In Search of Some Time to Think

Tomorrow, my husband and I will be flying to Chicago to see my Mother for her 80th birthday.  After that, we'll return on Monday to repack and head for Florida for a week of vacation time.  I'm very much looking forward to this time away from our normal lives, to relax and regroup and rethink and just meditate on all that has transpired over this past year thus far. 

When Fall comes, I find that I get very introspective and a little melancholic too.  It's rather like a time of preparation for the "hibernation" that comes with winter and cold weather and remaining inside; for when we have less light. I'm not fond of winter and less light!  I think that even though we are human and do not hibernate as some of the animal kingdom does, all in all, we still have a sort of hibernation that comes upon us. I feel it each Fall.  I start to get a feeling of drawing into myself, contemplating things more; thinking deeper; wanting to meditate on life and circumstances.... going "deeper". 

This is what I'm looking forward to more than anything with this vacation to Florida.  It's not going to be a tourist vacation. We're planning on going to the condo and just resting, reading, watching old movies and I really plan to do a lot of work on my novel while there.  When I can get away from the normal hustle and bustle of "life" as we live it, and go where it will be more quiet and secluded, so I can "think" without distractions and interruptions.  Many times we have had these intentions only to have them side-tracked.  We end up doing the tourist thing anyway.  That is why we decided to go where we are going this next week.  It's nore secluded.  You have to travel for 15 minutes to get to a Wal-mart!   We'll buy our groceries and supplies and then "hibernate" in the condo or walking on the beach in the afternoon sun. Oh how I long for the sun and the ocean!  

Because we'll be hibernating for most of the trip, I may or may not get online much.  We're taking one of those cards from Verizon with us so that we can have Internet access, but I may not get online but once every few days.  We'll see what happens.  :)  If something really spectacular happens and we can get online access, I may upload some photos and a post from time to time.

Wishing you all a wonderful and peaceful week!  

Linda 

Nothing can separate us from God's Love  Romans 8:18-39

It's Been a While!

I just returned from a wonderful week of fun in the sun in Florida with two of my daughters and three of my grandchildren! We had a wonderful time swimming each day and looking for seashells on the beach!

I'm afraid I haven't been posting too regularly lately! It's summer, what can I say? :) I've been reading as much as I can, which I love to do in the summer time! Just yesterday, I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a new Artist Set for an unbelievable price!! It has all the mediums in it you could want!! Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, Pencils and Charcoal! The wooden box it all comes in, opens up to be used as an easel! I haven't painted or drawn much in the past 8 years. I stopped when I began working full-time! I got the urge to get back to it the other day as I was finishing the unpacking of the remaining boxes left since our move back into our house! I unpacked some of my paintings and rehung them in my room and that started the old urge to paint again! As some of you know, we had moved when my husband accepted the position of a Camp Director back in November of last year. Well..... needless to say that did not work out and we ended up going back to our previous employer, who gladly accepted him back! Praise be to God for that! We moved back into our home downtown, which didn't sell, by the way! One reason to be thankful for the lousy economy as someone said!

I'm going to try to start drawing and painting again! I'm so excited and can't wait to get back to it!

Here is a picture of my new Art set!!

Spontaneity

My husband and I really need to take a few days and just get away!

Did you ever get that feeling that you just really wished you could go away somewhere in seclusion, hide away from phones and work and just take your Bible and some good books and tuck yourself away in a nice, serene surrounding and just have quiet... seek God's face and insight into His Word and read? I have so many good books I've been given recently that I really want desperately to get alone and read! I've talked to Hubby and we've agreed to at least take 2 days and go somewhere and tuck ourselves away for this very purpose! Yay! We probably won't be able to go tomorrow, but since it's a long weekend, we're planning on going on Friday and staying at least until Sunday somewhere. I want to go to the Smokies and stay in a chalet but at this late date, I'm not sure that will be possible as there are probably 9 million other people with the same idea! We should have planned better! But you know, when you're working and working and then all of a sudden it just BUILDS and you know you need to go or lose your sanity!! You have to do it! Spontaneously!



I go through this from time to time; this feeling of just "having to" get away for a day or two! Away from the routine and busyness and phones! I think the main problem is a longing for God; a starvation if you will. Needing to have that time with God alone and not getting it enough because of the very busyness of certain times of the year. You get up in the morning and there is so much to do that you rush to get showered and dressed and then right to the computer to start in! Ooops.... the day is over and you realize you didn't spend time with the Lord! you can go on like that for so long before you start to get deficient like a body trying to continue on without food or vitamins or fuel to operate on. Sigh.

I need some time in the woods... to hear Nature.... see the sun streaming through the trees and hear the sighing of the wind.... smell the dampness of a forest floor and hear a rippling brook singing as the water flows over the smooth rocks... see a doe come silently out of the trees and stop and look around, frozen, smelling the air to see if it's safe....... yes, I need this!

Time alone with God in His creation and with His Word.

On the Road Again

We stopped at Cracker Barrel on our way out of town to get something to eat and then it was a long ride to just south of Chicago, IL. When we got up to Indiana we stopped for gas and I just had to take a picture of this beautiful corn field in the sun!! I love seeing the farmer's fields along the way through Indiana and Illinois!

In front of the corn there were bunches of "Queen Ann's Lace" flowers growing! This brought back many happy memories for me of running through the fields as a child and picking huge bouquets of these beautiful and delicate flowers and also of catching butterflies!

Once we filled up with gas at $3.89 a gallon! we were on our way and made a stop for lunch at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant! We just LOVE Ruby Tuesday! Here is what we had for lunch!

Then it was back on the road again and on our way to my Mom's house to spend the night and rest from the trip. She has the cutest little pup and his name is "Skipper". He's just adorable and so smart!! We had fun playing "keep away" with him and his toys.

The next day,I was off to visit with my Sister and my husband was off to Streamwood, IL for the training he had to be a part of. My Sister has three children and a pool and we had tons of fun in her pool and barbecuing each night. She showed me the garden her husband is growing and he has quite the "Green Thumb"! Here are some pictures of their garden! That's a giant sunflower my Sister planted! They have several along the side fence and last year they were HUGE!

Their Tomato Plants

Gourds

Green Beans: they're purple when picked and turn green when cooked!!

We had the zucchini and green beans for supper and they were just delicious! There's nothing like freshly picked vegetables from your garden! Especially if they're shared with family!

Another thing that Illinois has besides their beautiful farm fields is freight trains. I remember sitting many times waiting on the trains to pass by. While we were sitting, I took a couple of pictures out of the car window! Here's the engine:

On another day, my Mom took me to see the house that my Dad and Grandfather built and that we all grew up in. When my Dad passed away in 2001, my Mom had to let the property go and move into a small apartment. The house needed a lot of repairs and the property was just too large for her to keep up on her own any longer. It was a very hard thing for her to do though. It's especially hard now when we look at it and see what the new owners have allowed to become of it. All our memories of growing up are there and the new owners are just letting it go and not taking care of it. They have parked semi-trailer trucks there and let the weeds just grow up everywhere. When my Dad and Mom lived there and my Grandparents lived next door, the property was well cared for, with flowers everywhere! My Mom planted all the trees there and we had Lilac bushes and Lily of the Valley flowersand there were apple trees and grape vines and rose buses and blackberries and raspberries! The grass was always cut and us kids spent many a happy day just roaming the property and riding bikes and playing in the yard. It's heart-breaking to see it in this condition now!

The day before we left, my Mom took me to visit with her Brother, my Uncle Don. He lives about 20 minutes from her and I haven't seen him in many years now. He's losing his eye sight and is "legally blind" although he has a tiny bit of peripheral vision left. I was so happy to see him! He was my favorite Uncle growing up! He served in the Navy when he was a young man and us kids just loved it when he came to visit! He would always play with us and make us laugh and I thought he was the handsomest man ever! We had a very good visit and he gave my mom an album of pictures from their childhood, since he can no longer see them. There were pictures of their Mother, my Grandmother, when she was very young and my Grandfather and all of my Aunts and Uncles on my Mom's side. My Mom was thrilled to have this and even more thrilled that he wanted her to have it. When we got back to my Mom's house, she said she was going to give me the locket that he gave her when she was 15 years old, making this locket to be 63 years old now! My Uncle had just gotten out of the Navy and he brought this home to her! Needless to say, it will always be one of my most treasured gifts from my Mom!! Here's a picture of the locket:

My Uncle Don's picture is on the left side and this was probably taken when he was not much older than a teenager himself! I'm going to try to take the locket to a jeweler and see if it can be restored to the way it used to be. My Mom said it was a tri-color gold-plated locket when it was new. Time has worn it down to where the gold is worn off now and it looks like it's a silver locket now. It needs a new clasp for the chain also.

One afternoon, my Sister and I went shopping and here are a few of the pictures that I took while we were in the store:

One of the other things we did while at my Sister's house was to make handmade jewelry. My Sister and My Neice and I love making jewelry and we spent several hours at her kitchen table doing that. Later on, in another post, I'll post some more of the pictures of our creations!

Here are just a couple for now:

When we left on Monday morning we drove until we reached Indianapolis and stopped to see my other Sister Peggy and her husband that live there. We had lunch with them at Applebees and then we were on our way again. We drove for several hours before stopping to stretch our legs. We went to a Mall and this is the beautiful carousel they had inside:

We made one other stop along the way because we stopped for coffee and across the street there was a concrete statuary business and I wanted to stop and see what they had there. We pass it every time we go to Illinois and have never stopped before but I've always wanted to. This time we had the time to make a stop and I took a few very interesting pictures. I'd love to have this little guy! Unfortunately, we didn't have enough room in the car. Next time maybe we'll have our truck and can buy one or two pieces for our yard!

We arrived back home at about 1:00 a.m. this morning and slept for a few hours before going over to the place where we boarded our "Baby" Sarge. Needless to say he was very happy to be back home again. Here he is, all freshly bathed and with his new toy and bone!