Dusty Roads to the Heart

Sometimes she hears the twilight call to her. Sometimes the breeze in the tree tops whispers her name out loud.  "Come outside," it says to her. "Come outside and watch as the Creator folds up the day and puts it away." She looks at the kitchen clock and it is 6:00 PM. It's time for chores. She makes up the bottle of warm milk for her little bucket calf, and walks out the back door and to the grain shed. There she gets the pallets, shuts the door and walks slowly to the barn. She is in a world of her own. She is noticing. She is watching as the Kansas skies become a picture perfect sight before her eyes. She listens as the last call of the wild comes to her ears. She is at peace, inside and out. She is enjoying her world. Over in the western skies, just beyond the huge cottonwoods, the painter has picked up His brush and dipped it first in a slate blue. Then He has so gracefully dipped it again into a light pink and swiped over the blue very softly. A...

Our bodies are made so magnificent. It is beyond words how each part works together, allowing us to laugh, cry, love, feel, smell and enjoy this wonderful world of beauty. I don't know about the rest of you, but my little mind is very busy! Every minute it is thinking. It goes here and it goes there, trying to find thoughts to run through my being. I was told to set my timer for 30 seconds and see if I could stop thinking. Guess what? I couldn't!! My mind just kept on going, and going.  In my case, a lot of times these things are negative, things that make me worry. Things that look so big and ugly. Things that can scare me.  There are so many things happening around us these days. Bad things. Shootings, hurricanes, wild fires, earthquakes, wars, sad experiences that happen right in our own life.  So many bad things that could overtake my whole being. Yes, my little mind is a busy little fellow. But you know what? Deep inside of me lays another little being. I like ...

Yesterday an outstanding woman touched my heart and showed me the true treasure of living. When I walked into the hospital yesterday afternoon to take my place as escort, one of my co-workers got up and walked to me. She put her arms around me and gave me a hug and said, "How is you Hospice patient doing?" I answered her that we are doing well.  She held me away from her and said, "You know the hospital is full of sick people. I'm going to a funeral of a loved one this afternoon. There is no end to the compassion this old world needs, is there? I'm going to do some visiting before I leave here." I took her place at the information desk and she got her purse and headed toward the elevators. I know that she hadn't ate since at least 7:30 that morning, because she had to be at work by 8:00.  It was close to 2:00 then I saw her come from the elevator and head down the stairs to the cafeteria, to get some lunch. She wasn't concerned about herself. S...

The clock alarm went off where it sat at the side of our bed. It was 7:00 Monday morning. Today we would be leaving beautiful Alaska and flying home. I rolled out of bed and started to pull the sheets off, rolled them up, and gave them a toss, landing them in the corner. Slowly I walked to the closet and after wipping the stray hair back from my face, I started to lay all our cloths out on the bed. "Well guess all good things come to a end. Right?" Stan said sitting on the edge of the bed. "Yep that's what they say. But I'm ready to go home. It's been a wonderful vacation but I'm a bit homesick. It's ok." After a breakfast of cooked oatmeal, eggs and bacon, we put our backpacks in the trunk of our rental car and drove to the edge of town. One more hike. One more strainious hike. We were going to hike to the top of Flattop Mountain. Carolyn drove up the mountain for about two miles and pulled into the parking lot at the bottom of a tall ...

Carolyn, the boys and Stan stood on the upper deck of our tour boat, leaning on the rail, watching as a darling little otter swam lazily around among the other boats anchored there at the dock. He was just swimming there on his back, enjoying all the treats he was getting. He loved the attention. He was being spoiled rotten and loved every second. We were in the town of Seward, Alaska, about two hours from Anchorage. We were about to leave on a six hour tour of the mysterious world called the ocean. You know we as humans can walk, explore and stand in awe, at what we see around us.  But not many of us have the privilege of traveling under the great deep waters of the oceans. We didn't get to go down but we did spend a wonderful six hours out in the open waters and became a bit more acquainted with the life out there. So hop aboard with us as we take you on this mysterious, magnificent voyage of the underneath world. After warning everyone about motion sickness, the captain gu...

Mt Denali reaches high into the skies of Alaska. Its snow covered pecks sat way above the cloud cover that threatened our flight that day. Just as we were about to be forced to take the third flight down from the one we had planned, they came in and said they were going up on the second flight down. The cloud cover wasn't as bad as expected and it was lifting. So we were going, ready or not! This company is located two and a half hours north of Anchorage. It is a large business with many different twin engine and single engine planes. They give four different tours of Mt Denali. The one we were shooting for would take us to the very top of the mountain, 30,000 feet. On the last half hour we would be required to wear oxygen masks. How exciting is that? Smile. When we got there we were told that they were in question if our flight would be going because of cloud cover, but we were to come back a half hour before the scheduled time and they would have the final word. At that time ...

I have been asked to share our Alaskan trip with my blogger friends. I feel privileged to do that, so I will try my hardest to help you feel and see some of the outstanding sights and experiences we saw. So set back and enjoy. We rented a small basement apartment on the edge of Anchorage. It was above ground with large windows so it was bright and cheery. It had two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, laundry, and bath so we came home every night to a very comfortable home away from home. Not far from our little home was the shoreline biking/hiking trail. The lady of the home had two bikes in the garage and told us to use them anytime. Once Stan and I took them out on the trail and we weren't sorry. It was a bright, warm, sunny morning and we peddled down through a tree lined trail, across a wooden bridge and out into the open. The trees followed us to our left, but out to the right the ocean opened up into a glittering open beauty. The water was a dark blue, and it went on for e...

She sat upright in the seat beside her husband in the Delta terminal in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her daughter and grandsons were sitting a little ways away, charging their phones for the long night flight ahead. She had just taken her first ever flight from Kansas City to here, and now they were all checked in and waiting for the final hours. She was 65 years old and just about to experience the joy of the great blue beyond. She had no idea the mystery and beauty that awaited her from the window of that great silver bird, that will take her to beauties beyond words. So she sits there, upright in her chair, her back pack on the floor between her feet. There are people everywhere. They are walking, running, eating. The lady sitting across from her, puts her back pack on the chair beside her, opens a novel and starts to read, one page after the other. One man is laying across the seats, cap over his eyes, trying to get in a wink of sleep. There are voices over the intercom everywhere. Vo...

The pendulum of the grandfather clock swung slowly back and  forth as he lifted his little bride into his arms and carried her over the threshold of the old two story white farm house.  He stood there for a bit, just inside that door, holding the woman of his dreams. Just outside the window stood the old barn and corrals and the one upright silo. Behind lay the little farm that he would  be renting. They were starting their life together. They were young and in love. So the pendulum on that old grandfather clock swings back and forth, back and forth, passing the minutes, the hours, the days. Each month he reaches up and turns the calendar, another month shows and another picture of bales in the field, or mountain streams.  He turns the pages one at a time until the old calendar comes down and a new one feels its place. They work together, season after season, year after year. Spring comes along with baby calves, and farm sales, and...

The other night, as the setting sun was turning the western skies to a soft glow, I found myself standing in the back lawn of a little church, holding a single candle, as it flickered there in the semi-darkness.  The large cottonwoods raised their branches to the darkening heavens. Soft music flowed out into the twilight and circled down among all of us as our little candle let out its flicker against the sunset. I was surrounded by lots of people but the stillness, the quiet, could be felt very strongly as our candles flickered there together. We were all remembering a dear wife, a dear mother, a dear grandma, a dear sister, a dear neighbor, a dear friend. God so kindly gave me five beautiful gifts. The most precious gift a person could want. He gave me my sight, my touch, my hearing, my smell and my taste. These all are so wonderful. Because of them I can enjoy His great creation. Because of these I can hear those three words "I love you" as my husband tells me, or m...

As some of you know, I have totally fell in love with Anne of Green Gables. I love to listen to her books while riding on the tractor.  I always come home so happy, so joyous. The world seems like a beautiful place after spending time with Anne. So last night I decided to be an "Anne of Green Gables" myself.  I wanted to see if I could turn a regular busy day on the farm into something to remember with fond memories.  If I was to remember today in a special way, I had to think just like Anne.  I did just that and now I want to share my lovely day with you, my Facebook friends. Our alarm went off at the early hour of 5:30.  Lots of people get up that early, I'm sure, but consider that my hubby didn't get in until midnight last night, so hence I didn't go to sleep either. So 5:30 came really fast. Hubby was up and out to the kitchen before you could shake a leg, putting the tea kettle on to boil. He always does this before he heads down to the basement ...

This is Memorial Weekend.   This weekend we remember our loved ones and those special men and women who fought so bravely for our freedom.  We place a mum, a rose, a wreath upon the stone of a loved one and stand there for a little while remembering. This Memorial Weekend I have a letter I must write. A letter that is very overdue. A letter to someone very dear to my heart. I want to write this letter before it is to late for her too read it. So I write with every word coming from deep within my heart. My dear special Mother, I was one and a half years old when dad brought you home to me. You walked into my heart and I onto yours.  Sometimes a mother does things because she has a special kind of heart beating inside her chest. A heart that reaches out. A heart that is tender. A heart that understands the pain of another. A heart that is selfless. A heart that does a deed just because she loves and she cares. A heart that never seeks attention. But someon...

We sat side by side on the picnic bench as the sun slipped silently toward the western skies. We sat there hardly daring to whisper. Silence was all around us. It was as if the earth dare not to breath. Not a blade of grass moved. Not a leaf stirred. In the distance a turtle dove softly cooed her good night and overhead the cardinal called to us from the tree branch. We just sat there, taking in the beauty of the clear skies, the little star, the stillness, as the sun disappeared and darkness, like a huge curtain, fell slowly down and engulfed us in total peace. We jolted out of a deep sleep. Lightening flashed in through the windows, followed by a load clap of thunder. The wind blew, driving the rain against the pane. and our little world of peace was gone. In its place was a raging storm. All happened within a period of 12 hours. Our perfect world turned from perfect and peaceful to raging. But we just laid there in the bed listening. We were not scared. We did not fear. ...

It is 5:00 in the morning and sleep will not come. Inside her head the thunder roars and the lighting flashes. There is a storm. Life has brought on a storm. She can not talk to anyone. She will just make life harder for them. She felt so alone. So she got up quietly, so not to disturb her husband, pull the door shut, and went to the couch and grab up her computer and wrote. She wrote and wrote, trying to calm the storm raging inside her head. The sadness filling her soul. The sadness not for herself but for someone dear to her heart. Someone who is bravely facing their own storm. They think they are alone, but they are not. In the silence of the night she is fighting beside them. They don't know this. They don't know that her light is on and she is fighting beside them in her heart. They can't know this because they live in separate homes.  They live in separate homes, but their hearts a...