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Firefly...

6/26/2013

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"Warm skies, the stars are listening. Country night sings her song. Fireflies light the distance. Making me want to sing along."~Ruthie Foster~



This warm June evening I sat on the front porch in my light blue nightgown; the nightgown that is my most favorite with the delicate lace intertwined with satin ribbon across the front.  The gown smelled crisp and fresh from hanging on the line in the warm country air.  Mosquitoes waltzed around my ankles threatening to cast their darts into my skin.


Henry the Border Collie rubbed his wet nose upon my arm asking for a scratch; he panted his thankfulness and to me it almost seemed as though he appeared to smile, although I am sure that cannot be.


Slowly the sun was quietly enveloped into the night sky.  I silently whispered a command that it stay just a bit longer, but as the earth rotated the sun obeyed and slipped into the horizon.  We have had so much rain and clouds have covered our view of the sun; I was sad to see the sun dip away from view, but it was only for a moment that the sadness lasted.  


As I looked across the barnyard my eyes beheld softly at first but then on a grander scale the quiet softness of fireflies.  First a few dozen, then a few more...soon the night glowed with flickering green lights everywhere.  In the darkness my horse slowly came into view letting out a snort as he flicked away gnats and biting bugs.  As I watched him snack on the green grass of the  pasture, it seemed as though the fireflies danced upon his back whisking to and fro in a display of theatrical ballet.  Mirrored in the puddles the sights doubled in beauty.  I wondered if anyone had ever considered how purely lovely this sight can be!  
 
I thought of my friend Carol and her horse Buggs, and imagined the horse painting the very scene in front of me.  (click on the link to learn more about Buggs the Painting Horse).  Each worry, each stress melted into the night around me.  My horse pasture was literally lit up with hundreds of shimmering green lights.  Appearing to be akin to flickering stars, they passed to and fro upon the blades of pasture grass reminding me that their dance of today will not last...soon they will be gone and faded for yet another season. 


As I look at the fireflies I begin to realize...I seem to focus too much on the worries of today and tomorrow.  So much so that it seems to encompass my day causing me to lose sight of what is around me.  Doesn't it seem as though our troubles are so bright, nagging, and numerous?  Just like the firefly those troubles become bright for only a fleeting moment then are gone.  We focus on only that moment and miss all the blessings around us.  I am so guilty of this.  


Readers if you are able...take a look around your night time yard and ponder the blessings.  They often tend to outnumber the worries it seems to me. 


   

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own..."  Matthew 6:24
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"JO how could you? Your one beauty!"

6/4/2013

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1 Corinthians 11:15 "And isn't long hair a woman's pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering..."
Well now I've gone and done it.  My husband told me not to...my kids warned me that this happened once before and not to do it.  I didn't listen.  I took the advice of a co-worker and (because I have thinning and fine hair) decided to succumb to a home permanent.  "It will give you just a little body and make your hair appear fuller." she said.  "It will be good for your hair and make it grow faster!" she added.  
So slowly we wound up my to the shoulder blade locks into large rods.  The distinct chemical smell was overwhelming as it was cautiously applied so as not to get into my eyes.  "Just a little longer...there is not a curl appearing" were the final words.  The words that sealed my hair to its fate.  
Tenderly we removed the rods and to my dismay hair fell off with the rods.  I watched in horror as my once long hair transformed into a frizzy, burnt, disheveled mess falling into my hands and the sink as the curling rods were removed.  
I thought to myself as I peered at the scalp showing forth through the missing and burnt locks, this can be fixed right?  Right?!  No.  It cannot be fixed.  Immediately I took to the first morning light arising well before the hair salon was open.  I guess I thought maybe they could save some of the mess upon my head.  Silly me.  I am now the owner of a new "pixie" hair cut courtesy of an Olgilvie  Home Perm.  The horrors!  I am not a short hair person.  I almost felt ashamed of my appearance.  My mother, (bless her heart), said, "Ohhh...it looks nice! I have always loved you with short hair..." 
 
Never mind that more scalp than hair is there!  I look like I just went through 6 months of chemotherapy.  I cannot imagine having no hair and being sick to boot.  Makes me keep those gals in prayer as they suffer the both.

Thank goodness for my Civil War hair!  Civil War hair?  Yes...Civil War hair.  

I have in my possession real hair that clips into the existing hair on my head.  I use it specifically for re-enacting and performance; now I use it on my head daily just to have hair!  My co-workers are amazed.  "Wow!  That is real hair?  Yikes!"  
It really isn't like this idea is a new one.  My own grandma saved her hair each time she brushed it.  She put it into a little china dish just like this one...
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In fact...I even own my grandma's braid!  When she was a young 18 year old she chose to cut her long braid off at the nape of her neck.  She saved that braid for years, and when she was in her 80's she gave it to me.  Like a treasured china tea cup she handed it to me saying, "I always missed having this long hair after I cut it off.  You are the only granddaughter that has the same color hair I did when I was younger.  I want you to have this..."
At the time I was wondering why on earth someone would save her hair like that, now that I have studied (and am still studying) history I know how precious that hair was and is.
Hollywood does it all the time..you see an actress with long flowing locks; most folks assume she has grown her hair out.  Really it is just clipped in or glued in false hair.  
Throughout history women have saved hair to "pump" up their own styles filling it out, making it look thicker, longer, healthier.
Queen Elizabeth in her late 20's shaved her head bald and kept it that way. She wore vast wigs of bright red hair each day...wigs suited for a stately queen.

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Not only did women throughout history save their hair or purchase hair from specialty shops for embellishing their own styles, they also collected hair to make things!  Mourning brooches were common. With high infant mortality rates and the devastation of the Civil War, death was very much present. Jewelry made from the hair of a lost loved one was seen as a fitting memorial. Friends and family members often exchanged sentimental tokens. There is a vast collection of hair work jewelry, wall art, and memorial items made out of hair.    For centuries hair has been woven, spun, artistically created into, and added to styles for the head!

I don't know about you all, but I just love this 1994 version of "Little Women"  .
As you can see from the clips, a woman's hair is very important to her.  
Throughout history more than one account has been written of the importance of a woman's long hair; it was only to be cut to ward off an illness or to evoke shame.  It stood to reason in those days that longer hair sapped the strength and health from a woman, so they cut it off to free her of the malady or to shame her for sins committed.  

'Bout the only malady I have is not listening to reason in the first place!

If I ever get a hankering to perm my hair again, I hope someone locks me in a room!  Talk about a self-esteem buster!
I am thankful for my "fake" real hair.  I cannot abide short hair on myself...and truly I have no one to blame but myself.  So for this summer I will be sporting the same old style I always have, over the top of a pixie hair cut!  I do hope it grows out quickly...
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    Dawn Marie also known as Rebecca
    Flanagan

    Life long  learning enthusiast...these are my letters of life.   

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