THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW

           I spent some years of my life, in the 40's, living in a military housing complex with a plethora of kids, bikes, trikes, kids, and kids.  Moms in the complex finished up their morning work, grabbed their coffee mug, cigarettes and lighters, and headed for the neighbor's house for a chat.  I remember, as if it were yesterday, going with my mom to one of these tete-a-tetes.  Bored, I looked around the lady's house at lacy white curtains blowing softly in the breeze, a highly polished wood floor, and a baby bouncing in a Johnny-Jump-Up swing.  It was, to me, perfection.  Even as a five year old, I wanted that kind of life for myself.  Many years later, I had the lacy curtains, polished floors, and six children, and I wasn't quite so enamored!!  I felt that I'd lost "Me" somewhere in the equation of acquiring the perfect life.  I identified with Thoreau's "lives of quiet desperation."  I concluded that, in order, to find "Me" again, I had to set aside some time for myself, but when....?  One morning, at 3 am, I was up with a sick baby.  As I rocked him in the blessed silence of that early hour when the only sound was the ticking of the clock and his soft baby snores, I knew I'd found my "Me" time.  I'd found the time of day when, for the most part, I didn't need to be housekeeper, mom, wife, teacher, etc., I only had to be myself.  Arising at 3 in the morning has become a lifelong habit.  I've spent my "Me" time over the years sewing--xstitching, beading, crocheting, knitting, quilting, crafting, reading, indexing, researching, and writing.  I recommend the habit highly.  I've solved most of my own problems in those quiet hours before dawn through hundreds of quiet prayers.  Once I hear the stirrings of the family or the buzz of a distant alarm, I open my curtains with a sigh.  As the sun was coming up this morning, I was greeted with this sign that this is going to be a beautiful Sabbath day, no matter what the weather:



         On a lighter note, ur week has been filled with our projects: 

One row of the slats of the pergola is completed.  The other row will go up soon.  (As I was taking this picture, Astro sped off into the neglected orchard behind our house after five deer who were enjoying a morning fruit feast.  He nearly met an early demise when he wouldn't give up his determination to scare the deer off.  Papa Deer gave him a bit of a whack.  He's fine, but he decided to let the deer have the orchard; he'd lick his wounds on the couch.) 

 The "Wonky Pineapple" couch cover is completed.

Vale has arrived for his sophomore year in the Kennedy Boarding House.  Electronic gear is all set up, and his "man cave" is stocked.  Backpack is loaded with supplies.  The dunce hat is for his favorite teacher, Mr. Sankari, who Vale felt needed a dunce hat for a special corner of his classroom.
                  The view from my window is looking....upbeat and bright.  How about your view??  Love to All.  Mom

You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”
― A.A. Milne