Wednesday without words

Wednesday without words

Wednesday without words

God's handiwork

Earlier this week, I gotphone call from  an excited  Emma. As soon as I answered the phone, in good form and obviously well-coached by mommy, she blurted out, "Grandma, I love you and I miss you. And guess what?  Ezra can crawl!"

Well, Ezra can crawl, and stand by himself, and is very close to walking.  That's a lot for someone just shy of 7 months old!  And that got me to pondering the passage of this thing called time.

My perspective has certainly changed as I have aged, and gotten old and tired.  The days, nay moths and whole years, seem to fly by.  Watching my grandchildren is almost like watching one of those time lapse films.  They grow up right before me, and leave me in wonder and awe at God's handiwork.

And I guess this would be no real grandparent post without a few photos of that handiwork...

Things I love to listen to

When I am working around the house, or entering receipts into quicken, or sewing, I like to listen to things.  I thought I would share a few of my favorites in the hopes that you might enjoy them, too, Gentle Reader.

• Mars Hill Audio Journal: thoughtful cultural interviews and analysis, now available for download. This is how I shake the cobwebs out of my brain.  Or at least try to.
• The Briefing: Albert Mohler is a brilliant guy, an avid reader, and a godly thinker. The briefing is basically his take on the most current articles in major news publications (NYTimes, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Economist, Financial Times, etc.) He is always thoughtful and helpful in thinking worldviewishly.
• Revolutions: I first enjoyed Mike Duncan's History of Rome podcasts.  This is history with an even hand a sense of humor.  He is clever and witty (without being too snarky), and loves just what I do about history-- the amazing story and drama of it all. I am rushing to catch up on this series, and have almost finished the English civil wars and will soon pass on to the American War for Independence.
• Spotify.  I am late coming to Spotify, and it won't be news to most people.  But I have recently discovered I can find albums by people I love, put them all together on a playlist, and shuffle them around to make the best radio station ever. They have a good selection of Christian music, classical, contemporary of various genre, etc.  It took me a while to figure some of it out, but I am enjoying it. 

Five for Friday: Five fall things that make me rejoice

Five fall things that make me rejoice:

1. The promise of snow in the mountains.
2. The yellow of chamisa and aspens, and how beautiful the purple asters look with them
3. Getting to know new students and a fresh school year with no mistakes in it yet
4. The crisp, blue skies
5. Green chili roasting in every supermarket parking lot

Wednesday without words

Productivity

I often find that when I am working with my hands, my mind is productive.  This jives with things I've read lately about the lack of reflection in our lives, and its resultant absence of wisdom.  I find that if my hands are busy, but my mind can roam, my thinking can wander, be deeper, better, more productive.

As I picked tomatoes in my garden this morning, I found myself pondering something a high school friend recently posted on face book.  She is not just a gifted writer, but a working writer, and she posted something to the effect that she had to learn to stop hoarding her good ideas for some future project, but to use them as she thought of them.  As I picked Sweet-100 cherry tomatoes by the bowlful, it occurred to me what wise advice that is.  When I pick the ripening tomatoes, I make way for new tomato growth.  The more I pick the ripening cherries, the more the plant will produce.  If I leave them too long, the plant keeps pouring energy into them until they over-ripen and split.

When I pick the beautiful summer zinnias the stems divide and produce more flowers.  When I trim the roses and keep them from forming rosehips, they put out more buds.

And I wonder if it might not be so with ideas.  Pick them and use them, and make room and energy for more.  Don't hoard them, lest all your energy be diverted into maintaining the ones you have. Every idea, like every tomato, is a gift from above, intended to be savored.

And so, Gentle Readers, I return to a recurring theme: there is a gardening illustration for almost every truth in life!

Recent Projects

It has been a while since I posted updates on projects, so here are a few things keeping us busy...

Below are some shots of Baby C's quilt, given to her in June.

Big E has a birthday coming up, so I thought a little sundress would be fun.

And in a few weeks we will be heading to Arizona for a long weekend, and we will all be together for a couple of days in Phoenix.  I thought it would be fun to make little matching outfits for the grand daughters (and i figure Little E won't mind being left out!)  Each outfit for the big girls has a little shirt, a simple skirt, and a kimono jacket.  Baby C has a sundress to go with her jacket.

Below, my dh sits doing the last parts of his latest project: dismantling the old sheds in the back yard.

Below, the old sheds on their way to the dump.

And the next project is turning the items in these boxes into a new shed!  He is a brave man! I will post pictures when it is all finished!

Spider identification, anyone?

Does anyone know what kind of spider this is?  It lived with a larger version that remained uncaught in the old shed Dave is tearing down today.  I can't find him in my insect book, or the couple of New Mexico insects sites I perused.  I would appreciate knowing if anyone can identify this guy...

Celebrating

On Saturday, my dh and I had a belated celebration of our 34th wedding anniversary. We headed out early and drove the Enchated Circle, a drive that circles all the way around Mt. Wheeler, New Mexico's highest peak. We headed up through the wild and scenic Rio Grande Gorge, a drive I love. We stopped to ride the ski lift at Angel Fire Resort (and had a short hike  at over 10,000 feet) and then circled north through Red River, back to Taos, and then had dinner at La Cocina in Espanola.  It was a beautiful (if warm!) day, and I enjoyed just spending time with my best friend. See a few pictures below.

I am so grateful that God gave me Dave. We are well suited to one another.  I don't know how I would have gotten through the past 34 years without him. God has been very good to me.

 

The Hummingbird Wars Continue

This is what happens outside my bedroom window between 5:00 am and 6:00 am.

Wednesday without words