll have to do a little more catching up with you.

Maybe tomorrow. Laundry is calling!

Incommunicado.

We are off this week to beautiful Lake Huron, up at the top of the "thumb" of Michigan.

We are not taking any computery stuff.

There is a tv in the cottage, but we turn its face to the wall while we're there.

(I'm sure Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald will be texting their buddies, but no such dealie for Charming and me.)

So basically I'm incommunicado.

Joe Hardy is housesitting, and we'll be back late Thursday night.

See ya'!

Morning Glory.

July 2, 2009, 6:53 am. Sixty-two degrees.

I awoke to birds singing, and fresh, cool air breezing in my open windows. That old-time, "summer" smell.

Heaven!!

Many of you did not grow up in a time before air-conditioning. You may not know the art of blowing one fan "out" one window to bring in the breeze from the opposite side of the house. Sleeping on the floor, because it's cooler. My husband's home had a screened porch where they slept in the summer. Before I had a/c in my "married" home, my babies slept in the basement.

My daddy got air conditioning in the early 70's, and I grabbed onto that notion Im-Mediately. I am not a summer-lover: for me, June, July, and August are simply months to endure until fall. Charming bought me central air about fifteen years ago, and I've never looked back.

I admit I'm a wimp. I think about those southern belles, sweltering in long sleeves, long skirts, and CORSETS. Not even an electric fan to alleviate the misery. And I still don't understand going to Florida for summer vacation. Come on, people!

This week has been unusually mild (and low humidity) for Indiana for late June/early July. People around me complain, "hey, this is more like fall weather!" (yet, you should have heard them belly-aching just last week about the heat wave...) I have had my a/c off and the windows open. I have found that I miss the summer sounds and the summer smells, even tho' I do spend some of my mornings on the porch, hot or not. And it was especially noticeable this morning as I awoke.

It was a Glorious Morning, that bodes well for a Glorious Day. I am beginning to pack for our little vacation, for which we leave Sunday after church. We are going to Lake Huron (at the top of the "thumb" of Michigan) to spend four days with Charming's Dad and his wife. The cottage has no a/c, but that's okay--Lake Huron provides the a/c. And I sure wouldn't want to miss going to sleep and waking up to the sounds of the water. God always meets me there, from the early morning coffee time alone (I am usually the first up), to the incredible sunset-show every evening, each one seemingly better than the night before. Good fellowship, as well. Blackeyed Susan and Alvin Fernald are both in high school--our time left with them is short. We are blessed to have time away while Charming is off work (please, Lord, a job waiting for him on our return would be a great thing!), and time with his father and wife is a treasure.

I have errands to do today, but will spend as much of it outdoors as possible. Wishing you a "glory" day, as well!