The wind is blowing the decorative grass outside my window and it continues to dance in all directions. It takes me a while to get used to a new trend in plantings but after all the years of not having the ornamental grasses I suddenly fell in love with them. I think for one thing they require no care and grow profusely, giving a nice background for the showier plants.

With three cats who love to play in the broader leafed one it’s good to have something they can’t destroy. I had to use Rocky’s tomato protectors and a plastic netting around the Japanese Maple tree to keep them out of it. Now it has grown a lot in the past year after coming up volunteer from the roots because, of course, they killed it. The pretty purple color isn’t there anymore but at least I have a tree again.

The fact it came back at all made me happy. There will be no removing the webbing around it now for the leaves have grown through it and the branches continue beyond. Why expensive plants can’t make it with all the tender loving care given them…….and then when weed killer is used undiluted on the driveway, grass grows up in no time at all. I think weeds have grown a defense against noxious killers.

Well, I didn’t intend having a discussion about the above but I’m going on the 5th week of being more or less isolated. My world has been somewhat like that of the house cats……looking out the windows and contenting myself with the world within. I do get outside but not for long and not very far. I keep telling my fracture to heal so “we” can begin life as we’ve always known it.

……or not. Once I’m up and about I think I shall begin with the dust on the blinds, mopping the laminate floors and clearing the clutter that had to be wheel-chair height for easy access. I have never taken life or health for granted and I have been blessed with both for a long time…….but now I know why I never took it for granted.

Essentially Esther

Today I have been off my feet four weeks. I called my doctor to see what she had in mind and was told I’d better give it another two weeks. I wasn’t surprised as I anticipated her answer but I wanted some indication how much longer I’d have to use the wheel-chair and walker.

So now that I know, I have something to look forward to. She intends having another X-ray at the end of two weeks to see if it has healed properly or at all. Considering I’ve had no pain since I got off my feet I think I am healing. I am told older people heal slower but I am a healthy old person so I think I have that in my favor. I guess we’ll find out.

Meanwhile, I’m an expert on several networks…….mainly the NFL, the History Channel, Cooking, Travel and several movie channels. It keeps me thinking in word form because when you’re alone 95% of the time it becomes harder to think in terms of conversation.

The critters have had to get used to my new form of walking. When I came through the door with a walker the three inside “kids” stared at me and kept their distance. If I walked in their direction they scattered in all directions. Likewise when I went to put the outside cats in the garage they were afraid of me. My voice won them over and although I looked like me it was the voice that brought them in. It made me think of something Jesus said one time…… “My sheep know my voice.”

I am still knitting and making cards, spending time at the computer and keeping in touch with the outside world. There is a favorite saying around that “Old age ain’t for sissies.” I can verify that because friends of mine have had traumas to work around and they did it with grace. The way I see it, you can get all riled up and kick against the traces or it can become a time to stop and smell the roses.

Some have hobbies, some like organizations that keep them on the go and some do worthwhile projects. I have a high-school friend who is widowed, her eyesight is deteriorating from some process I don’t understand……but she continually crochets afghans for children in local hospitals to cheer them up.

Her sight is so bad I have to email her with print size at 18. She crochets two different patterns from memory because she can no longer read directions. She is thrilled to have library availability for “talking books.” She listens to tapes while she crochets and is so happy for the opportunity. We were high-school best friends and I am so proud of her. Complaining is just not in her vocabulary.

I am surrounded by folks who are great examples of courage in tough situations. Sadly, some of them are gone now, but they left an indelible mark on me. In so doing, they live within the best part of me.

Essentially Esther

I’m mad at my cat ! I wrote a blog yesterday and had clicked the “select all” when Sassy woke up from a nap in front of the PC, did a stretch on the key pad and erased the blog. I tried for a long time to retrieve it with no luck. When Becky came down after work she didn’t have any luck either so I guess it wasn’t meant to be. We tried everything. It’s one of those “oh well” kind of things.

We had a hard rain after dark last night but we are clear and cool this morning. It is only predicted to be around 70 degrees today. That suits me just fine. There is a little breeze so I shall open the house up until the humidity climbs. Hope it doesn’t happen.

I enjoyed football from Saturday through last night’s game which was very strange, at best, but the Manning boys and Brett always put up a good game. I’m never disappointed when I watch any of them…..and it makes for a good day on Tuesday when I watch the re-runs over and over.

Another favorite program of mine is Dancing With the Stars. Seeing people from other walks of life sign on to professional grade dancing is interesting. This year, Donnie Osmond is attempting to outdo Marie’s bid last year. Anytime the Osmonds are in a program there is laughter and energy. Much preferred over some of the negative stuff that many of the other programs put out.

No, I’m not sitting in front of the TV all the time. Even though I’m stuck in the wheelchair or with the walker……..I carry on household duties that I can manage from a sitting position or sometimes in a stand-up with the walker. Believe me, if I were relegated to this situation for life, I would be getting a Scooter wheelchair.

Well, I’d better go open those windows so this is all for now. Hope the sun is shining on you today.

Essentially Esther

I’m still here……sitting in my little chair. I haven’t written because, frankly, there isn’t much to write about. I’m sure getting weather reports, or updates on my pets are repetitious and uninteresting. I have devised every way I know to use the wheelchair and walker. Some things are possible and others are unattainable.

I amuse myself heckling at anything or anyone on TV that I don’t agree with and believe me…….these days that takes up most of my day ! I’ve exhausted the Food channel, HGTV, the NFL channel, old reruns……after so long any of it becomes too predictable. I feel like a 2-year old who has been put in the play-pen and mom is outside visiting with the neighbor. Helloooooooooo !!

I have been knitting the same afghan for 2-weeks. I’m like the woman who promised to marry someone as soon as she finished spinning the wool (or something like that). She worked all day and pulled it out all night. Meanwhile the hero was trying to get back to rescue her. Eventually it had a happy ending. That was about when I was 8 or 9 so I don’t remember exactly. Hummmmmm…..maybe it was Rumplestiltskin. That sounds about right.

OK…..where was I? The knitting. It’s a sad story…….I have knitted enough to make two afghans but somehow there was a problem in the “counting.” I ripped it down several times, thinking I had gone far enough to catch the problem. Wrong. The last time I ripped out one whole skein and the count is on track. However, I’m also 4 skeins away from finishing. Oh well……what do I have to do anyway? I’d just start another once this one was finished.

It is looking like rain here…..I have home grown green beans and new potatoes cooking and the smell tells me I’d better go check on them. Should be about right. Becky will come soon and we will share our day……..as well as our meal….

……and that’s about it from here.

Essentially Esther

The last holiday of summer is over. I’m certain it was not a very good celebration for the many that have been without jobs for several months. I was thinking how “Labor Day” used to be when I was growing up in Omaha. At the time we were living near a major street……one of the parade routes.

Our street was full of fire trucks with men marching in-between. The same was true of the mailmen, their vehicles, and the policemen riding motor-cycles. I was of the age where a parade was exciting. My brother and I sat on the curb to wave and clap as they marched past us.

There were balloons, banners, lots of marching bands and political people riding in convertibles who waved back to us. It truly was a time to celebrate employment for the workers and the providers who made their jobs possible. I didn’t see one parade on television yesterday but surely there were some.

Believe it or not, I have to hurry each day to do things that must be done and then the things I look forward to for leisure time. The days fly by with rapid succession and I will soon hit the 2-week mark on being put out of commission. I still do not have pain……..the next time I have pain like I endured three months before I had the X-ray, I can guarantee that I will drop everything and go to the doctor. High pain tolerance is greatly over-rated.

I am on the receiving end of several folks who have shown up to see what I need and offer help. Whereas I have mostly been the caregiver in my life, I now see how it is from the receiving end. I never realized how grateful people were whom I’ve helped in the past but I am “getting it.” When a person is limited in what he can do it is beyond thankfulness to have someone come in and act like it was a privilege to do something…..anything.

Roy Z. Kemp wrote a piece called, Valued Deeds, that I’ll share with you.

A little, cheerful, friendly smile that eases painful heart
May be remembered many times, long after you depart.

A small act of decency, a deed to show respect,
May be the greatest ever done, for great is it’s effect.

A little word of friendliness by which a heart is fed
May be the most important word that you have ever said.

Essentially Esther

They say you can pick your friends but you’re born into family. Well, it’s a happy person if he or she makes a practice of taking good care of both. Losing either one is something that can never be replaced…..no matter how hard one tries.

A pastor years ago talked of the town gossip who one day come and said she had said something so terrible about someone and found out it wasn’t true. She wanted him to “fix it.” He took a pillow and asked her to step outside with him. She followed dutifully and he took a pocket knife to cut through the pillow until the feathers escaped and the wind took them everywhere……. He then told her, it is impossible to retrieve all the feathers again, no matter how hard we may try. It is the same with words spoken against an innocent person. You can never get them back.

I have had many good friends in my life, ones I know I could always count on if I had a need. I would do the same for them. To have a friend you have to be a friend. It is not only good manners to treat others kindly but it gives great dividends. One good turn deserves another. That’s the way it works. Showing yourself as a friend is very contagious…..as good words has a domino effect and are quickly spread to others.

I’d like to share a few words written by Edith Smuin Starke.

APPRECIATION

Cherish that which you have today,
Lest circumstances take it away,
Leaving in it’s wake an empty place
And the touch of sorrow on your face.

Learn to master the art of living,
In both the taking and the giving;
And when you give with all your heart,
In life’s great plan, you’ve done your part.

Essentially Esther

I never thought I’d be turning heat on in the mornings in August but it’s a little too nippy to wait for the sun to rise above the trees. Personally I’m loving it. However, there are some who love hot weather even when it’s so humid it’s dripping water off the eves……..and as the old song goes…… “but not for me.”

Our rain has finally stopped and my neighbor, Dave, came to mow just to trim it up nice. I like to enjoy the deck once the sun is over the house enough that I can sit in the shade. The walker transports me good enough and my three outside cats take turns on my lap. They have really missed me and so has Napoleon. However, his days are taken up with grooming his feathers…….what a job! He goes over each one, day by day. I guess he knows what he’s doing but it seems tedious.

The backyard is a sanctuary for birds, butterflies and squirrels…..and me, from my vantage point on the deck. Rocky and I used to sit and watch the birds fly in, get a sunflower seed and then fly off to a nest. It’s good therapy to sit and watch what is only observed by me. If I weren’t here and they weren’t being watched, their days would go on the same. It is so refreshing from a world that cries to be watched and appreciated every moment.

It is good to watch God’s provision. Oh yes, I buy the seed but somebody had to plant it, harvest it, take it to market and end up in a feed store for me to buy it. It is God who made it possible for me to have funds enough to feed an orphaned peacock, seven stray cats and a dog. It is He who continues to provide for my needs beyond necessity.

If nature is understood and appreciated God is ever closer. I like to think of Him as the God of the outdoors. It is there He seems so near. The value of the dirt beneath my feet, the beauty of the growing plants, bushes and trees…..the magnificence of the flying things, the songs of the birds. It is all a healing tool inside and out.

If I had not fractured a bone I would have missed much of what I’ve written about. I would have been busy, housework, errands to run, calls to make, doing things that needed doing. However, since I can’t do them…….I am being filled with the real life I always crave. Time. Time to enjoy what I’ve been given and time to enjoy the scenes God makes in my own backyard.

I am always in awe of God’s timing, His teaching, His mercy and love.

Essentially Esther