When Life in My World Bumps into 52 Blessings

There were whites and reds under the same plant.  In the words of Grandpa Hoops, "Humph."

*After Calvin and I finished working out in the garden Saturday he said, “Let’s make a few piles (of potatoes, beans, beets, squash, etc.) and take them to people.”  We went to a family that Calvin home teaches first.  They are one of the finest couples and it’s always a pleasure to visit them.  Always.  They tell us what is happening in their lives, and we talk about current events and politics, and their children and grandchildren.  They ask about each one of our kids by name and what they are doing.  Though they’ve lived in the West for decades, their Southern accents are still pure.  It’s like them; they are genuine.    

  

*My friend and visiting teaching companion, Barbra, offered to take the two sister missionaries to the temple in Spokane.  She invited me along, too.  Barbra is always so generous and willing.  She’s a great woman.   

When we stopped to eat, a deaf man approached me on the street with a handful of pens.  His sign said, “Would you like one?”  I was so glad I still had a dollar in my purse.  A dollar won’t buy a bottle of water, but it will buy you a pen that reminds you of how much you have to be grateful for.  What a steal.  

This photo is a perfect picture of “I shouldn’t have judged.”  I saw this group enter at the back of the stage and groaned just a bit, until they started to play.  They were good.  And while I didn’t take the woman in the center seriously (before they began to play she danced around the stage a bit to the prerecorded music), I should have.  She was good and fun, and I was quite endeared to her by the end.  I really enjoyed The Dead Fiddlers.

*Our city may not have a wonderful grocery store and we may only have Wal-Mart as our shopping option, but we do have some great free concerts in the park all summer long.  This week was the bluegrass festival.  There were banjos and fiddles and basses and mandolins and guitars strumming for hours on end.  And even after we left the concert at ten o'clock, they promised that they would continue jamming in the campground 'til the sun came up.  I have little doubt they fulfilled that promise.

These were two new dips I tried from a blog.  I'll post the recipes Wednesday.

Calvin and I had a great time at the concert.  We packed a cooler and listened for four hours.  Bluegrass is one of those genres that not only causes lots of foot tapping, but attracts all kinds of people – both as performers and listeners.  We were so glad we’d gone.  One of the perks of marriage is always having your friend to do fun things with.

*I have gotten plenty of teasing about blogging friends from the kids through the years – especially the boys.  Abe and Ty call them my imaginary friends.  Joe pretends there are legions of them.  Ray, after meeting a blog-friend in Alaska, says he’s the self-appointed president of Janer Payner’s International and sometimes pumps a fist in the air and says, “Janer Payner’s UNITE.”  I mostly laugh at them all, and quietly go on appreciating the great people I’ve met through blogging.

This week Tami called and introduced herself.  Tami is from Colorado, but was here in town visiting her family.  Tami is also the friend of one of my blog friends.  Tami asked if she could come out and videotape a message from me for our mutual friend.  It was great meeting Tami and her husband Scott.  What a great and inspiring woman.  Long live blog friends.

scene from The Champ

*I saw the headline Scientists Name Saddest Movie Seen Ever and clicked on it.  The report said:  “As reported in Smithsonian.com, psychologists who study human emotions in laboratory settings have found that Schroder’s performance in the final scene of . . . “The Champ” reliably makes their test subjects sad on cue.”

I got sad just reading about the scene, because I remember it.  I knew better, but I went and watched the youtube clip of it anyway.  I wanted to see if it was really as sad as I remembered.  

Embedding has been disabled for this video, so you have to click here to see it.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAhrqKqK_cA&feature=player_embedded

(By chance, if you go and watch it, please tell me what you think of it.)

I should have trusted the scientists.  It was as sad as I remembered.  I cried all over again.  It is so real.  “Georgie, make him wake up” is the line that really hurts.  After I finished the clip I wanted to google Ricky Schroder and make sure he has a happy life now; make sure everything is going okay for him and that he feels better.  After a few hours, I finally did.  I was glad to read that he has a wife and four children and is an advocate for children by fighting against child abuse.  It appears he’s doing just fine and helping others to be fine, too.  

*To sum up life in my world (as if you need a summation) and add in one of my Sunday 52 Blessings, I would have to say I’m grateful for being able to go to free concerts in the park with Calvin, and good people the whole world over, and a sad movie clip every now and then to remind me of the good things in life.  And potatoes.