I'm rather glad I didn't have time to post these inchies until the entire week had passed.
This way, you'll get a feel for Oklahoma weather.
This particular seven days began with a snow storm and record-setting low temperatures (-32 in some parts of the state), and ended with such lovely weather (73 degrees!) that I was able to work (up a sweat) in the yard, and start clearing and turning the garden beds.
February 9 -
We had six more inches of (beautiful!) snow, and the unexpected pleasure of a visit from the Creative Genius and his Bride.
It was already hungry-thirty when the boys finally decided we should all go out for dinner, but just as we were leaving we got an SOS from Miss Mary Mack, so we stayed home long enough to cook some rice for her (poor little thing was unwell).
We dropped it by the university on our way to dinner, and by the time we found an open restaurant in our snow-stricken city (it doesn't take much), my blood sugar was so low I wasn't sure I would be able to be kind (I would have chewed my own arm off, but the fat content was too high).
An amazing restoration took place after a few bites of hot food, and the ensuing conversation made me glad to be alive.
I love my shoots.
And I love their spouses.
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February 10 -
My next-door neighbor has several large crepe myrtle trees which are planted right next to her side of our common fence.
During the summer, when they are covered with pink and fuscia blossoms, those trees afford me such a beautiful view from the window over my kitchen sink that washing up dishes is a sweetened chore.
I've been so blessed by the beauty of those trees that I took a photograph right through the window last summer and used it as a postcard to write my thanks to my neighbor.
Thursday morning, as I was rinsing out my coffee cup before heading to work, I heard some beautiful bird-song and looked up to see a stunning male cardinal on the snow covered branches of the crepe myrtle.
I did not have my camera at hand.
If my neighbor reads this blog, she will know that I am, again, grateful to her.
I have already thanked God.
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February 11 -
I'll bet you think I've already told you about every single Valentine cone-making moment I had, don't you?
But you're wrong.
Friday it was my turn to bring a project to share with my D'Art group (something new we have added to our schedule).
Surprise!
We made cones!
Sweet Mary Lou chose silver, gave the Queen of Hearts a sparkling gown (love it!), and decided maybe the cone could double as a corsage:
My Native American friend, Whatwouldhappenif, drew her own ValenGirl (of course!) and put the boing on the wired hearts:
The lovely Miss B (of Zentangle fame) smartly placed the heart from an old charm bracelet at the center of her bow, and put the boing on a silver pipe cleaner:
Oh, but it was good to do artsy things with my artsy friends!
I couldn't remember (at the last moment) whether we were still planning to exchange Valentines, so to be on the safe side (not having actually made any other Valentines this year), I pulled from my file some Valentines I'd made in years gone by.
Way back when stamps were thirty-seven cents each, this is what the LOVE stamp looked like:
I liked it so much that I designed my Valentines after it that year.
There were two or three left in my stash.
I still like them.
And my D'Art group friends liked them, too.
At least they acted like they did.
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February 12 -
Miss Helping Hands was home for the weekend and we did some of what we like to do most.
We danced around (each other) in the kitchen.
We made dill bread (her first time) (you should try that recipe, and then toast some of the bread you make, and then spread some cream cheese and some jalapeno jelly on the bread you toasted, and then eat it, and then wonder why you didn't do that a long time ago) and all those Conversation Heart sugar cookies I told you about in my last post.
I like Miss Helping Hands.
She is a Q T.
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February 13 -
For two weeks I have been thinking about making some "e-changes".
I see how easy it is for the pull of the 'virtual' world to distract me from giving my love and energy to those who are actually with me, and the work I can actually do.
Sunday morning I finally made a firm decision to 'pull some plugs'.
I knew it would be a very good thing for me to do, but I also knew it would not be a very easy thing for me to do.
How good it was to hear the preacher say "Let's make this simple. The answer to the question 'Who is my neighbor?' (in reference to the commandment 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself') is this: Your neighbor is the person you are with. Help the one you're with."
E-with?
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February 14 -
I woke up to a dozen red roses and some beautifully written sentiments.
But, more importantly, I woke up to the Prince.
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February 15 -
I spent the morning on the job, and I stayed after my work was done to spend a jovial hour in the break room sharing my leftovers with my friend, Flashmore.
Her laughter does me a world of good, and all the tension had left my shoulders before I got home.
It was a gorgeous afternoon (an unbelievable change from last week) and I couldn't stop thinking about my flower and herb beds.
Unfortunately, I couldn't stop thinking about the chocolate silk pie (which was left over from the fabulous dinner the Prince had made for me on Valentine's Day), either.
So I texted my friend Flashmore.
"Decisions. Decisions. Eat chocolate silk pie or work in the garden?"
And she texted me back.
"Do both. That way you won't feel too guilty."
So, guess what fueled this inchie?