Thankful Me

In order to appreciate this week's TToT post, you need to first read the post I published on Thursday .  Go ahead, do it now.   Are you back?  Well, the excitement continued!  Yesterday, while driving to my parents' house from my grandma's house, as we got off the freeway at my parents' exit, we saw tons of police cars parked all over. "Looks like a manhunt," my dad said.   Are you kidding me?!  Dad checked the news and learned that, sure enough, a police search was on for a wanted man.   Great, just great.  This is rural Oregon, not some inner city ghetto (nor Yreka, for that matter.)

I'm in Oregon this week, helping my parents prepare my grandma's house for sale.  (Though she lived in her house up until just a few years ago, she now has Alzheimer's and is 99-1/2, so returning to her own home just isn't realistic.) Going through a long lifetime of possessions is simultaneously exhausting and interesting, but it was the trip up here that was truly surreal.

Years ago, a book called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten became popular.  While the author recounted many good lessons, I believe that most of those ideas were initially introduced at home, rather than at kindergarten. Children learn from their parents what an inside voice sounds like. They learn to talk instead of hit.  They learn to take turns, to share, and to be loving and kind.  All of those lessons start long before kindergarten. The visiting teaching message for August  is "Nurturing Families Together."  One quote by President Russell M. Nelson particularly caught my attention:  "The home is to be God's laboratory of love and service."  The idea of the home as a laboratory was intriguing, but the idea of the home as God's laboratory was especially exciting.  Home is the place where we can try out the Golden Rule. Home is where we learn that "a soft answer turneth away wrath." (Have you ever tried whispering to an ang...

I think that when most people think of summer, they envision blue skies, green grass, warm weather, and playing in the water.  Today, summer looks much different for me.  The sky is smoky, the temperatures were predicted to be record-tying (108), ash is falling, and everything smells like campfire.  Personally, we are in no danger, but this post-apocalyptic setting casts a strange feeling to the day.  Here's a photo that I took from my driveway during winter months. . .  Photo:  Snow-dusted mountains . . . and here's a photo taken from my driveway today.  Notice how the mountains aren't even visible. Photo: Smoke-obscured mountains

I'm joining with Ivy's Six Sentence Stories link-up again today.  I really enjoy this challenge; and find that I am sometimes surprised at where the prompts take me.  I usually base my stories on events from real life, and today's story is no exception.  This week's prompt:  command.

1.  I'm thankful for a weekend trip to Zion National Park.  One sign (literally) that we are headed out of California (and/or that we are done with the alphabet game!) is the Zzyzx Rd. sign. Photo:  A freeway exit sign for Zzyzx Rd. 2.  I'm thankful for clear roads (at least from the time we got on 1-15).   Photo:  A clear stretch of road, surrounded by desert mountains 3.  I'm thankful for beautiful sunrises, even when viewed through dirty windshields. Photo:  The sun rises over the mountains 4, 5, 6, . . .  I'm thankful for nature; for being able to hike; for rental equipment that makes hiking in rivers possible; for getting out early enough to have stretches of the river practically to ourselves; for youngest daughter for being a real trouper on the hike (and for getting some artistic photos); for youngest son for suggesting this weekend get-together; and, of course, for John, who exhibited some terrific accident...

Are  you ready?  This coming weekend, you can be part of history as you join together with thousands of other people to index digital genealogical records.  It's easy and fun and very helpful for family history researchers.  You can spend as much or as little time as you want, although I feel I must warn you that family history work, including indexing, is a little like eating potato chips:  it's hard to stop at just one! Given the choice between binge-watching shark shows and indexing, though, I'd choose indexing. (So you know it must be fun!) Click here , or on the graphic on the right sidebar of this blog to be directed to the (free) software to download, so you will be prepared to help. And I think I speak for all family history researchers when I say, "Thank you!"   Can I count on you?

I'm as upset as the next person regarding the current state of affairs. The world is in need of followers of the Golden Rule.  I cling to (a probably delusional) hope that another presidential candidate will emerge, because I really don't know who I can support this fall.  But despite the turmoil outside, there is peace and love inside my house. I have things--both big and small--for which I am thankful. This weekly post is an exercise in finding peace in a turbulent world.

Independence Day weekend--a time to reflect on freedoms, both large and significant and small and routine.  1.  I'm thankful for the freedoms that I enjoy as a citizen of the United States.  Despite my discouragement with the presidential election this year, I believe in the greatness of this nation. 2. I'm thankful for the freedom to choose a home phone provider.  I signed up with Ooma  and now won't have to pay much at all to have telemarketers interrupt my dinner.  3.  I'm thankful for the freedom from clutter that a clean closet offers.  I've spent some real effort this week to make my closet a place that brings me joy, instead of someplace that constantly reminds me of my housekeeping failures. I'm not done with it yet, but there has been some real progress made. 4. I'm thankful for the freedom to put nails in my walls and hang photos.  John's the one who did the actual work (though I did offer helpful suggestions:  "A lit...