Thoughts on Change

I'm not fond of change.
Things that stay the same comfort me, calm me,
give me a sense of continuity and peace.

I do not welcome change.
Unfamiliar scenes framed by window sills with new colors
interrupt the day to day flow of movement my eyes are used to.

I am afraid of change.
Afraid of losing a scent, a whisper, a likeness, a memory
Lost in the  transformation of my surroundings.

I am embracing change.
I may as well since it chases me and often catches me without warning,
making me lose my breath with dread and foreboding.

I am learning from change.
Once accepted and approved, I am amazed at my ability to learn
and increase: to adapt with grace to whatever new adventure awaits.

                                                               BMJ
                                                               September 18, 2012

Things I Like

I love how everyone is doing a  "things I like" post--it is informative AND entertaining so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon---here are some things I like!

Twilight at my house--sounds of crickets and frogs included

Early morning on the compound when there's a ground cloud over the field--especially when we have forgotten to turn off the tree lights--they glow in the foggy air and I love it.

The kids laughing.

The kids getting excited over something.

Hearing--I wish Robert could hear the night sounds out here--and how it's possible to tell that they are winding down--in another month or two it will be quiet out here at night.

The smell when they cut the grass.

Piano lessons

the new film app the kids have learned to use--they're pretty good!

Hot pudding

watching the deer creep out in the early afternoon all over the yard--when no one is here, of course

a good book

to be continued...........

9-11

This is the 11th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 crash in PA.  If, indeed , any of my family reads this when I am no longer here I wanted them to know that the day was remembered.  I will always remember watching and praying for those caught in the towers as I watched that morning--How inspiring to hear the stories of heroism and selflessness on that day as people tried to help each other.  And particularly moving to hear the messages of those who would never be rescued as they left calls and texts to their loved ones.

May we all be aware that any day could be our last and that we should treasure every minute we have with each other while we are here. And I hope we would be as brave and thoughtful and selfless as we imagine we would be given horrendous circumstances.

I am  reminded of the quote by Joseph Smith from the Wentworth letter:
              "The standard of truth has been erected; no
              unhallowed hand can stop the work from
              progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may
              combine, armies amy assemble, calumny may
             defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly,
             nobly and independent, till it has penetrated
             every country and sounded in every ear, till the
             purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the
             Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

Our family prayers should be with the families of all of those who lost their lives on September 11th 2001--be they friend or foe. May the work go forward and families be sealed together in the gospel as current events make us more aware of the need for peace--and strength---simultaneously.

Evening Boat Rides

                                                                                
                                                                   The Rain River
                                                                            
When it rains here it often creates a lovely river for the kids to play in. Weekend before last we had a great time watching the races in the front yard. Grandpa Jones brought up the canoe and it was so deep that even with all the kids piled in they could still push it and it flew by!  They had a blast and were filthy and wet by the end of the evening--which of course makes it more fun.  They went a little fast to suit me--but, as Tig says, I'm a scaredy-cat.  It was flying by pretty fast--they hit one of the persimmon trees a pretty good lick!

This is the type of river that Robert taught Woodrow the Wood Duck to swim in and where Joshua caught crawdads as they swam through the yard--he's the only one that ever caught them though they all spent many an hour trying to fish them out of holes with cheese and hot dogs on a string. He waited till it rained and scooped 'em up with a bucket.

We got so tickled at the weather reports which kept intoning the gloom and doom of storms over and over the past few weeks--every night.  As though that were something new and threatening.  This is Virginia.  It is hotter than the hubs of hell.  Every twilight brings the threat of thunderstorms--and thank goodness cause it's the only thing that cools us off!  We look forward to it! Let the river rise-- lightening flash through the clouds---the rains come---and play on!

Hammy Lives!!!

Hammy is the squirrel that Jordan Hockaday and Joshua found on the side of the road near a dead mama squirrel. They brought it home and managed through some miracle to get it to live. He was so tiny I didn't know if he would make it. He made it all right--and became a fixture on Joshua's head! Hammy (the squirrel) lived in the gray house with him and had the run of it for a while till he got too rambunctious and had to be caged while Josh was gone. Once he got his tail caught in a door and it pulled half of it off--Robert said he helped in the pulling of that tail accidently while he and Josh were trying to introduce Hammy to his new cage---it never grew back. Robert and Josh built him a tree house and nailed it to the walnut tree out back--he had a porch and would come out to let you hand him nuts and seeds. He lived there most of the winter and then come Spring one day he just journeyed forth! We often wondered if he was living nearby as we never saw him--well, just the other day we saw a tail-less squirrel down at the shop--Josh is sure it must be Hammy---He lives!

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday was my Birthday! And no, we are not 58 and 63 in this picture---but I found this pic the other week and used it in an album I made for Robert on his Birthday!  He's my movie star man in this shot--I love it!

Also, it reminded me of the Kohl's, who visited us in a surprise appearance this past week.  This was taken at their house while our kids played on a homemade slip and slide.  Belinda and Ray Kohl are always fun and we love when they just show up--in fact, some of our fondest memories are of when they just "show up"---these are legendary events in the Jones chronicles.  Once, when Robert was at the stake center at a youth activity he peeped into the kitchen to see what was being served to the youth for dinner and there was Raymond Earl, helping in the assembly line while his wife and kids played at my house--(last we talked to them they had been living in New Zealand)---he did a  double-take and Ray just grinned and said "one scoop of potatoes or two?"

I took my Mom to breakfast at Panera Bread yesterday and then we visited Josh and Lauren and Riley to see the new house--Mama hadn't been yet--and I figured my birthday was a big event to her --way back when!  Then I journeyed with Robert to Once In a Blue Moon --a little estate sale place we visit a lot--- where we found a lovely curio cabinet that we thought Carol Nixon would like--they did--picked it up and we helped 'em get it in the house.  I also visited the book store next door and picked up two more westerns for my collection...(Maurine would be proud! she loves westerns too) Visited Erin to show her a picture we had gotten with her in mind--wasn't quite the thing she was looking for--visited Michael's family to see Jordan's new bed--a thing of beauty--a loft bed made to look like a forest with twinkle lights everywhere--so cute and so Jordan.  Laura left a lemonade dispenser with Boston Baked Beans (one of my favorites!) on my kitchen table--among the cards and candy AND I got sang to numerous times--my honey left a lovely card on my bed with a surprise in it just for me.  Overall, not a bad day --kind of peaceful but not...plus Michael Phelps won his final gold medal on my birthday--Olympic history!  Happy Birthday to me! 

This is the us that is now--with Josh last year

 Tomorrow Laura and the kids are coming to our house after church for her Birthday dinner--Tom is in Utah visiting his family and helping his Dad on the farm a bit--sometimes it's nice just to visit home without the hullabaloo which usually accompanies a large family--though I know they miss the little Cottles--they are all going in the fall.  How nice for Tom to have some one on one time with his parents.

Birthdays always make me a bit nostalgic--and thankful!  My sister asked me how it felt to get old yesterday--I thought of Zeke Jones, an old friend of Robert's, when he said years ago--"It's terrible to get old--and it's terrible not to get old".  I figure I'm covered either way...Robert's birthday is on the 4th of July so he always has fireworks and the Fife and Drum at CW (which we never miss)--but mine are peaceful and slower which is good too.

This is a picture of the grands at Chickahominy Park about 18 months ago, the kids look so small!  Now Matthew is 3 years old, Riley is 1 year old and Clara Grace is 3 months old--they are unstoppable, these little spirits that come to join our family!

Today I thought of this picture while I was moving through a hectic day  and how they are all growing. 

Mom had an appointment at the pharmacy to be fitted for some special stockings to help ease the swelling and discomfort in her legs--they actually look pretty sporty--Mom has pretty legs.  Then she needed to make a run to Target--her favorite place--the woman should do a commercial--she loves that store.

I came home. cleaned up a bit, and then did five piano lessons--I love doing them but sometimes feel a little stressed between the phone and smaller ones running in and out of the house while I am trying to explain triads or harmonic intervals. then my kids all look at me like "what on earth is the matter with you?" Believe it or not, I look forward to them coming--it's kind of my one on one time with 'em.

After the kids left, Mom called to tell me the goats and chickens were out of the pen--code for "get these animals away from my flowers before I get a gun and shoot them all".  So I corraled 'em all back in the fence and they looked so betrayed--they like wandering about in the yard eating everything we plant--especially my geraniums and Mama's lilies.  The kids pried the fence open to get the eggs which I had not done today and didn't shut it quite tight enough--It's okay--Annabel and GoatBelle--I didn't name them--enjoyed their foray into the wilds with the deer.  Tom C. says they are overfed--they are round as butterballs.

The girls and Robert and I went to return a basket to the Wardells who brought some of his cracked wheat bread over for Robert's birthday--we were going to get some ice cream but he forgot his wallet so we headed home where the insect invasion from H began...

I ended my day with Maylon and Hallie and Jordan keeping me company while their Dads worked on a bike with Pike and Lan and Aidan and Jack and Henley at the shop.  Maylon spied one of those huge wolf spiders sauntering in my kitchen door like it lived here--which it would have had she not seen it.  Of course, I screamed , May screamed, Jordan screamed, Hallie went ballistic and we finally got Robert to come kill it and found a bunch of tiny hatchlings under the buffet where it ran to hide--I don't know if they were this spiders young or not but I do know that they no longer exist--and Michael had better not tell me not to kill them ----I do not hunt spiders but if they come in my house I will kill them. Instantly. With no remorse.  Ever.  Maybe I was attacked by a spider as a child or something because I have always been terrified of them.  I'm so glad  Robert got to see one before I killed it.  He always says "it's just a little spider"-- sure it is after I kill it and it shrivels up --this thing could eat a small cat...even he was impressed.

Anyway, that was a typical day here for me and I am tired and am going to bed to read and think about something that doesn't have eight legs---eeeek!

Good Night, chickadees