Dear Readers,

As I near my one year anniversary of keeping this little blog, I’m thinking about what to change, what not to change, and all of those kinds of profoundly important matters. I would be grateful for your feedback, even (perhaps even especially) if you’ve never left a comment before. And I also would like to say thank you so much to those of you who recently wrote to encourage me about the blog. *Sniff*  🙂

In your opinion,

1.  How often would you like to see a new blog entry? Every day? Every other day? Twice a week? Once a week?

2.  Will you still read a blog entry if it doesn’t have a photo? (I read recently that one very famous blogger refuses to read a complete blog post on other peoples’ blogs unless it’s full of photos – if she sees only words she moves on. I thought this a little strange, since I read blogs and books without pictures all the time…but I realize everyone is different.)

3.  What kinds of things do you like to see in a blog? Do you like diary-like entries with details of a person’s day? Do you like stories of events? Do you like devotional-like entries? Do you like funny stories? Sad? Spiritual? Details about family? Do you read the Joys section? Would you like to see an occasional recipe? All of the above?

4.  Approximately how many blogs do you regularly read? Feel free to share what other blogs you like – I always love a good recommendation.

5.  Do you think my blog could use a makeover? Perhaps a new home page with new colors/elements? I know people who have their blogs done over regularly.

6.  Have you ever entered the monthly bloggy giveaway? If not, why not?

7.  Lastly, can you think of any idea/topic you would like to see written about on the blog? I actually have over thirty drafts in the works, (“Organ Lessons,” “Heart Monitor,” “Dixon,” “Druthers 4,” “Yook At Dat Yake!” and “Virginia, My Mom,” among others) but I’d like to know what you’re interested in reading about. Maybe you have a great idea!

I know there are a lot of questions here, but I hope you’ll help me out and offer your thoughts – I value your opinions. You can answer by leaving a comment (it’s really, really, easy to do) or if you like, you can e-mail me by clicking on the words “Contact Me.”

If you would only like to answer a couple of these questions instead of all seven, that’s great too.

I’ll be sharing my bloggy findings soon, but I won’t quote you if you don’t want me to.

Thank you!

Our daughter Carolyn, her husband Jeremy and their four children have welcomed a new puppy into their household.

They already have a nine year-old Black Lab named Clementine – they call her Clem or Clemma. Clem is the greatest dog – she’s smart, calm, loving with the kids, loyal, and black. All the traits for which a person would choose to own a Black Lab. But Clem has had infertility issues her whole life. So in adding this new puppy to the mix, Jeremy and Carolyn may be ministering to those unrequited maternal longings that Clem has been burdened with, but never spoken of.

Enter Francie Nolan. Or just Francie. Or Fran. (If you don’t recognize the name, now is the time to read a great book – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith.)

Francie is their new Chocolate Lab puppy. She’s smart, calm, loving with the four kids, will hopefully prove to be as loyal as Clem, and of course, she is brown. Clem’s maternal bell has started ringing and she has taken Francie under her wing paw and has shown her the boundaries of the yard, where to lay in order to get cool, where to potty, and how to be a beloved canine member of this family. When they nap, Francie snuggles up to Clem and they doze together.

Carolyn and three of their kids brought the new granddog over the other day and after a romp in the yard Francie was tired out and slept on Carolyn’s lap for a while.

All the children are thrilled to have a sweet new puppy in the household. Their youngest child was napping at home so isn’t in the picture.

Have I ever mentioned that I love having children? That I love having grandchildren? And I also love having granddogs.

“These are a few of my favorite things…”

One in three – not bad odds for winning a little prize. Jessica, Deb and Ginny were the three readers who left comments about their “druthers,” thus entering them in July’s bloggy giveaway.

I had to smile as I consulted random.org and entered the three numbers. I hit the button and presto, random.org chose comment #1 as the winner. Jessica!

Jessica wins an amazon gift certificate and my thanks for telling us about her Irish druthers. Along with my Scottish and Swiss druthers, I have Irish druthers too, Jessica.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Every once in a while I’ll put up a post about where I would rather be if I had my “druthers.” It’s not that I’m not grateful for where I am at this moment, but I also like to dream about seeing new places, and wonder on occasion what it would be like to experience life someplace else.

I think I’d always want to come home, but I dream about remote living in Switzerland and Scotland sometimes. I can almost hear the bells around the goats’ necks, or the skirl of the bagpipes on a distant hill. (I always wanted to write skirl – now I’ve done it.)

But this post is your chance to share about your druthers.

If you had your druthers…

1. Where would you visit right now?

2. What would you do there?

I look forward to reading your responses, and will randomly choose a winner from them for this month’s bloggy giveaway! Comments will be taken until Saturday at noon, and the winner will be announced later that day.

“A few blogs have thousands of readers, but never have so many people written so much to be read by so few.”

Richard Wiggins

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Touche. My one year blogger-versary is coming up next month on the 15th. Almost three hundred sixty-five days of blogging my thoughts, laughs, photos, loves, life stories, and prayers. I’m considering whether or not I’ll continue on, and how often I’ll post if I do continue on, and if you are one of the few who check in here regularly, you’ll be the first to know.

In the meantime, thank you for reading!

I like to have meaningful and symbolic things around me. Like anyone else, I love photos of loved ones, candid and formal, thoughtful gifts from friends, and words on the walls that remind me of what’s really important.

The older I get and the more sieve-like my memory becomes, the more I need gentle nudges about what to set my mind and heart on. Left to its default mode, my mind often spins and toils about useless things. I will never get caught up with this paperwork. I wonder if I’ll have to have a knee replaced before I’m sixty? I don’t think I fit in with that group. And so on.

I spend a lot of time in my office, since our line of work requires hours of paperwork each week. I have tried to make my office a pleasant, personal space, and I’m very grateful for how cheery and inviting it is. The walls are painted a pale, turquoisey blue, and the window trim and the wooden ceiling are a creamy white. My desk is white and so is the storage armoire. There are huge windows that let in the filtered sunlight, and I can look out at a good-sized yard with a flower garden planted around the trunk of an old maple tree. The peonies in the garden are in bloom now. Several times a day I see chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, deer, and all manner of birds very close by.

There are many passages in the Bible that encourage us to put words of truth and importance in places where they will be frequently noticed, remembered and meditated on. Recently I put some words up on my office walls. I chose seven words important to me, and sometimes when I’m taking a break from typing I just look up and see them there, speaking reminders to my heart.

These photos were taken in varying shades of very bright or diffused sunlight, with flash and without, so the walls seem like they’re different colors, but they aren’t. 🙂

Peace

Nothing means more to me these days than the peace that passes all understanding. I am hoping to learn more about the peace that Christ makes available to me if I will cast all my cares upon Him instead of toiling and spinning about them in my thoughts.

Joy

Sometimes joy is elusive if I’m not meditating on the things that are pure, lovely admirable, true, excellent or praiseworthy. I look up from my paperwork Alps and am reminded that Jesus has come to bring me joy.

Remember

I will remember the deeds of the LORD ; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. Psalm 77:11.  Sometimes I just need to be still and remember what God has already done for me. Then I am reminded of how faithful He has been, and can rest in how faithful He will be.

Thankful

Another one of my default modes is complaining. Even if I don’t always voice my complaints, I tend to look at the glass half empty instead of focusing on the riches of my life. It is not a blessing to a parent or grandparent when a child is whiny or ungrateful. It can’t be a blessing to God when I’m not living gratefully. I need the lens of thankfulness so I can look at my life in truth.

Love

I want to cooperate with God so that I become a more gentle and loving person. Being in the presence of people who truly, unselfishly love is life-changing and unforgettable.

Family

What can I say about this word? Just looking at the word family makes the tears fall. When I was fourteen years old I almost died, and surely would have if God had not intervened. But He saved me from an early death and gave me many more years of life, and a family. I think of the husband, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren He has given me, and I feel overwhelmed. Thank you for my family, Lord.

Jesus

When Mrs. Ruby Greener first taught me about the love of Jesus, I was three years old and in Sunday School at the First Baptist Church of Covina, CA. I believed every word I was taught about His love and power, and still do. For me, there would be no peace, joy, thankfulness, remembrance, family or love…without Jesus.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3.

Peace, Joy, Remember, Thankful, Love, Family, Jesus.

If you were to bind some words around your neck, write them on the door frames of your house and your gates, what would your words be?

Boasting is the voice of pride in the heart of the strong. Self-pity is the voice of pride in the heart of the weak.

John Piper

Speaking loudly to myself here,

Our household is busy, noisy and fun these days, full of daughters and sons-in-law and little children. And incorrigible, nervous Schnauzers. Most of the little kids are at the beach right now, digging in the sand and probably not going in the water, as Lake Superior is bound to be chilly still.  I have five minutes to add a new post, and this is what came to mind – things I would like to say thanks for.

1.  Healthy grandchildren running wild and giggling in a big house.

2.  The constant birdsong outside my office window.

3.  Cool summer temps and low humidity – Michael and I say “Good sleepin’ weather!”

4.  Music that brings tears.

5.  Wonderful, generous daughters.

6.  Kind and faithful husband.

7.  Abundance – why others in this world don’t have it, I don’t understand. For now I’m blessed with it – I don’t understand that either, but am saying thank you.

8.  Loyal, lifelong friends.

9.  Piles of books – good reading memories and more to anticipate.

10. Jesus – His grace and truth. Nothing would be the same without Him.

What are the things you say thanks for today?

Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God. Worship is the time and place that we assign for deliberate attentiveness to God – not because He’s confined to time and place but because our self-importance is so insidiously relentless that if we don’t deliberately interrupt ourselves regularly, we have no chance of attending to Him at all, at other times and in other places.

Eugene Peterson

In our last house, I indulged my long-time love of all things toile (pronounced twall) and put up black and white toile wallpaper in the master bedroom. I then hung black and white toile valances over the windows, and people began to give me black and white toile gifts that I displayed all over the room. It was truly toile overload, and it suited me just fine. I liked it so much (and Michael did too) that when we moved into our new house, I again hung black and white toile wallpaper in our bedroom, and because of peoples’ thoughtful gifts, kept adding to the toile theme.

Back at the old house, I once remarked to my son-in-law Jeremy that there should be a toile wallpaper with Miniature German Schnauzers on it. Because along with the various people always drawn on toile who sit on swings, pull wagons, draw water from wells, and fish off of quaint stone bridges, toile patterns usually feature goats, chickens, frolicking dogs, and even donkeys. Jeremy is a phenomenal artist and I told him he should draw a pen and ink likeness of our Schnauzer Edith on our toile wallpaper.

A few weeks later I was getting ready for bed and my eye caught something on our toile wallpaper that I hadn’t seen before – Edith, our Miniature German Schnauzer! Jeremy had drawn her sitting at the knee of one of the languidly reclining women figures on the wallpaper, begging for a pat on the head from said woman.

I was delighted! What an amazing talent Jeremy has. I called him up and thanked him for the pen and ink drawing of Edith, and he asked, “Did you find the other ones?”

“Other ones?” No, I hadn’t noticed other drawings, but of course Michael and I began to scan every square foot of our bedroom wallpaper to see what else Jeremy had drawn there.

It took several minutes, but on a different wall to the left of the window, we found this drawing of Edith, having some kind of canine interaction with one of the dogs already on our wallpaper. Edith has a strange ear that doesn’t flop down like the other one does – it stands up like an Orca fin all the time and Jeremy even captured that little anomaly of hers.

Of course by this time we were on a Schnauzer-hunt, and it took a long while to find the third drawing Jeremy had done – this one was up high near the ceiling. You can see that long-suffering Edith is sitting by a ladder and a chicken is pecking at her ear. It’s the ear that won’t fold down as it should, and we think this chicken knew it was a deformity and was trying to correct it for Edith.(You know how chickens are – they have a tendency to henpeck.) As is clearly evident in the drawing, Edith is not particularly pleased by this chicken’s assistance.

Over the years I would always smile when I looked at these amazing drawings Jeremy did. No one would have ever known they were there, since they get lost in the busyness of the toile. When I pointed them out to people they were always astounded at Jeremy’s artistic gift, and they loved the whimsy of us having our own Edith the Schnauzer added to our wallpaper.

Well, now we don’t live in that house anymore and of course we had to leave the pen and ink Ediths behind. Last week we closed on the sale and met the new homeowners for the first time. They were both friendly and so warm and complimentary, and we were happy to see that they seem to love the house as much as we do.

I’ve been wondering though. How long will it take them to notice that there are three little drawings of one beloved little dog that have been added to their bedroom wallpaper?

I hope I can talk Jeremy into putting some new Ediths up on our new black and white toile wallpaper. And we have a second Schnauzer now – her name is Mildred and we usually call her Millie. Hopefully she’ll make an appearance in pen and ink someday as well.

Along with all the photographs we have of our children and grandchildren, we also believe in immortalizing our dogs.