Grandmother Wren

Four For Friday – The Stuart Lisonbee Collection

Q1 – Wearing Your Emotions on Your Bumper: It’s been a little over a year since Colorado State University scientists published the results of a study showing a correlation between the number of bumper stickers a driver chooses to display and the likelihood of that driver experiencing road rage. How many bumper stickers do you have on your vehicle(s), and which one is your favorite? If you’re not a bumper sticker type of person, which is your favorite of those that you’ve seen?

This is the question that lured me into being a first time participant in this Friday meme.

I do have a bumper sticker. Two bumper stickers.
The first one asks “Are You Kind?”.
The second one says “The Best Things In Life Aren’t Things”.

I like them.

I am also aware that they are as annoying as smiley faces and almost as annoying as asking WWJD? I think they may provoke road rage.

We have a convoluted, outdated five-corner intersection at the end of our street. It’s complicated to navigate in the best of times – this summer is not the best of times. We have construction closing the bridge at the other end of our street. Everyone is detoured to the five-corner intersection as an alternate route.

If I can imagine myself answering the question “Are You Kind ?” by pushing down hard on the accelerator and ramming my own bumper while shouting “NO! I Am Not Kind! MOVE!” – I should probably assume that a similar idea is forming in the head of the young man drumming his fingers on the wheel of his truck behind me….

Q2 – Secrets: I’ve long been interested in secret societies. A friend of mine is a Free Mason and a Shriner and has recently been hinting to me that he would like me to join the local lodge (unlike many secret societies, potential members are never invited — to become a Mason, one must ask to join). Since many of Masonry’s secrets aren’t so secret anymore, I admit to losing some interest in it, but am still considering joining. Have you ever been “tapped in” or otherwise joined a secret society? If not, would you ever consider it? Why or why not?

I like this question too…

Around 20 years ago, when my daughter was middle-school age, her friend invited her to a meeting of the Rainbow Girls. I liked the idea of my daughter visiting her friends’ churches, learning about different beliefs, all that good peace and love stuff. But I wasn’t familiar with the Rainbow Girls. I knew it had something to do with the friend’s father being a Mason? I called her friend’s Mom to ask if she would fill me in a bit on what the girls would be doing at the Rainbow Girls meeting.

The friend’s Mom was sorry, but she couldn’t do that. Meetings couldn’t be discussed with non-members. But the girls would have a great time – her daughter loved Rainbow Girls.

She said What???
Oh my.
I’m sure that the Rainbow Girls is a fine organization. I’m sure the girls would have had a lovely time. But I could not give my permission for my child to go off to any sort of “secret” activity with people who won’t tell me what’s going to happen there. That’s insane.
And not at all Kind.

(Yes, I know I didn’t answer the question as asked. It’s still a good story, isn’t it?)

Q3 – I Want to Believe: Like the poster hanging in Fox Mulder’s office says, I want to believe. I believe there are intelligent beings, much like ourselves, living on other planets. However, as much as I want to believe that one of those alien races has visited and is currently visiting Earth, I don’t believe that is the case. Do you believe in space aliens, and if so, do you believe they have ever visited Earth?

Yes, well, I used to get all snooty whenever this question came up. Aliens, indeed. Foolishness and nothing but. I believe in Angels and Guiding Spirits and Life after death. People who believe in aliens, on the other hand, are crackpots.

Or not.

What if we’re all describing the same reality and many of the same beliefs, we’re just using a different vocabulary? Maybe one man’s alien is another man’s angel?

I’ve gotten down from my high horse a great many times as the years have gone by. These days I’m content to just plod along on an ass with everyone else. And their angels or aliens – I’ll let you tell me.

Q4 – Politics and Interpretive Dance: My favorite book is “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein, which I first read as a teen back in the late 80’s. But it wasn’t until recently that I realized there was so much controversy over Heinlein’s statements on war, American culture, politics, the military, etc. To me, it was just an enjoyable story. When you read a fictional story or watch a movie, do you simply try and enjoy it, or do you seek some deeper meaning or life’s lesson from the author’s/director’s intended message?

I just read along happily – if there’s a deeper meaning or a life lesson thrown in (and I catch it), that’s an added bonus.

That’s the Four -
a fun meme, a chance to ramble on for while,
Click Here to Visit More Four For Friday Participants

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
Jeremiah 31:3

I received this story in an email a few years ago from a friend whose father had recently passed away. I don’t know the original author – it’s one of those emails that moves from heart to heart, forgetting to leave an acknowledgement to its source. If you know where this story began, please leave me comment so I can reattach the author’s name.

A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray
with her father.

When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head
propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit.

“I guess you were expecting me”, he said.

“No, who are you?” said the father.

The minister told him his name and then remarked “I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up.”

“Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man. “Would you mind closing the door?”

Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

“I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man.
“But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used
to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head.
I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued,”until one
day about four years ago, my best friend said to me, ‘Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest.

Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It’s not spooky because he promised, ‘I will be
with you always’. (Matthew 28:20)

Then just speak to him in the same way you’re doing with me right now.’

So, I tried it and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of
hours every day. I’m careful though – if my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.”

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her father
had died that afternoon.

“Did he die in peace?” he asked.

“Yes, when I left the house about two o’clock, he called me over to his
bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead.

But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?”

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we could all
go home like that -
by simply placing our trust in Jesus.”

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Here’s the rest of the picnic that began with Goose Adventure.

After the geese had gone away and we were finished with our lunch, it was time for exploring.

We walked past a field of flowers, picking some Queen Anne’s lace to press and dry. Once it’s dry, we’ll glitter it and save it to hang on our Christmas tree.

We watched a bee…

and admired the water lilies when we reached the shore of the pond.

Maya likes to look under rocks to see who lives there. (usually we find a worm. I’m hoping someday to get lucky and surprise her with a salamander)

We made a discovery on this outing that none of us was prepared for.

These are very large freshwater snails and they were everywhere! We had to go home and look them up in our nature book to figure out what they were and why there were so many of them.

We learned that their presence is a result of the horrible algae problem Connecticut is experiencing this year. The snails live on algae, thriving in an environment that is choking many of our other pond dwellers. Even though this wasn’t the prettiest pond or stream we’ve visited this summer, it turned out to be the place where we made our biggest discovery so far.

Maya gathered a group of the snails and placed them on a rock so that we could observe them for a while.

It is heartwarming to be reminded of the inherent kindness of children. We returned the snails to water where we found them, but one or two of them tipped over after being set down. Are snails like turtles? Can a snail turn itself over to the right way again? Maya was worried…

A long stick and some gentle prodding set everything to right.

now that our day is done, Grammy’s been a little worried about just what sort of nastiness (salmonella seems likely) lurks in water like this, just waiting for little girls to come exploring. So far…So good.  Wonder and learning is all we seemed to pick up with the snails…

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What You’ll Need
one strip of paper
one paper clip

1. Cut out a long, narrow strip of paper.

2. Fold the strip in half.

3. Fold one top end of the folded strip down so that it points to the right.

4. Turn the paper over.

5. Fold the other top end of the folded strip of paper just as you did before.

6. Place a paper clip over the bottom folded part of the helicopter.

7. Throw it high into the air and watch it come twirling down!

Visit more Tuesday Tip Jars – Click Here

Outside my window… hot and steamy following a fast moving storm. I think that’s the pattern for the upcoming week.

I am thinking… about the book I just finished reading and the new one I’ve just started. This has become a season of learning with the words that I’ve needed appearing when I needed them in the pages of used books that I bought for a dollar.

I am thankful for… everything.

From the learning rooms… we have another full week of programs at the library – the Mad Science Slime Workshop; “Two Right Feet” music, movement and stories; the Airborne Jugglers Show and Workshop

From the kitchen… I’m thinking of trying a few more of the recipes from “Friendship Cake” – the book I finished reading last week.

I am wearing… pajamas

I am creating… knitting my way through the One Skein Wonders book, enjoying the luxury of working with specialty yarn – affordable if I only need one skein!

I am going… to be very busy again this week.

I am reading… The Yellow Brick Road – a storyteller’s approach to the spiritual journey by William Bausch

I am hoping… to find the initiative, time and energy to get some new entries into my other blogs this week. I miss doing them.
We’ll see…

I am hearing… listening to another one of those overly dramatic movies featuring hysterical women on the Lifetime network while I type. To be fair to the hysterical women, they are often hysterical because they’re being stalked. It’s a popular plot on Lifetime. I guess I’d be hysterical too.

Around the house… birthday presents are hidden away waiting for Miss Maya’s birthday on Sunday.

One of my favorite things… looking forward to special family days – like birthdays!

A few plans for the rest of the week: lots of library time; knitting; Maya wants to make a pinata for her birthday (okay….but Grammy’s never made a pinata. Grampy says if there is a pinata, then we have to have a Mexican theme.
What????
No.
We Don’t.
We’ll be lucky to turn out a workable pinata and call it Good.)

Here is picture thought I am sharing:

Aiden Andrew at this time last year

and Aiden Andrew this afternoon, celebrating his First Birthday! Happy Birthday, Aiden!

The Simple Woman’s Daybook originated with Peggy Hostetler at The Simple Woman blog. Peggy is on vacation for the summer – I added a Mr. Linky widget here hoping that the Summer Daybook ladies will find it and link in. I am so, so happy to see so many Daybooks joining mine!

Are you here?
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