New Life Old Farmers

Croquet season got off to a late start, but believe me, it is in FULL swing!  (All puns intended!)

We are blessed with friends and family, that LOVE to play!  A few of our newbies are learning, that it is not always easy to keep your hat on in the wind, not spill your beverage or loose your mallet.Rocking THE pink hat….and learning to keep his eye on the ball.

In this extremely competitive croquet league (of one) every point is important!  No real player has ever given up the straw hat point!  

Number Four Son coming off of a big win from the last game sporting a family favorite, Grandma Diane’s Wedding Hat from The Royal Wedding.

Glory Farm Croquet. the only sport that is feisty, funny, competitive and relaxing….

In the golfing world, the Masters at Augusta, Georgia has the coveted Green Jacket.  We have…THE Green Bandanna.We have just a few season winners and only 1 has won the honor twice.

Playing together lets us share our life and home and simply put, brings us joy.

This most amazing picture was painted by The Croquet Artist and gifted to us as a surprise. She captured not only our home, but our life as well….

….and yes, we are truly blessed.

It started out simply enough.  I was mowing a few noxious weeds around the pond on The John Deere Mower or as My Loving Spouse refers to it, The Little Green Illegitimate Child (those might not exactly be the word he uses), but we are keeping it clean.

I was on the narrow side of the pond, which borders the irrigation ditch.  I could not get around the pond to mow, as the water from the pond to the ditch has a leak and it was too wet to drive through and not get stuck.  We all know what happens when I drive into areas that are too wet…there ends up being a very funny story about “My wife and the tractor“, except I am, obviously not the one who tells it.  In an effort to avoid any more of those stories, I put The Little Green B in reverse to leave the pond, however, when I put on the brake nothing happened….and I mean nothing.

I was on a short hill with nothing behind me, but high grass and the irrigation ditch.  I calmly, yet loudly (as I was sliding quickly toward the deep ditch) called for assistance from My Loving Spouse who was nearby, as I slammed on the brakes.  We each have a memory difference of this incident as he remembers it as a loud ‘caterwauling!’  By the time he looked up, I was gone.

“Where are you?”

‘In the ditch!’

Luckily for me, the mowing deck on The Little Green B had caught on the edge of the embankment and my backward progress was momentarily stopped.  My Loving Spouse finally came to my rescue, but not before laughing and snapping pictures.  I’d gone under the electric fence, knocked my hat off and was surprised to find that I was still dry.The laughter lasted longer than the rescue.
Blue had the mower out in no time.
For the rest of the day, My Loving Spouse was sending pictures to The Family, under headings of “look what she’s done now”.  A certain Son’s comment was, “Well, at least she didn’t set anything on fire this time!”

Someone was still laughing at dinner, when I commented that I don’t think “The John Deere’s brakes work very well.”

‘Oh, yes’, said Mr. Smarty Pants (My Loving Spouse), ‘I’ve needed to adjust them.’

There are two constants for every summer here at Glory Farm…watering and weeding.  We will never get all the weeds, but we do try to get a lot of them.  Ignore the weeds and they quickly take over.  Due to my surgery, My Loving Spouse has weeded more this year than ever, at least in the vegetable garden.  He has been commenting on how fast the weeds have grown this year.

My newly built flower garden has been a labor of creative love.  However, shortly after returning from the hospital, it was ‘in the weeds’ and there was little I could do.The truth is, there is very little we truly do alone.  Three friends have shown up more than once, armed with trowels, buckets and a willingness to pull our weeds.  Rescuing my flower garden….Teaching me, that love comes in many forms and that cows like to eat weeds.

My Iris’ have taken off and have needed to be moved about.  I put them too close to the fence and learned one night, that the cows liked to eat those too!  It seems that the only thing they won’t eat are ‘noxious weeds’, it figures! Noxious weeds like thistles are thorny, problematic, annoying and must be removed, mowed, cleared, killed…and then they tend to return the next year.  The trick is to get them mowed down before the Noxious Weed Board shows up to tell you, ‘you have noxious weeds…remove them’.

(Seriously, this is a true job.  It makes me laugh a bit, as I’ve known people who would excel at going around and pointing out what is wrong with someone else’s garden…. I get it, it is a farming community, we need to remove noxious weeds.)

I kind of like that word….noxious.

Okay, I’ve done little so far this summer, but rest.  However, my garden is blooming.

and I am blessed.

(….and Gunner likes mud.)

Forth of July was the perfect time to Christen the boat My Loving Spouse built for the pond.  The Wean (Scottish for ‘wee one’) pronounced ‘wee-in’, was built from 2 pieces of quarter inch ply wood. It’s been said before, he is ‘as handy as pockets’.

The inspiration for the boat comes from his Grandfather’s heart.It is a small boat for our small people to enjoy our small pond.We have a ‘wee’ pond, so the boat needed to be small as well.Amazing what can be done with a few pieces of flimsy plywood.I was instructed to buy any clamps I might see, while I was out at garage sales.  He used everyone he had.

The only time he said The Bad British word was when he was building the oars.  He declared, he’d never build those bloody things again!

It was starting to really look like a boat.

More clamps please….

He built a keel, so it would row straight.

Which was fairly optimistic with how small (wee) our pond is.

My Loving Spouse starts adding fancy details to the seats and painted it a bright happy blue.  It is a beautiful wee boat.

We got out the Champagne (actually it was a bottle we had been given, that a friend said, they weren’t sure it was any good) and Christen the boat.  I said those important words,

“I name this ship the Wean.  God bless her and all who float in her.”

Then we smashed the champagne.  I’d like to say, that those where the moments our friends will remember.

However….

it is a small boat for small people.  So, if you are not a small person and you happen to be in the small boat, you might want to remember to not rock the boat, or you may be looking for your glasses, like My Loving Spouse is as they are currently on the bottom of our small pond, as he lost them when he flipped the Wean over and dumped himself into the pond.

My Loving Spouse, making boats…making memories.

Stop by for a row on the pond, just don’t rock the boat!

Family reunions take some planning and ours was in the works long before I got sick.  No matter what, I was going to be there!  My Loving Spouse thinks I am stubborn, no Sweetie, that is called ‘tenacious’.  I was not going to miss the opportunity to give/get a lot of hugs.  From 3 states and many airplanes, we gathered in San Diego with all of my sisters, brothers, sons and grandchildren. 
My Loving Spouse and I were invited to join Number One Son and family to the world famous San Diego Zoo.  The only problem, was how slow I was moving and how little energy I still had.  Hmmm, my pride versus the opportunity to go to the zoo with THE Grandchildren.  THE Grandchildren easily won and I rented a mobility scooter to get around, which amused Number One to no end.I revved up that baby and did a couple of reverse donuts in high (ha ha) speed, just to show him, that I’ve still got ‘it’.

I did get tired.  I wasn’t any help to my brother and his wife who opened their home to 26 of us for the weekend.

I had prayed before I left for a humble heart and a loving mouth.  I think that is a pretty powerful prayer.

I got tired often, but the time together…precious. I marveled as cousins played together.  Cousins are one of God’s wonderful creations.  

Seeing my nephews’ with new eyes.  One nephew who’s outstanding distinction, last family reunion was running the mini-bike straight into the refreshment table, left me with a sweet new memory as he patiently ‘played’ soccer with 2 toddlers.

Some shenanigans were planned as the three eldest members were closely celebrating their birthdays.  150 or so birthday candles were lit.The conflagration was blown out and the layer of wax scraped off of the cake.  Believe me, I’ve never seen anything like it!

‘Someone’ left his good (extremely good/expensive) bottle of wine in the wrong cabinet and it got opened.  ‘Someone’ was not amused, but I did hear that it was really, really good.  Wish I’d had a glass.

THE Grandson got in a lot of pool time.

The best hugs came from these four.  My  brothers, my sisters.One of them is fighting cancer.  I could say, that is ‘his’ story, however, when it is someone you love, your brother, it cannot help but be apart of your story too.

I sat with a nephew and listened as he told me all the ways he was loving his dad.  Attempting to bring him the things that give him joy.  Helping him to get wet in the ocean, with his family.

As hot air balloons rose over us….The younger boys chased it up and over the yard…assisting the little ones, so they could be one of the cousin gang.

I left with hugs and tears…  We sat by the ocean for a bit before heading to the airport.

Grateful for the laughter and the love, for relating to family members in new ways, extremely difficult to say goodbye.

Blessed indeed, to have had the chance to make some more memories… all together.

I never pray for patience.  I know enough, that you do not ‘get‘ patience delivered to your door in a tidy non-fragile box.  You get the ‘opportunity’ to practice patience, thereby growing your ‘patience muscles’. (Yea, I hate that.)

I have mostly been a good patient, during this recovery phase of my surgery.  However, there have been a few times where toddler-worthy tantrums were thrown, complete with frustration and tears.  If you ask My Loving Spouse about those, his eyes will get as big as saucers and he may say a few Bad British Words.

I could probably be more patient, if this recovery didn’t take so long….

It is what it is.

With all of my laying about, I am taking the opportunity to practice lettering.  I’ve bought a collection of pens, paper and read a few blogs.  The bottom line…it takes practice.  It is mostly about muscle memory.I am also practicing prayer.  It too is muscle memory, turning to God.  My prayers are fairly simplistic, but I’m pretty sure, that God doesn’t really care.  Praying for others when I cannot sleep.  Praying when I have no energy to do anything else, but rest…

and I am blessed.

PS: If you like, I will pray for you.

The best words are not fancy.  It felt like I exhaled for the first time in 4 weeks as the doctor told me, that they found ‘NO Cancer’!

We had spent the day before my surgery with THE Grandkids. How I love this picture…

How I yearn for her to know her Grammy, which can only come with time.  How grateful to be told that there is time.

… and I am blessed.

Dear Friends,

A short note to update you after my surgery, as silence is not always ‘golden’.  We are not ‘out of the woods’ yet, but the edge of the woods is getting much, much closer.

I felt your love and prayers, I mean it, I really felt them.  I was at Swedish hospital in Seattle for 4 days, with only My Loving Spouse and One of the Seattle Cousins near to visit me.  I usually feel lonely and scared left in a hospital alone, but this time I did not.  I know it was my prayer partners keeping me lifted up, that made this difference, so I thank you so very much.

The large tumor was generated from a different site than expected.  The first look from the pathologist was positive.  I’ve had Cat Scans, and ultra sounds.  Now, we wait for the final results.  We are expecting good news, the pathology takes a week and a half to be definite.

I currently walk like an Old Lady (no comments from Team Offspring) and am wearing My Loving Spouse’s pajama pants.  I do hurt and have no energy, but I am hurting a bit less today than yesterday.  I came home from the hospital 5 pounds lighter.

I am excited to use our recent garage sale finds, so that I can rock out side and rest in the fresh air.  (Damn Cat)

When I want a dear and delightful giggle, I read some cards from the large pile our kids at school have made for me.

Did you notice the pictures of cows and hearts?  It doesn’t get much better than that.

I have to give myself a shot each day.  This is very hard for me to do.  Shots on cows easy.  Shots on self, not so much.  The only way it seems to work, is I pretend I’m one of the nurses and use her words out loud.

“Okay, this is going to pinch just a bit” I say to me.  “Oh, we’re almost done, you’re doing great.”  Then it is over and I shutter a few times and know I have 24 hours before I need to be the nurse again.

When I really need a pick me up, I watch THE Video.  THE Video is my entire elementary school chanting my name, wishing me well and waving to me.  Yes, it makes me cry…in a good way.

…and I am blessed, by you all.

I have started this post (in my head) many times and abandoned it many times.  Six years ago, my big adventure started and along with that, this little blog started.  I did have small visions of the blog bringing fame and fortune.  Instead, it has brought me blessings and connections with very dear people, God’s richest gifts.

Just like this tree at my school, there are sometimes 2 different sides to the tale.  Two weeks ago, My Loving Spouse rushed me to the hospital with the worst pain, I have ever felt.  We were sure my appendix was bursting.  Between pains, I did have that one quick thought…

‘Oh, no,  am I wearing my bad underwear.’  You know, the one I should have thrown away, but don’t because it is still better than nothing when I need to get the laundry done.

Sharing or over sharing…

I am not always sure where that line lays.

It was not my appendix.

My Loving Spouse, my sons, my neighbors, church family and co-workers have been wonderful.  

If I say nothing, how will you know to pray for me.  This saying something is a challenge for me.

A ‘football sized’ mass was found in my abdomen.  It is expected to be benign.  The surgery (May 21, 2018) is large.  The recovery will be long.  I know that Our Lord will be holding my hand, but I covet your prayers for all things…

….still my anxious heart, still Team Offspring’s anxious heart, make sure the cows don’t get out while we are gone, the surgeon’s capable hands, loneliness while being down, being down instead of up…

Thank you for sharing this next path with me….

and I am blessed.