Samuel on Christmas Eve

 

The Mommy gave a green crayon and some paper to Samuel after strapping him into the high chair.  “Write a letter to Santa!  We’ll put it with the cookies and milk tonight!”  Samuel gazed at the paper dismally before grasping the crayon in little boy stickiness.

He formed his thoughts and began to write. Dear Fat Man in the Red Suit,  I concede to your knowledge and wish to inform you that I do not regret a single thing.  Well, the cat and scissors episode was a mistake on my part….

Samuel beheld the paper which was now partially covered in scribbles, not in the clear words from his head.   Dammit, green stick!  Obey, or feel my wrath!  But to his dismay, his hand continued to make the same scrawl. Oh, well. 

He continued, …but The Cat is doing well, and we have made our peace.  Please accept this humble milk and cookies as an offering of friendship.  Sincerely, Samuel

The word “sincerely” stuck in his throat, but a little lying was fine at Christmas, as he had observed adults greeting each other with feigned delight.  Then Samuel smashed the green crayon into pieces on the tray.  You were warned.

That Christmas Eve night, The Mommy let Samuel carry the plate of cookies to the coffee table.  Both parents beamed with pride at his carefulness.  The Daddy put the glass of milk down beside the cookies, while The Mommy gave Samuel the letter to place with the cookies.

While The Parents laughed and hugged, Samuel turned his back to them, and prepared to place the letter atop the cookies.  Before this was done, Samuel dug deep into his nose, and removed a booger.  I have been saving this all day, just for you, Santa!

He smeared the booger onto a raisin on a cookie at the edge closest to the fireplace.  Eat this, Fat Man!

May the Peace of Christmas be with you....

Winthrop's engagement proposal

 

Source: Church Picnic

 

 

Tension in the church was high, after the two failed engagement attempts involving Florence and Winthrop.  One side of the aisle believed Winthrop should just drop theatrics and give her the damn ring.  The other side of the aisle believed that Winthrop was correct in wanting Florence to have a special engagement day. 

After the boating incident, Winthrop was unsure that Florence would accept him or his ring.  After a few tentative meetings, Florence assured Win that her love for him was even greater.  They mutually agreed that the engagement should take place at the coming church picnic.

After church, all the congregants headed out to the church’s lawn, where picnic tables were already laden with every casserole, Jello salad, fried chicken, potato salad, and dessert famous in the church ladies’ repertoire.  Beneath the towering trees, Brother Henry spoke the grace, and people dived in with plates and forks.

Winthrop and Florence nervously hung back, unable to eat.  They had decided to wait until people had wolfed down the last stewed chicken and egg noodles, cleaned out the pies, and were leaning back in lawn chairs to digest the feast.

Nervously and casually, they walked to a clearing near the pie section.  Winthrop spoke loudly.  “Oh, Florence!  I have loved you since first grade!  Would you do me the honor of….”

As Winthrop spoke of his love, the back row of chairs was thrown aside. A group of congregants ran back to the church, all of them clutching their ample stomachs.

Florence glowed as she gazed into Win’s eyes.  “Oh, Winthrop!  I, too, have loved you since first grade.  Yes!  Yes! I will marry…”

Another group of congregants tossed aside their lawn chairs.  They ran with great haste to the church, but some made side stops to vomit in the church hydrangea bushes.

Unaware of the chaos of food poisoning, Winthrop placed the diamond ring on Florence’s finger.  Kissing each other passionately, Win and Flo stood alone in a sea of abandoned lawn chairs and playing children. 

At last!

 

Our last camping trip was with our church. It included a potluck which had all sorts of possibilities.  I brought some salad. I had a migraine that was growing in strength. We went to bed in our cozy sleeping bags and struggled to sleep while the site next to us was singing Christian hymns.  As I cursed, I heard the voices abruptly stopped.  John ran to one of the porta potties available.  He came back and said, "We're getting outta here." There was a "run" on the potties as people had to throw up and/or had diarrhea.. The potties were full, full to the top full. 

 

We left the tent and stuff, leaving until the morning. It was an hour drive home, but a wise choice.  Apparently, nearly every camper who had eaten the delicious chicken stew (Her specialty) was in the line for the potties, or were out in the bushes. 

 

We haven't gone camping since then. Just lost the joy of camping in that one night. 

This was a post from 2012, shortly after our camping adventure. 

Trees are determined, will not be denied.

 

 Old silos, repurposed by trees

Australia 

                 sad piano

 

                     somewhere in Spain 

 

who knows? 

 

Brick vs. tree? 

Waiting for promises kept

1st Writes Photo

Over the years, Helen had dusted the shelves for her Great-Aunt Elspeth.  At first Helen could reach only the bottom shelf, and Aunt Elspeth had praised her. 

“Oh, what a magnificent job you have done!  Someday,” Aunt Elspeth had pointed to the very top shelf, “you will reach that shelf!  I will let you choose the bottle you love the most!”

Each time Helen polished and cleaned the shelves, she gazed at the bottles so far out of her reach.  ‘Someday…’  One time Helen would favor the green bottle, but the next time she dusted, she desired the pink bottle.

Years stacked up in numbers as Helen grew and she could dust the next shelf, and then the next.  Which one would she choose?  The blue?  The violet?  So lovely, so hard to decide.

When Helen could just almost reach that last shelf, Aunt Elspeth dropped dead right in front of her. 

 By this time, Helen was now grown as much as she ever would; she was a mother with a small child.  As she closed the eyes of her now-deceased aunt, Helen smiled gently.

Then Helen found a sturdy stool and a box.  She stepped onto the stool and stood level with the shelf.  Gazing fondly at each bottle, Helen sighed.  

Reaching tentatively, Helen spoke, “One?  Hell, I’m going to take them all!” 


This is a repost from 2014. It came from the photo prompt above.

The Fields of July

  

 July is here and oh boy howdy. This is sweetcorn time of the year.  You cannot beat this.

In my home rural farm, our old house was surrounded by corn or wheat fields. The wheat was harvested first, and then corn appears. The stalks grow anywhere from 8 to 12 feet. 

Running through corn stalks is nasty. The blades/leafs can hide are as scratchy and they cut too well. 

 Even so, we played hide and seek, tag, and chasing. The photos below are me pointing to a cow patty.

This is me, pointing at a cow patty.

I was active in finding and scooping up the patty.

Notice that the patty is the size of a toilet seat.

Checking product for correct dry and texture
Considering aerodynamic and wind direction.

 

 

 Yes, I am holding a cow patty. It was sanitized. I took back to my home where it was placed in the garden area. It slowly fell apart. Great memory. 

 

Cow patty's final resting place

My brother Don knows all the people and businesses here. The community loves and appreciates what Don and his son Jeremy do for special events like 

The Sweetcorn Festival of Chatham, Illinois 

This is a fundraiser for the use of someone in the community may have need.

Let me tell you this: Being with my brother Don is a gift and the most interesting person. He organized the use of the pasture to collect cow manure, and then he gave me a quick tutorial of the throw.  Then Don drove us on places that were part of his life. Don is a reverend at Laomi Methodist Church and a Chaplain at Memorial Hospital in Springfield, Illinois. 

So, that's all they wrote. Reliving part of our past, discovering what we didn't know---good times.

Secrets in the Grove

 

“These trees are old, really old, Aunt Celia!” Buddy whispered to the elderly lady holding his sweet hand.  “They’s older than you, even!”  He skipped to a hidden tune.

“Yes, little boy, I know they are old,” she mused, smiled down at the intense face.  “They were old when I was your age.”

His surprised face turned to laughter as he pictured this old woman skipping.  “Then you know all about the ‘sterious dis’pear’nce of Miss Cassandra!”

“Yes, my dear Buddy, but you tell me all about it, will you?”

Buddy flew into the story of the missing Cassandra, a story handed down to each generation.  Celia hid her chuckles as Buddy threw pirates and ghosts into the simple recounting of a young lady who ran away on eve of her wedding with her fencing instructor, and her “’sterious dis’pear’nce”.  “You reckon Miss Cassandra’ll ever be found?”

When Buddy finished the grand story, both were exhausted.  “Come, little man, let’s rest here a while,” Aunt Celia indicated a bough leaning to the ground.  She perched on the lowest bend, just as Buddy’s dog came bounding by.

His question unanswered, Buddy took off after his pet.

Great-Great-Aunt Celia gazed at the ground beneath her feet, knowing that just a few feet below lay Miss Cassandra in her wedding dress. Oh, well, Cassie. These things happen. You should never had trusted me.

Celia smiled. Life has been good. 

This is photo prompt from Delores in 2012. I think this is from Atlanta, GA.

 

Torch in the Dark Fount

 

Flynn struggled with creating meaningful narrative in his latest book, Torch in the Dark Fount.

    Liam carefully spread his own shawl upon….

    

Who? Why would he “spread” any shawl upon…? Delete…delete…

    Liam grasped his knife and savagely shred the silken shawl ….

A little better….type, type…

    Conor presented a fragile white crocus dipped in enemy blood to Warrior Queen Maeve. "The blood of  your enemies, my Queen...
"

Ah, much better, Finn decided.  With a chest filled with pride, he headed to his kitchen.

source

He did not push save, something he would regret in a few hours.

Wednesday Words  were started by Delores until her computer fought with her. Words can be found on Elephant's Child. 

 

 Please visit her site and meet other participants.
This was from 2011.

Power of Chocolate

Probably the Only Johnny Depp movie I have ever enjoyed

 

It has been proven through much research that chocolate brownies are the anti-dote to just about any illness, physical or otherwise.  The chocolate has riboflavin which boost the system and generally makes the sick person feel better.

While this most likely be disputed, my daughters and I have tested this out many many times and found it to be true.

One time my oldest daughter (then mid-20s) came by to visit.  We both had miserable colds.  Sick as dogs, as my mother would say. 

We put on Chocolάt, opened a bottle of Champagne/bubbling wine.  Then we baked a large pan of deep chocolate brownies.  While we watched the movie, we drank wine and ate the brownies (not even bothering for them to cool) straight from the pan.

We laughed, we cried, blew noses, and coughed.  We talked about past painful events, apologized, laughed, hugged each other, and fell asleep on the couch.

 

When we awoke, we felt much better.

Brownies always work.

Note: Not everyone can eat brownies for a variety of dietary restrictions.  I hope this post does not offend, and I hope that everyone has a "feel-good" food to eat when sick.

 

The Summons

 

Would you? Could you? Will you?

This is about 4 min. long, and worth every minute.

Taking care of Lord and Lady

 

Matilda wrung the dust cloth and sighed.  “Get to work, girl,” she mumbled to no one, since the house rang with emptiness. 

Source: arnowartcom.fatcow.com

Starting in the kitchen, Matilda reached behind the dry goods, retrieving the boxes of rat poison and bottles of potassium chloride.  “No one needs these anymore!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

She moved on to the bathrooms used by the late Lady and Lord Davis, taking the arsenic bottles, and putting the real medicine  in their places.  “Poor souls! To be so ill at the late blossoms of life!” Lady Davis had passed to her eternal reward only a year or so ago.  There had been little mourning and much giggling at church during music and prayers for the late Lady Davis

Now again a year later, at the Presbyterian Church next day, the township were dressed in black, touching their eyes now and then with hankies.  Matilda sat in her customary place in back.  The Right Reverend Lancaster, retired, gave a very very brief sermon, and then praised loyal parishioners  for honoring his late lordship, Lord Davis. “Now, we shall attend the church potluck, after attending to His Lordship’s request to be cremated.”

Outside, a roaring bonfire awaited pall bearers to throw the pine box into the flames.  As the fire leaped at the additional fuel, the cheers lifted as if one. “Take that, ye old *@$%^....”

Matilda smiled demurely as she was thanked over and over for her service.  Murder is a pleasure when one has lived a life of servitude to the Lord and His Ladyship

This is a re-post from August 8, 2013.  It was at my "How do I do this?" Not knowing the proper way to reference and honor anyone, I will do it now.  The words are from Delores, who started the Wednesday Words way back when.  Delores wanted bloggers to break from their WIP and get a fresh look after writing something unusual. Unfortunately, I didn't indicate the word in any way, but oh well, what can I say?
  
However, in my young blogging, days, I did not underline, bold, or italicize the words for readers to identify. Just look for strange words that are worked into sentences that seem a little odd.

Thanks.

God's people

 

 

Life in a farming community was a great world to be and grow. The world was somewhere out there, with the Martin Luther King, Jr. , Pope John, Janis Joplin and other people whose lives and mine would never intersect. 

There is a hidden group that has been persecuted for 2 millennia, the God's people, the Jewish people. Six million gone in a matter of a few years, there is little sympathy for a people that escaped genocide.  

But there is no reason to dig this up.  They went on their own choice. Get over it.  These are part of the language that puts the Jewish people down more.

Just who are the famous Jewish people?  Maybe You will be surprised.

Chris Pine  Robert Downey, Jr.   Adam Lambert    Scarlet Johannson  Jack Black

Gene Simmons   Andrew Garfield   Steven Seagal    Paul Simon   Art Garfunkel  Joaquin Phoenix      

Zac Efron     Natalie Portman    Paula Abdul   Jake Gyllenhal     Sylvester Stallone     Bob Dylan

So many talented Jewish people went to the entertainment and music. But why to entertainment?

       

 Jews were prohibited for working in communities from One Millennia to another to our current age.  In America, Jewish people were forced to leave homes and businesses.Jews ejected from some states--Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, as well as states in the North, during the Civil War. Pre-war, several states expelled Jews.

Instead they were allowed to work in entertaining at fairs.  They emigrated to America, where the Hollywood industry was picking up.  Jewish actors were hired above other actors. After all, they had spent 2,000 years practicing their skills as a way of surviving.

Many of the producers and directors (Steven Spielberg) were part of the Jewish people talent repository made necessary by the rest of the world.

The rise of anti-semitism is criminal, breaking the laws on so many levels.  No action has been taken to prevent such horrible abuse of Jewish students. They were afraid to go to classes. Columbia University was the early targets, going even so far as to break into a university building, occupying and hurting an employee. No action has been taken, ever.

In the wars that Israel has fought for their right to exist, they have pulled together a people who wanted to fight, to keep their land.  

Iran has been the source of the destruction that has surrounded Israel. This noble little country is fighting the battle against such evil. America cannot and will not put boots on the ground, but can use our own weapons to eliminate Iran.

God is in charge. Those who despise and abuse Jewish people will find themselves in front of an angry God.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 7:6

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3

 

What an Irish child thinks

 

                                                                        quality of life

Ireland. Ireland, oh you are magnificent.  The country, the green, music, literature, and, most of all, its people are magnificent. 

 

No matter what might be passing in all countries, Irish children have a grasp of language that is peculiar to their country. These ginger haired children have a way of refocusing what is important comparatively.

So, that given, let's all go to the pub, sing some songs, take off pajamas and put on clothes, argue with parents, and above all, be amazed at what a child can do at such a young age.

 

Along Stone Walls

 

 

Morning misted grass

Velvet brushed green

Beckons, cries out

For a child,

Shoe-less and wild.

Race across bare grass

With bare feet

Unfettered and free.

Hedge to stone wall,

Run and invite all

Follow, come, join...

Weeping eyes reply,

Cannot run, sadly sigh...

Travel ahead and discover

Fields touched by many.

Through golden gorse,

Beneath rowan trees,

Still, but for wren and sparrow hawks.

Come, follow...

There is yet another

Field awaiting, 

Weeping eyes.

By Robert Sheridan

 

       Hedge trimming     

 

 Can you imagine walking along this road? Feeling the mist in the air?

This is Ireland.

 

This was first published back in 2023 following hand surgery. Hand healed, but is at only 80% of it former use.