Welcome! I stopped by Atlantic Flower Club’s annual plant auction on May 7, at the Odd Fellow’s Hall. The place was packed with gardeners. These green-thumbed ladies (and a couple gentlemen), amaze me with their knowledge of plants and ability to make things grow. Auctioneer-in-training Brad Murdock called the bids, while customers bid on everything from forget-me-nots to hens and chicks, lilies of the valley, daffodils, and grape hyacinths. I saw a red bud tree and lots of herbs, including lemon balm and oregano.
Mimi Horne assisted in the auction, explaining how much sunshine each plant required. Hmmm. That’s news to me. I never realized some plants thrive in shade or partial shade. I thought they all required full sunshine. Maybe that’s part of why I kill all my plants. Or maybe it’s because I forget to water them.
I admire gardeners, but I appreciate wildflowers most of all. My favorite flower is blue chicory. These hardy, beautiful flowers grow from June to October. I love seeing them along roadsides and almost start to cry when township road crews mow them down. I also love day lilies, sweet peas, violets, dandelions, and coltsfoot.
The Atlantic community is colorful and fragrant right now. My quince, lilacs, and flowering crab trees are all in bloom. The abundant sunshine from May 1 through May 9, with a few showers in between, coaxed these gorgeous blossoms out of hibernation. These are the days I wait for all year. They make my walks glorious and make everything look and smell pretty. God is a master botanist.
God gives gardeners skill to grow things, and he gives others artistic talents, such as the ability to quilt.
Fallowfield United Methodist Church hosted Stitches of Love Ladies’ Night on May 8. Gay Slozat spearheaded the entire evening and deserves a lot of credit for her hard work. Dozens of quilts hung on racks or were draped over pews. Quilters amaze me with their ability to match colors, figure out the geometry of patterns, and hone strong sewing and needle skills. They must have lots of patience and determination, too.
Jean Groce` of Hartstown delights in quilting. She got started in college because her mother, grandmother, sisters, and friends all quilted. Her sister, Sylvia, still quilts, which is her incentive now. They go to quilting shows and shops together.
She likes designing her own patterns, often taking existing patterns and tweaking them to make them her own.
One special memory Jean has is of her late sister, Eileen Miller. On Christmas 2013 all of Jean’s sisters cut two-inch wide strips of fabric from 60 different colors. They challenged each other to complete a quilt from these strips by the following Christmas. Eileen won the challenge, making the memory of this quilt especially precious to Jean.
After we soaked in the beauty of the quilts, the ladies enjoyed a salad supper. Sharon Shrock, who I consider a master baker and quilter, if there is such a title, baked huge iced sugar cookies in the shape of quilting squares. Each cookie had a different pastel colored spool of thread piped onto the cookie. They were both beautiful and delicious. I scarfed mine down before we even got our salads.
Eight actors from Fallowfield put on a powerful skit based on T. Davis Bunn’s novella, “The Quilt.” The story centers around an elderly quilter named Mary, played by Lee McMunigle, who feels commissioned by God to make a thanksgiving quilt with the help of her daughters. Mary urged them to praise God with every stitch. She used fabric that held memories, such as her baby brothers’ childhood clothes and her wedding gown.
What I carried away from the skit was this: I want to make a goal of making praise as natural as breathing. I spend a lot of time in intercessory prayer (a fancy way of saying I pray for other people) each day. But this is what the Bible calls petitions. We are also commanded to praise God over and over throughout the Bible, especially in Psalms.
In the skit Mary reads Romans 1:21 from her tattered Bible: “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.” (NIV)
I don’t want my mind to become dark and confused. I want to try to remain conscious of the blessings God heaps upon me. I’m not great about praising God for who He is or for the good things in my life that go unnoticed.
I want to work on this. This week I’ve been praising God that my broken toe healed, I’m not fighting a stomach flu or sinusitis, and that I can walk outside again and enjoy the flowers and trees. How about you? Take a moment and thank God for the good things He’s given you this week. They are all gifts from his heart to yours.
Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, May 15, from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. at your local polling site. May 19, is Armed Forces Day. Please remember our brave service members who have fought and died to protect our rights, including the blessed right to vote.
It’s not too late to give a unique Mother’s Day present: a donation to Embracing Hope Ethiopia in your mother’s name. Fallowfield supports many missionaries, including former Kennard United Methodist Church members Jerry and Christy Shannon. They work in a slum area in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Their charity, Embracing Hope Ethiopia, focuses on preserving families through Gospel-centered holistic intervention. You can donate online. EmbracingHopeEthiopia.com/MothersDay2018 is the website address.
Fallowfield is offering an active shooter training on Saturday, May 19, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the church. Kurt Sitler, Conneaut School District resource officer and retired state trooper, will present the program. He is a certified trainer in the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) program, which is the training done in the school systems. It will be adapted to church environments but applies the same principles. It’s open to all families and other churches. This is a free training, but please contact Mark Putman (814) 720-7904 or Lori Putman (814) 720-2715 by May 15, to register. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided, and there is a free will offering taken.
Have a wonderful week. Blessings!