Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Yesterday morning I woke to the sound of distant rumblings of thunder and then the pitter-patter of rain softly falling on the deck. It was about 6:00 a.m. so I rolled back over to snooze awhile longer with a smile on my face. I know I am an “official” gardener when the sound of rain fills me with delight.

I didn’t realize I had forgotten to close the blinds on my french doors from my bedroom to the patio the night before but suddenly a beautiful pink light came streaking through the blinds. I lazily opened my eyes a little wider and saw the pink fractured light casting its glow all around me.

I jumped up and opened the door to the patio and there I saw the beautiful pink light of the sky being reflected in the puddles on the patio….breath-taking. (title photo)

I grabbed my Iphone and ‘old pinkie’ my bathrobe and ran outside to capture the beauty of the moment in photos.

Come with me and see what I saw yesterday in my own back yard.

The back yard was covered in this thin veil of mist surrounded by the pink streaks of the sky.

The recent thunderstorm had left everything fresh and sparkling in the garden.

My Confederate or Cotton Rose bush that I planted this past year has taken off…now towering over me. It normally blooms in the fall….not sure if it will do so this fall or if I will have to wait until next fall but I can hardly wait to see the beautiful blooms.

The blooms usually start out white and then throughout the day get darker….how cool! Can hardly wait to witness this. At the same time this rather strange occurrence has lent itself to a story….just imagine! (You knew we couldn’t get through a blog without one didn’t you?)

Being the old’ history teacher….let me take a moment in our “pinkalicious” tour to give you the Legend behind the Confederate Rose.

One story relates that the Confederate Rose was in bloom during a particularly bloody battle of the Civil War. A slain soldier fell beside a Confederate rose, and his blood spilled into the ground at the base of shrub. The flowers, which had started out white in the morning, absorbed the slain soldier’s blood throughout the day, so that by evening they had turned a deep, rosy red.

As attention-capturing as this legend is….it falls a little short of the truth, in the fact that the bush originated in China and is not really even a rose but is in the hibiscus family. From Daves’ Garden comes an article by Marie Harrison titled “Hibiscus Mutabius”- the Changeable Beauty. Here is an excerpt….

That sort of story makes for interesting reading, but the flowers do, indeed, live up the specific epithet, “mutabilis,” which means “variable or changeable.” All are large and showy and look somewhat like a large, delicate rose. Some are single, and many are double. On some specimens, the flowers that open early in the morning are snowy white, but by evening they have turned to deep rose.

On the second day, they wither and fall from the shrub. On other shrubs, the opening blossom may be pink, turning to white or even a darker pink as it ages. Either way, many buds are waiting for their day in the sun. At any time, as many as three different colors may show at one time as the flowers fade or darken to their various hues. On some single-flowered specimens, flowers are red and remain so for the duration of their bloom. Some are pink and gradually turn a darker shade of pink as they age.

………………………..

So until tomorrow thanks for hanging with me for a pinkalicious early morning tour of the back yard and garden. This rather strange pink lighting turned an ordinary morning into something quite magical. God is the master of sound and lighting effects in His Creation.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I stopped by to see Carrie, as she is getting settled in her new school, with her speech therapy. I had a God Wink at Tuesday Morning the other day….they had a wooden plaque with the same quote I had told Carrie about earlier…Follow Your Dreams…They will Lead the Way! Carrie did just that and this year her dream came true! Congratulations! So proud of you!

Dear Reader:

I will remember the summer of 2016 as the summer of garden mysteries. The first mystery was waiting for my moon flowers to appear and bloom on my deck, only to discover (in August) that I was waiting, unknowingly, on beautiful hybrid blue morning glories to bloom. I was accidentally given the wrong tray and what a gorgeous solution to the mystery.

( These hybrids flowers I have re-named “Afternoon Glories.” They like to sleep in late….If I check on them around 9:00 a.m. they are all still sleeping and closed up. Around noon some of them begin opening and they hit their peak in early afternoon…they must be teenage glories.

Then yesterday came the biggest break-through in the disappearance of “Little Tinker Bell” the fairy….affectionately known as “Little Tink” to the garden fairy community. Her missing person status quo mystery was solved!!!

“Little Tink” was a gift from one of Anne’s sisters, who stopped by to visit the last time she and her husband were in town from Connecticut. We all had such a nice time getting to know each other.

I showed the couple around the garden and also pointed out the various fairies that co-inhabit it. Lucy was enchanted.

About a week later here came a little package with a tiny fairy in it. Lucy said she had her at home but realized she would be happier in my garden with more of her “own people” to play with every day.

I had a Disney, larger-sized Tinker Bell (with no wings) but who took Little Tink under her care and watched out for her. Wherever you saw one…you saw the other. Until one day I realized that I hadn’t seen Little Tink in awhile and I was trying to remember where she had been last placed in the garden. Big Tinker Bell was there but no sign of Little Tink.

Time went by and I told Eva Cate how sad I was that Little Tink seemed to have disappeared. She jumped right into the search committee mode to find her.Every time she would come to spend the night we spent at least a  half-hour to a hour searching for her everywhere.

“Keep looking Boo Boo she must be here somewhere.” After almost a year passed I gave up (secretly fearing that Lance, the weed-eater, had accidentally cut her up into pieces unknowingly.)

Instead it was actually Lance who found her yesterday. After he and Ernie left I was walking around the garden and got to the fairy bench when I noticed something looked different. One of the fairy statues was holding… Little Tink! I felt like a child again who had just found her favorite doll….how in the world did she reappear and where had she been?

I called Ernie (Lance was still luckily with him) to see where Lance had found this little fairy that Eva Cate and I had been looking for …for a year with no luck. Ernie conveyed my questions to Lance and he told me that he had picked up the fairy statue bench to get to some tall grass growing under it.

He was just getting ready to rev up the weed-eat again when the sun poked out for a moment and something half-buried under the area of the old placement of the leg of the bench, began to shine….it was Little Tink’s wings.

He bent down, picked her up, cleaned her off, and placed her on one of the fairy statues. It was there that I, later, discovered her.

I sent a photo to Mandy (on my Iphone) to show Eva Cate…I knew she would be thrilled! And she was!

I “hear-tell” that Big Tinker Bell put her on the basket of her bike and rode around the garden fairyland to let everyone know she was back…safe and sound.

*If I didn’t sleep last night it was probably due to all the fairy celebrating going on in the garden!

Sometimes we have to create our own magic and our own creative stories to excite little children and adults who still see life through the eyes of a child of wonder and curiosity.

I think I will tell Eva Cate that the “official” who found Little Tink thinks she accidentally fell off the bench during a thunder storm and got her wings caught up under the bench legs. She was pinned with no way to escape unless someone literally lifted the bench and moved it. It took a year for this to happen but Little Tink persevered and today she is a free fairy again. Moral: “Never Give Up!”

*Some side story arose during the disappearance of Little Tink.Some fairies thought they heard the fluttering of wings often during a quiet night. (In reality she was too small for her voice to be heard.) A mysterious tale spread throughout the fairy community that a winged ghost creature was haunting the garden…now the truth was known. It had been Little Tink, fighting for her freedom and life the whole time.

So until tomorrow….more mysteries will emerge before summer’s end I feel sure….stay tuned  for the next short short story in this collecton of magical moon gate mysteries.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

If you think the picture (above) looks like it is leaning, you are right.  I didn’t check it until I got home. I had my index finger poised to hit “fix” and then “straighten” on the computer but stopped myself just in the nick of time. After all…the title is about ‘propping me up in my leaning places”…. so the picture is perfect just the way it is…leaning.(I am purposely leaning down on the cane.)

Of course, when the workers on Archibald Rutledge’s plantation, Hampton, made this remark…they were praying to God to help them leave their weaknesses behind that kept them leaning through life and instead follow God in the “straight path of righteousness.”

After I retired one day, the door bell rang and it was one of the funniest personalities at Dorchester Two School District standing there…Billy Riley. He heard I had retired and he must “annoint” me into my new retirement family with his latest “crooked” cane he had made me.

I remember thanking him and telling him that the “crooked” cane reminded me of the old Mother Goose nursery rhyme:

“There was a Crooked Man”

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

The last few weeks I have felt that I probably could use a crooked cane to help my hip. I turned or pulled  a muscle… or did something to put a cramp in my right hip which is painful  still at times….though vastly improved over a couple of weeks ago.

I find myself “leaning” on my left leg more in case my hip feels dis-jointed without notice. I keep telling myself it could be worse, it could be “sciatica.“

(I don’t even like to whisper that word. I suffered with this extremely painful condition for about one year following my last surgery. It was worse than any cancer treatment came close to being. My compassion and empathy for anyone suffering from nerve damage or acute painful nerve endings is filled to capacity….it is a terrible, constant pain.)

In my case, though, I lucked up… the next January, almost to the day of the surgery, I woke up and it was gone. It disappeared as suddenly as it came.

The memories, however, still linger and any time I feel a sharp pain in my lower back and /or leg down to my toes… I start praying like Brer Rabbit….”Give me anything Lord, just please don’t throw me back in that briar patch of pain.”

One day Archibald Rutledge was talking to one of his workers about a big project he wanted the two of them to start. He noticed the worker kept fidgeting and finally the worker said, “Boss…hate to interrupt but I have to get to church….I’m late.” But he didn’t say it that way….instead the worker used this eloquent phrase I hope I remember for a long time.

“Now I must go light my candle at His fire.” (Don’t you love that expression?)

In this last Archibald Rutledge story…he remembers sitting beside a family member as she lay dying (I believe this was the death of his first wife) and later wrote about the message that formed his thoughts around this poignant experience.

“The Spirituality of Sunrise”

One dearer to me than all else in life had, for days, lain helpless, speechless. Consciousness was gone. We knew that the mortal mists were fast gathering; that the irremediable river must soon be crossed.

The last morning of our watching was misty; the day emerged so wanly that we hardly knew that it had come. Suddenly the one we loved so dearly sat up in bed, a strange light on her face of a happiness past all our mortal joy. She stretched abroad her arms, crying in the radiant abandon of spiritual certainty, “The dawn! The beautiful Dawn!” Those were her dying words-glad, triumphant.

And for me they hold the eternal promise of a sunrise. They glow with immortality. In every sense, our mortal dawn that day was anything but beautiful; but she saw the beginning of an immortal day.

Believing in a God of infinite love and of infinite power, I find it natural to believe that death is not a disastrous sundown but rather a spiritual sunrise, ushering in the un-conjectured splendors of immortality. . . . Sunrise suggests to me not only the power of God grandly to continue what He has begun but it also conveys the reassurance of the Creator’s love returning to us daily, bringing joy and forgiveness; and to any reflective heart it intimates that no night is final; for, since with God all things are possible, His almighty love has, I confidently believe, prepared for us a radiant future beyond the sundown of death.

…And if I meditate but momentarily upon what He has done and upon what He does do, confidence in immortality is natural, reasonable, and, to my way of believing, to be counted upon as infallible as the sunrise.

So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for giving us the sunrise and sunset as a constant in an every-changing world….It is Your promise that no matter what else changes in our lives….You are there. for us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• John sent this adorable picture of Eva Cate…her second tooth came out yesterday…she is starting to keep the tooth fairy flying faster….so glad they are falling out just in time for first day of school pictures and class pictures…what is more adorable than a classroom of snaggly toothed first graders? Be hard pressed to find one
• Teacher grandmothers start that reading ritual early….they know how important it is….but it is also important to take baby out in nature for a little loving! Brookie and Caleb…Boogie Boy!
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• *Yesterday, besides being the sixth anniversary of the blog….it was Honey and Mike’s 41st anniversary. Congratulations you, too…a couple of fabulous one’s who make a terrific two-some! Tarshie put this collage on FACEBOOK yesterday and want to put it on here in case you missed it!

Dear Reader:

I can’t believe that it has been six years since I (with trembling fingers) touched the keyboard and started telling my story, along with St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope (benchmark) role in it.

When I first saw the chapel and felt the spirit of Beverly Barutio (creator of the chapel and former fellow cancer veteran) calling me to go a different direction in my life (while life still flowed through it)….I really thought it would be my first and last visit. I was there for an assignment and that would be the end of my association with it.

I figured Honey (my guardian angel) had been designated to take me there to get instructions for the direction I should go….which ended up with the creation of the blog. (The enigma of time to accomplish my mission would remain a mystery and still does today.)

Six stands for earthly beauty….finding intricate secrets of life within daily life…..as in seeing the six points in a crystal snow flake.

Six is the most harmonious of all the single digits and is the cement that holds the other number together as a team. 

I like the metaphor of the snow flake. It was “little c” (breast cancer) that gave me the ability to appreciate and fully recognize the tiniest gifts of life in nature and in people that I had missed most of my life. So starting today I think this year is going to be very special….I can feel it in my heart and soul.

How can I ever thank all of you, my loyal friends, for taking this journey with me? For providing comments and responses that have reassured me I am still on the path I was destined to walk….but not alone any more.

It is rather strange about this anniversary being the sixth….because Eva Cate is now six (she had just been born when the blog started) I am a “double six” and the year is 2016. It is like the stars are aligning for a most memorable and remarkable blog year.

It is, not only the chapel, but the beautiful little river behind the chapel… the “springs of hope” that continue calling my name and pointing me in the right direction.

Last Sunday the youth service concluded with all of us singing the old African-American spiritual…“Down by the River to Pray.”

For the first time I realized the connection between the last stanza line of the lyrics “Show me the way” and what the little chapel and “river” did and continues to do for me…they showed me the way.

As I went down in the river to pray. Studying about that good old way. And who shall wear the starry crown. Good Lord, show me the way)

Scene from the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou”

alison krauss – down in the river to pray,( o brother, where art

 I know of only one person who can wear the starry crown….Jesus and every time I take the time to go out on the deck and watch the stars I feel like this quote by Archibald Rutledge that I have always loved.

*As I put the blog to bed last night I was smiling. I am alive. I am blessed. I am thankful for the time I have been given to enjoy God’s most precious gifts…life and love.

My last God Wink has come in the form of raindrops falling outside my happy place….I just raised the window and heard the rain pattering down. Thank you God for providing needed water for yards, gardens, lakes, rivers, and ponds. I will sleep soundly knowing that You know our every need and provide for it.

Good night everyone. I hope you. too, sleep soundly and awake to the joy of a new day.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday morning I woke up fairly early and half-asleep wandered out on the deck to look over my garden. (I had watered the night before and I was trying to determine if I needed to water again before getting ready for church.)

Suddenly I noticed two blooms coming from the other side of the deck where nothing, “nada” had taken place all summer. Anne had given me some moon flower sprouts in a planter and some more moon flower seeds to plant in a small pot for the other side. (which I did and have had three moon flower blooms to date)

There were two blooms and I rubbed my eyes….they looked blue…I had never seen a blue moon flower….perhaps it was a hybrid…. my imagination was racing ahead of my senses (happens to me all the time.) I would be famous for my Blue Moon flowers….and quoted in  a gardening magazine as exclaiming when I first saw them “Look what I just discovered…. moon flower blooms as rare as a blue moon, itself.”

The “correct” Latin derivative of this amazing discovery would be: Daingeanazureuslunaflos. ( Dingle blue moon flower)

I ran back inside to get my Iphone to take a photo for “history” and as I was zooming in… my semi-conscious senses jumped back into the action and I realized immediately….“These aren’t moon flowers….they are morning glories.”

Suddenly a summer-long mystery was solved. Anne had asked me several times, while visiting my garden this summer, if I had any other color-shaded morning glories besides purple and I told her no. She said she had bought a variety pack with different exotic colors and she couldn’t figure out what happened to them?

When I texted the picture to her yesterday morning she knew what happened. She had planted them in the planter she mistakenly gave me….thinking they were moon flowers. Poor Anne….Hurrah for me…the color takes your breath away!

To make it up to her I invited her over for french cuisine for Sunday lunch….Yes you heard me right….the Boo cooked Saturday night….a complete french meal.

But before I tell you how that “once in a blue moon” incident occurred… Anne told me that she and her neighbor Shirley/fellow bike rider agreed on some rules for “Geriatric Gardening.‘

It all started while trekking along each morning on their 11-mile bike ride.Every day they would see different flowering blooms….plants, bushes, and trees. They would ask each other what it was…the name. And most of the time both were clueless. So in frustration they made a pact that each one had to take time to pick out 12 blooming plants and learn their name to tell the other.

Anne admitted that most of the time it worked…but there were still those mornings when the fuzzy brain neurons just wouldn’t bring it to the front of the memory box. So they have had to learn to laugh and just chalk it up to the “geriatrics” in their gardening endeavors.

“Geriatric gardening” teaches us that we need friends to help us keep names of plants straight….Anne has Shirley and I send Doodle pictures from my garden and ask her to identify them for me. The older we get, the more we depend on old friends. Getting older isn’t fun alone….with friends, it is hilarious!

My french cuisine began with this book. I had just finished another book by the same author and enjoyed it so much I checked to see what else she had written.

When I saw the title and realized that the story took place in Provence I knew I had to read it to bring back wonderful memories of the summer of 2005 spent there.

It is my favorite summer read. As much as I have enjoyed several other novels for different reasons…this one just pulled me in from the start and never let go. It brought back so many memories of Provence that I had forgotten.

*Let me re-state that last remark….this book is my favorite fiction I have read so far this summer. (Don’t want the ghost of Alexander Hamilton showing up for a duel!)

You can’t have a story set in France without the ‘state of cooking’ taking a heady role in the plot. This was true of the novel. And at the end of it the author took time to write down some old Provence culinary dishes used in the story.

My mouth was watering Saturday afternoon by the time I finished the novel. I wrote down all the ingredients for the Provence Cream Chicken entre with pearly onions, and sauteed russet potatoes cooked in olive oil and truffle oil with fresh parlsy topping off the dish (truffle oil is expensive but worth every penny.)

I added grilled asparagus and rolls to the meal….viola…Boo Cooked! (Anne marked the calendar August 7, 2016-served!

I loaned Anne the novel and double-dared her to try another Provence recipe when she finished…inviting me, of course, for the test taste.

Actually she surprised me with the most delicious peach cobbler-perfect ending ….as Ernest Hemingway would describe it…..”A Moveable Feast”….it moved happily right to our stomachs.

So until tomorrow…Anne found the two cutest Winnie the Pooh expressions to say thank you for the meal! Love them both Anne!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Cindy Ashley sent me this picture of a mural with my two favorite colored flowers painted on a fence….she told me that way I could have orange/yellow flowers all year. The message and photo went to Messenger which I didn’t have (at the time she sent it) ….so I never saw it until today. But this is a great way to help “geriatric gardening”.….just paint the flowers on your fence….no weeding, or watering….just enjoying. Now you only have one name to remember….brilliant! Thanks Cindy…..oh Mandy!!!!!!
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Dear Reader:

Haven’t we all heard the expression, “It is what it is” from others and even perhaps, occasionally, coming from our own lips? It is usually accompanied with a shrug of resignation.

This expression, or the equivalent of it can be found in every country of the world in one form or another. All the countries parading in the Olympic arena Friday night would definitely understand the meaning immediately.

In France the expression is “C’est comme ca”-which translates into “It’s like that.”  The universal meaning is “That’s life.”

Sometimes its up, sometimes its down….no matter what…it is just simply life and life continues either way.

It is an expression that when heard, is chorused in unison with nods and agreements from others….”That’s right….it is what it is.” 

The other day, though, it dawned on me that shrugging off serious dilemmas that we think are out of our control, perhaps isn’t right.It’s just a ‘cop-out.’

Gin-g and I had lunch at Time Well Spent Saturday and loved having time to be together. Doodle, Lassie, Pap, and Carrie came in and we had a chance to find out from Carrie about all the changes in her life at a new school and new job this year.

We also talked briefly about the challenging state of affairs transpiring today in our country. About that time Eve’s daughter came over and stopped to say hello. I taught her brother and thought maybe I had taught her. She said I did and sweetly told me how much she enjoyed the class and I would be proud to know that she can still say the Preamble to the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address.

I was so proud and together we started “We, the people of the United States”.….. I, suddenly, turned to Gin-g and said that is our answer right there….we are the government.

“It is what it is” gets us nowhere….unless we fight for the positive changes needed to bring the middle class back up to the middle again and lend a helping hand to those below us as we climb….leaving no man (or woman) behind.

The hottest summer ever recorded this year in South Carolina can easily fall into “It is what it is.” The vast majority of us can hardly wait to see the season change and get some more tolerable weather to enjoy. But again…it isn’t the weather (that is uncontrollable) but our reaction and attitude to it that makes this hot summer more tolerable.

If I had given up on my garden and made excuses that I couldn’t water because it was too expensive (it actually has been surprisingly lower than expected) or physically I wasn’t up to it or any other excuse I could think of… my garden would look like a dust bowl right now. Not a garden with morning glories greeting me each day or moon flowers telling me good night.

The one constant in life is change. In reality “It is what it is” is subject to change. And eventually that is exactly what will happen. Our frustration, as mere mortals, is that our most personally “dislikeful” “It is what it is” problems take longer than we are willing or able to wait.

The true character inside us is tested by our ability to  help initiate change to “That’s life” problems. Most importantly it is doing this in a positive manner that helps others, as well as, ourselves.

Friday night I found myself getting a little emotional as the parade of nations entered the Olympic arena. No matter how small or large, peace at home or war-ravaged, the smiles on these gifted athletes, from countries all over the world, beamed brightly and proudly.

As the games go on we will hear many personal stories of courage and endurance about these athletes….by simply being there Friday night they had to respond (at some point in their lives) to their own unique “It is what it is” challenges. For many, this meant defying the status quo and setting higher expectations for themselves than others did.

So until tomorrow….”It is what it is”.…or is it?  World peace has become a gag joke for beauty pageants but Friday night, for one precious moment, we all felt the possibility of just that.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Thursday while Mandy ran into Old Navy at Town Centre in Mount Pleasant (to look for a skirt) I told her I would take Eva Cate into Barnes and Noble for light refreshments. I let her select her favorite cookie (while I got a lemon/rasberry square…delish!) and we both ordered sweet tea.

She could hardly finish her cookie for pointing to the children’s exhibit center across the room. When Mandy arrived she took her over there because she wanted to look and see if there were any new children’s art books available.

When I arrived (still munching on that delightful dessert) I found Mandy holding this book and I could see an idea was already building as she quickly read through it. “Perfect” she exclaimed….“this book is perfect for introducing the first unit this year….learning to have faith and take ownership in your own creativity.” 

(I, too, fell in love with the subtle hints throughout the story that once created… ideas never leave us….they just grow bigger over time.)

You will notice at the start of the story the illustrator keeps everything and everyone in gray pencil colors….EXCEPT the idea that stands out in gold. Once the little boy “had an idea”  he started to ask himself, ” What do you do with an idea? Where did it come from? Why is it here? 

Since the little boy didn’t know what to do with it…he walked away…but the idea followed him. He tried to pretend  that everything was the same as before the idea appeared but there was something about it that made him feel “better, happier.”

(“But there was something magical about my idea. I had to admit I felt better and happier when it was around.”)

So he gave the idea food and they played together…the idea was growing in leaps and bounds. He was afraid to share his idea with other people but finally got the courage  to do so.

Sure enough, some people said: ‘No good, what a waste of your time! It will never become anything. Sadly the little boy admits “At first I believed them and almost listened to them.”

But then he thought…“What do they know? I will protect it, care for it…and start giving it all my attention.”

(“And then I realized…what do they really know? This is MY idea I thought. No one knows it like I do.And it’s okay to be different.”)

And then one day it happens….he understands why ideas are important and should be carefully nurtured. He has the answer to the question “What do you do with an idea?”

…“and then I realized what you do with an idea…You change the world!”

*Hint: Even with just a few “free” pages available for blog viewing, you might have picked up on a subtle, but important pattern developing throughout the book. (Perfect for Mandy’s class)

Mae Besom’s delicate illustrations in What Do You Do With An Idea? are a perfect accompaniment to Kobi Yamada’s beautiful narrative and message.  As the story begins and the idea is introduced, the pages are expertly illustrated in pencil, with striking depth and light. There is little use of color in the beginning but as the boy begins to warm to the idea, more color is introduced. Still, it’s clear as the narrative suggests, that the boy has not completely embraced his idea. Finally, when the boy accepts the idea, the world changes and color is everywhere and alive on the pages. The color progression is a brilliant way to portray the ascension of the idea’s importance in the boy’s life.

Isn’t this concept so important in life….a life-altering lesson for young students. No matter what curriculum or what grade a teacher has….this book is perfect to introduce the “idea” of the importance of “ideas” in every aspect of life.

So until tomorrow…we, as humans, have been given the freedom to create ideas…it is spiritually inherent within us. Don’t be afraid to share an idea…it could be the start of a new world of thinking for others..

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Friday’s charm bracelet story invoked more personal memories than any other blog written in a long time.

Let me share some “Ideas” with you.

*Carol Seavy: “Oh my, I, too, have a charm bracelet from high school but never think about adding to it. I just might start adding again.
I also had an Aunt that would come to the farm dressed to the hilt with all her jewelry. Her only chore was to polish the silverware that was rarely used. Funny the things forgotten and remembered from our past. Thanks for the memories.”

Sue Anne Strickland: “Always love your stories. I have a charm bracelet Randy started for me many years ago . My Char’s also represent special events in our life together with our family. It is priceless to me. Love the idea it will keep our memories alive.”

Donna Clark: “I love my “memory” bracelets. When I taught I would bring my charm bracelet to class and share my special memories. Then I would ask the students write stories about what memories they would add to their bracelet. Thanks for reminding me….sweet classroom memories”

Kay Humphries:  “Becky-my mom left me her grandmother and great-grandmother charm bracelets with names-birth dates. She would use it as her prayer “chain”-praying over her younguns! They were her most prized possessions. Now I cherish them😊”

Karyn Smith: “I have two. My mother’s, which includes a $20 gold piece that she won in a baby parade in Atlantic City, and her great-grandfather’s Phi Beta Kappa key. There are other items on it, but those are the two that always stood out for me. I will wear it to church one day so you can see it, however I have to keep my hands motionless when it’s quiet because it is very jingly. I also have one that I started that is all football related items.”

Gin-g Edwards: ” I have two also. ..one with football memories like Karyn and the other one given to me when I retired by friends…will pass them on to my granddaughters one day…”

Wilma Burgreen: “Charm bracelets are very special to the heart and  carry many memories. Mine are now being enjoyed by someone else…stolen!”

*** IF it is any consolation Wilma…the bracelet, without the history of the charms and stories, means nothing…no enjoyment!

What Great Ideas Girls….they will change the way your children and grandchildren remember those who came before them.!!!!!

• Good idea! To make Brookie a grandmother by giving her a little “Boogie Boy” to love and play with….better idea….let’s give her another one!

Bad Idea: Poor Eva Cate is getting eaten by a SHARK!

Dear Reader:

I wish I knew why I can’t keep a charm bracelet “growing” by adding more charms or for that information…why I can’t stop losing charm bracelets from the past.

I got one for high school graduation, one for college graduation, and then the Ya’s  thought we should have a charm bracelet to remember all our times together-a wonderful idea….a charm a year to remember time spent in that year together. Really nice thought. I think Libby hung in there the longest with charm presents….but to no avail, alas. I don’t know where mine is…..along with the earlier two ‘disappearing acts.’ (Ya’s, if you have yours (besides making me feel even lousier)….would you identify the charms on them?)

Pandora has tried to bring charm bracelets back with lots of advertising and storytelling around the significance of the different charms…but I think they even are having a tough go of it. Why? It takes perseverance, some thought, a good jeweler, annual cleaning to keep them looking sparkling clean, not a ‘pewter gray” lackluster color.

I think it falls in the category of polishing silverware….the practice is becoming obscure.

Yet, as a child, I remember being fascinated by one aunt who lived in Washington, D.C. and came to visit every year or two. She would be dressed to the hilt and always wore a charm bracelet that “shook, rattled, and rolled.” I could hardly wait for mother to excuse herself to get dessert or whatever she was serving and leave me alone with Aunt Grace.

I would start asking her about each of her charms and she would ply me with tales of romance, wars, different jobs, hobbies, travels, etc. I was spell-bound! Her charm bracelet, not only told me more about this elusive aunt I saw so seldom, but also about who she really was…her life story on a wrist with jangling tokens of her favorite and most challenging life  experiences.

In a little short, short story written in the magazine Coastal Living by Wade Rouse.…he remembered  his favorite grandmother who lived in Florida with whom he got to spend time with each summer. They spent it in the surf, kite-flying and ice cream cone eating. He, too, loved the sound of her charms jangling from her bracelet.

He had the charms memorized after a few summers. There was a:baby boy charm representing her only child who died at birth, a sewing machine to represent her life as a seamstress, a dragonfly that brought good fortune in life, a puzzle piece for a life that required friendship to complete her, a loon charm for a love that always calls you home, a kite charm to remind her to always fly high with the happiness of a child, and an ice cream cone to represent life’s sweetness, even when it isn’t always that way.

The author of the story left his grandmother to become a writer but would always make time to visit her if he was in Florida and tell her about his latest adventures. One day he heard his grandmother was gravely ill, so he flew in on Mother’s Day bringing her two gifts, two charms to add to her bracelet. A flip-flop charm for the role reversal they now played , and a beach bucket for the summers spent walking the beaches together.

After her death he received a package from her estate. It was the bracelet….but in a larger sense it was her again, her stories, and love that would last even longer than the jangling bracelet….The simplest things in life are the greatest gifts.  

…………………………………

So until tomorrow…dangling, jangling charm bracelet or not….I know I am living a charmed life and have only God to thank for it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 * Back to school is getting closer and closer….Eva Cate has to wait another week (next Thursday) before she finds out who her teacher is and she is beside herself with anticipation!. But Libby’s two beautiful granddaughters (Hailey and Rebecca) got to register yesterday and they appear quite happy….they are both in a new school this year since they moved a few months ago. Exciting times!

*This sign was just too funny not to include.

I stopped by Mandy’s yesterday to drop off some school supplies and then we did a little shopping….just the girls…Mandy, Eva Cate, and me. After we picked up Jakie from pre-school we headed home. The skies were so ominously dark I decided to wait a little longer to head back to Summerville.

*Am glad it worked out that way because I got to see Jake the Jock play basketball. He takes it as seriously as any professional player (loves the slam dunk) and Eva Cate tries out new dance steps, including the Charleston. (Besides getting to eat John’s delicious chicken soup!)

Dear Reader:

You might remember about a week ago I told you about a little novel (Save My Place) I had just finished that I enjoyed very much – written by a southern author with a very southern name – Olivia debelle Byrd. Well, when I went to take the book back to Timrod Library, the volunteer asked me how I liked it and I told her “Very much.” (And I went on to explain why and my opinion of the author’s writing style… that I loved.)

The volunteer then told me that the author left behind  copy of her first book “Miss Hildreth Wore Brown”  to Timrod- a collection of anecdotes of a southern belle. The volunteer hadn’t even had time to get it ready to put on the shelf but she told me just to take it (as is) and return it when I finished.

***Now that is why I live in Summerville….that is southern hospitality at its finest. No name, no date…just enjoy reading it. (The Timrod Honor Code)

Once again, it just took me one evening to read the anecdotes- with some additional time built in to stop, put down the book, and wipe my tears from laughing. (I think that is a good sign that my “mandated” lubricating eye drops are working in my right eye….I go Friday for my pre-op cataract appointment.)

Just a small “spoiler alert” … the title gets its name from a very funny funeral situation. A young woman had moved back home to the small southern town she grew up in and her first “official” duty was to accompany her mother to the funeral home for the “viewing” of a friend who had died.

She was certainly glad she could go with her mother but had never been one that liked the “viewing.” “Personally she thought the viewing ritual was unfair to the dead. Think about it. No matter what people say about you, you can’t defend yourself.”

Her mother and another friend were right in front of her in line when she heard her mother exclaim loudly with her hands on her face: ” Oh dear Lawd! They put Miss Hildreth in brown. Brown is not her color. She wouldn’t be caught dead in that color! What were they thinking? Oh,Lawd!”

As the daughter tells it, “It’s so good to be back home. Is there any place like the South?”

…………

Another anecdote reminded me of my Easter Day cooking catastrophe. I made twenty-four deviled eggs for Easter and I was so proud on how they turned out…. I, even, added a little sour cream (like the food channel cooks suggest) and it just took them over the top. Delicious!

Before putting my prized eggs on a platter I covered it with wax paper and then “top” covered the eggs with aluminum foil. “Pride cometh before the fall.” This is the picture of my “Martha Stewart” deviled eggs….they were so pretty!

At Easter lunch…the next day…I pulled the platter out and proudly set it on the food counter….everybody helped themselves to all the food and then I fixed a plate….and noticed that not many eggs had been taken and both boys, especially, love my deviled eggs. As I went to reach for one….I picked it up and stared in horror as it dripped down on the platter covered in a veil of condensated water.

I sadly ate my dripping egg and thought “Paper towels, dummy, you should have covered the bottom of the platter in paper towels to absorb any moisture from the eggs!”

So when I got to a funny southern anecdote on paper towels I laughed especially hard….let me set this story up for you.

The author and her husband were invited to a fancy sit-down dinner at a friend’s house where she brought out all the good china and crystal. The meal started with a salad and the author noticed something peculiar in it….was it kelp….or some new sea foliage?

Her husband, like Mikie in the old Life cereal commercials, would eat anything.. She pointed to the strange-looking “thing” in the salad and asked her husband if he could identify it. And here’s the rest of the story…

“Knowing my husband’s penchant for eating anything, I asked him to sample this unknown food and tell me what it was. He gnawed for a few minutes then whispered, “Paper towel…Bounty.”

I couldn’t wait to get the hostess in the kitchen. We are very good friends and she’s lots of fun. After letting her know the delicate dilemma, she began to howl with laughter.

“I had a paper towel at the bottom of the greens and forgot about it. By the time I started to toss, it was too late.I just hoped no one would notice.”

A week or so later I was preparing a Caesar salad for dinner and called out to my husband, ” Which do you want with your salad….Brawny or Bounty?”

“Surprise me,” he said.

……………………..

So until tomorrow….God, who created a world bigger than life, must be amused at southern story-telling that is based on exaggerations and frequent embellishments. Southerners do this to try to make our stories bigger than life….and I think God enjoys the effort… with laughter. “Bounty or Brawny”.…God says, now that was a good one.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*My first moon flower bloom on my deck popped open following yesterday afternoon’s rain shower….I was so excited!

Delight of the Day:

*Speaking of funny anecdotes….after reading yesterday’s blog about squirrels Anne texted me and said she discovered a squirrel on her front porch pulling the cotton stuffing out of the porch cushions. Its cheeks were puffed out like a bad case of the mumps with cotton dangling down.

I texted Anne back. after hearing about the porch cushion incident, and told her at least she could narrow down the identity of the culprit squirrel to being southern since it was obviously into textiles and loved to pick cotton.

At the post office I told Anne the wanted poster for the squirrel was being taken down….he had been captured red-handed or perhaps cheek-cottoned and was given three years which could be a life sentence. End of problem.

Dear Reader:

Now I know it is August and school opens again…just around the corner. Why?  Mother Nature has dropped lots and lots of “hints” in the yard.

The pine tree droppings sneak in on me every August. Up until then the challenge to lawn maintenance is simply cutting the grass and watering. Suddenly cutting becomes a challenge because chewed pine cones and needles are scattered everywhere around the yard….making it hazardous to the pusher and/or driver. Frankly, pine trees make a mess and they are accompanied by their fellow culprits….the squirrels!

Last evening as I watered the lawn and garden again *(What was that high percent of rain predicted for us?) I heard a few strains of horns and the memories came rushing back. When the high school starts band practice….the pine trees start dropping any and everything they can to annoy us. A unsavory ritual that precedes the coming of Fall. (If it will bring cooler temps and more rain…I will gladly ‘pay the price’ again this year-the pick-up game!)

I particularly dislike picking up the “chewed corn-on-the cob” cones….it looks like the squirrels had a corn-on-the cob party and threw down the ravished cobs any where they wanted to….like on the top of my car!

I decided to do a little research on the “Dog Days of August” squirrel cones that play havoc with my yard each year about this time.

One article answered another woman’s question about chewed pine cones and the mess they made and got this answer.

...”Anyway, I need you to look up in the tree. Do you see squirrels? They are the culprits. They will chew the green pine cone, stripping it to get to the seeds inside each cone bract. When finished, they drop the cone down from the tree where it dries and remains for us to find with the lawn mower.

It appears cone-shaped with the scattered bracts. The frequency of this depends on your squirrel population. It must be a good year for tasty pine cone seeds. Once squirrels find your location, they tend to remember it. Expect them yearly if you have cones.”

Well that response was a little depressing….apparently the squirrels have me on their GPS (Global “Pest” System) and now will return year after year after year. At least the band sounds good this year and helps me ‘keep the beat’ while picking up pine tree debris.

I always get the feeling that those little pesky squirrels are chewing away laughing down at me from the top of the trees….in fact every now and then I get bonked by a gnawed, chewed cone. Not nice manners!

So until tomorrow…Did you know squirrels plant millions of trees because they forget where they planted their nuts? Maybe we can all take that lesson from the squirrels and stop worrying about forgetting….we might be doing the universe a favor>

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delights of the Day:

*Thanks God for waking me up last night with the lightning and thunder to let me know it was raining and I could sleep in a little longer this morning and not water…..Your percentage of rain is always 100% predictability! Nothing is more beautiful to plants than a “natural” drink of water from heaven and a visual delight to the gardener! A great day indeed!