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Last Sunday when we were going for a ride in the country about twenty miles northeast of Columbus, we found a charming little country church---right smack dab in the middle of several cow lots. Directly across the road, sandwiched between two cow lots, was the church’s cemetery. Ze aroma, she was baaaad.
Teddy, explaining matters to the littles, said that the cemetery was handy like that, so that when people keeled over from the aroma of the countryside, they could just haul them right out the front door and across the lane and inter them, without undue fuss.
Caleb asked seriously, “How do you ‘inter’ somebody?” and Larry hastily informed him, before somebody else took the opportunity, “By opening the gate and yelling, ‘ENTER!’”
Larry now has the big crewcab all painted--even the windshield. (Well, it needed to be replaced, anyway.) The bottom of pickup is painted teal, with a silver stripe. The teal is so dark, it hardly shows up until it is out in the sun, when the metallic chips in it sparkle and shine.
Well, I thought I was done with the Easter sewing, having finished hemming several pairs of pants and altering a few other things, until someone brought us a beautiful peach satin dress that fits Dorcas exactly perfectly. It has a loooooong, scalloped ‘V’ in the back, entirely inappropriate for Easter (or any other day); so we had to go all the way to Grand Island to get some white satin and some beautiful peach lace with a scalloped edge to make an insert. Now this is one of the few things I don’t especially enjoy doing; it’s so difficult to get the new piece in just so, with no objectionable puckers or plications, wrinkles or crinkles. I also got a beautiful applique for the front, about 18”x12”. And there’s where all my frugality went right down the drain--it cost $24.99! But get this: if I had’ve gotten the one with pearls and sequins already sewn on, it would’ve cost $36.99. Mercy! I’ll sew them on myself, thank you.
Last Christmas, Keith gave Larry a set of four chrome handles for his other crewcab, which were to be affixed to the frame just beside the doors. But Larry was already having chimerical reveries of cyclopean crewcabs of Herculean capability, so he saved them. Last week he bought a couple more, so every door will have a handle beside it with which to better haul ourselves in like Flynn. He put a visor over the windshield, and five little lights along the front edge of the top of the cab.
Hannah finished her little cousin’s vest, and is nearly done with her own. She’s had a lot of homework, so it’s taken longer than she expected. But she should be able to complete the vest with no trouble. She made the neatest little crocheted buttons, shaped like elongated balls, for the vests.
And guess what I spent a couple of days doing? Cutting out our outfits for the Fourth of July. That’s six dresses and five shirts. Plus fleece robes for Joseph and Caleb. The fleece is black, with Dalmatians decked out in red collars. I had just enough red fleece left over from the little girls’ coats to make Joseph and Caleb’s collars, cuffs, and belts.
We got the kids some kites--an eagle, a seagull, and a falcon. Wednesday after school, they took them to a big open field near Larry’s shop, and attempted to put them in flight. About the time Joseph got his up high, a big gust of wind jerked the spool of twine from his hands, sending the kite into a pitching, plummeting dive straight into the trees that bordered the field.
“Now, I ask you,” demanded Joseph of Keith, “Do I really look that much like Charlie Brown?!” He shook his head in disgust and turned to address the tree. “Was that necessary, to go and eat my kite like that?”
Hester and Lydia looked on, giggling. Caleb, meanwhile, was having a kitin’ good time, holding a short string on his kite and running madly to and fro, kite flapping directly over his head.
Just before Keith brought them all home again, Larry gave the littles rides on the four-wheeler, eliciting gales of mirth as he sped over small hills and down through the ditches.
There are pelicans on Lake North. I had on a 1200mm lens, making a cloudy afternoon look even darker, too dark, really, for a very good picture. In one photo, there is a little speck right off the tail of one pelican; it’s a shoveler, which gives you an idea of the size of these big water birds.
The Charbonneaus brought their Suburban back--one of the Danes had made a gourmet meal of one of the door panels…again. Just last year, Larry replaced one for them--and the steering wheel, too--because one of those big dogs discovered he had a craving for a little somethin’ while in the Suburban. I think the Charbonneaus had better invest in a large economy-sized pet carrier; what do you think? Or put the beasts in their horse trailer, maybe.
Here is a poem I wrote, taken from Psalms 4 and 5, for a friend's autograph album:
Thou hast put gladness
Down deep in my heart,
For I trust in a God
That shall never depart.
The light of Thy countenance
Hath shined upon me;
I will look up,
For I dwell safely in Thee.
In the morning, O Lord,
My voice shalt Thou hear;
In Thy temple I worship,
Ever glad Thou art near.
Lead me in righteousness;
Make my way straight;
For narrow the pathway
To that heavenly gate.
Let all those that trust Thee
Shout loudly for joy;
Sweet songs of the faithful
My lips shall employ!
Thursday evening, Helen sent over a big box of little girls’ patterns via her son Joe. He knocked on the door. Dorcas opened it. There stood Joe and another friend, Richard, who, she assumed, had come with Joe. She took the box of patterns from Joe, thanked him nicely, and shut the door. Going back into the kitchen to finish making her banana bread, she was once again interrupted by a knock on the door. She went back and opened it. There stood Richard, grinning, because Dorcas had shut the door right in his face! He’d come on a separate mission entirely from Joe--he wanted the keys to the church and school, as he was on cleaning duty.
Dorcas was embarrassed. “Oh! I must’ve nearly slammed the door on your nose! Sorry!”
Keith has been working near Omaha all week, in Blair and Elkhorn. That’s about 90 miles away, but the ride seems short, since he’s traveling with enjoyable company. One evening he was later than usual, because the lug nuts on a wheel on one of their trailers broke.
Friday after school Hester went off to the Koch farm to play with Emily, who’s in her class, while Lydia went off with her classmate Andrea. Hester took her cookie cutters and cookbook, and she and Emily baked butter cookies. The Kochs sent home a tray of them for all of us. And guess what Lydia came home with? A bag of chocolate chip cookies which she and Andrea had helped make!
Friday was entirely taken up with bookwork. Our tax man is done preparing our taxes; we need to pick them up today. We’ve got less than a week and a half before they’re due. I don’t know how much we owe, but if it’s very much, I think we’ll have to rob a bank or defect to Cuba or something.
Saturday we went to the Goodwill and the Salvation Army. At the Salvation Army, they were having a 50-cent sale on all shirts and blouses. We filled our cart right up to the top, we did. We also got several dresses and skirts, most of them for Dorcas, who has grown out of all her clothes this spring. She’s taller than Hannah and me, and bigger, too, in spite of looking so slim. So she can no longer snitch clothes out of either of our closets! I found a whole pile of nearly-new jeans--Wranglers and Rustlers and Levis--for Joseph at only $1.50/pr. I got a man’s sweater--store tags still attached --with strips of leather decoration…free.
Last night the Jr. Choir sang Hosanna On This Day, and for once they didn’t chicken out and get quieter than the volume at which they practice. Evidently, the lecture I gave them took: I reminded them of the children who waved palm branches and sang when Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding on the donkey. Those children sang with all their might and main, you can be sure! And when the disciples asked Jesus to tell them to be still, Jesus said, “I tell you, the rocks would cry out, if they held their peace!”
I told the children that the way they sometimes peter out was going to make the rocks cry out, should they do such a thing on Palm Sunday! “Now, march right up there on that platform, open your mouths, and sing! Sing with all your heart! Think about the words you’re singing…Don’t ever be bored with these songs, no matter how many times you’ve practiced it. Remember that this is the Wonderful Old Story, so old, yet ever so new!”
And guess what. They did sing with all their hearts, and they received an extraordinary amount of compliments for their efforts, too.
Now I’d better get that dress fixed for Dorcas…
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