Thursday March 17 2016  THE DAYS JUST SEEM TO DISAPPEAR

P.S. from the top:  Please be sure to see photos below and click on “older post” to see more of today’s photos.  Be sure you read the blog first so the photos make sense!

I can make a day disappear without even trying.  We are attempting to make every moment count, and every moment work for us, as we plan a time away.  The first plan of action is getting everything ready before we leave so that we leave as little as possible for our house sitters to do.  Dave is trying to get the outside in shape and I’ve given up on getting the inside in shape.  Just to get out of here will be accomplishment enough for me.  But in all seriousness, I too want to have things nice before we leave. 

As if we needed a cog in the wheel, the construction crew called us to let us know that everything to repair the destruction that happened on Christmas day is now in and they need to get it finished.  LIKE NOW!  The crew will be here Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week, the week we leave.  Not good timing, but it is not something I want to leave behind for someone else to be responsible for.  So…Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday it is.  Besides, I want to make certain it is done right!

Now, back to today.  Our daughter loves the MUSHROOM POPCORN  and HONEY ROASTED FRESHLY GROUND PEANUT BUTTER that I purchase at the Amish Country store about 60 miles away.  And I thought that today would be the perfect day to go there.  We had a delightful surprise recently when we were told that our Grandson Zachariah won a “prestigious” award for the 2^nd grade class for the “Hard Worker Award” for the month of March.  We were trying to think of a surprise or something special to do for him to let him know how pleased we are for his accomplishment.  We decided to surprise him and have lunch with him at school so he could show us the showcase with his award and picture in it.  So…we did.  And it was just as awesome as we thought it would be.  He did not know we were coming so it really was a great surprise.  Afterward we met his teacher and stayed a few minutes in his classroom viewing the work the students have done.  It was nice to hear his teacher speak so highly of Zachariah.  It doesn’t take much to make a grandparent pleased and proud (in a good way of course).

So what did all that have to do with our daughter loving mushroom popcorn and honey roasted peanut butter?  Since our grandson lives about half way from out home, to the Amish Country Store, we decided we would go there after we had lunch with Zach.  Actually it was about 40 additional miles beyond his school, but since we were already almost half way there, it was more convenient to go there while on that side of town.  We wanted to buy the items in order to take them to our daughter in Florida.  The weather was beautiful, windy and clear with the bluest sky and big billowing clouds capping the landscape.  Like I said yesterday, every season in Wisconsin has its special moments.  Today was one of those day.  That is, until we arrived at the Amish Country Store, only to discover that it is closed on Thursday and Sunday.  And this, being Thursday, you guessed it, it was closed tighter than a drum.  So…no peanut butter and no mushroom popcorn!  We attempted to make this day count in more than one way. 

Now, let’s get back to the joy of the day.  I can’t tell you how awesome it was to go to Zachariah’s school, see the classrooms, have lunch with him, meet some of his friends, and experience the atmosphere of so many young, vibrant people.  It is too easy to forget what little people are like when you don’t spend time with them.  Just walking into the school brought back a flood of memories from my own school years.  Just to see what they wear was an experience.  Oh, by the way, my grandson leaned into me at the cafeteria table and said, “Gramma, you need to get some modern clothes”.  Oh, so the jacket I picked out purposely to wear today did not make the cut!  I purposely wore, what I thought was a cute jean jacket with big glitzy snaps that look like rhinestone flowers down the front, so I would look “hip”.  (Is that word still used?)  I am sitting here laughing at the memory.  I’ll slip in a couple of pictures of our day so you can see for yourself if I need to get some “modern” clothes.  What I really need is a modern face and body.  That might do the trick! 

I asked Zach what kind of modern clothes I should buy and he pointed to the teacher that was monitoring the lunch room.  “Like her”, he told me.  She had on wrinkled jeans, a green tee-shirt, and a velour jacket, the kind I wear to the gym. Oh, I thought, I just need to look like I do at home.  At least I know what “modern” looks like. 

As Dave and I were leaving the open concept classroom, I spied something very interesting on a teacher’s desk.  It was an out of date world globe, the kind that sits on its own stand with the axis tilt.  The lady I spoke with who owned the globe had painted white, lovely words all over the globe.  Words such as LOVE, JOY, PEACE, FAITH, and HOPE, as well as a few others.  Just seeing those written words sitting on a teacher’s desk, gave me such a spiritual lift.  There, in the midst of the secular world, are all the words that that I read each day in the scripture about Jesus.  You don’t see those words displayed very often in a secular, state run environment.  It was so refreshing to see.  Those who are not acquainted with the Lord will probably not even realize where the words come from or even their scriptural connotation.  But they are still words that impart special meaning, and perhaps someday, those young children will come to understand the true value of what they mean. They are words of optimism, affection, happiness, harmony, belief, trust, and confidence.  It would be awesome to give each of the students an assignment to use each word in a sentence, paragraph, or story.  I’d like to see what little minds would come up with if they had a project like that to do. 

All in all, mine and Dave’s day was a delight.  Though it started at 6:00 a.m. so we could go to the gym first, then home to change (into my un-modern clothes), eat a quick lunch before we left (so we could have real food), share a special time with Zach, a lovely drive in the country for two hours, and home by 3:00 p.m.  And it seemed as if our day had just disappeared.  But it was worth every moment because the treasure of our day was to delight our grandson and be delighted by his presence.  Now when I think about him at school I can visualize where he is.

THERE IS ALWAYS TREASURE

By Kathleen Martens

March 17 2016

A day begins

With anticipated delight,

So much to do

From morning to night.

So many things

To squeeze in each hour,

The day opens quickly

Like a blossoming flower.

Sunrise to sunset,

No while to fret.

Time spends quickly,

It has no debt.

But sometimes it seems

The disappearing day

Finishes too soon,

And just won’t stay.

But when it’s over

There is always a treasure,

The memory in its hours

Which bring back pleasure.

So I enjoy each one

Created each morn,

When God in His love

Allows another to be born.

Thank You Lord for the treasured moments we spent with our grandson today at his school.

Thank You Lord for the awesome blue sky and white clouds we enjoyed on our drive to the closed Amish Country Store.

Thank You Lord for your protection over us as we travel the highways.

Thank You Lord for the music the wind provides.

Thank You Lord that I have two grandsons.

Remember to add to your THANK YOU JOURNAL today.

GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERY ONE WHO READ THESE WORDS.

P.S.  I have some wonderful words I would like to share with my readers from a blog reader who sent me these words today in response to yesterday’s blog.  So I guess I am not alone in the world after all when it comes to my love affair with trees.  Thank you for sending the comments.

“I too have a relationship with trees and have spent thousands of dollars keeping my trees safe and healthy to live under, to cool summers in our hot, hot, heat from the sun.  I have a favorite Oak tree too just a mile from my house.  It is a magnificent tree in the middle of a subdivision and the street is named Lone Oak Court.  It is well groomed and well looked after.”

Just curious if any other readers have had, or currently have, a “relationship” with tree(s)?