Happy Thanksgiving ~ What We Love About America

"Best of all is it to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song." 

-Konrad von Gesner

Plaque celebrating America on display in Jackson, Wyoming 

When I was fortunate enough to meet my husband on his International travels, my favorite question of people who visited the United States, was what impressions did they take back? 

The vastness of our land, the diversity of our people ~

Our friendliness. Our natural aversion to class distinctions. 

The changing of the seasons in Wyoming. The coldness of autumn's breath turns the leaves bright  while the angels  flocked the pine trees up higher in the mountains.

The greatness of this nation I shall always believe is inscribed in the coinage of the realm 

"In God We Trust"

What was the answer here when a child asked, "Are we there yet?"

 Before it was planes, trains and automobiles- immigrants crossed this continent-wide nation by  horseback and wagon.  When those failed, it was a very, very long walk. 

Sunshine breaking through in Idaho 

Modern transportation makes it easy to take for granted how fortunate we are to live at this very moment. 

Just traveling through my native Los Angeles County is equivalent to driving through a land  equal in acreage to the combined are of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware. The county's population is greater than 42 states in the Union. If it stood alone as a nation, our economy is the world's 8th largest.  

In addition, a normal year finds me mucking about gardens in nearby counties- San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura.

The last quarter I was also blessed to travel the states of Colorado, Arizona ,Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. 

It is good to travel. It is even better to be back home in Diamond Bar, California.

God painted parts of Utah in Technicolor 

Folders are stuffed with stories to query editors for interest. Hoping to find my stocking filled with that most wonderful three letter word in a four letter sentence. 
"Yes- You are hired."

So much to do. But as Stephen R Covey wrote, "First things First. " 

It was about this time last year a medical professional in the  hospital room of a loved one shared his belief that "Life is a miracle." 

The beauty of the desert exemplifies of what he spoke. In nature's vastness, so much has to go right for the miracle of a butterfly to come across an oasis with food, water, nesting and shelter.  For God's grace, He deserves credit for the biggest backyard habitat ever. Our planet. 

It is tempting to give into being overwhelmed with so much stacked about me. Yet handling it all is as easy as the title to the Stephen R Covey book, putting "First things First. " 

And so I say goodbye. Not forever. Just long enough to express my gratitude to the Lord on high in the tradition of my faith, as a Christian. Spend quality time with family. Renovate the office. Re-write a mission statement. Then back to the race which is the writer's life. 

All images and words on this post are copyright protected by Lydia Plunk

09/11 Thoughts ~Loveland, Colorado~The Benson Sculpture Garden~ Part III

Patriotic American mini flag by Toland

 

September 11, 2001 was like so many other days. Yet like no other. Not in my lifetime. Such a beautiful day. A clear sky day turned somber. In the weeks which followed, in my hometown we met at the corner of Diamond Bar and Grand.

We marched clockwise around the intersection, waving flags. Many lit candles.  The crowd grew.  Probably in the hundreds. The patrol cars pulled up, the officers wanting to know who was the organizer.

No one. We were just citizens united in our grief. Offering comfort to each other.

We promised never to forget. We fly flags to promise this.

Today, on the 11th Anniversary, came a sobering reminder of what we have lost between now and then. Commitment and Clarity. Why else the American Embassy wall breached, an American killed at the US Consulate in Libya. Our President too busy for our steadfast ally in that dangerous neighborhood, Israel.

God bless Jordan for harboring the refugees from Syria. May the missing relatives of people I know turn up safely there. 

I cannot make the world safer. All I hope, is to spread a bit of beauty to those I am honored to visit this site.  

 

I have been remiss in not sharing more of the setting of the Benson Sculpture garden, which rims the lake. Cattails. Pine. Aspen. Beautiful apart, gathered together, they elevate each other's beauty.

 

Where there is water, there shall be geese.  What is evocative about this park is how God and man have worked together.

SWAMP DONKEY, Bronze by TD Kelsey

 

  Sited at the edge of the bog, the majesty of  large game,  realistic and rightly romantic.

 

Our oldest son confirmed, swamp donkey is Canadian for moose. It is also slang for many other things which I am going to forget I found on the blogosphere.

 

If today was emotional for you- click on Baby Moose in Sprinkler  to get back in touch with the emotion of  innocent joy.

Independence Day ~ Wildlife ~ Brush Fire ~ What is Important ~ An American Girl

"To everything there is a season, and time to every purpose under heaven..." 

~ Ecclesiastics 3:18

The height of summer - bunnies on the grass... Sipping nectar from once was a tiny sapling my mother grew from seed of her own tree...

                           

Hummingbirds on high...

What could possibly disturb our paradise?

Even when the hawks (see one camouflaged in  a tree across our ridge)  careen through our backyard trees like jet fighters on a mission, they are mostly Coopers- not powerful enough to pick up our puppies in their talons. 

However, Mr. coyote showed up before lunch.

He hung around for a good hour, leaving us to believe his den is nearby. Thinking about the downside of cohabitation with this particular indigenous species.  Sometimes it is hard to appreciate his attributes- coyotes suppress populations of rodents, skunks- and yes, the rabbits that are so used to my husband they think he is one of them- some days gathering around where he enjoys his coffee on our patio. 

Last year one of his compatriots followed a medium sized dog through a doggy door - into the house.


Over the years in Diamond Bar, we've listened to neighbor's pets become part of the food chain (and when this happens it doesn't matter how long the pet suffers, the police do not respond). A babysitter reported being followed up the street while she fearfully hurried the baby stroller. There was the teenager who had to wait for mom to call to say the coast was clear- a pack was circling the yard when the girl first tried to come home. Our former veterinary doctor  shared a doberman being killed in a coyote attack.

Handsome creatures, coyotes are opportunistic terrorists hiding in the tall chaparral. Be advised if you live in the foothills- all it takes is a moment's inattention. Our Tahoe got away with going nose to nose with a young male once. She was alone in the backyard less than a minute. What probably saved her life was "the barking bunny" confused the predator long enough for Gerry and I to come running from different directions. The coyote sailed over the back fence like Superman: in a single bound it cleared the fence and the ravine. 

As if this wasn't enough excitement for our July 4th celebration

It wasn't just our barbecue smoking up the skies. Our first hint was the LA County Fire helicopter.

There was a small uphill brush fire not far past "our ridge"

Even with winds strong enough to pull the palm fronds like windsocks, emergency services did not sound concerned. With a high temperature of the day a beach-like  76 degrees, everything was speedily under control. I doubt most of the town even knows there was a fire. 

There is a time and place for everything. Tonight it would be dinner for two. At home. I cut off writing before noon. We took a needed break from studying our downloaded copy of the Supreme Court Decision on the Affordable Care Act. Our personal  anxiety over its ramifications for our family could use the day off. The Act helped other people and somehow the brilliance of this nation's framework to work things out over time will prevail. 


The Fourth of July is a holiday. Time to get in the mood with proper preparations. While Gerry solved the woodworking issue of what to do when a board of black walnut does not want to stabilize, I cooked to a moviethon of favorites.  Glory . The Patriot.   The board where the food waited to be heaped onto our plates groaned under the weight of 

Cherries

Twice baked potatoes 

Barbecued corn on the cob

Fried Okra 

Barbecued short ribs -

We ate to the new classic movie The Help. We chatted away at ALL the GREAT changes in life we have lived to see.  We are eager for the day when Emma Stone wins her first Oscar.  

We will share the barbecue rib technique soon. Absolutely the BEST ever. Only topped by 

                                                      Homemade Ice Cream. 

Custard based- so good I think I could go shopping and my husband wouldn't care what I bought, just so I make him more):- 

Now, I can't leave you with that substandard picture of dinner as the last personal impression of what you saw on this blog. So I leave you with this image of my model- niece Abby Plunk, so pretty in pink. Abby - if you see this- know we pray for God's blessing on your journey.  To us- You are as quissentential an American Beauty as any rose.

Thoughts On Independence Day

United States Flag, Gene Sasse photographer

"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God."
~ George Washington

California Capitol. Gene Sasse photographer

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South."  
~ Abraham Lincoln

Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods 

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” 
― Theodore Roosevelt, Strenuous Life

Native Colorado scrub brush

Some of the greatest serenity I have known has been on horseback. As a young girl, my Uncle Frank would lift us nieces up onto his horse to watch the fireworks go off at nearby Disneyland. The 4th of July- it is the one day in the calendar I don't think my father ever drank to excess on.  The date bordered on sacred in our family. 

 With the devastation in Colorado Springs, I am glad I have these memories recorded from a ride through The Garden of The Gods Park. Due to the wildfires, it is currently closed. 

Pikes Peak- the inspiration for Katharine Lee Bates "America the Beautiful"

My husband was assigned to Colorado Springs for 30 days, which turned into 13 months. It was in the Holiday Inn there that he learned to inlay wood- it gave him something to do more interesting than just get up, go to work, dinner and TV. Towards the end of his stay, rather than have him bring his laundry home for 4 days, the company authorized my visiting him there. 

What I remember most about Colorado is clean unspoiled air. I think it is safe to say that this nation is united in praying for the environment the state is rightly renowned for quickly heals. 

Whatever our differences politically, in the contentious months that bare down prior to every election like the sun on the Mojave Desert, it is my prayer that our collective nation   comes to again remember  that people are more than their politics. 

9/11 - Living on Vacation- A Wildlife Garden

9/11 will forever be a set point that reminds us how precious and fragile life is. Watching the ceremonies dedicating the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania yesterday, I should have held a bucket to capture my tears to water the garden with.

The speeches were all of the one nation under God variety. Former Presidents Clinton, Bush and VP Biden- the word "I"  was subservient to the greater good. The result was the greatest type of outreach- the type that is empathetic rather than self-serving.

God bless my nephew Juadon. You are serving this nation with honor. What men such as yourself you are willing to sacrifice, I pray our nation honors in every way possible.  

'Kiwi' Aeonium ,  Santa Barbara Daisy and 'Moonshine' Yarrow defy the sun's best effort to jerkify the trio

When we first looked at our present home, my husband fell in love with the scent of the chaparral covered hillsides. An avid outdoorsman, he said, “It smells like we’re on vacation.”

 At times we need could use a negotiator to work on for detente between us and nature. Moments like when the snake popped out to grab its dinner in front of me or when my husband had me "watch" the tarantula resting on his briefcase. Somehow, it all works out.

'Butterfly Bush' feeding a baby monarch butterfly-to-be

Where once there was not much more than sagebrush, we now have generously planted with trees, understory and a lawn. Certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Habitat, our garden offers richer opportunities for wildlife than the tinder-dry brush did

PLEASE enjoy my article on  Creating a Backyard Habitat.  DiamondBarPatch.com published yesterday.


This 9/11 Consider the Flight 93 Memorial is just 10 million dollars from completion. Express your gratitude to the citizens who took on terrorists in our darkest moment. 

Memorial Day - Truce be With Us

Is America on the right course? The easy answer is no. But as an airplane flies from coast to coast, adjusting to winds and storms along the way- She always has. So, Yes.

Memorial Day has changed since its inception as Decoration Day. It now fills a role as a family day of national and spiritual importance. To honor the fallen, this should be a day in which the game of Truth or Politics is suspended.

Headstones

I came of age in the era known by the name of a far-away jungle covered country. Vietnam. Click on  Memorial Day to experience a suburban California ust before modern malls were born. Read the subtext and understand- in a land of so much abundance- it is easy to take much for granted.


Memorial Day Rose 2004 AARS Winner

  I believe there is a rose for every reason. Including Memorial Day.

Kevin Bacon as Lieutenant Colonel Strobl- His finest performance.

Taking Chance (2009) is the perfect movie to watch on Memorial Day.  Kevin Bacon's  nuanced reflection is of  the real-life soldier  lacking combat experience. His journey with the intensity of personal sacrifice begins when he volunteers to escort the body of a 19 year old soldier home to Dubois, Wyoming after his soul fled to his eternal home on the fields of Iraq. This movie is guaranteed to draw tears. If it doesn't: you don't need a cardiologist,  for you have no heart.

Greater Roadrunner Geococcyx californianus

Yesterday-this little darling did not hold still long enough for me to grab his photo. In split seconds, he blurred from next to where I was grooming the garden, under my and my husband's cars, leaped up the side hill before crossing the archway and disappearing across our the rooftop. 

Two observations on roadrunners.

One. The bird is faster than a speeding Olympian. The Time-Warner communication service by that name is  only arguably so. Some days more than others.

Two. Where there are roadrunners, there are snakes. 

May Your Memorial Day be Blessed and May He From Whom All blessings flow continue to bless the United States of America.

Headstone and Memorial Day Rose images by Gene Sasse.

Roadrunner image found on Wikipedia

Leadership in Crisis 1776 and 2011

"It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win."

Captain John Paul Jones

1747-1792

Memorial to first American Naval Hero in Washington DC

America's first naval hero was an immigrant. Born in Scotland, the fifth son of the gardener at the Scottish estate Arbigland House, John Paul Jones is a role model beyond his lifetime. 

 A few views of  the Abrigland Estate

From humble beginnings he sought his fortune on sailing vessels. Unhappily, he served on a slaving vessel- leaving at his first opportunity.  In Jamaica he arranged for passage back to Scotland on a brig. When the  captain and chief mate both took ill and died,  John Paul, being the only seaman aboard who knew how to navigate, took control, saving the lives of surviving crew of 7. 

When his brother died leaving him property in Virginia, the seaman came to Colonial Virginia, with the intent to write poetry. However, it was the dawning of the colonial revolution and he enlisted in the service of his adopted homeland. 

 The standards and traditions John Paul Jones brought to the Navy live to this day. I remember from elementary school lessons. As I recall

No man should ask another to do what he will not do himself.

Times are  tough in California. We are having to face the results of decades of governance by wishful thinking. We need heroes. Good men and women to serve who are willing to share in the sacrifice needed.

Leadership is What leadership does. 

I am requesting the complete list of Senators who in this time of fiscal crisis have given up a couple major perks: the state car and gas card. This is one of those requests which must go by snail mail.

For now, I can tell you that Bob Huff (R, CA 29th District) deserves respect for turning in the state-paid car and the gas card to the people of California. There would be allot less cynicism about government if the legislators show they are willing to take action for the greater good.  

Bob Huff speaking on the importance of Mothers

Whose leadership do you admire and why?

Honors In the Garden

3 PM, May 30th. Shots from the honor guard pierce the still quiet of the bright blue sky.

The plaintive call of the bugler explains without words to unattending neighbors why shots rang out on this Sunday

"Lord of our lives, our hope in death, we cannot listen to Taps without our souls
stirring. Its plaintive notes are a prayer in music--of hope, of peace, of grief, of
rest... Prepare us too, Lord, for our final bugle call when you summon us home!
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and death will be no more." *

Mom's ashes will be flown to Puerto Rico; there was no casket to drape. Instead, the United States flag was opened then carefully folded in the ritual specific to this nation.

Before presentation to closest kin the flat was folded into the shape of a tri-cornered hat, as was worn by colonial soldiers during the nation's battle for Independence. With respectful cadence, the red and white stripes are folded before being wrapped into the star filled blue field; signifying how the light of day vanishes into the darkness of night.

The honors to my mother, who served this nation by providing care to wounded warriors or world War II were provided by young Marines ( and one Navy man) through the Pico Rivera headquartered Battery N, 5th Battalion, 14th Marines, 4th Mar Div.

So began the structure to the ceremony needed to give a proper goodbye to my mother.

I honestly did not know this part could be pulled off. A garden memorial does not fit within the boxes to check on any federal Internet form. Wanting and deserving these honors was likely not enough.

The family is very greatful to have Field Representative Pat Fabio of Congressman Gary Miller's office in assisting my mother.

*From the invocation delivered by Chaplain (Colonel) Edward Brogan (USAF, Ret.) at the Taps Exhibit Opening Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, 28 May 1999

More information on the US Flag Folding Ritual found at http://www.usflag.org/foldflag.html

Unappreciated Rights

Jury duty is not what is easy. It is what is right. Looking for quotes concerning what I have been called to do today, from what I found it may be the most unappreciated right of modern life because we do not fear loosing it.
Looking for quotes to fine tune my attitude before I sign in to serve at the courtroom, these are a few gems among the costume jewelry strewn across the Internet.


I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution."
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of Independence and third U. S. President

Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of the government. ~Pierre Joseph Proudhon, French politician and journalist, died 1865

Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility. ~Thomas Szasz" Hungarian Psychiatrist who has written on merits of abolishing insanity defense.

Somebody recently figured out that we have 35 million laws to enforce the Ten Commandments. ~Earl Wilson Three term Governor of California and 14th Chief of United States Supreme Court

On the left is Nancy Lyons with the gal who was then the new children's librarian in Diamond Bar. Nancy is running for reelection for the Walnut Valley Unified School District. I first met her when we were about eight, so I guess I can give a historical view of her character. Nancy studies hard, always has her priorities straight and is always prepared for whatever comes. Yep, she is a better woman than I. If you live in the district- the private Nancy is as reliable and honest and devoted as they come. I highly recommend voting for her

A true sign of a novice to public responsibility is revealed when a perfectly decent, hardworking and accomplished individual runs for public office and is embarrassed by the public unveiling of a lack of voting record or registration. To those who seek office- understand what we vote is private- that we vote and our inclination to do so is public record.

This kind of revelation is standard at the local level. It is rare at the level of gubernatorial candidates. Meg Whitman's candidacy is tarnished in the eyes of people who have appreciated the right to vote with more care than she did when she was working towards her first billion. No way around it. This may not be fair, but most people want to cast their vote for someone who demonstrably cares about the actual act of voting as they do. By not voting most of her adult life, that disqualifies her in the eyes of a hefty segment of the population.

I am not the only one. Guess my friend Trisha Bowler had a conversation with the LA Times Reporter, Cathleen Decker. To read what she had to say, go to

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gop28-2009sep28,0,4005564.story

first break at jury duty, I will.

Seasons

103.8° was today's high. Fires continue to rage through the lower mountains bordering the Los Angeles basin. It is too familiar, this ritual of nature- the smoke choking the oxygen out of blue skies. Wildlife skittering and slithering for safety. Their's- not ours.



"The rhythm of the seasons gives us insight into the ups and downs of life. There are times when our lives go through discouraging and demoralizing events. Sometimes it seems as if one disaster follows another until life itself resembles the outer regions of Hades, I wonder whether the Lord allows us to suffer and endure such times so that when the crisis pass we can fully appreciate the world He's blessed us with."

these timely words in the Hilltop Herald message from Pastor John Scharlemann arrived in the mail

These daffodils light up the forest floor in a part of the San Bernardino Forest which burned after they were planted. When fire destroyed some of the trees- it opened the opportunity for more blooming faces in the meadow.

Fire season is a normal part of seasonal rhythm in Southern California. Sometimes the first spark is lit by lightening. An accident. Worse- arson. But worst of all is when calamity is made worse by government policy.

The drought in California is caused by more than God's hand. Looking for photographs- I found this link which perfectly shows what can happen when the political class acts as though they are as wise as God and without any limit on resources to impose their will.
http//beetlebabee.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/dead-and-dying-californias-central-valley-dust-bowl/

A government cannot rule wisely if it does not rule with humility. Knowledge is common. Wisdom and humility are not. Pray for these so that this season of government arrogance will end soon, as will the fire season. There are good people in government service: they need us to help nudge their colleagues to do what is right rather than what they think will make them popular. Then prosperity will flourish and all the goodness that makes possible.

John Scharlemann is the Pastor of Mount Lutheran Church in Diamond Bar. He is not responsible for the thoughts expressed here, except his own. If you know someone seeking a Chinese Language Christian service, there is one held on Sundays at 9:30 AM

The top photo is from my personal collection. The others are by Alta Loma Photographer Gene Sasse. Used with permission.