Gratitude

Yesterday was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break. As the kids in various reading groups were discussing things that they were thankful for (and many of them spoke of people and relationships, not just their Wii or bicycle), I thought it wise to take a moment to think of the things for which I am grateful. (Let's face it, a lot of people find it easier to dwell on the things that are missing and thus the negatives and forget to take the time to be thankful.)

First and foremost I am thankful for family and friends. My husband and two children are my life! While most members of my biological family are not a part of my life, the few with whom I still have a relationship are all the more dear to me. And I am ever thankful for the family I married into who have embraced me as one of their own for the past 24 years. Helmicks rock (including those with the last name Smith)!! Many of my friends are like family to me, and for that I am truly grateful as well.

I am grateful for my job. It is really nice to actually look forward to going to work and what the day will bring rather than dreading going and harboring dark thoughts on ways to NOT have to go. Thank you FDCSD!

I am thankful for good health as well as good insurance, for a house to call home, plenty of food to eat and clothing.

I'm grateful to live in Iowa and the U.S. (even though I have my complaints...I'm thankful I live in a place where it is safe to voice those complaints without fear of retribution, being disappeared or killed.)

I'm grateful for the traveling I have been fortunate to do.

There are, of course, many, MANY more things for which I am thankful. And none of these should be a surprise to anyone. (In fact, I'm guessing many people have a very similar list!)

Still, it is a good thing to stop every now and then and take account of your life and spend a moment in thanksgiving for all the goodness of life's many gifts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Reasons To Love Iowa

It is a place for diversity and tolerance to take root and grow.

Sprouting up in the middle of nowhere, a Hindu Temple and Cultural Center in the middle of prairie and fields.

Priceless.

Friday Finale - November 11

[your quote here]

In Absentia

Life sometimes gets in the way of things like blogging. I've had a lot of family stuff going on. By "family" I mean my immediate family as well as family of origin and extended family. Yeah....that's a lot of family.

It was a cr@p ton of stuff. By "stuff" I mean trips to ER's, dysfunctional craziness, overscheduled needs, follow-up to ER trips, emotional support to both give and receive, etc.

Suffice it to say that the sum of it all left me either too upset, too tired, or too emotionally drained to sit down and write anything here that wouldn't need to be immediately edited by dumping it into the trash.

I think I'm in a better place now.

In knitting news: I am working on some child sized mittens with leftover yarns to contribute to the school where I work. Lots of the children there don't have mittens, gloves or hats. Some don't have winter coats. So, I figured a good stash busting exercise would be to knit up some warm woolens they could use for recess to help keep those little fingers warm.

Also, I'm working on a scarf for my son. I hope to take some photos soon and post them.

Speaking of photos, here's one I shot of a country church about 45 minutes from here. I took it a couple weeks ago on a photo outing with my daughter. We had another destination in mind, but that didn't work out. (We'll have another chance to shoot that location next week. It's a potential State Fair entry.)

I've also enjoyed several postal letterboxes and LTC packages arriving at my door recently. That was fun!

Have a great weekend!

Friday Finale - Oct. 28

Friday Finale - October 21

Time Warp

While we were driving through the Loess Hills on Saturday en route to visit my grandmother's grave, we passed through a small town that I had been to a few times as a child. We went because there was a geocache there to discover.

It was like stepping back in time!

None of the streets in Castana, Iowa are paved.

The old school appeared to be closed.

The central park had a cool memorial to local veterans, which included the corner pillars and entrance to the former bank which is no longer standing on the site. There was also a time capsule buried there, scheduled to be opened in 2036.

At the community center we discovered Castana's volunteer fire truck, ready to be dispatched in case of emergency!

What do you think? 1940's? 1950's?

Pilgrimage

"Whan that aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of march hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open ye (so priketh hem nature in hir corages); Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;" Geoffrey Chaucer

Or, if you don't happen to do too well with Middle English, a modern translation of Chaucer's opening lines in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales:

Here begins the Book of the Tales of Canterbury When April with his showers sweet with fruit The drought of March has pierced unto the root And bathed each vein with liquor that has power To generate therein and sire the flower; When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, Quickened again, in every holt and heath, The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun Into the Ram one half his course has run, And many little birds make melody That sleep through all the night with open eye (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)- Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage, And palmers to go seeking out strange strands, To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.

DH and I went on a pilgrimage I have been longing to make for a few months now. My grandmother was one who, when she was physically able, kept the tradition of visiting family burial sites alive and well. She felt drawn to go, to spend some moments with kin and letting precious memories wash over her, carrying her beyond the here and now to be gathered in with those she'd loved and lost along the journey.

Although Chaucer's pilgrims set out in April, and my grandmother usually set out beginning on Memorial Day and continued on through the summer months, Saturday seemed like the day for me to make the trek to visit grandma's final resting place.

It's a peaceful spot, atop a hill outside of Turin, Iowa. The hills are lovely in any season, but were especially so on the first crisp and sunny Saturday of autumnal weather this year.

We wandered the cemetery after visiting her grave, listened to the wind and bird song afloat on the day's breezes and enjoyed being out. We found some geocaches along the way and made a few other discoveries too! (I'll save them for another day.)

I miss my grandmother. And I'm thankful to have made the pilgrimage to her final resting place.

Friday Finale - October 14

I Suspected

I've been hearing lots of chatter lately about Facebook and some of its alleged practices. I've long wondered about the actualy benefits of the site and other social networking sites. I have my doubts as to whether FB or any of them really ever connected people in anything other than a superficial (dare I add, ARTIFICIAL) way. [Yes, yes, I know....I AM over 45 years old. I am still entitled to my thoughts and opinions!]

When I got home from school this afternoon to check Facebook in order to see if there were any updates on family who've been have a rough time of it healthwise and are hospitalized, I got the following response from my computer security/anti-virus software:

(actual screen shot of my computer upon my third attempt to access FB.)

TED

If you have never watched any of the TED talks before, I would invite you to check them out! You'll find thought provoking, meaningful and inspirational speeches and ideas from some terrific people! Check it out!!

Here is one I recently watched and enjoyed:

Friday Finale - October 7

Tuesdays With . . .

well, my name's not Morrie....so perhaps I should have found a better title!

Not sure how it got to be October already. Tomorrow is school picture day at the elementary building where I work. Bleh.....that means being in front of the camera rather than behind where I am most comfortable. I HATE getting my picture taken.

(My husband is always kidding me that the kids will look back on all our family photos and assume they were raised in a single parent household because I am not in 98% of the photos!)

If you look closely, however, you'll often spot me in photos, like this one from Ryan and Tiffany's wedding:

Yes, that's me--in shadow form--across the front of the couple. (I hope that doesn't ruin the photo for my friend Val as it has for me!!)

In knitting news, I have completed both the baby afghan and the cabled sweater and hat combo I was working on for my nephew's baby coming in February. I had enough yarn left over from the afghan that I am now making a hat and bootie set from that yarn. Photos to come in a future post!

For now, I'll "leaf" you with another shot I took at the park last Saturday!

Saturday In the Park

Went to the local state park today, just for a drive and a photo adventure. Here are a couple things I spotted!

The last is my new desktop background! Cheers!

Forgetful Me

So, I received my new Knit Picks catalog on Friday. To my delight, there was a photo of a kit for making some beautiful mittens. Aren't they lovely?

When I saw the picture, I suddenly remembered that I already ordered this kit! I'd better pull it out and get knitting on those if I have any hope of making some for holiday gifts!

Also, we attended my best friend from college's son's wedding yesterday. I got to be the photographer and I took one of the funnest shots I've gotten at a wedding yet of the gals in the bridal party.

My friend (& mother of the groom) sewed not only the bridal gown, but the two ruby bridesmaids dresses and her own gown for the occassion!

I think she's amazing!!

Clarity

Never doubt that the universe is capable of sending out moments of sheer clarity and a sense of peace even in the midst of chaos, confusion, pain or dysfunction.

In fact, I have discovered that's often the most likely moment you will receive what you need, if only you're open to it.

Friday Finale

Boundless Talent

This post is entirely me bragging about my DS who is nearly 18 and a senior in high school. I won't be offended if you decide to visit another of your favorited bookmarks and skip this post altogether.

We've known for many years that he's a super bright kid. His GPA puts him in the top 1% of his class. The first digit of his ACT score was a 3. He will graduate with over a semester's worth of college credit. Math and science are, to my way of thinking, shockingly easy/natural for him. He has already written code for several computer games and programmed his calculator to do shortcuts for him. And he also has a great sense of wit and the driest sense of humor you're likely to find.

And although he does "doodle" while he's watching tv sometimes, I was still caught off guard when his art teacher sent us an email to let us know that she is amazed by his artistic talents too. She is taking some of his work to an art show this spring, so photographed his self-portrait done in charcoal.

I agree with her, it's simply wonderful!!

Love ya' Bud! Couldn't be more proud of you!

It's A GiveAway!

My blog-o-sphere friend at Caffeine Girl Knits is having a give-away on her blog to celebrate the "Back-to-School" season. I won this give away a couple years ago, and I can tell you, it's pretty darned amazing!

(Never underestimate a state that specializes in cheese products to also know how to make some truly delicious milk-chocolate goodness in those cow pies! YUMMO!!!!!)

So head on over to Caffeine Girl Knits and leave a comment on her post. You'll be registered for some wonderful goodies! While you're there take a little time to look around. She's not only a talented knitter, but an awesome bead and jewelry designer and dedicated special ed teacher. You're sure to find some inspirational stuff!

A Rockin' Good Time!

We went over to the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa last night to attend the opening night concert in the grandstand. What an awesome evening!

We saw Huey Lewis and The News! The performed several from their hits list (Heart of Rock-n-Roll, Power of Love, A New Drug, Working For A Living, etc.) They also performed some acapella, including "60 Minute Man" which was fun! And they performed two or three from their new soul/R&B album. Wowza! Fantastic!!
It was really nice to have a mini-"get-away" evening for just DH & myself. It was nice to see a concert again after nearly 18 years! And it was super sweet to be among the "younger" folks in the crowd!! (Who new folks in their 60's and 70's would turn out in droves to see Huey Lewis??!!)

For those in the area, Huey will be performing in Omaha in October!! If you have the chance, go see them!!