Saturday's Scribbles

Good "Saturday" to you on this Memorial Day Weekend where we find ourselves in South Dakota spending time with my sister Jan.  The weather has so far been a bit wild.  On Thursday, after nearly a 7 hr drive (with stops) we arrived just ahead of a storm which brought 15 minutes of hail!  Friday's high was 48...with a wind chill in the 30's.  Sustained winds of around 30.  Saturday we had sunshine and a forecast of 73 degrees.  

We headed south to Jan's husband"s grave an hour away.  He is with Jesus now after a 6 yr battle with lung cancer. On our way back we stopped at a small town cafe for lunch but mostly Joel and Jan wanted to have their homemade pie. Yum!  Today after church we'll visit the graves of my mom and Jan's 2nd husband Los who died many years ago.   It's what people often do on this weekend.  We stand at the foot of graves, remembering,  missing,  honoring.   Of course we know it is just their shells that are left here on earth.  Their spirits, their souls are in Heaven.   

Yesterday Joel was also able to get in a 12 mile bike ride while Jan and I napped!  We brought along his recumbent.....After supper a woman who is like a daughter to Janey stopped by for a visit.  Today after going to church and the cemetery we will go to the birthday party of Jan's great grandson.   The cycle of life goes on.  

Grateful today for my sister Jan and spending time with her.   Grateful for safe travel.  Grateful and remembering the lives of those who have gone before us.   Grateful for being able to connect to those we love and care about with phone calls,  texts, and emails.   Grateful for all this and so much more..

Enjoy your weekend!

Jan and I, taken in Arizona a few years ago

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where everything is some shade of green...so many shades to enjoy.  Mother's Day brought out potted flowers and hanging baskets which just added so much color to our world.  Ahhhh  just loving the views outside!  

Speaking of outside, Joel has been getting in his morning porch sitting and watching the rabbits, deer, birds and squirrels in their daily activities.  Unfortunately one of those activities is to eat our hostas.  We have one "generous" neighbor who feels it is his calling to feed the animals.  Thus the corn stalks growing in our yard....and more deer munching on ours and the neighbors hostas.  Gotta love our neighbor's' heart but sometimes the results are a challenge.  I expect without the corn calling them to graze, they would still find our hostas and lilies.  Too bad the deer and rabbits don't eat the dandelions and other weeds and leave the good foliage alone.  

Joel is off to Gabby Grandpas this morning.  He has spent the week getting the deck stained for a second time, biking some, mowing, going through old taxes, dumpster diving at the college, and taking over my "duties"  while I was sick with some nasty virus.  Thankfully he never got it.  I'm still coughing and resting more but it has run its course.  I told Joel I felt like symptoms were vying for my attention....first I danced with a bad sore throat before it left abruptly....then two days of non stop sneezing no matter what I tried.  Then the headache, muscle aches, etc. sleeping most of 2 days, and finally the coughing and what my mom would have called in her generation, "coughing spells" that would last 30-60 min.  Each symptom tapped me on the shoulder and danced with me for awhile and then left quickly to be replaced by another.  Really rather fascinating.  The cough is the one that is hanging around.  

Moving on............even though Mother's Day weekend was spent on the sofa, I couldn''t help but smile at all the love sent my way.  So grateful.  And grateful that our moms were both celebrating from Heaven!  Joel and I were talking about the ages of our moms.....they both would be well into their 100's.  They lived completely different lives.....Joel's mom growing up on a farm, becoming a teacher, marrying a farmer...then after his death, marrying a farmer again.  Staying in the same surrounding communities.  My mom grew up on a farm and wanted nothing to do with farming.  She went to secretary school in St. Paul, met my dad and married him in just a few weeks, traveled continually during her marriage from town to town and state to state never settling in one place very long.  She became a widow at age 46 and never remarried.  Their lifestyles were so different.  Joel's mom did not drink or dance nor participate in other "foolish" activities.  My mom loved to dance and drink altho also had decades in recovery living a full life.  Joel's mom had three boys, my mom three girls. Their faith journeys were different but their destinations the same...Heaven!  

At the end of all this rambling here's my point ~~~~I know that Joel and I were brought together only by the grace of God!  Such different upbringings.  BUT His plan!

I am typing this on my new laptop..  A big deal because of the crazy amount of time and energy we spent getting it set up and getting the code to download my Word program. (I wrote about it on Facebook) Now I am adjusting to the new setup and it is going well.  I am off and running...........or is it off and writing!

You may have heard me mention Joel's "dumpster diving" earlier?  He rides past the local college whenever he is on his bike and with all the work being done there they throw away a lot of usefull stuff.  He has permission to dumpster dive there..and has brought home good wood, solid wood chairs, and even a file cabinet.  He loves reusing things and loves the dumpster diving too!  Sigh..

So as I close this Scribbles, I am giving thanks that viruses have an expiration date!  Grateful for the great looking deck.  Grateful for Joel's "dumpster diving"? Grateful for our moms. Grateful for all the green and colorful flower pots.  Grateful for Mother's Day and the cards, calls, texts and deliveries that warmed my heart.  Grateful for Joel's willingness to take over at home when needed.  Grateful for a new laptop and Word for writing.  Grateful for how well Joel takes care of the yard, the house, and even me when needed!  Ha  Grateful for all the phone calls, texts, emails, and so many prayers.  Grateful for all this and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend~

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you on this first weekend in May here in northern Iowa.   Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day with sunshine, warm temperatures and gentle breezes.  It won't be long and people will be putting out flowers and everything will be bright and colorful in our neighborhood.   But today it is sweatshirt weather at a cool 58 degrees so it is still a roller coaster ride with the temperatures.  We have had plenty of rain this week, which was needed.  It has greened everything up, too!

Speaking of yesterday Joel enjoyed the nice weather while he stained our back deck.  Earlier in the week he had scrubbed it and yesterday he put on the stain. He has declared that this year the focus is to get things done outside of the house.  Some new wood trim and a coat of paint for this big house is called for. Somehow I need to keep him off of a high ladder though.  All his work  makes me think of a picture he showed me from a postcard that came through the mail.  There was a picture of a T-shirt that said "Dahlen Workshop.. fixing everything but stupid"  For some reason we found that pretty funny.  

Speaking of stupid - it is not a word I use much- but that is a bit how I have felt this week as we have looked again for a laptop for me.  I know I need it backlit and I know I need the letters to stand out vividly from the keyboard color. I know I want a 14 inch size screen and I know I need a program that can use voice to type my articles when necessary..... but the rest?  I have no clue.  It does make me feel just a little bit stupid, which I know is just silly.  We thought we would be able to buy one right here in town, but that has not worked out as we go from store to store and they are not carrying what I need or everything is out of stock. We were told to wait until the middle of June when the new stock comes in.  6 more weeks?   I need to get this going and set up for several reasons.  Bottom line.......Technology keeps moving on without us and at our age it is kind of hard to stay caught up.  Guess we will just need to take the plunge and do our best with God's guidance!

Joel is off to Gabby Grandpas this morning....then Menards and the grocery store.  He does like his Menards!  He can usually think of some "good reason" to go there every week!  Haha   He got in a couple bike rides, but has been working mostly on the deck.  I am walking 30 minutes now daily...but still indoors.  I picked up a dust rag and went through every room in the house on every level the last couple of days...now we need to get the vacuum out!  Made some homemade whole wheat bread this week along with almond flour quick bread.  We eat very little processed food or purchased meals.  We are a "from scratch when we can" couple.  Haha

A neighbor stopped over to ask a question  this week and we invited her in for a visit.  She will be 95 in June and continues to live on her own.  Just a few years ago she had a large coffee table and end table she was going to have Salvation Army or Goodwill come and pick up and we told her we would purchase it from her.  She did not want anything, so we gave her a gift card.  That coffee table and end table still grace our living room and work so well for us!  This woman has always enjoyed being outdoors and I think it shows in her strength and longevity.  

Speaking of longevity, Joel and I were reading an article on how to get enough protein as we age and the importance of having it.  Lots to do with muscle mass and energy as we age.  Joel and I have gone to cereal, oatmeal, a salad, or yogurt for our nightly suppers and are thinking a bit more protein would be a good thing!   It is just so hard to pack in the protein without large portions of meat.  I wonder if our neighbor packs it in!

We had quite an adventure this week with hemming up our living room curtain panels that were dragging on the floor.  I wrote about it on Facebook.  After 1 1/2 hours of attempting to thread our sewing machine and get the bobbin to work....we gave up and went to adhesive hemming tape!  We noted:  Joel's fingers are too big to get down into the bobbin area on our nearlya 50 year old machine and my vision makes it impossible for me to be using the machine....Thank goodness for hemming tape!

Moving on...........the weather has been crazy this week across the country.  I did see a video on Instagram that had me laughing, though.....there was a tornado that hit a train that had stopped on the tracks.  Two workers were talking as they videoed the tornado coming...one guy says, "I think it is going to hit us"....debris is flying everywhere.....hitting the train and windows and rocking the train....another guy says, "Do you think we should get away from the windows?" They just keep talking matter a fact like as it goes over shattering windows....then one says......"I think a car turned over....yep."  A car is over."  The other says "we are in an emergency".......  (NO KIDDING!}  I think it was hard to comprehend what was happening but I would NOT have been so calm.....On a sober note, so many have been hurt and so much property destroyed this week.  A violent spring so far.

Speaking of Spring, Joel is wanting to find some periennals to plant this year that are deer resistent.  It seems we have many daylilies and hostas which deer LOVE to munch on.  So we are on a quest to find some plants they will ignore....And then there are our resident squirrels....This morning Joel also told me a squirrel had a big corn cob he was dragging around our yard.....from a neighbor's yard.  The squirrel would stop every few feet, dig a hole and plant kernals!  I have a feeling Joel will be mowing down corn stalks again all summer!  

So on that note, we are thankful for all the rain this week....and no tornadoes.  Grateful for green grass and the antics of our squirrels.  Grateful for a cleaner house.....grateful for homemade whole wheat honey bread.  Grateful for Joel getting the back deck scrubbed and stained.  Grateful for his energy and stamiina.  Grateful for having three days of good energy and balance myself this week....felt so good and makes me hopeful for more in the future.  Grateful for a neighbor stopping by.  Grateful for hemmed curtains and hemming tape.  Grateful for phone calls, texts, emails, and in person visits....and so much more..

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

It is the last Saturday in April, a warm day after plenty of rain yesterday and last night.  We have need of the rain so no complaints there.  We also avoided tornados yesterday...there were at least 10 in central Iowa.  As far as rain goes, a couple good "soakers" would be great for our parched planting soil.  Our grass is green,though, the trees are leafing out.  Our resident duck couple has been settling in the neighborhood.  

Speaking of grass, Joel has been raking and fertilizing before Friday's rain.  He's gotten in a couple bike rides and met with his colleagues.  Wednesday night he was at church.   This Sunday he fills in for a vacationing pastor here in town.   It's at a church he served and we attended for 10 years.   

Joel finished self-publishing with Amazon his second book, "Fencepost Theology ", " a practical understanding of God,  the world,  and ourselves ".  Of course I'm prejudice,  but I think it's a great read! One of the sermons he gave to a group of pastors during his year of Internship was called "Fencepost Theology ".  His Internship pastor thought Joel should write a book about it....and 40+ yrs later he did!  

After a week of challenging symptoms once again, I can say that even with the pain I still walk, clean, cook, bake and get out of the house once in awhile.  And I have taken two trips to nearby states.  Regarding the walking, as I have shared before, years ago Holy whispered to me....'Walk out your healing".  And I did walk out of Lyme!  Because of his instructions I still walk 99 % of my days...mostly 25 minutes with a few 30 minutes of walking thrown in recently.  Sometimes I can only walk 10 and then rest...and walk 10 more, etc. but I still walk.  My doctor appointments have all been good this year but the joint and neuropathy pain continuue to speak loudly.   Energy is okay, balance is challenging.  Sure at times I get discouraged and sad at the losses that have occured, BUT I am still here and spending my days and nights with my amazing hubby.....who just published his second book....Did I mention that?  haha  

Often I mention that when I go to heaven I am going to work in the bakery.....eating my way through all the delicious rolls, donuts, breads I can't eat here.......but lately I have been thinking my passion really is writing so I would love to be writing in Heaven..and living near a bakery!  HA!  I expect there will be plenty to do in Heaven, but I am thinking that it will be filled with what we love most.....besides Jesus....I am thinking, people....pets.....foods.....music....worship..... I CAN ONLY IMAGINE!

I have been listening to the biography, "Romney:  The Reckoning" by McKay Coppins.  I like to read about people whom I am curious about.....I have listened to Michelle Obama's book, Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, and now Romney.  They have all been intersting reads.  I usually listen to an audiobook while I walk in the house.  We have watched the usual shows this week but one night I found a movie that was supposed to be a comedy/drama....with Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates...."The Miracle Club".  British....There was NO comedy....it was dark, depressing, and only redeemable the last 5 minutes.  So, if you are looking for a movie to make you laugh?  This is NOT it.

Tomorrow would be my sister Jo, Gr. Jo to our kids, birthday.  She would be 91.  I expect she will be celebrating in Heaven...although I am not sure we keep aging when given eternal life!  She was strong minded, sometimes short tempered, passionate about her beliefs whether politics or God and absolutely over the top in love, protective, and proud of her family.  She had a delightful, memorable laugh and the most beautiful eyes....she was just plain beautiful, once mistaken for Elizabeth Taylor at Mayo Clinic in MN.  She helped raise me...taking me in under her wings and into her home for much of my childhood.  So grateful.  And miss her so much.  Happy Birthday Joey!  

This day I am grateful for Joey and her love and passion for life.  Grateful for Joel's second book coming out!  So good!  Grateful for the rain that is much needed.  Grateful for our resident ducks coming "home" again.  Grateful to still be here.  Grateful for being able to walk.  Grateful for Joel's bike rides.  Grateful for watching a grand play softball on my phone.  Grateful for resolved "challenges" for friends and family.  Grateful for texts, photos, and phone calls.....and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

It is Saturday here in our corner of the world where April showers continue.  In fact, we had heavy rain, tornado watches, winds, and hail earlier in the week.  We definitely need the rain but the storms? Not necessary.

Speaking of winds and rain, on Tuesday we drove nearly 6 hours northwest into Minnesota through steady hard rain, high winds, and endless dark skies.  It felt good to finally arrive and be able to hear the howling winds from inside the house!  

Speaking of NW MN we were there to attend Joel's brother James' funeral which was held at their country church Wednesday.  Joel was baptised, confirmed, and ordained in this church.  The graveyard/church yard has 17 or more Dahlens buried there.  We too, will place our earthly remains there.  It was a nice funeral as we celebrated James life with sadness for the loss and joy for where he is now.  It was nice to see so many of Joel's family.  Memories were shared and hugs were passed around.  It was a short trip.....leaving Tuesday morning and arriving back home Thursday afternoon.  

Speaking of home, it was a cool 60 degrees inside the house when we arrived!  Ha...we forgot to turn the heat back on before leaving, as we had a couple of hot days.  It was good to be back home, and it did not take long to warm things back up!

One of the families we reconnected with were the Erlandsons who lived on the farm south of Joel's family farm.  They were there when Joel's dad died at age 49, they were there for our family when Joel was ordained, they were there for Joel's brother James (with special needs)when he needed help to pass the driving test to get his license.  They were there for countless people who were in need.  Janis is still 88 years young and loved by so many, rightly so.  I remember the first time I went to their home and I noticed she had one whole drawer filled with just boxes of jello!  Rows of soup, lots of staples stored...I never had a "jello drawer" but I did learn from her on stocking our kitchen.We still buy some things in bulk and store it as if the stores were hours away.  And for us Trader Joe's is!  Haha   It has served us well when we both had Lyme and when we went through the pandemic.  Regarding Janis's generosity, we have quilts she has made us, we have long hand written letters she sends us.  We have memoires of Joel's ordination party when they opened their home to so many people.  There are just some people who have the gifts of hospitality....and grace.....and love.....and encouragement. This family, Merle and Janis Erlandson blessed the world, and Janis STILL blesses so many people including her own great family.  So grateful!

Going back to Joel's family territory is enjoyable but also tugs on our hearts.  We miss the hills, lakes, and trees of northern Minnesota...and lets not forget the people.   It just wasn't God's plan for us to move back there.  We, who have always called Minnesota our home state, are living in Iowa...Twenty eight years ago today we moved here to Mason City, never thinking it would be permanent.  Neither of us have ever lived anywhere this long....We have tried to move 3 times and the doors have shut.  I think the desire to move will always have a small hold on us from our years in the military and also our desire to live near our family but here we are.  Starting year 29 in this city of 28,000.  In Iowa. Always open to God's leading to "go".....and open to His whisper to "stay".  

So today I am grateful for being able to gather in Joel's home church to grieve the death of a loved one and at the same time celebrate his life.  Grateful for our middle daughter being able to go with us and open her home to us.  Grateful for safe travel in so much heavy rain especially while grateful for the much needed rain.  Grateful for laughter and tears for James.  Grateful for coming home to "home".  Grateful for the past 28 years here.  Grateful for the memories with Janis and Merle and their family.  Grateful for seeing family and catching up.  Grateful for all the hugs, conversastions, texts, and phone calls....and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from Iowa where the weather is warm. the winds are strong, and sunshine is filling the day.  I am sure nature is smiling down on us this weekend with temps near 80 expected.  A little warm for April but delightful.  

Speaking of nature Joel went to a secular talk at church this week on the "fear of nature".  It was interesting he said.  Most animals and bugs in the Midwest are not harmful.  What I "fear" in Iowa nature is nasty ticks....and the Lyme they carry.  Ugh.  Of course I mostly experience nature from the front porch or on our walks at the park and along the river road.  Once years ago we went for a walk in tall grasses close to the Mississippi river in western Iowa and by the time we were back to the car we had so many ticks crawling on us....but thankfully none attached and we did not encounter any rattlesnakes. I guess you can run into them near the cliffs of the Mississippi.  We've lived where rattlers, cobras, giant lizards. and scorpions live....but we kinda like Iowa's type of nature best.  

Joel has done some biking and sermonizing this week.  Along with a couple of medical appointments.  Our SUV was in for some repairs and they gave us a Ford F 150 pickup as a loaner.  I had a doctor's appointment so we had to get me into that truck to get there.  I am only 5' 2 1/2" and I'm pretty short on the leg end of that...... so we used a foot stool for me to climb up on the running board and then we hoisted me in from the running board.  It was not pretty and my sister Jan asked me if Joel took pictures.  His reply...."Not if I value my life!"  Considering I am 76 and vertically challenged,  I think I did pretty good on this little adventure.   I like pick ups but they are a bit like climbing Mt Everest for me! We are celebrating two good reports this week from the retina doc and from the urologist.  Something very interesting came up with my urology doctor.  He asked me the name of the drug/injections I was getting when I lost my vision in the left eye and then said after we talked about your eye issue he had had two diffferent patients come in saying they got infections in their eyes after eye injections...from the SAME medicine as me, and one lost his vision in his eye.  Their doctor told them it was a contaminated batch of shots that was the culprit.  This was at a different specialist in a different city.....but we are going to look into it.  It was a year ago yesterday that I had surgery to remove the center of my eye.  Glad that is all in the past.

Joel had fun skipping this week at his check up.  His primary told him he's in good health...nice to hear.  Another celebration! He encourages staff to skip with him.  Some do, some don't.  the nurse told him she saw he was coming in so assumed there would be some skipping going on.  His doctor asked him what he had been up to and he told her about his second book.  She had read the first one and really enjoyed it she said and wants to buy the second...He told her he had a few copies that are not the finished product in the car and she bought them both.  Yesterday he was at the mechanics and they were chatting, including about Joel's healing story,  and one of the men asked Joel if he had any copies of his books. He thought his wife and he would like to read them.  Joel did explain that the first book was a bit "wild" for some, but the guy wanted to read about healing.  Holy Spirit shows up in the most unexpected places for Joel to share his heart and God's love with others.  Joel shares his story when he feels nudged by Holy, and sometimes it goes well and other times it does not.  His books are the same way. He prays a lot, writes, and publishes.   The rest is up to God.

I am writing this with the doors and windows open, letting in fresh air.  The fresh air is blending with the aroma of oatmeal cookies that I made for Joel this morning.  So nice to be able to have the outside filtering in.  This week was mostly doctor and dentist appointments for one or two of us plus the usual routines, some biking and walking and a few TV shows in the evenings.  Joel is still riding his 10 miles and I am still walking in the house 25 minutes.  On that note it is time to close my Scribbles.

Grateful today for fresh air, the smell of cookies baking, biking, walking, a pick-up adventure, the SUV getting maintenance, putting Joel's books in the hands of others, ALL good reports from our doctors, reflections on a year ago and leaving that behind.  Grateful for Iowa's neutral nature.  Grateful for audiobooks, music, worship online and at church.  Grateful for Joel's ability to skip!  Grateful for texts, pictures, emails, phone calls and so much more.....

Enjoy your weekend!