There Is Just Something About A Book Club.....

I love to read....I think I always have. As a child I remember churning through the Nancy Drew mysteries, the Little House on the Prairie series, all the books I could find about dogs, Lassie, Brighty of Grand Canyon. Graduating to "older" selections it was Gone With the Wind, To Kill A Mockingbird, Sherlock Holmes....and on and on. As a teenager, while babysitting my younger sister, I'd "sneak read" my dad's copy of Peyton Place! Wild stuff back in the day.

I read to my kids all the time, Charlotte's Web, Winnie-the-Pooh, Stuart Little....Alice in Wonderland. We "fooled" our kids into thinking they were staying up late by saying "As long as you stay in bed you can READ for 30 minutes!" It worked.....they read.....and I stopped having to actively "mother" for the evening and could pick my own book up again.

I remember being engrossed in a Stephen King book when Megan was about eleven....it had to be 5:30 p.m or later when she wandered into the room to ask "Mom, what's for dinner?" I had no idea....too busy reading all afternoon. And I probably responded with some non-so-sympathetic answer about how I'd figure that out when I finished the chapter.

Reading opened my world, filled a void, made me think and wonder, stimulated my imagination, taught me new things. And it still does.

Once a month, for at least 30 years I've gone to my Book Club Meeting. I belonged to book clubs in Oconomowoc and Nashotah, WI, Freeport, IL, Tabernacle, NJ, New Castle, DE and now Milwaukee.  Whenever we moved to a new location, I'd unpack boxes and find a vook club. I simply can't imagine a month without my book club...and oh how I hate to miss a meeting!

My book club friends mean a lot to me.....they always have. They challenge me to move out of my comfort zone and read selections I would never choose to read on my own. They bring amazing insights and interpretations to what we read.....they see things differently than I do....that's what makes the discussions so much fun!

I'd ramble on a bit more.....but I just bought a new book....and it's calling to me.
:-)

A Different View

I'm sitting in the little laundry room at the campground outside Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. Our two loads of now-clean clothes are in the dryers and I sit here looking out the window at a yucca plant and an ocotillo plant.

Now why does this suddenly make doing laundry seem exotic? We spend the morning taking a self-guided tour through the amazing caverns and will be moving on tomorrow. This afternoon I sit here, waiting for the dryer to finish, looking at a blue sky over a section of the Guadalupe Mountains enjoying a warm day and watching these two desert plants move in the breeze.

Same detergent, same clothes.....exotic view.....it does make a difference.
:-)

So Much Space

A road trip through America, where you watch the scenery change up close instead of peering out an airplane window gives me a new perspective. I've had this feeling at many times over the years....look out as we go......there is SO much space.

Every time we drove Route 80 through Pennsylvania on the way west to visit family in Chicago Dave and I would always be struck by the millions of trees, the rolling hills, the seeming lack of housing. We'd talk about what it must have been like to explore that vast area on foot, or horseback instead of moving down the interstate. For us it was the "5 hour state".....how many days on foot?

Out in the western states the sense of "vastness" is even more pronounced. Get off the main highways and you can go for miles before you see another car.....or basically any sign of civilization.

I can almost begin to understand the mind set of our forefathers.....and even of some current citizens .....who have a hard time imagining how we can ever run out of anything? Clean air, water, land, resources beneath the ground.....there just seems to be so much of ALL of it. Boundless and endless and forever available.

And then we cross a dry river bed, or notice a yellow haze over a more populated area, or see a hand printed sign on the edge of a farmer's field saying "Pray For RAIN!" and we are reminded that as stewards of the land.....maybe we should have done a better job or certainly need to start doing a better job.

This is such an amazingly beautiful place....this United States of America.....but it does have limits.

Scared Straight?

During the past five or six years of my life I've given quite a bit of thought to my feelings about faith, beliefs...the spiritual side. Somehow I find it easier to list what I don't believe than to find a personal core belief that is reflected in any organized religious philosophy.

I was raised Lutheran...but questions I asked way back during the two years spent in church classes prior to first communion left me feeling unsatisfied and searching for something else. An elective class taken as a freshman in college, The History of Religion, was an eye opening experience for me. Discovering that other established faiths had "stories" and "beliefs" sounding very close to "our" faith-based traditions helped me start to realize the similarities we share instead of focusing on any "one true way".

After marriage, while raising our children and moving around the country we tried Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian churches. Our daughter went to a Friends school for two years. In Milwaukee we belonged to the Unitarian Universalist Society for about six years....but eventually came to realize that even this very open, free thinking congregation just didn't "fit" us.

Reading the book The Faith Club written by three women....an Episcopalian, a Jew and a Muslim was fascinating. Again...so many shared traditions just under a different name,

I guess these thoughts are front and center in my brain right now because of so many of the billboards we've seen on the highway as we drive through Arkansas. Most do not seem to be professionally done...but they certainly are large and fairly SHOUT their message as we drive by. "WARNING! Prepare to meet your GOD!" "If you die today, are you ready to meet GOD?" and my favorite so far "Use the rod on thy children to save their life!" ( I guess grammar doesn't always count.)

Well I guess I will just continue to ponder my life....and my spirituality as I age. Not quite sure is the authors of the signs along the highway really feel they can scare someone into believing as they do...but I can tell them it won't be me.

Snirt Season

The only reason I might like to wish for a LITTLE more snow is to cover up all our lovely snirt. But then again, maybe the piles of snirt are a sign of approaching spring? One interesting thing is as the   snirt begins to melt it forms fascinating shapes - mini-caverns and holes. I can almost imagine mini-people exploring.

As we move south-ish (trying to outrun another Polar Vortex!)  snirt piles are getting smaller. We see more bare earth....brown, beige, yellowish, grey...but at least not white! There is beauty in the stark end-of-winter views we see out the RV's window. Farm fields are grey/brown with the left-over stubble of last year's crop. Some fresh red barns peek through barren trees....followed by a neighboring barn so aged and grey it looks like the next good wind would take it down. Still...there is a kind of proud beauty there.

It's been a windy day and we noticed some birds taking off into the wind...flapping their wings double time but making slow progress. Others take off with the wind, lift their wings and just soar.....taking the easy way home.

So we are NOT camping tonight since the temperature forecast calls for 12 degrees plus windchill. So it's motel time for us and for Fenway. Maybe tomorrow.....or not.

(And for those who may not know, snow+dirt=snirt.)

:-)

Memories Take Shape

I volunteer for the hospice where I used to work - as a Memory Bear Maker. This is a very special project that I started for the Wisconsin office when I took my position as Volunteer Services Manager and by the time I retired we'd made well over 1,000 bears. I don't know what the count is now!

The bears are offered to our hospice families in memory of their loved one…they get to choose mom's favorite t-shirt, or dad's favorite sweatshirt, or a sibling's soft bathrobe and we volunteers turn this special garment into a special bear.

The bears give families something to hug if they need to - something to look at that hopefully provides comforting memories.

I love making the bears. And even though this is a very simple four-piece pattern, each bear is unique. The fabric is different for each bear so each bear takes on a personality of its own.

As I sew I think about the family that requested their bear(s) and some of the thank you notes we get in return are so very special.

I know what a Memory Bear can do….just by sitting on someone's bed, or on top of a dresser, or in a place of honor in the living room. Bears bring smiles, bears bring tears, bears bring comfort. Bring on the bears!

So Let's Add Some Ice on Top - Just for Fun

Yesterday was almost spring-like - somewhere around 30 degrees with a beautiful blue sky. Wow - you could almost smell the earth. Mother Nature can be such a tease.

Today we are getting freezing rain/sleet and maybe more snow. Our sidewalk is a sheet of slip 'n slide. What fun. Sky is grey, trees are bending in the wind….today the weather basically stinks.

Oh - and wind gusts up to 50 mph starting tonight.

Sigh.