The View from Here

The Holidays

I watched a Christmas commercial this morning and I was NOT grateful. It did not make be feel positive and happy and eager to celebrate. Today is Halloween!! At least let me see Thanksgiving on the horizon before bombarding my senses with all things green and red and jingling. I’m a product of ancient times when we shopped AFTER the turkey leftovers were gone and the Macy’s parade floats had been dismantled. We seldom bought a tree before December 1^st.

I know that ornaments and other Christmas supplies have been in the major stores for weeks. I know that a lot of people have already purchased gifts. I even know someone who has a fully decorated tree set up in one of her rooms. I’m just not ready.

First, I want to see if I manage to stand in line and vote. I know it will be physically challenging and I doubt if anyone really cares. I don’t recall any reports about separate lines or polling booths for those with handicap parking placards.

Then I want to finish preparations for winter. Have you changed your filter, light bulbs, batteries? Do you have a cover for your faucet? Washed your winter clothes? Stocked up on a few basic groceries? I do those things.

I look forward to Thanksgiving and want to enjoy it as a separate holiday, not as a “fly over” on the way to Christmas. My mother loved Thanksgiving! It’s the only holiday that celebrates family and food and gratitude without the burden of buying someone a gift. This year each of us who has survived to do so should take time to be thankful! Maybe Thanksgiving should be celebrated for a week.

After I eat some pumpkin pie, I’ll be ready for carols and ornaments and “It’s a Wonderful Life”. If I start all that tomorrow I’ll be sick and tired of the commercialism long before December 1^st.

Back to the Future

Ecclesiastes 7:14

When times are good, be happy;
    but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one
    as well as the other.
Therefore, no one can discover
    anything about their future.

            As a child I was fascinated by the notion of time travel. What if I could go back in time to witness some exciting event? What if I could avoid getting injured or sick? What if I could warn someone and save their life? Of course, when I mentioned such things my smarter, more analytical brother would point out the danger of changing even one moment of the past. “You couldn’t do that without messing up everything else. You might accidently kill someone, or cause someone to not even be born.” He was always a party pooper!

            So I turned my attention to the future. Where would I live? Beach or mountains? California or Colorado? What would I do? Would I be a famous writer? Raise beautiful horses? Design fabulous houses? I spent hours in the fields doing tedious work with my hands while my mind escaped by imagining my future life.

            As I got older I realized that both activities were a waste of time. I certainly couldn’t go back in time, not even by an hour. I had no idea what would happen an hour in the future. A natural planner, I had to make peace with the idea that even though I created schedules and made lists for each week, something always changed. I postponed, delayed, switched, and compromised. And that was when I was still single and alone! You know what happened once I got married and had children. Some days I was lucky to “plan” how to get us all out the door in the morning.

            I still compromise between creating a loose schedule for the week and accepting that things probably won’t work out that way. I make a list each day of things I’d like to accomplish, but yes, things often get postponed.

            2020 has been a challenge for anyone and everyone fond of order and discipline, scheduling and planning. Instead we’ve experienced an abundance of chaos and confusion. Most of us have few memories of the past that are relevant to our current circumstances.  It’s foolish to try to predict the future. I guess the best we can do is use this piece of time called a day and do the best we can with it. There are five things on my “to do” list. I’m curious to see how many I check off.

God's Plan

I find my eyes wandering this morning to a sheet of paper laying on my desk. It’s the order from my new specialist for a new MRI at a hospital I had to locate with the help of Google. A series of unexpected events and a variety of new physical problems have led to this result. They have also resulted in my appointment for physical therapy later today. God’s plan. Very clearly God’s plan. I can sit here this morning and review the events of the four months that have led me to this day. I also have confidence that this new circumstance, these new people, this new test, this new process will find me stronger, healthier, and happier with my condition sometime in the future.

Next to my morning coffee is a card that arrived yesterday. It’s a lovely friendship card from someone who was a “friend of a friend” about fifteen years ago and now means more to me than I can even explain. We “chat” daily. We share concerns about family and friends and life in general. We celebrate triumphs and pray about challenges. We also live 800 miles apart and have never met in person. God’s plan. I clearly see how our virtual friendship has benefitted both of us.  

There are two writing projects on my desk. One is ready to turn in to someone I’ve known for years. It sits beside a new project for a new person I’ve never met. Again, God’s plan. However, I have no idea how this new project arrived on my desk. There are no memories for me to recall, no clear path from event to event. It was simply the result of a question asked and answered.  I trust that I gave the right one. Still God's plan. What happens next will be interesting to observe.

Finally, I’m looking at the calendar that sits on my desk. Yes, I’m one of those people who likes to see it each morning without consulting my phone. I see there are now as many days left in the month as we’ve already lived. I have a few appointments and some ideas about some things we might do. But always in my heart and mind is the knowledge that God may have other plans for me. Already, the MRI mentioned earlier has been rescheduled from the 27^th to the 22^nd because someone else cancelled their appointment. Is there a reason for that change? Of course there is, but I won’t try to figure it out. I’ll just keep asking God for guidance and following my path according to His plan. He’s never led me astray.

The Rooster's Crow

             Sometimes a blessing can be found in the smallest, simplest things.

            Yesterday morning as I was sweeping the patio, I heard the morning greeting of a rooster somewhere in the neighborhood directly behind me. This was a new sound, and certainly one I welcome. I love to think of someone in our area raising chickens and eating fresh eggs as I did when I was a child. And I was pleased to hear him crow at least three more times before I finished my task.

            I’ve mentioned before that my father showed poultry in high school and that our family always had chickens if at all possible. This morning I’d like to share another memory that came to mind when I heard the rooster crow. This is a story written by my mother. (Click on the image to read.)

Fall Fashion

   

Recently, while researching past Halloween events in our area, I used the word “costume” and a variety of items, unrelated to Halloween, appeared from the archives. I was instantly intrigued by this illustration of a “sports costume” in the Caddo Herald, November 7, 1924. This is a serious suggestion for the young woman who wanted to be “well turned out for the usual sports that interest young women”. The description of this outfit is detailed and states that a woman will be “well and correctly equipped for most autumn sports if she possesses one or two sturdy skits, short enough and full enough to allow perfect freedom”. Suggestions for additions to the sports costume included a sweater, sports coat, wool stockings, “substantial and easy” shoes, and perhaps a felt hat.

 I’m not sure what autumn sports could be enjoyed while trussed up like this. Perhaps hunting…but not in the shoes shown here. And I can’t see either of my grandmothers, who would have been 17 and 18 at this time, wearing anything like this.

Good Intentions

As a person who is fascinated by local history and its impact on our present lives, I count it as a special treat to find a story in the newspaper that not only details a past decision with current consequences, but is also about birds - quail in particular - AND someone I actually knew and talked with.

Indian Citizen (Atoka, OK)

March 23, 1950

Mrs. Ross Faudree of the Liberty community is planting lespedeza bi-color around her farm pond for a quail habitat. She is very interested in wildlife and states that “Other farmers should provide a habitat for quail to live in.” (Note: Atoka Co. farmer, Jesse Fox, planted 20 acres. C.C. Cooper planted an unspecified amount. Earl Kenney planted 12 acres. 1949-50 Atoka County soil conservation board reported 800 pounds of lespedeza harvested.)

A brief look at the consequences of these and other plantings in the state can be found on the OSU website. I’ve copied a bit here and underlined pertinent facts.

From the OSU Extension office:

Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) (Figure 1) is an introduced perennial legume. It is relatively free of insect and disease problems, very competitive with other vegetation, and capable of thriving in a variety of environmental conditions, which are among the reasons it has become an invasive and noxious weed in Oklahoma. Sericea was promoted in the past to control soil erosion and provide forage for livestock and wildlife. It has been planted by both federal and state agencies on flood control dams, channelization projects, rights-of-way on highways, county roads, and private roads…

Wildlife species are adapted to the native plants of an area and are much better served by them for food and cover than most introduced plants. Sericea lespedeza has been promoted for use in food plots and for cover. Although some wildlife eat sericea foliage or seed, its greatest benefit to wildlife is its ability to provide thermal cover during the summer. However, sericea’s negative attributes overwhelm its few benefits. White-tailed deer will utilize sericea in early growth stages and during drought. Quail occasionally consume the seeds, but the seed are very low in nutritional value for quail. Although summer cover from sericea can be beneficial to quail, when sericea is dormant its beneficial cover qualities are eliminated. The exclusion of other plant species by sericea also reduces the diversity of plant foods needed to support a variety of wildlife.

Why am I posting this?

Why should you care?

As I read about Bea in the paper, I recalled how active she was in the community and how influential she was in local politics. I wondered how many of her neighbors, including my grandparents, might have listened to her pleas for help in creating a “habitat for quails”. It seemed like such a worthy cause. She and others had the best intentions. And yet the consequences were much more negative than any of them could have imagined.

It just seems to me that we should all reflect seriously on our “good intentions”, especially those that might influence others to duplicate our actions. I know we never have enough information to understand every aspect of a situation. We don’t have ESP. We don’t know what might happened ten or twenty years from now. But perhaps we might just take a little more time to think and pray before we decide what we’ll do today.

October

“In the next three months we'll be making some important decisions regarding our health, safety and future. Let's begin this month with serious reflection and prayer. Let's think about flu season, family gatherings, holiday shopping, Halloween, voting, and celebrating Christmas. Instead of strictly adhering to what we've done in the past, let's do what is best for our families and friends now. Instead of judging others or fearing ridicule ourselves, let's pray about our decisions and make them with confidence. Let's think and pray and decide...not act impulsively.”

That was my post on Facebook today. I feel strongly about this subject of fall planning because I already see some postings about Halloween and Thanksgiving that concern me. This is not the time to adhere to traditions that will endanger the lives of family and friends. Instead, let’s make a few simple changes and celebrate in ways we won’t regret in January.