Slippery Ice Brings out Samaritan Neighbor

Stairs now have salt on them

I thought I was walking carefully enough down the front steps this morning when I left the house but oh no, on the second step down my feet went right out from under me and I slipped and bounced down the stairs on my back, banging and bruising my left elbow and lower spine all the way down. Basically, the steps were coated and crusted in clear ice, like a sheet of glass, after a night of freezing rain. When I got to the bottom --  about a four foot drop! -- I just laid there looking up at the sky, skirt blown up, yelling in pain. A kind neighbor heard my cries and came over and helped me to climb back up the stairs -- on all fours -- back into my house. He also helped pick up some of my belongings that had scattered out from my bag and made sure I was okay and got back into the house without further slipping and with my possessions.  He was very kind and thoughtful and I later realized that he was in the middle of taking his two children to school and had taken time away from leaving them in the car to pay attention to me. It's a wonderful blessing to have neighbors who are kind and act as Good Samaritans!

Winter Leaves But Wisdom Stays

On my way to work the other day I looked up and saw that there were still some maple leaves on some of the trees on the street on the way to my bus stop. With the miracle of my cell phone camera I snapped this photo as I so loved the sun shining through the yellow leaves against the dark branches and blue sky. It's at these moments that I realize how much I have been influenced by a poem I learned as a child. Here it is:
Time to Stop and Stare
What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep, or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
--  William Henry Davies 1871 - 1940

I remember learning this at age 7 when we had to memorize some poem for some English literature study we did while being home schooled. Of course, that was back when my mind was blotting paper soaking up new things avidly, not like it is now when the Random Access Memory program occasionally fails due to the  Information Uptake plugin software being "overloaded."   Or at least, that's how it now feels when I have to learn some new text -- it's just too hard to do. But at the least, all the words I've taken in, have had an effect and have lead me to action.  So it's just as well I read the Bible then or I'd probably be a real mess by now.