As the Snow Melts

New York's
Central Park
has its pigeons.

Our town
Lion's Park
has its wild turkeys!


How
the
green,
green
grass
grows

As the heavy April Snow Melts Along Life's Road!

This Snowy Morn...

a dark-eyed junco

hunts for food –

amidst branches

of maple flowers

flocked with snow.







Dan and Aaron
hop in the car
and drive to
firearm-safety class
wondering whether
next weekend's
Field Day will be
postponed.







"And rightly so,"

I think while
measuring
three-inches
on our deck table
as the snowfall
continues to grow

on
This
Snowy
April
Morn!

It's the 25th!

and
beginning
to
look
a lot
like
Christmas–

in April?



What's
Grandpa
Frog
to do?

Tell
the
kids
to go
back
to sleep
for
six more
weeks
of winter?


Here's to celebrating the Happy Holidays during this Minnesota Spring!

The Peepers

What happens when a track meet gets canceled, no practice is scheduled and a runner comes home early? This one made a new video – inspired by a reading blip (about spring peepers) on his MCA test taken this morning. Listen to "The Peepers!"

Just for Today...

I will live life one moment at a time savoring each step of the way – in spite of pain, turmoil or distractions – as I focus on my mission set forth by my Creator who guides through this day.

Stamped Letters

I like mail.

I like to get letters from family and friends. I like to see my name and address handwritten by the sender. I like to check out the stamp and post-marked date.

I like to slit open the envelope and pull out a card, a note or – if I'm truly lucky – a letter.

I like to peruse lines of handwriting – cursive or print, slanted or straight, tiny or scrawling – an art as unique as each writer. I like to read the words – especially those that transport me into conversation with the writer.

In return, I like to send off envelopes – and sometime packages – filled with heart-felt thoughts and addressed to special people. I like to ask the post master: "Do you have anything FUN?" when I buy a book of stamps.

The whole postal process seems to be a dying art. But I savor this communicative form and look forward to hand-written, Stamped Letters.

Baby Blizzard

One
week
old








and
already
doing
a
photo
shoot!





That's it.



Time

to

sleep.


Sharing views of Tickles' one-and-only kitten.

How Much Wood...

...could a woodchuck chuck? If a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Beats me!

But, some varmint just came into our yard and began chucking a hole in a tree trunk. Now I'll have to tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree – to mark more work for the family's woodcutters to put up for the coming winter.

One Dozen Years

One bass master
celebrated one dozen years with one chocolate cake:

filled with one dozen
gummy worms buried in
one can of frosting,

topped with another can
of frosting, one dozen candles and pair of bass.

Circling the cake sides?

More gummy worms –
numbering One Dozen.

To Birthday Wishing for Fishing

From under the Snow

appear onions –

taken from

my Granny's garden –

and transplanted

into my own.


Celebrating
the Meltdown
as the Greens
Push Up!

Feature Photo

The funnest part about blogging is being the publisher.




Writing, editing, imagery and formatting is up to each blogger's discretion as often as s/he likes. I find: Time flies. I like to "see" frequent changes Along Life's Road. Occasionally, I haven't the time to post a whole entry until days after the fact. So I do back-log posts, as viewers may have noticed.

To keep things fresh, I've added a "Feature Photo" in the top right margin. Because I've collected tens-of-thousands of photos, I plan to change this image as often as possible.

So be on the look out. Who knows what will turn up as the day's Feature Photo?

The Inchworm

The year was 1971.

Our grandma was determined to keep all her grand-
children even.

At Christmas, she convinced her husband to buy them all the trendiest new toy on the market.

Hence, three Inchworms wiggled their way into our home. During our preschool years, my sisters and I bounced along our basement floor by winter and down our gravel driveway by summer. The fun stretched beyond us three to our baby sister born a year after grandma's bestowment.

When our four girls' fun ended and the Inchworms began collecting dust, they moved on to other homes... All but forgotten, via home movies and an odd photograph.

On a whim – after Christmas this past year – I perused the toy aisles for clearance specials. I stopped – dead in my tracks – spotting a box with a toy inspired by the Inchworm. Memories rushed back.

My boys are long-past the preschool age. But my one-and-only goddaughter is not. I put the box in my cart laughing all the way to the register. I thought: What a fun birthday gift for a three-year-old and a hilarious memory for her mother – my sister.


Today we celebrated my godchild's birthday.

She unwrapped the fun.

Her mom – like ours back in '71 – laughed... Maybe over the silliness?

Her dad – like ours that long-ago Christmas – grumbled... Maybe over the assembly?

Ride on O' Inchworm!

Blizzard Birth

Twelve inches

of snow

and

wild winds

caused

school

cancellations

today.





It

looked

like

Christmas

outside...






And

felt

like

Christmas

inside –

as a gift

of new life

was brought forth.

"Midwife" Aaron

helped his cat

"Tickles"

deliver one

marmalade kitten

at 3:05

this afternoon...

in a Blizzard Birth.


Giving thanks for a snow-day miracle!

Going "YouTube"

What happens when school boys are home snowbound?

These two joined "YouTube" featuring their video run-in with taxidermy vermin during our family's summer-camping trip.



Moving with the technological times!

Round 'em Up

Ching, ching, ching! Clang!

Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof!

Moose escaped his kennel: squeezing between the gate and post. Dan's hunting dog bolted to chase a dark tubular varmint slinking in a bobbing motion across the yard.

The intruder was 3/4 the length of Moose and I guessed almost half his weight – looking at the huge belly. But what could IT be?

Moose circled the animal, driving it across the road into the swamp, holding it at bay and refusing to allow its escape. It nipped Moose in his hind quarter. Moose yelped, refused attack but stood his ground – like a true lab or heeler – waiting for his master... the hunter to finish the job.

His master was gone out-of-state on a work trip. That left the me (the mistress) in charge. Fortunately, the school bus pulled up to our driveway offering a distraction so that Moose obeyed my call to "COME!" I hooked the leash onto his collar. The creature bobbed away.


On the gravel road, we checked for tracks and found this one.

Our intruder?

From my best guess: a river otter – two miles from the nearest river and a mile from the lake.

Nonetheless, Moose did his best to Round 'em Up,

Let Go

Winter jackets?
Snow pants?
And boots?

"That's right!" I answered the boys' groans before they ventured outside to catch the bus this April morning.

"Snow is the best kind of precipitation we can get this time of the year," I assured them. "It moistens the soil and provides nitrogen to green up the grass."

I shoveled the side walk dumping a heap of white stuff on the flower bed next to the house.

The irises, hostas and sedum plants should LOVE this!

As I measured
4-1/4 inches
collected on
the deck table
that looks up
our hill –
studded with
pin oak trees
that are
still clinging
to last season's
leaves –

I was reminded
of my grandma's brother.

Long ago, he used to bring the season's first pussy willows to my mother – his niece-in-law who helped prepare his income taxes. Along with his gift, he shared stories. He remembered his one-room-school-house teacher asking: "What trees don't lose their leaves?"

When the teacher called on him (the student waving his arm in the air) my great uncle recalled saying: "Red oaks!"

The teacher shook her head and asked for names of evergreens: pines, spruces, firs and cedars. My uncle said, "But red oaks do keep their leaves – all winter long. When they do shed their leaves, it's as sure a Sign of Spring as pussy willows."

Here's to waiting for the red-oak family to "Let Go!"

April Showers...

...bring

forth

flowers:











The
Pussy
Willow
Kind!





Celebrating Signs of Spring found today Along Life's Road!

Always With You

My heart stirred as I passed by this picture early today. I was focused on one task, wondering about another and feeling less than confident about my overall direction.

I'd passed this particular picture hanging in our church's fellowship hall many times. But today, I felt compelled to stop, back up and look deeply at the images of two friends walking with our Risen Lord. According to the story in Luke 24:13-35, the two didn't recognize Christ on the Road to Emmaus. Only later – when He broke bread to eat with them – did they realize who was with them all along.

Like these two followers of Christ, I'd failed – until this moment – to recognize: I am not alone. I took courage thinking of Jesus' promise: "And remember that I am always with you until the end of time." Matthew 28:20

Coincidence? I think not. Within an hour of my revelation, our pastor read the Road to Emmaus passage during today's service.

Always With You... indeed!