May 15, 1947-April 30, 2002

Missing you.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,

nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the lord,

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

that bringeth forth his fruit in his seaosn'

his leaf also shall not wither;

 and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Hats For Sale

I had a wonderful weekend at a retreat with my Sweet Adelines chorus. We met together at a local hotel on Friday afternoon for fun, rest, lots of conversation, lots of singing, and a potluck dinner before meeting with a wonderful lady from Michigan who directed a chorus for many years, sang in a prize-winning quartet, and does lots of teaching around the States.

Before I left to go to the hotel, in the mail I received a couple of CD's with photos from Haiti. One of my friends, who was also one of the missionary kids I taught while I was there, went with her dad for two weeks to help in the clinics that were being held in Haiti. She stopped by one day to visit and I looked at some of the photos, and I asked her if she would send me a copy of them.

After I came home this afternoon, I loaded some of them on my computer. I could not help smiling when I saw this particular picture. It reminded me of the children's book, Caps for Sale.

A cap salesman is walking along trying to sell his caps and if my memory serves me correctly, he takes a nap under a tree. Some monkeys come along and take his caps and climb a tree with them. When the man awakes, he looks for his caps everywhere and then looks up and sees his hats.

He stamps his foot and says, "You monkeys you, you give me back my caps." They mimic everything he does. Finally, exasperated, he takes his cap off, throws it to the ground, and, in unison, the monkeys take off the caps and throw them down from the tree. The man has his caps back. I guess that's a case of monkey see, monkey do.

A year after Don and I were married we took a trip to Haiti. I wanted him to see where I had worked and meet my friends there. We were walking down a street in Port-au-Prince, and he was looking for a hat to buy. The hats he tried on were all too small. (He had a rather large head.) All a sudden, a hat seller came running up to him.

"Pastor, Pastor, try this one." (Don wasn't a pastor, but we must have been with a missionary that the man recognized. I don't know.) Don tried on the hat, and, lo and behold, it fit. The missionary with us said later that he must have had that hat for a long time, just waiting for someone with a head Don's size to come along. That hat served him well for a good, long time here in the hot sun in Florida.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

Well, I am back in business...I think. The computer is fine. I haven't even begun to move files and photos yet. That will come. As some of you know, I came down with shingles at the beginning of February, and even though I saw a doctor right away and got medication to lessen the severity, I still am having a bit of pain around my midsection. When my doctor gave me a prescription for a month's supply of pain medicine and made it refillable 6 times, I figured I was in it for the duration.

While the pain is lessening, it is still annoying, and the medication really doesn't help a lot, even though it is for nerve pain. I haven't been a very good sleeper for the last little while, and it is even more so now. Last night as I lay in bed, trying to relax and go to sleep, nothing seemed to work. I had lots of things go through my mind, and as they passed through, I thought to myself, "Now that would make a good blog post." However, I did not get up and write them all down, but one did remain.

Those of you who have been around for a while know that I was widowed 8 years ago on April 30, and I have lived alone since that time until October when Sarah sold her house and moved back in with me. During these eight years, I've never been afraid of being along. I have a secure home with an alarm system and I have not had cause for concern.

Just the other day, SRP of Melange wrote a post that had a photo of a frog in it, and in my comment I described an occurrence at my house and later thought to myself that I should blog about that. As I said, I feel secure in my home and have not been afraid.

However...one night I turned out the light and settled down for a good night's rest, when, all of a sudden, I heard something fall to the floor in my bedroom. I was a tad alarmed, but I decided not to get up. In a moment or two, I heard another soft thud on the floor, and I decided it was time to get up and attend to the matter at hand.

I walked into the bathroom and turned on the light, and on the far wall of my bedroom I saw a blob on the wall. After I put on my glasses, I could see that it was a tree frog, fastened to the wall by those sticky pads on his feet. He had jumped up onto the windowsill, and in doing so, had knocked off some wooden figures that I had set there.

Now, I like frogs and am not afraid of them, but I didn't want him jumping down on me, plop, in the middle of the night. So, downstairs I came, got a box, got the frog in the box, and took him outside on the front porch and released him to the wild outdoors of Florida.

I'm not sure if I went to sleep right away. I do know that I would have thought nothing of it compared to the morning I went downstairs and saw a long black snake lying across the French doors that go out to the pool.

Such is life in Florida. You didn't really want to come, now did you.

I'm Back in Action

My new computer arrived today.  But now I have to transfer files, photos, and all that stuff.  I want to wish my son, David, a happy birthday today...tax day.  Isn't that some day to have for a birthday!  Happy birthday, David.

Computer Woes

I hope absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I have a computer that will soon be used as an anchor.  I'm waiting for my new one, and hopefully, it will soon be here.