10 Cuttin Sage

They say that life is like the four seasons:  Spring is.....  birth, childhood, beginnings,  freedom, freshness, far-flung future, joy of the present, endless possibilities.  Summer is..... young adulthood, living in the present, vitality, busyness, planning ahead. Autumn is.....  middle-age, seriousness, questions, fleeting of the present, limited possibilities, future is now.  Winter is.....  old-age, living in the past, fear of the future, grasping at the present. I guess I’m in the Goldenrod and Sedum days of life: the Autumn; the shorter days and longer nights, the introspection of what’s left of limited possibilities, the bucket list time of life.  Spring has always been my favorite time of the year until fairly recently. Now, as beautiful and hopeful as the springtime is, it represents much hardship.... watering, weed-pulling, digging, hauling and planting which I generally love, but has gotten more d...

Some years are tough. I’m thankful for His grace in that I haven’t had many of those.   I know people at this very moment who are suffering through some unbelievable trials; far worse than I can imagine right now.  Sometimes I feel guilty dwelling on my pain, but if from guilt I ignore and suppress my pain, then I belittle all of us who are suffering in our own ways; and just because my pain or your pain is small compared to those who have "big problems” doesn’t mean we are not allowed to feel our suffering just the same and to talk about it and share it with others. Pain is extremely personal.   Last summer, a year ago to be exact, I posted “The Summer of Aunt Blanche”.  It was an experience of reflection to see who I am in Christ. It was a summer to practice grace and to receive grace from God, the Grace-Giver. It was a summer of learning how to be less self-centered and more self-less.  It was exactly what God, the Grace-Giver wants us ...

I just celebrated a birthday.... 59 as a matter of fact.  I’m not ashamed to admit my age because it really doesn’t matter.  As I get older and increase in years, gray hair (thank you, God, for good colorists), wrinkles (from enjoying way too much sun in my fair-skinned youth), and joint pain (from way too much gardening), I can’t think of anything I would have changed or done differently.  I wouldn’t have traded those sun-filled days by pool and beach for anything! Those are the best memories I have!  The joint pain is proof of my love for gardening (my garden spaces are really quite beautiful) and I won’t give up the spade and shovel until my fingers are completely frozen.  The gray hair is easy to cover up.  So I’m thankful for good health and I will wear these signs of aging with pride and I’ll keep on plugging away until I literally can’t anymore. Age truly is just a state of mind and, as I am no longer young, (well, Aunt Blanche thinks I look like a t...

Last Friday, I took a trip to a honeybee farm about 3 hours from home to pick up my 2 boxes of honeybees that I had ordered a couple of months ago.  This was not without a heavy load of anxiety and trepidation.  With Mr. Dodson gone, I knew I was completely on my own.  I could not fathom the experience of traveling 3 hours with 30,000 honeybees in my car.  My fear level was pretty high, I must admit.  My daughter, The Teacher, said it was like a Fear Factor episode!  (But I didn’t win a million dollars).  Thank goodness it was a beautiful, sunny, “sapphire throne” kind of day and I focused on prayer and scripture all the way to the farm and back.  It’s amazing (although it shouldn’t be) how prayer and scripture meditation bring peace (that surpasses all understanding).  So a focus primarily on Philippians 4:13 and Philippians 4:6-7 brought me (through the Holy Spirit) the peace I needed to get through that journey. I got home that evenin...

The Ocracoke Work Week came and went quickly and not without its usual frustration!   The new kitchen island with the beautiful hand-painted Mexican tile never got installed; in fact, never even made it down to Ocracoke because the cabinet maker didn’t get it finished in time. Therefore, that project will have to wait until the next trip..... The washing machine broke down after the first load which caused quite a bit of consternation (on my part) since all the bedding had to be washed..... It took 3 attempted deliveries of 3 sheets of plywood to get one correct sheet to fix the boathouse floor which got warped during the Hurricane Matthew flooding...... 2 porch chairs which had been repaired by the furniture company went missing.  Seems they got delivered to the wrong cottage....... The Doer accidentally drilled a hole in the gas line which precluded us from using the stove and oven until it got fixed by the gas company.....(so thankful he doesn’t smoke...

I have the best husband in the world.  No really, I do literally have the best husband on earth.  In fact, I should get the trophy for the best husband on earth!  Now, I know some women who would fight tooth and nail over who has the best husband in the world.....  but I still think I’d win. My husband has more common sense than anyone I’ve ever known. He is extremely handy, well-organized, very talented, and is able to do absolutely anything he puts his mind to doing.  And whatever he does, he does it correctly and to perfection.  He is amazing to me, especially when I think back through our 30 years together and all we’ve done and been through together.  Oh yes, I should mention that our 30th anniversary is next month! He was a dad who, despite having an extremely demanding work schedule, managed to make every sporting event, recital, awards banquet, school meeting, vacation trip, and  activity that was important to our daughters.  He...

I feel a little...unfaithful...  I’ve been to Ocracoke twice and didn’t write about it.   In fact, I went for 2 whole weeks last September (a huge indulgence) AND spent New Year's there (a first) and.... no posts! We’ve even started a new reno project for this year... I just haven’t felt the desire to write.   Not sure why..... For starters, life has flown by and stayed busy, busy, busy.  And I think maybe I’ve overdone the whole sunset, porch- sleeping, seafood-eating, wine-drinking-on-the-dock-with-the- ducks kind of thing. There’s not much more to Ocracoke than that (oh, but how wonderful!) But now I do have the desire to update!   The 2 weeks in September were heavenly. First week was reconnecting with an old friend (by old I mean friend from back when we were birthing babies in church (well, in the hospital actually) and doing church stuff and pot luck fellowships together. Time and distance eventually pulled us apart but when this sweet friend l...