End of a Long Day

Old. Corrugated. Building.

Baseball

Tommy Lasorda once said, "The saddest day of the year is the day baseball season ends." 

This year, I think he might be right.

Go, Rangers!  Get 'em in 2012!

Reverse Shoplifting

At this point, is the best course of action to try and suspiciously tuck the banana deeper into my purse, as if I were stealing it?  Or should I slip the banana out of my bag and drop it into the bin with all of Kroger's other unsold bananas?

I can afford to donate a banana to Kroger's.  Reverse shoplifting might be the safest plan.  On the other hand, if I'm caught pulling the banana out of my bag, it may cast a time-consuming pall of distrust over me, leading to a line of questions and perhaps a search of pockets and purse.

But if I don't lose the banana, and it pops its yellow nose out while I fish for my credit card.......not good either.

What would you do?  The lady or the tiger?

If you don't know The Lady or the Tiger, a short story first published in 1882, you can read an updated version of it here or the longer original here.

Erica in her Hillsdale home.

Colorado Colors (part 4)

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with.

- Mark Twain

Persuasion

A while back, Rachel read me this gem while surfing the net from my living room sofa:

When I teach persuasive writing, I tell students that if they truly want to change someone's mind, they need to
           a) establish common ground with him,
           b) give him a dignified way out of his position, and 
           c) be the sort of person whose side he'd like to be on.


It sounds like the author is talking about respect---respect for yourself and respect for those who disagree with you.  It is a virtue sadly missing from much of the current political dialog.

Fertilizer Party

Draft horse guys can make a party out of anything, as long as there are a a few four-legged powerhouses involved.  So when John invited a friend to help spread manure, Steve was quick to head our way with his Percherons, Bill and Bob.

Since we only have one manure spreader, the guys took turns.  Audrey was home for the weekend.  She chatted with Steve while John coached Candy and Jess up and down the field.

Then Steve's team stepped up, and Audrey caught her dad up on the news from school.

A manure spreader uses thick iron chains and bars to move the load toward the back of the wagon box.  There the beaters and a metal spiral called "the widespread" spin, flinging clods out into the world, peppering fertilizer out across the field.

Any critter that accidentally wound up in the wagon box would have to thread its way past three sets of metal on the move in order to survive the trip.

The back end of an antique manure
spreader--not family friendly.

So when John saw a garter snake in the manure pile, he tried to nudge it out of harm's way with his boot.  After all, while garter snakes are harmless to humans, they are carnivorous, like all snakes. John would much rather have this one hunting slugs and mice around the farmyard than serving as fertilizer itself.

This snake would apparently rather fight than switch; it flashed its tongue, but didn't flee.

"Let's just move it," Audrey said swooping up the snake with bare hands.

Some things never change.

Audrey 2001

                                                                                                 

Audrey 2011

Silence

...nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.                    historian William J. Durant

                                                                                       (Thanks to brother Larry for the quote.)
In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

Proverbs 10:19

Lunchtime!

Start with a few chips and a little cheese, the grilled onions left from Saturday, and one today-or-die avocado.

Add a slice of grape tomato or jalapeno from the garden, along with a fresh cilantro leaf.  (I'm so glad that cilantro reseeds itself, because I'm far too lazy to succession plant all summer.)

Nachos for lunch!

Let the Harvest Begin

Early Morning Kitchen

Bread in the oven; sunshine, coffee and Colorado peaches for breakfast.

Colorado Colors (part 3)

creativity

This is my friend Derri.  She's very creative.

Derri maintains that EVERYONE is creative.  She says that even people who say they're not creative really are, because we're all made in the image of God.  He's the one who thought this whole thing up, the author and originator of creativity.

Derri's theory is that talent with imagination and vision take on many different shapes and forms, occurring in configurations that we don't always recognize as creative.

Creative people aren't just composers and artists and interior designers, Derri says, but maybe also the friend who listens carefully and then is able to encourage by reformatting a bad situation into one that has hope.  Or the person who looks at mess and chaos and, in his mind's eye, imagines organization, and begins to restructure the pandemonium.  Or the woman who hears at the last minute that there will be company tonight, and manages to build a healthy and attractive meal out of an avocado, six peaches, some leftover pork roast and half a bag of tortilla chips.

This is my friend Tammy.  She maintains that artist types like Derri say "everyone is creative" just so that the unimaginative won't feel so badly about our lack.  "Uncreative" Tammy, who picked up an antique sideboard at a consignment store and is plumbing it for sinks in her remodeled bathroom.

Plain ol' Tammy, who sewed doves onto grey-green army blankets from Goodwill to make these unique and artsy curtains that cover my French doors.

I think maybe Derri is right.  The people I know are all creative -- some with fabric and flowers and paint; others with outlook or gardening or problem solving or letter writing.  Creating good and order, peace and beauty, hope and joy where there was none.  Like God Himself.  And like you.

Colorado Colors (part 2)

Colorado Colors (part 1)

Cool Ducks

Cool ducks at the county fair.

Missing E

I miss this girl and her crazy Hillsdale friends.

angles and shadows

Reflections

Thinkin' About It

Day Off

First Day of School

Yesterday was Merrill's very first day of preschool.

She has a new job as a preschool aide.  She mixed up paint, matched colored circles, pasted, cut shapes and doled out "snack".

She reminded me that most mommies take a picture when the kiddoes head out for their first day of school, so I did.

Merrill loves preschool.

Pigs

Shorts and Cowboy Boots?

Merrill has never been one to pay particular attention to convention.

Fruit of my Labors

Happy Hunting

I almost picked him, in amongst the beans.  My outstretched hand froze in the air.....something's not quite right about that color of green......

I'm happy to share my garden.  I'll eat the beans, he can have all the insects.