Celebrate October!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.

When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

 

   A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember.

I love October!

And I'm in love with this enchanting board book!

There's a lovely nip in the air, 

frequently a mist in the morning,

and sometimes a bit of sun too!

My view out the Starbucks window as I draft this post. 

Both of my children were born in October,

so it's a big birthday month in our family. 

This month our book club traveled to Victoria, BC

to celebrate our twentieth year together.

This trip deserves its own post (a future slice of life).

Our Sing with our Grandkids group met

with local musician, Nancy Stewart.

We kicked off the evening with songs 

(each of us with our own animal puppet), 

learned how to make a book with photos 

that we could sing with our grands, 

and were introduced to the app, Story Creator.

And of course, my grandsons continue to grow and 

talk and giggle and keep this Grandma so happy! 

Teddy read"Five Little Pumpkins" 

to us on a video. The best line was one added by him

when he saw the witches, "Get out of this book!" 

The highlight of Jack's month had to be the new driveway.

Nothing beats having a cement mixer at your own house.

He refused to leave the front yard while they were pouring concrete, and then we set up chairs in the garage

to watch the rest of the process before baking 

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for our workers.

I almost forgot to mention the delightful time I had doing 
book talks with sixth and seventh graders at my former school.
Nothing is more fun than sharing books with fellow readers!

And every moment of this season
fills me with wonder and enchantment

at the gorgeous colors that surround me!

Poetry Friday: Poems in the pages of Hello!

Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

is hosting this week's round-up of poetic goodness. 

She shared "Ginkgo Bilboa"
by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, written for his friend Marianne.
I love the gingko leaves at the bottom of the poem.

  

Grandson Jack and I love watching for the arrival of his Highlights Hello magazine. This month's issue about shapes is perfect.

He's currently obsessed with circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles. I was thrilled to discover a poem by Heidi Bee Roemer "Let's Make a Snowman" (to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat").  I find myself checking the authors and illustrators in each issue as I look for names I recognize from the world of children's poetry.

Let's Make a Snowman

by Heidi Bee Roemer

Art by Julissa Mora

(To the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Roll, roll, roll the snow

Watch the snowballs grow.

Stack three high,

Add nose and eyes-

Your snowman says, "Hello."

(Jack thinks an emptied drawer in Grandma's kitchen makes a perfect reading stand.)

Spiritual Journey First Thursday: Humor

Welcome to Spiritual Journey First Thursday,

a group of friends who blog monthly about our spiritual journeys. 

Jan, our October host who blogs at Bookseedstudio,
has asked us to write about humor this month.

Jan gave us plenty of advance notice about our topic for this month, humor.  I've enjoyed looking at Biblical injunctions to have a merry heart, mostly because I don't think of myself as a humorous person, but I do see myself as someone who has a merry heart. 

" A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance..." 

-Proverbs 15:13

"... he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast."

-Proverbs 15:15

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..."

-Proverbs 17:22

And a few quotes from a book I just picked up today at the library, (Laugh Your Way to Grace: Reclaiming the Spiritual Power of Humor by Rev. Susan Sparks):

"Laughter is God's soothing touch on a fevered world."

-Kenneth Hildebrand

"Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon."

-Winnie The Pooh

"Laughter is carbonated holiness."

 -Anne Lamott

"Humor is not a trick, not jokes. Humor is a presence in the world, like grace, and shines on everyone."

-Garrison Keillor

What makes my heart merry?

The laughter of children, family stories, the changing of the seasons, libraries, comics, bookstores, cookies, dear friends, and hot chocolate to name a few. 

As he headed to bed my dad used to say, "Goodnight! See you in the funny papers, on the animal side." 

Like him, I love comics. Here are some favorites I've clipped in the past.

 

Humor is a valuable tool for dealing with life's challenges. When you face trials and frustrations and conflicts that are an inevitable part of life's journey, remember to pick up the comics section of the newspaper. It's a guaranteed way to a merry heart for me. And if you no longer subscribe to a newspaper, buy a 2019 calendar with a tear-off comic for every day of the year. 

Slice of Life: My Not-So-Secret Addiction!

I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice"

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen,
Deb, Melanie, Lanny, and Kelsey

 for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday

and nurturing our writing lives.

I try really hard.

I rarely buy them.

I know that I don't need them.

I don't have any room for them.

But my friends know my weakness for them.

They put me in charge of the children's book section.

And before I know it . . . I've fallen down the rabbit hole.

And filled my dining room table with treasures from our library book sale!

They are not all for me, I purchased two for a tutor looking for The Traveling Pants series.

I should probably mention that volunteers at the book sale get 50% off their purchases.

I purchased The Three Trees, a favorite Christmas picture book to give away.

I purchased five for the family who sits in the pew in front of us at church.

I purchased many marvelous picture books for grandsons Jack and Teddy.

I purchased I'm A Big Brother for Jack (who'll need it next spring)!

I purchased a stack for Melissa who teaches sixth graders.

And Brown Girl Dreaming is in that stack.

I purchased Leaf Hunt because it's fall.

I purchased a few just for me.

You can't beat the price.

$39 of pure delight!

Celebrate Two Months!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.

When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

 

   A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember.

It's been eight weeks since I wrote a Celebrate post. I've missed this weekly gathering of friends. So I'm back this week with a commitment to share a Celebrate post at least once a month.

August and September have brought more tomatoes, lovely sunshine, gorgeous flowers, exuberant fall color, and delightful family time in Oklahoma. I can't resist sharing a few pics of our celebrations in August and September. Who am I kidding? It's more than a few! Actually, since I've never been a scrapbooker, I've come to rely on my celebrate posts as my online digital scrapbook.

Pics from my son's family in Virginia

Teddy ready for church in front of his new house

 Checking out the puffins on his shirt

 Stefi and Blake at Hamilton in DC

 Teddy's mom does instagram movies,

and sometimes I just have to grab a screenshot!

 

 Teddy at the museum

 Teddy goes with Dad for a haircut

Teddy with Aunt Amy at a Nats game

to celebrate her birthday!

Lance w/ siblings in KS 

A celebration of cousin John's birthday 

 A few pics of Mr. Jack

Hanging out with his stuffed animals 

Kid's Quest Museum

Train table play at B&N when

it was too smoky to play outside

He looks so grown up in this pic!

Gathering at Safeco Field

We joined 49,089 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

at a devotional to hear talks from Pres. Henry B. Eyring, Sister Wendy Nelson, 

and life lessons from our prophet, Pres. Russell M. Nelson.

 Pics from our trip to Oklahoma

(We missed having Blake's family at our gathering

due to the death of Stefi's grandmother.

We were blessed to know her and see the 

influence she had on the the lives of so many.)

Kara with her favorite niece at Roseanna's

We were relieved when Allison's family survived the 

torrential rains and arrived on Friday evening.

Allison, a favorite babysitter and adopted big sis, 

lived across the street from us in Houston.

Cousins take a movie break so Sara can bring everyone

slices of a favorite family pastry - chocolate roll!

Jack and Sara read books from 

the bin provided by Aunt Kathy.

Rylee and Ruthie entertain Mr. Jack.

Jack may always remember

Aunt Kathy as the bubble lady!

... but the grownups among us 

love her homemade cookies

(and sausage gravy)!

 

Happy the rain stopped long enough 

for us to stroll through the cemetery 

before church Sunday morning

A pic with daughter Sara and best friend Jan.

James' family with Grandma Kathy and Aunt Kara

Love this pic Kara took of

me and my brother, Karl.

The back of our VRBO with a view of Lake Eufaula

The VRBO as we loaded the car

for an early morning departure.

 Fall color

(back home in the Northwest)!