NetRaven Blog

Planting time, remembering time.

Sun, 23 May 2010 01:34:53 -0600

We are in the Mile High Watch and Wait game here in Denver. Many folks plant prior to Mother’s Day. Even more people decide to plant just after Mother’s Day. I have tried the “Just after Mother’s Day”, only to have worry and cover my plants for the next few weeks. Many of which just don’’t make the cut.

This year was such a toss up. I decided to wait until a solid week remained above forty. Good thing too, because this year we got snow in April and yes in May also! Finally we are getting some 80 degree days and 50 degree nights. So just when we thought it was safe, the winds hit us from the mountains. I like breezes like anybody else, but when it hits 40mph it strips plants right out of the ground!

And if that does not scare you, how about the tennis ball size hail that is shattering homes, cars and gardens! Maybe in June we will be able to plant a weed and see if that will grow. While the weather is making it’s mind up, I am moving forward to plant another season of Strawberries. My patch is going on six years now, so most of my Mother plants are great, great, great grandchildren of my first season.

We plant other stuff, but the strawberry patch is really my favorite. My grandmother June used to let us kids “help” her in her strawberry patch. I had so much fun talking with her and learning how things were when she was growing up. Afternoons seemed to fly by. Of course we used the “Kids Rule” during these times. (One strawberry for the pale and two for the child.)

Now, as I go out and tend to my strawberry patch, I still talk with Grandma June and find myself forgetting time as I did as a Child. Now my grandchildren come over and help me pick strawberries. Of course there is a lot of laughs and the “Kids Rule” is still in place. I find it heartwarming that maybe one of my children and grandchildren will carry on the torch. Of course we all will be watching from Heaven. I wonder if Heaven has a strawberry patch?

Spring is in the air!

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:08:46 -0600

It has been too long since my last entry. The year has been a tad tough, but still wonderful so far. Di and I get to spend time with the grandchildren and really have a lot of fun with them . Mom brings me up on video chats once in a while. I really enjoy those more than the phone calls. They just seem closer and more personal than a phone call does.

Last year Diane and I were able to visit Arkansas City, Kansas a couple of times and Mom and Dad came up and stayed with me while Diane was on a business trip. I really enjoy our visits. I worry about them but then again they worry about me.

My liver transplant seems no closer or further away. Seems like I have been waiting forever. It certainly tests my faith. However I am always getting emails, calls and letters from the faithful, telling me not to give up, but to join them in prayer and let the Lord guide me and give me strength and courage to see this through.

I am so grateful for all the love and hope that I have been given by everyone. It really does give me renewed strength and hope. Thus far I have gotten to enjoy watching Nakai in her first year of college, Shaelyn become a teenager, Stacy enjoying her newborn son. Sometimes life is not about me and what I am doing, instead life offers us a seat to set back and enjoy all that is developing around us. I think it is during these “cruise control” moments that we can see the type of world we are blessed with.

It is Spring time. A time to plant, to care for and reap all that we have sown. Maybe that is what makes one ponder their lives. Maybe it’s a time to look what we have reaped previously and deciding what we what to sow now. Maybe more love, forgiveness and hope. Sound hard? I think we just have to follow the smiles and laughter.

The Real Magic in Halloween!

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 19:33:42 -0700

Di and I used to celebrate Halloween with a great party filled with our friends and loved ones. Everyone would dress up and it would be an evening filled with music, drinking and eating. Our most enjoyable times of course were our family’s children.

This year we did not put a lot of stuff out especially compared with previous years. But I spent a lot more time baking and preparing family treats. Now days people buy a bunch a candy and just hand that out. Unlike when I was a child, people don’t make treats for the trickers. I am sure in part due to the old wives tales about razors and such. I am equally sure in part due to the busy lives we all lead.

I guess that is why we enjoy baking and such, because we know our kids will know what it’s like to get home made cookies, popcorn balls and carmel apples. Watching them come in and after a fast hug “hello” straight to the desert buffet! Their eyes wide and their smiles blinding. At that one point in time, I can remember my childhood and I can totally relate to their excitement and awe. Sometimes the real magic of halloween is children reminding the adults of their childhoods? Maybe that is why I see a mothers or fathers dressed up and enjoying this special event with their children.