Stick Horse Cowgirls

At the risk of waxing sentimental and, to some extent tooting my own horn, I am moved today by the concept of mothering.   As I write this, California remains on fire.   Not only are houses destroyed, but people are losing their lives, some of them firefighters who have volunteered, knowing the great risk they face. As I have prayed about this disaster, my heart has turned toward the animals of the burning forests.   We will never know how many have lost their lives in horrible ways. On Facebook yesterday someone posted this photograph by a fireman who was moving through a burned-over area.   It is a picture of a bird’s nest with a clutch of eggs still there intact.   Next to them is the body of their mother.   Instantly it hits one that the mother bird could simply have sailed off, over the fire, to find safety. But she did not.   She would not abandon her babies—still in their shells—to the disaster.   She stood with them, helpless against...

I had to work yesterday (Saturday, Labor Day weekend, no less!).  I had to travel an hour's drive north to interview some kids in need.  As I often do, I wrangled V to go with me and "meander." We knew of flea markets and home-cookin' cafes up that way to try out.  And, that's just what we did.  I don't often have that kind of meandering time so that, alone, was an indulgence.  We turned my work day into a fun day.   Ummmm, fish eggs...not for me! But the real indulgence came that evening when I nosed around for supper.  First, let me ask you: What do you think of when you think of an "indulgence?"  Is it caviar with champagne?  Is it fine chocolates?   Well, my friends, if that's the case with you, you may be missing out, for as I poked through my pantry, I found a true indulgence: a box of cheeseburger macaroni Hamburger Helper !      Why this processed, full-of-artificials was in my pantry, I have no clue....

It is cliche to talk about stepping on Legos with bare feet.    Those of us who have young children or grandchildren know how excruciating that can be.  I have no little people in my household these days, so one might think I would be free of such dangers...not so!  You know what hurts just as much?  Stepping on the shard of a deer femur. In fact, it feels very much like stepping on a Lego. It happened to me just this morning.  My latest, and third, Belgian Malinois “Lefty” is truly a country dog.   We live pretty far off the main road, down a long dirt driveway.   But, still, we wanted him contained.   We have always used our fenced backyard to contain our dogs—even Mailinois, but Lefty kept escaping. Our fence is four feet pickets, and it has worked very well in the past, except for  our Daisy, who was a digger.   Every once in a while Son and I would have to go out and fill the escape hatches she had d...

I feel wistful.   At age 68, I am now truly an orphan.   My parents have been gone several years now, my father-in-law, too.   This left my mother-in-law to reside next door to me, in her own little abode.   She and I, single women out in the country, did well together.   I would work too hard all day, usually stopping in to see her a few minutes before plopping down exhausted at my own home.   Sometimes I would guiltily slink past her little trailer, too tired for conversation but knowing she had been alone all day and feeling I should have spared her that few minutes of companionship—selfish me. She has been gone a couple of weeks now and I have not yet felt any authentic mourning.   I am not sure what that will look like, as I am a fairly stoic person, but I feel it looming around behind me as I go through each day, as if it will overtake at some unexpected moment. As I was shopping for groceries today, the thought of her absence came, pr...

I have a brand-new sewing machine!   Truthfully, it is about three years old.   About a year after purchase I splurged on a nifty sewing machine case on rollers.   So, we progressed from having a brand-new/year-old sewing machine still in its original packaging to one that has been carefully placed in its case…rolling case has not been opened since.  The case has rolled nowhere. So, for two years, my new, three-year-old sewing machine has languished in isolation in the corner of my dressing room, barely noticed. With the passing of my mother-in-law two weeks ago, I inherited her sewing table.   It’s nifty, too!   I will be taking my brand-new sewing machine from its isolation cell and installing it in the table this weekend.   I am wondering if I have the energy to tackle actually putting thread in the machine for the first time and giving her a go.   As I thought about that, I began again to really want to sew. Here’s the prob...

C and V, age 4 We've missed blogging and all our blogging friends. C still works at her law office, too hard but loves it!  As for V, well she is blessed with a whole cadre of grandchildren who have kept her busy, even though she is now a retiree. We are determined to keep the connections we enjoyed with blogging.  Please bear with us as we re-learn.  We are finding out that, simple as Blogger is, we're "creaky" and out of practice, but we are confident we will get where we want to be.  We have big plans. I know that you all are in the same social distancing situation as are we, although our state has been coming out of the stricter measures, now going into statewide mask mandate. COVID-19 plague has impacted C's work and everyone's movements.   COVID has these old dogs learning new tricks.  C has been participating in Zoom (remote) trials and predicts that these will become standard for many types of legal proceedings i...