Happy Halloween!

BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Everyone!

Hope everyone viewing this has a safe and fun Halloween! These are some of the critters I made for treats! They're goulishly delicious!

Of Scarecrows, Costumes and Roses

I just LOVE this scarecrow! What an attractive alternative to what one normally sees!

The rose is growing in the Tyler Rose Garden in Tyler, TX--Tyler happens to be the largest producer of roses in the US!

A Lamb and a Lion costume! Created by yours truly for my adorable granddaughters.

My husband and I went on a retreat of sorts just to get away from the house and do something different. We ended up getting stuck in the mud in the middle of Davey Crockett National Forest! A force other than human managed to push us out of the red clay!

The purpose of our trip was to get down to some basics on topics we have not been able to discuss for the better part of our 40+ yr. marriage. We were in the car together and it was either talk or spend an inordinate amount of time in silence.

We've both been sober for a little over 3 yrs. now. What a difference sobriety makes! We're finally beginning to find the words to express ourselves--words that should have been spoken many, many years ago and had they been spoken that long ago would have made a HUGE difference in our marriage. Nonetheless, the words have finally been spoken and still have a major impact on us.

Further, the words and questions have kept coming even after coming home. And I hope they will continue to do so! We're clearing up the wreckage of our past and at our age are beginning to feel a certain peace and happiness unknown to us heretofore.

Alcoholism robbed us of this introspection and prevented us from enjoying our lives to the fullest extent. How grateful we are to find a program that has taught us how to live and enjoy our lives on a daily basis! One of the many wonderful cliches in AA is "It's not the drinking but the thinking that brought us here"! How very true this is.

Thanks to the intervention of our kids and the support of friends new and old, we've found a new way of life and a happiness such as we've never known.

May you all enjoy the same!

Peace!

Carol

Goofy Gonzalez & A Higher Power!

From time to time I've questioned the validity of my Higher Power. Many times in my life I haven't felt deserving of any kind of recognition from God or anyone else. Why would anyone be interested in me?! Let alone intervene in any way in my life?

But there's no question that He/She does look after me and mine and has usually taken care of us all pretty well.

We have four banty roosters: Ben & Jerry are the white ones--like ice cream? Get it?! and then there's Gonzolez and Gomez the black Frizzles--the curley feathered ones. We decided to begin letting them out to roam the garden the other day. Of course, they all made a beeline for the hens who are currently in another coop for their own safety and well being.

For the most part, these four little muskateers stick together in their search for various tastey morsels to be found throughout the 1/4 acre garden we have. But--they are, after all, banties and as such will never be more than about 2# in weight. My husband discouraged a circling hawk one day and it certainly is within the realm of possibility that one of them could be picked off at any time. So far so good--or so we thought.

We left the house on Friday around 3 PM just to get out. At that time the foursome were busily searching for grubs amongst the blackberry plants. When we got home about 3 hrs. later, they greeted us at the larger garden gate--happy to see who was coming into the driveway. But I could only count three of them.

Further inspection did not reveal where Gonzalez had gone. Both my husband searched throughout the garden and even peered into our neighbor's yard to see if by chance he'd "flown the coop" to no avail. Believe me, my husband and I were very, very thorough in our search!

I double checked the little hut where they live removing the hatch to look inside. No Gonzalez. With a heavy heart, we assumed a hawk had gotten him for dinner. The strange thing was that there was no sign of struggle--not a black feather to be found which seemed a bit strange unless it was a very swift pick-up. Still, no other explanation was afforded us.

That night, although I felt a bit silly about it, I did put in a word to my HP about Gonzalez hoping he'd be returned to us. And that was that.

In the morning, I released the hens from their abode and then released the boys. Out marched Gonzalez! What?! What?! I couldn't believe my eyes! He seemed perfectly fine as he continued his march towards where the hens live!

I continued to wonder about this as I headed for the house to start the coffee pot tempted to wake my husband with the news. But I still wanted to feed the dogs and cats and empty the dishwasher. As these tasks were being completed, my husband came into the kitchen for his coffee. I told him to look out the back window and count the roosters and he was just as amazed as I was--incredulous!

So, Gonzalez is alive and well and just as spunky as ever and prayer does work!

BTW--my husband's wallet has been missing for about two weeks now. We've checked the last places he was but never cancelled cards. He'd been in a hurry the day he lost it but he was pretty sure it was not outside the house. Even today he stopped by the Kroger store just in case someone had picked it up and turned it in later. I'd asked him if he'd prayed about it and we both did just that last night. It's hard to pray for something when you think maybe it's your own foolish fault that it's missing.

Just minutes ago, as this was being written, he came to me with our prayers answered! He'd absent mindedly tucked his wallet that fateful day inside a rarely used drawer and just happened to open it a few minutes ago!

So, my friends, although I always leave everything up to my HP when I say my prayers at night; I'm not above asking for a few trivial things from time to time. I know it's a lot to ask with all the many far more pressing problems in this world--but you never know and it doesn't hurt--if nothing else, it makes one feel as though one has done everything possible.

Now--if we could just have retrieved that debit card before we cancelled it this afternoon!!!! (My kids (when they read this) are definitely going to start checking into old peoples' homes for us, I'm sure!

Peace and Love,

Carol