Living Under the Son Light

• Jun. 2, 2008 - Hurricane Season 2008

Hurricane season officially began yesterday, though we had our first official tropical storm last week - Arthur. It dropped some rain on Costa Rica, but other than that, wasn't much trouble. Each year I look forward to seeing the list of names. I printed it out and taped it next to my hurricane map in the kitchen, so we can cross them off, one by one, as they come and go. And we pray there are no deadly ones this year. We have been very blessed the last two years.

Anyway, looking over the list, it's hard to get worried about any storm named "Dolly" or "Sally." And for the sake of my youngest son, I sure hope "Teddy" turns out to be harmless.

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• Feb. 18, 2008 - Spring in MY South

I don't know why, but this year I notice it. Maybe I've never paid attention before. Spring is a process. We don't go from Winter one day to Spring the next. Winter is taking its own sweet time leaving, much like the Snow Birds that grace our shore every year.

It reminds me a lot of taking a 3 or 4 year old little boy to the Toy department at Wally World. And I didn't take him there because I wanted to. His oldest brother had money to spend you see, and it had to be spent THAT day. He couldn't wait. So we all went. And it didn't matter how well I tried to explain to the Little Man that he was only there to look. He had no money to spend. He could NOT buy a toy that day. When it was time to leave the toy department there was great shedding of tears, and dragging of heels, and a bottom lip out to China. "But I don't want to go." "Can't I look for just one more minute??"

That's Winter not wanting to leave.

Spring coming is rather like my beautiful 14 year old young woman not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. She looks so peaceful sleeping there, but there are things to do, the day must start. She must get in gear.

This year has been one of "winter's over, that's it, I'm sure, that was THE last cold snap, yep, um hum. We can finish off the hot cocoa mix cause we won't need any more. And I don't need to buy any more oatmeal cause we won't have any more of those cold mornings." Until 5 days later... looking at the forecast... what's that?? Morning lows in the 30's? Misprint, must be... brrrrr. Better go buy more hot cocoa mix. But it's o.k. because Spring will be here soon enough, and she won't get to stay long because Summer is a pushy Thang that barges in and takes over for months and months.

I was trying to explain to a friend who moved her from Florida (aka New York South), that here, each month brings it's own bug or other thing to annoy. But you get used to it, to the rhythm:

January: cold, brrr.

February: here come the Sand Gnats, back from wherever it is they spend their Winter. Oh yes, and don't forget to wash your windshield every other day to get off all that lovely yellow pollen - ah choo!

March: mosquitos are back, better fire up the Mosquito Magnet.

April: deer flies (wear your fishing hat when you go out to get the mail or you'll get bit up.)

May: The Love Bugs are back, all over your windshield; harmless but messy (and try to come up with a good answer for the littlest children when they ask "Mommy, why are those bugs stuck together?")

June: hhhmm, same old mosquitoes still here, but the Love Bugs have vanished.

July: yes, it's hot, hot, hot and we're checking the Wunderground site daily for tropical activity, but the deer flies have left because they can't take the heat!

August: hotter still, and we're still praying for a quiet hurricane season. But by the end of the month, those deer flies have returned - can't let the kids play outside much.

September: awww, look, the Love Bugs are back. splat. Well, washing the windshield now takes care of the pine pollen AND the bugs.

October: bye bye Love Bugs, hello House Flies. Get out the swatters, and put up the chart where we keep track of who kills how many flies - winner gets bragging rights for a year!

November: hey, have you noticed, there aren't many Sand Gnats now, and the deer flies are GONE!

December: gotta admire the persistence of those skeeters - pray for a really good cold snap to kill them off. Oh, and you can go ahead and clean out the mosquito magnet and give it a rest for a month, or two.

...Back on track:

What is Spring in MY South?

*    The smell of honeysuckle in the air.

*   pants and long sleeves in the morning, shorts and short sleeves after lunch.

*   explaining to your students that Live Oaks really are evergreen trees, just like pine trees, because they don't shed their leaves until the Spring, when they pop out their blossoms (and pollen), so that's why we rake in the Spring and not the Fall. And the exact perfect time to clean the roof is in April, when the leaves have all fallen, and it's not so hot that you burn you feet and hands climbing up on the roof with your leaf blower.

*   the first trip of the year to the beach, before the Spring Breakers arrive.

*   azaleas in gorgeous bloom - no shade of pink on earth like that...

*   unfortunately, the first Fire Ant sting of the year (poor Little Man.)

*   open those windows - we need to air out this house.

*   the birds are back building their nest in the garage - sure hope they can outsmart the cats again this year. Baby birds are so cute!

*   the Easter egg hunt in the front yard.

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• Dec. 11, 2007 - Winter in MY South

Better early than late...

Winter in MY South is...

- fog, fog, everywhere, better than a scary movie. Well, at least it's moisture for the ground.

-   wearing shorts on Christmas

-   fighting gnats (I know where they go for the Winter) while putting up the Christmas lights.

-   spotting the first Ontario license plate of the season

-   checking the National weather map to find the coldest place in the country and smiling, cause it's                 thousand of miles away from here.

-   putting up the temporary coat hooks (those 3M hooks) that will come down in 2 months

-   buying summer clothes and shoes on clearance, that your family can wear the next day.

-   a tailer park beautifully decorated in Christmas Lights.

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• Dec. 11, 2007 - Fall in MY South

Better late than never.

Fall in MY South is...

- having the beach all to ourselves because the tourists have gone but the Snow Birds haven't all arrived

-   watching the leaves on the Dogwood tree change color, cause Live Oak leaves don't turn

-   blowing the pine needles off the driveway every other day

- constantly hearing "bang" "bam" "plop" from all the acorns falling or being thrown down by psycho             squirrels (remember the Geico commercial where the 2 squirrels wait on the side of the road for a car to     come, and then dash out in the middle of road... yep, we've got those kind of squirrels)

- waking up one morning to temps in the 50's and shivering... aahhhhh, summer is finally fading

-   constantly changing clothes because you wake up shivering, but my 1:00 you're burning up (don't even     think about packing away Summer clothes until January.)

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• Aug. 9, 2007 - Summer in My South

I miss getting Turner South on our cable t.v. network. They used to do this thing called "My South" where different people would stand up at a microphone and talk about what they felt best described their South. So I'm going to start doing that.

MY South is

Beautiful Live Oaks dripping with Spanish Moss

Cicadas humming first thing in the morning to let you today is going to be HOT one.

Sipping sweet tea on the screened-in porch while the fan whirls and the breeze gently blows.

Crossing the street as fast as you can so you don't burn your feet on the hot asphalt.

Eating ice cold watermelon on a steaming hot day.

Hazy, Hot and Humid

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• Jul. 29, 2007 - What Lies Ahead

Yesterday I took Hazel in for service. I had intended to leave early in the day so I could get home and get some things done around the house. I ended up leaving several hours later. By the time the children and I were on our way home, our daily afternoon pop-up showers had already started. Some of the ligtening was pretty scary. We had to drive on the interstate and traffic was brisk. We were getting close to home, and I was starting to feel relieved when all of a sudden I had to slow down. Traffic on our side was down to a snail's pace, and there were few cars coming the opposite direction.

When we got up over the next hill, I could see the reason - a BAD accident, on my side of the highway. A poor minivan with a badly crumpled front end and rear end. Thankfully, the driver's door was open and someone looked to be o.k. there. There were other cars involved and people walking around the highway. Apparently it had only happened about 5-10 minutes before we got there. I started praying for everyone involved to be alright, then prayed help would soon arrive.

We got around the wreck and went on our way. Then I saw police cars coming the opposite way - GOOD! So on I go, when all of a sudden I see flashing lights coming towards me, in my lane! The firetruck and rescue squad had decided it would be faster to go north on the southbound interstate. I had to quickly swerve over to the left hand shoulder to get out of there way.

This whole incident reminded me of the verses about how a man makes his plans, but God orders his steps. We just never know what might be just over the next hill in life.

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• Jul. 27, 2007 - Just rambling

My poor iMac, Hazel, is having problems and has to go to the shop tomorrow for repairs (that's a two-hour round trip drive with all the kids in tow.) Lord, please don't let it be anything costly.

I had to go get a small basal cell removed from my nose today. Silly me, I thought this would be easy. Nope, it was MOH's surgery, where the remove some, analyze it, remove a tiny bit more, and on and on til they get it all. All of this because it's on my face and they don't want to leave a big scar. What doctors don't understand is that I don't care a lot what the side of my nose looks like :) Then they did a skin graft to cover the spot. So here I sit with a very sore nose, as the anesthetic wears off, and this huge bandage on my face, and another behind my ear, from the skin graft. It's so hard to breath through my nose. I need to work on my patience. Thankfully the kids were perfectly behaved while I was gone. God is good.

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• Jul. 25, 2007 - Not by bread alone

    When I was a young girl, my Granny gave me my first Bible. It came in a box with a gold top, and I was in awe. It had a white leather cover, and a zipper with a cross at the end. The first time I opened it, I held it gingerly, because I was afraid of damaging it. As I carefully turned the pages, I noticed that some of the writing was in red. The first red words that I read were "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 KJV.

    These were the first words of Scripture I ever memorized, and I know I'll never forget them. I've come back to these words lately because I need the reminder that even though we struggle at times to put the bread on the table, that should never be my top priority. God says in His word that He will provide for my families basic needs. But we can't live as He desires us to without spending time each day reading and studying His words. And it's all there for a reason.

    I've been reading through the Bible in a year, and recently the Old Testament readings have been in 1st and 2nd Chronicles. At first it seemed redundant to me. Afterall, I'd already read 1st and 2nd Kings. But He must have put Chronicles there for a reason. At the very least, it's a good reminder of how easily people can go astray when they stop making the Lord the center of their lives. And one small step off the Path can end in total exhile, being enslaved to your enemies. You're sitting there scratching your head wondering, "how did I ever get HERE?" It started with that one day when you said "I don't have time to read my Bible today, I'm too frazzled to pray." I struggle staying on the Path, but I've been to Babylon, and I don't want to ever go back.

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