Almost threw me off...

I saw this visitor at the feeder yesterday afternoon, and initially
the tan coloration threw me off. What the heck is he?
Looks like a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but...
Opened the trusty Sibley guide to find out this
pretty boy is a "first winter" male.
Isn't he delightful?

Dreaming...

(Pinnacle Overlook, Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, Kentucky)

Since I have to work today and tomorrow, I'll just leave
you with another beautiful Webshots photo of a scene
I find myself dreaming of in the past weeks.
(Click it larger and just sigh.)
Soon.... I know it will come soon.
Have a lovely day everyone.

Books, books, books

Thanks to Katie for inviting me to play along ...

My Reading - Lately, it's been so very sporadic and I miss getting into a good book. I used to read constantly, but lately life has gotten in the way.

Total Number of Books Owned - Oh my... no clue. Probably 60-80 or so in the bookshelf. There aren't a ton of books that I just have to keep, and so many times they are passed onto family or friends. I am not one to read a book again and again.

Last Book Bought- "Leaving Church" by Barbara Brown Taylor, which I am still trying to finish.

Last Book Read - Anne Lamott's "Grace Eventually"

Currently reading - "Leaving Church" and trying to start "Diary of a Medical Intuitive" by Christel Nani, RN, PhD which was an unexpected surprise in the mail from an old, dear friend.

Five Meaningful Books-

Wow... In terms of books that really gave me insight at particular times in my life?
Probably, and in no particular order:

1. The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukov
2. (series) A New Kind of Christian, The Story We Find Ourselves In, and The Last Word and the Word After That... all by Brian McLaren
3. Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
4. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
5. Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller

Red-Shouldered beauty

The same day I saw the vultures, I turned out of our
subdivision and spotted this beauty on a utility line.
Not a great shot as it was taken from the car.
The pick-up truck coming the other way was a bit
blocked for a moment as this crazy woman who had just
backed up to capture this moment was sort of (just a wee bit)
in his lane and so I was rushing as I waved my apologies.
But, it was my first time to be able to snap
a Red-Shouldered Hawk!
I'm sure he understood? :c)

Sam-ism

The other day as we were driving home from school, Sam got the hiccups.

Sam: "Hic... Mom, I have the hiccups and I can't make them stop."

Mom: "We'll be home in a few minutes and you can get a drink of water."

Sam: "Hic... Hic.... I hate having the hiccups!" (said as he's laughing)

Mom: "Try and hold your breath for a minute and see if that works."

Sam: (after holding breath for maybe 10 seconds) "Hic... nope, that didn't work."

There was a pause in the conversation as Sam continued to hiccup...
Then, suddenly out of no where, without warning...


Sam (loudly): "BOO!"

Mom: (jumping in her seat, heart in throat) "Sam?"

Sam: "Hic... I tried to scare them away Mom, but that didn't work either!"


I honestly think I roared with laughter for the remaining three miles home. Never a dull moment with my very concrete thinker.

Welcome back to fall?

The first full day of fall...
and it was a crisp 93 degrees here.
Bleh!
Oh, but look who came to visit yesterday!
A spring youngster or just molting?
Haven't seen one since April.
Can't imagine what some real fall temps might bring.

Vultures, Vultures Everywhere!

Oh, my! I was on my way to church yesterday
and just look what I saw in the trees at the pond
at our neighborhood entrance!
I quickly counted ELEVEN Turkey Vultures,
and then almost hurt myself doing a quick U-turn
to run back home and get my camera
with the big zoom.

I spotted these two guys first...

and then saw this one still snoozing in the sunlight.

Then, I noticed this one spreading his
beautiful wings!

Yet another, a juvenile, was busy doing
some morning pruning.

And this one was looking very regal (or spooky) indeed!
What a wonderful way to start my day...
soaking in God's creation.

White bliss

Another nice benefit of the now cooler mornings...
My gardenia are just bursting with blooms.
Oh, how I wish you could put your nose in the
middle of one of these beautiful blooms.
The aroma is purely intoxicating.

Definition of resilient

Is there a more resilient plant?
Crepe Myrtle laughs at the heat.
It scoffs at the draught.
It blooms and blooms in protest.
It laughs at the harshest conditions.
Yep, the full definition of resilience!
I adore this plant.

Your Power Bird

With thanks to Lynne for sharing the link!
I am sometimes called a "white witch"... hmmmm.

Your Power Bird is a Swan

You are a truly graceful and gorgeous creature. You easily see beauty in yourself and others. Intuitive and in touch, you can often guess what the future will bring. And you're flexible enough to accept the changes that life has in store for you.

What's Your Power Bird?

Webshots rocks!

(Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming)

As much as I love my iMac, everything, and I do mean everything
is designed for PC and Windows, including Webshots.
I used to so enjoy using their beautiful photos for wallpaper,
and even had a premium membership so that I could download
their "pro shots," which were higher quality and
higher resolution photos, onto my desktop.
That all came to a screeching halt when we got our Mac.
However, I revisited them the other week to see what they were
offering now, and found that they had found a way to offer a
program to download things to your iMac.
Oh joy, joy!
I am a Premium Member once again, and am enjoying
scenes like the one above covering my desktop.

We're done... hopefully

In addition to studying for the certification exam, our unit also was scheduled for an upcoming survey by the UHMS to become an accredited facility. For those of you in health care, this standard is even more stringent than JCAHO, so you can well imagine what preparation it has entailed over the past six months.

We had our survey team (an MD, an RN, and a CHT) arrive on Monday for our two day scrutiny party. We were so ready. All the I's had been dotted and the T's crossed. All the charts were in tip top shape and we had created numerous new forms and methods of documentation to better meet the standards. The best part of this process was that our unit got a much needed face lift and so we got a new coat of pretty sage green paint and some new (to us anyhow) furniture. OK, so it was cast off by the old cath lab, but hey. We added some pretty art on the walls and just generally were able to create a much more appealing atmosphere. Our staff became so much more cohesive throughout this process and by the time it was all said and done, I had commented that really even if we did not get the accreditation, we were such a better unit for having gone through the process.

We had our outbriefing yesterday afternoon, and from all indications, it seems as if they were pleased with most everything. Whew. We'll know for sure in a month or so. So now the exam is behind me (and yes, having accredited staff was one of the standards), this survey is done, Chili's enjoyed our company late yesterday afternoon as we celebrated with appetizers and margaritas, and we can now kind of, sort of breathe again. Oh yeah, I have to get my sister moved here in two weeks.... I feel a hot stone massage in my very near future.

The long journey awaits

Godspeed on your upcoming journey little one...
We'll miss you and eagerly
await your return in the spring.

Three Downys are better than one

I looked out to see not one, not two,
but THREE Downy woodpeckers at the feeders.
Two were on the peanut feeder
(you can see the underside of the one behind it)
and one was enjoying the suet!
The cooler temps have all my birds
back and more active than ever!
Yea! Hooray!!

Web caught breakfast

When I went out on the deck yesterday morning,
I saw this huge web spun around the deck and the chairs.
In the center of it was this...

That is, until I shook it a bit...
Ewwww... this huge, hairy guy took off
up towards the deck railing.
I think he's an Orb Weaver?
I apparently disturbed his breakfast!

Middle Name Game

I've been tagged by Sherry at Q's Corner to play the middle name game. The name of the game is to:

List one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.



is for loved. I am blessed beyond measure to be fully loved by many people in my life.



is for yearning, for I am always yearning to see more, learn more, experience more, and grow in my faith.



is for nature, as it brings me infinite joy and wonder.




is for nurse, as it feeds the need I have to nurture others.



Ok, so now I'll tag:

Katie at Rainbow Dreams

Pam at Nature Woman

Ruthie at Nature Knitter, and

Dorothy at Woods View

Parapro Sam

I met Sam with Ms T at a convenience market on the corner of the highway so that we didn't have to get into the fray of elementary school dismissal. Sam looked tired and immediately got out of her car and into mine. I got out as she rolled down her window. She smiled and said, "I didn't even write anything in his notebook to let you know how it went because I was just so stunned all day long. He was so wonderful and the kids loved him so much." Apparently, all the teachers were amazed and email soon excitedly circulated all through Wonderful Elementary School (where he attended 1st-5th grade) that "their" Sam was in the building.

The media center was slow, so they went into a kindergarten class where he became the consummate teacher's helper. He stuffed VIP folders, he put happy face stamps on papers, and when it came time for stories, he had them surrounding him with rapt attention as he read On the Moon and Corduroy to them. He engaged them, even asking them questions as he read... and the teacher told Ms T that she'd hire him in a heartbeat as a parapro for her class. I thought I was going to cry standing there in the parking lot. They left there and went into a third grade classroom. Ms T said she wondered what their response to him would be, but it was again, all good. They asked about him, about autism, and surrounded him with rapt attention as he read to them as well and helped out in their classroom.

He was worn slap out after being there all day long and engaging everyone, but the teachers and staff were simply in awe of how far he'd come since he left them four years ago. It is because of their love and attention that he is where he is, and my heart is full of the possibilities for him and his future. Yesterday was just a small taste of potential opportunities to come. I am humbled and thankful for all those people who, over the years, have gone out of their way to love and support him. I am feeling so very bathed in grace.

Work shadow day

I am excited for Sam today. He'll get to have a different experience today which may well prepare him for a lifetime. It's "job shadow day" and his wonderful parapro, Ms T., suggested that he go back to his former elementary school and shadow the librarian. She called Mrs. H. last week and she was delighted with the idea. So today, they will be at Wonderful Elementary School all day working in the library. He is so pumped.

This is a job I can actually see him doing with glee and anticipation. He loves books probably more than the computer, and we have our own library here we have so many books. I am totally not kidding. He would know where every book in the place is located, and would lovingly make sure each one is in its proper place. He could sit around a happy group of first graders and read stories to them with such intonation and feeling that they would be wide eyed and clapping at the end. Yes, this is a career path I think would suit him so very well. I pray it goes well and that we are lighting a flame today.

Busy as a...

This huge guy was checking out the, now pink,
blooms on the Autumn Joy Sedum.

Yay me!

Ms Jayne, RN, BSN, CWS, CHRN

is feeling rather happy
today that, as of yesterday,
she was able to add
more fun initials
after her name!

Yahoo... Yippee!

Yay me!

Care to join me for a celebratory glass?

Gaining discernment

(Taken at St. George Island, FL )

With all the stress of preparing for the exam and what is going on in my sister's life, I found that I somehow made the decision to forgo going to church for the past few weeks. Yesterday, I found myself having a very wonderful conversation with God on my way there, and once there, the peace enveloped me once again. I found that I had not had a good visit with God for some time and by the time I returned home, everything seemed much clearer and put into it's proper perspective.

Last night, as I continued to read Barbara Brown Taylor's Leaving Church, this passage spoke to me...

"Gradually, I remembered what I had known all along, which is that church is not a stopping place but a starting place for discerning God's presence in this world. By offering people a place where they may engage the steady practice of listening to divine words and celebrating divine sacraments, church can help people gain a feel for how God shows up -- not only in Holy Bibles and Holy Communion but also in near neighbors, mysterious strangers, sliced bread, and grocery store wine. That way, when they leave church, they no more leave God than God leaves them. They simply carry what they have learned into the wide, wide world, where there is a crying need for people who will recognize the holiness in things and hold them up to God."

Ack! ... It's time.

Last time I went to the eye doctor to have my eyes examined, he told me everything looked good. My vision was normal, but then he laughed and said, "By the next time I see you, you'll have already probably made a trip to the drugstore for some Now-I-Have-40 Something-Eyes reading glasses. But be warned... once you pick them up, you are committed. Then you'll find you can't see without them." He then related how he knows he himself needs them, but keeps finding himself trying to do without them. His wife teases him because he has pairs of them all over the house. Huh, I thought... that will be some time from now for me.

That is, until Hand Clinic this past week. We saw quite a few people who had the teeny, tiny, itty bitty blue sutures in their fingers. I knew I was in trouble after the first time the kind Dr. R. turned to me and said, "Let's get those sutures out today." It was truly the very first time I found myself squinting to see the suture so I could even grab it with the pickups before sliding the scissors under it to cut. YIKES! Did I get all of them? Some of them were literally in the tips of fingers and for all the world looked like spider web they were so small and thin. Ahem. Guess I need a cute pair in the tube to throw in my pocket... err... just for those days. Well hell... it's official... I'm old now.

Neon Decorated Cutie

She comes to the feeder and just glows....

Invasion of the ???

OK, all you knowledgeable gardeners...
Last night I was looking over at my Rose of Sharon
while pulling some weeds, and noticed this:
(Click to enlarge)

Some sort of a parasitic vine wrapped
tightly around several of the limbs
with these green seed pod thingies?

What, pray tell, is this?

Peace within

(Webshots Photo)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Do not set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.

Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life, for without them,life is meaningless.

Do not let your years slip through your fingers by living in the past, nor in the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Do not give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Do not be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly.

Do not dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be wthout hope; to be without hope is to be without
purpose.

Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been, but also where you are going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found this in my email folder which I had saved back in 2000.
It just seemed like a good writing to revisit today.

Really seeing...

My dear friend Susan sent me a link to a movie I know I will have to see...

Through Your Eyes is the story of three deaf and blind triplets.

There, but by the grace of God...

Holding hearts

Not only have I been very preoccupied with studying for an exam, but the bigger issue in my world has been on my heart. It has affected my wanting to blog about inane things. My sissy, who is a whopping 15 months older than me, is facing the hurdle of her life. It will mean starting a brand new life for her and her boys... but the good news is that it will be here, 10 miles from Chickadee.

For weeks now, I've been crying along with her, wishing I could hold her through the phone as she tries to release and understand the hurt. I have been trying to let her know, and own, that she is so much stronger than she thinks she is. She is two hours away now, beginning the process of packing up her life after 15 years, and I am holding her heart in mine. I want to be there with my hand resting on her back, reassuring her that there is so much good and joy to come with releasing feelings of not being worthy or loved. It's been so very hard just standing by and watching her be treated with so little consideration when she is worthy of so much more. If I could bottle it up and pour it over her I would, but she'll have to regain that feeling herself in this process.

She is struggling with the upcoming chore of telling her boys that they will be moving. They will have to start over in a new place with new friends, but we will be here. We will help hold them up as well. This has been a long time in coming, and I am sure that the peace it will bring to all of them will more than make up for the initial hardship. But it's still hard. My heart still hurts for her. I want to just snap my fingers and know that she's here. So please pray for her in these next weeks as she prepares for her move. Pray that we can surround her and her boys with enough love and hugs to soften this difficult transition time.

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
~~Anais Nin

Why we are looking forward to fall

Husband saved the newspapers for me so I could browse through them, and this chart was on the front of last Thursday's paper. Yes, we are sooooo looking forward to the fall. Everything feels so dead and so parched after August. Enjoying the deck has been impossible unless you wanted to stay out there for, oh, a minute or two before jumping into the...errr... cool 92 degree pool. Bleh!

My feathered friends missed me most of all and were singing up a storm as I refilled the very empty feeders. I was no sooner in the house when I looked out to see several Titmice, Goldfinch, Cardinals, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, and of course, the House Finches. I know they are looking forward to the cooler temps too.

Hope everyone is enjoying this Labor Day!

I'm back

After a very long four days, I am home. I got in around 9:30 last night and was never so glad to see my own bed and pillow. No doubt about it... I am a homebody. Going away for a couple of days is nice, but I was feeling very homesick and ready to see my boys, who missed me, oh so much. Of course, once Sam found his surprise Thomas the Tank book I found at Barnes and Noble (which is a surprise in and of itself that I found a book we didn't already own), he smiled and shot upstairs to read and listen (it had a CD with it).

The exam was perfectly horrid. I felt so very prepared and yet when I sat down to take it was stunned that it seemed their bigger goal was to see how ambiguously they could word the questions so as to confuse and befuddle the test taker. I did not feel it tested my knowledge base at all, but rather was more about how much I could read into the question to determine exactly what they were asking. It was really very annoying. I have no idea if I passed, but if I didn't, I won't be paying another $330 to be subjected to it again. I voiced my extreme displeasure to those who can make a difference in the process and hope that they will consider fully revising the entire way they have structured this exam. Several of the questions had "a" through "g" as possible options for answers. How sick is that?

The conference was good and we learned a good many things we need to do for our upcoming accreditation survey, which was helpful. But the bottom line for me today is that... there's no place like home. Now, I have LOTS of blog reading to catch up on! Did I mention how good it is to be home?