As my Dad lie dying this past Sunday evening, May 3, 2009, surrounded our mom and all us kids I thought how he wouldn’t be here to say Happy Father’s Day to again or Happy Birthday, so I just said “Happy Forever Dad!” And that’s just what he has now “Happy Forever.”
I will always miss him here on this planet, but by Christ’s shed blood I too someday will share in his “Happy Forever!” Thank you JESUS for that!
I spent the weekend in Erie after a rough week getting Dad into a nursing facility and mom who has Alzheimer’s, moved over to my sister Pat’s. I felt like I NEEDED to go! I felt like I needed to get away! It was a weekend of reconnecting with summertime friends..some of them are going through VERY rough things too! I heard about a mom with stage 4 cancer that’s still in her 60′s, a camper who lost his job and had to give up his families site, a family who lost their Father, and an elderly couple who both passed away, and a family dealing with a rough divorce situation…rough stuff! But everyone was doing what I was doing… taking healing from God (even if they don’t actually KNOW it like I do) in a place that is just filled with the wonder of HIM. I walked the beach singing and crying my heart’s praise and petition! It was life restoring. I found some beach glass too! Nothing special, but enough to cheer me up and making hunting fun!
Saturday night while I was peacefully sleeping in our camper, my Dad was fighting for his life. He fell in the nursing care facility and collasped a lung. They said he almost died on the way to the hospital and the efforts of the paramedics who made a puncture in his chest to let air out that was suffocating him, saved his life. I couldn’t have done much if I had been home, but needed to get home when I heard this news. You have to get back to LIFE…just as it is. Dad is seriously ill in critical care at the Med Center. My prayer for him is that God will have mercy on him. And I KNOW He will for “His mercies are new every morning.” I pray that for you too and my friends who have rough things in their life! And in quiet moments I remember that wind blowing off the lake, the sound of the waves, the pebbles and sand, and the healing and peace that place brings my heart and I am grateful…very grateful!
I just did my first “show” with “Turtle Treasures.” I didn’t have much time to prepare, but I did get to make some new products and it was such a great learning experience doing this show. Home Depot and the Beaver Co. Times sponsored this local show to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.
I had lots of help setting up, and am so thankful for my family’s support! Although we had to rethink our layout as we had been told we had a corner booth. It all worked out and we actually got to display turtles on two sides of our booth, the front and then the back. I guess they didn’t get enough craft vendors to double up the aisle.
I’m kind of glad it was a one day thing though, because of the learning curve. I tried to get set up to take plastic, but it was all so last minute that I didn’t have time to get that going. I think I could have done better if I had as this was the first year they added crafters to the “Home & Garden” show and many people weren’t prepared to buy much.
I did sell 13 turtles though and people just loved them! All day long we heard about how cute and adorable they are. We had a special section for my “Black N’ Gold” pebble Steeler turtles, named “Terrible Turtles” in honor of Myron Cope’s “Terrible Towel” by my sister Pattie. People got a kick out of them and we even sold a couple.
We sold many as gifts and some for people’s garden, patios and of course bath rooms. Somehow people like cute little creatures in the bath. You know frogs and of course turtles!
It was a good day and I look forward to trying this again. It was fun to meet people and to hear their stories. One women bought a turtle for her mom who is going to have chemo soon. The special turtle was named “Survivor.” And one women bought a cute little all black pebbled one to remember the great times she and her late husband had vacationing and picking up special rocks and pebbles on the shores of Lake Erie!
“Turtle Treasures” are unique and just very special. I was proud of my product and the display and thought for the first time out, we had a good day! I’m thankful to God for blessing this endevor. It is especially fun to share something that is a part of a place that is just so SPECIAL to me, my “home away from home” at Lake Erie!
We headed to Erie on Saturday morning for my annual birthday weekend. It was sunny but very cold and windy. We headed straight to Presque Isle and checked things out. The west end of the bay was ice covered, but we soon realized that the rest of it for the most part was thawed and waves were rolling with the high winds. You could see the lake frozen as far as the eye could see down the North Shore. Some winters the ice dunes are so high you can’t see over them, but this year they are smaller and formed at the shore line and beyond out into the lake. It is a something to see with the sun blazing off all the ice.
John and I bundled up a bit, not near enough and took a walk to look around and search for a treasure or two. We found a few tiny pieces right away, just enough to get you going. But it was way too cold, with the wind chill they said it was 9 degrees out! Brrrrrrrrrrrrr it was cold!
We headed over to the city side and checked another place for treasures and then we went to the Home and Garden show at the Bayfront Convention Center. It was fun! I was glad to see how things are laid out at a show, especially considering I’d like to vendor at the 2009 Sea Glass Festival there in October.
Sunday we headed to Presque Isle Gallery Coffeehouse to drop off some “Turtle Treasures” and check the inventory there. And then it was a bit warmer for beach combing by the ice dunes, but not much. It was wild! We never have found beach glass much in the winter before, so every little piece we found was a hoot! Usually the beach is so frozen over and actually it’s best if it is that way. If the dunes form on the shoreline and beach, they then protect the beach from erosion by wind and waves. But this year again the beach, for the most part is exposed to all the winter’s winds, and soon coming spring time waves!
All in all we came home with a nice little pile of treasures but we are anxious as always to get back up there in a m0nth when we open up “camp’ and hunt for more! I hope we are beach combing then in a bit warmer weather too!
John and I are headed to Erie tomorrow and I just can hardly wait. I always get a trip up in the Winter for my birthday in February. We didn’t make it last year as we had to make a trip to Georgia for a funeral, so I am doubly anxious to get up there. I love the lake even when it is all icey and cold, ice dunes everywhere all covered with blown sand. I love to see the ice fishermen and their little huts and the crazy guys that wind surf on the bay! I usually still find a treasure or two. I mean it just isn’t the time to go looking for beach glass, but treasures come in all kinds of beachy things for me. Emmmmm! I just can’t wait!
If you seemed a bit blue in the morning or just grumpy when I was a kid, my Mom would comment that ” You must have gotten out of the WRONG side of the bed.” Today feels a bit like one of those days, when you wish you could just get back in bed and then get out the other side and twa-la things would feel so much better.
I haven’t felt physically up to par the last couple of days and so mostly I think that is my problem. It is funny though that we are sort of used to being able to hit the reset button in doing so many things. God has made a way for us to do that too and I’m am so thankful, when the Good Book says that “His mercies are new every morning.” Ahh! Today is a day I’m so thankful, eternally thankful for that!
I’m so excited the 2009 North American Sea Glass Festival is going to be in Erie this year! It will be October 17th-18th at the Bay front Convention Center. The Convention Center is beautiful and the prefect place for the Festival! John and I got to check it out on our trip to Erie in December. You can see the Bi-Centennial tower at Dobin’s landing and the new Bayfront Sheraton and the passageway to the marina as you look out toward the right. Then you can look across the bay and see my dear Presque Isle and Perry’s Monument and the beautiful waters of Lake Erie. Having all the Sea/Beach Glass vendors set up in those halls overlooking all that will just be wonderful! I want to be a part of it all. I want to take my Turtle Treasures and meet you there!
I just love Lake Erie and my dear Presque Isle. I love the water and the wind and the pebbles and sand and the beautiful sunsets! For me and I know for many it is a healing place to be and a place of peace, a place to worship and believe again that life is good and God cares about us. But then too it’s about the beach glass! Just touching some of my dwindling stash today was so much fun! It’s just a JOY to see all the colors and the frosty patina and the shapes and sizes. I just love the glass, just absolutely love it!
It’s so much fun when your team wins! Last night the Steelers made it hard on our nerves to say the least. For me though the best part was getting to have family time with the kids and grand kids. We missed Sam who is never a big sports fan and our Abigail who is on a nursing mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I know people all over the country and perhaps the world got together to watch these big men put on padding, helmets and uniforms and try to move a funny shaped ball up and down the field toward the goal line. I think the best part for everyone was the blessing of having family and friends. I’m thankful I didn’t have to watch the game alone!
Wow! What crazy weather! The snow is OK, but this rain and ice, YUCK! I always think it looks so pretty on the trees. It makes me feel like a princess in some wonderful fairyland. Do you suppose that is what heaven will be like only a googol times better, with the King, our Lord and a wonderland so beautiful to behold! The reality is that this ice storm is just awful on the roads and sidewalks and it’s so dangerous too. It’s a good thing school got cancelled, very good. I’m staying in and praying that everyone who has to go out stays safe! You stay safe too wherever you are!
