Heart Things - Treasures

Well, you would be surprised the number of times I log on here, feeling like I have something to say, then maybe writing a paragraph or two before giving up and closing out.

I'm a terrible blogger...

I want to blog.  In fact, I can't tell you the joy I find in reading some of my past posts - not because it's great writing, but because the posts are all about the people and things I love, or fun experiences, or just things that made me laugh or cry.

Heart things - that's how I'd describe them...treasures, and they're all written down in one place allowing me to revisit them as often as I desire. To me, this is the benefit of blogging.

So why can't I blog?  My life continues to be filled with treasures...

Gracie, my cat of five months is laying across my feet as I write this - a long-awaited act of trust on her part...

My family increased in size over the past 15 months - two new daughters-in-law and six new grandchildren, one of which is a brand new little girl, currently just over 3 months old...

I retired in March, something I consider quite a feat for me, as I feared it for a long time, wondering what in the world I would do with all the extra time and reduced income...

I started taking guitar lessons when I retired and have loved every minute although I still struggle playing clear chords.  I'm considering giving piano lessons another shot...

I joined a fly fishing group of ladies back in July and will start fly fishing classes next week - watching someone fly fish in a mountain stream always made me think of God...

I've reconnected with several old friends since retirement - a retirement resolution. We laugh together over how much we've changed and yet stayed the same...

My Friday Night Group and the Dinner Divas remain as vital to my life as family...

My husband...well, life with him grows sweeter every day...

And my walk with God is finally finding it's rightful place in my life...

...plenty of treasures...plenty of memories-in-the-making...plenty of reasons to blog.

My Annual Post-Christmas Delemma

Well, Christmas is over and like every year before, I face my usual January dilemma -- when MUST I take down my Christmas decorations?

Most of my neighbors had every sign of Christmas removed by the evening of the 26th!  If it weren't  for the trees lying out by the curb, one might never know that just the day before planes were having trouble finding Charlotte airport because of all the lights shining up from my neighborhood here in Salisbury!

WHAT IS THE RUSH???? 

I've been told that the holidays are so hectic, people are just ready to get things back to normal.

What??  The shopping is over, the gift-giving, the parties, the dinners...the hectic part of Christmas is over!  Now is the time we can truly enjoy the peace and the quiet and the serenity of sitting in the soft glow of Christmas lights and candles and shiny Christmas balls!

My house never feels so warm and peaceful and inviting as it does when it is aglow with the lights of Christmas. Gives me a feeling of good will toward all men. 

I'm just never excited to pack that away.

Hope in the New Year!

I actually wrote this last January, but never posted it.  I don't know why. I had forgotten it was here, until I found it today, still waiting.  It makes me a little sad to read it, but then I was sad last January.  We had lost an important member of our family and so it was difficult to imagine how we could march full of hope into a new year.

Nevertheless, the words are just as true for me this January, as last. I always face a new year with a little apprehension.  The up-side to that is it's never without hope.

So, here's last years words for this year...

Well here we are, the first day of a new year!  As usual, I enter the new year with mixed feelings - excitement, hope, apprehension, and yes, fear. I guess this is probably true for many of us, but especially for those of us having a little age on us.  Unlike the young, we older folks no longer feel invincible and we've learned from experience that things don't always work out.

So I enter the new year, excited for the opportunity of a new beginning, hopeful that this year will be better than the last, apprehensive because I know the possibilities include both good and bad, and fearful of the bad.

I guess of all these feelings though, I'm the most hopeful!  I am hopeful that this new year will bring jobs to those in need of work, food for those who go to bed hungry every night, love for those who yearn for it but don't have it, healing to those who face devastating illness, peace to those whose minds harbor demons they have to fight every day of their lives, and hope to those who feel they are without hope.

Yes, mostly I'm hopeful.

Hello, it's been a long time.

Well, it's been a long time since my last blog post - January 2012 actually. I started out with good intentions, as always, but it didn't last. My heart just wasn't in it. The few people who do occasionally read my posts already know that 2012 was a rough year for the Zirt family.  Our beautiful daughter-in-law Jennifer was diagnosed with late stage cancer in October 2011 and so 2012 was all about chemotherapy, radiation, trips back and forth to the cancer treatment center in Chicago, and finally having to say goodbye long before we were ready.

That was October 2012. I often tried to blog about some of our experiences. There were certainly a lot of stories. We met some very courageous and wonderful people along the way, most of them fighting the same fight. We all became cheerleaders for one another.  Laughed and cried together. Saw some miracles. Suffered some losses.

But I couldn't blog about it.  I was always holding my breath, afraid to breathe. The doctors never gave us any real hope, and I think I needed there to be hope for me to blog about. I'm sorry, too, because I learned so much about the beautiful, courageous young woman that was my daughter-in-law.  She amazed me every day. It would probably take a poet to adequately do justice to the beautiful young woman she was and the courageous battle she fought.

Just let me say that we were truly blessed to have called her our own. 

http://youtu.be/RWm2qr25oxg

This First Month of the New Year!

I know January ends tonight, but better late than never...Happy New Year!

January is almost always a busy month for me and January 2012 has been no different.  The month begins, of course, with a holiday - New Year's Day.  This, in itself, should says something about the month.  Either it's a day to rest up in preparation for what lies ahead, or it's a day to start out celebrating!

Bob and I usually start the year with a New Year's celebration, but this year I had to work. So, in addition to no party, there was also no blackeyed peas, greens and hamhock for me.  Hope that doesn't mean I can forget about good health, happiness and prosperity for 2012!  My mom used to say, too, don't fuss or fight or say unkind things on New Year's Day because whatever you do on the first day of the year, you'll repeat over and over throughout the year. So I guess that means I can count on working in 2012 - not a bad thing the way things are right now with the economy.

I fed my "Dinner Divas"on the 10th. We're a group of ten ladies who've been getting together on the second Tuesday of every month for the past 100 years.  Really, I don't know how many years.  The first pictures I have aren't dated, and they're not digital either, so there you go.

Anyway, we each take a month and so everyone gets together for dinner in that person's home.  We meet in restaurants the empty months. There are some excellent cooks in this group. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them, and so, every year I pick up this wonderful Rosemary Baked Ziti and Greek Salad from Romano's, a nice little Italian restaurant not far from my house.  Unfortunately, Romano's burned down a few weeks before my dinner.  I truly believe everyone was afraid I was gonna cook because only four came - five counting me.  Their excuses - two had to work, two were ill and one had to milk goats. Hmmmmmm.   But they needn't worry.  I wasn't about to cook!!   My month follows Ruth's, and she's one of the best, if not the best cook in the bunch.

Here's a picture of us all at Ruth's in December: 

First row left to right:  me, Karen, Marsha, and Zandy.
Second row:  Bonnie, Ruth, Jean and Sandy.
 Top: Nancy (Missing: Sherry)

 Here we are at my house in January:

That's me in the chair.  They let me be Queen that night - probably because it was my house:)  That or they were
just so happy I didn't cook!)  Behind me: Bonnie, Jean, Zandy and Nancy.

I'm really just joshing about my Dinner Divas.  They're really a great bunch of ladies.  I know they would have been very gracious about my cooking, had I cooked.  Fortunately for all of us, Romano's has a sister restaurant across town - Capriano's - to whom I thank from the bottom of my heart for not only being there, but for having the same menu!!

On the 17th of the month, several of us met at a friend's house for a vegan cooking class. Now that was a lot more fun than I anticipated - and the food was very tasty. We had vegetable balls that could have easily passed for meat balls, a wonderful soup called Deeply Rooted Winter Soup, made with beets, carrots, potatoes, celery, onions and parsley, hmmmmmm! a great bread ....and wine (It's nice to know I won't have to give up wine if and when I go vegan!!!) We're all planning to get together once a month for a class. I'll take some pictures next month and share them here.

Then there was the surprise birthday get-together for my sister who turned 60 on the 19th. I didn't have to really do anything for that - just go. It was a very nice evening. I am very proud of my sister. She had gastric bypass surgery this past July and has lost 80+ pounds so far. I wish we'd had a group picture taken that evening so I could post it here, but I just didn't think of it at the time.  So here's Dolly, her husband Larry, and son Tim in the background...

Dolly's daughter Darlene made the cake!

On the 20th of the month, my husband's swing band played at Kepple Auditorium for a Night of Jazz and Swing. It was a benefit for our Rowan Helping Ministries and it was terrific!  There were both swing and shag dancers on stage as well.   This was their second year doing this and since I don't have the video yet from this year, I've attached the one from last year to give you an idea just how great it was!!

http://youtu.be/U9QHbVOcx7I

Finally, we celebrated my husband's birthday on the 27th. His birthday was actually the 24th, but we've had to give up partying on work nights.  This celebration has become an annual thing for us and one we both absolutely look forward to. This particular one was especially special for me in that one of our new friends took the camera from me and took pictures all night long.  I've never had so many pictures with me in them in any one night (or ten nights, for that matter) in all my life!!! You'd a thought it was my birthday!  I usually have to give the camera to somebody and say "now take one of me" just so I can prove I was there! Ha!  Anyway, just saying...

The highlight of the evening of course, was our "crazy" picture.  We've started ending all of our big occasions with a crazy picture.  It's a lot of fun and always produces a lot of laughter while we try to get the perfect shot.  I've included the last three year's here just so you can see why I think it's the highlight of the evening.

January 2010:

January 2011:

And now, January 2012:

Finally tonight, this last day of January, I drove to Burlington to have dinner with my grandson, who turned 13 yesterday.  It was the perfect ending for a near-perfect month. I say near-perfect only because  there were still some family and friends that I didn't get to see during this first month of the new year. I'm looking to change that, though, in the coming months.

Here's to all my friends and family - Happy New Year!  May you all be busy with happy occasions the whole year through - and may each and everyone of you show up in my pictures!

The Plants in My Life

While I seem to prove summer after summer that I'm not much of a gardener, I did realize this morning that's not entirely true.  I do have a few house plants that not only seem to survive year after year, but actually thrive.  Of course, I'm not sure I really have anything to do with it, but let me brag on them a few minutes just the same - and forgive me if I call them something they're not.

I can't even begin to tell you for sure how long I've had this philodendron.  Seems to me that I've had it since around 2004 when my mother passed. It requires so little care I forget sometimes I even have it, except it's so big and requires so much room. I drag it out on the deck in the spring and then back in in the fall. I did cut off about fifteen to twenty branches two weeks ago before I brought it in.  It had a lot of new growth during the summer, so I know it's really real.

Same with this palm.  Not sure how old it is.  It drops old leaves and sprouts new ones.  It makes the same trip out to the deck every spring and back in in the fall.  I just stick it in the corner and give it a little water when I think about it.  Heck, I'm not even sure it really needs water.  

This one is a lemon tree, although I've never seen a lemon on it.  I know it is only because it started as a small cutting from my friend Jean's lemon tree.   I guess you could say it's done pretty well in that it has actually grown into a tree. However, it doesn't do well during the winter when it has to come inside.  All the leaves drop off and it looks so pitiful I almost threw it out last year thinking it was dead.  Something happens to it though, once it moves back outside in the spring. It resurrects itself.  Still no lemons though.

  

This one is an amazing little plant in that it started out just one little sprig stuck down in floral foam. Yep, that's right, no dirt!   I thought every plant needed water, sunshine and good dirt!  Apparently not this one! 

Now this one is my favorite, without a doubt - the Kalanchoe.   I have to tell you a little about why it's my favorite...

A few years ago, my niece's parents moved down here from Minnesota to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren.  As a housewarming gift, I picked up this pretty little plant at the grocery store.  I had no idea what it was called - didn't even care.  It was pretty and that's all that mattered.  A year or so later, while at their home, I couldn't help but notice these two beautiful potted plants sitting on the front steps by the door. "Gosh, I love these," I exclaimed, "what are they?"  When they told me it was the same plant I had given them when they first moved here, I was awed.  To think that that small gift I gave, pretty much as an afterthought, turned into something so beautiful!  She then reached down, broke off a little piece and told me to take it home and stick it in a pot of dirt.  I did, and it grew!  I now have several pots from the same plant and for some reason I can't look at any of them without feeling that same awe. I've been in love with the kalanchoe ever since.

My Kalanchoe blooms red, but they come in several different colors

And finally, the easiest plant of all to care for - no water, no dirt, no sunshine - just maybe a little dusting every now and then...

Well, that's the plants in my life - none of which seem to require a thumb of any specific color.   I'm still hoping though that some of the perennials I planted the past two springs/summers will come up again this next spring, most especially the Day Lilly bulbs Jean gave me.

But then that's another blog.

Perfect Day for a Walk on the Greenway

Today was the perfect day for a walk on the Salisbury Greenway.  The scenery was so beautiful I just couldn't resist taking a few pictures.  What a great idea somebody had to make a cell phone double as a camera.  I just happened to have it in my pocket...