Blessings counted

Today, I made a toy bag for some animals I bought on clearance at Freddies.
They are made by Schleich, a German company.
In China.
The toys are good quality and were still fairly expensive, even on clearance.
I decided I would send them to my new grandson.
I opened the cardboard package.....
...and found this!


Every little paw was securely fastened to the base of the box with multiple ties and further fortified with plastic doodads.
I've heard that it done is to prevent theft, but this was ridiculous!
So, I painstakingly unraveled every tie, silently cursing the gods of toy packaging as my fingers struggled to do the job.
Only to find that every animal had the ties wrapped even more securely still around each paw.


It took me over fifteen minutes to free the animals from their bondage.

A few minutes into the task, I started to think about the person who spent all day putting the ties on the animals.
Some little person in China who did this for a living.
And about how little I had of which to complain.

I have never liked that poem about the guy who complained about sore feet until he saw a man with no feet.
It seemed disrespectful to the man with no feet.
I mean, who is HE supposed to look at in order to feel gratitude?
It seems a superficial way to encourage a grateful heart, comparing oneself to another who is less blessed.
But today, I thought about how blessed I am, in spite of the crap!

I have a house that is comfortable, cosy, and paid for.
My kids are all finding their way in the world, in a relatively sane manner.
Jeff has a good job, even if it is stressful.
I love my work and I don't have to do it if I don't want to.
The sun is shining and yesterday it rained.
We are debt-free.
My vegetable garden is finished and thriving.
I have friends that care about me.
My Mum is healthy enough to visit and she weeds and cleans!
My grandkids live close by, for now.
My car runs.
Even if it doesn't, I have enough money to fix it.
And an honest mechanic.
My freezer and pantry (and Jeff's closet and the spare room) are full of food.
I live in America, which is, for the time being, still a free country.
I have the church and gospel principles to guide me and comfort me when I do have troubles.
I have my trusty bike to ride around town when the weather is delightful and the mood strikes.
My garden is full of flowers.
I can almost keep up with my walking friends on the hills.
And every week I get a little better at it.

Shall I go on?

No.

You go make your own list.

Plant of the day

One of my lovely hostas.
Not yet slug eaten or wilted.

Those pink walls

In defense of my living room, this:


Those pink walls were an aberration that lasted for too long,
mostly because of my reluctance to admit that I had made a
BIG MISTAKE.
I grew to HATE THEM.

I finally got the gumption to redo everything.


And now my living room can go on the list of
THINGS THAT I LOVE.

Now, if I could just figure out what to do with my kitchen.

The Bloomin' Garden, Revisited, Again

My garden is blooming rampantly right now, except for the roses, which are working on a lovely case of the dreaded black spot.

If you hadn't noticed, I've been having a difficult time thinking of INTERESTING TOPICS ON WHICH TO BLOG.

So, for the next few days I will present, for your excitement, pictures of "Things that bloom in Sue's garden."

Woohoo!

Here is the first, taken in the almost-dark tonight when I first had the idea.
Bleeding hearts with drops of rain.


Or this one, taken in the dark, with my other camera?


I don't know, I'm not very happy with either of them.

My Dad used to say that a bad workman always blames his tools.
Do I need a better camera, or photography lessons?
In my defense, it was dark and raining.

See you tomorrow.

Tomorrow:
I'm sure no one cares but me, but here is a morning picture.
I think I'm giving up on trying to capture bleeding hearts on camera.

Mothers and Daughters

I love this photo of Bethany and Natalie.


What is it about mothers and their daughters?
My Mum says that Natalie looks just like me as a baby.
It's true.
She is also the only one of Bethany's children that look like her.
You can really see it in this picture.


And the older I get, the more (they say) I look like my Mum.
Except my face is more round.
For obvious reasons.

So, the ONLY photo I can find of Elsie and Sue right now is this one, from Christmas a couple of years ago.
Should be good for a laugh!


I'm shuddering at the pink wall.

Whatever was I thinking?

Cool It

I love this book.
I also love this planet.
But I refuse to be swept up in all of the environmental hysteria that is promoted by media and Hollywood types and, dare I say it, liberals.
This book is the least hysterical, most rational consideration of the topic of global warming that I have come across.
I am now about to plagiarize the Google Book summary:

A startling book that reshapes the debate about global warming and offers a moderate approach to meeting its challenges.

Bjorn Lomborg argues that many of the elaborate and expensive actions now being considered—the Kyoto Protocol, for example—have a staggering potential cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, but, ultimately, will have little impact on the world's temperature. He suggests that rather than institutionalizing these programs to “cool” the earth's temperature 100 years from now, we should focus our resources on some of the world's most pressing immediate concerns, such as: fighting malaria and HIV/AIDS, and maintaining a safe, fresh water supply. And he considers why and how this debate has developed an atmosphere in which dissenters are immediately demonized.

Bjorn Lomberg has been named on numerous "most influential" lists and is a political scientist and statistician. Almost half of this book is dedicated to source citations. His arguments make so much common sense, no matter where you stand on the issue. If you care at all about this big blue planet, I highly recommend you check this book out of your local library. It is thoroughly readable; the section on Polar bears alone is worth the effort.

Tell them your friend Sue sent you.

P.S. I just discovered that you can preview the book (as in "read almost the whole thing) here.

You're welcome.

The Weekend is here

Charlie has gone back to Camp Pendleton.
With Jeff's truck, which is now Charlie's truck.
It's pimped out to the max.
If one could call a Chevy S10 4-cylinder "pimped out"!
It has a new stereo, cool bullet hole decals on the rear, and all kinds of nifty organizers on the inside.
Still no air conditioning.

Daniel spent Tuesday night here and the boys got some bonding time.


Jeff is home from New England.
The airline lost his bag.
Then they found it.
It got here this afternoon.
Jeff cleaned out the shed today.
Hooray!
He ate out three times a day while he was gone and put on at least 5 lbs.


Mum has been weeding in the raspberry patch.


She's wearing my "Marine's Mom" cap.

Joshua slept over last night.
He fell asleep on the way here and didn't wake up until 9 o'clock this morning.
I love this boy.
Have I mentioned that before?
Here he is on the computer


and eating some gluten-free oatmeal cookies made by Joshua and Nana this morning.


I, as blogger, do not have to post embarrassing photos of myself.

So that's all there is.