Mercy Hunting: Summer Edition

Ah, summer.  Are you loving it?  The very word used to make me go weak in the knees.  Makes me think of checking out books in the chilled library, riding bikes until way after dusk, languishing days under the trees at the city park, cruising up and down Main Street for hours, laying out in the sun, floating away afternoons at the lake, escaping the adults to run with the cousins at family reunions, and the ultimate summer nirvana - spending a week with my sisters in the big city.  Summer is magic.  

Summer started off with a momentous event for our twenty-year old - he bought his first car.  Out of the factory, it's a four door Ford, but the original owner had this ride fully tricked out with pipes that are so loud you can hear it coming from two counties away.  This is a great thing, for Nate - it's not likely I'll be asking to borrow his car.  His pleasure takes me back to the heady and free feeling of youthful summers.  

I always tell myself I will do the required flower bed cleaning and preparation in earliest spring, yet June arrives and I'm still lollygagging around and my morning glories on the porch set off without me.  Thank goodness for flowers that come back on their own and give the weeds a run for their money!

Every morning I walk 45 minutes or so and come back completely liquefied and aerated but refreshed and rejuvenated.  This week it occurred to me to be thankful that I can walk out here all by myself in the country - no makeup, old sweats, Army t-shirt, mud boots, and a sweatband equals high fashion.  Fashion statement notwithstanding, there's some new delight to see every day, and a reminder that God's mercies are new, every morning.

The morning glory vines from the seeds I tossed into a log in the woods look anemic, but  the day after I'd given up hope that they'd bloom, what did I find, but blooms!  Much thanks to all the rain - I'm not sure these will stand up to the July heat, but I will rejoice in them while they last!

NOT on my list of delightful things would be a snake encounter.  I've talked before about my lack of love for snakes, and my chief prayer continues to be that if God doesn't remove them all from this little piece of Texas, just don't let me see any of them.  Below, in order of appearance, we have the gentle progression from freakishly large worm, to grass snake, to wholly intact shedded snake skin suspended six feet high in the trees.  Isn't it enough that snakes could be lurking on the ground ... must they also be in the trees???

Later, I was taking a picture of the honeysuckle on the creek bank (the smell is heavenly!) and out of the corner of my eye I saw a swish of a snaketail down in the creek.  Thus the second picture: only treetop and sky :o)

Turtles, on the other hand, I can handle.  Give me a turtle any day over a snake.  One day I met a turtle on the creek bank but it didn't move at all, and was there still when I made my trek back around half an hour later.  I was thinking it was a  v e r y  slow moving turtle, but the next day, it was obvious she'd been busy laying eggs.  

All the rain presents ample opportunity to see lots of wildlife tracks in the mud.  Here are tracks of a (very large) turkey vulture and a mystery animal.  The mystery animal tracks were odd in that they were side by side.  LtDan saw a beaver on the trail in the same spot the day before, so I assumed that's what it was, but after a little Google research I know beaver's tracks are very different.  I need an expert opinion on this one.

The summer heat brings cicadas, wildberries, grass growing taller every day and beautiful skies.  I hope your summer is stacking up to be a magical one, too!

Stars and Stripes Forever

After 9/11, it seemed like every car on the road had an American flag sticker on it.  It was a great reminder that we're all united under the stars and stripes, and I loved that show of solidarity and American pride.  

LtDan has always wanted to have a flag pole here at the JustB, and my brother just happens to have the skills and the equipment to build (and deliver!) such a pole.  When he came to visit and and deliver it a few weeks ago, we weren't able to raise the pole because of all the rain we were getting, but last weekend the ground was dry enough and the weather cooperated, and we had the chance to put it up.

I knew Stan was making the pole for us, but I didn't expect any of his thoughtful customizations:  "JustB" and the date welded on the base, and of course his initials.

And - this is so awesome! - I love the top:

LtDan painted it, and then we called the posse together to raise the pole.  

It takes coordination and muscle to get a 25 foot pole into the air.  

We saluted the flag with fireworks, and after some amazing barbecue ribs and a buffet of all kinds of good things to eat, we spent the rest of the evening on the porch.  

I'm completely surprised at how proud I am to fly the flag.

I keep finding new views from which to appreciate it.  

It makes me all the more mindful of how grateful I am to live in America.

"Let us never forget that in honoring our flag, we honor the American men and women who have courageously fought and died for it over the last 200 years - patriots who set an ideal above any consideration of self and who suffered for it the greatest hardships.  Our flag flies free today because of their sacrifice."  - Ronald Reagan

Many many thanks to my brother Stan for building and delivering our flagpole 

and to our fantastic friends who helped us stand it up!

Mercy Hunting: Talk to the Trees

Hello Hello!  How was your week? 

Ours was wet and rainy, but it started out sunny with a hint of summer.  The Rockwall Hilton is about 30 minutes from home but it feels like a whole other world.  I've written about this hotel/resort before }here{ ... it's fast becoming one of my happy places :o)  LtDan and I went for a little getaway, but we invited the kids to come hang out by the gorgeous pool Sunday afternoon.  Does your idea of a perfect afternoon look anything like this?

Last year, shopping for prom was nearly my undoing.  This year it's been slow and easy because we learned our lesson and got the dress ordered in plenty of time, which allowed us to focus on shoe shopping.  Shopping isn't my favorite thing, even shoe shopping, but I think I could get into it with some practice.  I focused on finding shoes that will look right with her dress and fit in our budget, while Abbie focused on whether or not she'd be able to dance in them.

Ruby and I walked and walked this week, in spite of the rain.  By my calculation, walking in boots through mud should add at least 150 extra calories burned, even though MapMyWalk makes no allowance for it.  I walk and look for the mercies that God pours out new each and every morning ... but I'll be honest, it's also my exercise regimen.  For the last  five years  ten years ... okay, for most of my life, I've given no real thought to my personal responsibility to care for my body, nor have I considered what neglecting it will look like in my golden years.  So here I am, trying to play catch up in a body that's forgotten how to burn calories.  This week I experimented with interval training, where you alternate walking at top speed with a much slower pace every few minutes.  As I walked and thought about interval training, I thought the word 'training' with air quotes around it.  The wise woman who lives in my head and occasionally gets to have her say strongly objected.  "What do you mean, air quoting the word training?" she says to me.  "If you think you're just taking a walk, then your results will be leisurely.  If you want serious results from all this walking, you better call it what it is.  You're either taking a nice little walk here, or you're training your body to be healthier."  It was a game changing moment with implications reaching into every realm of my life.  Much of the time I am doing a thing, but thinking about another thing (usually many other things).  In placing my thoughts elsewhere, sometimes the purpose and meaning of what I'm doing in the moment is diluted, and the effectiveness is watered down to nearly nothing.  Calling it 'training' as opposed to 'going for a walk' has an entirely different implication.  I consider ... what other areas of my life do I so casually mislabel and thus de-purpose?

While I'm telling you about conversations I have with the people in my head, I may as well tell you I also talk to trees.  I step up on a big stone out there in the woods that's become my Proclaiming Place, and I tell the trees the most important things I am going to do today.  Sometimes I also tell them what I am not going to do today, like eat the cookies I bought for the kids at the grocery store last night.  This is SO WEIRD, I know, but it actually works for me.  I don't even think about what I've said there among the trees until I'm out there again the next day, but somehow, declaring it out loud - yes, to the trees -  makes a difference.   It's like a rural support group.  Try it ... maybe it'll work for you, too :o)

With all the rain, the creek is once again rushing along.  Remember in On the Banks of Plum Creek when Laura Ingalls Wilder woke up one morning to a loud roaring outside the dugout and she couldn't wait to explore it?  That was me this morning when I opened the front door.  

The morning glories I planted by the creek and in the log in the woods are loving the rain and are growing growing growing!  I checked on the ones in the woods and disturbed a lizard with a stripe down his side that was like a streak of neon blue lightening.  When I walked by again, I tried to sneak a peak at him, and I could just see his little head peaking around the edge of the log.  Maybe he'll do some weeding for me this summer.  I also see the rollie pollies plan to make a feast of the flowers if I don't do something about it.

Most of the time Ruby is the only wildlife I see, unless you count butterflies and lady bugs and birds.  But I can usually tell when something has been walking my trail, too - probably a wild hog.  They bend the grass down looking for things to eat, I guess.  It's kind of nice, because then the tall grass doesn't get my sweats so wet.  I'm looking forward to mowing my trail as soon as it stops raining and dries out a bit.

Hey ... if, just in case you live in the Dallas area and are longing to live in the country, that's exactly where we were 13 years ago.  And if, just in case, you're thinking it's time to make good on what your heart tells you, that you really want a life in the country ... take a look at this property just listed by my sister.  There are 12 acres, tilled pastures, outbuildings, and a three bedroom 2 bath house to love.  Maybe we could be neighbors and talk to the trees together :o)

Click the picture or click }here{ to go to the real estate listing for more information.

The only thing to fear ...

When I took up walking again earlier this year, it was with some trepidation.  Because, you know, there was that one time two years ago that I saw a snake, and even though it lay right in the middle of the path and pretended to be dead ... it beset me with a case of irrational willies that would not let go.

It was time to start walking again, though, so on one of my first oh-good-grief-just-get-over-it-already forays, I asked God to keep all the snakes off these 22 acres.  With 171 million acres in the entire state of Texas, surely keeping 22 acres snake free is not a big deal.

I felt God's amusement.  

Try again, He said.  

I kept walking.  Okay, God ... how about - just don't let me see the snakes.  They can live here ... just don't let me see them.

 Again:  No.  There's another way to pray about this, I felt Him saying.

By now, I'm standing up on the creek bank, looking down into the mostly dry creek, except for a nice little pool under a tree.  And there are two simultaneous trains of thought running through my head:

                                    Okay, God ...                                      Well, I'm glad there's a little

                                                                                                water left in the creek.

                 It's silly to ask you to remove                               Look at that long tree branch 

         all the snakes off 22 acres.  I know.                             lying in the water.

               I know, it's pretty likely that I'll                             That branch has such a lovely,

              run across a snake at some point.                            graceful curve at the end.

         So, the greater miracle would be                                  

                   that even if I DO see a snake                                         WAIT.

                 

                            Let me not FEAR it.                                Is that a SNAKE?

At that, the "tree branch" disappeared in a furious swish of muddy brown water, and I'm pretty sure God laughed while delighting in His own perfect timing ... and I didn't feel fear, I felt mirth.

Thus my prayer all summer has been, "Lord God, please help me not fear what I don't see ... and what I do see."  

I gave up the walking shoes that left my ankles feeling exposed for mud boots that come up to my knee, and if I need to dispatch a snake, I'm well prepared.  Wearing boots makes you swagger just a little bit, and having a plan evokes a sense of calm.

But honestly?  

It's the prayer that's made the most difference.  

I remember that prayer every single time I walk by that place on the creek bank.  I look down into the creek and expect a snake to be there, in all its graceful curvy-ness, and I remember the little joke God and I shared.  I thank Him for His kind and gentle grace in not letting me see more snakes thus far ... and I ask Him to help me not fear.

I recognize that the enemy really isn't the snake, it's the fear that takes over and keeps me from doing the things I want to do.  Fear can move in, take over, and before you know it you're making coffee, offering it your favorite chair, and staying home to keep it company.  That's when you count the cost.  And maybe you realize what you're missing is preferable to the company you're keeping ... and you go for a walk.

Mercy Hunting

Oh, hello.

Welcome to my blog ... I was here back in June ... you might remember me?

We had a great summer that started off with a rocking Benefit Concert, 

the culmination of a semester of work of some pretty wonderful and talented young people.  

Then LtDan and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary with a fab weekend get away.

Next thing we knew, it was time to celebrate LtDan's birthday
 and we reeled in the years with Steely Dan.
Superb.  That concert was just ... superb.

We wrapped it up with our annual vacation trip to the beach.

And alas, here is why I need to blog regularly, because with all due apologies to the wonderful people in my life, the rest of the summer is a blur.  A blur of undoubtedly good stuff, but a blur nonetheless.

I also felt a little bit stuck, creatively speaking.
  I listened to lots of great podcasts and read some excellent books ...

and felt stuck and intimidated.  

All the creative stuff is jumbled in my head and I'm trying to figure out 

how to blog well and run life well, too. 

So I think it's down to what Kat says to do in }this{ encouraging How They Blog podcast:
blog badly ... 

don't get caught up in the tyranny of perfectionism,

and just do it.

There's great freedom in that.

So here I am ... free ... and blogging badly :o)

In addition to the wonderful fun big deal things we did over the summer,
I also got back to walking several days a week.
But it isn't just taking a walk every morning, it's a daily hunting trip.

Do you know this verse from the Bible?

Mercies.
Brand new ones.
Every morning!

Over the summer I started mercy hunting on my morning walks.

My goal is to find at least one thing that delights me  

to celebrate the abundance of God's mercies.

I filled up my phone with the pictures I snapped of these abundant mercies ...
Here are some of my favorites

As with any kind of hunt, Mercy Hunting heightens the awareness of your surroundings
and pulls you more firmly into your one and beautiful life.

Maybe best of all ... the more you look, the more mercies you find.  

I'll be using the instagram tag #mercyhunting ... want to join me?  I would love that!

There are way too many to count all by myself.