Rushing Slowly

In the still silence and long lazy summer days
In the seasons that pass slowly
Life is rushing by so quickly
Taking my breath away

Pausing to reflect and marvel at a young child suddenly graduated
A busy mother now aged and dependent
Panic threatens
Must refocus and remember
The bigger picture
Before peace is lost completely
Remember there's another story playing out
It's not all what it seems and yet it is somehow.
The still moments matter and gather together into that rush
Into something eternal

Be still beating heart
Rest frightened one
The Shepherd watches over us.
No fear.
Be still and know
Cling tightly
Burn brightly

the summer thing

The beautiful heat continues and the sun is doing her summer thing in an admirable way!
Just being able to go outside with so little fuss - no jackets to put on, no socks, no scarves or gloves. No cold - except when the air conditioning is blasting and I have to go outside to thaw out.
I LOVE IT!!

Warm and relaxed and comfortable.
Evenings on the patio watching the clouds and the sunset - glimmers of the lake between the tall pines and layers of dusky mountains in the distance.

I always wish I could be sharing this place with so many more people but I'm so regrettably disorganized and hesitant when it comes to setting something up.  It's one of my biggest frustrations.

I have a little student that comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and another is starting next week.
Quite delightful really to see this boy that I've diligently worked with at school here in my home interacting with Moose and decoding bigger words and trying out longer sentences.  It's such hard work and he has to read the sentence till it's perfect... sometimes I feel like he is on the verge of crying.  I wish I could make it easier and more fun but he sure loves the jelly beans and other treats.

Some of these summer days are kind of slithering away without me feeling like I've done anything much and that's hard.  I try to make a list for each day and am proactively pursuing people for lunches but I have to do what I hate to do - make those phone calls and fill up my calendar!  Cause the outing is usually so very much fun.

I took Oma and Tante Hilda to Vernon last week and they loved it.  We found a little creek in a park and made our way over to it across the thick grass.  I told the ladies to go on ahead because it was downhill for me and it would be easy.  Ha! I sure ate those words.  I rolled quickly onto the grass, my wheels hit a hole and I promptly flew out of my chair in a most undignified manner.  Thankfully a bunch of people were sitting at a picnic table nearby and two fellows seeing my plight ran to my rescue and popped me back into my chair!  It all happened so fast and Oma and Tante Hilda were oblivious, much to my relief.

Anyways, this summer thing is most marvelous and I am loving the slow pace, the peace and the glorious warmth.  Off to Oma and Opa's for supper tonight.  I have to deliver a whole basket full of listening stories that I picked up at the library for her.

summer heat

oh it's just been lovely

sunshine
heat
flowers blooming

the cooing of doves
still quiet afternoons
the buzzing of a fly
panting dogs looking for shade
tomatoes forming on the vines

air conditioned car rides through lush vineyards and
orchards, past gardens and fields of green
hay bales drying,
sheep with heads down, hidden in the long grass
haze over the mountains
the lake glistening in the distance

summer produce and the dear daughter preserving the goodness for another season
colorful jars lining the counters

long lazy summer days are here and i'm LOVING it!

Lille Gard

Had such a fun weekend taking in amazing music, visiting with so many wonderful people, seeing artists at work and finishing with some incredible worship.  I can hardly believe that I have access to all of this just within a few minutes of my home!  It makes it so easy for me to run home if it happens to rain buckets and I get soaked... or if I need a little rest.  Look at the fun that was had....

 It was all rained out by Sunday but by then everyone had given up on the outdoor venue and the music and festivities were inside the Bottega Lodge.  Convenient that it was built for such a time as this!

Green & Wet & Wild

I am so much better now.
Thankful for good nights and energy returning.
And clear lungs.
There is just so very much to be thankful for.
All the time!

I'm even loving the rain.
Grateful that I had those weeks of sunshine in the Mediterranean
It made it so easy to come home to clouds and wetness.

It is crazy green and lush out there.
The creek is raging and tumbling towards the expanding lake.
I've never seen it this high.
Wind and thunder, rain and lightning
This is the beginning of summer

Rivers of righteousness...

Rain down your Spirit on this place
May the natural speak of the invisible
May we become crazy green and lush
Producing fruit in every season
With roots that go deep.

Because we are a dry and needy people
So full of ourselves
Wealthy and distracted with pleasure

I groan.  I wait.  I pray.
Need to be more desperate.
Not giving Him rest, day or night.

Yet joyful with anticipation and expectation.

What a tangle, what a tension.

My Sweet Girls

So many favorite things came together on this fine day...
An opportunity to shop at the flower farm just down the hill
With my two very lovely girls.

Both of them love flowers and earth and planting
And I do too!
So, armed with my mother's day gift certificate, my girls and a big cart,
The adventure began.

















Oh the joy of the colors and fresh smells and the promise of what will come!
We filled the cart with vegetables (the tomato bush already bearing many little cherry tomatoes) basket stuffers, begonias, tiny straw sunflower plants, lobelia, allysum and other wee baskets bursting with color and life and joy.

What fun working together on the back patio, putting together the baskets and messing in the dirt, arranging and rearranging the colorful displays till things felt balanced and happy.
Watching the girls, my girls, interacting and enjoying each other as they worked together.

The conversation flowed and there was such comfort in our togetherness.
The dogs kept us company and the weather was lovely.
One of those days that drops out of heaven
The simplicity and perfection of the moments creating a warm sweet memory.

not quite right

It's been the strangest week

I started off with such a bang -
woke up the morning after arriving home from Rome (that sounds incredibly exotic so I have to mention it, plus it gives perspective) and went to church!
Then I went grocery shopping due to the emptiness of the fridge,
went home and made a huge pot of chicken soup.
I did laundry (there is far less laundry when you have lost your luggage)
and put away my stuff.
By this point I was tired and not feeling well as the 24 hours previous to our arrival home were brutal.

Seriously - so many loooong flights in those straight backed chairs.
And problems with the throw up bags and my bathroom issues.
It was just long and complicated and there were so many transfers.
One of the transfers I was unable to help with as my body just gave out on me.
This was probably due to the illness that was already setting in.
It was at the end of the 9 hours flight from Rome to Montreal.
I felt floppy and weak like a rag doll.

And imagine.
I was in Montreal and all I saw was the airport and some pretty old buildings, a river and lots of green out of the tiny airplane window.
Seems a pity to be in Montreal and not to stay awhile and investigate.

Oh well.
My body had no energy whatsoever to investigate.
I just had to get it into the next plane which took 5 hours to get us to Vancouver .
We flew right past Kelowna and we were all such a mess.
So tired.
But we still had to sit in the airport and wait for that last little puddle jumper airplane to fly us over the wonderful, familiar mountains to home.

So after visiting Oma and Opa on Sunday evening, I came home and crashed.
And I have not finished crashing.
My chest has been infected, have felt feverish and oh so tired.
Have had some horrible nights with so little sleep and some weird dreams and confusion as to which port I was waking up at.

My lungs are just not doing well.
Almost like i'm drowning in wetness.
So I cough and cough and wheeze and rattle.
I think one of my ribs has been misplaced in the process and it hurts.

Two visits to Dr. Wittel to kill offending bugs and viruses but I'm still drowning.

I get so tired when I'm doing stuff and of course my back is hating this home wheelchair in a big way.
Excruciating.
So between lots of spasms, bad nights, drowning lungs, sore eyes and overheating I am just so very very weary.
The wakeful nights are spent wondering too many things.
So I've gone to Psalm 23 and asked for prayer on facebook.
Ha!

And today I invited Oma and Tante Hilda over with Elsie and Dad surprisingly joined us.
So that was a bit of exhausting, but sweet diversion.
We had lunch on the patio in the sunshine.
There's been lots of rain and more forecast tomorrow so I just felt it was imperative to give the sweet little ladies an outing.

Anyways.
Things just don't feel quite right yet.
At all.
Even though I'm home and sleeping in my wonderful bed
in my wonderful home on my amazing giant yard.

My faith is at an all time low.
So I'm asking others to pray for me.

Oh, and Jesus is praying for me
I just remembered and I need to think on that.
Luke 18 also came to mind when I was nearing the end of the cruise which was riddled with a few awkward times.

We need to keep on praying and not give up.
Amen.