Author: boomingbanter

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln we’re both born in February. George on the 22nd and Abe on the 12th. We celebrate their birthdays on the Monday that falls between their births dates which, like today, is very close to my own.

It’s the last holiday before spring and often is very cold. This year it seems spring is coming early. The grass didn’t loose its green this winter and already the birds are going crazy. The Canada geese are strutting their stuff like it’s May.

The deer too are feelingly frisky galloping around the yards. We had a dozen of them yesterday driving Scooby crazy.

The signs of spring are also popping up from the ground way ahead of their usual schedule. This, as my Dad was fond of saying “would do your heart good”

Lets just hope that the groundhog got it right and this early spring will fulfill its promises. No deep freeze please!

Blessing # 610 – Virtually Vernal

What a lovely birthday. Started a few days ago with gifts and greetings arriving from the besties in Belfast.

This morning brought many good wishes on Facebook and cards and pressies from my men folk. I will be merry and bright after all this!

On our walk Scooby and I had snow on the grass to make it sparkle and saw two blue birds nesting that made me think my Mom and Dad were sending their good wishes too.

At Church more pressies from my friend Lori and a very special service.

It was one I’d never experienced before a Healing Service including anointing with holy oil. Very special for a big birthday ending with one of a favorite Hymn of Promise. Felt like God was also sending best wishes.

Back home a big Turkey was roasting away and along side it the works without work. Isn’t there a song that says I wish it could be Christmas everyday? Well it was today! It was all the quick and easy way to do it but it was yummy.

Now with a nice glass or two of red I’m settling in to watch the epic Gandhi for the upteenth time. If you snooze for a while you can always rewind! After all you’re given grace when you’re no longer a spring chicken!

Blessing # 609 – Happy Heart

Today my friend Alison is on my mind. We were born hours apart but didn’t meet until we were sixteen. Surprisingly even though we lived just a few miles apart we had to wait until we went to Italy for a summer vacation for our first encounter.

Immediately we became firm friends and had many fun times together as young women celebrating our BIG 18th and 21st birthdays with joint parties.

Alison had a very bad car accident but fought a long and courageous battle back to health and went on to become a wonderful wife, mother and in the past few years a grandma too.

Alas this year she lost her life to cancer and is deeply missed by many especially her beautiful family.

She left a lasting impression on my life and I will be eternally grateful to have known her. She was beautiful inside and out with a wonderful smile. Alison was very gentle, softly spoken, funny, very kind, very thankful for everything and also very content.

I loved her and I know she loved me too so we will always have that very precious gift that never dies.

Blessing # 608 – Gracious Soul

Hope you and your loved ones enjoyed Saint Valentines Day. We decided our little love knots were going to CORD this year.

You may never have heard of CORD. We hadn’t either until, we made friends on Facebook with our nephew Krishna, his wife Meera, their daughter Jyotsna and son in law Hari. Now we are in touch with them almost daily rather than once every few years!

Both Krishna and Meera are medics and Jyotsna and Hari are horticulturalist running a garden design business. Some years ago Dr Meera started the Siruvani branch of CORD in Coimbatore India. With help and support from her family she heads out into the villages to provide medical checks. Here’s just some of the things she did last quarter. There are so many you’ll have to zoom in for the details.

A certain Dr Krishna may well have run a few of those lab tests!

It’s vital and it’s impressive but her work doesn’t stop there. CORD has a great focus on women. There are classes on basic life skills, nutrition and hygiene. Better still there’s organic cottage gardening that you’d suspect a daughter and son in law may well be helping with!

There are also classes on establishing business ventures giving ladies the chance to learn new skills. That’s Dr Meera teaching in the blue sari. You can see her better in the main picture.

They transform the produce they grown into dishes and spice mixes and best of all beauty products!

It’s all so full of LOVE nothing could be better to share and support on a day like today. CORD!

Blessing # 607 – Saints Among Us

We, or if truth be told I, have been looking for a house to flip for some time. We have made some offers but haven’t been successful so far!

That’s about to change! Today we went to view a mid century ranch on the outskirts of Delaware the city where the antique mall is located. It’s good to concentrate on one area don’t they say. There again they also say you shouldn’t put all the eggs in one basket.

When we viewed the house the interior looked sound enough. There is a lovely brick fireplace and the handles on the original kitchen cabinets are keepers even if the cabinets are goners.

Apart from some bulging of the wall in the basement that will need serious work the rest seemed cosmetic.

Of course the roof and yard were covered in snow. Taking a closer look at the photos of the house it would seem this was hiding a bit of history. Or is that horror!

Anyway the deed is done and the offer is made and so now I am half demented looking at home decor trends and home repair costs. There is nothing to beat dreaming about how beautiful something might look.

At times like these I become in my own head at least a design guru. We haven’t even lifted a pen to sign a check and I’m already seeing the for sale sign on this totally restored and renovated retreat!

HGTV will be inviting me to make a new series. Chip and Joanna Gains will have nothing on this. That’s just before a little voice enters my head and tells me “He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts! “

Doesn’t stop me loving the idea though that this will be a winner!

Blessing # 606 – Dreaming On

Bit late on the Banter because a blizzard is happening in our area. It’s part of a major storm winging its way across the Midwest and hit here about three hours ago.

I was at the prison. That’s twenty two miles from home. It usually takes me about forty minutes to get back but tonight it took twice as long.

I absolutely love snow. Driving in a blizzard is not the best way to enjoy it but even that has a little edginess that makes the heart beat faster.

Theres always the challenge of which road to take the highway or the byway. Highways are unpredictable. The towns and rural roads are slower and steadier and that’s what I chose.

It was so bad at one point that I couldn’t see my landmark to turn onto one of the country roads. Maybe not such a bad thing though as it kept me on the straight not narrow!

Reaching your own little town sure is sweet and sweeter still is reaching your own place.

Now all we have to do is sit and bite our nails, wait and worry until the young man returns from work! My crystal ball tells me there may be a day off forecast in his future!

Blessing #605 – Lights of Home

Our Aaron is having a snooze  that’s how I managed to get a photo of his iPhone! It is usually attached to his finger with superglue.

He got his first one for his 15th birthday and I’ve lost track of how many upgrades we’ve had since then not to mention the number of cracked screens that have been repaired. This one has a well damaged screen but himself is now wise enough to understand that until it packs up completely there is no need to change it.

The phone has caused considerable tension and some bust ups within our family but Dad and I have, after much argument, resigned ourselves to the fact that today’s teenagers needs a smart phone like we need oxygen.

Phones have played an important role in romantic relationships since their inception but today’s phone has replaced entirely the art of letter writing and to a large extent the spoken word with the dreaded TEXT! 

Back in the day when I was a teenager our household didn’t have a phone. All my friends had phones and it was tough for me that we didn’t especially when a boy asked you out for a date. If you hadn’t a phone number to give him you were a lost cause!

So after much pressure my Mum caved in and agreed to get one. So significant was this step that I can tell you we got it mid July 1976! My Dad wasn’t in the least fussed whether we got one or not but Mum was. He gave her the housekeeping money ever Friday and she could do what she wanted with it. So it was up to her to fit the phone into the budget. Calls were paid by the minute back then so if you happened to talk for a little longer that the usual « OK I’ll see you at seven thirty at the bus stop »  a look that could kill came your way!

That phone was much loved not just by me but also by my Mum especially when I moved away from home. All it did was allow you to talk. It wasn’t digital and back then even when we called to make an appointment real people answered you and said hello. It wasn’t a numbers game.

Beside it sat my address book filled with friends names and numbers. It’s successor is still going to this day and sits beside the phone in our kitchen and yes it is still referred to now and then.

Our landline though is in jeopardy. Nearly all the calls we get on it are spam. That never happened back in the day a phone was an appliance of affection. Now, between endless holding music, prompts by robots and fake callers trying to scare the life out of you it is nothing short of an instrument of torture!

Blessing # 604 – Words of Love

We have just finished eating our dinner. It’s was one of our favorites a breakfast fry up! Its far from fancy fine food but we love it.

Each of us through trial and error come to know how we enjoy things best. Take the eggs we just ate as an example. You might be a sunny side up person, a poacher or a scrambler. We’re over easy people. You can have eggs many ways and any way but there is only one way you LOVE them.

The same is true of other simple things like a cup of tea. You’ll drink it out of paper, plastic, fine china or glass but you’ll only love it if it’s in your favorite mug with just enough milk and sugar at the perfect strength.

Imagine if there was only one variety of apple. Maybe that would make life easier but would you ever love it? Having a choice gives everything an element of desire. It’s awful though if you see something that looks like your favorite but doesn’t deliver as it should. That’s a real big and bitter disappointment.

Experience is a gift. You have to live with an electric fire before you fully appreciate the glory of a real coal blaze. Even if today there are attractive simulations nothing comes close to the real McCoy.

Maybe that’s why a little candle is so romantic it brings us back to that primeval flicker!

Blessing # 603 – Fanning Flames

This morning sitting quietly with Scooby gazing hopefully at yet another Croissant au Chocolate it struck me how much we can learn about love from our dogs.

Since it’s the week of Valentines there couldn’t be a better time to talk about this most important  subject.

Dogs are so grateful for the smallest token of kindness even if it’s just a crumb. They give kisses every morning and each time you come home even if you’ve only been away a little while.

They never bear grudges even if you shout at them and keep you amused if you’re in a stinking mood. They’ll listen to anything!

They don’t care what you wear or how you look in fact they secretly like your socks if they’re smelly!

If you stay up late they’ll keep you company but are just as happy to go to bed early and no matter what time the alarm rings they’ll jump out of bed with you.

Today while doing a little Goodwill hunting I found a lovely little treasure that sums up very well these feelings.

Blessing # 603 – Four Paw Passion

All those years ago when I lived in the UK I loved to watch the BAFTAs. This is the British equivalent of the Oscars and back then it covered television (T) as well as film (F).

So it was with delight I discovered that BBC America was broadcasting the event held last weekend on play back. YEAH perfect for Friday evening with a glass or two of sparkle.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were there looking like movie stars themselves.

The setting was magnificent it was after all at the spectacular Royal Albert Hall in London and the sweet and beautiful Renee Zellwegger won best actress.

Apart from this it was disappointing. Several people took digs at the Royals with references to Harry, Meghan and Prince Andrew leaving TRHs in attendance visibly cringing. It was pathetic, not at all funny and in some instances such as the display by Rebel Wilson downright mean.

The presenters all seemed to have difficulty reading the teleprompter which was funny and the hosts receiving the guests on the red carpet were downright weird. What were those green gloves about?

So as the first full moon of this Chinese Year shines let’s see if the stars do too at tomorrow’s Oscars.  Let’s hope that they will be in the business of building each other up with some kindness for their fellow men as well of course as the environment.

Blessing #602 – Second Takes