A Chair For Mom

 Astrid made Laura two front porch chairs for Mother’s Day.  What a special gift.  Best gifts are made with heart.

Hexagon Flower Bed

Astrid’s flower bed.  She is so talented, but part of her success is she works really hard.  Sigrid told her Mom, “when Astrid and I go to Lowe’s men stare at her and I don’t like it.”  She is beautiful, for sure.

My Renter Works

There is a queen bee and then there's worker bees.  Astrid is a worker bee.  She put a new dish washer in my house.  Her vegetable gardens are flourishing. The strawberries look really good.  She built a hexagon flower bed around tree in the front.  She cut the angles and screwed it together.  It's full of the prettiest flowers.  She installed a new light fixture in the dining room. 

She is laid off from her job so she has had more time.  She qualified for unemployment, but her salary was not that much.  She finished her semester this week and will take a class first summer session.  The next fall, she will be fully in the nursing program.  Two years and then finally she can have a professional job. 

Harrison kids came

 My Harrison kids came.  So wonderful to see them.  They brought me a hanging plant for Mother’s Day.  Greta metal detected where I had tilled the garden spot to level it.  She found several nails which will save some lawn mower tires.  When it beeped she was excited even if she dug up an old nail.  Phinnie loves Clayton and was sad when he left.  They play hide and seek and chase.  We stayed in the back yard in the fresh air!  Ada had Sister Patsy’s pallet to play with her toys on.  She smiles constantly.  She did grab a handful of dirt and try it.  She’s exploring.

Astrid says I look like Sister Fleta with my hair short.

Walking On

Laura, Phinnie and I have been walking near the Dam on the Arkansas River.  She spotted this pretty flower.  It’s a lily of some type or maybe an iris.  It’s very safe walking here.  Rangers are always near.  I also notice the Russellville Police drive though often.  Phinnie loves going for a stroll.  Walk is in his vocabulary.  If I say walk, he twirls in circles like a ballerina.

It’s cool this morning.  I have not used my air yet.  The temperature is very bearable.  Tomorrow I am getting a haircut and I am happy to see this day arrive.

I hope your day goes well.  Sister Patsy always said.... as the world turns....

Visiting Irene

 My cousin Margaret and I went to see sweet Irene yesterday afternoon.  I wish she could attend church on FB.  I know she would love it.  She made us come inside but we stayed a great distance apart and Margaret and I wore our masks.  I took her another shawl.  This one is from scarps of yarn I discovered.  I was pleased that she was wearing one of the house dresses I ordered for her.  Jann had to take it up.  Irene is melting away.  She never was 5 feet tall and now she is only 4’3”.  I had hemmed her house dresses but I felt this one was still too long.

When it was time to go she said—“oh, you just got here, don’t go yet.”  It was a little chilly that morning and she makes good use of the shawls I have made.  Stanley, her son, was over that morn and saw she was cold.  He built her a little fire.  What a precious son he is.  When we drove up to her little home and left the car, I could smell the wonderful aroma of wood smoke and view a little Garden of Eden—her yard!  You might think I embellish her world, but look at this one flower and you will know I speak truth.

I thought about a sign I saw in Russellville— it said a mother’s love for her children is the closest example to God’s love for us.  Irene loves everyone and I love her.

Ada Takes A Walk

Greta is Ada's safety net.   She is ready to make sure Ada does not fall.

Lost Art—Letter Writing

 Do you write letters?  I’m not too diligent about it, but oh, I love receiving them!  My friend Mary from Hagarville, AR writes to me.  My cousin Syble Garrison used to send me news and love through the mail and a life long pal Jonell graces me with letters and often she includes a book she has read and liked.  Letters send joy.  Sigrid recently sent 30 letters to her friends who she is distanced from.  She decorated them including words of encouragement.  I have a new pen pal. Her name is Amy~Patsy.  She sent me a nice letter and more herbal tea this week.  This one is herbal peppermint.  I decided to brew it in one of my ancient cups.  I remember my Dad drinking coffee from a cup old like this but always with a saucer!  I think ours came from buying Mother’s  oats.  I read a little about peppermint tea.  It’s supposed to help calm and soothe.  I need that!  Thank you, Amy~Patsy.

Money Earned

With this verse, Ingrid landed $4,000.00 for college.  Like to think.....maybe little bit of me and a little bit of Fleta made Ingrid  able to express herself so well.  Well, little bit of her Dad and Momma, too.  Thea Foundation awarded Ingrid first place in their creative writing contest!

To Mom

By Ingrid Christensen

I.  Six Months

Flaxen light filters through the thin curtains,
Casting ornate patterns on her cheek.
Like intricate paper snowflakes,
Dancing in frigid wind.
With rosy hands and balmy lips,
Blushing petunia petals,
She rocks my cradle with saccharine affection.

 II.  Four Years

I fall into backyard creeks,
And bring tadpoles into the tub,
Hidden in the folds of my baby fat hands.
She scrubs the mud from my skin,
And blows iridescent bubbles across the bathwater surface,
 Like miniature sailboats,
drifting towards a porcelain horizon.

 III.  Eight Years

Wax races away from amber flames,
 Dripping onto pristine frosting,
Creating daffodil craters in vanilla cake.
She watches in dim corners of rooms,
 With a heaviness in her eyes,
Weeping for time
that can’t be given back.

 IV.  Thirteen Years

I paint with gloss and powder,
A saturated version of myself,
 A colorful tarpaulin pulled over innocence.
 She watches with silent lucidity,
Out of hand and out of season.
Fallen fairy wings and pixie dust
Bottled in jars and flasks.

 V.  Seventeen Years

Alabaster legs hang off the edge,
Brushing my brass bed frame in teenage infatuation.
 When our four legs become two,
She waits with subtle alchemy,
Gracing me with a summer storm.
Like a warm highway rain,
Showering me in love.

Ingrid Elizabeth

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.  Dr. Seuss

Irises Still Blooming

I want to go to my friend’s house soon and dig some yellow irises she said I could have.  I love the yellow ones.

My Five Grands

 I am so lucky to have these five girls in my life.  They are all so different and all so special.  I hope I can live long enough to have a conversation with Ada and see her personality develop.

I have one grandson.  He is beyond  compare so I need only him.  Clayton is enough for me.  God has surely blessed me.