Choices

One day when I was particularly whiny at work about this and that and well probably everything I ended my conversation, with our very matter of fact Warehouse Manager, "Z", with "what choice do I have"!

THEN he proceeded to put me in my place.

He said we all have choices, all the time, every day.......we just don't always enjoy the outcome of them but we always have choices.

 Hmmmmmm........I just hate it when he's right.

 

Mark made some choices and has moved on to bigger things and warmer climates and I miss him terribly. He was always the voice of reason (as he saw it!) and giver of unending information! 

From left to right
Heather, Mark, Me
Just in case you were wondering which one was "Z"

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to take time to wish all of you Happy Thanksgiving. For those that don't celebrate the holiday I want you to know how thankful I am that you take time to share my thoughts.
Take time during the holiday season, or by years end, to sit back and be amazed with what you've been given. When I climb into bed at night here are a few things that I think about and am grateful for. Is my life perfect and carefree....not by a long shot but I choose to do what I can and let it go.

My faith in God

My family and friends

A bed. A comfortable warm bed at that.

 I am employed in a safe clean environment

 I have clean clothes to put on in the morning

I have a home to come home to every day

My 10 year old car that starts every day

(and a dear husband who faithfully maintains it) 

All you dear people who stop by faithfully.

 

This is the tip of the iceberg for things I am grateful for.

I could literally go on for pages so I will continue the list in my head!

 

 

Christmas Cactus

Keep in mind that this plant started as a very small plant about 10 years ago. Once it started to grow it seemed that I was re-potting it in a bigger pot constantly.

So…. my mind was telling me that since it was a cactus it might like to be outside in the summer heat…..not in the scorching sun….but outside.

Well since I have started doing that the picture below is my reward for lugging it in and out every year.

However my "Christmas" Cactus booms profusely for Halloween and then again at Easter. I know that if I did the light/dark thing it would probably bloom at Christmas but it's happy...... so why rock the boat!

It takes a long rest after all that work.

Stained Glass

How do you take those small pieces of glass and make them into such amazing art?

Stained glass windows are a work of art that I find hard to comprehend.

What a gift to be able to have that vision.  



Picture from friend Susie

 

Notre Dame Paris

 

What amazing photography!

 

 

Mother of God--Covington, KY.

 

 

Love this one!

 

This one would look lovely in my hallway octagon window!

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Afternoon

In an attempt to keep an active 4 year old happy today I decided to walk over to the park. We stopped at the playground where my son Adam joined us for trips down the slide and a few trips crawling through the tubes to get over the wiggly bridge. Since my grandson still had 10 times the energy of both of us I decided a walk was in order. Adam and I started talking about how the park had changed since he was little and I asked him if he remembered (which he didn't) the piece of farm equipment that had never been removed and had literally sunk into the ground.

It was a mission....I had to find it!

And then there is was still sitting there 30 years later. Exactly as I remembered it.

The barn and out buildings are long gone but a lot of the foundation remains. He actually found the spot where the silo stood. We have no idea what this John Deere equipment was used for though.

 

 

 

 

 

So after getting stuck by thorns and climbing over branches and through brush this was our reward when we got back to the park. Adam looked up and we all took a moment to revel in a beautiful Autumn sky.

The grandson, uncle and grandma were ready to call it a day.

Dear husband was home making ribs and homemade latkes.

 How nice was that!

 

 

 

 



Welcome to Holland

I'm sure that many have read this essay but I know many haven't and I wanted to share with you this profound story. When our grand daughter was born this was one of the first things given to me to read.

 In reality it could apply to so many areas of life but of course more poignant when thought of in relation to a special needs child.  

 WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.