Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Isn’t it hard to believe that a whole new month is upon us? Since I love Autumn… I want to freeze/frame this month.

October left yesterday taking Jack o’lanterns with it… but leaving pumpkins; witches and ghosts flew away leaving bright colored happy mums and leaves… and soft heavy sweaters. Traces of summer weather begins to vanish leaving warm crackling fires behind. The tug of war between summer and winter is now felt more strongly on the winter’s team .

Flossie, one of the young characters, in the book I am reading ( The Whalebone Theater) describes a November in England-” There is a kind of skitteryness about November. It is a month both ominous and nervous. The crisp displays of October, all its smart oranges and yellows, have been spoiled and scattered about as November rushes in, dragging winter behind it like a trail of rattling cans. ”

In the Lowcountry we are blessed to keep more October autumn-like weather than impatient encroaching winter weather-like our states to the north… or Flossie’s English weather.

It is time to turn our thoughts to thankfulness and giving-the cornucopia feast is coming. And what helped preserve the corn or maize for this famous dinner? Scarecrows!

That’s right… Squanto not only showed the pilgrims what to plant together( like the Three Sisters) but how to keep the scavengers away!

Native-Americans, like the Creek natives in Georgia and South Carolina , literally moved into their straw huts to live within the fields to scare off crows and other threats to their livelihood or males would build tall wooden platforms to scream and jump in the midst of the flocks… trying to eat the sugar from corn. The pilgrims began taking night watches to do the same… but soon the idea evolved into making straw or wooden characters instead… they were called scarecrows or bird scarers.

Scarecrows go back in history as far as the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman empires. Even though materials changed in their making -the basic idea is something scary in the fields to ward off predators-the difference in survival… keeping the plants alive-food!!!

Look at these new computerized ” scarecrows.” They attack with threatening sounds!

Japan uses store mannequins…

So until tomorrow… Let us give thanks on this All Saints Day for those who came before , not to judge, but by example show us the true path!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Actually last night was fun… since I live on the street one down from the club… most of the trick or treaters arrived in parent driven golf carts! My first trick or treaters were these precious two little boys…

But suddenly the street was filled with a caravan of golf carts that appeared to cover up Rainbow Road…for just a moment… I felt like what a scarecrow must feel …when the birds start descending on the fields… Help! I was scared I was going to give out of candy…

Whew! Time’s almost up… think I am going to make it… and speaking of treats -Vickie showed up with this delicious treat-chicken enchilada and fried red rice! What’s a girl to do with this culinary ” Saint” … say Thank you and gobble it up!!!!

After Mollie sent this picture out… the rest of the family had to admit the children looked terrific… but what were they? ( Eloise was Evie from Disney movie-Descendants, Rut was ” Meowscles” from a video game and Lachlan was a ” Halo”character from another video game. The times… they are a’ changing!

It is the first day of November… we all need some good luck this month… so remember first thing today say … ” Rabbit! Rabbit”

The Turners went ” military” this Halloween-a lot of watching Top Gun!

Lights out! Another fun Halloween! ( Psst! Is it just me or do you see some strange blue ” lights” on the porch and steps? )

Dear Reader:

It’s finally here… we have to wait to the last day of the month to go a little crazy, a little creative and take OFF our everyday masks we present to the public and become a child again! Halloween is one of my favorite childhood memories.

For one magical night I could be somebody besides me… that sense of freedom and total abandonment still resonates in my recollections of the best of childhood wonder.

In past Chapelofhopestories … I have researched the historical roots, customs, cultures, myths, and individual remembrances of this late fall celebration… Halloween. This year I discovered a fun ” historical/ musical fact” … that everyone can recognize!

Now come on… what is a Halloween party without the ” Monster Mash” repeatedly playing? The idea behind the song 🎵 was the culmination of two popular crazes in 1962…. 60 Years Ago!

Chubby Checker was the king of the Twist and subsequently the dance… plus monster movies were the craze at the theater. Bobby Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers combined the two popular movements and Hocus Pocus …the Monster Mash was born. It is still ( after more than a half century) the number 1 Halloween party ” graveyard smash! “( followed closely behind with Jackson’s Thriller.)

So until tomorrow…

Yesterday I stopped by Mandy’s to pick up my new pumpkin and succulent hairdresser that Susan Swicegood makes so creatively and gives away to family! Only time will tell if this Halloween’s will still be around like last year’s…” white ghost” pumpkin!

I also stopped by Tommy and Kaitlyn’s to see my newest grand dog-George-who was still in the festive Halloween mood …left over from Kaitlyn ‘s Hocus Pocus party Saturday night!

… If you like local ghost stories about houses in the area… Mollie found one very close to their home off Clements Ferry. The article was in the Daniel Island News. Point Hope’s Sanders House…. lots of bumps in the night. Sadly soon to be moved and renovated as a realty company’s offices… beautiful old home. You can Google and easily get the whole series of sightings by generational families who once lived there!!!

And my final question to any of you party goers tonight… as you dance the Twist to the ” Monster Mash” is… ” How Low Can You Go?” Happy Halloween!

Dear Reader:

While looking for a pair of loafers at the back of my closet, I found one of my favorite pumpkins… looking sad and forlorn… hidden behind boxes. I took it out… gave it a good dusting and set it on the place of honor…the dining table pumpkin plate. …the black and white design immediately made me think of Mary Engelbreit’s popular style of using black and white patterns in children’s book illustrations and home decor.

As I settled back in my cozy pumpkin haven… a damp misty day settled in around me. I was in for the count… or was I ? The mind is a funny thing… black and white…. zebra… ice cream cone!

I really tried talking myself out of this ridiculous temptation, on a cool damp misty afternoon- but it was too late… I had to have one… a Zebra ice cream cone… so off I went to TASTEE FREEZ! Yum!!! Yum!!!!

I splurged and got a waffle cone this time and then remembered a story about how ice cream and cones came to meet. It was 1904 at the St Louis World’s Fair. It was a stifling summer day and Ernest Hamsun, an immigrant from Syria, was having no luck selling hot Persian waffles to the sweltering crowds. But at the next booth, Arno Fornachau was dishing out ice cream ( selling like hotcakes 😂)

Then it happened… Arno ran out of plates… what to do? Ernest quickly rolled a cone out of a waffle and the ice cream scooped in… an immediate success!

Remember the other day… when we discussed the meaning behind the quotation ” Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” This is especially true when it comes to recognizing original inventors to their inventions. Immediately… on the same day… at the same fair other waffle and ice cream vendors appeared claiming to be the first that day to scoop ice cream into waffles.

Beginnings and endings … connections galore! One good idea spreads quickly… just like vanilla and chocolate are separately wonderful-together divine!

God has known this from the beginning… all His diversified children are beautiful in His eyes … combined with the love of others … the complete family of creation.

Here is a cute black and white combo-Winnie and George!

So until tomorrow… as beautiful as autumn is… if all the leaves were just one color-it would be pretty but…God uses autumn to teach us that it is the diversity of colors that make autumn the most magical, amazing season of all! How many examples must God give us… before we ” get it?” We are all, no matter race or color, beautiful in His eyes! Together… even more so!

Today us my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh

A shout-out to Anne Peterson…. Happy Birthday Anne! She is in the mountains this birthday weekend and she saw color ( besides the tree colors) … black bears!

Dear Reader:

Every time I notice something new or actually old, but renewed, in my present vision and past memories, I feel happy!

Yesterday it was glancing at my pine tree, right outside my front window, and realizing that even a simple, ordinary vine… can produce its own unique beauty as it climbs its destined path.

While putting out all my pumpkin decor last month… inside and out…I removed some other articles to make room and yesterday discovered one framed painting that I loved and now needed to be returned to the happy room den!

Ever since I first learned to read… books have been my best friends. I have read to more dolls and stuffed bears than I can even begin to recall throughout my childhood… playing teacher.

When I think of a home I immediately think of books… to me… they help define the coziness of a place … bringing the warmth of thousands of favorite stories that, over time, became a part of me… constantly redefining who I am.

The picture of the mother reading to her child reminded me how much I loved the illustrations of Jessie Wilcox Smith… especially her illustrations in a Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Today art critics liken Smith’s ” Little Miss Muffet” illustration to an adult Mona Lisa in its popularity.

… But it was the cover illustration for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm that made me an ardent life-long fan. A favorite book of mine growing up. ( In my imagination I WAS Rebecca)

Yes… yesterday was a day to ponder and wonder and simply be kind to others and myself in creating my cozy abide of love…

So until tomorrow… Pause and slow down perhaps the way Robert Rohr demonstrates…

Be still and know that I am God

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know

Be still

Be.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Kindness was bestowed on me yesterday by Susan ‘s corn chowder… fulfilling … in so many ways!

Dear Reader:

There is no doubt in my mind that every post I have written since August 7, 2010 has simply been an extension of a story, conversation, comment, movie, or experience that happened to someone else… before I was even born.

We are all connected by story… our life’s story intertwining with the billions of people who ever lived on this good earth. Every crazy or even ridiculous personal experience or thought has attached itself to another… long before we even came to be.

Simply put… we are all connected… the world is not just made up of atoms… but stories. For every particle of life… a story is attached through the thoughts of being alive.

I have always found it interesting to read stories about famous authors and how their individual approaches to storytelling differed but produced the same successful results. Some authors started with an ending and worked backwards building in the characters and action. Other authors just started writing and were clueless about the ending until they literally got there and suddenly it was revealed to them .

(The common denominator is that both approaches can bring about amazing results based on the individual talents of the creator/author.) There is no one right way to be inspired.

In my case… learning something new, in my garden, reveals thoughts that produce memories and memories are the unwritten stories in our minds. .. my inspiration!

For example … look at this beauty someone was carrying out as I went in to pay Charlene for some flowers I had just purchased… a willowy pink fern ( usually indoor fern) but Charlene said it would be perfectly happy outside until our first frost. I had to have one because I immediately thought Pink Ribbon-Breast Cancer and memories of my path through the challenges of an unknown frontier. What a beautiful way to say good-bye to October.

Then I ” dead-headed ” the beautiful purple mums Lassie gave me and moved it to the entrance to my back garden-placing the mums in an orange container-now called my ” Tiger” mums. 😉

My favorite wooden container on the porch had enclosed summer flowers who were ready to say goodbye-replaced them with gold and bronze coreopsis.

… And ” Dingle-Dangle” the Scarecrow is now residing on some ” Mouria” yellow Belgian Mums!

… and this time of year… we must remember to pause and look up-we never know what beauty is staring down and/ or welcoming new diversity in the pots.

So until tomorrow… ” Which comes first? Does feeling safe and held by God allow you to deal with others in the same way, or does human tenderness allow you to imagine that God must be the same , but infinitely so? ( Richard Rohr)

*** For me… either path works as long as I know God loves me more than anyone else could ever love me… in my soul!

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

After excitedly surveying my yard and gardens ( after being given a complete ” physical”) Tuesday… I found my self drifting back to the wooded area, just beyond my back yard but still within the property border line.

It is in this special area that my plant ” cemetery and re-birth” center is located… right along the edge of the woods.

I always take my three containers of hostas and other seasonal plants to place in the security of the woods, to give each plant a chance to die back but also renew life for some ( like the hostas) that return each spring more beautiful than the year before. ( Unless the deer get them!) Life is tough for plants too!

Yesterday… into the woods I went… drawn by the beauty of these huge green leaves or fronds… and though for many plants October is the dying month… some plants don’t leave without first leaving behind their greatest memoir of beauty.

I think autumn does belong to the leaves and not just the tree kind …

BUT… speaking of trees… I glanced up into my pear tree and there was one branch holding the first turning leaves of the season…before fall ends… there is the promise of more beauty to come… trees are very patient creatures… letting flowers go first in the fall! Then… just as they start fading… tree leaves turn into treasures of gold!

So until tomorrow… ” The eye through which we see God in nature… is the same eye through which God sees us.”

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I knew that Jeff, my amazing lawn maintenance magician, was coming early yesterday morning… and he did… arriving around 7:30 … as I was groggily trying to get my heart re-started.

As I glanced out the windows I realized why my body didn’t wake up as easily as usual… a dense fog… surrounded the house, garden and neighborhood. I quickly threw on some clothes and ran out to meet Jeff who was calmly shrugging off the fog … as he started climbing on the roof to blow off pine straw debris… as I watched from below muttering a prayer for safety for Jeff. ( My fingers clutched my mobile phone ready to dial 911 in a split second. )

Half an hour later Jeff was down… roof cleared and a mountain of debris grew higher and higher as he continued cleaning and clearing the gardens, yards, sidewalks and car pavements.

He was still working when I left to go to Daniel Island to drop some items off for Ben and meet his good friend Gary who has several patients at Wellmore-he is a physical therapist and has been so kind to Ben taking him around Charleston just to get him out and about.

The fog had not dissipated, as predicted by early morning weathermen … so while slowly crossing the Don Holt Bridge I could see the fog rising in bellows while driving-scary but awe- inspiring at the same time!

Jeff told me that he hoped I would be surprised when I got home later from my visit at all the branches, tree limbs, pinecones and dead debris gone from every part of the property… I texted him a Triple Wow when I returned home and saw my home surrounded by such an ” orderly” state of affairs.

…Bushes and trees were cut back ( even cut down completely -the ugly shrubs.) Now I know that nature’s order and man’s don’t always coincide as more leaves will fall, finally completely covering the lawns, blooms fade, flowers die, bright colors turn dark and bare trees wave their eerie branches like skeletal arms and fingers.

But while living in this one moment… this is what I saw! Clean roof, clear driveways , clear gardens without pinecones, sprays, sticks, branches… clean patio- a rare moment of ” orderliness ” in nature. It won’t last long …” But my candle burns at both ends… It will not last the night… But ah, my foes and oh, my friends- It gives a lovely light.” *** It made me deliriously happy!

Today is my favorite day- Winnie the Pooh

… And now my internal soulful question to the universe… ” Does Jeff do indoor house cleaning?” 😉

Dear Reader:

When Archibald Rutledge returned home ( August-1937) to Hampton after a forty-four year absence… he was fifty-six… but driving up to his childhood home… he knew Something or Someone Bigger than himself was guiding him back to the land of hyacinth, camellias, and pine trees… his family plantation built by his Huguenot ancestors in the 1600’s.

By 1937 old southern deserted plantations were being gobbled up by northern millionaires. All Archie’s friends warned him against even attempting to retire and restore his beloved Hampton -he would go bankrupt. After all it was the Great Depression era. Archie knew they were probably right since he and the tenants willing to help him would be the rebuilders.. but he had always loved the expression… ” The difficult is what can be done now; the impossible, what can be done soon.”

What draws me to Archibald Rutledge is the beautiful simplistic spirituality he ingested as a youth in the pine tree woods of home… that he never lost until he drew his last breath, at 90, in the bed in which he was born.

” It takes solitude under the stars, for us to be reminded of our eternal origin and our fore-told destiny.”

Rutledge never forgot one experience, as a youth, driving a buggy home to the plantation around dusk.

” Suddenly inky darkness shrouded the world. I could not see the road ahead or behind. The thunder and lightning were appalling. Then it happened. A bolt struck a pine less than twenty feet from my buggy. My horse made a sudden dash and broke away through the forest. Running between two close pine trees … the terrified horse smashed both shafts and vanished in the howling darkness.”

” Alone I was , defenseless, in profound darkness. I knew in a way where I was, and to locate myself the better I looked toward what I believed to be the West.”

” To my amazement I saw a small break in the storm, hardly bigger than my hand, in the very heart of which the evening star gleamed in a desert-silver solitude. In all the abrupt stillness-it shone serenely… telling my heart… ” This storm is an imposter. It is momentary. The sky is still here, and all the stars; all shall be well.”

Taking heart, Archie found his horse, mounted it and rode home reaching the house in full, calm starlight.

So until tomorrow… Archibald never forgot that celestial message and for the rest of his long life… stars filled him with a sense of God’s permanent presence in his life… never temporary …like a storm. Keep the faith… God is always with you behind every transitory storm encountered in life.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

All my grandchildren’s maples are showing off this year!

The Turners are back from a long weekend at Disney World!

Dear Reader:

Being a product of the Baby Boomer generation… I was raised ( as a future southern wife and mother) to play the role of peacemaker and strong home anchor.

All my life I have tried to avoid personal conflicts when it comes to everyday decisions concerning home, hearth, and issues that force one to take a stance. I normally retreat or perform a balancing act on the fence.

Perhaps my astrological sign-the balanced scales plays a role in my natural tendency to avoid unnecessary conflict .

But life has a way of forcing us out of the corner doesn’t it… when suddenly we find ourselves, by default, in decision/making roles that we know, once announced, will splinter serenity and send out shards of unrest.

Life, itself, must not like fence-sitters because ( in hindsight) I have been knocked off my tight-rope act more times than I care to remember.

… Until one day we finally realize that if we want our lives to feel limitless… we must learn how to create boundaries that protect, nurture, and sustain all we cherish. We must protect the right… the freedom.. to be ourselves and draw that line in the sand.

We must choose to let that inner voice imprisoned within us … out. The voice that tells the world what we believe in and what we stand for… the underlying principles within us that believe in peace, personal freedoms, democracy, morality and respect for all God’s children, regardless of race or religion.

So until tomorrow…Drawing a line in the sand, taking a stance, and finally saying ” NO” enhances our own self-respect. We are giving ourselves the gift of inner strength when our ” No’s” stop robbing us of our inner joys, or distracting us from God’s purpose for us on earth.

And today I am taking a stance against one commercial in order to preserve my sanity! Martha! Martha… don’t call Medicare C… just change channels, hang up or take that truly ridiculously annoying conversation elsewhere!!!!! Anywhere… OFF THE AIR!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

One of my favorite sit-cons growing up was actor/ comedian Redd Fox ( aka) Fred Sanford who was always faking a heart attack to avoid conflict… he would start moaning and put his hand over his heart… calling out to his deceased wife, Elizabeth, that he was coming and that this was the ” big one.”

Some creative soul posted this yesterday after the Clemson-Syracuse game… leaving me in stitches… the perfect metaphor for that game!

My favorite Halloween creative house decorations in Summerville…

After all the morning boys games, and the Clemson game Saturday, Mollie was off to take Eloise to her pre-school Halloween Extravaganza. ( Oh I remember those days… complete exhaustion! I will take ” now” even with its challenges… once was enough!)

Dear Reader:

This fall is so beautiful… everyday takes my breath away and like the sign says (outside Walsh and Mollie’s neighborhood ) fall is proof that change can not only, be a good thing, but put a ” giddy-up” in your footsteps through life!

I knew yesterday was going to be a sports day through and through… but I had forgotten how much sports teach us about the good, the bad, and the ugly… about fear, courage. acceptance and determination.

At the last minute… Lachlan’s game got cancelled so Grandmother Boo had more time to just hang with family… and especially grandchildren. Making memories is my favorite thing to do in this stage of my life!

And Rutledge’s last scheduled game of the season was everything a young quarterback could wish for his team… big win so everyone got to play and Rutledge just had fun… all his friends had come out to cheer him on and I have never laughed so much with all the players and parents! Not a cloud in the sky… the perfect fall day!

The Clemson game had already started by the time we got back from the Iron Horse’s fun victory’ … ( in hindsight a blessing in disguise!) *** ” You know you’re getting old when you can’t decide what will happen first… the game that just won’t end… ends… or your heart stops beating! “

Everyone knew that this game would probably come down to the wire ( two undefeated teams) but we didn’t know we would have to play two teams simultaneously… Syracuse and ourselves.

It was like every fumble, interception or penalty that could happen in football (throughout an entire season) fell out of some Pandora’s box on top of the Tigers… and Syracuse got a taste of this themselves at a very inopportune time near the end of the game. ( Truthfully Rutledge’s game was more enjoyable to watch)

Look at the beautiful addition room we got to watch the game on the newly renovated porch-outside patio furniture coming soon!

But driving home … later in the day watching fall filter through the streets with its bright colors … I realized that sports games are just tiny slices of the cosmos where humanity is played out in real life.

Throughout the four quarters of the Clemson-Syracuse game… the universe shifted back and forth casting sunlight on one side or the other… leaving the other side dejected in shadows… but then it would reverse and hope revived the piece of life being played out before a large enthusiast throng on both sides.

So until tomorrow -In the end time ended the game… which it will do in our own lives… but in conclusion …we want to know we gave life back everything it gave us… light, darkness, fear, compassion, determination, acceptance…and we let love win regardless of circumstances …we never quit playing the game …until the end…

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh and here’s why!