🐑 March 2024 FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

 🐑 March 2024

I’ve been to different churches in my life.  Some have been enlightening and others have not.  I was sharing with my daughter one I’d been to a while back.  She asked, “What time did it start?”  I told her, “Oh, about 11:00.”  She replied, “O.k.  I know how you are about sitting for a long time and a speech getting to the point.  Soooo, what time did it end?”  She watched my face as I said, “When the minister ran out of breath, and I think prayed for every living creature on Earth!”

Bumper stickers can give you some reading material while you’re waiting for the light to change, a train finish traveling in front of you, or while you’re stuck in traffic.  Here are some I’ve seen:  KEEP HONKING AND ROAD RAGE WILL COME TO YOUR WINDOW; TURN SIGNALS---NOT FOR JUST SMART PEOPLE ANYMORE; DAISIES: NATURE’S SOPHISTICATED HUMOR TO ‘EENIE, MEENIE, MINEE, MOE’; HOME IS WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR REAL NAME---YOUR FUN NAME, AND THE ONE YOUR PARENTS CALL YOU; I saw this on a VW Beetle---BACK OFF OR THERE WILL BE BUG GUTS ON YOUR WINDSHIELD.  It made me laugh out loud because I used to have a red VW Bug and loved it.  FAIR FOOD SURVIVOR; I saw this on a “Smart car”----MOM WASHED ME IN HOT WATER, I USED TO BE A LIMO L. 

We had a beast of a television in the late 60s---Magnavox I think. There was a big TV in the center of the long, wooden cabinet, record player with a large space for records below on the right, AM/FM radio below on the left. It took my dad, my brother and two neighbors to move that monstrosity.  We never worried about anyone stealing it, either.

Daddy was a very organized man.  He believed and lived “There’s a place for everything and everything has its place.”  I don’t know if he was obsessive-compulsive or just very neat, but you could bet if you put something back he’d put in a place, it better be in that place when you return it.  I didn’t know how very precise he was until he asked me to go to the basement and get something from a long, multi-doored, and multi-shelved cabinet he had.  He told me exactly where it was.  I followed his directions, found it, and got curious as to what was on some other shelves.  He had put dates on the packages of the items I saw.  He called out, “Did you find it?”  I responded I had.  I returned to his side with the item.  He wondered out loud why I was taking so long.  I said, “Daddy, you have so many things in that cabinet.  Some of them have not even been opened, and they are years old.”  He grinned and said, “Yes, I know I haven’t used them, because I never know when I might need them.”  I think he’d, also, had been a boy scout and embodied their motto-- “Always be prepared”.

I went over to my friend, Dianna’s house.  She’d called me and told me she was finished with her canning for a while and needed my help putting the lids and rings on the jars. She had some carpal tunnel issues and couldn’t twist the rings closed.  I thought it was a bit strange because in all the years I’ve known her, she never mentioned, nor did I see, any canning she’d done.  I walked into the kitchen and there on the table sat empty bags of M&Ms, tiny Tootsie Rolls, gum drops, Good & Plenty, Mike and Ike’s, cinnamon Tamales, Junior Mints, peppermint discs and spearmint discs, and Smarties.  Neatly lined-up were quart jars filled with the assortment on the table.  Next to each jar was a flat lid and ring.  I couldn’t stop laughing at her idea of “canning”.  She enjoyed my amusement.

“One who tells the truth doesn’t mind being questioned.  One who lies does.” Give that thought, a lot of thought.

Aint Daisy called me to come over.  She’d made two pies, one of which was cherry (my favorite), and needed to have someone help her eat a bit of it.  “Aint Daisy, are you in here?” I called out at the front door.  “Oh Chile, ye jes come on in here to the kitchen and set a spell.  I got the pie all cut and ready fer ye to share with me.  I want to talk over what someone said to me recently.  I had t’ get a little snippy with my reply t’ ‘em, and it’s been a-botherin’ me some.  Emma Jane called me an’ started tellin’ me about her teen chile who’d done sompin’ wrong.  She told how she scolded her and told her chile how much the doin’s had embarrassed her ‘cause every body’s gonna know about it an’ not think she was a good mama.  I let her talk, then got a bit tired a-her tearing the chile apart with her words.  I told her, when she took a breath, ‘Don’t be a-givin’ a scoldin’ to one who needs a hug, instead.  The chile knows she done wrong an’ yer disappointment at her choice.  Jes give her a hug, tell her ye love her, an’ to think about how she’s a-gonna act the next time.’  Emma Jane hung up without sayin’ ‘Bye’.  I recon she was irritated with my response.  What do ye think?” she asked.  I told her, “Your response was wise and kind.  The daughter will be better with a hug than a scolding.  As always, you provided wisdom to another.  You are our Lady of the Holler.”

I will leave you with this thought as reflected in what Aint Daisy said:  Often, some people don’t realize how their words and/or actions affect others.  Be careful what you say and do.  It’s not always about you.  This parallels what Thomas A. Edison said:  “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Brenduhh came over all excited, huffing and puffing and could hardly tell me what she needed to say.  "Trute!!!  I just saw a police car with two ducks in the back seat.  I asked the officer why they were there.  He said, 'These two were walking around the bank watching people and making their usual noises.  So, being the suspicious people we cops are, I arrested them.'  I asked the cop, 'Why are you arresting them?'  He told me, 'It is believed they are safe quackers.'"  Brenduhh was very excited that she'd seen the arrest; I went to fix myself a cup of tea.  Sometimes I think, “If that girl’s brain was butter, it couldn’t cover a Wheat Thin.”

A chef on TV said, “Where there’s fat, there’s flavor.”  My body abounds with flavor!

You know it’s going to be an interesting day when you dial your TV remote and no one answers.  I found a new channel, though.

As most of you know, I like unusual words.  I saw a picture of a bathroom which had toilet paper dispensers on and all over every wall and the ceiling.  I wondered if there was a phobia for fear of not having toilet paper.  Holy Charmin, Batgirl, there is!!!

ACARTOHYGIEIOPHOBIA is the word, which made me wonder if there was a word for “fear of extra long words”.  There are two!!  HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA and SESQUIPEDALOPHOBIA.  I hope you don’t have ATHAZAGORAPHOBIA which is the fear of being forgotten or forgetting something.  You’re welcome.

 

Peace and smiles to you until next month.  Trudy