The Eclectic Company

Saturday, February 14, 2009

It's Back!!!

AKA: Now THIS Is What February SHOULD Be
In Central Indiana

NOT 60 degrees
NOT torrential rain
NOT gale force winds
NOT mud

This:

It IS still winter you know!

It won't be spring until March 20

And all that 60 degree weather last week - - -

That was just a tease - - -

A fooler!

This my dear friends is the REAL February - - -

Snow on teasel

And tassel!!!!

I LOVE it.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

A little Valentine's Day trivia to go with this post: as I worked on these photos, I noticed that their folder was number 0214. How's that for Valentine's Day pictures!?!?

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Friday, February 13, 2009

I May Not Have What Others Would Call "A Life!"

It's Friday night, right???

The night to let your hair down,

Go out for supper,

Enjoy life, right???

So what did I do with my Friday night?????

Since hubby is at work and I'm home alone,
I brought home Taco Bell - - -
Which I ate for supper at 4 PM.

Then I spent time catching up
On the blogs I follow.

Next I went around
Taking photos and planning
A blog post in my head.

After that I settled in
To get the photos ready to post - - -
You know, edit them,
Crop them,
And resize them.

While I was doing that
I continued puttering around
In blogland,
Responding to a few comments
Which happened to come my way,
And creating a couple
Of nonsensical blog posts of my own.

The TV was playing
A college basket ball game in the background - - -
But I didn't watch any of it.
It was just there.

And now I'm nearly finished.
Nearly finished with both my blogging
And my evening.
I'm about ready to go up
And cuddle into my bed
With a good book.

It's only 8:42

And you know what???
I LOVED my evening.

See - - - no life.

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Schmelp!?!?!?

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Somebody just found my blog by googling "schmelp"

Go figure!!!!

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Still Sky Watchin' After All These Years

I used to do a Sky Watch Friday post each week.
Then I thought perhaps people were getting
Just a little more than bored with that.
So I stopped cold turkey.

That is I stopped POSTING them cold turkey.
I find I am still obsessed with WATCHING the sky
And photographing the sky
And planning sky posts in my head.

So this week I'm giving in to
My skywatch obsession.
I'm back to posting Skywatch Friday.

This was the view
Through our family room window
One evening this week.
Simply stunning.

For two days this week we had
A February Hurricane
(As Number One Daughter called it)
Right here in north central Indiana.

It was scary.
The rain drained out of the sky
Like a waterfall.
The winds were so strong
They shook our house.
Literally.
I was afraid the window would shatter
And spray all over me as I TRIED
To sleep in my bed.

Then suddenly, late one afternoon,
The sea of clouds parted
So the children of Israel could cross on dry land.
(Ooooops - - - that's a different story)

The sea of clouds parted
So the rays of the setting sun
Could flood our world with light.

My camera
Can't quite capture the contrast

Of the light of sun rays

Against the backdrop of black clouds
Beyond the reach of those rays.

But I gave it the
Good ole College try.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Bloggypants

Somebody really fun

Has just started a new blog
Which she'd LOVE you to visit - - -

You can find it here.

Welcome to this wild and
Wonderful world,
Bloggypants!!!

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Sunday, February 8, 2009

Wherein PeePaw Becomes an Octogenarian

Yesterday was dad's 80th birthday.
I doubt that Mackinley has any clue
How much 80 is,
But don't they look cute together anyway???

Sister Pam had a great idea that we should
Throw a party, because well, you're only 80 once
And plenty of us never hit that milestone.

She also had the idea that we should
Get some kind of a designer-just-for-the-occasion
T-shirt, and perhaps I should find said shirt.

Well, dad looks mighty young for 80,
So I immediately knew what I wanted
To put on the shirt - - -
It was a line from a poem mom wrote
Several years ago
About dad and two of his brothers.

I mentioned it to Pam - - -
But she didn't remember the poem,
Nor the line from the poem.

To make matters worse,
The poem was from a family news letter
From oh, 10 or 15 years ago
(Or so I thought)
And neither of us keep old copies
Of the Family news letter.

So - - - I posted an "ad"
On the Family Web Page
(Yep - - - we're high tech now - - -
A web page instead of a newsletter)
To see if anyone had old copies
Of the Heavilin Hi-Lites, our newsletter.

Lo and behold,
Cousin GR not only kept copies,
But he also managed to
Find the right Hi-Lites and the poem.
(It was from 1982 - - -
I was only 17 years off in my
Estimation of time lapsed.)

GR is my favorite cousin of the day
For this astonishing feat.

The poem commemorated
A family "work party" at
Grandma-Great's house.
Here it is with the necessary
line highlighted in blue:

You've heard the silly rhyme
About the powder and the pain
A makin' up a woman
To look like what she ain't?

Y'all sometimes come in August,
Back to the old home-place,
To visit little mother
And to brighten up her face.

Well, they didn't wait 'till August -
Bob, John, and Charles too - -
But came the twenty-two of March
To see what they could do.

Gray powder mixed with water
Made a pail of sticky paste
Which Bob brushed on some paper - -
Spread it with the greatest haste.

John and Charles climbed the ladder,
Agile fellows in their prime;
Hung the paper to the walls
And finished in good time.

Sure, things got a little messy - -
Scraps of paper stuck to feet.
The result of all this bustle?
Mom's living room clean and neat!

To summarize the matter - -
Conclude this rhyming biz - -
Our little lady mother
Am a lookin' what she is!

By Beulah Butcher Heavilin

And here's dad (John in the poem)
Sportin' his designer T.
He's a retired preacher/professor
And not wont to wear t-shirts
Though he promised to wear this one with pride.

I think he was happy with his surprise party.

Here are some of the faces in the crowd:

CaraLee, Stan, Cathy, and Yackie Sue
(Cousins all)

Some of "our" kids.
Mackinley, Jason, Haley, Keri, and Piper Renae

Piper close-up

Jason Close-up
Is that a booger in his nose?
JUST KIDDING JASON!!!

Haley with a forced grin close-up

Cousin Mary Lou with her hubby and boys.

Nephew Dustin, his wife Kayla,
And her parents and grandparents.

Korie Renee sporting a fun little
Feathery head band thingy.

My favorite B-I-L Joe.
Ain't he ornery?????

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OOOOOOOPS My Bad!!!!

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I forgot this picture of Korie and her boyfriend, Chris, taken at the above birthday party.

God blessed Korie with quite a set of pipes.
PeePaw asked her on the spur of the moment
To sing a song for the whole crowd,
A song she wasn't real familiar with.
She spent a few minutes "cramming"
With Cousins Paul Gene and Jo,
Got up in front of God and everyone
and did herself proud on
"For His Eye is On the Sparrow."
I didn't get a video of it,
But Keri posted a partial one here.

Step Back Ethel Waters!!!

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Friday, February 6, 2009

Learning to Dance

"Life is not about getting through the storms
But rather about learning to dance in the rain."

Credits: When I found this quote the author was not given.
The photo is of "Heather." It was taken by Natalie Laruccia / ExploreDance.com

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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Food For Thought

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Without the food this time - - - just the thought.

A few minutes ago, one of my students blurted out to another student something to this effect: "What!?! Mrs. Broyles lie? I don't think so. She's the BEST Christian around here."

OK - - - uncomfortable for me on several levels.

First of all, my "neighbor" teacher was standing in the doorway when this occured, and by the nature of the comment it "ranked" us to some degree. I'm totally not comfortable with such a ranking.

Secondly - - - it made me ask myself, and ask myself deeply - - - "are you living up to such a comment even leaving the ranking thing aside?"

Someone is always watching us.

Always.

Please Lord, guard my heart, my lips, and my actions so that what they see will be YOU.

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