Now THIS Is West Texas

When your driving down the road and you see wind powered windmills and oil well pump jacks in the same landscape, you know you are in west Texas. Add a couple of deer stands, some mesquite bushes, and a cotton field and you are in the dead center. Driving through the green rolling hills between Big Spring and San Angelo, this is what you see. Who are those fortunate Texans reaping the harvest of wind power and oil wells? They must be living in God's will. Their blessings abound. When you watch those windmills they turn in a slow methodical rhythm that almost puts you to sleep. They all turn in the same direction, clockwise. One after the other they turn, though not always in the same sequence. They sort of appear like a kaleidoscope and they go on for miles and miles. Up close they are huge. No telling how many feet to the top. No idea how men get up to the top to work on or repair them. No idea if they have an elevator or a "dumb waiter" devise inside to get to the top. No idea what the view is like from the top of one of those. I bet it is fantastic. I bet you'd feel a little like Don Quixote, thinking what would a person do with all those windmills? Attack them? Climb them? Or would you just try to cash in on them. Sometimes our vision is a little skewed like Don's. Sometimes our vision is not clear. Sometimes we have visions of grandeur when truly what we have and what we need are just your basic everyday things, an average life. And truly, average is still a blessing. Generally all we have is all we need. Count your blessings. There are many. Be blessed. Keep dreaming though; life is full with hopes and dreams. Next time your roaming the countryside either by car, horse, or foot, enjoy it. Whether you are enjoying what God created or what man created, enjoy the mighty power behind it all. Take it all in. Let your eyes see the beauty.
Take a drive through west Texas. You won't be disappointed.

Encourage One Another

Do You Remember When.....?

There's just something about the era that I was born in that intrigues me. I believe it's about the simpleness, the ease with which it appeared to me that people (my family) went through life. Truth is, they probably had as many problems as we do now. However, I was just too young to recognize them. Could also be that my parents were experts at not passing down worries and concerns to their children? Information and news was shared in a much more limited way. There was only radio and TV. And at that time, not everyone even had a TV.

Life just seemed simple and calm in my household...routine. Mom and dad left for work and my sister and I walked to school. No concerns about someone kidnapping us or accosting us along the way. We met up with friends and walking to and from school was an enjoyable, like a social event. We skipped or ran most of the way. In the afternoons we got home and enjoyed a snack of cookies or vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. Our mom came in a short time later to fix dinner. Growing up we always had a balanced meal. It included a meat and two vegetables, one green. The four of us sat together at the table and ate while we visited. Sometimes we watched TV. Sometimes we didn't. My sister and I really looked forward to Saturday mornings. We got up early and watched Fury and My Friend Flicka along with Mighty Mouse, the Flintstones and some other cartoons. Other TV favorites were Captain Kangaroo, Gilligan's Island, Bonanza, Rifleman, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, The Life of Riley, Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy, Father Knows Best, Bewitched, Leave It To Beaver, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Dick Van Dyke, Bachelor Father, and Lassie. Walt Disney Presents came on Sunday evenings. On Saturday night we always washed our hair for church the next morning. (I can't imagine only washing my hair once a week). Our Saturday special was steak my dad grilled outside along with baked potatoes. It was a delightful treat. Together we watched Lawrence Welk, Ed Sullivan, and Gunsmoke every Saturday night. Sundays we dressed in our Sunday best and attended Sunday School and church. Waiting for us in the oven at home we would usually have a pot roast with the chunky potatoes and carrots all cooked in the same pan. Often my grandmother would cook this same meal. My grandmother and my mom were both great cooks, however, my grandmother had that special grandmother way that just made hers extra special. Oh, and did I tell you, both of them always wore aprons. I love aprons. I still wear the last one my mom used to wear. My grandmother made it. It's not in good shape. It's sort of tattered, torn and in need of some repair. However, when I wear it, I think of my mom, of that time in my life, and how great my life was when I was young. I long for that simpleness. I seek it in my own kitchen, wearing my mom's worn out apron and watching re-runs of my favorite shows on TV Land....and fondly smile.

Encourage One Another

Loving the Good Life

I have found myself wanting to write a blog for some time. I had two questions though; what would I call my blog and what all would I write about? This morning I read something that gave me a good idea. It is from a book written by the "Nearing" family back in 1954 called Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World. After living that life, Ms. Nearing wrote another book, a memoir, called Loving and Leaving the Good Life. These were her suggestions for living less stressfully:

• Do the best you can, whatever arises.
• Be at peace with yourself.
• Find a job you enjoy.
• Live in simple conditions; housing, food, clothing; get rid of clutter.
• Contact nature every day; feel the earth under your feet.
• Take physical exercise through hard work; through gardening or walking.
• Don't worry; live one day at a time.
• Share something every day with someone else; if you live alone, write someone; give something away; help someone else somehow.
• Take time to wonder at life and the world; see some humor in life where you can.
• Observe the one life in all things.
• Be kind to the creatures.

** these I added

• Be grateful and thankful for everything; you have enough.

• Pray

Wow, I love those and truthfully if I could live that life…stress and worry would be unnecessary. I'd like to strive to do her suggestions. So let me put a copy of these not only in my journal and on my blog, but on my refrigerator, in my car, at my desk….reminders to live "the good life". They pretty much sum it up.

And as far as the blog….that's what it'll be called "The Good Life" and that's what it will be about!

Encourage One Another