The Life of Mrs. Miles

APPLIQUE #2

download here (fixed now...sheesh!!)

First of all, I want to say a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Barry and Judy, my brother and sister in law, on the sale of their home. It's official - after an ETERNITY of waiting and preparing for this time of their lives. I know how hard it was for you to wait, Judy and there were times you were on your face in front of our Lord, asking for strength and patience. I am overjoyed He has chosen this time for your dream to be fulfilled.

Well, I missed an entire day blogging! It felt very strange. What happened is that the internet was not working all morning, and by the time Miles restored it at lunchtime I was already into heavy cleaning mode, so I decided to wait till today. Hope you all missed me too! I think I caught a grump-bug from my friend Becky, who struggled to get through last week with a happy attitude - in fact I near took Miles head off on Sunday. Yes, Mrs. Miles was a real winner that day! I could not seem to get a grip on my emotions and I was just awful. I just hate it when the words roll out of my mouth without the permission of my brain, and I have a knack of 'going for broke' once I mess up in the first place. Thank the Lord for giving me a very understanding husband. We are thinking (fishing for a plausible explanation for my unacceptable behavior) that this might be the onset of men-o-pause. It IS the right time of my life - anyone got advice for me? For Miles (besides "run for your LIFE!") I know one thing, I surely welcome your prayers, and I need to be doing more of that as well.

I feel so bad, feeling sorry for myself, when a dear, dear friend of mine is suffering. Many of you know GINA - who lost her young son, Nick, tragically, last fall. Today is Nick's birthday - and this is going to be one horrible day for Gina. Won't you take a moment out of your busy day to leave some consoling words for our Sister? Gina, I love you and both Miles and I are praying for you and the family today. We can't know your pain, today, our friend, but we will lift you to our Lord.

The dead they sleep...
The dead they sleep a long, long sleep;
The dead they rest, and their rest is deep;
The dead have peace, but the living weep.

~Samuel Hoffenstein

TO ALL PARENTS
by Edgar Guest

"I'll lend you for a little time a child of mine," He said.
"For you to love the while he lives and mourn when he is dead,
"It may be six or seven years, or twenty-two or three,
"But will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me?

"He'll bring his charms to gladden you, but should his stay be brief,
"You'll have his lovely memories, as solace for your grief,
"I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return,
"But there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn.

"I've looked the wide world over in my search for teachers true,
"And from the throngs that crowd life's lanes I have selected you.
"Now will you give him all your love, nor think the labor vain,
"Nor hate me when I come to call to take him back again?

I fancied that I heard them say: "Dear Lord, Thy will be done!
"For all the joy Thy child shall bring, the risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter him with tenderness; we'll love him while we may,
And for happiness we've known forever grateful stay.

"But should the angels call for him much sooner than we'd planned,
"We'll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand."

THE DESK - BEFORE

THE DESK - AFTER!

Ok, so it proved to be a busy weekend for us. Miles has a talented student at his school - Roger, who you may remember from past blog posts, as he and his wife, Marie have the highly photogenic Alpacas. Roger, besides being a terrific video buff, also builds things out of wood. He builds things, I say, because he can size up a project just like that, and make it come to life! He and Miles have been collaborating on some office furniture - and instead of going to somewhere like Staples and getting something which we would have to try to fit to the room, he had Roger create something that is tailored! I've been amused watching the flurries of emails going back and forth. Miles drew up his plans in the free Sketchup program (available from Google) and he emailed them to Roger, Roger built! Roger built in like one single day - beautifully. He is so humble, won't allow us to compliment him in person, so we are doing it here. Can't thank you enough, Roger, you do amazing work.

Course, once the furniture came home, it had to be painted, right away... So, Miles stocked up on paints - black melamine, and we both worked away over a day. It turned out pretty spiffy in the end!

I did mention we went on our hike over the weekend - more photos of that to follow this week.

I also meant to post a link to another blog - Cisero Sings, she has a beatufil picture of a Fairy Slipper Orchid on her blog - they are amazingly beautiful, delicate and rare - getting rarer all the time. You can check it out by clicking HERE and the photo is on May 12ths entry.

YAXIN AND FAMILY

We had a lovely visit last night from our friend Yaxin and her family. I apologize profusely for this Yaxin, but I do not know how to spell your husband's name, so I won't even try. Forgive me and teach me how! Yaxin is a student at the Learning Center, working through some accounting courses. She's a warm, friendly and knowledgeable lady and we enjoy her company. Yaxin and her family came here from Bejing, China!

We invited her family to come for dessert and a visit. Her daughters Joy and Alice had fun swinging and hiking on the trails and eating the homemade ice cream sandwich cookies I made for a snack. We even were fortunate to see a deer on the trail! Thanks for a pleasant time, Yaxin and family - we look forward to more in the future!

LAYOUT BY SENATI
Credit: Superhero Kit by Barb Derksen

Thanks for sharing your layout, Senati! I love to post reader's layouts, so send a small version to me at lalalime@hotmail.com, along with credits if you would like to have your own layout (using any of my elements) featured here!

Today in History:

1602 - Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Batholomew Gosnold

1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers his harmonics law

1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's Beads" during annular solar eclipse

1886 - American poet Emily Dickinson died

1930 - Ellen Church 1st airline stewardess United flight SF to Cheyenne

1972 - George C Wallace shot & left paralyzed by Arthur Bremer

BARB'S HANDY TIP # 261

Become a PHENOLOGIST

NPR, NPR... I know, I DO go on about it, but this radio station has the most interesting articles on it. For example, over the weekend they talked about something called Project Budburst... something you and I can take part in, to collect data about native plants so the scientists can track global warming by tracking how early/late the plants are. The plants blooming earlier and earlier may be indicators of our earth warming up. Sounds like it could be fun, and informative and be helping. You can actually listen to the entire article in AUDIO, or read the article, by clicking HERE.

Heads up, you backyard botanists. Take a look at your region's native plants. Are the bloodroots budding? The saguaro cactus blooming?

If so, Project Budburst needs you. The online "citizen science" campaign collects data about native plants. All you have to do to play is observe. Whether it's the first leaf of an aspen or the first bloom of an evening primrose, note the date, head for the Web site, and presto! You're an instant phenologist.

YOU CAN ALSO GO STRAIGHT TO THE BUDBURST WEBSITE - THIS IS A GREAT WEBSITE FOR TEACHERS, TOO - GOOD ACTIVITIES!

BUDBURST