"That Wonderful Old Streetlight"

It's Mother's Day evening, May 13, though outside today it has felt much more like summer. (Psstttt! I don't like summer.) I just came in from the porch and the heaviness has lifted a little. It's bearable at least - for this Fall-Winter-Spring person. As I was sitting on the swing, I realized that I heard nothing but traffic going by. It was kind of deafening. I think my favorite outdoor sound in the summer is the wonderful cacophony of kids playing, like that old Neil Diamond song, "A Beautiful Noise". Don't know it? Look it up.
Anyway, in the absence of that kind of noise, I just sat there thinking - about the days when I/we were
young and we were the ones making those joyous summer day and summer evening noises. Growing up, we were fortunate to live in an out-of-the-way neighborhood where there wasn't any through-traffic. We rode our bikes without a care and didn't even check in a lot with home. We went in and out of the neighbor kids' homes like they were our own, as long as they were with us and we felt such slow, relaxed freedom. Smile. I liked Summer then.
During the days, when we weren't at the swimming pool, we played GAMES. Try explaining that
to today's kids. We played Indian ball and tag. We had lemonade stands and were excited if we
made 63 cents. In the evenings we caught lightening bugs in jars - with holes in the lids. And then we'd let them go before we went inside for the night.
As we got a little older, as summer evenings turned from light to gray, my sister Charmaine, Mary Ann Woolcott and I would stand under the streetlight at the head of the street - just a few yards from our home. Her parents could see her from their back door and ours could see us from our front door.
Other neighborhood kids would join us for a while and then mosey on. But we'd stay, discussing
things that just had to be discussed RIGHT then. Every once in a while, Mary Ann's mom or dad would flip the porch light on and off. And every once in a while, mother would call to us to "cut it short; it's getting late." But we'd "push the envelope" for a while, just hating to say goodnight, hating to give in to the enveloping darkness, using that wonderful old streetlight as our beloved gathering place.
I miss that old streetlight. Don't you? Because, in one way or another, I know you had it too. Those
wonderful, slow, slow days and nights.....the summers of our youth. Every once in a while, a sound,
a smell, a song - will bring it all back for just a fleeting second.

And something else I miss so much is the sound of my mother's voice, calling us home for the night.

My female friends, I'm hoping, as we close out this Mother's Day, that this day has been a lovely one for you. As our pastor pointed out this morning, it doesn't matter if you have borne children or if you have mothered other people's children. It doesn't matter if you are a mother of fur babies. A mama, a grandma, an aunt, a dear friend......women everywhere "mother" in some way. It's what we do.

I will "cut this short" this evening. "It's getting late". :)  But Happy Mother's Day to all of my female
readers. Mothering is not an easy effort. It takes determination and endurance and tears and laughter. It takes great strength. I am reminded of the popular slogan we have all read. 'Here's to strong women. May we be them. May we know them. May we raise them.'

I believe I will close out the evening with a walk around the yard and a few more moments on the
porch. I'd better do it while I can. Have I mentioned that Summer is coming? (I really don't like
Summer.) :)

God's In His Heaven But Where Is Spring?

Great Day In The Morning!!! I mean, is it Spring or isn't it? Someone today said it's the 105th day of January. I have to wonder! On the news this evening.....tornados (before typical tornado season), more wild fires, floods, rain, thunderstorms, SNOW, ice and FREEZING temperatures! And that's across the entire country!

I'm not a gardener by anyone's standards, but I like to play and pretend. I most often purchase and transplant to the ever-receptive earth and by some magic I don't understand, most plants thrive. Most. Not all. But I continue to try. My hyacinths actually bloomed this Spring, but I was forced on two occasions, after listening to weather reports, to cut the blooms and bring them in - just to enjoy a day or two of their wonderful scent. My beloved pink tulips came out of the earth in great mass and it thrilled me as it always does. I actually got two tulip blooms, which promptly froze in place - never opening.

By now we are usually ON THE PORCH watching and enjoying our humming birds. Although on a warm day recently we did put out two of our feeders, no humming birds have arrived. I'm thinking that's a good thing, as they would surely freeze! I wonder where they are and if they're as confused as I am.

No one knows how to dress at this point. We're either dressed too warmly or not warmly enough. I am most often found with leggings and sandals. I think that's a good balance that seems to be working for me. As usual, people think I'm crazy.  No problem.

My wiener babies are horrified most mornings. They just can't believe it when I turn them out to do their morning duties. They look at me as if I have either lost my mind or I don't love them anymore. They too are longing for warmth.

Now, I know I've told you before that I AM A WINTER GIRL. I don't like summer, don't enjoy it - at least when it gets HOT. I growl and whimper, whine and complain. It's not pretty. I like Spring. I LOVE Fall and Winter. If you know me well, you know this. I know, I know. Chastise me. Preach at me. It won't phase me. I am not a summer girl. Period. Never will be. But, come on!!!!!!!!!!!! Even I have my limits! Something must change and soon - and not just for a day! We all need to feel the warmth of the sun and with some degree of confidence that if we blink, it won't be gone.

I don't know who to be mad at. Do you?

I'm not giving up. I will be ON THE PORCH at the first and every opportunity. Honk and wave. We have to believe. I believe. I believe. ........ that God's in His Heaven and all's right with the world.

"Let's Be Delightful"

Following the Christmas holidays and toward the end of the year, I began to wonder what my
next blog would be about. For some reason a specific word came to my mind. Don't ask me why.
Others, long before you, have questioned my mind to absolutely no avail. The word and its
derivatives were Delight. Delightful. Delighted. For some reason, perhaps the time of the year,
I think I longed for pure delight. Peace. Quiet, Tranquility. Assurance. As all of you, I'm sure, I was exhausted. And pure delight seemed impossible to attain. I just wanted to bask in something delightful.

Then, as soon as the new year arrived, so did influenza. I lived, though for a few moments,
doubted that I would. If you're reading this, you have also survived - so far. Hallelujah!!! And if you're one of the myriad of people I unintentionally made ill, please forgive me. I had no idea that I was Typhoid Mary until I hit the ground.

Aside from being ill this year, I have to admit that I never really like or enjoy January. I think there's more to it than just muddling through gray days, possible boredom after the holidays, etc. I always see it coming and think I can ward it off, but I seldom succeed. When January arrives, I have trouble
connecting to the new year. I can't seem to adjust to the brand new calendar and its obligations.
I'm always surprised at Monday and for that matter, the days that follow it. Smile.

And then, as if there is hope (and of course there is), it's February! Suddenly I don't mind the
gray days, because as you know, I do love Winter. I'm connecting to the new year. My calendar
makes sense again. I'm on it! Well, mostly. And finally, things are clearer, more colorful, more
lively, more exciting. Well, ok, maybe not exciting. But better, definitely better.

So, let's get back to the word. For some reason in late December, I heard the word....delight,
and it stayed with me. Such a beautiful word. If we find something to be a delight, it's a beautiful
thing. A great event, a warm and wonderful feeling. It causes us joy. It stays with us,
reminding us that things are good. Cheerful. Happy. So it just stands to reason that if we want
others to have those feelings, then we must strive to be delightFUL. Yikes. Sounds difficult and
it is, after all, only February. Perhaps it would be easier to be delightFUL in June or July. But
I'm DELIGHTED to share with you, because I so need to be reminded, that in all honesty and
with some soul searching, it takes so little effort to be delightful and therefore, to cause delight.

My first cup of coffee in the morning is often delightful and if all goes well shortly thereafter, I may
be able to maintain that attitude. I know that my glass of warm, dry, red wine this evening was
delightful. Sunshine on these cold days is certainly delightful and sitting by a window yesterday
afternoon, watching the large snowflakes fall was absolutely delightful.

Dear, dear friends of ours have recently returned to reside in Chester and I am absolutely
delighted! Over the weekend we had dinner with couples who always delight us and it was
so DELIGHTFUL to share that time with all of them. Watching my precious tail-baby, Albert,
sleeping soundly on the couch........total delight.

So, it goes without saying that I must make every effort to try to be a delight to others and
to spread that kind of JOY (obviously I'm over using the word delight). And, if we think
about it, it's not difficult. In order to do so, we must: Say hello. Smile, really smile at each other.
Inquire as to how one really is. Then listen. Hug (carefully and cautiously, as it is flu season).
Go the extra mile - whatever that means in any situation. Say excuse me. Did I mention smile?
Find a reason to send a card or make a call. Just be delightful. We all know how it works,
what it means and what it costs us, which is absolutely nothing. So why do we sometimes go
through a day without administering this antedote to others? Well, it's because we bog down.
Life is hard. How often have you smiled and spoken to someone at the grocery or elsewhere
and they don't even respond? They carry a frown. They're lost somewhere without joy and
maybe, just maybe the smile we give them may help their day - whether they respond or not.
Again, it has cost us nothing.

I'm not preaching. I am so in need of reading what I am writing. And after re-reading what I've
written, it all seems way too fundamental. But maybe that's the key. Perhaps. And as is usual
for me, I must share a couple of quotes - by people way smarter than I am......quotes that I
hope will apply to what we've been talking about here.

"The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so."...Robert G. Ingersoll

"I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope - and that enables you to laugh at all of life's
realities." ... Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) --- Now that's delightful.

The year is young. Let's be delightful when and if we can. Stay warm. Stay well. Hug daily....
then wash your hands. And for those of you who really don't DELIGHT in Winter, Spring
is over the horizon!