Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow

Posted on March 7, 2011April 19, 2011 by Katharine

I am SO not a photographer.

If you know anything, at all, about photography, you know: soon as I planned to take photos of shadows, the sky clouded over, erasing them all. Later, as the clouds thinned, the resulting shadow quickly disappeared while I readied my camera. You know.

The sand pictured below lives in the shadow of our house, a northeast inward corner and a cool playground for kiddos in summer. In early spring, though, it boasts the abundance of weed seed it has collected since last summer. In this photo, I have just raked all the weeds away. Don’t like to spray where kiddos play.

Nevertheless, here is the sand area, complete with shadow but sans board to keep it all in place. We’ll get a new board; the old one was termite-ridden. This is the usual spring cleanup ritual around our yard.

If you know anything, at all, about sand areas, you know the gritty-squish sound my shoes made as I tried to step lightly into the sunroom where my camera is. Will have to sweep there, soon.

If you know anything, at all, about gardening tools, you know what brand these are, from the fragment of label revealing itself from the underside. The torturous-looking one is torturous in real dirt, but in sand it is perfect.

Isn’t it odd the sand looks more like sphagnum in a close up? It looks just like sand, in reality.

Thinking about shadows made me realize I have an early bloomer in the deeper shade. Between the well-house and the house grow some hellebores. These picky little ones love living in the shadows. They were camera shy and I had to prop up their faces with my green watering can. It is fun to realize they have come back to bloom for me.

I can be like that, sometimes. Although I do enjoy an outing, I am most comfortable at home, blooming in the shadows. I like my old comfortable places

Don’t we all, Sisters?

Believe it or not!, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Wisdom

Weekly Photo Challenge: Abundance

Posted on February 28, 2011September 4, 2011 by Katharine

We have an abundance of daffodils. You may think this vase full of them is an example, but it so far falls short.

When we bought our property, it was a hot, arid summer. Few people would think of daffodils at that time of year. In fact, the lovely woman selling the property apologized for not having fresh flowers out that day. Amazing lady!

Come spring, this is what we found:

And, of course, as promised:

We were shocked at the abundance, marveled at the forethought of people now passed on, who planted and planted and planted for someone else ultimately to enjoy. And they did this just because that’s the way it ought to be done.

I want to think like that. Sometimes I do. I have given and planted untold times for my children, for their future, but I want to be sure I leave behind something someone can point to and say, “Someone was sure thinking about the future!”

I want to amaze someone with abundance.

Inspiring, Sayings

Weekly Photo Challenge: Refuge

Posted on February 21, 2011August 11, 2015 by Katharine

These are my woods.

In spring, these woods beckon to me. I leave housekeeping, planting, and writing, and walk alone through my woods. I can feel the presence of those who have gone before. I think ancient people walked my woods. They were welcome.

In these woods is a small, natural chapel. Pines bent by ice storms form arches over a deep bed of straw. A trickling spring interrupts the palpable hush. Surely the wild things growing here have waited, their beauty unnoticed for ages.

Paths through these woods lead to a gravel road, which leads to town. No one coming from town would be able to find the outlet, the access to the paths; a charming privacy. There are no sounds except the ones God created; a calming quiet.

I go to these woods when they call to me, when housekeeping, planting and writing weary me.

Then I come back. I have promises to keep, and miles to go . . .

Believe it or not!, Cats, Sayings

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curiosity

Posted on February 14, 2011March 24, 2011 by Katharine

I’d Like to Kill a Mockingbird!

We once had a house cat. He was amazing at first, the funniest kitten I’d ever seen, and I’m a connoisseur. A totally fluffy gray furball with longer white hair, he looked frosted. We named him Pussy Willow Catkin, Willy, for short.

As Willy grew, he developed issues with me, the discipline person who floated through the house in those wonderful reversible gauzy skirts, draped armloads of sheets to the laundry, and popped open trash bags, all of which activities scared him.

Not only that, but I often exchanged his raunchy litter box for one that smelled good, an activity he took as very personal rejection.

Eventually he learned which side of the bed was mine and occasionally he dumped on me. He knew which chair I would least like full of gray fuzz. He knew which floor was most problematic if peed on. He knew which windowsills had breakable brick-a-brack. He used all his information to pay me back for scaring him with my floaty, drapey, trashy ways.

I only did one thing right in his eyes: catnip. He loved it; I grew it.

The day came, though, when we weaned him to be an outdoor cat. After an initial wild exploration, he settled in to sleeping in the bird feeder. The birds frowned about that. He often fantasized that he could catch a bird, although all his forays into the wonderful world of the hunt were flops.

Especially the last one.

Around our property lived a mockingbird, which I don’t care what Jem’s Dad said, they do harm. They deliberately flaunt their senseless songs and seducing dances from atop the huge light pole that holds not only several wires and a yard light, but also the transformer for a few families. They do this only if a cat is in sight. Every time our cat would start up the tree near that pole, our mockingbird would keep up its cat-courting ritual just long enough to irritate the cat, then fly off.

One morning, Willy did not show up for breakfast. It wasn’t long before we discovered where he was: at the very top of the pole. At 5:00 a.m.

We decided he might learn a lesson if he had to wait until normal business hours to be rescued. We never dreamed what would happen next.

The skies opened up and dumped an inch of rain in 15 minutes. I’ve never seen anything like that and I’m also a connoisseur of rain. Love to watch it.

At this point, cat is drenched and bird is wherever birds go to survive downpours. Cat decides to take matters into his own hands and discovers that the perfectly safe props that got him up are now hot. Live. Murderous. In a moment, Pussy Willow Catkin lies at the base of the pole, basically dead.

We replanted the catnip bush over his grave.

Husbands, Inspiring, Wisdom, Wives

Illegitimate Boundaries

Posted on February 9, 2011November 13, 2015 by Katharine

Bound!

What makes a boundary that is not good?

It comes from someone who is not over you in authority.
It comes from someone who is not heeding his or her authorities.
It takes over an area of your life not under its authority.

First, when someone tries to set boundaries over or around you and is, himself, not your legitimate authority, you need not heed these boundaries. For instance, if someone else’s husband thinks you should wear your hair a certain way, he’s full of beans! Wearing your hair for someone else’s husband is preposterous. The same would go for someone else’s boss. Only your own boss should be able to tell you what to do on the job and when. This really is simple.

Second, if someone is not minding the law or other authorities over him, he may be out of line for telling you what to do. For instance, a policeman who asked you to rob a bank would be too obviously not one to heed. If your boss asked you to vote a certain way on a jury, that would be similar. Any authority who tried to make you break any law would be contemptible.

Third, the particular areas of your life that are yours, alone, do not fall under any other authorities. Your boss, although he is expected to be over you, still cannot tell you how to feed your children, what TV to watch, when to plant your garden, etc., because it is none of his business.

Also, these scenarios are not truly boundaries; they are bondage. Pay attention and learn to tell the difference.

Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Wives, Womanhood

The Boundary Around My Pond

Posted on February 8, 2011November 13, 2015 by Katharine

Another view of the pond — Another view of the icy pond

Boundaries are wonderful. Without them we could not have ponds. No ponds, no fish. Yes, we like boundaries. I think the fish do, too.

One boundary we think we don’t welcome is the womb. Wombs are wonderful. Without them we could not have babies. I think the babies like them, too.

But we ignore what we know is true and we violate that quiet, safe place for our growing babies, every day. Over 3000 times per day. It is impossible to violate our own bodies and our children’s lives the way we do, and still feel human.

Look at this:

In Pennsylvania, they’ve found a physician/abortionist who has made a profession and a large fortune from violating the boundaries of our wombs. How did he do it? By accepting payment in cash, not reporting his earnings, storing his money at home instead of in a bank, not disposing of bio-hazards, not sterilizing equipment, not providing gowns for patients, and barely paying staff.

Oh, and he sold drugs on the side. Cash, only, please.

More than half the people who went into his “clinic” died. You know, all the babies died, and several of the moms, too. It was just like the good ol’ days, minus the coat hanger. “Safe and rare”, my foot.

The only good thing about it, if it can be called good, is the wording the Philadelphia reporter, Stephanie Farr, used as she wrote her detailed report about Dr. Gosnell’s goings on:

“How many severed baby spines does it take to pay for a $984,000 shore house? How many severed infant feet is a boat worth?”

I am glad she said it that way. I don’t know how she had the nerve to write this truth in such big newspaper, nor how she got by with it, but there it was, on the Internet, for all to see. For all to think about. For all to try to grasp.

Not only does abortion mistreat women; it mistreats babies, violates wombs, ignores boundaries.

And it can turn us into monsters.

Inspiring, Wisdom, Womanhood

Weekly Photo Challenge: Boundaries

Posted on February 6, 2011November 13, 2015 by Katharine

Boundaries occur everywhere and they are good. Think of a horse or a toddler without a fence. Think of a dog without rules. Think of your bank account without a PIN. We love these boundaries and use them to the fullest.

We agree with boundaries for others, but for some reason, we cannot reconcile ourselves with boundaries for self. Think of the red light runners. Think of all the overdrawn bank accounts. Think of overweight. We refuse to see the good in boundaries and quickly shrug them when they are imposed upon self.

People who ruin lives overeating, overspending, and running red lights probably would tell you the boundaries are good, but . . . deep down we hope some other rule cancels the ones we don’t like. A friend once actually told me eating cheese with apple pie will cancel the calories in the pie. Another friend told me she divorced her husband because, “divorce is too easy these days.” That’s a reason?

Actually, marriage used to be a boundary for most people. It kept the rightful spouses in and pretenders and diseases out, a good thing. These days, we’re so used to tossing boundaries for perceived convenience, we fall in and out of love, marriage, and all other “affairs” at the blink of an eye.

Do not get me wrong. I do not think every obese, broke, divorced person who accidentally wrecked while running a red light is bad.

I just think with so many, it may be a trend. Just look at all the boundaries and rules we ignore, and their resulting ruinous counterparts:

1. Marriage–divorce
2. Pregnancy–abortion
3. Motherhood–day care
4. Budgeting–bankruptcy
5. Contentment–stress
6. Cooking–eating out
7. Seatbelt and texting laws–funerals

This incomplete list shows how all-encompassing the problem is.

Let’s each work to shorten this list, to add a few more boundaries to our lives.