Granny Hat

Granny waited for a break in the warm August rain before taking a stroll down the driveway past the purple blooming alfalfa to get the mail. The United States Postal Service solemnly promised to forward Granny’s mail from the Golden State to the Big Sky. And they haven’t done it! Granny has been in her new state for almost a month and still very few envelopes with bright yellow stickers on them have shown up! There was nothing in that box but a lonely, local advertisement for snow blowers, something Granny isn’t ready to face. Surely now that Canada is securely locked down their snow can’t reach her! 

Granny’s walk down the lane was not in vain, however. As the storm blew over, clouds racing away to the south over her head, she thought for the 100th time since she moved that the sky here is painted like a tapestry. And there is so much of it! Each horizon is outlined in different hues, jet black in the west, blue sky to the east, puffy white in the north and silvery rain south by Flathead Lake. The hills may be alive in Granny’s new home, but Big Sky rules supreme. The name often given to the state of Montana isn’t just a Hollywood title conjured up for the spirit music of the Wild West.  Maybe it’s the latitude or frequent storms over the Rockies but in Granny’s valley the heavens declare the glory of God every day and you’d best watch the sky when making plans.

Northern Flickers, sparrows, meadowlarks and chickadees suddenly got very busy in Granny Hat’s yard this week, September is here. The geese are busy banking over the grain fields in formation, training just in case winter comes early. Deer in Granny’s field are very fat but just keep snacking on that alfalfa. She thinks the herd is so lovely, poetic somehow but just wait until next summer when they break into her garden to sample some tomatoes and pumpkins; the sylvan romance will be over! 

It is wise to pay attention to the wildlife in this neck of the woods. When they migrate from the Swan Range to valley meadows or commence frantically to hunt and gather Granny is reminded to get that house snug and cozy for winter. She has been unpacking every day trying to find her quilts, sweaters and wool socks. But no matter how many boxes she hauls indoors, there are still plenty more out in the shop.  Her readers who have recently moved know only too well that boxes left in an outbuilding or an attic will breed. You have to nip that in the bud! 

Every heavy box gives Granny Hat pause to reflect on the weight of her belongings. Her readers know how she purged and feng shuied her way through the last two years trying to go ultra light. Apparently she failed. 

A few things that Granny has noticed about her new country:

1. The people are friendly and very practical. Their words may be few but they say exactly what they think, even if it’s a little more than candid. And they aren’t shy about calling out their neighbors!

1. Kids work here at a young age. There are many family owned businesses, cottage industries and farms so it’s all hands on deck.
2. The area is growing fast, remember the America song 🎶Everyone I Meet is From California🎶?  Yep! And from Oregon, Washington, New Jersey and even Texas! 
3. It takes double the time for Amazon Prime to find Granny’s front porch. Hardly something to complain about, instead of 1-2 days of waiting, maybe 3-4. Granny is learning again to think ahead and be patient. And to STOP buying more stuff!
4. “Traffic” is more than five cars piled up at a stoplight and the locals loudly complain about it. The “traffic” is blamed on CA, OR, WA, NJ and TX.
5. All the salad greens and berries come from back home! (Granny’s nephew, Zachary, who just moved Down Under, says one should refrain from using the phrase “back home”, time to embrace the home you have, be present and grateful!) But back to the salad and berries, they get shipped mighty far and are the same price as back home, er……….where Granny came from! What a country!

A few things she misses:

1. Family and friends.
2. The smell of fresh cilantro just harvested.
3. The cooling breezes that whisper the ocean is nearby.
4. Her boysenberry patch.

Clouds are piling up around the valley, maybe some rain is around the corner. The afternoon is very warm but that Big Sky is telling Granny to find the box her fleecy boots are in and dig out the Dutch oven, fall soups will be on the menu soon.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Sent from my iPad

 While her better half is in California making daily dump runs  and loading the final northeast bound pile of “essentials” (including a baby grand piano), Granny Hat has been enjoying some summer thunder showers and the Dance of the Fire Flies in tropical, emerald-green Tennessee! She has a great excuse for skipping out on the truly horrendous task of finishing off the lifting and hauling. Grandchild #12 made his appearance on July 17 and Granny Hat did what grannies do best, fly across the country with a suitcase full of surprises for Lachlan and his three big sisters.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Granny always learns so much from her grandkids. Tucked away in their childlike philosophy are pearls of wisdom and candid frankness that is like a breath of fresh air. 

Granny knows better, but her granddaughters had to help her learn all over again that small children don’t like Casseroles. The very name makes them suspicious.  And then, of course, there are too many diced ingredients all whomped up together; green specs that could be onions, cilantro or seaweed even! and that cream sauce slathered all over everything is most likely hiding secret things that are healthy for you.  Granny tried to tell the girls that chicken nuggets and the universal red dipping sauce that goes with them have lurking slimy things in them too but they flat out refused to believe her! 

See, Granny grew up in the golden age of church potlucks where casseroles reigned supreme. There were tuna casseroles, 7 layered bean surprise, dishes featuring Velveeta cheese and various mystery meats, jello fluff salads made with cottage cheese and pineapple!  No wonder the lazy housewife that brought a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken was instantly popular.  A child with any smarts at all learned the hard way to pay attention to who was carrying in each casserole. Some cooks you trusted, others not so much. Today’s children aren’t as familiar with the genre of the “covered mystery dish”. There are too many places like Chipotle or Mod Pizza where you can have your meal made with the ingredients of your choice while you watch!

Anyway, the other night Granny decided to make an Enchilada Casserole with some rich home made chicken broth. In hindsight, she should have called it Quesadilla Surprise or Tortilla ‘n Cheese. The minute the word “casserole” was heard, the eyebrows went up and the questions came pouring in: “What else will be served for dinner on the side?” “How much do we HAVE to eat?” “Is there dessert?” “What if I’m still full from lunch?”

They were told to eat everything on their plate and be thankful, which they did. Isla, the 6 year old, cleared her place after dinner and waltzed into the kitchen to put her plate in the sink. “Thank you, Mrs. Casserole!” she called with a sarcastic little smile. Granny replied, “You are welcome dear, Granny knows how to make many kinds of casseroles, we can try a different one tomorrow!” Sheer panic on her face!

Granny’s favorite take-away on this trip though has been what she likes to call “DON’T SEE ME!”  Two year old Saylor has a tried and true method for avoiding uncomfortable situations. These might include being told to pick up her toys before bed, potty training or eating her vegetables. When she feel the pressure of adult expectations or simply wants to disappear for fun and giggles she simply grabs the nearest blanket, plops it over her head and sits there like a mushroom while repeating “Don’t See Me!”

• 

This delightful and funny strategy is cute on a toddler. But big people try it too in more sophisticated ways and its  never cute. 

Hiding and covering up a matter are the oldest tricks in The Book! None of us like the law breathing down our necks especially when our behavior has been less than stellar! Think of what we could all get away with if we weren’t being watched all the ever-loving day.  And if we can’t see THEM, the watchers, then they can’t see us, right? 

Granny Hat has played a lot of Hide n Seek the past three weeks. (It is loads of fun but her grand daughters can fit in smaller places than she can – no fair!) The 2 year old doesn’t quite understand what it means to hide, sitting in plain view under her blanket. Granny plays along, “Where is Saylor? Has anyone seen her? Is she behind the drapes? No? How about under the table?” Saylor can’t stand “hiding” one more minute, flings off her blanket and bursts out yelling “Here Saylor!” 

• 

• 

• 

Deep down, hiders want to be found, need to be found. No worries, God knows where we are at all times and He will find us. The greatest game of life is Hide, Seek n Save!

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night.’ But even the darkness is not dark to you, the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:7-12

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Granny Hat is finally done packing and has time now to take a little emotional inventory.  She has a list of “hasta la vistas” to complete:

* merry meetings with dear friends and family

* some honest to goodness tree hugging and a last walk through the orchard

* one more stroll along the Pacific Ocean

* her last California boysenberry harvest and jamming

* a sit down in each room to call back the memories

• 

• 

• 

Granny Hat’s better half has made two trips to Montana already and the house is nearly empty. It echoes with memories, so many busy, noisy, joyful, sorrowful times.  Would we like it if houses could talk; do the walls have memories and feelings? 

• 

• 

• 

The schoolroom could tell about flags waving while saying the pledge of allegiance, the reciting of the states and their capitols or repeating the Presidents of the United States in order and the Books of the Bible.  The chalkboard that was filled and erased over and over must have some stories to share.  The dining room where really everything happened: meals, crafts with hot glue, fights over homework, science projects, fabric cutting, listening to Paul Harvey or Rush Limbaugh on the radio, endless hours of Adventures in Odyssey. Gymnastics, martial arts, tap dance practice in bedrooms kept things crazy and of course, piano lessons every afternoon in the living room. The old, outdated kitchen that Granny hoped to renovate just kept cranking out cookies and dinner as if it was afraid of being replaced. Granny is sorry to leave you, dear house; you kept us warm and safe. It might not have been the “house of her dreams” but dreams were guarded and blossomed in it. 

“Houses are like people – some you like and some you don’t like – and once in a while there is one you love.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Emily Climbs

“It was a mistake to think of houses, old houses, as being empty. They were filled with memories, with the faded echoes of voices. Drops of tears, drops of blood, the ring of laughter, the edge of tempers that had ebbed and flowed between the walls, into the walls, over the years.
Wasn’t it, after all, a kind of life?
And there were houses, he knew it, that breathed. They carried in their wood and stone, their brick and mortar a kind of ego that was nearly, very nearly, human.”
― Nora Roberts, Key of Knowledge

There really are many wonderful, beautiful things about life in California that Granny will miss.  These are just a few of her favorite things.  Sing to the tune of the song that Julie Andrews made so famous:

Towering redwoods and sweet boysenberries,

Summers at Pinecrest, plums, walnuts and cherries.

Gardens that grow Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring,

These are a few of her favorite things!

Fresh cut cilantro and cool ocean breezes,

Sweet peas and sailboats, burritos with cheeses.

Music and laughter, her friends that all sing,

These are a few of her favorite things!

When the snows fall, when the elk call,

When she’s feeling blue………

Dear readers, you will have to help Granny finish off the song, she is busy wiping her eyes and blowing her nose .

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Apparently moving out of California is scary, everyone says so. Granny Hat appreciates all the advice, she really does. She didn’t realize there were such long winters up at 48 degrees, 22′, 47″ N Latitude near the Canadian border.

• 

• 

She had no idea Grizzly Bears roamed daily right through people’s patios or that deer ate plants. And it was eye-opening to consider that there might not be a Whole Foods or a Trader Joes anywhere near Granny’s new digs.

It really should give anyone pause to imagine being surrounded by red-necks and Cowboys who have worn buffalo plaid since before it became “a thing”. And then there’s the whole pickup truck with mounted shotguns and antlers on the grill culture. When you hail from the completely normal land of year round flip flops, bumper to bumper traffic, homeless camps, high taxes and Hollywood, it is daunting to find yourself moving to wide open spaces, four seasons and close contact with all things independent and wild. Super scary!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Good thing the Montana Mountain people are just as eager to give advice as the California Hippies. Granny Hat looks forward to listening to all they have to share about hiking in Grizzly country, planting a garden in Zone 5a, living in a place where it might rain, sleet and be sunshiny all in one day! People are people wherever you roam. Granny’s favorite types are fiercely independent and loyal to their home town no matter what state it is in. These are good traits. 

Up in Big Sky Country, there is plenty of air and open sky for everyone but the locals are begrudging about sharing land and water with encroaching immigrants from the crazy, crowded states. Granny Hat has heard plenty about this and she gets it. But it can be scary to fit in where you might not feel welcomed at first. You know, that new- kid-on-the-block, alien feeling when you walk in a room full of strangers and they know, they immediately know you are NOT one of them. They can tell by the cut of your clothes, your tan, the sustainable vegan Kombucha in your fist, the body language, YOUR LICENSE PLATE! The best advice Granny Hat and dad have heard about moving to a new state is to make the first order of business a trip to the DMV or what they call “MVD” in MT. Get a new license plate, leave some dirt on your bumper, wear buffalo plaid, eat elk, fit in! And don’t bother slapping a Montana Treasure State license plate on your Nissan Leaf. They will see you coming!

Now for the scariest moving thing of all!  Granny Hat, like any other housekeeper, always likes to put her best foot forward, look respectable in public and keep the front porch swept. Wouldn’t want to air dirty laundry for all to see. A friend once pointed out that most of the dust in a house is nothing more than exfoliated skin cells. Gross! Granny has felt utter shame this past week as she pulled furniture and appliances away from walls and cleared out under the beds. Piles of dust (38 years of dead skin cells), dead spiders, marbles, pencils, rubber bands and yes even some evidence of nocturnal rodent visitations freaked Granny out. (Walt Disney, she loves you, but mice are NOT cute! They scare Granny more than Grizzlies.) And she has an excellent excuse for the dust; she lives in windy San Juan Valley, HER dust is mostly dirt from the row crops across the street, not skin cells, no sir!

Yes, moving exposes everything; deep cleaning reveals many truths. Granny Hat feels very vulnerable, pulling up roots and hoping to bloom somewhere new and exciting far, far away. She is facing her fears while she dreams and plans. That’s what life is all about anyway, isn’t it?

The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8

Granny Hat promised her readers a post about Packing Smart. She should have written months ago on this topic, back when she WAS “packing smart”; back when each box had a category and maybe a room it was destined for, back when her list was organized, numbered and detailed. Lately, Granny has been throwing things willy nilly into boxes; mixing things like BBQ equipment and pillows from the bedrooms, glass pitchers and pillows from the couch, lamps and pillows from the other couch. Pillows make great protective packing material and maybe that is as close to packing smart as Granny will get.

Now that she is nearing the 300 box mark, Granny realizes that in spite of months of purging, trips to the thrift store, two colossal yard sales and multiple dump runs, she and dad are more Sentimental than Smart. They are still taking way too much stuff to their new home. Every piece of wall art has a story in their home of over 38 years. Every map and travel brochure has a timeless memory. Books are inscribed by beloved givers. Each item of furniture is either from their childhood or handed down from someone special. It all brings them joy! There is simply no way to just coldheartedly walk away from these ties that bind…….or is there?

After Granny Hat’s better and stronger half took the first load 1300 miles north to Big Sky Country, the idea of self-moving began to lose its charm. The first thing Dad did when the empty trailer drove in was to load it to the gills for yet another dump run. Perhaps packing smart means learn as you go, listen to your head instead of your heart for a change. Make the tough choices! Easier said than done. The heart wins every time.

• 

• 

Granny Hat is thankful she has been granted plenty of time to pack AND reminisce, to thank God for the joys of living in Central Coast California and for the joys that are to come in a new valley with different flowers and four seasons. She realizes that the word SENTIMENTAL, has both “sentiment” and “mental” combined. She has had plenty of days full of “mental” but the best moving advice Granny Hat can give is that Sense and Sensibility are both needed when packing smart!

Next: Moving Can Be Scary !

• 

“But the days passed, and expectations gave way to resignation—the hopeless resignation of the old, sometimes miscalled apathy.”
― W.W. Jacobs

Granny Hat has heard 2020 frequently described as these “unprecedented and uncertain times”.  While she concedes that they may be uncertain, she isn’t sure they are unprecedented.  The villains and heroes change in each tale but history repeats itself over and over again. As we approach the “most wonderful time of the year” Granny would like to point out that once again,

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”  Tales of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

The first Christmas was one of “these times”. A despotic empire was raping and pillaging its way across the known world, conquering smaller kingdoms and exacting exorbitant taxes from them.  The Caesar forced his subjects in Palestine to travel to their place of birth for a census; the poor had to camp out in the open on this pilgrimage. The baby Jesus was born in poverty to one of these transient families in Bethlehem.  Then a small-town dictator with a Napoleon complex  tried to have him killed and his family had to flee across the desert to Egypt.  Talk about “unprecedented and uncertain times”!

Not to change the subject, Granny Hat loves her Christmas music. It is such a magical mix of silly celebration and grave reckoning.  This year, Granny has listened more carefully to the familiar lyrics.  Mixed up in the joy and wonder, is the stark reality of that first Christmas.  The lyrics sound all too familiar to Granny.  Here are some of her favorites:

“Then in despair I bowed my head, ‘There is no peace on earth’, I said.  For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men.”   

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

“No more let sin and sorrow grow,  Nor thorns infest the ground.                 He comes to make His mercies flow  far as the curse is found.“

Joy to the World

“And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low,   who toil along the climbing way, with painful steps and slow,”

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

“O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here……”  

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining…..
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices.”    

O Holy Night

Our world is indeed weary, caught in the net and endlessly chanting “just keep swimming, just keep swimming”.  In this 2020 holiday season we don’t know whether to call out Merry Christmas! Or throw in the towel and grumble Bah Humbug…  Granny thinks a revolution may be on the National New Year’s Resolution list but she would rather see some revolution than the resignation that is so prevalent right now.. 

See, Granny Hat wishes she had a nickel for every time she has heard someone say the two deafening words “AT LEAST”.  

“My kids are so tired from staring at a screen all day and they are depressed and miss their friends but AT LEAST they can still “go” to school”.

“My friend lost her business but AT LEAST she will be getting a stimulus check”.

“We are so sad that we will be all alone at Christmas time but AT LEAST we can still eat our favorite food and watch the Hallmark channel”.

Even the latest holiday advertisements and commercials seem obsessed with AT LEAST some virtual happiness. A few of Granny’s favorites:

 KOHLS: while a nostalgic Rainbow Connection plays in the background, kids with their faces pressed to the frosty windowpanes hold up sweet messages to the elderly couple across the street. Kohls promises to bring everyone “together” with beautiful holiday gifts. AT LEAST we can still shop and we can wave at the neighbors.

X-FINITY: Santa and Mrs. Claus are planning and plotting to “give togetherness” this Christmas but they say “it’s been a nightmare”, as the elves inject “smell of Grandma’s cooking” into a wrapped gift.  Tucked into their cozy bed with their nightcaps Santa worriedly admits “I’m not sure it’s gonna work”.  Mrs. Santa confidently replies “Oh, it’s going to work!” as the virtual sleigh drives off into the star studded night. AT LEAST our presents will still come, thanks to Amazon.com and thanks to Xfinity, we can blow grateful kisses to Grandma over the phone and imagine the smell of her cooking.

MCCORMICK: lovely jazz version of Winter Wonderland plays softly while we view warm, holiday kitchens and the narrator softly says, “Gigi’s mashed potatoes, Aunt Steff’s famous apple pie, dad’s turkey;  even if your loved ones won’t be with you this season, their dishes can still make it to your table”. The holiday will be merry and bright with McCormick by your side. AT LEAST there will be yummy food.

CALIFORNIA LOTTERY:  To these tuneful lyrics, “It’s all about the little things, the joys of simple little things” festive, masked, holiday folks happily slide California Lottery scratchers under people’s doors or behind their windshield wipers to spread cheer, not viruses.  Hope they wear gloves while handing the scratchers.  Even a cute delivery dog gets involved with a festively wrapped box of scratchers tied around his neck. AT LEAST there are some Covid Response strategies to help us stay in touch.

The advertisements are sweet and nostalgic, designed to make us smile. They were made with the best of intentions, of course.  In spite of efforts to make life as normal as possible however, many people are extremely unhappy, fearful, distressed and alone.  Granny Hat has no idea who Francoise Sagan is, but he said:

“For unhappiness has nothing to teach and resignation is ugly.” 

Resignation just doesn’t get the job done.  For example, it couldn’t have defeated King George. Resignation isn’t brave; it is the lowest common denominator. Last Granny Hat checked she still lives in the land of the free and the home of the brave but true courage seems to belong to a mere handful of folks that refuse to resign. Granny has it on good authority that freedom isn’t free; it might involve a battle or two.  Maybe we should fight resignation with RESOLVE! Just a thought!

Some 300 years after Christ was born, the Roman Empire declared that all its citizens would celebrate and worship the Sun at the annual festival in December. Christians had a dilemma; their monotheistic views didn’t allow for celebrating Roman gods.  So they resolved to covertly celebrate the SON instead, giving birth to the tradition of Christmas in early winter, even though Jesus Christ was most probably born in the spring. It was risky but they took a chance to find a way to celebrate their only hope.  Granny Hat is so glad they did.  Resolution can bring about a quiet, peaceful, (perhaps even a bit sneaky) revolution.  Today, we face a different set of hurdles, uncertain but not unprecedented.  While we still have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to worship our God we must exercise those freedoms or we will have no choice but resignation.

That child in the manger, born to be our Savior in poverty and slavery, did not give us the spirit of fear but of strength and a sound mind. The wise men from the east that came to worship Him defied the decree of the King, and went home another way.  Many of our brothers and sisters who came before us lived in hard times, circumstances that required bravery, sacrifice and determination.

As Abraham Lincoln said,

“The fiery trial through which we pass will light us, in honor or in dishonor, down to the latest generation.”

As the Apostle Paul wrote:

“ Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing”.  I Thessalonians 5: 1-11

Jesus Christ bought our freedom, redeemed us from the pit and set our feet on solid ground!  Not to cower, not to placate or pander, but to be a light on a hill, a city that never sleeps, a beacon of hope for the world to wonder at.

No more AT LEAST, this Christmas we can celebrate and look forward to THE MOST that God offers. It is all we will ever need and beyond our wildest dreams.

Granny is encouraged by these words of hope that follow the more somber lyrics from above:

Then in despair I bowed my head. “There is no peace on earth”, I said.     For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men.”  

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth He sleep.  The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, goodwill to men.  

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,  whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow,      

When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling and the whole world give back the song which now the angels sing.   

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

No more let sin and sorrow grow nor thorns infest the ground.  He comes to make His mercies flow far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,  and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love.

Joy to the World

O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.    Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!   

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Long lay the world in sin and error pining…..
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel voices   Oh, night divine, oh night, when Christ was born!    

O Holy Night

Three loud cheers! Granny Hat is back to her neglected “feng shui” activities!  This week she has been sorting books, vinyl LP records and board games.  So many childhood games are keepers. They were a source of fun, laughter and family togetherness; OK, there were often angry tears too.  “Children” of all ages can learn valuable lessons while playing games.

Granny’s family often enjoyed National Geographic’s Global Pursuit, a game that made learning world geography, natural resources and map skills fun.

There was Chess, Checkers, Chinese Checkers or Battleship for lessons in strategy and if you wanted to add some brutal world domination to that, Risk was always a favorite (provided you had 24-48 hours to spare).

Monopoly teaches about commerce, property ownership and a little about taxes.  Granny says it fails in the work ethic department though, each player is simply handed $$ and then reimbursed $200 for every trip around the sun!  Sounds like entitlement to Granny but at least the principles of investment are strong with this game.

Pit promises some noisy stock market style trading complete with a bull and a bear. Tempers would sometimes run high when this game was played in Granny’s childhood days. Perhaps the most valuable lesson learned while playing was that you had to be really tricky, play it cool and wear your poker face to pass off that dratted bull card to your little brother or sister.

Candyland, Chutes & Ladders and Aggravation teach the players patience.  Scrabble, Boggle and Balderdash polish up spelling and word skills. Mastermind and Clue increase deduction skills. Memory stimulates the brain; Granny Hat needs to play it more often. Her five year old grandchildren are able to beat her fair and square.

• 

• 

• 

Granny came across games that utilize EQ like Apples to Apples or Taboo. Others, like Dominoes and Mousetrap, teach elementary physics and powerful life lessons about how one thing can lead to another.

Then deep in the game closet, Granny Hat found Jenga.  She had forgotten all about this game.  She remembers the kids building the tower, measuring to see how tall it grew and then suddenly the crash and some disappointed cries.  A light bulb went off in her head!  Jenga makes a powerful 2020 statement!  Granny just sat there for a few minutes connecting the dots…..

Jenga is a Swahili word “Kujenga” meaning “to build”.  The jenga blocks are stacked in platforms of three going one way and then three the opposite direction.  The object of the game is for each player to remove a single block and place it on top of the tower.  As each player removes and replaces, the tower grows taller and taller but the foundation is left with holes here and there. 

Then it grows a bit taller and more holes appear. Soon, it is shot full of holes like Swiss cheese and the building begins to slightly sway. How high can the tower get before it completely crumbles?

Jenga is a game of risk but there is strategy involved also.  Blocks can be removed carefully and in an order that keeps plenty of bearing blocks left for stability. 

In order to continue building however, risk must be taken.  Each choice results in greater height but also greater weakness.  And one choice leads to another until the players can’t remember who pulled which block out. Eventually they will run out of moves and then have to throw caution to the wind and risk pulling the fatal block. When the tower falls it will really be everyone’s fault; each player had a hand in compromising the structure.  Unfortunately the loser is the player that chooses the fatal block …. the last straw…. and the house of cards falls.

and that’s how the cookie crumbles……….

Granny Hat remembers learning about the Tower of Babel in Sunday school, what a strange story!  She could barely believe that people could be so stupid as to try to build a tower to reach the gods. It’s easy to understand now that she is older.   Nations boast about their skyscrapers, kings want to rule the world. Our technology and higher education and enlightenment make us feel safe but we live in a precarious world, hanging on a thread, living on borrowed time.  Granny humbly realizes how fragile human accomplishments can be.  

Granny Hat asks her readers, “Is it possible to build something that will go the distance?  How can someone protect what they have built, defend it against those that would pull the rug out from under it?

Granny’s advice: Build carefully, don’t compromise something precious just to get ahead. Pay attention to every choice you make. Value your foundation, it is holding you up. Otherwise, gravity always wins in the end.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.”  Psalm 127 : 1

 “To write is human, to get mail: Divine!”
― Susan Lendroth

Granny Hat thinks mailboxes are essential and oh so magical.  They are full of surprises; these days there is usually a package or two – thank you Amazon Prime!  But when one of those rare, personal letters is nestled in between the bills and junk mail then it is truly a good day.  Granny is old fashioned, well maybe just old (fashion was never high on her list) and a real letter (not one of those “you’ve got mail” electronic uploads, but one that involves paper and ink and a S.W.A.K. on the back of the envelope) can make her heart sing.

Anyone can send an email, even a robot in a cubicle half-way around the world.  But when a friend sits down (hopefully with some tea) and takes the time to put their thoughts on paper, seal it all up with a stamp and walk out to the mailbox to post, a labor of love and commitment has taken place.  Granny thinks about this every time she texts, emails or posts on Facebook.  These are helpful innovations but quite frankly can’t compete with a real letter.  It is similar to the gulf between electronic and acoustic musical instruments.  The musician can make all the notes play on an electronic keyboard but he/she can feel the difference, the keys require no effort, the vibrations aren’t the same, the heartstrings are missing. You could argue that the electronic instrument just mimics sounds made by the real deal. Granny Hat realizes we are down to semantics here, but “writing” a letter implies something different than tapping, entering, clicking or “cutting and pasting”. (Uh oh, there’s another one………)

“A love letter lost in the mail, forgotten, mis- delivered and then discovered years later and received by the intended is romantic. A love letter ending up in someone’s spam filter is just annoying.”          B.J. Neblett

Granny Hat has beautiful boxes full of old letters but has put off opening them again for many years. Maybe it is because the double sided pages of long hand are hard to read and will take too much time, but mostly because she hasn’t been in the mood lately to take a walk down memory lane.  A loved one’s written words can remind you of what you lost and all you miss.

The other day, Granny sat down to read a few of the old letters. Some of the sentences leapt off the page; the phrases actually sound as if they were penned in the year of our Lord 2020!  Granny was comforted and encouraged by the words. Here is an example from a letter Granny received from her mom just months before she passed away:

May 15, 1991

Dear Becky,                                                                              Every time the irises come up, we think of you.  We haven’t taken them out of the ground for several years but they’re still pretty.

You are in our hearts constantly and in our prayers.  This is a very busy time of your life and we ask God to give you strength and wisdom and patience as you support Steve and work with your children. We know that the Lord God is able to keep you in this evil, confused world and to use your life to make sense in it. We continue to praise God for your life – for the good work Christ is doing in it.  We have never stopped thanking God for the gift you have been to us. 

As always, on your birthday, we think back to the first day we held you and the awesome feeling and joy that we felt.  You have become a close friend to us.  Happy 33^rd Birthday!     Love, Dad and Mom

Granny’s mom was a list maker. It was impressive what she could accomplish in a day.  In addition to cooking, cleaning and sewing for five kids, she prepared Sunday School lessons, kept a garden, canned her harvest, talked to the neighbors over the fence, ran interference after school for homework and music practice, mended clothes, made all her own curtains, truly a super mom.  Somehow she still found time to keep in touch with her family and friends the only way you could those days besides an expensive long distance phone call – remember those? Mom’s letters weren’t just “thinking of you” note cards, they were long 4 – 6 page epistles written out in beautiful cursive with progress reports about the kids, prayer requests and always some encouragement about God’s love and mercy.  Sitting down to write a letter was like “taking tea” in the afternoon, an excuse for a quiet moment.

Maybe it’s just Granny Hat, but has anyone else noticed that letters tend to be gentler, more pleasant, even a tad trite when compared with the texts and emails of today where we all express without restraint in a stream of consciousness. These days everyone is empowered to blurt and complain without any dignity.  The process of writing provides a natural pause between thought and “written in stone” that tweet and twitter can’t offer.  It didn’t used to be socially acceptable to be too transparent, especially in a letter.  Granny knows from experience that if she puts her thoughts on paper and then reads them out loud to herself, 9 times out of 10 she will start over.  Think before you write is easier than think before you speak.  Also, once the words are on the page there is some commitment involved. Didn’t someone once say, “so let it be written, so let it be done”?

Anyway, while Granny Hat was sorting through the boxes of old cards and letters she came across some real treasures, a few were the airmail kind with stamps from foreign countries on them. When Granny was little her family lived in Brazil for a few years doing missionary work at a children’s orphanage.  Before email and messaging the only way for news to travel across the ocean from continent to continent was AirMail.  These gossamer weighted envelopes (some were letter and envelope combined) took up to a month to get to their destination and by that time, the news was old.  So, Granny’s mom wrote a long letter once a week to her family back in the states; they could always expect that there was one on the way.  As Granny Hat read some of these old letters, she was instantly transported to the southern hemisphere and she learned some things about her childhood in a foreign country that she had forgotten.

Granny wishes her mother had written more about the scary events like the rabies outbreak when everyone had to stay indoors while the wild “mad dogs” stumbled through the village, the fox invasion at the pineapple plantation, the lice infestation down in the girls’ dorm, the infectious rashes the children got and the purple disinfectant baths she had to dip them in.  But mom mostly wrote sweet stories about her Brazilian friends, the kids’ accomplishments and thanked her parents for their care packages filled with Bibles, hymnbooks, school supplies and reel to reel tapes. She must have been lonely far from home with no Facetime or Email. These letters were her bridge to America and she didn’t want her parents to worry about her life in the tropical savannah with gigantic spiders and poisonous snakes.

It reminds Granny Hat of a snippet from Little Women:

“They all drew near the fire.  In a low voice, Mrs. March read the letter from Father.  Little was said of the hardships endured, the dangers faced or the homesickness conquered; it was a cheerful, hopeful letter, full of lively descriptions of camp life, marches and military news.   

‘Give them all my dear love and a kiss.  Tell them I think of them by day, pray for them by night and find my best comfort in their affection at all times.  I know that when I come back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women.’”                                          Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

Getting a letter in the mail truly is one of life’s simple pleasures. After reading the excerpts below, Granny Hat urges her readers to think about corresponding the snail mail way again.  Make a pot of tea, sit yourself down and write some letters. What an affordable way to bless someone with gifts that keep on giving, fresh every time you read them. And they provide family history in your loved ones’ own words. Granny Hat’s letter boxes are her favorite “time capsules”.

Granny’s Mom to son Christopher:

January, 1980 

Dear Christopher,                                                                                                

You’ll have to forgive your Grandma.  I’m getting very forgetful. Here it is a week into February and I’m just writing you for January. You are the “wiggle-worm” of the month.  I hear your poor Great Grandma Grivey couldn’t even hold you because she feared she’d drop you. She did show you how to hold onto the playpen and walk around it and how to slide off the bed instead of falling off.  We think it’s a blessing you are so active even if you do wear your parents out….. Well, Christopher, I’ll finish this letter and give it to Nathan who will put it on your bed so it will be there when you come home from your trip.  Keep shining, little boy, we love you.

                                                            Love, Grandma Lewis

September 5,1984                          

Dear Christopher,                                                                                                                         How’s school going?  One of these days, you will be able to read our letters to you.  That will be great!  In fact, when you learn to read, there will be a whole new world for you to discover in books.  And more important than that, you will be able to read God’s letter to you, the Bible….Aunt Debbie was on channel 7, ABC news on Monday.  She got a VIP pass right behind the press in front of our President of the USA, Ronald Reagan.  Uncle Nathan was a few rows behind her!       Love, Grandma Lewis

Granny’s Grandmother to the family:                                                                                      October 25, 1992

Dear Steve, Becky, Chris, Melody, Corrie & Candace,    Greetings from Oregon!  I’ve been meaning to write a “thank you” letter ever since you folks were here. Becky, your lasagna was delicious.  Grandpa and I enjoyed the leftovers and the bake goods – my! my!  Becky, your dear mother would be proud of you and Steve and your family.  I’m sure she is aware, aren’t you?  We will know someday!…….The weather here has been delightful, bright sunny Autumn days with leaves turning gold, red and brown.  I recite bits of verse I learned as a child:                                 

“Come, little leaves”, said the Wind one day.

 “Come over the meadows with me and play.”

  “Put on your garments of red and gold”

  “Summer has gone and the days grow cold”                                                                                       Robert Louis Stevenson  (I think)

God bless you all, we love you,  G and G Lloyd

Granny’s mom in Brazil to her family in Oregon:

Vila Lindo Lar April 6, 1965      Dear Dad, Mom, Chris and Carol,                                                                                                   Greetings from the land of steam and sweat!  Two days ago Phil came beaming into the house with a very small package containing The Tape.  How happy we were!  It was so clear and your voices were sweet to our ears……    This week is carnival, the week of the “Devil” in Brazil.  The people drink, feast and sin until they are dead or at least worn out, then they confess all to the priests and live the lent season without sin (or so they say). We noticed the January Reader’s Digest has an article about carnival time in Rio, haven’t read it yet but am sure it doesn’t give the true, gory outlook……Thank you for all your remembrance of us and for the books and gifts for the kids.  Keep looking up.  E tempo para dormer, boa noite, passe bem – fica alegre e contente.                                                              Love, Phil, Pat, Becky, Jonathan, Nathan and Debbie

Granny’s daughter on a summer visit with Grandpa Lewis:

July, 1993 Dear Dad, Mom Corrie and Candace,                                                                                 Last night we were going to have taco salad, but it got too late.  So Grandpa made a contraption which he called “Fruit Salad Surprise”.  It was apples, bananas and pineapple, all chopped up.  It was mixed with sunflower seeds and raisins. On top was two scoops of strawberry ice cream.  It wasn’t that BAD, just interesting.  Here’s the animals we saw on the raft trip: deer, mother duck and ducklings, crawdads, osprey, great blue herons, a water snake and a glow worm……I guess that’s all.  I love you all.  Love, Melody

And from Pioneer Club Camp Cherith on June 28, 1993:

Dear Dad, Mom, Corrie and Candace,   How are all of you? I’m having a great time like I always do! April and I (I remembered) have a great cabin.  Our counselor is really nice but she’s not that “hang loose” like you thought.  Right now I’m in “horizontal hour” but April and I are sitting up writing letters.  Our counselor lets us sit up, whisper quietly or sit with other people on their beds during the second half hour.  We got the same daily activities – hiking in the morning and birdhousing in the afternoon, we make birdhouses! ………Have fun at the cabin.  Happy birthday, Candace!   I love you all, Love, Melody

Dad just walked in with letters in the mail from the grandsons, it made Granny’s day.  The notes were so thoughtful, informative and funny.  I know they were a labor of love because most boys their ages don’t sit down willingly to write anything.  That makes them a treasure; they go in the extra -special box. Granny says an extra thank you to her friends and family that do write letters from time to time, you know who you are.  Keep them coming, she is going to try to be better at answering them.

Sometimes, mail can be used for passive aggressive revenge too and that’s fun!

Every once in a while, someone will mail me a single popcorn kernel that didn’t pop. I’ll get out a fresh kernel, tape it to a piece of paper and mail it back to them.                                                                                            Orville Redenbacher

Mission, who inspired Granny Hat’s blog in the first place, has been happily adventuring in a new outdoors, Glacier National Park.  Spectacular!  He doesn’t send letters, just lovely photos!  Granny will take them.

It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.  2 Corinthians 3:3

I’m going on a trip and I’m going to take an Armadillo, a Banana, a Cantaloupe and Duct Tape……   Granny Hat remembers playing that time-honored car game back in the day before Ipads, earphones, audio books and air conditioning. Granny’s mom had to get creative on long road trips with five kids. She always stashed a bag of lemon drops which she doled out every 100 miles or so.  She also had quite a few boredom buster ideas up her sleeve like Auto Bingo, memory activities, rhyming games, singing and going- on- a- trip, since, well, that’s what we were doing.  Granny and Dad played it recently on a Wild West road trip with their grandsons, Dakota, Caden and Blaze.  The boys had to give their grandpa hints because his memory is not what it used to be, we laughed a lot, the game is just as fun as it ever was.

See, the epidemics of 2020 had left Granny Hat & Dad with a colossal contagion of Cabin Fever and they had it on good authority that their grandsons from the prairie had a case of it too. What better way to treat the disease and remain isolated than a thru- roading trip with them into the sunset?  The plan was Nebraska to California with some stops in the Rocky Mountains, Great Basin National Park and the Nevada outback. Due to lock downs, some of Dad’s plans never materialized but other unexpected and simple pleasures surprised us.  As John Steinbeck said, “People don’t take a trip, a trip takes people!”

If it is true that a picture is worth a 1000 words then perhaps Granny can best capture this epic road trip with photos. To the best of her knowledge and now, experience, Granny Hat would say that really all you need for successful thru-roading from the Wide Missouri to the Pacific Ocean with three grandsons can be listed using “I’m Going On a Trip” but she changed the wording just a little.

I’M GOING ON A TRIP AND THERE WILL BE:

ANTELOPE: or is it Antelopes? Granny Hat wasn’t sure, dictionary says both work.

 

The Wild West is teeming with these beautiful creatures but they are hard to spot.  The boys were better at finding them than Granny and Dad.  And we had to be quick with our cameras because they run like the wind.

BURGERS: from Nebraska to the Golden State, burgers always hit the spot.  In n Out is truly a Pacific Coast treasure!   A&W still reigns supreme in Tonopah, Nevada!

 

And when the patty goes shooting out of your burger, throw your head back and laugh!

 

COUSINS: These cousins got along swimmingly, so much laughter and silly shenanigans.

 

DRAMATIC SKY:

 

 

 

ENORMOUS APPETITES: Caden helped Granny Hat shop which was a good thing because they filled that Costco cart to the brim and she could barely push it.  It was a joy to have healthy appetites in the house again; one morning Granny served up 40 pieces of french toast!

 

 

FIRES, FROGS & FRISBEES: or is it a toad?

 

GOOFY: 

 

HISTORICAL LANDMARKS: Since National and State Parks remain closed, often- overlooked Historical Monuments (Dad’s favorites) are getting some well-deserved attention.  The Homestead National Monument on the banks of Cub Creek in central Nebraska commemorates the Homestead Act, the settling of “the west”. We explored beautiful forested trails and 100 acres of prairie grasses.

 

A local quilting club added historical patterns inspired by the homestead pioneers. This was interesting to Granny Hat, not so much to the boys.

 

ICE CREAM & CANDY: Grandpa loved having a daily excuse to indulge in ice cream – he kept insisting he was stopping for the boys. And Granny Hat found a legit, old-fashioned salt water taffy store in Estes Park, CO that lured us in with free samples.

 

JAVA:  No pictures for this one but Granny Hat was happy to learn that Dakota was with her on Team Java.  Any excuse for a coffee shop stop!

KOA KAMPGROUNDS: Private campgrounds were open for camping or cabins. We splurged on a deluxe cabin in Estes Park and tent camped in Utah and Nevada.

 

LUNAR CRATERS: Grandpa promised a lunar crater where Neil Armstrong and his cronies reportedly rehearsed for their epic moon landing.  We drove miles on dirt roads into the desert following arrows and very weather-beaten signs searching for this crater. Granny Hat hiked more than one giant leap and one small step. We never found the silly thing.  How can you hide a crater? Perhaps it’s a giant hoax just like the moon landing!?!

 

MR. BEAR: Mr. Bear has been traveling everywhere with Blaze for nine years, a gift from his Nana.  Poor Mr. Bear had a close shave, almost got left behind among the linens at the KOA in Colorado.  Granny Hat to the rescue! The relief was so profound that Mr. Bear got his own photo shoot.

 

NATURE:  Once the road brought everyone back to California, Grandpa took the boys on a Sierra Backpack in the Emigrant Wilderness, hiking to Bear Lake and Cherry Creek.

 

OPEN ROAD:

 

PLAYGROUNDS, PUMPKIN PIE & PIANO:

 

Playgrounds were a hit, piano lessons a success, pumpkin pie first try for Caden, a fail!

QUAD RIDES

 

ROCKS: Granny wishes she could adequately describe how the three boys burst out of the van at each stop, immediately commencing to running, climbing, leaping and yelling. If there was a mountain nearby, they were on their way! If there was water anywhere they were jumping over it or splashing in it. If the park had a playground swathed in neon yellow caution tape and notices about Covid 19 distancing, they were blind to all of it, swinging and sliding. It made Granny Hat feel young again….and a little nervous.

 

 

SAND:

 

TRAILS & TACOS: Granny Hat, Dad and the grandsons took trails in the grasslands of Nebraska, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and the high deserts of Utah and Nevada.

You can’t make a visit to Granny’s house in San Juan Bautista, California without tacos.

 

UTAH:

VIEWS:

WORK:  One of the things Dad misses the most during these empty nest years is having a passle of kids follow him around the farm, chatting to him and lending a hand with chores and projects.  He put the grandsons to work setting up for orchard irrigation and bird farm chores. They were so much help.  Granny Hat had them picking (well, mostly eating) boysenberries and she had some expert help shelling peas too!

 

XTREME  FUN                                                                                                                                                                                     YOLO: It takes nerves of steel to run into the Pacific Ocean in Santa Cruz on a windy day. And Blaze creatively devised his own water park with a sprinkler and a swing!

ZOOM, better than….. We all learned way more than we would have in a Zoom geography class, America is a beautiful, sprawling, diverse country full of friendly people and majestic landscape. It had been many years since Granny Hat had traveled with a car full of arms and legs, backpacks and opinions. Add to that all the modern day devices, chargers and earphones.  There were plenty of adept navigators in the car to help Dad find his way, or get lost and take the scenic route, which he prefers anyway.  And there was a lot of good conversation, walks down memory lane and a few trying- to-make-sense–of- the-world sessions.

And some bonus Newsies sing-alongs with the cousins and aunties! The grandsons are growing up, Granny learned so much from them. 2020 won’t be such a bust after all, Granny Hat got to spend special time with three of her grandsons.

“On the road again, goin’ places that I’ve never been,
Seein’ things that I may never see again and I can’t wait to get on the road again.”               Willie Nelson