"Brown paper packages, tied up with strings."

 Feeling slightly akin to Julie Andrews, aka Marie von Trapp, this morning. My thoughts are leaning toward listing a few of "My Favorite Things":

• Day trips to known and unknown spots around home base. Nothing even stays the same, you know, and even the most familiar of places, never fails to treat me to something new and exciting. 
• Time spent with friends and relatives. A visit, like this can involve a job, sight seeing or just a chat in a familiar living room. All of which I enjoy.
• Eating in a familiar restaurant. Recently we went to one, that I remember from the early days of my childhood. I treasured every greasy bite.
• Car travel that includes listening to the Oldies and singing along with nearly all of the lyrics...."yeah, yeah, yeah". Yes, I do realize that this can be annoying to the folks traveling with me. 
• Talking and meeting new folks. Here is where you get to learn and sometimes teach. 
• And, of course, it is most important, that there should be accompanying you, someone who will share your travels, appreciates your choices in travel and actually chooses to accompany you.

My closest friends and I honor our departed friend Jim, with one of his favorite sayings...."Get out there in it." 

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 Holy Lord. Life is indeed a journey. We praise your leadership and honor your guidance

 along our path.

 

 

".....drift by my window."

 

 After a brief cool spell, a Faux Fall, if you will, we are experiencing our usual warm Autumn weather. Our house is decorated with my extensive collection of ceramic, crocheted and papier mache' pumpkins. The "mums" are flourishing in pots outside and although the trees are not in full color, they are starting to turn a bit.  Almost everyone's "favorite season" is officially here in the Midwest.

However, there are some folks who really do not appreciate (can you even imagine?) the changing weather. Yesterday, I encountered a woman visitor at the Museum (my volunteer job), wearing a lovely fall themed sweatshirt. I complemented her and she replied, thanking me and pointing out that she wished that the weather was a bit more seasonal (cooler). It wasn't exactly sweatshirt weather, and she was too warm!

Later in the afternoon, I encountered the same woman. She was very upset. It seems our Museum was too cold and she had be forced to make two trips to her car to warm up. Honestly, I did not know how to reply to her statement, so I just nodded. And actually, I don't think she really expected me to fix her issue, she was just complaining.

Unfortunately, it's just impossible to please everybody. But as we often say, here in the Heartland, when all other words fail.......there you go.

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Lord, help us to be more helpful, more positive, more thoughtful, more caring. and reasonable.

 

"A Long time Ago, in a Galaxy ...."

I had a type of flash-back moment this morning. I want to share it with you. Today, a Space X Rocket was successfully launched that put 26 communications satellites into orbit. And, if that wasn't enough, in the near future the rocket and boosters will be recovered and reused for future launches.

Remarkable naturally, because I'm so old that I remember the first rocket launch, ever televised....or at least televised to a bunch of school kids, in 1958. Picture this.....a hundred or so 4th to 9th graders, sitting on the floor in the Lakeside School cafeteria, watching ONE, moderately sized, TV set. The black and white, kinda fuzzy image of a rocket being sent into "space". Ladies and gentlemen, it was mesmerizing. Certainly a monumental event. A couple of years later, on the same cold floor, we saw Alan Shepherd, become the first American, to go into "space". Big stuff. The Space Race was on!!!!

I'd like to say, that we all get the same excitement from such NEW stuff today. Unfortunately, we've become our parents and grandparents. We're skeptical of the innovative. We don't like change. I suppose we can't hep it, but oh, to have that wide-eyed wonder of the amazing again. It would be glorious.

Instead, I often hear statements from my contemporaries like..."I would never own a "self-driving" electric car. I want to be in control."(Okay. Your eyesight is poor, your knees don't work and you couldn't make a split-second decision to save your life....but you still want to manually drive your 15 year old, gas guzzling buggy!). Remember we all used to drive stick shifts, but we got over that!!! Or,  "I refuse to shop at Walmart, because it's ruined local shop ownership." (The corner grocery, is long gone, folks...... and we all like cheap stuff.) 

We say "change is difficult", especially as we age. Why is that? Our bodies change, why can't our minds do the same? Embrace change, my friends.  C'est la vie.

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                                           Lord, You are the only Constant we really need. 

 

 

"The proof is in the pudding".

 I'm going to confess something. I have a slight addiction to recipe videos. I'm admitting that, not only do I watch them, I waltz into the kitchen and actually attempt to recreate the culinary feat, just observed. 

I am particularly attracted to simple recipes. My favorites are the "three ingredient" desserts and casseroles. I like to keep extra boxes of cake mix, cans, etc. in the pantry, because most of the recipes, that interest me, include pre-made ingredients. Measuring is essentially "too exact" a science for me.

The videos always begin with the cook pouring the box's ingredients into a bowl. That makes me laugh, because the cook almost always dumps the paper lining into the bowl, along with the mix. I mean, how stupid are they? Don't they ever rehearse? Everyone who has even used a box mix knows that that the paper liner is in there, and it's going to fall out!

In the next shot, the liner has been removed. You never see the cook actually remove it, but it's always gone. The video continues. Now, if the recipe calls for sweetened condensed milk, the video then shows the cook, pouring the contents of the can into the mixing bowl. It's always a slow, sensual pour. Again, anyone who has ever opened a can of sweetened condensed milk knows that half of the sticky contents of the can, will not "pour" out of the can. Your have to scrape the goo out of the can, lick your fingers, and scrape some more, before the can is empty.  

Continuing along. Ingredients mixed, I watch them attempt to pour the mixture into the pre-prepared baking dishes or cupcake liners. Maybe an assistant does the prepping beforehand. The video never shows where the cook sprayed Pam on the counter missing the cake pan, the flour that accidentally got dropped on the floor or the contents of the cupcake liner container that spilled liners all over the countertop.

Well, the results are always worth the wait. Perfectly rounded, equally filled cupcakes. Evenly balanced cake-to-filling sheet cakes. That's what happened in the video....., not exactly what came out of my oven.

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Dear Lord. We all try to be good stewards of Your Blessings. Some of us succeed better than others. Guide us and show us Your way along life's path.

 

 

Lessons Learned

Just having had yet another milestone birthday, I have decided it's time to reflect on my "Philosophy of Life".

• Aches and Pains......Quoting my mother....."If it hurts when you do that....Don't do it!"
• Denying myself little pleasures and treats....(Like flavored coffee creamer and red shoes) Buy them....now. How many more chances are you going to have? 
• Opinions........no one, but you, really cares about Your opinion. If you attempt to offer it, prepare for rejection.
• Emotions......not worth hiding. If it makes you happy, laugh. If it makes you sad, cry. (Although, I sometimes cry, when I'm really happy.) 
• Fashion.....just wear something. No one remembers what you wore yesterday, or a week ago, or ten years ago. Get dressed. Leaving the house naked is not an option.
• Innovation.......Every day, try something new and maybe a bit scary. It probably won't hurt. It might, but at least you tried it, once. Regret is more often a result of what you Haven't done, not what you Have done.
• Fatigue......take a nap.You won't be missed. And, a true friend will never judge you. 
• Worry.......it doesn't do any good and your worrying annoys everybody (even those that you worry about).
• Hug people....if you think about it and then decide not to do it.........you've missed a chance to make someone feel loved.
• Tomorrow is not promised. 
• Pray 

Most of these thoughts have developed over the long years of my life. Some occurred yesterday. One or two just today.

 Nancy Keller Kincaid 

       9/24/26 

" Up at Lawrence on the Kaw"

 

Whilst (I love this word and I use it when I can. It's archaic and it's the perfect word to draw attention to some equally archaic fact, I can't wait to divulge) driving by the city of Lawrence, Kansas, I mentioned the infamous raid of William Quantrill. Well, the person to which I was addressing my comments, in spite of being a Kansas Native, knew nothing of Quantrill's Raid, or so he said. Frankly, as soon as I opened my mouth, I realized that he didn't care to hear any of the historical knowledge that I was about to impart. But, I proceeded anyway.

Back in the Civil War Era, William Quantrill, was a pro-Confederate sympathizer from Missouri. In the early morning hours of August 21st, 1863, he and 400-450, of his mounted Missouri "Bushwackers" raided and ransacked the border town of Lawrence, Kansas. Included in his group, were the future outlaws Frank (age 14) and Jesse (16) James. Lawrence was their target, because it had been settled in the pre-war years by pro-abolitionist folk from the Northern U.S. They were "Free Staters", settling in Kansas to make it a Slave-Free State. Their attack was in retaliation for raids into Missouri, by Union-sympathizer "Jayhawkers", and a jail collapse in Kansas City.

Anyway, the raiders succeeded in killing around 180-200 men and boys, burning their bodies and most of the town. Dozens of women were left widows and their children, fatherless. The raid caused around $2,000,000 in damage. Two of the preachers in town survived, and one of them the Rev. Richard Cordley, wrote two books about the event. If you are interested, check out his book, Pioneer Days in Kansas, it's a good read, and a rare first-person account of the event.

Now, I hope you've enjoyed this history lesson. At least, you will be knowledgeable about the term "Border War" (usually used in reference to those Odious Missouri Tigers, playing the Glorious Kansas Jayhawks, in sports). You'll know from whence the rivalry started.......and continues.

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Lord, You are All-Knowing. We are not. Life is Ever-changing and we should be Ever-growing in  Knowledge and Understanding. Teach us to be kind. Help us to understand the needs of others.

 

 

Quantrill's Raid

 

Mobility Issues .....

 

Since returning three years ago, to reside once again in the state of my birth, I find myself musing, more and more about my youth, in the great state of Kansas. 

We were a "bike riding" bunch of kids, between ages 8-14. We rode everywhere we wanted to go. No one asked their folks for a ride and no moms ever had to organize carpools. My friends and I were our own activity planners. Three or four of us would ride our bikes to school, the movie theater, the public swimming pool, the library, local parks and each other's houses for entertainment. If we had been so inclined we could have ridden from one end of town to the other and back, in about an hour's time. But we never did, because there was always something interesting to do, along the way.

There were no designated "Bike Lanes", in ancient history. I don't recall any really awful accidents involving bicycles, in my youth. I'm sure there were some, but for the most part we traversed the town using the side streets and alleys. It worked. We were mobile and we watched out for any traffic that would impeded our progress. Perhaps we were aware of the traffic rules......and just maybe we were incredibly lucky!

Things changed, when we all turned 14. In Kansas, believe it or not, a legal Drivers License could be attained at the ripe old age of 14. Now that I am older and wiser, it occurs to me that no 14 year old has any business, behind the steering wheel of a car. But, I did it and so did most of my friends. However, only one of my girlfriends and a couple of boys had their own cars. The rest of us had to get in line to "borrow" the family car, because we certainly to "old" to be riding bikes!

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 Dear Lord. We all have our ages and stages. Aging isn't easy, but one of the many joys we have, hopefully, is remembering the good times. Thank you for staying with us, along our journey through life.