Following a Tradition of Women in the Church

     Good morning! I am trying out a different font today, and making it larger. My eyes have trouble reading small fonts, and I thought that maybe others also have that trouble. There are some blogs that I have been trying to read, but the fonts are too small for my eyes. 
     My mamma was always a member of the United Methodist Women (UMW) at our church, as were my Granna and my aunt. This organization means a lot to me. Before my family church was closed, I became a member of our UMW. Then, I became the president and tried to keep the unit going. This group of women meant a lot to me. I am now attending a new church, and I am serving as president this year. I have also taken on the office of Secretary for our District. My mamma was a District Treasurer for many years, so I am once again following in her footsteps as a District officer. 
     The UMW is a wonderful group of women who focus on Missions and helping others. As a young girl, I couldn't wait to become old enough to join a "Circle", as the groups used to be called. Actually, the organization was once called the Women's Society, but the goals were the same - helping women and children through missions. The story of the founders is a great one. Six women were determined to help young girls in India to become educated and to receive good medical care. Two women, whose husbands were missionaries to India, began the whole process of raising funds to help girls in India. It all started on "a dark and stormy night", as the story goes. There is a little skit that has been written about the women who began to organize the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1869. The story is awe inspiring, and the skit is done in a fun and informative way. 
     Our Methodist denomination has evolved over the years from  Methodist Episcopal, to Methodist, and finally into the United Methodist Church, after joining with the United Brethren Church in 1968. One thing that has remained constant, however, is the women of the church and their dedication to helping others. I have added a link here that will take you to the skit about the beginnings of United Methodist Women. I think you will enjoy reading it. The skit is really fun to perform, with the audience participation and sound effects! I hope you enjoy it!
https://wnccumw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Skit-That-Handful-of-Women.pdf 
     This past week, the UMW unit of my church had a Soup Sale. We do this twice a year. As always, the money earned goes straight to support missions throughout the U.S. and the world. Many of our members choose a soup that they would like to make, and we take orders from our members. I made about 12 quarts of vegetable beef soup this time, and I took 10 to church. I enjoy cooking and baking, and I love soup!  Usually, I do not have any leftover to taste! I made ten quarts of chicken noodle at our last sale, and it all went to the church. This time, however, I had enough leftover to keep about two bowlfuls. YUM! 
      For two mornings this week, I got outside early and took a morning bike ride. Getting out early like that helped me to feel refreshed and helped me to be more productive throughout the day. It was nice to be outside with nature and to enjoy the sunshine, the quiet, the peacefulness, and the calmness of the morning hours. On Tuesday, I went about 3 1/2 miles around the neighborhood. Yesterday, I rode 5 1/2 miles! I ride very slowly, but I really enjoy it. Today's sky looks gray and rainy, so I m glad that I got some long rides done early in the week! My tricycle gets me where I need to go, and it keeps me safe and healthy. It is nice to be able to stop and rest when I need to do that. With a three wheeled bike, it is possible to just stop and keep sitting, without having to get off the bike and stand. I saw a lot of azaleas and camellias beginning to bloom. Savannah is very beautiful in the spring, when all of the azaleas are in bloom. The whole city is a sea of pink! I will be sure to post some pictures of the beautiful azaleas!
     I took pictures of some of our awesome overhanging trees and Spanish Moss yesterday. I just couldn't help trying to capture their beauty! Here is one of the pictures that I took. There are many more streets with bigger trees, so I will take more pictures on my next ride. We have many wonderful, and very old, trees in our beautiful city. They are a sight to behold!
I will see you again soon. Have a great day!

Watching Birds and Slowing Down to Smell the Roses!

Hello,
      A couple of weeks ago, I saw an amazing sight! My son was with me in my front yard. He looked up and said, "There is a Bald Eagle!!" Sure enough, there were TWO Bald Eagles flying over our neighborhood. We both looked up in amazement, as we saw the white heads of those awesome birds. Their head color was a tell-tale sign that they were indeed Bald Eagles!  My son said, "They are a mating pair flying home!" There are many Bald Eagles in my area, but I have never seen one flying in the air like that. My son  often sees them, when he is out in the ocean on his boat. They live high in the trees in some of the watery areas, on the islands around Savannah. Adam said that these two birds were probably flying back to their nest over by one of the parkways that lead to the island. I have never, ever seen a Bald Eagle in the wild. I have seen them in cages at a nature refuge, but not in the wild. This sight was amazing. They were just gliding through the air on their way home! 
     That same day, a big Hawk was flying over the houses in the neighborhood. I have noticed that Hawk a lot recently. This season must be the time for all birds to be making their nests for new life to arrive. Even in my backyard, there is a mating pair of Mockingbirds. We found their nest by accident. There are many vines that grow on my house and on my garage. We have been trying to take down some of the vines on the garage that have gotten really out of hand. Adam was working on one of these vines on this particular day, and he noticed a very flimsy nest that had been in some of the vines. I am hoping that it was an old one, and not the one that they had been making! Then, we saw two Mockingbirds hopping around in the backyard. They weren't even afraid of us! I saw one in the yard again yesterday, so they must be making a new nest somewhere.
     I have quite a few trees around my house, along with the vines. There is a Pecan tree in the backyard, and there are several Crepe Myrtle trees there. The squirrels always get to the pecans before they are ready to eat. I also have a Pecan tree in the front yard. Although this tree is around thirty years old, the pecans are not yet ready to eat. They are still in the young stage, as far as eating size. The pesky little squirrels get to them, eat a hole in the top, and throw them down on the ground!  So, we don't have many to even try to eat! As I ride my bike, I see many types of blooming trees. There are a lot of Tulip trees in the neighborhoods of Savannah. The pink blooms on these trees are beautiful!
     I have a porch full of Pansies and Violas right now. I love them! (The pesky squirrels like to hide their pecans in my planters, though!) Every now and then I go outside and see a big hole in a planter or two! Luckily, the flowers don't seem to mind, and they keep growing! My Daddy had a pretty red Rose bush at his house, and my son took a cutting from it. When Adam planted the Rose bush at my house, it outgrew and out-bloomed the original Rose bush! How about that! It is still in front of my house, waiting on its time to bloom again this year.
     So, retirement life is helping me to learn how to slow down and smell the roses, as the expression goes! It is taking me a while to truly enjoy not having to do anything, without feeling guilty. I don't know if I have Southern Guilt, or just plain Female Guilt about things. It is a habit that we Southern women seem to have. We always believe that we must be doing something for our family or for someone - ANYONE! ha! Is it a Southern thing? Oh well, whatever it is...I have it! 
     I took a nice long bike ride this morning, just to get out and about before it got too hot. Our weather is so crazy these days. It is winter cold one day, spring the next day, summer one day, and then it goes back to winter! My bike riding time has been adjusted to the weather! I got really hot on the ride today. As I was getting close to home, I noticed dark clouds looming in the sky that were not there when I started out! So, we must be expecting rain later today. Or, the weather may just be trying to fool us! Whatever the case may be, I suppose the clouds are the reason the air got so muggy during my ride.
     Savannah is known for having a lot of really smothering humidity, and some days can be really uncomfortable. However, I will take our weather over SNOW any day! I have lived with snow. Driving in the snow is not so fun. Being cold all the time is not so fun. Building snowmen, sledding with the children, and playing with snowballs are fun things to do. Those activities can be nice, for a day or so. Yes, snow is pretty to look at, for a day or so. After that, it is nice when the snow melts away! HA! Give me the beach, the sunshine, and the warmth any old day!  I love it!!
     So, go outside and watch the birds. Go outside and smell the flowers. I promise you that doing these things will make you feel good and give you a great start to your day!!

Just Slow Down (and ride)

It is now eight months into my retirement, and I still have trouble slowing down. Actually, it is hard not to feel guilty about not having to rush to do everything. I have to learn that it is perfectly okay for me to sit down and do something for myself, without feeling as though I must jump up and rush out of the house. I must also learn that it is okay just to stay home and mill around the house doing whatever I like. 
     I do enjoy being at home. I was never able to be home when my children were growing up, so I suppose I still feel guilty about that. They tell me that they turned out just fine, and they know I had to work, so I should feel better about it. I was a single parent raising two children. More often than not, I had two (sometimes three) jobs just to keep us afloat. My work life spread out over a period of forty years, so now it is time to learn how to have a calm and somewhat carefree life. 
     One thing that I do enjoy is riding my tricycle. Yes, I have a three wheeled bike, and it is awesome! It is bright pink, has a big seat, and there is a basket on the back. I can go as slow as I want, without any fear of falling. When it is time to stop, I can just sit on the bike and not even have to get off or put my feet down. Since I have some pesky leg and balance issues, this bike is a wonderful thing to have. My long rides are between 4 and 5 miles. The short rides are just 1 or 2 miles. I like riding, rather than walking, because I feel safer. I can go farther in the neighborhood. If I feel tired, I can just stay seated and rest. Also, I get home quicker by riding than walking. Riding a 3 wheeler is not as tiresome as walking can be, either. My brother gave me a pink bell that is on there. I also have a pink bag tied on that holds my ID and insurance cards, phone, keys, and anything else that might fit in there!

     Before my sister lost her battle with cancer, she bought a bike like mine. It is green. Her hope was to get out and ride once in a while, when she felt good enough. Alas, she never did get to use her bike. She was too sick, and she went to heaven.      
     My brother-in-law gave the bike to my cousin, who lives only a mile from me. A few months ago, I started riding over to her house to get her out and about. She has a lot of physical issues, too, and the bike is a good thing for her. The first day we rode, she could barely ride 2 blocks. We have gone off and on since then. Sometimes, she goes by herself.  Now, she can ride 2 miles at a time! Isn't that awesome!
     Cross stitching used to be a good hobby of mine. That was back in the day when life was much simpler, my children were young, and I was living a much calmer life. Now that I am retired and not as busy, the craft of cross stitching is calling to me. I have had a hard time finding things in the stores to buy for my craft, though. One of my cousins is really good at cross stitching, and she has told me about some YouTube videos and Facebook pages about the craft. So, I am going to check out all of the places she told me about and start stitching again!
     I am trying to find my joy again. Slow and easy wins the race. I must remind myself of that, when I am too hard on myself about things. It is okay to slow down. It is okay to do things in my own time. It is okay not to do everything in one day or all at once. It is okay. It is okay.
     My front porch is full of pansies and violas! Home Depot had some pretty flowers, so I bought a bunch of them. I planted them in the cold, but they are doing well. My grandmother's name was Pansy, so that flower is extra special to me. The violas look like baby pansies, and they add an extra touch to the porch! 

 My heather plants are still alive and kicking. I planted these back in the summer. They keep dying, becoming bare and brown, but then they start blooming again!! 
So, I put the pansies and violas in the planters with them!!

     











I have one pink geranium left from the summer that has bloomed again. It came out the day that I bought the pansies, so I put some in the pot with it and left it peeking out!



Many years ago, I had a wonderful vegetable garden. That was when I lived in Tennessee and had a really big yard. Maybe I will grow tomatoes or something next summer. I do have a potato vine growing in the backyard. Instead of putting a few potatoes in the trash can to 'stink it up', I put them in the ground until trash pickup day.  They quickly sprouted a vine, so I just left it there! It is a pretty vine, and there is a new potato sticking out of the ground now. How about that! haha
     Well, I will stop for now. I hope to be a regular writer of my blog from now on. I do enjoy writing, so that is another thing that I am going to start doing again for myself. I hope you all have a wonderful day!
     

A New Year

The new year has started off well. I have been trying to get things done around the house that I couldn't do while I was still working. Slowly but surely, things are getting done. When talking to a friend of mine about this, and saying that no one but me could tell that anything has been done, my friend said, "How do you eat an elephant?"  At first, I wasn't sure what he meant. Then, I realized that the answer was 'a little bit at a time'. That little rhetorical question helped me to realize that it doesn't matter how fast things move, but that it is that they are moving!  So, a little bit at a time is how I am managing to get things done!  I was in graduate school of one sort or another for ten years, along with working as a teacher full time and taking care of my aging parents. Things around this house got really stacked up and neglected. So, what took a long time in creating cannot be changed in a minute!  

  I have also started back doing some things that identify 'me'. I am working with the United Methodist Women in my church and in our District, and this is enjoyable for me. I started playing my clarinet again, in our local Community band called the Savannah Winds. It has been a long time since I have played, and it is going to take a while to get back into shape. However, the stamina of playing and the movement of the fingers will come back with practice. Another thing to which I have returned is my church choir. All of my  life, I was either directing the choir or singing in the choir.  Choir has been a major part of my entire being, and I really feel good about singing again. I have also found that I love to paint. I have participated in quite a few painting sessions at our local Painting With a Twist studio. This type of studio has a featured painting for which you can sign up to make, and you join a group of people who are all there to have fun! The instructors are all very helpful, and each person's painting has their own flair to it.  Another thing that I am doing for myself is the Disciple I Bible Study that is a part of the United Methodist Church. I agreed to teach the class, and I am really getting a lot out of this study. I did this study way back in 2003, as a participant. Now, I am doing the study as a teacher. It is nice to have the extra time to do this study from a teacher's perspective. I am really getting a lot out of it. After so many years of studying and working on my Ed. S. and my Ph. D., both in Education, it is nice to do research on something that helps me to become closer to God and to increase my spiritual wellness.  

After retiring from teaching in May, I kept myself away from any type of commitment or organization. I just needed a break from the world for a while. Eight months into retirement, I realized that I really do need to be around people. It is important to have something to do that is important to one's self and that helps you to stay involved with others. I am going to be sure not to overextend myself, though. It is fine to have a few things to do that really mean a lot to me, but having too many involvements will not be so good. So, I have chosen my commitments wisely. 

My grandchildren are always on the top of my list of commitments. I pick them up from school every Monday. That is something that I really look forward to doing each week! This year, they are at two different schools that are a far distance apart. Next year, they will both be at the same school, which is really close to my house.That will be awesome!

I wrote a Christmas post that included pictures of my home, but I never got it finished. Perhaps I will redo that soon and post it. Writing my thoughts in this blog is another thing that I want to get back to doing. A Christmas post might be fun to do at a different time of year! 

Here is a wish for you to have a Happy New Year 2020!  I hope that you have a great day! 

It's December already!

This retirement gig is very interesting. It seems like only yesterday was May 22nd, and I was retiring from teaching. Now, it is December 15th! Time really flies when you are having fun. I actually started this post on December 4th. I cannot seem to get it finished.

I am finally realizing that it is okay to just get up and take my time getting ready. I am actually sitting down to have breakfast, when I do have breakfast. My normal way to eat was standing up while running around doing things, either at home or at work. It is okay to do something for myself once in a while. It is okay to sit down and read a book or watch television. I tape my soap operas, so that I can watch them at night. There are only two left of the ones that I have been watching for years. My Mamma and Granna got me hooked on the CBS 'stories' when I was a teenager. Most soap operas have been cancelled.

The television industry now has an influx of reality shows, instead of regular shows. Comedies have been relegated to 'one liners' by the characters. They all use the same 'sing-song' type of voice and inflections in their voices. Many of the shows sound as though the people are dubbing their own voices over a close-up microphone in a studio. They do not even sound as though they are actually speaking while they are acting. I think that is just crazy.

We have had a touch of real winter here in the South, with some colder temperatures. Of course, we do not have anything like the weather up north, but we have enough cold for me. I do not like to be cold. The heat doesn't bother me, but the cold does! My yard is full of leaves from my pecan tree, so I do not need the mountains or snowy weather to make it feel like winter. haha  I love to look at the leaves. They make me feel good, so I do not rake them. The neighbors probably wish I would rake them, but I like to leave them on the lawn. They are pretty.  We have had many days of spring type weather, but today was actually cold.
Thanksgiving was awesome. I had the family over for the day. The children greatly enjoyed all of the leaves on my lawn. They got two brooms and swept up all the leaves they could possible sweep. Then, they enjoyed covering each other completely with leaves. Suffice it to say, the kids had a good old time!

My pecan tree had plenty of leaves to cover the entire lawn.

The leaves were spread all over the yard!

My porch and steps were also covered with leaves.

Now, the tree is bare!

Happy December!

It's been a while!

Well hello!  It has been quite a while since my last blog post. I was really busy with work and life in general. Retirement has finally arrived, and I am enjoying every minute of it!  For some odd reason, I fought the retiring thing. I am glad that I finally took my children's advice (strong encouragement) and just did it. Actually, I waited until the very last day of school to make the decision.  I am happy with that decision.
Bike rides, taking it easy, getting things done in bits and pieces, and just relaxing are some of the things that I can do now that were not available to me while I was working.
I am not sure if anyone is actually reading anything that I am writing, but it is nice to be doing it again. I thought that I had deleted this whole blog a few years ago. I did a search for my blog the other day, and it popped right up for me! How about that!
So, I may be getting on here every now and then to write and express my thoughts, or describe something fun that has happened.
I will start with a morning bike ride that I had a few weeks ago. I was rolling along slowly, as always, and saw a little animal hopping down the road. It looked like a little rabbit. Since I live in the city, I thought this animal must be someone's lost pet. As I rode closer, I realized the animal was actually a squirrel with NO tail.  Can you imagine that!  The little guy hopped along and then scooted right up the nearest tree!  I have ridden back by there several times, but the little squirrel has not reappeared for me.
This summer, I spent a lot of time at the beach. I went by myself and just sat there enjoying the day. I also started reading a series of four books by Eugenia Price called the Savannah Quartet. For someone who has always avoided reading, these books were really big ones to attempt. The first one is called Savannah. I read it many years ago, so I skipped right to the second book. Those books are really, really long!  There is a lot of history in them, also. The second book was very easy to go through. The third and fourth books took a while longer to read. They are loaded with historical facts as well as a great story line.  Being on the beach for hours at a time gave me ample time to get the books read. Also, it is easier for me to read outside in the sunshine than in the house!  So, I read the entire series this summer. Then, I read a very interesting book called, We Were the Lucky Ones, by Georgia Hunter. This story is about a Polish family during World War II. The book is awesome, and I recommend it to anyone who likes to read. Next, I reread an awesome children's book called Waterless Mountain, by Laura Adams Arner. It is an older book that won the Newbery Award Medal. This story is about a young Navajo boy living in what is now Arizona. The story is awesome. It describes the culture of the Navajo through the life of this little boy. I then read another children's book called The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate. This book was a quick read. It is about the plight of a caged gorilla who lives in a Mall. It is a Newbery Award winning book, also. After reading some serious things, I borrowed some different types of books from my cousin. The first one was called The Perfect Dress, by Carolyn Brown. It was really good. It is about some women who opened a small wedding dress store and design and make wedding gowns to fit sizes 14 and up. It was heartwarming. Then, I read another Carolyn Brown book called Magnolia Inn. That was nice, also. Next, I switched to some really serious religious stuff and read Practicing Radical Discipleship, by Janet Wolf. This book took me a while to read, mainly because I was reading other things in between. I had to put it on the back burner a few times and go back to it in spurts. I finished in yesterday, finally. I am still trying to get through a smaller book called This Matter of Marriage, by Debbie Macomber, which I started while reading the other books. It is an easy read, but I have been reading it in between reading the discipleship book. During this time, I also read the book that many people are talking about these days called Where the Crawdads Sing, by by Delia Owens. It was an easy read, and it was really interesting. I see why so many people like it.
If you are wondering why I am so excited about these books, it is because I have not been able to read books for a long time, due to some vision things. So, I am really proud of myself at being able to read again.
Today, I rode with my cousin while she delivered Meals on Wheels. Then, we ate lunch at the historic Pirate's House restaurant. They had an awesome buffet today!  After that, we visited a wonderful little bookstore called  Books on Bay. It is a store with hundreds of vintage books. A retired English professor started this store. She has labeled each and every book by hand and can tell you about all of them. It is on what is called Factor's Walk, in the downtown area by the river. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon - just perusing through her store. She has the actual, original paintings for the covers of the Nancy Drew mystery books, too. She has several on loan from Boston. They are neat pieces to see.
I am still stuffed from my lunch buffet. A person cannot do that too often!  HA!
I may come on here from time to time. I may come on here more often than that, now that I have gotten back in the swing of things.
Have a great day!

Happenings

A lot has happened this year. My son is now an RN and is working in the Cardiac Care Unit of a hospital here in town. My niece was married last weekend and will be starting her new life in a new state. Another niece of mine graduated from high school and is planning on attending college next Fall. My grandchildren are growing and thriving. Life keeps moving on!

Summer is officially here for 'us teacher folk'.  haha
So... of course I had to go to the beach on my first real day of summer. We had a blast. The girls loved playing in the sand and the waves. The tide was very rough, so we only spent time right at the water's edge. The undertow was extreme, even at the water's edge. You could feel your feet being pulled in by the current, even in one inch of water. Needless to say, we had to keep a very strong and tight hold on the little ones' hands the entire time.
I hope we have a drier summer than we had last year. It seems like we had torrents of rain every day last summer. Hopefully, the rain will be minimal and we can enjoy each and every day to its fullest!

It is also my intention to have many bike rides around the neighborhood during my time off from work. I found a bike app to put on my phone, and I found out that I have been riding 5 and 6 miles on days when I thought I was only going 1 or 2 miles! Wow!  My longest rides equal to around 10 miles, and those are only in my neighborhood streets. I love riding my three wheel bike. I feel very safe and do not have to worry about falling over or being injured while riding. This morning, I actually cranked up my treadmill and walked a mile. That is something that I plan on doing daily from now on. Let's see if I actually do it!

Summer is a time for new beginnings, new hope, and new surprises. I am wishing for a wonderful summer full of beach fun, bike rides, adventures, and playing with my granddaughters!!

Whoopie!!