Morning Sky II

Booties for Babies Update

Update time. I have an address now for sending Booties to Frida via a soldier stationed in Ghor. I have received a few and would be happy to receive the booties and mail them out in one package. Or you can email me for the address and mail them yourself directly. They go to an APO address in the U.S.A. and then 10-14 arrive in Afghanistan. So - if you have booties out there ready to warm little feet, things are good to go for mailing and winter is fast approaching.

Thanks to all
Annie

Writer's Island - Unforgettable - Part One

This week’s Writers Island prompt came at a time when biscuits on a plate reminded me of two cafes in Texas. The experiences were separated by fourteen years but both were found in the middle of nowhere and both were

UNFORGETTABLE.

August 1980

You can’t know what darkness truly is until you find yourself long past sundown on a moonless night in East Texas. Quanah was nine months old and crying fretfully in the backseat of our new Honda Accord. The night was quiet and traffic was light on the interstate so I reached in the back, lifted him out of his car seat and settled him onto my lap. He calmed immediately and in that brief moment of peace the East Texas sky split wide. Without warning, a tremendous down pour became the center of our world and with the flick of a switch, we discovered that our windshield wipers did not work.

I will never forget discovering, in the moment, several things all at once –

It is possible for rain to fall so hard that you feel a curtain has been drawn around you.

It is possible to NOT be able to see the lights of a long-haul truck directly behind you.

It is possible to across 3 lanes of interstate safely even when you are driving blind.

And most importantly, it is possible to see and not miss a rural exit – a road that leads to four blocks of town silent and asleep except for one unforgettable cafe.

The dash from car to entrance was short but drenching. Stepping across the doorway, was like passing into another world. The front door sat at a kitty corner angle to the interior. A long and worn out counter with black Naugahyde stools took up the side facing the door. In back, partially visible through the pass-through, was the kitchen. Sagging booths lined the window wall to the right of the entrance. We made our way to one of these booths.

After settling into the dubious, but gratefully received, comforts of the booth, I took a look around. A black and white check floor, tiles cracked, broken, or just plain missing, was over-run with water dripping from a sagging, broken ceiling near the entrance. It was hard to imagine the ceiling surviving the night. Strategically placed buckets caught rain as it dripped in. A tired waitress who looked as old and worn out as the building itself brought a coffee and a drawling hello. Two men sat at the counter, locals by the looks of them and refuges from the deluge just like us.

Weather in Texas has a particular significance. Radios, AM and FM, regularly tune in with weather updates in between country western music or a midnight talk radio host, mainly Christian hellfire.

The waitress allowed that we could get most current updates of weather from a phone call to the Texas Highway Patrol. Twenty-seven years ago, portable phones were as big as a regular phone and we definitely did not have one. What the cafe DID have was an old fashion wall phone – drop in two dimes please – and an instant connection to weather central.

I will never forget the interior quiet of the cafe. The locals knew each other but no one spoke to anyone else. Each sat separate from each other, lost in their own little world. They didn’t even pay much attention to us. I remember noting this lack of curiosity about us and it wasn't until years later that I learned about very, very small town life and the prevalent attitude of MYOB. After all, we were merely strangers taking temporary shelter and would be on our way soon enough. And so it was. An hour later, the storm had passed over us and to the west and we passed on to the east, leaving not even a memory behind us.

Morning Sky I

Fall/Winter is the time of year when the sky is different every morning and changes throughout the day. This morning I stepped out and found this sky greeting my day. I decide right then to post the sky from this point several times a week. So here, without further ado is my morning hello to you.

One Deep Breath - Loneliness

Di'mond hardness chokes,
Weighed breath forages within,
Lonely ache waiting.

Mysterious world,
Wonders, curiosities,
Walking through wide passages,
Walls too far to reach.
What fun to twirl and dance
Lean through walls -
Reach for what lay on the other side -
Crushed leaves
Wafts of smoke
Incense of autumn dreams
Looking back. Youth gone.
Younger days ahead.
Passages widen,
Walls crumble,
Joy and dreams wave a greeting.
A step.
A leap.
A flight
into the end of the beginning.
Or is it simply the beginning of
A new beginning?
No matter -
I wave back.

Remembering George in Prayer

The Best Laid Non-Plans

Halloween has slowed down at our house considerably on a couple of levels - 1.) our kids are grown and mainly gone; and 2.) the location of our home does not foster a lot of door knocking and bell ringing.

Krista had this plan to hand out candy this year - she and Tanner in costume ready to say hello to the princesses and warrior and goblins and ghouls that might land at our door. Reality took her off to Starbucks to balance her checkbook and then home early after the misadventure of bad coffee (at Starbucks????) and the lack of a pen.

No one had come to our door yet so off she went to Pet Extreme with Tanner to return an item. No soon was she gone than the kiddies started arriving. And of course, not too much later we got a call from Kris say she was heading over to Meg and Art's house but she would not be late. Door answering was now in our hands. uh huh.

I took first shift but 30 minutes later DH took over and THAT is when the fun started. Don can strike some people as sort of a dour and serious guy if you don't know him. But there is something about October 31st and all that changes. DH loves the holidays. He decorates. He goes all out on gifting. He doesn't buy the cheap candy. He takes every opportunity that comes his way to be spontaneous. Don spontaneous????? Oh yeah. The king of think it out and look before you leap can really get into the swing of it with the best of them.



A first that happened this year was a hay wagon and horses all lit up in fairy lights going around our neighborhood. The wagon was filled with laughing children and after the last knock at our door apparently the wagon rolled through again. Next thing I know, I'm hearing lots of goofy laughter and shouting going on in front of our house. I amble out and what do I see but Don giving out the rest of our candy to the kids in the wagon (thank you God, no one else knocked) and one little goblin, in the excitement of the moment, asked DH if she could have the pumpkin bucket. MORE laughter as the bucket changed ownership. DH was the hit of the night and for a moment he was the Kandy King.

I love October 31st through January 1st. There is always something funny happening with my man and each year is different.

Remembering George in Prayer

Pictures from Stock.xchng