November

November - 30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 1

"Oh, Lord, who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness." 

-- William Shakespeare

I love that picture.  I remember it from my childhood.  I think most people have seen it.  Beautiful, isn't it?

And so begins the Month of November.  It's everyone's month to remember to offer thanks.  The actual institution of our Thanksgiving Holiday informally began with the Pilgrims.  Since America has been a nation, the establishment of a Thanksgiving Holiday has been attributed to several of our founding fathers, but George Washington was the first president to declare the holiday, in 1789.  It was Abraham Lincoln who set the date, the last Thursday in November, as an official day of thanksgiving to God.  Later, President Franklin Roosevelt moved it forward a week to help a struggling economy by extending the Christmas shopping season.  There it remains to this day.  That's the history of it.

Traditionally, Thanksgiving comes at the time of year when the real labor of the season is finished.  The rewards for the past year's hard work had been realized.  All the backbreaking planting in the spring, slogging through mud, protecting new plants from the elements, and the daily grind of summer, the tedium of daily care and maintenance, and finally the fast paced, long hours and hard work of harvest had paid off.  Preserves were on the shelf and produce in the cellar.  The tools should already be sharp, clean and stowed, and the grounds tended and tidy with only the finishing touches needing to be seen to.  It is the time that we see the harvest, the bounty, and the presence of the blessing of the Lord on our efforts.  It is time to thank the God of increase for His marvelous blessings. 

It is our personal traditions that make it my favorite holiday.  Unlike so many other holidays, there is nothing over-hyped about Thanksgiving, especially at our house.  All that is required around here is eating good food and enjoying good fellowship.  No gift exchanges, no fancy dressing up, no weird costumes, no hurry, no fuss, just pure ol' comfort.  To me, it is sort of a party to celebrate and enjoy fall, cool weather, colorful nature and the restful time of year. It is warm, cozy, inviting time.  The colors are soft and the shadows are long and there's a feeling on the wind that only comes in the fall.  

It is a time to enjoy home and indoors.  It is time to take inventory and look to the next season's adventure.  It is time to mend and tend the things that were brushed aside in the business of the seasons spent busy out of doors.  It is a time to plan and dream.  These are close, warm, happy times with family.  These are quality times.  

Home is our own private sanctuary and a safe place together.   It is a place of fireplaces and tea pots, and bread in the oven for the soup on the stove.  We are what we need to be here.  We can be seen, we can talk or not, and we are always the best.  To quote Garrison Keillor, home is "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."  At home, we are at liberty to make each other feel that way and we are allowed to believe it is true here.  I love it.  I love my family.  I love my home.  I love fall.  It's a breathtaking, tear-jerking, wonderful time of memory making and reminiscing.

Does it sound like I have marginalized God this Thanksgiving with all this talk of food and seasons and celebration?  Hardly!  It is like this: I believe in thanksliving.  I cultivate gratitude in my life.  It is a simple task, really since I am so keenly aware of my precious Gift, where I would be without Him, and I know I am so unable to ever repay any of it.   

Thankfulness is my only means of returning anything of any worth back to Him and my aim is to remain in a constant state of gratitude, so help me God.  If I am not thankful for the other eleven months of the year, the other three-hundred and sixty-four days, then I can not even enter His gates.  I would not want to live like that.  I want and pray for a "heart replete with thankfulness" always.  It is my obligation and my duty and my strongest desire.

This November, the month of Thanksgiving as set before us by our founders, I will try to be faithful enough at this blog to come on here and give thanks for something specific, some blessing in my life, every day for thirty days.  This is my first one:  I am thankful for home.

Robert Southey said, "There is a magic in that little world, home; it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues never known beyond it's hallowed limits."  Home.  I'm thankful for home.

(photo credit)

Mr. President?

"I felt he acted superior.  I felt he was awkward.  I felt he was personable.  I felt he was engaging, personal, passionate, argumentative, disorganized, sincere, combative, friendly, in charge, composed, disinterested"..... blah, blah, blah... ad nauseum.  And why does how we "feel" someone might "seem to be" make any difference in who we choose for president of the United States?  


Oh, oh, I get ya, I get ya... a sense of someone, character and whatnot, but that's not what these people are saying.  They are saying they are planning to vote for someone based on something they can not know, and base that simply on how they "feel" about them.  For crying out loud!  What has happened?

All of  the commentaries I read about the presidential debate talked about how the candidates made people feel.  I am shocked.  Seriously, I am.  I read so many reports, and so few people said anything substantive.  There was very little said about what either candidate actually had to say about issues, whether they believe them or had ever checked on any issues themselves, whether they had any inkling of an idea about where they stood on anything, what was in their voting record or even knew anything about them at all.  This is sad.

What about this: I didn't hear anything that convinced me they are worthy of the office.  I still don't know what they stand for on issue "X".  I know his voting record on issue "Y" and I don't see him voting any differently in the future.  He has been soft on issue "A" and I think the other guy would be tougher on that issue.  That's vague enough, but at least it shows a little bit of depth of thought.  Not just, "I like him," or "he scares me."

"He sucks!"  Our national collective intellect has sunk to "He sucks!"

Next in line to that?  Pet issues.  Some of the people interviewed wouldn't care if they had disemboweled an animal at a satanic sacrifice just prior to the debate as long as they say they will vote in favor of their favorite pet issue.  Let the national economy fall into ruin, let terrorists commit acts of war on our ambassadors overseas, let allied nations flail alone under enemy threat and oppression, but don't let them cut spending on issue "X" or try to control the internet!

It's all about "me".

God, help us.   We must turn back to You.  Help us fall on our knees and seek wisdom.  Open the eyes of our understanding.  Forgive us.  Spare us.

[photo credit]

Harvest Season

I had no thought of being able to harvest a single thing this fall.  I've only been living here in Texas since July, and I had no time to see to any kind of gardening when I got here.  It was too hot, for one, and it was a very busy and sort of confusing, surreal time, having just relocated after many, many years in the same place.  As a result, I had nothing planted anywhere, not a single potted tomato or pepper or even a squash vine.  I was feeling a little sad about that.

Now it's fall.  I love fall, and part of what I love is the way fall gardens feel.  It's time to collect the last of fresh greens and the hustle and bustle of getting the last of the crops in before the first frost is a seasonal job that is rewarded with it's own sense of accomplishment, not to mention the bounty.  Compost piles, stowing squash, drying, preserving as much as I can for the months where there are no fresh crops, all the hard work, but things I love doing!  I knew I would have nothing this year.  I was resigned to it and determined that I'd never be caught in harvest season with nothing to harvest again!

Well, surprise!  I am harvesting after all -- nuts!  I moved into a spot on a pecan grove and no one else who lives near here really cares anything about them, so I'm free to gather all I want.  Believe me, I want a lot!

I love nuts, particularly pecans.  I like to cook with them, but I also love to just sit and shell them and eat them.  My whole family does.  Every fall we'd buy mixed nuts and leave them sitting around the house in a big bowl.  From September through Christmas and beyond if they make it that long, we eat nuts from the bowl and get shell shards everywhere.   It's sort of a tradition in our house.  Having them growing right here is a real treat!

I've never grown nuts before, so I wasn't sure how it's handled.  I thought I should wait until they drop and then collect them.  October is about the time they begin to ripen, so I got out and started picking them up from beneath the trees.  Right away I discovered it's nearly impossible to tell which ones have been laying around since last year, and which ones are fresh.   I collected quite a few, trying to tell by sight and feel which were which.  I figured that if they were too light weight that they were probably old and had dried out.  It turns out, that's a fairly accurate assessment,  but not always the case.  Second, I decided some "looked" old, dark as though they had weathered and were probably not good.  It turns out that is not a very accurate indicator at all.   So the only thing to do is shell them and find out.

I learned something else new about pecans today.  I don't have to wait for them to drop.  The manager of the property came to trim some branches this morning.  She knew I was excited to have something to harvest, so she came and told me there were branches on the ground and that she wouldn't be collecting them until later in the day.  If I wanted to, I could go out and gather all that were on them and keep them.  This is when I learned that they do not have to drop off the tree to be ripe enough to harvest.  Pecans have a thick outer shell around them.  She said all I have to do is get the ones that are already starting to open and release the nut.  If the outer shell is still zipped tight, leave 'em.

Needless to say, my day has been busy with nut harvesting.  I'm plumb giddy about it!  In just the very few branches cut from two trees I managed to score about two plastic grocery bags of fresh pecans!  That's only a tiny fraction of the nuts on the trees, and only a tiny fraction of the trees in the orchard.  I'm excited!!  It's all very fallish and wonderful!  We'll see if I'm still overjoyed after I sit and shell them by the hundreds.

Back in the Old Days

Medieval and renaissance people had some wonderful ideas about how things should be.  From clothing to furnishings, from art to architecture, and from the people of more modest surroundings to the social elite, everything was done with excellence and style that display the care and craftsmanship of the hands that made them.

The food was real food and it was as beautiful look to at as it was to eat.  It was prepared for the eye as well as the palate.  Meals were a time for gathering and more of an event, a time to reflect or an opportunity to fellowship, rather than a mere intake of calories for sustenance.  Preparation was long and arduous and the meal reflected the effort of the cook.  The flavors of the house, the hearth and fire, the bread bowl or even the comfortable and familiar flavor that the cheese and milk took on from their own home field that nourished a family cow were unique and pleasant.  The labor and skill that went into every day chores in order to have food on the table was far beyond what most of us today can comprehend.  It's certainly a far cry from a trip to the supermarket and a few minutes in front of the microwave, or a quick pass through the drive-up window at the corner burger joint.

The art of the period was stunning.  The music was masterful and full of mood and emotion, rich with melodies and harmonies and able to tell a story that your heart could understand.  Able to inspire art and dance and to "soothe the savage soul", the composers of the day were sought after and sponsored by aristocrats and even kings.  Paintings and sculptures from those times seem almost impossible to create with human hands.  The masters of the era are still unrivaled.  

The costume accentuated the beauty of the people, the fine details as important as the item they were adorning.  Layers and lace, beads and embroidery, modesty and magnificent fabrics that had such volume and texture that they were works of art themselves.

The image we often have of the medieval times is of poverty and slavery, filth and illness, but I doubt that it was actually a lot different than today.  We have our poor and enslaved, our diseases and cruelty.  All generations do, sadly, but they were people who lived lives every day in their world and time just as we do.  Their routines and traditions were as real and precious to them as ours are to us today.  They lived and worked and created and dreamed and loved.  Their legacy is one of bravery, excellence, beauty, and strength.  They were accountable to their fellows, to themselves and to their God.  They were an excellent people at whatever station they served.

Somewhere along the lines we lost our love of personal excellence.  Whether we were drained of it or gave it up willfully for the sake of money or convenience, style, real beauty and accountability to ourselves has practically faded away from us as a culture.

When did we become so vulgar and empty?   We pride ourselves on creativity and individuality, but we've all but lost personal excellence. We still have our masters and our prodigies, but our accomplishments as individuals in society and our legacies, what we offer to time and history, are sadly lacking in the things that define us as the people that we think we are: smart, metropolitan, urbane, polished, sophisticates, intellectuals.  We are cheap, dime a dozen phonies, stamped out en masse by a consumerist desire to be the momentary center of attention.  I don't think we care much for ourselves or others.  We are consumed by the desire to sate our insatiable emotional greed.

I wonder if the people of history thought of these things?  Probably.  I wonder if they noticed the deterioration of their world and longed for something more stable and strong.  Probably.

What got me started thinking about all this?  It's simple.  I am a baseball fan. My close family members have long been die hard Chicago Cub fans, and 1908 was the last year that the Cubs won the Major League Baseball World Series.  As sort of a joke I started  reading about 1908 and the stories from the headlines of that year. The Ottoman Empire still existed.  It was also the same year that the first major commercial oil discovery is made in the middle east.  Theodore Roosevelt was president, the boy scouts were founded, and the song, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" was published.  The 46th star was added to the flag of the United States representing the state of Oklahoma.  "Anne of Green Gables" was published as was "The Wind in the Willows."  The first long distance radio message was sent from the Eiffel Tower, Wilbur Wright flew the first true controlled, powered flight, and Mother's Day was celebrated for the first time.  It was modern history condensed into one teams losing streak.

While I was searching and reading, I sort of stumbled across an interesting article about John Tyler, the tenth president of the United states.  As of January, 2012, he still has two living grandsons.  They are not great-great grandsons, or even great grandsons, but grandsons.  We are currently breathing the same air as men who are that directly connected to our American heritage and our history.  You see?  History isn't that far removed.  When I was a child, I sat on the lap of a man whose parents undoubtedly lived when Abraham Lincoln was still president.   Fear of the "red Indians" was in the collective consciences of some of my own family members.  I remember the talk. 

History is not far, far past. Time is fleeting.

If our generation remains on this earth, and if there are generations after our own, ours will be the "old days", the history someone else thinks was so long ago.  I hope they realize that in our day there were still those who were individuals, human beings, people with families who cared and loved.  I hope they see that there were people in these dark times that still had some dignity left, a love for fine craftsmanship and pride in their own work.  There were still true lovers of God and His Son Jesus, and that scattered among the profane, in small places and shadows, they were changing their destinies.  When history records it, I want to have won the day for the sake of humanity and the Glory of God.

We were born to this generation and God has chosen us to see it through.  Our time is no more or less desirable or difficult than any other.  If I am wrong about that and we are in fact a part of a generation more difficult and challenging than any other, then REJOICE!  God has seen fit to place us in this day and hour.  Evidently we have what it takes to get the job done.  I will fulfill my part.  Providence is on our side.  Carry on.

The Next Step

I'm going to be starting a few different blogs that will be designated for specific purposes.  This one will probably remain my everyday, catch all, whatever I'm thinking or doing blog.  I'm continuing this one for two reasons.  One, I've had it the longest.  For all my spontaneity and creativity, I can be a creature of habit in some of the more mundane things.  It helps me sometimes to not have to make any new decisions about things that seem to me like they should remain in the background.  There's nothing wrong with Blogger so I'll maintain it and go along as I always have.

Number two, I ramble here.  There's no form or method to the madness, so I'll stay here for freedom's sake.  It's a place to say what I've had on my mind or in my heart.  It's really got no structure to speak of, there are no deadlines, time or subject limits and no real purpose other than to attempt to improve my writing and readability.  I'm not the judge of that, but my husband likes my writing and two of my friends do, too.  I'll never be satisfied, so I'll keep practicing and improving, but I'll go along with their opinions on the matter.

I'm trying to make one blog into an artsy/write-y/creativity blog over on tumblr.  Tumblr feels a little bit juvenile to me.  It could be an unfortunate misconception that I can't shake because many search results that lead me to Tumblr pages turn out to be teens with teen interests as their primary content.  Music, fashion, maybe a little nerd stuff and a lot of whiny, touchy-feely-ness seems to be the popular fare.  Not all, but a lot of them are that way.  A quick, casual stroll through the few that are presented to me on my home page for a sampling showed me I could be right about that assessment.   My apologies to those Tumblr users who are, in fact, serious.  I know you're out there!  The ones I have seen so far that think are more serious tend to be art/creativity related.  Writers, artists, craftsmen and the like seem to have found a home there, so I decided I could probably fit in if I go that route.

I'm also going to make a ministry page. That's always been my primary goal, but I've done very little to make it happen. I didn't want to start a blog about something I take so seriously until I had a good and a clear idea about what to do with it, how to use it, how to present it well and with excellence, and certainly how to write passably well enough not to sound like an idiot.  There are enough Christians out there, sadly, who sound like idiots.  I don't think there are any more needed in that area.  I'm not a great writer, but I'm not awful anymore either, so I decided to get started.  If I don't, it'll never happen.

I'm looking for a good blog site that will let me upload my audio sermons.  I have, stored on my computer, some of the audios from the past few years when I was at Foursquare.  I don't have a lot, but it's enough to get me started.  Right now I don't preach any place regularly, so I'm just planning to upload my older stuff, one every week maybe, and then write some blog entries in between.  By the time I get that accomplished I expect I'll have new ones and maybe I will have learned enough by then to create a podcast.  Who knows?  Preachers gotta preach, you know?  I am GOING to be getting content one way or another.  I write sermons, I just need to preach 'em.  Meanwhile I can use the outlines as starting places for blog entries and I can learn how to do podcasts while I'm getting the blog up and running and getting it's personality established.

It's a bit unnerving.  It still feels like I may be biting off a bit more than I can chew, in a way.  I'm not techy or computer savvy.  I've never forced myself to be disciplined with blog entries here, as far as posting with any regularity.  I have been building up to this for some time, though, so I'm feeling a bit more able to chew it than I did when I began, or even this time last year.  My husband knows quite a bit about these things.   His time is not his own right now, but if I have trouble I'm sure he can walk me through it.  My dear friend Loretta has the spirit of a true entrepreneur.  When I hit a snag, she'll shove me past it kicking and screaming.  Another dear friend, Sara, will keep me grounded and focused.  She always does, she just doesn't realize it.

I'd say the steps are in order.  By faith, with God and the gifts He's given to me, off I go!  May it be blessed, anointed, increased and a blessing to any and all who come upon it.

A Quick Follow-Up on My Last Post

Well, I imagine the people who are from here can tell that I'm not.  I have been standing around out in the rain all day.  I suppose I still think if I don't go out in it I'll miss it entirely, so I try to enjoy it while I can, like a good desert dweller would.  It has been raining for hours now, and I, well, I've been outside standing in it..... for hours.  lol  Maybe I'll adjust.  Then again, maybe I just like the rain.

I said I'd post a few pictures, so I'm going to.  I didn't get a decent enough one of the pecan grove, so I'll wait until I do to post that.  I will take better ones later on.  My phone doesn't take the best pictures in the world, so use your imagination.  :)

This is the front yard.  I can't identify all the trees out there yet, but there are some elm trees in the mix.   There are some beautiful vines going up the trunks of some of them.  There are reportedly some copperheads in this little stand, so I'm going to wait to venture in until I have a taller pair of shoes.  :)

It's pretty hard to tell in this picture, but it's raining... HARD!

This is the Azle water tower just beside the Wal-Mart.  There was a storm coming in.  :)

This next one is looking down the driveway from my house.  There's actually another house over there, but the trees are so dense you can barely tell.  

This is the Texas State Flag.  It's a lot bigger than it looks in this picture.  I'm telling you, there's a Texas flag or a Texas Star on purt'near everything in Texas!  Houses, stores, roofs, benches, tree trunks, public property, private property, easy to see, hard to spot.... everywhere!

I can't get a picture of how this place smells or I'd share it with you.  It's remarkable!  For a while I thought someone nearby was doing laundry every morning and had some wonderful brand of dryer sheet in their dryer.   Eventually I figured out it just smells like that around here.  The rain smells good here, too, like I remember from when I was a kid. It's all loam-y and earth-y and rich.  Today, because of the rain, it's been cool enough most of the day that I could have the windows open, and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to smell this beautiful smell all over my whole world.  I think the worst part of the year here is over.  I certainly hope that's true.  Either way, fall will be knocking on the door soon, and I'm really looking forward to the season where I can have my house opened more often.

That's it today, no music, no fanfare.  I have to head into town for a bit and then cook and study and whatnot, so I'm out.  See you soon.  

Hello From Texas!!

Well, it's been a while since I have posted anything here.  It's not because I didn't want to, but I've been unable to.  I haven't had decent internet since we left Kingman.  Yesterday we got our new internet service, so we're up and running and joining the rest of civilized society again.

Yes, that's what I said; we left Kingman!  All these many years I dreamed of moving and we now live in Texas!  I suppose I could have been writing some entries in the interim so that I could be ready to post a few now that I am settling in, but instead I've been sitting around a lot, being lazy and doing very little.

I can't take too long to write today.  Even though we just got internet, we also just started our new homeschool year, so we're very busy working out scheduling and ordering our time.  In a couple of weeks when things settle down to more of a routine I should be able to write a decent update and maybe throw in a few pictures of the new area.

For now, just let me say we love it here.  It's hot.  Hotter than I had expected, and much hotter than I'd hoped, but not hotter than I was used to, so the adjustment was immediate.   Everyone said we'd hate the humidity, but we really don't.   Hot is hot, wet or dry, pick your poison.  I used to jokingly say that the humidity was to keep the dirt on the ground where it belongs, and I was absolutely right about that.  That's a real blessing.  The kids and I were laughing at a sign in a road construction zone that said to drive slowly to keep the dust down.  These people don't know what dust is!  It's been dry here for quite some time according to the locals, right up until this week, so if they were ever going to be dusty they had their chance. I just didn't see it.  I suppose it's a relative thing.

The nights are warmer and stickier here.   I will miss that about the desert.  In northern Arizona, when the sun goes down the temperatures go down with it, and generally you can sit outside and enjoy it in all but the very hottest weeks of the year.  I can sit outside here at night, but it stays warm.  My grandma used to call it "close".  I know what she meant.

In the day time during the hot weather, the truth is I spend most of my time inside, and I think the air conditioner does a better job of cooling the house here in the humid conditions than the evaporative cooler did back in Arizona in dry conditions.  Over all,  I'd say I'm more comfortable.  If what I hear is right, the hot season here is shorter, so I should be able to spend more time outside soon.  That will be wonderful!

I prefer the way my skin and my hair feels in the humidity.  My cracked heels and fingertips healed up inside of two weeks, and they were in pretty bad shape.  I prefer the way my eyes roll, and the fact that I can blow my nose and it will actually take care of the problem.  I LOVE that as I walk I can touch something with my hand and not blow the tips of my fingers open as static electricity causes sparks to arc from my flesh to what ever object I'm reaching towards.  Maybe someday I'll get out of the habit of feeling like I have to touch everything with my elbow first.

I prefer the way the landscape looks, and that requires the moisture.  Humidity is more than a fair price to pay for the blessings it brings.  I'm certainly going to write a whole 'nuther post about the surroundings here and the beautiful landscape, but for now let me just say it's green.  Maybe it's not as green as Tennessee or Pennsylvania, but having come from Arizona's Mohave Desert it looks mighty green to me, and I enjoy, nay, cherish every green leaf and blade of it.

To add to that, this week we're getting rain.  I think it's typical that in July and early August things are pretty dry in these parts, and that it begins to ease up about this time of year.  I can tell you for sure that the beautiful, thick, heavy, gray clouds we are getting now are the most beautiful things in all the land!  That, hand in hand with the greenery, and I am in awe.  I have waited so, so long!  That's probably a good part of the reason I haven't accomplished a lot lately.  I literally sit and stare at the beautiful scenery!  Sitting at my kitchen table I can look out into the grove and watch the clouds through the breaks in the dense branches.  Cicadas and all the other annoying little critters are music to my ears right now!  I  can hardly wait until the weather starts to cool off a bit so I can get out and enjoy it up close and personal.

I can barely stand the wait for the changes of the seasons!  Fall is coming and I'm so excited! It's my favorite season of the year!  For many years I've been saying, "Before this fall comes I'll be someplace where I can see the seasons changes."  Mayhap this is that year!

So, the next chapter is being written.  I'm excited.  What a great story!!