Summer Tastes

mmmm - there are some tastes that scream "Summer" in your mouth.

Tomatoes: rich, red, ripe off the vine ~ sliced in salads, on sandwiches; chopped for soups, guacamole, sauces; eaten with the juice running down your chin. Yummy!

Peaches: description almost sounds the same ~ on cereal, over ice cream, in fruit salad, pies, cobbler and again eaten in big bites with the juice running down your chin. Yummy!

Mint: I love fresh mint ~ in tea (hot or iced), with fruit, crushed in cold soups. I make big containers of iced tea and let mint leaves sit in them to infuse their flavor throughout the drink. My mint tea far surpasses any store bought (at least in my opinion). Yummy!

Farmers' Market holds many fresh summer flavors: strawberries, black berries and other juicy fruits; green beans, lettuce, Yukon gold potatoes, squash of all sorts. On and On and all of them delicious. And . . . the taste of summer for me is wrapped around the explosion of the flavors of tomatoes, peaches and mint ~ ah, mint. ~ with blessings

Flight Tracker

I love Flight Tracker. I have followed my friend Gill (from Wales) as she has winged her way from London to DFW. Now she is in the air heading toward Santa Fe, NM and will arrive in Reno about 8. Dean will meet her because he has been in Reno all day. I will have to wait to hear that she is in the car and they are heading home. No flight tracker for the car.

This is one of those things that technology can do that I really enjoy and for which I am grateful. I can follow a grandchild across the country or a friend across the Pond. What fun! And it cuts down on nerves too - :) ~ blessings

Chinese Translations 2

How delightful! Friday I wrote about my preference for comments to relate to the blog. This morning I have a wonderful comment in response to that. According to the Google language translator, it says: And Chuang Chuang Ya Ya Ya and the village and said . . . very carefully passing a message to support blog.

I love the fact that the whole village seems to be interested. :D And that Chuang Chuang Ya Ya Ya has taken the time to create a comment rather than just use an internet comment. Very nice and I am pleased to be taken seriously ~ with blessings

Chinese Translations

When I first started getting comments on this blog in Chinese, I thought, how delightful. Someone in China is reading my blog. I even have a Chinese daughter-in-law to be who was willing to translate for me. That was when I found out the comments were like fortune cookie statements. "From the internet," said D-i-L.

I still had her translate however because one was a personal, nice little statement about liking to follow my blog.

Now I have discovered thanks to another daughter, Google's language translator so I don't have to bother a busy person with translating statements that have nothing to do with anything.

So - I guess I would say to my Chinese followers: thanks for reading what I have to say . . . and unless you have something personal to say that actually pertains to the blog, don't bother. I may be making a cultural gaffe here and if I am, I am sure someone will tell me. Still, I like comments that relate to what I have thought and said. That's the way I would like it to be ~ with blessings

Sunday morning thoughts

I am thinking about Lazarus this morning. What happened to him?

He appears in scripture out of no where - noted as the brother of Mary and Martha and then when he dies as a really good friend of Jesus. Then - Miracle! Jesus brings him back from the dead. Says, "rise and walk" and he Does!! And then -- nothing. We never hear from or about him again.

Is it as simple as the writers were telling Jesus' story and so what mattered was the miracle? It is true that once Jesus passes from someone's life, we hear no more about them. We keep following him. On the other hand, Lazarus wasn't just "someone" - he died and was brought back to life.

Can we hear the Gospel writer? "I just wrote the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. What happened to him?"

"Who?"

"Lazarus. Do you know?"

"Hmmm - I think I heard he married Deborah, the Innkeepers daughter -- no wait, it was Joanna the potter's daughter. I think they have a couple of kids."

"Know what Lazarus is doing these days?"

"No -- although Micah did say not long ago that he thought Lazarus was keeping an inn. I just don't know for sure."

"OK - thanks. I need to get back to writing. His being raised is all I really need to know about him anyway."

OK, I have expostulated from one event in scripture to a whole life time. And yet, he did live a lifetime. Did the miracle effect him? Did he always think, I was dead and now I am alive. People who are revived these days with medical technology tell of being very aware of their second chance. Did it make a difference in who he was, what he chose to do? Did he become an active disciple of the man who raised him? We Just Don't Know.

And that may be good. We can think about it with no judgment. Lazarus' response to a second life can be whatever we want it to be. We might tend to judge a friend today - or ourselves if that should happen to us - a second chance? They/I "should", "ought" -- with Lazarus we can create his story in the way we would like it to be. Which we can also do to our own stories ~ and so be blessed in the creation of your story whatever it is

Mom's Brain

My daughters have said over the years that Mom's Brain is weird and strange and operates in a different way. On the other hand, I think my brain is pretty normal although I do have quirky thoughts occasionally. This week however I have begun to wonder if they are right or if I am just losing it.

1) I kept wanting to get my email through my cell phone - and it was just too hard to do and no body to show me how and . . . and . . . and. And then I did it. It was So Easy. So why did I think I couldn't do it? Why did I "assume" that because it was a computer connection, it would be hard? *sigh*

2) When Grandson hurt his finger, his mom text me "no pool or heavy lifting until the stitches are removed". Now I will say, I read that text at 11:15 at night after having been asleep and heading that way again fast. And, I couldn't figure out Why the doctor would even mention pool. Joshua doesn't play pool. I'm trying to figure out how one holds one left hand at the pool table that would preclude his play for a while. Went back to sleep. Woke the next morning - first thought, "Swimming. Swimming Pool!" *sigh*

3) There isn't a 3 ~ except there was when I started this post. I had three things I wanted to write about. Have NO idea what the third one is/was. *sigh*

Silliness - Mom's Brain doing its usual quirky thing ~ *sigh* :D

Tahoe Mom the Medic

Grandson and Grandpa were moving rocks. Grandson got a finger caught between two of them. A little cut on the end of a finger can bleed something awful. And Hurt. Like. Hell.

So Tahoe Mom (aka Mama Susan) went to work. Grandson is smart and started irrigating it under cold water. I finally got it bandaged about the time he Knew he had to lie down or fall down so we got him on the window seat. Hand elevated. Ice. Face as white as his T-shirt.

Slowly, slowly the color returned. His breathing slowed - so did mine. I sat on the other end of the window seat. We were both glad his mom said she would come get him. They went to the ER where he got two stitches, had the hemotoma from under his nail drained -- and was told not to swim or lift heavy things until the stitches were out. He can however keep sanding and painting on the neighbor's deck so I expect him back soon. First though he has to let his little sister mother him for a day. Absolutely essential to the healing process, right?

I was so glad to have been a camp counselor all those years ago. That's where I learned to look at the blood and know I Had To Deal. The first time it happened, my great big strong co-counselor just disappeared. Just went away. After that I knew it was up to me whenever and wherever I was faced with an injury. Of course I am not talking Major trauma - and it is not fun to watch your grandson bleed. All is well - he will be back to work soon. I know I can still handle it. ~ may you be blessed with the ability to handle whatever comes your way

Independence Day

Here's to John, Ben and Tom ~ three amazing men for an amazing time. No colony in the history of the world had ever split from the mother country and with their help and their words, it happened.

This is the first July 4th celebration for our Chinese daughter-in-law to be and I suggested she might watch 1776, read the Declaration of Independence and have some discussion about the beginnings. We do get so caught up in watching parades and fireworks, having picnics and parties, that we sometimes forget to look back. Even when we conscientiously celebrate today's military - or our veterans - we forget to go further back and remember those amazing men who molded, formed and struggled over the words that set forth the proposition that set us on the road to being a free country. And "John, remember the ladies." (Abigail Adams).

While they set down the reasons, General George Washington was in the field fighting the battles against all odds to support those words and bring them into reality. It was an incredible time, not just in the history of the this country but also in the history of the world. They literally made history. So in the midst of all the flags and parades, picnics and parties, we might take a moment and read the Declaration again ~ it is a very short document. Reading it won't take much time out of your day. Reading it just may remind you of why you are partying in the first place.

Have a wonderful, delightful, fun and thought-full Independence Day! ~ blessings

The End of an Era

Our dear sweet dog, Tessie, died this morning. Yes, it was our decision ~ and after a night of ever more severe seizures, we made that hard, hard decision. It is also easy when you know that life can never be the same under the influence of the drugs needed to keep the seizures at bay. She was also 13 and so we had begun to recognize the possibilities. Last night just clarified the decision.

Dean and I have figured out that since our first dogs (he at 7, me at 11) we have neither one been without a dog for a year of combined time. For now, we are without a dog. And we are not hurrying any decision. All of this takes grieving time. And this is the 4th time in the 10 years of our marriage that we have had to make this decision. It is always hard and painful.

The good side is that any dog who lives in Tahoe with dog people lives a Wonderful Life! She was the Queen! She loved the hiking, retrieving sticks thrown in the lake, barking at bears and sitting in the office with Dean. She ruled the other dogs who moved in her sphere. And she could smile. Rest in Peace, dear Tessie. We loved you, love you still and will miss you just as we miss your companions Mariah, TC and Cowboy (as well as all the others who shared our lives before you) ~