Good morning to all. I see I put it on the prayer thread yesterday by mistake. Oh, well. That would be my prayer for us all.
It is a bluegrass festival weekend, so that was where we were yesterday and will be later today. It is bittersweet for me as my husband has forgotten so much of our times there. He has become forgetful in some ways. Nevertheless, it is a joy to listen to so much good music and reconnect with people.
I pray you have no fires. We are finally out of the high danger level, although still somewhat dry.
The other day I was looking at a fuchsia plant at a garden center while two women were also looking at it and speaking Spanish to one another. One turned to me and asked what we call the plant. After I told her it was a fuchsia, she told me that in Spain they call it The Queen’s Earrings. I had to agree that was a great name for it. Forgive me if I wrote this here before. I sometimes can’t remember whether I wrote about it here or elsewhere!
I don’t remember you ever writing that, Kathaleena. What a wonderful name!
With all the rains and storms we’ve had, you’d think the protesting might get rained out. We will see what God’s weather plans are. Lately if we get an all dry forecast it seems that God laughs until His clouds cry.
I hope all the Wanderers have a beautiful Saturday, rain or shine, and with out fires!
and probably with four children where we camped in national parks all across. So every day we would drive about four hundred miles, set up camp, eat, go to bed, repeat. Mike remembers it but I have almost no memory of it. A very vague thought of setting things up but that is it. Bizarre to me.
I got to go to the community VBS picnic in the forest last night. My son was a helper this year. It was almost surreal to see all of the people present. Almost 300. I have lived in a community of 165 residents for 40+ years. Now, we have this big wind energy installation going on and suddenly there are people everywhere. I am happy that they are open to the Word.
Today will be spent gardening. I am planting some seeds that a work friend brought me from Turkey. I will be excited to see how they grow.
Kathleen, I am so with you on “their version of events”. Sometimes I will be talking with my grown children and wonder what in the world they are referring to. Certainly not what happened in reality.
It is funny that I sometimes have the opposite experience with our son. He has had such a full adult life and his mind is overflowing with all the readings he has done to get to be an English prof, so that he does not often think of the things we did when homeschooling. I can remember a lot about when he was a Scout and I will bring up something he had done or that we enjoyed together. He’ll say, “Oh, I had forgotten all about that.” Then he remembers and is thankful I reminded him of it.
Over the last week I have been fully enjoying two local nests. One is red-tailed hawks, with two youngsters nearly ready to fledge in a nest high in a pine tree. I tried to watch the nest a few weeks ago but couldn’t find a spot from which to view it, and went again Sunday afternoon and found the perfect spot, and the babies are now old enough to be really active and interesting.
And for several weeks I have been watching a nest of green herons. They leave the nest to wander the nest tree pretty early in their development. They started out with five in the nest, but a hawk got one before I ever saw them (or at least before I could count them–when they were in the nest as fuzzy white balls, it was impossible to count them). This week they left the nest tree, but it was initially to hang out in bushes at the base of it. One learned to fly, but the others couldn’t, but they could climb all over the place with those huge heron feet. By that time there were only three–and as of today all three are flying. But for a few days it was easy to get close-up views of three young green herons climbing around on a log and in and out of shrubbery, and the parent flying in to feed them. Just down the street from the herons, two juvenile tree swallows crowded together on the end of a branch in a dead tree and opened their beaks super wide every time a swallow flew anywhere near, but a parent would come with food every two to five minutes, and so I got lots and lots of feeding shots!
And then this afternoon my husband and I went out for our walk, and a couple of blocks away a fawn was lying cozied up next to a brick wall. The grounds crew ended up getting too close and too noisy and so it took off running, but I got several photos of it first. Two or three days ago a doe went running as we came around the corner, and I told my husband, “She must have been feeding a fawn!” The local does know us, and wouldn’t have run at our approach except for that. So we looked into the shrubbery. My husband saw legs and I saw red-brown fur and then spots, and I took a few photos. And in a couple of the photos I can see an eye gazing out at us and an ear or two. The last two summers a doe has had her babies in our development, and this year we have a second doe; both mamas have had their babies, so we probably have four fawns hidden away. (Both sightings of fawns have been within a few yards of each other, and in the general area where we have 90% of our sightings of the local fawns.)
We also have a mallard with ducklings who have been hanging around for ten days or so. She started with seven ducklings and still has six, which is great success for duckling survival. And yesterday we saw a box turtle on the next block, a first for our neighborhood.
My bio children all have good clear memories of growing up, mostly agreeing with each other, but few of the adoptees have any memories and a lot of wrong memories that none of them agree on. I attribute that to ptsd.
What breaks my heart is that according to Chickadee’s memories, she was a “2nd class granddaughter” to my parents, compared to Nightingale and Niece, who were three years (Nightingale) and almost-four years (Niece) older than she, and that she was a disappointment to her father. None of that is true, but she has carried those feelings with her for a couple of decades, since she was a child.
I only know of this because one day she told me these feelings of hers, in tears. I tried to reassure her that she was as beloved by her grandparents as her sister and cousin were, and that her father loved her as much as he loved Nightingale. Pretty sure we had this conversation a couple of times over the course of a year or so.
(Mom and Dad referred to them all as their “Our Three Beautiful Granddaughters.” I reminded Chickadee of that and added, “It wasn’t “Our Two Beautiful Granddaughters and the Other One,” but “Our Three Beautiful Granddaughters.”)
This adds to my pain and disappointment over her choosing to live with, and identify with, the McK family – that she feels she fits in better with them than with her real family.
Well, since I am mentioning this, I might as well turn it into a prayer request. Please pray that God will bring into her mind better memories, and even “fix” the mistaken understandings of her memories. Thank you.
Memories are a funny thing. Three people can experience the same event and have three different versions of it.
I’m reminded of a biography I heard about. A man took his son fishing and only thought of it as a wasted day, whereas the son thought of it as one of the best times he had with his father.
We attended a family reunion of Mrs L’s mother’s family. Most of her cousins and all of her siblings were there, but not all the spouses or children. My MIL’s sister and sister-in-law wee there. All three women are widows in their 80s and 90s. So four generations of Iowa farm families were there.
We are to assume lunatics know something we don’t? Those burning down cities, attacking and murdering government officials? Those opportunistic looters? We should listen to them… I think I’ll pass…
Our coyotes are reactivating a bit, pups growing and needing more food? Hearing the adults barking again in the late hours. Mating season was very loud but then it was quite until more recently again.
It’s still “June Gloom” here with the dampness moving in over the coast and harbor, temps in the low 70s or even 60s. We don’t hit our summer weather often times until we get into July. It used to be quite the frustration for us just right out of school and waiting for decent beach days.
Our town is doing its big fireworks celebration over the water this year on July 5.
Good family gathering tonight. My sister was there and I got to visit with her. My ex was there and I said hello, but that was all. I talked to the elders about him so I need to arrange a time to talk. But tonight just wasn’t that time even to just arrange.
Caroline said that she had covid and that’s why she missed her graduation, but she couldn’t have walked.
Have to go early to Sunday school tomorrow as I have clipboards to circulate to ask folks to bring food for two memorial services. And then next week we begin our six weeks of outdoor services.
Happy Father’s Day to everyone! We all had an earthly one and we all have the Father. Celebrate! For this is eternal life, that we may know Him and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
Happy father’s day to all the men. We had a good church service this morning and a good time of fellowship during the meal after. So nice to be able to support your fellow believers.
Happiness to all the fathers and to all of us who have or had fathers.
At church several men gave testimonies about the blessing of being a father and being in a church family that supports the individual families. It was very touching to hear wise men speak on the subject and give glory to the Father above all fathers.
Church was beyond amazing. I don’t think (our earthly) Father’s Day was mentioned specifically, but the eternal King was praised with enthusiasm, hands raised Presbyterian style, and (as always) I did shed some quiet tears I never can help that. Our guest preacher whom I’ve heard before will be preaching at our upcoming family camp, he hails is from a sister church in our denomination in NY, filled with the spirit.
Communion, of which we always partake, felt especially moving today.
Roku camera showed a very large well fed raccoon on the deck. Daughter found a very dead weasel in the yard. Guessing the cats got it after it got a chicken in the chicken tractor. Must be out of birds, mice, goldfish and snakes.
I was wondering if it were dead raccoons I was seeing in the overgrown vacant lot across the street yesterday …
But when I got closer, turns out it was a pair of beat-up boots.
Close. …
I guess that’s what you get for looking at the ground.
Minnesota looks a lot like Iowa; been there, had kin from there, but had forgotten that … (watching a news clip on the manhunt for yesterday’s assassin 😦 very sad, prayers for those family members)
Wandering Views 
Good morning, all. Another beautiful day here. Lots of thunder and lightning last night so on the lookout for fire starts.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good morning to all. I see I put it on the prayer thread yesterday by mistake. Oh, well. That would be my prayer for us all.
It is a bluegrass festival weekend, so that was where we were yesterday and will be later today. It is bittersweet for me as my husband has forgotten so much of our times there. He has become forgetful in some ways. Nevertheless, it is a joy to listen to so much good music and reconnect with people.
LikeLiked by 5 people
I pray you have no fires. We are finally out of the high danger level, although still somewhat dry.
The other day I was looking at a fuchsia plant at a garden center while two women were also looking at it and speaking Spanish to one another. One turned to me and asked what we call the plant. After I told her it was a fuchsia, she told me that in Spain they call it The Queen’s Earrings. I had to agree that was a great name for it. Forgive me if I wrote this here before. I sometimes can’t remember whether I wrote about it here or elsewhere!
LikeLiked by 4 people
I don’t remember you ever writing that, Kathaleena. What a wonderful name!
With all the rains and storms we’ve had, you’d think the protesting might get rained out. We will see what God’s weather plans are. Lately if we get an all dry forecast it seems that God laughs until His clouds cry.
I hope all the Wanderers have a beautiful Saturday, rain or shine, and with out fires!
LikeLiked by 4 people
family graduation party this evening. She needs a pe unit so I’m the only one who went. Praying for good family interaction
jo
LikeLiked by 5 people
if you want some fun light hearted reading. Blue Christmas by Diane Moody is free on kindle
jo
LikeLiked by 3 people
Kathaleena, the mind is an amazing thing. I like camping but have no memory of one of our trips across the country. Probably to Maryland
LikeLiked by 5 people
and probably with four children where we camped in national parks all across. So every day we would drive about four hundred miles, set up camp, eat, go to bed, repeat. Mike remembers it but I have almost no memory of it. A very vague thought of setting things up but that is it. Bizarre to me.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 5 people
Oh, yes, mumsee–that is certainly true of me, too. My children sometimes mention events (or their version) and I have completely forgotten about them.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Good morning. We are hot and dry here.
I got to go to the community VBS picnic in the forest last night. My son was a helper this year. It was almost surreal to see all of the people present. Almost 300. I have lived in a community of 165 residents for 40+ years. Now, we have this big wind energy installation going on and suddenly there are people everywhere. I am happy that they are open to the Word.
Today will be spent gardening. I am planting some seeds that a work friend brought me from Turkey. I will be excited to see how they grow.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Kathleen, I am so with you on “their version of events”. Sometimes I will be talking with my grown children and wonder what in the world they are referring to. Certainly not what happened in reality.
LikeLiked by 3 people
It is funny that I sometimes have the opposite experience with our son. He has had such a full adult life and his mind is overflowing with all the readings he has done to get to be an English prof, so that he does not often think of the things we did when homeschooling. I can remember a lot about when he was a Scout and I will bring up something he had done or that we enjoyed together. He’ll say, “Oh, I had forgotten all about that.” Then he remembers and is thankful I reminded him of it.
LikeLiked by 4 people
It is raining, it is pouring, but the old man is not snoring. He is at work choring. I hope the storm clears for his long path home.
LikeLiked by 2 people
82 degrees here…summer has arrived!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Over the last week I have been fully enjoying two local nests. One is red-tailed hawks, with two youngsters nearly ready to fledge in a nest high in a pine tree. I tried to watch the nest a few weeks ago but couldn’t find a spot from which to view it, and went again Sunday afternoon and found the perfect spot, and the babies are now old enough to be really active and interesting.
And for several weeks I have been watching a nest of green herons. They leave the nest to wander the nest tree pretty early in their development. They started out with five in the nest, but a hawk got one before I ever saw them (or at least before I could count them–when they were in the nest as fuzzy white balls, it was impossible to count them). This week they left the nest tree, but it was initially to hang out in bushes at the base of it. One learned to fly, but the others couldn’t, but they could climb all over the place with those huge heron feet. By that time there were only three–and as of today all three are flying. But for a few days it was easy to get close-up views of three young green herons climbing around on a log and in and out of shrubbery, and the parent flying in to feed them. Just down the street from the herons, two juvenile tree swallows crowded together on the end of a branch in a dead tree and opened their beaks super wide every time a swallow flew anywhere near, but a parent would come with food every two to five minutes, and so I got lots and lots of feeding shots!
And then this afternoon my husband and I went out for our walk, and a couple of blocks away a fawn was lying cozied up next to a brick wall. The grounds crew ended up getting too close and too noisy and so it took off running, but I got several photos of it first. Two or three days ago a doe went running as we came around the corner, and I told my husband, “She must have been feeding a fawn!” The local does know us, and wouldn’t have run at our approach except for that. So we looked into the shrubbery. My husband saw legs and I saw red-brown fur and then spots, and I took a few photos. And in a couple of the photos I can see an eye gazing out at us and an ear or two. The last two summers a doe has had her babies in our development, and this year we have a second doe; both mamas have had their babies, so we probably have four fawns hidden away. (Both sightings of fawns have been within a few yards of each other, and in the general area where we have 90% of our sightings of the local fawns.)
We also have a mallard with ducklings who have been hanging around for ten days or so. She started with seven ducklings and still has six, which is great success for duckling survival. And yesterday we saw a box turtle on the next block, a first for our neighborhood.
Have I mentioned I love June? 🙂
LikeLiked by 5 people
My bio children all have good clear memories of growing up, mostly agreeing with each other, but few of the adoptees have any memories and a lot of wrong memories that none of them agree on. I attribute that to ptsd.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 4 people
What breaks my heart is that according to Chickadee’s memories, she was a “2nd class granddaughter” to my parents, compared to Nightingale and Niece, who were three years (Nightingale) and almost-four years (Niece) older than she, and that she was a disappointment to her father. None of that is true, but she has carried those feelings with her for a couple of decades, since she was a child.
I only know of this because one day she told me these feelings of hers, in tears. I tried to reassure her that she was as beloved by her grandparents as her sister and cousin were, and that her father loved her as much as he loved Nightingale. Pretty sure we had this conversation a couple of times over the course of a year or so.
(Mom and Dad referred to them all as their “Our Three Beautiful Granddaughters.” I reminded Chickadee of that and added, “It wasn’t “Our Two Beautiful Granddaughters and the Other One,” but “Our Three Beautiful Granddaughters.”)
This adds to my pain and disappointment over her choosing to live with, and identify with, the McK family – that she feels she fits in better with them than with her real family.
Well, since I am mentioning this, I might as well turn it into a prayer request. Please pray that God will bring into her mind better memories, and even “fix” the mistaken understandings of her memories. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 4 people
As a child, I always thought of the fuscias as the “ballerina flower” plant.
They look like ballerinas to me–and still do in my backyard. 🙂
Watching the news. Eldest son and family are in the DC area on vacation, headed up to Philadelphia over the weekend to see the liberty bell.
A shame so many people’s vacations were ruined with political events.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Memories are a funny thing. Three people can experience the same event and have three different versions of it.
I’m reminded of a biography I heard about. A man took his son fishing and only thought of it as a wasted day, whereas the son thought of it as one of the best times he had with his father.
We attended a family reunion of Mrs L’s mother’s family. Most of her cousins and all of her siblings were there, but not all the spouses or children. My MIL’s sister and sister-in-law wee there. All three women are widows in their 80s and 90s. So four generations of Iowa farm families were there.
LikeLiked by 5 people
We are to assume lunatics know something we don’t? Those burning down cities, attacking and murdering government officials? Those opportunistic looters? We should listen to them… I think I’ll pass…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wrong thread… same opinion though…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Our coyotes are reactivating a bit, pups growing and needing more food? Hearing the adults barking again in the late hours. Mating season was very loud but then it was quite until more recently again.
It’s still “June Gloom” here with the dampness moving in over the coast and harbor, temps in the low 70s or even 60s. We don’t hit our summer weather often times until we get into July. It used to be quite the frustration for us just right out of school and waiting for decent beach days.
Our town is doing its big fireworks celebration over the water this year on July 5.
Don’t ask, none of us really knows why. 🙂
Happy 5th!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good family gathering tonight. My sister was there and I got to visit with her. My ex was there and I said hello, but that was all. I talked to the elders about him so I need to arrange a time to talk. But tonight just wasn’t that time even to just arrange.
Caroline said that she had covid and that’s why she missed her graduation, but she couldn’t have walked.
Have to go early to Sunday school tomorrow as I have clipboards to circulate to ask folks to bring food for two memorial services. And then next week we begin our six weeks of outdoor services.
Jo
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good morning. Energizer bunny is back, up every few minutes all night. I slept for part of it.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy Father’s Day to the dads.
Allen
LikeLiked by 4 people
Happy Father’s Day Aj and all you fellas!😊
LikeLiked by 3 people
Happy Father’s Day to everyone! We all had an earthly one and we all have the Father. Celebrate! For this is eternal life, that we may know Him and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 2 people
Happy father’s day to all the men. We had a good church service this morning and a good time of fellowship during the meal after. So nice to be able to support your fellow believers.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Happiness to all the fathers and to all of us who have or had fathers.
At church several men gave testimonies about the blessing of being a father and being in a church family that supports the individual families. It was very touching to hear wise men speak on the subject and give glory to the Father above all fathers.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Church was beyond amazing. I don’t think (our earthly) Father’s Day was mentioned specifically, but the eternal King was praised with enthusiasm, hands raised Presbyterian style, and (as always) I did shed some quiet tears I never can help that. Our guest preacher whom I’ve heard before will be preaching at our upcoming family camp, he hails is from a sister church in our denomination in NY, filled with the spirit.
Communion, of which we always partake, felt especially moving today.
Praise be to our God in heaven.
Hope everyone had a good morning.
We all need it, amen?
LikeLiked by 1 person
In hard times, so good to be reminded.
Look UP!
LikeLiked by 1 person
and good times, look up!
mumsee
LikeLiked by 1 person
No church for me though I watched son’s church while my dad slept. We were told that sin is a heart issue.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 1 person
Roku camera showed a very large well fed raccoon on the deck. Daughter found a very dead weasel in the yard. Guessing the cats got it after it got a chicken in the chicken tractor. Must be out of birds, mice, goldfish and snakes.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 1 person
In all times Look Up!
I was wondering if it were dead raccoons I was seeing in the overgrown vacant lot across the street yesterday …
But when I got closer, turns out it was a pair of beat-up boots.
Close. …
I guess that’s what you get for looking at the ground.
Minnesota looks a lot like Iowa; been there, had kin from there, but had forgotten that … (watching a news clip on the manhunt for yesterday’s assassin 😦 very sad, prayers for those family members)
LikeLike
Our area of MN doesn’t look like most of Iowa, IMO.
Praying they will find the perpetrator soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person