Finding my way in Finnish: Aakkoset

Finding my way in Finnish: Aakkoset

Memorial Weekend

A cousin wrote asking where our Uncle Eric is interred. He is one of many of his brothers that were in WWI, as well as some of his brothers in law. Looking through two cemetery records online, my mind goes back to those vibrant pioneer homesteaders in northwestern South Dakota. It is a time of remembrance, a time to honor all of those war heroes, all of those that came before us to open the way for our good lives. It is humbling to think about the things they endured; their good lives so well lived and their love of this country, this family, their community, and each of us born while they yet lived gives us pause to honor each of them. I was born into a legacy that remains with me with the best of memories.

Books!

Sorting and organizing book cases has been an all day ordeal. Even the ones I will never pick up are difficult to put in a recycle pile. One comes across a treasure or two and there is always the warm sweet feeling when meeting a once read friend again.

I found "With My Own Eyes: A Lakota Woman Tells Her People's History." Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun and Josephine Waggoner. I didn't even remember ordering it. Having read the "Ben Arnold..." (actually by Josephine Waggoner, as she interviewed him prior to his death and then sold her notes for a paltry sum)I am very excited about this find of today. The Berlin Journal article on the Sioux and Custer quotes Josephine Waggoner. It is a sad and heartbreaking account of the situation in the 1870's.

Feeding Babies

Yesterday as I was in the back yard weeding, I happened to notice a blackbird parent on top of the grape fence feeding a fledgling. At first I thought she was cutting up a rather large earth worm but on a closer look, I saw that she was tearing a small snake into bite sized pieces. The food was none too happy about the situation and tried to get away. After a few bites pushed into the open beak of the baby bird, big blackbird grabbed the snake by the head and flew off to the neighbor's yard. Sometimes one has to get their feet on the ground to do a task well.

We have a robin family in the curly willow. They have nested close enough to the ground that we will have to hand water instead of let the sprinkler fly for another week or so.

Be Presentable

We attend Saturday Evening church services. It occurs at a time of day that is manageable, pain-wise. The small congregation is cozy and warm. HWMBO always maneuvers our dear E in her chariot to the rail for communion while I fetch the glasses for us. It is a predictable little routine, lovely, fulfilling, "bread for the journey," so to speak.

Last night I was met at the door by the pastor asking if I would read, with him, the Lesson, which was the First Creation Story. Of course I would. He had marked the paragraphs that I would read. It was very enjoyable. After reading aloud all winter the five tomes of history and one Afghanistan novel, I could take on two pages of Scripture. I am glad I was 'presentable.'

The preaching was on the text we read together. God can create order out of chaos was the theme so we have hope today. No it isn't a science lesson, nor a history lesson. It is a story to let the Isrealistes in Babylonian captivity know that God is with them/us and can order whatever chaos we experience. Thank God.

You Know It's Going to be a Bad Day..

I should have seen it coming. The same day He Who Must Be Obeyed purchased a couple lottery tickets at the grocery store, I stuffed his shirt in the washing machine without checking the pockets. You know the old saw: you know it is going to be a bad day when... There was a time in my Stepford Wife days that in my haste to do it all, I washed a few of his paychecks.

He has purchased lottery tickets occasionally. Never have we expected a return on them but he did make a hundred dollars once, but he checked the numbers never the less. The minute he discovered that there were nothing left of them but a few shreds of white fluff, he was sure he must have won and hoped I had learned to look in pockets and not wash things in such haste. He didn't use quite those words. I detected a bit of blue in the air.

And the monitor went out. We were warned when we bought the large flat screen that when it died, there would be no bringing it back to life. So we waited for a little bitty baby monitor to be delivered just to check if that was it. It was.

With grass to be mowed, dandelions to be dug, a short reunion with a dear cousin's family, and the things of spring yard work, I didn't experience computer withdrawal, much.

We are swimming again, and trying to judge when the cold wind goes down enough to dash from the pool to the outdoor shower and back inside. It is such a luxury. The payback is going to happen when we get our first gas bill for the heating.

Baby Sitting

We put our daily newspaper delivery on "vacation hold" while we take care of spring yard business. Because I miss knowing what is going on, I web surf the newspapers around the world. I still don't know if the Chilean Volcano is near our Vocations for Orphans building project of our Boe brother. The photos on this web site are worth a visit. The sweet couple on the FVO video are the beloved youngest brother of the ten, and his bride.

One thing leads to another, and I checked out Ice News from Iceland, and landed on the Bismark Tribune (North Dakota) article: Woman takes car, kids for a ride. This could be the latest thing in creative business; a person to drive kids around the parking lot while Mom shops. The impromptu sitter probably should have charged a per minute rate for the service. It would beat an arrest for the mother and the foster system for the kids.


May 07, 2008 - 04:05:24 CDT
DICKINSON (AP) - Authorities in Dickinson are looking into a report of a woman getting in a car occupied by three children and driving it around a store parking lot.

The children were ages 3, 4 and 6. Their mother, Lacey Cox, says the strange woman told the children that their mother shouldn't leave them alone.

Cox says she was inside Kmart at the time. She says her grandmother had parked the car in front of Kmart and gone to the outdoor garden center for a few minutes when the incident happened Saturday.

Cox says her grandmother later found the car in a parking space in the lot. The children were unharmed.

Men in Trees

Marge came here as we were eating lunch today. She brought me a May Basket. It was a lovely begonia that I can put outside. She joined us at the table and we enjoyed homemade chicken soup that HWMBO made while I mowed the front lawn with my little simple reel, push mower.

It made me happy to be able to mow again. I enjoy it as much as I do vacuuming. The finished result is so apparent and rewarding. And we both love drop in company.

May Day brought another unexpected delight. A company called Omaha Trees had men working in the neighborhood this morning. I called the company from the phone number on the truck. The estimator was here within the hour and the crew moved to our yard and trimmed the maple tree that has shaded us every summer for probably 30 years.

Another elderly neighbor planted it for us from a volunteer sapling shortly after we moved here It has endured as many storms as we have. They did a beautiful job and I am happy. I love watching men work. These young dads were skilled and eager to please. They did an artistic job on our old tree and it looks young and lively again.

Once again I have high hopes for pears. The tree is in full bloom and I am so hoping for bees. The pool is holding water...with the exception of four inches leaking out from somewhere. And the flower pots await their new bloomers. My curly willow is my spring delight. It is the first to green up as its red winter branches turn yellow again as the sap slowly rises to the top. It is that compact little tree at the end of the diving board. Life is Good.