I look in the mirror, aglow with morning light, at the girl in an older woman’s skin.  The hand, looking more like my mother’s each day, brushes up the neck to cheek trying to return the  covering for my soul, now lined with stories made in the sun and time, to its original position.  Fall has arrived for me as well.

I think of friends who have moved to new cities,  and some who have moved on to other circles of friends and to those who now live in their heavenly home.  I think of a friend from high school with whom I have recently reconnected, and the one from my previous place of employment – timeless beauties inside and out.

We all are praying and speaking life into the next generation.  Planting seeds in our children and grandchildren, my friends and I, then blanketing them with prayer. We know the season, it is Fall for us.  And the seeds we plant are for next season – for the generations to come.   Perhaps our seeds will bring forth a mighty harvest.  Perhaps our seeds will be the ones who survive a drought, or hard winter.  Perhaps they will be the seeds that lead their generation in trusting the Lord.

And, Father in Heaven, Let us plant seeds in them that know how to plant seeds in the generation that comes after them.

For he issued his laws to Jacob;

He gave his instructions to Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

to teach them to their children,

so the next generation might know them—

even the children not yet born—

and they in turn will teach their own children.

So each generation should set its hope anew on God,

not forgetting his glorious miracles

and obeying his commands. (Psalms 78:5-7 NLT)

Linking today with Multitudes on Monday, Hear it on Sunday, Use it On Monday and The Wellspring, Seedlings In Stone

only once,

i would long for you

through worlds,

worlds.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen something like this.

Questa è la prima volta che vedo qualcosa di simile.

We are used to sleek photos of young and beautiful newly weds.

Those images remind us that love has no age.

Siamo abituati a vedere foto patinate di novelli sposi, giovani e belli

Queste immagini ci ricordano che l’amore non ha età.

55 years together, can you believe?

I wish I could ask them which is their secret.

55 anni insieme, ci credete?

vorrei potergli chiedere qual’è il loro segreto.

They spent most of their entire life together. It seems so strange in a world where people get divorced so easily.

Hanno passato la maggior parte della loro vita insieme. Sembra così strano in un mondo dove la gente divorzia con tanta facilità.

There’s nothing I can add. I love this shoot and the couple is so cute and still in love!

Non c’è molto di più da aggiungere. Amo queste foto e la coppia è così carina e così innamorata!

(credits)

Jesse Holland is the photographer of that amazing shoot.

You can read the history and see more photos here.

Jesse Holland è la fotografa di questo bellissimo servizio.

Potete leggere la storia e vedere tutte le foto qui.

Gorgeous, and thanks for the inspiration.

May I present you with a bouquet?

Photo via

{ …And they lived happily ever after… }

Now that I’m older, I realize these women who I have loved as if they were part of the furniture, may have actually had feelings, wants, desires, and- those things had nothing to do with me! How could that be, I was sure I was the center of the universe when I was younger, how could they have had a single thought that didn’t have to do with me?

Lately two women have been inspirational to me.Reminded me that I can still be something else when I grow up, or grow into the woman I will be. They have reminded me, at a time when I’m feeling like a middle aged adolescent, that I still have more and more and more to give, learn and be.

The first lady, Ivybean, I follow her on twitter, she is 104 and still tweets! She updates us on her life, the staff, TV shows they watch and what the other women think and feel. Did I mention she is 104? I love her, she is very optimist and upbeat,just getting a tweet from her makes me smile. She has seen so much in 104 years and adapted, she twitters for hell’s sake!

My second inspiration I just read about today, she is 107 and worried that her 37 year old husband may leave her for a younger woman. He is her 22nd husband, and just in case he has been eyeing the younger ladies, she has her eye on a 50 yr old that she would like to make husband 23. I say, you go girl!

These women inspire me to take charge of my life, keep learning new things, live large and set my sights on what I want and go for it.

I wonder if that beautiful boy from Kingbilly would like to be husband number 4 for me? I have quite a bit of catching up to do!

SPACE AVAILABLE FLYING WITH THE U.S. MILITARY AND MY VISIT WITH ELLA

As everyone knows, the U.S. Military has all kinds of aircraft flying to and from all parts of the world and especially all around these United States. There are opportunities for military personnel to travel space available on these aircraft on a priority basis as follows; all active duty military on emergency leave, active duty military and dependents on annual leave, and all of us military retirees. We may fly on these aircraft depending on the mission and the following: if there are reasonable spaces available for passengers on a given flight, if taking on passengers does not interfere with the mission and finally at the discretion of the Officer in charge of the flight, the Aircraft Commander. We may place our names on a first come first serve list in each Space A category. When there is Space Available we must be physically available immediately for an opportunity to fly.

I recently traveled from NAS North Island, Coronado CA to Pope AFB at Fort Bragg in NC. I signed up for my flight just a few hours before seeing my granddaughter, Alene Christina Lynch, star in a musical per- formance at her Coronado California High School on a Friday evening. The next morning I made myself available for a flight and within twenty-four hours I boarded a VR-32 C-9 flight for the first leg of my journey the following Sunday morning. Upon our arrival at the Willow Grove PA NAS Navy VR-3 hos-pitality was extended to me and three other Space A passengers with a ride to the BOQ/BEQ. After con-firming the next morning flight from Willow Grove to Andrews AFB, Washington DC, I turned in for four or five hours of sleep before a wake up call and a five minute walk to the Passenger Terminal. And, in the early morning misty rain I did get a little cold not having prepared properly for the East Coast weather.

When I was able to get inside the terminal I was very impressed with the professional way that Airman Boardman and Petty Officer Lan Chantin maintained constant communications with the Operations Office of VR-32 to insure that I was able to get to my next C-9 flight without delaying the crew and mission.

For the next leg of my journey I especially want to compliment and thank the crew of VR-52 Flight JT676,: PS-1 Kisiel, AO-1 Klein, ATCS Ochtera, LCDR Walker, CDR Lavletta. GO NAVY! According to the C-130 MEDIVAC Aircraft Commander, CAPT. Tim John, I almost missed my flight from Andrews AFB,WASHDCto Pope AFB at Fort Bragg NC . As I understand it there was a MEDIVAC mission delay, however, this did not obviate the fact that the Air Force Passenger Terminal personnel who were “laughing and scratching” behind the passenger processing counter were requested more than once to the get the only Space A passenger, me, out to the aircraft. Thank you, CAPT John, for your extra callsto the Passenger Terminal urging a response, the first of which was that they would have me to the aircraft in 10 minutes.

IF YOU HAVE MORE TIME THAN MONEY, PATIENCES, LUCK AND A GOOD PEOPLE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRIVILEGE SPACE AVAILABLE MILITARY TRAVEL IS NOT A BAD WAY TO GO!

MY REASON FOR THIS TRIP

Just as in February, I returned to Charlotte, North Carolina to stay with my late wife’s 96-year-old yet very youthful mother, Ella Poulsen, while her caregiver, Jenn Jacobsen, was on a trip back to California to settle the estate of her mother, Marty, who had passed on in February.

Well, I want you to know that Ella Poulsen is a VERY SPECIAL woman. Ella and her late husband Otto came to the U.S. from Denmark in the late 20s early 30s. They met in an old folks home in New Jersey near Nyack NY where my late wife Alice was born. Otto was a nurseryman working for someone else in New Jersey and for a while in Derita after moving down South to Charlotte NC. Later he owned his own Azalea Nursery business, Providence Nursery, until he retired. Ella work as an infant/baby nurse for all of her working career.

Ella, goes to bed early and is up at exactly 5:00 A.M. and after a piece of toast and coffee she is outside on her large lot of oak trees pulling, scratching and hoeing up tufts of grass and roots where the sun shines in between the large oak tree branches and allows the grass to grow. And, she knows me at my young age of 74 that I tend to be a little lazy when it comes to manual labor especially outside in the garden. A lot of her going and doing like the Duracell Bunny is aimed at making me feel guilty, just like as I understand it, some Jewish Mothers do. Yes, I am a little lazy, but very responsible so out I go with my pitchfork to pick up all of the many piles of grass, leaves, and roots. I load my hauling buggy and take it to the far corner of her lot to a giant pile of composting leaves. I hauled 15 loads yesterday and as I recall 20 today, Ella does, however, take snooze or two during the day, and when I catch her napping, I do mine too.

Now, it is not like I hate all types of work in the garden. I do dearly love going to the garden shop and purchasing top soil and flowers to plant. On two or three trips to Lowes, Home Depot, and Wall-Mart we bought all kinds of flowers and gardening stuff, I especially liked creating the new flower bed with the little bird bath. I dubbed it the Otto and Alice flower bed.

Ella normally goes to church on Sunday mornings with a friend nearby. Her church is a rather prominent church in the community of Derita just across the street where Otto had his first nursery job when they first moved South. Ella seems to get some type of social pleasure out of attending this church and that is quite normal under the circumstances. On the first Sunday after I arrived I decided that I would go to the nearby church where Alice and I were married since Ella didn’t seem to want me to attend her church with her, she decided to attend church with me. As we drove out of the driveway I asked Ella if she thought that this particular church in the middle of a community that had over the past years totally made a transition to an all black community. She said that she did not think so and that is why she was a bit taken back when we walked in and found that we were the only white couple in the church. There was no problem for me, and I must say that Ella took it a bit differently. We both marched up to the front of the church and deposited our offering into the brass plate being held by one of the church members. I asked Ella in the middle of the main speaker’s sermon if she wanted to leave. She said that it would be rude and impolite to do so. So there you are then.

Just before the main sermon by Reverend John Wallace we were cordially welcomed with handshakes and hugs. The Rev. John Wallace was speaking on the anniversary of his brother, Dr. Terry L. Wallace, Sr”s twenty years as Pastor of the church. Rev. John Wallace’s theme was that when praises and request to the Lord God go up, bountiful blessings will come down, but be patience. I especially enjoyed the choir in their colorful robes and their choreographed clapping and tapping the tambourines while singing, and making back and forth swinging movements in front of the congregation.

During the sermon I could not help but reflect on something that our next President, or perhaps, Vice President, Barrack Obama, said in response to what the Rev. Jeremiah Wright had said about the Black Church. Obama said that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright did not speak for all of the Black Church. I feel that Dr. Terry Wallace or his brother, the Rev. John Wallace would also have a fruitful response as to who speaks for the Black Church in the U.S.

I must admit that I am not a religious person in the sense of any kind of organization religion. I am more in accord with Sam Harris and his book THE END OF FAITH (www.samharis.com) More on this subject in a later post.

While I was in Charlotte I did lots of house cleaning like vacuuming, and like cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. I also did all of the washing up. I prepared our evening meal each day; grilled pork chops, garlic shrimp, boiled corn, and left over pork with gravy on mashed potatoes, plus. I am a real good HOBO cook.

Yes, I must admit I was very happy to get back to my space available opportunities to travel back to my Prius at NASNI California. But, it did not fit for my return trip. I was very pleased with a fare that I found with Southwest Airlines.