To everything there is a season...

Notice the color of the leaves...

The first day of Fall!   One might not tell by the warm temperature...but football is on and it smells of Fall...well that smell being the smell of green chili's that linger in the air.  I made meatloaf...a whole mess as Izzy and LaLa would say...Thought I would share...nothing like fresh roasted green chili's, delicious new onions, with fresh tomatoes and garlic as well.   It tasted pretty good...probably one of my comfort foods of childhood memories.  We ate it with some green beans fresh from the Firecracker and Grandad Sheridan's garden!   I love that is one of the things that Grandad and Izzy do on "Grandad days".   I love that Izzy knows the day of the week by whose day it is...Grammy day...Grandad day...Mama day.   I am thankful that Jay's parents have been such support though I think they are blessed as much as giving blessings...These gifts that are given to all!

As I mixed my meatloaf this morning...It was almost as though I could feel my mom adding this and that in it...no two batches were ever the same...but she would add the goodies and I would mix it with my bare hands.  I loved this and still keep thought of making sure you get it all mixed together good.  I do miss having the extra hands and must confess mine will never compare with hers...Funny how certain smells...certain foods...certain sometimes almost nothing makes us think of special people in our lives...as I snapped Izzy's beans...my granddaughter...I was taken aback and can remember snapping beans with my Grandma Bessie...And though I could almost feel her snapping away.  However, she could snap beans so quickly...a trait I must have had miss me...and I think of Izzy's beans and how she showed me how you pick beans...of how proud of her garden she is.

And back to my tale...The shepherd and I took off yesterday to pick up some more roasted green chili's and some cinnamon sticks that he needed for his beets...a gift from Grandad as well.   Though I think I am allergic to beets...Tim loves them!  (My mom said I used to spit them right back out at her if she tried to feed them to me...and they make me itch just thinking of them.   ANYWAY...we head off and while I am snapping some pictures of the cows...we hear from Autumn (Jay's sister) and her husband Andy to see if we want to meet up for lunch as they were going to get some produce in Rocky Ford.   Well we are always game for lunch and so we meet up at Mission Deli...enjoyed the time.   While we were there, we see our neighbors the Sharon's with their grandsons and son Trent and his wife...and I smile at grandparents...how grandchildren seem to make us glow...make us younger.   We head to Fowler to stop in at the Bunkhouse on our way home and end up hanging out there and I go watch the pie eating contest that the Bunkhouse sponsored at "Fall Harvest" or something on that order.  

After a little time there, we headed home and begin working on our salsa...with the thought that we would let it set overnight as we were told it really helps the flavor...the shepherd went ahead and did his beets...but I smile because yesterday morning I had read on my Kasey Jo calendar...

“The number one reason to read your Bible is not to say you have read it…The reason to read your Bible is to get your marching orders for the day and for the whole of your life.”

And so I go to look up the verse that came with it which was Proverbs 10:8 and on the calendar all it says is:

“The wise in heart will receive commands.”

But wait a minute...this verse has more...it goes on to say..."But a prating fool will fall."

PRATING...and what the heck is prating...and why am I shown prating and why do I feel the necessity to look it up...I write in my journal...

 What is a prating fool?  Well I might be finding part of my marching orders…

Prating: talk foolishly or tediously about something.

Does that not eliminate much of what I say?   There are words I write that are not prating…but there are many that I do…I had also seen in Chapter 10…”He who gathers in summer is a wise son.  He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.”

So is it saying for marching orders today not to talk foolishly or tediously and get those tomatoes canned!  

 

 Funny how right out loud...and I think I am prating as I seem to be on one of my bike rides...because actually my original intent when starting this was talking of seasons...I think of being in the fall season...of producing fruit...I feel I am in my "fall"...but what kind of crop is the Lord getting from me?  I think of seasons and a treasure I got from Izzy and her mom...in this amazing season of being a grandmother...an AHMA!!!   A name that melts my heart!

 

 

When I received this for Grandparent's day...I being the emotional person I am...When Izzy marches down from upstairs after telling me I cannot come up there...she hands me this treasure and I have tears...to which I am sure to a 4 year old thinks why is she crying over this amazing gift and without even a moment she takes that emotion and sticks her tongue out...to which her Uncle begins laughing and says, "that's my niece!"   I went on to explain that it was because Ahma loved it so much...

So we flash forward as I got to spend extra days in the last couple weeks and before we headed to go to Lance's house to watch Alabama (the older singing group)...another adventure in and of its own with all the flooding...but I try to focus on my story.   Izzy shows me the hand print she made for her mom...And I say I like yours...I am informed that it is her mom's and her picture...but I tell her that I like mine the best.   To which she replies, "Yours is mine and yours."   And I say maybe someday I will give it to your granddaughter...and then I say if I am still here.   To which she replies, "Where you go Ahma?"  To which I say maybe Heaven.   She says, "You be 45."  (One of her favorite numbers).   I reply, "Ahma is already past 45."   I go on to tell her that I will be over 90 when she is a Grandma.   She tells me, "I will be at your 90th birthday"...and then says, "You will be 89."   (another favorite number).   To which I ask what will I be 89 and she points up.   To which her mother says, "Well if that's the case you won't have her 90th birthday."   I guess unless they have it without me.

I think of  my granddaughter and how she has learned some things that I wish no child had to learn...but I go back to these connections from those that are with us...those that have went on ahead of us...and the connection is there...a part of us in whatever season we go through...and I think of Isabel...a precious gift that perhaps one day she will be mixing meatloaf...teaching her granddaughter a funny song...or some other memory and perhaps she will think of me...and feel my love long after I am 89...

 

 And I include a pic of this season and time...how this little girls sometimes is such an old soul...and when she smiles...it can lighten up even the darkest day...

 God Bless!

lyp

 

 

 

And summer has gone...or has it?

Usually the arrival of Labor Day seems to be a sign that says Summer is over!   Back to school...plants are beginning to show their time is near...yet today it is 97 degrees at least...I have been hanging out laundry and it seems to dry as quick as the next load is washed.   Solar dryer...And you know me as I am out hanging out clothes I might get distracted...I caught Bo hiding out in the Hollyhocks...trying to find some shade.   Not sure why he insists that the hollyhocks is the coolest place to be.  Oh the dog days...

I have piddled off and on and have enjoyed the long weekend home but must say I have been distracted by the Walton's marathon on...Oh there is things to do while I watch...but I told the Shepherd...that's what I love about the Walton's...they solve the world's problems in an hour!  

Actually my thought here was not to put up the pictures of the peppers...or the clouds...or the tomatoes...though they did catch my attention....

Hidden Treasures...

And so today is my cousin Vonnie's birthday...(that would be Yvonne to many...but it just didn't even seem right coming off my tongue)...but HAPPY BIRTHDAY all the same...I posted a pic of her and a couple of her brothers and me and my brother...you might tell Doris Day was my inspiration!   But Vonnie was so cute as she is still...Kelly was cool...as he still is...Tracy was Tracy...and Shane...down under the chair...always there but never one to take the center...as he is still!  Fun Times...Happy Birthday CUZ!

My actual thought on here was to wish a belated Happy Anniversary to an "OLD" friend...but you know me and my bike rides...and so anniversary yes...34 years...and for some reason I always think that she was married the end of September not the first...but I should recall I was in her wedding after all...she just wanted to get married...so young...right out of high school...and now 34 years later and they are still hanging in there for the "for betters" and "for worses" and I wish them many for betters!    Which they now have the cutest little grandson that seems to have just lightened them both up.  He is a cutey.   Anyway, Phyllis put up some of her pics last night...so young we all looked...so young we all were...

And there is a cool one of her and her cousin Mike...quite the buds...

But there was also one she included that had the whole wedding party...and I seen that not only Phyllis and Pete were much younger...BUT the part that caught Phyllis and I...was if you look in the other room...there is my dad...and I think my mom from the back...

Sometimes you look at old pictures of yourself and wonder what would she think of me now?   I remember us working on the wedding.   Phyllis' aunt Betsy took us out to lunch and it seemed like it had to do with the flowers.   I remember the reception held down on the Arizona Land and Cattle...and Tom Spencer giving a goat for the party...GOAT...I remember Pete's brothers trying to convince me to eat it...and now here we raise them here on the farm...though I still don't eat it.  It seems we had the party in the old quanset...I can still smell the smells of the feed in there...Thirty four years...time flies...

So Happy Anniversary my "old friend"...I KNOW not as old as I.   You were a beautiful bride...and now a beautiful Grandma!!!    God Bless!

And so I see Bo who is a little tired in this heat...or maybe me taking pics...we will go with the heat.

So I suppose I should get back to laundry...or doing something else...though I am thankful for this time!

lyp

 

And another year has passed...Hope it was a good one...

A good day...hung out with the shepherd...went to get the mail this morning (forgot it yesterday) and so I hopped on my bike and as I headed out decided I would ride down to the corner as it was such a nice cool morning.   When I returned home there he sat on the porch swing and he says, "you ride your bike on my grass."   It is at that time I feel like the little Dennis the Menace but in my usual way of doing probably not the politically correct thing...I hop off my bike and push it across the grass and start to take it up the step.  However, I had newspapers and mail in my hand...and so the one who was giving me a hard time...helped me push it up the stairs.    We then just sat on the front porch swing...and as we sat there I thought that it looked like it was raining...not a hard one and if  you looked just right you could see it.   Then you could hear it and finally you could smell it.   And I thought these are the days...as we sat there swinging on the front porch...Bo the dog laying at my feet...I should say ON my feet.   UNTIL...Sweetie gave alert that there was someone around that should not be.  Still not sure who was coming down the field road...BUT that is Sweetie's road and since she is in the pen...she alerts Bo who then chases down whom or whatever is causing problem.  And just as quickly as it came...the moment had changed.

In our conversations...we talked of how a year ago we were busy cooking wedding beef!    Yes it has been a  year since Autumn and Andy got married.    Where has that time gone?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!  Autumn and Andy...

I look back at the pictures and I see Patrick and Misty...it was here that they told us they were expecting...and now there is one precious little Parker.    I look at Amy and Jake and they now have precious little Boston.   I look at the change in Izzy.  Mike is now engaged to Liz.   Precious memories of a special day of wedding beef...well I guess wedding beef was us...but much more for Autumn and Andy.   What a difference a year can make!  Today...T-bones on the grill for two...instead of two PLUS SEVERAL!

Moments as these...days as this one...they are what you treasure...much like the dandelion that came to mind as I was reading in James 4 the other day...So I put them together.   So Happy Anniversary Autumn and Andy...may you have many more!   A reminder that these days are gifts...treasure them!

So again God bless you on your anniversary...and for all of us...cherish these days!    Well I guess those CSU fans...Heather and Lance took in the Rocky Mountain Showdown against CU...these are moments that one can let go...but keep the other ones.   And earlier I went to pack my lunch when it hit me...I have another day off.  So Happy Labor Day as well!   Guess I am still on my bike ride...

Sweet dreams and so thankful for this day!!!   TTFN!

lyp