Shouts of Joy

shout_of_joy — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 23:42:38 GMT

This is my last post at this LiveJournal, which I will soon be closing down as my website goes up. My first post was way back in August of 2006, and this entry stands over 14 years and 1,863 posts later.

     I'm very grateful for the habit of remembering positives that regularly posting here has instilled in me, and I intend to keep it up privately, since it is good for my soul and mental health.

     This year has been off to a tumultuous start, grueling in many ways. The amount of overtime I have to take on with my job at present makes me grateful for anything I can clear off my list to free up time.

     But before I close here, a few final public gratitudes.

     Today makes 10 days short of 28 years since I first 'met' my beloved t'DoL. And I am grateful for every one of those days of my life blessed by knowing him. 28 is not a significant number; it's when I hit 29 that I'll let myself get super excited with anticipation over the countdown to 30. But 28 is still plenty of years to be grateful for.

     Of late I have been spending more time in thought and gratitude over the matter of 'time and place.' I have a habit of lying in bed thanking God for various things should I wake up too early to get up. And I have certainly offered thanks many times that He chose for me to be born in Minnesota, in the lovely north where my seasonal depression can only strongly impact about four months of the year, rather than the much longer span if I lived further south. And I have thanked God many times as well that I was born in America. Because of the heritage of art, literature, and story in my native language, the heritage of liberty, the amazing Biblical resources available in my own language...and the larger audience for my writings than if I had been born in, say, Latvia or some other small country with a smaller language group.

     I have also frequently given thanks for my location in history. As a woman in my time, I can vote, I can drive, I can live alone, I can manage my own finances, and I can hold a job in the workplace. These blessings were seldom available throughout history and not present even currently in some nations. I don't have to flee to a nunnery as my only recourse to excape the unbearable horror of arranged or coerced marriage--I thank God for that very often!

     But lately my gratitude has become more focused on precision. To be in this place, at this time, and this point in history in the great war between light and darkness--also precisely calibrated by my Creator. I grieve the downfall of so much freedom and liberty under the tyrannies of censorship and exploitative surveillance through monsters like Google, Facebook, and Twitter or awful genocidal governments like China's. I grieve the damage wrought by the cancel culture, the biased and deceitful media, stolen elections, and too much more. But I anticipate the stuff of stories that is coming: perseverance, courage, sacrifice, blessing, breakthrough, bright light in the darkness, fruitfulness, and revival.

     To the glory of God and Jesus Christ my Lord! I may be signing off here at this location, but my gratitudes and 'gushes' will truly never end. Because of Him.

shout_of_joy — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 13:04:32 GMT

Recent blessings:

     The days are getting longer--I actually saw the sun when I got off the bus at the park and ride lot one day.

     Monday was a Very Bad Day at work, no lunch that day, but Tuesday I was blessed to enjoy a free lunch with Dawn.

     My church did prayer and worship meetings last Sunday through Wednesday, and I was grateful for good weather and the ability to attend three in person and only livestream one of them. Also grateful to have a three day weekend this weekend for catching up on loads of stuff I fell behind with!

     Thankful that despite the snow Thursday into Friday, it was warm enough the highways were just wet. So I arrived at the Towners quite early and have a smooth trip homeward also. We had a great time together.

     Due to the snowstorm being so wet and leaving everything so icy, I abandoned my plans for snowshoeing this weekend. Instead I went for a walk after church at the nearby NWR with my ice cleats. It was a really nice time: since the Minnesota River has not frozen over yet in that area, bald eagles are hanging around! I saw five of them--one adult alone, a pair of juveniles, and an almost-adult with a very young juvenile. Usually, I'd have to drive to Wabasha or Lake City to see multiple eagles together--a big treat indeed!

shout_of_joy — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 11:53:58 GMT

Even against such awful times as last week, delights and blessings remain:

     My replacement for my external hard drive that broke is amazing. It's solid state, with USB-c so I'm not trying to plug it in 3 times, and USB 3.1 speed. I was blown away to copy over 14 Gb onto it in less than two minutes! I wish I could tell my younger self, back in those 1.44 Mb floppy disk days, what was coming!

     Fun to come back to work after my time off and find Christmas cards and goodies waiting on my desk. (Like I needed more goodies, ha ha.)

     Blessed by some website progress on Saturday with no hitches at all. The slowest part was actually researching best practices on naming CSS classes (doesn't match VB naming at all) and figuring out where in the style sheet made the most sense to put my code. And the code worked first time, like it was simple, because that's what it was and how it should work!

     While putting away Christmas decorations, I discovered I could fit a string of LED fairy lights (that I'd bought to decorate Schleffie with years back) inside an art glass vase I'd bought at the State Fair. The glass design on the vase begs to have light inside it, and the color changing LEDs make it look amazing. Now I get to enjoy it in my bedroom as a replacement for the Italian Christmas lights I put away.

     On Sunday afternoon, Cindy and I took advantage of the mild January weather to take a walk near her home. It was a treat walking along the Vermillion River at the places where it hadn't frozen over yet, but the highlight was definitely seeing the amazing ice around the falls, pictures can't do it justice!

shout_of_joy — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 00:54:53 GMT

It has been a grueling 'vacation,' that's for certain. I'm almost relieved I'm back to work on Monday. Because I felt like I spent half the time reenacting Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the hill, trying to rebuild and build my website with so much opposition, setbacks, challenges, redos, and so forth. Certainly didn't get to most of the stuff I'd planned on, let alone much relaxing or fun, hah! But again, of course there are always blessings:

     I am so glad for God giving me warnings by way of parables before the big setbacks on the 28th and the 30th. That way I wasn't completely blindsided and the warnings brought their own comfort. He sees where this is headed, nor has He told me to stop!

     A nice dinner and evening with the Johnson's the evening of the 30th made for a needed reprieve. Blessed to get to see them.

     At least 2021 got off to a great start. I succeeded with a platelet donation on New Year's morning, and got a free top from the Red Cross, to boot!

     Blessed that the WordPress timeline plug-in I found on Saturday, after another setback that cost me hours of time, was actually better and more flexible than I'd even hoped for.

     Sunday it was sunny, after some icy fog the day prior. Maybe that was why the snow was more sparkly that morning than I have seen it in a long time--just amazing!

     Sunday afternoon I went snowshoeing with Cindy in the regional park. My second time snowshoeing and my first with my own new snowshoes. Couldn't ask for nicer weather in January--30, sunny, little wind, lovely winter views. The walk went great, though the park was busier than I expected; I'd forgotten that in the first week of January everyone is still working on their New Year's health resolutions!

shout_of_joy — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 12:53:56 GMT

Recent blessings and joys:

     Monday before my walk with Cindy I brought home a new laptop (actually, a 2-in-1), which I named 'Pewter' due to the color and the fun of assonance. It's been plenty of work getting it set up and backed-up files restored, but I am loving the fingerprint reader and the fact it has a webcam better than the one on my work laptop--and with its own built-in cover, too!

     Since I had to go into work last Tuesday, so I drove in and parked there. That worked perfectly for bringing in Christmas gifts to pass out. But also for finally getting a work monitor, keyboard, and mouse for my work-from-home situation, instead of using my spare monitor, keyboard, and mouse, which I now need for Pewter. The new work-from-home monitor is VERY nice compared to my spare one, so I know I will enjoy it!

     Since I was downtown for work, a perfect excuse to drop by the Johnson's afterward to give them their gifts. They weren't expecting me, but they had gifts ready, too. We had a nice time talking and planned on dinner for this week.

     I'd wanted snow for Christmas quite keenly...then found myself grateful I didn't have to drive on Wednesday when a projected light snowfall first turned into a storm, and then actually became a true blizzard by nightfall. It's rare to get an actual blizzard classification in my local area, and wow, what a Christmas gift from God! (Complete with -20 wind chill Thursday morning, ha!)

     So blessed to spend close to six hours at the Towners on Christmas, for a nice relaxed time. Can't forget leftovers, gifts, Jesus' birthday cake, the obligatory 'twistie' jokes, and a nice crackling hot fire on the fireplace. Wonderful.

shout_of_joy — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 00:30:17 GMT

It's been a wild ride lately, with Sidekick, my computer I use for internet and was building my website on, dying without warning the evening of December 16th. A massive setback in terms of time, money, and plenty else. But God always provides reasons for gratitude...

     Before that debacle, blessed to come up with a creative 'self portrait comic' idea for my website and get it done. Since it's the wrong time of year for outdoor photos, or hiring a photographer, and 2020 restrictions on top don't help!

     Speaking of 2020, so grateful that the Minnesota governor loosened restrictions just slightly, so I can actually see the Towners for Christmas, yay!

     My third spiritual healing session on December 16 was short, powerful, and amazing. So grateful that God led me to that ministry.

     Last Saturday was great for making homemade granola to share and enjoy. My coworker Nancy gets so excited every time I give her some!

     On my day off Monday, went for a walk with Cindy in the afternoon, to a portion of the regional park I'd found only this year and she had never been to. Worked out great, as it's quite wooded and the weather was very windy--the wind could hardly get through all those trees.

shout_of_joy — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 02:02:20 GMT

Recent blessings and joys:

     Took advantage of a forecast near 50 last Wednesday to take a half day off work for using up vacation time. It worked out great to do a Costco run when it's not quite so busy, and go for a walk to some small parks nearby I've never been to. I had fun looking at Christmas decorations too.

     Getting to work from home half the time is even more of a delight now, since I can play Christmas music either on the radio or from my collection of cds for hours on end. Yay!

     Now that I have lights up and my lighted tapestry installed, I've been enjoying looking at them with the Holiday Specs I got a few years back...they were cheap and more than worth what I paid!

     Blessed to get a few Christmas gift ideas in answer to prayer over the past couple weekends. Good thing, too, with just around 10 days left!

     An amazing dream Saturday morning. The Wolf Lord showed up! (A character in six of my novels thus far.) He stood right beside me; I touched his fur and got a clear impression of his size in height and breadth. He had a message from heaven for me--I was shot out of the dream right after he 'spoke.'

shout_of_joy — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 12:50:36 GMT

It's not been fun lately, first dreading it might not work, then having to cancel the trip I'd planned out to see family over Christmas. But there is always cause for gratitude:

     Got to have lunch with Dawn at work last Thursday. We took our free lunches and sat at adjacent tables for proper distancing. Gotta cherish those few opportunities to be around a live person (who isn't a stranger on a bus/in a store)...and have fun imagining what my pre-2020 self would think of even writing that sentence!

     My Thanksgiving cactus started blooming two days after Thanksgiving and I am quite enjoying the magenta flowers.

     I got out Saturday for some "shopping therapy" and quite enjoyed browsing through At Home and Hobby Lobby. Blessed to find a wings candleholder I couldn't walk away from, and also more Christmas lights that I used to decorate the window of the guest bedroom. (I LOVE that the At Home Christmas lights are not made in China.)

     My new landlord put wreaths on all the units! I'm sure the novelty will wear off for him after a year or two, but what a delightful surprise!

     Happiness is the goody package from my mom finally making it to my doorstep after unreasonable delays. Homemade yummies and praline pecans, yay!

     Due to the severity of the restrictions, and the fact that December is too cold for outdoor 'picnics' like we did in April and May, the Towners and I did a Zoom meeting in lieu of our monthly dinner. I had a plan all sorted out for the 40 minute length limit, but ended up not needing it, perhaps because the meeting had just two members. It was a great time, nice to "see" them and catch up.

shout_of_joy — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 00:36:01 GMT

Gratitudes on a Thanksgiving unlike any other...

     My first time ever having Thanksgiving home alone, but I still managed to consume plenty of calories. I made honey glazed carrots, mashed sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole to go along with purchased corn bread, vegan roast, cranberry sauce, apple cider from an orchard, and vegan eggnog...oh, brownies too!

     Even in a year like 2020 I have so much to thank God for! Some are 21st century comforts so easily taken for granted, yet likely so amazing to earlier generations. Central heat and air conditioning, space heaters, running water, reliable electricity and internet, well-behaved sanitation. Oh, and Zoom too, so I could see the Towners despite us having to keep separate; share Thanksgiving Bible passages with them and then later with my brother and his family, whom I haven't seen in over a year.

     Then the personal luxuries I enjoy, like my Starfire spheres and fake fireplace for neat lighting effects. (And the mp3 track of fireplace crackling sounds to go with it!) I bought a fire bowl recently too, which is a delightful source of light and heat on long, dark winter evenings.

     Consuming an (over)abundance of calories reminds me to be grateful for my rowing machine and my exercise bike--which passed 11,000 miles of my pedaling this year! I'm grateful as well for my projector, stand, and screen to go with it, for watching dvds/blu-ray or streamed media while I exercise.

     Celebrating my beloved t'DoL's birthday over the past few days has reminded me to be grateful for how many music pieces I've found over the years to remind me of characters, events, or places in my writing. And how many illustrations I've made in the past years, and how delightful it is to do puzzles of them while listening to the aforementioned music.

     This post could go on and on and on! The 'gift' of 2020 has definitely been getting to work from home 50% of the time, and seeing how committed my employer is to the safety and well-being of their employees. So much to thank God for, and that list only ever gets longer!

shout_of_joy — Sun, 22 Nov 2020 02:13:34 GMT

It's been a hard week, with a few painful kicks in the teeth regarding two of my three favorite days in the year: Thanksgiving and t'DoL's birthday. But as ever, blessings still abound:

     As part of Fraud Awareness week my employer had a special seminar by a former CIA guy with an amazing resume--testifying in over 2000 cases involving relating to computer crimes. But the presentation itself was so engaging it felt almost like watching a movie! Just a blessing to get to hear from somebody of that caliber.

     The science lover in me had fun geeking out over these amazing images of Mars. If you can cross your eyes to make it 3d, even better!

     I finally had the right Thursday of the month free of meetings and aligned properly in other ways, so that I could get down to the new monthly blood drive that happens in the city in these Covid-19 days, since the drives at my workplace are cancelled. And I succeeded, yay!

     Saturday's weather was wonderful--near 40, sunny, with little wind. Perfect to have Cindy come over and go for a walk. Very, very fun for me, because I finally got to share my favorite neighborhood with somebody, and she enjoyed it too.

     Had fun this evening helping a coworker practice on Zoom. And learned something new too, which is always nice!

shout_of_joy — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 11:44:19 GMT

Sundry blessings:

     Did a little research and then bought myself an oil-filled space heater, which I was able to start using last week. It's great because it doesn't make noise (don't need to turn it off for Zoom meetings) and it warms up the kitchen and dining room area pretty well. Well enough that I can keep my thermostat set to 60, like I was not home.

     My teammate kindly let me stay home on Thursday to avoid the snow, since he was onsite for training. That made for three days in a row working from home--I could get spoiled!

     Thanks to that, I also got to very much enjoy five days in a row of not having to drive anywhere (since my church is not meeting for two weeks due to a small Covid-19 outbreak).

     Friday the 13ths are just fun, even if it wasn't a payday Friday.

     Blessed last Monday morning by an idea for my website and grateful that I was able to get it drafted on Saturday. Everything takes longer than I want, but I also have 22 illustrations watermarked and set up, with short excerpts for most of them. Hurrah for progress!

shout_of_joy — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 00:40:58 GMT

Recent blessings:

     As if to pay us back for the record-setting early snowstorm in October, this past week my area has seen record-setting warm days and even nights; never seen anything like this in November. It was perfect for getting the garden cleaned up and cleared away (once the snow melted) and plenty of people appear to be seizing the opportunity to get Christmas decorations up early too. What a treat!

     A different sort of treat was getting to see the Towners last Saturday and Thursday after work. We had a great time together both times.

     I got out for a walk to part of my favorite neighborhood Sunday morning, delighted that the nice weather gave me the opportunity to visit three cul-de-sacs I didn't get to on my earlier walk. But most amazing was the bald eagle soaring in circles over the general area of my home when I got back! (By the time I grew the brains to pull out my camera, it drifted off.)

     It feels like it's taking forever, but I am finally starting to make some progress with designing my website. Got a favicon made at last, and my logo is starting to pull together, which I need in order to use it as a watermark for my illustrations. I've been editing ten of my short stories over the past weeks, and I think I know which three I want to put on the website. Progress, progress!

shout_of_joy — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 11:59:26 GMT

Recent blessings:

     I've been so spoiled in previous years, getting free flu shots from my employer and only having to walk across the skyway. But this year they don't want hundreds of us showing up, so they're not doing them. Thankfully, I discovered that Costco does them, so I was able to schedule an appointment and drive over during my lunch break on Wednesday to get that done with. Worked quite nicely.

     I tried out the chili variation with a 13-bean soup mix I'd bought, with a few variations of my own, and it actually came out quite good (for me). Enjoyed having that for four days last week, and happy to have enough soup mix remaining that I can make it a couple more times this winter.

     I suppose it technically is still fall for most folks, but having a record-setting early snowstorm in my area giving us over 7 inches of snow, then more snow and ice afterward, really made it feel as if the White Witch relocated from Narnia to Minnesota. Days of driving around seeing snow mixed with green and autumn-hued trees has felt quite surreal.

     A literal treat from my job in the mail this week. Since restrictions preclude having lunches to celebrate big projects, the leaders thanked us with popcorn from the local candy store instead. So I got a nice-sized bag of cheese popcorn (my flavor choice) in an adorable thank you tin that was shipped Priority 1 day and smelled just fantastic!

     Grateful for a three-day weekend, since I spent most of Friday with the Towners while the minivan was worked on. Got to help Joe with an errand and we had a great brunch at Keys.

shout_of_joy — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 00:16:44 GMT

Lots of little joys:

     An early winter surprise while working from home on Friday--graupel! Tiny white pellets like mini snowballs, which I quite enjoy because of the way they can roll and even bounce. Of course it melted quickly, but it was fun to watch it fall!

     Saturday's blessing was having the first Saturday in what is probably months in which I didn't go anywhere. I needed that.

     Really blessed to pull into my church's parking lot Sunday and find a black squirrel scampering around where I usually park. I just happened to have my camera with me, so I even got photos! What a gift!

     My coworker friend who was diagnosed with Covid (and later got pneumonia) was back at work Monday! So happy to get to see her, and also happy that now it's been two weeks, I don't have to wear a mask in the office constantly. That made me even more grateful for every day I worked from home.

     Tuesday is the monthly publish, which falls on my plate this month. I usually drive in since I don't know how late I'll be staying...however, the potential first winter storm of the season is due, perhaps a record-setting early one, too. So I'm very grateful that since my teammate is in the office for training, he said I could just work from home Tuesday. Fantastic!

shout_of_joy — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 23:44:20 GMT

Recent blessings and joys:

     Got out Sunday morning before church for a walk through my favorite nearby neighborhood. I wanted to visit lots of cul-de-sacs that I don't drive in, so my 'short' walk ended up being over five miles. The colors were delightful and it was an enjoyable morning. While I initially fell madly in love with one house when I first discovered the area in the summer of 2019, I think I'm up to about 15 'favorites' now!

     I took Monday off work to play catch-up for being gone most of Saturday. The morning brought shopping and chores, but in the afternoon I got out to visit some friends with gifts. Blessed that my memory was good enough to actually find the home of my coworker friend who was diagnosed with Covid, so I could leave a bag of sweets on her door. And since I was in an area of St Paul I don't generally get near, perfect excuse to swing by the Johnson's next with a gift for them too. We had a great time talking for an hour or so, and then I was sent off with raspberries, plums, trail mix, and cookies! I intentionally took a long, meandering route home through various scenic areas, and glad I did, since the wind these past days is ripping down the leaves fast.

     Tuesday was back to work, but brought a treat in the evening: my monthly get-together with the Towners. I got to see the finished results of the big renovation project that forced them to live in their basement the past few weeks. Then we had a great meal at a Mexican restaurant a friend of theirs recommended.

     My second spiritual healing session went very well Wednesday afternoon, even if I still haven't reached breakthrough yet.

shout_of_joy — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 13:16:28 GMT

Recent blessings:

     Thanks in no small part to plenty of effort on my wonderful mother's end with Verizon, my new flip phone is finally on the network and working--and in good time too! Because right afterward, my manager set up a new call group from her personal phone she wanted to test (for emergency scenarios), my new landlord was texting about furnace maintenance, and I needed a phone to coordinate meeting with Cindy. Good to be off 3G before it goes kaput as well.

     My manager did a second virtual meeting for all her teams, with a chance to recognize fellow associates. I put one in, without the slightest expectation that somebody else would recognize me...and that would lead to a $20 gift card! What a delightful surprise!

     Yesterday was special. Because after so many events being cancelled in 2020, I was still able to go down to Red Wing for the Fall Festival of the Arts, like I do most years. Kudos to them for determination and creative thinking. They had a lot fewer artists, but placed in three different outdoor locations, with limited numbers allowed at a time, lots of work to set up rope barriers and have maps and decals and volunteers and the whole deal. I've been to their art festival when it's 45 damp, frigid, and drizzling, and when it's near 80s and torrid. This year they were blessed with not only perfect autumn weather, but amazing autumn color as well. Most years when I drive down, it's too early yet for peak color, but this year was near peak and just stunning all over the bluffs and hills around the Mississippi.

     As usual, my trip to Red Wing for the art festival also included going to the Pepin Heights Apple Orchard store near Lake City, further south. And it included a hike on Barn Bluff that overlooks Red Wing, but with a twist. Because this year, Cindy and I met at the Pepin Heights store, then I led her along a beautiful back-country route I've never taken before, with the added treat of no traffic when the highway was mobbed. I hiked with her all over Barn Bluff, which she had never been on before, and we both had a great time.

     Can't forget the goodies, either: a beautiful green soup cup from the art festival, amazing banana bread from a food truck I hope to see again, my traditional cheese popcorn from another food truck, and the treat of Honeycrisp apples, my favorite Pepin Heights apple cider, and apple fritter bread from the Pepin Heights store. Yum, yum, yum!

shout_of_joy — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 11:18:19 GMT

Sundry joys:

     Blessed to see rainbows two days back-to-back! Wednesday evening, driving to church under very strange weather--the radar showed scattered storms like polka-dots across a good part of the state. I noticed sun breaking through in the west while I drove through a downpour, so I looked east. The rain was so heavy I could barely see the rainbow past all that falling water, but it was there! Then the next morning while riding the bus to work, I happened to look up out of the eBook I was reading and was shocked to see a huge morning rainbow, when it was hardly even sprinkling. What a treat!

     The apple cider I bought at the apple orchard on Monday is just delicious. And their Honeycrisp apples are so good I remembered why I'm completely spoiled by best-in-the-world local-grown Minnesota apple cultivars!

     Now that it's past the equinox and the dark half of the year is upon us, that brought the opportunity to take out my Starfire spheres. I've had the first one almost four years now and I hope to enjoy them for many years to come.

     Blessed by an open door! I recently discovered my library system provides a free Lynda account, which is a huge blessing. Because while my employer also provides a free LinkedIn Learning account, I can only access it via my work laptop when I'm at work, so it's not suitable for personal learning. But Lynda through the library is perfect, because I can go back and refresh on all the WordPress training I took two years ago, download the training materials, do it on my own time, and learn the new stuff since Gutenberg/block editor came out after my 2018 training. This means I can finally move ahead with the writer/illustrator website I've been wanting to set up. And thanks to my wonderful brother being self-employed, I can do it far more affordably than it would have been for me back in 2018. What a huge blessing!

shout_of_joy — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 22:42:28 GMT

Recent blessings:

     After waiting for around two months, I was delighted to finally get off the waiting list and have an appointment date for my next spiritual healing session.

     I'm tremendously grateful for my wonderful manager, who brought my big prayer request to the prayer group she leads, and has given me follow-up more than once.

     Thanks to taking Monday off and squeezing my food shopping in during my lunch break on Friday, I could dedicate Friday evening and nearly the entire day Saturday to watching 'The Return' livestream from the Washington mall, and I was really blessed.

     Since I had Monday off, I got together with Joe and Cindy for a bike ride on the new five mile loop by Stillwater, that crosses the beautiful St Croix River at two locations, which means we cross into Wisconsin also. Never done a bike ride across state borders before...or one in which we were so rained on. But that just means we all want to do it again on a day with better weather!

     Really blessed by a parable I drove through on Monday, after experiencing a parable walk in the NWR on September 13th that repeated a theme in MOA on the 12th, and then a parable drive with a similar theme on the 26th. They all had to do with needing to find my way without a map, trying to find signs to get on the right path or find my destination, and were plainly related to my big prayer request. But Monday's was the most vivid and the most encouraging. All these closed places, having to follow signs with no map (again), and being led to a new place that was better than any of the spots I was trying to get to! What an encouragement during this time of vast uncertainty!

shout_of_joy — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:17:41 GMT

Wishing my amazing mother a happy birthday in this crazy year!

I wish I could be there with you today as you celebrate, but I'm glad you get to enjoy God's birthday gift of cleaner air and cooler temperatures. =) Have a wonderful birthday, and may you realize and enjoy God's many blessings in the year ahead, no matter how wacky it becomes. I love you!

shout_of_joy — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:08:49 GMT

Recent bright spots:

     Literal brights spots abound--thanks to the very cool nights near the beginning of the month, with early frost in places, many sumacs and some other trees have started changing color. Makes for a pleasant change from recent warm autumns where color doesn't start until October.

     On Saturday I took Joe for a bike ride on some paths fairly close to where I live that were new to him. They don't make a nice loop or a long ride yet, but we did get up to 17 miles total. Beautiful weather and a great time. Can't forget the baby snapping turtle I found in the NWR and moved off the path. Wish I'd thought to get a photo of it!

     Then after the bike ride Joe, Mary, and I had lunch at Cracker Barrel--first time for all of us since the start of COVID, and though we had to wait a while to get in, we had a great time.

     On Sunday I went to the later church service again so I could take a walk and enjoy the morning in a nearby neighborhood. It was great, except for said neighborhood being too close to a noisy interstate.

     A surprise treat--since my teammate is in the office doing training this week, he offered for me to do work from home on Tuesday, which is usually one of my days in the office. So instead of three days in the office, it's two, nice!

shout_of_joy — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 12:08:40 GMT

Recent joys:

     Got together with the Towners Tuesday evening and also saw some friends of theirs I hadn't seen in a while, who helped me move last year, so that was great too. It was a nice evening.

     Thanks to my gift card, I got lunch and dinner out of a Freshii order on Thursday--just added some veggies and fake meatballs to make it provide two meals. I could get used to this way too fast!

     After two failed attempts to coordinate with Cindy for a walk, Friday afternoon we finally succeeded, since I had taken off work early for an appointment. It was gloomy and threatening rain, but that just meant the regional park was not busy. We walked for over two and a half hours, and I had the fun of introducing her to spotted touch-me-nots (the seed pods 'explode' when touched). It was great to get to catch up since we hadn't seen each other since late July.

     On Sunday morning I got out for a walk again and I had plenty of time since I registered for the later church service. It stayed foggier later than I expected, and I spent a few hours hiking the entire loop around the north side of the river, which I had never managed before since I always ran out of time in the past. Enjoyed seeing swans, beautiful foggy scenery, and meadows full of flowers.

shout_of_joy — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:16:06 GMT

Labor Day weekend blessings:

     Another Minnesota smorgasbord for Labor Day weekend weather--Saturday was amazing, Sunday was warm, windy, and sticky, while Monday started cool and then turned into a rain-out. So I'm grateful I got out for short walks twice.

     Saturday morning I explored the cul-de-sacs in a nearby neighborhood. Lots of lovely houses tucked away, but the one that really tickled me was the blue one that reminded me of a real-life dollhouse.

     On my way back from the Farmer's Market, which I drove to right after my walk, I was thrilled to spot a black squirrel. Fortunately I was on a small street, so I could stop and take photos out the window without disrupting traffic too much!

     Monday morning I took a walk at part of the nearest regional park I've never been to before, because it's primarily designed for horseback riders and campers. The weather was cool and delightful and I really enjoyed the walk.

     And Monday is also very special because I finally reached the end of my long project of editing and rewriting the five Geren novels. I started it, according to my journal, on July 27, 2014; so it took me a little over six years and one month. I'm looking forward to getting to bed on time again after these last grueling weeks in particular, and having time to read as well!

shout_of_joy — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 00:31:28 GMT

Yay for September!

     After a hot, sticky week, some more 'average' weather moved in over the weekend, and it really felt great. I got out for a walk Sunday before church, over 5 miles through some nearby neighborhoods. Delighted to spot a few hummingbirds and at least one bluebird.

     Really surprised to find a $25 coupon from eBay yesterday. They're celebrating 25 years and I've had an account for 22 so I guess the 'old timers' get a gift. What a treat! I'm glad I actually found it before it expires, since sometimes I don't check the website very often.

     Free lunches at work did not end August 31!

     Getting through my huge fourth Geren novel in a week with my final review was impossible, but 10 days? I managed that and finished Tuesday night. Now just one left!

shout_of_joy — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 14:31:07 GMT

Workweek blessings:

     Hot and sticky weather for most of the week renewed my gratitude for my wonderful portable AC and central air. It was also perfect weather for a delicious batch of cold emerald soup that hit the spot wonderfully!

     Tuesday at the park and ride lot, I was surprised to spot a pair of small rodents that reminded me of kangaroo rats, but I didn't think those lived in Minnesota. Turns out they were woodland jumping mice, which I'd never seen before--very neat!

     Blessed by a dream Thursday morning which led me to the discovery that something I'd assumed had been cancelled due to COVID-19 is still planned to happen. I'm looking forward to it!

     Also on Thursday, enjoyed my last free lunch at my employer's cafeteria. The end of July brought an end to free parking, and the end of August to free lunches, but what a blessing to have those resources available for months!

     During work from home Friday, I spotted a hummingbird in the garden on my patio. A female ruby-throated, undoubtedly on migration. She liked the lantana, checked out the morning glories flowers, but they were wilting as it was late morning, and turned up her nose at the black-eyed Susan vines.

shout_of_joy — Sun, 23 Aug 2020 01:37:33 GMT

Joys:

     A wonderful time at the Towners Wednesday night. We had a delicious dinner out on their new patio, I got to see samples for their upcoming home improvement projects, have Joe show me around the yard to identify what's a weed and what's not, and just catch up in general.

     I got an 'itch' scratched on Saturday! Nearly three weeks ago, I walked through a lovely neighborhood I'd discovered during a detour on my drives to the park and ride lot. However, the really fancy houses with the gated entrances were too far back in the woods for me to get more than tantalizing glimpses of them. I figured I'd have to wait for November or March to walk through there again with no leaves to block the view. But today when checking rental listings, I was amazed to find one of those houses up for rent...for $12,000 a MONTH. Reason being, it's a small castle. The pictures in the Zillow posting are inside and out and far better than I'd see from the road. Hence, my curious itch has been scratched...at least for that property!

     I haven't worked myself into an early grave quite yet, and Saturday also brought me to the finish line with the final review of my third Geren novel. Three down, two to go!