About Gifts

Steven Guy DeRemer

Gifts can come in unexpected ways.  Some gifts may not be brand new, they may not be in perfect shape and they might need some extra attention to bring them back to a usable condition.  Most often those gifts are the most meaningful.

I was given such a gift, it was small, well used and broken.  And I nearly cried that it was given to me, the depth of the meaning is too much to explain how it touched my heart and yet it needs to be recorded and celebrated in some way. I can't let the importance of this gift be lost.

My wonderful hubby and I went to Texas this fall, to again connect with my DeRemer family.  The family of which I write was found only two and a half years ago, I feel as if I have known them forever, I have been so blessed by their love and acceptance.  I'm meandering again......   One evening in November, we sat around the table with my brother Mike and his wife Jeanne, just talking and catching up on life.  At one point Mike left the table and came back with the collection of Dads pipes. He, Mark and Mitch had divided up Dads pipes a year previous. Mike had four complete pipes, two straight stemmed pipes and two with curved stems.   He also had three well used pipe bowls that no longer had stems.  Of these three pipe bowls, Mike wanted me to have one to take home.

~The Gift~
My Fathers Pipe

 I picked one that had some carving on it, the inside was charred and crusted from many smokes.  I was holding a piece of something my father cradled in his own hands, packing, tamping and smoking.  I knew the stem was probably gone because it was a well used pipe and had broken after many, many hours of smoking.

I came home and immediately wanted to have it fixed.  Being a little naive, I thought I could just walk into a pipe/smoke shop and pick up a stem.  It doesn't work like that, they send them out for repair, they need to be fitted properly to each pipe.

When the shop owner told me it would be sent to Pennsylvania and could take two or three weeks. I clung to the pipe bowl in my hand, not wanting to let it go, I had only just gotten it and now they have to send it off.  I was torn, I didn't want to leave it and yet I wanted to get it fixed.  About that time the man behind the counter said, "This must be a very special pipe."  "Well, yes!" I was thinking.  Then he said, "It must have belonged to your Father."  Again I thought, "Well, yes!" Just hearing those statements brought me to near tears, as most of you know, my birth Father, passed away in 2011, just after I'd found him, he had been instrumental in leading me to Mike and the connection to the rest of the family in Texas.

I know I must leave the pipe, meanwhile being assured, in thirty years they had never lost a pipe. It was all I could do to answer questions about my address and phone number, I was on the edge and tears were slowing filling up my eyes, they would spill over at the least provocation.  I had to be away from that man behind the counter, he was reading me too easily.  With a lump in my throat and eyes filled to the brim, my wonderful hubby and I walked away to smell the different tobacco blends and look at pipes that were for sale.  Before we left the owner, the same man that had been behind the counter, came out and began to talk to my wonderful hubby again.  I had managed to compose myself and could actually join in the conversation, we talked about art and some other interesting things we found we had in common.  

A couple weeks later I called about the pipe, expecting it to be back in their shop before Christmas.  The lady that answered the phone put me on hold and was gone for some time.  She then came back and said she'd have to call me back.  Now I'm just a little nervous, questions of "Why can't they find my pipe filled my thoughts!".  She calls back and said that she discovered that the pipe never left the store, that the owner himself was fixing my pipe, that he knew how important it was to me and he decided not to send it out and that it would be ready before Christmas.

The day before Christmas I get the call that the pipe is finished.  I had just been emailing with Jeanne in Texas and mentioned the pipe was done.  Since it was the day before Christmas, I was pretty busy, I really wanted to go over and thank the owner, but just couldn't fit it into the day.  I was hoping when Richard came home he would run over and pick up the pipe for me.

Wonderful hubby comes home and says he'd pick it up but that I should go along.  He was pretty insistent.  We also knew the owner wouldn't be there until late in the day, I concluded, if the owner isn't there it would be a waste of my time to go, it was Christmas Eve after-all.  And he was the person I needed to see.  Then wonderful hubby tells me he has had a couple long distant calls and he knew there was no charge for the repair.  I ask him how he knows this, he tells me he had talked with Jeanne in Texas and that she had called the shop and wanted to pay for the repair as a Christmas gift to me from my brother. Okay, my heart is melting and I might cry just typing this. 

1. Jeanne StarrTuesday, December 31, 2013

   As much as we would have loved to have gifted the pipe repair to you we have to mention that repair was of no charge. The shop told us there was no charge. We asked how could this be and he said the owner said to tell us Merry Christmas!
   God is good! The DeRemer family is blessed.

   ReplyDelete
2. Cynthia McDonaldTuesday, December 31, 2013

   I guess I did leave that special part out, thanks Jeanne. Yes, the owner of the shop had fixed my Dads pipe and didn't plan on charging me for the repair. Who does such nice things anymore? Yes, God is good, and the DeRemer family is a blessing. :D
   I am hoping to go visit the owner of the pipe shop very soon, I have a little surprise of my own for him.

There are so many loving acts of kindness in this story, that I am overwhelmed.   All of these little treasured surprises can never be calculated, they are priceless, each thing that happened was surrounded with love and a giving heart.

I have to think that Dad is up there, looking down, smiling on all of us, orchestrating all of these events and sending us messages of love through this special gift, a small, used, broken pipe. Thank you Daddy, for everything.


  

Being Consumed...

       



BEING CONSUMED......

Sitting in my garden this day, 

I wonder just how long I should stay.

The tendrils of vines are reaching my way.

Hoping to catch me in their clutches today.

The rain this summer has caused them to grow,

beyond anything I seemed to understand or know.

They are climbing the trees and porch posts,

to heaven they reach and climb and go..........

I wonder if I were not here and the tendrils had their way,

would they find themselves covering my house, the

windows and the doors? 

Would they climb the chimney and over the roof?

At this moment I fear I mustn't sit to stay.

The vines are taking over, I can almost hear them laughing, 

I can't be sure, I'd better get to pruning 

or they may soon be attacking!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Cynthia (DeRemer) McDonald  -  June 2013

Losing A Faithful Dog

Jessie,  1999 - 2013

We knew it was coming, our rescue lab Jessie, was fourteen this year, she had not been well for the last month.  It seemed to happen suddenly and yet the signs were always there.  She had grey hair around her muzzle and on her eyebrows, her breathing was labored and cataracts were starting to cloud her vision.  Hearing was bad too.  And yet we refused to believe that her time with us would come to an end.  Only when she began to ignore her food, which she LOVED, did we start seeing the bigger picture.  She lost weight, at times seemed weak and even sad.  So we bought soft dog food, a treat that sometimes she would eat and other times walk away from.

During the her last month, she rallied many times.  As always she kept a close eye on me while I mowed.  I tried to sneak away to check bluebird boxes in the horse pasture and here she would come, checking on me and things hiding in the grasses.  I would give her a ride on the gator home when she got out that far.  She looked at me with grateful eyes.

She came to us quite by accident.  I worked for a veterinarian at the time, probably not a good place for an animal lover, I was always bringing home critters.  Once a pair of love-birds, cats and then a stray lab that had come in to be spayed.  She was very beautiful, soft eyes and still young, although she'd had a litter of puppies by then.  I brought her home in the front seat of the car that day, she looked like she belonged there, quietly happy.  The next day her sedation was totally worn off and I realized she was still a puppy herself!  

She followed me everywhere, once she was following my bluebird trail while I checked boxes.  The trail took her more than a half a mile from home in the hottest part of the day, I had to load her on the three wheeler I was riding to bring her home because she was so hot.  I rolled her over and sprayed cold water on her belly and she thought I was GOD himself.  She loved her belly being sprayed when it was hot and humid.

Jessie's hunting buddy, Gabby

She became a house dog under my protest, but as a stray we couldn't trust her to stay in the barn at night.  And our other old dog at the time was living in the house because of her age, so my girls thought I was being unfair to Jessie by leaving her outside!  Well, a house dog she was her entire life.  I lived with (and hated) the dog hair and the wet dog smell when she came in from hunting in the pasture for mice and whatever.  She and our little terrier, Gabby, who is now 15 years old, loved to go hunting together in the mornings.  I think Jessie was the sniffer and Gabby the pouncer.  They were quite the team out in the field!

She also love sleeping in the tipi with me, always on guard, often fleeing from the tipi in the middle of the night to investigate some noise in the darkness.  She was faithful and loving to the end.

This morning I forced her to get up and go outside.  Her breath was very labored and she was having issues controlling her bowels.  At one thirty last night I was cleaning up vomit and poop.  (My gag reflex is working well!)  Richard and I talked about putting her down and agreed that her quality of life was rapidly going down hill.  This is the hardest thing in the world to do, making this decision about another's life.  We talked about a grave place, having our son help dig the resting place and I called the vet.  Everything was set.

When Jessie went outside this morning, she headed for the flower beds and lay down.  Not a good sign, dogs often like to go off and be alone when the time is near.  I watched her labored breathing, convinced myself I was making the right decision by calling the vet.   I went to her, stroked her soft ears and talked to her, telling her it was okay to go, that she would feel much better by leaving, giving her permission........   I also ask that she tell all the other critters we have watched pass from this world into spirit world, that we missed them and were sending love with Jessie.  Don't you know she passed quietly right before my eyes.  I have lost yet another faithful dog and my heart hurts today.

It's Summer Now, Because...........

Last weekend was Memorial Day Weekend.  My wonderful hubby and I took off on our Harley Blue and traveled to the Cleveland area to visit friends.  We decided also to go into Amish country and stay the night after our visit with friends.  It was so much fun, checking out different countryside, the sun was shining but it was still on the cool side, the further north we went the cooler it became.  We were prepared, I could plug in my windbreaker anytime I wanted to get warm and wonderful hubby had his leather chaps and coat.  

My mind tends to think of things while riding, I wish I could immediately write down some of my thoughts.  My thoughts are as fleeting as the wind that rushes past as we travel down the two lane roads of Ohio sometimes.  I have written numerous blogs in my mind, only to lose them in the wind.

This one stayed with me the entire weekend, because I kept being reminded of things I remember growing up, things that seemed to have been forgotten and suddenly remembered because of a scent, a glimpse or a sound and it all comes flooding back.

IT'S SUMMER NOW, because..............

It is Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as I remember calling it while growing up.
           A time to honor our Veterans who were buried in cemeteries across the country, who served        to keep us free.

American Flags fly from houses, streetlamps, flagpoles and they decorate cemeteries.

Cemeteries are visited and the flowers brighten the landscape of headstones.

Parades are held in every small town, holding up traffic because the town streets are closed.

Firetrucks, bands and Honor Guards march and people line the streets to watch, waving their own hand held flags.

Children are on bicycles, some are even decorated.

Swimming pools are opened and chlorine is in the air.

Campgrounds are full of tents and RV's.

Lawn chairs circle the campfires with friendships and families being renewed by a long weekend.
          I love the smells of campfires, bringing with it many of my own memories of camping,
          friends, family and horses.............

Lawns full of cars and grills fired up, wonderful scents of cooking out are in the air.

Yards being mowed and hayfields needing to be cut.  

Hay that had been mowed, the fragrance is the best summer smell in the world.


Flowers blooming, Peonies and Iris are always my reminder of Memorial Day.

Big old houses, with lace window dressings and big front porches and Boston Ferns, with wicker chairs waiting, anyone for ice tea or homemade ice cream?

Tank tops, shorts and flip flops.....  

Coppertone sun lotion (they call it sunscreen today)

Windows are open, curtains dancing in the breeze.....

Birds singing, frogs croaking and Harley's rumbling......

Yes, it is summer now................... 

Most Excellent Bird Day

My morning started much earlier than I had planned, I was awakened by a noisy little house wren, just outside our open bedroom window.  Something in the far reaches of my dreams told me this was a special day, the wrens have returned for the summer.  She was a chatty little thing and she hasn't stopped sharing with the world how happy she is to be back!

Bluebird eggs...

And so it continued, the MOST EXCELLENT BIRD DAY........  Today is the day I usually check all the Bluebird boxes.  I may have mentioned before that I made 22 new Bluebird boxes this past winter.  Each are named after the "girls" in my life, my daughters, grand daughters and cousins and sister friends.  As a responsible Bluebird Trail Keeper, they should be checked once a week and notes taken on their progress.  The boxes were all put up in February and that first week I saw a Bluebird checking things out!  Then in late March I started seeing Tree Swallows too.  I encourage both to live in my boxes, they are hunters of insects and so having them around is a very good thing!

Two of my Bluebird boxes have already hatched baby Bluebirds.  There is a third box that lost their babies due to a very cold snap.  There are a couple more with fresh new nests and the eggs are being laid.  

baby Bluebirds....

There are twice as many Tree Swallows in the boxes.  Their nests and Bluebird nest are made with grasses, the difference is the Tree Swallows always finish their nest with a feather or two.  One box has more feathers than I've ever seen!  And one box has a big ole owl feather inside!  I tried to imagine what a little Tree Swallow must have looked like flying with a big owl feather in it's mouth!

While checking to boxes a Northern Oriole followed me down the fence row.  Hearing them sing will stop me in my tracks, it is so beautiful to hear their clear and cheerful song.  You know of course that the Oriole loves building their basket nests from strands of horse hair.   Outside my window where I feed birds year round, I hung a suet feeder filled with horses tail hair that was collected after the horses were groomed.  Today I saw the female Oriole come and pull strands of long tail hair for her nest!!!!  When I had horses I never worried about them finding hair, it was everywhere, but with no horses on our land I had to ask my grand daughters to save me some from their horses.  I am delighted they will still be building their nests in our yard again this year!

It doesn't take much on a late spring day to make me happy!  It was indeed a Most Excellent Bird Day!  

  

Instant Gratification

foggy morning.... 

This morning we awoke to a foggy world, being able to only see as far as our barn yard is strange. It isn't too bothersome, as we could see and had hope of sunshine trying to peek through the clouds.  Sometimes a heavy fog like this cushions you from the real world.  Sounds are muffled, waking up takes longer and it is nice to be in this space of insulation and isolation, knowing full well it won't last too long.  

{{{I love when I've been sleeping in the tipi and wake up to a foggy morning.  You feel like you might still be dreaming.  Am I walking among the spirits of my ancestors, visiting them or maybe they are visiting me.  Do I hear their quiet messages of peace and feel their arms comfort from the surrounding clouds of fog.  A peace falls on our world when foggy mornings come.........}}}




My original idea for this blog for "Instant Gratification" had nothing to do with that last paragraph, but it just popped into my mind and I felt I had to leave it, now I will go back to my original concept for this blog........


"Instant Gratification" comes from having the second cataract surgery.  I have been living in a fog for sometime.  Being only able to see a certain distance, the birds I love to watch were a blur of color and movement, I was only able to see their movement and not details of each bird.  Oh, I could see well enough to move through my familiar world, but the outside world was more difficult. Driving and trying to read road signs, focus from one direction to another was slower.  I started not liking to drive at night, doing detail work on art was hard without some magnification.  Colors were without brightness.  Windows on our house seemed to always be dirty.  My wonderful husband was constantly turning lights off behind me.

spring flower bed.....

I knew after cataract surgery on my right eye, as soon as the patch came off the same day as surgery, my world had changed.  I didn't realize it was causing problems with judging distance, depth perception, focus and color and light.  UNTIL I had surgery and a lens put onto my eye.   Then two weeks later the left eye was also done!  Again the same day I have the 

local Bald Eagle Nest 2013

ability to focus totally on anything I choose to look at!!!!   Suddenly there was no more fog in my eyes.  I could see colors, distance and faces, insects, a turned leaf and birds again.....  It was
immediate!  Now that is truly
         INSTANT GRATIFICATION!

New Parts

May 2, 2013 a miracle, another new part for this girl.  I had a cataract removed and a new lens to correct my vision in my right eye. 

I hope to have the second replacement part done in the left eye in the next few weeks.  Then I should be able to go without glasses, except maybe for reading.  

After receiving two new knees in December of 2012, I am feeling a new lease on life.  

My wonderful hubby says maybe he should trade me in for a new model, I told him, "As long as they are still making parts to fix me, I'm not obsolete." 

Now I carry cards in my wallet about my replacement parts, one that shows I had knee replacement and who the doctor was.  And now cards to identify my eye lens corrections.  Weird, not much different than keeping a list of replacement parts of my car in the glove box.....  

New Parts are Wonderful!!!!