life | Love, Laughter, and Life

January 21, 2019
by Angie 1 Comment

The Year of Peace

6182f4a5-88be-4305-ba98-5eed3ae25207

[PEACE. I found this unpublished post from June 2017. It could read the same for any year. There will always be stuff. As you read this, know that we all face struggles. And peace is available.]

This was supposed to be my year of peace. Not like The Year of Sue (In the Middle), but a year where my focus word was going to be PEACE, and I would gracefully float through the year, thinking peace-filled thoughts and letting peace drip off my fingertips.

Nope. To date, this year has been filled with the most anguish, sorrow, betrayal, stress, frustration, and anxiety I’ve ever experienced. Notice that peace is not listed. It has been hiding in the corner. Right where I’ve shoved it.

As per the title of the blog, we’re talking life. Love, sure. Laughter? At myself and the grands. But mostly, life.

Just this morning, while giving thanks for my breakfast, I asked Jesus for peace. His peace. My mind instantly popped to the story in the Bible (Matthew 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25) of Jesus sleeping on the boat while the storm raged all around, frantic disciples fearing imminent drowning.

What I need is to be like Jesus, sleeping through the storm. Well, peacefully resting in the midst of the storm. That’s what I need to learn this year.

My thoughts switched to the disciples who should have taken their clue from the Master. He was napping, no concerns, things were fine. Ok, if Jesus is fine with this storm, we are fine with it. Sure there’s water coming in, the wind is blowing up some fine waves, rain is coming down in sheets, but if Jesus is good, we’re good.

But no. They forgot the bit about Jesus being in charge of all the stuff. All. The. Stuff. Weather, lakes, boats, drowning included. Me? I would have joined the friends on board. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Wake-up-wake-up-wake-up-wake-up! We’re all gonna die!!!”

Yes. That would be me. Totally forgetting everything I’ve already seen and heard. Living in the drama of the moment.

Instead of who I want to be, I’m just like them. The eyewitnesses who saw every big and little thing Jesus did, more than we can know this side of Heaven, and they still missed the Big Picture until later, after everything was said and done and the Lord ascended to Heaven and the Holy Spirit came to dwell in believers.

I forget. The big and little things Jesus did and does. I even have the entire Bible to read – something many of the disciples contributed to but were not around to see completed.

It’s not circumstances I need to focus on, but Him. I KNOW this. But…

I don’t want a year of this chaos.

Peace. Some of it may be me allowing Him to redirect my thoughts. Some of it is my choice to wallow, see the negative, hang on to the pain with all ten of my fingers and toes. Some is allowing the Holy Spirit to fill me, daily, every minute, each second.

The year of peace – when I allow myself to nap in the boat with Jesus while the storm rages all around. I’m sure I’ll peek around to see what’s going on, glance at the Captain to see if all is well, then snuggle back up for a good rest.

Peace.

40e76efd-3a7e-4ca1-9a5b-2fd58e31f0a1

January 7, 2019
by Angie Leave a comment

Three-Horse Alarm

55abe988-2f15-4010-a74e-abbdb3b1bab7

Happy New Year!

Like everyone else I’ve read or spoken with, I can’t believe how fast 2018 disappeared. I’m not sure which is correct: the older you get the faster time goes, or the older you get the slower time goes. Some days both are true. Or perhaps these sayings are talking about memory. Definitely true.

Welcome to 2019!

928eec39-24c6-4769-98ae-5438839c0c2a

For fun, I’d like to introduce you to our three-horse alarm, formerly posted about in this blog as The Three Chocolates.

The three chocolates (white, milk, and dark) live in the pasture next door. I only know 2 actual names, so the chocolates they remain. They are very good watch horses. Excellent in fact.

Not too long ago, I noticed all three stationed facing east (looking our way), heads up, tails up, ears forward, alert and ready to flee (or attack). That’s my alarm going off! Time to see what’s going on.

That time, an entire herd of goats was free from pasture and roaming just above the horses and our pasture. Not causing trouble, other than the possibility of traffic issues if they persisted in grazing west. I called to let authorities know. I knew exactly when help arrived due to the alarm horses. I could follow the drama by peeking out the window to see what the horses were doing.

Other days, with just one glance, I can tell from which direction trouble comes, be it dogs, people, noisy trucks, goats, other horses, yelling children . . .. It’s a pretty fascinating way to spend time, observing my alarm horses. They are used to us, and now we are in the category of boring. Unless we have snacks. But should a new person approach, beware the attention.

851ae7a3-9847-4f7f-b02d-1336b28e4825

Yesterday, two girls had dogs on leashes on the west side of the pasture fence. Oh, the alarm was a three-horse blare! Running, snorting, kicking up heels, and from the white chocolate, preparation to attack. We thought we might witness an injury accident as the girls were oblivious to the danger facing their dogs.

Fortunately, adults intervened and disaster was averted.

What an alarm system! I feel pretty secure knowing three sharp-eared, eagle-eyed equines stand guard in our little community. Combine the three-horse alarm with the five-dog contingent to the east and our hunting cat Monet who is ever alert, and there is not much that can sneak up on us.

Hope your New Year is as entertaining as life in the pasture.

594be080-ee8f-4747-83c5-a5ce8335164c

December 5, 2018
by Angie 1 Comment

Holiday Haiku – 25 Days of Christmas Haiku: love

6C460E29-700E-49CE-B10B-AC5F06B1FF4E

Christmas season, love

comes in many forms, marriage

but one; friendship too

love

by Angie Quantrell

0AC6D7BB-488E-40F3-9CA7-ED687394C2F7

Join me on a Christmas Haiku journey as I celebrate with words, thoughts, and photos that take me deep into my family’s Christmas traditions. Read more Christmas Haiku posts here.

May this Season of Light brighten your life and fill your heart with love.

November 7, 2018
by Angie Leave a comment

Happy Hump Day Haiku Challenge: oil change

My car in a place I’d rather be than sitting waiting for an oil change

waiting, oil change task;

quick time promise dashed to bits

time unproductive

by Angie Quantrell

I ALWAYS have something on hand to do if I have extra wait time. Except for today. When, through a fluke of the nature of the beast (cars and things that can go wrong), I ended up with over an hour of wait time. This business requires customers to stay inside car. Keys are placed in a safety box. No radio. No book on CD. No steno pad. No newspaper or magazine.

What? How can that be true? Alas, I was sure it was a 20 minute stop and I’d be back home writing away.

After one hour 10 minutes, I was still waiting for a replacement plug. My honey came and got me and dropped me off for a quick lunch. I wrote tiny notes on my pocket-sized pad of paper as I (again) waited for food. I took off with his truck to get home while he waited for the car. Probably 2.5 hours? That was one LONG oil change. If they rate efficiency, my visit tanked their numbers.

But rest assured, they say I am good to go. No leaking oil, no stripped plug, no engine burning up. At least for now.

How about you? What do you do with unexpected wait time? I’d love to read your comments. Bonus points for writing a response in haiku!

September 3, 2018
by Angie Leave a comment

40 Years of Labor Days

A 40 year friendship! You can see Crystal Lake but not Mt. Rainier, which is glowing in the background. Selfies are not my strong suit…

We first met 40 years ago today, Labor Day, at the Wapato Harvest Festival parade.

Newly arrived from Arizona, I didn’t know many people. He had lived in Wapato for nearly all his life. We came face to face in front of the pastor’s house on the “Ave” where church members and assorted tag-a-longs gathered to watch the parade before heading to the city park for rides, games, and food.

Tall, thin, curly-haired; my impression was of a ‘cool’ guy who couldn’t be bothered to chat with a short, sun-kissed non-native. By his report, he was cool but thought I was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.

We made slow progress at first. His mom suggested he take me to the homecoming dance. “Nope.” So I went with my cousin from Seattle who was immediately the hottie everybody wanted.

Come spring, our relationship was growing in earnest and we became a couple. At least for a few months. Then I took a year off during our junior year. But like bees to honey, we were back together for senior year.

Off I went to Western Washington University, with the claim that, “If we can survive 4 years apart for college, we can survive anything.” My guy burned the road up between Wapato and Bellingham (4 1/2 hour drive one way), coming to see me every other weekend. Sometimes I traveled back home but then he had to share me with everyone. Back before cell phones and computers (I KNOW! Gasp!) we had a code phone call ring. To avoid the charges of our dorm phone, he would call, let it ring twice, then hang up. That was our good-night check-in. We did talk on the phone, but not much. We spent much of our time writing letters back and forth. Boxes of notes, cards, and creative tomes of love…if I had spent that much time studying…

In June of 1985, we became Mr. and Mrs. This was just a new beginning to our life of adventure, starting right off by driving to So Cal and Disneyland (giving our parents a heart-attack). Our honeymoon was the first of many on-the-road journeys Mr. and Mrs. enjoyed and plan to enjoy.

Two babies, five grandchildren, furry pets, revolving jobs, and numerous trips, houses, and escapades, we are still best friends and more in love each day. Sure there have been struggles and explosive moments, but we’ve stayed committed to each other. It’s wonderful to have a best friend and partner standing beside you on the journey, one who knows all your faults and fears and how you look in the morning (or after childbirth or surgery or the stomach flu) and who still loves you and takes you on dates and hiking in the mountains and on motorcycle rides and finishes your sentences or phrases cloned from favorite movies.

40 years of labor (of a different sort) and here we are today. Best friends, lovers, partners in crime. God knew what He was doing when He hooked us up. And we’ve kept Him busy taking care of us ever since.

To my best friend.

06C99359-D69A-4366-BA0B-1EAF978A5D27

January 9, 2018
by Angie Leave a comment

5 Minutes

685326FE-2108-4BB0-B785-1C7BB87BF127

What can I do in 5 minutes?

Undecorate the RV. Seriously!

Make lunch for my honey.

Make the bed (it DOES take that long…just try making a bed in an RV).

Wipe down condensation from the windows. In the RV, this is a thing.

Vaccuum the RV. Yep.

Brush my teeth. It does take a bit.

Write a thank you note.

Put on make-up.

Call my mom (though we often chat longer than 5).

Reserve books at the library.

Snuggle a kitty or a kid.

How about you? What can you do in 5 minutes?

November 26, 2017
by Angie 2 Comments

Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

96079ACC-8A8B-40B4-9810-45FF1E5FD84C

It’s been a rough year for my family, so we decided to switch things up. This year, we went off the charts for Thanksgiving.

We chose to:

-travel to the beach (off-season is awesome)

-cook our own little turkey breast

-decorate for Christmas

-begin our annual Christmas movie countdown

66DDBCE5-820B-41C5-9B4E-2C1A7EE2481A

What really happened:

-beach plans were cancelled due to health issues

-went on a drive to the mountains to collect pine cones for art projects

-soaked by pounding rain

-did a little off-roading to travel up a steep, rocky, bumpy, muddy path

-met a wolf

-the wolf turned into a Husky, lost VERY far from civilization

-he loved us. And jumped eagerly into the pickup

-had to figure out what to do with a huge lost dog (wearing a collar, but no tags)

-Did you know everything is closed (pretty much) on Thanksgiving? Unless you are shopping.

-which was good, since we needed dog food

-by the time we got home, it was very late when our little turkey breast went in the oven

-spent all afternoon taking photos, hanging out, searching for lost dogs, and contacting friends and social media groups in efforts to find this handsome boy his family

-nowhere to keep a large, very large dog in the RV

-our daugther and family took Mr. Handsome home to sleep

-Mr. Sweetie (SO good with kids, pets, noises, crowds) hunkered down in exhaustion

-turkey dinner became our traditional leftovers meal: turkey, cranberry sauce, cream cheese, sliced red onion sandwich (I had a salad)

-actually had a six-course meal. That’s what I told Kevin as we ate and drank different courses while waiting for the turkey to get done

-nearly sugar-free crustless pumpkin pie is delicious!

-decorated the RV. Put up our tree in less than 5 minutes. Done.

-put up the outdoor tree. Less than 5 minutes. Done.

-finished the Harry Potter movie marathon. Next, Christmas.

Our day was totally nontraditional. But we liked it.

Who knows? Next year we might go back for pinecones.

Or another lost dog.

19C35F20-FD39-4B2A-AD42-C8064FDB2048

P.S. More about our Mr. Handsome later.

May 18, 2017
by Angie 4 Comments

One More Hug

One more hug.

That’s what I wish for. Just 1, maybe 2 long hugs.

Before I say good-bye.

But it’s too late. I’ve missed the chance. You’re gone.

I’ll remember our last day together.

Talking, remembering, sharing, eating.

That one half hug when I arrived.

It wasn’t enough.

So I’ll grab all those memories,

Wrap them tight in my heart.

Keep them close to ease the pain.

An invisible hug for eternity.

Missing you.

For my Dad.

My Daddy passed away on Good Friday, April 14. I was blessed to spend the day with Daddy and Mama, talking and visiting and hanging out. He went on to Heaven later that evening. We had the gift of clear-minded conversation and enjoyment of recalling my growing-up years the entire day. I even learned a few things I hadn’t known. I miss him dreadfully and worry about Mama without her love of nearly 57 years of marriage. But I know he is fine and she’s not alone. She has her kids, a part of Daddy. We will share our heart hugs about Daddy and remember the good times.

But I would still love one more hug.

Don’t wait. Hug with abandon.

November 16, 2016
by Angie Leave a comment

Tea with Me

Special Mickey dessert we enjoyed after a delicious lunch.

Let’s catch up! It’s been that busy lately.

Blog? What blog? It’s more like suitcase? Where did I put my travel bag? Where are the luggage tags? Gotta do the laundry so I have clean undies. Need to remember to pack this and that necessity. Unpack, repack. Lists, lists, and more lists.

Pause. Bring out the teacups. Heat the water. Squeeze in a bit of honey. Choose a teabag. Pour. Steep. Relax.

How has life been treating you? Are you enjoying fall (or spring, depending on your hemisphere)? What plans do you have for the holidays?

We thought life in an RV would be simpler, less to care for, smaller requirements of energy, more free time.

That has not happened. Yet.

Indeed, it seems to take longer to live. Less stuff, but more thinking and decisions to be made regarding purchases, storage options, and mulitple use items. But enough about that for now. More later.

Life has been busy, so having a small space to place our heads at the end of the day has been wonderful. A few things we have been enjoying:

We found Chewbacca!

Disneyland. Happy anniversary to us! I’m sure I have everyone confused about the date of our actual anniversary, but we have gotten out of the habit of celebrating it on or even near the 22 of June. November? Sure, that’s a great time to head south with thousands of our best friends (and we thought we had an original idea – nope – crowd factor was quite high).

Rubber stamping. I know – hand crafts are fabulous! I decided to make our Christmas cards this year, since my stash of every day cards is quite high and I need to use some of them up before adding more. So off I went to meet the girls and co-conspirators. 94 Christmas cards ready to be used. Merry Christmas!

The leaves win!

Grandkids. One of my favorite hobbies. I love seeing them and spending time with all 5 of our precious jewels. Photos have been taken, treats given, hugs and kisses enjoyed. Every day is an adventure with grands!

Amplify. We are headed into the busy season, as most churches are right now. Harvest Party, Thanksgiving baskets, Caroling and nursing home visit, Candlelight Service, and so on. Despite the bustle of the season, I adore this time of year.

Writing. Deadlines are among us. If I disappear for a few days (or weeks) and forget to answer emails or phone calls, it’s the deadline factor. I am blessed to have quite a few on my master schedule, so off to work I go.

Walking. Not so much when I’m home. But if I’m in, let’s say Disneyland, I’ve enjoyed upwards of 8-10 miles a day. Or with friends, 2-3 miles is a nice happy medium. At home, we are still working out the kinks of safely reaching a good walking location (without having to drive somewhere to walk).

Family. Keeps us busy. Grands, siblings, children, parents. It’s lovely to have all of our family close. That doesn’t always translate to seeing them often, but if something pops up, we are near and can help or attend an event or gathering. I don’t know of many families that have so many members this close. For that, we are grateful.

And coming up soon – birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the new year – the seasons of the year. Each is a gift from God.

How about you? Refresh your cup and fill me in. What plans are on the calendar? What’s been going on?

Have a blessed day.

October 25, 2016
by Angie 2 Comments

That Sort of Girl

My signature fragrance!

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

I dabbled a bit at the perfume counters and my grandmas’ display of pretty bottles for years. But once I found my lifetime signature fragrance, that was it. Committed. Loyal. Done searching.

Oh, I may have stopped to smell other roses along the way, but this was MY scent.

Tresor. In French, a treasure. For me, my favorite perfume.

This personality trait, for I have realized that’s what it is, does not only apply to Lancôme.

When my honey and I got engaged, I loved my ring. As we married, I gained another simple gold band. At ten years in, he bought me a 10-tiny-diamond band. At 20 years, we went hunting together. The sales lady wanted me to ‘trade-up’ for a larger diamond. How about NO? I am sentimental about my rings and each one is precious. I don’t care about the size. I care about the commitment and memories and love they symbolize. I have the same rings without traded-up stones. Because they are MY rings from MY love.

Speaking of love, sure I dabbled a bit here and there. Window shopping, as it were. Tried on a few different sorts, but once I found my man, that was it. Best friends, partners, lovers, co-adventurers. Life-ers. Thirty-one plus years. He’s worth it. Kevin and Angie. We go together.

Coffee? Same goes. You may call me a coffee snob, but I do enjoy Starbucks. We’ve had a rocky relationship, this company and this coffee drinker, and I do whine about their ridiculous prices and return bad drinks for correctly prepared ones. But that’s what partners in relationships do, right? We work on fixing things and put up with the negatives.

Friends. Ditto. I have the same friends from high school and college. I see some more than others, but it’s always the same. We are glad to visit, hang-out, share meals, giggle, and shop – whenever we meet face to face. I’m not going to trade them for a newer model just because we more mature friends have a few bumps, bruises, and sags. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to make new friends. I will add them to my collection.

Jesus. Once I decided He’s the One, I committed. It’s a long-term relationship, to eternity and beyond! Don’t need to window shop anymore. Just work on getting to know each other and enjoy the relationship and fellowship along the way. Hang out. Go on adventures. Chill and celebrate. Just like a marriage.

Family, cars, pets, clothes, hobbies, . . . Until we wear out and are reduced to rags or the engine burns up or the kitties get too old or my fingers get arthritis. Mine. Don’t worry. I’ll share.

I’m that kind of girl. Once I make a choice, I stick to it.