Hard to believe this is the fourth Mother’s Day without Clint. I wore Linda’s beautiful necklace to church today along with Ellen’s earrings. Numerous folks wished me “Happy Mother’s Day” today and I tried to smile sweetly as I returned the wish or thanked them. Church went well. There were numerous places in the music where I could soar with my high notes. Pastor Paul had all the mothers stand so he could pray for them but, thankfully, he didn’t make a lot of fuss. When I walked outside after church it was raining and, of course, I didn’t have my umbrella. I went to Cost Less for a new supply of allergy pills for me, 81mg aspirin for Bill and anti-acid pills for both of us! Two really healthy specimens, right?
When I got home Bill was ready to head out for our Mother’s Day lunch. I changed into something warmer in case we got to walk out on the pier after lunch. We drove to Allyn and ate pizza for Clint at Lennard’s Boat House (formerly Lennard K’s). By time we were done it was a bit nasty out for walking on the pier so we sat by the waterfront for a little while and watched some guy get ready to head off on his boat.
We stopped off at a little stretch of beach on the other side of the cove. By then there was no rain and since the tide was out we were able to walk on the beach. We turned over rocks to watch little crabs scurry. Bill picked one up in his hand and I remembered putting one in Clint’s hand and watching his reaction. There were lots of large empty oyster shells as though someone had dumped them there. Several people were on the beach digging for clams so I guess there is no red tide danger there at the moment.
Back home I settled into Clint’s recliner with the hoodie. I knit on a hat while we were out and about as that is much easier. I finished most of a sleeve while we watched the movie “You can’t take it With You.” It was interesting to watch after seeing the play a few weeks ago. I pointed out the various things that were different from the play – characters that were in the play but not in the movie and vice versa. I had to fight to stay awake but I made it through to the end.
As I was going through a bag of stuff I ran across the other skein of yarn for the hoodie I’m working on. Wow! That’s unusual. Usually I’m searching high and low to find it.
I talked to Aileen tonight. She was Clint’s hospice volunteer and a really sweet lady. I mentioned talking with her awhile back and discovering that her husband had died suddenly. She is talking about moving to Tucson and taking it easy. I invited her to come hear me play at church and she thought some of her friends would also like to come with her. I told her I won’t be playing next week.
And thus another Mother’s Day is drawing to a close. I went back and pushed the button on Clint’s picture to hear him say “I wub you Mommy.” I am sooo thankful I have that. And I’ve given Lambie numerous hugs over the last couple of days. And I asked God to give Clint a BIG hug from Mommy today.
My Mother’s Prayer
I never can forget the day
I heard my mother kindly say,
"You're leaving now my tender care;
Remember, child, your mother's prayer."
(Chorus)
Whene'er I think of her so dear,
I feel her angel spirit near;
A voice comes floating on the air,
Reminding me of mother's prayer.
I never can forget the voice
That always made my heart rejoice;
Tho' I have wandered God knows where,
Still I remember mother's prayer.
Tho' years have gone, I can't forget
Those words of joy I hear them yet;
I see her by the old armchair,
My mother, dear, in humble prayer.
I never can forget the hour
I felt the Savior's cleansing pow'r,
My sin and guilt He canceled there,
'Twas there he answered mother's prayer.
Oh, praise the Lord for saving grace!
We'll meet up yonder face to face;
The home above together share,
In answer to my mother's prayer.
I finally got back and did some sewing today for the first time in several days. I’m trying to make some smaller bibs for PRS after the director informed me they now have plenty of the larger size and asked if I had a newborn size. Since I don’t have a newborn to check for sizing, I did four that are smaller than the ones I’ve been sending so we shall see if that suits. I do have a smaller size yet, but I’ll see her response to these first.
The grandson of the lady from church came this afternoon and picked up the chair. Yippeee dooo…. Now I won’t be piling stuff on that space any more!
Linda had one present in my birthday box that I was supposed to open last so I save it until after dinner last night. It was this lovely diamond teardrop pendant and I can wear the diamond accent earrings Ellen gave me for Christmas with it. When I think about necklaces and birthdays and Mother’s Day, I recall the last Mother’s Day Clint was with us. That also happened to be my birthday as happens every so many years. Linda sent me a ladybug necklace that year. I can still picture me wearing a black and white striped scoop neck sweater with the ladybug necklace and Clint with all his stuffed animals piled around him in his recliner. You could barely find us in the picture amidst all the stuffed animals!
Now I want to see if I can finish knitting the hoodie by time Barbara and I go to Knitting Guild next Wednesday night. Actually, I suppose I should confirm that we are going. The alarm is set for 6:30 in the morning so I’m off to knit on a sleeve.
In spite of all appearances to the contrary, God has a plan for this bankrupt world…this earth of ours, he still wants it as a theater for his grace and glorious direction. - Helmut Thielicke (1908-1986)
Most days Bill is up first and has the heat on and the coffee made. Today the Birthday Girl had to do it since I got up before he did. Dingbat (the woodpecker, not Bill) has been serenading me by hammering on the gutter. I looked out front in case the bunny was there. Bill saw one last night while I was gone. That’s the first one we’ve seen this spring. However, there were a couple of small birds nibbling the wishies off the dandelions. I can remember picking dandelions when they reached the fluffy stage and blowing on them to watch the fluffy things fly. I only today learned that the fluffy things are “wishies.” Who knew?
I had a shrimp quesadilla for my birthday breakfast. No, Bill was in the shower when I made it. He offered to make it but since I would have had to tell him how, it was easier to do it myself just like I wanted it, right? I’ve gotten phone calls, cards and presents today so that has been fun.
Bill asked me several weeks ago if I wanted to go out for dinner on my birthday or stay home and have him grill steak and lobster. My choice was lobster, hands down! We eat out so much that is isn’t really a treat to me. And I do NOT eat lobster when we’re out. So I was happy when the day dawned bright and sunny and no rain! One little problem arose, however, when Bill declared that he needed a path through my cutting board and yarn and fabric to get out the sliding glass door to the deck. Hmmm….
I started in on that chore about one o’clock – not the way I anticipated spending my birthday. Ten minutes into the job Bill said “You’re not finished with that?” Finished? If I could have done the job in ten minutes it would have been done long time ago! The problem is no place to put stuff. I finally told him that I wanted to get rid of the chair that has been sitting here piled high with fabric, etc. He was agreeable so I called a lady at church whose lost everything in a house fire several months ago and asked if she could use the chair. She said she would be happy to take it. She has a pickup truck and just needs to find a couple of fellows to help load it and that will be out of my hair. Hopefully she’ll be able to come tomorrow. We moved it out of the way and then I was able to move the cutting table over and clear a trail to the door. But I now have room to lift the other half of my cutting table. Of course, I still have to clear off the top of the table, which now has more stuff on it than before I started cleaning, but at least there is hope – I think!
Two hours later I had done all I could and wanted to do for the day. I was pooped. I settled into Clint’s recliner and opened my birthday boxes from Ellen and Linda. When I recuperated enough to move again, I filled the tub and soaked my weary body. Refreshed by that I resumed knitting on the hoodie. I have about 3 1/2 inches left to do on the first sleeve.
I told Bill six would be a good time for dinner so he got things going to have it done by then. The rib steak was about two inches thick. The lobster tail wasn’t as big as some we’ve had in the past but it was yummy. I have strawberry shortcake for “dessert” when the mood strikes me.
So I’m going to wind down and relax for the rest of the evening. Ok, so relaxing is knitting to me. But Linda sent four movies so maybe we can watch one of those. I finished the detective mysteries last night. I enjoyed them and, of course, those were the only ones made! We’ll see what year 63 of my life brings…
Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in. - Henry David Thoreau
Once again it was after one o’clock by time I finished the detective episode, went to bed, read a few pages and fell asleep. I was semi-awake when Bill got up some time after seven this morning and next thing I knew it was 8:30. I’d like to say I bounced out of bed but it was more like I rolled out and limped to the bathroom. It’s amazing how “stove up” the body can get after being in bed for a few hours!
Everywhere I turned today folks were talking about Mother’s Day. That, of course, reminded me of how much I miss Clint. Sigh… I spent the day putzing on the computer in between crocheting around the waffle baby blanket. I finally sewed in the last yarn tail at 3:35 this afternoon. It needs a little blocking but good to go apart from that. It will go to Pregnancy Resource Services. You can see a better picture of the actual stitch pattern HERE.
Just when you despair of man’s inhumanity to man, word come of the totals for things sent to the CURE Hospital for the February campaign. For the babies at CURE Hospital in Kabul, they shipped 47 cartons containing the following: 2,475 hats for newborns, 480 hats for toddlers (larger babies and smaller children),
1,200 newborn socks and 544 baby blankets. That's a total of 4,699 newly hand-knit and crocheted gifts. Isn’t that too awesome for words!
Larry H. was back leading rehearsal tonight. And we were happy to have David back with us. Hopefully he can stay well now! At rehearsal I sometimes wonder if it will al come together for Sunday morning services, but it always seems to. It was almost 9:30 by time I got home and settled in front of the computer again. I can watch the last detective episode tonight while I knit on the hoodie. “Hoodie?” you ask. Yes, this is one more of the UFO’s that has been lying around for ages. The body is knit and it just needs sleeves and the hood. It is a size 6 so I know I started out with the idea of making it for Reign and she’ll be nine this year. 
Love is an attitude, love is a prayer
For someone in sorrow, a heart in despair;
Love is good will for the gain of another,
Love suffers long with the fault of a brother. —Anon.
Dingbat woke me at first light this morning. That’s when I discovered that I was barely covered since “someone” was hogging the covers! The electric blanket usually hangs at least a foot or more over the side of the bed but it barely covered me. When Bill got up for a few minutes to turn on the heat and put on a pot of coffee, I took advantage of his brief absence to adjust the covers. I didn’t get to enjoy it long, however, because my nose started in and I got up at 6:45.
As it turned out that was a good thing because I got a chance to chat with my internet friend Bev who lives in Sheffield, England. She works at the university there and also plays the bagpipes. Bev will be going to Belgium at the end of the month with The City of Sheffield Pipe Band to perform at the laying of a wreath at Menin Gate in Ypres (Flanders, Belgium). “The Menin Gate is monument dedicated to the missing 54,896 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the fierce battles around the Ypres Salient area in WWI and who have no known grave. Even to this day, bodies are still very occasionally being found. They receive a proper burial and, if they can be identified, the name is removed from the Menin Gate.” (Wikipedia)
I can remember over the years hearing my Dad read the poem “In Flanders Field” but I didn’t know about the gate until Bev mentioned it this morning and I looked it up. “Following the Menin Gate Memorial opening in 1927, the citizens of Ypres wanted to express their gratitude towards those who had given their lives for Belgium's freedom. As such, every evening at 8.00, buglers from the local fire brigade close the road which passes under the Memorial and blow the Last Post. Except for the occupation by the Germans in World War II when the daily ceremony was conducted at Brookwood Military Cemetery, in Surrey, England, this ceremony has been carried on uninterrupted since 2 July 1928. On the very evening that Polish forces liberated Ypres in the Second War, the ceremony was resumed at the Menin Gate despite the fact that heavy fighting was still taking place in other parts of the town.” (Wikipedia) I think it is awesome that this tradition continues in such a “me, me, me” society. Bev is a member of the Pipes and Drums of Royal Air Force Waddington. She sent me this picture of her in uniform playing the pipes.
Deanna called just as I stood up to go get dressed at six o’clock. I managed to get my slacks on with one hand while holding the phone in the other hand but that was about the extent of what I could do. We covered what we needed to know from each other and then I hung up and finished getting ready to go. I picked up Nadine at 6:30. When we arrived at church there weren’t but about six cars in the parking lot and it was 6:42 by then and the concert was due to start at 7. Burley Bible folks are definitely slow moving. They are the same way on Sundays so I should be used to it by now.
The concert featured Resonant which is a versatile music ensemble from Briercrest College-Seminary in Saskatchewan, Canada. They have a wide repertoire ranging from the classics to today's music. There nine of them and they performed acappella and were fantastic. One girl raised the rafters with her high notes! They sang for an hour and Nadine also thoroughly enjoyed it. I dropped her off in time to go pick up Hector who was at Joyce’s house. She has to pick him up before Ted goes to bed, otherwise the three dogs barking wakes Ted up.
Now I’m off to watch the third episode in my private detective series. When I finished reading the “Key West” book I gave it to Nadine. She read it in a matter of days compared to the weeks it took me. Of course, she wakes in the middle of the night and that was when she was reading.
In Flanders Fields IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-191
- Canadian Army
I forgot to mention last night that I looked out the window yesterday and spied one of the neighbor’s chickens in our front yard. Dinner? I started another episode of “An Unsuitable Job for a Woman” and next thing I knew it was after one o’clock! I read a few pages and then called it a night.
I got up at 7:30 to take care of email and whatever before heading off to Bible Study. I was all dressed when I realized I was awfully warm. I checked the outside thermometer and saw that it was 50° already. I shed those wintery clothes and dressed in lighter weight clothing. I arrived at the same time as Bev, Ruth, Hannah and Jo, albeit we were all about five minutes late. I parked at the far end of the lot so I could get a tad of exercise. Doris, Rose, Susan, Maralyn and Silvia were aleady there. Liz, my prayer sister, is off camping. Others were sick or had doctor appointments. Our topic today was “Knowing God as the Word” and we got about half way through it. Doris is cute – she gets so rattled if we don’t get through the hole thing, but folks have lots to share that adds to the study and shows how to apply what we are learning to life.
When I got back to the car I realized that my wallet was at home instead of with me. Thank goodness I discovered that then since Bill had mentioned my going to Wok II for some takeout soup. I would have been mortified to arrive to pick up the order he called in and have no way of paying for it! I probably couldn’t have gotten anything from my bank either with no identity. I carefully made my way down the road and into Key Center to the post office. Of course since I arrived while they were closed for lunch there was a package that needed to be picked up. I went over to Lisa’s Deli and got some soup for Bill. I “borrowed” some money from my mail money, went back and picked up the package and then drove home.
Since I got home I’ve been knitting on the baby “waffle” afghan. I have about four more repeats of the four row pattern and then I’ll bind off and then I’m supposed to crochet four rows to finish it off. I missed Deanna’s call this morning. I talked to Nadine tonight to confirm our “date” tomorrow night for the concert at church. Now I’m off to see what the evening brings my way.
I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves - one above the other and the taller we grew, the more easily we could reach them. I now find that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower. - F. B. Meyer
I banged my elbow on a sharp corner in the bathroom last night. If it was my “funny bone” it was NOT funny! ”Actually, when you hit your "funny bone" you're not hitting a bone at all. You are hitting the ulna nerve as it passes around the back of the elbow. Because the ulna nerve sits just on top of the hard elbow, and because most people don't have a lot of fatty cushion in that spot, the nerve is prone to being dinged." All I know is that it was still sore this morning and most of the day it hurt to bend my arm.
This has been a computer day. I worked on bills and orders – all the “fun” stuff. I did sneak in some rows on the baby afghan from time to time. And I actually got myself out the front door and walked a little this morning. It was a gorgeous day out early this morning – nice and warm.
My other big thing to do was map out the Yarn Crawl that Barbara and I will do on May 16 and 17. There are 10 yarn shops and we hope to hit 5 each day. If not, there is a third day to play catch up. If you hit all three you are entered into the pot for a $500 drawing. Barbara says she never wins anything, and since I fall into that same category it is probably hopeless but it is an outing and we’ll be going to some yarn shops we’ve never visited before.
I cooked some lamb chops for dinner tonight. They were real tasty. Being it’s my birthday week I get some extra goodies. This afternoon I ate some of the minestrone I bought at Safeway. It was alright but not the quality of our favorite Italian restaurant, The Pomodoro.
Ellie wrote today and asked if we’re going to lunch for our birthdays this year as before. We decided to go next Monday. I talked to Deanna this morning. Our monthly Ellie “do” is usually the last Monday of the month but that will be Memorial Day so we need to change it. Deanna is checking with Mary to see if we can do it on the 22nd. We are planning a road trip for this “do.”
I had a nice lengthy chat with Robin tonight. She is doing well in the new retirement living home. I can’t imagine having to downsize from a house to one room with all my toys, but I guess one does what they have to do.
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the
morning, Satan shudders & says..."Oh no....she's awake!!"
I got up 15 minutes earlier today than I usually do on Sunday. I wanted to get to church before everyone else so I could practice the song I was going to play before church on the baby grand piano. I wore my flowery jacket – the one I made in class last year. Everything went fine today. I made sure that no communion grape was set on the keyboard so there were no disasters there like last month.
When church was over I rehearsed a song with Larry P that he will sing for Mother’s Day. Larry H (team leader) has been gone for two weeks so Larry P has filled in for him. Larry H will be back Thursday night but Larry P won’t be there to rehearse with. So we’ll see what happens with that.
I stopped at the Burley Store for Bill’s Sunday paper and then drove to Barbara’s. We were able to squeeze all the hats into the box I took with me. I had 16 hats and I think she had 8 but hers were bigger and bulkier. It was after one by time I got home. The yogurt I ate at 6:30 had long since run out, even with the addition of a brownie between church services. I was a good girl and ate a nice healthy salad. Then Bill asked about going out for a drive since it was such a great spring day.
We drove over to Allyn and walked out on the pier. There was a huge school of fish by the pier. They were about six inches long and one guy on the pier said they were herring. Anyway, there were hundreds of them – maybe thousands. We drove over to Belfair and Bill went into Safeway and QFC checking on rib steaks and lobster tails for my Friday birthday dinner. They were having a great sale on the steaks at Safeway and they had the large lobster tails at QFC. So he told me to remind him to stop on the way back by – like I was going to get him off the hook for that! We drove out to North Shore State Park. This was closed from flooding last time we went there but it was open today so we walked out on the beach. The only thing of interest there was a bunch of small birds at the water’s edge.
I reminded Bill to stop for the steak and lobster on the way back through Belfair. We were getting hungry by then so we stopped into The Roadhouse for dinner. I had the fish and chips after being assured by the waitress they weren’t all batter and no fish like the one’s we had last Sunday when Barbara and I went to the Sunset Grill after the theater. These were excellent. Bill ordered the club sandwich on sourdough. When the waitress brought his sandwich, she said the sourdough bread was smaller than the bread they usually make the sandwich on so she asked if he wanted more. He said, “Sure” and they brought him another half sandwich. I managed to resist the triple chocolate raspberry cheesecake!
As we headed home Bill said, “It seems too pretty to go home yet.” I reminded him that I had been up since 6:15 and gone from home since 7:15 so home sounded pretty good to me! So here we are all settled in for the night. The hummingbird food has been replenished. My cyclamen is drooping yet it soil feels moist. I let it sit out in the sun while we were gone today and it looked worse when we got back than it did when we left. Oh well….
I finished the Caring for Kids hat that has been sitting here almost done for several days. I set it aside while I worked feverishly to have a goodly number of “Afghan” hats. On the road this afternoon I knit on the first of the next bunch of “Afghan” hats. I’m ready to do the six decrease rows and that will be done. Now I want to finish knitting the baby “waffle” afghan and get it to PRS so it is being useful instead of collecting dust here!
I came across this in my travels today. It is too cute not to share…
I was wondering….
Is it SPRING yet?
I woke at 5:30 and dozed off until I was awakened at 6:15 by Bill getting up. I dozed off again until 7:15. When I woke again I lay there for awhile. The brain soared off into wherever the brain goes. The body lay there like a lump. Then it occurred to me that I needed to set the alarm for tomorrow morning so I did that and then dragged myself out of bed.
I was putzing along on the computer a little after nine o’clock when Bill asked if I wanted to go to the new restaurant in Key Center for breakfast. No dieting today, I see! So we went and I ordered the biscuits and gravy with eggs and home fries. Bill ordered the corned beef hash. The cook came out and asked Bill if he wanted something besides the biscuit he ordered. The reason was that she had done one that broke apart and the rest of them were frozen. Ok, this was right up there with their premix corned beef hash. I asked for my eggs over easy. One was underdone and on the other, the egg had obviously broken so that the yolk was all cooked well done. I heard the waitress tell another table that the home fries had onions and peppers. There was none of that in my home fries. When I asked about it, the waitress said you had to ask if you wanted that. Ok… I think we decided that this was someone who woke up one day and said. “Let’s start a restaurant.”
Apart from that I’ve spent the day knitting more Afghan hats and then I talked for a long time with my sister on Messenger. She got some Verizon thing for internet access and she has had nothing but problems. During the time we talked today, she must have gotten disconnected two dozen times. And she is paying $57 per month for the lovely service. Yippee….
Now Bill wants me to watch a movie with him so I guess I’ll boogie on for tonight. It was supposed to have turned to nice weather this afternoon but that didn't happen. At least the pesky showers disappeared.
What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. —Philippians 3:7
Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.
I talked with Barbara this morning to see when she wants to mail off the Afghan hats. We decided on Monday so I sat down to see about knitting some on the mid-gauge machine. That worked just fine and by days end I had knit six of them. I could have done more except I had to take a break and do some work on Myra’s website.
Nadine called tonight and she had gotten her embroidery machine back for the third time. It still isn’t working right. I talked to Deanna and we both agreed that the home office needs to be contacted. I told Nadine that before but she hasn’t followed through so after talking to Deanna I called Nadine’s daughter Joyce and laid it all out to her. I know she will follow through with whatever it takes to do the job.
There was a nice write up about Myra’s shop on America’s Knitting. I chuckled when I read that “Myra built a website.” Uh huh…. Myra agreed that there were a number of inaccuracies in the article.
That is about it for me today. I’m hand knitting an Afghan hat that is almost done so I’ll see if I can finish it tonight. I found today’s “thought” quite intriguing,
"Great minds have purposes, little minds have wishes." - Washington Irving
Hi Diane. Was finally able to get out cyberwalking again and wanted to check on you and see what you were up to ... 
Hi Carol, I get a "lump in my chest" reading your thoughts that you share .. thanks for reminding us how life is a 
Hi! Praying God's blessings on you!
I admire how you've come through your tribulations and kept your faith!!! GOD BLESS!
Bravenet Blog 
Blog Community
Get a Free Blog
Manage your Blog
God Bless~ 
bravenet.com