The Red and Black Buffalo Plaid Blanket

When Everett first was moved to Kootenai Health on October 31, 2020 he tested positive for Covid. That meant isolation for ten days. Thankfully he never showed any symptoms. I was devastated when I learned I couldn't see him. I drove over to the Hallmark shop across the street to purchase cards that could be delivered to him. 

I saw a display of beautiful blankets. The red and black buffalo plaid blanket caught my eye. Surely they would allow a blanket in his room. When we talked later I asked him if he liked his gift. He said, "Nice pajamas!". I explained it was a blanket, which he was excited about.

When he was moved to a regular room the blanket came with him. When he was transferred to Shoshone Medical Center the blanket traveled with him in the ambulance. The blanket is a symbol of Everett's last month of life. He fought hard to get better. He would snuggle with the blanket when he sat in a chair by the window waiting for Riley to visit at the window. 

It was part of the display honoring Everett at his celebration of life.

It is Riley's favorite blanket also when he lays at my feet.

It was part of our Christmas card last year. 

It will soon be part of our new Christmas card.

If you drive by my house you see this same red and black buffalo plaid as part of the decor outside to honor Everett. I think red and black buffalo plaid is my new favorite color!

Riley Learning to Wait

A few weeks ago a friend told me how much she enjoys seeing Riley in the window when she drives by. She asked me if I thought he was still looking for Everett. I had never thought about it. 

It was a confusing time for Riley last November. Everett wasn't home. I was gone frequently driving to the hospital in CdA and coming back and forth from the hospital in Kellogg. People reached out to help Riley.  He did a sleepover at Carol and Paul's. He enjoyed runs with Paul to go see Everett through the hospital window. He went and enjoyed quiet time and classical music with my brother Bill. He also spent many days at home waiting for us to come home.

Riley was a trooper. He was well-behaved and I never found destruction when I returned home. He was always so excited to see me. All of us that are pet owners often wish we knew what our animals were thinking. What was Riley thinking when Everett never came home? What did he think when I appeared sad when I came home?

I know this. He loved sleeping next to me on Everett's side of the bed. He wanted to lie at my feet when I arrived home. 

He gave me love and support during that month of November when I needed it most. He sat by me when I cheered on the Zags. When Everett left us on November 30th I could tell Riley missed him. We both miss him every day.

Everett's Memory Garden

Everett's Memory Garden in late summer.

 When Mom died my sister and I wanted to divide or dig up plants brother Bill might not want in Mom's garden beds. Mom had dug up plants from Grandma Woolum's garden and she got starts from other gardens. She also had plants gifted to her by family members. When I discussed with Everett where we should put these plants, he came up with the memory garden idea. He build the raised bed to match the others and Mom's Memory Garden is right out my window to remember Mom by. It has flourished and is one of my favorite gardens.

Mom's Memory Garden in late summer.

The first gift was a rose "Walking on Sunshine" from my P.E.O. sisters.

When Everett died it was late fall last year. I didn't even think about a memory garden for him. As gifts came in, many sent money or purchased a plant in his memory. That was when I began to plan his memory garden. During the winter I pondered where I would place it and what plants I would use. When spring arrived, I had a plan. I knew I would include roses, his favorite flower. 

My brother-in-law delivered the tub and filled it with garden soil.

I decided to use another galvanized container like the two that came from Mom's . I purchased a round tub. I knew I wanted mostly perennials, but also some annual flowers for pops of color all summer.  I also ordered a personalized stone to honor him.  I chose some plants, others were gifts. 

Everett was always fascinated with these solar light water cans. It was a perfect addition to the garden.

The garden flourished with very little care. The variety of flowers blooms up until frost and it provided a beautiful container of color in the corner of the yard.

When the annuals came out recently, I added two other plants. I planted tulips to bloom in the spring and lilies to add color in the summer. They are two of his favorites.  Now the garden is ready to for winter. I look forward to watching it flourish next year.

Putting the Gardens to Bed for Winter

 

Everett's Memory Garden is cleaned up and ready for winter.

Tonight I have a sore muscles and my hands are chapped. I came in covered with dirt and was cold. Then I discovered the power was off. No hot shower yet.  That didn't diminish my feeling of accomplishment. I finally got all my fall garden chores done and am ready to spread compost on all my beds and put them to bed for winter.

I filled the troughs with the already used potting soil from my hanging baskets. This trough is now planted with lilies and tulips for next spring and summer.

Perennials to winter over. 

I began to plan a new perennial garden in the back corner of the yard. I purchased plants when they were all fifty percent off. They are planted in the raised bed for the winter.

The chives will stay over the winter.

Lots of weeds were pulled !

It was a difficult growing year. I missed Everett's encouragement, jokes, and companionship. I learned how to do many chores by myself. I did have help with heavy lifting, mowing,and clean up. Then the hot weather came. I had to rearrange all my containers to keep them alive. Then came to smoke from the wildfires. It was frustrating when the smoke was so bad I couldn't go outside. 

Until the wind came up today it was such a pleasant day to work outside.

Riley was there to support me each and every day I worked on my fall chores. He reached his limit today. This is Riley giving me the ,"It's time to go for a run" look! Since the power was out we went for a run and I charged my phone and got warmed up in the car. Then I got a text from my brother informing me the power was back on. Whew! Hot shower and heating pad were waiting at home.

Learning To Cultivate a Creative Life. a guest post by Carol Roberts

 Learning To Cultivate a Creative Life

By Carol Roberts

Christy asked me to do a guest blog post on her blog last summer.  At one point she suggested I share about the new venture my husband Paul and I are jumping into this month.

Everyone is born with creativity.  We all have our own unique way of showing creativity.  Creativity does not have to be a visual art, or music, or writing.

You can be a creative cook.  You can be a creative mechanic.   You can be a creative parent.

But sometimes we get blocked.  The flow of our creativity has stopped.  Maybe no one ever pointed out what your creativity might be.

Paul and I are here to help creatives at every part of their journey.

Maybe you have some creative ideas, but you have never really explored doing more with those ideas.  We can give you some tools to help nurture your creative spirit.

Perhaps you are someone who nurtures their creative spirit off and on.  You get bursts of creativity, but then you stop for a while.  

There is also the creative person who has got in the habit of nurturing their creative spirit on a daily basis and is creating some really wonderful things.

And maybe you have created some wonderful things, but now need some help and encouragement to send that wonderful creative goodness out into the world and share it with others.

Whatever stage you are in, we are here to help.

And we believe God, The Creator of all things, is here to help you as well.

Yes, God cares about your creations.  If you are familiar with the Bible, the first chapter of the first book, Genesis, talks about In the beginning…..

During the creation of each day, God saw the goodness in His creation.

God saw the light was good.

God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas”, and God saw that it was good. 

God saw that the vegetation on the land was good.

God helped separate light from darkness, and it was good.

God created the animals, and it was good.

God created humans, and it was good.

God saw all He had made, and it was very good.

So now, for some of you, this next part might take a leap of faith.  Paul and I believe it with our whole heart.

In order to live the true creative life, you must engage God, The Great Creator, in discovering, and for some, recovering your creative powers.

You might have to be a bit open-minded to accept this concept.

Because creativity is a spiritual path.  You need to allow yourself to experiment with the idea that there might be a Great Creator and you might get some kind of use from it in freeing your own creativity.

Creativity is spiritual.  For some, allowing yourself to consider the idea that there is a Great Creator and that you might get help from it in freeing your creativity might be a little strange.

For Paul and I, we are Christians, and we see The Great Creator as the Christian God from the Bible.

But we also believe that God is so big, and so loving, and so wonderful, that He can work through people who don’t necessarily see God the way we do.

We believe you can refer to God as the universe, or a good flow, or a Higher Power.  It doesn’t really matter.  Because God is real, and God wants to help you create!!

Paul and I are also gardeners.  We combine gardening and creativity and use the garden theme to share our message of learning to cultivate a creative life.

If this sounds like something that you would like to be a part of, join us at Grow Me A Story.  If you sign up to be on our email list, you will always get an encouraging email about living a creative life on Monday, Paul’s blog post on Tuesday, and Carol’s blog post on Thursday.  

Lessons from Trees

 

“Learn character from trees, values from roots and change from leaves” - Tasneern Harneed

In the fall of the year I always take quite a few pictures of trees. There is something about the turning of the leaves, the shedding of the branches, and changes that take place. I love to photograph these trees.

During difficult days lately trees have brought me peace. If you are stressed or troubled, take time to study fall trees. Hopefully it will bring you peace also.

It Is More Than Just a Pickup

 

The day we purchased it.

When I remember Everett, I have good memories of his pickups.In the time I knew him he had three different Chevy pickups. He loved having a pickup. He could haul stuff, we could go off the grid on mountain roads, he could load firewood, and he could pull a camp trailer when we headed to a campground.

It took us to many favorite camp spots.

In the last few years he didn't need the pickup as much. I remember him saying though that "every family needs a pickup".  We agreed to keep it and we parked it with another family member so it was there to use to go to the dump, haul stuff, and help out the rest of the family. 

He loved his co-pilots

About a month ago someone in the family asked me if I was interested in selling the pickup. At first I thought, "What a great idea." Then I did some serious thinking. It wasn't safe. It needed new brakes, I hadn't driven it much so I didn't know if there were other mechanical issues. I had trouble sleeping that night as I tried to sort out what to do. Some time in the middle of the night it hit me. 

A man and his pickup

It is more than just a pickup. That 2004 Chevy Silverado pickup represented Everett. Then it came to me. I couldn't sell the pickup. I wanted the pickup back at 514. I wanted to be comforted by his memories when I looked out the front window. When the discussion came up at family dinner I tried to explain as best as I could to the family that it was more than just a pickup. As I continued to grieve his death, I wanted something to bring me comfort in my driveway.

The pickup had to provide help to other family members before it could come back to 514. Close to the end of the week we were able to take it to Silver Valley Tire to get a service job and make it safer with new brakes. 

The work gloves I found in the pouch in the backseat.

I got the call this afternoon I was waiting for. Your pickup is ready.. I hadn't driven the pickup in a long time. I just sat in the driver's seat and cried. I drove it home and checked all the doors and other places that Everett used to love to stuff stuff.  I found two pairs of worn work gloves . a missing green winter glove, change, Tic Tacs. and toothpicks. I found a grocery list he had written. I held each of these items close to my heart.

No matter how worn out they were, he never threw out a pair of work gloves.

Then Riley joined me. He caught a scent of  Everett and jumped from the front seat to back seat, grabbed the gloves, and felt his presence. We drove up to our favorite running spot. It was a happy day.

Tonight I feel so much more at peace. It is more than just a pick up. It is Everett. We needed to feel his presence today and during the days ahead right in our own driveway.