High School Graduation -- one of many milestones

This is what I did last weekend.

 

I was shocked when I logged on here and discovered how long it had been since I last posted. Well, I've been a little busy. With both boys graduating in the past two weeks, family visiting, a graduation party . . . it's been a bit of a whirlwind.

One would think after all that, I'd have something interesting or insightful to say. I'm not really sure what to say. Or think. Plenty of thoughts and emotions are swirling around and colliding in my head. And I guess I'm still trying to process and sort them out.

Certainly, there is pride. I'm so proud of these two guys. Both have excelled in their own unique ways. And as a parent, I'm pleased for having brought them safely thus far, though I take little credit for that. Safe keeping is out of our hands to a great extent, and I give God all the glory.

And there's also humility. My sons are so far ahead of me when I was there age in terms of talent, maturity, and morality. And I marvel at how that happened. Again, praise God.

There's a bit of sorrow, as I know my life will never be the same once they both enter college this fall. I'll miss them. They won't "live" at home, but will be more like perpetually welcome visitors.

But there's also joy, realizing how far they have come and knowing they have their whole lives ahead of them and I can't wait to see what they do.

There's anticipation, for Bob and I to spend more time together; to do things and go places we've put off over the years, especially since living in Louisiana where we've had no family to keep an eye on the boys if we wanted to go away.

It's a lot to ponder. A lot to look forward to. These are exciting times in the life of my family.

What are your thoughts? Any tips for this soon-to-be empty nester?
 

Starks Mayhaw Festival

The Starks Mayhaw Festival is this weekend. Mayhaw is a southern fruit tree. I'd never heard of mayhaw prior to moving to Louisiana. But I do think it is a fun word to say, even if you can't eat them right off the tree. Kind of like crabapples, in that respect. Mostly people make jelly with them. Or wine. I doubt I'll make it to the festival again this year. But I went last year and had an interesting time. You can read about that trip here.

How about you? Did you find anything fun and interesting to do this weekend?

Mother's Day 2013

It's that time of year again when we celebrate moms. As a mom, I miss my son Eric who has been away at school on Mother's Day for the past three years. As a daughter, I miss my mom (she lives in Pennsylvania) and wish I could be with her on Mother's Day. (I love you, Mom!!)

Here's my beautiful Mom and I, taken on her 70th birthday in 2011.

Me and my boys, taken about a week before Mother's Day last year. Am I really that short?

And here's a flashback to a fun special Mother's Day from 2010.

I have no idea what we'll be doing this Sunday. What are your plans? How will you celebrate Mother's Day?

Cleaning Out the House, Literally and Figuratively

We had a garage sale last weekend. It’s a lot of work – sorting through drawers and closets, gathering things together, sneezing through the dust in the attic, exploring boxes that haven’t been opened since we packed them up in Pittsburgh six years ago. I put a price sticker on each item -- on toys and games we no longer play, CDs we no longer listen to, picture frames, kitchen and house wares, collectibles. On memories.

 

We hauled it all outside to the driveway before daylight. Early birds perused the boxes before we even had everything organized, but that’s to be expected. Then we attended to a fairly steady stream of shoppers until mid-day, when we boxed up the leftovers for Goodwill. For our efforts, we gleaned a few hundred dollars. But more importantly, my house feels lighter. It’s a great feeling, purging the excess, releasing what is unused; the unnecessary stuff that merely takes up space and creates clutter.

The whole process got me thinking about more than uncluttering my house. I pondered what I might eliminate from my life, to make my spirit lighter and less messy. How about stress and worry. Situations that cause me disappointment. Negativity of any kind. Yes, these things need to go. Somehow I suspect this will require a longer process than having a garage sale. But with even greater benefits.

I recently participated in a study with my church, First Presbyterian Church of Lake Charles, on Tommy Newberry’s book, The 4:8 Principle: the Secret to a Joy–Filled Life. It is based on Philippians 4:8:

. . . whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

It’s the same concept as having a rummage sale of the soul. Purge the negative. Focus on the positive.

It’s a lot of work. But so worth it.

What do you need to rid from your life?

Lake Charles' Spring Art Walk

My regular readers know I love the arts community in Lake Charles. The artists here love to share their work with the general public. Never is this more true and evident than in the Spring and Fall Art Walks. Twice a year, downtown galleries, museums, and businesses that support the arts open their doors on a Friday evening for a giant arts-oriented open house. It’s a fun party atmosphere.  Several blocks of Ryan Street are closed to vehicle traffic for the festivities. Many of the establishments offer hors d’oeuvres and refreshing adult beverages.

 

One of my many favorite local artists is Imogene Dewey. Love her watercolors. You can see more of her work here.

 

 

 

I also love watercolorist Sue Zimmerman’s work. She was indoors at Old City Hall. It was very crowded there and she was talking to a bunch of people and I didn’t get a chance to say Hi or take any photos. Just as well – I always gush and embarrass myself. Check out her website here.

The Art Walks are also great opportunities for new artists to meet the public and showcase their wares. This is my sweet friend Mischelle Jasken. I love the way her shirt matches the glazes on her exquisite pottery.

 

 

Even the flowers and landscaping in Lake Charles are colorful works of art.

Planting Season Reminds me of Forest Hill, Louisiana

It's that time of year, spring and all, and I've been planting a fair amount of flowers and vegatables in the garden beds. I'm reminded of a fabulous trip I took to Forest Hill, La. a couple years ago. Please read about it here. Forest Hill is THE place to go for plants of all kinds.

A good friend gave me this sign for my birthday earlier this year. I do love paisley (sounds like an herb, huh), but I hope to grow more than that this year. See the spinach on the right side? I'm off to a good start. What are you growing in your garden?

 

Mustangs Stampede into Sulphur

I went to the Cajun Mustangers Car Show over in Sulphur yesterday. I enjoy looking at cool cars. On one hand, I don’t get terribly excited about cars. I don’t drive a fancy car. I subscribe to a utilitarian outlook regarding vehicles – they’re merely tools to get from point A to point B. As long as they are reliable and serve my purposes.

On the other hand, cars are in my blood. Some of my first childhood memories are of playing slot cars with my dad on a track that took up a good deal of space in our small apartment in Cleveland, OH. I squeezed that button on the hand controller as tightly as my little thumb could press. Sometimes he'd take me to some kind of place that had larger slots on bigger tracks. While other fathers took their kids to the playground, Dad and I watched NASCAR all Sunday afternoon. Chevy and Ford were likely two of my first words. As a toddler, I had a sweatshirt with car logos all over it and I could name every one. I’m certain it was a boy’s shirt, but Dad didn’t care. He flipped cars like IHOP flips pancakes. I’d no sooner get attached to one, he’d sell it. They have an old home movie of me crying when daddy sold the turquoise blue VW beetle. I can’t begin to guess how many different cars we had during my childhood. I doubt Dad knows.

Dad was always a Chevy guy, so I don’t recall any Mustangs in the garage. We were partial to ‘vettes. But my very first car was a 1976 cherry red Mustang (below). When I was in college and needed a car, Mom bought it for me from my grandmother for $1000.00 and a waterbed (hey, it was the early ‘80s). I loved that car, but that generation of cars wasn’t designed to last. Eventually, the constant maintenance forced me to buy something more reliable.

 

So anyway, back to Saturday’s car show . . .  our friend and sailing buddy Ralph Unglaube has been president of the Cajun Mustangers for 12 years (wow, huh!). He has two very cool Mustangs that he restored. “We are all about keeping these old vehicles alive and we love showing them to the younger generations,” he says. The club puts on this car show every year. Used be only Mustangs, but they’ve opened it up to other makes and models. The club donated part of the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Program.

I liked this 1964 Mustang.

 

How about this 1928 truck? Looks like the mud on the wheels is from 1928, too.

 

My favorite car in the show was this 1971 Jaguar.

 

What’s your dream car?