Thursday, July 2, 2020

There is Nothing New Under the Sun.....

I'm catching up here in the country on my daily - or nightly - journal entries.
Just as at home in the city - there's always a lot to do in the country.
Louis Dean has been tweaking his fence and I have been doing some painting - as in repainting the white walls and trim that looks like it's  been 10 years at least since it was first painted and it's really only been 3! NO MORE watering the paint down, Louis Dean!


This is our beloved Rufus.
He is just about completely blind now and seldom comes down to the camper/cabin anymore.
Breaks my heart.


We went down to Dean and Sherry's house for dinner Tuesday night.
We nearly always have pepper poppers!
Sherry and I could eat all of them between just the two of us.

There was pulled pork sandwiches provided by Dean and deviled eggs and peppers by Sherry.
I brought cheese and crackers, veggies and Ranch, chips and onion dip,plus the cakes Summer made with sliced straberries and Cool Whip.
Dinner was great and we ate out on their front deck.


We opened up the mead - or honey wine - Dean and Sherry had made after we finished eating.
The bottle on the left is blackberry mead made with our good honey from 2019.
The green bottle is blackberry wine made with the bitterweed honey.


And THIS is bitterweed!
Sherry has kept a lot of it mowed down this year.
Now that the flow has ended - which means the spring flowers are all pretty much dried up and brown now - or at least it is here in North Texas - the bitterweed that's abundant here - will provide honey for the bees to live on this winter.


The sunset from the deck.
LOVE being in the country.


Then we went in and laid out our plans for harvesting honey and taking care of the bees.
Our honey harvest will be July 18th.
We must pull the frames and extract the honey from all 3 hives in one long day.
We will need to get up early!

Wednesday slipped by without a journal entry to document it.


We had a good campfire that night.


We also had a scare concering our Chandy Girl.....Lousi Dean's granddaughter.
It was Tuesday afternoon when we learned she was really sick and would be tested for Covid 19 the next morning. By the time we got this pic, Chandy had been admitted to the hospital.


It turned out that she tested negative for flu, strep and Covid!
Bronchitis and tonsillitis was the diagnosis. 
Praise God!
She is now at home and feeling better.
Just a few more weeks until Baby Jax will be here!


By Wednesday night I had painted the camper door area white!


Love the red, white and blue!

Today - Thursday - I decided to add some red to the steps.


Yes! I like it!


This afternoon I worked on Christmas in July!
I already have a canvas of this hanging in my den but it will be a birthday gift to my friend, Kimmy.
She really loved it so I am giving it to her and painting another version for me.
Using palette knife and deeper colors......I am loving painting this.


I stopped painting in time to attend a 6:30 July Zoom meeting of the Texas Bee Supply Company.
Great meeting and very informative.
Answered many of our questions from Tuesday!


Tonight I made a wine cooler of watermelon wine, Sav Blanc and some flavored water from HEB.
Delicious!


Summer yellow squash from Dean's garden......sliced squash, onion, baby carrots...topped with crushed butter cracker crumbs and seasonings and sprinkled with olive oil....topped with shredded Mozzarella cheese. Yes.....


It went with Great Northern beans spooned over cornbread and served with fresh onion slices.
I soaked those beans all night Tuesday. Then I cooked them all day long on Wednesday.
They did not get done until midnight!
So we ate them this night - Thursday!

I keep my Country Diary up to date by writing in it every morning about the day before.
I realized recently that I have not written much about Covid 19. 
Perhaps I have been in denial  - or at least as far as my writing goes.
I have other journals I write in ....and have filled dozens over the years. 
Still ....not much at all about the reality of the times we are living in right now.
The here and now. The mundane. The relationships we have. All that I have recorded and documented.
 I have touched on Covid in my online journal entries but not overly much.

Yesterday I started writing about it in a journal I have not written a word in the last 10 years.
It will startle the reader of the future who may happen upon it. 
I tell of becoming a MeeMaw to quadruplets....and many other experiences.
I admit to being scared recently.
I saw a photo that showed the Covid 19 across our country using red circles.
It completely unnerved me for a few days.
It looked like a bad case of measles that completely covered the body of the United States.

I am grateful to be a Christian and I know that God is in control no matter how scared I am and how bad things look. Then, during my prayer time the other morning, the time that I stay silent and just be and listen.....a scripture came to my mind.....

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9


After coffee and reading that morning, Louis Dean and I looked up the Pandemic of 1918.


We read some of the diaries that were written back then.
Written by people such as you and I.
We read the history of that time. I wondered how it could have been a pandemic way back then.
World War I.
Soldiers going back and forth across the oceans and crowded living conditions.
As I read, Louis Dean said, "It sounds like you are reading about today."
Louis Dean's grandparents died of the flu in 1918.
He was born in 1936 so he never knew them.

For some reason, it helped me know that our 'new normal' will not always be our 'normal.'
We will get past this. It will come to pass. It has not come to stay.
Still, we must be vigilent in keeping ourselves and others safe.
We wear our facemasks. We keep our distance and we self quarantine when we have been around others who have been out and about.
It's not easy and it's not convenient.
But it's what we must do at this time.
And it won't last forever.

I have determined to document my daily life in my private journals - including the ways Covid 19 has impacted the way we live. Who knows?? We who keep hand weitten diaries and journals may give hope to future generations in times to come when they read of our experiences.

Never underestimate the power of the written word.


16 comments:

  1. This reminded me of a Tom T. Hall song, as you showed an old dog and some watermelon wine. You only needed a pic of the quads and you'd have the whole song. 😍
    Yrs, these days are strange and unknown. It's comforting to know God never changes and there are no unknowns to Him.
    When you write, you are writing a history for the future. I love reading old letters, and what they mention about the ordinary times in which they're they're written. Some days are not so ordinary but things go on -- we must think of meals, how to harvest honey, do laundrey, etc. Sometimes the mundane is very comforting!
    Y'all are eating quite deliciously! Enjoy your Independence Day and weekend! I'm glad you and Sherry have such a good relationship!

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  2. I can't sleep so I have been reading blog entries and yours popped up. I love how much you love the country. I wish I had a country home to go to. Especially with all the things happening in the city these days.

    Keeping a journal is so rewarding. It is great to look back at the past years and remember.

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  3. Kabak çok severim. Günbatımı harika.

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  4. I always enjoy my "visits" to your part of the world. You share such lovely thoughts and photos that it's almost like being there. Love the old journals. I enjoy reading the old ones of others and have a slight addiction to travel journals...fun to visit the world from my chair. I keep journals, myself. I have since I was 7. I don't have all of them, but I have the last 10 years worth or so. It's interesting even to go back in them now and then. Wishing you and yours a safe and happy 4th!

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  5. Linda, It is very sad when pets age. I see old Sam ,our granddaughter Emma's dog aging, breaks my heart. He still thinks he is a lap dog at 85 pounds. LOL
    Was the mead wine any good? The cooler you made looks tasty and cool. I have a thing about cornbread and beans ....was just remembering yesterday , about running over 6 blocks to get home for lunch as a kid. And there it was the same dang thing every lunch , cornbread and beans , not so good in my young brain at that time...but it filled up a house full of kids . No help from anyone else. Mom had her pride. LOL
    Linda, I fear this virus is just starting in ways. Already mutating. Hard heads not wearing masks . Good grief , it could save someone they love. People only have to wear them in public. No in their yards, homes, or cars. Or wide open spaces.
    Please take care of yourself and LD. Blessings to all for a good safe 4th. xoxo,love you guys, Susie

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  6. Didn't you do a great job on that door! You always manage to keep busy whether home or on the ranch. Those beans looked delicious.

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  7. Thank you for the update on Candy I was going to email you and ask if she was okay. Pardon the misspelling but my silly phone won't type the right name. I'm so glad she's okay. And that the new baby is too and I wish I had been there to see that Sunset and sit on that deck and eat all that good food and hug and kiss on Rufus. We are doing what you were doing with the mask and the social distance and everything that we're being asked to do. It's good that you're making a record for people to know in the future. Since I never ever write anything down no one will ever know about my part in anything.

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  8. I am so glad about Candy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Hey girl - you have a lot more going on in your world than we do here! lol

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  9. So glad that the scare regarding Chandy has resolved and that she did not test positive for it. I hate the word. So many stories about false positives so I commend that hospital.

    My great-grandmother, just 29 years old, died in 1919 of the flu, on the tail end of the pandemic of that time. Someday, I should write that story because it has a lot of family history.

    Happy bee times, painting times (shocked by that watering down the paint story), and fence times. You all know how to stay happy, busy, and fed at the ranch.

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  10. I DO truly believe the hand written journals may be the only history books left someday in the future. Computer system may dissolve someday and the only accurate accounts of history and knowledge of Jesus, may be what is written down in some old journal. Proud of you for having had this discipline since a younger age. It is one I can't seem to keep consistently. I am excited for you about the honey harvest. I am watching some food show on Netflix where they help some restaurants world wide come back alive. One in Finland I watched every 1 in 3 families are bee keepers. I found that amazing and the honey from each region taste different. They went on to say most of our food is here because bee's pollinated the crop. Anyway it IS fascinating and I suppose learning late is better than having never learned. :-) Love ya SIS

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  11. I definitely agree that there is so much power in the written word.
    Please keep journaling for your family and future times.
    I journal a little but find my blog printed each year is about as detailed as I get.
    When I saw the photo of Chandy I got really scared. PTL it's not Covid or flu..what she has is bad enough but it will pass and the baby will be fine.
    Be safe and love your Bees too. Wish I could find another Bee shelf sitter (on my blog today) for you. Will be on the lookout.
    Sue

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  12. With Texas being one of the most high Covid states, I have been worried about you! But I do feel like it is much safer out in the country! Maybe you should quarantine there till it is all over! The steps needed that red, they look so much better now! The sunset is gorgeous, and this is the first I have ever seen Bitterweed! T.J. Maxx now has all kinds of BEE mugs! They are so cute that I almost bought one.

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  13. Glad you are being careful. we chose not to go to a street party at our neighbours last night - we just were'nt ready - it was legal and everything but it didn't feel right. Stay safe

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  14. THAT SURE IS a pretty sunset my friend! So glad you stopped by, and thanks for your sweet comment....guess I am a flowerchild, ha ha LOL! Hope y'all will have a safe and fun and happy 4th of July tomorrow. Enjoy and be safe!

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  15. I think you are exactly where you should be right now...safe in the country in a place you love! Things sound bad in Texas...and my heart goes out to all those who have compromised immune systems and can't stay away from others. My sister in South Texas has been going to regular oncologist appointments all these months and now is facing yet another surgery. Her cancer has returned and she has another brain tumour. How hard for her to be there on her own at a time like this...and we cannot travel to be there for her. Covid has touched all our lives in so many ways. Yes...you should keep journaling. One day this will all be history...but it will be of great interest to those who come after. Love your red door and all the red, white and blue! Happy 4th of July to you!

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  16. Sam looks like a sweet old dog. How old is he?
    I so enjoyed reading your post and looking at all the lovely pictures--the colorful painting you've been doing, beautiful sunset, and that squash recipe sounds yum.
    Hope Chandy is well on the way to recovery by now and how relieved you all must have been that she didn't have the COVID.

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