My Climbing Lady Banks ~

This plant was given to me many years ago and I really had no idea how much I would come to love it. If my husband didn't keep her in check, she would cover the entire house and then some! She is loved by all of the neighbors - and passers by as well. People come and stand on the sidewalk in front of our house and stare at her and talk about her and if I'm around, they ask me questions about her.

She caused me some worry and concern a couple of weeks ago! She was so heavy with blooms and it was so windy and rainy that she was pulling off of the house and threatening to break right off! My heart would have broken right along with her. And my very caring husband knows how much she means to me. He lovingly trims each year, many times! (She has a nasty habit of crawling under the shingles of the roof.)

So here he is saving her in the calm before the storm. The first time actually. He's anchoring her to the house, but he had to go out and add to it since this time. And all for a short couple of weeks! That's all the bloom you get. It's here and gone in a flash. Kind of sad.

Here's the funny part! We have a neighbor who likes to know everyone's business and very predictably showed up to put his 2 cents in during this rescue process. He looks up at my husband - risking life and limb - and says, " I could understand you doing that if it was about honey, but..." and no sooner had he said it I responded, "Oh, Gene - It's ALL about honey." He gets it right off the bat! "Oh, Honey-Do!"
So my Lady lives and is happy and the blooms are all faded. She actually has an interesting history. I was perusing some old National Geographics someone had so graciously donated to us "because we were homeschooling and would surely need them." and there was an article about Sir Joseph Banks. A very wealthy, natural historian, Joseph Banks had sailed three years around the world with Captain Cook, aboard the Endeavour. Returning to London in 1771 he brought back an immense collection of plant and animal material. He died in 1820 at the age of 77.

In 1807 one of Banks' collectors had found a rose growing on the Chinese coast and sent it back to Kew where it was named Rosa banksiae in honor of Joseph Banks' wife. It soon became known as Lady Banks' rose.

In 1885 a cutting of this rose was sent to Tombstone, Arizona. In the garden of the Rose Tree Museum grows the worlds largest rose tree. From its twisted trunk grow branches which cover 8,660 sq ft of trellis. There was a picture of it in the magazine. Amazing!

Here's to Spring and all its beauty.

My Favorite!!

EXCERPTS FROM THE DOG'S DAILY DIARY- anonymous

8:00 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!

9:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!

9:40 am - Oh Boy! A walk! My favorite!

10:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!

11:30 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!

12:00 noon - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!

1:00 pm - Oh Boy! The yard! My favorite!

4:00 pm - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!

5:00 pm - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!

5:30 pm - Oh Boy! Mom! My favorite!

6:00 pm - Oh Boy! Playing ball! My favorite!

6:30 pm - Oh Boy! Sleeping in master's bed! My favorite!

This is my dog. Except the master's bed part. He's okay with that. He used to sleep on his boy's bed, but learned to take his half out of the middle and his boy grew to 6 feet and and one of them had to go. I wonder! BUT - my point being - what a great way to live!

Dogmindedness. Yea. To think like a dog. To find the good in everything. To enjoy everything (mostly - we are human after all). What would that look like as a human? Mmm.

6:30 am - Oh boy! It's sunny! My favorite or Oh boy! It's rainy! My favorite!

7:30 am - Oh boy! Time to get ready for work! My favorite! or Oh boy! My day off! My favorite!

10 am - Oh boy! That little kid who drives me crazy! My favorite! or Oh boy! A bike ride! My
favorite!
12 am- Oh boy! The baby is awake! My favorite! or Oh boy! The baby is asleep! My favorite!

You get the point. Life really does go by fast. Enjoy each moment.

Awe-Some !

I came across a fun book recently called the Awe-manac by Jill Badonsky. It's a daily reader of sorts that promises "a daily dose of wonder." She is really quite creative with her Daily Soul Vitamins and such AND her illustrations are adorable. Oh, and she is very funny. There are a few things about it that I, personally, don't like, but I LOVE the whole purpose of the book. The author encourages her readers to see and/or find the wonder in each moment of life. What a concept, huh? She says, "We can live with wonder if we have or are open to, the ability to recognize the deep pleasure possible in a simple moment. But this ability is a skill like any other - it may take time and practice. We are impatient, we want to apply life-changing concepts to banish our challenges immediately. When the change is not sustained after the enthusiasm dies down, we often just give up instead of rinse and repeat." I like that. Rinse and repeat.

I love the idea of finding wonder in everything. We live in a seemingly increasingly negative society and it becomes a very natural thing for a lot of us to just live negatively and not realize it. Even to think it's normal and justified. I ask myself, "what will happen if I don't think critically, negatively, judgmentally? It's my right. It's American. It will seem as if I don't care! THAT'S it! It will look as if I don't care. Aaaannnnd, then what?

And then nothing. And then peace. And then quiet. And then wonder...

I'm Back...this time as a grandma!

Let me introduce a very precious little guy, who I can't imagine life without! Gabriel Preston Blankenship. Born August 13, 2009. I wasn't too happy about my son and his wife having a baby so soon after they were married. Really, the issue was that they themselves were so young (in my opinion). But, as a Jesus follower, I also believe that all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). God knew that this little baby would bring healing to our family. I should have known God had a plan!

Gabriel is a very happy baby. Loves to smile and laugh- just my style! I never knew I could love a child that is not mine so much! Ahh, but he is mine in a sense. He's flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. He is my son's child and I have a very vested interest in him. Do you know what it does to me when he arrives at my house or we meet up somewhere and he sees me and I can tell he recognizes me and there's a look between us and he just lights up! Talk about "be still my heart!"

Since the last time I wrote, I also went back into my profession - Speech Pathology. That's for a different post, but I have to say, life is good and especially God is good! Grace and Mercy abounds.

Riding or Writing? That is the Question!

When I don't ride, I don't write. I'm not sure what happened, but due to a smoky summer and working I just haven't been able to get on my bike much UNTIL November! I say in all seriousness - THANK YOU GOD! I only worked 2 days a week and the weather was wonderful and I was able to ride at least 3 days a week or so. Awesome. I feel refreshed. So I will write.

Scientific Experiments
I did a scientific experiment this summer. A very controlled study. The results were stunning. While cleaning out a hutch at our cabin, I came across a huge stack of Father's Day cards that my brother and I had sent my father while he was alive. I thought it would be fun to go through them. It was! Once I started through the stack, I noticed something and thought, "Wait a minute!" I decided to start all over (here's where the "experiment" comes in) again. This time I divided them according to who gave which card. That would mean two stacks - Stack 1 = Brother, Stack 2 = Sister. What I ended up with gave me a very clear result to the study. Stack 1 cards were all, every single one, serious in nature. To my wonderful father... Stack 2 were all, every single one, humorous in nature. To the King ... of the remote. Etc. You get the point. So, I think the results of the study showed me something very significant. My brother was able to pinpoint it best I think. I showed him the stacks of cards and how I conducted my study and asked point blank, "What do you think this means?" His response came quickly, "Well, that you are funnier than me."

Now, there was a time many years ago, when he would not have seen the humor in all of this, but God has done great things in his life and he now has a great sense of humor. But he is still the more serious of the two of us and I guess you could say that my father had a balance in his children. Both sides of the coin. Two great kids all in all.

Here's the thing...

I haven't written in a long while and even then, it's been few and far between and I'll tell you why. I have so much - too much - I want to write about. It just becomes a blob in my mind and so I put it off. I've decided that there is no rule that says I can't write about a bunch of stuff in the same post? I get very hung up on things like that. An example is one I grew up with. You just don't have the same thing for dinner two days in a row. That's a "rule" my mom lived by. I'm not sure which of her rule books that came out of, but it's a hang up for me and my family loves to tease me about it. If we had broccoli on Monday for Potato Night, then no way can we have it on Tues with alfredo and pasta. I poo-pooed that rule last week and darned if we didn't live to see the next day! So is it okay to talk about something funny AND something spiritual in the same post? I keep thinking God has this rule that I can't talk about my faith and something else at the same time. Oh no! That's just not done. Well, what do you suppose that that is just one more hang up of mine - one I made up in my mind? So I'm going to give myself permission to give that up. I'm saying good-bye to "only one topic per post" and " either make it spiritual or not." Whew. I feel better.

SOooooooooo

Here's some things I'm thinking about - not in any special order. (Something in me says I really should start with spiritual things, or only write about spiritual things, if anyone is going to take me seriously. Sounds like a hang up! )

Hillary and Sarah Palin. Okay. Check this out. Is this rich or what? If Sarah Palin makes it into the White House, she will have accomplished what Hillary has been killing herself doing - with not much effort at all. By that I mean that all of these months Hillary has been fighting and brawling her way to try to be President, draining her finances and everything else while Sarah Palin has just been quietly living her life, governing Alaska and out of the blue, she has a good chance of being Vice President without having to campaign etc. That means that if John McCain keels over, Sarah will be the first woman President. Sort of by gosh and by golly. I would never want anything to happen to McCain! But how interesting, huh?

Vacation Stories- Nice Kitty/Wrong Place at the Wrong Time.

Here's a pic of a nice kitty cat that came near out cabin this summer. My hubby was nice enough to chase it to get this picture. We've all heard the stories of people getting attacked by moose, buffalo, elk, etc., trying to get The Picture. Fortunately that didn't happen here. The amazing thing is that my father (rest his soul) spent over 60 years coming to this cabin and never once laid eyes on a mountain lion. He'd be jealous if he knew! It also makes me wonder why this kitty felt comfortable enough to mozey by one morning. It was evident (detectives Willie and Bob were hot on the case!) that it was tracking a deer. The morning breeze and the nearby river (loud) served to keep him ignorant of the two guys cooking breakfast, talking and singing praises to God just yards away. I'm not sure mountain lions like hash browns, eggs and pancakes on the griddle anyway.

Now for the more amazing story. I would show you a picture of this too, but I'm afraid I'd get reported for inappropriate content and then Blogger would kick me off this site. It's a sad story of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being impulsive to boot. There is a lesson in everything?

There was once a little packrat. We'll call him --- "Nitwit." He's been known in these parts for a few months. Even peeking in windows at night scaring all of the women in the cabin. Shame on Nitwit. Well, one day Nitwit's nest was discovered in the shed and mean old Bob tore it apart and cleaned it out. This was cause for Nitwit to take revenge? For he struck out to find a new site for a nest and what a nice place this little green car would make? Ahh. Home sweet home. Right inside this nice engine compartment. There's even a little towel stuffed in there to add comfiness the new home. Nitwit had been enjoying his new home in the little green car for over a week when one day it started moving. Oh my! What to do? Stay put for now seemed like a good idea - UNTIL! WATER! NO! There's water splashing up into my new home. My new home is going through a small stream of some sort. Nitwit decided to abandon his new home and thought that that neat little serpentine belt would help him escape. And that it did. It helped him escape into that Big Packrat Place in the Sky! Little did Nitwit know that this would be his last day. For when the people in the little green car wondered why in the world the engine stopped so suddenly, they stopped to look and soon discovered little Nitwit - or what was left of him at least. The End

CHECK IT OUT! Everyone in Redding needs to check out the NOLS bus out at Big League Dreams on Friday 5:30-9pm and Saturday 8am-6pm August 22-23. My sister-in-law works at the NOLS international headquarters in Lander Wyo. What is NOLS? National Outdoor Leadership School. Here's the website. We know people young and old who have taken a NOLS course and loved it.

I'll be back soon to tell of our vacation adventures. They include packrats and mountain lions. Yikes!