My friend Roy had sent me an e-mail with the subject line “The Last Photo in the Camera.”  There were some good ones in the collection of shots.  One of them fit particularly well with a post that Lin had published on Duck & Wheel with String.

I sent the photo on to Lin with a couple of lines that I knocked together. Today she posted photo and text.  Stop by and comment on her post “This is Why . . .”   Be sure to tell her that I sent you.  Thanks!

As Sunday afternoon drifted into Sunday evening.  The house was quiet with TV off.  I was breathing slow regular breaths.   Then I heard Sylvia approach.  She had dealt with e-mail correspondence and won a couple of hands of spider solitaire.  (We don’t talk about the losses.)  I rose to a higher level of consciousness.  (I opened my eyes.)

“What do you want for supper?” she asked.  That’s like handing me a blank check.

“I’d like a BLT,” was my response.

“I don’t have any B in the house,” she reported.  (No surprise there.)

“We can drive to the village.  Papa C has some and he’ll make the sandwich for us.”

“You’d take me out to eat twice in one day?”

“Yes, for you I would do that.  Besides, I really would like a BLT.”

A short while later we were sitting in Papa C’s pizza, ice cream and sandwich restaurant.  The BLTs were very tasty and the folks there are very nice.  It’s nice to eat and talk without a lot of distractions.  Okay, there were a couple of young men sitting in the booth next to ours, but they weren’t noisy.  A couple of customer’s came in for carry-out orders.  But those aren’t really distractions they just add a homey feel to the atmosphere.

Time came to pay and return home.  As I approached the counter the waitress flashed a big smile and said, “You folks are all set.  Your bill has been paid.”

She assured us that she was serious and that the young men had extended us that kindness.  So who were they?

I don’t know who they were.  Neither Sylvia nor I have ever seen them before.  Nor did they leave a clue.

I asked the rhetorical question, “How can we ever thank them?”  Sylvia responded, “By paying it forward to someone else.”  The waitress said, “Right!”

No doubt you’ve seen it happen.  It may be that it has happened to you.  I’m talking about the embarrassment that comes from speaking without proper consideration of the words that are about to come out of the mouth.

It helps to think before one speaks.

It pays to think before speaking.  Now, if I could master that . . .

Don’t let the title fool you.  It is not Christmas, and that’s not Santa on our roof.  We’ll maybe it is, but she doesn’t have a bag full of toys.  Yes, it is Sylvia.

Yesterday, was wonderful and sunny.  I had noticed that in heavy rains, and we’ve had a lot of them lately, the gutter that runs beside the kitchen and dining area runs over with water.  That gutter needed to be cleaned and the rest needed to be checked.

Sylvia, the volunteer, went up that tower on the back corner of the garage and walked the roof to access the nature and scope of our gutter-cleaning project.  About 20 feet of gutter had to be cleaned.  I brought out the ladder and with that we soon had the job finished.

As we were finishing, Sylvia observed that the shrubs would soon cover the windows.  I promised to take care of the job.  A few minutes later, I had a pair of long-handled loppers in my hand and was beginning to work on the end shrub.  I have tried to keep the growth cut back with an electric hedge trimmer, but every year the top just seemed to creep up.  It would require major surgery.

It took a while with both of us working at it.  We got this far and then decided to continue at a later time.

It required some planning and packing to fit all the debris into the tractor’s front-end loader, but we did.  (Wish you were here Pricilla to help process those shrubs.  Fortunately, it looks like more rain today.  I don’t really want to prune another shrub today.

Our friend Shark of My Quality Day sent an e-mail asking if the welcome mat would be out for her on Saturday and Sunday.  I replied assuring her that it would.

She would be doing some programs in Albion on Friday and Kalamazoo on Saturday.  You can read about it on her blog.  Saturday evening, a very tired Shark arrived at our door.

Shortly after getting settled into a comfy chair, our guest asked if she’d get to see Nellie, our cat.  Sylvia explained that Nellie is a very shy girl and she’d probably be hiding while we had company in the house.

Perhaps it was an effort to prove her fickle feline ways that prompted Nellie to come gliding into the room.  Nellie eyed Shark.  She came near and sniffed and extended hand.  And then, to her staff’s amazement,  Nellie let Shark pet her.  What?  Later she would jump up in the chair with this stranger.

I failed to document this with the camera.  Later, I realized that it had been sitting within reach while Nellie was bonding with Shark.  Shucks!

Sylvia, Chuck and Joan of Shark

Our time together sped by so fast and then it was Sunday afternoon.  We had shared many fun stories and enjoyed a few hundred laughs.  But Shark had a job to complete at home and too quickly took leave of us.

I turned on the TV and DVR to watch the NASCAR race.  I saw most of it at 4X speed, slowing down when something interesting was happening on screen.  (My guy fought back from some early difficulties to finish sixth.)

Sunshine and warmth in today’s forecast.  Should be the kind of weather we’ve been waiting for.  Especially the end to record flooding.

How do you feel when you look in a mirror?  Some people hate the experience.  Others can’t seem to get enough

Whatever your relationship to the mirror, there are two facts that you should know about the mirror.  These two facts are marks of a faithful friend.  What are they?

1. The mirror will not lie to you.

2. The mirror will not laugh at you.

Do you have another friend that will do that for you?

Luke 17:26

The rain continues.  More is forecast.  People have stopped making duck jokes, they now make Noah jokes.  Only last night, a youngster was overheard asking, “Mama has it rained for forty days and forty nights yet?”  Her reply?  “Not yet son.  Now please pass me that pitch.  I need to seal the bottom of this basket for your baby brother.”

Ridiculous.  Yes, I know it is.  Like that helpful online hint I saw last week.  The author asked, “Want to know what time the power went out?  Just look at the clock.”

Really?  All the clocks in this house are digital.  No power . . . no display.  Some days, that describes me perfectly.