Last day of Soccer and Seasoned Saints Spoiled Dessert

Today was the last game of the season for our four year old granddaughter. You have never experienced the full gamut of soccer until you have seen the four year olds play! It was high humidity and upper 70's. There were red faces every place we turned as they raced up and down the field.
The game was followed by a party in the park with cupcakes and trophys! High living.

This morning I should have had my camera ready. I decided to perfect a recipe for mocha cheesecake. I had prepared the filling just right. I went to get the chocolate crumb crust from the pantry. It had one of those plastic covers. As I was beginning to carefully lift the cover I realized a couple flower petals had fallen on the plastic when it was on the counter earlier in the week. I stepped to the sink to shake the petals off so they would not fall into the crust when I lifted the plastic. BAM! when I tipped the pan, I had lifted the plastic just enough that half the crust fell out into the dishwater! I was so surprised!! I had to drain the dishwater as it was no longer fit to clean anything with half a crumb crust in it. I had no chocolate crumbs to make another crust. There was nothing to do but store the filling until I bought another crust from the store. So instead of SHARING the cheesecake at Seasoned Saints dinner group this evening, Bob and I now have an entire mocha cheesecake to ourselves! THESE are the times I wish Dan and Betty lived closer to help eat this up! Any neighbors reading this, come on over!

We had a lovely dinner recently at Andy's Mediterranean. This is Bob standing at the entrance. The owner gifted him with an extra lamb kabob. I had my usual chicken dish with yogurt (which, I just realized, I cannot spell) :-)
Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Time and Life May 21, 2010

As we age it turns out, Mom was right! Time does seem to go faster the older you get. We enjoy several clocks at our home that ring and play music and one even has a cuckoo bird! Yet my newest favorite clock is this yellow and white one designed by Harry Allen for Real Simple magazine. It was featured on the cover of the April edition. What an eloquent expression of the gift of this moment! The minute before is past and the minute to come is future. All we have is right now.

Before that my favorite was the one we learned about when we toured Spring Grove Cemetery one early spring morning.
There are generally two terms used in describing time. Chronos is the time of physics and kairos is an ordered but unmeasured kind of time outside space-time. The simplest forms are ‘physical time’ for chronos and ‘metaphysical time’ for kairos. According to our Spring Grove Cemetery tour guide, this clock never had any hands, “Because time has no meaning in a cemetery.” Eventually we are all guaranteed to move into this sort of kairos timelessness, should the Lord tarry.
And, of course, I have to mention Salvador Dali's "melting clocks" in his painting entitled The Persistence of Memory, 1931. For those who are unfamiliar with him, he was a famous Spanish Painter of the Surrealist school. This link should show you the painting.
http://tothewire.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/the_persistence_of_memory_1931_salvador_dali.jpg?w=300
We briefly visited the gift shop of his museum in Florida. I purchased the key chain for Bob of the "melting clock." You see, no matter how old we get time our age is not nearly so important as our love and relationships. So the years march on, the skin begins to sag, but our love will go on forever. Consider yourself loved if you have read this through. And remember, time is just the tick of a minute hand between past and future!

May 19, 2010

Well the post dated May 15 was actually begun then and finished today! Some time some day some how I might get as good as Dan ( my blog model) and blog more frequently. Until then, here's to the latest that gets typed out!!
Currently, Bob and I are reading the David and Claudia Arp's book, 10 Great Dates for Empty Nesters I am also reading the book Betty suggested by Anne Rice Christ The Lord, Out of Egypt and the totally unrelated Randy Wayne White book Ten Thousand Islands. I love using that library card!
Study group has decide to start Watchman Nee's Sit, Walk Stand in mid June.
I continue to finalize plans for the Convent Gardening retreat June 4-5. Tonight we go to Andy's Mediterranean for dinner (Chicken Shwarma here I come!)
Exercise for me continues at the YMCA.
I've done a few baby hats for preemies. Finished Anthony & Mona's wedding blanket. Won't show it as I have yet to mail it! All I need to do to finish a silent auction blanket is join the strips. That is needed by August for the Kids 4 Kids Silent auction. Working on yet another hat pattern for the class at Hobby Lobby.
The Ohio Gloom is now into day#? (feels like 187)Rain, Mist, fog and GRAY. The forecast is for partial clearing tomorrow, then more rain.
Enjoy your Wednesday!

Mid May 2010

Looking out the window today, I realize that the flower photos I posted recently are way out of date in terms of what is growing NOW!


The hill with the daffodils is covered mostly in shade as the trees have filled out. There are still photos from Bob that I want to show off from early Spring! And just today we went through photos from New Mexico! Three large folders: Chaco Canyon, The Indian Pow Wow Gathering 2010 and Various photos of interest. How does Dan Cooksey stay up-to-date?
I have been immersed in trying to bring the pieces of Ellie's quilt together. The basement looks like a flurry of fabric and pink! But the pieces are into strips. This morning I hope to bring the strips into the quilt top. Then need to design the sides, cut and sew them on. Yikes! How many years has it taken me to do this? I cut the first fabric in Albuquerque in 2009!

Not of this world

I often share feelings with a friend about knowing this is not our home. Aliens on earth, passing through. This morning was rainy and then it rained some more, and then there was a downpour. I had to return a book to the library in Batavia. As I drove away after jumping out in the rain (in my trusty Cabela's raincoat) I noticed something alien in the middle of the street. About 6 inches long and looking VERY out of place.


I turned around in the next intersection and snapped these photos. Where was this crayfish going? Where had he come from? When he began to approach the storm sewer he turned back towards the middle of Third Street! Sort of made me wonder how many other alien species live in the village! Gave my morning a "What's up with that?" moment.

Election Day & "Death by Gardening"

Well, I got through Election Day just fine! It was extremely slow as very, very few voters showed up. There were 3 precincts represented in the school gym. Our table was the busiest precinct. We only had about 120 voters all day long! That's 6 AM to 7:30 PM. Sad that Americans do not cherish and use their right to vote!

There was one gal who had us chuckling all day. First, let me tell you the State of Ohio recognized 6 different political parties this year: Republican, Democrat, Socialist, Constitution, Libertarian and Green. If a voter was unwilling to associate with a political party, they were given an "Issues Only" ballot Many voters changed "their politics" in the last primary in an effort to influence the "other party." In response to that the Secretary of State created form 10-W that any voter "changing their politics" is now required to complete before being given a ballot. This lady came in as she was listed an not having a political party, we asked her if she would like to choose a party this year. She reviewed the list, and stated, "I have issues, but I don't want to vote on them!" She finally chose a party and we gave her form 10-W to fill out. It is also called "Statement of Person Challenged as To Party Affiliation."She started to fill out the form and with a twinkle in her eye asked, "Now I'm Challenged, too?" When the paperwork was finished she was instructed to step down to my end of the table and receive her ballot. When I handed her the ballot she moaned, " I'm too tired to vote!"

Every Spring I participate in an experiment I call "Death by Gardening." As the body ages the work seems to get harder every year, but I just can't help myself. Monday Bob purchased some bedding plants for me at our local grower. I was recovered enough today from Tuesday at the polls to get the plants in the ground. The bad news is that 2-3 hours of gardening does me in physically. PLUS there is a cold front moving in and the temperature is forecast to drop about 40 degrees. That is bad news for those with fibro and arthritis. The good news is the front is supposed to bring rain and that will be terrific for the plants. I will try to send some photos as the plants get established.

The gray feral cat showed up again last evening and this morning. Ellie was delighted to meet him. He is starving and his bones show. Of course, I fed him. I hope to catch him for the neuter clinic.
Saturday is crochet group "JTIS" Journey Together in Stitches at the Convent. Bob caught a foul ball tonight at the Reds game!

More later!

Flowers to Delight Us

I will not be sending a post on Tuesday. It is Election Day in Ohio and I will be working the polls. Hope you will go vote!
All the photos in the post were taken by Bob!

Flowers, flowers everywhere! Thanks to Sam for sharing these rhizomes two years ago. This year they finally bloomed! This is just one of the stalks and there are five blooms on it! When we lived on Danny Drive I learned I had to cut the irises that bore the most blooms or wind and rain would take them down in a hurry. What a nice thing to enjoy as the rains continued from Saturday through Monday! There are other colors out there blooming and some are closed so tightly I cannot tell what color they will be!

One of our very most favorite things to do is to hunt for wildflowers at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This spring we did not plan a trip there as we were traveling to New Mexico and later California. We did make a point to explore the green space around our subdivision as well as some of the State Park Natural Preservation areas. Bob was the most faithful about exploring the green space. He would trek out into the bare woods and see what was blooming. We found many of the same flowers that we find in the Smokys! Have not found a Lady's Slipper yet, but he has not given up hope.

The trout lily is always first on our lot. The leaves are speckled and thus the name.

The blown back petals on the trout lily always make me smile after the trials and turmoil of winter. Somehow they seem flippant in the face of frost and freezing weather.









The daffodils we planted on the hill come next. No, those are not native, but we so enjoy them. One day was breezy and mild. When I looked at the hill it was as if the flowers had become synchronized metronomes all over the hill, blowing and waving, tracing the path of the wind.

With just a few more days the entire hillside and woods exploded with green growth and flowers. Before we knew it looking for flowers was a daily affair! We almost did not make it to the nature preserves to check for flowers.
But those tales can be told another day!

Saturday is for the Birds!

Saturday was Bob's first day back at work. It was rainy and overcast most of the day. I was blessed in the morning when I heard the racket from a pileated woodpecker who occasionally visits our yard. I was unable to get his photo, but I found this one for your enjoyment.

The day was filled with traffic at the feeder on our deck. The Blue Jay was quickly sent away by the Red Bellied woodpecker. If you look closely at this photo below you can see a smear of reddish hue on its belly, hence its name.



I was delighted to see the chickadees, sparrows and the usual population of cardinals. My biggest surprise of the day came with the landing of a male Rose Breasted Grosbeak. It sat on the feeder for a very long time, not feeding, but looking at me and seeming to enjoy being in our yard. I took it's photo, but all I got was it's back. When Bob got home from work he was blessed to see it, too. He managed to get this photo of it's forward view. Do you know the female looks almost like a large sparrow with a large beak?
I thought the day was delightful, but the Lord of Creation was not finished yet! Bob went to sleep fairly early. His weekend to work involves 12+ hour days. I was reading in bed when there was a noise in the yard. Just as I was thinking "Cat fight?" the Great Horned Owl made its call. This bird was frequenting the yard about 9:20 some evenings before we went on vacation. Bob has actually been awakened by the Owl. Here it was 9:26 PM and the familiar call was made. I thought, "Sorry, Owl, Bob is asleep already," and I went back to reading my book. 9:44 PM it was back and this time it called TEN times before the night quiet returned. What a day full of birds!
This morning in church a friend remarked, "I forgot how tied I am to the earth and the geographic changes as we traveled." I realized, that I, too, have ties to the earth. The birds usually get first place, but they often lose out to the flowers.
Fill a feeder and wait for the fun to begin!

ABQ to CVG

We have traveled from the high desert of New Mexico (as depicted in the photo at Chaco Canyon and the land around that area)
to the lush spring green of the Ohio River Valley.

What a change in altitude, attitude and location. Except for the moisture in the air, the weather temperatures have not altered much. But just look at the vegetation!


Earlier this spring I tried to move a shell that I thought was lying next to a columbine volunteer by our front steps. Much to my surprise the plant was growing through the shell.
The Lord never fails to surprise me with His growing things. Just think! Our Creator made every thing in these four photos. And we have not even gotten to the topic of snow covered mountains and underwater glories!
Enjoy your day with the Savior,
Molly D.