Sunday, September 12, 2010

What a summer

Since my last post, life has intervened. Memorial weekend I visited my mother for a week at her apartment connected to the Kansas Christian Home in Newton. The day before I was to leave she had a health crisis and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks. I stayed until she was released to the Halstead Health & Rehab Center, getting her settled in for another month long stay. I returned then to help her return home. So, the good news was that she got better. Lying in bed for long periods though, whenever I would suggest more exercises, as prescribed, her answer would be, "You wait 'til you're 93 and see how easy it is." I can see nothing gets easier with age. My older brother Al is visiting her now. And the oldest, Dave, lives within 2 hours drive, so we all keep in touch. I especially appreciate emails when sometimes it's hard to hear each other.
My husband Raymond's younger brother Ron passed away June 20. The Creasy family felt so blessed that we were able to reunite in Sardis, TN May 15, and in essence, say our goodbys to Ronnie. He was cremated, so a service was planned for July 3 at our home in Dennard, Arkansas. Many family members came from several states to remember him. He was part of the Tibetan Buddhist
group in Memphis and had helped build the new Meditation Center at their Retreat. They sent the prayer flags seen here.

On the 13th, 11 days after we hung the flags, a single wisteria bloom opened up. Normally wisteria blooms in April. If you look closely, it's right above the yellow flag. This photo of the out-of-season bloom meant a great deal to the family, as a sign that life wins out. "May he be reborn in a purely spiritual realm," according to his Buddhist beliefs...and his Christian beliefs as well.

This turned out to be the hottest summer on record, averaging June through August temperatures. We fought back a flea infestation in the house upon my return after 3 weeks. Raymond began to fix-up our kitchen while I was in Kansas the last time, so we continued on until we finished. A new corner cupboard, a new under the counter cabinet
with drawers, tile behind the sink that I had made, new finishes for our old counter tops made by Raymond, and a new white coat of paint on our rusty fronted refrigerator. When I use the term "new," that is, new to us. Many of the components have been salvaged from friends and relatives and fixed up like new.
I had made the terracotta 8" tile years ago with a white glaze that turned out streaky. We discussed using new 4" tile from stoneware and I started them, but during the process, I brought the 8" ones in and set them up to see how they would fit, so decided to go with them. While making pots again, I threw some mortars sans pestles and some bowls, the first since injuring my knuckle in 2007 playing the piano. I was pleasantly surprised I hadn't forgotten everything I knew about pottery, plus no pain while throwing.

Our drought was broken this first week of September, thank you very much, tropical storm Hermine, and cooler temperatures make life worthwhile again. I've been hitting the landscape chores hard, trying to eliminate all those weedy privet, hackberry, briars, and vines of several sorts that have grown up in my yard all season. They'll be back: life does win out.

Oct 1 and 2 at the Ozark Folk Center, I'll be a vendor and a speaker. Saturday morning I'll speak on herbs that are good for the respiratory system, especially herbs from the Aegean Sea region - Greece and Turkey. That's the theme of this year's herb event. Check it out at http://www.ozarkfolkcenter.com/herbs/events for the schedule, other speakers, tickets and more.