"I Would"

The Singing News Fan Awards are over for another year, and I'm not surprised at the results. The Booth Brothers (Ronnie Booth, Michael Booth, and Jim Brady) have done wonderfully well. Look at the awards they got!

Favorite Baritone Singer -- Jim Brady
Favorite Lead Singer -- Ronnie Booth
Favorite Tenor Singer -- Michael Booth
Favorite Male Singer -- Ronnie Booth
Album of the Year -- Room For More
Trio of the Year -- Booth Brothers
Song of the Year -- What Salvation's Done For Me
Favorite Artists of the Year -- Booth Brothers

For quite a while now, I've been watching YouTube hoping to find a good rendition of "I Would." It is one of my favorites, and I'm pretty sure you will agree!

The miracle at our house...

Yesterday I was looking through stacks of CDs in our basement trying to find one that Barry needed to play at a memorial service.

Isn't it funny how just looking at the sleeves on our favorite music from the past can make lots of memories come flooding back? I never did find the one I was looking for, but out of the piles, I pulled several CDs that I wanted to hear again, and this song is on one of them.

Coral
(Our blessing, no longer in disguise...)

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Saturday mornings...

Sometimes I wish I were the Saturday-morning-bright-and-early-hit-the-road-running kind of person. How much I could get done! My closets would be in order, bags would be taken to the Goodwill, the laundry would all be done, the back porch would be clean and inviting, all the weeds would be pulled, all the vegetables harvested, and all my transcription work would be done!

But that doesn't seem to be me. On Saturday mornings I snooze a little later than I can on the weekdays, and then I putter around quietly in the kitchen, trying to keep the clatter down so that I won't wake Coral up.

Usually this is our morning together with no real pressing agenda. Barry comes out and starts making coffee. While it perks, we make toast and eggs and sometimes bacon or pork chops, too. We sit across from each other at the dining room table. The newspaper is right side up to Barry, upside down to me. And that is the way I like it. I figure out the upside-down headlines and ask him about the ones that interest me. He reads what I want to hear and gleans other little nuggets of interest to share with me. He figures he is a little old-fashioned because holding the paper and ink right in his hand still seems so much better than reading the news on a computer screen! We chat about this and that and whatever comes to mind as we sip our coffee and take all the time we want.

And yes, my house could be gratifyingly organized and sparkling and always ready for company... but I'm pretty sure that someday when we are holding hands in a nursing home, this memory will be the one that lasts!

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Our world stopped turning...

This morning I awoke to the sounds of our favorite local radio station, just as I always do, and slowly into my consciousness came the memories of that day 8 years ago. On the radio there was a moment of silence -- dead silence -- as if someone had flipped the world's switch off. And then came Alan Jackson's song...

It might be that there are hundreds of posts like mine today. I haven't even checked. I remember exactly where I was on 9-11 -- what I was doing, why I turned the TV on, and then why I could not turn it off again.

Here is the song, just like I heard it this morning.



(For an excellent video with the song, click here.)

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Never to be forgotten...

This evening I drove to Wal-Mart. Nothing new or strange about that.

But it was new and strange all the same. I couldn't help it. I drove carefully, a mile or two under the speed limit. People behind me probably thought I was Grandma Putt-Putt. My eyes were keenly alert, scanning the sides of the road for pedestrians. Just a few days ago, I had driven the same way, admiring the mountains in the distance and thinking far-away thoughts, automatically stopping and starting at the right places without concentrating on what I was doing.

What a difference an instant can make...

Yesterday morning, we were sitting in the Perkins Restaurant near our home, our booth overlooking a stoplight on the busy street. Suddenly, the man in the next booth gasped, and immediately we looked out the window. A woman lay on the asphalt in the far lanes of traffic, thrown a good distance in front of the vehicle that had hit her as she was crossing the road.

The scene is frozen in my mind. Her motionless body except for the hand reaching to her head. The slim middle-aged man jumping from his SUV and running to her, kneeling down and stretching his arms towards her desperately.

One police car and then another and another... it almost seemed as if they had been waiting around the corner for just such a moment. A man knelt on the ground beside her and seemed to be quietly talking during the eternity before the ambulance and fire truck came. And I...the one who looks the other way when we drive by the site of an accident...I could hardly bear to look.

Through the big window, I could see the officers and the firemen and the rescue personnel calmly and carefully doing what they are trained to do, and I thanked God for them. What kind of amazing person does it take to be a first responder?

I'm not sure if driving will ever feel quite the same again...

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Zzzzzzzz...

I'm planning now what to do in my spare moments for the next 2 weeks...

So if you call and I don't answer...
If you email and get no response...

That's right! I'll be at my desk...and I just might be snoozing!

In June, Barry and I spent 2 weeks away from home. First, we spent a week in New Jersey where we helped to provide special music for our church's annual convention, and then we drove up to Toronto, Canada, to visit my mother and sister and her family. (We had a great time, by the way!)

I wanted to work while I was gone, but as the time got closer, reality set in, and I knew I wouldn't be able to do it all. So... I kept up with the dictation from the internal med doctor who is my client close to home, and I took 2 weeks off from the work I do as an independent contractor for a transcription company in Missouri.

Other transcriptionists covered my work while I was gone, and now it is time for me to return the favor! So I have promised to put my fingers into overdrive and take my turn. (Thank goodness I don't have to type on a clunker like this!)

I'm in for a difficult and busy 2 weeks, but I'm thankful for my job, a job I really love (well, MOST of the time!)

Snow on the Mountain!

I was driving to an appointment yesterday morning - driving west on the street next to ours, straight toward the Rocky Mountains. A little jump over the houses down below, and I could be right there! Usually by this time of year, all the snow is gone from the front range, melting quickly in the hot weather, running down the ditches, and spreading out on the plains below. But not this year! It is the middle of July, and there is still snow on the mountains.
When I was a little girl growing up in Africa, I could not remember seeing snow. I remember one time we somehow got an apple. I wasn't used to apples, and I didn't much like them. But I remember my dad wished he could figure out how to grow an apple tree, and thinking to help him along on that, we carefully dug out the seeds from the core of the apple and planted them in a little can. After a while, a little green shoot came up, and we carefully watched and tended it until one morning, to our great dismay, we discovered that one of the cats had snacked on it overnight! This was a huge disappointment to us, but Daddy did not seem too upset. He said it would not have made apples anyway, because apples need frost.

I puzzled about "frost." Even though I had seen lots of pictures of snow and people wearing coats, I could not imagine it. The coldest thing I knew was the little tray of ice cubes in the little freezer compartment of our kerosene refrigerator. This is the same refrigerator that struggled and groaned and smoked its little kerosene wick trying to freeze one little tray of sweetened powdered milk into ice cream! I thought surely one little exposure to those ice cubes, and an apple tree should definitely be as cold as any apple tree needed to be! So I made the helpful suggestion to my dad that if we grew an apple tree and wanted apples, then we could take the tray of ice out and spread it around the bottom of the tree so that the tree could make some apples. I still remember the grin he gave me, just like it was yesterday!

If you had asked me what "snow on the mountain" was, I would have told you it was the hedge outside the bathroom door! Most of the little round leaves were a mottled green and white, but all the tiny young leaves on the top were delicate pink. Remembering it now, it was one of the most beautiful hedges I have ever seen.No apple trees for me. But if I had the seeds and a can full of dirt, you know what I would be trying to grow! A "snow on the mountain" hedge of my own!

(I look at this picture of me, and I can't recognize myself in that face. I don't remember that red dress except for seeing this picture of it. But I know it is me because of the hair! Check out those waves carefully coaxed into shape with a comb dipped in water! But the real giveaway is the end of my braid. My mother never let loose ends hang down. She always wrapped the end of the braid around and clipped a barrette on it to hold it! And that is how I know this is me!)
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Making ends meet...

I know you must be wondering. Has Jeanette disappeared from blog world? Is everything okay?

No, I haven't quite disappeared...not quite! Yes, everything is okay, but it would be my longest post ever if I were to explain why I feel like this rope! So I will give you the bare bones.

New Grace, the quartet Barry and I sing with, traveled to New Jersey in June to provide the special music at our church's annual convention. This required significant practice time prior to going, as we have not really been singing together for the last year, so for quite a while before we left, my stress level was high as I tried to cover work, Coral's normal care, extra practice, working out the details of Coral's supervision and care during our absence, and then actually packing and remembering everything to take with us. Aunt Paula took charge of all Coral's care for the 10 days we were gone, and Andrea arrived from California and was able to help for the last week or so.

The convention went well, and besides that, we were able to see Barry's mother and actually stayed at her house the whole time we were in New Jersey. This was great, as I have not seen her for quite a long time, and it was wonderful to catch up a little bit with extended family and friends. After the convention was over, we (Barry, my brother Gord, and I) drove north from New Jersey to Toronto, Canada, where we spent two days visiting my mother and Carol-Ann and her family (which, as you know, is one of my VERY FAVORITE things to do!)

All in all, the time away was a blessing and refresher for me. But, as with most of my little jaunts away from home, there is a price to pay when I get back, and this time was a doozey. We jumped right into work catch-up, arrangements and funeral services for our friend Warren who passed away just before we left home, and helping with Gord and Paula's departure for a 5-week trip to Liberia.

It seems like each day I get up at the usual time and hope I can get a good start on my work. But then the time gets eaten up by other very important things, and I arrive at the evening with most of my work still to be done. I have been working until 2 or 3 a.m. and getting up again at the usual time each morning with less and less "oomph" for what has to be done.

So I have been a little shadow in blogland, but I hope -- oh, how I hope! -- that things will soon be back to normal! I may never totally catch up, but as soon as I can, I will visit you!
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I Can't Even Imagine It....Part 4

Memorial Day is now in the past, but my thoughts about it continue on and are the reason for the title of this series. This year I was thinking about the moms of the young men and women who serve in the military, and I just can't even imagine what they go through.

While Trent was gone on this hike, I found that my mind was quite divided, and I could not really concentrate on the things I should have been doing. I admit that this was mostly because he was not well when he left, and I guess there is no way to turn off the mom-instinct! (Exhibit A -- me, worrywart!)

But compared to the moms of the young people in the military, I was skimming down Easy Street. I knew his plans, I knew his companions, and I knew where he was, for goodness sake! He was carrying a SPOT! And I knew he was not in any particular danger. And yet I still had my subconscious worrywart machine messing up my mind.

Then Memorial Day came, and I realized the enormity of the gift given to us by the moms (and dads) of the young people who serve in our military.

I cannot even imagine it...

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I Can't Even Imagine It....Part 3

I'm sorry to be so long in getting the next installment done. Work has been heavier than usual, and time has been hard to find. But to continue...

Barry came home, and the hike was on! I watched the SPOT signals and could see the slow progress, and the terrain map showed me the steep climbing they were doing. It was rainy, gray, and cold at our house, and I knew it had to be colder and maybe even snowing up at 10,000 feet where they were.

On Memorial Day, I watched those little orange bubbles on the satellite map. Would Trent come home with the other two, or would those little signals continue past the coordinates for the end of the trail where the truck had been left?? Barry was watching, too, because he still was not sure the truck was in the right place. And if they got to the end of the trail and did not find it, what would they do? They would have no idea where the truck was! And they would be in the middle of nowhere with miles and miles to even get to phone service. To make matters worse, we discovered in the trail book that there are two different trail heads at the end of Segment 4/beginning of Segment 5. Now we were pretty sure the truck was at the wrong one! The orange bubbles came to an end in a small clearing in the forest that we could see vaguely on the satellite map. We waited. No more signals.

Several hours later, Mike's truck went by my office window. All three hikers were home safe and sound. And this is the story they had to tell us!

About 5 miles before our hikers reached the empty parking lot (yes, the dads had left the truck in the wrong place), they met four other hikers on the trail. They were actually two separate groups of hikers who had already met each other.

One was a man and his wife who were experienced hikers and in great shape but had somehow gotten off their original trail and did not know exactly where they were. The other group was two men who were totally lost because their compass was reading 180 degrees off. North looked like South! They had started out on an easy hike and had gone to much higher elevations than planned because they were lost. This was actually serious for them because they were very cold, and one of the men was visiting for the weekend from Ohio. Even though he was in excellent shape for hiking, his lungs were very unhappy with the elevation he had taken them to, and they were not working well at all.

The night before, the two men had taken stock and prayed for five specific things. God answered all five of their requests, but I only know two of them -- that they would stay dry that night, and that they would find someone who could help them. That night, it did not rain and they were dry. And the next day they met the other couple and then our hikers.

The seven of them continued down the trail and got to the cleared "parking" area where our hikers thought the truck would be, but it was not there! So there were three groups of hikers -- our group who had no idea where the truck was, the man and his wife who did not know quite where they were, and the two men who were lost and cold and having some altitude problems.

When all of them reached the empty parking lot, the couple realized that it was Mike's truck that they had passed earlier about 5 miles further down the road. So Mike and the man set off at a pretty fast pace to get it and bring it back for the others. Trent looked around to see if he could build a fire because he could see how very cold the two men were, but there was no dry wood to be found, so there was nothing to do but wait. The two got back with the truck sooner than expected because another vehicle happened along the road they were on and gave them a lift. Mike's truck has an extended cab, so they were able to fit all seven people in, and Mike drove them to the town where they had parked their vehicles which was actually on the way home anyway.

And so our hikers arrived back home safely. And Trent said, "Because of genetics, I knew that two nights out on the trail, cold and wet, were all I should do until I get over this respiratory thing." And he is making a nice recovery and planning for a later hike instead.

What an amazing God we have, and how He showed his loving care on Memorial Day weekend! Two men, lost and in trouble, prayed and asked Him for what they needed. He gave them a dry night, brought across their path two others who had seen the truck earlier in the day, and then joined them up with the owners of the truck who did not know where it was. "It was a God thing," Mike told us, and he is right!

(To be continued... with one more installment to explain why I can't even imagine it!)

I Can't Even Imagine it....Part 2

The three hikers set off in two trucks with two of the dads (Brad and Barry) along to make this happen. The hike was to start at the beginning of Segment 3 and finish at the end of Segment 4, so the plan was for both trucks to go to the start and drop off the hikers. Barry and Brad would then take the two trucks to the end of Segment 4 and leave Mike's truck there for the hikers to use to come home in, and then Brad would come home with Barry. Trent had carefully printed out computer instructions for them so they would know where to leave Mike's truck.

Great plan! So off they went, and just before he drove off, Trent said, "I'm keeping it open to come back on Monday with them if I need to. (coff-coff-hack)" And I was thankful to have a son who could make a wise decision like that even though he had been planning this extended hike for so long.

Trent was carrying Mike's SPOT Satellite Messenger which has GPS tracking. This nifty little gadget sends out automatic messages to the satellite which in turn show up on a map I can see on my computer, so I can follow their progress. It is able to send out 4 different messages. Besides the autosignals, it can send out 1 preprogrammed message which Mike has set up to say, "God is Great, Life is Good, and I'm OK!" When this message is sent out, it comes to the email of everyone on Mike's list, along with the latitude and longitude coordinates of the SPOT, and they usually send that one out at the beginning and end of each hiking day. I've never seen the other 2 messages (which is a good thing), but one is for nonemergency help and one is for 911 help. This last one goes to the emails of everyone on the list and also to the emergency rescue people in the area closest to the SPOT.

All this is very reassuring, but it can also be a mixed blessing, I've discovered!

In the case of aforementioned worrywarts like me, when the unit doesn't make satellite contact for an extended period of time, or if there is operator error and the unit doesn't send out any signals for a whole day, visions of bears swallowing both SPOT and son have been known to flit through my head!!


Barry and Brad followed the printed instructions and finally found the little cleared area in the middle of wilderness-nowhere that seemed to be the right place to leave the truck. However, they really were not sure, because the directions and the road and the turns did not match up properly. Still, there was an old weathered sign that read, "Colorado Trail, Segment 5"... So with some misgivings, they parked Mike's big white truck, climbed into Barry's little one, and bumpety-bump-bumped their way back to the main road and home.

There will have to be another installment!

Before I go...I've been thinking about this. We make wonderful plans and put all the pieces in place, and that is a very necessary part of counting the cost of what we want to do and of being responsible. But when we have done our part and yet things seem to be going wrong, God sees the whole picture, including the needs of the other people around us. He knows how to work it all out!

(To be continued.... again!)

I Can't Even Imagine It...

I'm a sort of a worrywart! It is one of those things that got faithfully passed down to me from my Mom, and I suppose she got it from hers! Not that I am different from most other moms. I probably fit somewhere in the middle on the worry scale. I worry more than some and not nearly as much as others!

Memorial Day weekend was different this year at our house. Usually we think of our soldiers far away and thank God for them and the enormous sacrifices they make for us every day. In church, members of the military stand and are honored by the congregation. This year, some people from our church took part in a marathon race and wore special T-shirts in honor of a local soldier who recently died. And we think of Barry's Dad who, long before I knew him, served his country overseas.

This year, I thought of the moms of our soldiers. And here's why...

Last Saturday, Trent and two friends left to hike on The Colorado Trail. They planned to do segments 3 and 4, about 30 miles, over the long weekend. Then the two friends were coming home, and Trent was going to hike on for the next two weeks. And lest the word "trail" mislead you, this is not necessarily easy walking. They carry heavy packs, and sometimes the trail goes up and up and up and up. (I'm sure Trent will report on this trip soon.)

Several days before they left, Trent caught from Barry a real nasty respiratory infection that included a bad cough and laryngitis and, as the doc would say, "generalized malaise and fatigue!" He coughed and hacked by the truck at our driveway, took his inhaler with him, and went anyway.

(To be continued...)

Our visit with Renae!

I have a blind spot. It is more of a failing, actually. One of those "I-can-only-do-one-thing-at-a time" kind of shortcomings. I CANNOT REMEMBER MY CAMERA! And yesterday is a perfect example of it.

My blog-friend, Renae, is in Colorado! She is attending the annual Christian writer's conference in Estes Park. This is a mere 1 and 1/2 hour's drive for us as opposed to going all the way to Texas, and I knew I could not pass up this opportunity to meet her in person! So yesterday Barry, Coral, and I buckled down in our van and drove up into the mountains to eat dinner with Renae who had a little free time between conference sessions. I had forgotten how breathtakingly beautiful that drive is! There is no creator like God!

There were lots of things to prepare for that little trip. Coral, for one thing, as she was so excited to meet Renae! Her food, all blended and ready to go, heated to perfection and wrapped in a towel. Her ice cream, the container carefully frozen first and then filled with ice cream and frozen some more so it would last until supper time. I had already finished my medical transcription and sent it off to the doctor so that I wouldn't have that hanging over my head. Success! I even had time for a shower. And into my purse went the camera. I was so excited to take pictures of Renae, maybe even with Coral, to post on here. So off we went!

Big Elmo sat in the seat by Coral so that she would be okay with me sitting in the front with Barry. After the rush of getting off, it was so peaceful to sit in the quiet companionableness of our little family alone in our van. We talked a little bit, and Coral could hardly contain her joyful excitedness over the little gift bag she had to give to Renae!

As we pulled in at the conference center and up to the main building, there was Renae watching for us and waving! And we had such a great time getting to know each other in person and chatting, meeting some of her writer and speaker friends, eating dinner, laughing... It hardly seemed any time at all before we had to start home again.

And not once did I ever remember the camera in my purse! The one I told myself not to forget, the one I carefully put in there to make sure I had it with me, the one that should have had on it lots of great photos to share with you! A mile down the mountain, I suddenly thought of it! Oh, no! Not again! What is my problem? !

But what a blessing yesterday was to me! Such a beautiful and talented lady, with a truly rare gift from God for writing about MY feelings and MY experiences with humor and godly insight, and buried inside these everyday thoughts are faith and hope and lessons from God that I need to learn. I think what amazes me the most is her ability to write new fresh things every day!

Please visit Renae at Morning Coffee! Her first devotional book, Morning Coffee with James, is available for preorder now and will be in the stores later this year.
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Moms!

Happy Mother's Day!

The biggest job on the face of the earth...

Catch up time!

It's hard to believe that it is over a month now since I went to visit Carol-Ann and her family and my mother. I was in Canada for the last week of March, and it went by so quickly. I don't know why time has to act like that... skipping along when we are having fun, dragging its feet when we're not! It's high time I gave a little report!

Carol-Ann fixed up my bed in her large office area in the basement. This was perfect, as I took my laptop with me, and so down there I could keep up with my medical transcription whenever I wanted to. We settled into a homey routine, and most days I worked in the mornings. Then Bruce came home from work at noon time and shuttled me over to Mum's where I enjoyed the best lunches with her and her friend, Ruth. Then up to Mum's room where we would talk and laugh and catch up. One day I was so tired, I just curled up in her bed and took a nap. When I woke up, she was a bit disappointed that I had not gotten the full two hours of sleep she had hoped I would get! That's my Mum!

At supper time, Bruce would come and pick the two of us up to go back to their house for supper and the evening. I got to watch some of Kinza's favorite shows, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I just had the best time sharing in their everyday life. I even got to help with homework!!

Here's a picture I took on the day I was leaving. Mum was sitting in the big chair in her room.

My Mum

March 31, 2009
She will be 92 in July.

I showed her this picture on my little camera display, and she exclaimed,
"Oh, there's Daddy's picture in the background!"
And so it is.

Brrrr!

According to our thermometer, the temperature yesterday seemed to be stuck right around freezing. The wind was whipping the snow across the yard, though, so it felt colder than that.

Two little robins were out playing in the spring snowstorm, hopping around in the front yard, chasing each other, skittering across the top of the snow banks, and leaving little tracks on the sidewalk. I tried to sneak out the front door to capture their antics, but they were too shy. In fact, if you zoom in on this picture, you can see where this little guy made a quick U-turn on the sidewalk to get to a safe distance when he heard the door opening!

So we gawked at each other through the big front window instead!

It DID snow!

It was just as I thought...
I got up twice in the middle of the night to check for snow.
Just rain. Oh, phooey!
But then very, very early just as it was starting to get light, the snow began to fall, huge chunks of snowflakes all clinging together as if they were afraid to hit the ground.
It has kept up all day with a few clear times here and there.

Here's one of those clear times, taken from our front porch, on this very gray day.

Now the snow is falling steadily again, making everything all fuzzy and white.

A lot of snow is collecting on the bushes by our front porch. Pretty soon, we will take pity on those bushes and get the broom out to brush off all that weight!

Here we go again!

"Parts of the Denver metro could pick up 10 to 15 inches of snow, with as much as 2 feet or more in the foothills just west and south of Denver." --The Weather Channel, 04/16/2009

That's tonight!

This was the view from our front porch on April 10, 2008.
That is almost exactly a year ago... and here we go again!

I'm looking out my office window, and I can see the sparkling lights of the city down below us--crystal clear, and not a flake in sight. It's kind of hard to believe the forecast. But in the mountains, the snow is already thickly falling. I'm sure I will wake up in the night and look out the window hopefully.

How I love being snowed in!

Today I went to the store and stocked up on yogurt. The "yogurt shelf" in the fridge was almost empty, and Little Miss Muffin (Coral herself) thinks it is yogurt or nothing for breakfast. Being snowed in without enough of that would be too much to bear! (You'll have to take my word for it!)

a gray dawn
white sheets of snow blocking out the world
the thwipp-thwipp-thwipp of the coffee perking
warm jammies
my family
How blessed I am!

(And if we really do get this snow, I'll take a picture for you!)

Easter!

Jesus is alive!


But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death,
because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
--Acts 2:24

Good Friday

The cross...



wicked

cruel

evil beyond my understanding

a blessing beyond my imagination

... that terrible wonderful cross.

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
--Hebrews 13:12

Picture of the Day -- 03/21/2009

LC with his head on the cat pillow!

A couple of Christmases ago, a friend gave us this little pillow which has a cat on it with the words "Never go to bed alone!"
Somehow it got down on the living room floor, and when I came out from my office, there LC was with his head on it, relaxing, which is one of his best talents!
I just had to take a picture!

(And by the way, our cats never let us go to bed alone, either. Put your legs under the blanket, and they just have to be right there sitting on top of your feet and weighting the covers down!)

Picture of the Day -- 03/18/2009

Canada geese eating up all the tender shoots of winter wheat

I took this picture from the end of our driveway, looking west across the field toward the mountains.
At certain times of the year, we do wish these big birds would go back to Canada where they belong!
Some people say that they seem to have paths in the sky and always fly in the same places, so if you happen to live under that path... well, you might always have droppings on your roof! (I'm thankful to say this has not happened to us yet!)

Visit Trent's Blog!

If you have been following my blog, you know that I have posted lots of pictures by Trent. Most of them are gorgeous mountain scenes taken while he has been hiking, and I love having new ones to use as my header. I'm always telling him, "Take something with lots of blue in it to match my Rocky Mountain Blue blog!"

Well, he has finally started his own blog about his hiking experiences with info and tips on hiking gear and all kinds of other things. He is just getting started, but I'm sure he will be posting lots of pictures there. I sure hope he will still let me use some of them, as well!

Trent's blog...
Rocky Mountain Hiker

Here he is taking one of those pictures at the top of Humboldt Peak!

(Thanks to Mike for his pictures of Trent)

PICTURE OF THE DAY -- 02/20/2009

Trent, Mike, and Nathan
Ready to hike!

Barry took this picture on Mike's camera on January 17 as the three guys were leaving the parking lot and setting off to hike the first segment of the Colorado Trail. It was a 2-day hike with an overnight campout in the snow.

I'd be doing good just to get the pack on my back!
And check out the firewood strapped on the back of Mike's backpack!

PICTURE OF THE DAY -- 02/19/2009

Guess who this is!

Check this out!

Here I sit, hands poised over the keyboard -- and my mind is a blank! I can't seem to find anything to write about these days, and so I haven't been writing. Is this called writer's block? Maybe, but at least my livelihood is not depending on it. If it did, we would be starving! It is so much easier right now to stick on my headphones and type what someone else says rather than to come up with my own words.

So maybe I should do the "picture of the day" thing again for awhile until my mind comes back to me... Yes, I think that might be a really good idea.

Bruce and Carol-Ann in 1986
For today, I am sending you over to Carol-Ann's blog. If you have not been reading her "Be Mine, Valentine" series, you have been missing the Valentine's story of the year!

Click on the link below to get to her blog, and then scroll down on the page until you find "Part 1." She already has 15 installments there, and we are waiting with bated breath for the next one!

Carol-Ann's Blog

Under the covers...

Yesterday was pretty cold -- in the single digits F -- and last night the weatherman said we might get some snow. So this morning I got up with one decision to be made right away. Should Coral go to her day program or not? First I checked the outdoor thermometer... Brrrr... 4 degrees F. (minus 15 C.) I took a squint out the kitchen window and saw that quite a brisk wind was moving the evergreens. Nope. This is the whole reason why I work from home. No more sending Coral out in terrible weather. No more worrying about how to call work and say I can't come. No more stress about doing the right thing. (And, of course, wearing flannel jammies and sipping hot tea while I type!) Then it began to snow, and I could not even see the house across the field. Confirmation of my good judgment, I told myself! And Coral snoozed until late in the morning, nice and warm under the covers!

Someone else had the right idea this morning about where to stay warm...Trent took this picture and sent it to me.
He got out of bed, and when he came back, there was Tux who had made himself all cozy!

I'm still here...

I woke up early this morning and just could not get back to sleep, so I got up to take care of a few little loose ends that needed attention. Now in a few minutes I will get Coral up for the day, and then it will be time for work.

So before I jump into the day with both feet, here is a quick post to say I hope to soon be back to having time to blog again. Thanks for your comments and for missing me! I have not been able to visit your blogs much or leave comments. This past month has been really difficult for Coral which just automatically means difficult for me. Now I have this sinus/bronchial thing going on...

But I shall be back soon, I hope! In the meantime, I'm wishing for each of you peace in the New Year.

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