At The End Of The Day....

I didn't know what to write about today until the day was over. But, at the end of the day, I want to say what I am grateful for. I have the honor and the privilege to work with people who show me what true courage is. I learn from my clients every single day what it means to have endless hope and the grit and determination to meet life's challenges. I can only hope I get to play some small part in their journey. If i do, I am exceedingly grateful. Sometimes it is a simple matter of knowing we are not alone and there is a hand to hold onto.

Derek Says...It Lives!

Listen to Derek as he says so perfectly.............It Lives!

Tradition Lives

Ok.......look at Derek's face! What do you see? What you see are love marks! They are on his forehead and on his cheek. Most of them are from me...his gramma. One..one...one on his forehead is from his mama. Why is this important to note? It is important to note because when I left love marks on her face, she would wipe them off. It embarrassed her! Ok..so it was when she was a teenager and I let her walk around the mall like that! I just want everyone to know that tradition lives and Davey and Derek will know the truth of it all.....their mom loves them and she will make sure they know it in spite of how it might embarrass them. I am just so darn lucky!

This Is More Like It

Davey's mommy left a comment under the Davey Is Sick post saying that Davey is feeling better and that Pringles and Brownies were on the list of cures. Davey, you are a chip off a lot of blocks in our family!

{{{{{{{{{{Davey Is Sick}}}}}}}}}}

Davey is sick today. His daddy took him to the doctor this morning and they learned he has a double ear infection, a temperature of 102.5, blue lips, cold feet and he is coughing and has a runny nose. All in all he feels pretty awful. One of his favorite places to be today is on his mommy's lap watching videos and sometimes talking to gramma, or at least holding the phone knowing that gramma is right in the phone. We hope you get to feeling better punkin! We love you! xoxoxoxo

I Think I Know Where Pumpkinhead's Fur Went

When I went to my son, Adam's, blog this morning and saw the pictures of his cat, Pumpkinhead's, new haircut....I couldn't help but think of how funny it was when Tom came home with his first curly perm in the 70's. I was scrubbing the floor of the foyer on my hands and knees. I heard a tap on the window of the door. I looked up and saw Tom grinning at me...his hair done in curls and they were still wet and clinging to his head. Scared me to death! Once I got over the fright of it, my second thought was....how can someone who looks like that take care of me? I am laughing now, but I wasn't laughing then! Check out Adam's blog. The link is under links to the right.

38 Years Ago

It doesn't seem possible! It was 38 years ago today that my lifelong dream of becoming a mother became a reality. From as long as I can remember I have wanted to have children. Sarah Jane was born in Houston, Tx which was a long ways from Minnesota. And, amazingly, the night she was born it snowed in Houston. I thought how appropriate that was. She was so little. She weighed only 5 lb 1 1/2 oz and had a beautiful little curl on the top of her head and a little dip in her nose. I thought babies were just born and then you took them home from the hospital. But, I learned that wasn't true. Sarah had to stay in the hospital an extra week while the doctors got some things figured out with her blood. A very special pediatrician, Dr. Plessala, helped get her on the road to good health and always called her Punkin. When we finally got to bring her home, I wrapped her in this very special little quilt. My mother's best friend, Gladys, made it for my mother when she was pregnant with me, 63 years ago. I was brought home from the hospital in this quilt and so was Sarah. Happy birthday Sarah! I love you!! Mom xo

Living In A Magical World

I read in the paper this morning that we have probably seen the worst of winter for the year and can spring be far behind? For those of us who live in Minnesota, we know that March can bring blizzards but our hope in spring is eternal. There is something magical about spring. I was having a conversation with a friend this morning about fresh sheets and how when we were children it felt so good to have that Saturday night bath, put on clean jammies and then crawl into fresh sheets. There was a feeling every time it happened. That led us to talk about how when we were young someone else created the magic for us and how the magic that has been given to us continues as we pass it on, how extremely lucky we are and how we must not let it go. I wanted to think more about what makes me and others feel magical. Spring is certainly one of them. Others are a child's laughter, eating raw cookie dough (without worrying about getting sick), coming home to the smell of food cooking, stars in the night sky on nights when you don't expect to see any, the harvest moon, seeing your breath in the cold winter air, having your pizza crust slightly burned, a child's face in the glow of Christmas lights, hitting all green lights when you are in a hurry, someone smiling at you when you least expect it and having your kite lift off the ground. When we are little others might have to create the magic for us, but I know it is possible to have that magical feeling simply by waking up and seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching our world no matter how young or old we are. I would love to hear what makes your world magical!

I Wonder What Good Things....?

Snow Sculpture

Snow and earth together in this picture have created a beautiful snow sculpture. Beauty is all around us if we slow down long enough to see it. I hope all of you have had a beauty-full day.

The Oldest And The Youngest

As I was looking through pictures the other day I ran across this one. It is of me with my dad who is 93 and my youngest grandson, Parker, who is 3 1/2 months in this picture. My dad was just leaving our home at the end of a wonderful Christmas day 2005. They are the oldest and youngest members of our family and they are both in my arms.

The Origin Of Judy Roo

Some of you may wonder where Judy roo comes from. It is simple. Many years ago when my son, Adam, was young, he started calling me Judy roo. Call it a term of endearment, call it old fashioned fun, call it it was a way he learned he could get my attention instead of calling me mom. All my kids have done that...call me Judy because they know when they do I will hear them and answer. When they called me mom, I guess I was mom deaf. I love the ingenuity of children. When Adam set me up on my blog he jokingly said, "How about we make you Judy roo?" and so we did. Now, if you notice in the comments, my daughter Sarah identifies herself as Sarah roo and my other daughter, Kara, was not about to be left out. So she is now Kara roo. I guess we have become the family of roos. And, it makes me smile.

Happy Valentine's Day

You may wonder why Valentine's Day warrants a picture showing the Art Shanty sign. It is because something happened at the Art Shanty last Saturday that is fitting for Valentine's Day. One of the ice houses was called the Rendezvous Cafe. The idea of it is to be a gathering place where people can share stories and in exchange for their story choose a snack such as a brownie, cookie, piece of cake, hot chocolate or cider. The stories were limited to stories about fish or Minnesota or Hawaiian waters. A young woman said she had a story to tell. She said it was about a fish. She called it a piece of history. She talked about the fish symbol for Christianity and how in the old ages a person would draw the symbol of a fish in the sand to denote they were a person of faith. It was a time when Christians were persecuted so they used the fish symbol as a way of commuicating. When I started to hear her story I smiled and knew that I would be telling one of my own. My story was about when my husband asked me to marry him, my engagement ring was really a fish pin with the Greek symbols on it symboling Jesus Christ God's Son Savior. When I was in college I lost the pin one day while walking on campus at the University of Minnesota. I literally crawled on my hands and knees in the dark feeling the sidewalk as I retraced my steps to find the pin. And, guess what? I found it! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

A Good Guy!! Nuisance Or Opportunity?

I was talking with a friend yesterday morning. He mentioned he had been woken up by his phone ringing at 4:30 a.m. We talked about how scary that can be. I think we all fear being woken up during the night and hearing bad news. He said when he answered no one was there. He went on to tell me that he gets these calls every now and then because his phone number is very close to the taxi service. He does not mind these calls because sometimes it is a teenager looking for a ride home. He keeps the taxi number close by and if they have no money (not all kids have cell phones) he will make the call for them. He went on to say I would like someone to do that for my grandkids...a youngster is someone's son or daughter or grandchild. He doesn't think what he does is anything special. I beg to differ. I think every parent and grandparent would love to know that there are loving caring adults in the world who are watching out for their children and grandchildren when they aren't there.

Song Sung Blue LIVE In The Ice Shanty

In response to the one request that came pouring in to hear my singing LIVE I now present directly from the NORAE SHANTY on frozen Medicine Lake Song Sung Blue!


Vimeo

PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THE WORD VIMEO. CLICK ON THE ARROW UNDER THE VIDEO.

So Much Fun

I think this says it all! Oh, I found the courage alright! I sang Song Sung Blue and did a pretty good job of making a mess of it on my own. So, I invited Mike to sing with me. It was a lot of fun and I will go back to visit again. Mike's niece used my camera to make a video of us singing and my husband, Tom, was able to capture a clip from the video as you can see. Part of me wishes you could hear us singing. Sure was great energy in that little shanty!

The Norae Shanty

This is a picture of Michael Hoyt. As I was on my way back to my car I stopped and looked at one more shanty. On the outside of it I saw a sign that said Song Shanty. I decided to go in and see what I could see. I am so glad I did! First of all, it was warm in there and it was cold and windy out on the lake today. There were several other people in there and they were all as friendly as could be. Turns out the Song Shanty was a karaoke + ice house. Folks could stop in by car, sled, ski, or foot and have a chance to sing on the frozen surface of Medicine Lake. I wondered what I would do. Would I sing? Does Neil Diamond mean anything to you? Does Song Sung Blue mean anything to you? How could I pass up an opportunity of a lifetime? It is not every day I get a chance to sing on the frozen surface of Medicine Lake! Oh, I wanted to do it so badly! But, would I have the courage?

Art Shanty Projects

Medicine Lake, which is close to our home, has been host to the Art Shanty Projects for the last several weeks. Shanties, structures resembling ice fishing houses, have been built on the lake. Each shanty has a theme and in themselves are works of art. I stopped by today to see what it was all about and had so much fun! The air was cold and the wind was blowing but I was warm from the comaraderie and laughter in the two shanties I visited.

Little Night Visitors

To the general eye these tracks might look like little children going barefoot in the snow. The truth is we were visited by raccoons. I think it is amazing how the raccoon's footprints look like those of a child. When we built our home, we learned that raccoons were not a lawn's best friend. When we laid the sod we woke every morning to the rolls of sod being turned up. We soon learned it was the raccoons looking for food. From that moment on it was man against beast. Tom tried any number of things to keep the raccoons away. One of his methods was to gather up my old pantyhose and fill it with human hair and tie it to stakes around the back yard. That kept me out of the back yard but I don't think it dissuaded the raccoons. Seems to me the beasts won that one!

Minnesota Snow

Somehow when I wake up to snow there is an anticipation of the way the air will feel when I step outside. It is cold and crisp and welcoming. I love the way the snow blankets the trees and mailboxes and leaves telltail marks of creatures who visit us in the night.