Monday, December 3, 2018

Think About it!


Ice crystals
Dotting the sidewalks,
Bells ringing
Brightly on a quiet night,
Calling all
To worship,
To peace.
In the moonlight
Families gather
Dreams of good will
Universal love
Peace on earth.
Are we too late?

Thursday, November 29, 2018

anniversary


It is lovely to be
Nearly one skin,
Not knowing
Quite where you leave off
And I begin—
Like a watercolor
That runs the flow
Of sea and sky.
Some mystic brush
Has been at work,
Erasing lines, Embracing spaces,
Bordering us only by bliss.
I want never again
To know where you leave off
And I begin.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Thankful



November is nearly over and we have much to be grateful for . I hope you had a lovely holiday. Our family has all grown and left so we have a lonelier dinner. We did have my brother and sister-in-law over, and had fun and lots of pies. Everyone seems to like a different kind!
Aren’t we all like that in our lives. We have just gotten through another election where everyone seems to be more invested in their own needs and wants instead of sharing and caring about the greater good.
I think this stress was affecting my life in some way. I have been living in fear. I have awakened each morning for the last few months with a song running through my mind. It was Oh Come Thou King of Kings by Parley P. Pratt who happens to be my great-great Grandfather

 1. Come, O thou King of Kings!
We've waited long for thee,
With healing in thy wings,
To set thy people free.
Come, thou desire of nations, come;
Let Israel now be gathered home.
 2. Come, make an end to sin,
And cleanse the earth by fire,
And righteousness bring in,
That Saints may tune the lyre
With songs of joy, a happier strain,
To welcome in thy peaceful reign.

Was my grandfather sending me a message? I looked up the scripture that accompanied the hymn in our hymnal
Isaiah 35:10
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

And I felt a sense of peace. I could give up worrying about what the world is doing. God has it. Whatever is going to happen to our country, our world, we will be able to trust in God to help us get through it.
Now I wake every morning with a different song running through my mind. We sang in on Thanksgiving in my husband’s church’s service. My favorite line is,
“All is mine for I am His. How can I keep from singing?”
I give thanks to have you in my life, and having the opportunity to put my thoughts on paper.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Children of the Creator


"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf
What is it that drives us to create? 
The clear answer is because we are children of God, the greatest of creators, and thus we have that divine desire inside of us to “create something that did not exist before.”
So this next week for General Conference I am hoping to inspire you to get creative.
Paint! Write a poem! Play the piano! Anything to satisfy that need that all of us have to create.
I am hoping to gently prod you into finding the joy in creating.
I received this Email from Ryan Kelly, a teacher at BYU who has written a new method of learning to play the piano. Not having taken lessons since I was 8 years old, I thought I’d give it a try, although not very hard yet. I really needed this little encouragement to try to create. But what? But what? But what? I’m temporarily quilted out and still have three half done tops. I yearn to paint but don’t do as well as my friend who is an artist, so I feel intimidated. One of my nesting urges led to organizing six file cabinet drawers. Is that creating? It impressed my husband and I guess I was creating space and order!
When we feel the need, the urge to create what do we need to do to get that little push? It’s almost like baby hunger but that phase has passed long ago.
I have been blessed with an excess and a charge to share. If I learn how to do one thing, one art form, it leads me into wanting to try another.
 Now I have drawers full of “I want to“ projects. I need to learn enduring to the end as well as urge to create. But I will say I’m never bored! I’ve been thinking that it is time to start writing poetry again. I think I’ll choose words from each talk of general conference and see what poems I can come up with from that inspiration. Humm, sounds like a challenge. General conference starts Saturday and Sunday this week. Check it out.  I challenge you to a poem.I encourage you to create something this week. Let me know what you do!

Friday, September 21, 2018

love one another



“Love one another
As I have loved you
Love one another “

This was the theme of my younger son’s mission. He asked his six year- old sister to play this hymn and sing it for his farewell.
This theme can be found in other New Testament scriptures and in the Book of Mormon.
John 13:34  “ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
John 15:12- This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Mosiah 4:15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

We have been encouraged to learn to be better ministers to our families, friends, and others around us this year, and have been learning ways we can do this. I love going out to my front garden when I know my friends are coming over and cut the dead flowers off the rose bushes because, knowing them, they will just start helping. Sunshine, fresh air, good conversation, and the smell of roses; what better way is there to spend a happy hour.

My husband and I just got back from our first real vacation in four years. We went on a river cruise from St Louis Missouri to Nashville Tennessee. The ship, a paddle wheeler, was full of older couples like us. The staff consisted of young adults just out of high school to early twenties.  It was fun to see the interactions between the generations. The young people were learning to care for and about others; and the others, mostly grandparents were enjoying being served and cared for by such happy people. Little things happened like holding doors open; hiding a favorite desert for someone at their table so they wouldn’t run out; learning about families and difficult experiences to give encouragement; helping hands for the unsteady going down the gangplank; pushing a wheelchair for an exhausted traveler; encouraging the youth to hang in there and don’t quit a hard job early though they thought they couldn’t follow through.
On the last day hugs and good byes filled the dining area.

Even the adults were anxious to help each other. Though strangers at the beginning of the trip, there were groups of friends at the end of the week. One woman didn’t know how to send text messages on her new I phone. We took care of that. One man fell in the parking lot. It took twelve people to help him up again, but they accomplished it. One person wanted a picture of a superb quilt but didn’t have a camera. Another took one and emailed it to her. Another found an implement to hold Hor d’oeuvres together that she thought she could use to teach crafts to some the people with dementia that she worked with. Every day, every meal everyone brought theirs to her.
There are hard things you can do like helping towns after a hurricane
There are simple things like when my son-in law makes sandwiches for the homeless in the park he practices in.
There are kind things, like waving to or smiling at neighbors on the street. What can you do today?

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Indexing


Last summer, (August ’17) a friend challenged my husband to read the Old Testament straight through, beginning to end. We both took up the challenge, I reading the complete standard works of my church, and he reading the old testament from three different translations. I succeeded in my challenge in August ‘18, but again I was confused by  Malachi 4:6.
“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse”
I know it has to do with family history; but besides wanting to know more about my family, and wishing I had asked my parents before it was too late, was there something I was missing?
This week our church group of women and girls challenged the men and boys to a contest in Indexing for one month. Indexing is an opportunity to transfer government records to computer files so people will be able to access them to do their genealogy.
With dread, I thought, “Okay I can do this for a month”. Anything for the cause.
I started with beginners. The draft records from World War I, “Ho Hum, way before my time.” But, my mind started drifting as I was typing. My husband’s father was in WW I, I wish I’d known him and heard his stories. He use to walk around down town Richmond, VA, and talk to the Civil war vets that still survived. What stories they had! By the third batch, I was thinking of my uncles in WWII. Three of my father’s younger brothers enlisted. Imagine how their mother felt to have nearly half of her living children off to war at the same time, and against the country of her birth! One of them did not survive. 


Today I started a batch of cemetery records. One family had a child die in infancy, another was a still birth, then the father from the flu. It reminded me of my father’s mother. Her first daughter died at two with a heart ailment, her second at birth. Because of the flue Pandemic, my grandmother was in quarantine at home. The midwife outside the bedroom window yelling instructions. Her third daughter had a heart attack at age twelve. How grateful I am for the advances in medicine.
My heart has indeed turned to my fathers. I will stay with the indexing and try to find out more about our families, and extended families. I’m hooked! But really! What does it mean when a one month, four- day old child dies of a “Summer Complaint” in 1915?
What do you know about your great-grand parents?



Thursday, July 5, 2018

Help!

 


Today
My soul
Feels full of holes
My life seems incomplete
I cannot say that I’ve fulfilled
The goals I planned to meet
I begged
My God
To answer me
Why is my life so torn?
I’m here. He said to bring you light
--My reason to be born

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Hope Flickers




Run
Run
Run
Run
Like a bunny having fun
 Run
Take a breath
Deep breath
Breathe
Hyicynths
Spruce
Orange Blossoms
Cows?
Get outdoors. Do it now!
Be one with nature
Feel the sun
Feel the Son
Listen to the beauty of His Music
Be a seed
A God in Embryo
Ready to emerge
A diamond
Reaching

Longings


Having a particularly stressful morning on my birthday, (I woke up to an Email that the last leg of our vacation was being cancelled; and my computer had been invaded): I cried out in frustration. My husband, ready to fight off dragons, said “What can I do?”
“Chocolate I yelled! Bring me chocolate!”
Do you ever have cravings? I do! When I’m frustrated, when I’m sad, when I’m lonely, when I’m mad, I crave chocolate! I read this year that it has some of the same properties as an opioid!
I found a chapter of one of the books that I am currently reading, interesting. The author, Nichole Johnson says,

“You were made for more than this world has to offer you. Our yearning, longings , cravings, and hopes are telling us something: there is not enough love, peace, hope, friendship and intimacy on this earth to satisfy us. We will always want more.”

“Longings-- Coming face to face with the fact that there are empty places in our lives that haven’t been filled.
Yearning—wanting more than we have.
Cravings—The hope of finding something That will satisfy the rumblings in the stomach of our soul”
“It’s true, what we don’t have shapes us more than what we have. We are like Swiss cheese, and the holes in us are actually supposed to be there. The holes are the things that make us who we are. The holes are the places God has reserved in us for Himself! The longings identify our real hunger. A hunger that drives us to Him to be satisfied. If…big If… we listen….”
Fresh Brewed Life Nichole Johnson
Thomas Nelson Publishers Nashville TN 1999

My daughter and her husband long to buy a house. I asked, “What are you willing to give up to meet that goal?
I want to have a grandchild. If that is not possible, what can I do to compensate for that craving? Volunteer with youth groups? Teach classes? Find ways to serve mothers with children? Become an advocate for children who need help?
Many in our country today are afraid. They fear strangers; they fear the economy failing;
They fear they won’t get theirs. They fear the government. They fear God. What can we do to bring back hope into our world? What can we do to get out of the depression we seem to be sinking into—to achieve our longings? Prayer is the only answer. Whether we believe or not, we must let God fill the holes in our souls. He has longings too. He wants us back.
I love you. 
Think about it!

Sunday, July 1, 2018

And The Wheels Keep Turning


And the wheels keep turning

I love the beauty of morning rides;
The sunshine rising over the mountains,
Creeks trickeling and babbeling  as
I ride the trail.
Sometimes
Friends and family join me.
Their joy in nature brings happiness to
My soul.
Their uprightness and integrity
Lighten my dreary burdens
As we struggle towards the sunset,
And the atonement.
Even God’s mighty eagles head home
To rest.
And I will ride on
Till the wheels stop turning

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

National Day of?


Did you know that there is a calendar with National Day of’s for every day of the year?
I think it’s fun to check every once in a while, to see what people are celebrating. Today is National Sewing Machine day. I think I’ll go sew a quilt top after I weed my garden of course. It’s also National Weed your Garden Day.
Today is also my sister’s birthday. Life would not have been as much fun or meaningful without her.
We have shared many experiences together—like the time we were riding our bikes down town and my tire popped. I had filled it too full. Or the time we were roller skating down the hill and my skate wheel fell off! Or the time we were sledding on the same sled. I was steering and ran her into the guardrail on the edge of the street. I think I’m a klutz. By the way it’s also National Klutz in the Kitchen Day. I’m staying out.

I love my little sister and wish we could see each other more often. Technology improvements in our lifetime has made communication opportunities easier, but it’s more fun to be with her than texting.  We also have “sisters” in our communities, neighborhoods, and churches that we can love and share memories with. I’ve met the new neighbors who are building their house next door to mine. They are fun and brought along another neighbor down the street to meet. We felt an instant closeness, just like sisters. Reach out this week and find a “sister of the heart”, and spend some time with them. It’s a beautiful summer day.

Tomorrow, June 14,is National Pop Goes the Weasel Day. How are you going to celebrate?

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Planted


I was talking to my daughter Tuesday, looking for a little inspiration for you. She laughed and said, “Here is my poem for today!” She has a book, A Poem A Day
'Time' by Ursula Bethell
‘Established’ is a good word, much used in garden books,
‘The plant, when established’ . . .
Oh, become established quickly, quickly, garden
For I am fugitive, I am very fugitive – – –

Those that come after me will gather these roses,
And watch, as I do now, the white wisteria
Burst, in the sunshine, from its pale green sheath.

Planned. Planted. Established. Then neglected,
Till at last the loiterer by the gate will wonder
At the old, old cottage, the old wooden cottage,
And say ‘One might build here, the view is glorious;
This must have been a pretty garden once.’

From a Garden in the Antipodes (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1929)

This reminded me so much of my mother. My mother was an artist, and a gardener. Every home she lived in was improved by her living and growing there. She taught us all the importance of growing a garden, even if only one tomato plant out on the balcony. “Surround yourself in your own ‘Garden of Eden’”
I remember one year, standing on my3rd floor terrace in Washington DC, surrounded by seventy pots filled with flowers and vegetables. I shouted out to the city, “I’m doing this for you world! I’m providing oxygen for a city block!”
One year for Christmas my parents gave each of their children a cement statue of a book with a garden quote on it. Mine said,

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”
This week we have been planting roses, tomatoes, petunias and geranium in our terrace pots. The yard is filled with fruit trees
Isn’t this just the way our lives are lived? We hope and dream. We plan for those dreams and work to make them grow. But sometimes what we establish, what we become,  is most appreciated by those who come after us. Like the Renaissance artists and Impressionists, we often aren’t valued in our own time as our work is in the future. But we work and plan, and hope for those generations who come after. Happy Mother’s day!


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Thursday, April 19, 2018

Memories


I miss Papa
I miss the rides through the countryside
On our bicycles
Visiting cousins
His and mine
Remember the road with the turnstile?
I almost didn’t make it through.
The old man’s agility always surprised me.
Memories!
Every stormy day
I miss Papa

Thursday, April 12, 2018

JOY


Last fall our Relief Society President encouraged us to do a work of art depicting the Savior and something about his life, how we felt about him, a story, whatever came to our minds. Specifically, she looked at me and suggested a quilt. I had seen a technique where you quilt first then paint. I thought I would try it. I started with the word JOY. Having the Savior in my life brings me joy. I asked my sister to draw a picture of Christ and a lamb. She had a photo of her grandson holding a baby goat with a native American friend of hers standing in the background.
In her drawing, she changed the goat to a lamb, and the man into the Savior. I transferred the drawing onto fabric under the word joy, quilted the outlines, and went crazy quilting random shapes and lines. For months, I painted the fabric with Inktense crayons and Aloe Vera Gel as I prepared for surgery and recovery. The painting of the Savior was part of my daily life. Late in March the painting/quilt was returned to me, but was left in the back seat of the car overnight. Monday. we went to breakfast. For some unexplained reason, as we were parking the car at the restaurant, foot on the brake, going very slowly, edging to the curb…. The car lurched forward into a newspaper kiosk and broke a plate glass window. What Happened? Thankfully no one was hurt. I glanced behind me and saw the quilt of the Savior, and thought, “I’m glad we had Christ in the back seat with us.”
     There are many times in our lives when things happen that we didn’t plan, or prepare for. It would be nice if we had Christ in our back seat ready to support, encourage, and bless us. How can we do that? How can we feel that Christ is there for us? Does He even know who we are?
How can we get to know Him?  There is prayer—talk to Him. There are scriptures—learn about Him. There is Service—follow His teachings.
Christ loves you. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to feel JOY!

Saturday, March 10, 2018

The Pineapple

The pineapple
Hid In the corner,
Basking quietly,
Forgotten—
In the winter sun.  
I would enjoy her fruit
But I missed her bloom,
The joy of her effort.
 I have friends like that.
I need to be more nourishing.
I,
Like they-
Blossom in my own dark corner.

The lot behind us has been an empty lot since we bought our home. I have yearned for neighbors, dreaded the thought of how they would change our lives. Would they build a huge house? Would a tall unfriendly fence block our view of the Bosque? Or raise roosters, or, shudder, pigs? Would they ask what kind of a neighborhood are we?
Last month the lot sold and has been cleared. It looks huge and bare compared to ours,
Crowded with apple trees.
Gone are the tall weeds and most of the trees. Where are they going to build their house?
What style? What ‘s the landscaping going to look like? Are we going to be the sore thumb in the neighborhood? I look out of my studio window in fear and trepidation, hope and wonder.
I haven’t met them yet though my husband has. He is such a fount of information. They are retired. They are from California, They seem friendly. What else do we need to know?
Thinking about it today I wondered, how would I characterize each of the ten families in the immediate area?  Most are loving and helpful. A couple would gladly help anyone in need. Two are kind of ornery, if everyone doesn’t agree with their ideas. One can get belligerent. And one hides in the shadow. (Me) I’ve decided to set up shop later this spring, on my patio to work and watch the progress. Maybe one of the owners will happen by and sit for a visit. Maybe I can give help, or solace.
All About Friendship
Anais Nin put it beautifully when she said, "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." Though some natural loners are happy without them, most of us depend greatly on the company of true friends. As with any relationship, friendships bring support and joy and occasionally strife. 

We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. Orson Welles









We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. Orson Welles
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/friendship
We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. Orson Welles
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/friendship

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

The Secret message


The secret

A lovely surprise
In a gift of wishes
A poem in the making
The prayers that you’ve offered
A hope for healing
From sisters of my heart
Thanks for your love
The care that you’ve brought me
The smiles that you send me
The challenges offered
I can rest
Perhaps to sleep
Knowing God
And you
Are in charge.