Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #4

Mom had a fascination with the wind that I never did completely figure out. When I was a youngster and playing or working outside, the summer breezes could be quite stiff sometimes - to the point of annoyance to me. She'd be out in the same wind, and make some remark about the marvelous breeze, blissfully lifting up her arms as if she'd love to go flying along with it. Other times, we'd be all cozied inside the house and listening to the winter wind shrieking up a storm outside. Mom loved that sort of wind, too, if she didn't need to be out in it. She'd sometimes recite the beginning lines of Eugene Field's Night Wind poem: "Have you ever heard the wind go 'Yooooo'? 'Tis a pitiful sound to hear! It seems to chill you through and through With a strange and speechless fear..." Yes, Mom, thanks to your expressive spirit, I have!

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #3

Not only did Mom enjoy flowers in the wild; she also grew her domestic ones with great delight. The kinds I planted in my own flowerbed last year (pictured here) are all types of flowers she had in her gardens during my growing-up years. I don't go to near the work she did with hers, though...starting them from seed, collecting rain water to irrigate them and deadheading them faithfully...I didn't even coordinate the colors to my liking last year. I'm not sure that part would've mattered to her, since she was such an "all things bright and cheeryful" sort of person.

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #2

Mom was a lover of nature. She passed along this interest to me through the hands-on activities she initiated with us children when I was young, and through her own passion in discovering God's creation. From her, I learned how to identify many of Wisconsin's spring flowers and numerous kinds of birds. She taught me that this flower is called bloodroot because of the reddish sap that oozes out of its stem like blood when you break it. That mottled leaf in the top left-hand corner of the pic belongs to a flower called adder's tongue; it's also known as trout lily (named thus for looking like the skin of a fish). How I would love to take a tramp through the spring woods with Mom again!  

Week #10 Theme: Remembering Mom-Eva

I have been thinking a lot about Mom-Eva this spring. One reason is that yesterday marked the twenty-second anniversary of her death. I miss her. Another reason is that I am now the age that Mom was when she passed away. Back then I knew she was young, but now I realize that she was very young! Somehow, I think that if she were to answer my questions about life right now, she would tell me to take stock, be grateful for what is, and go on to live in Christ joyfully and sacrificially every single day that I'm allowed here on this earth. (I will do that, Mom, in memory of you. Ok, you probably knew too, that saying it would make me cry.) And this week I will post pics of things that remind me of her. She was a wonderful cook. One of the mouth-watering comfort foods she made was poor man's steak. We were sort of poor when I was growing up, but when I would eat this kind of steak at her table surrounded by our family and/or friends, I felt rich.

Broken Theme: Pic #7

My brother-in-law knows how to do an impressive object lesson. During a devotional time for the littles at a family reunion last summer, he donned this "broken" shirt. It was one of the ways he illustrated the nature of dishonesty.

Broken Theme: Pic #6

On our Thailand trip a few years ago, we saw this proclamation at one of the many open air cafes beside the Phuket beach. We didn't patronize the bar, so we don't know what kind of English was spoken there, but I'm guessing the owner had some humor.

Broken Theme: Pic #5

This must be a first for me - to post two pics in one blog entry. Explanation: both had to be used to get the desired effect. When I saw the tabletop tulips in their broken, neglected state as depicted in the first photo, I was sure the bouquet was a goner. A few inches of water in the vase and a few hours worth of patience brought about the transformation of the bouquet as depicted in the second photo. I feel like there could be a spiritual application in this somewhere...