Kaymusings

When I was visiting Rene recently, it started to snow and I was wearing my

dress shoes.  I didn’t want to go out in the snow with those shoes on.  He gave me these boots to wear home.  They are at least an inch longer than my usual size but they seemed to fit well enough.  They are very warm on my feet and have good traction for slippery surfaces.  But what I found out surprised me.  I trip easily when wearing them.  Going up stairs, for instance, my foot doesn’t clear the tread of the next step and I stumble.  Finally I realized that my brain knows the size of my feet and how much room my foot needs on stairs.  These boots add inches to my feet that my brain isn’t used to calculating and I trip easily.

There are many things, I think, that our brains must know that we don’t realize that we know.  Our brains must keep processing information that helps to keep us safe even when we don’t actively know it.  We really are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

For as long as I can remember, chocolate has been a great favorite with me.  My husband used to tell me that if I got cut, I would probably bleed chocolate syrup.  (Not true, of course.)

The other day I went to the grocery store for a few things.  As I packed them into a box to bring home, I took a good look at my selections.  “How much chocolate is enough?” I asked myself.  In my few purchases I had: Two packages of chocolate chips, a bottle of chocolate syrup, a chocolate cake mix, and a box of chocolate pudding mix.  Besides that, I had a bag of flour and a gallon of milk.

I had to laugh at myself for getting all those chocolate items.

Rusty on the bottom bunk bed

Before Rusty came to live with us, he had lived all his life outdoors.  He had been neglected and abused.  He had no idea of what it’s like to live in a house with people, but when he came to us, he learned the rules of the house almost immediately.  He is very intelligent and learning comes easy to him.

He quickly adapted to how things are done while living in the house.  He once jumped over the couch, when I had it perpendicular to the wall.  I saw him do it and did the Mama Dog yell at him and he never did it again.  He knows the furniture is off limits to him and for the most part, he obeys that rule.

Exceptions to the rule, for him, are when I’m not right in the room with him and he hears a dog walking in front of our house.  He’ll jump up on the couch to bark at the dog and quickly jump off it when I come running to reprimand him.  The second exception is the one in this photo.  There are bunk beds in the room that we go through to get to the study which is on the other side of the room.  I seldom go into those rooms, so, clever Rusty decided that it would be okay for him to take naps on that comfy, warm, bottom bunk. I took this picture before I told him he had to get off the bed.

I wished I could let him have that for his bed, to keep him out of a draft, protect his joints from arthritis in his old age, and pamper him.  But I know it would ruin the bed after a while and I need that bed to be in good shape when family comes home to visit.  I’ve found an easy way to keep him off the bed though.  I put boxes on it and when family comes to visit and it’s bedtime, the boxes are easily set aside.

Rusty does have his own bed, though, on the floor in my bedroom.  Two old couch cushions with an old wool blanket give him a warm, comfy bed of his own.

Christmas joys

I’ve thought for many years that my favorite Christmas carol is It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.  It tells the whole Christmas story and I especially like some of the old words and expressions, “cloven skies,” “prophet bards,” “encircling years,” etc.  I often think about encircling years as my days turn into weeks and soon it’s another new month and before long we’ve circled back to start a new year.  But I digress.  I love that carol and for years I’ve claimed it as my favorite.

This Christmas season has been so different for me.  Due to bad weather and my friend’s illness, and a change in the usual church service schedule, I’ve missed Sunday morning service twice this month.  In the church I attend, we sing the Christmas carols during the month of December.  In the Episcopal Church, where my friend goes, they only sing Advent songs during December, and none of them are familiar to me.  I don’t know if they only sing the carols at the Christmas Eve service or not, but this year I’ve not been in on carol singing in church services.

Last Sunday I saw that our first hymn of the morning was Joy to the World.  I was filled with anticipation to sing this carol and let the joy of that music fill me up.  And then Pastor said that he was going to change things around and not go by the bulletin.  Guess what he eliminated.  Joy to the World.  I’ve thought about it since then and this morning I have started to wonder if maybe my favorite carol really is Joy to the World.  The disappointment of omitting that carol stayed with me so long.  I really do like it a lot.

This week I heard again that Joy to the World wasn’t written to be a Christmas hymn but soon it became identified with Christmas.  I can see why and yet I can see that it is a good hymn for the whole year.  I think we should sing it at least once every month.  This morning I’ve been singing for my own enjoyment, Joy to the World.

I wish Christmas joy to each of you.  The poinsettia is such a pretty, colorful flower.  I think we relate it to Christmas joy.

Joy to the World!

Since we live in the snow belt, most of us are relatively used to snow and winter storms.  Last Friday was the Christmas Party for those of us who attend the Senior Center. So many people had signed up to go to it that it had to be held in a larger facility.

This party had been planned since before Thanksgiving.  The day of the party found us in the midst of a winter storm with really nasty weather.  For some reason, a school delay wasn’t called, though it probably should have been.  The weather was so bad that school was dismissed at 12:20.  Our party was supposed to run from 10-noon.  Did the bad weather put a damper on the senior party?  Not much!  There were some who couldn’t make it because of the weather, but I think that at least three fourths of those who had signed up were able to attend.

We had a three piece band who played lively music for us.  There were lots of gifts and prizes and a contest for decorated Christmas trees, four of which were given away.  Dolly decorated the winning tree and she used a lot of her little porcelain doll figures to make a very appealing tree.  And there was a fabulous meal.  We really didn’t want to miss this party.

If the party had been held at 7 PM and the weather was what it was, we seniors wouldn’t have attended it in droves as we did.  We can brave the snow and cold and bad weather in day time easier than we can face it at night.  The parking lot was pretty full when the party got under way.  We did enjoy our party.

This violet is living in a glass of water.

Some time ago, probably last summer, I decided that I really had to repot my pink violet or lose it. It had grown into two beautiful plants and the pot was very crowded. I put if off as long as I could because I’ve sometimes killed violets when I tried to repot them. They put up with a lot of loving neglect from me, but handling them when I’m repotting them is something that they really have trouble with. I really like this pink violet and didn’t want to harm it.

Two beautiful violets growing together! I discovered that they were growing on one stem. Maybe I could slice one off and reroot it and let the other one live in the pot alone. But when I used the knife, as carefully as I could, they were so “together” that the knife sliced them both from the supporting root. There was very little stem. I thought I’d killed them both, but I decided that I should get that little bit of stem that was on them into water and see if maybe I could reroot them

I was delighted to see that they both took the water nicely and grew long, white roots. Finally the roots seemed so sturdy that I thought I could give them a chance to get established in soil. I got out the African Violet soil and the new flower pots and got started, and then I discovered that the violets, both of them, had started to put out little flower buds. I didn’t want to take a chance on killing them when they were going to bloom. So I put the potting soil away and let them remain in water, as they were. They both blossomed beautifully. The blooms are double, –very frilly.

I really enjoy seeing these violets blooming in water. They drink water at a surprising rate. Every couple of days, the water in their glasses is down an inch or two and has to be replenished. That’s something I had never realized about them with their roots firmly planted in soil.

I think these two violets have a handicap, because their roots aren’t in water, but I’m amazed at how well they have overcome their handicap. Their roots are planted in water and they are thriving on what they really need.

Rusty makes a new friend

My friend Rene hasn’t been used to having a dog in the house.  But when he comes to visit me, Rusty greets him with obvious love.  Rene is getting used to having Rusty as a new friend.  Pets have a way of winning our hearts!  Rusty got mine long ago.

This photo is supposed to show the little birdy footprints in the snow on my front porch.  I hope it shows up well for you to see.

What I hate to see is the cat footprints that sometimes go through the delicate little footprints.  You can see a cat footprint in this picture.  The neighbor’s cat feels at home walking on my porch, but I’m thinking maybe he is hoping to catch an unwary little bird.  I hope he won’t be successful.

I have a fascination with icicles.  These icicles hanging on the curved archway caught my fancy.  It was just before Thanksgiving.  The archway frames the winter scene beyond it.  I snapped this photo before knocking the beautiful icicles down. They are beautiful, but they are icy dangerous for people walking under them. They could drip cold water down your neck, or worse yet, they could crash down on your head.  Some icicles grow to a great size.  These icicles were more beautiful than dangerous since they weren’t really huge.  It was easy to knock them down.

Pysanky done in Christmas colors

After I made some Pysanky eggs in a Christmas theme for the Artists’ Guild, I decided I would like to make some Christmas eggs for myself.  This egg is done in a pinwheel design and uses the colors red, green, black and white. The green is a very dark green and in the photo almost appears to be black.  I enjoyed making this egg and I like the way it turned out.