backyard wienie roast

the weather forecast for the weekend was all rain, but friday was beautiful! so we quickly put together a plan for a bonfire and wienie roast. i made gran'mom's recipe for potato salad and put baked beans in the crock pot. mark had already moved our patio furniture so we used the flatbed trailer that was parked and waiting for another load as our table. i spread a checkered tablecloth on the end.

mom and dad enjoying the "tailgate" party

i know we will have a fire pit at our new house, but still, i am feeling very nostalgic about leaving our home in few weeks (are we down to days?!). this will most likely be our last bonfire at this place that holds so many good memories. our first bonfire was in the fall of 1999. the barn was built, but no house. we came out with coolers of food, lawn chairs and blankets. C was almost 4, S only 2, and B...well, we didn't know B yet! my folks and a few other families joined us and we chatted, laughed, and enjoyed the cool fall evening. we were filled with the excitement and anticipation of building our someday home in the country. that fall bonfire would become one of my favorite traditions and it grew as we included new friends. we put boards over sawhorses in the barn to hold all of the potluck dishes. mark would take the kids on a hay rack ride through the newly harvested fields. and as it got dark, flashlights could be seen running between the trees, as the kids played flashlight tag! i can still hear the shouts and laughter.

S and B roasting their hot dogs...and one for me, too! thanks!

B with grammy and their matching pink shirts

everyday gift: hot dogs roasted on a bonfire

wordless wednesday

everyday gift: memories of our adventure to mt. rushmore and yellowstone ( august 2007)

a treasured masterpiece

this pastel drawing hangs in my home and is one of my most treasured pieces of artwork. the artist is not famous. he never had a showing at a gallery nor sold a painting at a prestigious auction. but this simple drawing is a treasure. it speaks volumes to me about faith, love, and perseverance.


the artist was my gran'dad.




he was an amazing man, overcoming many difficulties as a child. his mother died when he was only 4 years old. and when he was 5 his stepmother, not wanting the burden of caring for him and his sister, put them in an orphanage. he only achieved an 8th grade education before entering the work force. but he lived in a time when hard work could mean more than education. he married the love of his life and they built a wonderful life. he came to know the Lord as an adult, brought to faith by the loving example and testimony of my grandmom. they brought up 3 daughters and had many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

in 1969 he suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed on his right side. ironically, gran'dad was left handed, but taught in school that it was only correct to write with your right hand. with difficulty he learned to switch. now, he had to relearn to use his left. this pastel drawing was done using his left hand, a kind of therapy for him. so i see in this painting his love of art and the garden; perseverance and optimism. as a child i was always so fascinated with his boxes of pastels and sketch pads. i like to think i got my love of art from him and i pray that when times are tough i will follow his example of perserverance.

everyday gift: gran'dad's legacy

the cribbage challange

mark and i love to play cribbage. it seems we are pretty evenly matched. perhaps because much of the game depends upon the luck of the deal, unlike chess, for instance, where you actually need a strategy, which means that i don't stand a chance against mark! but cribbage, now here is a game that i can really win...usually. but not last night.

if you look closely at the board, you can clearly see that the pegs in the red have advanced all the way to the finish and the the pegs in blue are lagging far behind! ugh. i hate it when he wins. now he has gloating rights. and i suppose he will use them as ruthlessly as i have used them since our last match when i really smoked him!

this game has a long history with us, about 14 years long. when we were still newly weds, a month shy of our first anniversary, we took a trip to estes park, colorado. it was fall and the aspens were bright and yellow, the nights getting chilly, and elk were bugling. we stayed at a beautiful old place, the elkhorn lodge. we spent one morning shopping in the gift shops and bought this game on a whim. later we took it with us to a sandwich shop for lunch. our waiter coached us on the rules of the game and we played our first match. since that october in 1994, we have played this game countless times. we take it with us on dates and play in the restaurant while we wait for our food. usually we have to scramble to move the cards out of the way when our order arrives. we have taken it on airplanes, to the beach, and camping. i guess you could say this is one of our traditions. and even if i lose the game, i know, really, that i have won.

everyday gift: a little friendly competition

the branding iron

C and S wanted to have a bonfire the other night. actually, they would like to have bonfire every night! since the weather was nice and we didn’t have anything else happening on a perfect july evening, permission was granted and they set about building a fire.

and then S brought out the branding iron. it is a heavy, old iron “S”, blackened with age. and it is one of S’s prized possessions. he intended to try it out and actually brand something, not his brother, like wood or something. mark decided with his supervision we could try it. while the iron sat propped in hottest coals, we roasted marshmallows and talked and laughed around the warm, flickering fire, imagining the cowboys that must have used that branding iron in the old west.

thinking about that old branding iron brought back a flood of memories and i told the kids the story of a trip I took a long time ago…(well, 35 years is a long time to them!)

1974. we took a trip to tuscan arizona, my mom, my brother, and i. dad couldn’t take the time off work, so the three of us went on our own. it was a really special trip…my first time to fly, seeing my grandparents and enjoying their pool in the arizona heat. while we were there, we went south of the border, crossing into nogales mexico to shop. this held a few more “firsts” for me: visiting another country and seeing real poverty for the first time. as we crossed the bridge over the gully at the border there were mexican children far below with large funnels at the end of sticks begging for coins to be thrown down. they would catch the coins in their funnels. and i will never forget the image of the old tattered-looking woman searching through garbage for something to eat. this was a shocking thing for my young eyes to witness.

there seemed to be endless streets of stores with their shopkeepers standing at the doors calling to the tourists and shoppers to come in and look, calling out their best deals. we came upon an interesting junk shop, full of old metal parts and tools. i remember the walls were filled and things even hung from the ceiling. there were boxes and boxes of things sorted by category: old locks, keys of all shapes and sizes, tools, hinges, and branding irons. my brother searched that box for what seemed like an hour until he pulled out the one with his initial, “S”. i picked out a large key and wondered if it was a jail key that had locked up some notorious bandit or horse thief! then my grandpa proceeded to bargain with the shopkeeper for the best price. i wish i remembered what we paid, i am sure it was not very much. what we didn’t know then, was that my brother would pass away ten years later. how precious those memories are to me now.

last year, as we were sorting through my mom’s house before moving her to a new home we came across that old branding iron. mom gave it to S, after all, he bears my brother’s name.

on a hot summer day in 1974, my brother bought a unique souvenir to remember our trip to arizona. on another summer day in 1984 we had to said 'good bye' to him when he lost his battle with cancer at the young age of 21. i find it strange that his souvenir now serves as a remembrance of him.

fast forward to a hot summer day at the present. another boy with the initial “S” handles that branding iron, a boy that bears more than a resemblance in name, but in an easy smile and cheerful laugh, and a love of the outdoors. how I wish my brother could have know his nephews and niece on this earth.

the branding iron glows red and we all marvel at its dangerous heat. it smokes and sizzles as it burns its mark into the board. and i know that the board is not the only thing that is seared with a mark from my brother. my heart.

****

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

everyday gift: memories of my brother, knowing his salvation is sure