Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Most of Effie Wilder’s avid reading fans are most familiar with her popular books based (loosely) on daily life at the Presbyterian Village in Summerville for years…books like Out to Pasture, Over What Hill? and Older but Wilder.

But I also adore Effie’s Wilder’s volumes on Taradiddles and Terse Verse. It is in these writings that her quick wit is so evident and just so fun to share.

Monday…after Brooke left following my eye surgery…I rested for awhile and then gathered all my tax information and bravely headed out to get my “taxes done.” My regular tax preparer, Lynette, retired during the year so I had been assigned to someone new…and that always makes me a little nervous.

As it turned out…it was my preparer who was a little nervous…she was just starting out in this field…but she had been taught by the best coach…her Aunt Lynette! Since my tax information is about as simple as one can have…pretty direct…the young girl visibly relaxed and we had the best time together. She was very knowledgeable and was even sharing all the differences that will appear next year under the new tax guidelines…making it simple enough so even I could understand it.

Effie Wilder’s ‘take’ on taxes is full of wit and humor…and even though it was written back in the 80’s some attitudes never change…like Ben Franklin’s famous comment on taxes….

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

“Many Happy Returns”

I’m busy gathering figures and facts

For the (cuss deleted) income tax

It’s a sickening chore. It’s a pain in the neck.

And the worst part’s coming: writing the check.

The beautiful springtime goes to waste

While you hunt receipts and things misplaced,

And study the tortuous instructions

To dry to dig out a few deductions.

I don’t mind paying my proper share

But so much about it isn’t fair,

And my money’s wasted. It’s all a mess. 

A pox on Uncle and his I.R.S.!

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Truth be told…I am getting back some “Happy Returns” or at least much anticipated “Happy Refunds.” (Ya’s the Boo will actually have some shopping spree money this year on our Late Winter/Early Spring Pawleys Retreat.)

All the way home from my appointment I was “intaxicated” until I remembered the definition of “intaxication”- the great feeling you have until you realize it is simply your own money (you paid in the first place) that you are getting back. (Still money is money)

I saw a cartoon the other day where a slumped over client is looking at the sign behind the tax preparer’s desk. It reads THE IRS….the client glumly reads: It’s all THEIRS!

Kidding aside…I think we are all happy when tax season is over…and for better or worse we can quit worrying about it for another year.

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***But you know what Kristen has learned…that I learned also…that to be alive and able to show up each year to pay taxes and/or receive refunds…is so far superior in the heirarchy of life… over worrying about some random taxes…our priorities change when our lives are challenged.

And today is a challenging benchmark day for Kristen...she has known it has been coming since she and her oncologist discussed the path Kristen would follow with her treatments….today is surgery day…. mastectomy day.

I am sure Kristen and her family have mixed emotions…but the overwhelming one is…to complete this part of the treatments and start the stage back to full recovery as quickly as possible.

Adorable Kristen… that is all of our prayers for you today! *The surgery is at 11:00 this morning…if you, blog readers,  can pause a moment and say a special prayer right then and there I know Kristen’s family would appreciate it.

We are “ALL IN” for YOU! 

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Yesterday I had lunch at Gingi’s house with Sue Anne and Mev…I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. Delicious cuisine and hilarious company. Everyone was a sweetheart friend to each other with Valentines coming. *(As you can see my “special” glasses are  on…still a little eye/light sensitive!)

Next Thursday (February 15)  The Little Cottage (Community Cafe) at 106 Doty Avenue in Summerville is having a drop-in reception from 5-8. Our own Anne Peterson ( along with two artist friends- Susan Baughman and Donna Boerema) will be the featured artists for this event aptly named A Heart for Art. It is open to the public and should be a fun, festive event! Do come out for it!

*Ten Percent of all proceeds will be donated to Dorchester Paws.

My “Happy Beauty” Pick yesterday was this scene on South Main Street while caught in stopped traffic…I looked over at the one of the homes along Main Street…the white picket fence with the magnolia leaves tumbling down…all my sighs of traffic frustration (from the stalled traffic) disappeared and I thanked God for that moment to enjoy this scene.

So until tomorrow…a day with friends, laughter, and natural beauty…doesn’t get much better than this.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I loved hearing your own memorable “blankie” memories in whatever form they took…I  want to share some of these with you tomorrow…so if you haven’t shared and would like to…please do.

Dear Reader:

Don’t we hate to admit it…but most of us still cling to something that we love so dearly… that it doesn’t matter …even if it is tattered and torn with wear. I think it is called the “Linus Blankie” Syndrome.

I remember as a child I had to have my blue satin pillow case or I could not go to sleep…like Linus I was a thumb sucker and it was the texture (soft and smooth) of the satiny pillow case that lulled me to sleep…a tactile thing.

Jakie is in love with his blankie named “Night Night” for the same reason…its silky feel between his fingers is comforting to him. He also chews on his blankie. (*Eva Cate is pretending to chew on hers…but I think she is poking fun at Jakie…no biting for Eva Cate.)

*Eva Cate has a special pink blanket called “Lil Pinkie” left over from a newborn present she got…that she too looks for every night before she goes to bed. *But when I spend the night and bring “Old Pinkie” I find her nine times out of ten…wrapped up in it asleep when I stay the night over…she really loves “Old Pinkie.” It is so “used” it has a special kind of softness.

*And don’t we know of people who seemed to soften too as time went by in life…by so much love?

Yesterday as I watched Brooke and then me…go running back in the house for our “Old Pinkies” (pink robes) I had to laugh out loud. We simply can’t solve all the world’s problems without our “Old Pinkies.”

We put them on late Sunday afternoon while we talked on the deck and let supper warm. Then after we got home from ‘Eye Zap’ Number 2 Monday morning…the deck was in the shade and it was still cool. Brooke ran to her car to get her robe back out of the trunk and I ran back inside my bedroom to get my robe too.

Brooke’s most famous “blankie” however, is in the form of an old blue cotton nightgown that has been in tatters for decades…Sweet Libby has “operated” on it so much she told Brooke last time…that “Old Blue” couldn’t take any more “surgery.”

My pink robe is getting really “frazzled” looking…threads are popping out and the cuffs that were a little long have gotten so dirty over the years…no cleaning product can touch it. But I think that is the secret…these are our “comfort items” and like “comfort foods” are needed when we have especially challenging days.

I know when I go to get “Old Pinkie” (hanging off the back of the bedroom door) that my day is done…and my reward (to myself) is to sink into its coziness… and feel comfort and joy all at once.

I think our “blankies” in life are a metaphor for the theme of the “Velveteen Rabbit.”

***I love my “Old Pinkie” robe and “Pinkie” you will never be ugly in my eyes because I do understand…you never judge me, criticize me…you simply wrap yourself around me and bring me ‘comfort and joy.’ Thank you my “Blankie.”

The Psychology of Security Blankets

Melody Thomas

(Excerpts)

Do you remember the old Peanuts comics, where Linus carried his security blanket with him everywhere he went? It seemed to give him a sense of security that one would expect from a “security” blanket and if he was out of touch with the blanket, he experienced physical illness as a result. Although the Peanuts comic strip was one that provided us with comedic relief, there may actually be some truth in what was being said. As a matter of fact, it is thought that a child’s use of a security blanket is associated with psychological benefits that begin at a very young age. 

…For years, it was thought that being insecurely attached was what caused the child to be more likely to have a security object, such as a blanket. In more recent studies, however, it has been shown that children may be attached to a blanket or other object, such as a stuffed animal, even if they have properly bonded with their mother. During that test, however, it was determined that regardless of whether the child was secure in his relationship with his mother or if it was insecurely attached, having a security blanket was going to be beneficial. Most children that had security blankets ended up being better adjusted to situations that produce unusual anxiety.

Come on now…’Fess up’! What did you have as a child…and/or now…that is your security blanket? You just heard the doctor…we blankie lovers “are better adjusted to situations that produce unusual anxiety.” (Good thing for that!)

So until tomorrow…“Once you are real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”  (That’s a relief!)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Look at the difference a little sunshine and time makes…(Left to Right…cloudy Sunday…sunny Monday)

Dear Reader:

I mentioned awhile back that I had started a series of mysteries by Guidepost authors called the “Tearoom Mysteries.” Last night I finished the book (in the title photo) and to my surprise…the editors had added an extra entry from the Guideposts Archives. (The story, by Laura David of Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, originally appeared in Mysterious Ways.)

I suppose they added this entry because the mystery in this particular “Tearoom Mysteries” dealt with crossword puzzles.

I could identify with the friend “Richie” in the following anecdote because Mr. Dingle, our beloved Poppy, always said something similar when asked how he was. Phrases like “I never had it so good” and other upbeat sayings always came as his response. I love the section of Mysterious Ways in Guideposts because for me…it is just another way of describing “God Winks” in life. Those wonderful, inexplicable, fascinating glimpses from God.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” my friend Richie always said. And I mean always. He said it every day… to everyone he knew. He believed it too. I never saw a person get more joy out of life. 

My husband worked with him at a Chattanooga engineering firm, and we’d quickly become part of his social circle. People gravitated to Richie. It was easy to see why. His sense of fun ran the gamut from riding his motorcycle to tromping with pals through the woods to parties on his porch. Sooner or later you could count on him to say those magic words: “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Then, three years ago, Richie was diagnosed with lung cancer. He’s been a heavy smoker most of his life. He’d quit four years earlier, but not soon enough. 

Richie went through chemotherapy, and radiation, dropped weight, lost his hair. But on days when he was feeling up to it, he loved sitting down to a hearty meal. He’d raise his glass and make a toast: “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

The company offered Richie early retirement. He didn’t want that. He loved being around people too much. He worked until he no longer could… till about a month and a half before he died, at age sixty-two. 

At his funeral, it was tough to keep sad thoughts at bay. There, printed on the church program, was his favorite phrase, but we wouldn’t hear him say it anymore. For Richie, the days didn’t keep getting better, did they?

After the service one of Richie’s coworkers came up waving the Chattanooga Times Free Press. I figured he wanted to show us Richie’s obituary. Instead, he opened it to the crossword puzzle. “Look,” he said pointing to the clue for 61 across. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

I scanned the puzzle until I found the answer. It might have well been filled in by Richie himself. 

61 Across: IM IN HEAVEN

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So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for the presence of friends and family who make even rainy days brighter by their thoughtfulness. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Yesterday was a rainy day…. Kaitlyn and Tommy had called to ask if it suited for us to get together for Tommy’s much belated birthday brunch. “Perfect” I replied…we had been trying to pull off a get-together since Tommy’s actual birthday in December. I still had his jar of birthday change…which was overflowing with the extra weeks of tossing coins in it.

We went to a restaurant in Summerville where I had never gone before- Graze- and that is what we did….graze over a delicious breakfast. From there we went to visit Harvey and Doodle….we spent time talking about family history and looking at old pictures…one of my favorite things to do. A rainy, blustery day became a memorable one.

You know Valentines is coming… with red tulips to make us smile on a cloudy day. So pretty! Brooke is here today and we are off one more time… my last day of eye surgery (hopefully)

But like Brooke says..it gives us a wonderful excuse to get together!

Dear Reader:

It has been the white…(well, white tinged with the lightest of pink) camellias that have called to me on my cold walks this past week. I have gotten in the habit of carrying some small clippers to snip one here and there from bushes that have many. (I justify my “snip” by the quantity and quality.) The freeze really did hurt the blooms…and so many camellia bushes have brown spots on the leaves, buds, and blooms.

When I woke up yesterday morning my pink camellia bush/tree (over twelve feet tall) had blooms at the tip top of it…which will definitely be a challenge to pick. And there scurrying from branch to branch was a little Carolina wren…they are so cute and just as busy as a bee going up and down the camellia “tree.”

The title painting was done by a Dingle ancestor…Edward Von Siebold Dingle of Middleburg Plantation near Huger and Mepkin Abby. I remember attending a family reunion there soon before his death in 1975. He was and is a well respected watercolor artist and naturalist dealing with all kinds of birds…nicknamed “The Audubon of the South.” 

*Edward Von Siebold Dingle grew up on a plantation just outside  the city of Charleston (Summerton) where he was born in 1893. His mother was a noted painter of birds and she helped guide him from an early age. When he proudly produced his first bird drawing at the age of twelve he had started on a path that he would stay on for the rest of his life. From that precocious start ornithology became both his artistic and his scientific passion.

After 1927, when Dingle married Marie G. Ball, they lived at Middleburg Plantation in Huger, South Carolina. He died on April 21, 1975. Indeed, while art collectors know him for his splendid watercolors of hundreds of different birds, in scientific circles he is remembered for discovering and recording five new bird species.

I wish sometimes I didn’t have a screen on this window by the computer so I could take a clear photo of everything going on right outside my window. Because along with the camellia “tree” and the little Carolina Wren on it…guess who else showed up? Sammy, the cardinal, and his wife. Sammy’s wife was kind to the little wren, but Sammy kept chasing him off the grounds around the bottom of the camellia bush…until they returned later in the afternoon all getting along like The Three Musketeers!

Off and on all day the three have returned and it makes me smile watching all the antics between them. I love to hear the little Carolina Wren chirping away….friends with the Cardinal family.Who knew?

Carolina Wren Song – YouTube  (33 seconds)

Here are some interesting facts on the Carolina Wren

Interesting Facts

• The Carolina Wren is the State Bird of the US state of South Carolina.
• A captive male Carolina wren reportedly sang around 3,000 times in a single day.
• These birds often add a piece of snakeskin inside their nest.
• The oldest known Carolina wren lived at least 6 years and 1 month.
• Some populations of these birds have been affected by contamination of mercury.
• Various parasites, including blowfly larvae, ticks, mites, and lice often infest their bodies.
• The size of their range territory size is 0.01 to 0.081 square km.
• Their calls have been identified with familiar names and phrases such as sweet heart-sweet heart, come to me-come to me, tea kettle-tea kettle-tea kettle tea, sweet William, and Richelieu-Richelieu.

*I remember the third or fourth year I taught school all the 8th grade SC History classes  got a Facts About SC pocket handbook (for each individual student) and on the cover was Edward Von Siebold Dingle’s painting of the state bird and flower together.

I was able to do a whole lesson on the famous family Dingle painter…one of the best lessons I taught.

Here are some of my “snippet” camellias (thanks neighbors) *Brooke… some of your flowers you gave me two weeks ago are still alive so I just added two camellias….(Brooke is returning today to take me to the second (and hopefully) last surgical “zap” on my left eye Monday.)

When we say “South” aren’t the first plants one envisions either a magnolia, azalea, or camellia? I so love living in the South!

So until tomorrow…Let us enjoy the first peeks of spring…hope can’t be far behind.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I have known for quite a while that Lachlan is enamored of Minnie Mouse…he always runs to my refrigerator to grab a “Minnie Mouse” magnet to play with…his favorite toy. And then while Aunt Kaitlyn and Uncle Tommy did some babysitting Lachlan, somehow, managed to squeeze into Eloise’s Minnie Mouse outfit Honey sent. Too hilarious!

Dear Reader:

We know February is “officially” here now because the first bloom off my Yellow Jessamine vine burst open from its tiny tight buds …on February 1, exactly 94 years to the day that the South Carolina General Assembly adopted the yellow jessamine as the state flower.

The State Flower of South Carolina has the most delicate fragrance of all the early spring flowers. I can hardly wait until the next bunch of buds spring open…so exciting and so aromatic! It will definitely brighten the gray skies of winter. Parts of the state flower can be  used by herbalists to treat eye ailments. I wish I knew which parts…maybe it could spare me from getting my left eye zapped Monday! 🙂

It doesn’t seem like five years ago Joan Turner and I teamed up to create a little fictional children’s story about the state flower of South Carolina. So much fun!

Joan…we will have to do another literary adventure again…if for no other reason than I can get another wonderful painting from you! I adore this cover.

…And speaking of timely…my lovely daughter-in-love, Kaitlyn, wrote another wonderful blog two days ago…on (what else) time! I asked her if I could “steal” it and put it on my blog today and she graciously agreed. ( Later I told her I needed to read it over and over…because time is the hardest thing for me to keep track of…it is like an invisible friend who appears and then disappears out of nowhere.)

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“Reset” (Legally OHm)

How often do you think you’ve muttered the phrase, “I simply don’t have time”? I’m willing to bet more than you can count. The truth is, we have time for what we make time for – we have time for what is truly important. The question then is what’s important to you?

When I start thinking about time management, it makes me re prioritize my life. If I want to go to more yoga, it might mean sacrificing an additional hour or so of sleep so I can get to the studio before work. If I’m going to get up earlier to go to  yoga, it means getting my butt in bed earlier to get adequate sleep. If I’m going to sleep earlier, it means eating at a reasonable time and turning off the TV so I can get to bed. There are various “sacrifices” and rearrangements that might need to take place to “make time” for what’s important.

Other times we just have to let things go to make time. When I suggest people take a break from their work or studies or responsibilities and do whatever helps them reset, I get the no time excuse A LOT. I’ve said it myself. The thing is, it’s those moments of drowning and being overwhelmed when you need the time the most. When my wi-fi is down or the phone goes haywire, the first thing we do is look for the savior red reset button. Somehow with the press of that little button everything goes back to “normal”. The same is true for us. We need to reset when things get crazy or the status quo just isn’t working. One or two hours is not going to make or break you – if it is, maybe reevaluate priorities and planning.  It’s likely that you’ll perform better after hitting the reset button.

Tommy and I were staying with one of his friends from college, and I was talking to his wife. I asked her about her routine with two little girls. She told me she goes to the gym every morning at 5:45 to work out because she knows it’s the only time she can, and if she doesn’t get that time to herself, she’s not the same person. Saturday is her no gym sleep in day, and she treasures it. She has clearly identified what’s important to her and organized ways to make these happen – it helps that her husband is sweet to get the girls up and going in the morning (teamwork, right?)

When we don’t make time for ourselves, it’s close to impossible to make time for anyone or anything else. It’s like running on empty.

So the next time that you feel like you just might explode, or you don’t know how to get everything done maybe just stop and hit the reset button.

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So until tomorrow:

Thank you Kaitlyn…my finger is already poised on the “reset” button as I type. And since you were kind enough to let me use your wonderful message today…I am making time to go on a longer walk than usual and enjoy God’s happy beauties. For this…I am most grateful that your “reset” button “reset” mine too! 🙂

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

ANOTHER TIMELY EVENT…PHIL THE GROUNDHOG

Phil the groundhog stepped out of his cozy little house to the roar and applause of the thousands of American who have gathered to witness the prophetic rodent.

Folklore legends surrounding the mystical groundhog stipulate that if Phil sees his shadow today, he is spooked into returning to his burrow, thus predicting another six weeks of winter.

Unfortunately for Phil, Pennsylvania and the rest of the US, the rodent “told” his trustworthy inner-circle of tuxedo-clad men that another six weeks of bitter cold are at hand.

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BOO PHIL!…BUT THEN AGAIN HE ISN’T TOO ACCURATE WITH HIS PREDICTIONS SO PREDICTING WRONG…MIGHT END UP PREDICTING RIGHT!  (Any way that’s how I see it! 🙂 )

*Thanks everyone for all the prayers for Jakie!!!…he returned to the doctor yesterday (third time this week) and his lungs were clear….We are so relieved…the doctor said that this particular strand of flu is lasting up to ten days or more…so even though it seems like a long time (especially running fever) it is just part of the process…Little Jakie is just going to have hang tight and stick with the additional antibiotics, oxygen mask/breathing treatments, and drinking lots of fluids. I know it was all your prayers that gave him an encouraging  report for recovery. Patience…Patience…Patience. Prayer, Prayer, Prayer.

*Minnie Mouse might have just gotten a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood but I think Mary Lou McGee deserves a star too. She is a cancer warrior of the highest degree of courage and humor. She is taking all her children and grandchildren to Disney World …her 36th return over the years…a special magical place in her family’s scrapbooks.

Kathy Worthington and her husband Larry drove to Orlando to surprise Mary Lou as she got off the plane! What else are BFF’s for than making a friend’s day! Look at the expression on both their faces.

Don’t forget this saying from Peter Pan, Mary Lou, and all of you will fly through Disney World,  enjoying the happiness of magic and being together as a family…and perhaps Tinker Bell will appear with some magical pixie dust…you just have to believe! Have the time of your life!

Dear Reader:

I love sometimes to look back on earlier blogs or sometimes they just pop up when I go “surfing on the internet.” Yesterday I found a little story/incident I had written about a few years back but then there was another part I had not read that now caught my interest.

Archibald Rutledge (Life’s Extras) wrote about visiting a neighbor who had gotten into some legal problems and was incarcerated. Knowing his wife would be having a hard time without him around to hunt and help her tend to the vegetable gardens…he stopped by to check on her.

Rutledge came bringing staples and a few other items he thought she might need. As he talked to her his eyes strayed over the little wooden mantle with only one object on it…a mason jar with a sprig of rhododendron blossom sticking out. He thought this simple arrangement was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

The wife caught him staring at it and said “I don’t know why…but to have it there helps me. It ‘minds me of God.”

Archibald said that he has never seen another rhododendron blossom without thinking of that woman’s simple faith that was so much stronger than so many other “sophisticated” people he knew.

Archibald started thinking of the colors God chose to put on earth and in the sky…surely these, like the simple flower in the mason jar, were life’s extras too.

“The color of the sky might have been a dingy gray, or a painful yellow, or a plum-colored purple. But it is sapphire; and my philosophy makes me believe that such a color the sky is by no means the result of mere chance. 

Granted that it is the result of the operation of certain laws, forces, and conditions; yet behind it all, is the mighty intelligence of the Creator. And let us not forget that the two colors at which we can gaze longest are blue and green. There is something about them a coolness, a serenity, a spirit of fragrant peace. And as the blue prevails in the sky, the green does upon earth. 

It was the contrast of greens in this photo I took heading back down my driveway this afternoon that caught my attention. I remember reading that there are more shades of green than any other color…going all the way back to the photosynthesis process of plants on earth.

Like in the title picture (Kaitlyn made that mason jar for me) my whole being is yearning to simplify these days. Perhaps that is why the poster on my computer room door keeps this vision in my eyesight as I type.

It is just not my physical space on earth that I am continuously cleaning out and ridding myself of…it is my spiritual “clutter” too that needs simplifying. Perhaps Archibald Rutledge says it best:

He ponders on how high is the heaven? Illimitable. And so, he believes, is God’s love.

…”To a sophisticated person, this sort of belief may seem too child-like. Yet I have the gravest suspicions of sophistication. I have never discovered it in nature; and to me it seems that instead of being a proof of enlightenment and culture, it is the evidence rather of ignorance, and perhaps of folly. It is the triumph of shallowness and sterility. 

The real trouble with a sophisticated person is that he knows too much, not that he knows too little.”

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I love that last line…and I will have to remember it. Another lesson in less is best. Overthinking is one of our worst deterrents along our individual paths of faith.

So until tomorrow…Thank you God for giving me moments of happiness each day… simplified in beauty and faith. These sights “mind me of God.”

*Ambika sent me some happy news yesterday…she and her husband are expecting their second child in July! We are all so happy for you Ambika…hugs and kisses!

***I texted Mandy last night to check on Jakie and asked if he was feeling better (been sick with the flu for over a week now) since getting on some antibiotics…but the answer was only “so so“…He is still running a fever…Jakie is just having a tough time throwing this strand of flu. They are calling the doctor again this morning to see what else they can possibly do. I would personally thank you for prayers for little Jake…with his history of allergy complications and other respiratory issues…his little immune system is having a tough time fighting the flu. We love you Jakie! Get better soon!

Dear Reader:

Ambika knows me so well after all these years of being blog-buddies and posts-connected…particularly my flawed “If it can be lost I can lose it” segment on life.

She received a downright funny episode on aging and forgetfulness that a friend sent. She said she immediately thought of me. (Sad but true I am afraid.) The little anecdote IS funny and I could relate… though the latest “lost” incident in my life hasn’t been quite so humorous…but first…here is the story.”

“Oh Dear Lord…Not Again!”

After a meeting, I was coming out of a hotel and I was looking for my car keys. They were not in my pockets. A quick search in the meeting room, they wasn’t there either.

Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car.

My husband has shouted at me in frustration many times for leaving the keys in the ignition.

My theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them …….
His theory is the car will be stolen if left in the ignition key slot !

Immediately, I rushed to the parking lot and came to a terrifying conclusion …..
His theory was right. The parking lot was empty 😱😞😞.

I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, description of the car, place I parked, etc. I equally confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that the car had been stolen.

Then I made the most difficult call of all, to my husband,
“Honey (I stammered ; I always call him ‘honey’ in times like these)…   “I left my keys in the car …. and it has been stolen.”

There was a big, l-o-n-g silence. I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard his voice.
“Idiot”, he shouted, “I dropped you at the hotel !”

Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, though relieved and happy as well, I said, “Well, then please come and get me.”

He shouted again, “I will, as soon as I convince this policeman, that I have not stolen your car.” 😁😁

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When Ambika let me know the other day about this little story…she had no way of knowing how appropriate the timing was. You might remember last Sunday was a “wash out” day…cold and dreary. I had ‘holed’ up with a few sniffles and ventured out of the house only once to pick up some monthly prescriptions from CVS.

That was when I discovered something was “amiss.” My driver’s seat had been pushed all the way back (almost touching the back seat.) It was the eeriest feeling. Who had been in my car?

I had not locked it the late afternoon before…the same afternoon Luke and I were dragging the prickly shrub tree to the street and got caught in the first rain showers. I thought I might go out one more time…but decided I didn’t want to fight the rain and would just stay home. Later Saturday night I remembered I hadn’t locked the car but dismissed it with it being a miserably rainy night. Who would be out in this kind of weather?

Sunday…after I discovered someone had been in the car…I started looking around for things that might be missing. But nothing looked touched or out of place…even the penny change and some candy was right where I left it.

But then I remembered I always kept an extra car key down in the bottom of my console pocket under lots of James Taylor and Carole King CD’s and tissues. *I figured that unless some car thief was as big a fan as myself…he/she wouldn’t want to flip through all the CDs to get to the bottom. Yet…I couldn’t find it. Had I moved it one time earlier and forgotten to replace it?

But I also knew the car hadn’t been moved. It was on the exact same spot I had parked it…no changes in the gas gauge. A real mystery. But then why was the key (perhaps) missing and why didn’t the person pull the car seat back into place…if so I probably never would have suspected anything.

To add to the mystery…there was/is an abandoned bike near my driveway… that to date has never been claimed. Luke and I pulled it in a neighbor’s yard next to mine and propped it up by a tree. Since then this episode update has gone out to neighbors involved in our Neighborhood Watch group.

Luke told me yesterday that several residents noticed three young men, all dressed in dark clothing, hanging around the streets late Saturday afternoon. Is there a connection? We don’t know yet.

However I did have to chuckle…because with my old car being quite old (with lots of miles behind it)…two of the indoor lights are defective and come on when the car is started…even though the car has been checked and there isn’t a problem…the engine light and the oil light immediately come on. *If someone had started the car…and saw those lights…they probably figured they had lucked out with a “clunker” that was most likely going to leave him/them high and dry before they could even get out of the driveway…much less the neighborhood.

Thank goodness for old cars with defective parts! (Yet…like we “baby boomers” we can still contribute…flaws and all! :))

Luke is getting an outdoor camera that will monitor our section of the street…I am now pulling the car right up to my den window and keeping the flood light on that side of the yard and driveway on overnight.

As much money as I have put into keeping the “Green Vue” going lately I sometimes have to laugh to myself and thank I ought to beg someone to drag this car off….One more glitch and I will probably be resigned to paying monthly car installments again.

But for now…all is good and life continues…sometimes with a little extra excitement added in. And humor does help ease the pain.

So until then…“The most wasted of all days…is one without humor.” e.e.cummings

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Don’t forget! Today is the first day of February. Say “rabbit” first thing today to have a lucky wonderful month!

Isn’t it hard to believe…one cold month down…and another shorter one coming…hopefully…right Mr. Groundhog?

Even Ms. Rabbit has wrapped her Valentines scarf snugly around her on these cold sunny days.

…And speaking of “thieves and stealing” these three are accused of stealing my heart each and every day.

Dear Reader:

I had another epiphany yesterday, after all our recent discussion on taking time to drink in segmented “swallows” of knowledge consistently, while not wasting the precious waters of knowledge by allowing it to overflow…with nowhere to go.

I am, by nature, a “big picture” person. Once I have an image of an idea and how it needs to be played out to fruition I am ready to go into attack mode and get it done. I am not a “detail” person…so I do better when I team up with someone who is…providing the best of both strengths.

Perhaps that is why I find it frustrating some times to be ‘kept in the dark’ over a problem or situation from which I can’t find a conclusion.

Psalm 119:105 says… “His Word will light our path.”

It has just recently dawned on me that there is a reason we aren’t born with a map attached to us. Or perhaps directions on how to best approach each path we encounter through life…so we can plan ahead.

God doesn’t want us planning ahead. I know you organized personalities are having a tough time with this thought…and the disappearance of my “Big Picture” approach to life is equally intimidating. It’s time for us to look at life and God’s lantern differently.

This concept of living life through un-chartered terrains is scary. It is so much easier to follow other people’s advice. But cheer up…God is always there, with the lantern, to show us the next step…just not the whole journey!

It came to me, recently, that I have never experienced the feeling that my life’s blueprint is completely drawn up. I believe that each of our unique life blueprints are mobile…subject to change as surely as the wind. We are only given the next step in the blueprint…but never the finished product…because we are building our eternal home as we go.

Cheri Fuller (Trading Worry for Wonder) says in her book:

“God has planned things for you and me to do-ahead of time, before we ever thought about them! I believe there are songs in heaven God is still looking for someone to write, stories to tell that He wants told, and help provided for His children who need us…with willing vessels to accomplish these goals on earth.”

With this in mind…it dawned on me that God doesn’t have to always hold the lantern…we are sometimes chosen to light the path for another in His place and in His name…and/or sometimes another person, someone we know or a complete stranger, becomes our lantern-holder. (I love this quote above.)

Ever time I get a little down about any situation that is on-going and just doesn’t seem to want to go away…I like to remember this message.

So until tomorrow…I have decided that I will pretend that I am building the home of my dreams and that each day I get to put something in it that I love…the only criteria, however, is that it must make me happy…so when I walk into a room or by a piece of furniture or an object on a table…I smile.

I don’t need a blueprint…I have one. After all, “There is no way to happiness…Happiness IS the way.” (Thich Nhat Hanh)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Unfortunately the flu bug has now hit the Turner family. Little Jakie has it…and John isn’t feeling good either. I sent him this picture of the two of them during the snow-in a few weeks ago…to remind John that soon they will be back on top together again.

Tigger decided to show his male alpha dog approval of Minnie Mouse’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Dear Reader:

Saturday as I walked down Old Country Club road…I smiled when I got to the end and saw the hearts (flag) in front of the last house before the dead end. Goodness…before we know it Valentines will be here! January leaves, then old groundhog comes out to smile and get his picture made, and finally chocolate candy hearts abound.

There are always lots of romance stories floating around Valentines Day…but there are also endearing “heart” stories that perhaps stick longer in our memories because they happen every day.

Quinn Caldwell, in one of his daily devotions, talks on this special kind of “heart story.”

“Transplant”  Quinn Caldwell

“Set me as a seal upon your heart…for love is strong as death…” – Song of Solomon 8:5-6

I was sitting in a hospital room, talking with a member of my church about the new (well, new to her, anyway) kidney that was just then firing up inside her.  We were talking gratitude and miracles, because what else is there to discuss two days after a successful organ transplant?

She told me a story her transplant surgeon had told her about a mother whose teenage son had been killed in an accident and whose organs had been donated to others.  The man who received his heart wanted to thank her in person, and so they arranged to meet.  She showed up at the meeting with a stethoscope, so that she could hear her son’s heart beat again.

I wanted to know more, so I Googled it later.  I couldn’t find my parishioner’s story—but only because I couldn’t tell which one of the many I found was hers.  Apparently, this happens all the time.  It’s a thing.  Pull out the tissues and check out stories here and here and here. There are more.

I just can’t stop watching those videos.  Maybe I should worry that this is a little too schadenfreudey or emotionally manipulative or something.  But the truth is that each one basically feels like a different version of the same gorgeous sermon.

Prayer

Come, God, come.  Bring your stethoscope, and listen for Your Son’s heart beating in me.  Don’t let me reject this spiritual transplant, and let me make this second chance worth it.  Amen.

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My cousins’ (Aunt Eva’s son Don and his wife Gay) first child, a little boy… only lived three years…he died from a degenerative disease. He was beautiful…blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes. When he died my cousins donated whatever organs could be used for others…including those beautiful blue eyes.

I have often wondered if Don and Gay ever knew who they went to…and if she would want to look into those eyes one more time. What a gift of life and sight this young couple  gave while mourning the loss of their first-born.

I love the idea that all of us have been given a piece of Christ’s transplanted heart and like Quinn Caldwell prayed…Let us not throw this gift of life away…a second chance at life eternal.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

And speaking of ‘getting to the heart of the matter’ …Yesterday was my first time to keep Eloise while Mollie ran some errands and Walsh helped with some cleaning (Eloise is taking a bottle when needed)….Little Eloise was a sweetheart…she soon discovered I had nothing to offer her but hugs and kisses and bottled milk…so she just drank up and went back to sleep. Can hardly wait to keep her again next week!

Little boys grow up to have big toys…a benchmark birthday present for Walsh…He is hoping that he and Mollie can take the boys to school through some back trails some days in the future when Rutledge starts kindergarten next year. Before I left to come home… Walsh gave me a ride around their neighborhood…so much fun!

*This beautiful oak with the hanging moss (below) was one of my favorite shots on W. Walker near the original Tea Farm last week…If that tree could talk…what tales it could tell.

*Jo’s comments on knowledge and timing:

Although your topic today is about being open to new things and ideas, and the tea cup story was a great example of that, the educator at the conference with the pitcher and glass touched a nerve in me. I have always thought that knowledge is sequential and without understanding before adding more information, you are simply overfilling the glass.

Too much at once is simply wasted water. I have honestly experienced this myself when one of my well-meaning family members shows me how simple so many things are on my computer , or all one has to do is this, and this etc on that smart phone (which, by the way, isn’t so smart in the hands of the wrong person). Apparently, I like my tea in a china cup (one of Anne’s would be great) and just a small amount at a time please.

(Touche Jo!)

Dear Reader:

It was Karen Carpenter who sang about “Rainy Days and Mondays always got her down.” But Sundays? Yesterday actually made me happy…in the sense of content to snuggle in and just enjoy the rainy day.

The gardener in me was happy for the soft rain to help all the potting soil and manure sink into the ground around the Japanese Maples. I was also happy that Luke had cut down the little shrub tree we nicknamed the “devil” because the thorns on it were wicked. Poor Luke got stabbed a few times just trying to get it out to the curb for pick-up late Saturday afternoon.

I didn’t want to take a chance on any of the grandchildren accidentally getting stabbed looking for Easter eggs or while just playing  in the back yard. Besides it was right next to Eloise’s new Japanese Maple…wicked thorns…yuck!

Outside my computer “office”…is a beautiful old camellia bush (tree size)…it is already gearing up for February with the top branches full of tiny pink buds. So wonderful to see color returning to the landscape!

There are several smaller camellia bushes squeezed in on the property line between my next door neighbor and me…a nice young couple who told me to help myself to anything that popped up…since we shared them equally. So sweet. Here are two I picked to bring back in and brighten the house.

It was also a day for reading…I love rainy days for that very reason. Over the weekend I was working on getting my bills for the month of February ready to go out and I began gathering tax returns to be ready to get that annual “chore” over with soon too.

So…I decided to treat myself to a rainy day of soup and sandwiches Sunday…’Tea Room Mysteries” books and perhaps even a Hallmark television romance. It is just what we gals like to do! Any little nook and cranny (like the title photo) in my bedroom appeals to me…I find myself wanting to crawl up in it and fall asleep safe and sound.

It makes me wonder about God and resting. I have always heard God is on “watch” 24/7 but that makes me sad in a way. After all He purposefully built in a day of rest for us mere mortals each week…doesn’t our Divine Creator deserve the same?

I enjoyed reading this article on the connection of our resting and the quality of our lives.

The Lost Practice of Resting One Day Each Week

WRITTEN by JOSHUA BECKER

*This is a great article to read all the way through…if you have time…pull it and read it sometime when you have time...or make time. In the meantime...here are a few excerpts I liked.

…”Ask many of yesterday’s philosophers and they will tell you rest is essential for the mind. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.” And Ovid, the Roman poet, said, “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” Your mind requires rest.

Ask most religious leaders and they will tell you rest is essential for the soul. Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam (among others) teach the importance of setting aside a period of time for rest. Your soul requires rest.”

“…Find contentment in your current life. Much of the reason we are unable to find adequate rest is because we are under the constant impression that our lives can and should be better than they are today. This constant drive to improve our standing through the acquisition of money, power, or skills robs us of contentment and joy.

Ultimately, rest is an extension of our contentment and security. Without them, simplicity and rest is difficult, if not impossible. Stop focusing on what you don’t have and start enjoying the things you do.”

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So until tomorrow:

He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities.” —Benjamin Franklin

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

This is my artifact from the Pine Forest Inn that Honey gave me years ago…a little tin duck candle holder.I prize it!  (Different rooms in the inn had different themes and this room accessory probably was located in rooms set aside for the avid hunters who came down each year for dove, quail, or duck hunting.)