I’ve been thinking a lot about love lately. Not the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks Sleepless in Seattle kind but divine love. I’m reading a book by Richard Rohr called The Universal Christ. The book presents a “transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant unfolding work in the world.” The book challenges me to recognize God’s presence in nature and in everyone I meet.
Your bike is a discovery; your bike is freedom. It doesn’t matter where you are when you are in the saddle; you’re taken away.
-Doug Donaldson
Do you remember being fifteen years old in June? School is out. No homework, no rising early to catch the bus that transported farm kids to town The warm hazy days stretch out before you in a long line of possibilities.
If you wish to travel fast and far, travel light. Take off your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fear.
Cesare Pave
We leaving for the south of France on Saturday. I’m packing in my head, checking the weather (upper 70’s and 50% chance of rain), and buying last minute items at Walmart. I always dreamed of living in France when I was a teenager after I heard Judy Collins sing “My father always promised us that we would live in France. We’d go boating on the Seine and I would learn to dance.”
“Nothing turns out quite in the way that you thought it would when you are sketching out notes for the first chapter or walking about muttering to yourself and seeing a story unroll.” – Agatha Christie
Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do they’ll still be there. -Amy Li
I started writing this in October, but for some reason, I couldn’t finish it. My sister went home to Jesus on December 13, leaving a gaping hole in my heart. For 74 years I was never without her being only a phone call away. Sometimes during my college years that phone call would be after a night of insomnia at five o’clock in the morning, because I knew she’d be awake. Her wise counsel guided me through my thorny path to adulthood and I was steadfast through her final illnesses—COPD, congestive heart failure, bouts of pneumonia. Never a week went by without visiting Judy, especially during Covid and after. If we traveled, I always called her to let her know we arrived safely. Now, dear sister, I’m going to finish this tribute. I hope you can read it in heaven.
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left.
-Albert Einstein
The murder weapon in my next book is a bee and a stolen epi pen.
In order to make this premise believable, I had to learn more about bees. Luckily, I have a friend whose husband is a beekeeper. On a beautiful, sunny day last week, I made friends with some honey bees. Although beekeeping would not be my idea of a hobby in retirement, I have much admiration for anyone who has the patience and diligence to work with bees.
I had been told the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days.-Bill Dana
It’s been three years since we had the pitter-patter of cat paws around the house. Our hearts needed time to mend after we had to put down Sheldon, our pet of twelve years. (If you scroll through my older blogs, you can read about the alpha cat.) Relatives kept sending us pictures of cute cats available for adoption, but the timing wasn’t right. Then I saw the Humane Society picture of a little calico cat named Iridessa. Such a sweet face! I called Michael at his volunteer job and told him about her. To my surprise and delight, he said “Let’s go see her when I get home.” We did, and now she’s a part of our family.
My father was a quiet man, content to float along on my mother’s ocean waves of talk. It wasn’t that he didn’t have anything to say. Dad was intelligent and loved to read at night, despite being forced to leave school after the eighth grade to help on the family farm. He devoured the State Journal every day and even read my older sister’s True Romance magazines when he was desperate. When he was a young adult, his parents sent him to Milwaukee to learn to be a mechanic. He used that knowledge to fix farm implements until he lost his right hand in a farm accident while clearing out a jammed corn picker. As a middle son in a family of six, Dad learned to view life from the sidelines, deferring to whoever was running the race. Sometimes his tranquility was welcome after the hectic pace of my mom. I knew Dad loved me, even if he didn’t speak of it very much.
“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and pushes inside of us. -Jean Herse
March is here—beckoning with the whispers of spring and the promise of revitalizing energy. Tiny green shoots that will eventually blossom into day lilies, tulips and irises are peeking out from the brown mulch and last summer’s faded leaves. Birds are chirping sweetly. The squirrels hustle about in the back yard searching for their buried black walnuts and threatening to turn the lawn into an eighteen-hole miniature golf course.
“Sometimes the littlest things take up the most room in your heart.” – Winnie the Pooh
I just spent two weeks with my new grandbaby. Her mom and dad came to visit over the holidays, so Leona and I were reacquainted after we parted in September. All the relatives got to meet her Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, dog cousins and especially her Great Aunt Judy, age 82. Our baby handled all the swarm of relatives with grace and good humor just like her father did four years ago upon his introduction to the Detrie’s.
Janice Detrie