Mimosas and Memories

I wish we could have today's weather everyday. What a beautiful day in Central Kentucky. We really learn to appreciate something when we don't have it everyday. But we have had several like this, I just know that I won't be complaining anytime soon. We've made out so much better than those who are farther down south. It's just unimaginable what the tornadoes have done in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. We'll have to remember to keep that part of the country in our prayers.

I really didn't intend to watch very much of the Royal Wedding. I knew it would be on all the news programs, so thought I'd just get up at my normal time. Well, I woke up at 5:17 Friday morning, then after trying to go back to sleep, woke again at 5:40. Figured I was meant to watch the live wedding coverage, so I turned it on. It was fun watching Kate in her wedding dress, especially when it got to the part, where you knew that even William hadn't seen her in it ,yet a couple billion people worldwide, including me, had. I think I've seen all the highlights dozens of times now. After what Diana went through, I just hope that Will and Kate have a really happy and successful marriage.

I have been trying to continue walking everyday. It's really nice getting the dogs out. We've seen all kinds of critters. Most recently we've spotted a couple different snakes, several turtles, deer, turkey and many different birds along the way. I might add that turtles are really easy to avoid hitting. So, if you see a turtle in the road, please try to not let your tires run over it. It's always so sad to see a crushed turtle in the road. I've seen plenty. The one we saw this week looked to be a young one, as he was really small, but crushed and dead. Again, very sad. Walking in Henderson County once, I was looking pitifully down at a crushed turtle, thinking how awful it was.........when he actually looked up at me. That was really devastating to experience. Please watch out for turtles.

Speaking of little critters, I was amused to see one of the chipmunks out back this morning. It had a chipmunk baby with it. Talk about cute. They skittered off together into the rock wall.

We will be finishing up our Lenten study tomorrow during Sunday School. It's called Shadows, Darkness and Dawn by Thomas R. Steagald. I had difficulty devoting the necessary time for the daily readings most of the forty days. However, during Holy Week, I really appreciated having someone help me focus my attention on the final chapter of Jesus' human story on earth. It was also good to watch some programs on the history channel about the Shroud of Turin and also, for the first time, I watched a recording of The Passion of the Christ. With the help of these things and my Jesus Christ Superstar music, I am motivated to research a personal Bible study of how Jesus spent those last tumultuous days.

Also, over the last week, I have learned that a couple of my brilliant ideas have gone out to the masses. Last year, after Easter, I was able to get a lot of peeps. ( Yes, those brightly colored marshmallow sugar coated Easter chicks. ) I had them in every color that they're available. So, I opened the packages of each of the six colors. I then snipped the five peeps apart and rearranged them so that each package had all six of the colors, a virtual rainbow of peeps! I repackaged them and gave them to my children and my parents. I got a kick out of the rainbow peeps. I kept my package until much later in the year. I might add that peeps are no longer edible when they become rock hard.....you really don't want to even try that. So, this year, I am told, that you could actually buy all the colors of peeps on a stick. I never saw them, but my sister did. She said they were sold out when she went back to get some. I'm afraid I wasn't in the mood for peeps this year.

The other idea I had was concerning the litters of puppies that I helped raise. After the first litter of two, and especially after the next litter of three, I realized that there was nothing more fun than watching the puppies and their interactions with their mom, dad and especially their siblings. I remember telling others that everything they do is sooo cute and so easy to just waste away the day watching them sleep, eat and play. I inquired about how to set up some sort of video feed, but never went beyond asking questions. Well, I saw this past week on the NBC Nightly News that someone has a live feed for some puppies and it has become a really big hit. The puppies were cute that they showed, but not as cute as my little Malti-poos were. Oh well, Taffy is now fixed and I'm out of the puppy business for now.

Guess we're about to wrap up April and head into May. I've got a few things yet to plant. After the daffodils and tulips, we had lilacs and Iris bloom in our yard. After two years of failing miserably at a hydrangea plant, I'm giving it a third try, hoping this time it'll be a charm. I'm going to plant some Hollyhock seeds and also some Mimosa seeds. Since the latter is a tree, not sure what to expect there. But, I always enjoyed the Hollyhocks at my grandma's house in Illinois and I climbed my Mimosa tree in Texas just about every day while we lived there. So, thought I'd give them both a shot.

I'll also be filling hummingbird feeders today. I've been watching the bluebirds and can't yet tell if they have a nest in their box or not. Too many variables going on out there. A couple flycatchers are about to hatch their babies and I'm afraid they may be harassing the bluebirds. I just pray that God will allow them to both have their families out in our yard. Sometimes Mother Nature can be brutal.

I need to go take clothes off the line. Glad I can finally do that on a regular basis. Take care and enjoy this wonderful season. luv, Susan

Enjoy Your Lilacs

This morning is an exceptionally wonderful blessing. After several days of recurring storms and rain, it looks like today is going to be weather perfect. It is starting out sunny, yet cool. I'm sure it is going to warm up rapidly, so I don't want to wait too late to get the doggies out for walks. The past three days I have been taking walks under threatening skies and between storms. Under those circumstances, I don't dare travel too far from our house. When the sprinkles start, I want to get home, but fast. Thankfully, we've only encountered being lightly spattered with raindrops, thus far.

I have managed to get somewhat overwhelmed over the past week with Easter looming and all. Just like my mom and sisters, I want Easter to be special and memorable for everyone in our family, especially the kids. Granted, most of them are either in their thirties or getting close to the big three-oh, we still like to see their faces light up with special Easter goodies and Easter activities. I think it is all getting ready to change. We apparently can't keep them "little children" forever. Yes, I made my adult children baskets, but no, for the first time, I didn't hide them and make them find them. And,no, we did not conduct our annual Easter Egg Hunt with plastic eggs filled with money. I didn't even color any eggs, actually, I haven't done that for years, for that matter. Guess it's time to put all that stuff aside until grandchildren come along. Dustin even reminded me that peeps don't fit into his low-carb diet and Christina didn't even ask about her Easter Basket. It was merely an "oh by the way, don't forget your basket" reminder when she was heading out. Yep, I guess they're finally growing up. Time to accept it. They grew up going to church on Easter Sunday, as with most Sundays, hopefully, they'll be doing that in the years ahead.

Making holidays and birthdays special for children is one of my favorite things. I know I get that from my mom, thanks Mom. Speaking of moms, guess what's in less than two weeks?

Carrie Underwood has a wonderful song for her mother called Mama's Song. She made the video after her recent wedding to her Canadian Professional Hockey player. It's a wonderful song telling her mom that her groom and future husband is just what she has always prayed for......that he is good. I've thought about the song and her message to her mom and wondered if she knows the real, true meaning behind that sentiment. I learned from personal experience and from a past Bible Study called Am I Beautiful? by Angela Thompson, that human husbands (or wives, for that matter) are by nature, sinful. Even though we may want to do what's right, we sometimes(more like often) fail. We shouldn't count on our newly married(or 30-40 year married) husband or wife to be perfect. Only Jesus is perfect and the perfect marriage will only and always remain the one between Jesus and his church. Hey,that's us! We are the church, we human Christians. And Jesus is our ever faithful, always present spouse. God is Good, all the time.

Weddings, you can't turn on the TV today without being overwhelmed by the upcoming Royal Wedding. I'm more concerned about what is going on in the south with the terrible devastation caused by the tornadoes there.

I also finished my Christmas book about Mark Krebs and his remarkable journey to becoming and being a Kentucky Wildcat. His mother's devastating diagnosis for cancer, during his sophomore year of high school, made the dream of playing for UK even more unlikely, but through his family, his faith and his sheer determination, he made his dream come true. He has written a wonderful book of inspiration for anyone who thinks a dream is unattainable. Terri Krebs fought the odds stacked against her and after being told she had nine months to live, lived an amazing nine years. God is Good.

I'm enjoying the last of the fragrance of lilacs in my house. I knew they were only going to be here a short time, so I took them in the house and appreciated their appearance as well as their sweet aroma each and every day. They are another one of my favorite things. I hope you are enjoying your favorite things in life today and everyday. It's best to enjoy them now, while you can, they may not be around for tomorrow. Have a great day, luv, Susan

WAITING

It can be really fun living out in the country. This morning I was awakened to the dogs barking because they saw a big turkey out in the side yard. It was a big, fat one, so I yelled for Mark to come up and take a look. Just moments later, he pointed out about six deer walking up the hill towards our neighbor's house, the dogs ,thankfully, did not see them. Later Mark mentioned seeing an Oriole out back. I've tried year after year to attract them to an Oriole feeder, no success at that yet. But I have had success with my bluebirds over the years.

Today's Upperroom takes us to the book of Lamentations in the Old Testament. I obviously don't go there often, as I actually had to go to the front to see where it was. I thought somewhere after Psalms, well, it's right after Jeremiah. In fact, they think that the prophet wrote it as a compilation of funeral songs for Jerusalem after it's destruction. I don't know a lot about that, but I did flip over to it and was surprised to see the day's reading from Lamentations 3:22-26 underlined. Then I started reading it and it all came back......I love these verses! I live my life by these verses! It reads: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself," The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Yes, as a procrastinator, this is perfect for me. We are to wait patiently, quietly for the Lord, I can do that. My hobbies include quilting and birdwatching, so yes, I have a lot of patience. We aren't, however, just supposed to sit around twiddling our thumbs, we are never to tire of doing good and serving others, that's in there as well. I also like the idea of having our new portion of God's blessings every morning. That theme is repeated throughout the Bible. And, actually waiting for the next morning to start each new day fresh with God's newest blessings isn't ever that long of a wait. I think morning rolls around every 24 hours or so.

I am currently waiting for the bluebirds to find their new birdbath. They found their house again this year, so hopefully, they'll spot it sooner or later. Watching bluebirds bathe is almost as fun as watching them leave their box for the first time. Really, that's my idea of fun.

It was a big coincidence for me to see what was in the Lexington paper this morning. Yesterday while walking with the dogs around the perimeter of the yard, I actually found, totally unexpectedly, a couple good sized morels. These are the wild mushrooms throughout our area. I remember hunting them in Illinois when I was little. My Aunt Jean used to fry them up afterwards and we'd dip them in ketchup. I was successful a couple times hunting them in the woods next to our house in Henderson. Dustin even got pretty good spotting them. I've looked a couple times here in the spring, but to no avail. So, it was quite a surprise to stumble on a couple like that. I looked for more, but found none. I actually think the deer eat them before I can find them. But, I did fry up the two I had and had a little bit of nostalgia enjoying them. If you don't know anything about these mushrooms, don't even think about eating anything like that. They're pictured in today's Lexington herald. Eating other wild mushrooms could be deadly.

Well, I will continue my waiting today. Waiting for the bluebirds, waiting for the rinse cycle, waiting for the mail, waiting for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and then, Easter. I hope you're waiting for good things in your life as well. Stay safe, luv, Susan

GOOD NEWS !!!!

They say April showers bring May flowers. The problem here is that most of my flowers; tulips and daffodils, have already bloomed. My lilacs look rather puny and I don't know if my hydrangea shrubs are even going to bud new leaves. Guess these April showers will just have to float me on down to Georgetown to shop for some new flowers. At this point, a boat may be the vehicle of choice. Due to falling rain, we have our little river running down the hill and under the culvert in the road to the horse pasture across the street. It was amusing to watch the horses navigate the ever widening stream of fast moving rapids across the way. As they pooled their collective energies, after seeing the dogs race down our hill, they managed to create quite the stampede in the mud and puddles. This triggered a similar stampede of little white fuzzies parallel to the equine version. I was a little concerned as I watched one dog after another splash their way across our little river. I wondered if they might be small enough to be swept into the culvert and under the street. But, no, they just kept right on going til they got to the end of the fence. Coming back was another story, however.

The two bigger dogs, Pudge and Taffy, didn't have any trouble coming back across the span of raging rain water. The smaller two, Riff and Roy were no longer running on adrenaline and they paused to notice this water that practically had engulfed them just moments earlier as they splashed courageously through after the horses, now seemed to be an impassable barricade. Because I was heading out the gate to get the paper in the driveway, I felt it necessary to keep an eye on how these two little yippers would make it back to the high part of the yard. Amazingly, Riff decided to simply use his very bouncy back legs to hurtle himself up onto the "now much higher than before" rock wall that he used to get over months ago before Mark made our fence a secure perimeter around our yard. Before I knew it he was on the outside with me, and we scurried back through the gate together. That left even littler, Roy on the other side of the river. He was eying the rock wall as well, but I wasn't going to have him miss and fall into the churning water as it entered the culvert, so I guided him to the narrowest part and he was able to leap over clearly.
What an experience just getting the morning paper.

I might add that Pepper, being the smallest, never did go over the river. Also, the horse stampede ended just beyond that part of their pasture that is just past the dogs' fence. I'm glad that they were amused and entertained by the furry frightful four.

It was wonderful to see that our University of Kentucky Lady Wildcat, Victoria Dunlap was taken by the WNBA Washington franchise. Kentucky has a good contigent up there with Kevin Grevey in the area and, of course, John Wall. I read that possibly John Pelphrey was up for a coaching job in Miami, haven't heard any more about that. I did enjoy seeing the special prior to the NCAA final four that told of the story of the special bond between the Florida Gator's head coach, Billy Donovon and his former assistant coaches. Over a four year period, they each lost children through their wives miscarrying late in pregnancy or the infant dying soon after birth. It was a heart wrenching story, yet out of it, these families have been able to reach out, not only to each other, but to many others in similar circumstances. It also solidified the bond between these men and their families forever. It would be nice for John Pelphrey to land a job in Florida once again. If that doesn't work, I'm sure something would come up in Central Kentucky. He is one of our Unforgettables after all and I know God is watching over him and his family.

It is now twelve days before Easter. I am trying to prepare for this special time, as we grow ever closer to marking the days when mankind was at it's lowest low of all times, then experienced the highest of highs. This remarkable story can be read in all four of the gospels in the New Testament; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Two of the twelve disciples, that were with Jesus during his ministry, penned their stories. Matthew was the tax collector and John was the disciple that "Jesus loved". Mark was an associate of the Apostle Paul, who is responsible for most of the letters in the New Testament. It is widely believed that it is Peter's account of his time with Jesus and the other eleven disciples. The other gospel was written by Luke, a doctor who also traveled with and was an associate of Paul's. It is the most historically accurate of all the gospel accounts and is even continued in the book of Acts, also written by Luke, which records the Acts of the Apostles of Jesus and the beginning of His church. I highly recommend one or all of these books that are full of the good news of Jesus Christ.

It is time for me to get something other than blogging accomplished. I see the horses are again waiting across the street and it is time for the doggies to go back out for their business. Have a great day and stay dry, luv, Susan

All Things Working for Good

The sun is shining brightly in Central Kentucky. It looks like Spring is here to stay, finally. We had a wonderful March Madness run, the Big Blue Nation is so very appreciative of our team of Wildcats for taking us back to the Final Four. We really missed going for twelve years. You just can't imagine all the things being said on the many UK basketball blogs out there. It is crazy to think that we are back to where we like to be and the Louisville followers, even with our former coach, still are unable to get things together at tourney time.

Spring means getting dogs ready for flea season. Having five dogs means a real financial commitment. Between flea treatment and heartworm meds, it can actually cost around a hundred dollars a month to protect these five furry little yappers. And speaking of such, the largest yapper is still out in the yard doing just that. We must have had a whole herd of deer grazing in the yard last night for Pudge to still be investigating all the wonderful smells out there.

Tonight I will finally get to see my world travelling daughter. The kids often make it over for supper once a week, it'll be my first chance to see Christina since her trip to Vietnam. It'll be good to get caught up on how things are going with her new house as well, it's a fixer upper for sure. Dustin is also moving into his new home.....my babies are definitely growing up.

Bible study last night again took us to Romans. Paul sure did pack the letter to the church in Rome with all a Christian needs to live a Christ led life. Romans 8:28 is often targeted as a perfect mantra for us to live our lives as those who truly believe. It is so positive, encouraging and uplifting yet hinges on that one crucial component of being a Christian......making the choice to love God and believe in Him. It states: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Yes, as long as we love God and accept his call of living our lives for Him, all things in our lives will be used for good. I can deal with that. Even though bad will happen, God will use it for good eventually.

Well, I've got a busy day planned and Pudge is still out there making a racket, so I best be getting started. Have a blessed day, luv, Susan