The Curse

           I couldn’t decide, this week, what I wanted to talk about first. I took a bunch of pictures of hawks. I could title this Hawks and start with five pictures of hawks and tell you about the one I missed.

          Alternately, this one could also be called Finally! because I can finally tell you about the project I mailed.

          While writing the date I realize it’s the end of the first month of a new year. I was just complaining to my morning peeps that the days are passing too quickly. I could add that the weeks are passing equally as quickly, too.       

When you’re young, the school year seems endless and the summers long. But now...

It’s a curse, I thought to myself. The curse of age.

          So, on with it.

          I saw quite a few hawks this week. I think it was just last year — or was it the year before? — I complained about not seeing any hawks.

          I knew this shot wouldn’t be any good. He was too far away and with the blue sky behind him, all I got was a silhouette.

          This one was pretty far away, too.

        I cropped the photo. 

          Another hawk silhouette. I should stop showing you the ones that aren’t so good.

          This one was closer to the road and I saw him in time to get the camera up. 

          This one also wasn’t far from the road.

          The one I missed was perched on a branch nearly hanging over the road. I didn’t see him in time to take his picture. As with anything else you miss, you think, and in my case, say to your husband, “It would’ve been the best one!”

>>>*<<<

          My best old friend in West Virginia finally got her Christmas package. I sent a box chock-full of goodies. Nestled among it were two loaves of homemade bread and two big pieces of pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting. Unfortunately, because of weather, the box spent six days everyplace but with Trish. Six days is a long time when you’re homemade bread without preservatives.

          “It was starting to get stale,” Trish said, “but I buttered it and toasted it and it was good.”

          The cake fared better. “The cake is delicious!” she told me the next day.

          But the real surprise in the box was the sheet music sign I made for her.

          “What’s your favorite hymn?” I asked her before Christmas but didn’t tell her why.

          “If I had to pick, I think it’d be Amazing Grace,” she replied.

          Do y’all know the story behind that hymn?

I’ve been playing around a lot with artificial intelligence this week. Rather than sift through stories and write something myself, I asked AI to write me a short story about it.

          John Newton was a slave trader who had no regard for God or human dignity. He sailed across the Atlantic, buying and selling human lives for profit. He was cruel, greedy, and hardened by his sin.

One day, as he was returning from a voyage, a fierce storm struck his ship. The waves were towering, the wind was howling, and the ship was cracking. John feared for his life and realized that he had no hope of salvation. He remembered the Bible verses his mother had taught him as a child, and he cried out to God for mercy.

To his surprise, the storm subsided and the ship was spared. John felt a strange peace in his heart and wondered if God had heard his prayer. He decided to read the Bible and learn more about the God who had saved him from the storm.

As he read, he discovered the amazing grace of God, who loved him and gave his Son to die for his sins. He realized that he was a wretch who needed forgiveness and a new life. He repented of his sins and trusted in Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

He left the slave trade and became a preacher of the gospel. He wrote many hymns to praise God and share his faith with others. One of his most famous hymns was "Amazing Grace", which he wrote to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. He wanted to tell the world how God had changed his life and given him hope.

"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see."

Those words can be taken to heart and bring tears to your eyes.

In my stash of stuff, I have two rolls of wallpaper backing. I didn’t know what it was when I bought it at a yard sale, all I knew was it was thick and would make good pages for a sketch book I wanted to make someday.

I got the backing out and cut a page-size piece. It kept rolling so I ironed it. I found a free printable copy of Amazing Grace and ran the backing through my printer.

I have a lot of leftover printer ink from when I used to refill cartridges. I was hoping it would work on this paper. I got out the ink and a quill pen and set to work. I was thrilled at how well it was working and stopped to take a picture for you.

           I’d planned to switch to watercolors to paint the image, but the ink was working so well I decided to keep using it.

A printer uses only a few colors to make all the colors. I had to figure out how to mix them to get the colors I wanted. My cute little redhaired sister was a great help to me in this department.

The only part of this not painted with leftover printer ink is the white of the church. I used acrylic paint for that.

I had another plan for this project that didn’t come to fruition. I’d planned to mount it on a piece of wood. How I was going to do that was rattling around in my head. What wood would I use? Should I chippy paint it? Then it occurred to me that wood would be heavy to mail.

“How about framing it?” Mike suggested.

I was considering that, thinking about how to keep the glass from getting broken and still thinking about wood, when I heard the Kipps in my head. I’d made a keychain holder for them and I made the cardboard look like wood.

“I thought it was wood,” Miss Rosie said.

I cut several thicknesses of cardboard and painted them green, thinking Trish’s favorite color is green. Maybe not this shade but green’s green, right?

I was pleased with the result. I could only hope that Trish would like it, too.

“OH MYLANTA!!!!!!” she told me when she got her box. “That sign is awesome! I showed it to Ben (her son) and he said, ‘I like that piece of wood.’ I told him it wasn't wood. He had to take it and examine it before he believed it. He was impressed.”

I smiled.

Trish went on. “I hung my sign on the wall between the windows in my bedroom and hung the stained-glass Christmas tree in the window so it sparkles in the light.”

          I was thinking maybe I’d make a few more song sheets along this vein to hang in the entryway of my church.

>>>*<<<

          My beautiful Minnesota sister is taking care of Jim’s mom, Jean. Phyllis and Jim have been together 30 years this June. That’s longer than most marriages last. Jean is in a nursing home and Phyllis goes every day and spends hours with Jean, making sure she’s getting the care she needs, the foods she likes, and keeping her entertained playing cards with her. I so admire Phyllis for her devotion.

          Then I got a call from Phyllis. “I have a favor to ask and you are free to say no.”

          “Okay. Shoot.”

          “Jean has a friend that sends her cards with little notes in them. You should see how she lights up when she gets one.”

          I knew where this was going, but I didn’t interrupt.

          “Would you consider sending her a card once in a while?”

          I didn’t even have to think about it. “Sure! I’d be happy to!”

          I love that my sister thought of me for this project. I love that she knows I love making things. And I love that something I make will bring joy to someone else.

          I think I turned right from hanging up the phone to my collection of images. I found a pretty bird drinking from a pool and printed it. Then I got my card making supplies out and made a card.

          Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention to orientation and put the bird on upside down. Well, it wasn’t upside down when I put it on, but it’s upside down when you open the card! I carefully peeled it off and glued it back on the right way. The lace had to stay where it was because I used super glue to affix that and it didn’t matter which side of the image it was on anyway.

          Then I turned back to my computer and used AI to write a short poem. AI is cool. I just told it what I wanted. “A short poem about a thirsty bird who wanted to say hello.”

A thirsty little bird flew in my window today,

Followed by two little bees.

“There’s a pretty little lady in Minnesota we need to see?”

“Whatever for?” I asked.

“Why, just to say hello and we think of thee!”

          Okay! Okay! It’s kinda corny, I agree. But I don’t think she’ll mind. Inside the card I added a couple of little bees and a daisy or two, plus a short-handwritten note.

          Since then, I’ve made three more cards. Two for Rachel, Phyllis’ daughter, and another for Jean. I used AI to create the images as well as the corny poems, and words of encouragement for Rachel.

          Something else I made this week was a recipe from our old friend in Missouri. When Margaret was still working, her department got together, submitted recipes and made a cookbook. Margaret contributed Hamburger Stroganoff, a recipe she liked and made often. Her recipe called for it to be put over rice but I used wide egg noodles.

          There’s nothing like comfort food for these cold winter days.

          I also made homemade bread, Mounds Brownies, and Lemon Bars this week. Only the bread was for me. I have a weakness for homemade bread toast and the bread recipe I use is ridiculously easy. So easy that I don’t mind making it. Toasted, it’s a good base for a little cream cheese, or peanut butter and jelly, or just plain butter. But I have to watch my butter consumption as it’ll make my belly hurt if I eat too much of it, and believe me, when it comes to homemade bread toast, it’s easy to go overboard and ‘slather it on’ as Trish says.

          “What were the other things for?” you wanna know.

          I made the brownies and lemon bars for movie night at the church. We watched a movie called God’s Not Dead. It’s a really good movie and even though the end is a little graphic, it shows God’s great love. If you wanna see it, message me and I’ll hook you up.

>>>*<<<

          In crafts this week, I made the symbol for Alcoholics Anonymous into suns for my cute little redhaired sister, Diane.

          “Everyone can use a little sunshine in their life,” she told me.

          I’d originally sent her these four stained-glass symbols without points on them. Since they were extras and not part of her order, I didn’t go through the trouble of putting points on them. Diane liked them with points so much that she sent the plain ones back and asked me to put points on them as well.

          I love her so I did.

I won’t mention that she paid me to do that for her so I sorta had to. But I love that she values my work and resources and didn’t presume on my love — although I totally would’ve done it for her even if she hadn’t paid me.

          I have one more to make for Diane. This one will have a diamond in the middle instead of the triangle, which is the symbol for Narcotics Anonymous. I expect I’ll have it done Monday and have the box back in the mail to her on Tuesday.

          Speaking of love...

          I got a box in the mail from someone who loves me and gifts me things from time to time. I always get a little excited when a box I didn’t order shows up at my door. Gifts not asked for nor expected are always the best gifts and encapsulate the true meaning of love.

I opened the box to a pair of fur-lined winter boots. I slipped my feet into the comfy warm yumminess and haven’t taken them off since!

          Okay, okay! I took them off before I went to bed, but I put them right back on the next day. I considered wearing them in the shower but I don’t think they’re waterproof.

          Okay, okay! That part’s a lie.

          >>>*<<<

           Our internet is really bad. I know I’ve told you that before. I play 3003 Crystal Mazes while I’m waiting for it to reconnect. This puzzle took me a while to figure out. I’m talking weeks. Once I saw the answer I thought, how simple was that‽ My computer marks it as solved and moves on to the next puzzle. I know I played two or three more puzzles before I closed the game.

          Imagine my surprise when I opened the game this week and this puzzle opened as not yet solved.

          I could kick myself.

          Sometimes, when I finally figure out an especially tough puzzle, I’ll play it several more times. This time I didn’t and now I can’t remember the answer and I’ve been playing it all week, because, like I said, my internet sucks and drops out A LOT!

          “You should do something about your internet,” you say.

          I know, right!

          There was a repair crew from the internet company working on the lines at the neighbor’s house. When he pulled into our back driveway to check the lines, Mike went out and talked to him. Turns out our neighbor gets 12 mbps and we only get 1! And we’re on the line before him! We should have at least as much service as he has.

          We called the internet company and told them this. We talked to three people before one of the technicians told us we could get an eero box and that would fix our problems but it will cost us ten dollars more a month.

          “Let’s do it!” We’d gladly pay an extra fee to have better service. Do you think they had it planned that way so we’d upgrade our service?

          Two eero boxes arrived the next day and someone is supposed to be here Monday to install them for us. Keep your fingers crossed that it fixes our problems.

>>>*<<<

          Guess what?

          I know you can’t guess so I’ll just tell you. I’ve lost some of my reusable shopping bags. I have a bag I keep all my bags in and normally it’s kept in the car but sometimes, if we need the extra room in the car, we take the bags out and leave them in the garage. Once the groceries are unpacked, I fold the bags and take them right out to the car. I know if I don’t, I’ll forget them. This last time I didn’t do that though. I got busy with other stuff and it was a couple of days before I picked up the stack and took them out to put them away. My bag of bags wasn’t in the car. I looked around the garage and couldn’t see them. I came back in and looked around the house. They weren’t there either. I checked the garage a second and a third time and Mike looked, too. We can’t find them anywhere.

          “Did we pack our groceries and leave the rest of the bags at the store?” I asked Mike.

          “Seems like we must’ve,” he said.

          That was weeks ago.

          This week we went to Walmart and I asked at the service desk if anyone turned them in. She told me no without even looking. Whatever.

At Aldi I asked the manager if anyone had turned my bags in and got another no. To be fair, if I saw reusable bags left at the bagging stations, I’d think they were extras someone left on purpose, so I didn’t really think anyone would turn them in.

          “That’s okay,” I told the gal at Aldi. “I just hope whoever has them uses them.”

          “Can I buy you a bag?” she asked. “I’d like to buy you a bag.”

          I thought about it for a second. I didn’t really need another bag. I have the five or six we carried into the house with groceries and we seldom use more than that, but how could I refuse such a kind and generous offer?

          “Okay,” I said.

          “Just pick one out,” and she gestured to where they hung near the registers. I took one in the size that Mike and I prefer and I thanked her for it.

          Sometimes people still surprise me.

          I took some road pictures and I’d like to end this week with those.

          Frosted trees. 

          An ice jam on our creek.        

          Let’s call this one done.