Today a team of five willing helpers moved every bit of our furniture and appliances from our kitchen, dining room and living room. It was a monumental task!
Beekmans’ bare house
New wood flooring will be installed over this old, soft fir, scarred floor while we are gone to CA for Christmas and New Years. This is what the new/old wood will look like when it is finished:
That’s our friends, Julie & Mike’s new floor.
The wood is from a hundred year old silo in Malta, Montana. Bob saw it and fell in love with it. He decided it is what our house needs. When all is said and done, I hope it is as lovely as he anticipates – and it is worth the time, money, effort, and stress involved in such a major renovation! Our existing floor doesn’t look bad in the video, but it really is in bad shape – and the wood is soft – scars really easily. The replacement wood (going right over the top of this) will give us a brighter, lighter look. Happy New Year!
God bless our willing helpers who are making all this possible!
1921 silo in Malta, Montana
The crew who did all that work to move things today are saints! As I said, it was a major task! And the man who is harvesting the wood from this old silo is a wizard! His name is Paul. Do keep in in prayer. I just pray he maintains his health and is able to finish the project. It was originally planned for when we were on our trip to England and Switzerland last September, but Paul, FELL while doing the wood harvesting and broke some ribs and had other health issues that required surgery. So, of course, our project was postponed while he recuperated.
1921 silo
It’s fun to know the history of the wood – and to look forward to a new look in our home. But, it involves a whole lot more than what meets the eye… because one thing always leads to another, you know? I am reminded of Derrick & Jackie Knight’s recent renovation of their kitchen and entry and upstairs rooms. Derrick shared the step-by-step, day-by-day progress with us on his blog. Quite an undertaking!
We’ll be gone and Paul will be living here in our absence – – – doing his magic. I’ll show you the finished product (God willing) when we return next year, mid to late January. Meantime, do keep our safe travels in your prayers, will you? I’ll keep in touch along the way.
Have a Blessed Sunday. Bob & I will attend church this morning … and then do a little clean-up in our kitchen area to have it cleared and ready for Paul’s arrival tomorrow. What are your Sunday plans?
Us – looking forward to fun with family in sunny California
God bless you and keep you safe. See you tomorrow (God willing) Tomorrow is our day to pack! Love, JanBeek
YOU are your children’s first teacher! You are your child’s life-long teacher, Your behavior sets your most lasting legacy. Parents, be your children’s BEST teacher!!
Thanks for visiting JanBeek today. See ya tomorrow (God willing)
Where would we be without the helpers in our lives? Yesterday a young lady came and helped me clean my house. Climbing ladders to get to light fixtures and getting down on my hands and knees to do floors is just not in the cards for this 82-year-old body any more. God bless my helper!
While I was getting help inside, Bob had two helpers out in the yard. Like my inability to climb ladders and spend time on my knees, Bob has discovered that his body has some new limitations, too. It’s just not wise for him to try to trim the trees or do all the weeding and hedging on his own. Thank God for the young, strong helpers who are willing to come and lend a hand!
Our daughter, DeAna, in Switzerland, had need of repair this week. She had polyps in her uterus. Thank God, they were benign, but they needed to be removed. Thanks to the “helper” who used her gold dust to repair/scrape De’s uterus and bring her back to full health… more beautiful than ever!
Just as we need help with the physical work as we add years to our bodies, so do we need help with tasks that are beyond our skill levels.
Today our daughter, Laina, discovered a problem she couldn’t fix. A neighbor’s tree had lost a limb during a recent storm, and the limb crashed through her guest bedroom window. With the help of a gracious and talented helper, she now has a new double-paned glass. Thank God for helpers!
I am reading a book titled, “Life is Messy” by Matthew Kelly. In it he describes the Japanese art of Kintsugi. It is repairing broken objects with glue that has gold in it.
He wrote, “When a vase or bowl or cup is broken, artists gather up the broken pieces and glue them back together. …They mix gold dust with the glue. They don’t try to hide the cracks. They own them, honor them, even accentuate them.”
Matthew Kelly’s point in bringing in the concept of Kintsugi is that we all are broken and in need of repair.
He asks the question, “Can someone who has been broken be healed, and become more beautiful and more lovable than every before?”
And his resounding YES is illustrated by these repaired bowls.
He makes this point very clear: “We are each other’s wounded healers. We posses the gold dust needed to glue other people back together, making them more beautiful and lovable than ever.”
Where would we be without the helpers in our lives? Our broken souls would remain broken… and Our sad hearts would break in two… without those who love us with their gold dust of love that glues us back together again!
Embrace Helpers… Those who help us clean, Those who help us garden, Those who repair our cars or fix our broken windows… Those who help us heal… God bless them all!
God bless YOU for being a helper.
I made sandwiches for those young people who were out there helping Bob with his yard work. We each can do our part – we all can be helpers!
How did you use your gold dust to help someone else today?
The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.
― Neil Gaiman
More than 500 people came to enjoy the display of art at the Madison Valley Arts Festival yesterday.
Sue Kinn-Brown created something new with pottery. I love her poppy motif.
Another artist created unique purses with beautiful fabric. I love this elegant belt as its closure.
Joe Gillispie used old wood to create a unique table (Thanks, Joe! )
This artist used her photography skills to capture unique images. Then she enlarged and framed them. Aren’t these fox kits adorable?
As a seamstress, “Joy” creates personalized gifts.
You can capture meaningful phrases and create unique wall hangings.
This is personalized fishing gear. Those rod cases and fishing nets include etched names – personalized for your favorite fisherman!
Start your children young – enjoying art festivals and creating their own art… Who says giraffes can’t have red eyes?
This children’s art area also gave kids a chance to paint rocks. Why not?
Always good to have a spot where young artists can create their own unique items that weren’t there before.
Let your photography enhance other folks’ homes! Do you have a wall that needs something that wasn’t there before?
Thanks, Margie Reck, for ordering our 25th anniversary cake. Baking and cake decorating is another way to create what’s not there. And within a half an hour it’s not there again! Festival customers enjoyed this dessert – celebrating with us!
Before these artists created their cakes, photo images, colored giraffes and painted rocks, rod cases and wall hangings, stockings and tables, purses and pottery, those items obviously were not there.
Use your God-given talents and unique inspirations to create what’s not there yet.
The world would be a very different place, a much less interesting place, an environment with much less beauty if we didn’t have artists. Thank God for our artists!
Today was our Madison Valley 25th annual Arts Festival. (well… almost annual… we had to cancel it last year because of COVID). Nearly 50 artists from Montana and Idaho gathered here in Ennis to treat us with their displayed talents. It was a delightful day. Come and join me to enjoy the festival vicariously.
That’s me in the pink top … Ennis Arts Assoc. President Chelsee Mahsman (sec.), Batb Bunge (volunteer coordinator) and Barbara Swan-Roger (treasurer)
People started setting up last night!
These two set up early this morning
They did very well with their sales
The Presbyterian Women (I’m a part of them) sold baked and canned goodies. Baking and cooking is an art, you know. They sold out!! That’s Cindy, Stephanie & Hailey!
It was a beautiful day in Peter T Park – a venue made possible by the Madison Valley Bank.
Benny and her hubby served a record number of lunches from their “Li’l Hogpit Trailer”
Starting at 11:30 and continuing until 3:00 pm, there was a line of customers at the Li’l Hogpit.
We really enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich.
The Tune Tanglers provided music from 10: to 2: That’s brother & sister, Peggy & Jim – Great musicians! Jim Groshong and the Ennis City Ramblers played from 2: til the rain chased ’em out about 3:30 PM
The musicians are setting up here… By 10: am all the chairs were filled with appreciative listeners
Here are some of the artists:
This is EAA member, Sherry Gold. One of Sherry’s paintings is in my entry at home.
I don’t know ALL the artists’ names… so forgive me for not telling you who each one is.
This gal was new to our festival this year.
These giant flies might catch a whale. You think?
Here are Sue Kinn-Brown and her hubby, Verne Brown. Sue was our Festival chairperson and Verne was the lead set-up person. Congratulations, Sue & Verne for a fantastic job!
Here’s some of Sue’s pottery
This beautiful cutting board sold quickly!
I love this donkey!
Joe Gillispie creates gorgeous tables. I have a cross up in my sanctuary that he made for me. I love the inlaid turquoise.
Joe’s wife Barbara, is an invaluable member of our EAA… a member of the jury committee and secretary of our Planning Committee. I love her!
These rustic originals are so whimsical!
Many of the jewelers used local stones as some of their materials.
Bob bought this for me as a birthday gift. I love it! It was created by Linda Sommer L Designs 411
One of the most fun things about events like this one is the opportunity to make new friends. We had a great visit with this couple from Idaho. Maybe Blaire will join our EAA and display his art here next year! Sonja and I became instant friends!!
This talented young artist was new to our festival. Such a cutie! Great talent!!
Gerry Mooney is an EAA member who is a terrific photographer.
We had such a wonderful assortment of various art medium in attendance!
Just look at this beautiful bowl!!
I worked most of the morning here at the EAA information booth, selling raffle tickets and answering questions about who or what’s where. That’s the chair where I sat…
Many of our vendors told us this one their most successful festivals in years. Customers were enthusiastically generous!
There was so much to choose from!
In addition to that beautiful turquoise cross necklace, Bob got me this antelope pillow!!
It looks great in my living room! Our neighbor and friend, BJ Radell, created it. Check out her fiber arts at BJ Designs … bj@rondack.net
Maybe next year at this time, you can can to come to Ennis and help us celebrate our 50 year anniversary as an Ennis Arts Association. I’d love to house a bunch of my Word Press friends and have us enjoy the festivities together! Think about it!
Thanks for taking my Art Festival tour with me. Which kind of art do you like best?
We may even take you out on the Madison. What do you say?
In 2018 we were in Switzerland and our daughter, DeAna, arranged for our grandson, Michael Solioz, to visit a Swiss beekeeper with his Grampy Bob. Bob wrote up some questions ahead of time, and Mike translated them for the man who is the president of the Sion Beekeepers’ Club.
This video is so professionally done by Mike. I guarantee you will enjoy it. The beekeeper is such a delightful man – a retired physician!
So, what did you think of that?
If you have followed my blog for awhile, you know that Bob is a retired beekeeper… He did that for over 20 years after he retired from teaching/coaching.
No, that’s not Bob up there. He rarely dressed up like that! No suit, no gloves, just the hat and veil sometimes. He is the “bee whisperer” according to beekeeper hobbyists here who enlist his help with their hives occasionally.
Notice Bob’s short pants, bare hands, and hat without veil. Experienced beekeepers seem to know how to approach the bees with peaceful intentions that the bees can sense… unless they’re Africanized bees (that’s a whole other blog topic someday).
Anyway, it was fun to uncover that 2018 Swiss beekeeper interview. I hope you enjoyed it.
Bob & I wish you a Happy Monday and a fun-filled, productive week.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek. See ya tomorrow(God willing)
When I searched to see if I have used this theme of tenacity already this year, I found a link to “Tenacity Defined” written a couple of years ago … before I started the current “Embrace” series. So, I decided it was OK to use the theme again because I have whole different take on it now.
So much has happened in these last three years since that 2018 post. Among the defining “happenings” is COVID-19. Impacting my view of life has been the way in which the pandemic exposed some of our worst tendencies. The issue of racism raised its ugly head. (I guess it never really was hidden)… but … In spite of the tenacity of people who to this day follow the non-violent teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr., there has been an increase in violent crime – and especially racially motivated hatred.
I saw images of people of Asian descent being knocked to the ground, innocent little Chinese ladies being beaten, and people standing by observing these horrendous acts – and doing nothing to stop them.
Where does tenacity fit in to this line of thinking?
Jeremy Liew from Riverside, Connecticut wrote in Time Magazine this week, “The last year made me comfortable with being uncomfortable.” In his article titled, Newfound Empathy, he explains his discomfort, ending with, “I am still uncomfortable, but now I am confident. I appreciate who I am. I am grateful for what I have – my education and health, and my three annoying sisters.”
Jeremy’s tenacious attitude, at the tender young age of 13, does not come magically. He must have some role models out there who are helping him appreciate his uniqueness, and value his attributes.
The song’s theme of “Never Give Up” reminds me that change comes slowly, but it comes. Like MLK,Jr. in his “I Have a Dream” speech, we need to adopt that attitude of hope. Tenaciously hang on to HOPE. And then we need to live it! We need to be able to say, along with Jeremy Liew, “I am confident.”
Mom’s cardboard of poems
In 1936, when she was a bride, transplanted from Washington to central California, my mom had a habit of cutting favorite poems out of the newspaper and taping them to a piece of cardboard. She hung that cardboard inside her kitchen cabinet.
It is now hanging inside my kitchen cabinet here in Montana. I treasure it… and I hold tenaciously to the lessons those various poems teach me. What a legacy, huh? The poem above was brought to mind today by Ann Koplow’s wonderful blog. She titled her post:
“Wouldn’t life be lots more happy, If we praised the good we see? For there’s such a lot of goodness In the worst of you and me.”
It takes TENACITY to look for and find the good in others. But it is so worth it!! I have a plaque in my dining room that reminds me of this fact. Here it is:
In that Time Magazine article, Jeremy Liew went on to explain, “I was uncomfortable being singled out for how I look (I am an Asian American Pacific Islander). A year ago, people looked at me as f I had COVID-19 or brought it to my community…”
Since when do we traumatize people because of the way they look? Since when do we marginalize them and make them feel inferior?
You say, “Since time immortal”??
Well, I say, “Well, It is time to make a change!”
As the song at the top of this blog says, “I will take a chance to be who I’m meant to be. I won’t let fear keep me from trying. It’s time for me to make a change. Start living the life I want. I’m gonna reach for the sky way up high. I’m never giving up. It’s up to me to see who I can be. Make change reality. I’m never giving up.”
Not only do I need to live the life I want and be who God made me to be, but I need to spread that message to others. Find the gold in them. Encourage them to be all that God made them to be, too.
One of my favorite bloggers is Cristian Mihai “The Art of Blogging” … If you go to his About page and read his explanation of who he is, you will see that it ends with these 4 lines:
“Sometimes I think I am who I am because someone has to be.
I believe it’s always strangers who ask the most difficult question.
‘Who are you?‘
I just wrote 1,500 words and I’m still not sure you know who I am.“
That last link is one of Cristian’s blogs that I think is so powerful that I told him he needs to bookmark it and read it when he is 80, because he writes about the trials of being a 20-something-year-old. He writes it now as a 31-year-old who has wisened beyond his years. He looks at life through very unique lenses. He is tenacious about passing along to others “The Art of Blogging” with the hope of improving us all.
The road to our best self is a long and arduous one. No one ever said it was gonna be easy. After all, we’re only human! But in our humanity is a divine core. We were made in God’s image. We are His Beloved. So, when I talk about finding the gold, that’s the core I am talking about.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.
Do you have something you are needing to do? Something you might feel ill equipped to accomplish? Or maybe, just not as strong as you thought you might be… and needing to take it one baby step at a time? Well, that’s where tenacity comes in. Start slowly… work yourself up to the full extent of your power … the power of the Holy Spirit in you.
