Thinking on these things . . .

It's that time of year again. Most trees are no longer green instead sporting richly colored coats of yellow, orange and red which brings up the perennial question, "Why do leaves change color?" There are massive scientific answers but very simply it's because Autumn is a very revealing time... All spring and summer photosynthesis is going on in the leaves. Chlorophyll is produced causing the leaves to be green and the leaves are giving off oxygen. This is their season and they are contributing to the good of the world around them. Then the nights get cool and the weather drier and suddenly what has worked for months works no longer. The flow of nutrients from the tree is cut off and the chlorophyll disappears and the there is no more green color. What is revealed are the colors they were underneath all along, behind the mask of green and/or their colors also reveal what has been stored up or trapped in the leaves when the supply of nutrients ceased. Trapped sugars pr...

It was Halloween, 1966 and the phone rang in the red brick house. The baby they had been waiting to adopt was now ready to be brought to them; would they like their daughter tonight? The woman was worried, she had a cold and was afraid this would keep them from bringing over the infant...So while cowboys, princesses and ghosts traversed the neighborhood in search of candy, Lee and Virginia Fisher became parents. And every Halloween for years my mom would tell me how I was their Halloween treat. But this is the "happily ever after" part of the story. What about the years previous to this joyous ending? What about the disappointment, frustration and angst of the almost twenty years that preceded it as they tried everything to have children? What about the cruel trick that kept them from becoming parents as their siblings had families of 3, 4, and 5 children already: when others carried new babies and they did not? Our lives are suddenly thrown these seemingly cruel tricks, and ...

My daughter is designing a roman goddess costume and that has caused me to be thinking about laurel wreaths, papal hats, and crowns. I have a group of girlfriends with whom we celebrate each other’s birthdays. We have our very own birthday tiara, which the birthday girl has to wear while we are at the restaurant signifying to everyone around us that she is someone special. (and yes, we do get many second looks) Although we do not have a queen, that serenely waves as her carriage is escorted down Main Street USA, we are familiar with the concept of sovereignty. Our music is filled with references to God as king and that we are to “crown him with many crowns.” We know that God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What I find amazing however is that although God is King he does not overtake the throne of my heart by force. He waits until I finally come to the realization that He is God and that I am not and that He is the one capable of ruling my life and that I must take the crown fro...

(I thought about taking an actual picture of this event to add to the words, but it was too scary... ) I am having "tea". All by myself at ten in the morning I have made a pot of coconut chi tea, taken out my china teapot and cup and the special silver teaspoon. I have put on a beautiful CD mix and have made cranberry scones and a batch of devonshire cream. In front of me sits beauty and serenity. Well, correction, before me sits beauty and serenity in a space on my dinning room table. Also occupying the surface area was a basket of apples, assorted Lego's, a hairbrush, paper towels, photographs, scattered mail and some Operation Christmas Child boxes making the rest of the table not at all serene! So why, with all that obviously needed attending to, had I pushed back an area for "a spot of tea" ? A friend had sent for my birthday some of the things I was using for my personal tea party. In my way of thinking gifts are all about providing a complement or an oppo...