Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Archives for 2014

happy veterans’ day to my brother

Hello, friends! Thanks for stopping in. I’m taking a minute to wish someone very special a happy Veterans’ Day. He is by coincidence visiting his California home for a few days right now, in the middle of a long deployment. I hope he can feel this little written hug across the miles.

 

My first little brother is Joey. Joseph, really, to the known adult world. I was about six when he was born and for much of our lives people have mistaken us for twins. He has always been a wonderful little brother. I love him so much.

That's me holding Joey and our sweet sister Angela. Before we ever knew there would be a Genny or a Phil. xoxo
That’s me holding Joey and our sweet sister Angela holding his hand. This was before we ever knew there would be a Genny or a Phil. xoxo Three cheers for calico!

 

Joey grew up smart and strong and married the most amazing woman, Halee. I happened to be hanging out with him the day after their first date, and I will never forget how he could not stop talking about her.They fell madly in love and she fit right into the family, effortlessly. In the years since Halee has become much more than a sister-in-law to me; she is one of my closest friends. She and I have had countless conversations about being married to strong, career-minded men. It’s a gift for which I am grateful, and I know her husband appreciates her support. I think the two of them are a great portrait of teamwork in marriage. They display the beauty of complementing strengths and of having a united front, skills they have needed through one deployment or job change or relocation after another.

This photo was taken in 2009 at a Navy ball. I love seeing Joey in uniform and Halee in formals! Such a gorgeous, loving couple.
This photo was taken in 2009 at a Navy ball. I love seeing Joey in uniform and Halee in formals! Such a gorgeous, loving couple.

Together they gave us all an amazing little nephew to love. Greg is a cutie who as a toddler ate his first bite of watermelon here at the farm. Then a couple of years later we were walking in the back field and he suddenly jumped into our pond, with zero warning! No problem, it was like three inches deep there. He was fine and we all laughed and laughed.

Oh, Greg. I am crazy about anyone who takes their watermelon this seriously.
Oh, Greg. I am crazy about anyone who takes their watermelon this seriously. And, friends, look at his face and try to not see his daddy. I know!

 

Since college Joey and Halee have been building an incredible life together, mostly revolving around the United States Navy. They have made one difficult decision after another, weighing options and opportunities, trying to see into the future and know ahead of time what is best for each other and their little family. For all of us, really, because no matter the distance, whether stationed in Japan or Africa or Florida or San Diego, no matter the weight of responsibility, they have always stayed closely knitted to family here in Oklahoma. They have been determined to not only meet their obligations but exceed them. And now Joe (that is really hard for me to do, not call him Joey) is now an accomplished Navy officer. A Lieutenant Commander to be exact, working as an engineer and a Diving Officer, currently stationed in Japan.

hoey bw dive

I won’t pretend to know everything this life path has cost you, Joey, but I hope it has brought you at least as much reward.  And I hope you feel loved and appreciated for everything you do, day to day, year after year. You are pretty quiet and humble about your military career, as it should be I suppose. But do you still know how proud we all are of you? How thankful we are for the example you are setting for the next generation, and for the work you do for this one? When you and I do get the chance to sit and talk, I treasure every minute. I see you as the blonde headed little boy in grade school, constantly playing Legos, and I see my infant brother who once stayed overnight in the hospital with an IV in his scalp. I see the teenaged boy amazed to see his tiny niece for the first time and the college student who still found time to come home for birthday and Halloween parties.

Happy Veterans’ Day to you, Joe, to your colleagues, and to Halee and Greg who are the closest members of your team. You are loved. You are admired. You are appreciated for your sacrifice and devotion. Stay safe and happy!

With so much love,
Your fake twin sister
xoxoxoxo

 

Thanks again for stopping in and reading, friends! If you or someone you love is a military vet, consider yourselves hugged and thanked by the Lazy W. xoxo

magical, grateful november day

What a gorgeous, sparkling-sunshine afternoon. I feel the magic of November all around me. And several hours stretch between right now and the next hectic time, so I want to frame this moment. Before I ask for anything else, before I think of what’s coming around the bend, I want to give thanks and breathe deeply the Love that has already been offered.

nov 9 porchnov 9 fall bordernov 9 aging crepe myrtlesnov 9 travel pecan treenov 9 dormant sunflowersnov 9 brilliant maple

A quiet walk around the farm is stunning right now. The colors, textures, and easy sounds of autumn intoxicate me. And our life is so combed through with mercy, I feel the need to pause and take stock more often. The weight of uncounted blessings is wonderful and keeps me conscious. Keeps me wide-eyed and in the moment.

We all have big problems and we all have heartache that has been sapping our strength for so long we almost can’t remember what life was like without it. But maybe just for today, lay it down. Maybe just for today, allow the particular beauty and magic of November to refresh you.

Just look around and see how beautiful life is, just exactly as it is, right this minute. Be content with your abundant blessings. Let yourself feel overwhelmed by beauty. Be stirred by the mystery of things you could never accomplish on your own.

And tomorrow, or whenever you have to deal with reality again, your soul will be refreshed.

“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.”
~Jean Baptiste Massieu
XOXOXOXO

12 lines for mama kat

Oh, Mama Kat. Brevity is not my strong suit, so thank you for the challenge to write an entire post in twelve lines. May I include photos, too? And does this into paragraph count? Hoping not.

1. The Lazy W Honeymakers have a couple of challenges but are overall thriving.
2. I recently found both queens and am winterizing the hives.

bees

3. The campus gardens keep me going during long lectures in Master gardener class.
4. My own gardens are also doing great but will be so pretty next year!

garden

5. My baby isn’t a baby anymore.
6. But she still has the same sparkly eyes and my heart still leaps when I see her happy.

joc

7. I’m rethinking pesticides.
8. Please tell me your thoughts, and I’ll write a post on it soon.

poisons

9. Time to gather supplies for indoor winter bulb forcing!
10. For me it includes pretty vessels, bulbs, and Moo Poo tea for excellent hydration.

bulbs

11. I love these sidewalk koi.
12. And I love New Orleans, which I where I saw them.

koi edited

Whew! That was not easy. Please feel free to email for more details. Nobody tell Mama Kat.

The End.
XOXOXO

marathon monday: november is a new season

It pains me to admit this, but I have been making every excuse under the sun for not running regularly. I’ll squeeze in three or four miles here and there, maybe six miles once in a blue moon, and I always feel better afterward. It’s so refreshing, mentally and physically! But this early autumn has been busy around the farm and just in life, and my heart is in more important places than the running trail. The paradox, of course, is how much running actually helps every other part of life. So neglecting my miles can have a gradually negative effect on other things.

Anyway.

Back to the grind, happily.

To start this month off right, Handsome and I threw a really fun bonfire party here on Saturday night. Right before our first friends were set to arrive I flung myself out to the back field for one single, solitary 8-minute mile. It was short and sudden, just long enough to shake up my energy for some fun. I’m not proud of one mile, but at least I didn’t let the first day of November slip by with a goose egg.

running, pile on the miles, lazy w, marathon training, run eat repeat

 

Today was much better. I lifted a few baby weights then got outside in the blustery Oklahoma weather for six miles. I am feeling way more motivated, very happy to reconnect with how spending energy creates more energy. Happy to enjoy the cool temperatures. Happy to make the sweaty most out of shorter daylight hours. AND thrilled to participate in a fun new running challenge!

The Monican over at RUN EAT REPEAT (my most favorite running blog ever) is hosting a thing called “Pile on the Miles” for all of November. She’s encouraging people to pile on the miles before piling on the calories at Thanksgiving, and she’s giving away tons of prizes along the way.

And I groove it. I love well contained, focused, manageable projects like this, and gearing up my cardio before winter sets in? It’s just plain smart.

Run Eat Repeat, running, Pile on the Miles
The Monican! She is totally bringing braids back.

My goal for November is 8o miles. So, 73 to go. Finally a realistic short term goal!

Care to join us? Click over to The Monican’s site and you’ll be able to enter to win all kinds of runner-focused prizes all month long.

rp_xo-running.jpg

 

Are you grabbing any miles lately? Will you join the pile on fun?

“Running is nothing more than a series of arguments
between the part of your brain that wants to stop
and the part that wants to keep going.”

~unknown
XOXOXO

 

haunted farm (part 3)

haunted farm part one

haunted farm part two

 

So each of us had slept through the night believing the other had crept into bed (or couch) with us. Each of us had different tactile experiences then feelings of peace and reconciliation (maybe even victory). Finally, we both woke up the next morning to realize we had actually slept alone and were technically still in the middle of a marital standoff. Those next several hours of radio silence between us probably ramped up our anxiety but also helped us crystallize our questions. We eventually compared notes and formed a picture, a timeline, of all the strange things that had transpired. It was by far the most spiritually unsettling thing that had ever happened to us as a couple, and it caused us to hug pretty tight that evening.

********************

This series of strange events is hard to understand, even for people like us who aren’t bothered by the occasional bump in the night or playful relocation of small objects in the house. Handsome and I tend to relish in ghost stories and have no trouble believing in all kinds of stuff. But this was different. Parts of it felt aggressive, negative, and deceptive. We both felt watched and manipulated, and it just wasn’t funny. Depending on your spiritual leanings, these encounters might make more sense in the context of what happened that spring.

In early March of that year, we were pulling up to the farm late at night and discovered a pickup truck flipped over, badly crashed, its driver having been thrown through the glass and lying still on the road in front of our farm. He did not live. It was a deeply troubling, violent sight, something I will never forget. My husband dealt with the emergency responders all night. I called my Mom and cried and cried, sobbed really. It was truly the saddest thing I’d ever seen and the sadness clung to us for a while afterward. I couldn’t get over the image of this man dying so badly, alone until the very last minute when Handsome held his head and spoke to him.

I wrote about it in detail that year, you can click on part three right here, but for the purposes of today’s story, I just want to tell you that I attended the man’s funeral. I met some of his sweet family who obviously loved him so much, and I saw a beautiful photo slideshow of his life, enjoyed a deep drink of the love he had been pouring out for decades. I saw what he looked like in life: Tall, broad shouldered, a shock of white hair. Friends, and I do not say this lightly, the vision I saw in the dining room window was very similar, frighteningly similar, to the image of the man I saw at that funeral.

***************

It took us a long time to connect these dots. Actually, it took us a long time to even talk to our friends about that night we fought and had separate bizarre encounters. But when we finally did, when we had some distance and perspective and rolled around ideas of what might be happening, it struck like lightning. I instantly understood at least part of the presence in our home.

I wasn’t the least bit afraid of the man then. And I’m not now. I don’t think he had anything to do with us fighting or with the mood of separation in our home that week. I think now that he actually played some part in making both Handsome and me feel reconnected to each other.

Something else was causing us to bicker and act childishly, or to be more precise, we both chose to succumb to that weight. There was definitely a dark, heavy cloud over us for a time. But something else, possibly a spirit? or possibly just Love manifesting in ways we’d never seen before? …was helping us each feel our spouse’s closeness despite our bad behavior.

Do you think I’m crazy yet? Or… even crazier than you already thought I was? That’s okay. I know everyone has a unique temperature on these matters, and even inside my own head I don’t have everything quite worked out. But I know how I feel, and I feel at peace with all of it.

sunset blue

 

Soon after we reconciled (in the daylight, eyes wide open!), Handsome and I took steps to sort of cleanse the entire property and dismiss negative spirits and energy. We believe in the power of Love and words and prayer, and we are very focused on having a positive environment here. Since that super bizarre night, we are happy to say that nothing remotely like that has happened again.

Unless you count Sasquatch sightings in the Pine Forest.

Until next time, thanks for reading!!

Have you ever experienced a true ghost story? Do you believe spirits can manipulate you emotionally? Are you shaking your head at me now, wondering why you ever started reading my blog in the first place?

XOXOXOXO