Sunday, October 6, 2013

Outside my window... I am running a bit behind publishing this because I was so tired yesterday.  It is now Monday, 3 p.m., partly cloudy and 79 degrees.    

I am thinking... About the wonderful visit I got to have with my great-aunt this weekend.  I always love to find out things I didn't know before.  She told me that my great-grandparents used to have chickens and rabbits in the back yard when she was a school girl in the early 1940s.  She said she had her class come to their house for Show and Tell (the elementary school was just a couple of blocks up the street).  She told me how my other great-aunt decided to kill, dress, and roast one of their chickens all by herself as a teenager.  She also told me that she asked my great-grandfather for money for the movies.  Instead of just giving her the money, he told her that she could earn it by selling some of their eggs.  She and her friend went around the neighborhood and earned enough for the movie tickets.  What impressed me is that I know this house, this neighborhood.  You would never look at it today and think that in the backyard, my enterprising great-grandparents and great-great grandparents (they lived in the same house with all the grandchidren), in what seems like to be a suburban neighborhood of the time, had at least a portion of their own sustainable food and income.  

I am thankful...  That Yehovah got me to the campground, my great-aunt's house, and then back home again safe and sound.  

I am wearing... Some light warm up pants.  I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt earlier, but I had to change.  I bought them Saturday evening when I left the Girl Scout CCC training on my way to my great-aunt's house.  

I am creating... Our fall planting is finally in:  Carrots, Brussels, broccoli, cabbage, collards, carrots, and lettuce.  

I am reading... I am still reading The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry, but I am usually so exhausted by the time I get to bed, I'm not getting very far.  

I am looking forward to...  Shabbat!  I missed it last week (although I did call in to listen to the blessings while hiking over the river and through the woods. :-)  I'm looking forward to meeting the visitors we had last week.  I'm also looking forward to our women's Bible study.  

I am learning... At the Girl Scout CCC training, I learned lots of things.  I hiked through trails that nature was trying to reclaim.  I learned more techniques for building a fire and how to cook over an open fire, how to make a box oven, knot tying, and some additional things to do in case of a medical emergency, as one of the other leaders was bit by a fire ant and almost went into anaphylactic shock.  

One of my favorite things... Visiting with my great-aunt.  One of the reasons I started growing my hair out long a few years ago, was because I was just taken aback by how beautiful hers was.  It hangs down her back and definitely demonstrates our rich African-Cherokee heritage.  At 74, she still looks good and looks more agile than me!    

A few plans for the rest of the week:   Because I was so tired from the drive, I didn't hardly get any work done yesterday at all.  I'm already starting this week out behind, but I don't want that to interfere with preparation for Shabbat at all, so I am doing my best to be diligent and catch up.      

From the learning rooms... While I had gotten all the lesson plans for September on the calendar so that I could work around the Fall Feasts, it is time for me to sit down and look at October.   

Pondering these words... From Nancy Leigh Demoss's message "Working Joyfully," "It’s interesting to me that there are six references to hands in Proverbs chapter 31: verse 13, verse 16, verse 19, verse 20, and verse 31...Lazy people are always wanting to get. They want to be on the receiving end. They won’t work to give. They want to get. And ultimately, if they can’t get what they want, that can even cause them to turn to stealing out of laziness. But people who are hard workers are willing to work with their hands so that they can have something to give to others. That’s the heart of this virtuous woman."  There are so many Scriptures that refer to working with our hands.  I would like to do a word study on that.      

A peek into my day...

Yes, and this was a part of my Girl Scout CCC training.  We never had to deal with this as a Girl Scout in Colorado!  All our snakes had rattles at the end of their tails.   It ought to be illegal for a snake to go around without a rattle at the end of his tail!  This snake was found in the supply closet for the dutch ovens and some tents that are probably older than I am.  I was told that he gets to go on living there because he eats the mice that eat the tents.  It is an economic arrangement.  I was told that if the Girl Scout leader remains calm, so will the girls.  Yeah, good luck with that one.  I wonder how fast I could get my troop to break camp.  Hmm.    

Honor where honor is due:  http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/