by jphilo | Jun 23, 2009 | Daily Life
I was up with the birds this morning, but at 6:30 was already seventy-seven degrees and humid as all get out. Walking was pure torture, and sweat dripped into my eyes and soaked my clothes. Yuck!
Since the temperature will most likely hit the high nineties today, I decided to divert my normal bent to complaining about the weather and make a list of things I can be grateful for on hot days. Here goes:
1. I live in the age of air conditioning, refrigerators, and ice cream
2. Lemonade, iced tea and iced coffee
3. Water
4. Our CSA share – someone else picks our vegetables in this heat!
5. The promise of a good sweet corn season
6. Sleeveless shirts and capris
7. A husband who doesn’t mind cold suppers
8. Shade trees
9. An indoor job
10. A four season climate
11. A week of vacation in the Idaho mountains
Truly, I have so much to be grateful for, even on hot days. What’s on your list?
by jphilo | May 27, 2009 | Daily Life
Today is not my best day ever. I have a bad headache, I’m tired from too much weekend and overwhelmed by deadlines. Three dear friends shared hard, hard struggles with me yesterday, and I can’t fix what’s wrong. The weeds are growing and there’s no time to pull them. The house is dirty and there’s no time to clean it. I’m feeling so stressed I was tempted to cut my walk short this morning (I didn’t) and to snap at my husband (I did).
The only cure for this gloomy state of mind is to count blessings. So here goes.
- On Sunday, my son hugged me good-by and said he loved me.
- My daughter introduced her boyfriend to the extended fam this weekend, and he still calls her.
- My kids enjoyed being together this weekend. Watching them discover common interests and create memories was worth any amount of tired I feel this week.
- It rained yesterday. Now I don’t have to water flowers for a few days.
- The new leak in the spigot that runs to the washing machine (plumbing disasters have been a constant theme this spring) happened on Hiram’s day off.
- Hiram is all over the leak and this week’s laundry.
- My headache reminds me of how fast I move and get done on non-headache days.
- I have three friends who shared their struggles with me yesterday.
- I have lots of writing deadlines because I have lots of writing assignments.
- This morning I saw a dear lying in the woods. It let me take it’s picture.
- The iris are blooming.
- The rhubarb is ready to pick.
- The pink peonies are opening.
- Our Creator provides not only life and breath, but also beauty.
- I can walk.
Now, on with the day.
by jphilo | Dec 29, 2008 | Family
The weather’s been wild lately. In the last week the temperature dipped below zero one day and hit almost sixty degrees on another. We’ve had snow, sleet, rain, wind, thick fog and flood warnings. Our gravel road looks different every morning – one day white and snowy, the next day wet and shiny, then brown and muddy.
This morning, my attention was fixed upon the sky, so blue I almost cried. A bright day and a walk in the sun is a gift to be cherished in the dead of winter. But it’s only one of the gifts I’ve received on my walks since we returned from West Virginia earlier this month.
The best gift, the greatest gift was given to me this past Saturday, on a typically gray and gloomy December morning. My daughter’s car came down the driveway as I finished my last lap. Though the kids were eager to get on the way to the Twin Cities, Allen parked the car. The car doors opened and they both got out.
“What do you need?” I asked them, sure they needed money or directions or something.
They looked at each other and grinned. “Nothing,” Allen said.
“We just wanted to tell you good-bye,” Anne chimed in.
Two hugs later, they were on their way – Anne to visit a friend in the cities and Allen to look for a job. I finished my walk, carrying their gift into the house, into a new week, and into a new relationship with my two young adult children who are changing faster than the weather.
by jphilo | Feb 4, 2008 | Reflections on the Past
This morning, I had to unplug the computers because of a lightning storm. Weather like that is pretty unexpected, though not unheard of in Iowa. The storm passed through quickly and my computer’s running again, but the little event got me thinking.
I thought about being a little kid in the late 1950s and early 60s, growing up in a small town with my sister and brother. (By the way, I’m the one with the hood tied so tight, my double-chin doesn’t show. No wonder I like this picture.) I don’t know about my sibs, but all I expected back then was that the Well’s Blue Bunny milkman would put our dairy order in the milk box twice a week and that Captain Kangaroo would be on at 8:00 every morning for the rest of my life. Therefore, it’s not surprising that I’ve encountered a lot of unexpected events. Here are a few that came to mind. I didn’t expect to:
- marry an Alaskan.
- leave teaching before the rule of 88.
- enjoy photography.
- fly to Georgia with my mother and sister.
- have a son who became a monk.
- write a mystery novel.
- miss South Dakota once we moved back to Iowa years ago.
- sit in a room with my brother while we watched our father die.
- have such a good relationship with my college daughter.
- know anything about computers.
- live in a place of such beauty.
- have a husband who, in my place, donated a kidney to a friend.
- have a son who calls to swap recipes.
- enjoy spending time with extended family so much.
- fit into my wedding dress after thirty-one years of marriage.
- have so many friends.
I’ll stop there. As I made the list, more and more good and unexpected things came to mind. And my mood is a lot better than when I started. Give it a try yourself. You could be pleasantly surprised, like I was. You might even start looking forward to the unexpected, something I’m still learning how to do.
There’s just one event I can’t accept. I can’t believe they took Captain Kangaroo off the air.
