WE ARE FAMILY!

Scrappy and I had lunch in our screened porch amid birds singing, a gentle breeze, blue skies viewed between leaf filled branches and the wonderful sound I love to hear – the sound of a saw cuttng wood! The sound and smell is life giving to me and perfume to my soul! Daddy was so skilled at EVERYTHING since if he didn’t know, he self-taught and worked with perfection. Sadly the last 15 years of his life were spent sedentary due to Parkinsons. Lord, heal me and or show me the way to shine and to make my parents proud for the 3 of us!  We love you and hunger to serve with the treasure you bestowed!

 

Mom, gone from this world . . .

missed but never forgotten and always loved.

 

VOICE OF AN ANGEL

Mom, dressed for her first date with Dad!

When someone so close to us and whom we love so much is near the end, we feel their pain as they age and we would do whatever we could to see the Mom (or other loved one) as we remember them . . . even one more time.  This week marks another anniversary  of her passing.  She felt no pain in passing while asleep and just didn’t awaken this side of heaven.  She died holding hands with Jesus with a big smile on her face, just like my Grampy did.  If your morning quiet place seems to have a larger angel choir, that’s Mom.  No matter how many things she could no longer do toward the end, she was always singing and I am sure she still is!  Likely, the angels in your life are singing with her!

The last thing she and I said to each other was to smile and say “I love you!” it was a sunny spring afternoon and the birds were singing!

 

 

 

 

 

NEW ENGLAND IN WINTER

This image was taken by me in the home I used to live in.  Winter was steadily providing snow and I was stronger then and loved to go out in the middle of the night to shovel as I was a banker then and needed to get to my office.  The moonlight reflected on the new fallen snow glowed  so my yard lookedlike midday.  There were always neighbors out doing the saame thing as me.  We often had PJs on with storm wear.  I can still feel the warmth of those times in my life!

Warmth In Winter

Though it’s still winter,

with you always in my heart

i celebrate spring!

by Martha L Shaw – Copyright 2016

 

 

 

The Singing Heart

The sun is shining

on old dusty memories

while the birds sing praise

By Martha L Shaw – ©2015 Words and picture

Sitting At Your Feet

My thoughts just drifted back to my childhood and to how much I loved sitting on the floor at Nana’s feet, feeling unconditional love and listening to her stories, memories, advice, and so much more.  Time was meaningless as I knew such love and acceptance and encouragement and lost all sense of time.

How fitting to immediately find this before me! “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”  – Jeremiah 33:2-3

 

Can I have an

AMEN?

 

 

 

 

FEELING THE LOVE . . .

The old quilt . . .

Its softness is enhanced

By age and use.

Its colors faded by the light of many days,

And its fibers show wear

Yet its beauty is all I see,

All I feel,

And all I know.

Its story is one of patience

And of time and effort.

It  contains both pain and pleasure.

The fabrics of many lives intertwined

To become one . . .

It is not one story,

But rather generations of stories

Shared by the fire,

Told over tea,

Revealed as fine thread

Wove scraps of many lives

Into something too beautiful not to share.

By Martha L Shaw – © 2013

 

WHISPERS

Old Books . . . Old Friends

For lots of reasons, I find myself reading most books these days by ereader, yet still I adore old books and stores which feature them!  I love the sight, smell and feel of them, but there is something more!  I hear the voices of each soul who held, read, and loved the book before me.  Old books, old friends!

The tattered pages

Speak of those who’ve gone before

Can you hear the whispers?

By Martha L Shaw ©2015

QUILL AND QUILT

I dare say

of quill and quilt,

they both tell a beautiful story.

Ah, but when you nest with the quilt

and her many cozy chapters

do settle down for a long

fascinating read!

By Martha L Shaw ©2017

 

Four generations of tales . . . and love

shared from my family to you!

-MLSHAW

 

 

 

 

DADDY’S LOVE – ABBA’S SERVANT

 

Tapers on the sofa table

Gently lit the room

For it was night.

 

While mother slept,

Father and I enjoyed the gentle candle light

And stories from another time and place.

 

We needed no warmth

From those candles, though.

That came from father’s heart.

 

He knew I’d be waiing.

I knew he’d come.

Sleep didn’t come easily to him.

 

We spent hours together

He shared so many stories

Oa life as a boy,family,the farm…

 

Tales of many generations

Retold in the gently lit room

Well into the night.

 

Tears come as I share this

But not of sadness,

All of joy!

 

As we retired for the night,

I waited for his sounds of sleep

Before taking to my bed.

 

He is gone now,

But my memories still bring

Love, peace, and rest!

 

By Martha L Shaw – © 2017