Author: E.Y. Redal

Times Have Changed

When I wrote and published my book at Amazon, I hoped that older folks like me would want to read it. It has much in it that would interest them and bring some remembrance of their own and perhaps help them realize God has led them too. But I was wrong! I have discovered that most older folks  have not entered the high technology age. Some have their computers but only use them to keep up with their families in E-mail. Many don’t have computers at all and very few of them have Kindles or any of the tablets.

Why do you think that is the case? These people remember not having lights in their homes or music they couldn’t listen to while walking, but they could join in singing around a piano. Nearly everyone had a piano in their homes. For instance, I remember listening to my dad playing the piano. Sometimes we would sing along. He was a pastor and would often bring his whole congregation into a sing-along time. We would sing the old hymns like “Sweet Hour of Prayer” or “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” but we’d sing the songs of the day like “Shine on Harvest Moon” or “I’ll be Loving You, Always” too.

We read books too, good books such as “Anne of Green Gables” or “Moby Dick”, books that are still read today. When I ask older folks why they haven’t paid attention to the high tech stuff they say, “I like things to stay the same. Computers and things like that are too much for me. I guess that part is true. I find that much about the gizmos we have today is difficult to understand and probably it is best to leave them alone.

But we have entered a new age. Our children will grow up not even knowing we cooked with a wood stove and bathed in wash tubs. They won’t know that we went to school in busses pulled by horses either! Why, they won’t even remember the old washing machines or hanging their clothes on a clothesline outdoors! But they will know the ins and outs of a computer and how nice it is to wonder around on a tablet. And they will be able to get along in this high tech world. It’s true that we are entering a new age. Some of it is good and some of it is bad, but I guess it was the same back in the old days.

God is in control of all things. He knew we would someday be able to talk to anyone with a little box! He knew we would bring the whole world into our living rooms and even chat with people we don’t even know! The best way I believe is to follow him. He’s got something new in the wings, you can bet your life on that!

It’s Almost May!

May is sort of a mystery month. We can hardly believe how green the grass is. It wasn’t this green last year, was it? And now those dead looking trees actually have tiny leaves and some have blossoms! The lilacs are blooming too. Where did those lovely blooms come from? The bush looked dead yesterday! Azaleas and rhododendrons will soon take center stage too.

May really should be the first month of the year because everything seems brand new in May. I don’t know why but I feel more lonely in May than in other months. Maybe it’s because my birthday is in May and I look back on 80+ years of memories. It isn’t because my husbands died in May. One died in November and the other in June. Maybe it isn’t loneliness at all but there a sudden sense of emptiness. The only cure is to get very busy with something and in May there is much to do. The lawn needs continual mowing and the annuals need planting. The house inside needs some going over too. It’s beginning to look a little shabby.

I’ve noticed that my cat, Guiness (He was a rescue cat and someone had named him years before) seems lonely too. All winter he thought he was a bear and he hibernated warm and snug in his special place. However, now he seems to need me. he wants to be close, on my lap or on the back of my recliner when I am busy with something.

That cat is remarkable. I bought a collar for him but he didn’t like it. It was put on him to stay unless I took it off. But Gueness got it off! Once he used a spoon he found that had fallen to the floor as his tool. In the morning I found the collar wrapped up in the spoon on the floor. I couldn’t figure it out, but he used a pencil the same way another time! I wish I could see him do it but he takes off his collar late at night.

I heard about another cat who had five kittens. Whenever that mother went hunting, she’s bring five dead mice into the house and lay them beside each of her five children. Isn’t that amazing?

I guess I’m getting ahead of myself, but it’s almost May. Get out and enjoy the  month won’t you? Let’s enjoy because it’s soon May and everything is new again. We need to rejoice and thank God for this wonderful month.