Beach Weather

In April
I want to go
Down to the sea
To lie on the sand
As waves wash over me.
I just need a beach that is
Sunny and warm
With shells filled with creatures
Exuding their charm.
Come with me now and
We'll dance in the surf
Like the ponies of Chinqueteague
Pawing the turf

FRIENDS

A couple of weeks ago I googled myself to see if I had done anything. I saw a notice that Wendy Hauer had no friends! Surprised, I went to the internet site to explore. That Wendy was on an arthritis site and needed empathy because of her pain. I couldn’t help because I wasn’t her “friend” Later that week I was invited by an old friend to join “Face book”, another internet site. When I did I found out that “Wendy Hauer” had no friends! I checked out my friend Carol’s friends and asked those I knew if I could be their friends. Now I have 31 friends. These are nieces, nephews, cousins, people I was a visiting teacher to and those who taught me. Some are “my girls”. I was a beehive leader for five years and I am now in touch with almost all of them. Its fun to see what has happened to them in the last twenty five years.
What does it take to make a friend and how important is it?
I know a young man who feels like he has few friends and he has a very sad life. He goes to work and he goes home. His brother, on the other hand is very out going and has many friends. Yet both are kind, loving talented young men. What is the difference. I think it is fear. I know the thing that holds me back in a lot of areas is fear.

OVERCOMING FEAR
“If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of trouble.”— Elbert Hubbard

“The two greatest fear busters are knowledge and action.”—Denis Waitley

“one of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”—Henry Ford

So how can I get over my fears to make friends? Going to church has helped. Finding people with the same interests helps. At least it puts me in a place where I can make friends.
My husband teases me about my friend the dentist, my friend the chiropractor, my friend the doctor, and even my friend the insurance salesman. These are people who have provided a service for me. Service both given and received is a good friendship builder.
How do you make friends?
I asked my sister, and she said,
“How do I personally make friends? I don't make a lot of close friends. However, I did make a new casual friend on Monday night. She is a neighbor and has been for 20 yrs. I invited the family over for root beer floats, but only the mom and her son's girlfriend could come. Her son wasn't feeling well and she is worried that it is a kidney disease. Her only other child, a young man, died last year after a stroke and staph infection. I just listened to her story for about an hour, and after she left felt like we were now friends, not just across the street neighbors.
Tommy just had sent a scripture for us to ponder. Psalms 37:1-11. I was reminded of that as I read your message. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so that thou shall dwell in the land and be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give the the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." With that message, who could fear? Relating it to making friends, I guess one could say that if you go about with that message in your heart, you recognize the goodness in other people and it is easy to find common ground.

SPRING

Spring
Bursts forth--
The air warm and lazy;
Alternating with moments of wind
and snow.
Crazy, like the rabbits
Eating my tulips.
My favorite time of year—
When you were born.

Good Soup

GREEN CHILE CHICKEN CHOWDER

2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (1 large breast)

I large potato

1 can evaporated milk

1 can chopped green chile

2 cups water

2 chicken bullion cubes

1 can creamed corn

Sprinkling of parsley

Bring water to boil and cook the chicken

Take it out and chop it into bite sized pieces

Chop potato into bite sized pieces and put into boiling water to cook while cutting up chicken.(tender not soft)

Add bouillon cubes

Return chicken,

Add corn, milk, green chile (the longer you cook the green chile the hotter it gets) even mild.)

Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crackers, chips, or hard rolls to dunk.



Ps. If you leave out the chicken you can add shrimp or crab for a fishy chowder.

Happy Birthday all you Februaryites

TRAV”LIN

I think t’would be fun to be on a train
To ride through the woods and
Then home again
The clackity clack of the wheels
On the rails
The cinders that fly from the
Smoke stacks like sails
The mountains and trees are
All covered with snow.
The riders are bundled to keep
Out the cold.
Lets go for a ride on the old 8.8.4.
I guess they don’t make them like that
Anymore.

FEBRUARY

Let me be the first to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day!
Be sure and tell someone you love them.
I had a nice visit in January with some someones I love. My children came to D.C. in time for the Inauguration, and we celebrated Christmas late. My son was telling us about his cats.
Mariah use to live here with us, and was always getting into trouble. She fell off the balcony three floors up and only had a cut lip. Then she swallowed a piece of yarn which unfortunately had a large yarn needle attached and needed surgery. Needless to say our vet always asks about her. Bernanke was inherited from the next door neighbor in Wisconsin.

Mariah was always a quiet cat. She never meowed loudly like the others, but politely expressed herself occasionally with a small mew. Bernanke, on the other hand was a kitten and a little boy. He thought he was Top Dog. We have pictures of him doing back flips through the air. When its feeding time he goes into a vocal frenzy . My son puts the dish down—he meows loudly—the dish goes back up—Mariah swats him—the dish goes down—MEOW—swat. The dish goes down………he’s learned his lesson and they eat Even though she’s not Bernanke’s mother, she has taught him a lesson, at least for a day!
I’ve been looking unsuccessfully for a talk I read once about mothering others than our own children. Essentially it said that there are many times we can teach and influence others. Whether we be teachers, co-workers or friends, we can be a positive influence on those around us. Sheri Dew said “As daughters of our Heavenly Father, and as daughters of Eve, we are all mothers, and we have always been mothers. And we each have the responsibility to love and help lead the rising generation. How will our young women learn to live as women of God unless they see what women of God look like, meaning what we wear, watch and read; how we fill our time and our minds; how we face temptation and uncertainty; where we find true joy; and why modesty and femininity are hallmarks of righteous women? How will our young men learn to value women of God if we don’t show them the virtue of our virtues?
Every one of us has an overarching obligation to model righteous womanhood because our youth may not see it anywhere else…. Every one of us can mother someone—beginning of course with the children in our own families, but extending far beyond. Every one of us can show by word and by deed that the work of women in the Lord’s kingdom is magnificent and holy. I repeat:We are all mothers in Israel, and our calling is to love and help lead the rising generation through the dangerous streets of mortality. “Who and how are you going to influence this week?
Maggi, my old cat is sitting on my ironing board and won’t get off even when I spray her with the spray bottle. I guess as long as she stays off the counters and the table I can, as any mother, pick my battles. I can always iron while she’s asleep.
With love,
Wendy Hauer

PANDA PARTY

Looks like drizzle in DC today.
That’s normal cold weather in China they say.
The panda’s contentedly having his lunch
Of piles of wet soggy bamboo to munch.
I hope for your birthday you’ll get to have cake.
I think that bamboo would be a mistake.