Charlyn’s Web

This has been a difficult 6 weeks or so.

In early July a lady that is the mother to another lady in our church faithfully brought kids to our Vacation Bible School. Since then she has been in and out of the hospital and the last I heard was being Life Flighted to a Big Big City with Big Hospitals. There is concern for the lady and concern for her daughter.

Also, in early July came the news that a family we are getting to know had devastating news that their youngest son had cancer in his kidney and lungs. Joshua is four years old. One day they were playing happily on the beach and then their world came apart and they are in a war to save their son’s life. This has weighted heavily on my heart. I can so identify with this Mother; she is stronger in so many ways than me, but it would be so hard to go through. I still remember the last time we visited and Joshua’s bright eyes, rosy checks and shy smile.

Last Thursday the kids and I went to have lunch with Brett. We hadn’t gone in quite awhile. We paused in our stampede down the hall to say “hi” to two men, one was a guy named Jess. Jess works out of the office there but not directly with Col. Panic although he is married to someone The Col. did work directly with for many years and who he holds in high regard. Friday morning news came that Jess had had a stroke and was being Life Flighted to The Big City. Sunday came the news that he had had another stroke and was brain dead. He was 54, a great guy.

Last night, my Mom called. A friend’s Son had been in a car accident- he has a concussion. The other car involved also carried a Friend of my Mom’s and she was dead. My Mom had played volleyball with her on Tuesday night, just as they had for the past 40 years.

One day life is good, a fun day at the beach, a visit in the hall, an evening spent together and the next… life is forever changed.  So, beloved friends,  go hug your loved ones and let them know how important they are to you NOW!

“Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Now, there is Peace.

The Town’s School District decided to start school after Labor Day this year. Usually, for a number of reasons, they start the next to the last week of August. It is an unheard of event around here. It doesn’t bother us as we homeschool but it did throw a kink in a friend’s schedule.

RB’s son was starting kindergarten this year. RB works in another school district near here. The schools always started at different times so she thought there would be no problem with being able to be there for her son’s first day. But no, it’s all messed up now and she will have to take the second day of school off (kindergartners start the second day of school). She was irritated by this- for the Town’s School District to change their ways this year of all years.

I have another friend whose son has cancer, which was discovered in July. They are having to make trips to the Big City every week. Her Husband works for the Town’s School District and has had the summer off. The son is scheduled to have surgury on the 21st. If the School District had done it’s usual thing, the Husband would have had to take the first two weeks of school off. So this unique happening is a blessing to this family.

When I told RB this she threw her hands up in the air and said “It’s all worth it then, it’s really a blessing!”

Sometimes something that is an inconvenience to us- something that we wish was another way- is a blessing to someone else.

It’s all a matter of seeing things from God’s perspective.

I was working in the garden one warm day with the Wild Children  running naked through the sprinkler when the Dog began to bark.  The kids excitedly yelled “it’s the mail-lady!”.  We aren’t very PC here and still call our mail carrier by the gender specific label.

I thought, well that’s not too bad- she’s seen me in all sorts of states.

I walked over to the parking area on the other end of the house thinking that I probably should wash the mud off my hands and realizing that the car wasn’t acting like the mail car.  As I advanced, I could tell that there were two, rather prim looking older ladies in the car.  The Dog, whose middle name is Golden Retriever, was excitedly jumping all over the place.  When the ladies saw me coming they got out of the car.  One asked if she could give the Dog a treat, I said yes and the Traitor was theirs for life.

There they stood, trying to save my eternal soul, in their nice skirts and neat hair.  There I stood with  mud on my hands, my low cut brown tank top, bright blue shorts and holey straw hat trying to sound semi-intelligent.  My naked daughters settled themselves on the step to watch with interest while my shy son went in the house to put clothes on.  The Dog continued to jump enthusiastically about.

One of the ladies handed me a brochure after finding out we went to church, just not the “right” one, I took it in my muddy fingers and they left.

I am sure we were the topic of conversation for many a mile.

Isn’t that what Gollum asks Bilbo?  It’s been a long time since I read the book and I haven’t been to see a movie in years.  So backward, I know.

You’d think I’d learn; how long have I been a mother?  More importantly, how long have I been a mother to a BOY?

I haven’t had to worry about it because my wonderful husband empties his.

Before this the worst it’s been is a rock or two, maybe some money.  But this time it was gum left in his pocketssssss.  It could have been worse as most of it stayed in the wrapper.  But some got out and made pink spots on things.  Luckily, I found most of it before it got in the dryer so it didn’t melt all over everything.  Just a few pieces stuck to my underwear and the sides of the dryer.

I had better learn to check ALL of the pocketssssss.  Now, why is the “in” style of pants have ten thousand pocketsssss on them for little children to hide things in?

Must not have been designed by the person doing the laundry.

Or not.

I think to myself- “I’ll put this someplace where I will not lose it and it’ll be safe.”

It’s really a guarantee that I’ll never find it again.

I hardly ever goof up a recipe. But a few weeks ago I was making a recipe that I was familiar with, which means I didn’t look at the instructions as closely as I should have, and mixed the filling with some of the topping ingredients. Had to throw a bunch of really sweet cream cheese away. Then I made some custard from a powder (It’s something that is not found here but is popular in Australia and Brittan.) I misread the instructions and put in two TEAspoons instead of TABLE spoons. I thought it seemed really runny, checked the box again and smacked my forehead. So I stirred in two tablespoons more- making it not only thin but lumpy. To really boost my confidence I made a blackberry pie for the family. My Mom is really the pie maker in the family and I have been shy about even trying to follow in her footsteps. I have been trying to avoid trans fats so have been making my crust with oil. I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and made it with shortening this time. I noted to myself that the shortening was low and would need more before making another pie. The pie turned out nicely, by the way. Bolstered by this, I decided to make a blueberry pie from the bounty we brought home from my parents for the Church Pot luck. KJ helped put the sugar on the berries and I measured out the flour and salt only to realize when I opened the shortening that there wasn’t enough. I knew that! Now what? I used butter instead and it seemed ok. I personally didn’t get to eat it as there was none left- I didn’t notice any in the garbage.

I am researching our family history. I have much of the research that my Grandfather did many years ago. I was looking for something in particular but couldn’t remember where I had seen it. I looked through all the papers, all the branches of the family more than once trying to find it. I KNEW it was around somewhere. Finally, after a cousin sent me a copy she had, I found it in a folder on the computer. It was already scanned, not in paper form. Probably my Mom has the original. I knew it had to be here SOMEWHERE but could I remember? NO!

Brett askes me to fill the hummingbird feeders or to turn off water before he goes to work. Hours later, or when he comes home from work he sees that I haven’t done it. Once, I left the soaker house on out front for the whole day. Complete blank on my part. Oh yeah, I guess he did ask that.

I wish the black holes in my brain would fill up. They suck information down into them with their strong gravitational pull and it’s never to be seen again. I don’t understand how things can completely disappear. I can remember some things so clearly- I remember holding the piece of paper in my hand and thinking “I’ll put this here so that I don’t forget it in my pocket and wash it.” But where was that “here”? Darned if I know. Do you?

We had a nice time at Jelly-stone Park.  The drive there  was long and tiring but we did alright.  Set up the tent in the dark.  The speed limit in the park is only 45 miles per hour so it took awhile to get where we needed to go.

We were rewarded in the morning with a bison wandering  through  the campground.  He munched his way across the camp and then shouldered his way between our van and the tent.  Col. Panic was worried that he might take out the tent but he missed it.  The kids liked seeing it so close- we were hanging out in The Cousin’s motor home at the time.  So calm down Gramma!  We weren’t in the tent!

We then took a drive around the loop and saw many more animals.   We saw the paint pots but didn’t see Old Faithful.  We were driving around the parking lot feeling hot, tired and frustrated looking for a parking spot when it went off.  That’s why no one was leaving!  We were too wore out to wait for the next one and so headed back to camp- which took awhile at 45 or less.

We had a wonderful time visiting with The Cousins.  They fed us wonderful meals, put up with the kids and were very hospitable and generous.   They shared pictures with The Col. and family stories too.

In all we saw bison, elk, deer, chipmunks, squirrels, bald eagle, swans, pelicans and coyotes.  Pretty exciting even if we can see some of them from our own back yard.

We left late in the afternoon and that crazy Col. Panic drove all night long!  It took forever to get out of the park because of several bison wandering down the road- you’d think they owned it!  And then those tourists that had to slow down for every little creature.  Probably Easterners.  The Col. slept about an hour between 1 and 2 and guzzled coffee.  The only problem with that was when we finally dropped into bed at 5 AM he had to keep getting up to drain the coffee out!  The kids were kind to us old folks and slept until about 10- the Col. woke up about that time anyway.  Darn insomnia.

We watered like crazy and then headed to the Wet side for my family reunion.  It was nice- discussed some old and some new information.  Saw some relations I don’t get to see very often.  Then on Sunday we picked all the berries at Mom and Dad’s.  Straw, rasp, Marion, and blue.  We even got to take some home!  Yummy!

I think we might be recovered.  TG had a rough day yesterday, I think it all caught up to her but she did better today.  It would be nice to go back to Jelly-stone and spend some more time.

But probably not in late July.

I will not be able to post much this week- I know, I haven’t been posting much anyway! But this time I do have a reason. We are off traveling most of the week.

A quick trip to Jellystone where we will be looking for bears with pic-a-nic baskets then back here again for a quick turn around and then over to the Wet Side for a visit there.

Whew! I’m tired already! It can be difficult with the kids on long car rides. We haven’t succumbed to the DVD in the car things. The kids have been doing well in the new van, they can see out well so I hope that we’ll do alright.

Have a good week!

******WARNING!  The following Blog content might cause some readers to go “Ewww!”   Read at your own risk!******

I have mentioned this before here.  It’s a call often heard coming from the bathroom.

Yesterday the kids were outside playing in the water  while I enjoyed a few minutes of quiet in the house.  I let them play in the hose or sprinkler with only their undies on or naked.  Our neighbors are not very close and most work so there is no one around to see the naked natives dance in the water.  It’s much easier than having them put on swim suits for five minutes of play.

The girls were naked and playing on the swing set  when KJ came running into the house to announce to me:

“TG let The Stink Out under the rings!”

Lovely.

TG came upstairs at my parents’ with her socks and shoes for me to put on so she could go into the woods. Being the wise and insightful parent (don’t laugh) I asked:

“Who are you going with into the woods ?”

“The woods!” She answers.

O.K. Try this again-

“Yes, the woods. WHO is going with you?”

“THE WOODS!” She forcefully says.

One more time.

“I understand you want to go into the woods- who all is going?”

“THE WOODS!!!” she yells.

She is thinking: My mother doesn’t listen! I have told her THREE times what I’m doing!

I’m thinking: Pronoun trouble.

“No, I don’t know where that is!” I said with stress creeping into my voice. I haven’t lived in the area for 15 years why do people think I remember where things are? Besides, I have never known that specific area very well.

I also am not blessed with a good sense of direction. I have troubles figuring out which is my right and which is my left. (Oops, it’s my OTHER left!) I remember a time when our Boss on Harvest was telling me how to get into a field using North, West, etc. He looked at me, I looked at him and then he got down and drew me a map in the dirt. I got to the right place; wonders never cease.

But I have a new aide- the van’s navigation system! I put in the intersection of where I needed to be and presto! I did what The Voice told me to do. At least it wasn’t a voice in my mind that only I could hear. And she was dead on. Several people commented that they would have chosen another route but I thought it fairly direct and easy.

I have a new friend.  She may get things a little off once in awhile but it sure beats being lost in a big city.