Dum Dum

Tuesday night Husband and I were on our way to class at church. Coming up the hill past the cemetery, we saw a wolfish looking dog, a beautiful creature, crossing the road. We slowed down, stopped, and the dog came right up to the car. I opened the door, and she put her head in toward me. Not seeing any drool or crazed look in her eyes, I pet her and looked for a collar. Nothing. Her icy blue eyes told me she was a Husky. We pulled into the nearest driveway, and walked to the door to see if this was her home.

At the doorbell ring, a man with glasses and a short black ponytail came to the door. He looked like a short Johnny Depp.

"Is this your dog?"

"Yes, it is. Thanks guys."

"Sure. We just saw her out in the road."

"Yeah, she's been doing that. Come in here, Dum Dum. Hey, thanks again."

"No problem. Have a great night."

Dum Dum. I'm pretty sure it was a nickname to emphasize her folly in road-crossing. But it would be cute if it were her given name.

100

100 years since she sank.

I'm a sucker for Leo's Titanic of 1997 and I tend to forget that the ship was real, that she went down on a cold April night 100 years ago, and that people really drowned there in the water. I respect the truth of history, though, and appreciate the tragedy for its historic significance. I enjoyed the chance, on a cruise in 2009, to see some Titanic artifacts in a museum in Canada.

 A deck chair recovered from Titanic

 Sitting in a replica of a Titanic deck chair.

Third Class menu, a few days before she went down.

The grave marker for a J Dawson, who has become assumed to be the famous heartthrob Jack Dawson.

In 2008, when I was in Liverpool, where Titanic was built, I saw some other artifacts.

A life vest and the name-plate from one of the too-few life boats.

I've seen Titanic memorabilia on both sides of the ocean she couldn't quite cross. I respect her failure and the tragedy that her loss meant for so many people. I don't take Titanic's sinking lightly.

Nevertheless, I plan to see the re-released Titanic in 3D this weekend and I am so excited my heart is racing already. I never saw it in the theatre when it came out. I actually thought it would be dumb. "The ship sinks," I remember saying. "I know the ending so why would I want to watch it?" But in high school, probably 2004 or so, when I eventually saw it, I was hooked. The majesty of the ship, the hues of human nature the story illuminates, the sweeping soundtrack, and of course the love story. I'm extremely excited to see it on the big screen. I'll honor Titanic's 100th anniversary the only way I know how: by crying with Jack and Rose and imagining that, for a moment, I'm flying.


Love can touch us one time, and last for a lifetime and never let go 'til we're gone.

http://www.titanicmovie.com/YourTitanicPhoto/

Make it count.

He is risen, just as he said.

I wish I lived every day with the joy that Easter weekend brings. With the joy of remembering Christ's Great Exchange on the cross, everything that happens on Easter weekend seems perfect. This Easter weekend was especially wonderful.

I took Friday off and spent the morning baking Hot Cross Buns, a traditional Good Friday dessert. We went to church at 2:00 and from there, to my in-laws' house for dinner and family time. The meal was great and CatchPhrase and Family Feud after dinner were a blast.

On Saturday, Husband and I took it easy. We went for a drive, stopped for some Rita's, and then I spent some time outside near the cemetery reading.

Sunday morning, I had Nursery Duty at church both services, but I managed to sneak to the lobby and listen to the sermon. After church, we headed to Aunt Ruth's house. OK, so we're too old for an Easter Egg Hunt, but we were intrigued when Aunt Ruth said she had been walking in the woods behind her house and found some old bottles. She offered some alternate footwear if we wanted to go bottle hunting.

The woods aren't quite green yet. They're pink. The redbuds cast this pink glow over everything, a filter of rosiness through which even the bare tree branches look cheerful.

And our hunt? Successful! I vote to make Easter Bottle Hunt a tradition!

But that wasn't even the best part of the day. Later, during dinner, a lone fly was pestering us at the table. Dad was trying to clap it between his hands over the cream pitcher. Husband was trying a method of licking his fingers, then holding them out and waiting for the fly to alight. No one had been successful. The fly landed on a napkin in front of Grammy, my 80-some year old grandmother. With a stoic expression and great aplomb, Grammy brought her arthritis-gnarled hand slowly down on the fly. Then her stoicism melted away and she looked up at everyone with a look of dread and panic. I've seen old people do a lot of funny things; I work with people over 80 every day. But this was possibly the funniest. Husband and I tried to get our laughter under control while Mom got the fly-bearing napkin out from under Grammy's hand.

I love Easter and the spiritual significance it holds for us as Christians. I'm also thankful for the earthly joys God chose to give us this Easter weekend. God is so great in how He cares about providing big eternal joys and little temporal ones.

Happy Easter.

The Sixth Day of April

Four years ago today I was doing this:

Yes, making a snow angel. In the grass, out in the backyard of Number Eight, Crick Road, Oxford, England. It was one week after Easter, and we woke up to a coating of snow over everything.

We built a snowman.

We threw snowballs.

And for a time, we forgot about our massive papers which were due in just a few days.

I remember April 6th of four years ago with great fondness. At my core, I'm a past-dweller. I thrive on nostalgia and happy memories. At times, this can remove me from the present and doom me to wasted hours spent wishing for the good old days. But remembering a day like April 6th, 2008 is inevitable.

Happy Snow Day-iversary!

May there always be snow somewhere on the sixth day of April!

So Cool.

Late this afternoon I went to Mom and Dad's to do laundry. I didn't leave until after 6:00 and on the way home, I had two grocery store stops to make. I buy most things at ALDI, but a few things aren't available there, so I always have to go to Giant too. Giant came first on my homeward journey, so I went in there and found the few things I needed. By the time I was leaving, it was 7:13, and ALDI closed at 8:00. I knew I could make it; it is only a few miles. But I was still a little nervous about cutting it so close. I never like to still be shopping in there when 8:00 hits.

On my way out of Giant's parking lot, I stopped at the traffic light for just a moment, then made an easy right turn. The next traffic light was already a green arrow, and I turned and got right onto the highway. As the next light approached, about a half mile away, I watched it turn green and saw the line of cars start to move through. By the time I got there, it was still green and the traffic had loosened so that I barely had to slow down. I assumed we'd all get jammed up at the next light, but somehow, it was green too. I breezed through, merged onto the off-ramp, then onto the next road, and in a few more minutes, I was at ALDI.

After the first already-green light: "Thanks, God! That was convenient!"
After the second already-green light: A big smile "Hooray!"
After the third already-green light: Almost laughing, "That was so cool."

God cares about traffic lights. And I think He laughed tonight too when He gave me three green ones in a row. What a delightful reminder of how much He cares for us.

Bethel

So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel [which means the house of God].
Gen. 28:18-19

At the edge of our cemetery, by which I mean the cemetery adjacent to our house, is a small meadow which backs up to a grove of trees covering the slope down to the road. At the place where the meadow and the treeline meet is a stone about the size of a coffee table. Slightly tapered at one end, like a miniature Pride Rock. The first time I saw it, I thought of the rock that Sylvester becomes in Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. It looks much like that rock.

I have always thought of it as a friendly rock, waiting for a picnic blanket to be spread over it or for lovers to share their intimate thoughts while sitting on it in the twilight or for a young woman in need to sit on it and ponder...

Today, we encountered quite a snag in our aspirations to buy a house. I was discouraged when I came home and frustrated. I also had a lot to do including baking for our church class tomorrow evening. But I knew I needed to pray and I thought a hard run might help me do that. I put on my sneakers and jogged a lap around the cemetery, meditating on Proverbs 19:23.

The fear of the Lord leads to life, then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

My legs, unaccustomed to such exertion, quickly tired and I walked to the rock to sit and think. Sitting soon became reclining and I lay on the rock on my back (which was surprisingly comfortable), staring up at the blue sky through the crisscrossing still-bare branches of the trees. I turned to another verse card.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Slowly, the words seeped into my heart and convicted me of my selfishness. What do I need that I don't already have? Nothing. God has already provided all that I need, and if other needs arise, He will meet them as well. Our house search is in His hands. We need nothing that He has not promised to provide. And as for life and godliness, this evening that included baking that cobbler and getting dinner ready for Husband who would be home soon. I had all I needed to complete those tasks, and for this evening, that was all God asked of me.

I have given you all you need, He said to me. It's time to get up, go inside, and bake a cobbler for Me. I stood up from the rock - my Bethel - walked inside, and obeyed.

Lamb

Springtime is for babies. Baby flowers pushing up through dusty earth in tiny green bullets. Baby birds hatching from speckled eggs. Baby lambs.

A few weeks ago, Husby and I went to see the play at his school, The Secret Garden,
and this little sweetpea played Dickon's lamb. I got to pet him after the show.

I get carried away with baby love in the spring (don't worry - no baby for me yet) and I just want to see little cuties everywhere I look. Husband thinks animal motifs disrupt the true meaning of Easter, and he's right, but how can you not just love this little Easter bunny?

He's my lockscreen wallpaper on my phone

 

Fortunately, Husband did see to reason and agree to let me make a little Easter decoration for the living room. I wanted silhouettes of Easter animals, but it was much harder than you might think to find nice animal shadows. I finally found a lamb and a bunny I was happy with. Then I downloaded a springy seamless wallpaper from patterns.ava7.com and placed it behind the silhouettes. I printed them out, framed them, and set them on my half-table where I already had my little nest, a Ten Thousand Villages purchase from last spring.

Pete even admitted that he liked them when I got them finished.

I think it would look even better if I could have made the animal separate from the background. I didn't have a real Springy scrapbook paper, but if I did, I would have printed out just the silhouettes, cut them out, and then placed them on top of a Spring backdrop in the frame. It would add depth.

Maybe next time.

Hope Spring babies brighten your week! Watch for the baby eagles who will probably be hatching this week!