The World of Grandpa Don  

The past few days as I sat at my kitchen table I have watched many birds of various species come to that trellis. The dried vines are pulled and tugged apparently much in demand as nesting material. It is comical to see one occasionally grasp a twig and fly off only to be jolted back because the twig is still attached to the rest of the plant. I am reminded of ... " I wondered why? ... the Frisbee was getting bigger ....... and then it hit me! "

Sunday's rain and cold was followed by Monday's rain and cold. The Bradford Pear trees are trying to bloom and the Maples are sprouting leaves. The Winter/Summer war is in full conflict. We all know that Summer will win, springing from the wetness of the season. For lunch on Monday I sliced Sunday's prim rib into three and put two of them back into the frig. The remaining slice was coated with some spicy mustard and warmed in the microwave. It was a slice that completely covered a slice of rye bread and made a delicious juicy sandwich.

Monday evening I attended our Parish Community Life Board meeting and as usual our parish life is booming. Activities for every segment of the parish abound and the leaders reflect that in their enthusiasm. We also discerned an new representative for the Pastoral Council. Members of the five "Boards", Liturgy, Parish Community Life, Education, Human Concerns and Youth are discerned from the active members of the ministries they represent. Each Board, in turn, discerns two people to represent them on the Pastoral council. No elections! Those who are involved are the people who, in turn, are in leadership positions. The unique thing is that it works from the bottom up. I took the opportunity to suggest a new ministry and I got the idea from the Centennial Celebration book of St. John's Lutheran Church of South Euclid, Ohio. That is the church of several of my ancestors. The ministry of which I speak is one founded at St John's by Lucile Elbrecht, the mother of my newly found second cousin Marilyn Zimmann. I copied the page from the Centennial book for our board members. At St. John's it is called "Our Cradle Role". The members keep in touch with the family of babies baptized at the church as they grow from infancy to Sunday school age, sending cards and age appropriate stories at regular intervals which they ask the parents to read to them. They also make home visits. When the child reaches Sunday school age the parents are invited to enroll them. This would be great for our church where so many just show up to be Baptized, married and buried. Of course, with our larger membership, the task would be much greater, but in my view so would be the reward. Also, the contact would need to be extended to pre-school religious education age. The proposal was well received at our meeting and will be presented to the pastoral council for consideration. Of course, the biggest hurdle will be to find someone to pick it up and run with it, so to speak.  I invite you to visit St John's of South Euclid, Oh.

There's an old saying that says... "If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!" How true! I got that from Simple Truths.  Their story goes on to say that it is good to do the most important things, and often most distasteful things, before the things you would rather be doing. They point out that only 20% of what we do is really important and the other 80% can wait. They also said that this 20/80 rule applies to everything in life from wealthy and poor, to whatever ... They don't mention that in churches, 20% of the people are active and 20% of the people provide 80% of the support.. It seems that the 20/80 rule is universal.

Jean Dean introduced me to Simple Truths and I subscribed to receive it by email. If you were assured that doing something would improve your life experience, wouldn't you try it? Some of our youth (and immature adults) think that they are better off being popular and for some reason think nastiness is the way to get there. "I'm Bad!" That equates to "macho" ... doesn't it? In a word ... NO!  But they persue a course of rebelion, not wanting to conform to the civilized way of life.

Tuesday was almost as cold and wet as Sunday and Monday but the grass seems to like it. Another prime rib sandwich was enjoyed for lunch. I haven't been shopping for ten days ... no need. Mikey goes reluctantly out and runs back into the house. I read a lot, pass the time at the computer and do little else. Alex Kapocius sent an email with the parable of the Clay Balls. I had seen the story before, it has been around quite a while. I think it is worth sharing and so I sorted through the many web sites on which it was found and linked to the one which had an attractive presentation.

Wednesday was an improvement ... still too cool but sunny. I had downloaded a lot of transactions into my new Quicken program and went through them assigning categories to them to insure that they will be recorded properly particularly those which effect my taxes. The more I use the program, the more I see it's advantages over my old Microsoft Money. The last of Sunday's prime rib disappeared in another sandwich for lunch. It will be back to mere mortal food at lunch time for the rest of the week.

. Thursday was sunny and even less cool than the previous day. Bible study was interesting and spirited. (No pun intended) I stopped at Walgreen's on the way home because I needed some Benadryl tablets for Mikey's allergies. I have been giving him half a tablet every day but he has been developing "hot spots" in his coat so I will up his dose to a whole tablet every day. I also got a gallon of milk which will delay my visit to the Jewel until next week. I haven't been grocery shopping since before Easter. No need!  There were Easter leftovers and then leftovers for lunch this week and the freezer still has adequate vittles for some time. It appears I over-bought on my last trip. Thank God for the modern refrigerator and freezer.

I had reason to reflect on my life and I continue to be amazed and humbled on how I, and my children, have been welcomed into both the Cecora/Lossner family and the Copeland family. I am without words to describe how I feel. I have told people that I went looking for my roots and I found a forest but what I found is more like a garden ... a garden of lovely and lovable people.  They all bring joy to this old man's heart.   God has been so good to me and continues to shower me in the goodness of my family, both the ones I have known all my life and the recently discovered. This also extends to the friends I have at church and even to some cyber friends, people whom I have never even met in person. People are good. Thank you God.

It was warm enough Thursday afternoon to do a little cleanup in the yard. That seemed to prod my feeble ambition into a half mile walk on the treadmill while expanding my mind with the History channel. After that I had to rest my body in the recliner while still trying to exercise my mind but a nap carried me away.

Life and living continue to amaze me. I mentioned above that I had not been grocery shopping for some time, When I do go it is always to the Jewel Store. They are not the cheapest but they have the brands I like and I know where everything is. I am like an old dog and you just don't change his feed or he'll refuse to eat. But ... not having been to the store had unexpected results. On Thursday Jewel Food Co announced that they were cutting prices by 20%. It must be that they missed me. So, if you shop at Jewel, or would like to, you can thank me for the lower prices. I had no idea I had that much power! 

Seriously,  many like to shop at Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart in my area has narrow aisles and is always in disarray. Disorderliness, to me, equates to un-cleanliness. We used to get our prescriptions there but more often than not they would only partially fill the order and we had to return for the remainder. No, ... convenience is important to me, probably too much. I had occasion to stop for a couple items at a local drug store recently. I don't go there much either and that is because it is not a pleasant experience. There is always the same person at the checkout counter and she is the most unpleasant person I have ever encountered. As hard as I have tried, I have never been able to leave her with a smile. I don't think I have ever seen her with one. She seems to hate her job and has no patience with her customers. I feel sorry for her and her family ... if she has a family. Maybe her shoes don't fit right? We should pray for her.

It will be over 80 degrees today. The loud thunderstorms last night ushered in the change. This morning it is sunny and you can smell spring in the air. Anthony and Joe are planning to come by after baseball practice this afternoon and bring the patio furniture out of the shed as well as the good summer furniture for the gazebo. I expect to enjoy some reading out there this afternoon. Mikey has started chasing rabbits again but he does it selectively. Sometimes he just watches them and at other times he will chase them around the perimeter of the garden and then through the yard until it will exit under the fence. He goes as fast as his little legs will propel him but of course the little rascals always out pace him with ease. Sometimes they seem to slow up a bit so as not to discourage him to much. I believe they enjoy the game.

And so, life goes on. To some it is a game. I think not. Shakespeare compared it to a stage and we, the actors. I think not. To me, life is a precious gift and the opportunity to share in God's creation, continuing that creation by contributing to it in a positive way. Life is full of paradoxes because ultimately it is a spiritual thing and the spiritual does not follow the rules of materialism. To get love, we must share the love God gave us. To get respect, we must first give it. To have success we must live as if it is already with us. To have happiness we must stop looking for it because we always look in the wrong (materialistic) places. All these things will not only find us but will be showered down upon us if we are willing to share them with others. I have found that the more I give away, the more I get. That includes love, money, respect, happiness ... anything ... but especially love, and Love is the most precious of all.

 Suffice to say ....