inspiration

Just do it!

Suzy Taylor Oakley friends, God, inspiration, work

“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” Philippians 2:14-15

Man, I wish I hadn’t gone to church this morning! Harold issued a challenge that was long overdue for me: Stop whining!

I don’t think he actually used the word whining, but he did quote liberally from Philippians 2, which includes the admonition not to complain, with plenty of explication on why we shouldn’t.

I even copied down Verses 13-17 (in two translations) in my composition notebook while I listened to the rest of the sermon. (Gonna pin the copied verses to my cubicle wall at my job, which is what I complain most about.) It’s funny how you can read a passage many times and be only marginally affected by it until, one day, someone makes it come alive for you. That’s what Harold did this morning when he told me the reasons I should stop complaining. It was like a poke in the eye.

Because I’ve been doing a lot of it lately.

I could philosophize for hours about the virtues of obeying these verses, but all I’m gonna do is commit the next seven days to doing it.

And I have to proclaim it publicly so that you all can hold me accountable. Another thing Harold said is that God not only brought us into relationship with Himself, he brought us into relationship with each other, even those we haven’t met. And we sang about needing each other and praying for each other.

I need you.

Because not complaining for seven whole days ain’t gonna be easy.

So, friends, if you hear me complain, shut me up. But do it gently, please.

Can't wait to share

Suzy Taylor Oakley family, food, fun, inspiration, nature

Bruce and DJ at farmers market, May 3, 2008.

I cannot share with you the abundance of what Bruce and I experienced this morning — until next week.

You see, we went to the new farmers market in Argenta, but I was taking photos for The North Little Rock Times, because our reporter, Jeremy, had another assignment. He knew I was planning to be at the market anyway, so he asked me to take pics in his place.

Mayor Hays rang the opening bell, and, even though it was windy and quite chilly at 7 a.m., there was a good little crowd to christen the event.

It was wonderful, but I can’t tell you how wonderful for a few days, for two reasons: 1) Technically, any photos we publish in The Times will belong to my employer, so the ones I use for this blog will have to be ones we choose not to publish in the May 8 edition; and 2) Bruce says I have to do my homework first (my online accounting class, and I’m way behind). But I told him I at least have to write a paragraph! And, of course, I got carried away and have written much more than that.

But I had to tell you two things about my experience: 1) The Chudy Farms people got me to like honey. That’s huge! My dislike of honey goes back to some childhood memories of being force fed the stuff when I had the croup. But the Chudy Farms people offered me a sample of their honey on a biscuit, and I became an instant fan. 2) There’s a New Clean Plate Club started by nutritionist Penny Rudder that you’re going to love! I hope to write a sidebar for The Times about that, but I definitely will be talking to her in the next couple of days to get more details, whether it’s for the paper or the blog (I hope to do both).

Can’t wait to tell you more — and share more pics — next weekend.

Oh, and in the photo above is of Bruce (you know him) and D.J., former NLR Times reporter who’s about to start writing for an NLR blog in a couple of weeks.

Off to do my homework …

A brand new day

Suzy Taylor Oakley friends, inspiration, work

My hardworking reporter DJ left me today. There is a whole other post in my head about what we have meant to each other as co-workers in the five months we’ve known each other, but today I simply want to share with you the last story he gave me (he edited it just a bit, and of course I couldn’t resist tweaking it just a tad myself. Wouldn’t be me if I didn’t, would it, Deej?).

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: “I am blind, please help.”

A creative editor was walking by and stopped to observe. She saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. She dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.

She returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the editor returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins.

The blind man recognized her footsteps and asked if it was she who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what she had written on it.

The editor responded: “Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently.” She smiled and went on her way.

The new sign read: “Today is Spring, and I cannot see it.”

Sometimes we just need to change our strategy. If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we’ve always gotten.

Thanks, friend.

A fragrance or a stench?

Suzy Taylor Oakley dogs, family, inspiration

Bruce had warned me that Salsa would need a bath when I got home from work tonight. The recent rains have made her path in our back yard muddy, and she romps through it with joyful abandon.

Today she smelled like she had rolled around in a cow pasture, he said.

The second I walked in the door, I thought of a different word for it: stench.

She stank like a person who hadn’t bathed in several days, had sweated and the sweat had dried, and then had sweated some more, developing what my colorful friend Helaine would call “a funk.”

Salsa always bites me when I try to pick her up for a bath. Then she bites me while I’m bathing her. Bites me, her “Mama,” the one who has nurtured her, fed her and given her refuge since the day I brought her home from the shelter. But I still love her.

Later this evening, as I was writing tomorrow’s post for my church’s daily Shaped by Scripture blog, my mind went back to Salsa and bath time. And me and my attitude toward my Creator.

I’ve been treating Him as though He doesn’t know what’s best for me. Him, the Creator of the universe, the One who has nurtured me, fed me (physically, spiritually, emotionally and in all other ways) and given me refuge since the day he pulled me out of the mud pit of my sin, where I have chosen to return and have been wallowing lately.

Acting like I deserve better than where he is allowing me to be right now. Biting His hand every time He reaches down to cleanse me. But He still loves me.

Just as it was time for Salsa to come in out of the mud and have a bath, it’s time for me to stop wallowing in self-pity and let Him cleanse me.

I want to be a fragrance, not a stench.

On books and their reading

Suzy Taylor Oakley books, inspiration, reading

I couldn’t pick just one today, so here are three:

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” ~ Joseph Addison

“He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes.” ~ Barrow

“Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Arkansas Literary Festival

Suzy Taylor Oakley books, inspiration, reading

A National Assessment of Adult Literacy estimated that 1 in 7 Americans age 18 and older do not have the literacy skills they need. That’s more than 14 percent of adults in this country. And nearly 25 percent of Arkansas adults do not have a high school diploma.

The folks at Arkansas Literacy Councils want to change that.

One way you can help is to attend the fifth annual Arkansas Literary Festival this weekend in Little Rock. Proceeds benefit adult literacy programs through the Arkansas Literacy Councils.

Highlights of the festival include an author party Friday night, with authors such as Barbara Oakley (I really have no idea who that is, but if it turns out she’s any good I will claim her as a relative) and Saturday afternoon appearances by former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier and Arkansas’ own Crescent Dragonwagon. Free writing workshops are planned for Saturday.

Sounds like fun, eh? Check it out. It’s for a good cause.

“The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” ~ Mark Twain

A book for Suzy

Suzy Taylor Oakley books, dogs, family, inspiration

Dog for Susie cover

Sometimes you love something just because you love it, and trying to explain why just diminishes it.

Those of you who read my blog know my name, you know I love dogs (especially pound puppies) and you know I love to read. A book called A Dog for Susie is just perfect for me. Do I really need to explain why?

I won’t explain why I still love this book nearly four decades after receiving it, but I will show you.

Dog for Susie “he needs me”

I really thought this book was long gone. In the great purge of my dad’s stuff just before Mom downsized to a smaller house a few years ago, we got rid of a TON of his things — along with a lot of my books, board games and other childhood paraphernalia.

You see, Dad was a packrat, I am a reformed packrat, and Mom and big brother J.T. are tossers. Therefore, lots of stuff plus the need to downsize, combined with two tossers, a reformed packrat and a river of emotion equals stuff getting thrown out or sold that the reformed packrat will later regret having let go.

And for the past few years I had assumed A Dog for Susie had fallen victim to the great purge.

Fast forward to 2008. Bruce and I are trying to downsize, too. Since he was disabled last year and lost gainful employment (you can’t really count his writing computer programs for me as gainful — I pay him in raspberry sherbet and cups of green tea), we have decided to sell our house. And, friends, we have a LOT of books. Even after filling a “to donate” box, we still won’t have room for all of them in a smaller house. Because we have three rooms with built-in bookcases (in the market for a house? we’ll show you!) and the donation box contains a pitifully small number of donations.

So the other day I was lamenting that I wished we hadn’t tossed A Dog for Susie and how could I have let that book go anyway and how could anyone love it as much as I did, and Bruce — who has nearly recovered from his medical complications and has been busy as a bee, packing our books — said, “No, that book is downstairs on the shelf.” I was skeptical. Thought he must think I was talking about a different book. But he took me straight to the shelf. And there it was: a book for Suzy.

If I didn’t kiss him — on the lips — I should have.

Sometimes a book is meaningful only to the one it belongs to. And sometimes a book is meaningful to that someone’s husband just because he loves books, too, and knows that sometimes you can’t explain why a worn-out children’s book means so much to a 45-year-old woman who edits newspapers for a living.

“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” ~ Anna Quindlen

Week of Color: The Explosion

Suzy Taylor Oakley flowers, fun, inspiration, nature

Disclaimer: With the text wrap around the photos, some of the text appears to describe the wrong photos. It will wrap differently in different browser windows, so I can’t control how it displays for you. Please keep that in mind as you read. I hope you can identify which flowers are which all on your own!

I am a gal who likes color — bright color, as I mentioned on Day Yellow (speaking of which, I found another yellow photo, so scroll down to the Yellow post or click here. It’s from a “wedding” cake I made last year – really a 40th-anniversary cake modeled on the couple’s 1967 wedding cake).

Brown, pale yellow, light green and all that is nice, but I take after my mom in my love of bright colors, jewel tones in particular. Most of my flowers — annual or perennial — end up being bright reds, purples or pinks.

I’ll share some of them with you here. Let’s start with RED!

Three or four years ago, I decided to start growing roses. I carefully researched and bought five bushes, all different colors. The roses themselves are pretty easy to grow, but I am still pulling up grass in the beds, as I hate putting chemicals in the ground. But all the weed pulling is worth it, because it helps me enjoy these, the firstfruits …

 

red rose multi

red rose single

 

pale pink rose

 

pink rose deweyThe next one is a hydrangea that’s in my back yard. I have always loved hydrangeas. They’re so unusual, so beautiful and so versatile. I love that you can control the color by changing the soil’s pH.

This one came from a funeral arrangement after my uncle died nearly six years ago. We had hydrangeas in the front yard of the house I grew up in (in Batesville), but after my dad died, my mother moved. It was difficult for me to see her give up the house where my dad had spent hours and hours making the landscaping beautiful, so I was going to get a cutting from the house before she sold it. Well, in the chaos of the move, I forgot about it, but the new owners said I could get a cutting. However, by the time I actually made it back up to Batesville to get a piece of the bush, they had dug up the hydrangeas! How could they? (I wanted to cry.) So when my dad’s brother died and my aunt offered me a plant after the funeral, I chose the hydrangea. The picture is from an experiment I was trying with my photo software. (I think. Or it could have been that the picture just turned out that way. I can’t really remember! Either way, I like the hazy look of this photo.)

hydgrangea foggy

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The next one is from one of the three Rose of Sharon bushes from my mother-in-law’s garden when Bruce‘s parents lived in Virginia. Bruce used to take his son, Courtney, to visit Courtney’s grandparents every summer. Sometimes I went, and sometimes I stayed home. One of the years I stayed home, Bruce brought me three beautiful Rose of Sharon bushes from his mom. One of the bushes has purple blooms, but i can’t seem to find those pictures. Enjoy this pink one.

Rose of Sharon pink

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For something a little closer to purple, enjoy this clematis from my front yard.

clematis

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And this “purple coneflower,” which is actually less purple than the ones above and below it!

purple coneflower single

purple coneflower multi

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I potted this purple flower on my front porch a couple of years ago. I can’t remember its name. Anyone?

purple flower wrought iron

purple flower double

I took the next two pictures pictures in Morro Bay, Calif., in 2006. I think this one is a lily.

Morro Bay flowers

And this is a jade plant. I loved the spider web!

jade plant spider web

I have two favorite flowers. My favorite simple, innocent flower is the daisy — just the plain white with yellow center. My favorite exotic flower is the bird of paradise, and I was so excited to stumble across this one at California Baptist University when I was there for a Crown retreat in 2006.

bird of paradise

The last picture is not of flowers but contains a bounty of color. When we were able to participate in the River Market’s Basket a Month program, we got this (and more) last summer. Doesn’t it make your mouth water?

BAM vegetables

I think I’ve had more fun with this post than any other. Thank you, Jerusalem, for your fantastic idea of a Week of Color. Along with being challenged to find ways to illustrate my color likes and dislikes, I have enjoyed all the creative ideas from you and your friends!

Yellow

Suzy Taylor Oakley family, food, friends, fun, inspiration, nature

Today’s color is yellow. I have to admit, it’s not one of my favorite colors — unless it’s BRIGHT, like these mums. Although my laundry-room story will seem to contradict that…

butterfly and yellow mums

My laundry room is bright yellow, although my plan was to paint it “butter yellow.” Bruce had decided to surprise me by painting it while I was in California for a wedding. Because of a mix-up at the paint store or a miscommunication on my part (or maybe just Bruce’s not knowing what I meant by “butter yellow”), it ended up being more what I would call canary yellow. But laundry rooms should be bright, right? So it has remained “canary yellow” for nearly eight years.

Sorry there’s no picture of the laundry room. You just get the mums today. (On White day, I linked to a similar picture.)

Tomorrow’s color is brown, quite possibly my least favorite color, although there are some wonderful browns out there nowadays. Still, it might be a challenge to come up with pictures to illustrate what I like about brown.

Added 03/08/08: I found this picture on the last day in the Week of Color, so I just had to add it. It’s a rose from a 40th-anniversary cake I made last year, modeled on the couple’s wedding cake.

yellow cake rose