grass

Today is what I hope will be the last day to cut grass for 2016. The leaves are falling. I'm wearing 3/4 sleeves and pondering pulling on a jacket. The pecans are screaming "Fall is here! Fall is here!" (Okay, they're simply beginning to open their husks which means the pecans are almost ripe and they will start dropping in a few weeks.) There are no insects flying around and stinging me, nor mosquitoes irritating me, and I'm not sweating. It's the perfect time of year to cut grass.

And since I mentioned my sister yesterday, I'll mention her again today.

Cutting grass always makes me think of her.

Growing up, my dad had very bad allergies. Every time he cut the grass, he would barely be able to breathe or talk for the next 24 hours. So once I learned how, I joined my older sister in cutting the grass so he wouldn't have to. On those really hot days, we'd alternate. I'd take two rows, she'd take two. And on we'd go. And after we'd both finished 4 rows, Mom would be there with a glass of ice water for both of us.

Now, I have a self-propelled push mower for the trim work. But we do have a big yard. I tell myself while I'm working that this is nothing compared to what it was growing up. But I have to confess, the hotter it is while I work, the more I wish I could trade off with my sister and Mom would show up with ice water. Sometimes we truly take things for granted and don't realize how much those little gestures help and mean until they're not there.

a fast update

I'm on limited time so if there's a lot of typos in this post, please know there was no time to proof and I was typing quickly.

In case you've not watched the news, there's a hurricane coming this weekend. And to some degree or another North Carolina will be impacted. Which means I'm beginning to field phone calls or messages from folks back home who've never lived through a hurricane but see all the dvestation they cause on television. I've only been through one small one here, so I'm certainly no expert, but here's what my family needs to know:

• Rain and lots of it, along with a lot of noise. That's what it will mean for me.
• :) The pond behind our house as both a drain and a spillway. Our house is on the highest point of our property. The hill behind us to the pond is somewhat steep. We're in no danger of flooding.
• We're more likely to face flooding three roads away at a nearby bridge which is very old, forcing us to drive a different direction, or wipe out on a slippery, muddy dirt road than we are to drown or lose our house to flooding or wind damage.
• Stocking up for us means having enough water on hand in case the power goes out. That's what non-city people have to do since we have well water.
• EXCEPT, we have a generator. So as long as we have gas, our electric well pump will work. 
• And yes, this generator will also operate the charger for Bobby's wheelchair.
• We have a gas grill, and a pantry and freezer well stocked.
• I might bake cookies the day before it hits. And if any bread is left in the store tomorrow, I may buy a loaf.

So our biggest issues are medical supplies, which I keep well stocked, and having adequate water and power to operate and tend to medical needs. The generator my in-laws gifted us with takes care of the majority of those needs. 

But if you just really feel the need to worry, my older sister is 3 hrs away in a town called Washington (NC) which is prone to flooding. I suggest you spread your concern on down the road to her. And she'll be glad to dramatically tell you all about it. :)

today

Happy Friday.

It's thundering. The type of thunder that is so continuous we're not sure if they're blasting down the road again or if it's the weather.
It's raining. A torrential downpour, then just a soft, steady rain.
And I'm sick. Again. I don't know if it's allergies like before, or a cold, or what. And I don't care. I just want it to stop. I'm thankful it's now, the one week I have off before my schedule picks back up, and hoping it's cleared up before my next class next week. I'm not sure if they'd tell me to go home or not if I show up with a bass voice and watery eyes.
Like the last umpteen years, my temp has dropped well below normal. I have the routine conversation "well, maybe your baseline temp is below average" with people like my husband and nurse and dr (and for the record, it's not). If I were to go to the dr today, which I won't, the nurse would stick the thermometer back in my mouth and say "Well, it's clearly not had enough time." and when she takes it back out a few minutes later will just shrug. After all, who runs a fever of 96.6? I think I can count on one hand the times in the last 20 years I've felt bad or feverish, checked my temp and found it above normal instead of below (shingles, bronichal infection, and a flu-like virus). Otherwise, if I feel bad, I can almost guarantee you that my temp will be below 98.4
So we're not heading to the mountains for a day or two, we're not going to the bluegrass festival in downtown Raleigh tonight, and I'm not even quilting. But I'm up, and that's a huge improvement over yesterday.

taste buds

Dr. Pepper is the drink of choice for many people in Alabama. In college, I tried drinking coffee for a week. I was totally miserable.  Every morning, I tried a different suggestion from someone how to make it drinkable. None of them worked. By Saturday, I decided there was sweet tea, milk, hot chocolate and Dr. Pepper available. Who needed coffee?  So imagine my surprise when I discovered that my non-coffee drinking husband also dislikes Dr. Pepper. WHAT? We both dislike coffee!! How could he not savor a Dr. Pepper? He claims it tastes like medicine.

A few years ago I wound up with a cherry coke. How, I don't know. Bear in mind, I don't like cherries. My husband does. Being the loving and gracious person that he is, he said if I didn't like it he would trade with me. (He normally drinks water and avoids soft drinks like the plague.) But once I tried it, I found it was very similar to Dr. Pepper. I had him try it, and he totally agreed (which meant he didn't like it).

So how is it that the drink I like the most has a cherry flavor to it...the fruit I hate the most? Bobby laughs and says I should try cherries again as my taste buds I have obviously changed. I have tried them, and while they're not as detestable as I remember from my childhood, they're not something I desire to put in my mouth.

But it is nice to know when I walk into a store or restaurant that doesn't sell Dr. Pepper, if they have cherry flavored Coke or Pepsi, it's almost as good. Almost.

perspectives

A few years ago after a Bible study a lot of the group continued to sit and talk and simply relax. One of the ladies felt like she was being mistreated by her boss. She was always given extra tasks or asked to assume responsibilities that no one else was asked to do. She felt it was unfair. As she was listing off some of the extras (she worked in a cafe for a plant), I was in flashback mode. My last year of college I was a shift manager at a fast food place. One of my many duties was to ensure that certain cleaning jobs (extra duties) was assigned and done properly. We were inspected by company headquarters once a quarter, and 3 of their 4 visits was ALWAYS a surprise visit. When I handed out those extra assignments, I had three things in mind: Who will do this job without making a bigger mess? Who can quickly do this job so we don't impede serving customers? Who will do this without the most drama? In essence, I wanted the best person for the job. Use the teenager who griped and complained about every single thing so the whole crew had to hear even more whining and griping? I had a hard enough time working with her on a normal night. Have the kid who trips over his own two feet and drops half of what he touches climb overhead and dust the bins where we stored the stacks of plastic wrapped caps while on a ladder? No, don't feel like having extra paperwork and a trip to the ER tonight. So who was I going to ask for help? One of my better workers. The ones who do their jobs right the first time, without complaining. Preferably the ones I don't have to constantly check on to make sure they're not goofing off. And it never once crossed my mind that the worker would feel like they were being picked on. I was simply thinking about inspections and who could do the best job. We had a job that needed to be done, and I chose the people who could do it the most efficiently. It never once crossed my mind that someone would feel targeted or picked on.

I was reminded of that last night as I was reading my niece's blog. She was sharing some very personal thoughts and feelings, and one of the things she included was a time when she and her sister both tried out for a play, and she was chosen to be a paper mache ham that danced while her sister took the main role. And prior to that section, I was feeling absolutely HORRIBLE at some of the things I read. But the play...it made me laugh. If I had to pick a cast of background people for a play  I would look for people who could follow directions, not steal the spotlight but do such an incredible job in a small role that everyone would be talking about it later - and she has both of those qualities. If she's not enthusiastic about something, she simply doesn't do it. She has always been an all the way or nothing person, even as a toddler. She's extremely smart and seldom has to be told more than once how something needs to be done. She looks at an average scenario and has all these creative ideas for how to make it spectacular. Her energy level as a child often left me totally drained. And if I needed a dancing anything...she has the grace to make it look good and fun. She is/was the one you could stick at any position in a play and not worry about whether or not she'd learn her lines or give it all she had. So from a teacher's perspective...she would have made an incredible backstage character.

And it's gotten me to thinking about all those times I've been tired and struggling just to focus on an overwhelming to do list and someone has asked me or reminded me to do something for them. I may not actually physically scream "Can't you see I'm already overwhelmed and stressed out without you piling more on me?!?!" but I'm sure my attitude or expressions convey it. And yet, I'm being asked not because the person is trying to overwhelm me, but because it needs to be done and they think/know I can handle it. And in two weeks as I step back into 17 days of assigning responsibilities and placing people in jobs they may not prefer, I hope I remember to take an extra moment to let them know how much I appreciate their abilities and work. We all need that edification.

scrappy

One of the patterns Quilts of Valor quilters often use is the Carpenter's Star. It's nice, has a different look with different colors, and while fairly simple to piece it looks elegant. It also works well as a group project, which our local group has been doing a lot of the last two years. Last fall, in an attempt to use up some scrap fabrics and get ready for a group project, I stitched all my scraps together to use for the basic blocks. It turned out even better than I hoped, and I was quite pleased with the result. I think our group and our longarm quilter did a great job in putting this one together. We often don't get to see the quilts awarded to the veterans, but I do hope to see this one presented.

framing

The house/farm that is considered "the homeplace" to the Bob Bryan family sold this year. It had been in the family for almost 200 years. Even though the house is obviously not that old, it is the house Bobby's Dad grew up in. The new owner is a developer who is going to tear the house down and put in a subdivision. The large oak trees near the house are going to be left, and there will be a roundabout placed around them. Bobby's siblings got permission from the new owner to go in and remove some of the fireplace bricks, doors, cabinet shelving, and door frames. We might have taken more, except we didn't want to take off all the doors and leave the house totally exposed (and we were all short on time the one morning we did work).

My brother-in-laws graciously took down two door/window frames for me. The one I'm about to show is from "the parlor" or "the sitting room" that Bobby's aunts always talked about but which I never saw until after the death of the last aunt.  One of the things mentioned over and over while we went through the house was the rich heritage this family has received from being taught the truth and Scriptures from childhood up. Deuteronomy 6 comes to mind and was mentioned often while we worked that morning.

I am great about starting projects, but as most of you know, not so good at finishing projects. I was determined that this was a project that would be completed. I'm happy to finally say that one is totally finished and is now hanging over the door in our bedroom.

The second one I've got to re-sand (my first background paint job didn't go so well so it has to be redone). It will hang in our kitchen with a saying my father-in-law often quoted.

It's been a crazy year. And while many of the things I had hoped to do this year aren't happening, I am getting a lot of things finished!