skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Each rose that comes brings me greetings
from the rose of an eternal spring! -Rabindranath Tagore
Here she is! My first Rose of Spring! It is an Antique English rose and she has several friends growing along side her. A beautiful yellow one and several pink. Each of my beds has blooms in it and there are hundreds of buds ready to burst forth! I absolutely cannot wait. I have my vases all washed and ready to hold them!We are leaving for Vegas on Monday for a week and I am sad that many will burst forth while I am away. Bob will be here until Friday, so if they do open he can be reminded of my love for him and my missing him!!
Maybe the warmth of this day will encourage the buds to begin opening. We have had very cold nights with ice on the car windows for the past several mornings. I think all of my rose babies are saying HEY what the heck??? And now that it is getting warmer they may want to come out and show their full beauty. So I will for sure post more pictures of them as they reveal themselves :) So you can enjoy one of God's greatest gifts to us...ROSES!!
You know the poem...well I raised two GIRLS. These boys are a hoot and a half! Last week, while at my house, Garrett caught his first lizard. In Grandma Land that is quite a happening (hence the piccy). I am excited to be a part of all of the firsts in their little lives and catching a lizard is no exception. Not just because it is a first but also because I happen to like lizards. I did find out something I never knew...in God's perfect creation, He made lizard tails segmented, so when a predator bites at their tails, with intent of eating them, the tail breaks off. They grow new ones like we grow finger nails I guess. How did I find out about this amazing little detail in life? Well, I asked to hold the first ever caught a lizard. As I was showing Dillon how to hold it...it jumped. Having the OH SO QUICK reflexes I do, I caught the slimy creature partly by the tail. I say partly because had I had just the tail he would have escaped; Nope, he didn't get away but his tail did fall onto the ground where it continued to squiggle for several minutes. I suggested that maybe Dillon should try to hold the now detached tail at which point I heard a very squimish, "Ughhh" behind me. Seems my daughter was not too impressed that the tail came off and was making disco moves on the welcome mat!
Fast forward about three days to Sunday afternoon at our house. The Cuellar boys were visiting and yes all four boys went on a lizard hunt and sure enough Garrett caught another one. He put him in a little zippered case he had. Soon they also found a cricket to join their cold blooded friend. About an hour later Gare came in and told us he was a bit worried about his lizard because he had a scratch on his eye and in fact maybe his eye was poked out. Again I hear the now familiar, "Ughhh" from his mom. Aunt Boo went out to investigate (she loves gore) and came back to inform that the eye was still intact and it really looked like a scratch with "just a bit of blood".
We pretty much forgot about the lizard until it was time for the Shaw family to head home later that night. Nicole reminded Garrett to go out back and release his lizard into the yard. Out he went. He came back in and said the little lizard must be very tired `cause he wouldn't wake up. "Mommy, he is doing just what he did earlier when I put him on my arm. He just sat there and didn't move". Good lizard?? Trained? Scared? We adults exchanged looks of knowing the fate of the poor guy. Nicole ushered Garrett to the car assuring him Papa would wake the lizard up and let him go. Papa went to the patio to check on the ill fated reptile. It was deceased he came back and told us. I once again hear the now all too familiar, "Ughh". "What do we do now?" my daughter asks. "Go home" I told her.
Let's fast forward to Monday morning...OK truth, afternoon, I go out onto the back patio to water my flowers. As I take my third step I freeze...why is that little lizard not scurrying out of my way?? Because Men are still little boys, that's why! I was certain to thank my husband for confirming the death of the lizard and NOT disposing of his cold little body so I could almost step on it!! I am now considering letting it dry out completely and then mosaicking it...
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” - John 14:1-4
What a loving God we serve. He wants to spend eternity with us. That is so hard to really comprehend! But He does. He knows our hearts. He has given His Son to us so we can be with Him. He gave His word to us so we can be ready to join Him and so we can share His love with ALL who we know!
I pray this Easter day will bring you to a better understanding of the breadth of His love for you!
Have you ever really noticed that when you first wake up your hair is is not happy about it? And then after a while it calms down and is OK? I am a bit perplexed by this actually. I got up this day and looked in the mirror and almost turned to stone...I really did look like Medusa. I HAD to get coffee and as I always do, I went straight for the coffee pot. Then to my puter to read the news and catch up on email and stuff. After coffee comes potty and so there I went. As I passed the mirror, I looked at my hair and it was a bit calmed down and really laying quite nicely. I have now deduced that hair needs coffee too in the mornings! I have to qualify and say that I still need to shower and wash my hair but I am very happy that it lays down after an hour or so of being out of bed. You know, in case of a fire or earthquake, the emergency workers will be spared the horror of finding Medusa in the rubble!!
There is one exception to this new revelation; Bob Okarma. His hair does not lay down, no matter how many cups of java he consumes or how long he is up. Lol! It sticks straight up, like Bart Simpson's. It is really very comical and instead of turning to stone when I look at it, I am instantly put into a happy mood :) Yes, simple mind, simple pleasures.
OK, that is my blog for this day. I didn't wake up this morning thinking. 'I am going to blog about my bed head'...it just happened!
Do you think Jesus ever had bed head? I mean, I know the man did not sleep much, really, but when He did, do you think his hair was a mess when He got up? And did He drink coffee? He was a man afterall, and well, God...so maybe no bed head or coffee...Just `sayin...
Make it a good day. Do something nice for someone.
A blustery day! I know it is blowing hard out there because I can hear my favorite wind chime clanging a beautiful melody. I bought it on a road trip with "Sam". We were in Bishop, on the way to Boise to see my mom. We stopped at a craft fair in the park and we passed a vendor who had these beautiful metal chimes. As we went by we heard it clang and it sounded just like the boats in a harbor, in the breeze. If you have been to a harbor you know the sound...I can close my eyes and I am there. I soooo love the ocean!
We were blessed to be able to spend a week or two every summer at my mom's condo in Oceanside when my girls were growing up. We would always spend at least one afternoon at the harbor there. The fish and chips are to die for! "Sam" and I have made a few trips to shop and eat there too. She loves the ocean as much as I do!
To this day we still go, as a larger family now, to the Oceanside condo and to the harbor. I know my girls cherish the memories we made at "our" beach. And now they share memory making with their kids and husbands on the sand and at the harbor. Meemaw and Papa sit on the beach in chairs wearing hats and smiling at the memories and present fun.
So I had to buy the wind chime. The wind and sun here are reckless and uncaring in their eventual destruction of anything left outside. I knew when I saw this big metal piece that it would be safe hanging on my patio. I didn't know it would take me away so often, to places I so love being!
I can seriously close my eyes and smell the salt air and hear the water lapping on the sides of the boats in the harbor, seagulls mine mining in the back ground. Ahhhhh take me away....
I am at my Gram's house in Tiburon, California. It was a wonderful house on a lagoon just across the bay from San Francisco. The house was next to the Yacht Club where small boats were tied up, so many colors and sizes. I can go from there to the wonderful Fisherman's Wharf in The City by the Bay...my honeymoon with my beloved, walking amongst the fishing boats and musing about the their mystical names. Newport Harbor with it's huge yachts docked in expensive holds. Taking the car ferry with my friend from there to Balboa Island just to do it! Catalina Harbor and boats of all sizes and conditions moored in the Harbor, eating fish and chips and drinking a beer with Sam on one of our girl getaways. Oh and Boston Harbor, so long ago, during those Princess House days! I have to include San Pedro Harbor; the starting point of so much fun and a few somber times. It is also the home of the beautiful Queen Mary. And back to my salty, Oceanside Harbor. Kayaking through the waterways with Bob and the kids and out to the jetty where the fierce ocean waves beckoned us to join them. Renting a small motor boat a few years ago with Sam and my sister, Donna to make our own little cruise back to that jetty...talking about the next time when we would rent a BIG boat and take up the the invitation to crash the waves into the beautiful Pacific (Julie, remember you promised to come next time!!)!! All have the same smells and sounds and always the ever present clang of the cleats and rigging's against the masts...
Each rose that comes brings me greetings
