Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Peaceful feeling....

 A fresh bouquet....  some new coffee creamers.....
And one week down at school....  Life has its moments to savor....  and a few to simply wade through!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

51 years....


Beginning with my little blue gingham dress lovingly embroidered by my mom's dear friend, I have always adored the first day of school....  A couple of years only I didn't begin on time, but for the last 51 years I have been connected in some form with school in the fall...

Thanks to the help of several friends, my room finally made the transition from its former self to the new look...  Computer Laptop labs in the back, tables and chairs rather than desks...  Tomorrow the reason for school, the kids...  they will come to sit in our rooms and participate in the  celebration of education...  (Some don't feel that way tonight...  I have heard a bit of moaning and grumbling...  )

Keep my students and your bloggy friend in your hearts and prayers for a good year ahead.  I want to help them be ready for the future and be a loving person in their lives...  Just that mix of firm and fun...

And we're off....  Hugs from Missouri...

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Clouds in my coffee...

 My favorite kind of day dawns with some sunshine and then slides under the cover of clouds...  even a little blustery rain to cool things off and soothe our weariness...  During these last few golden days before school begins on Monday, Mom and I have been road-tripping, girl friends have been "doing lunch"...  and then there's the wonderful late-night double headers of Scrabble with my Sweetie... @@@

 Summer has been smooth and gracious, and then, I have to admit it---  there's that indescribable tinge of happy excitement to head back to school.
We drove through Mom's favorite Amish settlements today, and it seemed they were beginning their rites of storage for the upcoming fall.  Do you find yourself shocked at the quickly passing seasons, or are you right in there with the reality of exactly what time of year it is?

If I can convince her, Mom and I might gather our energies to start setting out a bit of autumn decorations...  put away some summer laces and plump up the quilts and russet pillows from those magical totes that say "Autumn" on the side...  (My personal favorite totes of all!)

I am excited about my classes this year.  Many new challenges, I'm thinking, but still a good year in the wings. I've made my personal pilgrimage to the back to school aisles, and I've been over to my classroom to begin preparations...  Stay tuned for some pictures if I am able to ... when I get it all together before Wednesday (the first day of actual class).  What kinds of fall activities fill your hearts?  Do you have plans to travel, create, read????  I'd love to read about them.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Daisy Picnic

 So our little birthday soiree was a big success...  The weather is cooler; homecoming has come and gone!  Some of my friends are on their way to visit with me here in the wee hours of the morning...  I guess it's their sweet way of bringing the Homecoming to me...
 We had a lovely birthday party for my son's girlfriend and several other friends...  He cooked shrimp, and it was fabulous!
 I got to use my blue jean tablecloth and these new melamine dishes and flatware...  Just the thing for a summer birthday, I think...

Mom and I went to the parade today, and we were lucky enough to find a wonderful place to park.  She and I stayed in the car and ran the air conditioner...  How's that for pampering?  Have a lovely Sunday...

Thursday, August 11, 2011

August 11... Windows and Doors

 We have all heard the comment, "When God closes a door, He opens a window."  Usually, though...  we don't want a window...  we want our door!  I have for many years wondered about the magical qualities of dates on the calendar--- simply numbers ascribed to a certain square on the consistent cycle of our lives --- or of someone else's life.  Four years ago this week My son and I were driving to Kirksville to do some school shopping for me...  He looked at me and laughed, "What is the 14th of August?  It seems like that date means something..."  I nodded no.  The date meant nothing, I mumbled.  I was thinking instead of August 11, three days past.  That date had multiple meanings.
 Later that day four years in the past, the square marked August 14 suddenly grew new meaning...  My sweet Daddy walked into Heaven on that day...  closing that door, opening something Other into our lives...
Today, the calendar reads August 11...  2011...  and I hear the crunchy-happy sound of my mother rolling out saltine crumbs with a peanut butter jar, making her famous corn casserole for a family dinner tonight.  We are celebrating the birthday of my son's lady love.  Her day began, if I'm to interpret the bits of texting that came my way through the night, with a trip for several friends and family members and my son.  They started their day at Columbia IHOP, her favorite restaurant.  How fun!  How young!
We are having a shrimp supper tonight, and we are celebrating a window...  another reason to mark August 11...  On this day in History, as they say, my grandmother (Mom's mama) celebrated her birthday.  On many such days I cooked her favorite dishes to tell her how much I love her...  Gramma remains a very special rock in my core strength.  If a person has a solid source of love, that person is indeed a lucky one...  I have had so very many sources, my cup runneth over...  August 11...  my dad's father also celebrated this day as his birthday. Many a fish fry, watermelon party, and trip to the Lake of the Ozarks pinpointed August 11 for his happiness...  And one quietly sad and stormy August 11, my other gramma, my dear Ma, slipped out of this world into Heaven to wait for my dad... to celebrate birthdays with Gramma and Grandad...  and to join the ranks of those who are the hosts cheering us on here on earth...

So my son's girl had no idea what she was stepping into when she happily announced her birthday to be August 11...  She couldn't know why both my mother and I nearly shouted at her, "AUGUST 11!!!  That's your birthday?"

It's time to wrap a few gifts, set the table with my new daisy plates, and brush off the celebration mode in this family.  We have cause to celebrate another day on earth, another chance to make a memory and to keep one...  As I have grown older (notice I didn't say "grown up")  I have come to learn each gift we receive IS a doorway or a window..  a portal to or from somewhere in time or a means to illuminate our dwellings....  And as I close my eyes and play back the snippets of memories, I see my large, overall-wearing grandfather standing in the front of our spare, simple, country Baptist church with his arms around his dear wife...  August 11, a Sunday in memory...  The church recited its birthday benediction, "Many happy returns of the day of thy birth, in sunshine and gladness be given.  And may the dear father prepare you on earth....  for a beautiful birthday in Heaven."  I see him give Ma's sunkissed arm a happy squeeze as he says, "It's a happy day when we're all together!"

And doors snap shut, windows open...  then doors slide open again in mysterious ways.  The calendar squares fill, along with our hearts.  Thank you, Lord...  for lives and life.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Bevier Homecoming...

 First full week of August brings this area the wonderful Bevier Homecoming.  Originally intended to provide a unified time of year for scattered families to get together with loved ones at home, this event has supernatural powers over the community members in our small town...  We watch for it, buy outfits for each night, prepare for floats, and generally lay out the month of August as a canvas for this once-a-year festival.
 Today was the brunch, and I made my usual little tags...  I don't know why I make these almost every year, but I just enjoy providing something to have at each place.  Every year we hear new stories about the importance of Homecomings past, and the year's activities for all our friends...

For those who are night owls, the Homecoming is something of a treat.  Although I don't participate in the night's activities while I'm living at Mom's, I remember those crisp, cool groupings under the stars, the zing of the electric lights on carnival rides, and the World-Famous Homecoming hamburgers, funnel cakes, and occasional corn dog...  Townspeople began lining up their folding chairs on Monday, maybe even Sunday..  They often loop the legs through and through with locked ropes, not so much to prevent theft...  but to ensure nobody moves the chairs from the opportune vantage...
Wednesday night is a rock and roll favorite, Krazy Kats...  and Thursday night is local entertainment and the Queen contest...  Friday and Saturday will be Nashville stars and the big parade...  Then the Homecoming will pack up and move out of the park to make way for the next big event...  Back to School...

Yep, I'll be participating in that one!  haha..

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Happy Birthday--- Lucille Ball is 100 years old!

One of our favorites on her 100th birthday!  Mom and I were lucky enough to watch this episode tonight! Check out Google's cool icon in her honor, too.

Friday, August 5, 2011

In the interest of full disclosure...

Well, by the comments my sweet friends in blogland left on my last post, I realized I was a BIT ambiguous in my last comments on the fate of Shady Peanut Lane.  I rode high on your sweet affirmations of my "new" shop, but actually...  it's a dream.  The barn is simply adorable on the outside, and if I were more energetic, I'd run out there and take a panoramic shot of the innards..  It's just horrible.  Boxes of my stuff, Mom's castoffs, my son's extra things, a couple of partial and complete vehicles...  broken and wonderful tools of Daddy's....  his insulators....  a phone booth, but no superman....

Actually, my spirit is the problem!  I crave to be Vianne....  of Chocolat fame....  I don't even care about the Johnny Depp part.  I just love her vivacious spirit, her wisdom with her comments, the energy and elan of that little shop....  I want that.  I want to come into something that's all dirty and unloved and turn it into a shop of magical, soothing elixirs....  or bits of "ephemera" that speak to the soul---  I want that.

Just a glimmer of a fastly fading dream!  Last night the young man who has lived with us for years told me he'd love to build that shop from lumber he's reclaiming from some property he's clearing...  I gave him a little kiss on the cheek because he brought it up out of the blue, and I thought it was a really appropriate time...  Today I handed over the keys to the Bevier shop to a friend who'll make her new business there... 

Me?  I'm nesting...  or roosting...  or wallering!  Whichever term is most appropriate for simply doing rather little and feeling very tired, body and soul...

Energy?  Find me now...  Haha...  Seriously, I have a plan of action...  For all the 50 or so boxes of stuff I loaded up, I'm going to have my family bring in two or three each time they come over, and I'm going to ruthlessly sort and pitch and store in huge totes...  Labeled totes...  I am a packrat of the worst garden variety...  and I'm kinda artsy, kinda handy...  kinda lazy....  and kinda tired!  But I know goodies when I see them, and I just hate to pitch goodies...

Today is a cloudy day, so "bring on the rain!"  We need a little shower on our parched, thirsty crops...  Have a terrific weekend.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Moving Day... l

Despite the heat yesterday many boxes and a couple pieces of furniture found their way from this shop.....  to



this barn....  Only one more day or possibly afternoon to go...

Today dawned at nearly 100 degrees with the prediction of 114 heat index...  Not today, I decided...  maybe tomorrow!