Prairie Sunrise

How many people have tried to capture sunrises on paper?
With either paints or words it seems like an impossible task.
You just have to be there.

Was it Emily's teacher who told her to let the sun rise
without trying to describe it in paragraphs a yard long?
I need to read L.M.Montgomery's book - Emily of New Moon -
again and find that little tidbit.

The other day traveling north on a frozen winter morning just at sunrise
gave me a feeling of being in the center of a huge up-side-down
stoneware bowl. This bowl was blue washed with winter white.
A pale pink rim circled the edge.
I looked to the right and to the left and even in the rear view mirror.
It was all the same everywhere I looked.
Before long I saw the faintest yellow tinges
bordering the east side.

I could also see the windmill farm: tall, white, motionless statues.
Only two were moving their arms in gigantic circles . . .
      the others were all frozen in place.

More and more yellow showed at the edge of the world.
Because I was driving north I didn't see the exact moment the sun
showed it's face. I got a peep of a copper colored sliver of sunshine
then I had to concentrate on my driving.

Suddenly the sun was up and I was driving north on a fantastically
beautiful sparkly day.

For a great description of another sunrise read Laura Ingalls Wilder's
in On The Banks of Plum Creek. Mary and Laura are taking the cow
to pasture in the early morning. She describes birds and dew covered
grasses tickling bare toes.

Psalm 19 
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

Gertie and Esmerelda

Krysta misses out on the fun. A couple weeks ago Ellis and I hurried in to Hog Slat
early in the morning. We had to unload boxes out of our two cars. We used them for
delivery vehicles over the week end.

Ellis pulled "Gertie," into the back bay to unload.
(I don't know how the green car got that name.
The white Ford is Esmerelda.
Again I don't know how this happened.)
I was in the office working on the computer.
I heard Ellis calling in a quite loud, panicked voice,
"Dawn, where are the keys for the car?"

Oh the sinking sensation!
All the smart aleck remarks that came rushing to my head!
Then he asked, "Where is the spare set of keys?"

The truth is I don't know where the extra set is. One day I put them in my purse in the car.
They have never seen the light of day since. I thought they must have slipped under the seat
but no matter how often I've looked they remained missing.

Ellis drove over to Derrick's to ask for advice.

I found my little flash light from Yoder's Construction. This was another exercise in
standing on my head, flashing the light all around and what do you think? There was a set
of keys under the passenger seat just where I had dropped them months before.

I grabbed them, dashed around to the trunk, unlocked it and opened it and there were the
keys on a ledge just where Ellis had laid them.

By that time Ellis was back looking very gloomy.
"Derrick says try taking the back seat out."

What a change in his expression when I dangled both sets of keys in front of his eyes!
Happy Days!

All Things New

A lot of times I am ten days to two weeks (try a month) behind when it comes to writing
what's happened in our lives.  Christmas vacation was lovely. It went too fast, but that is normal.

This year we rented the township hall and invited the young folks from church
to a taffy pull on New Year's Eve. Ellis and I asked some friends our age to come
too. And some friends younger than us . . . Their oldest daughter is the same age
as our youngest daughter.  It was a nice mix of people.

We played games, cooked two pans of taffy, poured the taffy on buttered cookie trays
to let it cool, then everyone washed their hands, buttered their hands and pulled taffy.
It really does turn ivory colored. We had some experts in the group who showed us how
to get in the rhythm. (Here is where some pictures of the evening should be inserted.)

There were finger foods to eat and coffee, hot chocolate and lemonade to choose from to
either stay awake or quench your thirst.  Many table games were being played all around
the room while two groups prepared skits using random items hastily put together by me.

We had a short time of prayer together then rang in the New Year with bells. Krysta
rounded up bells from our collection and used them for decorations on the tables. 

Our township hall is a lovely old building that's been renovated.
Imagine stepping into an entryway.

Steep, narrow stairs descend to a dark basement on the right.
A combination of smells waft around as you turn to the left and step back in time.

Fortunately they saved the original wood floor. 
We walked on a floor that was installed 100 years ago. 

The ceiling is metal with designs in it.  It has been painted white. 

The windows are long with beautiful wood framing them.

Before the festivities, Deanne, Krysta and I swooped some brooms around
and swabbed down the surfaces with Mr. Clean . . .
 we ran a trap line - removed a mouse and reset mouse traps . . .

then lit some candles and moved in some decorations.

We might be on to a new tradition for us.

Someone has to keep taffy pulling from becoming a lost art.