Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

When we were growing up weren’t we all guilty (at one time or another) of letting loved ones know our disappointment Christmas morning if we didn’t get the one “ticket” item we wanted?

As we got older we became better at disguising the disappointment and pretending we really didn’t want it anyway…but, still, down deep we compared our “loot” with others instead of realizing that we were born into a family who loved us…and that was all the Christmas we needed.

Maybe there ought to be a “medical special” procedure advertised/offered each Christmas holiday when cardiac- surgeons offer an unique surgery, at a very low price, in which our hearts can be stretched three times their original size, like just what happened to the Grinch!

My younger brother David was born today and that occurrence bumped me into the “middle” child status. But I never felt resentment at David for taking away my “youngest” sibling status since I was the only girl…I had my own unique place in the family and enjoyed saying I had a “big” brother and a “little” brother. (who was the tallest one in the family)

My only regret was/and is that I only had a “little” brother for 21 short years. Happy Birthday David…you will always be my beloved little brother and “forever young.” I miss you every day but especially on your birthday and at Christmas!

I forgot to get this Guidepost story  in the blog around Thanksgiving…but I think the title could just as well have Christmas in it… as you will see when you read it.

The Gift of Healing for a Thanksgiving Miracle Baby

Paula O’Donnell

It was the day before Thanksgiving. But I wasn’t feeling very thankful. 

I threw some clothes into an overnight bag, tried to keep my hands from shaking. I’d just gotten off the phone with my sister Toni. She’d given birth to a baby boy, Bradley, a week earlier, but he’d been born with a congenital heart defect. The doctors didn’t think he was going to make it.

My mom and I would be driving up to Kansas City to spend Thanksgiving with Toni and her husband at the hospital. I wished there was something I could do for them. But what they needed most was assurance that Bradley would be okay. How could I give them that?Please, God, I prayed, tell me what to do!

I wasn’t expecting an answer. But a strange sense of peace came over me. A thought popped into my head. Go ahead and buy the Bible.

Before Bradley had taken ill, I’d planned to buy him a white children’s Bible with his name engraved in gold on the cover. But it hardly seemed appropriate to bring a gift like that now. What if Bradley didn’t make it? That Bible would be a constant reminder to my sister of her loss. I couldn’t risk that.

The little voice inside persisted, though. Buy the Bible. Get it engraved with Bradley’s name.

The next day, I drove up to Kansas City with my mom and we camped out in the waiting room with Toni. I pulled my sister aside and handed her a wrapped package.

“God told me to buy this,” I said. “He wouldn’t have if Bradley wasn’t going to make it, I’m certain.”  My sister unwrapped the Bible, tears in her eyes, and hugged me tight.

That Bible gave my sister the faith to stay strong. The following week, Bradley underwent surgery and lost a lot of blood. He was too weak to survive another procedure, and yet the surgeon had no other choice but to operate again. My sister signed the release papers while clutching the little white Bible. Minutes later, the surgeon popped back in the waiting room.

“The bleeding just stopped!” he said. “I don’t know how, but Bradley won’t need additional surgery. He’s going to make it.”

Thirty years later, Bradley is healthy and happy, and still has that little white Bible. A constant reminder of everything we have to be thankful for.

………………………………….

*(I am sure that year Christmas was definitely not found under a tree but in a crib!)

This is a picture I took of my desktop screen with a new icon now on it….this magic globe takes you into a beautiful seaside town where all kinds of activities and scenes take place…it is an advent calendar; one in which you can click on a Christmas decorated ball each day (numbered 1-25) and have a different (amazing) surprise. For December 2 (yesterday) I got to decorate three snowmen…it was so much fun.

Here are two photos of my snowmen in all their attire…

This unique “tech” gift came from Chris Frasier and I emailed her to let her know how much fun I am having with my advent calendar each day…can hardly wait to open it each morning. Thank you again Chris! (I am finding Christmas on my computer screen…not under the tree….especially since it isn’t up yet…but soon!)

So until tomorrow…Let us keep Christmas in our hearts 365 days of the year. God does. Christ does. The Holy (Christmas) spirit does!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was one of those special times, that come along bringing extraordinarily memorable moments on ordinary days.

It all began with the “Wheel barrow” sleigh delivering red poinsettias to each family on Rainbow road…No one was at home so this sneaky old elf was able to leave every poinsettia with a verse on the front porch and quickly run back to the house. Neighborhood Operation December First completed successfully!

I, later, ran a variety of errands, along with a quick medical appointment, also included was putting bills in the mail…(not Christmas cards)…but I reminded myself to be thankful that I could pay them monthly…mostly.

Then I met Anne at Time Well Spent for a ‘spot of tea‘ and tomato pie, salad, and popovers.…which was really dessert in the big picture!

Looking out the corner window where we were seated…everything  was so whimsical…(besides the holiday decorative beauty inside all the rooms)…that the experience just put me and everyone else in a wonderful mood. ( A thank you to Matt Furlong for waiting on us so diligently…he was very kind to his old Alston Middle School teachers.)

One of the rooms in Time Well Spent looked like a winter wonderland filled with silver, glitter, and fairy tales… Cinderella’s carriage and a lit princess gown.

When I got home Walsh and the boys were waiting on me…Christmas arrives every time when grandchildren yell your name and run right to you.

Walsh and Mollie’s house is being painted, inside, so everything is crazy right now…but it will be worth it when Christmas arrives and all is freshly painted merry and bright!

I pulled out, and dusted off, the Christmas Advent Train…when Rutledge, Lachlan, and I opened up the first day for December  it told me to give each grandchild just a few m&ms for being so good.

Walsh and I  watched the boys play at the house and then took them to Laurel Street Park…a most beautiful late fall day…and apparently, one of the last nice warm ones before the cold front arrives later tonight.

I was able to talk to Walsh and get updated on all the adventures over Thanksgiving  and then about a serious incident that occurred on the way home last Sunday. They had just gotten on I-95 and had not gone very far when they witnessed a terrible accident….one car crossed out of his lane into the other on-coming traffic lane….which hit a car just a few cars ahead of them. It was a terrible collision.

Walsh and Mollie went into action…Walsh running to the scene to see if he could help and Mollie calling 911 for help. Soon patrol cars and policemen were everywhere and they came over several times to speak to Walsh and Mollie about what they had witnessed and nod kindly to the boys…Rutledge’s eyes were as big as saucers as he saw real heroes in action.

Walsh told me one particular policeman got a little emotional when he looked in their car and he saw the little boys…all excited in their innocence. He told Walsh and Mollie that a few seconds one way or the other and the car that got hit could possibly have been theirs.

Walsh and Mollie talked about it on the long drive home….with so much on their plates lately it is easy to feel overwhelmed but this incident put everything back in perspective…the idea of losing anyone or everyone in a fraction of a second…is a terrifying and sobering thought.

Walsh told me that the other day the painters were there and he was trying to help them get set up and watch the boys and he could feel his frustration building…but then he overheard their laughter and squealing, he thought about the car incident, and put everything down and went to go play with the boys…that was his top priority.

A life lesson in the brevity of life…”Staying alive is a terminal condition” with no guarantees except keeping the faith and living life in moments.

And how I loved watching Walsh interact with those two much- loved little boys…how lucky they are to have such caring, loving parents. They don’t know it now…but they have Christmas every single day.

Rutledge made this Olympic 10 dive off the Merry-G0-Round…but I think he was pretty shocked that the sand wasn’t as soft as it looked….water works better. He just laughed…kids are so resilient…but then again he is Captain America.

So until tomorrow…Go play…we adults need to do it more…and remember the excitement of just being alive again with endless possibilities ahead.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• 
• Mike Burrell-Woodworking
• Honey Burrell- Ceramics
• Many of you already know or have heard that Honey and Mike Burrell are not having their early Pre-Christmas Pottery/Woodworking Sale this year! (Normally it would have been this weekend.)
• There is certainly disappointment in this news concerning a very popular annual tradition but we, also, understand that some years are tougher than others and Honey said, this year, it would feel more like a chore than a fun project with so many other things she needs to do…and she never wants to feel that way about it because she, too, has loved seeing everyone and sharing her and Mike’s gifts and talents at Christmas with friends.

*A shout-out to Mary Lee who made me this quilted star, at church, to put on my Christmas tree….Anne brought it to the restaurant and I love it! Thank you so much…it will be the first ornament put on this year!

*Eva Cate had an urgent and important problem this week…her second bottom tooth started getting loose but just wouldn’t come out…this whole past week has been one of frustration and tears for Eva Cate and parents every evening…quite traumatic episodes.

Mandy said she prayed all the way to James B. Edwards that she had lost it at school….and she had! Eva Cate came out grinning proudly and told Mandy that she was eating honey barbecue potato chips and she felt something and her tooth came out…a friend helped her find it on the floor and the school nurse put it in a special bag (for all lost teeth) to take home for the tooth fairy!

Now all Eva Cate wants for Christmas is her “two bottom teeth.” (John and Mandy are just relieved that she is eating again…John’s made smoothies all week.)

Dear Reader:

In France, there is an expression I love that has been passed down from generation to generation…Find your “petits bonheurs du jour.” This translates: Look for your little daily joy.

French grandmothers tell their grandchildren this little secret and explain it this way: “Every day I wake up and I begin to seek out the surprise of what the ‘petit bonheur du jour’ will be that day. Will it be a letter from one of my grandchildren? Perhaps a phone call from a friend? Will it be a sublime glass of wine or a beautiful bouquet of flowers I see in the florist’s window? When none of the big changes are working out in your life…then  just concentrate on finding your little daily joy. There always is one, and often once you start looking you will find more.”

(Excerpt from The Grape Village– Laura Bradbury)

So since this is December 1…I knew it was time to deliver my own little “bonheur” (happiness) today to my neighbors in the form of a bright red poinsettia with a little “terse verse.” (Thanks Effie Wilder!)

I started this ritual last year on December 1…delivering poinsettias to my neighbors who live on Rainbow Road. It made me feel so good- I decided to keep this tradition going again this year and hopefully next and the next and so on.

Yesterday I received what I hope will be a “petit bonheur du jour.” The new cancer drug, recommended by my oncologist, was approved by SCRIPT, the state pharmaceutical insurance company, and then I was asked to meet with someone on the medical staff at the Charleston Cancer Center (Physician’s Assistant) to go over potential side effects of the two different medications I will be on.

My assistant, Brooke, was very sweet and didn’t dwell on the most serious side effects except to make me aware of symptoms that I should call and report to them….but mainly about the positive effects it has had to date. She told me since I had achieved what they call a “stationary” condition with the last drug (for over three years)…that this was a good sign…it was something that every doctor hoped for…but a status that is difficult to achieve in some cases. It was a positive sign that my body was still fighting the cancer…good genes. All I could think of was mother…and yes she did give me very good genes for courage to fight.

I took my first pills last night, slept well, and with the exception of a little light-headedness when I first got up this morning (quickly disappeared) I have felt fine…appetite still roaring!

So my hope is that I have gotten an early Christmas present…time will tell.

Don’t forget that today is the first day of the month-December so say “Rabbit” first thing today for good luck and have a most marvelous month and Christmas!

So until tomorrow let us look for a joy in every day…because just waking up is a “bonheur” in itself!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I saw a vision of pink over where Anne and I were planting the daffodil bulbs, last week,  in between the camellia bushes and there was a tiny little bud  formed to perfection…my first camellia bud of the year!

***If yesterday’s blog post didn’t pop up automatically in your emails or Facebook…the Christmas gremlins returned yesterday. Normally my Iphone gives a little ping sound around 6:00 telling me that my blog has been published.

Yesterday I never heard a ping so I went to check on the blog and there it was and it was also on my Iphone WordPress….so I thought everyone had gotten it until some of you emailed to let me know you had not. John checked on it for me and thought we had it fixed but discovered something was still off-kilter by later reader’s comments.

Don’t know what today will bring…hopefully it has corrected itself but in case you still haven’t gotten it on Facebook or in your emails…simply go on-line and pull it with google or whatever search engine you use….just type in chapel of hope stories and the day’s blog should pull up. Hopefully we can figure out what is causing these kinks to appear out of no where. Drats! Christmas Computer Gremlins!

Dear Reader:

How many of you, like me, have never finished a particular project because it wasn’t “good enough” in our self-inflicted perfectionist eyes? Some times these experiences just re-enforce how hard we are on ourselves…to the point of  self-under-appreciating any attempts we make to use our natural talents for others?

I think the reason I have enjoyed reading Laura Bradbury’s French memoirs is that I have seen a lot of me and my writing struggles within her. Laura has written the four “Grape” books as a personal memoir to her three daughters so that one day they will have a way to see and remember their mother as she was in different stages of her life…see her in another light outside of just being a mother.

The blog is that avenue for me….it is a collection of shared thoughts on life but it is also the closest thing to a photo/scrapbook (which I am not disciplined enough to do for each child/grandchild) as I will probably come. Hopefully my adult children and their spouses will be able to read back through the years and see me growing (hopefully) spiritually while the grandchildren grew physically. It is my gift to them.

Here are a few excerpts from Laura about when she decided to become a “finisher” and self-publish her “Grape” books for her children (most of whom are now teenagers)

Immediately after I was diagnosed with PSC I called in the cavalry. I set up appointments with acupuncturists, spiritual healers, RMTs, therapists, as well as bought a juicer and eliminated sugar, grains, dairy products, and caffeine from my diet. My whole life became about curing myself from this bizarre, rare, and unpredictable disease.

It didn’t work. Not only did eliminating every pleasurable form of sustenance and living off juiced kale start to make death seem like a not (entirely) unappealing option, but my days were so full of appointments that my battle to stay alive left me no time to actually live.

Many of you, readers, know, how the morning after I was diagnosed with PSC,   I began writing My Grape Escape and didn’t finish until I self-published it about nine months later.

*A simple Google search (FYI: NEVER a good idea with health stuff) will tell you that PSC kills off its victims in a myriad of inventive and heartless ways. Early on, a specialist in Vancouver said to me, “You have to accept that you have a life-threatening disease. You could die of sepsis tomorrow, or be diagnosed with liver or bile duct cancer next week. That is your reality now.”

Blunt, to be sure, yet effective.

No doctor, however, could ever tell me exactly how one goes about “accepting” such a reality. Probably because such an existential question of reconciling life and death strikes at the heart of the mystery of our human journey – a mystery that people have been grappling with ever since they made handprints of their own hands on the wall of a cave in Chauvet, France 32,000 years ago.

…I wrote feverishly, telling the stories of how I decided to leave behind an Oxford law degree, a prestigious legal career path, to throw myself into the unknown, how I struggled with panic attacks and anxiety, how it slowly dawned on me that life didn’t need to be perfect to be wonderful.

These were things my three girls needed to know. I had no desire for them to read my books immediately – once they were published my stories would be there when they needed them. That is the magic of art, and writing, and books. They give us a sliver of immortality in a finite world.

However, an unexpected thing happened on the path of telling my stories. It was only when I was about half-way through my latest book, My Grape Year, that I realized how creating – in my case writing – was the best course of therapy I had ever embarked upon.

…………..

And so I, too, have discovered that it is my daily routine of writing little stories, or a surprise I experience during the day, or a beautiful flower calling me to it, a conversation, a piece of dialogue on television, a song, a photo…anything can spark the next blog. …And it is the not-knowing that makes life worth living.

Having written that thought on the epiphany of not-knowing… I had a God Wink in the waiting room at the Charleston Cancer Center yesterday.

(*Will update you tomorrow on the latest medical developments.)

I had finished the blog before leaving for my appointment at 2:45 and then, as I skimmed through a Good Housekeeping magazine in the waiting room, I saw there was an article in it written about Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, the heroic teacher from Sandy Hook, who saved 15 students in her first grade class by rushing and putting them in the back bathroom of the class when the shots rang out.

Reflecting back on the incident and how it changed her life she said, “Being comfortable with uncertainty makes us kinder, more creative, and more alive.”  (Exactly what I was feeling!)

It is faith that something will appear during the day to ponder and wonder aloud in each day’s blog that reassures me God is still right beside me, some days, even writing the blog for me. I am just His instrument typing away at a feverish pitch.

So until tomorrow…Thank you readers for putting up with my (sometimes) scattered thoughts or family album photos and other clips of my life…because you make my life worth living. If I could not give back whatever craziness I possess while on this Earth, it would be time to pack my bags, get dressed up in my finest, like the Fall leaves, and let go of it all. But somehow I feel that is not the case right now…there is still something else left to do. Time will tell.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I told Mev Shieder that she has a wonderful talent for words…especially a twist on words. She said she loved Laura Bradbury’s statement…”Being alive is a terminal condition; whereas Mev thought about it and responded: ” Being alive in Christ is an eternal condition”!  Perfect!

Dear Reader:

Last Friday when I took random photos of the “Fall Trees of Miler” for the blog… I looked at my Bradford Pear, in the front yard, and it just didn’t stand up to all the other beauties in the neighborhood…It still had a lot of green leaves and some almost black-looking ones. It must have been the drought I thought….not its prettiest Fall, by a long shot.

And then yesterday as I came up the street from the other side of the neighborhood… I caught a vision of a bright, large red tree and it was mine…I was so startled at the changes in just two days…it went from blah to beautiful right in front of me and I didn’t see it changing.

It made me think that this happenstance is a metaphor for most of life isn’t it? We don’t see ourselves growing older (on a daily basis) until we accidentally see ourselves in a picture or reflection in a store glass front or mirror and then don’t recognize us in that spontaneous moment.

It is the same with children, ours and others we taught. One moment we are lamenting that they will never grow up and the chaos of small children and/or pre-teens/teens (within our daily lives) will keep us in some kind of crazy purgatory forever. But then suddenly we see the children one day and we are startled to realize that they aren’t children any more but adults and it happened so quickly.

As Gretchen Rubin once said when it comes to parenting (and teaching): “The days are long, but the years are short.”

Yesterday I shared an epiphany author Laura Bradbury experienced upon discovering she had a serious liver disease that could only be cured with a transplant. (But was told that the odds of getting one that matched in time was a long shot.)

If you remember that observation was to let go of our fears and instead “walk confidently through the early morning fog.”

The observation today really touched me and brought back memories of when I realized the one great truth of the universe….”WE ARE ALL ONE.” Mankind can not be separated spiritually and compartmentalized into colors, races, genders, or socieo-economic levels. Deep down we are all equally a part of Creation and as such unconditionally loved by our Creator.

Bradbury had this  epiphany following her diagnosis of a life-altering and potentially terminal disease. I love her deep insights in this short summation. In this case it was/is the truth setting her and all of us free…to live life fully!

There is no “US” and “THEM” 

“There is no “us” and “them”- I need a person to voluntarily donate part of their liver to save my life. Incredible people have stepped forward and are now undergoing testing to see if they are, indeed, a match for me. 

In this age of political divisiveness, xenophobia, and poorly concealed racism, I think more than ever we need to remember that we are all interconnected. If everything goes well, I will be walking around for the rest of my life with a part of someone else inside of me, keeping me alive. How could I ever believe that I am separate from any any other human being after such a gesture?

How could I ever look at someone else as competition or a threat? The answer is I can not. That certainty is, perhaps, the greatest gift of all. We all sleep under the same sky.”

Laura concludes her last observation with these poignant thoughts:

“Never put off living, no matter the age. For God’s Sakes, take that dream trip, smile at a stranger, chat with your kids, eat that delicious slice of cheese, paint that picture, write that book. Whatever you dream of try and find a way to do it. 

Being alive IS a terminal condition so don’t delude yourself into thinking you have unlimited time. None of us do, not even the macrobiotic raw-food vegans.” 

So until tomorrow…Take time to watch the process of life unfold like fall leaves on a tree and then savor the results of your observations in your memory…or like me, write it down and share it with others.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I got some new solar lights and they actually work…so pretty out in the garden last night.

Dear Reader:

If I don’t have to drive in the fog…I really love the sense of fog settling in around my home, yard, and neighborhood. Some of my favorite garden jaunts last summer were early foggy morning escapes….because fog changes our whole perspective on what we consider normal and ordinary. Fog creates another dimension and look into our daily lives that affords us a chance to see another side of life.

I have just finished reading the “Grape” series by author Laura Bradbury…the nickname given four novels about her personal memoirs of France… from her first trip as a high school senior exchange student to meeting her French husband, having three girls, and living between two countries…Canada and France.

Today she and her husband own four rental cottages (they personally renovated) in Burgundy France and they still divide their time between her country of Canada and her husband’s native France.

Now you might be thinking to yourself… “Is Becky a little foggy today?” (actually “foggier”?) I mean this is all nice about this author and her memoirs…but what does that have to do with a foggy day.

Well…let me tell you. At the end of the third book… “My Grape Wedding” there was personal “postlude” on Bradbury that made me stop and re-read the lines again…she is facing a liver transplant to save her life and she was telling her readers that she didn’t know how she completed the ‘wedding story’ because she was so sick some days she couldn’t get out of bed.

Here is a short excerpt from her observation:

” This year has been one of the hardest in my life. My auto-immune bile duct and liver disease (PSC) has not only made me extremely ill but consumed my time through medical testing and appointments. I have just finally been accepted as a transplant candidate at a liver transplant center in Edmonton, Canada.

A life-saving liver transplant brings along with it great risks, but as the alternative at this point is certain death, it is a risk I am not just willing but eager to take.” 

Laura Bradbury then went on to share three new observations on life she has experienced since her diagnosis. In no particular order… let me share one with you today.

FEAR

Fear is life’s greatest illusion – I always have thought of fear as a solid, tangible thing, like a wall that stood between me and a full life. I was scared of so many things: elevators, walking alone after dark, earthquakes, being a failed writer, traveling on airplanes…yet all these fears and many more simply evaporated the day I was diagnosed with PSC.

My fears (at the time that felt so threatening)  ended up being less substantial than the water drops that make up a cloud.

These days I am pretty much only scared by the prospect of dying and leaving my girls without their mother, but I know now that even this fear has no substance. Fear is life’s biggest trickster. Walk straight through it just as you would a foggy morning. (See I have come full circle) Do not let it ever stop you from doing anything!

(*Laura Bradbury started her first published novel after getting the news about her life-threatening disease…she self-published and it was received so well…she wrote the other three and found a publisher who believed in her. She overcame her fear of being a failure as a writer.

Her first “Grape” memoir was The Grape Escape because she felt she needed to  think back on a time when she had to show her greatest courage, in order to help her find it again deep down-  the bravery to fight this terrible disease. She traveled mentally and emotionally back in time to her first experiences in France as a eighteen-year-old exchange student. )

Sunday in church our minister, Jeff Kackley, read a line of scripture from the Christmas Story that we are all familiar with:

And the angel said to them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

He emphasized the line…”which shall be to ALL PEOPLE!” (Not just some shepherds but to everyone!)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to our mailbox one day and a find an envelope from THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL with the scripture lines inside…addressed just for us. EXCEPT we notice that everyone else is getting the same message from the same angel. Talk about a street party…I think we would all have the most joyous one around!

So until tomorrow…Let us tuck our fears away and replace them with faith…faith on a foggy morning…faith that God will see us through our dreams, hopes, crossroads, and troubled times.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Update: I went on Laura’s Facebook blog and saw some articles dating from Nov 18, about a week or so ago, and apparently she is still waiting on an organ liver but that doesn’t mean she isn’t busy…she is very active in trying to improve the organ donor process in Canada and is a spokesperson for this cause. I pray for Laura and the thousands of others whose lives depend on organ donations.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday morning I got a text from Anne Peterson (a.k.a) Dr. Morning Glory asking if she could make a call around 10:30 and bring two bags of daffodil bulbs that she had for me originating from a message on my birthday card in September…promising to come plant daffodils (in late Fall) for me. I was so excited!

I ran and got a shovel for myself and started thinking about the best spot to plant them…I wanted to make sure they made a “statement” when they bloomed in late February and (that I think) will be an understatement.

We chose the corner around the side fence and planted the bulbs in groups of five. Some holes are located in between the camellia bushes…I can hardly wait for February when both plants and flowers will be blooming around the same time! What a sight and what a wonderful birthday gift Anne! Thank you so much…the gift that will keep on giving and ‘thrilling.’

*Look at all the “twin” bulbs that we found in the two bags…Almost as many of them as the single bulbs…can hardly wait to see these results!!!

* The hardest part was the roots in the area in which we were planting…lots of pine tree roots. In the south we pronounce roots with the “ooh” sound but we both remembered professors (mine was from Michigan) who called them “ruts” and I always had to cover my snorts and giggles in class.

As we wandered around the garden…new beauties were popping up…gorgeous red leaves on the yellow jessamine vine, periwinkle morning glories still blooming and wooded foliage at its most natural and beautiful.

I sported three different shades of “orange” yesterday and wanted the boys to have a good day on The Polar Express….everyone got their wish.

(As I was typing away on the blog at this point…I could hear my phone (in the next room which was re-charging) beeping away. My curiosity got the best of me, so I got up to check on it and it was Walsh and Mollie sending me action shots from their Polar Express ride.)

Mollie and the boys plus Mollie’s niece, Madeline. * I see some golden train tickets! Hang on to them tightly boys and girls!

*Walsh is sporting his “Movember” mustache for a good cause!

…And then the BIG MOMENT! Santa Claus…Rutledge looks like he was well prepared with his list and was making the most of his 15 seconds of fame.

Mollie said it really was fun, well-organized, and there was something going on the whole time for the children on the ride. What a great Christmas memory for the whole family! Rutledge was drained after getting his list off to Santa on the ride home.

So until tomorrow…Here’s to planting daffodils in late Fall for early spring surprises… and telling Santa what you want for Christmas for Christmas Day surprises!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was my day to do nothing…nada. I stayed in my pj’s for a long time, read, ate a late breakfast and finished putting up some left-overs… getting the rest of the pots and pans in the dishwasher.( Thank the Lord for dishwashers after holiday meals!) My only outing was to Affordables for their sale…found a pretty light-weight (orange/red) coat to wear during the upcoming holidays.

It was on the way home…turning into my neighborhood (Country Club Blvd) that I noticed these trees in the title photo and knew I needed to stop, back up and take a picture of this beauty nestled in the corner of the front yard. It took my breath away.

It got me thinking…what if I ride around Miler and take pictures of all the beautiful Bradford Pears and Maples and any other foliage with gorgeous colors beaming in the afternoon sun. Like Abigail, the Reluctant Leaf discovered, leaves dress up in their finest before they get ready to let go and become part of a new celebration of life.

So it was time to catch photos of the leaves while they remained on the trees… dressed in their finest…and so I did… on an unusually warm Friday after Thanksgiving.

I could have continued taking more and more photos…but the lesson was clear…I am so blessed to live in one of the old neighborhoods still in existence in Summerville where beauty reigns on every street, neighbors always wave and greet…my Miler…my home…it just can’t be beat!

So until tomorrow….Take time to walk, bicycle or ride slowly around your neighborhood and then perhaps drive into more of Summerville… admiring the beauty of the town we call home.

“When the trees their summer splendor
Change to raiment red and gold,
When the summer moon turns mellow,
And the nights are getting cold;
When the squirrels hide their acorns,
And the woodchucks disappear;
Then we know that it is autumn,
Loveliest season of the year.”
–   Carol L. Riser, Autumn

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Both John and Mandy and Walsh and Mollie are taking their children to see Santa over the weekend.

John and Mandy returned to Santa’s Village in Huntsville, Al last night… dressed in all their Christmas attire. Photos with Santa will come later when Santa gives his nod…

Walsh, Mollie, the boys and family/cousins/grandparents are going to ride the Polar Express tonight for their grand finale from their trip. I am thinking in Baltimore Maryland but not completely sure.

Can hardly wait to see the pictures of all the fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ho Ho Ho!

***Characters from this award-winning book come to life through this magical holiday journey. The conductor punches your golden ticket as you board THE POLAR EXPRESS ™. Chefs serve you hot chocolate and cookies on board the train and during the train ride you listen to THE POLAR EXPRESS ™ story. Santa’s helpers provide holiday cheer and every child personally receives from Santa, the first gift of Christmas – a silver sleigh bell. Children of all ages will BELIEVE!

Dear Reader:

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with “plenty of reasons to give thanks.” Mine sure was! When I received the following comment from Jo Dufford yesterday it made me pause and realize something, an epiphany, that I had not considered. This is what Jo wrote.

Among my many blessings for which and whom I am thankful, I am thankful for you and your way of inspiring me every day. Living in America, being free to worship my God when and how I please, having family and friends to support and love me and never having known a time when I didn’t have all I needed and much, much more are just a few things I am thankful for today. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU AND TO ALL!

I re-read the comment and thought how true Jo’s statement was…never in my life have I gone hungry and not known when or if there was another meal coming. Never have I thought that I didn’t have enough clothes to wear, a car to drive, (well, maybe as a self-centered teenager) or family that would be there for me during crisis times in my life. What a charmed life I have lead when millions of people live and die on this earth having experienced hunger, lack of clothing, no vehicle of any kind, and no family for back-up… no one upclose and personal.

I can only imagine God’s frustration at us, who have so plenty, whining about something we might want but definitely don’t need. I have been in that category way too often upon reflection. Instead we should be thinking of ways we can help those who have nothing or little by sharing our over-abundance.

What an amazing blessing “Never having known…” is for ourselves, our children, and grandchildren and just what a rarity it is in the global picture of life.

Now please allow me to “bird walk” into this next segment called “Never have I known a turkey to cause me as much trouble as my Mr. Turkey caused me Wednesday. It was “The Turkey from Hell.”

Don’t be deceived by this rather innocent-looking turkey before you. It must have known that I didn’t order it and didn’t want it…and it paid me back two-fold.

This picture was taken at the end of a three-hour trial of frantic nerves that would have tested Job into submission. If the skin looks brown and crispy it is because it caught fire in the oven.

Let me start at the very beginning…a very good place to start. Last year I ordered a turkey breast from Publix and it was the best thing I ever put in my mouth. So this year I smugly thought that I had this Pre-Thanksgiving Feast down…no problems.

So about two weeks before Thanksgiving I promptly ordered my turkey breast from a young boy who was working behind the counter…I went on a Sunday evening thinking it wouldn’t be crowded but apparently I hit the deli counters at the wrong time. After waiting about 15 minutes the young boy asked what I needed and I told him I wanted to order my Thanksgiving turkey breast. He went and got the paperwork and I repeated again what I wanted…he checked a box and said it was done.

I told him I would go ahead and pay for the turkey breast but he said he was fairly new and would need to get someone else to do the paperwork and then send it in but ‘I was good to go’ and could just pay for it when I picked it up.

A few days later I realized that I didn’t have a receipt or any record of ordering it…so I stopped back by…just to double-check and another clerk went and returned confirming my order had been sent…I was good to go…and didn’t need a copy for pick-up.

Wednesday morning I was cooking casseroles by 7:00 and had three done by the time I stopped at 9:00 to go pick up my turkey breast. First they brought out a huge box with a turkey and all the trimmings. I told the clerk that I just ordered a turkey breast. After a long time…she reappeared and plopped a wrapped turkey in the cart. I stared at it and repeated that I had just ordered a turkey breast...my family just liked the white breast meat.

She said that was the way the order went in and they didn’t have any extra turkey breasts. I shook my head in exasperation but it was too late to do anything but take it…which was even more annoying.

I picked up one of those big aluminum pans to cook the (now) whole turkey in….I had had a perfect pan for the breast but it was too small for this turkey. Since I have an oven on the other side and my brother was staying over there…I told him to come get me at such and such a time for us to put the turkey in.

On the directions…it said to lightly spread some vegetable oil over the top of the turkey to make it look pretty ‘in’ brown when it cooked. I did that…and held the door while Ben shoved it in.

Within a minute smoke came billowing out of the oven…I opened the door and saw that the glazed vegetable oil was smoking. I couldn’t believe the fire alarm didn’t go off….so Ben and I ran around opening the doors and windows and turning on the fans. ‘Great’ I thought, after cleaning the day before this side was going to smell like burnt smoke.

An hour later, after we thought things had finally settled down…the burnt smell started again. “What now” I thought in exasperation…and opened the door…only for smoke to billow out once again because apparently when Ben shoved the turkey in, it must have rubbed a hole in the pan and all the broth was dripping on the bottom of my rarely used oven.

So we hauled that big turkey out again and decided to amputate everything that wasn’t a breast…so I could fit that “insidious” bird into my original pan. It wasn’t easy…but Ben, the surgeon, finally got it done. Back in the oven it went and I was now completely clueless how long it had even cooked with all the “emergency” removals.

Ben got it carved up, eventually, and it was put out and eaten…though I must admit I had lost my taste for turkey by then…I made a lot of gravy (without many drippings since they were still on the bottom of the oven (Thank goodness for Swanson’s broth)…figured anything tastes better with gravy on it…and so Pre- Thanksgiving 2016 has passed to go down into the annals of family history as the ‘ The Year of the Obnoxious Turkey and the Smoked Apartment.’

*I did remember someone telling me that to help keep one’s perspective when things go wrong…ask yourself…if I didn’t wake up tomorrow…would all this fuss have been worth it? And of course the answer is “No”….in fact…soon it will just be another funny family story …”Do you remember the Thanksgiving when?”

Thanksgiving Day, for me, started early with Ady and Ben coming over to my side for cinnamon rolls. Ady helped me  spread the icing, eat the rolls and then we went out to play. Ady is a natural athlete…and there isn’t anything she isn’t willing to try.

After lunch Ben, Bekah, and Ady all headed to Charleston to Lee and Vikki’s for Thanksgiving and I went to have Thanksgiving with Butch, Susan, Tommy, and Kaitlyn. Delicious Thanksgiving dinner…and the turkey, which I gobbled down, was cooked to perfection!

When I arrived Tigger was so happy to see me! (Tommy and Kaitlyn are dog-sitting for John and Mandy while they are gone.)

It was so beautiful we all got to eat outside on the deck…what a way to spend Thanksgiving. A more beautiful autumn Thanksgiving would be hard pressed to find.

After dinner…there was a chocolate cake from mom and dad for Kaitlyn’s birthday last Sunday. Yum! (Along with pumpkin pie and a pumpkin roll. I brought left-over pumpkin cheese cake slices…so pumpkin was definitely the theme.)

So until tomorrow….For every day we wake up with the possibility of a brand new day filled with new adventures and delightful detours…we  give thanks.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Ady…thank you for the vase you made …I am putting my jewelry in it so I won’t always be losing one or more earrings. You did an extra good job molding and making it just perfect with so many pretty colors.

Dear Reader:

My generation of the ‘Baby Boomers’ grew up with this image in our minds when we thought of an American Thanksgiving. Like other traditional images…this painting, too, makes us feel nostalgic, but truthfully was never experienced.

Our Thanksgivings were big with aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins…however, we were always spread out all over…just not at one table. And that was the case again last night…(Creativity helps at my house… finding a table and chair or cushion to sit/eat on.) Even though we can spread out on both sides…everyone likes to be together and feel like they are missing out if they are on one side and others next door. More fun to just bunch in…

Between February and March 1943  four consecutive essays were written about the Four Freedoms: Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Worship, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom from Want (Thanksgiving painting) -each essay was accompanied by a Norman Rockwell painting.

We all know Rockwell’s Freedom from Want by heart, even if we don’t know its title. Three generations circle the food—a nuclear family more rarely seen today, but still existing in some hearts and minds as an ideal. From the lower right corner, in the finest Renaissance tradition of painting, a young man looks out at you directly—the classic challenge to the viewer posed by the painter and his painting. His smile asks you to join in with the wonder at the bounty set before them, but is that all it asks?

After more than a decade of overseas wars draining of us blood and treasure and an economic downturn further depleting our reserves of good will and thankfulness, that young man’s smile reminds us that the Thanksgiving thanks are not necessarily for abundant protein and four kinds of vegetables. Instead, the thankfulness is for having each other and the enduring capacity of people to free one another from all kinds of want—physical, emotional, and even spiritual.

So until tomorrow…Let us remember that freedom means many things to many people…but we all know when we no longer have it…and that it is worth fighting for. Happy Thanksgiving!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Flowers still blooming at Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our families to yours! Rhodes was like a magnet…we were all drawn to him and he patiently let his picture be made with all of us.

Ben with both his grandchildren…it’s been a long time coming…but oh so worth the wait!