Helen was on cloud duty when we brought Ev home the other day.

Helen likes to make it clear that she is not just Ethan's godmother, so to speak. She loves them all and she loves that we can have the conversations that we have on the road and in the house.

It looked like she had worked some of the wood carving that Evvy had in school, because the sprawl that she usually scribbles were perfectly formed block letters, as if on a line. She set up a board, very much like the board that I have for the babies to talk about the weather, in my class. LIFE and then a big tree, like the trees that I have on my board and the two of us lying underneath looking up at the tree, like little girls. So now I know that she doesn't call it the tree of life, but LIFE Tree. That is our new code, when she has cloud duty. Don't lose focus on that, she said. One thing is in our view, LIFE tree or tree of life, on my side.

It was a dark night and I was waiting for my husband to come out of work...

2 in the morning is not usually the time that you see people on the street.  I was surprised to see a street-cleaner outside at that time of night.   He was out there, though.  There was never telling how long my husband would be finished the last touches on his project.  I might as well strike up a conversation.

So, I got out of the car and walked over to the church to see what was happening, at that time of the night.

Surprise was not the word at the view, when I got over there.  It was Clarence Day Sr. on his hands and knees.  He turned to me and I could see the steps that led all the way into heaven were behind him.  You are working very hard on those stairs, I admired.  This is how the Lord wants them kept, he responded, not even stopping for a second to look at me.

Those were the steps to heaven?   Why would he be cleaning them?  Where were the rest of the people in heaven?  lots of questions remained from that moment of enjoyment with a soul whose "rest was won!"

Happy Easter!

Yesterday, three key things and themes came together!

Helen's trumpet blast was enormous and complete at the edge of the horizon, followed by a nearly cloudless sky, which it of course a "no nonsense" day. All of the blooms of the tree were in full bloom, outside our window. Three great butterflies came very close to me, one touched me on the way inside with the children. We saw a lizard outside the window on the bannister of the ramp and he blew out his red throat. I had certainly never seen that before. and Natty took her shoelace out of her shoe, completely. That takes some dexterity for such a little one. Loosing velcro is not an exercise, but loosing the shoelace from the shoe takes some doing.

These are not my children, but I have grown very accustomed to their growing faces. I have seen them from infancy into toddlerhood. Somehow it is as though, I looked up at a night sky and saw the bunny ears of a cloud and it became the cloth bunny in the picture of Helen and her mother above. It seems I stuck my hand into the bunny ears and here I am, wrestling with a bunch of delightful cherubs who are learning and growing in my daily care. I know its' fleeting virtue, for my manifold experience and still I invest this tiny part of my heart that is left, in the hopes that the dividends will reinvest themselves in me, this country and the earth, the good earth.

Oh Tigger!

Whatever possessed you to enter the Australian Open, like that, Tigger, said Christopher Robin, when everybody was counted and upright. Tiggers love a challenge was Tiggers breathless response. That is more than a challenge, Tigger, do you realize that we couldn't pick your pieces up from the asphalt, if Serena had splattered you there. I know now. And with that Tigger was bouncing off to another court. The whole crew of them followed as fast as they could to make sure that Tigger hadn't another adventure like that in mind.

Whew!, said Tigger, as he lay on the line of print below him.

Tiggers don't like pretending to be a tennis ball at the Australian Open...Serena was about to splatter me onto the asphalt surface. Thankfully the line of type caught me, just in time. Can you get me down, Christopher Robin. Christopher called the narrator and he, thoughtfully bent the page, so that Tigger could slide down the type to get Tigger out of his dilemma.

Tigger at the Australian Open

It was a delightful sunny day. All was set to have Serena win her record Grand Slam.The sun was shining and the birds were singing, but Winnie and Tigger were planning a practical joke on Serena.

Being a bear of very little brain, it couldnt be but so extravagant of a practical joke.
     The meeting for the planning was well attended, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Rabbit were all on time and Owl and Tigger were expected to slam the meeting, after it had begun.  They had read the minutes of a prior meeting, although no one had remembered having a prior meeting, there in Australia... They couldnt find a Beech Tree to meet in and they had stowed away on an airplane.They had to sit underneath a Eucalyptus tree, which smelled very strong and was making Pooh think of honey. They had a very hungry looking Koala looking in their direction during the meeting, which made them all consider a different location to discuss their plans.  Where do they keep the Heffalumps and Woozles here in Australia, they all wondered?