No Easy Answers

We have written about the newspaper the homeless sell called "The Contributor" before.   Yesterday Ted and I were in Frankilin and had an opportunity to buy another one. 

Sometimes I don't read much of them but did pick this one up this morning and read a lengthly article about a lady and her daughter that appeared to be homeless.   The daughter was 20 years old but looked much younger as she had Downs Syndrome.   They sometimes lived in a car, sometimes with friends, sometimes with the ladies older son, and sometimes someone would offer to get them a motel room.

The person writing the article was the Outreach Chairperson of a local church and had spent a lot of time with this lady and her daughter.   She learned they came here from New York and while living in New York had been friends of the Mennonites and so dressed as they did.     They ate as much fresh food as they could and although things were not GREAT for them, they seemed to be doing pretty well and seemed content.

HOWEVER...one person that saw them became very concerned that the "child" was being used to get people to buy the papers and was therefore being mistreated.    This person somehow got a court order to have the mother and daughter appear in court.    Since the mother did not know what was coming, she willingly went.  

It turned out that the lady was appointed guardian of this "child" and they took her from her mother.  

It's a terribly sad story, heart wrenching for a mother to read and have a little idea of how that mother felt, to say nothing of how the child felt.

All this was done with presumably good intentions and the author of the article reminds us what gets paved with good intentions.   We've all paved a bit of that highway, I expect.

There is no easy answer and it bothers me a lot that this kind of thing can happen.   BUT...since this paper is sold by homeless people there was another note in this article about homeless in Nashville.    Apparently as much as anyone can tell there are 20,000 homeless children on the streets of Nashville. 

I am as guilty as anyone but all I can think of is that our churches are failing when this happens.   Our church helps with Room At The Inn program and from November 1 to April 1 every year we take 12 homeless men in and house them every Thursday night.     Monday I learned last Thursday night they had a family show up. 
We feed them a good hot dinner, they can get a shower, do some laundry, and sleep in a warm place.   The next morning they are given a hot breakfast and given a sack lunch and taken back to the streets.   This is bad enough for adults, but when  you are talking about children, well, I get a little weak thinking of what these kids do after school and on Saturday's and Sunday's. 

Yes, there are NO easy answers.

Doctors, Health, and Hell, Who GIves Dam

Last week I went to the Dr. and learned my Thyroid was out of whack.   My cholesterol was way too high and I had gained a bunch of wt.   I knew I had gained weight and couldn't figure it out, never thought about my Thyroid.

TOday I went to the Women's Pavilion for a Pap Smear and learned, Hell, I'm too old, don't need one anymore.   AND...I'd gained more weight even though I've been taking the medication as prescribed.

So...I went to see my Intern and they said, "Oh, it's way too soon to do anything, this sometimes takes months to get regulated".     I guess I'm just supposed to keep gaining wt, growing old, and not worry that in a month when I go back I could weigh more than I've ever weighed in my life and

WHO GIVES A DAM

WHY I LIKE SPRING

When the phlox are in full bloom this side of the rock is mostly purple.

 Below is one of the new flower beds Ted created last week.   I bought a few things but Jim gave us several Hostas too.

Today he is planting onion sets.

AND...this is WHY I LOVE SPRING.   Everything comes alive after a long winter of sleeping and the beauty abounds.    From now till our first frost this fall we will have something in bloom in our yard.

CLEANING OUT

Last Friday afternoon we got a call that someone wanted to see the house.   A first showing.   So...we left and went to a neighbors house where we could see the driveway.  

They stayed and stayed and stayed and we wondered if they were taking a nap or what.   FINALLY they left and we came home.  Later getting a call that they were VERY interested in our house AND one other one.   Our realtor said he'd let us know.  

I felt this might be a sale so I began to get things put together for a quick garage sale.   I'd been planning one in my head for awhile so knew about what I wanted to get priced.   I woke up early Saturday morning and really tore into things.

BUT...we have not heard from our realtor or theirs.   I guess they bought the other house.   IT sure would be nice for someone to let us know.

Now that I am in a cleaning mood though I want to keep doing some deep discarding.   I decided early this morning to go through my sewing table.   In there I found a tray of all kinds of goodies.   I kept thinking - Sierra might like this or I might use this sometime or I could use this at UMCOR Sager Brown.   I really did get rid of some things and put a small bag of buttons, snaps, etc back where I had had a LARGE bag before.

Then I decided to get rid of some patterns.   WHOA, I MIGHT use this one, wonder if Kim would like a skirt like this.   I don't want to get rid of any of the KWIK SEW patterns because they are great and hard to replace.  

Well, I'm a pack rat.   I know that and easily admit it.   I wonder what Ted has cleaned out of the garage?

An Irish Wish

For all who ARE and all who WISH they were

May you always have                                                            May you have all the happiness
A sunbeam to warm you,                                                       And luck that life can hold-
Good luck to charm you,                                                       And at the end of your rainbows,
And a sheltering angel                                                            May you find a pot of gold.
So nothing can harm you.
Laughter to cheer you,                                                           May you have love that never ends
Faithful friends near you,                                                        Lots of money, and lots of friends.
And whenever you pray,                                                       Health be yours, whatever you do,
Heaven to hear you.                                                              And may God send many rainbows to you!

May your joys                                                                      May love and laughter light your days
Be deep and many,                                                               And warm your heart and home,
May your heart                                                                     May good and faithful friends be yours
be light and glad.                                                                  Wherever you may roam.
May you have the best                                                          May peace and joy bless your world
St Patrick's Day                                                                    And may all life's passing seasons,
That you have ever had.                                                        bring the best to you and yours.

EXCITING LIFE

My heart isn't in this blog today but here goes.

I heard our clock strike 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m., and at 4:30 was going to get up but the bed was so nice and warm I thought I'd just lay there awhile.   The next time I looked it was 6:15.  

I have a Doctors appointment today and I just know he's going to tell me I have to slow down and not DO SO MUCH.   Ha Ha Ha

The most I've done in the last few days is read a wonderful book - Eventide.  It's a sequel to Plainsong and I read this last one in about 3 days.   I know, some of you read books like that all the time but it usually takes me a couple of weeks.

The reason my heart isn't in this blog is all the people in Japan and all they are going through and how terrible it all is. 

SPRING HAS SPRUNG HERE

Tried to get pictures of the flowers we planted yesterday, our daffodills, and the Pear trees in full bloom but my camera isn't cooperating today.

SO...I'll just tell you.   Yesterday it was 72 and we worked in flower beds.  

Today it's only 66 but Ted got the garden tilled this morning and we planted raddises, lettuce, and some wild flowers.  

I heard some bees in the trees, not the birds and the bees, just bees and that's a sure sign of spring.   YEA!!!!

HOUSE ON THE LAKE

Many of you know we bought a little bitty house on Tim's Ford Lake ninteen years ago.   We lived there almost ten years.    It was the neatest place.   Very small but we had good times there and Ted built the steps down to the lake and had a dock built.    We bought a boat and had a lot of fun with that old boat.

We had an addition put on and Ted built a beautiful new deck.   Then some guy drove by one day and said, "Still want to sell your house?"    Ted said , "well, maybe".    The guys asked what he wanted.    Ted told him and he said, "O.K.".   SOLD

ANYWAY, that was in 2002 and we ended up building this house.

Today we went to Winchester to the dentist and we always end our trip to Winchester by driving out by OUR LITTLE HOUSE.   Today there was a FOR SALE sign up and we called to see how much they wanted.    I think we have both toyed with the idea of someday living back there.

Well, the asking price is a mere  -  BIG DRUM ROLL here -   $294,000

Our hearts both sank a little as I repeated the amount to Ted and we drove off.

FAT TUESDAY

Well, last year we were in Baldwin, LA for FAT TUESDAY.   It was great.    We had never been there for Mardi Gras before but HAD gone to a parade a few years ago.   This was different though.  

UMCOR Sager Brown closes for Mardi Gras.  EVERYTHING closes for Mardi Gras.   It's a celebration and if people in Louisiana know how to do ONE thing, it's celebrate.

There were parades everywhere.   Every little town had a parade.   They took high school bands all around and those kids marched in every parade they could.

I had a favorite little "hole in the wall" restaurant I liked to go to in Franklin, LA and suggested to Ted we might go in there for lunch, then stand in front of his restaurant to watch the parade.   BUT...when we got in there they were closed.   It was Mardi Gras.

Later I chided him for being closed and he looked at me like I was from Mars and said, "IT WAS MARDI GRAS"  we don't open on that day.   I had to be impressed that they weren't there to collect the almighty dollar.

I wish there was some kind of celebration around here but of course we are too civilized up here in Tennessee.   Well, not really.   I did see that Belle Meade had a parade but I live 50 miles from there.

Oh well, memories are good.

Footprints To Our Hearts

We have six of the most exceptional grandchildren.   If you don't believe, it just ask us.   They all have different, wonderful gifts to share and we relish watching them develop those gifts.    I wish I could live long enough to see all of them choose their lifes vocation but that's not going to happen.

We never know what they are really thinking of us but every now and then something will happen that gives us insight as to how they feel about us.

This past week-end was such an insight.

We picked Benjamin up from school Friday and he was planning on spending the week-end, which he did.  We had already gotten his clothes from Connie and she also gave us a package that we were not to open until he was with us.

When we got home we came inside and he took the gift and said that we could now open it.   Below is what we received.   He drew around his own feet and then painted them.   But...the inscription on the painting is what really got us.

To Grandma and Grandad,  Love You Guys  -   Benjamin

FLOWERS

Every year about this time I start finding a bouquet of flowers in my kitchen.    I never hear a delivery man or a truck, they just magically appear.    Here are the one's I found yesterday.

Today we go to the Nashville Lawn & Garden show and I drool all over the place.

BIG NEWS

No, I'm not expecting.   THANK GOD.  

But...the big news down here is a new amusement park up the road.   This is to be 1500 acres of fun, hotels, water parks, businesses and  will employ between 15,000 and 20,000 people.   That's a LOT of people.

Property value is bound to go up.   It went up drastically in Branson but so did all the traffic.   We know now we do NOT want to be here when it is completed.   And...there is a lot of talk but they haven't even bought the land yet.

Now we don't know if we should stay here another year or get out while we can still drive over to I-65.   We saw what Silver Dollar City did to Branson and people around here haven't got a clue.

We sold our house in Brentwood for just a little more than we paid for it.    Two years later the man next door sold his for $250,000 more than we got.    We sold our house at the lake and doubled the amount we paid for it.   Five years later the lot next door went for more than we sold our house for.    I had told Ted if we sold this they'd probably discover oil out here the next year.   Maybe so. 

We aren't counting the money yet and if a buyer comes along I'm sure we will sell just to be out of it. 

TELEMARKETER

Well, a lot has been happening.   Nothing outstanding but today I got a good laugh from a phone call.

Anyone that knows me knows I do not like TELEMARKETERS.   I REALLY DO NOT LIKE THEM.  Sometimes they have no idea who they are calling, much less what they are calling about.    They usually give themselves away by asking if this is "Ellen TINGSLEY" and of course I know right away they want money.

One time Connie had one call her on a Sunday afternoon and she was so sweet.    When she finished I told her she needed a lesson from her mother on how to handle them.    She very quietly said, "Mom, they are working".     She was right.

I think of that often and try to be nicer but usually the IRISH blood just gurgles out of me before I know what happend.

HOWEVER, today I had a call and this voice said, "Elaine Tingley?"    "No", I said.    The voice said, "This isn't Elaine Tingley?"     "No", I said.   Poor guy said, "Well, I must have the wrong number."   I said I guessed he did and hung up.     I laughed for a good 5 minutes.