A Little Glimpse of Heaven

My oldest son, a senior in high school, was typing up some poetry for his friend whose computer was down. He happened to leave it up on the pc and I found it. Completely disrespecting their privacy (that falls under the “Do as I say, not as I do” rule), I read the screen. Something about this poem touched me and made me cry. I can only assume he was talking about memories of the good times and love he shared with his family before he became an independent teenager, that time of childhood innocence.

Perfection

Take me back to the place
Where time moved so slowly.
A time that was so perfect
That it easily could be mistaken for heaven.
A time so dear, yet so far away from me now.

Can I ever return?
Would it be the same to me now?
Though I realize I can never return,
I know that I will never forget the memories
Of my brief encounter of heaven.

By Chris Fishel

How well I remember my time of childhood innocence. A time without responsibilities, when I was the apple of my Father’s eye and all of my grandparents were still living. You are always extra special in your grandparent’s eyes.

Some years my dad would have a great big hot dog roast for my birthday and all my cousins would come over. My birthday is in the summer and we would have such a great time together playing in the sprinkler. I truly lived in the country then, with dirt roads, halter-tops, and barefeet all summer. The woods bordered 2 sides of our house and there were even chickens and horses behind us. We had ducks and dogs and all too frequently come upon snakes in the yard.

So yes, I can remember heaven on earth. I only hope my own children will recall there were some great times that nothing material will ever replace. All my grandparents are gone now, and my parents are far away –even detached from my present life. I’m hoping to find that perfect feeling again, even if it is only for a moment.

Thank you, Chris, for allowing me to post your poem, for pricking my hard heart and making me feel again, and remember the ones I loved long ago. It is still bringing tears to my eyes now. I’m so glad you also had heaven on earth.

~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beginnings

Many say the hardest part of writing a story is the beginning.
So many influences shape our lives.

There are so many thoughts swirling around my mind and heart, it difficult to choose where to start. Maybe I’ll start at the center of my life - home, and work out from there, to my other interests and hobbies and travels.

All of you in the blogging community have been a real inspiration to me. My first photo blog, http://yadkinvalleyhome.wordpress.com/ was a starting point to express myself sharing photos of our recent travels. Now, maybe I’ll be brave enough to write about the thoughts in my heart. In the beginning, joining an online community was really trying to find a safe place for my mind to land. I get obsessed with things too easily and can’t seem to let them go. So, for distraction sake, I joined Facebook. It’s a great place to connect with friends, but not such a great creative outlet.

That’s when my photoblog became a place to test the waters. In a few short months, I’ve met several other bloggers and have lots of regular traffic. One of the fun parts is finding out all the countries my fellow bloggers come from. How amazing to be reaching around the whole world. It’s so inspiring to see their point of view on their surroundings, and to get glimpses into their lives, and to see their children.

My last entry showed some of my backyard and a farm nearby. We have been working feverishly for a couple of weeks to get ready for a party for my son’s high school graduation. My husband started adding on a dinning room and screen porch about a year ago, and is finally finishing up. I can’t wait to grill out on the deck and have supper in the screen porch while listening to the birds at sunset. Hopefully I’ll have some photos of the finished product very soon.

Home is where they love you!

We live in rural Davie County, North Carolina. That is just west of Winston-Salem in the Piedmont. We are surrounded by such beauty. The mountains are only an hour away, but we have several natural features closer to home as well. This baby colt and his mother live on a large farm a few miles down the road. Davie County has lots of pasturland with horses and cows. A few farmers raise sheep, and there is atleast one ostrich farm.

This is my backyard and the arbor my husband made for my birthday years ago. We brought it with us when we moved here.

Here is one of our resident goldfinches. It has been raining this morning, but the birds like it. This spring has had an over-abundance of rain for this area.

We are adding a screen porch and deck to the back of our house, so we can enjoy the birds and shade trees. Once we are finished, I'll post some before and after photos.

~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A New Blog

This is the beginning of a new blog for me -with words.

In February of this year, I started a photoblog @ http://yadkinvalleyhome.wordpress.com/.

This has been where I've posted photos of places we have visited this year and last. We love visiting waterfalls in the mountains of NC, GA, SC, and VA.

This has been very fulfilling to me to be able to share part of myself on the web. Now, as I am getting to know several other bloggers, I would also like to share thoughts. Please be patient as I figure out how to use the set-ups on blogspot.

~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~