Another day of very little political involvement equals another day of peace on the Ponderosa. I started knitting some little scrubbies from a yarn made by Red Lion. It’s got rough little hairs on it and works for dishes as well as exfoliating your skin. I just cast on 20 stitches and knit each row, making them 4”x4”. They make nice little holiday gifts attached to a bar of fancy soap.

I was so proud of myself yesterday. I didn’t scroll endlessly through social media and news sites filling my every waking moment with the talking heads. Instead, I had a leisurely breakfast with my sweetheart then took him to the dentist. Poor dear had to have some painful work done. I brought him home with a stop at the store for ice cream, yoghurt, and cottage cheese...soft and easy to eat. He dug into my home canned applesauce as well so he was, overall, a pretty contented guy. Tylenol seemed to keep him comfortable enough.

It’s finally here. I don’t know about you, but I am so oversaturated with all the political ads, misinformation, disinformation, anger, divisiveness, and flat out hatred we have all witnessed over the last year. I have no idea what’s coming in the next few days, but if watching the businesses boarding up their windows is any indication, it looks really scary. There is actually a real condition called Election Stress Disorder. Therapy visits are up, along with anxiety levels and the number on the scale.

I definitely resemble my father.

I’m not sure I ever really knew my dad. I mean...I lived in the same house with him for nineteen years. He spent much of his time either off somewhere “fishing” (aka drinking at local bars) or puttering at his work bench (aka drinking in the basement). He was a broken man by the time I came into the picture, I think. I don’t think he was happy married to my mom. The woman he really loved spurned him and I think he and mom just kind of settled for each other.

A blue moon is the second full moon in one month.

Happy November! Election season is almost over and I’m lining up my new activities for the coming months. First, we had a “Blue Moon” last night. It is the first time since 1944 that the second full moon in one month could be seen in all four time zones in the continental United States. It was also Halloween and the the end of Daylight Saving Time for 2020. Yes, kids...two more months and this year is behind us! I will not be sorry to see this one go, I’m telling you what. 

I decided yesterday was a great day for an iron skillet full of yummy homemade biscuits. I first tried baking biscuits when I was old enough to stand on the kitchen stool at my grandma’s elbow out at the farm. I learned to cook the way she did...a pinch of this and a dab of that. She learned to cook when “receipts” had measurements like “put in a hunk of lard the size of a hen’s egg” or “add a scant teacup full of sugar”. Grandma actually had an old coffee cup that she used as her one cup measure. She was a good ol’ country cook and I have tried to be just like her.

Yesterday we talked about having a spirit of giving as a way to make the world a better place to live in. As I sat down tonight, I opened Facebook to see if there were any comments on the morning post and the first thing I saw was a video from a page I recently started following. Cake Love is my new and unlikely guilty pleasure. Scott narrates his the videos that show him decorating cakes. His voice is at once soothing and comforting. He tells little stories as he decorates and watching him artfully draw in multicolored buttercream is so relaxing. It has become a sort of meditation in the evenings, usually before I write.

I usually have a good idea of what I want to talk about in my daily posts when I sit down to write at night. However, sometimes I sit and sit and sit some more without coming up with a clear plan. That’s when I know there’s no beating around the bush...I need to take it to God in prayer and ask Him what HE wants me to write about. Such was the case last night.

I had the day off yesterday. Well...I was off by myself. A doctor’s appointment, a breast ultrasound, and a DEXA scan (bone density). All quick, one right after the other and timed perfectly so that when I was done, I had about three hours to do whatever I wanted. My first errand was to one of my favorite stores...Rural King. I purchased an apple peeler a few weeks ago to make working up all the apples easier. However, they don’t make them like they used to and it didn’t work at all right. As a matter of fact, it created MORE work. So, I returned it and got my money back.

In fourth grade, she sat in the car and cried.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because...you’ll hate me!”

“No, sweetie...there’s nothing in the world that would make me hate you! Tell Mama what’s wrong.”