Wednesday October 21 2015  GOD ONLY PAINTS ORIGINALS

Regardless of what I do I just cannot keep up with the hours.  They pass too quickly and then the days seems to fly by.  But it is a good feeling getting things accomplished.  There is just always more to do.  After arriving home last evening I spent the evening unpacking.  I finished today.  Now I am washing laundry.  I don’t really feel as if I am finished until I get all the clothes clean, ironed, and put away.  I only iron a few of my things so that doesn’t take very long.  Ironing is one thing I really enjoy doing.  It is such instantaneous satisfaction.  I started ironing when I was eleven years old.  My mom gave me exact lessons on how it should be done.  If you remember back to the fifties and sixties most garments were made out of cotton and had to be ironed, if you were respectable that is.  The pastor’s wife at our church actually hired me to do all her little girl’s fancy, flouncy dresses AND PETTICOATS, all their pillow cases, and her husband’s shirts.  So I must have done it well in order to be hired repeatedly.  I made the grand sum of $.50 per hour.  I usually had about 4 to 6 hours of ironing each week.  Those dresses took a long time with all their ruffles and frills.  I sometimes became tired, but I never got tired of ironing.  And…I still like to do it.  An ironing board and iron stands in our dressing room at all times, with the iron just waiting to be plugged in, and used when needed.  I actually still like to hang clothes out on a line too, but no longer have a line outside since it wore out.  Nothing better than sun-dried towels, stiff and crisp when you dry off after a shower. 

I accomplished my goal of making certain Dave did not do much more than walking today.  He is supposed to keep walking as much as possible so we went to the gym.  He walked on a flat treadmill and I did my first REAL workout in over two weeks.  I’ve done little ones here and there on the road but not like today.  It was exhausting.  Afterward we had several stops to make.  We needed fresh produce since our fridge was empty, there were gifts to buy, school order forms to drop off at the school I’ll be photographing next week, plus a few other errands.  Dave did help carry in light little bags but that is about it.  He is out tonight with his weekly Wednesday night meeting as a Stephen Minister.  It is volunteer work that he does.  I no longer do it as I stepped down from Stephen Ministry and several other volunteer ministries I did before I left on my trip this year.  Other than doing volunteer photos for NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP at the hospitals, I am retired at present. 

We have one more day before his surgery, and tomorrow I intend to do what Dave had hoped to do before he is laid up.  He will point and direct. (And Dave is inserting this comment, “GOOD LUCK WITH THAT”)*  I am so thankful that I have the strength to do some physical labor.  It feels so good to feel good.  And I must admit, work almost always makes me feel better.  I would rather be up on my feet working at physical jobs than sitting down typing a blog.  I love to write but it is more of a discipline I do because I so crave doing it.  However, my body feels better up and moving around.  I think that is why I do not watch television much.  I actually borrowed a movie to watch on our Branson trip but could not sit still to watch it.  I tried and only watched a few minutes of it before I was up doing something else.  One cottage we stayed in actually had six televisions.  One in each bedroom, one in the living room, and one in the lower level family room.  I did not even turn one on in that cottage.  It was in the smaller cottage when we were alone that I tried to watch the movie.  Dave watched parts of a couple of football games in rooms where I wasn’t, and I think that is all that the time any T.V. was on. 

And now I am home and have not time to watch anything anyway.  I think I am going to turn off life in the outside fast lane for the six weeks that Dave is recuperating.  However, I will exercise and volunteer for my photo job.  I am obligated to do the photos next week for the school because I forgot to tell them last year that I was retiring.  I won’t forget this year.  I intend this to be my last session (especially for schools).  It takes a lot of time in post-production.  I am one step closer to finalizing everything.  When I have every single thing done, I will tell the world and you can celebrate with me as you read my blog!  Then, I will begin my photo work for my projects.  The first being hand-made  (not electronic) albums I am doing for my sister.  I have already put hours of work in removal of all old photos from albums as well as organizing and sorting scores of old photos for mounting in the albums.  These will be done with a creative touch known as scrapbooking.  It has been a while since I have worked with fine motor skills doing the cutting and such, so it will be interesting to see how all goes with my crippled hands.  I look forward to the end product.  I already have all the papers and doo-dads I need to create beautiful albums.  I have three albums waiting to be filled, but I don’t yet know exactly how many will be used.  I am making these albums for my sister Faith.

When our mom died five years ago one of her greatest desires was that none of her children would fight or argue over anything of hers that was left to share.  My oldest sister used great wisdom when she gave each of us a piece of paper (5 sisters, 4 present), and asked that we each write down what the first item we would want if we could have it.  If no one else wrote that item down then we were able to keep what we requested.  One sister present had instructions for the absent sister to request certain items for her in her absence.  We did turn after turn, and until the very end, when it was just little inconsequential items left, did anyone ask for the same thing in the same round.  And even then there were no fights or hard feelings. Instead of one sister always having first choice, everyone had first choice over and over.  One of my sisters did not ask for anything.   My mother’s wish was fulfilled.  There were no arguments and to my knowledge no hurt feelings.  The treasure I asked for was for all of my mom’s correspondence and all her journals.  She had a lot of journals.  Maybe I inherited the love of writing in journals from her.  They are still yet to be read.

My sister Faith asked for the photo albums.  When I look at the photos I could see that the albums were not archival quality and the photos were slowing being destroyed over time.  I asked her if I could take them out of the albums and make them into a heritage album for her.  So that is what I will be doing.  And as you can see, five years later the project is not yet finished.  It is my goal that it will not be long before I can again get started on it.  It will be fun for me to see it blossom.  First, I must close my business down.  And that is getting closer.

Well, I guess I did a little reminiscing today.  Maybe being with my Aunt Esther has set my “REMEMBER-ER” to remembering.  I loved hearing her reminisce and watch her going through her photos.  I will have the pleasure of doing all that and even the greater pleasure of not having to store them on my shelves when I am finished.  It will be my gift to future generations.

The other “behind the scenes project” I want to finish are the books I hope to have published, some written, some partially written, some scattered throughout my journals that will need to be gathered and edited, and some are still ideas in my head.  And some I haven’t even lived yet.  No matter how old I become, I always hope I am dreaming of the next thing I plan to do.  It may not even be important if everything gets accomplished.  I just don’t ever want to arrive at the destination in my life, that what I have dreamed about doing, is no longer important for me to do.  In the meantime, I will live in the present and do what I enjoy and accomplish as much as it is possible.

Tonight it is important for me to get to bed on time so I can rise at first light.  Who knows what tomorrow’s sunrise will look like?  I know one thing for certain, God only paints originals.  Every day is new.

GOD ONLY PAINTS ORIGINALS

By Kathleen Martens

October 21 2015

Every day is new when I arise at dawn.

The sunrise that I see

Will not be like yesterday’s,

Nor tomorrow will it be.

God only paints originals.

His sky is but a canvas.

What joy he must have

As He decorates just for us.

There is always something special

That He has written in the sky,

Clouds and colors, the miracle of light,

Are always flitting by.

So behold and lift your eyes

To see creation at its best.

Look east to see the sunrise.

And for sunset, remember, to look west.

Sun has set.  It is time for bed.  Remember to behold the creation of God each day.  Remember that you are part of His creation.  And remember, that you too are one of his “ORIGINALS”.  (My wisdom for this day).  I hope you are smiling.

Good night and may God bless you with many more sunrises!  Never take one for granted!

P.S.  The inspiration to write the above poem came from the lines in my blog that I wrote just before I wrote the poem.  It doesn’t take much to inspire me. 

P.S.S.  Just a post note to tell you that Dave accomplished his goal (I did not) to arrive back home weighing no more than when he left for vacation.  Well, he did more than he thought he would.  While he was on vacation eating very heartily (but portion control in action), he came home weighing 8 pounds less than when he left.  So far, since July, he has lost 56 pounds.  And the best part is, his blood sugars have all been EXCELLENT!   He takes his blood sugar test every single day (and sometimes more than once a day).  He has been spot on.  Just thought you might like to know. 

*  I asked Dave what he meant by “Good luck with that”?  Here is his comment back to me, “How much luck have I had in the past trying to direct you?”  Oh well, at least I am making myself available.  I just have my own ideas!