The Course

In the course of events we encounter throughout our journey in this life, we have the opportunity from time to time to experience moments of great joy and some of not so great joy. Today was one of the former, a moment of great joy, I was able to spent the morning hours with a dear brother in the Lord who I have become a somewhat surrogate father to. Over the last several years we have spent an occasional morning at Bob Evans talking about issues of life and the Lord, but today we had the pleasure of spending several hours on another course of action, that being hitting the little white orb down the grassy fairways, most of the time, of Locust Hills. Yes,my friends, we were golfing. Now I must confess it was nice to have a friend who could hit the ball and also one that could appreciate a good shot of mine, rather then my old friend who is under the weather with Alzheimer's, not knowing either. However, as good as this was today, a bit of me still wishes that it could have been that old friend, and that his mind was not in as much trouble as it is. Yet a very good day it was, the Lord allowed rain all night and stilled the waters just before "tee time"for us, giving us a complete round of 18 free from showers. Quite an event looking at the sky. Some great shots, some not so great shots, but then we are certainly not Tiger Woods, Ernie Els or Phil Michelson, yes we are but amateurs. The great thing about this type of sport and the people who take their turn moving through the 18 holes of play are a breed of honest beings. The lost and found is full of clubs someone left behind, which brings me to a case in point of the last week, when I without a friend, that is alone, spent the afternoon on the course. At some point I lost my cell phone and man that is a big problem. Yet some young person playing behind me found it and turned it in without any long distance calls on the memory. Honest players, who call penalties on themselves, who turn in lost items, a gentleman's game, a place where no matter how good and not so good you might be , those who play with you, encourage and praise a great shot. Today was good, my young friend wants more of this time together, I am glad.

My Daughter

Today is the Birthday of my daughter Sarah, The age will remind a mystery to protect the innocent(although island mama has let the cat out of the bag)( http://ketorambles.blogspot.com/) However just a word or two about this lady. She is a beautiful person for one thing, I am so proud of who is has become, being a wife to Jason, a mother to Isabelle and Sophia and still being a daughter to her mother and I. She bakes the best cookies, and decorates her home with style. She has a quick wit and a great sense of humor, but most of all I am so pleased to tell you of her faith in Christ Jesus. Sarah loves the Lord and endeavors to live to please him, as do the rest of our family, not perfect that is for sure, but loving God, believing his Word and teaching her children, and what wonderful children she has, a great tribute to the life of a lady is her children.
and if you have met her children, you have met her.(http://peanutsandpumkins.blogspot.com/ if you haven't you can at I love you Sarah and wish you a very happy birthday.

Driving

Driving across the mid American plains of Ohio, the rocky hills of Kentucky, the RV businesses of Indiana and the maniac travel of Mich I get to see a lot of things, places and people. It is a life mostly of solitude as I am surrounded by the metal and plastic of my Chrylser LHS. The windows closed and the air on, it provides a window if you will into the world around me. Yet not having to engage that world other the watch out for this one and that one, especially those large 18 wheel jobs roaring across the country. Oh sure I get to stop from time to time and have some verbal exchange of ideas with one of my dealers, but for the most part it is alone time, not that I am complaining, I do enjoy it and it does provide for the needs of the family. Yet it surely is not like the hours of time spent sitting around talking with my wife and sister during the winter months. Now driving of a different sort and that being the use of the driver, a large 460cc face golf club, to swing and smash that little ball making it sail through the air, in a straight line hopefully, is an all together different experience. For the last several years I have shared that time with a gentleman of older years, times of laughter, times of a little frustration, like the one day he was driving the golf cart and left me out in the middle of the fairway, driving all the way to the green to putt his ball. Or the time it was his turn to drive to the golf course and he missed the s curve and drove out into a corn field. Those time together are becoming a thing of the past as this last trip a couple of weeks ago was for the most likely the last, he is not the same person any more, his mind is leaving, his memory is fading, even to the point of not knowing which way to face as he attempts to hit the ball only to have it sort of fly 30 to 40 yards at best. So , today I travel alone. The same as in my car only today in the cart. I enjoy the game, it is with myself anyway, to challenge my own ability, but it is also sad to think something has been lost. not for myself but for him, and for his dear wife.

Being a bee

Have you every heard the expression "busy as a bee"? well that is me! I just can't seem to figure out what the heck is going on here at my ranch. If it wasn't the water in the hole, then it was the growing of the green stuff all over the yard. mow, mow, mow and mow some more. Yet wait there is more! I actually have to work, the time is at hand and I must be about my business of seeing old and new alike, keeping and getting, smiling and hand shaking. Trying to find the time to study and get ready for the lessons in Exodus I teach on Wednesday Evenings, and still I must work, get out there, see those people, drive the miles and pay the pump! Oh how I pay the pump! The pump just loves me, it see me coming and smiles big, give me you credit card please, I want to see how much I can charge today. What fun it is to be about the day, enjoying the scene along the way. Helping people, fixing problems, love it, man! that is my calling! and then the best of the best, I make the time, I take the time, I force myself to endure the hardship of getting out on the golf course, HA! what a blast this last week, My dear wife came with me to ride around and enjoy the great outdoors on a wonderful sunny day. My ole friend, may be done, his golfing days may have ended, the last time out a week ago, it was not a pretty sight, he was exhausted and beat, could not hit the ball much more the a few yards at a time, sadness to see, his wife is in hard times, and is not sure what she can do. But because of that Patty was able to ride along, it was a great day being together and getting to golf as well. But I am running and running to get it all in, and I have other things I still need to do, decide what do about the carpet, pull it up, leave it down, rented a rug shampoo thing the other day, and did the whole area, three rooms, and still at times a scent reaches the nostrils, not sure what to do, but I have no office as yet to work in and use the kitchen table, a mess everywhere, I feel like a displaced person, out of sorts I think is the finally offering of my feelings, it is taking a toll, I believe that may be what has been getting to me. Every time I need to print I have to run down with the laptop and sit on a chair in the middle of an empty space, with a printer on a tv tray. just out of sorts. Don't feel like my space is my space. Have to decide what to do. Live with the bumpy carpet, call in a guy to re-stretch and re-tack it back down, pull it up, put tile down, even carpet tiles, I just can;t decide, have to work and study and teach and preach and golf, my railroad room is a mess, I did get the storage room all cleaned up and in some resemblance of order, but not my railroad, and will I ever get to that?
So much going on, and wanting to spend time with the girls, I guess I am just as busy as a bee, the bed feels so good at the end of each day. Hurray! Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Processing

Well, I have been able to process some of the interaction that I wrote about in my last entry, that being the relationships between others and myself. Now all of you know for sure that I am not much on socialization and it takes a great deal of effort for me to be around people. Now sure I do talk and whatever, but it does require a great deal of energy from within, except for one person other then of course my dear lovely wife, and that is my big sister. Opps not that she is big or anything, it is just a figure of speech, and that is saying something from one who has been labeled a literalist. Having been able, blessed to be able to spend 3 whole months with her this past winter was a total blast. For so many years, we were so far apart, and now we are getting closer and closer each winter we spend together. Now saying that surely does not imply that we are close and any if not all major issues of life. It completely baffles me how we are so completely opposite on so many issues and yet enjoy spending so much time together. Maybe it is because I can win at Dominoes, no, that is not it, I had to live in bare feet all winter, because many nights she beat the socks off me. Maybe it is because I am so much smarter than her, no, that surely isn't it either, It has to be because we are just brother and sister and that counts for everything. We sure enjoy laughing together, in fact as I left her standing in the door of her home, saying goodbye, I reminded her to laugh about how we find so many things to agree on, HA! Living with my sister for 3 months! can you imagine, grown adults still able to get along for that amount of time, it is a great testimony of our love for one another. I am sure glad to be home and my dear wife and I sure enjoy being here, looking forward to our back yard days, coffee on the deck and flowers, birds and grandchildren, not in that order, of course, but there is also something missing, my sister! Ah those mornings on the Lanai, those trips to Bealls, and even wal-mart, the arts and crafts fairs, mostly crafts, not a lot of art, those meals she makes, broasted potatoes! not to mention kusa (spelling). Sitting together the three of us, just talking, just being, Happy Hour! It was a good winter. The thought of 3 months, in the beginning seemed like a long time, to be away from home, but as the days flew by, the time together was too short.

So Much to catch up

It has been, again, a long time since my last entry. So Much has happened and way too much to even account, yet it is of some interest, at least to me, that I am once again within the realm of my two little granddaughters, yes, I am home. It was a great ordeal of time and energy to arrive at this point, first of all I needed to fly home early in order to attend a week of meetings in Evansville IN at the company I represent. After which I would have to fly back to Florida in order to drive my sister back to her home in Kankakee IL. But this is only the logistics, the turmoil began when I arrive home a few days before my departure to Evansville. To my surprise the basement had taken on some water during my absence and the carpet was soaked, yes and many of the bottom of the boxes filled with my railroad items were very wet as well. The first thing was to get rid of any wetness on the railroad floor which was fairly easy as it is tiled. Then re stack and empty the bottom boxes and would you believe those boxes contained all the locomotives. Now because most of them were still in the original containers, the ,locos were alright but the containers were damp, so I had to open everything and put them all over to dry out, then I needed to rent a carpet fan, and pull up the carpet in the TV, media, room, my office and the gallery hall. What a mess! move all the furniture, break down my desk, all the stuff, oh man it was a bear! the padding was soaked, I did what I could before leaving for Evansville, but of course I also had a dead battery in my car as well, I got that jumped and let the car run for a while, had to run some errands etc, and catch up on a few things then off to Evansville, well the car lasted thru the trip and got home to do a few more things in the basement with only a day before flying back to Florida. Had to do some laundry etc, get some food, at least my darling daughter feed me those nights before leaving for Evansville, and of course Jason offered to help downstairs, you know me, I am a do it yourselfer. Now the trip to Florida, oh my what a fiasco!
In order to fly on the right day to get to Marco Island in order to leave on the right day that my sister needed to leave on I had to select a flight that would fly me from Dayton to Baltimore to Fort Meyers, rather then a flight through Atlanta, which is the normal way. Well Arriving in Baltimore I was informed the flight to Fort Meyers was cancelled due to mechanical problems and I needed to find another way, they did have another flight direct to Fort Meyers but it did not leave until 4:45 pm and it was now 10:45 am, no way was I going to sit for that long and then get to Florida real late at night. so I elected to take an early flight to Atlanta then change plans to Fort Meyers and that still only got me there by 3:45pm. Atlanta was a zoo, wall to wall people many of which were sitting around waiting, hoping beyond hope to get home after being on spring break. Never the less I made it and when I did get to my sisters new condo, I had to repack my car, My dear wife tried her best, But again I am a do it yourselfer and I am not called the pack master for nothing. I should have made a career out of packing things! Well maybe I have because I am sort of a pack rat. Then early the next morning leaving Marco Island we made our way North, stopping near Atlanta, wasn't I just here, for the night and on to Kankakee to bring my sister to her home. Then Patty and I made our way from there the next morning to our home, and what a mess I had left, it will be days before we are back to normal, then who ever thought I was normal anyway? I am leaving out all the personal stuff, the interaction between family at this time, but it sure was good to see little Isabelle and Sophia again, not to mention Sarah and Jason. All for now, perhaps I will review some of the other stuff later, if I can even process it myself.

The last moments

Today was the last of the big hurray, after the golf Papa and Isabelle jumped back into the pool for an hour or so of more basketball and swimming in the shallow end, hitting papa with the floats and things, splashing water in his face was the best part I think, and then a shower and get ready to meet new people. Carl and Margaret, they are friend of Aunt Char and Nana & Papa, we went there for dinner, you can never guess, yep they served Nana spaghetti, and we had Key Lime pie for dessert. Then when we left I heard that my daddy had just called and he was close, so I when We got home, I waited and shortly he was here, I was so happy to see him I hugged him big, and you can see he tucked me in, We are going to get up in the morning and fly home to my Mom and Sister. I had a great time here, but I really love being with my mom and dad and little sister Sophia.
from Papa's view point it is the last day and I am sort of bummed that it is over so soon, Both nana and I have been so blessed to be able to have Isabelle with us for these few days, we love her so much. Yet it is good she has such a wonderful Mommy and Daddy that love her and take such good care of her. We are so proud of them both, for being who they are to each other and to their children. God is just so good! Good bye little Isabelle for now, Papa and Nana will be home very soon ourselves and looking forward to spending the summer days together.