Thirty Days Hath September........

As I age, it seems to me that time seems to fly by faster and faster. "Only six months until Christmas", announced the radio guy, on my way to work this morning. I'm thinking....what on earth happened to the first half of 2018?
So, here's what I can recall about 2018, six months into the year. Around the middle of January, I gave up on my New Year's Resolutions........ whatever they were. Then, in February we had some really cold weather. In March, St. Patrick's Day came and went. In April, I mailed a lot of IRS Tax returns. May, was pretty busy, but I can't remember anything about what happened, except a very pleasant Mother's Day.
Now here we are in late June. We've already had a pack of 100 degree days, all the summer I need, and Flag Day.
But it all went by, so fast, and before I know it we will be decorating our Christmas Trees.
And, then Happy 2019!

Great and Gracious God. Show us how to slow down and enjoy this short time that we have on this Earth. We are truly blessed.

Going Postal....again.

In the past few months, I have been faced with a new type of demand. Apparently, all delivery agents, in this fair country, have developed a new kind of phone APP, that allows folks to check on the delivery status of their on-line purchases. Well, on the surface, this seems like an excellent idea.
It's not. No, it's not. Lord Almighty, it's not!
Since this electronic light-bulb became readily accessible, my life has taken a whole new turn....for the worse! Residents, their children, their friends and even their lawyers are all demanding of me, the lowly concierge, "Where is my package?"
I look around, everywhere near the postal room. I look on my counter. I look on the counter at the main desk. I look under the counters. Often times, the package is nowhere to be found.
The residents, their children, friends and lawyers all respond, "Well, it says right here (as they menacingly wave their phones at me) the package was delivered today."
I try to explain, although they don't listen, that their APP is wrong. The package may have been delivered to the UPS, USPS, FedEx or Amazon dock, or it may be on a truck, somewhere between God only knows where, and here, but it is not here.
I am the bad guy. The phone isn't wrong, I am.
But, what do you know? In a couple of days, the package shows up. Life is good. Delivery time, like all time, is relative.

Great and all powerful Lord. Patience is a virtue, but patience is sometimes hard to come by. Teach us patience and mercy, for all of God's creatures. We know that we must wait upon the Lord, but show us how to wait on others.

Triple Crown

I grew up in a household of girls. My husband grew up with only brothers. As you can imagine, we played with different toys, as children, due to what was considered "gender appropriate", for the era.

However, one toy that both of our 50's and 60's households shared, was a simple horse racing game.

We both remember that the game was housed in a rather narrow, flat box. There was a metal "spinner" that showed which horse made a move forward. The plastic horses stayed in slots, that ran the length of the box, and each individual player got to chose which horse represented him or her. The winner, of the race, was the horse that reached the end of the box, first. We agreed that both of our families enjoyed playing that simple little game.

One thing, on which we could not agree, were the horse's names. We toyed (bad pun) around with Whirlaway, Man O'War, Citation, Gallant Fox and Native Dancer. But then we remembered Twenty Grand and Sea Biscuit, All great horses, but too many names for the little game. There were, at tops, only four or maybe five horses.

I did a bit of computer research and made an interesting discovery. The original game had a copyright date of 1938. The manufacturer was named Whitman. Over the years, various horse names were added or subtracted. So depending what year your game was made, only the most popular horses, the real life winners, were the racers.

So, maybe the two families had different versions of the game. We will never know.

Nice memories.

Good and Gracious Lord. We thank you for our long lives and for the memories we hold dear. We are so blessed. Your steadfast love endures forever.

Big Things/Small Packages

One of the cleverest Brand Names to ever hit the market, has to be that little package (Do you remember when it cost a nickel?) of flavored drink powder. As a kid, it was my drink of choice. All the moms served it and according to the advertisements, it was "a great source of Vitamin C". I loved making it.....the more sugar the better!
The Kool-Aid name was coined in 1927, by Edwin Perkins, who worked for Kraft Foods. How clever was he? Kool.....because it was served with iced and it kept us cool, and Aid, has to be a play on lemon"ade". Lemonade was such an old-fashioned drink! But, Kool-Aid, was so modern!
Best name ever! "Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid, tastes great. You'll love Kool-Aid, can't wait."
My favorite flavor was Grape. What was your favorite? I haven't had a drink of Kool-Aid, in years. Probably, since that big pitcher became the spokes-thing. However, it may be time to take a little ride to the grocery store. Time for a small package, with the big taste from the past.

Gracious God. Why can't we be more thankful for the small joys that we have in life?. We are always looking for the next big thing. Good things can be very small. Show us how to be more grateful. Slow us down and help us to enjoy the small things in life.