Cat goes missing

Much to my dismay, Smidge did not show up when I called him last night. Occasionally, he will not come in, but is always at the door the next morning. He was not home this morning and has failed to show up as of this writing (late afternoon). Warren and I have looked next door, gone around the block, and up and down the alley calling his name. No Smidge. I hope he is all right and will show up soon. Other than that, I am praying and looking for him. Oh where, oh where can my cat be!

Random thoughts...Tom Norcross

I always think I am going to be so good and post something every day, but the reality of thinking and doing are not one in the same. The days are quite cooler now, and since the days are shorter, I am greeted with the most splendid sunrises as I start out for my walks each morning. It is not that I am getting up earlier, quite the contrary. The sun is later in getting up.

October 4th, was the 26th anniversary of Tom's death. While it is a sad day, it is also one of reflection of all the happy, silly, and great times of Tom's life. There was never a dull moment when he was around. He was an avid balloonist, and never missed the Balloon Rally in Albuquerque. I found some great pictures of this event at www.bonbonrosegirls.com.

Notice the moon in the right picture--under the balloon

One day I hope to take pictures that looks so amazing. I wish photographers would post the type of lens they used. I talked Warren into taking me to the fair so I could look at the different arts and crafts. He is so wonderful to indulge me and go along. I know it is not one of his favorite things to do. (I do have the best husband). I liked the photography most of all--probably because that is my passion right now. I found myself wondering what camera and lens was used on some amazing pictures. There were some great pictures taken at a rodeo of a cowboy being throw from a bull, and a clown rescuing a cowboy. The action was stopped at just the right moments. All I know is that it must have been taken at a high shudder speed with a telephoto lens. Go to the fair and see for yourself.

One of the things Mara (Tom's wife) did to commemorate Tom's life was to have some of the photos of him taken when he was a small boy (age 3) made into cards. I have no idea who the artist was who did the cards, but I think they were great. Check out the photo and the card. (I know there was a card of this picture, but I was unable to find it, but you get the idea).

He was such a cute kid and I am glad he was my brother.

Not to be forgotten, was Warren's mom who would have been 97 years old on October 6th. She always went to all the arts and crafts shows with me, which relieved Warren greatly since he did not have to go. She was a stickler for proper usage of the English language--something that Warren has inherited from her--and she was smart. She could read at age 4, and skipped several grades in school. She was most noted for her heavy foot on the gas pedal. She was not one of those little old ladies who drive soooo slow. She was like a Nascar driver.

Katie McKelvy- November 1986-

That is my tribute to members of our family who had a great impact on my life. I celebrate their lives and look forward to seeing them again in eternity.

I have several blogs I check out fairly frequently; one is Jordan's. She has posted the details of their latest cruise which I found to be so fun to read. It gives me a glimpse into Luke and Jordan's life and it does my heart good to see how much they love each other. It just makes my heart smile. So check out her blog at http://lifethinking.livejournal.com/

I rejoice in the Lord today. I read in Ezekiel 43:2 that "the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east...and the earth shone with His glory." Just think, the glory I see when I behold a sunrise is nothing compared to the glory of the Lord. I, also, like verse 5 that says, "And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house." Truly, God's Spirit does lift me, and I so enjoy being in His presence and being filled with Him. There is nothing better than living in the Lord.

2 pictures

Warren and I recently went to a barbecue at the Alvarez's. They had a pear tree that was loaded with fruit and soon couples started picking pears to take home. I noticed this wasp who seemed to be having quite a picnic on a piece of fallen fruit. My picture taking did not bother him in the least.

Of course, I had to get a picture of Warren and I.

Rainy days and Fall

Yesterday was the first day of fall which I love for several reasons:

1. Warren was born in the fall and I would not be complete without him. He is my gift from

God and I am very thankful for him.

2. I love the rich warm colors of the leaves turning; the orange, shiny pumpkins; the cool

crispness of the air, and apples.

3. The cool nights and bright stars.

On our first night of fall, it rained and it is still drizzling this morning. It is like the Lord has chosen this time to wash the earth and usher in the fall of the year with a new cleanliness. It is in the fall that the Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of Tishri. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, literally, "head of the year" or "first of the year." Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. It is also called the "day of remembrance" or "the day of sounding the shofar." (A shofar is a kind of trumpet made from a ram's horn). A popular observance during this holiday is eating apples dipped in honey, a symbol of our wish for a sweet new year. I like this custom since I like eating apples. Another popular practice of the holiday is Tashlikh ("casting off"). We walk to flowing water, such as a creek or river, on the afternoon of the first day and empty our pockets into the river, symbolically casting off our sins. Small pieces of bread are commonly put in the pocket to cast off. I think both of these acts of symbolism are fun and if I still had my children at home, I am sure we would be observing both of these customs. I think God has provided so many good object lessons for us.

Yesterday, I was impressed by Beth Moore's posting on her blog and turned it into a prayer for the Jewish New Year. Just as God used the Shofar to call His people, God uses us as His trumpet to call others to Him. Here is my prayer based on Beth's blog:

God has called me--to use my mouth for His great glory. I don't want to add just noise, but to become a woman of God who opens her mouth with wisdom and with the law of kindness on my tongue. I want the love of Christ to rule and reign in my heart. May I never forget, kindness is not a weakness! Help me to seek the Lord and to head for Him when I am weary and worn down. May I seek the comfort and encouragement from other believers and let them build me back up. I must remember that Jesus' yoke is kind and to make sure it is the only yoke I wear. God led me with your cords of kindness and let me build a welcoming fire in this cold world. Let me live out the law of kindness. Amen.

Be washed clean by the word of God, and be renewing in your mind. Enjoy the fall in all of its glory and richness. God made it for us to enjoy!

Rain on a leaf

Our crab-apples. Not worth eating, but gorgeous colors

A Caster bean plant. I love the rich reds and huge leaves

Our Maxi million Daisies are in glorious bloom

Mark gets married

"For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." Genesis 2:24

"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain." Proverbs 31: 10-11


Mark and Amber arrive at the Inn

The last of the McKelvy boy's, Mark, got married Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Westlake Village Inn Resort. By Friday, the whole McKelvy clan had arrived in anticipation of the events that were to take place for the next two nights. Mark and Amber couldn't have picked a nicer place to have the wedding. The rooms were fantastic with wonderful beds--a necessity for us up in years. Each room had a little outside sitting area which was really nice. (The sitting area is behind the doors with the white blinds.)

The rooms

The grounds were filled with all kinds of greenery, flowers, ponds with ducks, waterfalls, and a vineyard. It had a golf course and a nice pool area, so there was a lot to do while we were waiting for the wedding to take place. This is definitely a favorite spot to have a wedding ceremony, because there were venues all over the place. It was fun to see all the brides in their beautiful gowns. Our rehearsal dinner was held in the wine cellar which over looked a pond. Our food and service was wonderful.


The sign so you can find your wedding

The table for the rehearsal dinner

Amber's grandma and mother (see the wine barrels in the background)


The bride and groom

Mark told me he would shave for the wedding.

Drew and the beautiful scenery

I have so many great pictures of everybody, but I decided I would be formatting pictures for the web all day if I tried to post them all. No wedding can take place without a ton of posing for pictures and interestingly enough no one complained about having to pose. Why can't they be as cooperative when I want to take pictures?

All the McKelvys

Top: Laurie, Ian, Zach, Meghan, Warren, Drew, Mark, Rob, Luke, Jordan

Lower: Reid, Erynn, Adi

Then came the wedding. Ian performed the ceremony for Mark and Amber, Zach did a reading, Luke was a groomsman, and Warren had the money to get us all there, lodged, and a lot of other things.

Ian, Zach, Warren, Mark, Luke



Here comes the bride, Amber. Her brother, Nick gave her away.

Mark waits for Amber

It was an emotional time for both of them.

They are married. Yeah!

They dared taking a picture with all the kids. Amazingly, it is pretty good.

Mark, Aubrey, Amber, Drew

Reid, Adi, Erynn

No wedding would be complete without some sort of mishap and ours was very minor. Adi decided to put the top part of her dress over her head. She looks like a burglar who wears the stocking panty hose over their face.

Adi being bored, but entertaining the crowd.

On the fun side, Mark wanted to make sure all the kids got to see the ocean, so we went; and everyone had a grand time. At first the kids were intimidated by it all, soon found it to be quite fun.

Mark is pretty entertaining as well

Not so sure about this.

Kristina Schomer, the best man's wife, and Erynn

Now everyone is having fun! Good idea, Mark!

I shall end this as I ended each night when I tucked the boys into bed--with a prayer.

"Now may the bless and keep Mark and Amber. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace. Now and forevermore." Numbers 6:24

Grandkids

It has been awhile since I have posted. I decided I would add a little something so I would not be so very far behind. Erynn lost her first tooth August 29th. She called me first thing that morning to tell me it fell out in the night. Doesn't she look so cute with one missing tooth. Oh she has so many more to go. Hopefully, they will all be that painless.



Erynn and Reid came over one Sunday afternoon. They wanted to run through the sprinklers which I think would be rather cold, but kids don't care. With the end of summer just around the corner, I guess taking advantage of the warm weather was just the thing. They wanted me to take a picture of them jumping high in the air through the water. Here they are.

Warren's new toy

Today a package came in the mail addressed to Warren which is nothing new because he orders a lot of bike stuff. I have gotten accustomed to unknown packages showing up at our door step. I did not open it since it was not addressed to me. I asked him if this was Ian's present. (he took care of the gifts for Luke and Ian this year). He said it was not. We had lunch, then he opened the package--it was an iPad. He said we could use it on our trip to watch movies instead of watching them on our little iPod nanos. I am looking forward to seeing all the iPad does. Hopefully we will have time to sync it tonight. He did tell me it was a gift for the both of us and he did get an adaptor so we could use it for photos as well.

And I got my new glasses today. They have a little different prescription so they will take some getting use to.

Another one bites the dust

Recently we had quite a thunderstorm and I did not realize it had done any damage until I went out to put new juice in our hummingbird feeders. It was then that I noticed our Russian Olive tree was crushing the plant stand underneath it. Looking further, I gasped as I saw the tree had fallen on our porch roof. Thankfully, the plant stand kept the tree from falling too hard, and our damage to the porch was only minor. We will have to replace some shingles, but structurally there seems to be no damage.


Thank goodness for the plant stand

The tree on our porch roof

Warren called our yard man who sent over his uncle to cut down the tree. It took two days to take out the tree. I am so thankful Warren did not have to do this, because it would have taken twice as long, and I would be the one having to help him haul away those heavy branches and logs. Besides we do not have a pick up to haul them off to the dump since there was too much to stack in our alley.

First set of logs from one trunk

We now have no more Russian Olive trees and I have mixed emotions about it. I loved the look of the Russian Olive because the trunks were not upright. I liked the way they slanted. It was a pleasing artistic look. What I will not miss is all the pollen and berries the tree dumped on our yard. I swept up loads of its debris. Another good thing is that I will no longer have to try to save the tree from our bark eating squirrels. So our trash tree is now trash. Warren wanted to plant another tree where the Russian Olive stood, but with all the roots, I do not think we will be able to do so. I will use one stump for a plant stand, and the other (since it is at an angle) I will paint something fun on it. Erynn wanted to know if she could paint it; and I just might let her and Reid add their artistic skills to the stump.

The tree was not the only thing that bit the dust. My cell phone which is very old-- I got it when the boys were in high school--started beeping constantly and would not keep a charge. I could have gotten a new battery for it, but a new phone was not much more. So I now have a new cell phone with a keypad for texting and it only cost $20.00. The Sprint people told me they could transfer the information from my old phone to the new one, but it would not transfer. My phone was too old. So I spent a long time entering in all the phone numbers. It has a lot of nice features which I hope to learn how to do someday. Since I have gotten my phone, I have only had one call, and that has been from Warren. My new phone announces who is calling and then it rings. I thought that was interesting. I haven't decided if that is a good or bad thing yet.

This past Thursday, Warren joined the grandkids and I in the swimming pool. Well, Warren is pretty hairy and his chest hair has turned gray. He had on a pair of goggles and was catching Erynn as she jumped from the side of the pool. Reid was studying his Pawpaw, and then said, "Pawpaw, you look like a wolf." I thought that was a pretty good observation and description.

Well, Warren, aka the wolf, was drafted by me to be another photo experiment. I saw this great window display at one of the stores on Main Street. I would like to get a photo with the person and their reflection in the window, plus the window display. I was trying to figure out if it would work, hence Warren became my subject. So far all my shots have been failures. I have yet to get the effect I want, but I did get a pretty nice photo of Warren and Marilyn Monroe. He looks real thrilled about the adventure.

Warren and Marilyn