Tag: Friends

Here’s To Friends!

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 1 Comment

New Year’s Eve seems to be a time for paying tribute to our dear old friends, maybe because of Bobby Burns’ poem that’s come to be a standard New Year’s Eve song:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And the days of auld lang syne?
... We'll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne.

I came across an enjoyable poem by Edgar Guest where he pays tribute to a dear friend. Here’s part of it:

To An Old Friend

When we have lived our little lives
and wandered all their byways through,
when we’ve seen all that we shall see
and finished all that we must do,
when we shall take one backward look
off yonder where our journey ends,
I pray that you shall be as glad
as I shall be that we were friends.

When we have met all we shall meet
and know what destiny has planned,
I shall rejoice in that last hour
that I have known your friendly hand;
I shall go singing down the way
off yonder as my sun descends
as one who’s had a happy life,
made glorious by the best of friends.

From his book,  Collected Verse of Edgar A Guest
© 1934 by The Reilly & Lee Company

A Rosy Dawn

~ Christine Goodnough ~ Leave a comment

I wrote a few days ago about how my leukemia has been flaring up — my main symptom right now being fatigue. Which means I haven’t gotten into Christmas shopping mood, plus three of our grandchildren are upper teens. Gift certs work best. 🙂

Last Sunday we were wondering how this week would turn out, anyway, when we heard one of our elderly members — living in a nursing home half an hour away — was quite low. The family had been called together and we was a church were expecting a funeral announcement anytime. But the dear old gent rallied and the week went on as previously planned. The school children brought their Christmas programme Thursday night and our church youth group brought theirs last night. We enjoyed the two lovely evenings, listening to the Christmas story brought through songs and old familiar carols.

Took me awhile to fall asleep last night, so I didn’t get up until almost 9 am. Woke up feeling rather blue, partly because Christmas is coming and I’d just like to skip it. Grinch! Also, this morning again I’ve a tender lump in front of my right ear; I’m guessing it’s a CLL-affected lymph node. If I start getting lumpy lymph nodes I’ll have to get with the treatment. Which will likely be small stuff this time around; just one pill for the rest of my life.

Got up and read a text from the elderly gent’s family letting us know that their father died at 2am this morning. This will change Christmas week for a lot of people. He came from a large family, so a lot of nieces and nephews, plus he & his wife had seven children, so a lot of descendants. Plus he was a well known pastor. Condolences are pinging in steadily on WhatsApp.

Mr Hiebert was 91 in Sept, so led a good long life. A pastor for many of those years, he helped us a lot when we were sifting through many religious doctrines, searching for truth and a church home. As I said in my title, we had a lovely rosy dawn this morning. We trust our dear old friend enjoyed a rosy dawn in that land of eternal day.

Image: Peggychoucain — Pixabay

Grace

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 8 Comments

Our Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is GRACE.

As Martha, today’s prompter, writes, GRACE isn’t the easiest word to define. Still, M-W offers eight different definitions, some with three to five subs.

Grace is a NOUN describing physical grace as shown by APPEARANCE or MOVEMENT; or social grace as in CHARM or the ability to make others feel at ease; or showing FAVOR or APPROVAL–the disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency.

There’s divine or spiritual grace as in the MERCY or PARDON of God. As John Newton, a former slave ship captain and merchant of human lives wrote after his conversion: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!”

And then there’s GRACE the verb, meaning to confer dignity or honor on someone(s). The mayor graced us with his presence at our charity function. Also to ADORN or EMBELLISH: The finest bone china graced the dinner table.

When it comes to GRACE as it relates to us mortals, most of us can relate to the butterfly. Grace isn’t something we’re born with.


It takes time to develop. Some children may have natural tendencies to be careful or supple, but mostly grace is learned from the good example of others and by enforced daily practice. “Now say ‘Thank you” to Grandma, Carter.” “No, Sara. We do NOT say things like that in public!”


Grace usually takes serious effort on our part.


We all admire full-fledged graces.


Graceful people bless our lives. People who are kind, who respect your rights and your stuff. Folks who don’t walk on your floor with their muddy feet, who don’t grab the last cookies, who consider your feelings and don’t ask embarrassing questions, friends who don’t blab your secrets, flirt with your spouse, etc

Pixabay images:
Caterpillar: Virginia Costanzo
Cocoon: Kathysg
Chrysalis: Francesco Vignati
Monarch Butterfly: Dawn Howeth

The Weaver’s Shuttle

~ Christine Goodnough ~ Leave a comment

Our Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is DOORMAT. Well, there is snow on ours again this morning, and on our steps, and the lawn. Just a dusting, with light flakes still coming down.

When I got up just after 5pm and looked out on another white morning, a type of depression started to cloud my mind. You may have heard me say we’ll welcome any moisture here, however it comes, but I’ve had quite enough of snow for now. I contemplated crawling back into bed and pulling the covers over my head. However, that wouldn’t change the scene out my window so, rather than wimp out, I made myself a cup of coffee and faced this day. The temp at 6:30 is 1 C, so the snow won’t stay for long.

Shuttle of the Weaver

We had a dear friend, Nora Weaver, who passed away four months ago. Nora was no doormat. Though she had rheumatic fever as a child and was left with a damaged heart, she was an inspiration to all with her zest for life. Nora married Adam Weaver, they had five sons, and she carried on in her quiet way at their home in southern Pennsylvania. She loved homemaking, her family, church family, and gardening. Nora was known for her love of flowers. In her later years her weak heart gave her serious woes so she needed several major heart surgeries, plus she fought several bouts with cancer — the last one took her life. I trust she is at peace now in a much better place.

Her husband decided to fill some of his quiet hours at home by starting a blog. He needed to take several years off to care for Nora, but now he’s back to driving a motor coach for the Old Order people there in PA, so he’s calling his blog THE SHUTTLE OF THE WEAVER. Yesterday he writes about taking a group of Old Order Amish school children to the Ephrata Cloister. You can read his post here.

Like me, Adam was born in 1953. However, we came from totally different worlds. Adam and Nora grew up Old Order Mennonite — the “horse & buggy people” — whereas I grew up a city girl, living with my aunt & uncle in Saskatoon. My five siblings lived with my parents near Melfort, SK, two hours away. None of us had nothing to do with church. So it’s amazing in a way that, as adults, Adam & Nora, Bob & I, have joined the same Mennonite church and became good friends.

The weather’s still damp and chilly and the sky is slate gray, but reading a few of Adam’s blog posts has cheered me up. Now I’ll see how other bloggers have responded to this prompt, then get on with my day. 🙂

Up, Off, and Back Again

~ Christine Goodnough ~ 5 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is the simple word OFF.

My first thought was of the way we English speakers use prepositions to add new meaning to verbs. So this little sort-of-tale will be my response to this prompt.

Blow up
Tell off
Tear up
Stomp off
Sober up
Cool down
Think through
Grieve for
‘Fess up
Make up
Work out
Carry on

My dear hubby told me yesterday that he’s having trouble adding an image to his post, so I’ll give it a try. (No problems here.) We’re finding that Word Press has been throwing some wrenches in our gears lately. How about you?

This photo comes from Pixabay, submitted by Steve Buissinne. The words are my adaptation of an old quote.