Normally I write about what’s going in my workshop on Wednesdays, but there’s not a lot to talk about there. You’re probably more interested in what my camera saw while I was out on a walk today, right? I see nodding heads all around, so let’s go with that.
You need to enlarge the photo if you’re looking at your phone. Note that he has brown paws and is clutching a green leaf. It doesn’t get much better than that, especially if you’re as easily delighted as I am.
Playing peek-a-boo with a cardinal. He thought I couldn’t see him. I took another photo just for fun.
I guess it’s just as well that birds and animals are skittish about us humans getting too close. I’m a little skittish about them getting too close to me, too. I spent some time cultivating a friendship with a squirrel once and when he finally got close enough to eat something out of my hand, he promptly bit me on the thumb. Let’s call the whole thing off, as the song goes.
I’m not too fond of the idea of birds flying too close to me either. I blame it on the movie “Birds,” an Alfred Hitchcock production that was foisted upon me in junior high. Well, it wasn’t exactly compulsory viewing, but they were showing it in the auditorium during the lunch hour and I didn’t have anything else to do. How did I know it was going to scar me forever? I saw some of those kinds of birds today, too.
You can’t tell me that those birds aren’t DIRECT DESCENDANTS of the evil birds in the movie. They may look innocent, but their every waking thought is about poking people’s eyes out. I told you I was scarred forever.
Well, wasn’t that fun?
I’ll probably delete this in the morning unless there are birds lurking around. *shudder*
In my senior year of college, I started applying for dietetic internships. The one at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, was the closest one to where I lived and I was told that if you applied there and were close enough to come for a visit and didn’t bother, your application wouldn’t be considered. This internship was my first choice, so I called down there and made an appointment to meet with Sister Moira.
The cons: detours take you away from your planned route, usually represent a delay of some sort, and often reek of the unknown. When I see a detour sign I usually have to stifle ( or not) a sense of impatience. If I’m traveling unfamiliar roads, a layer of anxiety leaks in, for who knows how far out of they way I will be directed or even if the signs will be clear enough to follow? I don’t like detours.
The pros: it is far better to contemplate the fact that detours exist for the very good reason that the original road was badly in need of repair or in need of improved design. Detours and repairs don’t last forever and when the sign goes down, the roads are smooth, new and much improved. It turns out the engineer knew what he was doing and that the cause of irritation is really a reason to be thankful.
Why can I not remember this when God puts a detour sign up in my life? Why do I always bemoan the changes, the delays and the uncertainty? The Engineer knows what He is doing. Thanks be to God.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,”Plans for welfare and not for calamity.”Jeremiah 29:11
Reprinted from my old blog.
I’ll probably delete this if I don’t run into a detour.
In the little kingdom of Treeleaf, Bruno and Agatha gave birth to their first son (Agatha did the giving birth part, Bruno did the expectant father part – they each played their parts well). They looked at their newborn son fondly and decided to name him Hugo.
Hugo grew into a fine young man. He was tall, good looking, strong and courageous. Everyone who knew him said, “He will be a mighty warrior, a credit to our kingdom of Treeleaf.” Bruno and Agatha used to make humble comments when they heard these things, but privately, they agreed.
The neighboring kingdom of Sagebrush used to mind their own business and the two kingdoms were happy to ignore each other. But a new king arose in Sagebrush and he thought he’d rather like to acquire parts of Treeleaf for Sagebrush, so he began to raise up an army. They weren’t very good at first, so he put them to work doing some practice harassment. The city of Nettles in Sagebrush sat right on the border between the two kingdoms, across from the city of Moonseed in Treeleaf, so the harassment started from there.
The king of Treeleaf raised up his own army and once both armies were done practicing, the fighting started in earnest between the two cities. Hugo not only joined the army, but also quickly rose in the ranks. He was an excellent warrior and strategist. Eventually, with Hugo at the head of the army of Treeleaf, they conquered Nettles once and for all. They not only conquered Nettles, they took it over, renamed it Newberry, and made it part of Treeleaf. The king of Sagebrush admitted defeat and the two kingdoms went back to ignoring each other.
By this time, Hugo’s reputation in Treeleaf was well established, and lacking a war to attend to, he went on tour of all the cities of the kingdom. Each time he entered a city, he was met by city dignitaries, a parade was given, and the whole town would gather and call out “Hugo! Hugo! Hugo! Hugo!” What fun! Hugo got quite used to the adulation and began to receive as his due. And that’s when people began to discover Hugo’s Achilles’ heel: he had a temper problem.
He snapped if he was interrupted, he fumed if dinner wasn’t done when he was hungry, he yelled if his bath wasn’t ready on time, he seethed if someone tried to share the stage with him, and had no tolerance for any sort of criticism. And waiting in line? Forget it! Hugo’s popularity waned, but he continued with the tour.
Finally, he came to the little town of Vineyard in the northwest corner of the kingdom. He sent his PR people ahead of time as usual, but in spite of that, when he entered the town, no one was there to greet him. He was outraged. He began taking it out on the PR people, but one of them spoke up timidly, saying, “We told them you were coming, Hugo, but they simply weren’t impressed. They say they have a man here who is superior to your might and don’t see any need to give you a parade.” Hugo demanded to meet the mayor of the town and so he was taken to the mayor’s office.
The mayor began to welcome Hugo warmly, but Hugo interrupted. “I have led our army. I captured the city of Nettles almost singlehandedly. I have never lost a battle. Show me this man whom you claim is mightier than me. I shall challenge him to a duel.”
The mayor looked amused by this. “I’ll bring you to him, but I think you’ll see that he’s much too busy for duels and such. Follow me.”
Hugo was ready to fight, no matter what, so he was happy to follow the mayor. Along the way, the mayor began to explain, “I’m taking you to see our local grocer, Albert. He and his wife run the grocery store, helped by the older two of their children. I can see that you are incredulous, but I must ask you to watch and wait when we get there. If you still want to fight our man after 15 minutes, we’ll talk.”
The mayor led Hugo to a place just outside the grocery store where he could watch Albert through the window. “What a waste of time,” Hugo was thinking to himself, already growing angry at this delay. “Just watch,” said the mayor, as if he could hear what Hugo was thinking.
It was a busy day at the grocer’s. Albert stood at the counter taking payments and overseeing the packing of groceries by his two children, both of whom looked a little bit young for this responsibility. Sure enough, one of the kids packed one of the bags too full and the bag broke, spilling the groceries out on the counter and floor. Albert apologized to the customer, helped his son pick up the groceries, patiently showed him a better way to pack them, patted him on the back, and then went on to the next customer. Albert’s wife interrupted Albert in the middle of the next transaction with a question about one of their specials. He nodded to his wife with a smile to acknowledge her, asked pardon of the customer, answered his wife’s question and went back to finish the transaction. The next customer was angry and started yelling at Albert about the bad bananas he had gotten last week. Albert listened politely, offered to replace the bananas and thanked the customer for letting him know. A woman with two young children stepped up to the counter, trying to hold onto both wiggly toddlers while getting her money out. “Here, Madge, let me take one of those fellows for you while you pay,” Albert said, reaching out for the wiggliest of the two. He laughed and made faces at the little guy while Madge finished up, looking very grateful for the help. Over on Aisle 2, an employee accidentally knocked over a jar of jam, breaking it on the floor. Albert took this in stride, asking the employee to make sure none of the customers stepped on the broken glass and sticky mess while he went to fetch a broom and mop. Hugo overhead Albert tell the employee, “Don’t worry about it – I’ll help you clean it up.”
It had only been ten minutes, but Hugo turned to the mayor and said, “I am defeated. I yield. What Albert has is better than all of my might..” The mayor nodded and said, “He’s looking for help. Want a job?”
And that’s how Hugo ended up working in Vineyard at Albert’s, learning from the master.
“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.” Proverbs 16:32
This has been Fiction Friday with Lynniebeemuseoday.
I’ll probably delete this in the morning, especially if Hugo comes after me.
I’ve got quite a few projects in the works this week. Remember Purslane the Hedgehog? I had put out a general call to the blogosphere for some help finding hedgehog fur and my friend Teresa came through. She donated a fur stole from a coat that she was taking off and replacing with a better one.
Hedgehog Fur?
I wasn’t sure it would work very well, but after I gave it a good haircut, I think it will be just fine for Colonel Purslane. Yes, I decided to keep his name and added the Colonel bit because I need him for my story. Author’s prerogative!
Those of you looking at this on the teeny tiny screens on your phones might have to enlarge the bit with Colonel Purslane since I put the knitted projects in the foreground. The colonel will look better when he’s done, but what do you think of the fur? Right now his ears look like weird little arms sticking out, so I’m hoping they’ll shape up as ears when I sew them on.
I recently came across the most darling pattern for knitted gnomes and purchased it in an impulsive gnome-frenzy moment. No regrets. Although I was somewhat surprised when I took a closer look that these aren’t as small as I thought. The biggest one is 9.5 inches tall!
How could anyone resist them? I started the large one, but haven’t gotten very far.
That’s it from Lynniebee’s Workshop!
I’ll probably see if I can get a gnome to work on deleting my posts in the morning.
My dad was a camp counselor at Camp Miller at Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota, in 1943. He was just 16 years old and had been hired to be the camp bugler, but soon after he arrived, one of the other counselors had to cancel out of his commitment, so Dad took on the extra responsibility of camp counselor as well. Here’s one of his stories:
When you enter into someone’s home, you will soon see whether or not you are in the presence of a collector. They might have a collection of spoons hung on a wall, or perhaps a collection of Hummel figurines in a glass case. Maybe your collecting friend has chosen dolls, owls, or fowls and has them assembled on shelves. We visited someone recently who had an entire garage set aside for a collection of cars.
