Farm Dreaming

changing neighborhoods

It's been a good weekend so far. Yesterday I made three makeshift slipcovers for the couch cushions, out of an old blanket!! I was so proud of myself, even figured out how to get my mother's old sewing machine to work properly (sort of).

We watched a horrible movie last night -- I don't recommend Stephen King's "The Mist" -- at least not in movie version (I have not read the book, don't plan to, either). It's a horror movie that IS scary -- but it's also depressing, fills your head with all kinds of fears and "what if" thoughts, and the ending is ..... horrible also. Don't put yourself through the torment. After a while, my husband scanned through entire scenes just so we could find out how they got out of the situation, or if they did. So last night I prayed a rosary while going to sleep - #1 to hold off my irrational fears, and #2 to pray my way through it. If nothing else, this taught me to better guard my eyes and my mind in what I expose myself to, as once you see something inappropriate, you can't erase it from your memory, especially when you wish you could. Then that gives evil a greater foothold in your life -- with temptations or with fears, or the temptation to fear and doubt.

Today I will tackle laundry and hanging it on the line. Yesterday I helped my 9yo plant her Delphinium bush yesterday. Saw our community councilman who reminded me about the town meeting on Thursday. This is a good thing. Our community is on the outer reaches of Philadelphia, and often we get overlooked because traditionally we have been a quiet neighborhood, filled with "lifetimers" (including myself) who raise their families and live their lives and don't make waves. We're mostly blue collar families and we take care of our own. But the influx of immigrants and people from other areas bringing their gang and drug activity into our midst, and most of us having to work so much, we don't stick together like we used to (most of us don't have the time or have to work to pay the bills) .... so crime is starting to take a foothold in our community. The town meetings, in a way, are bringing back that "small town" feel that we used to have, when neighbors knew each other and reinforced the old-fashioned ways of courtesy and decency that we've lived our lives by. These things don't make sense to me -- to me, it's common knowledge that you don't climb all over your neighbor's lawn or eat McDonald's on their property, because it's not your home. My mother would chase kids off my grandparents' property when I was a child. I continue the same tradition. We don't get nasty, but we give them a good scare. My husband, more than once, has taken our big German Shepherd out "for a walk" when teens with skateboards were hanging around ... just to let them know that we have a big hungry dog -- walked by a big angry father!!!  (My husband is 6'4" and he looks every inch of it!!)

So, these town meetings are intended to help bring the community back together and forming block town watches again -- and to let the police know that we're here and paying attention.

Well, I better get going. My kids are awake and I'm drinking my coffee. I want to vacuum out the furniture today, and I keep "forgetting" that my 9yo has her Hershey Park trip this coming weekend ... as a mother, I'm nervous, but I know the families she's going with. She made it through Girl Scouts Beach Jam okay, and she's going with the same families.

Maybe I'll make pancakes and give my kids a treat. My husband is out golfing this morning with a friend, and when he returns we'll have family over for dinner. Maybe we'll watch Band of Brothers again (remains one of my favorite war documentaries).

I wish everyone a blessed Memorial Day, and if you have lost loved ones in our present war, know that we remember you all in our prayers and thoughts ... I have five black military rosaries ready to mail to my contact in Florida for our troops -- I know five is barely a blip, but it is what I was able to get done between the time I learned of her group, getting sick, and having the time to work on them by Memorial Day weekend. I'm still making rosaries -- this is a continuous, ongoing hobby for me that I love!