Proverbs 3:5&6

    This is scripture that I have often repeated to myself and have relied upon, it goes like this "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight". He has shown me so many times that He has gone before me and just recently He has done it again. I want to share with you how He takes care of us when we ask Him to.
    This Nov. 9th Don and I flew down to Avondale Az. to visit with Dale and Carol at their apartment there and to see the area that they have moved to. We had a very nice visit and about 2 days before we were to fly back home I developed a very sore knee and the next day it was very much worse and I had excruciating pain, so much so I could not walk on my right leg at all. What to do...I had to fly back home the next morning. Dale and Carol dashed to a Goodwill store before it closed for the day and bought a pair of crutches and spent the evening teaching me how to walk with them. I slept with my clothes on because it was too painful to remove my jeans, I say slept but no sleep would come all night for any movement of my leg was intolerable. Carol came to my bed to pray with me and that gave me hope and comfort. The next day they drove Don and I to the airport and I was put into a wheel chair. God had already set out a path and all along that path he stationed his helping angels. Enter Kelly, who took over my wheel chair and like a mother hen with her precious chick she got me through all the check points and got us to the US Air gate. Now Don had wanted to get us on an earlier flight but both times when he asked he was told it would be at a substantial cost increase but stirred to try again he went to ask once more, enter Debbie, who said I'll take care of this" and we were transferred to the earlier flight at no added cost and she personally took me onto the plane and turned me over to two stewardess's there. One stewardess asked me what happened and I explained and she said you have a torn Minisca, seems she had it happen to her and I was encouraged to see her walking so easily. Now I was on a high dose of Advil and I was due to take the four tablets and you should not take it on an empty stomach but on US Air they serve no snacks only drinks so I took my pills but started to get a pain in my stomach. Enter Katie, the other stewardess, down the aisle she comes  passing my aisle seat and without a word or a glance she slips two cookies onto my tray and hurries on. Those cookies put my stomach at ease. Soon we were in MPLS airport and looking for the shuttle from the Park and Fly hotel where our pickup was waiting, as it drove up I realized I had another challenge, getting up the steps and into the van. With help I was soon settled into one of the seats, one of the ladies in the van asked me what had happened to me and again I explained, now up to now God had sent a person all along the way to help me but this time he sent a van full because to my surprise these ladies all worked at an assisted living home in Omaha, Neb. and they took over and made sure I was put into our truck as easily and as painless as possible. Don and I were so amazed at it all.
    As of today I have had an x-ray and MRI and my orthopedic surgeon says I indeed have a torn Minisca and surgery will correct it, but my knee has improved a bit so I have decided to see if my body can heal itself and if not I will have the surgery. Now this has been a time of pain but I would not change anything because to witness God's great love for me is greater than any situation, to realize I was enclosed in my Father's unseen arms will warm my heart forever. He indeed has a plan for my life and a path but it is up to me to read His road signs.

The paints come out

    The leaves are dropping and Don is busy circling the yard on his mower picking up the leaves with his leaf rake. It looks great till the breeze comes by and the trees drop the next batch. I don't think Don minds that much since he enjoys being outside. If he isn't on the mower he is out in his woods cutting, splitting or stacking his fire wood for next winter. He comes in for coffee and a cookie at 10, in for lunch at noon and back in at about 3pm, like going to a job. No wonder he is so fit.
    I have my own routine which keeps me busy too. I like order and try hard to keep things neat. I found out years ago that if my house is a mess it makes me feel tired and frustrated. Frustrated because when you need to find something it never is where it should be and that takes more time and energy. As you age you find you need to keep better records and to not count on your memory. I have what I call my "book of records" it is a note book with many tabs all labeled, example "insurance" and in it is the insurance info including dates of payments due, address and telephone numbers, policy numbers etc. I also have a section labeled "Paint" and in it is the paint records for each room and a sample of the paint color. Good records make for fewer mistakes.
    Speaking of paint I have taken up my brushes again and have turned my extra bedroom downstairs into my studio. Don has made me another easel and I have bought more oils and so I have begun. Painting for me is a time where I become lost to the world. I have no sense of time, I'm in my own world and it is good that I have to stop to make meals for Don or I would forget to eat. All the fall leaves have inspired me, I paint the picture in my mind first often as I lay in bed at night then I try to put that picture on canvas. I may not be any famous painter and that's okay it is the act of doing it that feeds my inner soul. I wonder if someone way back in my family tree was also someone who liked to paint, did I inherit a painting gene, perhaps that person had green eyes like me, I wonder since no one of all the family tree information had green eyes. Maybe there was a lady on The Isle of Man with green eyes painting pictures of the Irish landscape many years ago. I wonder!

Fall means back to school

   The leaves are blowing by the window and the green grass becomes a background for the yellow and red leaves as they come to rest. It is so pretty outside now , pity it is such a short season.
    Fall may be the end of summer but it is the beginning of the school year and the yellow school bus passes our house daily. I never knew what it was like to ride a bus  because being a city girl within walking distance of a school I never had an occasion to ride to school until I was in high school. I remember when we lived in Belle Plaine I walked about 6 or 7 blocks to school, out of my neighborhood, then past the stores down town and  to the other side of town, a nice walk when the weather was pleasant but not much fun in the winter. When it was cold we dressed in layers, no insulated boots to keep feet warm, no down filled jackets or fancy mittens. I had boots that were rubber with a thin layer of felt inside but provided no warmth only kept my shoes dry, my coat and mittens were made of wool but I did have snow pants which kept my legs warm since it was not permissible for girls to come to school wearing slacks only dresses. If you had no snow pants you could wear slacks under your dress but they had to be removed and hung in the cloak room during school.
    Mother was a very good sewer and though I didn't have fancy clothes for school I did get compliments on my pretty skirts, I didn't ever mention that they were made from feed sacks mother had bought down at the feed mill. Now don't think they were gunny sacks, no they were made of cotton and had pretty prints on them and if you could find two alike you had enough for a skirt or blouse. Mother didn't use a pattern but could sew it to fit me as I tried them on. She did buy fabric for special dresses like for Easter. I recall one dress she made for me that had a circle skirt and a peplum, which was a ruffle on a tie and the ruffle went in the back of your waist and tied in front with a bow. The dress was silky and felt so beautiful and when you spun around the circle skirt would stand way out. I still remember how it felt to wear that dress. I didn't have many store bought dresses but at Easter time I got a new Easter hat. I recall one that was called a sweet heart hat because it's brim formed a heart shape around your face.
    Our school was considered modern in that time with black boards made of slate and felt erasers, sometimes I would stay after school to help the teacher by taking the erasers out into the hall where there was a built in eraser cleaner. You opened a small door and inside was a circular beater that you held the eraser against as you turned the crank. It sure did a good job and you didn't have to go outside to smack them together getting the chalk all over your clothes.
    Spring was so special for me because finally mother would say "you don't need to wear your boots today" that meant  no more struggling to get them on or off and best of all it meant that I could tap dance all the way to school.  You see shoes were expensive and the only way you got new ones was to out grow the old ones. Shoes were polished every Saturday and even though heels and soles could be replaced, that cost money so instead cleats were nailed to heels and toes making them last longer. So when the boots came off and I walked to school on the side walk I would sound like a tap dancer and I loved it. Was I poor or rich you judge but for me I am rich in memories. You see we were treated as children so we had a carefree childhood. We were not burdened with sex education in grade school and our parents dressed us like children instead of miniature adults. The only violence on TV was wrestling and in the movies the only shooting was done by the Lone Ranger who only wounded the bad man and good always prevailed. Our young minds had good things to think on and wholesome books to read and our folks made sure of that. The times were hard and money was short but I never knew that, I only knew that I was young and life was great fun. I am sure if my mother was here she would say " ah but it was more fun growing up when I was young" and she probably would be right.

Out with the old

    This is a good day to check the closets, time to move the summer clothes down to the guest room closet for the winter and to move the winter clothes up. One year I did that and immediately we had Indian summer so hope that works again. The act of moving clothes takes a while as I look over each piece of clothing to see if it is in good condition and if I did indeed wear it at all this year. It is time to get rid of a lot of clothing that just takes up precious room in my closet. Time to give it to the Salvation Army perhaps. When I was librarian at our church years ago I recall a book that said it is a sin to keep good clothing that you don't wear because there are people that need it. I try to keep that in mind but I am a person that has worn the same size for probably 20 years and I take good care of my clothing so even though it is older it still looks like new. But I must remember what I read and take it to heart. When Don and I decided to sell our home and go rving full time it meant getting rid of things we had for years. That is a hard thing to do because many of our things had memories attached to them, but it was a cleansing move. You never realize how much junk attaches itself to you and fills up your space. All those boxes on shelves what do they contain? If they were truly something we cherish we would have them out where we can see them not tucked away gathering dust. Boxes of kitchen gadgets that we were sure we would need but only used once and boxed because it took up space in our kitchen drawer. Boxes of Christmas ornaments and lights that no longer light up, old books no longer read, etc and etc. Yes it was a freeing moment to get rid of so much unneeded things. Perhaps it is also time to clean our spiritual closet too, tossing out old grievances and grudges. Sweeping out our dusty thinking so that we can see more clearly to make good choices and making room for God to work in our lives. God has His way of cleaning too, for many years ago when I received Him as Lord and Savior he did just as his word said in 2 Corinthians 5: 17  Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. God swept away the old sins and made me new again, a fresh beginning. What a blessing to not have the burden of sin cluttering up my life.

Nature's Bounty

   It's that time of the year when the apples are heavy on the trees and we view them as apple pies warm from the oven when frost is etching the windows. But why do the trees produce so many apples. Of course I have my ready helpers, the deer, to help with the bounty. While sipping my morning coffee I can look out and watch the deer standing on their hind legs reaching high into the upper branches to pick the choicest apples.. it seems they prefer to pick their own rather then eat any from the ground but so do I. We co exist with the deer as long as they do not lunch on my favorite flowers. They are beautiful creatures and oh how we laugh as the fawns kick up their heels and chase each other around the lawn, they know they are safe here and pay no attention to us. I dread the gunshots that come at midnight some times but here on Shaw's Acre's they can safely play.
   Canning brings back so many good memories of my mother. She always had a good sized garden if possible and canned all she could and if she lived where there was no yard for a garden she always seem to have vegetables from someone's over flowing garden. I remember she had a gas stove and a large container called a "double boiler", the boiler was oval shaped and would cover two burners on the stove and many times it was used to heat water for washing clothes but my dad had made wooden racks,one for the bottom of the boiler where mother would sit jars of green beans and another to put on top of the jars to make a second layer.  This was filled with hot water and allowed to cook for hours making sure all jars were covered with water at all times. The kitchen was steamy and you could hear the jars jiggle in the boiling water. Mother would wipe her hands on the ever present apron and sit down at the table for a cup of tea. We enjoyed our tea together. In later years Linda and I also liked to share tea time together, in fact a few years ago I received a package in the mail and it was from Linda and inside was a Boyds Bear figurine of a mother bear and her daughter bear having tea and Linda's note said "look on the bottom" I turned it over and this is what it said "Come and sit with me and we'll have tea and talk of things that were and things that are to be, of places we will go and things that we will see. Just the two of us my dear daughter...and me." A tear still comes even as I write this for my dear daughter is a thousand miles away and I would give anything this moment for us to have tea together.
   What a pleasure it is to stand and view the shelves laden with many jars of green beans, corn, beets, tomatoes, not forgetting the jars of peaches, pears and pickles. Rosy jars of jams and jellies ...what a treat. Apple butter to spread on warm from the oven home made bread. Mother's bread was better then the best cake to me. Mother knew hard times, depression years were my childhood years and we learned not to waste and to do with what we had. A good thing for us to remember in these times. Somehow you felt more secure when you had rows of canned foods in the pantry. Little did we know that we were eating healthy, no insecticides on our veg's and no chemicals added to preserve freshness or artificial coloring. There were no boxes of foods on the shelf, cakes were made from family recipes and for years no canned soups were used in casseroles and gravy came from a good roast not a can. Little wonder food seemed to taste better back then. Like they say "ah the good old days"
   Well there, I am done with the apples and I have seven bags of pie apples to go into the freezer, I think I can smell a pie now but no it is the apples I am frying for supper tonight to go with our fried fish. I better check them ..don't want them to burn and it is time to sprinkle on a little sugar to help them caramelize. I'm thinking of you mother while I am making them. Thanks for the memories!

Grand Marais

    If you look at the word Marais you might ask how to pronounce it and you may also hear the word and never guess the spelling but if you have been there you know it is a "Grand" place like the name suggests.
    This was the week we finally made our way up to spend a few days camping at the camp grounds there. While the weather at home was rain, one inch of rain to be precise, the weather at Grand Marais was beautiful, sunny and almost no wind, the perfect weather to sit on a bench by the lake and just gaze at the water until all of life's tensions are melted away. The benches are tall and we sat on one and swung our feet like little children do when feet do not reach the floor. The sun was warm on our faces and we had the beach all to ourselves which is rare. After 56 years of marriage we can sit and chat about all kinds of subjects or just sit comfortably silent. We are so much in tune with each other we often can finish the others sentence knowing exactly what or who the other is referring to.
    Back at the fifth wheel we realized that seeing we don't have cable tv here at this camp and since we did not bring the TV dish with we should have brought some music cd's or some movies but alas we did not think to do it. We also had no books or magazines but to save the day we had at least brought our cross word puzzle books. So we did some pages of puzzles and then laid back with our feet up and napped. Our radio brought in the local station at Grand Marais so we heard some PBS radio program's. One such program was a lady taking a walk in the woods listening for the different bird calls which was very interesting to me since I have never heard a Brown Capped Chickadee before only Black capped.
    One day we did our tour of all the antique, gift and my favorite art shops and no we didn't buy the very expensive fudge but it did make me think of making some fudge when we got home. What I did buy was a cook book named "Recipes of Minnesota:. This one had a beautiful and mouth watering cover but what caught my eye were all the Swedish recipes, we are not Swedish but we have lived along side them for years and they are very good cooks and have enjoyed so many of their traditional dishes.
    Now that we are home again Don is busy getting the fifth wheel ready for winter and I have hauled back into the house the things that can not take freezing. The house smells so good from the beef roast that is in the oven and I am anxious to serve the Swedish Hasselback Potatoes, a recipe from my new cook book. Yum

Sign's of Fall

   We all recognize the sign's of Fall, the tree's leaves are taking color, the yellow school bus goes by, the arts and crafts stores are full of fall materials to make your home colorful even Halloween crafts are displayed. For us here at Shaw Acre's it means the winter birds are coming to the feeder and the fat has been hung out for the woodpeckers. Our tiny nuthatches and chickadees still come to eat out of our hands when ever we come out to sit on the deck, they prefer we feed them by hand then to go to the hanging feeder. The grass has slowed down so that mowing is less frequent and I heard the furnace come on so it is definitely cooler outside. Don busies himself with getting the wood piles covered with tarps to keep them dry when the fall rains come. His piles of wood are a work of art with each chunk of wood stacked just so and in long neat rows. There are many cozy warm days inside those logs when the snow is blowing against the windows this winter. I love to go down to the furnace room and throw  a log into our Daka wood burning furnace, it means that as long as it is heating our house the fuel oil furnace won't come on and that is quite a savings. Wood is a different heat , more comfortable. Also a pleasure to watch as we snuggle together watching the logs burn in our fireplace in the family room. Don keeps our woods free of dead and dying trees by adding them to the wood pile and a bonus is that Don keeps fit and trim as well.
   Fall is here when the White Pine Harvest Show is on. Sunday before last Don and I stopped by and picked up our friends and neighbors, the Nelson's and we drove to the show. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was a terrific turn out, we found some very good seats and watched over 200 tractors go by just feet from where we sat. Mary Ann and I sat together and talked of many things while the men sat and discussed each tractor as it went by. Marv and Don have so much in common and their knowledge of tractors astounds me. Marv said " that is my dad's old tractor" as one old tractor passed by and he was right but what amazed me was he recognized it by a small bit of welding on the grill. We walked around the park and went into the various buildings to watch them making wooden kegs, sawing logs, making horse shoes and in one house we watched a lady cooking on her cast iron stove while the scent of warm cookies filled the air. We watched them harvest grain and chop corn using vintage machines. We strolled around to see the wares of the vendors and stopped only long enough to eat lunch. At the end of a long day we decided to go to Finlayson for our supper at the town cafe. What a fun day it turned out to be and for me Fall is now officially here.