The Sounds of Silence

I'm just sitting here at the keyboard listening to the sound of silence. Dee and her girls had to leave on Friday because this was Dee's weekend to work as a labor and delivery nurse and the girls weekend with their Dad. Jamie and Shawn did not start back until around 3:30am today. She has to stop in Pensacola to pick up her girls on her way home. I will be anxious until I know she has the girls with her and back on the road to their home and until they actually reach their home. Like most mothers, I worry about my family when they are traveling.

I will be in church (or at least Sunday School) this morning but I think mom is going to stay home. It's been a hectic week and I want that sense of peace that I get from my church community / family and she can use the rest and solitude for an hour or two. John might be over in time to keep her company while I am gone. They may even go out for breakfast or maybe she can fix his breakfast for him if he makes it over. He showed up in the middle of the night to see Jamie off, which surprised her. He had already said his goodbyes when he left the night before so she really wasn't expecting to see him again before she left.

Yikes, it's getting late and I need to get ready to go... Happy Sunday to all!

Safely Home

Mom and I arrived home safe and sound Monday around noon. John got back to the house shortly after we arrived and brought lunch with him, which was nice after our five hour drive that morning to finish out the trip back here from Indiana. Mom took a long nap and later she and I went grocery shopping and picked up a few other items I wanted to get for the house before everyone else started coming in.

Dee and her girls got in from Bossier City last night. They got here while we were out running PITA errands, you know the kind I mean, returning what I bought the night before and trying to find something else more suitable or more to my liking. Jamie and her friend Shawn are on their way now. They have a long drive from Spring Hill, Florida... about a twelve hour ride. I wish Kayla and Anna were coming with them but they are with their dad and his family over this holiday. I'm thankful they will be with people who care about them but I would love to have them here with us.

We will start cooking later today and have part of our Thanksgiving meal done so that we can be a little more relaxed for dinner tomorrow. Mom is making pies, which we are all looking forward to... ouch, I can feel my waist and hips expanding just thinking about it!

Ginger is excited at having a house full of people... Woody K. Nibs does not seem to care in the least whether anyone is here or not. I am certain though, that he loves the extra attention even if he doesn't show it!

I'm off to do my reading before everyone gets up.

ps... I enjoyed my time away from the computer and I think it was a good thing! There is life away from a computer keyboard!

Now playing: Thanksgiving Day by John McCutcheon

Life In General

I am leaving tomorrow for Indiana to pick up my mother and bring her back down here for Thanksgiving with my family. She and I will drive through and stop for a night or two in Tennessee since we didn't get to make our annual trip there over Memorial Day weekend. I am looking forward to this time with her.

In the past week, my son has put up a new light fixture / ceiling fan combo in my family room, put in a new dishwasher and installed a new refrigerator that required him to have to trim the cabinet above where the refrigerator sits. The cabinet was about a half inch too low to let the new unit slide in. He did a great job. He has patient persistence! I have a great respect for his ability to do anything he sets out to do around the house. He reminds me of his father that way.

Yesterday was my granddaughter Anna's 13th birthday. I wanted to do a blog entry for her but between not being able to find a suitable picture to use for the entry I wanted to do and being time challenged, I am putting that entry off. I want it to be special.

By choice, I am limiting my online time this week. It is a good week to do it as I will be gone and busy with mom but I also think it will be good for me to break away from the computer for awhile. It becomes an excuse, a reason for not doing other things and I need to break the habit. I have neglected my home and things that need to be done around here for too long.

I am trying to get my creative juices flowing again. I have been in a real funk lately and it's time to break out of that. Limiting the online time ought to help with this too. Even though I do a lot of my creative work on the computer, I am not doing that much creatively. Again, this is a place in my life where breaking that cycle should help.

There shouldn't be that much difference in my blog posting as I really haven't done that much blogging lately anyway. Well, enough of this, I have other things calling me and I'm off to start a long day of errands, appointments, packing, loading and I hope by this evening I will be ready and will have time to go to my class at church. I really like this class! Maybe I'll blog about that when I've 'renewed' myself.

Hallie

Hallie Gravelle, five years old, from Winnsboro, Louisiana passed away this morning after a difficult and painful struggle with cancer.

There are just some things I will never understand.

Please pray for peace and comfort for her family and friends.

Her Caringbridge site is here if you would like to leave a message for her family.

Remembering

thinking of dad on Veteran's Day and always!

praying for all Veteran's and giving thanks for their service!

Credits: Papers - DSA Autumn Leaves_PP04 and DSA Autumn Leaves_PP01; Photo edge PSP; Fonts used are Papyrus and Monotype Corsiva; all else is mine

Friday's Feast #178

If you want to participate in Friday's Feast click here.

Appetizer -Which snack do you like to get when you go to the movies?

Whatever I can sneak in carry inside of my purse.

Soup -What year did you start using the internet?

1994

Salad -What is your first name in Pig Latin? (Here’s how to speak it if you don’t already know!)

arsha-May

Main Course -Name something you are picky about.

I am picky about how my eggs are cooked (well, just when they are fried). I want the whites completely cooked (no snotty stuff at all) and the yellow runny.

Dessert -Fill in the blanks: I ____ ____ yesterday and I ____ ____ today.

was alive and well --- still am

I was alive and well yesterday and I still am today. (Thank God!)

And Just Like That...

he's home!
Can you believe that just a few moments ago I heard a tiny mew at my front door and I knew instantly... he's home! The prodigal son (well, in this case the cat) has returned. A full six days after going missing, after drives around the neighborhood loop, windows down, watching and calling for him; the times with Ginger's watchful eyes, ever vigilant, on the lookout as we drove the full length of Wheeler Road behind our house trying in vain to catch sight of him; the infinite times of calling out for him to come while canvassing his favorite haunting places on foot.

Mr. Nibs returned in perfect condition. He did not want to eat or drink. He graciously gave me a full minute of lap time and is now fully entrenched in one of his favorite spots in the house (lying on the floor of the living room in the spot where the sun breaks through the french doors). All of this tells me he was with some kind hearted person(s) who took good care of him while he was gone. How he got back is beyond me. I don't care at this point, I am just grateful that he is home!

The celebration is over and Ginger was as glad to see him as I was. She licked him profusely before giving him a quick chase through the entryway into the family room.

All is well!

Hallie

There seem to be so many children in this area with cancer. This is Hallie.

http://www.caringbridge.org/la/hallie/

Unfortunately, Hallie is losing her battle with cancer. You might want to go by her site and leave her and her family a message.

Missing!

I'm very concerned about Woody... he went outside late yesterday morning and he hasn't come back in since. I saw him once after he went out, but he didn't want to come back in the house at that time. He seldom stays out very long, but every once in awhile he seems to take his sweet time about getting back inside where I know he is safe and sound.

I am more concerned that something has happened and he is trapped somewhere and scared or frightened and can't get back than I am that perhaps he is dead because there's nothing more I could do if that were the case. We've looked high and low, called and called and yet no signs of him anywhere. Even Ginger has been looking for him since late yesterday.

Woody is an inside cat who likes his little getaways to the 'jungle' behind my neighbors fence or to the other neighbors wooden playset where he loves to sit and sun. He 'hunts' down mice and moles and chases butterflies, birds and squirrels with no success beyond giving me some comic relief.

I've had other cats who have disappeared for periods of time, but Woody seldom stays gone for very long, returning to our yard or to our porch even if he doesn't want to come in the house. I'm really worried about him. I want him home!