Our doorbell rang a few minutes ago (something it rarely does) and since I was busy down in the basement, checking my e-mail, etc., I hesitated to answer it. It would probably be the little girl next door selling girl scout cookies ~ and we'd already bought ours from a friend at church ~ but then I decided against ignoring the bell and ran up and see who was there. There was nobody at all! But instead, there was a long rectangular box, the kind that could only come from a florist! Who on earth could it be for? Certainly NOT Mr. Jones! The address said it was coming from San Diego! What?! 
As I opened up the box, I really had NO IDEA who would be sending these flowers. I love flowers. In fact, there are very few flowers that I am not friends with! I adore them all! And roses?! Mmmm. My favorite. So intricate and perfect. 
I opened the enclosed card to find that the Rauch family was sending me love on Valentine's Day ... WOW. I am feeling the love ... and very much appreciate this lovely surprise. Aren't these colors great? There are white, peach, yellow and pink roses ... and I get to watch their beautiful pedals open, and smell them (deeply) and take care of them ... THANKS SO MUCH!
Just this morning I was lamenting how I had some pretty pictures on my camera that I could NOT unload anywhere (due to the fact that I have a broken computer) when Mr. Jones mentioned the fact that he has a handy-dandy card reader that he could use to dump my pictures out on this dragon of a computer we have in the basement (which I am presently using). So that's exactly what he did! And now I can show you just a very few pictures of the nice time I had Thursday morning with Kelly ...
And in case you are not remembering WHO Kelly is ... she is Dylan's girlfriend and just a really wonderful person through and through. It is quite impossible NOT to love Kelly ...
We decided to meet over at Palmer Park to take a winter walk. However, the entrance gate to the park was fastened shut, so we parked down a side street and took a little extra long walk to the entrance and then beyond that into the park and hiked all along Buck Creek.
And the entire time we were walking, we never stopped talking ... even once! Well ... we did one time stop and listen to the absolute stillness that surrounded us ...
After we walked, we headed over to Chili's (the one off of 54th St) and had their amazing luncheon special ~ the all-you-can eat soup, salad, chips and salsa. Tremendously delicious! I enjoyed every single minute of this one-on-one time with our Kelly. I so loved getting to know her better. I learned interesting stuff about her! I remember a few years ago, Dylan challenged me to participate in the Lenten season, something I had never done before. So for the past few years, I have done just that and have gained a real appreciation for it. Kelly challenged me this year, instead of taking something AWAY for Lent, to actually ADD something during this season that would remind me of all that Jesus did and all that He accomplished, especially during His Passion. I had never thought of adding something instead of just taking something away ... so I am taking the challenge! Thanks, Kelly, for a wonderful Thursday morning.
It's our Rachel's birthday today. It is very awkward for me to do a post without pictures. I am not a writer, so I depend on photographs to "carry" the story and say the 1000 words that I cannot think of ... Having made my excuses above, I do want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rachel anyway. I was going to show you how pretty she is ... I had a picture all picked out ... plus, I had snapped a partial photo of our gifts to her, not enough to actually SHOW the gifts, but just to give a hint at what they are. We are bringing these gifts with us when we visit Nick, Rachel, and the grandchildren in just a few weeks now. In fact, we hope to be at their house in just 18 days! I trust it will warm up down there in Texas in the meantime. I always look forward to our spring Texas trip because we leave freezing cold Michigan and enter the warmth of the south ... most often before we are finished driving through southern Illinois! The record snowfall in Dallas yesterday is a very bad sign however ...
(picture added on 2/14/10)
(image added 2/14/10)
Yesterday when we returned home from being with the little kids at church, there was a Fed-Ex package on our front porch, half buried in the snow, with a beautiful card that said, "Sending Happy Thoughts." Back in the fall when Grandpa Jones and I were visiting everyone in Texas, Nicolas and Rachel took us to a tiny little town in-between Bandera and San Antonio by the name of Old Helotes ... it was pouring rain that afternoon and we just kind of wandered antique shops for a little while. I had been admiring some darling cookie cutters in one of the shops and had actually picked them up for purchase, but then changed my mind ~ because I was calculating the cost of an airline ticket to El Paso in December and decided I needed to save every single penny ~ did I absolutely NEED these cookie cutters? Probably not! How fun to open this box and see a chicken, a frog, and a rabbit cookie cutter (they are SO cute) AND some nice ready-to-make Betty Crocker sugar cookie ingredients and fancy sprinkles for decorating! I took pictures to show you, but then my computer crashed before I could load them (see post below). It's so fun to receive a box, completely by surprise, open it up and find such a delightful gift. So even though my computer is dead, I am smiling.
It's been sick for a long time now and dying a slow death. But finally, late yesterday, it breathed its last and simply WILL NOT be revived ...My computer is dead.I know. I know. It's not like it's a person or anything. And we do have a rather old dinosaur in the basement that I am presently using ... but it does not have the nearly 30,000 photos that I've saved, nor does it have any of my card files. Sigh.Mr. Jones has been thinking on the problem. He has sent a distress e-mail to Adam as well. The only thing I use my computer for is for making greeting cards, photo storage and editing, as well as keeping in touch with friends and family through Facebook and e-mails.
And THIS blog. And YOUR blogs.
I'm sure I could live without all of that, but so many folk I love are so very far away ... this small connection with them is such a comfort at times.I took a long winter walk this morning and took a bunch of pictures ... they are still in my camera and of course I cannot upload them anywhere ... but I did enjoy the walk. I trespassed all over the place in the woods (at the end of the court) and walked further than I ever have back there. The snow was knee deep in places, but the sun was out and the woods just glistened like magic. All of the area schools are shut down for the day, children are out playing in the snow, and it is a pretty sight.Well, that's enough for this death notice ...
I was able to do something today that I have wanted to do for a very long time ... three years at least! Ever since I first saw the lighthouse over at Big Sable Point, I wanted to photograph it in the wintertime ... because I just KNEW it would be fabulously beautiful!There were a couple of obstacles in the way, however ... it's a two-hour drive (one way) to Ludington and often the weather here in W. Michigan can be suddenly hazardous ... plus, you can't get to Big Sable Lighthouse without at least an almost-two-mile walk. I'm actually not opposed to driving alone or walking alone for that matter ... but it's probably NOT a good idea. I usually throw caution to the wind, however! But (believe it or not) one of my biggest fears in the world is ... bears. And I could just picture myself walking that path between the dunes and running into a bear! I would have a heart attack on the spot!
So last week when my dear dear friend Karen and I were baking Valentine cookies at her house and I asked her if she would ever be interested in taking a winter hike and photographing Big Sable, she enthusiastically said YES! We had such a great time there today ... once we finally found the correct path out to the lighthouse that is! 
What a completely and totally gorgeous winter day. I was over-the-top ecstatic to be there! And Karen and I talked nonstop (I am not exaggerating) for six solid wonderful hours ... our conversation wove in and out of a million different places and subjects ... 
The wind and the waves were exhilerating. The sand patterns amazing. The beach grass tall and majestic and ... the colors were amazing.
And Lake Michigan! Just the sound of it makes me immediately happy ... but to see it like this!
I was practically dancing with JOY on the beach! I loved sharing this time with Karen, who loved it just as much as I did!
And look! The little fog station they were just beginning to build in August when I was last here is now finished ... I can't wait to come back some day and actually hear the fog horn, which has to be one of the most beautiful sounds anywhere! Yes, Mr. Jones ... it rivals a train horn ... and wins!
We wore many layers, so we really weren't miserably cold ... we LOOK half frozen, but we did just fine.
I would love to travel all over Michigan and film every single lighthouse in each and every season of the year ... perhaps I will!
I am still surprised at how Lake Michigan has NOT frozen this year ... there was probably only about 10 feet of ice out into the lake from the shore.
Such a beautiful place ... I could stay forever!
The Lord God certainly did Himself good when he created this spot, and I'm surely thankful I could feast upon His handiwork today ...
Our doorbell rang a few minutes ago (something it rarely does) and since I was busy down in the basement, checking my e-mail, etc., I hesitated to answer it. It would probably be the little girl next door selling girl scout cookies ~ and we'd already bought ours from a friend at church ~ but then I decided against ignoring the bell and ran up and see who was there. There was nobody at all! But instead, there was a long rectangular box, the kind that could only come from a florist! Who on earth could it be for? Certainly NOT Mr. Jones! The address said it was coming from San Diego! What?! 
As I opened up the box, I really had NO IDEA who would be sending these flowers. I love flowers. In fact, there are very few flowers that I am not friends with! I adore them all! And roses?! Mmmm. My favorite. So intricate and perfect. 
I opened the enclosed card to find that the Rauch family was sending me love on Valentine's Day ... WOW. I am feeling the love ... and very much appreciate this lovely surprise. Aren't these colors great? There are white, peach, yellow and pink roses ... and I get to watch their beautiful pedals open, and smell them (deeply) and take care of them ... THANKS SO MUCH!
