053 ~ Blizzard

Saturday - 10th - with plans greatly changed due to the dance party being canceled we considered what else we might do since EVERYONE would be home plus we'd have Dany (9yo niece/cousin) most of the day too since her mom had to go to work at WalMart until 4:30pm.  We had close to 6 inches of new snow when Sis dropped her off here.  By the time she came to pick her up we had another 3 or 4 inches!  A good friend and neighbor came over with his snowplow to help us clear our driveway (one of the longest on the block) and our sidewalks during one of the lulls in the storm.  

The state, county & city officials/authorities were all telling everyone to stay put, do not travel except in emergencies.  We took a lot of pictures!  When we had a break in the snow for a while, late Saturday, about the time Sis was coming in from work, the triplets took off to spend time at some friends' home with a bunch of other teens & young adults.  Watching the radar I had to call them up about 8pm to tell them all to get headed home... heavy snows were closing in and they needed to be off the roads before that hit our area!  Not everyone made it to their destinations and we ended up with two extra teens that night.  They all were fine with staying in and playing Monopoly for a few hours before finding places to sleep.  I wish we had extra beds but we don't at this time... maybe by this time next year.  Still, kids usually don't mind sleeping on couches or even on the floor (on top of lots of layers of blankets and such).

Here's a few more pics 

from our first blizzard of the 2010-2011 winter season:

044 ~ O*R*E*O!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

(almost caught up again!)

Little Miss O*R*E*O!

(our very dear friend Michelle)

(the jacket & hand to the right belong to my son Mack)

OK, well, now we got Mack in good,

but Little Miss O*R*E*O 

is a leaning a lot...  ;-)

This was an unexpected surprise for the day!

I needed 2 or 3 things at Burnstad's

(our locally owned grocery store, 

Amish store, European Restaurant,

and unique shopping mall)

so after picking up Mack from work on 

Thursday I gave him the choice of being dropped off

at home or coming with me to Burnstad's.

HE chose to go with me to Burnstad's!

LOL

Neither of us realized until it was too late

that Thursday, from 3pm to 7pm,

(we went at 3:30pm)

was Burnstad's Annual Open House!

My, oh my!!!

The parking lot was packed

so we switched places and he dropped me off

and then went in search of a parking spot

before coming in to help me out.

An hour later...

we picked up more than 2 or 3 items,

sampled dozens of great foods,

ran into a number of people we knew,

and bumped into

Little Miss O*R*E*O,

handing out little packets of 

Oreo cookies!

While I'm not so fond of really crowded places,

things like are one of the reasons I love living in 

a small town, like Tomah!

Growing up in big cities makes it possible to always

have things to do and places to go,

but there's no comparing that to the many relationships

one develops when you get to know...

the cashiers at the grocery store,

the pharmacist at the drug store,

the clerks in most of the local shops,

plus, teachers & school administrators,

local doctors & nurses & other medical assistants,

people serving you in local restaurants

and fast food places,

and pretty much anywhere you go.

And if you don't actually know them in person,

then you know one another by way of a

parent, sibling, cousin, or neighbor!

In other words,

everyone knows everybody!

Which also means almost everyone

knows what's going on in everyone's lives.

Ahhhh...

the small town life...

it's a love-hate sort of thing.

:-)

038 ~ Grasshoppers

Friday, November 26, 2010

(it's late - lol - see day 037 for an explanation)

Same cookies, different camera options.

If you don't recognize them, these are the 

Girl Scouts' Thin Mints Cookies.

They happen to be a favorite in our house. 

However they are also available year-round at most grocery stores (probably a little cheaper too) under the Keebler label with the name of Grasshoppers!

A few other Girl Scout cookies are out there too!

You can't get all of them anytime you want but several are available if you search them out.  You should be aware though, not all stores will carry all that could be available to you.  So it may take some tough tracking to find your favorite!

The art of photography escapes me it seems.  I know I pushed different buttons to effect the differences in these two pictures but it's not something I really took note of, so I've no idea what it was that made each result come out like it did.  My photographer friends would think me silly for not knowing.  Oh well, not my sort of expertise!  ;-)

I do however love the difference in two things that I know, since I arranged the cookies and took the pictures, are exactly the same things!  In an abstract way it shows how two people might see the same thing completely differently!  Or it could show how two identical twins could be so completely different in so many ways from one another!

So much of what we observe in our lives is unique to our perspective!  If we have the belief that our dead loved ones will be one day resurrected with all their ailments and imperfections removed, then the death of our loved ones is not a sad nor painful thing but it is joyful because the next time we see them we shall all be totally healthy and happy and ready to fully enjoy living!

Not everyone agrees with me.

Friends of mine who also believe in this resurrection are deeply saddened when a loved one dies.  They can be inconsolable at times.  They spend a lot of time mourning.  They have a hard time focusing on living.  They feel like a part of them is lost and gone forever and they don't know how to move on, to move ahead with their lives because this person is no longer a regular part of it.

I am truly empathetic of all they are experiencing.

I have been all these things; many times; too many times.  But I have come to see that there is no benefit to me, nor to the one who died, in all my sorrow and mourning.  I will cry still each time it happens.  I mourn the loss of their company.  I mourn the loss of their friendship.  I mourn the loss of their smile, their laugh, the way they made me laugh.  Yes, I mourn too.

But I will still be filled with joy because I know their suffering is over.  They will now not have to struggle to survive these difficult times we live in.  They won't have to live in pain all the time anymore.  They won't have to have someone always around to care for them or just help them do things they used to do but can't anymore.  They will be whole again the next time we meet.  They will be in paradise, where Jehovah will satisfy their every desire.  Who wouldn't be happy, even overjoyed to know that their loved one's next moment in life would be like this?

037 ~ Topsy-Turvy

Thursday, November 25, 2010

(yes, I know it's late - very late - but I'll explain that...)  ;-)

TOPSY ~ TURVY

or

WELCOME TO MY UPSIDE-DOWN LIFE!

This picture is taken with the camera upside-down while my niece is also upside-down over the side of her couch reaching for something on the floor.

:)

We took several shots that day, but this one stands out to me.

It seems to show a lot of effort going into the reach.

That's how I feel in my life right now; that there's a lot of effort going into it. While there may be lots of effort, there doesn't seem to be much to show for it yet.  I expect that will change and eventually there will be something to see for all the hard work.

Which brings me to the reason for the delay in posting this.

For 36 posts I've put out pics of various things that have in some way related to our life - the life of all those who are regulars in my life.  But I got to thinking about the whole 365 thing - maybe too much, but here goes. lol

Many people I know doing a 365 type blog are in it for the pictures.  Quite a few of them are photographers, as in building a business taking pictures of people they are not related to. :)  Some are doing one just because they love to take pictures. :)  Either way is fine, makes no real difference to me, but neither is a real part of my reason for doing this.  Sure, the picture part of this is fun and it will be cool to see what a year's worth of pictures say about my life, or this life of my family & friends.  But what I expect or expected to do with this venue is more journal-like than that.  Don't get me wrong, I do love to take pictures.  But I love writing more.  I'm a writer and always have been. What would a year's worth of pictures be to me without written words of commentary?  What benefit would they have without some analyzing of life and how we reach our goals in life?  And why not throw in some history behind the picture or the people & places in the picture?  It might not be a thousand words each day, but it will certainly be a lot more than it has been!

As I contemplated these thoughts, I held off posting anything new here.  So I will catch up now... posting for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and today all in one day... bringing us up to 40 days... but look for the format to change up some. 

;-)

030 ~ Spirals

The spirals in my life go down and then up

they spiral around and again go down.

The tears in my life overflow from my cup

they come more and more from all around.

It seems I never know when it will hit me - those tears slipping down my cheeks.  The day can be fine, even full and happy, busy with many great and wonderful things.  And then BAM! I'm crying!  It may be simple sobs; or hearty howls; or tender tears.  I never know.  Today a dear friend is having surgery.  I'm not able to be there waiting for her to be done, be through recovery, and finally into a room of her own.  I can't afford to send her flowers or balloons or other such cheerful things to let her know how much I'm thinking about her, how much I'm praying for her, and how much I wish for this time to be successful and help her to regain some of what she's lost since the problem(s) first came about.  I can send her a card - or a few.  I can call her - when she's finally awake and able to talk a few minutes.  But I can't do anything at all right now - except to pray for her.  Today I've cried heartily, I've cried softly, and I've cried silently.  The worry can overtake me - if I let it.  I won't let it.  Peace comes to me when I pray.  So I pray, and pray some more.