Autumn’s Lessons

“A human life has seasons, much as the earth has seasons, each time with its own particular beauty and power.  And gift.  By focusing on springtime and summer, we have turned the natural process of life into a process of loss rather than a process of celebration and appreciation.  Life is neither linear nor is it stagnant. It is movement from mystery to mystery.”  -Rachel Nomi Remen, M.D.

During my down time at work,  I’ve been reading Kitchen Table Wisdom, by Dr. Remen.  It is a wise and wonderful book, with short essays.  This passage jumped off the page for me yesterday, as it put into words the lessons I have been learning this fall. My 83-year-old mother is here visiting us for the month. We have been looking for her a new home near us; one that would allow her independence, and yet meet her needs.  Our home is often filled with four generations of  women in our extended family.  When I look at each face, from the youngest to the oldest,  I realize we all represent the seasons of the year. My granddaughter is in her spring, my daughters in their summer, I suppose I am in autumn, with my mother in her winter season.  Each season with its own beauty, challenges, and gifts.  With autumn settling in and winter not far behind, the seasons are speaking to me of the mysteries and lessons of  life.  What are the lessons autumn is speaking to you right now?

November Storms

“When the storms come, we know a profound sense that autumn is going to slip away into winter before long.  Wind whips away all of  summer, rain sluices the air.  Branches fall.  Windows rattle.  Smoke backs down the chimney.”-Gladys Taber

Last night we had one of our first November storms.  We have them often here in late autumn, with cold wind funneling  through the mountains.  Soon the rain is blowing crosswise, and the  remaining leaves swirl in the wind as they blow from the trees.  I was thankful we kept power last night as many in the region lost it.  The chilly cold is a reminder that winter is not far away, knocking at our door, determined to come back in.  It’s the season to cozy indoors, build a fire in the wood stove, and put a pot of soup on.  November is a comforting month with its early darkness, and frequent storms that blow in.  There is something about listening to a storm blow at night that fills me with thankfulness for my warm safe home.  This week  I am thankful for shelter from the storm..the storms of nature and the storms of life.

Thankfulness Habit

“For what I have received may the Lord make me truly thankful.

And more truly for what I have not received.”–Storm Jameson

Last week I met an old friend that I hadn’t seen for a few years.  She looked good outwardly, but I noticed a change in her spirit.  She seemed more fragile, and somehow wounded in her spirit.  After the initial greeting, I ask her how she was doing.  She told me about how she had recently filed for divorce. She was looking for work, her adult children were angry at her, and she was now living with a relative in a lean-to with no bathroom.  After a horrible argument with her husband that became violent, she left with only the clothes on her back.   She said soon she was  going to be able to get back in her home,  and get her portion of their money out.  But for now, she was homeless, without a job, and now estranged from her adult children.  My heart broke for her, and I wished there was some way I could help her.

At the end of the day, I came home to my home and my husband.  Later I talked with my adult children over the phone; our conversation sprinkled with love, and laughter.    Yesterday I saw  my granddaughter dressed as a glittery pink fairy.  Her happiness at being transformed with her costume, and being able to carry a bucket around and have people put candy in it filled our home with sweet joy.  I went to bed and realized, my life is so good.  I am so thankful for it.  Today I told my husband what a wonderful guy he was and how I appreciated him.  My world looks much different through the lens of gratefulness.  It’s not that I don’t realize that and know it…but somehow seeing a friend who had suddenly lost everything made it much clearer.   This month I want to linger on that, make thankfulness not a day, but a habit.  30 days of a different behavior changes it into a habit.  For November, won’t you join me in a month of gratitude?  What causes you to stop and realize how incredibly blessed you are?

Our Old Home

“There is no place like home, there is no place like home”-Dorothy

There are many wonderful quotes about home, but I think Dorothy’s sums up what we all feel when we have been away from home for even a day.  I love being home.  As much as I love my work with sick  children, I can’t wait to finally come home for an extended time.  I am home from work now for four glorious days.  Aunt Amelia ask about my home, so I thought perhaps you would like a peak in.  My girlfriend says my blog name implies I live on a mountain top.  I wish!  I do love the mountains though, always have, even when I was a child living on the flat land of Oklahoma.  I do live at the foothills of Mount Rainier in a small logging town.  We bought an old home right in the heart of town. I fell in love with this house before I even saw inside.  I would drive by to see if it had sold, and even put their advertisement  on the fridge.  My husband announced “we can’t  afford that old house”, but I kept it there any way!  When I saw inside, it had all kinds of problems, but I didn’t care, I loved it! I convinced him, and we made a ridiculously low offer that we could afford.  We were shocked when the family accepted it.  Within a few weeks we were moving in and then realized why they accepted our low offer.  There was tons of work here!  But it had 4 bedrooms, we had 3 children, and they had never had their own room.  And so this old cottage house became our home about 12 years ago.  The children had the audacity to grow up, and they are all moved out now. I really never thought that would happen, but it did.  (Well…one still lives in a tiny cottage on the property) Hubby and I are still here and working on the house. At times I am ready for a new fancy home with tight windows on an acreage with a mountain view.  But despite many flaws, it is still home sweet home. I thought I’d give you a peek inside.  It’s always fun to see inside an old house!

It’s a craftsman style, and if you look carefully, you can see the little attic window that looks out over the tree and over the town.  The town legend is that the house was built as a bribe for the police chief to not close down the local house of prostitution. I haven’t been able to confirm or deny that one.  But I did meet a lady who grew up here as a child.  Her dad was a pastor, and this was the parsonage. She had so many funny stories of life in this house, doing many of the same things my children did. Looking out the window over town and seeing the Christmas decorations, putting her school books on the same ledge my daughter did, visiting boyfriends on the porch.  Come on inside, and I’ll show you around a little bit.

I decorate the porch for each season, I have so much fun with that!  I look for old things that I can put out to fix it up for each season.   Oh dear…does that sounds like a grandma?!  But the best part of the porch, is taking a nap on it on a Sunday afternoon.  A hot cup of tea on a rainy day is a close second.

Come on into the entry way. The stair case doesn’t escape my decorating obsession.  It is right when you come in the door and it looks so pretty at Christmas time with lights because you can see them twinkle from outside through the little window on the porch.

I love the dining room in our old house.  They had big dining rooms back then, and this one has enough room for a crowd.  There was an ugly pipe showing in the ceiling when we bought the house, so my husband built the drop down part on the ceiling so we wouldn’t have to look at the pipe.   The  pocket doors separate the living room from the dining room.  Books cases fill one side of the dining room.

The kitchen is just off the dining room.  I adored these old cabinets with the glass fronts when we bought the house.  We cut out the front of another one of the cabinets and put in more glass.  I splurged on the kitchen remodel and bought a new old stove.  I’ve not been sorry, it is the focus of the old fashioned kitchen.   These pics were taken at Christmas time.

Old houses have pantries, and I have a little tiny pantry just off the kitchen.  I have a small freezer in there, and usually a messy pantry.

We have an old fashioned bathroom with a “new” claw foot tub.  We just redid the bathroom this summer, You can see the remodel pictures, if you are interested.  Just be advised, it is real life in an old home!  I’ve fixed up a few of the bedrooms, but alas…it is a work in progress.  If you pay cash and buy with a budget in mind, it takes time to decorate a home.  So now you have the tour of my home!  It’s not fancy, just a much-loved and used old home. Thanks for stopping by for a visit at my house with a special welcome to the friends visiting today from The Inspired Room!

Lessons Learned

Sometimes we make our plans and God has another plan.  I seemed to jump right into that this week as I went for what I thought, was a visit to see my brother and his new baby.  My mother who is 82, ended up in crisis.  I’ll spare you the drama story, but she is coming to stay with me for the month of November. My daughter and I dealt with a few complicated and difficult problems she has been having recently.  We still have several more issues to work through to get her the care she is needing at this stage of her life. My brother’s wife got very ill the third night I was there,  just a few days after giving birth.  She had to be hospitalized with kidney stones.    I was thankful I was there to take care of the baby.  Now I’m home, and have to go help a pediatric client I work with who has a sick baby. Naturally all I want to do is be home, drink a cup of tea, and maybe go for an autumn walk!   I’m flying by grace alone right now, but I am staying afloat as I fumble my way around this imperfect life.   This weekend I will move our bedroom upstairs and prepared a place for my mom to  come and stay with us for a while.  My lesson I learned this week is nothing new or shattering, just a reminder to me that I don’t need to sweat the small stuff.  Most of what I get terribly upset about  is really small stuff that disguises as the big stuff.  We had a frightening night where I thought we may lose my sister-in-law, and it put all the pettiness of the last few days into focus.  New lessons, a new season, and a busy time.  I probably will slow down on the blogging, and will have to slowly build my prayer shawl site.  But it’s all small stuff, and I am trying to embrace the place I am right now and pray for grace as I walk in it.

Our Little Miracle is Here!

Back in March I wrote to you about my brother and his wife being surprised by pregnancy after years of infertility.  My  sister-in-law never gave up hope or prayers, so she was not that surprised when she became pregnant.  Of course the rest of us were!  Yesterday she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  Our hearts overflow with joy and wonder!  I’m flying to visit them for a long weekend today. I’ve been very busy lately with work, and will remain busy for the next two months. I’ve missed stopping by your blogs and posting more often!    Since I have been too busy to write, I thought I’d re-post what I wrote when my brother called to tell me his wife was pregnant.  Ever child is such a miracle, but some of them take a little longer in coming. I can’t wait to hold in my arms our long awaited little miracle!

Sacred Life Sunday: Sweet Surprise

March 8, 2009

Last week our family had the most wonderful, sweet surprise.  My brother and his wife have been married around 15 years and have tried everything imaginable to have a baby.  After years of fertility treatments, their arms never held their baby.  About eight years ago, they lost two stillborn twins.  That was a loss of unspeakable pain for all of us, but for them it was devastating.  The last few years they have been pursuing adoption.  They were on the list for China adoptions, for state adoptions, even personal adoptions.  They have been jumping through hoops, having social workers out, and getting on the long waiting lists for a little one.  Sometimes we have all felt such anger.  So many have children and don’t want them, some even abuse them…why can’t they have a baby?!  It’s been a  difficult road they have walked.  I know I can never totally understand their pain, but I have felt some of it as I have watched them struggle with this issue.  I have watched their heart break as having the one thing they truly want, never happen.   The last two years I have seen them pick up the pieces and go on to embrace happiness again.   I have watched them grow in their marriage as they made a decision to turn toward one another instead of away from each other.  It has been good to see them happy again.

I will never forget last week when my brother called as I was walking out the door.   His wife had been feeling tired and nauseated. She thought she had a stomach virus, but a pregnancy test and later an ultra sound revealed a little heartbeat within. My first response was confusion (after all, they did spend enough to send a child to college trying to get pregnant!) and then…laughter!  Sweet, happy laughter!   And with that laughter all the pain and struggle of the last several years, begins to fall away.  A baby is coming…could anything be more exciting!

A Favorite Author

“As October ends, the air begins to smell of windfalls that have been frosted.  The leaves drift down, and most of the branches are bare.  We see more sky.  Night shuts down early.  I miss the long summer twilight’s, when day seems to linger indefinitely.  But the mornings have a sparkle, and I love to see the shadow of the house silver with frost when sun has melted the rest of the crystals on the lawn.” -Gladys Taber, The Best of Stillmeadow

Last night we had our first frost.  The darkness comes earlier now, along with the cold temperatures. Tonight I hope to fire up the wood stove to help chase the chill out of our drafty old home.    On cold fall evenings, I like to find a good book to read.  One of my favorite authors is Gladys Taber.   She has written over 50 books;  several of them are journals of  life on her farm she called Stillmeadow.  They are all out of print, but you can find some of them over at Amazon for a reasonable price.

The journals begin in 1943, when Gladys and her girlfriend Jill, were living in New York City and miserable.  They both were young mothers with husbands launching their careers and working long hours.   Gladys lived in a high rise apartment overlooking another building, Jill had the luxury of a downstairs flat with windows and sunshine.  They both longed for a home in the country.  They had very little money, and they couldn’t relocate at this time in their life.  The women  decided if they split the price of a country house, perhaps they could afford it. They sold the idea to their husbands by telling them how much money they would save by growing their vegetables on a piece of land, and how it would be a wonderful experience for their children to have.  With a small combined savings account, they began their hunt for their country home.  They wanted something in-expensive, big enough for both families, and where they could have their small farm.  After 24 months of looking, Gladys gave up. She decided there was nothing in their budget worth buying.  Jill pressed on, believing they would find their home. One snowy winter day, the two women piled their children and dogs into their car and journeyed  into rural Connecticut.  There they found an abandoned 17th century farmstead  for sale on 40 acres, or as Jill often said, it found them.  There had been a murder in the home, and the price was bottom dollar. With all the savings they had, they bought the farm, naming it Stillmeadow.  It was their country house for many years, but eventually Gladys and Jill both moved to the farm together after they had raised their children and lost their husbands.  Gladys writes, “when we lost our husbands, the farm was refuge and a haven, something to hold fast to.  And something we had to work for, which was a blessing.” Gladys lived on the farm at Stillmeadow until her death in 1980.  Reading her books,  you journey with her through the seasons on the farm.   You will laugh with her, as the two women fumble through trying to fix up the old home. You will cry and grieve with her, when she looses Jill unexpectedly to cancer.  You will admire her courage, as she, the less brave one of the two friends, continues on at the farm alone.  Gladys loved the country, she loved the land, the seasons, and the people. Reading one of her books, you feel  like you are reading a letter from a dear friend.  Like a good friend, at times she rambles on about things, but her books never fail to bring me delight and comfort.  Step into the pages of a book about Stillmeadow, and you step back to a simpler time and place, set apart from the world. If you have ever wanted to run away from the busy life and have a home in the country, the Stillmeadow books are for you!  Listen to Gladys tell about buying the farm and see if you don’t want to join me in spending cold evenings by the fire with the journals from Stillmeadow.

“There it stood, half-buried in snow:  a small white farmhouse tucked under huge maples.  Built in 1690 or a bit earlier, it had withstood the years.  It even had plumbing, and how were we to know it was all cracked?  It had floors pegged with square hand-cut nails.  It had fireplaces.  Twelve-by-eight windows, some with the old bubbly glass panes.  It had some furniture-tables with broken legs, chests that sagged sadly, and an old iron cookstove.  It had also, a well house.  And a frozen brook.  And forty acres of land.  So we came home.”-The Stillmeadow Road

For more information, check out the  Gladys Taber website.

A New Blog!

Like many bloggers, I look at the numbers of people viewing my blog almost daily.  I look at what search engine they use, who refers them, and what they are interested in. I wish all my regular readers would leave a comment, but alas…there are just a few faithful people who comment.  (Thank you, thank you,  to those who do comment! It keeps me going, and gives me feedback!)  Sometimes I will mention my blog to an acquaintance and they will say, “I read your blog all the time”.  I’m always surprised and curious about the readers who never comment.  One group of visitors who hardly ever leave comments are those people looking for information on prayer shawls.  As a nurse, I volunteer in our small congregation in the health ministry team.  We visit the sick, the dying, and those who face difficult situations.  Some of the ladies in our church make shawls for people who are in difficult situations, praying prayers of comfort and healing as they knit or crochet the shawls.  The shawls are them blessed at a service and then when we have a need, we take a shawl to the person we go visit.  We have expanded the ministry to include throws for men, and little baby blankets for babies.

OK…so back to blogging!  About a year ago, Hope and Healing online magazine picked up an article I wrote on prayer shawls and published it.  The funny thing is many people have read this article, and it was something I just sat down and typed out, without much thought.  They often link to Mountain Moma for information on prayer shawls.  The top views to my site everyday are the articles I wrote on prayer shawls!  Day in, day out, they receive the most traffic.  Obviously there is a need for information exclusively about prayer shawls.   This week I decided to begin a new blog just for prayer shawls.  It’s called Prayer Shawls and you can find it over at WordPress.  I am a little nervous, and excited about this new blog.  I won’t post to it as often, and will not be random in the posts.  Each article will be about the shawls or ministry, with quite a bit of research being done on each post.  The site is just being put together, but drop on over, and tell me what you think!  Another strange thing…I don’t knit or crochet!  I just organize the ministry, and give the shawls.  I think it a wonderful ministry and a caring gift.  I hear the stories that come back about the shawls, and I know they are a comfort in a dark time.  Today I hope to change that.  I am going to a gathering of elderly ladies from church who are knitting and crocheting the shawls.  I hope to take pictures, and begin to learn to crochet!  Two new ventures, one wonderful ministry.  I hope to see some of you over at Prayer Shawls, as I start down a new road in ministry, healing, information, and creativity!

Blessings,

Gayle

Sunday Walk

Sunday afternoon…the sky is blue, the air crisp, the sun is shining.  I head out alone for a walk on an old railroad track  that has been turned into a walking trail.  Just a few leaves are starting to turn, but when a gust of wind blows, the leaves swirl down reminding me that fall is indeed here.

I enjoy the sunshine on my face and seeing it filter through the trees.  It is bitter sweet…I know our warm sunny days will soon be gone and replaced with rain.  When the sun does shine, it will be cold.  I remind myself to just enjoy today and treasure the warmth of the sunshine on my skin.

I climb down a trail and look at the river.  It looks so peaceful and harmless today.  Last November we had hard rains and the river flooded, destroying many of the homes close to the rivers edge.   With the season beginning to change, I wonder what the coming season will be like.   Will we have hard rains and flooding again this fall?

I cross the bridge and head back to the car.  It occurs to me that I went to church this morning and this afternoon as well.  I ponder Martin Luther’s words:  “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on the trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”

Welcoming Fall

Summer seemed to linger this year in the northwest.  For most of September the days were sunny and warm, the leaves remaining green.  This last week, autumn officially arrived with cooler temperatures, blustery days, snow in the mountains, and the opening of the local pumpkin patches!  Washington is a leading producer of pumpkins and one of my delights this time of year is seeing the fields of orange pumpkins lined in rows at the pumpkin farms.  It was a cool crisp day when  the girls in our family took Olivia to a local pumpkin patch.  She was so excited to see rows of pumpkins and to be able to pick one out to bring home! This year the local pumpkin patch planted fields of sunflowers to cut a maze for the children to walk through.  The huge sunflowers blowing in the wind was breathtaking!  I tried…but a picture just couldn’t capture the beauty of the yellow fields of sunflowers.   Hot apple cider, visiting a pumpkin patch, and decorating the front porch for fall, is how our family welcomes in the new season.  How are you welcoming fall where you live?