One Day's Rhubarb Harvest

Heading to the freezer:

Mom's arms filled by long stalks of red rhubarb and big green leaves

This winter we will enjoy fresh rhubarb sauce and tasty rhubarb/apple crisps.

The Last Roses of... a Birthday

Thankfully we have not yet reached "the last rose of summer." Our old-fashioned yellow rose bush is just finishing blooming, but the red bush is just beginning, and our tea roses are yet to come.

But the beautiful bouquet of roses Dad brought home around my birthday is reaching its end. The last few roses are drying in rich tints of rosy pink (fancy that - they are "rosy" colored!) which blend perfectly with the quilt blocks over our mantel.

A Friend and her Piano

How special to spend an afternoon visiting with an old friend this spring and to make the acquaintance of her beautiful, new-to-her, grand piano!

First I asked to hear her play so we could enjoy the piano's voice under the fingers of one who knew and loved it. She brought out the sweet pathos of "Father's Favorite" from the "Sense and Sensibility" video we first saw nearly 20 years ago. Then a Southern Gospel arrangement of a hymn rumbled the rich bass and set our toes tapping.

Next, Elsa and I had a bit of fun!

We tried a duet of "Heart and Soul" and remembered the many hours we spent together at the piano in childhood - improvising our own "masterpieces."

I also played a favorite from my well-worn book of Edvard Grieg's Lyric Pieces. A sweet song with a sparkling surprise in the middle has the sad name of "Homesickness." When I once played it in Russia, I thought of my home here. Now it can make me homesick for Russia.

Or we can just enjoy the beauty and creativity of the rich harmonies and sweet melodies - especially on a friend's new piano. We are so happy for her!!

The "Universe"

I grabbed some tea one morning and glanced at the tag as I poured my hot water from the electric kettle. 

UFFDA!!

[If you're not a Norwegian-American, it's difficult to fully translate that exclamation - pronounced "OOF-duh". It is very flexible and suits many situations. In this case, it expresses a combination of: "Man... I can't believe what I'm seeing... Wow... That's terrible... and sad."]

Tea bag tag: "Empty yourself and let the universe fill you."

I've been running across more of this belief in am impersonal, powerful "Universe" lately. People are so desperate to get rid of God, but they still sense there has to be something bigger than them. So they resort to some pretty scary stuff.

Do you know what can happen when you just "empty yourself?" You certainly won't stay empty for long.  And you might not like what comes along to fill you.

The Bible describes the "ruler of the kingdom of the air" (sounds a bit like "the universe") who runs (and ruins) the lives of the disobedient and sinners. (Ephesians 2) He would love to fill us if we give him the chance. 

Jesus shares a chilling illustration of this in Matthew 12:

"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."

 To combat this dangerous situation, the apostle Paul reminded his friends in Ephesus (Eph. 4:20-24) that when you...

1. Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires

 ... then you must...

2. Be made new in the attitude of your minds

... and don't forget to...

3. Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 Just a few thoughts from a tea bag.

Balt and Mary

In 1998 we had a lonely Baltimore Oriole. He lived at our windows - pecking, flapping, whistling for attention... or for a mate. (Our red-cheeked, yellow-bodied Cockatiel shrieked back from his cage.)

This was back in the days before digital cameras and when you got free doubles when printing.  So, we ended up with lots of spare photos. Some turned into homemade greeting cards.

A card sporting our oriole friend at a bedroom window

For years I have taken on the job of feeding these brilliantly colored friends. (The ruby-throated hummingbirds love it too!) 

Male oriole enjoying some sugar-water

My favorite part about Baltimore Orioles is how very sociable they are. Each spring I listen for the unmistakable, clear, pure tones of their voices. Many years ago I learned that if I mimic their whistle (just the simplest of their various tones), they will come to a nearby branch for a "chat."

And then there is the comical, deep "rattle" of disgust, aggression, or warning.  "Stay away from my food!" "Look out! Cat in sight!"

It seemed that for several years we had the same oriole pair coming back to use their hanging sack of a nest in the big cottonwood outside my bedroom window. We named them Balt and Mary since the city of Baltimore is in the state of Maryland. Every year we heard the same songs and had the same conversations.

But this winter, the nest blew down. I wish I had gotten a picture of it - so intricately and densely woven of just as much plastic fiber as grass or hair.

And this spring a new pair arrived. How can I know that, you ask? Because Balt has a new song! The extra high note thrown into this little bird's joyful call is so new and funny - it keeps making us smile! In fact as I sit here typing near open windows, his is the primary voice I hear among our hundreds of resident birds.

Balt standing guard over the feeder

It has also been special to watch this young Balt and Mary build a new nest. Did one of them grow up here, we wonder? They chose the very same tree - maybe even the same branch in which to build! 

Oh, the antics of that orange couple...

- Long strings dangle and fall from the tree as they weave. I tried to help by cutting up an unwieldy vinyl strand they had found which was 15 feet long.

- The grapevine wreath which hangs on our front porch is also fair game, and they rough it up trying to take away some twigs.

- When Mary is taking a turn at the weaving and other birds try to harass her (maybe those naughty Common Starlings trying to steal the nest), Balt swoops in scolding violently and chases them off.  Good for you, Balt!

Such an amazing little part of God's creation!

Red-Headed Birthday Gift

As I rested by the glass, French doors to our deck on my birthday morning, I saw a special birthday gift -- a rare bird-sighting for our farm. The brilliant red head and black and white body of a red-headed woodpecker caught my eye as he explored our giant cottonwood tree.

Later, he was poking around the trees out back, and I tried to catch him with the camera.

Where's "Waldo?" Can you spot a red head peeking around the tree trunk?

Forget-Me-Not

These flowers have been a sweet spot of beauty in our perennial flower-bed again this spring.

My first memory of these delicate blue mounds was in Glacier National Park back in 1991. Somehow their name has stuck with me since then.

Forget-me-not

"Okay, I won't!"

This flower, by virtue of its name, also reminds me of a frequent warning in God's word. When God's people forget Him and what He has done, disaster follows.  Psalm 106 is just a brief overview of the many times this happened in the early history of God's people.  

"We have sinned, even as our ancestors did... they gave no thought to Your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled..."

"Yet He saved them for His name's sake, to make His mighty power known."

"...But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for His plan to unfold. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. ... They forgot the God who saved them, then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise."

"Therefore the LORD was angry with His people... He gave them into the hands of the nations..."

"Many times He delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin."

It sounds pretty hopeless. We tend to give up on people who reject us over and over. Amazingly, out of His grace and mercy - "out of His great love," God still choses to remember us.

"Yet He took note of their distress when He heard their cry; for their sake He remembered His covenant and out of His great love He relented." 

So when you see this delicate but oddly-named part of God's beautiful creation, what do you want to remember?