Autum 2011 - Hallowed Eve

Hallowe'en... derived from the words "Hallowed and Evening". So many conflicting emotions. Is it evil, is it the devil's holiday? I loved Hallowe'en as a child. There was so much excitement and fun involved. When I was little, playing outside in the dark was a deliscious treat in itself. We would go out in the back yard of my friend's house, and hide in the dark, and count to 100. We would count ...to 1@@ with our faces against the rough trunk of their old maple tree and then say, Here I come, ready or not!! We always found the ones hiding because their heavy breathing from running would give their locations away.




We would twirl around in circles and make ourselves so dizzy, our heads swimming until we fell down! There is nothing like giggling until your heads swim, is there? We ate too much candy, and I have to say, that still happens to me a lot! Now it's not 7-Up Bars and Chico-Sticks... it's probably Lindt chocolate truffles if I can justify buying them!



One year when we were about 12, we went and soaped some windows... not anything too bad, we didn't want to cause any real damange... we figured the recipeients of our pranks would understand that we just wented them to enjoy the spirit of fun ... or at least that's what I told myself.



The first or second year of highschool we knew we were getting too old to Trick or Treat. We were not even remotely true adults... we were 14 going on 10. We had one tall friend, he lookeed like a man from the chin down. But he had this sweet face that looked like a choir boy with the hint of a mustache wishing it could grow on his upper lip. We know he wouldn't pass for a Trick or Treat Worthy kid. But we thought he'd make a great "Big Brother".. I'm sure I was with Laura Lorenz or Alice LaChapelle and probaby Richard .... we all got sheets out of our linen closets... or maybe even stole them off our beds. I'm not sure my mom and dad knew that we'd appropriated those things. Since I buy my own sheets now, I am sorry, Mom and Dad about the holes I cut in the sheets... Guess it's kind of late..



We went to the houses there in the olld neighborhoods... up to the doors ...all excited and with our stomachs full of butterflies, or perhaps moths... What will they say when they see us, these poor unsuspecting neighbors... of course we moslty went to homes where we were unknown. All of us except the tall kid, Larry, kneeled down on the steps so we looked like little goblins... innocent voices that we made as childlike as possible called out "Trick or Treat!!!!!!!!" and we tried to hold our laughter until our bags were gifted with more and more treats ... Then when the poor unsuspecting victims had given out the sugary bounty, we all stood up and said, as politely as we could.. "Thank YOU!!! " and giggling we ran off down the sidewalk to the next house... That was one of the most shamefully fun memories I even enjoyed... LOL!



I hope you don't hate Hallowe'en.. I hope you can enjoy it, and make some great memories... I did. I didn't think of the devil, or evil. I thought of fun, and ways to make it special. I did think of how we had the responsibility to not harm or destroy anything that wasn't ours... or anyone. I hope that you can share the love and grace of Christ to each child and each adult that you find on your front porch or at the mall ( Yes, some of us like Malls) today, and that with His help you can turn what the devil may have purposed for evil into a day that God can use for HIS Glory!



God Bless you all today! Enjoy your Hallowed Eve!

Winter in Skedattle...

Here it is January already, in fact half way through January! Christmas and New Year's has come and gone.... Why do I always find myself looking back and saying "Where did Christmas go??? Can it be that Thanksgiving was a month and a half ago, and suddenly the stores are reminding me that Valentine's Day is February 14th. Not to be faceteous, but I do not have any confusion about when Valentine's Day is... I just want to know where the last 2 months went. Another winter here in my adopted city, and my life never has been so full. My work kept me on my toes until it suddenly came to and eld. This blog was started in probably 2008 and now it's 2011 and I just found it for the first time in 2 or 3 years. I guess it's worth keeping. Suddenly it's the first third of November and I'm looking at my Hallowe'en deccorations and thinking, uh oh, Christmas will be here in a week or so! LOL! Time passes by so quickly,

A Happy St. Patrick's Day to You, Boyo!

Here is a picture of Walt Disney with Pat O'Brian, and the "King of the Leprechauns", Brian Conners, from a 1959 photo promoting the Disney show, "I Captured the King of the Leprechauns". I was enthralled with all things Irish about this time and loved Disney. One of my favorite movies back then was "Darby O'Gill and the Little People". Actually, not much has changed! And the incredibly handsome Sean Connery was one of the leads in the movie, and captured my heart for sure.

Always, always, my Irish heart will love this story and the olde sod will call to me... This is a memory from childhood that, though dim, is still a part of who I am... the Irish Lass from ... well, let it suffice, my heart longs for Ireland.

Return to Writing

I .am baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkk!! It's been 3 years since I posted on here. I actually forgot I had this blog. This may seem surprising but at my age, I don't think so. I forget a lot of things lately. I guess it's part of having your head so full of stuff... it sounds like a fairly reasonable explanation, don't you think?  But now that I've rediscovered this vehicle for my never ending train of thought, I may very well become a true blogger affecionado again! God willing. Bare with me for now, and give me some time to regain my footing here... Yes, I realize I've had three years, give or take a few months, but I have to reorganize my mind a bit. Yup!

♪ Luis Miguel.net - Luis Miguel World Wide/Mundial Fan Community

♪ Luis Miguel.net - Luis Miguel World Wide/Mundial Fan Community

I found this on line today, and fell in love with the bright sunny warmth of the color and light. It's been since February since I posted, and since this is promising to be the hottest day of the year here so far, I wanted to commemorate it. That's all I have time to write for now, but I will be back!

Where did it go???

I thought I’d be wonderful at this… I had all these plans to put some deep and profound thoughts in this blog, to show that I had something of substance to say, but so far I’ve fallen flat on my face. I made a futile attempt at making my thoughts a creative celebration of life, and all that was occurring around me. Then the Holidays came, and I was somewhat overwhelmed, and blogging suddenly became much less important and just being awake and getting dinner on the table, presents bought and wrapped and sent, and getting to work and home each night was the thing my dreams were made of… I know, bad sentence structure…again…

Christmas this year was nice, but also kind of sad. My husband and youngest son and I were here in Seattle together, the first year that we didn’t go to Spokane and spend Christmas with the rest of our family. My two older children and their families were 300 miles away, and all of my grandchildren with them. My newest grandbaby, Abigail, celebrated her first Christmas and I missed it. But we were all well, and had homes and food to eat and a lot for which to thank God. So we “kept Christmas” in new ways, and some old, too. Once again I decorated the tree Mom gave us about 20 years ago, and as I put on each old ornament, I remembered Christmases past, as many must do each year. It was just so wintery this year that weather kept us from even planning a trip over the Cascades.
Michael had to work Christmas Eve, which also would have stopped us from going out of town, and I worked the day after Christmas. We wanted to do something to make the evening special, and fun, so I suggested going out to dinner at someplace special. We got last minute reservations to Anthony’s in DesMoines. It’s very lovely and elegant, but yet can be casual… does that make any sense? The view would be wonderful, but it was dark so we could only make out a few boats with Christmas lights in the boat slips nearby. The romance that you would expect from the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” is very unrealistic, I would have to say, because it’s so cold by the water that you could certainly freeze every known appendage off if you stood outside long enough to reflect on the beauty of the Puget Sound. Maybe it’s me, but we were happy to not be by the window and have our meal in comparative warmth. The crab fettuccini was delicious as always… our waiter seemed a little stiff at first. He reminded me of an evil, uptight Kelsey Grammer. But we sort of gently teased him and gave him a big tip so that by the time we left we had him in a much better mood. After all, it was Jesus birthday, and not a day to be angry. I don’t blame him if he didn’t want to be working that night. It would be a bit sad, and I already nearly found myself in tears that night, too. We were having fun but someone said something about how we would be eating Mom’s home made Christmas bread if we were in Spokane… and I suddenly found my heart aching from those I love that were far away. The Christmas bread was not even the half of it….although it would be missed.

Then we went home and watched “A Christmas Carol” together. Even Michael stayed up and watched, which must have been a sacrifice. He isn’t much for watching any movies with us when he could be battling some alien world on the internet with his friends. He even said it was rather good, so it must have been the Spirit of Christmas to prompt that kind of comment. I’m half kiddng, and maybe half serious… he is very busy with his own life of late. It’s a rare and precious moment when we are all laughing and enjoying the same things it seems.
Christmas Day we opened our gifts to one another and had a lovely, if I do say so myself, brunch… lots of hot coffee and bacon, eggs and sweets…and then I baked a cherry pie for taking to dinner. We went to our friend’s and Pastor’s for our Christmas meal, and had a wonderful time. They are a wonderful family and Steve and Pastor Dave seem to be kindred spirits in so many ways. I think Dave has really become a good friend and Tandi and the kids are also the kind of people that bring the best out in those around them. The food was super, and just what I would have chosen if I’d had to pick a menu. The rest of their family from here, and various kids of all ages, filled their home and gave us the boost we needed, as they treated us like part of the family.

The ladies played cards, and the kids played video games… and the men talked about eating.. and ate.. we all just relaxed and enjoyed the blessings of family and friends… corny sounding, perhaps but I don’t know how else to put it. Oh, and my pie turned out great. If my mama never taught me anything else, she taught me how to make good pie crust. Just ask my husband, he will tell you.

We called all the family throughout the day, we sent our Christmas blessings to my son Peter and his gal, Andrea, and the new baby, and the girls…. We spoke to my daughter Heidi, and were happy to hear that she and her two younguns were with Steve’s dad and step mom Christmas Eve, and with Mom and Steve’s step dad Christmas Day. Peter and Andrea were there, too, and of course all of the other “kids” in the family. So they were all together and even though we missed them, it was so good to know that they had each other. Steve’s mom and sister were in love with Abby, saying how sweet she is, how her eyes are so blue and she is just such a good baby. Of course, she’s my little angel, and I have to say, I know my mom and dad are looking down from Heaven and are talking about how beautiful their little granddaughter is. It gives me an indescribable feeling when I look at her picture.. I haven’t seen her face to face since October, but Mom sent some pictures of her from Christmas. It’s like there’s nothing that can compare to that innocent beauty of a baby, especially a grandbaby. Of course, all of my grandchildren make me feel that way. They just grow up so fast. I’m sure all grandparents feel this way. If you could only capture those sweet moments forever… like the song says, “If I could put time in a bottle.. If I could make wishes come true, I’d save every day ‘til eternity passes away, just to spent them with you..”. The song is supposed to be romantic, but I think it applies to all of those we love.

So the Holidays are passed. I have to admit, they last a lot longer at our house than they should because I can’t stand to take down my Christmas tree. Yeah, I just got that done last week. And what’s even worse is that wasn’t even a record. One year it was the 13th of February when it finally was all tucked back into boxes and the Valentine’s stuff was out. It seems like laziness, but I know it’s just that I miss the lights and the pretty treasures that have been hung on our tree for the past month and a half. This year the tree went up late, too, as I was sick and had no energy the weekend of Thanksgiving. It was only about 10 days before Christmas that the whole decorating thing was done, and it took me about 3 days to get the tree up. I never do anything simple, and you’d think I’d learn. Well, at any rate, it’s done for now, and yesterday I hung the tiny glass heart ornaments that I sometimes also use on our tree over the dining room table. They are satiny shades of red, hung on gossamer ribbon, from the chandelier. New beaded heart shaped coasters hold glasses on my white table cloth. I have a new cake plate for a tiny heart shaped cake that is also embossed with red hearts, so the place is decked out for Valentine’s Day… You may say what a silly woman that I am, trying to make every day a celebration. But it should be a celebration in that we have a life that is blessed. The knowledge of how much we are loved, by our families and friends, and by our God, is something to be celebrated and cherished always.
I hope you are all warm and knowing that Love today.

Peace!

Shar