Early Morning in Mississippi

 Good morning. I'm still in Mississippi. Little Ellie Kate had a harder time than we expected, and she's up in Memphis at a NICU in a children's hospital for a bit. She has fluctuating bilirubin, and the doctors are evaluating that. 

Having a sick baby is very hard on parents. Anna was our sick baby, and the stress puts you "through the roof" in a way that other worries just don't. So these young parents are juggling lots of things right now, and Nana is still here to help. I'm holding down the fort with Isaac and enjoying that so much! I didn't expect to have this much time with him by myself, but it's delightful to start building that grandbaby/grandmother bond.

We listen to a lot of classical music. He especially likes live performances where he can watch the conductor waving his arms and the players with their fascinating instruments. We go on walks every day that the weather allows. It's so cold and wet right now! We play with toys and do tickle games, bath time, lots of yummy meals, and reading with Teddy, his favorite friend. We watch little videos of Mommy and Daddy with Ellie Kate, so he knows her when she comes home.

We spend so much of life feeling torn between two things. Between this person and that person, this side and that side, home and work, youth and age -- the list goes on. I love time with Isaac, but I long to be home. That's part of living, and having two places that you love so much is a blessing, is it not? 

I've been a grandmother for a while now, but I've never felt so much like a grandmother as I do now. It feels right: the achy back, the wrinkly skin, the old hands, the sleeping in a strange twin bed in a baby's room. It's all part of it, and I feel so privileged that God has given me this. 

Blessings to all of you out there in blogland!

He loves popcorn! Yay!

Advent: Simple and Small

 Thanksgiving was simple and small this year. We love our huge Thanksgiving feast at church with dozens of guests ... but. But it was so nice to have a little break from that, at home. Just us. Simple and small.

Tolkien said, "It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life." 

A friend on facebook wrote recently, "There really does seem to be a push to always do more."

The pandemic has done many horrible things, but it's also pushed some of us toward simplicity against our will. Pushed us home, pushed us to family, pushed us to spend less and do less, pushed us outdoors.

Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation. Can it also be a time of rest and peace? For Mary, it should've been both -- anticipation and resting -- but it wasn't. I doubt if she had much peace or rest, leaving Nazareth on foot, walking the 90+ miles. Why didn't she stay home in Nazareth with her mother, to have the baby? Why did she have to go with Joseph? What a terrible time to travel!

I long for a peaceful, quiet, waiting Advent this year, of all years. Simple and small. A year when I at last put away the bad habit of "pushing myself to always do more." Over-doing is a bad habit, and it helps no one.

Exodus 16: 17,18 says that when manna first fell from heaven for the Israelites, "some gathered much and some gathered little." Like humans today, some were over-achievers, and some were rather lazy. They'd been told to gather just enough: a daily portion for each person.

But when their portions were weighed, neither their over-achieving nor their laziness mattered; "every man gathered as much as he should eat." God arranged it so that each person had just enough.

I've been pondering that all week since Adam's sermon on Sunday. Are we killing ourselves with over-work, to no benefit? Spinning our wheels and calling ourselves productive? There's such pressure to produce and perform! 

I'll end with some photos and then a link to my youtube channel, in case some of you want to check out the latest. I hope you can taken a moment to rest and reflect on the peace of Advent.

Thanksgiving dinner

Pumpkin pie

Our sanctuary, prepared for Advent:

And a couple of youtube videos~

I go on two adventures near my home:

I travel further afield to the mountains, and make chai:

Blessings and peace to all you, dear friends!

It's a Long State

 North Carolina is 503 miles long, according to Google. I wonder if that includes the farthest tip of the Outer Banks? I felt like I drove it all yesterday, from home all the way to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (along wiggly mountain roads, beside tumbling rocky streams, and through slanted winter sunlight), and back to Swannanoa for the night.

If I'd come last week, I'd have seen the the brilliant turning leaves. But I like the gray steely trees too.

College daughter was ready to come home, so I dashed over to get her. Adam was busy with much medical stuff. I cannot express how difficult and stressful (i.e., traumatizing) the past two semesters have been for our college kids. SO hard. She needs some TLC.

I posted on Facebook that I was making this trip and didn't really have an overnight plan any better than sleeping in the car. Covid makes it difficult to consider sleeping in a college dorm; I thought about checking with the local KOA for a cabin. But then an old college friend who has an Air B&B offered for us to stay here. Amazing!! If you're ever in the Asheville, NC area, look up Bramble Cottage. What a restful, beautiful little spot with all the amenities -- just lovely! That muffin and coffee up there were quite welcome this morning.

We'll visit with my friend this morning a bit and then hit the road for home. I have a busy week ahead! Orders for cards are coming in and I must paint. I must weave a scarf too, that's been ordered. Bee Balm to make. Soap batch too. Goodness! 'Tis the time of year. 

Adam continues the hard work of tapering off his prednisone. He also had an at-home sleep study done. He's slowly mending. 

Love to all!

Home, Sweet Home

Hello, friends. Adam and I went to Chattanooga for a visit with the kids (AND ISAAC, OF COURSE!!), and now we are home again. Like you, we're wondering how much "home" will play a part of our lives in the coming weeks, or even months. Coronavirus seems to have taken the mind of the world by storm. Some things seem certain though:
1) It will spread, and then it will decline.
2) Many of us will get ill. Very few will die.
3) We want to slow down the spread, for the sake of our hospitals and everyone.
4) We have to adjust our lives for a while.

For a while. This too shall pass. Life will go back to its usual: Hectic. Boring. Routine. Same old same old.

One thing's been bothering me -- why is it that I get the feeling that humans somehow like a good catastrophe? I don't mean we have a death wish, but just that we really want (enjoy?) the occasional massive disruption to our lives. The way we rush to shop. The way we seem to come alive for a disaster. It reminds me of Y2K. I knew a family, who had never before canned anything, but for Y2K they canned meat. Meat! They were united in their anticipation of a good hunkering down and were deflated when it came to naught. I remember the wife's dismay when she realized she'd be throwing out all that canned meat, because they weren't eating it -- it was nasty!

Of course, Covid-19 is already much worse than Y2K, and I think it is indeed a worldwide emergency. However, not all areas will be impacted. Every square inch of the U.S. is not going to be like Milan or Wuhan or Kirkland, WA. High-density populations will be hit harder. A certain percentage of the population -- 40%? 60% -- will get the viral illness. Some will end up being protected by herd immunity as it passes over us like the Angel of Death in Egypt. 

We've stocked up. We're hand-washing. But for now, we're also still going to our local eateries to support them at a time when some customers might avoid a restaurant, even one in a county with no virus cases where only 25 people can fit in the dining room. I never thought there would be an advantage to having a church with only 20 people on a good Sunday, but now I know -- it's a good number for a time like this. We'll have our service tomorrow and evaluate week by week. We'll wash hands. We'll pray.

Can we get all the sick people to stay home? Can we get testing and accurate information? Can our economy coast through the coming weeks? Will our hospitals be overwhelmed? I'm glad to be home. Here's some photos from lately -- I've been quite bad about posting on the blog!
A few cards:

 This one was for my mother for her birthday:

 Chattanooga:

 I love this photo of Kara and Isaac, looking at cars out the window.

 Beau was exhausted by his week with dog-cousins.

Y'all stay healthy. Wash those hands. 

Stay home within reason. 

All Charged Up

I accidentally left my laptop power cord in West Virginia, so I've been off-line (mostly) for a few days. I don't like doing much internet business on my phone ... squinting at the tiny screen ... typing with one finger. My thoughtful, techy son sent me a new cord!

On the drive home I remembered to photograph this unusual home on hwy. 60. It's shaped like a tea pot! (I love driving the back roads instead of interstates.)

Bo Beau missed me.

Adam taste-tested (with the dogs) lots of diet frozen meals while I was gone. (I know ... ugh!) If you want to know what the dogs thought of them, here's the video:

He made me yummy dinners when I returned home.

Anna gave me a good idea yesterday. She mentioned that she makes "no-bake fudgies" as a single serving, in a cup. She does it in the microwave, but we don't have a microwave, so I made mine in a little saucepan. It was wonderful!

Here's how:
Heat 1/4 cup milk. Add 2 tsp. sugar and 1 tsp. cocoa powder until well mixed and warm. Add about 2 Tbsp of peanut butter and a little butter, and stir until melted in. Then add old-fashioned oats. (Oh goodness, I don't know how much. Until it looks like a lot, but you want the oats to cook and soften a bit in the milk mixture over low heat, so don't add too much). Allow to rest on low heat until oats are softened, put in a cup and eat with a spoon. It's not like you can mess this one up :)

My mother received the most amazing Christmas card. I was so enamored with it that she allowed me to bring it home. Here's a short video I made showing how it looks:

I hope it works for you. If not, here are some still shots:

 It's a tri-fold card.

 I wanted to paint a card like that. It's a silliness. It will take me hours to finish it, and it's just one card, and there's no good way to print/copy it. But it's such a cool idea! I couldn't resist. I'm not quite done selecting all the book titles I want on mine.

The original card is made by Bodleian Libraries at Oxford University in the UK.

That's the latest from me. It's good to be home.

There and Back Again

I took another little trip to West Virginia to visit my mother and other family. She is doing so much better after her surgery.

We had a delightful visit with dear long-time friends, Ann and Beth. We met them at Tamarack for lunch, and we talked and talked and talked ....

The next day we drove to my brother and sister-in-law's home for lunch and a good visit there too. She made a wonderful winter lunch - wild rice soup and cheese toast and pineapple cake for dessert, with her delicious spice tea.

 Can you tell my mother is a dog person?

The weather has been quite good, but tonight it will turn nasty with ice and snow, so I'm heading home this afternoon to get ahead of the storm. I do miss my West Virginia family so much and the beauty and rich peace of this place.

I crocheted my mother a little tea cozy to hug her tea pot in wintertime.

 We've enjoyed movies (Miss Potter and Persuasion) and a couple of dinners with my brother and sister-in-law who live down the road, just wonderful family time.

Resting in the Mountains

At last, after much traveling on the interstates, I'm with my mother in the West Virginia mountains. We are resting. She had surgery a little over a week ago and is recuperating, and I'm here to help, and make sure she eats. She's lost a lot of weight in the past year.

Adam and I drove from home to Chattanooga, stayed with our son and daughter-in-law there, and then drove on to Mississippi for our grandson's baptism.

 

 

We had a quick lunch with Julia while we were in the vicinity, enjoyed the changing leaves in the mountains, and arrived in W.Va. on Tuesday. Adam is back home now, and I'm staying in these lovely, peaceful, home-feeling mountains for as long as I can, to help my mother. (If you're a personal friend of Mother's and want more info about her health, please email me. She appreciates prayers and everyone's love, but doesn't want a flood of phone calls. She is doing well.)

Friends, wherever you are, whatever your situation, I hope these autumn months -- the cool air, the slanting sunlight, the approach of holy days, the crunching leaves and bright fires -- will bring you joy.